Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1902-07-16


-A@S. ~ young ladies of the first families
- order up whiskey cocktails and
drink in a style that would put confirmed bum un-
der the table. She says that these young women
swear like troopers and altogether they are, ac-
cording to her description, pretty tough outfit.
1t is no uncommon thing, she says, for young
men Of 18 or 20 to come to the fashionable hotel in
Hull with their girls and order up lunches that will
cost not less than $50 per couple. conspicuous
feature Of these lunches is the liquor not campagne
altogether, but beer, whiskey and other red.hot
drinks.
The fact that these young fellows are able to put
up 500 for lunches shows that they belong to the
blOOded families or else they are stealing from
their employers. Young fellows who are earning
their own living and attending to business don't
make habit of putting up $40 for lunches. The
probability is that the boys and girls both, that
make up these lunch parties are the descendants Of
f0Ol parents. The man who will furnish his son
money to blow in on $40 lunches is fool no matter
how much money he may have.
Evidently the trouble with these young people is
too much money and nothing to do. That eombina-
tiOn will ruin nearly any young man or young wO-
man on earth.
1t is hard luck to be ground down with poverty,
but as between that and wealth and idleness we are
satisfied that it is better for the young man and
young woman to be born poor.
We have noticed that the man, young or middled
aged, or the woman, either, who has to attend to
business in order to pay running xpenses is apt to
be pretty fair sort Of citizen
The individual who is busy with legitimate bust
ness hasn't time to be very tough.
The young man who has to get to business at
or o'clock in the morning and is kept busy until
6 in the evening isn't filling his skin with whiskey
cocktails, for cocktails and steady Job don't go
hand in hand.
The girl who has something to do and who has to
do that as rule is pretty fair, we'll behaved and
sensible kind of young woman
But turn the average young man and the average
young woman loose with nothing on earth to do but
enjoy themselves and with all the money they want
to spend, and it will be wonder the devil doesn't
have 'em cinched within II months or two years at
the outside.
We dOn't believe that the young women this ed
itress talks about fair samples of Massachusetts,
girls We have seen few ladies from that state in
our time, some of them young, some middle aged
and some old, and almost without exception they
struck us as ladylike and well behaved. We have
also known good many men who were born and
raised in Massachusetts and found them mighty
nice, well bred gentlemen, but none of them had
been turned loose with all the money they could
spend and nothing to do when they we're young.
We have alway eontended that ideness was a
greater foe to morality, order and good government
than ignorance, yet put compulsory education
laws on our statute books the theory that society
has the right to force its citizens be educated in
order to protect itself against the dangers of gnOr
anCe.
Isn't it just as logical to say that the state has
the right to protect itself against idleness. The
idle man and idle woman are apt to be a menace to
society no matter WHETHER the idler is common,
lousy hobo or proud, rich, lazy lOaier.
When Bismarck retired, twelve years ago, Ger
many was no world Power. She was a country
which, in a military sense, was considered pre-
eminent in Europe and which, by reason of the
tripartite agreement between her, Austria and Italy
filled leading position, in political sense, on the
Continent. But world Power she was not. The
very word had not then been coined. Itwas before
the series OF startling events that has since trans
formed the whole situation in the Far East and has
brought Japan and China into the family Of nations
as potent factors. It was before the Spanish Amer
lean War, which in two hem1spheres, projected the
United States into the very midst OF the political
arena. There have seldom been ten years in the
worlds history which have wrought such radical
changes Of such far-reaehing importance, as those
since 1892 The world at large has as vet
scarcely gained the right focus for viewing those
happenings. Next to this country it is
Germany that has most largely prOfted from the
new situation.
Should the Secretary Of War take favorable ac-
lon on the official recommendations Of the Armv
Uniform Board the wearing Of the green7 thereby
necessitated for Uucle Sans soldier boys NAV be
expected to prove irresistible nducement for en-
listing on the part Of young Americans Of Irish
blood
There is at least one thing Of rs vii be able