The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-02

by Josephine Hamilton Nichols. is
volume of Southern tales by. a writer
new to the literary world, but one who
certainly deserves a place in the ranks,
The stories concern Miss Mary whose
home has been devastated by the war,
and her negro dependents who chose
to remain on the plantation and who
are good examples of the oId-time
darkey fast disappearing. Each chap
ter is a tale by itself, yet they are all
woven together by the thread of love
story concerning Miss Mary and her
Yankee beau" Those who heard Miss
Finch lately in st. Paul interpret so
perfectly the negro dialect, will be re-
minded of her reading this story, for
they both understand their subject. The
writer of Bayou Triste" understands
the negro question by inheritance, and
she makes it plain that no Northerner,
no matter how well intentioned, can
comprehend the negro nature like those
who have lived with them and loved
them for forty years. The admittance
of colored women into clubs of white
women would nowhere be more laugh
ed to scorn than among the shrewd old
colored women portrayed by the writer
of the little book we are considering
better understood than among those
old-time negroes, who knew what arts.
tocracy meant in the South. Books
like this one-and more than all, an
exposition like the THE Leopard
Spots"-go far toward clearing up mis-
understandings of the Southern posi-
ton. This subject is now paramount
the country over because of President
Roosevelt's effort to force negros upon
the South in official positions, and
which, instead of having the effect he
hoped for have merely added insult to
INJURY. If he had placed these colored
CfhclalS in New England where they
are so much admired, no one could say
a word. In Bayou Triste" Mrs Dam
eron is good example of the charming
Southern woman of ante bellum DAYS:
her words strike the keynote of the old
Ieellng They have no Judgment
no sense. In some respects slavery was
better for them, they are nothing but
chlIdren-ignorant helpless children
after all. What howl that speech
would produce in the North but it was
inspired by knowledge and sympa-
thy that no outsider can understand.
Education Increases Crime.
1heIe mas Deen and still is, much
nonsense talked about education. In
the last analysis it is not book learning.
nor indeed storing the mind with dry
' as-oust- Facts. 1t is culture, expert
ence of life, the cultivation of the
heaft; study and great erudition are
Out factors, and means to an end.
Ihere nave been men who could neither
read nor write, who have been wonder.
Tod
nave experienced great joy and CHEAT
sorrow On the other hand, there have
peen men who have learned all that
books contain, whose heads NAV have
peen crammed with facts and after
v whose names string of letters an
? peared, but they were not educated
To educate the mind and leave the
heart untouched is to do a wicked thing
instead of a good, for in this vav one
merely puts weapons into a mans
hand, which unless controlled bv the
heart and conscience, are more likely t>
lead him to evil than to good. The crv
III thlS country was education, educa-
uoh, and the result was the public
-schooI system which has given each
poy an equal opportunity, and is, with
out doubt, the best system of its kind
IN the world. But, said the wiseacres.
Wheh thls republic is dotted with school
muses. When every man can read and
write ana ignorance is thing of the
past, then will men become righteous
crime decrease and this country he
come an annex to Paradise. Now all
inns has been accomplished; a man
VINO can neither read nor write is az
dlf1lcult to find in this country as tha
@-sfoVerbial needle in the hay stack and
what is the result? 10. last week q
washington physician, a thinker a
man who has studied conditions of h1,.
mainly for many years, saws that ed,1-
cation far from decreasing crime has
increased it, or to state the matter
more accurately, there is an Increase Of
crime every year in this countrvI Ed
ucallon is not responsible for If he
AYERS, but education has not stonnad -
or made any impression upon statistics
except TO show that the educated man
is not necessarily a better man moral
~ than the uneducated man. This
writer who has studied criminologv
says that while the enormous sum of
$oUo,0OO,O00 is spent annually in the
OhIted states to fight crime, not one
penny IS expended to discover the
causes OF the present state of affairs.
5 - 'AN' OOi4bANlOil 10 not COnnn6Q TO the
United States, but obtains the world
over. With all the progress, discovery.
invention and education men are NOT
growing better. 1t Is not a pleasant
thought. The doctor has discovered
and says SO, that girls show a greater
percentage of brightness than bows at
the same age, so there is a slight raw of
hope in all this gloom. 1t is during the
past thirty years that crime has in
creased most rapidly, and it is precise
~ during the past thirty years, that
education and the new thought" have
been most prevalent and far-reaching
One does not pretend to understand
this, but it is we'll sometimes to ponder
upon the facts such as these so that
we may not become too well pleased
with ourselves and fancy that we have
solved all the problems of life. Until
education and progress can be found t.,
make men more moral, more kindly.
more humane and more Christian. the