The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-08-14
RAPID CITY, s. D., AUG. IA, 'oa
THB CUP AND 1Ts DREas,

3#VCiy PaPSi III 'iiS AD'oSh inns mas
devoted columns of space telling
of her charity, her goodness of
heart and her glittering career.
Much has been said about this
woman that would have bet
ter been unsaid. "Let the dead
rest" is an old maxim and a good
one, but the Union believes in this,
that purity and virtue of the COM
ing generation is much more i'm
portant, and holds greater sanctity
than the grave of such character.
calamity James" whole career was
one of wanton waywardness and
debauchery. Her home surround
ings were no better nor no worse
than thousands Of girls today who
are struggling for livilyhood that
is honorable and virtuous. Calam
ity lane is held up to these girls as
a woman who was brave, when as
"a matter Of fact she was most cow
ardly. To work for an honest living
is bravery. The girl who tolls and
denies herself to secure All educa-
ton is doing a brave thing. To
teach, to clerk, to sew; that one
may live virtuous life; these are
brave acts. Could "Calamity Jane"
lay claim to any such heroism as
this3 She could not. Her :bravery"
consisted in exposing herself to the
perils Of pioneer life, so it is said.
But what were those perils to a
woman. Was she not guarded and
cared for as any woman would be
who cast herself into a semi wild
country. Our pioneers were like
other men and any man would
protect a woman under such cir
cumstances. "Calami.y" choose
the unknown life Of western
mining camps not because
she was brave but because she was
coward. She had not the .snerve''
we hear SO much Of, to apply her
self to honest work for an honest
living. She was not brave enough
10 walk the path of virtue SO many
Of our girls are walking today, and
she hadn't the NERVE to live a de.
cent life. The newspapers say she
was brave because she cared for
sick miners. Thousands Of virtuous
girls go forth to the battle fields
and hospitals and fight dread dis
eases that are just as contagious as
the small pox, which we are told
Calamity Jane" exposed herself
to, too aid sick miners. They do
not pervade the fact that they do
these things because they are truly
good, because they are noble crea-
lures at heart. They toll for the
real love Of doing good and not to
boast Of it.
One would really think to read
our press lately that the lives Of
our calamity James" were enjoya-
bic ones; that these people are
free from cares and trouble and
above all, free from work. Never
I was there more rank misrepre-
sentation; never was there any
thing more false or foolish. The
tinsel, the flashing jewel, the jaunty
himsy screen that hides the most
horrid and d chased condition that
one Gan immagine. Their only
moments OF enjoyment are when
the wine cup or the opiate makes
them forget the life they lead.
Their flnery is i'll begotten and
II begotten things are ever I'M
olesomes and unsat isfactory 70
paint such a life in any other than
ats true color is not only false and
foolish, but Liable 10 result in un-
told misery to those who may be
easily deceived
The worst sample Of the silly
sslush being published just now
about aianai,y IS from the pen Of
sonao water Drained rlinny BY the
nanae Of George Walter Hale, Of
Ecnfral who Is Sol overcome with
there worst,i ID he must dedicate
an altfg poem to the memory of