The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-07

England? This may. account Tor the
changes that have come over us, and ex--
plain why we rate men and women ac-
cording to what they have. and not ac-
cording to what they are socially, NOR
ally and religiously. And it is this con-
dition of things that makes men des-
perate in their eagerness to get rich.
when | was a boy there was woman,
living somewhere near us who had been
divorced from her husband. l do not re-
member row who she was, but l do re
member very distinctly that her name
was never mentioned in company. l am
sura never heard my mother mention
her name. save. perhaps in whispered
conversation with some other lady. What
was the matter with that woman why,
she had been divorced from her husband!
That was enough.
Now, since some of cur people thlnk
we can't know ANYTHING. or be anything
until we are Yankeeized. politically, So
ciallv. morally and roligiously, we are
beginning to find out that divorces are
eli right; and. that, during all these
years we have been putting up with the
cold woman whose hair is whitening
and whose face is wrinkling we might
have been making annual swaps, getting
good-lookiag Young girls every swap.
For shame. And vet some OF our boys.
who were once honest piny woods rooters,
having been educated by their hard-Work-
ing fathers in the hope that they might
be a blessing to the old time South, IN
the way Of strengthening that heightened
moral sentiment which was the boast and
the bride of our ancestors, seem to think,
especiallv if thcv have scrapcd their feet
on the door mat of Yale or Harvard, or
so-iourned for awhile in Boating, that
nothing Is wrong that has Yankee tag
on it: while on the other hand nothing
is of any value that savors OF what they
are pleased to call cold fogyism'
If there is anything in the world more
to be piticd than an idiot it is the fellow
whose education knocks all common sense
out of him. and destroys in HIM the last
2nd least remains of veneratlon Tor the
old time traditions Of his ancestry
| have not the space in this letter to
speak of the change that has peen MADE
in the hospitality of our people, nor OF
one or two other things which would tend
to prove that we are not what we were
in the ante-tellum days.
am by no means pessimist, and
looking back to the old times, and re-
membering how the mothers used to
shout, and how happy all the people used
to be, or seemed to be when the gospei
was preached. I sometimes. am almost
persuaded to believe they had better
kind of religion then, than we have now;
if they didn't they certainly thought
more of it than we do now. But to be
charitable towards ourselves, maybe it
should be stated this way: we are more
modest and less demonstratlve than our
fathers and mothers were; and keep our
religion more to ourselves than they did;
sorter wrap ing it up III napkin for
safe keeping. during the week, and bring
ing it out. nice and fresh on Sunday. We
think so much of it we don't like to ex-
pose it, in all kinds of weather, lest it
might get soiled. Our forefathers didn't
have any better sense han to break
forth in the language of the Psalmlst:
Bless the Lord o my soul and forget
not ali his benefits; who forgiveth all
thine inicuities who healeth all thy dis
cases. who redeemeth thy life from de
struction, who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies. who satisfi-
eth thy mouth with good things. :.
My soul shall make her boast in the
Lord" But we don't make all that noise