The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-12

wear, that's enough. In their estima-
ton number one" is ALL They be-
long to Gains crowd, and, like him,
they ask, Am ] my brothers keep
err" Unlike Paul who asked, Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do?' their
question is, Lord. how may We get
through the world without bothering
with other folks? ?"
I certainly am sorry for the moth
erless child but, he or she is no more
to be Ditied than some other children
who, although their mothers are liv-
ing, are learning very little that will
help them in the years to come, when
the way becomes dark and thorny.
have not had much to say of the
Legislature, which recently met and
deliberated in our city. | expected
that the members were all gentlemen
and most of them church members,
and therefore, disposed to do right;
so / did not feel it to be my duty to
advise them, criticise them, nor to
watch them. Consequently they cant
go home and say they were kept from
enacting laws because j hindered
them. or that they enacted bad
laws because l lobbied them.> SO far
as / have been informed as to the
personnel of the body, it averaged up
we'll intellectually, morally and pa
triotically; and / take it for granted,
that, with few exceptions, the enact
ments will be satisfactory to the peo-
pie. / have noticed that most of the
criticisms that have been made have
been aimed against that legislation
which had for it's object the moral i'm
proVement of the people; but | am
gratihed at the fact, that, / have seen
but little of that; from which | con-
clude that most of the people endorse
the work that has been done. Last
Monday, having completed their work,
the august Senators and the hard
worked Representatives folded their
tents broke camp and went to their
homes to give account of their stew
ardship. OF most of them it may be
said, in the language of an old song:
1.-THE best old time ever had before
Is gone, and shall never see it more,
unless the Governor should call them
back to hold an extra session. which
is hardly probable.
DR.. William Osler seems to have the
floor just now, and it must be confess
ed that he is attracting attention. But
a monkey can do that. / don't blame
the Doctor for trying to get up SEN
sation, because, it is fact that. our
people, like sensations, and are not
happy without them. New discoveries
are usually sensational, more or less,
and the discoverer ought not TO be
blamed for making public that which
the world had never known or dream
cd of before. Hence / could not find
it in my heart to abuse DR.. Bassett
when he published his discovery that
Booker Washington was the greatest
man, white or black, that had been
born in the South in hundred years.
1t was a very sensational discovery,
and our people being fond of sensa-
ton, he gave it to them. The bell
rang, the lights flashed up, the curtain
was raised and there stood the Asensa-
tion-"the greatest man born in the
South in the last hundred years. The
sensation was all right, for, like all
other sensations, it brought forth
comments from the on-lookers. Some
denounced it as an insult to the intel
ligence of the audience; some said 1T
was intended to be a joke, though it
was in bad taste; some said they were
very sorry for a man who couldn't get
up a joke without classifying history
and casting a slur upon his own race;
while others oontended. it was mas
ter stroke of genius to get up such
big sensation, in times of profound
peace, when sensational material was
so scarce. All the same, it served its
purpose, and the world was treated to
first-class sensation. | didn't get.
mad about the Bassett matter, for |
thought if the Doctor could stand 1t
/ could, as it was a much more seri-
Gus matter to him than to me, as he
believed it. and L didn't.
And I'm not going to fret over what
Doctor Osler has had to say about
the sexegenarii," as | suppose his only
purpose is to get up a sensation, by
airing his learning; and, lest he might
get a fight on his hands. If he had
to say about the young
bucks, he perpetrates most SANDER
Gus joke on us old fellows who are
"forty-five and the rise. / don't
care for it, myself but l feel it to be
my duty to make few remarks, in
the behalf of the sixty year olds, who,
to his way of thinking, are
too imbecile to speak for themselves.
In valedictory address he delivered,
on taking leave of Johns Hopkins
recently, he said:
my second fixed idea is the useless
ness of men above sixty years of age,
and the incalculable benefit it would
be In commercial, pOlltlcal ana pro-
fessional life if, as a matter of course,
men stopped work at this age.
'Uselessness!" Now, isn't that an
insult? He insinuates that a sixty
year old man can add nothing COM
politically, professionally or
to the furtherance of any
cause, having for its object the happi~
ness or Improvement of his race, but
has reached that stage when he is of
no account, and it would be better to
put him out of the way than to let him
live. 1T would be interesting to know |
what suggested such an idea. / am
afraid the Doctor don't read the Scrip |
lures. They tell us that a mans years |
are three score and ten and, surely, |
God who made the machine ought to |
know how long it can run, usefully. IF |
by reason of strength they be four |
score years yet is their strength labor |
and sorrow" There it is. That's |
what the Maker says of His work: |
Mans days are three score years and |
en- and we are bound to conclude |
He means that man will be useful to |
he world, up to three score and ten.
After that. the intimation is. he will |
enter into that period of "uselessness
t0 nv DIR OSIar