The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-12-03
From December Magazines.
Wherein Girls are Superior to Boys.


Professor Thomas of Chicago University,
writing on 1.-The Mind of Woman, says:
cat an early age the boy begins to
practice on the outside world with his
hand and eve. and while he is throwing,
cutting, hammering, calculating distance
and nlaving competitive games, the girl
is sitting at home in pretty frock. But
in activities not requiring great strength
and speed the boy is not superior. The
fastest typewritist in the world is today
a woman: the record for roping steers Ia
feat where the horse does the heavy
work. is held by woman; and any one
who will watch girls making change be-
fore the pneumatic tubes in the great
Department stores about Christmas time
will experience the same wonder one
feels on first seeing professional gam
bier shufiing cards.
A Good Piece of Advice for Boy.
In the December American Magazine,
Stewart Edward White begins series
of stories of boy life. If the remaining
ones prove to be as good as this first one,
Mr.. White will have produced as notable
piece of work as he has yet given the
public, and that is saying "a good deal,
because he is the author of 1.-The Blazed
Trail, F" ''The Forest" and with Samuel
Hopkins Adams) 1.-The Mystery.
The first story in this new series,
which appears in the current American
Magazine, is entitled "Until the Last
Shot, Without revealing the story one
NAV indicate its essence and It's whole
some spirit by quoting the following
brief extract:
:. Bobby said Mr.. Kincaid gravely,
ALWAYS remember this all your life, no
matter what happens to you; man IS
never defeated until the very last shot Is
fired.
And remember this, too, that even
if he is defeated, he is not beaten, pro
vived he has done the very best he could
and has never lost heart. -
Alcohol as Chief Cause of Crime.
According to DR.. Henry Smith Will
]iams. who has an article in the Christ
mas McClure's on "Alcohol and the In
dividual,' 49. 95 per cent. of the crimes
in this country are traceable to alcohol.
He says: Mo-
sachusetts Bureau of Labor STATISTICS
revealed the fact that "a per cent: OF all
the criminals under conviction IN the
correctional institutions of that State
owed the condition which induced the
crime to Incorporate habits. The IN
yestigation included the inmates OF such
minor correctional institutions as Ja1ls
and warehouses, a very large proportion
of whom were arrested for being drunk
and disorderly;' but if these We're ex-
Guided, and attention confined to charges
other than drunkenness, alcohol could
still be made responsible for 50.oe per
cent. or more than half, OF all crimes:
An almost identical result was reached
quite independently by the investigators
of the Committee of Fifty, who very
carefully scrutinized the records OF 49,
4O2 convicts in seventeen prisons and re-
formatories scattered through twelve
States. The investigation did not IN
clude ordinary jails, and therefore TOOK
no account of persons convicted Ior
mere misdemeaners, drunkenness, or
violation of the liquor laws. The aver
age, however, was 1898 per cent, a
percentage which the committee puts
forward with much confidence as repre-.
senting San approximate expression OF
the truth.
A New Poem by Edwin Markham.
Edwin Markham, who made a world
wide reputation few years ago with his
poem, 1.-The Man With the Hoe has
written for the Christmas Woman S
Home Companion poem that is con-
sidered to be even greater than The
Man With the Hoe" Many who have
read Markham's new poem, Before the
Gospels Were,' consider it the greatest
verse of recent years. Before the Cos
Ky f,11
imagination, the story of the gathering
together of the materials for the gospels
by Christ's disciples after His ascension.
illuminating a picture Of what Christ S
life meant to his disciples and why it was
so accurately reflected in their gospels.
The opening verse of the poem is:
Long Moons and evenings after He gone,
Mary the Mother, Matthew, Luke and John,
And all those who loved Him to the last,
Went over all the marvel of the past
Went over all the old familiar ways
With tender talk of dear remembered days:
They walked the roads that never gave Him
Past Jordan's ford, past Kedron's bridge,
Up Olivet, up Hermon's ridge,
To that last road, the one they loved the best.
The climax of the poem is reached in
the last verse, which sums up all the
thoughts that have been expressed in the
preceding lines:
So budding often by the chimney blaze,
Or going down the old remembered ways
On many lingering walk,
They held their wonder-talk,
Winding each other of some sacred spot
Winding each other of word forgot
So gathering up till all the whispered words
Went to the four winds like flight of birds!
Why Religion Helps to Heal Disease.
In the December American Magazine,
Ray Stannard Baker, writing the first of
his new series on 1.-The Spiritual I'm
rest" says:
"A man is not really cured until his
character is changed, until he has substi-
tuted peace, love and courage, for fear,
worry, sin. PHYSICAL disease is often
only symptom of deeper distresses of
the personality growing out of sin and
selfshness, and such a physical disease
cannot be permanently cured until the
deep underlying cause is removed. And
these things are within the gift Of religion
and religion alone.
@ Trust in God, says DR.. McComb, of
Emmanuel Church, Boston, draws to-
gether the scattered forces of the inner
life, unifes the associations of conscious
I IL