The National tribune., 1908-08-27

this world. The thing we most want i
the thing we do not get generally, ant
therefore the man or woman to whom
fortune brings the coveted prize stand.
apart and is conspicuous on this ac
count. Miss Annie Peck. of Providenoe e
r. l., has wanted above all things t.
climb the dizzy nights of Mount Huas
caran, in Peru, and plant her two in
trepid feet on its snow-clad summit. She
has scaled the Matterhorn, Mount So.
rata, in Bolivia, and many other loft.
and difficult eminences, but as the appe
tite grows by what it feeds on her spiri
sighed for greater worlds to conquer
and refused to be put off with anything
less than the mountain in question. Miss
Peck attempted Mount Huascarll {
year or SO ago, using native guides
whose courage gave out as they ap.
preached the summit, and who acted sc
badly that when almost in sight of Jc-
rusalem, so to speak, she was obliged tC
give up her attempt and descend. This
time, with Alpine guides, she has been
entirely successful, and enjoys the lis
tinction to-day of having ascended high
er in the world than any other inhabi-
tant of it. Mount Huascaran has an
altitude of $4,000 feet. If a man or
woman has been given strong legs and
a strong heart, with taste for pulling
themselves up the sides of a mountain
by hanging onto bushes, rocks or any
thing else that affords a footing, why
that sort of thing is all right; it keeps
them in the open air and out of possible
mischief. But, all the same, it does
strike the person who prefers to do his
or her walking on the level as terrible
waste of precious vitality. out of all pro-
portion to the pleasure derived. Still,
it is something to be able to say, II am
the only woman or man in the whole
great world who has done this thing"
Miss Peck was given a very enthusiastic
reception IN Lima, Peru, when she came
down from the mountain. No word had
been heard from her for several days,
not after she signaled her arrival on
the top of Mount Huascaran. and it was
feared some accident had happened to
her. She came down full of grit and
spirit, but reported the climb as accom-
panied by terrible hardships, and ex-
pressed herself as willing to rest on her
laurels for awhile at least.
In spite of the fact that the poet has
called woman "a ministering angel
and has said all sorts of other lovely
and complimentary things about her,
this pleasing view does not seem to be
shared by some members of the strong
er. sex. Poor woman has been receiving
some pretty hard knocks lately, first
from Prof. Herrick, professor of Eng
lish in the University of Chicago, who
says American women are overfed, over
dressed and sensualized, living IN great
hotels, on mammoth steamers or luXurj-
Gus trains, rushing hither and thither on
useless errands, bargaining shrewdly for
husbands, and when married refusing to
have children, caring only for money
and content with being a neurotic slave,
and much more quite as untrue and up-
pleasant. Now, Joseph Medill Pattcr-
son, of Chicago, son of the editor of the
Tribune, is equally frank and brutal in
a book which he has just published
called "A Little Brother of the Rich."|
Mr.. Patterson is supposed to present a
picture of fashionable New York society
and the picture is a very revolving one,
which all women should denounce as
false. He makes the broad assertion
that every woman in society drinks TOO
much, is untrue TO her marriage VOWS.
mas no thought of anything but vulgar
display, cares only for money, and does
not mind how it Is obtained SO long as
she is pientifully supplied with it. Mr.
Patterson's definitions of wife "hus-
band" home" friends" happiness"
etc, show an appalling disbelief in the
higher and better qualities which reside
In every human being, and a black pes
siRism with regard to the present con-
ditions which exist in what is called
fashionable society. While 1t cannot BE-
denied that many women of our
wealthy, leisure class lead idle, material
istic, unworthy lives, they form but a
small band after all as compared with
the hundreds of fashionable women in
our large cities who are engaged in
charitable work of all kinds, in imProv-
ing club work. who are loving and faith
ful wives and devoted mothers. No
possible good can evere result from such
a diatribe as that in which Mr.. Patter-
son or Prof. Herrick indulge; every body
deplores the conditions to which they
allude, but so long as the world exists
they will continue, and most people
think the least said about it the better
IL is always ungrateful and unchival-
rous to say the least for men to assail
women, for when ever any class of
women are attacked the whole sex are
hurt by it and the innocent suffer with
the guilty.
Temperance circles are sorrowing over
the death of Mother Stewart" which
occurred in Hicksville, Ohio, on August
o. No woman in the country, not ex-l
cepting Frances Willard. has done more
for the cause than she. Her entire
life was devoted to the stamping out
this great evil, and remarkable success
crowned her efforts. She established the
4
few years later she crossed the ocean
and organized the first w. c. T. L. in
England. Altho she had reached the
advanced age of 80, and her years of
usefulness over some time ago, yet her
interest in her beloved work was still
keen, and the recent prohibition move
ment in this country was, she felt, the
result Of her earnest prayers.
Poor Barbara Frietchie Almost as
much vitality has been wasted in dis
cussing the question as TO whether or
not such person ever existed, as has
been by the utterly futile question of
Hamlet's sanity or insanity. Every
little while Barbara pops up, and the
whole matter is gone over again. Itl
is said that some woman sent in the
incident TO Whittier, who wove the spir-
tied little poem out of it, but who very
likely did not himself believe In the
truth of the story. Just now Barbara
is very much in evidence in Texas, where
they want her taken out of the grammar
used in the State public schools. She
is not proper person for the youth Of
Texas to associate with, and she. must
&C. The Texas Board of Education AZ
very particular indeed about their text
books. Altho it has been over Al years
since the civil war, certain names and
certain incidents are still decidedly per-
soma non grata in that locality A little
while ago il was the arithemtic that
gave them a bad feeling. The book
used in their schools, published in the
North, contained problems in which the
names of several Union Generals were
used. This was too much, and the book
had to be amended.
Convicts behind prison bars are not