The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
A Woman,s Tonque.

 William Watson, the English poet
 wrote poem entitled "The Woman With the Serpent's Tongue" vitriolic
 diatribe.
 Richard Le Gallienne, in reply, wrote
 poem, "'rhe Poet With the Coward's
 Tongue" branding Watson's stuff as un- gallant and untrue, whereat there has
 been talk of hostile meeting, etc. A woman's tongue Men have jeered and tested at IL, put have found no fault with the tongue of man, because, you know, his tongue knows naught but ,gentlcness and savers always of seraphic sweetnessl womans tongue. Whose? Your mothers, or wife's or sis ters or daughters, or sweetheart's? No, no! Of course notl Some other per sons mother or wife or sister or sweet heart has the serpents tongue. A womans tongue. Whose tongue was it sang the lullaby to you in the days when, helpless and dependent, some one's loving arms held you in embrace? Who brushed away your tears and with soothing tongue hushed your childish troubles? Whose tongue prayed to God for your welfare? What tongue was it bade you ''Goodby and God bless you. my ohild!" when you went away? And whose tongue still prays for you?
 A woman's tongue Some woman's tongue said, " es" when you asked her to marry you and help you and love you through all the years. Whose was it? Was it not the same tongue that sang your babies to sleep-the same tongue that, when you went to her Respondent and broken sweetly said, "Never mind, dear-try It agafn?'
 A woman's tongue. Is 1t serpent's tongue that calls you by the endearing name of brother! What tongue quicker to respond in de- fense of you, to intercede for you, to bless you. than 8 sisters tongue? A womans tongue. Does a malignant tongue say "dear
 daddyY' The little daughters tongue 1isps papa, with it's earliest accents l and the big daughter writes that you are "the finest father in all the world Are the serpents tongues of your flesh and blood?
 woman's tongue. Is there guile under the tongue of the dearest girl of them alP'-your sweet heart? Is hers the serpent's tongue? What womans tongue? Occasional sharpness there may be; but, oh, the tender. soothing. loving ac- cents of woman's tongue! Only the poet with a towards tongue could fault 1t.
 In the Fog. A heavy fog settles down over the earth and shuts out your vision. The only clear space Is the immediate circle about you. As you walk through the haze the clear spot follows and re- mains about you. Everybody except your self is shut out by the fog. Your neighbor has a like experience. As he views the situation you are envei- oped in the fog and he is the center of tho only bright spot. Is 1t not so? And thereby hangs a moral. It is characteristic of average humani- ty to self-center itself. Each man thinks he oan see clearly enough, but that those about him are badly befogged. Each man fancies he is wise concerning the things he presumss to know. and each fancies his neighbor is unwise be- cause he cannot see things" Each be- lieves the other wrong, when, as mat ter of fact both may be in the fog For instance You may think your political party Is the one that must save the country, while your neighbor may regard you as blind partisan and think his party is the commissioned instrument of national salvation.
 See?
 You say your church is the only church that has the real right of way up to the pearly gates. The other man says you are wrong and his route is the straight and narrow way. You think he Is in q haze. He knows you are.
 And there we are. The whole trouble lies in the fact that we lack the full sweep of the wider horizon. We are all of us more or less befogged. Only a few great sculs strug- gle out of the lower earth mists to the heights that are lit up by the clear sum shine
 Because of our limited view we are apt
 to become narrow. provincial. prejudiced
 and maybe conceited.
 Let us be very sure the fog has cleared
 away before we presume too much. With
 becoming humility let us be slow to crit
 icise our fellow travellers. Because
 Some of us will never get the wider
 scope of vision until the earth fogs shall
 have been eternally dispelled.
 Your angel of vtsion and mine are one
 sided. Our little arc is small part of
 t1.a ~~ao+ ,yrC1A Our luulfn0ua little aDOt