Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-15
WOMEN SMUGGLERS.
Some Feminine Tricks Played on the
Customs.

Customs.
Women have been declared to be
born smugglers-possesso of tur-
pitude that recognizes no wrong in de-
frauding g. government. Armed with
arguments in defense of my kind, /
prepared to discuss the question with
the collector Of the port of New
York, but at my first suggestion Of
our reputed delinquencies Mr.. Loeb
interrupted me.
THAT is an idea to which will not
assent" he said emphatically.
"Women by nature are not smugglers.
Moreover, the average traveller Is
honest"
Men are my authority for the state
ment," l urged. Husbands, at any
rate. are always telling stories of the
cleverness and delight OF their wives
in Outwitting officials"
Il have heard them joke" the COL
lector replied, putting their wives
under the ban of an odious stigma.
For such men have only contempt
Although. with his vindication. my
own carefully prepared line of argu-
ment was rendered unavailable, leav-
ing me i'm midair, as it were, without
the support of a leading question, 1t
served to call out the following story
Not long ago q second-claSs passen-
ger came in who was known to have
been the purchaser in Europe Of val
liable optical instruments, but he de-
clared nothing and nothing was found
in his baggage In his party, however,
were two women, his wife and her
friend. Suspicious were excited and
the women were examined. The opti-
cal instruments were found concealed
about the waist of each-heavy loads
indeed to carry on consciences as
well as on waist bands. The officials
were in a dilemma. The man could
not be arrested, for he had not SNUG
gled. The women had, but could
they be imprisoned? One carried a
nursing baby, the other was bur-
dened with n sick child. Considera-
tions of pure humanity set them free
Had l not been bent on defending
women I might have told the collec-
tor q story in which the tables were
more adroitly turned on an unsus-
pecting husband. He was a retired
general, a martinez in discipline. and
overscrupulous regarding even the
shadow of laxity in the performance
of his own obligations. mo smug-
CLING was to be permitted" he told
his wife, and before leaving Paris ne
insisted on making a full list or every
dutiable article in his possession:
Unknown to him, she bought several
yards of Venetian lace. How 10 niue
it was q problem until she thought
of ripping the lining of his oVercoat
and hiding the lace inside. She re-
garded her cunning as a tremendous
joke, and to this day he does not
know how she laughed to herself
when, wearing that very same coat
on the dock, he drew himself up TO
his full height and with free con-
science pointed to a tray containing
"all his purchases" No idea OF any
thing so serious as defrauding the
had ever entered her
frolicsome mind.
In France distinctions are made be-
tween the honest and the dishonest
traveller and during the autumn OF
1909 the foreign papers publlshed
long series of instructions from the
chief of the bureau in Paris to MS
admonishing them to
greater consideration and courtesy,
more discretion and the exercise OF
finer intelligence in the discharge OF
their duties.
We American women find the GUS
toms law peculiarly oppressive be-
cause il is almost the only law with
which most of us ever come in con-
tact. We go about our tasks at home,
live out our days and die, without
thought of legal obligations. We are
proud of our freedom, too, when we
travel. gorying in it, boasting of per-
sonal liberty as the very breath OF our
national existence, demanding, be-
cause of it, the overthrow of so many
social traditions abroad that our less
favored sisters on the other side re-
gard us with awe and envy. Then we
start home. One day steamship
steward knocks at our staterOOm door,
hands us the governments printed
to Passengers" Suddenly, for the
first time in our lives, we find our
selves bump up against" the law.
Some of us cannot understand it. We
tremble: our hearts beat We have
with friends and strang-
ers. Blood-curdling stories are told.
We can think of nothing else, talk of
nothing else. Where have we packed
our new things, where our old? Will
they dig out everything? VIII they
believe us? Those little presents we
have brought i'm are they presents un-
til we have declared them? And so
on and so on until our last days be-
come a nightmare compared with
which seaSckness is paradise.
Neither is there any man to protect
US with any of those liberal "interpre-
tations" which stand most of us in
stead. We must go through the or
deal as we go through death-alone!
Some women are noble enough to
accept the law smilingly MY father
gave his life To the making of laws
for this country" said the daughter
of distinguished senator, now dead.
land my business is To respect those
laws. | pay my duties gladly, happy
to do that much for the government
which protects me-" Meantime, 9TH
ers of the honest rebel, though if we
are honest I'VE must obey" as the
child-SOng has it. There is
no escape from the law as long as it
stands. Sophistries are not possible
The law is there before us in black
and white, ineXorable, compelling
To point. i'm Il defense of our rebellion.
to greater frauds practiced by those
at which the laws administrators have
long winked is neither fair nor digni-
fed. This thing only we can do
agitatc the question if we will, urg-
ing calmly and soberly just and sufi-
cient reason why the law should be
altered in our behalf.-Ccntury
Why Trees Kill Grass.-It is a mat
ter of common observation that