The National tribune., 1910-02-10

ing a spectacle of themselves by poor
dancing are quietly notified that they
had better retire. By this system the
Kaiser's balls are a delight to good
dancers and great pleasure to on
lockers. Poor dancing is almost un-
known, and there is plenty of room for
the ladies to display their handsome
toilets, as well as their proficiency and
grace in this accomplishment.
Madam Thebes, the French seeress,
who for some 80 years has been doing
her best to cloud the skies of life by
her gloomy predictions, says that the
worst is yet to come. The San Fran
lcisco earthquake disaster, that at
Messina, the recent calamitous condi-
ton in France, are nothing in COM
parison to what is well on the way.
This year of 1910 is going to be simply
lawful for us poor Americans. While
the whole world is going to get it terri
bly, 'in the neck" so to speak. the pro-
Iphetic eyes of the seereSS, peering into
the dark and misty future, sees par
ticularly dreadful things for US. We
are in the worst zone of all, she says,
and the consequences of this unlucky
circumstance is going to cost us dear.
Our pride in our riches and prosperity
will be brought to the dust, a tremen-
dous financial crash will be followed
by a perfect epidemic of suicides, a
state of degeneration will prevail, and
the Madam winds up her list of horrors
by what she presumably considers the
most crushing blow of all-our young
men will marry old women for money,
and our young girls will marry old men
for the same reason. 1t is to laugh.
Our exceedingly energetic friend
Carry Nation has been in trouble again.
Carrie was recently in Butte, Mont,
nosing around for something to smash,
and she wandered into Mrs. May Ma
loy's dance hail. scenting mischief from
the gay, alluring character of its en-
trance. Quite a crowd of people, out
for fun, followed Mrs. Nation in. and
| they did not have to wait long. A
large oil painting on the wall of the
dance hall offended Carries notions of
lpropriety at once, and, after delivering
a scathing denunciation of its poor art
land demoraliZing character, she made
a motion as If she was going for the
picture with her hatchet; whereupon
Mrs. Maloy sailed into her with both
| fists. She tore Carries bonnet from
her head; she pulled her hair; she
slapped and scratched her face, and
altho she got good one herself on the
jaw, yet she had decidedly the best of
it, and there is no telling in what de-
Dlorable shape she would have left
ferred and stopped the fight
1t really gives one that tired feel
| ing to read of the goings-on of the H.
iyear-old boy now a student at Har-
ward. The other day he made an ad-
Bodies" Gracious! For two mortal
hours this boy talked about these
t"Bodies,'' and was respectfully listened
to by 100 students and professors. Most
of us haven't the faintest idea of the
meaning of his subject, even, and don't
want to know The higher mathe
matics play a very important part in
life, of course, but 1t does seem as If
they might be kept in the background
till the children were well out of the
nursery at least. This boy is certainly
one of the wonders of the age. What
will his brain be when he is 80? That
remains to be seen.
Mrs. Hetty Green takes fish instead
of meat these days when she goes into
| a restaurant for her daily luncheon.
No meat for her at the present prices.
You don't get your moneys worth,
| she saws, and Mrs. Green invests good
money in nothing that doesn't give her
a return value. The richest woman
| in America" Gas she has been called)
| has a well-trained stomach which
1
her purse. There are plenty of things
| just as good as meat" it says, "and
much cheaper, and you stick 10 fish,
etc, until these robber Barons come
down on their prices. I'll take care
! of you, all right
"a babe in the house is well-spring
| of pleasure" says our friend Martin
Tupper, and, troublesome darlings, as
they frequently are, they certainly
bring with them ray of Gods own
sunshine and happiness. How different
is the atmosphere of the home without
children from that in which their
merry voices are heard. To be sure,
the tired mother may sometimes sigh
for a little more quiet, yet nothing
would tempt her to part with one of
her little brood, even the noisiest and
most troublesome. The soft touch of
a little child's kiss and its trustful de-
pendence upon both father and mother
have kept many a dissatisfied couple
out of the divorce courts, later to real
lie, perhaps, that their differences were
not irreconcilable And, oh, the ache
in the heart of the childless woman!
1t is sorrow she cannot show TO the
world; she must listen smilingly to the
enthusiastic ravfng of happy mothers
lover their children and give no sign
of the envy that overwhelms her. 1t
lis no wonder then that the chiidless
wife, conscious that her husbands dis
appointment is quite as keen as her
own, should sometimes resort to artifice
Ito make good natures lack and i'm
pose upon him some other woman's
lchild for his flesh and blood. This
has been done ever since the world
began, and several noted people in his
tory have been supposititous. Some
times this deceit has been practced
against a country instead of single
home, both husband and wife being
combined in the fraud, as was the case
of the son of James ii, whom few peo-
pie ever believed was the child of this
monarch. Now comes the rather start
ling bit of news that 5000 Chicago
men have been deceived in this way by
their wives, who have taken babies
from the Maternity Hospital and adopt
ed them, the deluded fathers being
none the wiser. The treasurer of the
hospital makes this statement, and he
ought to know what he is talking
about. A great many of these women
are well known in society, and they
; have taken advantage of the husband 5
absence on business or pleasure to in
stall the child in the nursery cradle
g OF course, the woman who takes a
child OF unknown or undesirable pa
rentage runs risk, but every child
that comes into this world, no matter
who its parents are, is a decidedly un-
known quantity and quite likely to de-
yelop into q curse, instead of a blessing.
A namelesS waif, in the hands of a
wise, mother-hearted woman, has a