The National tribune., 1911-03-09
HELEN Keller, than whom the age

shows no greater marvel, address
ed meeting of the Massachusetts
Association for Promoting the Interests
of the Blind the other day. Altho her
strange voice and exaggerated articula-
ton made her somewhat difficult to I'M
derstand. she could be understood, and
think what that means! A few years
ago comparatively, the idea that a
dumb person could be taught TO speak
would have been received as the rawlings
of a mad man. The wonders of the
present age fill one with a sort of fear
as if man had. somehow, seized those
powers which were supposed to belong
only to God.
THERE is one country, at least, in
which money is not the open Sc
same to the highest class of So
ciety and that country is India. The
rules and barriers of caste in that dis
tant land are to-day as inf1exible as
ever. 1t is quite possible for low-caste
Hindu to acquire a great fortune, ana
his daughter, perhaps, marry an Eng
lish nobleman, but no nuTnber of mil
lions safely invested in giE-edged Sc
curites, or no rise in the social world,
however great, will permit such man
or his family to sit at table with one
of the Rrahman class or even touch his
hand. The question of caste pervades
everything in the Empire. There is no
VI Tie Az buSiiiSSS
activity, free from its complicating ty-
ranny. From the Brahman down to the
pariah, every mans action is influenced
by it. Letter carriers have been known
to refuse to deliver the mail at houses
inhabited by those of lower caste than
themselves, and the story is told of
Brahman's clerk, who, wishing to dis
tribute some legal papers to low-caste
brethren, threw them down at the end
of the village street in which they lived
But worse still is it for the man who
for any reason loses his caste. He. is,
Stunned by everyone. His wife, even,
will not touch him or speak with him..
cut he must perform these necessary
duties himself, for he can find no.
reputable barber to do it for him. 1t
seems incredible that such nonsensical,
ideas could possibly outlive the intense
~ practical light of the twentieth CEN
fury, but it must be remembered that
what appears foolish snobbery to us, is
to these people a fanatical religious
faith, and the chains of a religious
fanaticism are the hardest of any to-
break
AIRS Burton Harrison, the writer,
iW tells how the song MARYLAND.
AA My Maryland" sprang into being
and became the most famous battle-I
song of the Confederacy. In Baltimore,
which in 1851 nearly equaled Charles
ton in the intensity of its sympathy
for the Cause, there lived young lady
by the name of Miss Jennie Cary, who
was a kinswoman of Mrs. Harrison. A
student from Yale College, spending a.
vacation in that city early in the year,
brought with him college song, the
air of which greatly pleased Miss Cary
She tried to fit it to the stirring poem
of Maryland" written by Randall. and
found that she could do so perfectly,
the only addition necessary being the
word my" which the music required
Ii was first sung as chorus in a Bal
timore drawing-room, and later by Miss
Cary and Mrs. Harrison in September,
1861, as they stood in the doorway of
a tent at Manassas, in the fading twi-
light, with the men of the Maryland
line facing them. The next day the
whole Confederate camp was resounding
with the song, which from that timeI
forth became wonderfully popular with
the boys in gray.
rREAT is the excitment in London
IN these days. Naturally, the cor
onation is the one subject of con-
yersation. King George, we are told,
will be respondent on the all-importantI
occasion in the robes worn by his father,
King Edward, at the time he received
the crown, but Queen Mary, for some
reason, has ordered new cloak, diff
ferent from the one that hung from
the graceful shoulders of Alexandra
when the ceremonies which made herj
Queen of England were performed. The
peers and peeresses who expect to take
part in the coming coronation are in
a state of mind as to their costumes.
Now your coronation ft-out is a very
expensive affair. 1t must be~made of
pelvaf and trimmed M 1esc ola hi
orately with ermine. Moreover, it is
not suitable for any other occasion. and
remains on your hands like white eIe-
plant for the rest of your natural ex-
istence. probably. or at least until an
other coronation. An enterprising the
atrical costumer has solved this prob
lem very nicely. He offers to provide
for rental coronation robes, perfectly
fresh, and absolutely CONNIE il faut in
every respect, and for a very moderate
sum-something like $50. Undoubtedly
he will do very good business at this.
AHRS. Oliver H.. P Belmont, who took
I'VE up the cause of woman's rights
with so much enthusiasm some
time ago, has been interesting herself
in the working girls of New York City
and thereabouts, especially those who
work in factories. Mrs. Belmont has
made a serious and careful study Of
the situation. being moved to do so by
the large number of women unable to
get employment in the factories, and
as remedy for this, and at the same
time to provide a more healthful oc.
cupstion for them, has given a tract of
200 acres at Hampstead. L. l., to be
used as a school of agriculture for wom-
en-. An experienced woman farmer has
been engaged to instruct the pupils in
practical farming, and the only man
about the place will be chore boy.
Besides learning how to run a farm, the
girls will be taught cooking and house
keeping by the matron, and are to be
paid for their work, even from the first.
No girl under Is will be accepted at
the school Mrs. Belmont is hoping
that the pupils may become so inter-
ested in their work as to eventually ac-
quire little land of their own. which
they will farm, thereby securing for
themselves an economic independence
that years Of toll in a city factory or
store would never give them. Aside
from this, but quite as important is
the effect of such training on the
health.
HY ONE of those strange accidents
I'd which are perhaps sent upon us
for some divine purpose. it came
to light in New Orleans the other day
that family which had always been
considered white, a family rather prom
inent in society, whose son was being
educated at school with white bows