The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-02-21

folk what they want: and "Het ~.
means unlimited finery ana Soc,di ;,
sition and luxuries unoreaIiieu
/ generation back. the men nsnaes
harder. and take greater business
rjsks and have less and less ooI11esue
life With the frequent result OF com
mercial. physical and moran olsas.e
r, is MOI magnifying the number OF
Tazehels to say that the ill-directeo
am billions and unWive counsel OF
women are potent factors in the pres
ent social unrest. Ihank COO me
world is full Of good women; but II
IS not the part OF discretion to ignore
he other kind. The worst OF all the
Of our rather hystericai
and retrospective g is the unset
Ting of the status Of woman. TO say
this is not to commit the indiscretlon
Of intruding an opinion upon the po-
litical suffrage for m it is
merely to record a notent fact con-
corning society in general. Woman
today is a question:: her place is
no longer fixed and taken for granted
as it was. Her entrance into the
~wage-earning realm, her higher edu-
cation, her emancipation with it's
ACCOMPANYING ceaseless agitation, has
quite unsettled the foundations upon
which she once stood, assured. Even
the reverence and religion which
marked the woman of a generation or
two ago, nave disappeared from the
general makeup of the modern pro
gressive' woman.
a Cruel Plot.
Things always go wrong when a
woma takes a mans place. That real
estate transaction vas an affair Of
Ahab's. It had failed, and he accepted
the fct. though with i'll grace He
had n Sanca nf i,,ctioo vUhioh rooao-
nized Naboth's rights. even while he
resented his ungraciousness.
When Jezebel entered the case, she
obeyed her feelings and not her judg-
ment. WOman-wise, she resented what
had depressed her husband. Lacking
the judicial sense. she began to plot
to accomplish the end desired, "by
hook or by crook" Abstract justice
and Naboth's claims alike meant lit
tie to her. We may call this devotion
to Ahab, it was not. Rather let us
call it blind and cruel s-e1fishness,
True love always puts the great
claims OF duty and truth above itself.
AS says the poets line,
II could not love thee. dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more"
Jezebel tried Dayid's trick, Of elm
mating the troublesome factor in the
case. AS the great king had encom-
0~NoS ACokAAs 81 SXIC "Ou4u
put Naboth out OF the way. The plot
she formed. whereby this stiff backed
lover Of justice was made to appear
the enemy OF the king and of law,
was particularly hideous. The fashion
of removing the man with a trouble-
some claim has never lost its vogue.
Consider the men whom the Jezebels
Of big business" have slain: and of
those others who ~"the e~xigencies of
politics" ave sacrificed. There is a
wel-known man whose footsteps I
ran across in Syria recently, where
he has been travelling in a vain effort
to forget his sorrow, Who is being
p~rernature1y broken by the public
shame Of an official miscarriage of
craftsmanship; he is the scapegoat of
an n erground plot.
An ugly light is thrown upon the
times by the act that Jezebel found
willing fellow-conspirators in the high
officials Of the capital. as she sought
Naboth's death. The men who cast
swore falsely against the innocent
man, the elders and mobiles who
worked n machinery which put him
on trial. all had a share in the re-
sponsibility for the murder. but the
woman behind it all had the great
est share.
The Man With the Backbone.
Into the grewsome story suddenly
appears our dramatic friend Elijah,
the prophet. He must have seemed
the incarnation of the justice of Je-
hovah to covetous Ahab. The latter
had gone to Naboth's vineyard to
enjoy the fruits Of his success, earned
by a woman's wicked wiles. Then
came Elijah also, and his appearance
evoked the cry. Hast thou found me,
= mine enemy?" That is the way the
burglar feels when the policeman un-
expectedly appears on the scene.
Were Anal in possession of a clear
conscience he would have welcomed
the prophet: his sin made him fear
and hate the enemy of the good.
Scarcely had he entered upon his
new acquisition, barely was the cup
Of possession at his lips. than it was
dashed down again. A word of dire
doom was on the prophets lips. I'm
the place where the dogs licked the
blood Of Naboth. shall dogs lick thy
blood, even thine And Of