Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-29

Won NAV be sure that the cave men warned their
little BOYS against certain path through Whlch
the mammoth travelled. And you may be sure
,lat as soon as the cave man was gone the little
boys hurried down to the path to find out for
themselves whether it was true, and to see the
mammoth if possible.
And the cave woman warned her little girls
against snakes in certain holes in the rocks And
when her back was turned the little girls hur-
ried over with a stick, and pOked in the holes
to see if the snakes were really there.
So il has been from the days of the cave men
to the days of men that live in sky-scraping
buildincs-that talk across copper wires one
thousand miles long, and talk across the ocean
without wires. and travel underground, and fly
through the air.
Each of us at birth is white page of mental
writing paper, and upon that page the expert
ancc of the individual must do the writing.
Nobody else can write upon it for us. No
body can convince us that we should be guided
by what has happened to others.
You may tell a child thousand times that fire
will Gurn. But il will not keep awav from the
FIR, UNTIL 1T HAS ACTUALLY BEEN
BURNED. 1''
YGl. may warn young men that whisI<av will
destroy them, yet, ninety-nine times out Of
hundred, if temptation and opportunity oro
there, the Young man must find out at least once
for himself that what his father told him about
whiSkey is true.
You may warn little boys as much as vou
choose against cigarettes-y0u may describe
wildly with your hand on the pit of your stom-
ach how dreadfully sick tobacco will male
them.
Put. sooner or later you will find that LITTLE
bcy with his hand on the pit of HIS stomach
bitterly regretting, too late, that he would mot
believe what his father told him-lOOking I'm.
with his little blue face and his fearful ewes to
say that he won't do it again.
Mothers warn their daughters against hasty
marriage and against other mistakes and dan
gers-but the daughters have to find out for
themselves
And so il goes throughout all life. The yOung
statesman learns only through humiliation and
failure.
The soldier learns through danger and
wounds
The experience of others cannot teach us.
And, as the old Greek philosophers of doubt
said, we assert nothing, not even that we as
sert nothing, so the wise man of to-day realizes
that experience cannot even teach us THAT
EXPERIENCE DOES NOT TEACH.
For, With all the ages of experience that have
passed. the old men still talk to the young and
think that they WILL be warned by the older
mans knowledge.
anu idJHeTS ana mOInerS Stlll ScOl0 ana
cruelty punish their children because those
children have simply refused, as the fathers and
mothers had refused before them, to be guided
by experience.
You see in this picture an old man pointing
out to young boy the dangers ahead You
yourself, perhaps will take this picture and
point to the scenes of foolish, evil living to
which the old man points and warn some boy.
You will say to him, perhaps, "My boy. look
at this old man and this little boy. The old man
is telling the boy the truth. If the boy would
believe hm-if he had intelligence enough to
trust the old mamie could keep out of danger,
away from disappointment and failure; and he
could be useful, successful, good man at the
beginning of his carer. But this little boy will
scarcely listen tO.the old man. Take warning
by him, and be guided by what tell you"
The bittereSt anguish in this world has been
that of the fathers and mothers compelled at
the last to realize that their own lessons of life
cannot be made useful for their children.
And to those who examine conditions super
Gcially it seems great curse to the human
race that the gift of speech, the most important
gift bestowed upon man next to his power of