Atlanta Georgian., 1914-02-24
The Manicure
Lady
BY WILLIAM F. KIRK.

UTTHINk it is too terrible for any,
thing the suffering they ara
having over in them Balkans"
said the Manicure Lady "The paDer
yesterday said that there are hun.
dreds Of thousands literarily starv-
ing TO death. There has been so much
war over there that the soldiers has
destroyed all the crops and ate up
all the live stock So all the poor
women and the old men and the chill.
dren amt got a thing to eat. Honest
to goodness, George, can't see where
this wonderful world that we are all
the time talking about is getting anv
better Certainly it can't be getting
much more civilized when they will
stand for a war that will let hun
dreds Of thousands, mostly women
and children, literarily starye to
DEATH
"You don't mean Titerarily. Won
mean literally" interrupted tha
Head Barber. You are all the time
calling me down about my grammar
but you make more mistakes than
do"
George" declared the Manicure
Lady, sometimes l think that yoa
have a heart like stone and brain
like a shriveled- bean. Here was.
telling you about the terrible and
heart -rending things which is hap
pening over in them Balkans, and
there are you, not paying particle of
attention to the agony that is going
on there, but correcting me instead
about a word-and you wrong at that.
Sometimes | get to thinking ab1u:
your lack of all them finer feelings
and swear that you and me will lust
pass the time of day hereafter and
then | get lonesome and realize thal
have to talk to somebody or &c.
foolish, so | talk to you"
Il didn't mean to interrupt gou"
said the Head Barber. q guess yot
are right; conditions must be awfel
over there. / notice that good Jl
Uncle Sam is right there to help ou.,
too-and England, and the other G
ilized countries. That is why s,r
the world is better than it was 10
them dark ages. In them days Wael
there was famine and fever and wal
there wasn't any civilized nations 10
step in and help them out of Their
misery. They just died like ra.s.
Now, when there is anything aWfu'
like that comes up, it gets into The
newspapers and the people that has
anything to give is quick enough conf
ing across"
Yes, there is something in THAI"
admitted the Manicure lady. Il didn't
used to know what the power of the
press meant. / used to think that il
meant how strong them big machines
was to run off so many papers. but
Wilfred explained to me that It meant
the influence newspapers has in the
world The old gent had to come in
then with his knock against the pa
pers, because once when he was rum
ming for office I guess some of the pa
pers got after him pretty hard, and
he ran second instead of first That
was his last deal in politics, but he
has hated the papers ever since.
"Wilfred had some wild scheme
fixed up to get a few boy scouts like
him and start for the Balkans with
money and provisions, but when he
started out trying to collect the fet
tuce nobody would kick in with no
dough. He tried to get all the mer-
chants in the neighborhood interested,
but none of them knew anything about
the starvation in the Balkans, and
only one of them even knew that
there was a place by that name, and,
besides. none of them would trust
Wilfred no more. anyhow, after the
way he got into them.
Il guess them awful troubles is sent
here, George, to make us realize that
we amt so high and mighty, and 20
make us contented with what we
have. Gee. business is awful, ain'J
it?"