The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-05-17
"HEARTS"
By Gi1f11an Scott.

!
| ha bit to talk with every kind of man
and to note expressions of emotion
and thought. I have been, I believe.
/ peculiarly favored by a certain readt-
ness Of some men to open their hearts
| to me and let me see in; and I have
concluded that right down deep in
| his heart of hearts every man Is
| GOOD.
say EVERY man is good. White,
black, blue, red, yellow, any old color
you like; they're ALL good
Now to qualify that.
| They all have a wish to be good.
| Every mothers son Of them.
| If anyone contradiCts that, I tell him
! to his face he doesn't know his fellow
man.
You shall take the worst criminal
that ever disgraced humanity; and. If
you know how, you shSll find hidden
away in him an ANGEL; a good
angel, dominated and spoiled by a
| bad angel.
The bad man IS what you see and
punish; the hard, cold. selfish brute
beast, animal.
Poor fellow; he can't help It; he
was born wrong; he's a victim of de-
fective construction, heredity and en-
VirOnme
There are deformed brains as wen
as deformed bodies.
We pity hunchback and blame a
hunchbrain.
We can see the one and are blind
The remedy for criminals of that
class is segregation and education; not
the electric chair.
But I have drifted into exceptions
again.
Now to get TO the real crowd
/ see them all before me; in caps
and hats and coats and shirtsleeves;
in counting room and warehouse; the
lawyer, the doctor, the parson. the
merchant, the banker, the laborer, the
loan shark, the ptckpocket, the drunk
ard, the prostitute, the tinker, tailor,
soldier sailor, rich man, poor man,
apothecary and thief.
Come along this way. kings and
queens and lords and dukes and belted
earls (the belt is to hold the excess Of
beef and cabbage and beer and
things); come and shake hands. How
dye do?
What Ho. Here's one that won't
shake hands. What's the matter, my
friend? What does he say2 Says
heart, don't let that make you shame
faced. I don't mind shaking hands
with a king; not the least bit
Poor fellow; you can't help it; you
were born wrong; you're a victim Of
defective construction, heredity and
environment. That will all be straight
ened out when you get in your coffin
What! another one. My, myi
What's he fretting about? Says he's
a banker. and bursting with money?
spill any! 1 don't want my new wall
paper spIashed over. Come, come;
hold yourself in long enough to smile
and shake hands. You'll make every
one like you, and your face won't
crack. It's all creases now for want
of a smile.
Oh, dear. I'm drifting again; and
into exceptions, too.
Let's take a broad look at the
crowd
your hand IS hard. I don't give a durn
how hard your hand is, so long as your
heart isn't hard. Shake hands again
Ike your strong grasp. What are
you looking sad about? Get drunk,
do you? cuss and fight; not much at
Say, friend. what would you do If
that little girl fell overboard7
Jump in after her! What with
sharks about.
send for parson quick; this poor lost
soul is GUESSING TO beat the band! Says
he'd be ID and id and ever so
many more DIS before he'd stand by
and see that little girl drown or be
chawed up by sharks.
What fearful depravtty!
And who's this forlorn looking girl?
A prostitute,
Impossible to shake hands with her,
isn't it? Why she's bad, isn't She
and all the rest Of US are so good.
aren't we? so very good,
Worked in q, factory at six dollars
a week
Six dollars a week! You surely
didn't spend all that money in a week,
Hall bedroom cost you three dollars,
laundry fifty cents, carfare sixty cents,
shoes and clothes a dcSar. didn't get |
enough food, work was hard and hours |
long; we'll dressed gent took you joy
riding. promised you marriage, disap- |
peared, you lost your Job, and now |
you're bad Humph,
Do you love your present life?
Wish you were dead. do you?
What would you do If you saw your |