The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-07-27
MORALS AND CLOTHES

of the state have either copied or com |
mented upon the Commercials edI- |
torial "The Tragedy of a Triangle"
In every case except one, those who |
have taken opposite views have beg |
ged the question or practically disre- !
garded it. The exception is BenJa-
min of the Ocala Star. Mr.. Benjamin
saws the most immoral society life
of history was among the courts OF
Europe when long sleeves and high
necks were the fashion. Mr.. BenJa-
min did not remember far enough
back. Come now, Brother Ben, don't
YOU recall the days of Nero and don't
YOU remember some of the costumes
of that date. And for recognized and
open RIGHTEOUSNESS, these days far
surpassed the court liasons of France,
even as Balzac and De Maupassant
tell of them-Leesburg Commercial.
We do indeed remember the days of
Nero, Brother Leach, and tho we were
not much more than a kid at the
time, it's our opinion, based on recoi-
lection and such contemporanious his
tory as has come down to this time,
that the men and women Of those
days we're immoral rather than i'm
moral The bacchants and bac-
chantes who met in promisc1ous
orgies at the feasts of Nero and
Caligula knew they were making
hogs of themselves, but neither they
nor their neighbors thought they
were doing anything improper It's
true that the ladies of Nero's court
wore much less than those of the
courts of Charles and Louis but the
very considerable difference between
the climates of Rome and Paris and
London had more to do with it than
their morals or lack of them. If you
will study theology, Friend Leach,
you will find that what we call NOR
atty is taught only in the great
ethical religions of Buddha and 3rah-
ma. Moses, Christ and Mohammed.
The religions of Greece and Rome
were nothing more than worship of
the gods with a view to obtaining
good and avoiding evil. The laws OF
Rome were based on property rights,
life and virtue being listed as prop
erty. The heather world knew what
was wrong, but it did not know there
was any such thing as sin.
There were fifteen to sixteen cen
turtles between the court of Nero and
the courts of the Tudors and Stuarts
the Valois and the Bourbons. In that
time Western Europe had adopted q
code of morals founded on the Chris
tan religion. For over thousand
years men and women had beer
taught that murder, rape, seduction
adultery and theft were not only
wrongs but sins. They believed il
religion far more strenuously than We
do, and put in a good deal of their
time killing people who did not agree
with them about it. Owing to the fac
that no one could be as comfortable
even in summer, with scanty cloth
ing in London or Paris as they coulC
be in Rome, they covered themselve
up considerably more than the Roman
of GO A. d.
It's for these reasons that we g.
back to the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries instead of the first for com
parative morality. We do not inten
that Editor Leach shall take US bacl
to the days of our childhood, "when,
as Jack London says, "the world wa
young" and it was both proper an
common for man to kill his neigh
Dor when he could take him at disad
vantage and appropriate his wife o
any other property he had.
Friend Leach goes on to say:
But what do we gain by the stud
of conditions of those times? Toda
is so different that no rules could az
ply to both. This is the day of tn
afternoon moving picture show er
gagement and the night automobil
date. In the larger cities the pictur
house is the open market place flo
thousands who seek to attract the al
tention of men, and men who have tn
time and the inclination attend tn
market daily and bid with eyes an
eyebrows, hands and toe telegraph
for the choicest wares as these ar
paraded before them. Many an II
nocent girl has been accosted in thes
places merely because she was dreS;
those who expected to be accostet
and a few mistakes have mad
these girls believe the whole worl
except herself, was having a "goo
time The constant drip of waite
wears away the stone, and in this cas-
the water does not drip long until til
girl either accepts the new viewpoiI
or awakes to a realization of whel
she is drifting and returns to the col
ventionalities of her mothers day.
Some years ago the wonderful pi
ture "Nana" was on exhibition
Tampa. 1t is a beautiful paintin
and deserves the high place it hs
won In art. We attended this exhib
ton several times, not to see the pi
ture again, but to watch the EXPIRE
sions of individuals in the crowd
Among the men who viewed tn;
painting while we were present MOI
than half looked with eyes of admir-
alton and appreciation of the a
which could so strikingly reproduC
on fiat canvas the masterwork {
divine hands. With these men, tt
girl dressed in costumes that hay
L. mI.& g, L. Al