ALESSONfrom MARY McLANE
By FORREST CRISSEY,
Author of “in Thompson’s Woods,” “The Exile,” Eta.
Happily the best lesson taught by the
notorious Story of Mary McLane is to be
had without reading the book! But it has a
moral worth the pointing—even worth wad
ing through a few chapters of the best
abused volume of the day to get at.
In the fact that this raw and undomesti
cated literary effort could find a reputable'
publisher there is encouragement for bud
ding literary ambition, no matter how iso
lated from influences of culture, how un
trained in methods or ingenious in outlook.
What gives the “Story of Mary McLane” its only excuse for
publicity? Its sugg«stiveness? its brilliancy of wit? its subtlety of
sarcasm? its originality of ideas? None of these! The book is not
strikingly nasty; its flashes of wit are not so frequent as to blind the
reader’s eyes; its attempts at irony are often ponderous and far
fetched and its boldest originality consists in a brazen confession of
shamelessness—a lack of the sentiment of common decency.
But still the book has a legitimate claim upon the interest of the
respectable reader, despite, its commonplaceness and crudity. And in
that claim is the hope of the obscure and embryo writer.
No matter how crudely it may be done, there is a sure welcome
waiting for the author who lets us WATCH the workings of an
AVERAGE HUMAN MIND, who uncovers the SENSATIONS of
an ORDINARY SOUL, who takes the cap off and allows us to
lrtii mr,a i\j < wi-ii^nivb uu kuuivu, wno lets us iook
upon the chemicalization of genuine human emotion. THAT
WRITER IS GOING TO HAVE A HEARING! And he need not
descend to nastiness to gain his audience, either. It will not be nec
essary, so long as he gives us the real thing in other lines. The
truth about trivial things is often interesting and EVERY HUMAN
HEARTS BEATS QUICKER when it is INVITED TO SHARE
THE SECRET THOUGHTS of another mind on the deeper prob
lems of life. And how seldom are those thoughts actually shared!
Often we pretend to do so—almost every book published is a pre
tense of this kind—but the drapery of conventionality is generally
hugged about our mental nakedness.
On many lines it is far better thus—and the exposure of a mind
vulgar and deformed is revolting. The soul which can boast of noth
ing but its nakedness has no call to reveal itself.
But there are sure laurels for the literary novice of average
mental and emotional force who will THINK OUT LOUD—which
is to say on paper—about the INSIDE EXPERIENCES which are
COMMON TO ALL HUMANITY.
THIS IS THE SHORTEST ROAD POSSIBLE TO QUICK
LITERARY SUCCESS, and it need not lead into the mire, either.
One thing is sure, however. It will take NERVE to do it with
the thoroughness that means success. Only a brave heart can travel
that path to fame.
Opportunities are to be found everywhere. They are in the soil
of the farm, on the shelves of the store, in the office desk, on the
canvas of the artist—everywhere. Do not let them escape you by
searching in unfamiliar places.
The IDEAL WOMAN of TO-DAY
By f?EV. JOHN k. SCUDDEH,
Pastor First Congregational Church, Jersey City, 71. J.
HOW me the ideal girl and you will show me one who
can climb a fence, row a boat and take a fish off her
* own hook without screaming and imploring every one
in thJ party to come to her assistance. I will show
you a girl who is not afraid of perspiration and
HAS MORE CALL FOR CRASH TOWELS
THAN FOR COSMETICS. I will show you a girl
who has an honest longing for roast beef and prefers corned beef
■ to angel cake.
WE ARE PROUD OF THE YOUNG WOMEN OF AMER
ICA. for they are inferior to none in beauty and surpass all others
in sprightliness, independence and magnetic power., A boy who never
mingles with girls and never feels the refining influence of the gentler
sex is certain to develop into an awkward, boorish fellow. The chief
advantage of coeducation lies in the harmonizing influences of the
girls upon the boys and in the development, of strength and courage
gK in the girls bv coming in contact with vigorous boyish life.
a a • ,,^ iti flip IqpL' f nlurcipol p/lfipnfic\r» (/%*>
Ab cl >v v. v, v***v — - - i ~j- ,
our young women. In the average family the daughters are told
that to romp is unladylike. The American woman thinks more of
what she puts on her daughters’ backs than into their constitutions,
consequently the American women fade early and cannot properly
endure the strains of modern life. If an English girl can play cricket
with her brothers, why should not an American girl play something
better than bean bag? A lily white complexion may be a beautiful
sight from an artistic point of view, but it shows that the blood is
weak and that the owner thereof is more fit for heaven than for earth.
THE KIND OF ANGEL I LIKE TO SEE WEIGHS NOT
LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY POUNDS. Her
iSl. js more than five inches in diameter, and her heels, instead of
bein'- perched up on stilts, are on a level with the rest of her feet.
She "is as straight as an arrow; she never has hysterics; she sleeps
seven hours and enjoys every moment of it. She has a clear head,
a pure heart and a cheerful disposition. She is a real woman—noth
in'- artificial or assumed about her. She is no sham, no apology or
caricature of a woman. She is just what God meant her to be—
healthv, hearty and perfectly natural. She is qualified to undertake
the duties and cares of motherhood and impart a vigorous constitution
to the coming generation. I hail with joy the increasing interest as
a nation we are taking in athletics.
%
WIT AND WISDOM.
i
The Secret.—“So you and Tom wer«
finally married, eh, Nell?” “Yes, but
we’re not happy.” “Why, how’s that ?”
“We didn’t marry each other.”—De
troit Free Press.
“Men,” mused the large-waisted phi
losopher, “reason to their conclusions;
women arrive at theirs by intuition;
and both hit it right if they are good
guessers.”—Indianapolis News.
Might Explain It.^-The honeymoon
was waning. “I can’t help thinking,”
she remarked, “that the clergyman
looked very solemn when he was mar
rying us.” “Well,” he answered, “lie’s
a married man himself.”—Chicago
Post.
Well Mated.—Windig—“I’ve got a
dog that can do almost anything but
talk.” Bifkins—“Well, you and the
dog ought to make a good team.”
Windig—“What do you mean by that?”
Bifkins—“About all you can do is talk.”
—Chicago Daily News.
Willing to Settle.—“You are charged
with killing two men while speeding
in your automobile,” said the magis
trate. “All right,” replied the rich
chaffeur, taking out his poeketbook;
“how much are they worth apiece?”—
Ohio State Journal.
The Effect.—Ding—“Are the police
very strict about Sunday-closing at
Highlandtown?” Dong — “Well. T
should say so!” “Well, what is the ef
fect?” “The constables watch the side
door so closely that men have to enter
through the front door.”—Baltimore
Herald.
An Atchison man had a trouble. “Be
patient,” said every friend who met
him; “Be patient.” read every letter in
his mail. But he got one recently
which advised him to growl and scold
occasionally; that he would feel bet
ter for it, and the advice was so pleas
ant and unusual that he had a fit.—
Atchison Globe.
WEST INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
The Native Blacks Have a Belief In
the Vampire and in the.
“Kollinic Calf.”
The French islands have two super
stitions which are not found in some
others of the West indies, says the
New York Commercial Advertiser.
These are a belief in a sort of were
wolf or vampire, which lives on the
blood of wayfarers, upon whom it
leaps when they are abroad in the
night time, or of sleepers whom it
finds in lonely huts; and a second be-i
lief in what is known as the British
islands as the “rolling calf,” a mon
ster with blazing eyes, which prowls
at night, clanking a chain which hangs
about its neckj and at whose touch
men die. The following description is
given of the typical obeah-man:
“There is something so indescribably
sinister about an obeah-man’s appear
ance that he can always be picked out
by anyone who has had much to do
with negroes. Dirty, ragged, unkempt,
diseased, deformed, there is yet about
him an air of cunning authority. His
small, cruel, piercing eyes peer vicioiis
ly at the witnesses arrayed* against him
in court, for all the world like those
of a cornered rat. Black men may
be seen to turn as gray as ashes under
the terror of that baleful gaze, and
often it is only with the greatest diffi
culty that incriminating evidence can
be dragged out of them. The wiz
ard’s awesome presence, however, does
not appal an unsentimental British
judge. He orders him “twelve months’
hard” and a sound flogging, r requent
ly the obeah-man appeals against his
sentence to the higher court, and in
Jamaica it is not at all unusual for
him to get off on some technical point,
owing to the defective drafting of the
law. Of course, he tells the ignorant
negroes that he procured freedom bj
his magical powers, and thus their su
perstition is strengthened."
British law punishes obeahs with
flogging and.imprisonment. Neverthe
less, obeah is practiced by the white
planters almost as a matter of neces
sity, in order to frighten the negroes
and prevent them from stealing the
•produce of the plantations.
You may walk through your friend’s
“cocoa-piece” or banana plantation,
and notice a skull stuck on the top of
a stick, a small bottle full of dead
cockroaches tied to a branch, or a
miniature black coffin placed on a
little mound. “Hullo, old man!” yon
say; “working obeah—eh?” I’ll come
and. see you flogged at the .tail.” He
tries to laugh it off shamefacedly, say
ing that there is really no other way
to make “those wretched niggers”
keep their thieving hands off the
crops. That is true. It. is needless,
however, to go to the trouble of plac
ing these things about the plantation.
If some night prowler has stolen your
nest yams or bananas, all you need do
is to say next morning, in the hearing
of the negroes: “It’s all right; I don’t
care. I’ve got the foot-print.” You
will see them w hispering among them
selves in an awe-stricken way, and
presently one will come up to you, near
ly weeping with terror, and confess
himself the thief. The superstition is
that if you dig out the earth upon
which the robber has impressed his
foot and throw it into the fire, he will
waste away and die unless he gives
himself up and takes bis punishment.
Henry Owen
PHYSICIAN, SURGEON ANft
OCULIST.
AVER BAILEY BROS'. DRY GOO! STORE
R.p7 MORRISON,
Architect and—
Building Superintendent
Parties desiring Plana or Spec
ifications, write or call
on me at
316 Second Street,
NEWPORT, - ARKANSAS.
WHEN GOING
EAST - WEST ■ NORTH - SOUTH
TAKE THE OLD RELIABLE
Only line with double Daily
through service
TO HOT SPRINGS
NO CHANGE.
CONNECTION MADE AT BALD KNOB
FOR MEMPHIS.
UNSURPASSED SERVICE
FAST TIME
DIRECT CONNECTION MADE AT ST.
Louis and Texarkana with lines
DIVERGING.
FOR INFORMATION CALL ON OR
ADDRESS
WM. M. GREGG, Agent,
Newport, Ark.
H. C. Townsend, G. P. A.,
ST. LOUIS, MO.
Consisting of
SLEEPING CAR
WITHOUT CHANGE
Between New Orleans
MEMPHIS
AND
BUFFALO
A Morning Arrival at Buffalo
dining-caiTseirvice and
BUFFET-LIBRARY CARS
En route. Particulars of agents of connecting
lines,or by addressing J.M. Mokihky, T.P.A.
Illinois Central K. K., Little Rock, Ark.
A. H. HANSON, W. A. KELI.OND,
G. P. A., Chicago. A. G. P. A.. Louis vlll*
* • „ . ■?>■■ ■. '>.T
Hupion Oil
i___——
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If you will use clean burners
unit wicks and Huiuon Oil yon
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Thu only merchants in New
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NEWPORT. LAUNDRY
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| IH HE?
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