Edgefield advertiser. (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, February 09, 1921, Page SEVEN, Image 7
CITIZENSHIP AND LAW.
Topical ?Program for February.
Theme-Citizenship and Law. "No
true civilization can be expected per
manently to continue which is not
based upon the principles of Chris
tianity."-Edwards.
Discussion-'My Citizenship: What
Does it Mean to My Country? Study
of Federal and State laws and local
ordinances concerning qualifications
for citizenship, conduct of elections,
etc. Questions and answers on civics
for women. Reading, "Lincoln's Po
litical Religion.'*
Slogan-"Righteousness Exalteth
a Nation."
The law is the standard and the
guardian of our liberty; it circum
scribes and defends it; but to imagine
liberty without a law, is to imagine
every man with a sword in his hand
to destroy him who is weaker than
himself; and that would be no pleas
ant prospect to those who cry out
most for liberty.-Clarendon.
In all governments there must of
necessity be both the law and the
sword; laws without arms would give
us not liberty but licentiousness; and
arms without laws would produce
not subjection but slavery. The law,
therefore, should be unto the sword
what the handle is to the hatchet;
it should direct the stroke and tem
per the force.-Colton.
To make an empire durable, the
magistrate must obey the laws, and
the people the magistrates.-Solon.
With us, law is nothing unless
close beside it stands a warm, living
public opinion. Let that die or grow
indifferent, and statutes are waste
paper, lacking all executive force
Wendell Phillips.
*Laws are the very bulwarks of lib
erty; they define every man's rights,
and defend the individual liberties
of all men.-J. G. Holland.
Where law ends tyranny begins
William Pitt.
Unless one expects to live a Cru
soe and dwell remote from his kind,
he must consent to some form of gov
ernment and submit to some code of
laws or regulations both for the
sake of his own safety and the promo
tion of the common good. The more
complex and involved does civiliza
tion become, the less may one boast
of a personal liberty.
In a democracy there is no person
al liberty only as one's own desires
and preferences are brought into
harmony with the popular will, and
self-will surrendered in order to se
sure the greater good to the larger
number. Alone in some unpopulated
domain one might say, "today shall
I do thus and so." Surrounded by
others endowed with equal unalien
able rights as himself, one must or
der his day with a decent respect for
the rights of these others and compel
himself to conform to the rules and
regulations of the unit in which he
dwells.
Law is a rule of action established
by authority and in a democracy ex
presses the concrete sentiment of a
majority of the people. Especially is
this the case when a law is enacted in
response to a direct demand of the
people signified by ballot either in
the election of legislatures pledged
to the enactmentof certain measures,
or by the direct vote of the people for
the measure itself as exemplified in
the initiative. Law, therefore, is pri
marily the protector of all the peo
ple and must be supreme. Without
law the theory of individual liberty
prevails, and anarchy rules. Even
imperfectly administered as it some
times is, the supremacy of properly
constituted authority is infinitely to
be preferred to the rule of individual
passion and will.
In return for the protection afford
ed him by the laws under which he
lives the citizen assumes certain ob
ligations, duties and responsibilities.
It is within the province of the citi
zen through the prescribed forms to
enact, amend, execute, or repeal
laws, ordinances or regulations ex
tending from the most circumscribed
limits to matters of national and in
ternational moment. Taken in the
concrete the citizen is supreme. In
his hands he holds the government
of his country.
"Of what quality, then, is my citi
zenship?" should become a question
of supreme concern to each individ
ual. "What measure and character of
service do I render my country?"
"Am I obedient to the law, which,
while it curtails in some respects my
personal liberty, also protects me in
life, in property and in the pursuit
of just and lawful accupations and
pleasures?"
To make a democracy durable,
magistrates and people must obey
the laws, which they themselves have
created. Those who refuse obedience
and defy authority have no lawful
place in a democracy. They are ene
mies to good order, inimical to the
peace of the people and breeders of
anarchy. Law should be supreme even
at the price of great loss annd incon
venience to those who defy it and
under the plea of personal liberty,
strike at the foundations of govern
ment.
By virtue of his privilege as a cit
izen the humblest voter in our land
becomes a partner in the government
of his country; not merely is he a
partner in the sense of governing
by proxy through those individuals
and bodies which have been by him
clothed with authority, but also in
the responsibility of representing to
the world some measure of the dig
nity and majesty of the government
of which he is a part. What does my
citizenship represent to my country?
Put the question to the rum run
ners, the brewers, the saloon-keep
ers et al., and to the citizen who de
termines that by any means, no mat
ter how foul, he will gratify his per
sonal taste or passion in defiance of
all law and decency and at the sacri
fice of the welfare of the many, set
ting for others an example that
should shame the denizens of dark
est Africa. What does his citizenship
mean to one who, invested with au
thority, makes common cause with
criminals and himself tramples un
der foot the law whose supremacy
he is sworn to maintain?
That "government of the people,
by the people and for the people,"
may not perish from our country we
will do well to heed and put into ac
tion the words of the immortal Lin
coln who said: "Let reverence for
the laws be breathed by every-Ameri
can mother to the lisping babe that
prattles on her lap; let it be taught
in schools} in seminaries and in col
leges, let it be written in primers,
spelling books, and in almanacs; let
it be preached from the pulpits, pro
claimed in legislative halls and en
forced in Courts of Justice and in
short let it become the political re
ligion of the nation, and let the old
and the young, the rich and the poor,
the grave and the gay, of all sexes
and tongues and colors and condi
tions sacrifice unceasingly upon its
altars."
It is a time for every citizen to
question gravely, "What does my
citizenship mean to my country?"
"Is my country better or worse be
cause of my contribution in ser
vice?" "Does my" citizenship in all
its details make for the common weal
or the common ill of my people?"
Let each one ponder the question
and make answer to his own con
science and before the bar of the
Eternal Judge.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN NEVER
SMOKED OR CHEWED TO
BACCO.
A correspondent of the Boston
Herald expressing curiosity as to
whether Abraham Lincoln used tobac
co,. William Sloane Kennedy volun
teered the following information :
"I felt sure that in my valued copy
of Herndon's Lincoln the answer
would be found, and here it is, on p.
302 of vol. 1: Lincoln was one day
riding in a stage coach, the only
other occupant of which was a Ken
tuckian. The latter offered Abraham
a chew of tobacco. With a plain 'No,
sir, thank you, I never chew,' Lin
coln declined. Later in the day the
stranger, pulling from his pocket a
leather covered case, offered Lincoln
a cigar, which he also politely declin
ed on the ground that he never smok
ed. When they separated, the Ken
tuckian, who had also offered Abe a
drink from his brandy flask, with the
same negative result, shook his head,
but frankly told him that, in his ex
perience, he had found that 'a man
who has no vices has d-d few vir
tues.' Lincoln often told this anec
dote on himself, says Herndon."
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CHRISTMAS DAY IN AFRICA
Pretty Picture of a Charming Abode
in the Hills Above the Old
Town of Alger.
Christmas day in Africa! And
what a dream of beauty and color,
blue sea, blue sky, groves of eucalyp
tus and olive trees, climbing roses,
white-robed Arab women closely
veiled, their eyes only showing, bare
brown legs and feet, sometimes a sil
ver bracelet on one leg, donkey boys
with a nondescript, flowing garment, a
red fez on their heads; color every
where. Our villa Ts charming, stands
in a little wood of eucalyptus trees,
with a big garden, balconies, terraces
and marble steps, large, high rooms
and lovely views on all sides, Mme.
Waddington writes from Algiers to
Scribner's. It is quite in the coun
try, five or six kilometers from Al
giers, very high up In the hills. Very
few people live In the town and the
whole hillside is studded with villas.
Moorish almost all, dazzling white, flat
roofs and narrow windows. Quite at
the top, where we are, there are some
very comfortable Eastern modern
houses. I am writing at my window,
which gives on a terrace, from which
there Is a divine view of the sea and
the snow mountains of the Djurjura,
miles away in Kabylle, and from one
corner through the faded drooping
leaves of the eucalyptus I have a
glimpse of the town of Algiers, lying a
long, white streak far below.
The drawing-room is a delightful
room-runs all the width of the house,
with windows on three sides, so that
we always have the sun. The furni
ture Is sketchy, not much of lt, and
what there Is ls very ugly, but when
the Paris cases arrive, with a few
tables and chairs and silver, the room
will look very different. There are
some carpets in the house, which are
absolutely necessary, as all the floors
are tiled. However, Charlotte has
done wonders with the- meager mate
rial she has.
NATION'S DEBT TO PILGRIMS
Their Famous Compact of Government
Rightly Treasured as a Great
State Document
In the harbor at the tip of Cape
Cod occurred the first birth and the
first death among the Pilgrims in
America. On board the Mayflower, as
she lay at anchor, was born Pere
grine, son of William and Susanna
White. Here was another child for
the ship's nursery, already occupied by
little Oceanus Hopkins, who first saw
the light of day far out at sea.
Tlie death was that of Dorothy May,
wife of William Bradford, future gov
ernor of Plymouth colony. She was
drowned. !
First of Importance, however, jjfcf j
all that occurred here, and also w '
the sequence of events, was the draw- 1
ing up and signing of the famous com
pact of government, originally deslg- j
nated by Bradford In his history as "a
combination." And so It was, in the
most literal sense, a combination.
This agreement, made In writing by
a little group of Englishmen who had [
been dismissed by their mother coun- ?
try as "good riddance to bad rubbish," ;
is now treasured by the nation in j
America, to which they contributed as ,
much as one of three great documents. J
The other two are the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of
the United States.
Begone Dull Facts.
Two friendly little neighbors, aged I
respectively -IVs and 5 years, recently
seated themselves on the curbstone !
near my windows for a religious dis
cussion. It seemed they had over- i
heard some grown-ups repeating a
recent prophecy of a certain'f,ect as to
the imminent end of the world and
were greatly exercised at the report. '
The elder child, a fair-haired skeptic
from a northern state, scornfully de
clared that he didn't believe the story;
but the swarthy, dark-eyed little Texan'
solemnly asserted: "Yes, lt's true; 1
know It's true; foh this mo'nln* I
read it in mah Bible." The midget
doesn't know one letter of the alpha
bet from another, but he refuses to be
pinned down to vulgar facts when his
spirit wishes to soar. Are children'
of the period brighter than their pred
ecessors? At his age I am sure I
could not have fibbed with so solemn
and convincing an air.-Los Angeles
Times.
Malignant Ghost.
Last Christmas, a house in Leeds
was visited by an amazing ghost.
A woman, returning home, went Into
the kitchen to warm herself at the
fire. Suddenly she was startled to see
two long white arms emerge from the
flames. Nearer and nearer they came,
until they gripped her arms above the
elbow.
The touch was like red hot Iron, and
she fell fnintlng to the ground. When
she recovered she was surprised to
find that there had been no fire In the
grate. She visited a doctor, who ex
amined her arms and found distinct
signs of burns. This was afterward
corroborated by another doctor.-Lon
don Mail.
"The Right Kind of Child."
Give a little love to a child, and you
get a great deal back. It loves every
thing near it, when it is the right kind
of child-would hurt nothing, would
give the best lt has away, always, if
you need it-does not lay plans for
getting everything In the house for it
self, and delights in helping people;
you cannot please it so much as by
giving It a chance of being useful, In
ever so little a way.-John Ruskin.
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