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A WORD FOR STEPMOTHERS | AS MALIGNED INDIVIDUALS World Has Always Put Worst Construction on Their Eiery Deed, ^ Denying1 Them Credit for Good and Seeing in EYerythin^ They Do Seeds of Eril. Tv> the Editor of The State: I wish to say something in behalf of a much misjudged and misrepresented class of persons. The sentiment against step-mothers arose ages ago; and it has been so . geLeral and so strong, that it has been incorporated in several lan{j?ar&ges. In Greek/the v/ord for stepsmother (matrula) is another name for an unkind person, and the verb derived from it (matruiazo) means to act unkindly. A dangerous coast was called matruia neon?a step mother to ships. The word matruiodes?a step-mother's treatment?meant harsh treatment. It was similar with the _ word noverca. In German ?,tiefnraterlich?step-motherly?means harshness, or nnkindness. In French, maratre means both a step-mother ^and cruelty. In Italian, matrigna n.eans both a step-mother and a cruel mother; and the matrignare?to act like a step-mother?means to act cruelly. And the phrase far viso di matrigna?to exhibit the face of a stepmother?means to scowl, or show an unfriendly countenance. the step-mother has the like pMreatment in literature. In America ffand all over Europe, the favorite flection of "Condrella" makes the sweet Wgirl the victim of a cruel step-mother P^iJl helped by a fairy and good for ti-n . One of the ancient traauions of Greece, on which much has been written, was that of Phrixns and his sister Helle persecuted outrageously by their step mother Ino. Euripides. , in his play, "Alcestis," has Alcestis, when about' to give her life to save her husband Admetus, exacting from him the promise not to marry again, s.nd endeavoring to console her two **"* 4 * ? ?? ^ QTT fen wrtn ine assurance aot fall into the hands of a stepr, and adding that a step-mothglo binder than a serpent. Thf*? .ve Horace specifying as a perirtu-# of the married women Scythiams, or Getae, that tiav heir step-children kindly. And me author has a boy, about to rdered by a conjuring woman, to at she has the look of a stepi mother or wounded wild beast. JureI nal in '.lis abuse of Roman women, I says, that they are tolerated in mur I during step-sons. Virgil speaks of a ? poison employed by step-mothers in Media, and, in another place, of the poison hippomanes as often used by bad stepmothers. Shakespeare has the I-wife of King Cymbeleie saying to her step-daughter Imogene: ""You shall not find me, daughter, After the slander of most &top-mothers ggf . ^^pi-eyed unto yom," Ka. little later preparing poison iui Imogen. Ia "Troihia aad Cresve find the expression "as false ep-mother to her son." Then we the old current Greek story material of plays by Euripiles; ;a, Racine, Gilbert and other3, ianii of a poem by Ovid) of Phaedra who first ^persecuted her step-son ^ H^potytus, then fell in love with him, ar-d, when he respulsed her advances, * accused him falsely to his father and j v;a >var?i<sh.Tnpnt which led prouuicu to his death. (Like the case of Potlpliar's wife and Joseph, and that ol Fausta and Crispus, to he mentioned presently.) Sshiller, by the way, in his translation of Racine's "Phedre," goes out of his way to have Theramen, tutor of Hippolytus, eay to th ^ letter, that Phaedra, being ?tiefmutterlich gesinnt?step-motherly-minded ?made it her first work to send him (Eippo^ytus) into exile. Racine has "him say that Phaedra is & daigerouq step-mother, who hai barely seen Hippolytus when her ififlnenoe was ? in his ban.isth.meat: VAJUIUHwu - ?? A >f'I?dng reuee maratre, a #em0 ?lle votis rit Que votre exil d'afrodp-i sigaaia eon L--V credit." |a Anc there is Milton, in his Comu-s, ^Jielping to -perpetuate the British le. gend of the step-mother Guendolen driving Sabrina to fling herself into tilC ? - - "Ihe guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of her enraged stepdaine Gwendolen.'1 And there is the histry of Crispus, sen of the Emperor Constantine, falsezly accused by his step-mother Fausta aDd put to death by his father, in consequence. And there is the tradition of Mary of Brabant, wifaf of Philip III of France, endeavoring to have her step-son poisoned?a tradition scmewhat encouraged, mildly, even jj^jy Dante, who admired women al ' most as much as the writer of this ar| tK.le. And there is the history of | Dorothea, wife of Frederick William, i "7 he- Great Elector" of Brandenburg, j persecuting her step-son. afterwards King Frederick I of Prussia, till she d! c-ve him out of his father's realm a ltd procured' his almost complete ! disinheritance by the old elector. It i . J is mentioned as a peculiar excellence j of Octavia, sister of Emperor Au gi'stus, that, after the death of he:" ! hus-band Antony, she took care of all ! . I I his children by other women?which irinH -considering ! V. <15 nuuucnuni I : Antony's vile connections. And so | it goes, till the step-mother has be- \ j come a proverb, a byword, and a J j sjxonym of unkindness. And all this I I j time, very little is said or written j | against the step-father. Xo language,! ( so far as I can recollect, has made ' ; him the synonym of unkindness. and j | writers do not parade his cruelties to i i any extent. I can not help suspecting j ; that these two things are the result1 j of men, and not women, writing the | books and making the languages, ana j ; am reminded of the fable of the man J ; and the lion disputing over the com-1 j iterative efficiency of their respective' ; srecies. The man, in support of his t contention, showed pictures repre-! cvr.tirtcr mp-n overcoming lions. "To I | OVA Vtug _ j be sure," said the lion; ''because men ! I make the pictures. If lions made j , tfiem, the lion would be put on top/' How many may say that where j there is much smoke there must be seme fire. - Yes; but very little fire; j sometimes makes a great deal of . smoke; and with ou* habit of following the crowd, we acquire the habit, not only of indorsing that the crowd j seems to think, but also of repeating and even believing whatever the; - * -* ~ ra A no t hft ! crowd &eeuis> iu , crowd is very often very wro g. It is natural that there should be ! It is natural that there should be j a greater number of evilminded step-! mothers than of bad step-fathers; for j there are, and always have been, a! nv;.ch larger number of the former, there are, probably, in every community three or four step-mothers to one stop-father. Ordinarily, when a Trvaoa hi? wife, he 800n gOGS to j 'fcork to get another; and lie is pretty, j ?i're- to 2nd some woman to accept j | him. A widow Mas not the same op- j ! p-ortunity. So we find widows ??ch j , rjcre numerous than widowers. Tie [ . census of 1510 shows in South Caro-j j Iina, of all races, 18,986 widowers' | and 54,714 widows; and of native j white persons, 7,658 widowers and j j 19.903 widows. In Charleston there j were, of this race, 258 widowers and , 95s widows; in Columbia, 156 widow| ers and 637 vidows. Again, shut off as women are uvui many employments, many a one has felt obliged to marry a man 30 or even 40 years her senior; and tben sbo has to endure his ugliness, his intimities, his whims, his dictation, perhaps his jealousy, and, worst of all his caresses. Can such a one, or uy stepmother, be expected to Ceel ?3 tender solicitude for tho husband's children as for her own Yet she is held to even stricter account than i3 1 i the mother. A child's mother may bong 1 feim as much as she chooses (for we all know that most girls and all boys ' rn-ed banging); but when the st^p mother does likewise, there is quite a shrieking about the cruel stepmother, ' although she treats the child as she ' I does her own offspring. ' j And who is usually to be blamed ^ for the antagonism between step| mother and step-child? Unquestion; ably, the child. Usually, the adoles 1 cent child, or even, one of five or six L rears, resents the entrance into the household and assumption of authority by the step-mother, and shows 'j himself or herself unwilling to obey ' | or respect her. And often female re' | laticns unwisely interefere, and, pmr1 j:posely or Tin wittingly, Oppose the step1 j mother's control. So matters start I badly, and generally grow worse, mar lest the step-mother invokes the aatfc( rity of the father, and he has the good sense and decision to -?ive her proper backing. But a good wosaan is i loth to complain; and the result is a j #ioiled child whom Tvobody can get . along with. But the world almost inT.-rriably throws all the blame upoi the step-mother. And if the step-mother has children already, or bears children, her situation is exceedingly trying. It is 1! no wonder when she fails to hold the scales level. The wonder is that she shruld ever act impartially; and I have, in several instances, observed, in ipositive amazement, the equilibrium maintained by the step-mother. And when the step-child is con tumacious and rude, the preservation o 1 this equilibrium requires of her ? not only the exercise of rare justice, uirelaxing' self-control, and sleepless 1 vigilance, trot also sound judgment ' ard e. very martyr's self-secrifice to !; dt:ty. Lj 'And now I will testify. While writlj ing this article I wrote down the j names of step-mothers of whom I 'lave known during my long life of 7r* years. I omitted several, because j nc; well informed concerning them. My list embraces 90 names. A few of these?6 or 7 per cent.?^ure not beer particularly solicitous about step - children. But the remaining ' 03 or 94 per cent., so far as 1 have been able to learn, have discharged every duty of their station. Not one has been harsh, or greatly neglectful of her duty. And many of them, in their anxiety for the child or children, have fallen into the single fault of o\er-indulgence. The balance of the account is enormously in favor of the ste-p-mothers. j i I have known no better class of persons, no class freer from wrongdoing, no class obeying more fully or more continuously the onerous inju:.ction of the Savior, that we love cur enemies, do good to them that hate us, bless them that curse us, 'emu. pray for them that despitefuliy use us J. F. J. Caldwell, j Newberry, S. C. WHAT OTHERS SAY. % Petrograd -cables that M. Nitinsky,' director of tlie cepartmeru 01 ma.- ^ terial, has expressed "warm appro-1 ciation" for the work already done by i the American railway commission sent to aid in the solution of Russian rail-] way problems. No detailed report I of the commission's' work has been J published, 'but-a highly interesting! account of one of its first discoveries j and suggestions drifted back to us, recently. Ever since the war began . Russia j lias been importing vast quantities of railway material and otlier SuppLies! through 'Vladivostok. When the American engineers (the story goes) arrived in (Vladivostok on their way J to Petrograd they found the depots,! i warehouses and yards crowded to j j overflowing with these shipments. As | apparently hopeless congestions ex; ieted. It was explained that ttie rail| way equipment has to be hauled to j Russian machine shops thousands of "' ~ nrniamKlad an/1 nrft | ttklieS cl^Uy UJ UK! aoatmuiuu f - - j pared for service. Most of Russian's available equipment was required for the transport of troops and munitions im 3uroj?eaji Russia. So tkat immense stores of aadly needed materials were impounded at Vl^idvostok, as useless as if they bad never been pur-j chased. The Americans promptly suggested I , the establishment of a great machine j | shop at Vladivostok, so that the idle j I railway equipment couki be as3em- j bled, organized into trains, loaded | with the other impounded stores and j moved on its own wheels and by its j own motive power to European Rus eio. The simplicity and effectiveness ! o fthis idea were immediately recognized by the worried Russian of&cers, and according to the story?numbers of brand new trains, assembled and placed in running order in Vladivostok shops, will soon be moving westward heavily laden with other supplies of which Russia is in great need. It is a "good story," 'but many j Americans will probably refuse to believe that so simple a solution of so pressing a problem could have evaded the Russians for so many months, j The mystery is readily explained " A 'D^+f?r*orT?? r? j upon tne tneory max mc i U.U j bureaucracy under the old regime stood in the way. Red tape, lack of II imagination or downright treachery? for we now know that some of the Russian reactionaries and bureaucrats j were playing Germany's game?could j easily have blocked any project j to build adequate machine shops at j Vladivostok, just as they contrived ' to delay and misroute important shipj ments in European Russia, and at I times to betray the Russian armies ' " " - "*,J T* TiAeeiMo <"vf J lH HI6 QUIA. it is uaicij (wiwtmv ? course, that the Russians never thought of a solution that instantly I suggested itseJf to the raiting Amer| dean experts. Ia that case, any in1 clination on the part of Americans to | grow "chesty'' orer this instafice of i superior Ameriaua ingenuity should j he checked by ?h/e reflection that mistakes and oversights almost as ?,nri have b'oen dis UUliUUo wiiu ? j covered in American industrial plants j within the comparatively recent past, j and corrected on the suggestion of | keen-eyed visiting experts. The great , war is teaching each of the peoples engaged in it new ideas and methods j of efficiency.?New Orleans ninets1 Picayune. Coilint Pool H*m. It waa a fast one that hit Biggs on j top of the head and the bail, bounding i high, was caught by the catcher just | as the umpire awoke rrom a nap. 1 ?a. f +li a ^nTDnr! '' ""loure out: jtuw iuc uuij-j. "But it hit me on the head," gasped Bierss. "Marbbe, I didn't see where it hit, but I knows the sound of wood when I hears it, and out you goes."?Baseball News. Subscribe to The Herald aad Newg. WOMEN OF MIDDLE AGE Mrs, Quinn's Experience Ought to Help You Over tKe Crltirjil i I Lowell, Mass.?"For the last three years I have been troubled with the Change of Life _and very nervoos condideal of lihe time so I was^ unlit to do my . pound, which I did, and it has helped me in every way. I am not nearly so nervous, no headache ? ?r_ T x iL .i T m or pain, x must say uj.it, ijyuio Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is the best remedy any sick woman can take." ?Mrs. Margaret Quinn, Rear 259 Worthen St, Lowell, Mas3. Other warning symptoms are a. sense of suffocation, hot flashes;, headaches, backaches, dread of impending evil, timidity, sounds in the ears, palpitation of the heart, sparks before the eyes, irregularities, constipation, variable appetite, weakness, inquietude, and dizziness. If you need ?;pecial adwce, write to the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co. (confidential), Lynn, Mass, JEWS I> WARS OF THE WORLD. Xevr York Tribune. It lis a foregone conclusion that the Jews as law-abiding citizens furnished their proportionate quota on registration day; neither does it suffer the slightest doubt that as good patriots an<^ in gratitude for havdng found here a place of safety against the hatred of their brutal enemies, the native and foreign-born Jews were no slackers in subscribing for the liberty loan. But how many of them will appear in khaki, how will thej behave in the trenches, how many mil return with the war medal pinned tc ! their breasts? I There is yet insufficient authentic material on the part played by the Jews in the present war, but the record? of the past are known. The Old Testament is fortunately still a very accessible and pretty well i known book.j Therefore, why waste space and time in proving that th j old Hebrews under Joshua, their ' judges and kings were valorious war' * * ? T n./11 An <4 TPllA nors thiiure lue juuiu; ?u1u .. not know the story of the Maccabees and the desperate defense ol Jerusalem against the powerful legions of Vespassan and Titus in t.h( year 70 A. D.? Who is not acquaintI ed with the heroic stand of Bai ! Kokba, the Hebrew> Garibaldi, anc his followers at Bethar 135 A. D.' But probably very few readers wil know that the Jews were not onlj brave soldiers in their own country but that, the martial fever droy< thousands of them to serve as volun teers an the armies of Alexander th< 1 r.r?t me 199 B. C.I. and of th< I Syrian kings, that Ptolemy I of Egyp1 (323-309 Bi C.)? employed them witl preference as garrison troops in his | fortified places, thus recognizing, a the same time, their bravery and loy alty. Ptolemy Philometor (died 145 B Q.) and his Queen Cleopatra com ; mitted their whole kingdom to th< ! two Jewcsh generals Orias and Dosi thesus, for they were the only one: j in the whole army on whom the] . could implicity rely. Two other He j brew generals, Heligas and Ananias j saved the same queen's throne fron the onslaughts of <her own son, Ptole j my 'Lathyrus. Hhe who desires to read the Btori in detail is referred to tne wora-s u the famous Judeo-Roman historian Josephus Flavius (37-95 A. D.) Eren Julius Caesar was obliged t( i speak /is terms of high praise of th< valor displayed fcy the 1,500 Jewisi soldiers engaged in his wars agains Egypt and Mithridates of Pergamor Herod helped Mark Antony with fiv< Jewish cohorts. But who, unless he made a specia ; study of the eoibject, would dream o: ! locking for sturdy Jewish warrior; In the Arabaa of Mohammed? It i< | nevertheless, a fact that wh'efti th( prophet came to Medina he found th< whole country full of Jews ready t( resist him, arms in hand. He triec to make of them his allies, but thej refused. I illnder King Alfonso VI of Castile j in 1068, more than 40,000 Jewfought against Yusuf ibn Teshufin ai the battle of Zalaka. The famous traveler, Benjamin o Tudela (twelfth centur), tells of th< existence of an independent Jewisl warrior tribe living in the highland' of the Persian province of Khorasan numbering many thousand families and living under a Jewish pnince o -the name of Josephs Amarkale. In the thirty years w:>r the Jews f 1 defended the city of Prague against the Swedes (1S48). About 100 years later (1742-1743,) ' Rata Jonathan Eibenschuetz, a fa- j mous Talmuddcan scholar, together J with other rabbis of the Bohemian! capital, stood on the walls, encouraging their coreligionists to defend the city against the atacks of the j French army. When, in 1794, the population of j warsaw arose in arms, a, wxiui? jew-j ! ish regiment under its own colonel/ j i of the name of Burke, was fighting in j the suburb of Praga against the Russian General Suwarow. Jewish sailors in the Dutch navy excelled in courage in the conquest ! of Brazil. And now, to come to this country, I j there was only a handful of them in' the time of the revolutionary war. But the names of forty-six Jewish soldiers are known, twenty-four of! I them being officers. Colonel Isaac Franks and Colonel David Sailisbury j Franks occupy a place of honor in j the military history of our country. j iiragaaier uenerai josepn rnoom-> j field and eight other Jewish officers I distinguished themselves in the war | of 1812. The American navy carries on its j roll of honor the names of Commodore Uriah Phdllips Levy, Captain j Levi Meyers and Comander Adolf i Maris. Throughout the civil war Jewish patriotism and gallantry shone out most brilliantly?7.87S Jews out of a total population of 150,000 were fnimri nn either of the two sides. HAS UNIQUE PLANT. South Carolina Man Hag Established j Grasshopper Cannery. ! Douglas J. Mulloy of Fairbanks, S. j ! CM has recently enlarged his grass-; ! hopper cannery to several time6 its 1 original size to accommodate tie in- j creased number of orders received j ; for his manufactured product. Hith-| 1 *rto Mulloy has made a meagre living by catching grasshoppers, pickliag ; them in alcohol, and shipping them: s in ordinary quantities to high school; laboratories, where fchey are used lor dissection in biology classes. Btti . recently .Mulloy received a letter from t a man in New York city?a Syrian, by. i tV way?asking him if he could shi# , panned grassohppers in quantities, . cooked merely?not preserved in alco-j ho'l. Mullo;f replied that he could, . and soon all the small boys in Fairbanks were out with nets and the > grasshopper ponlation of the place began to diminish. The business i grew from that time on. To make a long story short, Mulinv now has a large factory devotei I to the grasshopper canning industry. > He receives daily shipments from 1 neighboring localities and is plan7 ning to establish agencies in all parts of North and South Carolina for the t a collection of the raw product and the . distribution of it whe* 3-nished. ? He has perfected several way3 b> a which grasshopper meat ean be pret pared for human consumption. One ! process treats the raw product in 3 such a way that all hard, stiff or I bony parts of the insect are softened; . then the whole is seasoned and pressed into cakes.'' Another grasshopper j food product is made fry frying them crisp like French fried pos tatoes. These are sealed in air tight packages and sold under the name of i '"topper-crisps.-' The most delicious of Mulioy's no7_ I el products is said to be the grasshopper preserves, which are made by 1 boiling the insects down thick i* molasses. Ii flavor grasshoppers resemble a mixture of raw tomato aid cheese with a dash of pepper. T&e> 7 ,"T- V moat CIIOW 1IA.G t'JdU ur^ai.. Mulloy is able to produce &ia prod* net very cheaply owing to the negligible cost of the raw material amd } his use of child labor. Tfeey retail 5 for 1# cents a pound, #rese#d or 1 fried, and for 15 cent? a earn, preserved. Food expert? testify tkat they are rich ia ooirKlMBeat, beiag 5 So.4 per cent, protein, 18.f8 per eeafc. carbohydrate, and 2 per cent. fat. 1 ? Brazij Losing Bobh?T Trade. 3 ] One of the most striking eoonoinie 3 changes in recent rears bas Deen cue ) loss by Brazil of its dominant posi? tion in the rubber trade. Whereas, a ) few years back, tlhe world looked to 1 South America for most of its crude ' rubber, it is now ^ettting the larger share from the far East. The Bra, zilian product is obtained from trees 5 that grow wild, and little haa been t done toward cultivation of the trees. In Sumatra. Ceylon, Burmah and other i! countries millions of trees have been J set out and are now coming into be&ri ing. This domestic produce is said to 3 be slightly superior to that obtained from Rrazil. oTid the trees improve 3 with age. The financial loss to Braf zii throursh casing exports has become a serious matter.?New York 3' Times I ECONOMICAL WAY TO CA> TOMATOES Successful Way of Canning Tomatoes in the South WithoHt Any Loss. Washington, .July 19.?A good economical way to can tomatoes, says the United States department of agriculture, is to pack firm, whole fruits in a jar and fill in the spaces with a concentrated tomato sauce. Each quart jar then will provide whole tomatoes for salads or baking and a tomato pi iee for soups or sauces. The department's receipe is as follows: Select firm, uniformly red, ripe tomatoes of medium size. 'Put into trfys and lower into boiling water for 1 minute. Remove, plunge into cold water, drain, and cut out the core with a slender-pointed knife without cutting into the seed cells. Peel promptly and pack into jars. To each pint add one level teaspoonful of a mixture of one-third salt and two-thirds sugar. Fill the jars with a thick tomato sauce made hy cooking the small or broken tomatoes until tender. Remove the seeds and skins by strainin or tho nnln?and concentrate it "bv v"v r ?r ? ? ? ? ? boiling to about the consistency of ketchup. Adjust the rubber and cap?place the packed jars on a false bottom .in a vessel of water which reaches almost to their tops and keep ai boiling temperature for 25 minutes. Remove the jars from the water bath and tighten the covers immediately. :. .: ' n ? ITT *5*" i?VT TCfTO ft* J% ALliliJ A^Uioio IN BASE HOSPITAL Greenville News, * R. E. Allen, a Greenville boy, wko has been instructor of music in the Chicora college for the past four ?r five years, during its residence both Greenville and Columbia, has enlisted in the field service of tke base hospital division of the American Red Cross society, and will proi| ably "be stationed for duty in Fraaee. Mr. Allen is a musician widely known all over the State, having appeared at various cor ?erts in ma?y ! places. He is well known in Greea' ville, having s-peat fcis life feere mtil Cfeicora college was moved to Columbia. ~ It ha9 not yet been dafinitefr aa; nounced where Mr. Allen will be seat, nor of the time -when he will | be ordered out for service, aKhofugti l it is likely that that time will be ia . | the immediate future, since all unite j of the Red Cross are being mobilised . 1 for present action. I - I ! TO THE FLA?. I Selected. Here's to the red of it? There's not a thread of it No, nor a shred of it In all the spread of it From foot to head, But heroes bled for it, Faced steel and lead for it, Bathing it red. Here's to the white'of it, Thrilled by the sight of it, Who knows the right of it, - . . 14. r But feels the mignt or it i TTirough day and night? Womanhood's care for it, Make manhood dare for it, Purity's prayer for it, Keep it 30 white. Here's to the blue of it? Heavenly view of it, \ Star-spangled hue of it, Honesty's due of it, ! Constant and true; i Here's to the whole of it, Here's to cne soui it, Red, White and Blue. ) COAL PRICES. Spartanburg Herald. Whe* we take into conaideratia* : tke price of $2.75 paid by South. Caroj lina cotton manufacturers for cool : the coming year, there is reaso* to reI srr?.rd the price of $3.00 per to* al I lowed '"by the coal committee of tie Council of National Defense as indeed 7-ery liberal. Also take into consideration the price paid by dealers in domestic coal?not over $1.50, "we a-ro told?during the past year, for soma coal, and the $2 price looks still kiekf?r. This coal inquiry has thrown a good deal of light on the whole coal situation. There seems to havo been nothing in the situation during the past | yer.r to warrant the high prices the people had to pay for coal, except a realization on the part of operators and the dealers that they could g*t tl e money. In Spartanburg, fx>r instance, had dealers been paying $3 a ton at the mine, plus freight or $2? and we doubt that, they paid $3 at the in t.he sif/tta mine?mere vrtta ? tion to warrant coal selling for $7 and $8 a ton. While production must be stimalated by good \ragC3 paid the miners, \ Secretary of War Baker is right in | seymg the price of $3 is too high. : \