Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1905 — PAPERS BY THE PEOPLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PAPERS BY THE PEOPLE

KIND or WOMAN A MAN WORSHIPS.

By Dorothy tenlmore-To-day the men of all civilized nations, under southern and under northern skies, worship not Venus, but Vesta. They like good women, and they like wbmgn who, like vestal fires, have the gracious gift of making a bare room look furnished just by being in it. Any man, wise or foolish, may fall in love with a pretty face; many a one declares In all sincerity that he most admires the intellectual type of woman; but, what-

ever m»y be the particular charm which wins a man’s love, 'tis womanliness .and the home-making virtues which hold it. Wherever the true wife comes, says Ruskin. she carries the atmosphere of home about her. ‘"The stars only may be over her head; the glow-worm in the niglit-cold grass may be the only fire at her foot; but home is yet wherever she is; and for a noble woman it stretches far round her, better than ceiled with cedar, or painted with vermilion, shedding its quiet light far, for those who else were homeless.” Is not this a thought for a woman to cherish, thnt she herself may be ‘’home” to those who love her, that without her presence therein the four walls of her house would be just four walls, and her rooftree only a shelter? Is she not fortunate that upon her devolves the duty of keeping the hearth fire lighted, so that those she loves may gather round it, and renew each day their bond of 'muon and affection? Is she not blessed that just by being good she sets up in the windows of her soul a light which, shining out upon the darkness Of the world outside, may be a beacon to some tired traveler who has lost his way? The aweetest love stories in the world' are the love stories of happy married women. Of all the love poems ever written, most tender, most triumphant are ‘.The Sonnets from the Portuguese,” written by a woman who loved her husband with so great a love that in some moods he seemed to her so near she could not even think of him. And of all the eulogies of wifehood that were ever written, that description of Tennyson's wife is certainly most beautiful—“that she walked by his side for more than forty years, quickening his insight, strengthening his faith, fulfilling his every heart's desire.”

ARE WE SPOILING OUR CHILDREN?

By W. Pett Itide* Wliat is tlie general spirit existing now between father and son? So far as I can see, it is one of increased comradeship; fathers are younger than ever and join in games in which sometimes the old boys win, and sometimes the old boys lose; to the good sportsman this matters little or nothing. There are indoor recreations nowadays in which all the family can join, and sons, who are growing up and approaching the

age when they have the Inclination to be desperate blades and make their mark somewhere recklessly, can be induced to see that home lias the attractions possessed by fully licensed premises, without some of the drawbacks to be found t here. No better way exists of training children to be good-tempered; once a hoy can lose even a mere game „ of bagatelle with equanimity, he has been Drought far on the fond that leads to a sane disposition. The father generally takes charge of his boy at 10, that being the age •when the lad brings home serious tasks from school in regard to which the mother, goaded by appeals for advice and assistance, generally replies that children who bother mothers about subjects which mothers learnt years ago at school but have since forgotten are debarred, by a special regulation, from going to heaven. This is'where the wise father who knows his own children comes in. Occasionally a fear is expressed bv fathers that moth-

ers spoil an only, child; the mothers always’ retort that to being done by the fathers. Certainly recital of the infant’s repartees, description of his extreme goodness-th* first thing in the morning, account of his excellent benavior when no company is present—these are sometimes enough to turn heads and give a swollen idea of Importance, but if this should be the case In early days, the impression is carefully removed so soon as the only child steps out iuth the world and meets his peers. I would rather this overpraise than encounter the perpetual nagging, the deeply rooted conviction that whatever the child desires to do becomes wrong and deserving of reproof. The artful child, recognizing the defects of this system, conducts himself as Brer Rabbit did after the struggle with the Tar Baby, protesting wildly against the thing that he desires to be done. Some parents have. a. special voice for their children, just as people shout to foreigners. I cannot think this necessary; children have powers of hearing that are quite as good as they need to be. u.

GERMANY SOLVES OLD AGE PENSIONS.

By Andrew Wilson. Among the aspects of science which concern themselves with our social welfare none are of greater interest than those dealing with the question of provision for old age and for other exigencies with which our common life Is beset. Old age pensions over and over again have been discussed in Great Britain and the United States, without any practical result being arrived at—that is, from the state point of view. It is differ-

ent abroad, and especially in Germany. Wise in their day and generation, the Germans make insurance* compulsory. After the age of 16 every worker, male and female, is required to contribute to a fund. If those whose incomes exceed SSOO per annum choose to join they may, only they pay the whole premium, and do its cost with their employers. Four classes of insured are dealt with, the wages being respectively SOO, $l4O, and s2’o, per year, and above $2lO but not exceeding SSOO. The weekly payments for the four classes are about Wt, 2, 2V> and 3 cents, but the employers contribute their own and supplementary share of the premiums. They see that both their own and their employes’ amounts are punctually paid every week. After five years' payments a worker is entitled to a sick pension; and there is a liberal provision for those who are aged, by which they can after one year's payment only draw a pension. Sen-ant girls of other female workers may continue to pay premiums after marriage. A man’s widow, or his children, if under 15 years of age, may draw the pension for which he subscribed. The great feature of this scheme is that it is not a charity but a true insurance. Would that some statesmen here could spare time to study the German scheme and inaugurate one for our own masses!

THE TRAGEDY OF HUMAN SHIPWRECKS.

By Rev. A. H. Stephens, D. O. Shipwrecks are the worst of all wrecks, and are the result of indifference, carelessness and extravagance. They come from doing what we want rather than what we ought; from moving along the line of leasU resistance rather than along the line of conscientious duty. Indifference to God’s claims upon the human soul, preoccupancy with other but less important matters, is stepping upon the inclined plain of

ice, the descent on which is both rapid and disastrous. The final act in the drama of human wreckage is to be swept overboard by the oncoming sea of doubt and selfindulgence and eternal rest in the depths of hardness of heart and reprobaoy of mind.