Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1907 — PAPERS BY THE PEOPLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PAPERS BY THE PEOPLE

HAVE WE BEEN UNJUST TO KOREA! By H. B. Hulbert, Former Adviser Emperor of Korea.

Japan will bear watching. Those riot intimately and correctly Informed-aa to the feeling in that country cannot appreciate the Importance Japan attaches to itself. Japan is flushed with pride over her achievements against Russia. She believes she can do anything. She doubts not an Instant that the other powers, even the United States, areafraid of her. She thinks she has accom-

plished in forty years in the way of civilization what it took us 1,000 years to achieve. Her vanity is fearful to observe. Napoleon Bonaparte was the personification of the present feeling In Japan. Like him, she took advantage •of an enemy’s weakness and was successful in it. Intoxicated by that early success, she firmly believes there Is no limit to her power, a But It should be distinctly understood now that the time Is coming when the powers will have to unite, as they did against Napoleon, to check Japan’s rapacious career and give her her proper place among nations. History will write this country’s part in the spoliation of Korea by Japan In terms of which we will not be proud. There is no question that at Portsmouth Japan was offered a free hand in Korea in -exchange for the waiver of indemnity from Russia. This comes from Japanese sources. ( DEVELOP HOME SPIRIT. By Juliet V. Strauss.

The Individuality of the home is a thing in regard to which It pays to be selfish. There Is a certain spirit that dwells In quiet rooms, which, when once driven away, will never return. Too many strange faces Will drive her away, too much absence will banish her. Once you have lost her—the sweet home spirit—nowhere in pleasures aud palaces will you find her again. But she will haunt you,

end in the long years, when pleasure no longer allures, when ambltioh Is dead, and the baubles of life for which you left her have vanished sceJier_ mocking shadow, but never again feel her soft caress, as you used to know It In quiet days by. the old home fireside. No earthly pleasure Is so genuine as home; yet It Is a reproach In these days of false pleasures to be a “home body.” In this respect the people of old Virginia were the most enviable in the world. Though visiting was a matter of dally occurrence, home was the passion of every Virginian's heart. Home might be a tumbledown house, floors might be bare, and every evidence of departed glory greet the eyes of the newcomer, but he never heard an apology for the absence of any essential to comfort, nor an intimation that the home of his friend might be improved from « worldly point of view. The hateur with which such- a suggestion would have been received would have wilted the most aggressive advocate of progress. And truly when one sat at the fireside of these people, and saw the self-satisfied countenances of the old folks at home and heard their intelligent converse, he was constrained to admire and envy the spirit of pride inwhich the Virginia gentleman’s family believed in themselves, In their home and their surroundings, and would not have changed them for adcingdom. Let us. then, again suggest the exaltation of the In-

dividual life, or perhaps it would be more frank to say the selfish life; for it Is the belief of a very respectable minority that progress does not come by mass meetings, or societies, or organizations, but by homes, for which devoted an^—-yes—selfish families are contentedly working. A home is about all that one woman can care for. One family is a fair amount of responsibility for one man. The more you mix outside Interests with the interests of the home, the more you destroy domesticity. Home makes good soldiers, good lawmakers, good citizens. The vagrant life of those who merely eat and sleep at home, whose lives are full of petty social or political interests, is not calculated to Insure a stable, sturdy race of people in coming generations. / RURAL SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL CENTER By President K. L. Butterfield, Massachusetts Agricultural College.

The school must offer vocational training. This does not mean that every school shall be a trade school. It does not even mean that the school shall alm specifically to teach trades. It does mean, however, that we will come to realize that the schools, in preparing the pupils for complete living, must bear in mind the fact that vocation is a large part of life.

—Consequently vocational training in its broadest possi- • ble aspects must be one of the largest phases of school activity. This may not mean the introduction of elementary agriculture into all the rural schools, but It will mean the utilization of agricultural material in the traln-—iwg-of thapiipil, so that if he enters the agricultural vocation he will be adequately prepared for it. The school must also develop the spirit of social or community service.. I know of nothing better in this line than the plan used in Maine of organizing school improvement leagues. \ It is desirable also for the school to become a social center, or at least one of the social centers, of the neighborhood. The school ought to play a large part in the life of the mature people of the community; and it may well act .as a rallying center for the educational Interests of adults as weH as of children. ' -. The school must definitely co-operate with other institutions of the community’, such aS the church, the grange, Improvement societies, etc. In this connection there should be frequent joint meetings of teachers and school patrons for the discussion both of school topics and of subjects of general community interest THE EDUCATED MAN WINS. By King Edward VII.

The competition In every branch of Industry, especially in those branches which depend largely on science and art, Is in these days severe, and it must be met by Increased application and Improved methods. The world is, I believe, better for such competition, but it behooves individual nations to use every possible effort to hold their own In the struggle. For this purpose higher education is an abso-

lute necessity. However brilliant a man’s natural talents may be, he Is greatly hindered by the want of early training, and as a rule only those who have enjoyed a good education are capable of acquiring such proficiency in any branch of study as will enable them to succeed.