Life — January 6, 1898 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Case for Genuine Sympathy. | bases begs to condole with Mr. Thomas Platt on Tammany’s uncivil in- trusion into the surety busi profits of which have been so acc to]Mr. Platt and his boys during the adversities of the recent hard times. Mr. Platt must be recalling the words of the immortal bard: ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless pal.” A Charitable View. HAT is your idea of acynic “Well—a cynic is a humor- ist who has had the misfortune to be born with his smile a trifle on one side.” ILE difficulty with some bores is that they are so interesting—it is hard to think when they are present. At the Play. ilken gown My Lady sits To see the p The actors Are naught to her. Her To see she is by others seen, She hears the dialogue by bits. wits ht is keen Each actress through her stage life flits; My Lady notes how each gown fits, With each compares, the acts between, Her silken gown, The style of each by heart commits, If worthy they, for future hits In her own parts, And though a queen With meagre lines, she will, I ween, With her part be content if it's In silken gown, Wood Levette Wilson, IN HIS CHECKS.” The Advent of the “New” Child. HE modern child is like a pinwheel, ready to go off in a blaze of wordy fireworks the instant a spark of interest is applied to the fuse of its understanding. Like an old man in his dotage, this fag-end of the Nineteenth Century can only mum- ble and prate of childish, things, and the Kindergarten, that incubator of little bores, is rampant. Some courageous per- son ought to found a Society for the Pre- vention of Infant Information-giving, and someone with a burden of superfluous wealth might also endow a “ Refuge” for the parents and guardians who are being brought up by their children in spite of themse! Truly ‘the child is father of the man”—and of the mother, too. Self- conscious through indiscriminate praise and exaggerated notice, the children up-to- date are the most unchildish, information- spouting little prigs in existence; if “of such are the Kingdom of Heaven,” Heaven is a good place to keep out of, Do you imagine a modern child would listen to the thrilling words of the Master as did the chil- dren of old when they were sanctified by the divine blessing ? Of course not! A modern child, be it scarce old enough to lisp, would have a criticism to pass upon the Perfect One, and in its eagerness to tell what it knew it would miss the words which had held the Biblical children spellbound. We are child-culture mad, The talent of the country puts forth its finest flowers of effort for the benefit of children; parents devote time and money for the little good and the large barm which is bound to be the result of over-indulgence. A goodly harvest of dissatisfaction and discomfort is theirreward. In our craze for fads—which are usually harmless enough, Heaven knows !—we ought to choose less pliable and responsive objects for the brunt of our en- thusiasm. The child who is encouraged to watch the stately ships of cloud in the ocean of the sky, the child who loves the sunshine and the falling rain, the child who in sweet meekness of heart begs for fairy tale and falls asleep dreaming of bright-winged birds and magic flowers, has a better start in lovableness of disposition and understanding of this wonderful world than the sage kindergarten-bred child who can recite half a verse of inane poetr and make paper-mats and string beads til its eyes ache, E. BP. Ubiquitous Plumage. RS. ALICE FREEMAN PALMER, of Boston, is quoted as saying that women of taste no longer wear birds in their hats, That may be so in Boston, but if itis true of New York the women of taste are in a minority that is distressing to think of. Worthy and otherwise irreproachable dames of Gotham go about in headgear that seems wholly irreconcilable with the existence of an Audubon Society in New York State, The rage for winged millinery, in spite of the destruction of birds that it involves, means a screw loose some- where. But there is nothing amiss with American women; that isan axiom, The men are to blame, then, as they are for everything else. It must be because women's hats are designed to please men, and men are pitiless and have no taste. Ah, yes; that must be it! “HOT WORDS PASSED ON BOTH SIDER,