THE MCALL PILING up Which? F
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EDITORIAL PAGE THE- SAN FRANCISCO CALL SEPTEMBER 26, 1913 THE MCALL PILING UP Which? F. W. KELLOGG, President and Publisher JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Vice President and Treasurer Shall a Girl Be an Old Man's Darling or a Young State Militia Is Part of the Man's Slave? Peace Movement DOROTHY DIX at the picture on this enough money to pay anybody page, girls. shows a for going through a lifetime For Fighting Forest Fires, Own Cousin to War, Is Work in It LOOKmaiden trying to solve the of it. the Cause of Civilization problem that confronts many of The girl who marries for a you?the problem of whether it home or for the luxuries some The peace movement is spreading where one would least look is better to be an old man's man can give her has no right for it, and a theoretical prediction of the late William James seems darling or a young man's slave. to draw her skirts away from on its way to fulfillment. All the worldly wise old any woman of the street. She women with hard faces and has sold herself just as truly In a short essay which is one of the most important modern keen eyes, say to the girls: as any of that sorrowful sister- contributions to sociology. Professor James suggested that the time "Take the old man. What hood, and with less excuse. may come when, with war abolished, the young men of a nation does it matter if he is fat and Moreover, no woman earns willbe drafted into industry, to serve their time of enlistment at bald headed, and has a figure her living in a harder way than the forges, on the railroads, in other industries that are hazardous built after the similitude of a bay she who marries for it and who window, and if the touch of his must make all of the inevitable and require strength and nimbleness of their devotees. hand makes your flesh creep, sacrifices of matrimony, not That Utopian day is far, far away, but already are our young and the heavy tramp of his feet through love which sweetens men, in their military organizations, put to work in the public coming toward you makes you them, but because it is her duty service. want to take to the tall timbers? as a wife. The organized state militia is called upon now as a matter of What if his conversation makes Also remember this, girls, you yawn yourself to death? that the old proverb's theory course to fight forest fires. "He can give you automobiles, that being an old man's darling ) When the fire on Tamalpais was threatening the surrounding and a fine house, and* imported is a sinecure that was evidently towns and the invaluable Muir wood, the state troops and the fed- clothes, and trips to Europe, and first propounded by a doddering eral soldiers were called into the field, and now, in the more de- everything to make life easy and old widower trying to marry a structive Napa valley fire, the national guard is on the "firingline," soft. Love? Pooh! Nice to debutante. Tt is a misleading read about in books and to see guide to go by. battling for the homes and orchards of the imperiled ranchers. The rich old in plays on the stage, but it man is willing to dress his movement, There are the soldiers a part of the peace for the won't pay bills, my dear, nor pretty young wife up like a fine peace movement does not mean solely the abolition of war and keep you from being shabby and doll and show her off before his bloodshed, but it means also the diverting of that great body of poor. Romance? You leave friends, but beyond her milli- men now organized in wasteful military movements toward the that at the altar, anyway, so why nery no one need envy the old an extravagant for it? man's darling her work of civilization and the application the common good of the pay price luck. to Believe me, my child, that all immense treasure now spent in unremunerative war. The Old Husband Always is destruction. A forest fire is nature's imitation of husbands are alike as soon as War best the honeymoon wanes, and then war. The gods of war, frustrated by civilization from spreading Adds Jealousy to Other a woman's happiness in life de- bloodshed and carnage indiscriminately about the earth, chuckle Qualities pends on what sort of an estab- Unamiable at the crackle of the flames. But now come the young men who lishment she has got." Old people are almost invari- enlisted in the cause of war and fearlessly, enduringly devoting ably tyrannical and set in their themselves to conquering war's first cousin, the forest fire. Has Only to Say "Yes" ways, and narrow, and selfish, and Luxury Will Be and opinionated, and to these Lavished on Her unamiable qualities the old hus- Market Street, a Worthy Name Which ? band invariably and justifiably So say the worldly wise old adds jealousy. The young wife SEE ARTICLE ON THIS PAGE BY DOROTHY DIX. women, and the girl listens to of an old man earns all she gets For a Great Thoroughfare their words, because site craves by putting up with the crabbed- the good things they enumerate. ness of age, by having all her ? Definite Reasons Why Name of City's Famous Axis Should She would like to roll about in actions spied upon, and by hav- She like 5 Not Be Changed to Lincoln Way or to Anything Else. her limousine. would ing to nurse the rheumatism to have her opera box, and won- and the gout when she would derful gowns, and ropes of like to be enjoying the pleas- influential and spirited man has written to the An public pearls, and diamond tiaras. She ures that belong to her of supervisors recommending that the name of Market age. board street would like to travel and see her Look at the young wives of be changed to Lincoln way, because it willbe the practical termi- picture in smart society jour- continent, old men that you know, the nal of the great Lincoln highway, which is to span the nals, and she knows that she has girls who have married for and, furthermore, because the of the writer, Market in opinion just to say one little word and money. Is there one happy street it an unesthetic connotation of flavor carries with "the of all these things will be hers. looking one among them all? berries and more or less fresh fish." cabbage, potatoes, Her head assents to what the Did you ever see wearier, more two There are important reasons why the name of Market wise women say, but not her bored looking faces? They do street should not be changed. heart. That cries out for some not look alert and alive as work- The first is that Market street already is one of the world's slim youth with the curl of boy- ing women look. They have t streets, distinction acquired by evolution great a which it has the hood still in his crisp hair, with not the smiling, contente*! of San Francisco, and its must be identity perpetuated. his eyes full of dreams and his faces that the wives of so many more name lo Secondly, no appropriate could be given the pockets empty, whose lightest poor men have. street street. foremost business in any great city than Market It touch thrills her from head to You see these women have aphorism in two and the sound of whose is an epigram, an condensed words. foot, found out what a terfible thing It is well to honor Lincoln, but if the memory of that great step coming toward her is the it is to have nothing but money, American is not sufficiently engraved in the hearts of patriots and of the to her ears. music spheres and how little money really not be a broad drive that is to will adequately emphasized by link But this is a practical age, buys. It doesn't take you long the Atlantic and the Pacific, a few miles of asphalt at the when even has to take ac- pavement Cupid to get all you can eat and wear, western not far end can redeem the name from an oblivion it will count of the high cost of living, and then the purchasing power never know. and so the girl is torn between of money stops. It won't buy But what more forceful name could be given to Market street and the temptation of love you love, nor a single solitary than that which it bears? plenty. Which shall it be?the thrill, nor brighten by one de- is a Market street. If willbe the end of the can a It it in reality old man who give her gree the dreary,"soggy, endless Lincoln highway, it is now and willbe for all time the beginning shopping ticket, or the young evenings that you spend te,tc- and the end of the market streets of the world, the beginning and can little man who give her but a-tete with a husband whose so- the end of the great trade routes of the world. romance? Which shall it be, ciety bores you to extinction. There is romance in romance was born along the trade and cheese and kisses, or trade; bread Marry the man you love, girls, routes, for they are the highways that unite the world, just as the truffles and and bare champagne the man who interests you, the military highways of olden times served as the highways that tolerance? divided the world and isolated the nations.