Heard and Said

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 72, 26 July 1912, Page 6

Heard and Said

That one at times comes across quaint ajid qucerful news items iv the Yankee press.

That a telegram from Harrisburg, Pa., to a Chicago paper slates that "Daniel Drum, 10, and Itulh McCutcheon, the same age, played 'hookey' from school and were married at Wilmington." That the marriage laws appear to be as elastic and accommodating in many of the States as the divorce law*.

That pa and ma's consent is seemingly an unconsidered trille that "cuts no ice" in the matter of the marriage of minors-

That another telegram hits us in flueye with this startling intelligence: 'New Philadelphia, Ohio. —Vowing to kill herself if not allowed to wed Ham Malhias, 25, Mary Thiobaut. aged 12, Edwardsville, 111., is jailed here witJi her lover, following their elopement. The girl will be returned to her home."

That "love lunacy" seems to be as catching as the mumps or the measles among the kids in Ameriky. That the railway servants of New Zealand are agitating for "full civil and political rights."

That there is no valid reason why they shouldn't get 'em and they oughter — but will they, and when? That Commonwealth Prime Minister Fisher's "hawbeos for babies" is generally regarded as a vote-catching scheme, and lias evoked much cheap wit, but, all the same, it's a good idea, and the sincerity of "Andy" in the matter cannot be questioned. That Greed and Speed are the characteristics of the capitalistic system. That they were responsible for the Titanic disaster, and are causing disasters almost as appalling every day in the industrial world. Tb«vt the ships that are lost, the trains that are smashed, the mines that are flooded or wrecked by explosion, that cave in and crush their hundreds of victims, all bear witness to the truth whereof we write.

That they are not the capitalists who are killed —they are the poor, the working-class—the sailors, tho firemen, flic engine-drivers, the miners, the toilers in general.

That the owner does not go down with the ship, he does not polish in the mine blast, he does not die at the throttle-— lie takes such precious lino care of his carcase that the possibility of such an eventuality lades away into nothingness in the illimitable regions of the unlikely.

That because the wealthy suffered to some extent in the Titanic tragedy tho perils of ocean travel aro to be minimised as fas as is humanly possible, but till a crowd of millionaires are affected or maimed or killed in a mining catastrophe little will lie done to safeguard; the health and lives of the miners.

That the separation of Hie sexes to tho advantage or otherwise of the education of boys and girls i.s a topic that has received a deal of attention during tho sittings of the Education Commission in various pa-its of the

Dominion. That co-education was advocated in London recently by Lord Lytton because it "would remove, that unnatural element of shyness and embarrassment which was the result of the artificial conditions under which most of the boys' and girls' schools were conducted." "That this may bo applicable to the benighted land of England, but "that unnatural olomont of shyness and cm-

barrassrneut" is hardly perceptible to the naked eye among tho young of both sexes in New Zealand and Australia.

That the boys and girls of these newer countries are, in general, by no means "backward in coining forward,'' and there are mighty lew of them who cannot teach their grandmothers how to suck eggs. That may not the chief fault of our educational system be that "our schools have too many human icebergs, too many cramming machines," as was charged by an American school inspector against Ids country's? That now's the day and now's the hour to boost The Woukkti. That this paper is a power in the land, but it must bo made a still greater force. There is work to do. Get a hustle-on. i'hat the Bible in State Schools League will leave no stono unturned in order to introduce the serpent of sectarianism into the splendid secular system of education enjoyed by this country. That opponents of the introduction of sectarianism into the schools should bo up and doing.

That in a speech at Springfield, Mass.. his voice shaking with emotion, Tail solemnly warned the people, of the States that in Roosevelt they wore in "danger of a dictator, who, once ho received a third term, would cling liJke a leech to the White House, and never leave it until death removed him."

That, flushed with anger, Big Bill called Teddy a deceiver in so many words, a garbler, and one who had "forgotten the standards of the square, deal."

That now wo know that William Howard Tafl has all along thought what we all thought he I bought about 'Theodore Roosevelt. That the land shark is swarming over every town in Now Zealand. That the huge army of rent-payers aro tossing about their weary heads o' nights, wondering how they can pay their bills.