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Show THE SPIRIT OF REFORM. i There are no doubt a great many public matters mat-ters that need to be reformed. Doubtless, too, there are a great many personal matters to which the individual in-dividual may well give thought with reformation as the object. But when there arises a confusion as to what constitutes public and personal affairs, the genial legislator sees humanity on the road to destruction de-struction through its follies and foibles, and attempts at-tempts to regulate humnnitv's everv net. Tie spts himself up as an exemplar, and humanity laughs and pays no heed. In these latter days there has been a vast amount of legislation intended to lift humanity up. States through their legislatures have decreed that the people peo-ple shall not drink intoxicating liquors. They have forbidden the smoking of cigarettes within their borders. They have decreed that women shall not wear divided skirts while enjoying a horseback ride. Railroads have been forbidden to operate their lines on Sunday within certain states. All these things may seem very proper to the erudite members of legislatures who pass them into laws, but tempestuous spirits who like to finish their meals with a drink of wine, followed by a cigarette, hold their rights abridged. And women who prefer to ride horseback certainly have the privilege of dressing in a costume suited to the exercise even divided skirts if they so desire. And a man in the west who wishes to go to the east certainly does not want to be held up in one state for twenty-four hours when he might reach his destination a day earlier if his train were not stopped. In a compact civilisation certain work is necessary on Sunday, notwithstanding the puritanical notions of the legislators. leg-islators. The limit, however, seems to have been reached by Paragould, Ark., whose city fathers have ordained or-dained that all residents shall be at home between the hours of midnight and 4 a. m., or they will be arrested and thrown into the city calaboose, and be fined by the city court or sent to the workhouse, where regular and orderly habits will be inculcated. The spirit of reform is rampant in America. Xo one can say where it will strike next. |