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EDITORIAL PAGE The San Francisco Call and Post F. W. KELLOGG, President and Publisher JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Vice President and Treasurer President Wilson Vindicates San Francisco Proves That We Will Not Mar Natural Beauty in the Hetch Hetchy President Wilson, in signing the Hetch Hetchy grant, said in explanation of his action: "I have signed this bill because it seemed to serve the pressing public needs of the region concerned better than they could be served in any other way, and yet did not impair the usefulness or materially detract from the beauty of the public domain. "The bill was opposed by so many public spirited men, thoughtful of the interests of the people and of fine conscience in every matter of public concern, that I have naturally sought to scrutinize it very closely. I take the liberty of thinking that their fears and objections were not well founded. I believe the bill to be, on the whole, in the public interest, and I am the less uncertain in that judgment because I find it concurred in by men whose energies have been devoted to conservation and the safeguarding of the people's interests, and many of whom have, besides, had a long experience in the public service, which has made them cir cumspect in forming an opinon on such matters." That statement closes the incident of the "nature lovers." None doubted that San Francisco needed the water rights for which this city applied to the national government; the opposition of power companies and inimical water interests was to be ex pected, and did not convince. The attacks of the "nature lovers," however, who were men whose motives could not be questioned, whose inspiration was honest, left a haunting suspicion in the minds of those uninformed of the true conditions involved. On that account San Francisco wanted vindication before the world that the city would be doing no harm where it was doing its greatest good to the people. President Wilson has given us that vindication. He has pinned the badge of the real nature lover on San Fran cisco's proud chest. How Would YOU Write This? A Lesson in Expressing Ideas for Our Young People To write well is, first, to HAVE a good idea and then know how to get the idea from your head into another man's head, sim ply and easily, without waste of words and without effort on the of the man who reads. The art of making YOUR thought plain and clear to others is highly important—not only to the writer, but to every human being. * The clerk is a good clerk when he can put his idea easily into the mind of a customer. A good mother can get her thoughts, the goodness of her heart, easily into the minds of her children. The art of making yourself clear in speech or writing, and easily understood, is like every other art, ONE THAT MUST BE PRACTICED. So here is a lesson today for the boys at high school and the older men who wish that they were at high school LEARNING. We take an extract from an advertisement of the works of Rudyard Kipling. The extract was written by Edmund Gosse, a well known writer. Here it is. Read it quickly, without stop ping, and see if you understand immediately just what the writer meant : "Not fewer distinguished men of letters profess to have 'discovered' Mr. Kipling than there were cities of old in which Homer was born. Yet, in fact, the discovery was not much more creditable to them than it would be, on a summer night, to con trive to notice a comet flying across the sky." That was intended as a very simple statement, one to be in stantly absorbed by the reading mind. But IS it such a statement? Take your pencil and paper and see for yourself just how much better, how much more simply, how much more briefly, YOU can express the thought that Edmund Gosse tried to get from his mind into your mind. This is a good chance for readers to practice the art of ex pressing a simple thought simply. For the idea is to make a sim ple striking COMPARISON. Imagination that invents or spontaneously expresses thought in apt comparison is the good imagination. The writing quoted above is bad, because it begins with the word "NOT." You will feel instinctively that to begin by saying NOT is something like harnessing a horse with his nose against the dashboard. You will also see that the dragging in of a number of cities in which Homer was supposed to have been born checks the thought that the writer wanted to express and makes the reader stumble and hesitate, instead of getting the idea into his mind IMMEDI ATELY We give you this quotation from the Rudyard Kipling adver tisement not in a spirit of silly criticism, but with a desire to have a good many young men PRACTICE THOUGHT and expression. Write out for yourself the best way in which YOU could ex press the idea that Edmund Gosse wishes to convey. He might have said, for example: "The critics who say they 'discovered' Kipling are as ridicu lous as the hoptoad on the railroad track who said he discovered the approaching locomotive headlight." Or he might say: "When the lighthouse keeper sends the light across the water the little fish says, 'I have discovered the lighthouse.' That fish is the critic who says, T have discovered Kipling.'" Or you could compare the little unimportant critic who "dis covers" the great writer to the beetles, moths and other tiny fly ing creatures of the night that flock to and discover the electric arc light. Except for that light THEY would be invisible. And ex cept for the light of that which they criticise, the critics as a rule would be invisible. Many a critic who "discovers" a great man is simply an ob scure little fluttering moth, lighted up for a moment, made visible by the light that the great man casts upon him. The human race has practiced almost everything EXCEPT THINKING. Thinking and writing or speaking must go together. There is no real thought that is not expressed in words. You can not think EXCEPT IN WORDS. Try it. The animals can not THINK, they can only feel, because they possess no language with which to express and formulate thought. Men deal with each other, convince each other, by thought and through the expression of thought in words. The man who can think well and express his thoughts well and simply and find a SHORT, EASY ROAD TO THE MIND OF THE OTHER MAN is the man who succeeds. PRACTICE THOUGHT AND THE WRITING AND SPEAKING OF YOUR THOUGHT. THE SANFRANCISCO CALL AND POST IT WASN'T THERE, AFTER ALL Tomorrow, tie up the bundles and stick on the Red Cross stamps * * * The trouble about a cold rain is that you can't keep your hands in your pockets and hold up an umbrella at the same time. * * * We extend a cordial invitation to all nature lovers to go to Hetch Hetchy and ride on our beautiful lake. * * * Rockefeller had a school district up near Oroville named after him, but refused to build a schoolhouse. That's the way with some men—they let pass all opportunity to acquire immortahty. * * * "It would cost $2,000,000,000 for the government to acquire the tele phone and telegraph lines," say the magnates. Gee! Are the magnates as rich as that? * * * A burglar stole six eggs from a residence. He doubtless left behind a diamond necklace and pearl earrings, not wishing to be encumbered with valueless trifles CHRISTMAS PACKAGES Evening Calls A new shade in hats is the artichoke. We presume it should be trimmed with mayonnaise bands. * ♦ * After 4.000 years the Sequoia Gigantia has come into fashion. It wears fir trimmings on every limb. " * * » Joe Gall has become federal auctioneer. Seems like we've heard that word somewhere before in auctioneering circles. ■ • * * .* ./ A Hollister politician is accused of stealing chickens. Alibi: There's nothing for them to crow over at this time of the year. * # * An experienced mother writes that Christmas wouldn't be so bad if the schools didn't give the children a subsequent vacation of two weeks in which to break their toys. * * * It is proposed to make the eastern bee work in summer as well as in winter by moving him south during the cold spell. Now, the Cali fornia bee is busy all the year round in his native haunts. DECEMBER 20, 1913 Ella Wheeler Wilcox —ON— Parents and Children—The Most Important Duties of Parenthood Are Often Left to Teachers. What Are You Doing for Your Children? ELLA WHEELER WILCOX is an appalling fact that I this institution, preservative of all institutions, if it is to be judged by some modern homes, is actually in danger of becoming a serious menace to American life and national right eousness. The well-regulated home, where there is mutual af fection and respect, a kind and just exercise of authority, un questioning obedience, mutual helpfulness, and the cherishing of those great principles which lie at the foundation of the Christian religion, is the only hope for the larger and national life. Without such homes the people of this country can not expect, and have no right to ex pect, a government that will maintain justice, equity, and right, and whose social order and institutions will be perpetuated. "For the most part father has degenerated into or been suc ceeded by 'daddy' or 'dad,' who is merely a convenient fellow, when he happens to be at home, for a riotous romp or for receiv ing orders to buy this or that, and who has no more authority or influence in the family gov ernment than one of the *kids.' While mother —well, as a gen eral rule, nurse has taken her place in the home, and frequently an incapable and unconscientious nurse influence is anything but good. "The 'kids' (there are no chil dren now), instead of being taught self-denial, self-restraint, and respect for others and for the rights of others, demand and are yielded the fullest measure of unregulated liberty and license and self-indulgence; in other words, they are practically left to rear themselves according to their own 'sweet wills.' "Much might also be said of the lamentable lack of parental care and oversight as to the daily and nightly whereabouts of the larger sons and daughters, the doubtful character of the en tertainments frequented by them, and the demoralizing literature admitted into the home, as well as other threatening evils." —WM. S. THORINGTON. To Those Who Must Take Up Parents' Work HOW LARGE THY TASK? How large thy task, O teacher of the young! To take the raveled threads by parents flung With careless hands — and through consummate care To weave a fabric, fine and firm and fair; God's uncompleted work is thine to do — Be brave and true. —ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. Many parents who read the words of Mr. Thorington will resent them. Yet they are needed words, and painfully true of a large percentage of Amer ican homes and parents. Are you a parent of grown children? If so, just what do you know of their methods of enjoyment, outside the home, or even at home? Do you take a sympathetic in terest in all their pleasures, and do you try to make them feel you are their friend, and that you have not forgotten your own youth? Are they on such happy terms with you that they tell you all their little secrets and talk over all their hopes and ambitions PUTTY: He's a Cute Baby Copyright, 1913, International News Service. and longings? Have you made your own son feel respect and a high sense of responsibility to ward all women ? Does he understand that sex relations are sacred matters, and that any light or low view of the subject is fraught with enor mous dangers for him and for his descendants? Unless a young man knows this, from the scientific and med ical side, he is not well equipped to go about seeking for social pleasures in safety. He is in danger himself, and he is liable to become a menace to those with whom he associates. Has your' young daughter any knowledge of herself as a woman and a possible mother of an other generation, which will protect her from disaster, moral ly or physically? Possibly, being your daugh ter, you feel she mu3t be safe from doing any foolish or wrong act. But you must remember how many other ancestors have given her tendencies and qual ities and impulses of which you know nothing. Guard Your Daughter, Know Her Life and Friends First and foremost she is a hujßan being, a part of nature, and she will pass through the same stages of development which flowers and plants and ani mals pass through. Just as the tree buds and then flowers, and then bears fruit, so every normal woman experi ences these instincts to carry on nature's work. Are you protecting your daughter? Do you know what hours she keeps with her callers, and when she visits her girl friends, do you know what places they visit and who are their escorts, and what % hour she reaches her rooms? If you are parents of small children, are you giving them any foundatio/i of good man ners and agreeable behavior and « kindly instincts, which will make them tractable students when they begin to attend school, and will cause the tendrils of their young minds to reach up to lovely qualities, instead of trail ing down into the dust of sel fishness and the mire of im morality? The most important duties of parenthood are often cast on the burdened shoulders of teachers. Having brought a child into the world and to a school age is not all the responsibility of a father and mother. Not even when accompanied by generosity and a willingness to pay teach ers to do the work neglected at home. Nothing can ever quite recom pense a child who has reached the age of 10 without having re ceived the loving, careful train ing of a patient mother or father in the small gracious things which make up daily conduct. Any however poor, can teach a child to speak low, to avoid flat contradictions, to be respectful to elders, to sit correctly, to partake of food si lently and enter and leave a room gracefully. So, too, can any parent who ha* right in stincts, avoid having a child hear gossip or unkind criticism or coarse language. Are you doing all these things?