6io POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ence saiil, " Oh, sit down! " as it" thoy wondered what such a person 

 could have to say which would not be a waste of the meeting's time, 

 but she would not sit down. Standing there until the noise had 

 hushed, she began: 



" I wants ter tank Gawd I'se come here tor day an' heard what 

 dat sister had ter say. I don' know what made me come. I'se 

 nebber been here before, but I'se so glad T come ter-day ! I'se been 

 de mother ob sixteen chillen. I hain't nebber had a home nor a 

 mule nor eben a dress dat wa'n't morgiged. My chillen's gone an' 

 lef me as soon as dey's growed up, an' now my ole man is gone too. 

 I tought dere wasn't nufEn lef for me ter do but jes' die, but now 

 I'se goin' home an' get some Ian' an' do for myself an' my littles' 

 chillens what nobody has ebber done for me. I kin do it, an' I 

 tank Gawd I'se been here ter git de word." 



It seems to me as if this was missionary work of the best kind, 

 and it is such work as this that Tuskegee is doing constantly. 



RECENT LEGISLATION AGAINST THE DRINK EVIL. 



By APPLETON MORGAN. 



X. Quality Inspection. — In my paper in these pages, in 1894, 

 I remarked, " If there is any such thing as a salutary liquor law, 

 not derived from excise or police jurisdiction, it would be, perhaps, 

 a statute insuring the purity of liquor; reviving that old English func- 

 tionary, the ' ale-taster,' with his care over all drinkables exposed 

 for sale." And surely this would be a legitimate and a constitutional 

 law, as providing for the public safety (which is, after all is said, 

 the origin and summit of all law). To kill a rattlesnake the rattle- 

 snake must first be recognized as alive, and the old cry of the Podsnap 

 that nothing improper exists is fast disappearing. It seems to me 

 that at present, and in view of the fact that Mr. Reed's plan would 

 involve a social and economical plant which could only be accumu- 

 lated by long and deliberate legislative action, and admitting that 

 the drink evil not only calls for legislative action but has received 

 it for sixty-two years, and so accustomed our communities to expect 

 it; admitting also Mr. Bellamy's and Mr. Reed's basic proposition 

 that there is no reason why any human being should starve, and that 

 it is not juiblic policy that any creature of the State (even if a 

 criminal confined for crime in a State penitentiary) should starve — 

 admitting all these, it seems as if this plan really might be the best 

 and most immediiitcly ])r;ictic;il>I(' pinii y(4. Every State, without 



