The Monitor
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A Weekly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious interests
of the Colored People of Nebraska and the West, with the desire to con
tribute something to the general good and upbuilding of the community and
of the race
Published Every Saturday.
Entered as Second-Class Mail Matter July 2, 1916, at the Post Office at
Omaha, Neb., under the act of March 3. 1878
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor and Publisher.
Lucille Skaggs Edwards and William Garnett Haynes, Associate Editors.
George Wells Parker, Contributing Editor and Business Manager.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES, $1.50 PER YEAR
Advertising Rates. 50 cents an Inch per issue.
Address. The Monitor, 1119 North Twenty-first street, Omaha.
Telephone Webster 4243.
OUR ANSWER
From Audrey Bowser's Poem, “The Brown and The Bine" l
Old Glory’s stripes are shining red
With our good soldiers’ gore,
Since Attucks fell and Salem bled,
Black fighters ’neath its folds have
led
The fight in every war.
At Pillow and Wagner’s hellish fray
On San -Juan’s blazing hill;
And the blood that flowed at El Caney
Has drenched it deeper still.
What though an envious hate and
pride
Upon us fix their bans?
What though our birthright be de
nied?
One glory they can never hide—
We are Americans!
And when the dangers darkly reach
Across the nation’s sky,
We hurl our lives into the breach
To suffer, bleed and die.
ARREST .SOMEBODY ELSE.
The Monitor respectfully suggests
to the authorities that if they will ar
rest the man who is reported as being
very friendly with the daughter of the
aged Mrs. Anderson, who was mur
dered on Saturday night, August 25,
1917, the night preceding the murder
of Mrs. Netheway, it i3 very probable
that they will be able to unravel those
two atrocious murder mysteries.
For some reason the Anderson mur
der ease has been dropped or lost
sight of while there seems to have
been an effort to fix the Netheway
crime on Smith. Every clue -UawUi
be followed to bring those guilty of
these two crimes to Justice.
The Monitor believes that these two
crimes are related and that if due dil
igence is exercised the motive for
them may be discovered and the per
petrators and accessories brought to
justice.
It is a rather striking coincidence
that the wounds and marks of vio
lence on these two unfortunate vic
tims of a brutal assassin or assassins
were almost identical.
The Monitor suggest that someone
else besides Smith be arrested and in
vestigated.
Arrest somebody else. The sher
iff’s office and the county attorney’s
office have other clues that ought to
be followed up.
THE SMITH DEFENSE FUND.
Charles Smith has been remanded
for a new trial, although as The Mon
itor pointed out at the beginning, the
state has not one scintilla of evidence
against the accused. The lack of evi
dence upon which the prosecution has
based its case is almost farcial. At
the same time The Monitor is glad
the case was brought to trial because
it has helped to clarify the public
mnid. Because of the failure of the
jury to agree, nine voting for acquit
tal on the first ballot, and three for |
conviction, and this deadlock continu
ing for forty-five hours. Smith has
been remanded for a new trial. The
trial showed the necessity of taking j
steps to safeguard the rights of the
accused. His attorneys put up a good
defense.
The new trial will call for addi-1
tional funds and The Monitor calls
upon its readers to subscribe for The
Smith Defense Fund. About $200 was
the sum raised and paid the attorneys
for Smith’s defense in the first trial. |
We hold the receipts of the attorneys !
for the money raised and paid for the
first trial and have a list of subscrib
ers. The only authorized lists circu
lated for subscriptions for this fund
bear the signature of the Editor of
The Monitor.
“SIMPLY FOB
' AMERICAN SOLDIERS**
A short time ago it was announced
that presents had been sent to the
American army in France marked
“For White Soldiers.” Gen. Pershing
promptly said that such limitations
would be disregarded and stated that
packages and parcels sent for general
distribution should be marked “Simply
‘For American Soldiers.’ *
This attitude is most commendable
and manifests the right spirit. It also
emphasizes a matter to which we de
sire to call attention. It is this:
Many of our women are naturally in
terested in seeing that our Omaha boys
at Camp Funston are remembered by
the folks at home. But may we not
In our zeal to provide for those whom
[ we know overlook the fact that our
| duty as American citizens is chiefly
I and primarily to do what we can
| “simply for American soldiers” and
not only for Colored Soldiers?
: While it is perfectly right for us
to send Individual gifts to certain sot
■ diers whom we may know, when it
comes to any concerted action for
' providing gifts for the army let us be
j broad-minded and patriotic enough to
1 send them to the authorities simply
j for American soldiers, trusting to the
j authorities to see that whatever may
] be sent is wisely and justly distrib
uted.
NEBRASKA SHOULD HELP.
We publish elsewhere in this issue
a. communication from Mrs. Mary B.
| Talbert, president of the National As
sociation of Colored Women, in which
' she incidentally calls attention to the
I fact that the indebtedness on the
Frederick Douglass Home at Anaros
tia, Md., has all been paid with the
exception of $100, and that up to the
j present time nothing has been re
ceived from Nebraska.
Surely Nebraska wants a share in
this important work. Why is it that;
| our progret e women in this com
munity have overlooked this import
ant matter? Are we willing that Ne
braska shall have no place on the
honor roll at “Cedar Hill?” Surely;
not. Nebraska should help.
NK1TS OF HOI.OMON.
Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is an annual day set '
aside many moons ago for the purpose
of rendering up thanks for things to :
be thankful for, but the general Amer
ican idea is of a day when people try
to see how much they can store in !
their bread baskets and still live. At ;'
the first Thanksgiving the Puritans
offered up thanks to God for being j
able to kill plenty of Indians without ^
the Indians killing plenty of them, but
since there aren’t many Indians to ^
kill folks or be killed theBe days, the
average citizen thinks he hasn’t much
to be thankful for. According to sun
dry mesages and state papers this
year, we should be thankful that we
are trying to whip the Kaiser, thank
ful for the high cost of living and
the low scale of wages, thankful for
censorship, draft, and many other
little things like that. Every pinkus
that struts should be glad also that
he Ib breathing on terra flrma instead
of snoozing in a cemetery, but he or
she never thinks of that. The only ;
think disturbing the thought is the
price of turkey, goose, mince pie and ,
cider. To the small boy Thanksgiving
has it over Christmas on a ten to one
bet. Christmas he receives some
candy, a suit and some kind of toy,
but on Thanksgiving he EATS and
eating is a small boy’s idea of heaven
Everybody can find something to be
thankful for on Thanksgiving if he
tries, even it Is only the fact that the
earth is still rolling around on Its
axis. The day comes around only
once a year and none should kick on
being handed out a little bit of
thankful air.
PURCHASE HOME
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Saffold
have purchased a very attractive home
through the Western Real Estate com
pany, of which Mr. Eugene Thomas is
manager.
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Get ready for the Takey Ball.—Adv. i
H
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Our Women
and Children
Coniuctti frji
Lucille Skaggs Edwards
THE GENTLEWOMAN.
Looking through some old maga
zines, we found an article—“The True
Gentlewoman,” written by Maude
Warren. We wish we had space to
quote it in full and we wish we
had power to force every woman and
girl to read it. She begins by speak
ing of unselfishness as a requisite of
the gentlewoman. She says:
"The complement of unselfishness
and consideration for others is tol
erance. When other people are
grasping or unfair, the gentlewoman
tries to excuse them, on the grounds
that they are doubtless doing the
best they can. She is not smug
about it, does not thank God that she
is not as other people: she simply
believes that people probably think
they are justified in whatever line of
conduct they take. This breadth of
view, this generosity, is a grace quite
as admirable as unselfishness; in its
way it is a kind of unselfishness.”
Many of our women and girls are
unselfish, tolerant, and sweet, but
conspicuous clothes, loud voices, lack
of poise and quiet in manners and
casual slangy word often sets them
down as noisy, cheap, and even vul- |
gar. ’Tis true, a charming manner i
will not atone for utter selfishness,
nor will an abrupt manner conceal a
beautiful spirit; yet ideally, there
should be a correspondence between
inner and outer qualities.
Now we must admit that we, as a
race, to gentleness, refinement of 1
manners, and dress, are not of a |
“manor born.” The few years of j
our advantages of training and cul- |
ture aB a people makes us imitators j
We often mistake a class, who are
only imitators themselves for the j
really refined and smart people. Let j
us compare the real gentlewoman J
with the imitation, to quote the writ- j
er:
“Look first in the limousines and
then on the street.” “You can tell the
well-bred girls, because they look
without seeming to see. However
pretty they are, however aware of
the men who stare at them, they nev- [
er meet the eyes of a man, never J
seem to realize that they themselves
are there. In other words, they are ;
utterly unselfconscious. A lack of j
selfconsciousness is the hall-mark of !
the thoroughly well-bred girl. The
girl who has not been so carefully
bred shows that she knows she is
attracting attention. The trouble with j
these girls is that their thoughts are
centered on themselves. They can
not help thinking of the people on
the street in relation to themselves;
they feel as if they were each the
center. But the well-bred girl knows
she is only a unit of the crowd. She
thinks of herself in relation to the
street. She has an objective point
of view. She has been trained as far
as possible to get away from what is
personal, and this training is most
strongly in evidence when she is in
a crowd of strangers. She is going
in a certain direction to a certain
place; she is not Interested in strang
ers, and she assumes that they are
not interested in her. What she.
wishes is to pursue her affairs in the
crowd as inconspicuously as possi
ble.
"Note how beautifully the well
bred girl walks,” the mentor goes on
to say. “She does not swing her
hips; her arms move only as much as
Is necessary for ease and balance.
She does not turn her head abruptly,
or make striking gestures, or stop
too suddenly to look into a shop win
dow. All her movements are quiet,
designed to draw as little attention j
as possible to herself.”
Now to the subject of dress, there 1
are the “smart” and the "imitation
smart.” The imitation smart wear
all their jewels, even if shopping,
their hats are a little too gay, tbeir
blouses are a little too sheer and
cut a little too low, underwaisls
rather too deep a pink and skirts
too short, showing an exaggeration I
of the prevailing style. Of the smart
ones, Bhe says:
“The smart ones who wear tailor
suits have them of perfect cut, but
simple cut. The striking or freak
ish modes are only used by the 'im
itation smart’ women. The smart
ones do not wear suits of bright col
ors. If you could see these best
dressed ones in their evening gowns
you would see bright colors enough,
but not on the street. There the
only chance for color, for 'fancy'
touches of any sort would be In thi
blouses which must, however, har
monize with the suits.
"Simplicity and harmony—those
are, so to speak, the central themes
in the dressing of the well-bred girl.”
Smartness In dress is not a matter
of money for It may be achieved for
the same cost of fussy clothes if one
only buys carefully and follows the
rules of good taste.
Of gracious manners, she says:
"Come with me into the hone of a
fortunate girl who has had the ad
vantages which have been denied
you, who has had given her the
things that you must earn, who, in
childhood, has drawn in, as instinc
tively as she breathed, all the points
of breeding which you, as an adult,
must learn with difficulty, and for
which, by-the-way, you will deserve
I far greater credit than she can ever
win. This rich young girl is giving
a party. Here there are gowns of
vivid colors, but they are all made
with simple lines. Here there Is
gayety, but it never becomes uproar
ious. The laughter is subdued; the
talk is never loud or shrill. There
are young men and women here who
have been friends from childhood,
but they do not show free-and-easy
manners, would not dream of any fa
miliarities. When the fortunate girl
wishes to make two of her friends
| know each other, she does not say,
'Miss Smith, meet Mr. Jones;’ or
j'Mfss Smith, shake hands with Mr.
Jones.' What she says is, ‘Miss
! Smith, may I introduce Mr. Jones?’
or, 'Miss Smith, let me present Mr.
Jones.' If there is dancing, a man
does not dance very often with the
same girl unless be is engaged to
her, for fear of making her too con
spicuous. Everywhere you see a
careful observance of the rules of
good form—and everywhere you see
young people having exactly as good
a time as if they were chewing gum,
or making personal jokes at one an
other's expense. Some of these rich
girls are not sweet, or good, or un
selfish, like you, but they have all the
social graces which almost seem like i
qualities of character.”
Now, we may have clothes in per
fect taste, we may possess all the
points of good breeding, we may mod
ulate our voices, and enunciate more
clearly thus, if we persist we shall
become true gentlewomen.
L. S. E.
DONATION DAY FOR
THE OLD FOLKS HOME
Barrels will be placed in all of our
churches Sunday, November 25, to re
ceive donations of fruit, vegetables,
canned goods or provisions of any
kind, for the benefit of the N. W. C.
A. Home. This is an annual event and
ill view of the high cost of foodstuffs
it is hoped that every one will donate
something to this worthy cause. Some
time ago the housew ives were asked to
save a jar of fruit or vegetables for
this day. If those so giving will paste
their names upon their jars they will
be returned wThen emptied.
The following persons will have
charge of donations at the various
churches:
St. John’s A. M. FI. Church—Mrs. H.
Moore, Mrs. J. S. Turner, Mrs. M. F.
Singleton.
Zion Baptist Church—Mrs. James
G. Jewell, Mrs. H. R. Roberts, Mrs. It.
K. Lawrie.
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Mount Moriah Baptist Church—Mrs.
M. H. Wilkinson, Mrs. J. H. Smith,
Mrs. C. H. Hicks.
Grove M. E. Church—Mrs. A. L.
Bowler, Mrs. E. Benson, Mrs. Nate
Hunter.
Bethel Baptist Church, South Omaha
—Mrs. John McCorkle.
South Omaha A. M. E. Church
Mrs. John Perry, Mr.s B. Thomas.
Persons having small banks belong
ing to the association are requested to
see that liberal donations are made in
them on Thanksgiving Day.
Thompson, Belden & Co.
The Fashion Center fo*r
Women v
Established 1886
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I Grand Charity Ball! |
| FOR BENEFIT OF f
I The Old Folks’ Home |
| AT |
| Beautiful New Dreamland Hallj
(Formerly Washington Hall)
EIGHTEENTH AND HARNEY STREETS
| Monday Evening, Nov. 26th 1
= Desdunes’ Jazz Orchestra. Admission 50c =
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A Church Where j
All Are Welcome j
Services
Sunday School, 10 a. m.
Preaching, 11 a. m,, 8 p. m.
League, 6:30 p. m.
Florence P. Leavitt Club, Mon
day afternoon.
Prayer Meeting, Wednesday
Evening.
W. H. M. S. Thursday Afternoon
GROVE METHODIST CHI RCH La<lics’ Aid, Friday Afternoon.
22nd and Seward Sts., Omaha, Neb. VmL* v * o/'j u’ mm
Res. 1628 N. 22nd. Heb. 5003
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
ON TWENTY-FIRST ST., BETWEEN NICHOLAS AND PAUL STS.
Easily Reached From All Paris of City By Street Cars.
Within Walking Distance of a Large Number of Colored People.
If You Are a Member of the Episcopal Church this Will Let You
Know Where It Is.
If You Are Not a Member of the Church, You Ought to Be.
Come to the Services Anyway and Get Acquainted.
SUNDAY SERVICES
Holy Communion, 7:30 a. m.
Church School (Sunday School) 10 a. m.
Holy Communion and Sermon, 11 a. m.
Evening Prayer and Sermon, 8 p. m.
Please accept this as a personal invitation to attend services. All
seats are free. Everybody is welcome. It’s your
Heavenly Father's House—Come.
JNO. ALBERT WILLIAMS, Pastor.
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