'Cbe Conservative *
*
NEW BOOK.
Willis George Emerson , who has
been one of The Conservative's valued -
ued contributors , is the latest addi
tion to the list of fiction-writing
business men , and his "Buell Hamp
ton , " just issued by Forbes & Com
pany , is no moan . annex to current
American fiction. It is a story of
Kansas , of the present day. It was
begun , the author states , twelve
years ago ; the plot and the mystery
may bo attributed perhaps to a more
youthful time ; but the filling , the
incident , the local color , are the
work of a mature understanding ,
joined with the observant eye of a
man of experience. It is a story of
very respectable bulk , and the lover ,
the maiden , the plotting woman and
the English lord make a web of
sufficient interest to the novel reader ;
the Rosicruoian has not been
worked very hard of late , and wo
submit that a Kansas writer has as
good a right to him as Lord Lytton
had ; and the "sketches of Kansas as
the writer saw it , written evidently
on the spot and by the light of swift
glances , are as good as the best.
The writer is fond of music , and
shows that he belongs to a certain
characteristic school of western writ
ers by using French and German
words in their proper places and
spelling them in the proper way ; but
one wonders why an author so
scrupulous about accented vowels in
foreign words , should see fit to write
"cum , " "miuit , " and "speek" for
come , minute and speak , in portraying
the speech of the men of Kansas.
The local part of the book is gen-
nine and good. The politics , the
journalism , the hard times , the
devastating calamities , are worthy of
becoming a part of our permanent
literature. Parts of the book could
only have been written by a man of
taste and discernment , thoroughly
in sympathy with his subject. Such
sayings as the following we like
very much indeed :
"When the wreck and the ruin had
been surveyed in the gray dawn and
morning of a new day , these loyal
people , with a fortitude unequaled
in the history of communities , re
turned to the burning embers of their
{ } dugout homos , and , forgetting the
devastation of the hot winds and the
calamity of the greatest prairie-fire
that had over swept over the south
west , they went on loving Kansas ,
the land of sunshine and of sun
flowers. ' '
THE PROMISE OF A MERCHANT
MARINE.
[ Frederic Emory In the World's Work. ]
A German economist , Prof. Voi
Halle , who recently visited our larger
\
Am mmm
shipbuilding plants , gives thorn high
praise as being in advance of those of
Suropo in modern technique and "the
most perfect apparatus and tools , " en
abling them to turn out "the very best
quality of work , " and threatening a
serious competition with the German
yards. The splendid war vessels they
lave constructed , not only for our own
government , but for foreign powers ,
would seem to indicate that our superi
ority as an economical producer of
steel , combined with the mechanical in
genuity and efficiency they have shown ,
should enable our shipwrights to build
letter and cheaper vessels for the mer
chant service than can be produced else
where. It is to be presumed that they
are only awaiting the time when a suf-
icient demand shall have been created
jy the removal of the conditions un
favorable to the investment of Ameri
can capital in the carrying trade. The
element of higher wages for labor in the
building and operating of ships will
probably have less and less weight as a
deterrent to such investment , as the
fact becomes more widely recognized
that highly paid skilled labor , with the
aid of machinery , produces more cheap
ly than the so-called pauper labor of
other lands. The number of men em
ployed in operating a ship , moreover , is
already being reduced by the introduc
tion of machinery and mechanical ap
pliances , and it may be expected that
the inventive faculty which has wrought
such wonderful economics in our mills
and workshops , will bring about a sim
ilar saving in the cost of ocean trans
portation.
These considerations provide another
and a very striking illustration of the
value of a highly developed industrial
ism as the basis of military strength.
In the extension of commerce , efficient
navies are the surest guarantees of pro
tection and unobstructed growth. If it
ever came to a trial between the United
States and any other Power as to which
should have the greater navy , it would
seem to bo clear , from the foregoing
presentation of our unequalled resources
for building vessels of the best type ,
that in the long run wo must win.
WHAT AN UNREAD MAN SHOULD
READ.
Among the few general counsels
which I venture humbly to offer on this
matter , the first and most important for
the unread man to remember is this :
Beware of literary superstition. Natur
ally , the timid seeker whom I have in
mind is liable to feel a little awed before
enthroned literary authority , in a sense ,
it is the proper attitude for a beginner ,
but it must bo accompanied by a coura
geous adherence to his own impressions.
For example , if some one has advised
you to read the "Iliad , " and you cannot
for the life of yon , see anything in it
while , at the same time , you are shame
fully conscious that it is a "classic , "
and that it is your moral duty to enjoy
t in spite of yourself , the thing to do
s to bo perfectly honest with yourself ,
and put Homer by , at all events , for m :
.he . time. The day may come when ,
ihrough the changes wrought in your
taste by various other reading , you may
enjoy Homer after all , and realize why
so many generations of men have do-
ighted in him , why , in short , his It"
works are classic.
Meanwhile , however , there is no use [ >
n your trying to feel what you don't 'I ,
feel ; for reading is nothing if not sin
cere , and its profit is not easily separ
able from pleasure. I have taken the
Iliad" merely as an example of those
world-famous books which , gathered
'roni every branch of literature , com
pose the heterogeneous assemblage of
; he immortals , and all of which the be
wildered unread man , when he takes
his first respectful look at their ombat-
; led names on the bookshelf , supur-
stitiously feels it his mighty responsi
bility to digest. Richard Le Gallienue ,
m June "Success. "
HISTORICAL PLACES.
Some things seem to be accom
plished more easily in Kansas than
in Nebraska. They have done more ,
tor instance , in the way of marking
historic spots down there than wo
have over done in our state. Wo
have no reason to think they are any
more considerate of recent events ,
of matters connected with the Civil
or Spanish wars ; but of the times
that lie back of living men's memory
they do seem to bo more mindful.
Last September they dedicated a
monument to Lieutenant Pike , on the
site of the Indian village or "re
public" where ho pulled down the
last Spanish flag in 1806 ; and now
they are putting up a shaft to mark
the kingdom of Quivera. This is"a
name found in the records of the
early Spanish explorers , who heard
of such a pjaco and expected to find
much gold there. So much moon
shine enters into their narratives that
Quivera has become a kind of joke of
late years ; but certain careful stu
dents , among whom is Mr. E. E.
Blackmail , of our state society , claim
to have definitely located the habitat
of the ancient Indian nation the
Spaniards had in mind , and to be
erecting this monument at its approx
imate geographical center.
Now Nebraska has never done any
thing of this kind. Some day she
will have to begin. Wo of Nebraska
City are not very enthusiastic over
such things in the abstract ; wo might
not care about any monuments on
Blackbird Hill or at old Fort Atkin
son ; but wo can probably all see the
propriety of the statojs marking the
site of the first Fort Kearney with
some sort of a construction on the
vacant lot west of the Morton House.
With a little effort , this attention
could probably bo obtained from the
next legislature.