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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1904)
THE ILLUSTRATED BEE. March 0, 190 L Tub Illustrated Ben. Published Weekly ty Tho lire Publishing Company, Bee Building, Omaha, libit. 1'rlfp, 6c Per Copy-l'er Year, $l!.0t). JOntcred nt the Omaha I'ostoUlce ua Second Class Mail Matter. For Advertising Hui-s Address rublishTrT Communications relating lo photographs or iirtlrles for pud licit Inn should be ad dressed, "Kditor Illustrated Bee. Omuha.'' 2 Stirling " Pen and Picture Pointers f ym, . 1KOMAHLY no Is-lter Illustration I J I f he democracy thnt prevails ft. J I n A mnHixi imM l,A w. i. a i ... ...... . n 7 iinu i iirifi nits fact that the army of tin; Unlte-d Slates finds for Klv tlm., ut its head n man who rose from the rank. NupoU-on Bonaparte, once said-Kvi-rv soldier of France csrricfl a mar rhals baton In hlH knHpsack.' a remark TJic.ro platitudinous than practical, nlthough It has ono or two eminent example of its verity n ,tlp linna)H ,)f Na ,,.,, army. Hut Napoleon s remark wax made as much In cMlancc of Kuropcati sentiment if the day h to encon. an.- 1'renc h soldiers; for at that lime the hereditary nobility Hl111 stronir In all countries except America, and the army posts went by favor rather than merit. la the army of tho LniUvI state, tho Kol.ller Inn always had n opiH'rtuidty ,.ge Hl(h,lu,h ,he government ha for many years maintained in academy for the preliminary training 'f Its oirjient graduation from VV'.t Point lias never beo.i a condition precedent to rise in tho service. Lieutenant General Miles. Ueutctuuit Gene r.tl young and Lieutenant General Chaff.., each began as "" ''I'fte.l man; and many another has risen to high runk In the wi'vico who began Ut the lowest. It . this, llM ,,.,, HH ny. thing vine, that has mado the army of the 1 'lilted States the llnest body of lighting men tho world ever knew, and the preser vation of the democratic spirit In its or Ionization Is certain to maintain its ofne lency in )eld on,j ,.U;I(, 4 Council muffs is to be eoiiKratulated on 1h" acquisition of u tine home for Its public library. For many jtnrs the citizens of that town have maintained at considerable cost a lll.rai y for the uses of the public, but at the disadvantage of having no per manent home. Now It has hi en given the means to erect a suitable building and Is In it fair way to become possessed of not inly a handsome home, but a store of books that will provide a fountain from wl I 'It streams of knowledge and c ulture will flow to every cornet of the lily. No more Im portant element enteis into the life of a modern city than the free public library, mid no one Institution pays belter returns. Its Influence on the life of the people Is direct, for it is impossible to have a gen era.! dissemination of Information, such sa Is possible only with free access to the best of books, nnd not have latter citizenship. A broader and more liberal culture is tho corollary of a public library. One of the lilt lo known Institutions of the state la the School for the Illlnd at Nebruska City. No state in the union has made more liberal provision for the du catlon of Its children than Nebraska, and this school la idmply one of the phuaus of the general plan Its scope la naturally limited, as It la designed to deal with those who ure unfortunately deficient in the mat ter of sight, but its arrangements are of the bcal, o that the boy or girl who la thus atlllcted may there be given training In the use of the remaining senses, to the nd that they will become useful members of society. Some things arc accomplished that appear wondrous to those gifted with all th faculties of healtlk. but the results accomplished are those that naturally fol low on the expenditure of Infinite patience and the exercise of long experience in deal ing with the problem present-!. The b'lnd are given education In the essential brunches of a common school eduoitlon and are also taught useful mechanical and hand, raftsmanshlp. so that when leaving the school the pupil Is able to copo success fully with thoae who have sight and enrn a living in the world. Reclamation of the arid weat haa bora a problem before the public for a long time and the continued agitation its now about to hear Its first fruits. The g. nxril government has taktn hold of the matter and under a comprehensive plan Is provid ing storage reservoirs and other means to conserve the natural water supply In the regions of Insufficient rati fall, to the end that land that has been hitherto wot4 places will become fertile farms and or chard. One of the great storage systems now projected In Wyoming Is described in this Dumber. Veteran Odd Fellow t.aban W. Haughry of South Char'eton. O , has received the -re ter n d-pre. In Odd Fellowship on account of his long iremlier shlp In the order. Mr. IUuttvy was In itiated Into the order In 162 and la now the oldest living member lo Ohio. (Copyright, 1904. by M. Walter Dunne.) j i tt l-i slim, looking almost naked I I under her transparent dress of j gauze, which fell In straight folds LUli" "9 'iU ,H ,,le Kol- bracelets on In her rich voice and somothlng undulating and feline In the rhythmical swing of her wrist and hips, Tstla t'aroly was singing ono of those sweet Creole songs which O.H up somo far distant falry-Hke iiountry, and tucsn unknown onresnvB for which the lips are always thirsting. Footlt, the clown, was leaning against the piano with a blackened face, and with a mouth that looked like the red gash from a saber cut, and his wide-oicn eyes ex prossed feelings of the most extravagant emotion, while some niggers squatted on the ground and accompanied tho orchestra by e-trummliig on some yellow, empty gourds. Hut what mado the women and the children In tho pantomime of the "New Circus" laugh most was the Incessant quarrel between an onormous Danish hound and a poor old supernumerary, who was blackcnod like a negro minstrel and dressed like a mulatto woman. The dog wus al ways annoying him, following him, snapped ut his legs and at his old wig with his altar p teeth, and tore his coat and his silk puckcthandkerchief whenever he could get hold of It, to pieces. And the man used positively to allow himself to be molested and bitten and played his part with dull resignation with the mechanical uncon sciousness of a man who has come down In tho world, who gains his livelihood as best he can, and who has already endured worse things. When Tat la, half turning round to tho two club men, with whom she had Just been dining at the Cafe Anglais, used her Urge fan of black feathers. In a pretty, supple pose, with the light falling onto tho napo of Ijor fair neck. Nocle de Frejus ex claimed: "Wherever did they unenrth that horrible, grotesqae figure?" Lord Shelly, who was a pillar of the clr oiiaea, and who knew the performances, the length of time the acrobats had been performing and the private history of all of thorn, whether clowns or circus riders, replied: "Don't you recognise him, my friend V "That lump of soot? Are you Jesting with me? "He certainty has very much changed, poor fellow, and not to his advantage. Nevertheless, James Stirling im i model of manly beauty and elegance and led auch an extravagant life that all sorts of stories were rife about him. Many people declared that he was ome high class adventurer. At any rate he thought no more of danger than he did of smoking a good cigar. "Don't you remember him ut the Hippo drome, when he stood on the bare back of u horse, and drove five other tandem fashion at full gallop and without making a mistake, curbing them, or urging them on with his thin, muscular Lands, Just as he pleased? He seemed to be rivlted onto the back of the horse, and kept on It as if he had beeii held oil by invisible hands." "Yes, I remenitwr hlnvJauies Stirling," said Tatta. The circus rider, James Stir ling, on whose account th it tall girl Caro, who was also a circus rider, gave that oil stager, Blanche Taupin, a cut right and left across the face with her riding whip, because she hud tried to get him from her. Hut what can have happened to him to have brought him down to Buch a posi tion?" Horrible, hairy monkeys, grimacing un der their red and blue musks, had In vaded the arena, and with their hair hang ing down on their bare shoulders looked very funny, with their long tails, their gray skin light, aud their velvet breeches. These female dancers twisted. Jumped, hopped and drew their lascivious and voluptuous circle more clojely round Cheeolat, who ehook the red skirts of h's ooat, rolled bis eyes and showed his large, white teeth in a foolish smile, as If he were the prey to Irresis tible desire, and yet ter ribly afraid of what might happen. Ixird Shel ley, taking some grapes out of a basket that Node de Frejus offered him, said: "It Is not a, very cherful story, but then true stories rarely are. At the time when he was still unknown, and when he used to have to tighten hta belt more frequently than he got enough to eat and drink, James Stirling followed the destinies of a circus which traveled with its vans from fair to fair and from place to place, and fell in with a gypsy colum bine, who also formed part of this wan dering, half-starved company. "She was not 20, and astonished the oth ers by her rash boldness, her absolute, contempt for danger and obstacles, and her strange and adroit strength. She charmed them also by the magic aura which camo from her hair, which was darker than a starless night, from her large, black, coaxing, velvety eyes con cealed by the fringe of long lashes that curled upwards, from her scented skin, as soft as rice paper, every touch of which was a suggestive and tempting caress, and from her firm, full, smiling, childlike mouth, which uttered nothing but laugh ter, Jokes and love songs, and gave promise of kls?ea. "She rode bare-backed horses, without bit or bridle, stretched herself out on their backs, as if on a bed, mingling her dis heveled hair with their raunes, swaying her supple body to their utmost impetu ous movements, and at other times stand ing almost on their withers or on the crup pers, while she Juggled with looking glasses, brass bolls and knives that flashed as they twirled rapidly round in the smoky light of the paraffin lamps that were fas tened lo Ihe tent poles. "Hit name was Sacha, a pretty Slavonic name which has a sweet and strange sound, und she gave herself lo Stirling entirely, because he was handsome, strong, and spoke to women very gently, like one talks to little children, who are easily frightened and made to cry. It was on her account that in a quarrel in Holland he knocked down an Italian wlld-boust tamer by a blow between the eyes. "They adored each other bo that they never thought of their poverty, but re doubled their caresses when they Und noth ing to eat, not even an unripe apple stolen from an orchard, nor a lump of bread which tho might have begged on the road of some diari table soul. They embraced each other more ardently still when they were obliged to stop for the night In the open country, shivering In the old, badly cloaed vans, stinting the scanty supply of wood, and unable to Illuminate the snow with those large bivouac fires whom amoke rises In auch fantastic, spiral curls and whose Oames-look like a spot of blood at a distance seen through the mist. "It was one of those Bohemian quasl matrimonuU arrangements, which are often more enduring than ours, and in which a man and a woman do not part for a mere caprice, a dream, or a piece of folly. "llut by-and-by site was no longer good for anything and had to give up appearing on tho program. James Stirling worked for both, and thought that he should die of grief when she was brought to bed and. aftr three days of Intense suffering, died with her hand in hiu "And bow, all alone, crukhed by grief, so 111 that at times he thought his heart had stopped, the circus rider lived for the child which the deud woman had left him as a legacy. He bought a goat, so that it might have pure milk, and brought it up with such infinite, deep, womanly tender ness that the child culled him momma, and In the circus they nicknamed him 'Mamma Stirling.' "The boy was like his mother, and one might have said that he had brought James luck, for he hud made his mark, was re ceiving a good Income nnd appeared In very performance. Well mide rnd nglle and profiling by the Irspons which h? re ceived at the elreua. little Stirling wns soon fit to appear on the posters, and the night when he made his first appearance at Franconl's, old Tom IVars, tho clown, who understood such matters better than moat, exclaimed; " "My boy, you will make your way if you don't break your neck first.' " 'I will take caro of that. Monsieur Tears,' tho lad replied, with a careless shrug of tho shoulders. "He was extremel daring and when h threw himself from one trapeze to the other In n bold flight through the air one might almost have fancied, in the silvery electric light, that he was some fabulous bird with folded wings. Ho executed all his feats with unequalcd natural grace, seemingly without an effort, even when he braced his limbs of Btctel n.nd condensed all his Strength In ono supreme, m;ul leap. His chest, under its pearl-gray tights, hardly rose., and there was not a drop of perspi ration on his forehead, among the Iltfht curls which framed It like a golden halo. "He had an almost disdainful manner of smiling at the public in tho manner of an artist who loves his profession and Is amused at danger rather than like an acro bat who Is paid to amuse people after din ner. During his most difficult feats he oft-n uttered a shrill cry, like that of some wild beast whic h defies the sportsman as it falls on Its prey. Hut ono sportsman Is always on tho alert, nnd he is the Invisi ble, who clopog the brightest eyes and the most youthrul lips forever. "In spite of ont self, one was excited by It, and could have wished, from a super stitious Instinct, that he would not con tinually have that defiant cry. which seemed to afford him pleasure, on his Hps. James Stirling watched over him like the mother of an actress does, a mother who knows that her daughter is In some cor ner, and fears those dangerous connections. In which the strongest are entangled and ruined. They lived together in a boarding house near tho Arc de Triomphe. "It was a very simple apartment, with Immense posters of every color and In every language pinned to the wall, on which the name of Stirling appeared in largo, striking letters; photographs with inscriptions, and tinsel wreaths, though there were two of real laurel, covered with dust, and grad ually falling to pieces. "One night, the young fellow for the first timo did not come borne, and only re turned in time for rehearsal, tired, with blue riins under his eyes, his lips cracked with feverish heat, and with pale cheeks, but with such a look of happiness, and such a peculiar light In his eyes, that Mamma Stirling felt as Jf he had been stabbed, and had not the strength to find fault with him. Emboldened, radiant, longing to give vent to the mad Joy which filled his whole being, to express his sensa tions, and recount his happiness, like a lad talking to his elder brother, the boy told James Stirling his love Intrigue from beginning to end. and how much In love he waa with the light-haired girl who had clasped him In her arms, and Initialed him Into tho pleasures of the flesh. "It had been coming on for some time, he said. She went to every performance, and always occupied the same box. She used to send him letters by the box op -ner, letters which smelled like bunches of vio lets, and always smiled at hhu when he came Into the ring to bow to the public, amid the applause and recalls, and It was that smile, those red, half-open Hps, which Bevmed to promise so many caresses and delicious words, that had attracted hin like some fragrant fruit. Sometimes nho came with gentlemen in evening drexe, and gardenias in their button holes, who seemed to bore her tenibfy. If not to dis gust her. And he waa happy, although he had never yet spoken to her. in tho knowledge that she had not the smile, for them which sho had for him. and that she appeared dull and sad, like somebody who Is homesick, or longing for some thing or someone. "On other evenings sho ucd to be quite alone, with black pearls in the lobe j of her small pink ears, and always g t up and left her box as soon as he h id fin ished hl3 performance on the trapeze. The evening before she carried him e ff r. I most forcibly In her carriage, without even giv ing him time to get rid of his tights and the India rubLer arm'.eta lint he wore on his wrists. Oh! that return in the cold, in the semi-obscurity, through which tlu trembling light of tho street limps shone that warm, exciting clasp of her arms, which imprisoned him, and by de. gTees drew him c'ose to that warm body, whose slightest throb and shiver he felt, as if she had Leon clothed In impalpable Continued tin Page Sixteen,