VOL. XVI., NO. XXXVII
ESTABLISHED IN 1886
PRICE FIVE CENTS
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LINCOLN, NEBR., SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER U, 1901.
THE COURIER,
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OBSERVATIONS.
ii,ooA
The Coronation.
A feudal ceremony left over from
ages that have gone, a curiosity as
strange as the hairy elephant whose
sole survivor was imprisoned in a
block of ice, the coronation of King
Edward of England is a spectacle
worthy the attentionof antiquarians.
When the retainers, serrs and vil
leins of a hundred barons renewed
their vows and declarations of de
devotion as each new heir came into
his inheritance, the elaborate fealty
service which is the meaning of the
coronation ceremony did not shock
Englishmen who, in spite of the royal
fiepartment in their government,
have attained self government.
Now there is nothing left in Eng
land that corresponds to the corona
tion. At the present day when the
heir to an old title and large estates
comes into his own, all that remains
lof the ancient oath of life-long de
votion to the young lord is the merry
making and feasting whicli followed
and closed the mediaeval ceremonies.
The managers of King Edward's
coronation are perplexed to know
what to retain and what to leave out
from the old coronation regime.
A king belongs to the ancient order
of things. In a few hundred years a
king, princes and princesses will have
joined the company in fairyland. In
the scheme of things republican there
is no room and no appropriation for
them. And as sure as political free
dom and constitutional equality prevail,-kings
are doomed. But so long
as a king is supposed to rule England
he must be crowned, he must swear
to keep faith with the people, and
representatives of the people must do
homage to him. Nevertheless the
gentlemen of the bedchamber, the
keepers of this and that, equerries,
knight challengers, bearers of arti
cles so obsolete that even a king
loaded down with a jeweled crown,
a sceptre, immense necklace, an er
mine robe and orders of various kinds,
refuses to wear them, must be placed
in the procession and as near to the
royal personage as their grandfathers
were to Edward the Confessor when
he was crowned. In thus forcing the
twentieth century to adapt itsplf to
the ways of the eleventh century,
the management of the coronation
festival is puzzled. To incorporate a
mediaeval order of things and to sat
isfy descendants of mediaeval func
tionaries is a task equal in ditllcul
ties to any one of the seven labors of
Hercules.
The guests who have no responsi
bilities outside of those connected
with the preparation oi suitable cos
tumes, are perplexed by a request
from Queen Alexandra that all dresses
worn at the coronation ceremonies
and festivities be made of British
fabrics. It seems that for some un
reckuned period England has been
entirely dependent upon Europe for
the tiaer dress materials. Irish pop
lin is the only silky fabric manu
factured in England. The recogni
tion of the real state of tilings which
Queen Alexandra's request developed
has increased the misgivings of stu
dents of England's commercial status
and a consternation unwarranted by
the actual conditions is apparent.
Meanwhile Queen Alexandra's patri
otic determination has caused an in
creased demand for English-made
goods and at least temporarily stimu
lated manufactures and exports.
The Irish Redistribution Bill.
Of the three populations represent
ed in the British house of commons,
the smallest, which is Ireland, re
turns 103 members; Scotland, with a
somewhat larger population, returns
only 72 members; while the admin
istrative county of London, to say
nothing of all the rest of England,
with a population considerably great
er than the sum of Ireland's and
Scotland's, returns only 62. Taking
the three units, Scotland has one
member for every 62.C00 inhabitants,
Ireland one for every 43.000 and Lon
don only one for every 73.000. That
is to say, six Irishmen have as much
representation and legislative power
at Westminister as nine Scotchmen
or ten Englishmen.
The preponderance is unfair, and
besides it is a reflection on the Irisii
members who can satisfactorily rep
resent just as many constituents as
Englishmen or Scotchmen. And
inasmucli as representation is based
on the population, the discrimination
in favor of the Irish members is un
conventional and unconstitutional.
Even the strongest Irish nationalists
cannot justify the arrangement
though, of course, when the bill is
before the house they will vote
against it. Messrs. Redmond, Dillon
and Healy declare that the Act of
Union forbids a reduction of Irish
representation. They contend also
that the depopulation of Ireland, in
the last sixty years, is due to Saxon
tyranny.
The Man on Horseback.
M.. Fournier, the winner of the
automobile race from Paris to Berlin,
is the momentary idol of the French.
The Anglo Saxon cannot understand
the Latin, consequently there is ever
lasting contempt on one side of the
channel for the people on the other
side. In this country which is Saxon
still, when Mr. Alfred Gwynne Van
derbilt attempts to race his sixty
horse power automobile in Newport,
he is arrested and fined. In the cen
tre of Paris M. Fournier races his red
and black automobile through the
streets at what speed he chooses and
the Frenchmen, whose lives he en
dangers, throw their caps in tiie air
and shout, "Voila Fournier, Vive
Fournier." To the Saxon mind M.
Fournier seems to be a good sports
man, to possess very steady nerves
and an overwhelming appreciation of
the necessity and joys of winning a
race. M. Fournier has started for
America where it is likely he will be
lionized and unlikely that he will be
idolized. Prize lighters, marksmen,
owners of fast horses and fast ma
chines excite our curiosity, some
times our admiration, and from a
large portion of the community dis
approval, but never enthusiastic de
votion. The police keep a suspicious
eye on owners of fast horses and fast
gasoline carriages and if they are
sped faster than the law or than the
safety of the American pedestrian
allows, the owners are arrested and
fined and assessed the "costs'' of their
own prosecution. A nation may be
known by its heroes as well as by its
songs. From Charlemagne to Na
poleon there is not a Frenchman to
compare with Washington, Franklin,
Adams and Lincoln. To be sure en
thusiams are necessary to every peo
ple. Apparently a little man on a
gasoline tank does for the French
members of the romance branch.
Our colder blood is not stirred by
spectacle and thus occasionally a
Washington or a Lincoln must occur
to prevent sluggishness.
"Shermanired."
The letters I have received since an
observation of last week in regard to
the comparatively new process to
which the University of Nebraska is
being treated, indicates that at least
the readers of The Courier are in
terested in Professor Sherman's in
vention. It has not beeu patented,
though the students of English at the
university have been subjected to the
perfected process for perhaps fifteen
years. Any other college is at lib
erty to adopt the invention and it has
been well advertised in college circles.
They know in Columbia, In Michigan,
and at all universities how literature
is taught in the Nebraska institution,
but the method of instruction here
remains unique.
Although the process is not with
out merit, its application to students
excludes from their view the broad
and fertile fields of English litera
ture. It is Professor Sherman's hab
it to go exploring in those tields him
self and cull for his own and his
pupils' analysis Mowers from Brown
ing and Shakspere, with a few weeds
from Barrie. But as Doctor G. Stan
ley Hall &ay, this is a mediaeval
method and does not produce Catholic
scholarship. The didactic method
and the imposition of one lecturer's
invention upon students is in vogue
only at the University of Nebraska.
The process Is so deeply rooted at
this university that only the most
energetic action by the regents can
disturb it. Professor Sherman is ai
the head of the department of Eng
lish, and with an inventor's enthu
siasm for his own invention he in
sists that all the professors and in
structors learn his process and teacli
it and nothing else. In the mean
time graduates and under graduates
of the English department know
nothing of English literature, and in
the period when all the pores are
open to inspiration receive nothing
but the "Analytics of Literature,"
an unrecognized and undemonstrated
substitute for the study of English.
Besides being an inventor Professor
Sherman i? a skillful politician with
a tine Italian hand, and professors and
instructors in English who do not
teach "Analytics" with all its sym
bols, eagerly and faithfully, do not'
remain members of the faculty, for
very long.
The department of English should
be investigated with a view to dis
covering why English literature is no
longer taught in the English depart
ment. It may be concluded that it is
worth while excluding the study of
the periods ot English literature for
the sake of speculating for a term on
the hidden and lost meaning of Sor
dello, and the subjectively silly
stories of Barrie. But the regents
owe it to their constituents, to the
under-graduates, and to the reputa
tion the Nebraska State University
has won by the sound achievements
in letters, science, economics and
history of other professors, to inves
tigate the system of teaching English.
Criticism of a man so well known
and highly respected as Professor
Sherman is an unwelcome, an un
grateful task; but several hundred
students enter his classes every year.
If the system which Professor Sher
man has established is ineffectual in
teaching literature and fails to con
vey to the students the inspiration,
of the most notable and vital voi-(
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