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About The Nebraska advertiser. (Nemaha City, Neb.) 18??-1909 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1904)
Op tinions of Great Papers on Important Subjects. few The Ministry. F Uie 120.000 men and women who graduated from our universities and colleges last tionth only 1.300 aspire to preach the gospel. As there are some 74,000 engaged In preaching iu the United States this contribution Is lnsulll- f clout to keep up the supply. Here and there are men and women who have never hud a col lege or theological training who are discharging the duties of the pulpit, but they aro fow compared to those who have had the.se advantages, so that virtually the number of as pirants Is u correct measure of the extent of the minis terial ambition. The principal reasons why the number of candidates for the clergy is growing less relatively year by year are that congregations are getting more exacting, that the pay is small and the occupation the least attractive of the pro fessions. This Is the selfish point of view. Then, the con scientious student who may be religiously Inclined and who sees great opportunities for doing good In the calling, some times Is deterred because he cannot satisfy his conscience of the truth of some of the doctrines of Christianity. Soon er than preach something which he cannot believe in he turns his talents to another calling. Another hindrance is that the religious unrest, so palpa ble In the world, is much more pronounced in the higher halls of learning. Here agnosticism, materialism, Indlffer entlsm, are at work sapping the early religious training and turning the mind In lt.s formative stage against the pulpit. Much harm Is wrought here by the scoffer and the unbeliever who are never so iiappy as when reviling Christianity and everything pertaining to Its mlssional advancement. The world was never so generous in its support of Christian churches and charities as it is to-day ami no where else is this extended with tho generosity of that of the United States. Yet the disposition to preach is not keeping abreast of this sentiment, if it were, the candi dates for the priesthood tills year would number 4,000 or D.000 Instead of 1,300. Utica Globe. The Profit of Good Roods. OW Unit the country Is measurably well sup plied witli railroads which haul the farmer's B jj H products to market at an average rate of a half LorrTOiwvra!! a ''lnt 11 ,cm IKn' m"L' 't begins to bo of prime importance that the average cost of hauling ifltrom the farm to the railway station, which is auout iweniy-nve cents per. ion per mue, should be reduced. The Department of Agriculture claims that, this cost could be reduced two-thirds by the simple substitution of good macadamized x'oads for Uio ordinary dirt highways now In use. Pennsylvania's new road law. which divides tho cost of making permanent roads between the State, county and township, was Inspired by a desire to begin the solution of this problem in a way that would prove least burden some to the farmers themselves. So far, however. Its pro visions have not been taken advantage of as widely as was anticipated. It seems worth while to call attention to tho fact that practically similar laws are alrendy In opera tion, with excellent results, in New York, New Jersey Massachusetts, California and elsewhere. In the State like New .lersey, where the law has boon in operation longest, tho benefits are marked. It Is the first step that costs, 'however, In road-making as in everything else. When a few experimental sections of really good highways have been provided as object les sons. It is to be hoped that Pennsylvania farmers will fall in line with those of other States, where permanent road laws have been longer In force. Philadelphia Bulletin. Cur Illiterate Citizens. UEHE Is food for thought in the figures of the TF H I'nited States census report dealing with odn H U cation. Thus we learn that In ilJOO there wen 1 .!! JVflil ....... J 11 ,. II til ratn1 1,1111 U1 l,,L u "l or over WHO Ppi'S W(,V unjibto to read or write. This great u-rny of illiterates constituted 11 per cent of the votimr strength of Uie nation an olwinrnid in Itself sulliciently strong, if suitably distributed, to de termine national principles and policies. Of the total !77,(mk were negroes and 1,234,000 whites, a percentage which when compared with that of thirty years before shows up to the manifest .disadvantage of the dominant race. Thus in 187U the excess of illiterate negroes over Illiterate whites was 1)0,000, while now, thirty years later, tho hitter outnumber Uie former by 1277,000. Nor can we justly retort that these Illiterate whites are aliens dumped upon our shores through Uie agency of Im migration. Of the total number of white lllltoratos only 505,000 are foreign born, while the native born number 0S8.O0O. or an excess of 113.000. Nor Is this the worst of It. The report shows that the percentage of Illiterates among tho native born sons of American parent Is nearly three times as great as among the native born sons of foreign parents. Evidently our foreign born citizens have a higher appreclaUon of Uie advantages of education than many of the native stock. At no time in our history has the percentage of Illit erate.'? been as great as to-day. During the past sixty years the percentage of this class of citizens has increased from 0.15 to 0.00, despite our free school system and the earnest efforts to popularize education. The State having the largest number of Illiterates Is Georgia, as might be expected, with its great negro population and Its large number of struggling whites. Pennsylvania Is next, having iao,OS2 Illiterates, as compared with 138,247 for Georgia. The percentage of Illiterates among the native born voters of New Mexico Is 23. Utica Globe. -OLD FAVORITES The Disappearance of the Mule Teacher. 0 one will deny that many of the best school teachers in the country are women. There are parts of the delicate and highly important task of training the young which can best be done by tactful and gentle women. But it Is also the serious opinion of experts that grow ing boys should very largely be under the care of men. There is a certain inspiration of manly leader ship which a boy greatly needs, and which ho can only get from a manly man. The Inlluence of a thoroughly robust school teacher upon his class of boys cannot be calculated. He puts before them constantly a model of manliness, and high honor, and attractive Industry, and clean courage, which leaves Its stamp upon their forming minds through all the rest of their lives. Tho generation of boys which must always go to school to women, and to no one else, will lose something very valuable out of their school-day training. They may get as much arithmetic and grammar and history and the rest of it from the women as from the men, but they can no more get the quality of manliness from women than they can get the quality of rellneinent from men. Our schools should be "manned" with men as well as women, and if we have permitted the financial attractions of the profession to fall so far behind the increasing attractions of competitive callings as to allow all the young men to be drawn away from this profession, we have been guilty of a Rerious betrayal of trust to tho generation which is now growing up. Our fathers did not so misuse us. Montreal Star. m Wireless Telegraphy in War. HE question of the value of wireless telegra phy In war has already been considered. Now it Is supplemented by that of Its legality. The Kussinn Government has practically served no tice that It regards it as Illegal. At any rate, the use of such a device at the seat of war will be treated as a breach of neutrality. Corre spondents telegraphing without wires will be shot as spies,' and vessels equipped with wireless telegraphic apparatus venturing near the scene of war will, if caught, be con fiscated as contraband of war. So far as correspondents accompanying the Hussinu army are concerned, we may unhesitatingly concede the Hussinu the right of censorship. That Is a matter of course. A belligerent power has the undoubted right to decide whether it will permit corre spondents to accompany Its army at all and If it does let them do so It can, of course, prescribe what matter they may send through the lines, and how. Similarly, It may exercise a censorship over news vessels entering Its terri torial waters, or the waters Implicated in the sphere of belligerent action. Hut a general t outlawing of wireless telegraphy in that part of the world would bo a much more extreme matter New York Tribune. "i4-444'4"h-l-44!"t'44"l'4-4l- The Better Lund. I hear thro spenk of the bettor land, Thou callest Its children a happy band; MoUior, oh, where is that radiant shore? Shall wo not seek it and weep no more? Is It where tho ilower of the ornngo blows, And tho fireflies glance Uirough Uio myrtle boughs V" "Not there, not there, my child 1" "Is It where tho feathery palm-trees rlso, And tho dato grows rlpo under cunny skies? Or 'midst the green islands of glittering scan, Whore fragrant forests pcrfumo the hrcpKC, And strange, bright birds, on their starry wlnjrs, Donr the rich linos of nil glorious things?" "Not there, not there, my child!" "Is it far awny, In some region old, Where tlio rivers wander o er sands of gold? Whero tho burning rays of the ruby shine. And the diamond lights up the secret mine, And the pearl gleams forth from tho coral it rand? Is It there, sweet mother, that better land?" "Not there, not there, my child I" "Eye hath not seen It, my gentle boy! Ear hath not heard its deep songs of Joy; Dreams cannot picture a world so fair Sorrow and deatli may not enter there; Tlmo doth not breathe on Its fadeless bloom, 'Tis beyond the clouds, and beyond tho tomb, It is there, It is there, my child!" Mrs. II emails. jl, WOODS INDIANS. The Woods Indians, as Stewart Ed ward White calls the Ojibways and Woods ('roes north of Lake Superior, are distinctly nomadic. They search out nw trapping grounds and new fisheries, they pay visits, and seem oven to enjoy travel for Uie sake of exploration. This life, says tho nutJior of "Tho Forest," inevitably develops and fosters an oxpertness of woodcraft almost beyond belief. Another phase of this almost perfect correspondence to environment is the readiness with which an Indian will meet an emergency. We are accus tomed to rely first of all on the skilled lalwr of some one we can hire; second, af wo undertake the Job ourselves, on the tools made for us by skilled labor; and third, on tho shops to supply us with Uie materials we need. Hardly once in a lifeUme are we thrown en tirely on our own resources. Then wo bungllngly Improvise a makeshift. The Woods Indian possesses his knife and his light ax. He never Im provises makeshifts. No matter what the exigency or how complicated the demand, his experience answers with accuracy, rteirsils and tool he knows oxiiel'ly vy'heiv to ltad. His Job is neat 'und workmanlike, whether It Is .the construction of a bark receptacle, water-tight or not; Uie making of a pair of snow shoes, the repairing of a badly smashed canoe, the building of a shel ter, or the fashioning of a paddle. About noon one day Tawublnlsny broke his ax-helve square off. Tills to us would have been a serious affair. Probably if left to ourselves, we should have stuck in some sort of a rough handle mado of n straight sapling, which would havo answered well enough until avo could havo bought an other. By Uio time we had cooked dinner that Indian had fashioned nn oUier helve. We compared It with a manufactured helve. It was as well shaped, as smooth, as nicely balanced. In fact, as we laid tho now and Uie old side by side, we could not have selected, from any evidence of Uio workmanship, which had been made by machine and which by hand. Tawablnlsay Uien burned out the wood from the ax, retemperod the steel, set Uie now helve, and wedged It neatly with lronwood wedges. The whole affair, including Uie cutting of Uie Umber, consumed perhaps half an hour. To travel -with a Woods Indian Is a constant source of delight on this no count. The Indian rarely needs to hunt for Uie materials he requires. He knows exactly where they grow, and he turns as directly to them as a eloi;k would turn to his shelves. No prob lem of tho living of physical life is too obscure to have escaped his varied ex perience. You may travel with Indians for years, and learn every summer something new and delightful about how to take care of yourself. .Some Amusement Soliotnei-. The railway companies of tho coun try are engaged In all kinds of amuse ment schemes, with the idea of attract ing patronage, and the latest Innova tion of this character has taken place In Cleveland, where the manager of a street railway company has organized a baseball league. Each of tho towns along the line lias' a nine, and a reg ular schedule has boon arranged. The railway company has supplied tho uni forms and offered other substantial as sistance besides undertaking to carry tho players freeto and from the games. The company, however, does not par ticipate In tho prolits of the team, but Is repaid merely by the Increased busi ness resulting from tho games. Leurnol Ttioui from Pnpn. Mamma They tell mo you've boon saying naughty words. Johnny. What do you suppose papa will say when I tell him? Johnny P'raps he'll say them. I learnt them of him, you know. Boston Transcript, Old Dok Tray. Tho morn of life is past, And ev'ning comes at last; It brings me a dream of a once happy day, Of merry forms I've scon Upon the village green, Sporting with my" old dog Tray. Old dog Tray's ever faithful. Grief cannot drive him away; He's gentle, he is kind; I'll never, never find A better friend than old dog Tray. The forms I called my own Have vanished one by one; Tho lov'd ones, tho dear ones, have all passed away; Their happy smiles havo Mown; Their gentle voices gone; I've nothing left hut old dog Tray. Old dog Tray's ever Cntthful, Grief cannot drive him away; He's gentle, ho Is kind; I'll never, never lind A bettor friend than old dog Tray. When thoughts recall the past His eyes are on me east; I know that he fouls what my breaking heart would say, Although ho caliuot sneak, I'll vainly, vainly seek A better Iriend than old dog Tray. Old dog Tray's ever faithful, Grief cannot drive him away, He's gentle, lie is kind; I'll never, never ibid A hotter friend than old dog Tru.v. Stephen Foster. HOW TO TAKE PAPER TRIPS. What mean brothers njqo girls can have. l'olco Honeymoon Tour While tho Newly Weds Arc in SccIiihIoii. Lack of money with which to buy the necessary tickets and pay hotel bills need no longer hamper bridal couples who desire to Impress their friends with the fact that they are traveling in Europe, Asia. Africa or any other place which Issues picture post cards, says the .Minneapolis Trib une. if John and Mary want to go to Honolulu and are unable to buy a rail road ticket which will take them far ther than one of the trolley suburbs, they can engage board at Jj4 n week and recuperate from the pre-nuptlnl functions with a serene mind and a consciousness that everybody In their sot knows they arc In Uio Hawaiian Islands. How can they think other wise when every mall brings a souve nir post card In John or Mary's writ ing, neatly stamped with the Hawaii an stamp, and telling how balmy the climate Is and what a perfect dispo sition John has? They would lie skeptical, Indeed, In the face of this evidence, to harbor the suspicion that Jayvllle, not Honolulu, Is the destina tion of the bridal couple. It Is tho Honeymoon Club, In an Eastern city, which has mado this possible, and several Minneapolis young people have been much amused to receive, shortly after their engage ments were formally announced, cir culars which had on the letter head, In addition to the name of tho organi zation, the Impressive phrase: "We furnish the trip; you remain at homo, the envy of your friends." This is balanced on the other sldo by the words, "World's fair trip, St. Louis, our specialty,' In largo typo. "Our method of operating," the gen oral malinger says, "Is ns follows: You and your prospective husband map out a trip you would Jike to take, naming such towns and places of In terest you would vlslL Send us an Itemized list of Uieso places, the num ber of friends you desire to have noti fied and we will ndvlse you ns to tho cost of the supposed trip. When sat isfactory arrangements aro completed we mall you a set of souvenir cards Illustrated In colors. On these cardw you write the names and addresses of your friends to whom you desire toi make it known thnt you are In that town, with a message, and then re turn tho cards to us. We forward them to our correspondents with In structions to mall I hem on the dato designated, when It Is supposed youi will bo In said town. Naturally these cards when mailed will bear Uie post mark of the town and with the fact that you have addressed them will bo sufficient evidence that you are In real ity perhaps at no great distance from home and friends. Our price Is mod orate und Is based upon the trip you outline and the amount of labor neces sary for its preparation and comple tion." Tho advantage of being tho envy of your friends Is supposed to oom pensate, In Uie opinion of the general manager, for the lime spent In hiding near "home and friends" and running to cover if one of the aforesaid friends conies In sight. "For you would be sure to run across some one you knew," laughed one of the prospective brides who received the circular. "Just Imagine tho string of stories you would have to tell to make things- straight! A wed ding trip under ordinary circumstances Is something of an ordeal, but I can't imagine anything more appalling In regard to what It might lead to than one under the auspices of the Honey moon Club. Think of showing souve nirs brought by some one else, of an swering all of the questions you would be sure to be asked and having your suit cases and bags covered with la bels forwarded from a Now York of fice and pasted on within ten miles of home! It may be a modern method, strictly up to dale and cheap, but what would be the pleasure?" EXPANDING BULLETS. TIiohc Pound in Cronjc' Lnnucr llnil ItelonuL'il to IvtmtlHh. Perhaps In some respects the most extraordinary revelations iu detail concern our ammunition. We learn from the evidence that at one time wo were reduced to two or three boxes of Mark II. ammunition, so that IC there had been it war with a conti nental power we should have been ob liged to light with expanding bullets, a proceeding all the powers had con detuned as barbarous. We made (10, 000,000 rounds or explosive bullous, and then had to condemn them be cause they were dangerous to our own troops. These revelaUons,. by the way, raise' a moral Issue of some importance tn Lord Hoberts' reputation. Sir Homy Brackenbnry explained that Mark IV. ammunition was abandoned because it was found to be dau'rous to tho user In a hot climate. "We hnil ev ery Intention of using this bullet ami making It, in fact, (he bullet for Urn British army till over the world; ami I think titJ.OHXMMio of it up to March HI, 1807, had been delivered. Tho reason why we did not use Uio expanding bullet in South Africa was not The Hague convention, however, but because the .Mark IV. ammuni tion, our expanding ammunition, had proved unlit to be used in war." Now Lord Huberts, as commander In chief In South Africa, must surely have been acquainted with these facts. Yet on March 11. IHDO, he wrote lo President Steyn to complain of two things the abuse of the white lag and the discovery of explosive bullets. (Pari. Paper, Cd. 122, 11)00.) "A large; quantity of explosive bullets of throe, different kinds was found in ('ronje's laager and after every engagement; with your honor's troops. Such breaches of (lie recognized usages of war and of the Geneva convention are a disgrace to any civilized power. A copy of tills telegram has been sent to my government, with a request that It may be communicated to all neutral powers." President Steyn replied that the bul lets hod born taVoii from British troops, and It has been ofllcbilly ad mitted that some of those bullets h.'idi boon used In South Africa. Hut what, Is fo bo said of a field marshal whoi describes "as a disgrace to any clvll-i ized power" the use of bullets which ho had only been prevented from u staff' because they were dangerous to tho user? London Speaker. A Hlodgo-IIaininer Blow. "That's my lotest canvas," snlfl D'Auber. "I started that six months ago. You see, some days I paint away feverishly, forcefully, absorbodly, while nn nflior dnvn 1 Piin't iifiln) lit nil." "I see," said Crlttiek. "You painted) this on one of tho other days." Philn- delphia Press. Fertility of Sparrow. In Uie United States Uio sparrow has six broods a year; In Britain sol-j dom more than Uireo. . Does it ever occur to you that yonr, feet aro too largo? 0