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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 1899)
t tK Conservative. I' * THE WATER LILY. ( An Allegory ) . Ever the water lily rocked Upon the rocking stream , Where the little eloudH , reflected , flocked , And steered across her dream ; And ever she sighed : Why must I stay In the river's bend from day to day ? O , were I free to sail away Where the sens with wonders teem 1 I know that I am fair , she said , I see it In the wave , At anchor hero in the river's bed That holds mo like a grave. What good in the sun's gold light to me , Or what good a living thing to be , Since none draw ever nigh to see The beauty that I have ? The bird in the alder further Hew At the ending of his song ; The rat plunged in where the rushes grew And paddled his way along ; The wind in the osiers stirred and sigd ! That the current was swift and the world was wide , And , away 1 away ! the ripples cried , And the river tide ran strong. Was she happier when the stars were born And the bird sat mute in the tree ? As she rocked and swayed with her cables torn And felt that she was free ? When the banks slid backwards on either hand ? For the rab had gnawed through her anchor- strand , And the winds were kissing her out from land , And were kissing her out to sea. The river's mouth is broad and black With currents counter-crossed ; Where the foam churns white in the eddies' track And the scattered stars are lost. No glimpse she saw of either bank , But a waste of weeds that heaved and sank , As from crest to crest she reeled and shrunk , And from wave to wave was tossed. The Sun uprose through a glory spread And climbed by a cloudy stair. And : What is that thing , O Sea , ho said , Your breakers are tumbling there ? That , said the Sea , with the muddied face , The cup all tattered and reft of grace ? A llower , they say , from some inland place That once on a time was fair. "Who has not learned , " says the New York Christian Advocate , "that if the intellect receive from any cause a mor bid bias or predilection , the more the edu cation the further it will go from the path of truth and common sense ? There is a tradition or myth that the Athenians prayed to the gods that they might have a distinctive name , and the answer was , You shall be called fools. ' This they did not like , prayed that there might be some modification of the name , and the answer was that it might be changed to 'learned fools. ' Such are they who think that there is no power in drugs , either for good or harm , but the effects are pro duced entirely by the human mind a doctrine which , if true , would justify the substitution of gin for milk in the nursing of infants wherever it was gen erally believed that it was better. It must not be thought that this is an at tempt at sarcasm , for Mars ton , one o : the most celebrated practitioners of Christian Science , says : 'The property of alcohol is to intoxicate ; but if the common thought had endowed it simply vith a nourishing quality like milk , it vould produce a similar effect. ' If that vero true , then if the common thought md endowed milk with that with which t now endows alcohol , it would become is intoxicating as gin or rum. No in ane asylum can produce a more trans- mrent delusion , and yet many thous ands believe it , merely because many get well without medicine , and many die hat take it. They are in exactly the ame state of mind as that of persons vho believe all the absurdities about the nfluonce of stones. " Former Secretary of Agriculture , T. Sterling Morton , editor and publisher of THE CONSERVATIVE at Nebraska City , lesires it understood that his paper islet lot a democratic journal. Editor Mor ton says THE CONSERVATIVE is gov erned by no political organization and owes nothing to any party , either in Nebraska or elsewhere. # % * No matter what the politics of THE CONSERVATIVE is , it must be admitted that it is the most ably edited newspaper published in Nebraska , and one of the best edited in the country. St. Joseph Daily News. "Is it not a significant fact , " asks the Christian Register ( Unit. ) of Boston , 'that some of the sociologists and ethi cal teachers who are most disturbed about what seems to them to be the signs of moral and social degeneracy in ; he communit } ' about them are men who have stood on one side of the cur rents of energy flowing through the churches ? Does it not occur to them that , possibly , they have neglected to use one of the most powerful agencies for promoting social order ? We have no occasion to love some of the churches or to admire the forms and creeds through which the religious sentiment in them seeks expression. But we have never seen a church of any denomina tion which was not better for some portion tion of the community than no church at all. In a community where the church may be regarded as a moral fail ure , it will be found that all other insti tutions are 011 the same low level. The community is not bad because the church is an agent of degradation , but the church is degraded because the com munity is bad. Happily , the moral force of a church is never measured by its creeds and ceremonies. The recup erative power of the most lawless settle ments on the frontier of civilization is wonderful. Begin with drinkiug-saloons gambling-houses , and shooting-matches and twenty-five years will not pass be fore these will be followed by churches schools , and the beginnings of art , liter ature , and social well-being. Let the critics of society take a hand anc strengthen the things that remain , anc which remain because they are perma nent forces of civilization and progress. ' Some of the Now FASHIONS IN York girls have I > IN1NO-TA1ILKS. , "struck , " so to peak , on the question of the conventional and old-fashioned ways of having their [ inner and luncheon tables sot. They ay they are tired to death of the over- asting round and square tables , which ire so hard to arrange in an original vay. So they have started the fashion of shaped tables , and at one or two func- ions lately they have been most success ful. The luncheon and dinner tables for young people's parties will all be shaped ihis winter according to the hostess's vishes , and the girls are beginning to lave the shapes made to correspond vith the style of entertainment they are ; o give. For instance : A dinner was given the other evening > y a young girl to one of her friends who has been studying for some years n Paris to be an artist. Her success has 'ar exceeded all anticipation , and she returns to open a studio , in which will mug some pictures which have been nest highly spoken of by the best men n the profession. The dinner table at lie dinner given in her honor was in the shape of an easel , and the thumb-hole was the place where the flowers were nit. The menu cards were cardboard easels , with brushes and all painted on : hem , and the dinner favors were artists' caps made of light colored silks and filled with bonbons. This may sound very complicated , but it is not so in reality. All this artist's friend had to do was to go to a local carpenter and furnish a design with proper dimensions ; ihen to get him to cut of plain pine wood about two inches thick an easel just the size required. This was placed on top of any ordinary round or square table , and the shaped board was com plete. Harper's Bazar. Iii the gardens of THE HYKNAI , the Zoological society AI/TAK. ' ciety a'couple were standing before the cage of the hyenas , while the man was commenting upon the habits of the beast for the benefit of the woman who hung to his arm. In spired by the knowledge and eloquence of her swain , the young woman began to rack her brains for original ideas with which to confront him. Presently one the natural feminine idea came. "Bill 1" she exclaimed , "what 'ave these 'ere to do with marriage ? " "Why , naught , you silly , " retorted Bill im " ' " she returned politely. "They 'ave , triumphantly. "When a couple are bein' spliced , wo 'ears 'em talk of the hyonal altar. " Cornhill Magazine. Human experiences evolve a solid knowledge of that which is good and of that which is bad in governments and their administration. And nothing is more definitely determined than the fact that a corrupt people are incapable of self government.