10 'Cbe Conservative.
THE SPELLBOUND SLEEPERS.
When pretty green grasses creep out of the
ground
And look up to see if the sun is around ,
Then old King Winter falls fast asleep.
His slumbers are long and sound and deep.
Ho sleeps through the springtime bright anil
g y.
Through winds of the March and blossoms ol
May ,
Ho sleeps while the roses are nodding their
heads
To little blue violets down in their beds.
Not even a dream of the birds has ho
As they flutter and sing so merrily ;
Nor of brooks that ripple and dance all day
Through mradows and woods where children
play.
Naught knows he of the golden sheaves
Of the ripened fruit or the falling leaves
That turn from green into scarlet guy
And off on the bree/.es float away.
Poor Winter King ! If lie only knew
How summer days look with skies of blue !
O , wouldn't he have a great surprise
On a sweet June day , if he'd open his eyes !
Away to the Dreamland , calm and still ,
Fair Summer flies when the days grow chill ,
And little .Taek Frost in a mischievous way
Throws over her train just a twinkle of spray |
So she's off for a sleep when the winds art
Void
And .sing of the flerce and bitter cold.
Then Winter holds reign through the starlit
night ,
And , waving his scepter in morning light ,
He scatters about from his casket rare
His jewels to shine in the silvery air ,
And smiles as they sparkle and flash and
gleam
From ice-covered tree and fro/en stream.
With her head at rest in a roseleaf cap
The beautiful Summer got-s on with her nap ,
And she'll never know how the snowilakes fall ,
How sleighbells jingle and coasters call ,
And children are laughing when comes tl'ii1
cheer
Of Merry Christmas and glad New Year.
O , wouldn't this sleeper bo greatly ama/.ed
If ever her eyes on a snowstorm gazed 1
MANY FHENCH MOUTON.
The Warner Library Club will bo
closed on or before April 1. next. The
publishers have decided to close out the
stock on hand at the most liberal intro
ductory prices ever offered. This propo
sition will positively not be offered
after April 1 and wo would advise an
early response. All those of our renders
who desire to purchase this the greatest
work of the century , send your name
and address to the Warner Library Club ,
512-518 Paxton Elk. , Omaha , Nebraska ,
and full particulars , sample pages , etc. ,
will bo sent free of charge.
OPERATION OF THE TOKKENS LAW.
Since last Wednesday the Torrens
law relative to registry of land titles is
in practical operation. For the time
being the first proceedings are taken in
Recorder Simon's office , and by the
present employees of the recorder's
office , but it is expected that during the
week the old offices on the third floor of
the courthouse , originally fitted up for
the Torrens force under Recorder Chase ,
and subsequently occupied by the jury
commission , will bo again in use. So
far there are thirty applications for
title certificates on record , a reasonably
good start , when it is considered that
much distrust ngainst the new system
was engendered by the relentless legal
war waged by the abstract companies
against the system for over four years.
Though much has been written about
the present law , it may not be amiss to
recall briefly its salient points :
Proceedings are brought in any court of
record by the owner.
Fees for bringing property under the sys
tem aggregate $2-1 , or not more than the cost of
an average abstract.
For each party defendant , if there are any ,
there is a sheriff's fee of $1 for each person
served.
From each $1,000 of land value involved ? !
has to be paid to the indemnity fund , out of
which claims are paid which arise after a cer
tificate of title has bean issued.
Title under the Torrens law is indefeasible
and , the title once issued , the owner cannot beheld
held liable for any damages.
In uncontcstcd cases the court proceedings
are so simple that it is deemed unnecessary for
the owner to employ a lawyer.
A title registered under the Torrens
system can bo dealt with more safely ,
quickly and inexpensively than under
the old system. Upon an ordinary sale
or mortgage of registered lands the en
tire transaction can be closed in an hour
or two without the need of any abstract
of title or the aid of a lawyer , and the
cost will be but $3 , thereby saving at
torney's fees for examination of $15 to
$50 and cost of continuing abstract of
§ 5 to $25.
Transfers and mortgage loans can thus
be safely , quickly and cheaply effected ,
and the land owner may secure , if he
desires , shorter loans than our present
mortgages , which now usually run for
five years on account of the expense ,
delay and difficulty attendant upon the
old system. In fact , a registered title
can be dealt with almost as quickly and
cheaply and quite as safely as shares of
stock or government or other registered
bonds. Chicago Times-Herald.
W o would b o
readers
sider the cost to a community , in dollars
and cents , of a thorough-going pesti
lence. We give below a statement in
this connection , concerning the epidemic
which visited London in 1G65.
"Tho charity of the rich , as well in
the city and suburbs as from the coun
try , was so great , that , in a word , a pro
digious number of people , who must
otherwise have perished for want as well
as sickness , wore supported and sub
sisted by it ; and though I could never ,
nor I believe any one else , coineto a full
knowledge of what was so contributed ,
yet I do believe that as I heard one say
that was a critical observer of that part ,
there was not only many thousand
pounds contributed , but many hundred
thousand pounds , to the relief of the
poor of this distressed , afflicted city ;
nay , one man affirmed to mo that ho
could reckon up above one hundred
thousand pounds ( half a million dollars )
a u-eek , which was distributed by the
church-wardens at the several parish
vestries , by the lord mayor and the al
dermen in the several wards and pre
cincts , and by the particular direction
of the court and of the justices respec
tively in the parts where they resided ;
over and above the private charity dis
tributed by pious hands in the manner I
speak of ; and this continued for many
weeks together. "
London contained at that time about
400,000 inhabitants , or somewhat less
than the city of Baltimore at present.
THE COMPANY WE KEEP.
In a memorable address delivered by
the late James Russell Lowell at the
opening of the Chelsea Public Library is
to be found many fine photographs , such
as follows :
"There is a choice in books as in
friends , and the mind sinks or rises to
the level of its habitual society. Cato's
advice , cum bonis amlnilu , consort with
the good , is quite as true if we extend it
to books , for they , too , insensibly give
away their own nature to the mind that
converses with them. They either
becken upwards or drag down. "
And again "wo are apt to wonder at j
the scholarship of men of three centuries
ago. and at a certain dignity of phrase
which characterizes them. They were j
scholars because they did not read so
many tilings as wo. They had fewer
books , but these were of the best. Their j
speech was noble , because they lunched i
with Plutarch and supped with Plato. i ,
Wo spend as much time over print as
they did , but instead of communing
with the choice thoughts of choice spir
its , and unconsciously acquiring the
grand manner of that supreme- society ,
we diligently inform ourselves and cover
the continent with a cobweb of telegraph
wires to inform us of such inspiring
facts as that a gravel bank caved in and
buried Mr. Robinson alive on Friday.
While we might bo adding to the climbing
spire of a fine soul we are willing to be
come mere sponges saturated from the
stagnant goose-pond of village gossip.
This is the kind of news we compass the i
globe to catch , fresh from Bung Town l |
Centro , when wo might have it fresh !
from heaven by the electric lines of poet i
or prophet. "
Plutarch and Plato , poet and prophet ,
"the choice thoughts of choice spirits , "
( but not neglecting modern or living
writers ) comprise the very substance of
Charles Dudley Warner's wonderful
new Library of the World's Best Litera
ture. The greatest work of the greatest
writers of all time from Plato and Plu
tarch down even to Kipling , Barrio and
Howells , are here compacted into the
limits of a convenient number of vol
umes. No library made up of single
books , no , not even if it were ten times
the size of Mr. Warner's magnificent
collection , could give anything like the
same brilliant , comprehensive and satis
fying command of the world's liter
ature.
It used to be said that with the Bible
and Shakespeare a man might acquire a
liberal education , but the remark is
hardly true now. It is true , however ,
that a thorough and well-digested ac
quaintanceship with all that is contained
in Mr. Warner's splendid library would
afford such a liberal education as schol
ars envy , and few men in this steam-
ilriven ago attain.
Is such a knowledge worth your
while ? Is it not the very essence of
that broadening culture to which all
right-minded men and women aspire ?
This paper does not hesitate to recom
mend this library in the highest terms to
: mr readers.