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12 TTbe Conservative ,
A NEAT TRANSLATION.
Last week wo offered n pri/.o of one guinea
for the best translation , in similar length , me
tro and rhyming scheme of this poem , by
Alfred Do Musset :
Mes chersamis , qunnd jo mourrai ,
Planter un Baulo au cimoticru ;
J'aimo so fouillago eplore ,
La paleur m'on cst deuce ot chore ,
Et son ombre sere legero
A la terre ou jo dor mi rid.
The best of many sent in is this :
Dear friends , whene'er I come to die ,
Plant near my grave n willow tree.
I love its weeping branches nigh ;
Its wnn , sad leaves are dear to mo ;
And light , so light , its shade will be
Above the earth where I must lie.
. London Academy.
CONSERVATIVE NUTS.
The following nuts are offered to those
to crack who disagree with those funda
mental conservatisms that "Might is
right and might makes right. "
If might is not right why do they pro
claim God as "The Almighty ? "
Is it not to deny God to deny that
might is not right ?
Do they not assert that God is the
incarnate spirit of right and might ?
To deny that God is not both might
and right is to deny God.
To deny God is pure atheism.
Atheism is the negation of as theism
is the dogmatism of ignorance.
The wisest of the wise was the un
known who caused "Man know thyself"
to be carved on the Stoa of the Oracle
at Delphi.
The truly wise man has never lived.
He who knows himself , and lives
accordingly , knows God , for he has
become God.
To know self is to know all.
He who is truly monarch of himself is
monarch over all he surveys ; surveying
all he is Almighty.
He who is monarch of himself is a
true stoio.
True stoicism is intelligent self-
control.
Self-sacrifice is not intelligent self-
control. On the contrary unintelligent
suicide is the result of the loss of self-
control.
If self-sacrifice for the good of human
ity be the correct thing for the individual
why should not that agglomerate of
individuals called humanity be equally
moral in regard to the individual ?
What is ' 'sauce for the goose should be
sauce for the gander. "
There is not and never has been one
case of true self-sacrifice.
Self-sacrifice must be with intelligent
intent , unpolluted with any shade of
self-gratification , ambition or hope ,
either here or hereafter.
Stoicism is not indifference. The in
different are invariably ignorant.
Self-sacrifice must bo stoically intelli
gent and free from emotionalism , other
wise it is self-deception , or the result of
ignorance.
Patriotism is intelligent self-hood , not
ignorant or emotional suicide.
Suicide is either the result of the loss
of self-control or else the most magnifi
cent self-control.
The mightiest display of might is
offered in intelligent suicide.
He who cannot maintain life and
therefore commits suicide shows supreme
control over life.
FUANK S. BILLINGS.
Sharon , Mass.
Considering how
8horfc a fci ifc *
since the old
freighting trails were alive from end to
end with teams , and how many persons ,
thoroughly familiar with them , wrote
guide-books giving detailed descriptions
of every portion of those roads , it would
seem a very simple matter , with the aid
of such a book and a good map , to fol
low any given trail from point to point.
But this is a mistake ; the matter is not
so easy.
The writer has before him three sep
arate itineraries of that very important
trail which led from the Kansas and
Missouri towns to Fort Kearney , and
that large scale atlas of Nebraska which
was published in 1884 , giving a map of
each county on the scale of two miles to
the inch. These itineraries are calcula
ted by stage-stations and crossings of
streams , since there were no other fea
tures to go by in this part of the coun
try , and give the distance from each
point mentioned to the next. With
such a map and a foot-rule , this ought
to be sufficient. But see what happens.
All the roads from Kansas City , St.
Joseph , Leavenworth and Atchison con
verged at Marysville , Kansas , where
was the ford over the Big Blue. One of
our guide-books prepared by Captain
Burton , an Euglish officer begins by
saying that twelve miles west of Marys-
villo is the frontier line between Kansas
and Nebraska. This is not correct , for
one going westward from Marysville
would never come to Nebraska in the
world ; but it need not mislead any one ,
for all that is necessary is to read
"north" instead of "west. "
Next , however , one of our guides tells
us that the first stage is to Cottonwood
Creek , eleven miles , while another says
that it is to Cottonwood Greek , seven
teen miles , and the map shows not only
no Gottonwood Greek at all , but no
stream oven which we can suppose to be
the one meant. This is annoying , and
even perplexing. Can any of THE CON
SERVATIVE'S friends in Gage county tell
us whether any creek by the name of
Cottonwood ever inhabited the southern
portion of that county ?
After crossing this watercourse , we
are told that we come to Walnut Greek.
Now almost every county in the state
has one Walnut Greek , and some have
more than one ; but according to our
atlas , Gage county is without one. The
nearest shown are in Saline county , and
it is not possible that our trail should be
concerned with them at this stage.
There is , however , a certain Big Indian
Greek , on which the city of Wymore is
privileged to dwell , and which agrees
well enough , as to distances , to warrant
a guess that it is the Walnut Greek of
1800.
But here comes Captain Fremont in
1842 and encamps on a Wyeth's Greek
somewhere along here ; he even found a
second-hand pack of cards in the grass ,
left by some preceding pathfinder. But
there is no Wyeth's Greek , neither on
the maps nor in the other books. Who
knows what became of Wyeth's Greek ?
Another instance of confusion appears
at the end of the same day's journey ,
when we are supposed to halt on the
banks of West Turkey , or Rock Greek ,
which is said to be a branch of the Big
Blue. Now there is , by the map , a Tur
key Greek flowing into the Big Blue ,
but it is far to the northward ; and there
is a Rock Greek running into the Little
Blue , on the natural way to the Little
Sandy , for which we are headed ; the
investigator can take his choice. Also ,
there are , as in the case of Walnut
Greek , Turkey Greeks and Rock Greeks
in abundance all over the face of Ne
braska.
These are mentioned merely as exam
ples , to show what havoc the occupation
of a country by a new class makes in its
landmarks , more than would be caused
by hundreds of years of continuous hab
itation. The trails were discovered , or
invented , by the buffalo , according
to Senator Benton ; they were named
by the hunters , who came after the buf
falo ; and the settlers , who came after
the hunters though in a different sense
may have disregarded the nomencla
ture of a class of men with whom they
had so little sympathy , or , as is quite
possible , they may have neglected the
matter of naming the streams in their
neighborhoods entirely , leaving that de
tail for the attention of a third class , the
map makers.
People who spend their lives in a cir
cumscribed community , like some farm
ers , do not require a name for the stream
near which they live. It is simply "the
creek" or "the river. " Only when their
range embraces several such does it be
come necessary to distinguish between
them. So among savage tribes , the
possession ot distinctive names for na
tural objects is taken as evidence of a
certain degree of civilization , as giving
proof of some travel and consequent
culture. And even when there are ac
cepted names for such things , one will
often meet , among the adjacent natives ,
with a peculiar reluctance to admit a