'Cbe Conservative *
There nro wicked
HOME AGAIN.
independent voters
iu the state of Missouri who , reviling a
governor of that great commonwealth ,
nick-named him "Gumshoe Bill , " but
afc the font he was baptised William J.
Stone. Until recently the state of
Missouri was big enough to employ the
Hon. Gumshoe Bill all of the time. But
the electrical speed with which self
conceit evolved iu the self-assertive.per
souality of this animated mad-stoue ,
drove him to take charge of the politics
of New York and a few other states. He
became a journeyman statesman and
temporarily set up a political shop in
New York City with Oroker and Slippery
Richardson and Col. Joe Rickey as
partners. The firm advertised exten
sively. It dealt iu forecasts and prophecies
generally , but was very long on political
futures.
So supremely egotistical did the gum
shoe member of the concern become that
he at last really
.
Solf-Coiiilclcnt.
believed himself
impossible and incredible as that may
seem. And in this unfortunate state of
irrational credulity , Mr. Gumshoe Stone
actually bet money on his own forecasts
in quantities so large , it is said , that he
endangered his food and raiment. He
lost all of his bets and bare-footed
without even gumshoes he is home
again in old Missouri. Henceforth the
democrats who bet on his judgment , his
aute-electiou declarations , will call him
Tomb-Stone. He marks the graves of
their pocketbooks and bank deposits.
Tomb-Stone bills are generally expensive
where the stone is richly carved and the
bettors in New York carved this one very
finely :
Alus , for Gumshoe Bill ,
And his cash in the New York till.
In a recent letter
CKOKKK ON THE
CLERGY. to Mayor Van
Wyck of New
York City , Bishop Potter , descanting
upon Crokerism in government and
Orokerisui amidst the amenities of civil
ization , remarks :
"The thing that is of consequence ,
sir , is that when a minister of religion
and a resident in a particular neighbor
hood , whose calling and character , ex
perience and truthfulness are all alike
widely and abundantly recognized , goes
to the headquarters of .the police in his
district to appeal to tbem for the pro
tection of the young , the innocent , and
the defenceless against the leprous
harpies who are hired as runners and
touters for the lowest and most infamous
dens of vice , he is met not only with
contempt and derision , but with the
coarsest insult and obloquy. "
"I affirm that such a virtual safe
guarding of vice in the city of New
York is a burning shame to any decent
and civilized community , and an in
tolerable outrage upon those whom it
especially and preeminently concerns. "
"In the name of these little ones , these
weak and defenceless ones , Christian
and Hebrew alike , of many races and
tongues , but of homes in which God is
feared and his law reverenced and virtue
and decency honored and exemplified , I
call upon you , sir , to save these people
who are in a very real way committed
to your charge from a living hell , de
filing , deadly , damning , to which the
criminal supiueuess of the constituted
authorities , set for the defence of decency
cency and good order , threatens to doom
them.
"Such a state of things cries to God
for vengeance , and calls no less loudly
to you and me for redress. "
And "the safe-guarding of vice" to
wnich the good bishop so authoritatively
, , , , , and irresistibly
„ . . . .
President Maker. , , . .
calls public atten
tiou , has been and continues to be , under
the inspiration and direction of Richard
Oroker , gambler , blackleg , horse-racer ,
once indicted for murder , who , only a
few days ago , as a would-be president-
maker , rode up and down Broadway side
by side with the candidate of the popu
list party who sought the chief magis
tracy of this great republic.
This vice-propagator , this expert and
industrious orime-cnlturist , this will
power of Tammany hall and its methods
of quickly producing all the sins and
sorrows possible to human nature this
bestial wretch aspired to become the
maker and manager of a president
of the United States. And he
found in the ambitions , gifted and
unscrupulous head of the populist
party , a gentleman distinguished by a
reputation for immaculateness of per
sonal character , a man who was willing
to fraternize with him , to condone his
crimes , to forget his term in the Tombs
on a charge of murder , his acquitance
through Tammany chicane and courts ,
and to publicly ride and dine with him
in New York. And Oroker and his can
didate for the presidency pretended to
incarnate the good , the patriotic , the
desirable in the public service. They
represented the virtuous poor , the sober ,
the industrious , and the frugal , while
they reprobated the rich and the wicked.
And the smirking candidate , with
nnctons and priestly manner , sweetly
proclaimed : "Great is Tammany and
Groker is its prophet. "
U ° OVem"
HOME BEAUTIFIED. . ,
her number of
Home and Flowers , published at Spring
field , Ohio , is published the following
letter , addressed to an officer of the
National Improvement League which
held its convention for 1900 in that city :
Annoit LODGE , Nov. 1st , 1000.
DEAH Silt :
Very sincerely I regret that it is im
possible for me to bo present at the
great gathering in behalf of home and
village improvement and adornment at
Springfield. For many years I have
contended that the home , being the unit
of the state ( and the state timply a com
posite of the home ) , should merit and
receive the most enlightened and con
scientious efforts of every good-citizen
in behalf of its elevation and embellish
ment. Hurt fere I f m very heartily in
accord with the principles and policies
which will be advanced and ably advo
cated at the gathering of home-builders
to which you have so kindly and con
siderately invited me.
There is a splendid democracy in the
vegetable world , which flowers and
trees demonstrate in their luxnrient
growth beside the cabin and the cottage
of the poor man as well as in the grounds
surrounding the mansions of the rich.
"Flowers and Fruits , " says Emerson ,
"are always fit presents ; flowers , be
cause they are a proud assertion that a
ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities
of man. " Goethe declares : "Flowers ,
the beautiful hieroglyphics of nature , by
which she indicates how much she loves
us. " And Henry Ward Beeoher said :
" Flowers are the sweetest things God
ever made and forgot to put a soul into. "
Whenever the homes of the people in
rural or in urban life are very generally
embellished with flowers and beautified
with trees , ' there will be a better and
more refined social condition than now
exists throughout the republic. Every
human home expresses in some degree ,
if permanently occupied by the same
family or race , the characteristics of its
founder and the dominant tastes and
motives of its occupants. Homes , like
faces , have expression. This expression
tells that they are the abode of thrift ,
temperance , sobriety and happiness , or
that they are merely the abiding places
of intemperance , indolence and gross-
ness. Each and every effort by the
good men and women of this country to
exalt , purify and beautify human homes
is the beet patriotic effort possible for
the perpetuation of the republic.
J. STERLING MORTON.
CONGRATULATIONS.
CONGRATULATIONS.TIVE
TIVE is the reci
pient of congratulations as to the re
cent election from nearly every northern
state. As a Nebraska periodical it is
credited with pioneering the plain way
to defeat an unholy political alliance ,
which had for its ulterior purpose the
debasement of the standard of value in
the United * States , the personal promo
tion of ambitious and callow publicists
and the dishonor of the national credit.
THE CONSERVATIVE , now half through
its third year , will continue to advocate
an honest currency , strict construction
of the constitution , faithful administra
tion of the laws and the utmost com
mercial freedom within the limits of the
public good. It thanks its friends for
their patronage and wishes to continue
and expand the same by the conscien
tious and fearless advocacy of all that is
best for the day and generation in which
we live , and desirable as a legacy for
those who succeed us as tenants of this
earth.