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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1901)
The Conservative * - "TELL ANODER. " Who is this that comes' a-climbing And acrceping : in my chair ? Bless me"Pis ! our queen , wee Martha , With her crown'ofsilken hair. Here she sits , with brown eyes dancing , On the , old chair's.- leathern arm ; "What's your royal will , your Highness ? I'm a subject 'neath your charm. " In a truly regal manner Waves a tiny , outstretched hand "Tell a.tory , " says Queen Marthn , In a'voice of stern command. Now my. mind keeps up a-thlnking And a-searching for a tale "Have you heard , my sovereign lady , How a little maid turned vale When she. , went .to see her grandma , With a basket full of cake , A'nd a wolf made plans to eat her ? - . . . . Till she cried 'For pity sake ! : What a big , big mouth you've opened ! ' And she wore ( i.redj red hood" "Dot one too' , " says \yee Queen Martha ; "Tellanoder. " "Weil , now would'1 You like to hear .qf.things a-shining And a-gleaming ? I will tell Of a king whoso namo'was Midas. Yellow gold.he loved so well' That whate'er he touched , his.porridge Or his roses , turned to. gold. Sad to say , ho touched his daughter And she grew , so I've been told , IT. Cold find bright. Her hair wad shining Like the g6ldin your small ring. " "Mine's dold tool My mamma turls it ! Tell anoder. " So I bring From my childhood's lore , a-sighing And a-smiling-o'er the past , One about whose quaint name's rhyming All the fascinations last. "List ! I'll teller Mother Moroy. N.ow myistory is begun , Will you be surprised in hearing That my story's nearly done ? Do you1' know that'Motber Morey f' : ' Had a brother ? Oh ! Yoii do ! " VDotone-too , " says wee Quern Martha ; "Tell anoder. ! ' Hark ! Don't you 4 Hear .the sleigh' bells all a-tinkling And.a-chiming , going by ? < What If Santa Glaus is driving * Up to reach our chimney high ! For'tomorrow will be Christmas ! " Wh'efe'8 your stocking ? Got it ! Quick ! First y.pn know.witb. : things.to stuff it , Dpwn.will come the dear Saint Nick. . He.lmB such a'sweet doll baby fit his sleigh , out in the snow. " "Dot one too , " says wee Queen Martha , ' { [ Want anoder I Dees I'll go. " ? & $ : * ' 3i ' ' .i. ! , MARY FRENCH MORTON. - - . -M . , .p" J * . , . , . . -JThe .Oo.usorvar , ' \COMBINED. \ tiv © . .crossed the ' / . . .CAPITAL..Missouri river .and ' t r\ \ . , , . . became a citizen of Nebraska in 1854. The transfer over , the , tawny tide was in a flat.boat , which Was. _ .reached .after four days , hard travel from St. Joe , Mo. , in a mud wagon of- the Frost stage line. But alas ! .those good old.flatboat times hayo .vanished . .foreveryicked capi talists cpmbiued , and built a steam boat -that did the 'ferrying , until wickeder capitalists ' combined and qrushed out the stage lines with rail roads and. tihen with the diabolism of greater..greed ; spanned-the Missouri with'iron and1 steel bridges until stage lines/ flatboats and steamboats , are 'ob- solcto as common carriers into Ne braska. The old freighting times on the plains are erased forever. Capital with shrieking locomotives has driven out every bellowing ox tnvin between the Missouri river and the Hocky Mountains. Railroads have a mono poly over the Holliday coaches and the Majors , Russol and Waddell wag ons in transportation of persons and property. Alas , the dangers of the com bines and the greed of capital in the state of Nebraska ! CRIME AND CRIMINALS. To The Conservative : More deserving , important and ur gent , than any mere question or meas ure of politics , is the reformation of our criminal code as regards the treat ment of our convicts. For centuries the world has made steady advancement in learning , in art , in mechanics , in agriculture , and in everything that goes to make up what is called our Christian Civiliza tion ; while in the treatment of our criminals we have clung , and are still insistently clinging , to the bar baric and brutal methods of heathen ism. It is time we were getting out of this groove of error and cruelty and s'omobody must take the initia tive. tive.Human Human rights , amongst which are life and liberty , are not concessions of societybut the gifts of heaven , and are-inalienable what by any process soever. . They can neither be bought nor sold , acquired nor forfeited. The obligation of government to so ciety admittedly requires that -it shall afford protection , fr.om the violence of the assassin and the depredations of the plunderer , and restraint and coercion ercion- when thus directed , ; * are justi fiable , and commendable , but when it goes beyond this , and seeks to inflict vengeance upon-the individual , it as sumes -the undelegated" prerogative of Jehovah , and makes itself criminal. Age and universality , have rendered this dereliction of society most diffi cult of reform , the , courts being ayowedly bound by precedent , and the citizen thoughtlessly acquiescing , through the force fof custom. But repetition cancpns.titute no defence and acquiescence no justification for crime , even though ; committed through the instrumentality of an organized go.vernment. The advocacy of more humane methods in pur treatment of the , crim inal .qlass seems , to the casual observer to bo subversive of most of our preconceived notions of justice. To defend criminals and denounce crime seems , an anomalous thingand yet the two .things are not so utterly incon sistent. Crime is abhorrent to every just judgmentbut to the infinite .wis- dom nothing or at least no man is altogether criminal. The best men err the worst do but err. The purest and best man is not better nor purer than the worst criminal may become , nay than he will become , and it is but a question of time when each shall glorify God , and make heaven vocal with grateful praise. The fault of our present system is that it proceeds from a wrong motive. It aims at retribution when its object should be reform. Instead of the cell and the dungeon , we should restrain our convicts in educational prisons , surround them with kindly and re formatory influences and nurse them back to virtue , morality and integrity. To hang a man for murder is to per petrate another crime of the same * sort , and to confine him in a dungeon is to confirm him a criminal , and bar the way to his return to honesty and honorable citizenship. Of course those who differ with and attempt reply to this proposed leni ency , will indignantly point to the assassins of our presidents and trium phantly demand ' ' if these men be fit to live ? " The answer to which.is : that if. not fit to live they are certain ly not fit to die , and that they may be as effectually barred from further crime by confinement in a prison as by confinement in a tomb ; and with this advantage , that it saves the com mission of another murder. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tootli' , ' has been abrogated and ' ' when smit ten on one cheek to turn the other" is the command now in force , though too little observed. It is a large subject , and may not be disposed of by a single pleabut if The Conservative would open a deter mined crusade against .the wrongs complained against , ' and lend the weight of its wide influence and its forceful logic to this reform , it would plant trees which would blossom in heaven and ornament the eternal homes of Paradise. J. G. LUMBARD. , Omaha , Neb. , Dec. 9 , 1901. PROTECTION AND PATRIOTISM ; BY PROF. JOHN'BASCOM. The fullest , firmest , expression of national strength is patriotism. . , All other gains include themselves in this one magnificent product. Free insti tutions , if developed along their true lines of growth , especially favor pa triotism ; if turned aside from the pub lic welfare , they are peculiarly inimi cal to it. The sense of justiceof civic conditions essentially the same for all under the public weal , is the founda tion of love of country. Inequality of opportunities , the grasping temper'of ' the strong , are most unfavorable to that good will which should incite . ' ' * - > X'