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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1899)
' V JJ. - l v'l Vol. XXVIII. k pi" Ur- f J lv b Ft i . l I 'tf8Nrrii&w&wfs?Kr f J8s, ' fc i- THE HESPERIAN. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FEBRUARY 23, 1899. No. 21. In Error Still It grow beside my careless way, A wild flower of dew-sparkling glades, When all the tender tints of day Luxuriant warmed its fragil bladeB. Day after day I saw its blooms, Like tender eyes look up to mo, And stooped to find the rich perfumes That call the honey-hoarding bee. Yes, they were there. Like spirits "pure 'And delicate, full of heaven's light; They called with words unspoko but sure To taste of love, learn passion's might. And when, like bees by sweetness mooved, Lured to the blossoms it adorns, I clasped the petals that I loved, Ah, then, I found their cruel thorns. The wild flower stands for other things An error, maybe, wild and vain, Not sin, though like sin it wrings The heart, all throbbing full of pain. Ah yes, a wild flower of my heart, And long ago I lot it fall; Hurt till I felt the life blood start, Before I would resign it all. And true, for other things it stands, For tears and sorrow's stronger power, That bade ino seek earth's farthest lands. Would I have gone for just a flower?. And would I rather face a foe Beneath a tropic forest's gloom; Than tread the old haunts to and fro, And watch a wild rose blush and bloom? And would I hositato to turn. And sook the wide, homo-loading sea, And old haunts, whoro, twixt fronds of fern, A meadow flower looked up to mo? Oh, should I walk mid clinging (low, And find the old flower bloomed and borne Upon the spot whoro first I know Its mellow fragrance and its thorn, And if I paused and gazed a while, Recalled each petal, far more bright And Bweotthan whon its early smile Waked through my heart that first delight, If I were tempted, then, to take What moans my life's full joy or pain, Would heaven's keen judgment quick awake, And chide mo that I erred again! Ira. Kellogg. In Oami near Guanabaooa, Cuba, Feb. 12, 1899. My Dear Swain: For some time I have been planning to pen you a few words but have scarcely had time to write to even my mother. Since arriving in Ouba, our battalion of engineers have been so heavily worked that we have scarcely had enough men free to do our own local guard duty. This is indeed a new world to most of us. From the morn ing wo loft Miami, Florida until now wo have seen so many hundreds of strange sights that wo are almost drugged by them into a passive nonchalenco which would not lot a man open his eyes in surprise if he should meet Washington Irving's "Devil and Tom Walker" coming down tho pike hand in hand. For three weeks now I havo been running a transit in a me ander survey of Havana. Wo are to locate and make detailed drawings of all the fortifications that surrounded tho city. It is impossible to realize how perfectly Havana was and is fortified until you walk over tho ground and note the com manding positions occupied and tho extreme care shown to ob tain cross tires by big guns and infantry. Tho men who de signed these defences were certainly well -versed in tho science for there is scarcely a foot not protected by a deadly fire from the trenches. As rogards those people, human naturo is the same most everywhere. Of course it goes without saying that the average Cuban is low in tho social scale compared with Americans. In tho first place, tho higor classes are pure Spaniards who havo cast off tho Spanish yoke by virtuo of Uncle Sam's strong right arm, yet they never cast off tho "Spirit of Munana" and they will bo long in learning that a man should bo just as particular to wear clean undorclotheB as ho is to wear cloan trousers. In tho second place, tho lower classes are a degradation of tho Spanish race. A mixture of negro and Spanish blood pro duces ft breod which "will never sot tho rivor on fire." Wo are camped on a high hill just oast of Havana Harbor. Regla lies between us and tho harbor, and Guanabacoa is oast of us, just at tho foot of our hill. Inland to tho south is a range of low mountains against tho sky line, and botwoon ub ' )