THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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The present Nebraska legislature is witnessing
some experiments in the Senate of that body, which
is controlled at last by a coalition of democrats, anti
monopolists and "reformers" against the "straight"
republicans. Instead of following the precedent of
allowing the President of the Senate to select the
committees, a committee of Senators was elected to
choose them, in a less arbitrary and partisan manner.
In consequence of this most commendable innova
tion, each committee so selected shows a careful ma
jority of coalitionists among its members and an ac
cidental selection of a coalition chairman. Indeed,
consistency, thou art a jewel. Evidently our state
solons have pcrsued the fable of The Farmer and
His Ox, in Webster's Elementary Spelling Book.
Tub death of the foremost statesman of the French
Republic has. created a profound sensation through
out Europe and America. He was not a political
demagogue, but a true patriot, an earnest and enthu
siastic worker for the establishment and perpetuation
.of the first republican government in France worthy
of the name. Leon Gambetta will ever be identified
with the newer and nobler type of French radicalism
equi-distant from Bourbonism and Imperialism on
the one hand and Communism on the other in a
word the progressive republicanism from which every
thing was to be hoped, nothing to be feared. We
say was, for in his death the Radical party loses much
of its prestige and power, and already fears are ex.
pressed that the masses, whose hero he was, will be
more easily led into Communism without his restrain
ing hand. The volatile nature of the French people
does yet, and always will, render them more or less
dependent on the character and will of individual
leaders, and the powerful but benign magnetism of
Gambetta may easily be exchanged for the influence
of a leadership more dangerous to the young repub
lic. To-day France is the most prosperous and con
tented of European nations, and to Gambetta more
than any other one man is this condition of things
due. That the result of his patriotic labors may not
now be overturned by a more reactionary leader is
the hope of all friends of true republicanism. In any
event, France is to be pitied for the loss of this poli
tical genius in the very prime of his vigor and im
portance. His enemies feared him, his opponents
admired him, and his followeis worshipped him. His
was the resolute nature that would not be daunted;
the combative will that would not brook denial; the
strong character that made itself felt by all with
whom it came in contact. All friendly nations reach
forth a hand of sympathy to France in this hour of
bereavement, and strong Germany pays a still higher
compliment to his influence and ability, asshe breathes
a sigh of relief and remarks: " His death-does mo-s
to assure the peace of Europe than any eveut which
has taken place in the past year." Tt is not probable
that the end of any other Frenchman's inveterate
hatred and determination to avenge in time the in
sults and humiliation of 1870, would have willed
forth this expression of a securer feeling.
The fashionable manias of English society find some
sympathy and following in the Eastern United States;
but out here in the West, our blunted sensibilities or
lack of "culchah," or something, renders us incapa
ble of appreciating with any degree of utterness the
true lah-de-dah sentiment, and the extent to which
our aping of each current English craze or custom
can scarcely be called enthusiasm. So it is that after
the "underdone young, man" had excited the rapt
attention and devout admiration of the Hub and the
neighboring lesser foci of civilization in obedience to
the mandates of Oxford and London we, poor heath
en, unmindful of our own short-comings, and foolish
ly happy in our ignorance, failed to discover in this
disciple of Ruskin that which so stirred to heretofore
unknown depths the soulfulness of our Eastern cous
ins, but viewed with simple and untaught wonder his
manners and peculiarities with much the same feeling
of curiosity that would mark our examination of an
unusual zoological specimen. And now it is the
same way with the Jersey Lily. Transplanted to
Eastern American soil, her British-lauded beauty of
face and form, the too-ness of her acting, and the
truly professional questionability of her personal char
acter, drew immense and refined audiences to rhapso
dize and enthuse over" her, and produced her Geb
hart mash. But as she approaches the setting sun,
the audiences grow smaller in proportion to the low
er order of their civilization, and even the Gebhart
side-show attachment fails to make the combination
a complete success. At Chicago the Langtry's beau
ty is announced as not extraordinary, and her acting
as less than ordinary. As Bill Nye would say, Oh,
why is this so thus, and if so, will it become even
more thus as she loses herself farther and farther in
these western wilds of inartistic and unappreciative
barbarism? That this condition of things should ex
ist with us is indeed deplorable. Is there no way by
which we may be awakened from our monotony of
sturdy common sense? Shall we always be obliged to
give ourselves away like this ? From this time on let
us resolve to emulate the worthy example of our East
ern countrymen, to reject our commonplace notions
of American excellence, and strive to admire, regard
less of expense, all that our English benefactors may
see fit to send us for our enlightenment and admirar
tion.
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