Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1904)
February 7, 1904. Tb Illustrated Bee. Published Weekly by The Bee Publishing Company, liee Building, Omaha, Neb. Trice, 60 Per Copy rer Year, $2.00. Entered at the Omaha Postofftce a Second Cli.su Mall Mattel-. , Was it a Dream? For Advertising Itat-.s Address Publisher. Communications relating to photographs or articles for publication should b ad dressed, "Editor Illustrated Hee. Omaha." Pen and Picture Pointers Til IT ILLUSTRATED BEE. f F. of the figures that loom 11 la run I I j I In American Journalism- Is Murat 1 1 llnlHlind. Km- more than (IftV of hla seventy-five years of life ho has been active In the news paper field, and no man now before the public has had a wider or more varied range of rxperlmcp. lie has fnllowed, as a war correspondent, the fortunes of tho armies !n the greatest warn of modrrn times. During the civil war In the United States he was a writer of unusual In fluence nnd a few years later he went to Germany and made the campaign with the soldiers under Von Moltke and Ms-marr-k, returning to the United Btates In tlmf' to take an active part In the politics of 1872, when "anything to beat Grant" was the cry of the opposition to that great leader. Mr, Halstead was In the opposi tion at that time, and recently The Itee published hla own account of the efforts of four great editors, Samuel Howies, Horace Greeley, Joseph Meillll and him self, to secure the nomination of lorat oilier candidate. The Grant sentiment was too utrong and the disorganized democracy nnd dissatisfied republicans named lloraoe Greeley for their candidate. Murat Hal stead's reward for his share In the pre liminaries of tho campaign of that year was to bo sardonically dubbed "Held mar shal" by the bourbon democrats, a title that ho still WJdrs with more of dignity and appr jprliteness than his then detrac tors ever dreamed of. For several year lie has not len actively connected with the direction of a newspnper, but has not let his pen lie Idlo on that account. Dur ing tho war with Spain he went to the Philippines and made his presence In the IslandM known by a aeries of character istic articles. Murat Halstcnd wan born In Ross town ship, Iltttler county, Ohio, on September . VZ9. and was reared on a farm, llo at tended scIhk)1 during the winters und fol lowed the plow during tho summers 'till he was old enough to do for hl:nnolf. He attended a select school one term and then taught pchool for two terms. Later lt was graduated from Farmer's college, near Cincinnati, and took up newspaper work, beginning on a small literary weekly. He Joined the staff of the Cincinnati Com mercial In March. 1SC2, bought an Interest In the paper In 1SS1, and In 1WS was the head of the firm of publishers. When tha Commercial and Claiette were consolidated he became editor-ln-chlef of tho new paper. When he retired from this paper It waa to go to ltrooklyn to become editor-ln-chlef of tho Standard-Union of that city. He retired from that position a few yenrs ago. In 1NX9 President Harrison nominated Mr. Halstead to be minister to Germany, but his nomination whs rejected by tho senate Owing to nrtlclos he had written raflectlng on that body. Mr. Halstoad has written, a number of books In addition to his Jour nalistic efforts. He was married lri 1RST to Miss Mary Hanks of Cincinnati. Mr. llalstead's recent visit to Omaha proved that he still retains his vigor and com prehensive grasp of American politics. At the same time Mr. Halstoad wa In Omaha another of the big figures of Amer lean affairs was hero also. Samuel R. Van Bant has been a pretty big man In Mlnne. eota ever since be quit the river, on which he was a successful steamboat captain, and took up hi home at Winona. When the effort was made to consolidate the two great rallro-ids having lines across tha state of Minnesota. Governor Van Bant made hlmrelf a national character by suc cessfully opposing a scheme of gigantic finance and heading off the absorption of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Turlington systems by the Northern Securities company. The final outcome of this case before the United States supreme court Is yet to bo heard, but Governor Van Sunt won the first round by securing ,n decision In tho circuit court of the United States at St. Taul. He will be 60 years old In May and Is a native of Illinois. He was attending the high school at Rock Island, his native town, when the war began and he enlisted. After tho war he finished hla education with two years at Knox col lege. Galesburg. and engaged In steam boating on the Mississippi river, where ho rose to the position of master. In he was elected to the legislature from Winona, Minn., his present home, and again In ISM. Turlng his second term he was chosen speaker of the house, receiving every vote, something never before heard of In Minne sota. In IM he was elected governor of the state, and sgsln In IMS. He. ton. Is a republican In politics. Governor Van Bant married Miss Ruth Hall at tieClatre, la.. In 1K& (Copyright, 19M, by M. Walter Dunne.) HAD loved her madly! Why does one love? Why does one love? How queer It la to ee pWQ only cm being In the world, to have only one tnougnt in one s mind, only one desire In the heart and only one name on the lips a name which cornea up continually, rising, like the w iter In a spring, from the depths of the soul to the Hps, a name which one repeats over and over again, which one whispers cease lessly, everywhere, like a prayer. "1 am going to tell you our story, for love only has one, which ia always tha same. 1 met her and loved her; that la all. And for a whole year I have lived on her tenderness, on her careues, in her arms. In her dresses, on her words, so completely wrapped up, bound and absorbed in every thing which came from her that I no longer cared whether it waa day or night or whether I waa dead or alive on this old earth of ours. "And then she died. How? I do not know; I no longer know anything. But one evening she came home wet, for It waa raining heavily, and the next day she coughed and she coughed for about a week and took to her bed. What happened I do not remember now, but doctor 1 came, wrote and went away. Medlclnea were brought and some women made her d ink them. Her handa were hot, her forehead was burning and her eyes bright and tad. When I spoke to her she answered mi, but I do not remember what we ra'd. I have forgotten everything, everything, everything! She died, and I very well re member her slight, feeble sigh. Tle nur.e said: 'Ah!' and I understood, I tinder stood! "I knew nothing mora, nothing. I saw a priest, who said: Tour mistress?' and It seemed to me as If he were lnsu'tlng her. As she was dead, nobody had the right to say that any longer, and I turned him oat. Another came, who waa very kind and tender, and I shed tears when he spoke to me about her. "They consulted me about the funeral, but I do not remember anything that they said, though I remember the coffin and the sound of the hammer when they nailed her down in It Oh, God, God! "She waa burled, burled! She! In that hole! Borne people came female frlenda I made my escape and ran away. I ran and then walked through the streets, Wfnt home and the nest day started on, a Journey. "Teeter-day I returned to Pari, and when I saw my room again our room, our bed, our furniture, everything that remains of the lire of a human 'being after death I was seised by such a violent attack of fresh grief, that I felt like opening tha window and throwing myself out Into the Btreet. I could not remain any longer among flu Be things, between these walla which had Inclosed and sheltered her, which retained a thousand atoms of her, of her skin and of her breath, in their Imperceptible crevices. I took up my hat to make my escape, and Just as I reached the door I passed the large glass In the hall, which she had put there so that she might look at herself every day from head to foot as she went out, to see if her toilette looked well, and was correct and pretty, from her little boots to her lonnet. "I stopped short In front of that looking glass In which she had so often been re flectedso often, so often, that It must have retained her reflection. I was stand ing there, trembling, with my eyes fixed on the glass on that flat, profound, empty glass which had contained her en tirely, and had possessed her as much as I, as my passionate looks had. I felt as If I loved that glass. I touched It; It was cold. Oh! the recollection! sor rowful mirror, burning mirror, hor rible mirror, to make men suffer such tor ments! Happy Is the man whose heart for gets everything that It has contained, everything that has passed before It, every thing that has looked at Itself In It, or has been reflected in its affection, In Its love! How I suffer! "I went out without knowing it, without wish ing It, and toward the cemetery. I found hr simple, grave, a white marble cross, with these words: " 'She loved, was loved, and died.' "She is there, below, decayed! How hor rible! I sobbed with my forehead on tha ground, and I stopped there for a long time, a long time. Then I saw that It was get ting dark, and a strange, mad wish, the wish of a despairing lover, seised me. I wished to pass the night, the last nlghf. In weeping on her grave. But I should be seen and driven out. How was I to man age? I was cunning, and got up and began to roam about In that city of the dead. I walked and walked. How small this city is, in comparison with the other, the city In which we live. And yet, how much more numerous the dead are than the living. Wa want high houses, wide streets, and much room for the four gen erations who see the daylight at the same time, drink water from the spring, and wine from the vines, and eat bread from the plains "And for all the generations of the dead, for all that ladder of humanity that haa descended down to us, there Is scarcely anything, scarcely anything! The earth takes them back, and oblivion effaces them. Adieu! "At th end of the cemetery I suddenly perceived that I wan In its oldest part, where those who had been dead a long Umo are mingling with the soil, where the crosses themselves are decayed, where pos sibly newcomers will be put tomorrow. It is full of untended roses, of strong and dark cypress trees, a sad and beautiful garden, pourlshcd on human flesh. "I was alone, perfectly alone. So I crouched In a green tree and hid myself there completely amid the thick and som ber branches. 1 waited, clinging to the stem, like a shipwrecked man does to a plank. "When It waa quite dark I left my refuge and began to walk softly, slowly, Inaudlbly. through that ground full of dead people. I wandered about for a long time, but . could not find her tomb again. I went on with extended arm, knocking against the tombs with my hands, my feet, my knees, my chest, even with my head, without being able to find her. I groped about like a blind man find ing his way. I felt the atones, the crosses, the iron railings, the metal wreaths and the wreaths of faded flowers! I read the names with my fingers, by passing them over the letters. What a night! What a night! I could not find her again! "There was no moon. What a night! I was frightened, horribly frightened m these narrow paths, between two rows of graves. Graves! graves! grave! nothing but graves! On my light, on my left. In front of me. around me, everywhere there were graves! I sat down on one of them, for I couM not walk any longer, my kneea were so weak. I could hear my heart beat! And I heard something else as welL What? A confused, nameless noise. Was the noise in my head, In the impenetrable night, or beneath the mysterious earth, the earth sown with human corpses? I looked' all around me, but I cannot say how long I remained there; I was paralysed with ter ror, cold with fright, ready to shout out, ready to die. "Suddenly, It seemed to me that the slab of marble on which I was sitting was moving. Certainly It was moving, as if it were being raised. With a bound I sprang onto the neighboring tomb, and I saw, yes, I distinctly saw the stone which I had Just quitted rise upright. Then tho dead person appeared, a naked skeleton, pushing the stone back with its bent back. I saw it quite clearly, although the night was so dark. On the cross I could read: " 'Here lies Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of 51. He loved his family, was kind and honorable, und died in the grace of the Iyird.' "The dead man also re-ad what was In scribed oa his tombstone; then he picked up a stone off the path, a little, pointed stone, and began to scrape the letters carefully. He slowly effaced them, and with the hol lows of his eyes he looked at the places where they had been engraved. Then with the tip of the bone that had been his fore finger, he wrote in luminous letters, like those lines which boys trace on walls with the tip of a luclfer match: " 'Here reposes Jacques Olivant, who died at the age of 51. He hastened hla father's death by his unklndness, as he wished to inherit his fortune; he tortured Iris wlfo, tormented his children, deceived his neigh bors, robbed every one he could, and died wretched. "When he had finished writing tho dead man stood motionless, looking at his work. On turning round I saw that all the graves were open, that all the dead bodies had emerged from them, and that all had effaced the Ilea Inscribed on the grave stones by their relations, substituting tha truth Instead. And I saw that all had been the tormentors of their neighbors malt clous, dishonest, hypocrites, liars, rogues, calumniators, envious; that they had stolen, deceived, performed every disgraceful, every nbomlnablo action, these good fathers, these faithful wives, these devoted sons, these chaste daughters, those honest tradesmen, these men and women who were called irreproachable. They wero all writing at the same time, on the threshold of their eternal abode, the truth, tho terrible and the holy truth of which everybody was Ignorant, or pre tended to be ignorant, while they were alive. "I thought that she also must have writ ten something on her tombstone, nnd now running without any fear among the half open coffins, among tho corpses and skelej tons, I went toward her, sure that I should find her Immediately. I recognized her at once, without seeing her face, which was covered by the wlndlng-eheet, and on the marble cross, where shortly before I had read: " 'She loved, was loved, and died. I now saw: " 'Having gone out in tho rain one day. In order to deceive her lover, she caught cold and died.' "It appears that they found me at day break, lying on the grave unconscious." From the first complete English edition of the works of Guy do Maupassant, published by M. Walter Dunne, New York. An Alarming Affair Her head rested confidingly on hla shoul der, but It was suddenly raised. "What'B the matter, George?" she asked. "Nothing," he said, reassuringly. 'But I can hoar your heart tinkle." "Oh. no." "I can, too, George. Are you such a glut ton that your heart rings for supper?" "I assure you' "I tell you I heard It. There was a dis tinct silvery tinkling, George; you'd bettor see about that heart." "See a doctor?" "No-o; see an electrician and have tha wires disconnected. I won't marry a man whose heart rings whenever he's a little agitated." "But Mabel, I tell you" I heard it, didn't I? Do you suppose I'd live with a man who tinkled unexpectedly? Why, it sounds as if your heart bad ab sorbed a Swedish bell ringer. Have you one of those variety stage people enshrined there V "Mabel, Its a watch your father gave me. "A watch!" "Yes; one of those new f angled alarm watches to remind a fellow of an engage ment, but I didn't think he'd be mean enough to set it for 10 o'clock the very first night he gave It to me. I may be wrong, Mabel, but it looks to me like a hint. I believe I had better be going." Brooklyn Eagle. Hardly a Good Kick Agent I see you are busy and I will not take up very much of your time. I want to talk to you a little while on the subject of life insurance. Victim Do you want to insure a man who is a murderer, and who may be hanged In a few months? "Good heavens! Are you a murderer? "Not yet, but I may become one very soon If you dodgasted agents don't quit coming in here and bothering me when I am trying to work." Kansas City Journal