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VOL.. 10, No. 15.
PRIGE FIVE CENTS
LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1895.
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t v '" Jfcfe s there anybody who docs not
I Jv 9il. V number amonir bis acquaintances a
4, jfjt K2 Thompson? Most of us know sev-
j J' Cp y era' Thompson's remedy for all the
ills that flesh or spirit is heir to
his specific, as it were is egotism;
savs H. W. Morrow, and, preach as
you will, "To be good is to bo happy," the only real happy person on
earth is the egotist. This conclusion is reached after long study of
a perfect specimen. He patronizes Jones because he lives just out
side of town, declaring that the heart of the city is the place to live.
A week later he moves to a farm house a mile and a half out. "I
tell you what it is, Jones," he shouts, gleefully, "you fellows don't
know how to live. Why, as I walked over the hills this morning I
felt like a new man. The air was so fresh and pure, the flowers
blooming in every fence corner, the birds singing in every bush- I
tell you, it's glorious! 'Thought I didn't like to live away out?'
Well, I don't generally; but then, this place you never saw such a
place in your life such scenery, such conking. Come out some
time and I'll show you how to live." Thompson is insured in the
Mutual, Jones ic the Equitable. "How on earth did you ever come
to go into a snide thing like that?" exclaims Thompson, impatiently
to his friend. "Why, the concern's rotten. They're just simply rob
bing you. They tried it on me, but I know something about insur
ance, myself." And so it goes. Poor Jones! he really knows twice
as much on any conceivable subject, but he recognizes his limita
tions; he has doubts; he fears that he may be mistaken, that he may
be cheated. There are disagreeable features in his house and
neighborhood. His horse may be spavined. His library is not so
large or so well selected as he could wish. The collar of his coat
binds a little. Ho may have been mistaken about having paid that
rent. He is afraid that he was too hasty in his argument with
Brown. He is tormented on every side. All this Thompson escapes.
He is always right. Doubt is unknown to him. Ho deals with
Smith, and Smith becomes a scholar and a gentleman, all his com
petitors rogues or ignoramuses. His tailor is a genius; his cook a
paragon. He buys a broken down plug, and its ringbones and
splints vanish, and lo! ho possesses a thoroughbred. His watch
never loses a second, although the sun may gain a little. Like the
king, he can do no wrong, and therefore never worries over having
hurt anyone's feelings. There is only one uewspaper worthy the
name in the city the one he reads. He buyB a bunch of flowers,
and no others have such a rich color or sweet smell. Criticism
hurts him not, because he is himself. He has discovered the secret
of life. It is "me and the world."
Since the last issue of The Courier Mr. Bryan and Judge
Broady's congressional aspirations and politics generally have been
made issues in the municipal campaign that for a time promised to
be confined entirely to local issues, and it is not strange, under the
circumstances, that thero should be some adverso to criticism of
the churches that fostered last Sunday night's political meetings.
Tht churches that keep entirely aloof from party politics undoubt
edly pursue the proper course.
Rev. CM. Shepherd preached a sermon Sunday night on "Roads
Which Lead From Lincoln to Hell and Who Keeps Up tho Bridges."
Rev. Shepherd is the Parkhurst of Lincoln.
The legislature gives renewed evidence of its incapacity as it drags
its weary way along; but the end is not far off now. The amount
of necessary work that the legislature has to do is small, and these
long drawn out sessions of three months or more are as unnecessary
as they are tiresome to the public.
It is in theso closing days of tho session that the lobbyist makes
his greatest effort, and it is now that the legislator who has held
out all along views with alarm the return home empty pocketed and
yields to the seductive argument of the man who is "interested in
legislation." Look out for the disappearance or decapitation of
bills aimed at the bij corporations. Some of them have already
been "taken care of."
The Bookman, an American edition of which has lately made its
appearance reports the selling power of new books in all sections
of tho country. There is no report from Lincoln, Kansas City being
the nearest city represented. It is not probable that there is much
difference between the literary taste of the people in this city and
those of tho near-by city to the south. It appears that during the
month of February, Hall Caine's "The Manxman " was the favorite
and "Trilby" came second, followed by Brockett's "Tho Play-Actress."
Mr. Allen's "Kentucky Cardinal,' "Beside the Bonnie Briar
Bush'" and "The Ralstons." In New York, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Chi
cago, Cleveland, Louisville, Pittsburg, Portland and St. Paul,
"Trilby" triumphantly heads the list. But this great favorite does
not appear at all in the list from Boston, New Haven or Worcester,
while in Washington, as in Kansas City, it is second, and in Hart
ford, fifth in the list. In Albany alone Stevenson's "Amateur Emi
grant" sold more copies than any other book. It is mentioned also
in the lists from Buffalo, Chicago, Louisville and Worcester, while
in Cleveland they are only now reading his previous book, "The
Ebb-Tide." The Kansas City Star thinks Boston's list, which is, of
course, a matter of interest everywhere, is greatly to its credit, as a
whole. Thus it runs: Besant's "Beyond the Dreams of Avarice,"
"Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth," "As a Matter of Course,"
by A. P. Call, "Municipal Government in Great Britian." by Albert
Shaw; "Century of Charades," by Bellamy, and "Social Evolution,"
by Kidd. "As a Matter of Course" is by the author of "Power
Through Repose," its aim being to assist in the removal of nervous
irritants. The "Century of Charades," too, seems a rather frivolous
book for Boston, but it is ungracious to carp at these, rather should
the rest of the country rejoice that in the literary center of the
nation there is such catholicity of taste as to admit even the frivoli
ties of life into companionship with the serious studies.
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