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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1895)
; . ; Y F? &: HX' & 1' ' r T 'Ai-a- ,- $vo"-SJ-3fev3ae. VOL.. 10, NO 33. ' - - &l ;, ESTABLISHED IN 1886, nwi- - T flfi. jp JBfTBB3&? ?fi V-?" - . -jj. ,m. t. ':& -PRI6ErFlvrCBNTS . . ; - - 1 "-!! iHk W&vLfo's'CZ' - -.- a." ... r ? t LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, AUGUST J 1895. OBSERVATIONS. WITHIN a few days The Cour ier Publishing Company will be reorganized, and on Aug ust 15 plans for the further development of The Courier, which have been in contemplation for some tnonthb, will be matured and ready for inauguration. The interest iD this paper which for two years past has been held by Mr. Chas. L. Burr has been purchased by Miss Sarah B. Harris, who will, commen cing August 13, enter into active part cipation in the conduct of The Courier. Miss Harris, personally, is well known to readers of this paper and the people of Lincoln generally, and her writings which have appeared in these columns and elsewhere have attracted much at tention and admiration. She will enter the newspaper business with whole hearted zeal, and I am sure Courier readers and the reading public as well as The Courier itself will gain by this connection. At the same time Miss Willa Cather, who for the past two years has been the dramatic critic and theatrical writer for the Journal, will become a member of the The Courier staff. Miss Cather s reputation extends beyond Nebraska. She is thoroughly original and alwayB entertaining. Her writing has a piquant literary flavor, and her services are a valuable acquisi tion to any paper. Tho addition of Miss Harris and Miss Cather to The Cour ier's working force, will be immediately followed by an enlargement of this paper both in size and scope. The as sistance of other writers will bo secured and the aim will bo to make this paper, in the fullest sense of tho word, a weekly review of all those subjects in which the intelligent, progressive men and women of Nebraska are interested. The political and editorial features will not only be continued, but will be given ad ditional importance, the purpose being to comprehend all subjects that con cern the people of this state. Theat rically, the endeavor will be to give in telligent, discriminating, honest criti cisms in review of everything produced in this city and Omaha that is worthy of note, together with such additional information and comment as will make this paper indispensible to those people of this section who aro interested in the stage and stage life. A musical depart ment, conducted by a competent musical writer will be added. Kecognizingthe rapidly increasing importance of the social life of our people, society will be treated m a much more complete and thorough manner than has before been attempted, and it is believed that this department, which will include, not Lincoln alone, but Omaha and other cities of the state, will be rendered par ticularly attractive. An important part of the social life of our people is that taken by the progressive women of the state, and the women's clubs and the various movements in the interest of ihe proper advancement of women will be accorded adequate space and atten tion. There will bo bright business gossip, literary and art talk, ami other features of special interest to the peo ple of Lincoln and Nebraska. Every thing in The Courier will bo original written expressly for it, and so far as those who will be responsible for its production are able to make, it will bo an accurate review of the subjects to which space will be given. The daily papers report events. The weekly paper allows of a more careful and critical discussion of things and events, and an ambitious etlort will be made to give The Courier an important place among the journals of the west. The department of The Courier de voted to out-of-door sports, mainly cycl ing and base ball, will bo continued, and all of tho present features will be re tained with such improvement as it is possible for The Courier's new work ing force to make. For many j ears, in England and on the continent, the weekly paper has held a position of prominence and power which the daily battering rams have to this day been unable to shake. Men and women of ability have devoted their best energies to the making of the week ly paper, and usually, these papers are carefully euited reviews with the sub ject matter more fully digested than is the case with the dailies. In politics, literature and art, rs well as the drama and the great Held of society, the weekly paper in England has overshtdowed the daily in influence. The weekly paper is the dependence, the daily papers serving as 6o many bulletins of events to be thoroughly discussed later in the weekly. In this country the tendency has been to develop the daily paper at the ex pense of the weekly; but many weeklies, particularly in the large cities, have be come potent factors in society, and touay much of the more careful political and critical writing is found in these papeis. Within the past few months I have been feeling the ground as it were, in The Courier, with a view to a more pretentious effort in weekly news paper publication, and this tentative endeavor has met with a degree of ap preciation that has seemed to assure the success of the new enterprise. There has been a large increase in the number of subscribers, and the advertising pat ronage has been larger the past three months than it has been in nearly three years. Hence the future is looked to with confidence. Those persons who remember "Rud der Grange' and the occupants' reluc tance to leave the "grange" for a few weeks and Pomona's adventures while they were away, may find a suggestion of similarity in "Love Before Breakfast." which Frank Stockton has begun in tho August Ladies Home Journal and which wiil be completed in the Sep tember issue. It is written in Mr. Stockton's best vein and will excite genuine interest. The Journal, by tho way. even with its Ruth Ashmorism and other eccentricities, has an astonishing hold upon the public, and it is the only magazine published for women that is read by men. Speaking of tho Ladies Home Journal J am reminded of a clever review of W. D. Howells "My Literary Passions," which appeared in tho Journal, and which as those who followed Mr. Howells are aware, were not passions at all the idea of the lackadaisical Howells having any passions'. Harry Thurston Peck is the reviewer, and ho says: "What a delightful thing it must be to attain to a degree of distinction at which remi niscence becomes as valuable as crea tion! Now if one be a novelist, for instance, he need no longer rack his brain over the complexities of plot and the analysis of character, studying pro portions and inventing incident, and polishing dialogue; but secure of his public at any odd moment he can sit down in his library and recall miscellan enous details about himself. They need not have any absolute value in them selves; how, when twelve years of age, he was once homesick at his uncle's house; how he was once taken to a chemist's shop and dosed with camphor as a prophylactic against cholera; details about what he usually had foi dinner and the hour at which he had it; and the peculiarities of an organ-builder who used to loan him books. These bits of life history, of which every human being possesses a million scat tering fragments, are to tho person who has attained renown, z veritable gold mine. They have no especial pertinence to anything, but they are deeply inter esting because they happened to him; and so, after setting them down in de tail to the extent of a column or so of print the Distinguished Personage gives them a littlo polishing, garnishes them with a few neat phrases, and sends them off to Mr. Bok, who a once re mits a delightful cheque, whereupon the Personage enlargeth his bank ac-. count and array eth himself in purple and line linen and waxeth merry." 1 here is a good deal of this in the Jour nal -inconsequential personalities, talk about poets' sweethearts and great men's wives and great women's hus bands, and whether so-and so took f ugar in his tea or swung Indian clubs before retiring. But it fills its partic ular fielJ, and it is useless to criticise a publication than has 16,000,000 readers I believe that is Mr. Bok's latest es timate. Sunday night Rev. Byron Beall preached another sensational sermon in th; Third Presbyterian church. This time the sermon was "for men only," and I noticed among the audience, drawn by a prurient curiosity, a large number of boys certainly not entitled to classification with men. Sinco when, I would ask Mr. Beall, has it become nec essary to excludo women from religious services in tho house of God on tho Sabbath dy? Hub sensational preach ing reached that point where separate services must bo held for tho two sexes? Has the preacher a right to say things from the pulpit that cannot prop erly be heard by a mixed audience? The Bealls profess to bo literally follow ing in the path that Christ himself trod. But it is not known that in order to save souls Ho was compelled to address the men alone at one time and the women alone at another. Christ dealt with wickedness as he found it, and he hesitated not to scourge, but when Ho spoke all might hear, men and women alike. Lectures and sermons for "men only" are a lato invention. It is questionable if any good comes from these so called lectures for "men only." The curiosity excited is apt to bo harmful, quite overshadowing tho warning note that is sounded. When these discussions are brought into tho Sabbath day and made to take the place of the regular service? at which both men and women are present, min isters who are responsible for them are liable to criticism. Mr. Beall id undoubtedly right in his views on the subject he is at present discussing; but the advisability of public discussions such as he has given in the last two weeks is certainly open to de bate There has been far too much said about this subject in this city; it is be coming a much too common topic of conversation; and when young boB flock to hear tho detailsof licentiousness from the puipit, it seems that it is de sirable to call a halt. After hearing Rev. Byron Beall's "sermon" Sunday evening on "Some Paths in Lincoln That Lead to Death, or Steps That Take Hold on Hell." I went home and took down Phillips Brooks' "The Ministers of Our Age. ' This great preacher L de scribing the faults of ministers, says: "And tho other fault is the constant de tire to make people hear us who seem determined to forget us. This is the fault of the sensational preacher. A large part of what is called sensational preaching is simply the effort of a man who has no faith in his office or in the essential power of truth to keep himself before people's eyes by some kind of in tellectual fantasticalness. I think there is a great deal of nervous uneasiness of mind which shows a shaken confidence in one's position " Especially I noted this paragraph: "There is a possible life of great nobleness and usefulness for the preacher who frankly recognizes and cordially accepts the attitude towards his office which he finds on the world's part, preaches truth and duty on their own intrinsic authority, and wins personal power and influence be cause he does not seek them, but seeks the prevalence of righteousness and the salvation of souls." 4 4 "'TV
