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WE AND OUR NEIGHBORS
:
The latest book issued in the "Long
nan's English Classics" series is "The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner" edited
with notes and an introduction by Herb
ert Bates, A. B. instructor in English in
the University of Xebraeka.
Tbe introduction contains a li e of
Coleridge, with an account of the origin
of the poem, its form, purpose and
method of study, besides a page or two
concerning poery in general and the
place given the "Ancient Mariner" by
fasaous critics, a .bibliography and
suggestions to students. Tbe chrono
logical table presents Coleridge's life
works, and contemporary English and
American writers comprehensively and
clearly. The forty pages is the work of
careful scholarship and appreciation.
Mr. Bate's sympathies have aided him
to analyse the poam without destroying
its effect as poetry. The footnotes on
every page in the form of questions
make of the reader a discoverer instead
of a jostled traveller on the highway.
.Thus the poem is as new as a first edi
tion. The questions reveal the depth of
poetic meaning in words and phrases
previously overlooked.
It k an ancient Mariner,
And hestoppeth one of three
"Br th jr long- fray beard and flittering- eye,
Now wherefore ctoppat thou meV
Why is glittering better than shining or
flashing?
And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the nils did sigh like M dge ;
And the rain poured down from one black
ckmd;
The Moon was at its edge.
Sedge the figure is faint to ub, since the
word is strange. Recall the sound of
wind in rushes, tall grass, or corn.
Tbe load wiad sever reached the ship,
, Yet sow the ship moTed on!
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groar.
Suppose the wind had re ched the ship
would the story have been so effec
tive? The upper air barst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro tbey were hurried about ;
And to aad fro, and in and out.
The wan stars danced between.
Eixains the cooBtructioj of the sec
ofid line. Fire-flags is the subject.
Sheen is an adjective modifying flags.
Even when the reader does not accept
Mr. Bates reading as in this case where
Coleridge clearly means Sheen as a
verb, the debt of gratitude for increae
ng the stimulating effect of a great
poem "is not lessened.
The footnotes are welcome interpre
tations of lines which heretofore have
been imperfectly understood. They
show a knowledge of English poetry
that justifies the selection of Mr. Bates
by the publishing house as the editor
of perhaps the most important long
poem in the English language.
a
Can it be that the water has been
rising in the wells and streams of Ne
braska every spring, rainless or other
wise, sines the creation 01 the world, or
since this part of the country left its
desert estate and settlers are just now
recognising the phenomenon? Lord
HacoB directed man's attention to the
study of nature and advised him to pro
ceed from the results of thatobser ration
to conclusions. I supposed that every
body except Bushmen. Central African8
aad Chinamen had followed his advice
for hundreds of years. 'Nebraska in a
statistical table has leas illiteracy to the
square inch than asy other state in the
anion. Probably Senator Thurston
made up those tables in an uncontroll
able ecstacy of patriotism, when he felt
that tbe time had come to increase the
wM of the state to him. Otherwise it
is impossible to comprehend the ignor
ance of real estate agents and bankers
who live off of farmers, who subsist on
the soil which yields a return only after
it has bad enough to drink.
The ways of water in Nebraska would
not be so mysterious it the height of
streams, surface and underground, had
been uoted and recorded for twenty-five
years, Tbe meteorological ieioi1sind
conclusions are valuable of course, but
the rainfall is dependant on so many
things; comets, the moon, twists in the
earth as she rounds a stormy cape in
her course, vacuums and such that only
the professor of philosophy at the uni
versity understands. The streams are
to be counted on because they are fed
by the snow in the mountains, and there
is alwajs snow in the mountains. Part
of the melt is meant for Nebraska, but
the "pig-dog" of a Colorado shutB the
gates and keeps the surface water all to
herself in tbe summer time. There are
two ways in which to circumvent our un
pleasant neighbor. One way is to slip
around (meteorologically) and get be
tween Colorado and the mountains so
that we shall be, so far as moisture is
.concerned, west of Colorado, The other
method is to learn the wajs of the un
derground streams, and if the volume
of water be sufficient, make reservoirs
or lakes which shall supplement or take
the place of the rainfall as the weather
compels.
The paternal character of our gov
ernment will be strengthened Ly repub
lican victory. The people will begin to
pay for the privilege of buying what
they want, the government will have
more money and it may be induced to
help Nebraska dam the two ends of a
draw to make a reservoir out of. If
congress knows beforehand that a na
tional dam will stop Senator Thurs
ton's flow. of words Nebraska will surely
get It and John Currie can go to work
at once on the senator'6 statue to be set
up forever before a grateful people. As
John Currie's portrait monuments can
not be said to be speaking likenesses of
their models he is the sculptor par ex
cellence for Mr. Thurston.
Eleonora Duso has decided to go to
Chicago. She will appear there about
April C. She swore on her crucifix last
year that she would never again play
there. No one so great has ever snubbed
Chicago before. It let her words go
but determined that Duse should ap
pear in the "Auditorium' before she
left the country. Chicago is like Athens
ancient Athens. Every citizen is
proud of living there, wherever he is, his
city worship is apparent. The citizens
are a unit of devotion to the city's inter
est. Ridicule or disparagement of its
intellectual or artistic ability is a reflec
tion thct the rich men have given mil
lions to make undeserved. The spirit
of Chicago has decided to be bigger,
cleverer, more beautiful than Nev
York. Duse, with her crucifix to help
her, cacnotovercome circumstances such
as Chicago has made to force her to
take back what she said about it and
the Italian comes.
"In the Fire of the Forge,' by Georg
Ebers, translated from the German by
Mary T. Safford. is a romance of Nurem
berg in the thirteenth century. Nurem
berg waa one of the famous "free cities"
of Germany, where the burghers formed
the habits of mind which developed in
Germany into constitutional thinking
aad in England and America into free
institutions.
The translation is a poor one. Tbe
construction of tbe sentence in many
places is obscure. The verb lingers
-perilously near the end of the seatesce
jrt times and sometimes even falls off the
edge into hopeless, obscure Teutonics.
Ebers romances of German life are
heavy for romances. As essays on the
rewards that virtue wins, or as a histori
cal comment on the comparative com
fort of the XIX and the XIII centuries
they are instructive, and so far as I
know accurate. Also he may have
written a novel of contemporary domes
ticity. German young ladies speak of
his novels as delightful, exciting. though
forbidden romance. He is the Zola and
Daudet to their sheltered imaginations.
If he had written a "romance" of mod
ern German life it is only msedeben
that can read it. Armor, jousts, the
torture chamber, Iinkboys, robber
knights are fascinating in themselves.
Plain Frau Schmidt and her mann, as
nobody's vassals and only desiring to
settle Fraulein Schmidt comfortably in
life can not be made interesting. There
fore it is safe to say Herr Ebers has not
told a tale where he could not use the
"properties" of the middle ages.
"In the Fire of the Forge" is too
long. The action is impeded by the
author's explanations, applause, remon
strances. He is a guide that gets in
front of that which you have crossed
the ocean to see. He is afraid his own
eloquence may be unnoticed. A course
of Tourgen'eff or Oostoivsky might
make Ebers' style less opaque; though
the transparency of the Russian seems
to be unattainable by any other nation.
A German novelist is a contradiction in
terms. A towering egotist can not
write of another's life from the inside.
Fancy Emperor William writing a ro
, mance! There are real Germans, per
haps, who are not obstinate egotists
To be sure the Emperor is an exaggera
tion of the national character. But the
literature of the unselfconscious Ger
man is not familiar to American read
ers. The book under consideration is with
out humour, without "the light that
never was on sea or land," without stjle,
.nor has it much plot. It has interest
ing historical incident, costume, topog
raphy and an occasional clever touch of
masculine characterization. The women
do not move themselves. A man has
made them to suit himself so they please
no one else. S. B. H.
Penaud's high grade perfumes, the
very best, at Roy's.
A comfortable California trip can be
taken every Thursday at 10.30 a. m. in a
through tourist sleeping car, Lincoln to
Los Angelos without change via the
Burlington. Remember this when ar
ranging for your winter trip. Depot
ticket office. 7th street between P and
streets. City office, corner Tenth and
Btreets.
Special prices on tablets and fine
stationery at Roy's.
Cheaper than growing, 3 cans choice
peas, 23c at The Alliance store, 1008 P
street
Easter eggs at Roy's.
The very best of everything in the
drug, stationery and notion line, lowest
prices, at Roy's.
KOCK ISLAND PLAITING CARDS.
These popular cards are again for sale
at 10 cents per pack, and thousands are
buying tbem. They are the slickest
card you ever handled, and 10 cents in
stamps cr coin per pack will secure one
or morepacKS
If money order, draff or stamps for
five packs is received (viz 50 cents) we
will send them by express, charges paid.
Orders for single packs are sent by mail,
postpaid.
If you want each pack to contain an
elegant engraved whist rules, remit with
your order Stents extra per pack.
Address,
John Sebastian, G.P A
Chicago
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Time Reduced
Great Rock Island Route
!Runs their
gljiUips' Pullman Excursion
Cars to
on their fast trains. Examine tim
cards and see that we are nearly
TWO HOURS
quicker than any other route Chicago
to Los Angeles.
The Phillips excursions are popular
He has carried over 125,000 patrons in
the past fifteen years, and a comforta
ble trip at cheap rate is guaranteed, and
he fast time now made puts the Phill-ps-Rock
Island Excursions at the top
Post yourself for a California tripbe.
''ore deciding, and write me for explicit
nformation. Address,,
JOHN SEBASTIAN,
I UN 111
COR 14 AND M.
All forms of baths, Turkish, Russian
Roman and Electric.
To the application of natural and
salt water baths for the cure Rlieti
meatiaam. and Sklxa.9
Blood and Nervous diseases. A special
department for surgical cases and
diseases peculiar to women.
DRS. M. H. AND J. O. EVERETT
Managing Physicians.
Tims is fflonei'
SHYE IT BY Ttt I
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Actual time traveling.
37 hours to Salt Lake.
07 hours to San Francisco.
65J hours to Portland.
89 hours to Los Angeles.
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