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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1897)
iys?17?zm"t-F' -"V '"' Y v.-x -" fF;; ."? -.sr-,ir -TTr ' . f.-v " r'Jl'Kr- fTJP'g - THE COURIER. ferior in many respectF. Nor do students, as Thk Col'kikk editor ought to knew, ever neod to 1)2 held by restrictions from overcrowdiug an inferior department when the work '19 almost wholly electi ve, no matter what the branch taught. The Courier's reflections upon Pro feesor Wotfe's personal character are ab solutely inexcusahleexceptjon the ground of violent pn-julico. Fortunately for the professjr, ho is too well known in Lin coln to need any defense. No one whoiB at all acquainted with him. either citi zen or 6tudent, can deny him the re spect duo to a man who is thoroughly honorable and upright, who does not hesitate to act the right he believes in even to tho disregard of his pen-onal farety, as events hive shown, and who -even though ha may at ono time have been a Nobuuka "ploughboy" is alto gether a gentleman. I do not say however that Professor Wolfe possesses tho suave ics"ncerily of manmr which is sd evidently The Coukieu's ideal of gontlemanlinesj.norhasit ever occurred tj 1119 to search out his "family tradit ions" for a patent to that culture which is his as an educated man acd student. The Courier's assertion that 1he student demonstration was thit of a "noisy minority of Prorerssor Wolfe's coniid-nts" censurad by "the large and respectable pait of the student body'' is simply a misstatement of the facta which needs no denial except outside university circ e3. Professor Wolfe not only exerted no icllunco to encourage the demonstration but diJ endeavor to quiet it as may be readily proven. And a? to the student cngiged baing in the minority The Courier most certainly cannot refer to numeiical relations. The flings .at the character of the student.-canaiile -as The Courier would evidently like to term them aie merely absurd, rather tho more so coming from a graduate pen. But very likely thete are soma o! us who haven't tha reuislto "threo generations pedigree' of The Colrier style of gentleman to fallback upon for our own credentials. It may even chance thut some of us arochilcren of border pioneers. It is our misfortune and The Courier should be charitible. Finally, the concluding paragraphs or tha editorial mentioned should Lava a moment's notice. With all due modesty I am led to suspect that I am one of tho 'little mes" The Courier refers to, for 1 have had, 6hal! I say, themisfortune to intlict some sketches upon Courier readers. W'hether tha charge of "cyni cism, selfishness, conceit and misan thropy' be truo or nt though I do hope it's not quite all of that mat'ers not. What does mafer is tha implication that these qualities spring from Professor Wolfe's influence or characterize his students. This is certainly untrue, ilis orn charactar is I ha opposite of all these and as is his character so is his influ ence. 1 have been in his classes and known his students for three years and I know whereof I speak. And to close, I believe that Professor Wolfe's influ ence has been to many what it has been to me, tho strongest and bc3t of the university course. II. B. ALEXANDER. RANDOM NOTES. Dodd I hsara great officer was killed yesterday. How did it happen? Todd He had captured a Turkish garrison. Ho was t-ying to repeat the name of its commander and died for want of breath. He At what age do you think a girl should marry? She When she's asked. Doc't you think I have a lovely fig ure: Said a pretty little maiden that I met, And remembering she wes heiresB to a million, I said her figure suited me, you bet. The other day some passengers on the Fort Lee ferry boat were engaged in a discussion of the appropriateness of the names of the various water craft seen about Nejv York. Tho discussion was started by somebody's calling attention to one of the city dumping scows moored just abovo the forry slip oa the east side of the liver. Hundreds of "Department Public Works" carts had deposited their miscellaneous burden on the big flat boat, and it was piled fifteen feet high with garbage, ashea, scrap paper and other refuse. It was bespattered and be grime J, and altogether it was about as unsightly as an thing one could find on the East River in a day's journey. But at the stern on a standard rising from the deck was a conspicuous signboard, and in large letters was the word "Ve nus." "That," remarked a passenger," is a fair sample of the taste of the peoplo who give tho names to the boats here abouts. The more degraded the usa to which the craft is put, and the more re pulsive its appearance, the more esthetic or high Bounding its name. These re fuse scows are frequently 'Lilys,' 'Vio lets,' and 'Pansye,' when they are not Aphrodites,' 'Parynaa' and 'Psyche3.'" The others chimed in and told of tho funny names they had seen. It was not explained that every boat has to bo known by a distinctive name or number, and be registered bero e it can have the freedom of the poit. In conforming to the maritime regulations the owners are not particular to find a name that fits the craft or its uses. Any old name will do. Frequently they usa numbers. Many of the entries are like this: "H. & K.'s No. 2," or " The Blank Company's No. 7." Within the past few days the vendors of fresh sod have made their annual ap pearance. Great piles of square pieces of greensward can be seen in busy parts of the city, far down town, in fact, close to the di-plays of the street candy and fruit merchants. It is a bit odd to see sod offered for sale in localities where there is no grass visible or any attempt to grow it for many blocks. But there is a good demand for it. A considerable quantity is used in patching the back j aid grass pIo!s, and in some of the old residence portions of the city there is a squara bit of grata, surrounded by a stone coping, in front of the housa that may need a little reinforcement. Almost every afternoon, and evening, too, for that matter, fashionably dressed women can be s;ea goin into a dingy littlo hole in Orchard street. Sometimes they are observed in tuzh numbers that thy attract attention, and the inquisi tive investigator who follows them will find himself in a veritable sweat-box, ciamped and evil smelling. But wait ing in a small room he may see, as one observer saw the other day, Letween twenty and thirty women showing evi dences of wealth. They were waiting to see tha proprietor, a Hebrew, who makes women's dresses. This man has a reputation fsr making garments that lit, and he makes them, according to one of his customers, for "next to no hing."' So he has plenty of patrons, and some of them are aristocratic. The proprietor employs the cheapest kind of labor, and many of his customers find it convenient to air their garments for twenty-four hours after they leave the sweat shop. But for the sake of the fit and the price they will ngly submit to all these annoy ances. A peculiarity of this Hebrew tailor is that he never makes any mem oranda of his measuring. There are not less than 6even or eight items in the measure of a dress, and he keeps these in his head. He can cut out a dress from h:s memory of measurements tak en a year before. His record of cames and addresses is kept the same way. The newsboys are beginning to give City Hall park the playground appear ance that it usually takes on at thistimo of the year. Pretty soon the big foun tain will bo running daily, and then tho boys will liavo a chance to keep the park policemen busy, lha boys have a pre dilection for miking tho fountain a bathing pool in tho warm weather, and lust summer it happened more than once that streat uichinB wero caught in a decidedly negligeo attire, enjoying tho te'reehiog downpour. Sonut.moB the crowd of onlookers would form a circlo and protect tho boys while thy wero dressiog after the bath. There are some accomplished persons behind the counters of the city's stoie?. In a Seventh avenuo store a woman was examining a pair of imitation diamond earrings, and she ventured to it-mark that they were not a good imitation Tho young saleswoman said in choicest East sido patois: "Oh, I don't know; dase good enough tor chuck er blutl wid." Possibly there is no competition in this city so keen as that between the Bioadvcay lloristB who cater to the so called swell trade. In theEas'.cr scison this rivalry was manifest in tha largo number of showy branch stores main tained. But it finds expression a!l the year in gorgeous externals that make the florists' business aeetn the most luxu lious in the ci'y. Elegantly attired car riage men and Hunkers of various sorts are one character.stic f'ature of these establishments, and a fe.v of then have shops that are marvels of beauty and magnificence. But it is in the one di rection of delivery wagons that ths com petition produces tho most striking re sults. Theso wagons, with their uni formed attendants, are the adm ration of the town, They are gilded and vjr nished chariots that glisten in the sun like tho crcus wagon of old. They are st off with burnished silver and nickel and braes, and the horseB are roya'ly caparisoned. Recentlyone or t.o new wagons have mada their appearance, and they are more dazzling than tho others. When llowers aio ordered for a private residence cna of these splendid vehicles nukes one or two trips, and sometimes it remaits in front of the residence a half hour or more. It is a proud day in a New Yorker's life when he can look out of his front window ;tn 1 see one of theso turnouts b fore his door, and observe the admiring glar.es of the neighbors. ing article in the extreina provincialism of the collection of boroughs that have just been joined together under tha name o Greater No.v York. Sometime' when I havo a little moro time, I may attempt to do something in this line for The Courier .Tint i i passing, I may tnuatou a few things that have made an impression on my crude, west rn mind. Tho ptreet car facilities of Now York would bo a credit to Brownville, Neb. Tho only lines that uso tho cab'.o are tho Broadway and Third avonuo roads, and only ono short lino uso3 electricity. All tho others, and thoy are way hi tho ma jority, are run by horso power, and tho cars are dragged along, well, not at tho pace that kills. Horses wero discarded in Boston, Philadelphia, 'Chicago, Lin coln and other p'accs yours ago, but the BparititHlequino still holdH Riipromity in this imperial city. Some of tho most important ferries nro met by ante diluvian cars drawn by cno ante diluvian horse, and tho passenger him self is likely to pass into senility before be r caches his destination. Then there are those wonderful relics of the past, the Fifth Avenuo stages Much has been written about tho Fifth Avenuo stages, but tho subject has net by any meanB been exhausted if the per sons who ride in them have been. Fashion-d like no other vehicle on earth, driven by men who look neither to tho right nor to the left, and who are deaf and dumb, rumbling as they do over tbo worst paved st-eet in Niw York, the Fifth Avenuostages are worse than hundreds of things that Parkhur6t and Hainford have pounced upon. This coach is greatly inferior to the Concord stage couch tint civ.lization has driven out of the wilds of Wyoming and Won tana ami Colorado. Somehow it holds it own here in New York, and is as char acter cof tho town as the Washington arch on the G jildtss of Liberty. Tho L road does measuie up to the s'aturjof rcctropoliianism, and it is the only railrua t in the country that I know of wherA absolutely no provision is made for smokers. It is a crime to get on an L train with an unlighfd cigar in one's hand. Perhaps it is unnecessary to re mark that all of New York's street railroads wero completely paralyzed dur.ng the Grant day crush. "V. MORTON SMITH. New i ork. May 12, 1S97. There is a fini theme for an in'.e'eat- MONEY LOANED on Diamonds, Pianos and any good personal security. Diamonds bought and sold. Eusintss strictly confidential. WALT MEL1CK. ROOM 20 BURR BL'K ID 6 The Courier's Great Offer to Subscribers. 'rororoo rorooo THE COURIER has arranged to offer free of charge to every one subscribing this month a year's subscription to the most popular magazine published in this country. To ever one sending us two dollars to pav for one year's subscription to THE COURIER we will give a one year's subscription to Three dollars -for two dollars. Do not miss this chance. We cannot afford to con tinue the offer indefinitely. Our object in making it now is to secure an immediate response which a less liberal offer mijrht fail to attract.