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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1897)
aw H v - k - r - &" ;-j EX &,- ift)L12N0 33 i r t ESTABLISHED IN 18S6 PRICE FIVE CENTS J.-fv. " , 1 ST 9 -9 M 55 LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY. AUGUST 14. 181)7. Entered iv the postoffice at Lincoln as SECOND CLASS MATTER. PUBLISHED EVEBY SATURDAY -BY- THE COURIER PRINTING AND, PUBLISHING CO Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs. Telephone 384. SARAH i. HARRIS. DORA BACHELLER Editor Business Manager Subscription Rates In Advance. Per annum $2 00 Six months 1 00 Three months 50 One month 20 Single copies 05 OBSERVATIONS. I U. On another page is printed a com munication from an unknown corres pondent in Omaha who replies to the criticisms of the Administration Arch in a Courier of two weeks ago. The remonstrance, because it is in the symmetrical, distinct chirograph' of an architect, because of the use of quasi-technical terms, and the evident pride of the writer in the arch, war rants the suspicion that ''Sojourner" drew the plans which he defends with so much knowledge and dignity. I have never seen anything like the top of the Omaha Administration Arch, either actually or in illustrated works on classic architecture. But ''So journer" names and locates archways of great beauty, topped with spires. Against facts of this sort a generali zation such as The Cocriei: made is somehat bruised, but on the other hand the examples mentioned are not like the Omaha arch. In the walled towns of Germany where the gate ways are arched the type is confused and looses character and significance because it serves two purposes. The Courier critic supped on looking at the design that it must have been drawn to answer a double purpose and is very glad to have that judgement confirmed. The only part of the Trans-Missis, sippi arch which was criticised was the top, which departed from the pure type, acknowledged to be Roman, the type of v which the German isa corruption, not generally followed by the designers of festival buildings. The lower art of the arch must be of a definite form. The arcades at the side of it are not a part of the arch proiier though they contribute to" the beauty of it. The Omaha arch till it reaches the turrets is like the other arches in the round arch, the four pillars or pilasters and the arcades. "An arch begins and ends with the occasion it memorializes." Hut tri umphs like Napoleon's or epochs like Constantine's have no historical end. They have been. They are forever. It is fitting that a permanent monu ment in the form of a triumphal arch commemorating the first celebration of the Trans-Mississippi slates should lie erected that future generations be reminded of the pluck and victories of their forefathers, the one time frontiersmen of Nebraska. In conclusion it is unnecessary to remind readers of The Courier how many times the elegance and beauty of the designs by Messrs. Walker and Kimball have been commented upon in these pages. They are men of originality as well as of a cul tured appreciatk u of the art of other men and ages. Their work is an honor to the state. The beauty of the Trans-Mississippi buildings is in safe hands. The designs of all the other buildings, as shown in the small cuts, are very satisfactory. The Courier would not have criticised the Administration Arch had not the eminence of the architects been at tested by numerous plans and finished buildings. In the Arch, the firm has fallen below expectations, which they themselves created, by establishing a standard farand away above that ever reached by any other architects in the state. They know a secret of columnar combination which is enough, in itself, to hasten the deserved triumph headed their waj. Architects, of greater fame, with no more originality or elegance, have failed when obliged to construct a building for more than one purpose, because beauty and sim plicity are one. The Call accu-e- the Slaytou jubilee singers or drinking beer and singing comic songs. Hot h charges are true. From long association with Chautau qua people the Slaytons have acquired a mock seriousness of expression and demeanor which is as unpleasant as it is contrary to the tendencies and habit of the race. Their reiiertoir consists of a nuiiilerof jubilee songs which are so old that no other travel ing show playing to audiences ac quainted with all the iKipular songs for ten years back, would dare to sing The Slayton's sing to people who do not go to shows and whose knowledge of popular music is con fined to Sankey's compositions which are capable of destroying musical ears entirely. The Slaytons are thus in the habit of receiving applause for worn out compositions like ''Golden S!ipier" and ''Don't you hear dem bells." The people who listen allow themselves no more dramatic recrea tion than that contained in sociable tableaux or the marchings and reci tations of a Sunday school celebration. The Slaytons, therefore seem to iwssessa mysterious and heaven born genius. Their victories are so nu merous and easy, they have ceased to exert shemselves to learn any new songs. The ecru soprano occasionally insists on singing an Italian aria and is rewarded by a silence uninistakeably disapproving. Even the charity of the large sized prayer meeting can not condone a singer for trying that which she can not appreciate either musically of intellectually. Petted by the naif appreciation of easily suited audiences, the Slayton's have for gotten that they are members of a once subject race and have assumed the condescending manners of celebri ties. It is these rather than what they choose to eat or drink that makes them undesirable attractions for Slimmer assemblies. The negro songs they sing have nothing ob jectionable about them except their hoary age. The Call seems to think they are too worldly for theEpworth assembly. The world demands more for its 'S cents than the Slayton's can supply. The Courier congratulates the people of Lincoln on the opiortunity. which the council has at last granted them, of securing good water. If ex perts are to Imj trusted and they are not infallible, the only water worth digging for Hows on the east side of the town. To the west is the salt basin and the lowlands, which receive the drainage of the city. The Couiici has recognized the purity and abun dance of the water flowing in the A street well and it is at last to le al lowed to flow into the salt coro'ded pipes of the city.- and the F street well is to be reserved for use at tire. To theagitation begun and conducted by The Courier, this decision on the jwrt of the council is due. Even if the new well is unable to supply water in sutlicient quantities, the greater purity of the water will coin Iensate the city for the change. TIt does not require the opinion of an ex pert to convince the ieople of Lincoln that surface water from ground lower than the city and to which it slopes, if full of all uucleanness. An ama teur physiologist in the public schools knows that typhoid fever is propagated in that way. The A street well is on high ground which slopes towards the city and the vein of water there, which is presumably from the same source as the Rice vein, has not shown any indication of exhaustion In the August McClure's Rudyard Kipling enters the door which George Dii Maurier opened. No one will ever know the excellence of I)u Maurier's work till he sees a master of English and technique, like Kipling, try to do It. The latter introduces himself and live more or less brutal little chums, in school at Eton or Harrow or Rug by. Hut the lads are dim. I do not lose sight of the machinery by which Kipling moves his automata. I would not know them the next day. And in part II. when we do meet them again as lieutenants and captains on a fur lough, they are too reserved and cocky to make it worth while to renew their acquaintance. The tire of 'Auhl Lang Syne'' which, warms Kipling's heart and sets him to telling the story of hU?. outh, can not warm America to love the six opinionated, brave, dNagre able Englishmen. Probably the per- sonal equation, made Tu Manner's fame. He had the genius of Little Hilleeand the warm, loving kindness -of all three men and Trilby. After once adequately expressing himself,' he could no more, nor was there any need. He was not an all around writer like Kipling, whom in his own milieu hesurpasses as he suriKisse everylKKly else in his own milieu. Kipling is olwcurc with the slang of Indian barracks and allusions to' officer's mess gossip. Nevertheless as "The Slaves of the Lamp" is written . by Kipling it is interestingeven when it is unintelligible. Interesting be-" cause he is a master of style and in. genuity, but as for himself, I dare say, we would not care for him. though he has more versatility than the old Dear who signed hiinelf. among other names. George Du Maurier. The frontispiece is by Houtet de Monvel, the French illustrator and painter who inspired our own Peter Newell. Itshowsthe Paris gamin in all his impudent might. The atmosphere that the lxy brcathevanri we feel is French. It isiinposibIe to say how. The other articles of interest are the dynamite factory at A nicer Scotland, and the first meeting' btytweeji Grant and Lincoln. In "The Voyage of Copley Banks.'' Conan Doyle at last disuses of the private Sharkey, who in a series of twelve or thirteen tales ha been putting men and women to all sorts of frightful death, cutting tut their tongues or noses as he thought bet. .