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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1898)
, S.r ,--- '( r THE 60UR1BR. J sA'jfis'-'W i ;-v C I - is:- ?- T RF tes S ' v HK a.- St-" : k - '$ - gates, giving lips and suggestions from "our people." Manage Ager has,, recently given it out that "our people" have entrusted everything to him. He is very much in demand and very much overworked, for there are a good many candidates and all these different; Interests must be managed so as to have the ticket all made up and ready to ratify when the delegates meet. Mr. Ager has already notified the populist ring at the state Jiouse just what the republicans are- going to do and he has given it out very con fidentially to a few of his closest advisers just what the populists will do. Mr. Ager knows it all. He is the whole thing. Gentlemen of the republican conven tion, when you come to Lincoln on the 10th of August take a look at Mr. Ager. Take a look at him and see if you can dispense with his services. Take a look at him andthen invoice your own resources and see if you cannot transact the business of the convention alone. What proud bost ers we are, here in Neoraska, of our schools, of our general intelligence, of the high character of our people, of their independent and self reliant in stincts, and yet, here at the state cap ital we have a political boss who owns and manages the city council, the rail roads, clubbing together, employ and put over us a political manager who oversees and arranges our state con ventions and selects our candidates for state offices. A political boss to manage the city of Lincoln and a po litical manager to boss the conven tions of the state. We are all a well bossed and well managed community, here in Nebraska. We ought to be proud of ourselves. We are informed that Manager Ager gets $3,000 a year salary and $600 a year for his ex pense account. In ten years this would be $30,000. How kinu of the railroads to pay this large sum in order that the farmers and businessmen may not be put to the trouble of selecting can didates for office and that our con ventions may be arranged for us in advance and suitable persons selected every two years in the several counties for the legislature. It is useless to appeal to the fusion convention which meets here the third of August. Their leaders are so drunken and besotted and gorged with free passes and political spoil that they are only to glad to obey the orders of a rail oad bass if he will only hint that their official career has been satisfactory to "our folks." The vot ers in the fusion party, a large pro portion of them, are as, blind as bats and it will take them years to find out and believe that "Si Hoakum," as they call him, has not paid a dollar of railroad fair for ten years and not a dollar of house rent out of his own pocket since he came to Lincoln. We are no longer an anti-railroad state. There is no longer, any danger of vicious legislation. The railroads may, with perfect safety, take away from our conventions this political hustler, this convention manager, this chaperone whom they have so gener ously provided at an expense of $36, 000 He puts up this man and pulls down that one. Many a worthy citi zen has found himself sidetracked be cause he was not satisfactory to "our folks." Many an unworthy man has been put forward and made to appear very popular all of a sudden because this little peeping, tip-toeing $3,000 a year candidate maker and candidate breaker had whispered around that "our folks" wanted it done. Gentlemen of the state convention, the republican party has promiseQ the the people of this state that it would clean house. When the people see this man Ager bobbing up in this county today and in that tomorrow, putting up a candidate for the legis lature here and pulling down there, whispering around from county to county that such and such a man would suit "our folks" for a place on the state ticket, when they see this man acting as general manager of its state convention they have a right to ask the republican party "where is the house cleaning promised us?" Finally and lastly, gentlemen of the republican state convention, if, when you get here on the 10th of August, after taking a look at Mr. Ager and the situation, if you decide that the party must still have a manager, then use whatever variety of self-respect and independence the party still re- tains in a request, to the railroads, a humble request, that they provide us a manager all our own and a foreman who will not be dividing nimself in to three or four parts organizing a re publcan convention today and a popu list convention tomoro'w, but one who will devote himself entirely to the in terests of our own party, so that we as republicans, while we sit with fold ed arms watching our manager at his work, can have the assurance that we are not being managed in the interest of some bargain with the populist state house ring. JOTTINGS. BIRDS. That's the wise thrush; ho sings aach song twice over. Lest you should think be never could recapture The first floe careless rapture. Browning. The destruction of birds, 6ays the L. A. W. Bulletin, has become s3s:rious a matter that many of the most thought ful minds of the country have anxiously considered means by which this wanton slaughter may be stayed. We have the testimony of the leading scientists of the United States to show that, unless the killin j of birds soon ceases, only a very brief time will elapse tefcre the feathered tribe will become extinct. In such event the evil consequences to our agricultural interests aregaet computa tion. The destruction of our crops by myriads nf insects will be as deeastrous as was the fearful famine which has just devastated India. To avert such a calamity various plans havo been devised. Among the stater men who have become interested in this motter are Hon. George F. Hoar, sena tor from Massachusetts, and Hon. John F. Lacjy, repressntative from Iawa, both of whom have introduced bills in con grees relating to the question. Mr Hoar's bill provides restrictions upon the importation of the bodies or plum age of certain birds; and upon the trans portation of the some between the sev eral states. Exception is made in the case of the ostrich, and some other birds whose plumes can be taken without los3 of life. Mr. Lacey's bill provides for ex tending the powers and duties of the commission of fish and fisheries so as to includ game birds and other wild birds useful to man, "by the propogation, distribution, transportation, introduc tion and restoration' of such birds. If you feel friendly toward these bills, write to your member of congress and say so. All those willing to contribute a small amount toward furthering this object will confer a favor by forwarding their contributions to Miss Kate W. Grove, assistant edtior of the Epworth Herald, Chicago Names of congress men from the several states, literature telating to :he subject, suggestions con cerning the formation of clubhand other matter of interest to bird-lovers may be obtained by writing to Horace H. Waters, 357 W. Van Buren street, Chi cago. He marks the sparrow's fall, we've heard, And so we fancy that He sees it when, at church, the bird Adorns a woman's hat. Br William Ueed Dohroy. Hitherto I have had the impression of Nebraska as one vast plain, never ending, domed above by the fiercely blue sky. But now I have seen that there are hills and valleys in this great state, that there are deserts and gardens of Eden. I have seen the endless prairies come to an end, and the sky notched with green hills and gray bluffs. It was like a new world to me to ride westward and southward and sec the diversified landscapes arter hav ing lived all my life where prairies reached as level as a threshing floor. The scene that pleased me must of all, was the one where I tood on the high bluffs that line the Republican valley, and gazed at the winding riv er below me. In and out, the silvery ribbon wove its gleam with the green of the lands. In the stream were lit tle willow islands, and along the banks the willows dropped and lashed their long branches in 4he water, a verdant fringe. At noon-time I stood on a high bluff The sun beat down like a brass shield above my head. The air was filled with heat waves and far off towards the horizon I could see them pulsate like the waves on a tiny lake. There was a stillness profound. No sound marred the great silence, but the ter ribly shrill Cry of the cricket in the tall dry grass. This cry would pierce the stillness like a pain and then sub side, and the great world would seem to have come to a stop and nature be at rest. The leaves of the corn hung limp, like heavy sword blades. Not a breath of air lifted the sandy dust about my feet. Below me on the side of the hill jutted out the roof of a dugout. A path wound down to the front door, and beyond the path there was a steep declivity that reached down in to a rough ravine. On the roof was growing a forest of tall weeds. There was no sound or sign of life about the place. Back into the cool moist earth the humble home reached. For many years the family had lived in it. Through drought years and years of plenty, through sickness and health they had come and gonn through the low browed door. The coffined dead had been carried from there, and the bride had gone forth in her delight. With the bare necessi ties of life, this family haC struggled for existence. Down in earth, from whence they came and to whence they must go eventually, they had spent the larger portion of their lives. And who shall say that the lives lived in this Nebraska dug-out, may not have been as noble, as full of good as the lives lived in brown stone fronts and in the homes above the earth? These men and women were but returned to the original state, for it is proven that we were all once the inhabitants of caves and sought out subsistence in the wilds of the forest. To these people who have always smelled the fragrance of the earth, who have lived underneath the roots of the grass, there certainly can come no thought of the sadness concern ing the last long home. -Jeyond per adventure they will feel more at home in the grave than you and I. And as for their lives now, they have God's sunlight and his winds, they have the winding river and the fertile valley, they have the sky with te glory of te dawn and the glory of the sunset, they have the sighing and the com plaining of the corn, they have the days and the nights and all that goes to make up life, life full and free here under the skies, untrammeled and unhindered. In many a field I saw- the oraplow ers trudging between the long rowsv of corn. And in many place the plow-j, ers were women. They told me. there' that the women went into the fields ? and plowed all day long with the me a. Their faces were as brown as a beryjr, their cyep bright and they laugh and talked as cheerfully as do tw women In the cities. ,at their .MPffeg, circles. They were Nebraska women, typical of the state, strong- to work, with indomitable courage and an overmastering ambition to get along in the wrld. I never in my life felt more like removing my hat from my head, than I did in the presence of these sun-browned women, these sol diers of the farm lands who toiled amidst the fields to bring forth the gold of the yellow corn. There, is something so wonderful in the mira cle of the growing corn. Out of the mold there shoots a stalk, bannered with green, over it soon waves plume dusted with gold, then comes the tuft of silk at the middle and the full grown ear almost by magic bends towards the earth. How much' more beautiful to grow corn, to walk amidst the tossing leaves than to sit at home and make impossible flowers on some tidy useless rag. How much more pleasant to listen to the rustle of the corn than to the tattle of gos sips or the forced music of the draw ing room. SPEND AUGUST IN THE BLACK HILLS. Go first to Hot Springs. There you can bathe, ride, bicycle, climb moun tains, dance and play tennis to your heart's content. If your limbs are stiff, your kidneys out of order or if you are troubled with exzema or any other form of skin disease, a month at Hot Springs will make a new man of you. Sylvan Lake and Speartish are within a comparatively short distance of Hot Springs and every one who visits the Black Hill should see them. Sylvia Lake is the prettiests and coo'eest sum mer resort in the weet Speartish is reached after a railroad ride' that ranks among the experiences of a lifetime. There is nothing like it anywhere else on the globe. During August, the Burlington route will run two low-rate excursions to Hot Springe: one on the 0th, the other'on the 26th of that month. Tickets Will be sold at one fare half rates and will be good to return any time within 30 days. Organize a party. Arrange about your hotel accommodations at Hot Springs; arrange for ticket at B. 4. M. depot or city ticket office, corner 10th and O streets. G. W. Boih-ell, C. P. 4 T. A. Aug. 26. "Didn't I tell you never to darken my door again?'' cried the irate parent to Tompkins. "Yes, Mr. Hicks, you did; that's the reason I've come at night, sir. Your dcor is bo dark then that my coming couldn't possibly make it any darker." First Juryman What did you think when the judge committed Dobson to prison foe contempt of court? Second Juryman I was glad he wasn't a mind-reader. Tes, we have decided to go to New port for the summer." 'Dear me! Aren't you afraid you'll be bombarded by Camara's fleet?" "No. Spain can't afford to seed her officers i nd sailors to bo expensive a place in the heigth of the season." "I am beginning to see why July was named as it was," said the philosopher. "It was done in a jocular spirit. The in tense heat made it an appropriate month to name after Julius Sizzer." Harper's Bazar. 1 il r