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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1898)
- -v , :jr, V-, wgi - -e t 0 THE COURIER 4 fsr l 2.- IN KANSAS. I deem it no betrayal of coaideaceto state that the Wesleyan quartet did not have a large house in Corning , Kaa.. cor that after a week of poor houses, the finances ran low. All organisations' that travel have been embarassed at times for want of lucre. And storms and lack of good advertising are apt to tike the wind out of the most carefully constructed tail. v Before we arrived in Corning, while we were yet cramped in the bobsled, an optimistic youth met- us m with a gan thrown over his shoulder. He was voluble in his predictions for a big house. Had not the entertainment the night before been one grand fizzle? Was not the public waiting to blow in its hard earned coin on the Wesleyaa quartet? Well, I rather guess. And so our jaded hopes were spurred to the highest pitch and in our minds we were bowing before an immense multitude of Corningites and our treasurer was already lingering the corpulent receipts. How sweet a thing is imagination! Had it not been for this adjunct to human experience we never would have had that audience and those fat receipts. For when we went to the opera house a few people were scattered about the room like corn stalks in a shorn field. Behind the crude scenery five despairing individuals met. The treasurer, with his bubble of pros perity pricked and the joyful anticipa tions of the other four knosked higher than a kite. With a mask of smiles and simulated light hearts we gave our con cert to the little sample of an audience and went our way back to the hotel sad and sodden as the hotel biscuits. We hied ourselves to our loom and counted the cash. As fate would have it there was just enough money to get four men on to the next date. I was the fifth wheel in the coach so I bad to re main behind in Corning while the sing' era went on to earn enough money to liberate me. I stormed and begged the boys not to leave me. alone among strangers, but there was no help for it and I bad to eee them go away through the night on an old freighttrain, while I heaven help me bad to go back to that hotel and go to bed. My heart was heavy as lead and sleep came at last, a welcome anaesthetic to the horrors of being alone in a town the size of a henyard, awaiting the fickle favor of a Kansas audience to extricate me. The next morning I took up living . again where I left off the night before. I was subjected to the sly inspection of . the natives, a penalty I suffered from be ing advertised a Nebraska poet seem . ingly a being queer, and one to be stared . at as a species of one-ringed circus. I read all the old newspapers, wrote some letters and watched the little clock on the show case. And speaking of the show case reminds me of the primitive honesty of the natives of Corning. The landlord, who came from a farm in west , era Kansas to operate the hostelry, was always on the street talking politics. In consequence the cigars in the showcase lacked the presence of a salesman. But this did not stop the rubes. Well I should say not! Every user of the weed in town seemed to be on to the combination of the show case and money drawer and whenever he wanted to smoke he came in and took a cigar and made his own change. It saved lets of trouble on the part of the bewhiskered landlord, whose principal desire seemed to be to avoid as -much exertion an possible and etill live and have his be ing. In the evening I went forth in search. of some entertainment. The only thing going on was a revival in the Baptist church. Now this church is not as large as the propoeeJ Lincoln auditorium and there was no lack of fuel, so the place was so hot that one's mind flew naturally to the place ths preacher em phasised so tremendously. Everybody was there. The sermon was a wild pis for sinners on the brink of hell to climb out and be saved. All over the church there were little explosions of "amens" and "O Lords!" and when the invitation cams for the lost ones to seek ths altar the interest was intense. Weeping wo men put up wild prayers for reprobate husbands. Strong men cried aloud for salvation to come to their lost neighbors. Every move' made was watched with the greatest interest by the churchfull of people. The confessions of poor erring humanity were listened to with avidity. It was a drama of the intensest human interest, the plots being made of the escapee of human souls from the jaws of perdition. Back to the smoks filled hotel office sgain. One of the guests had asthma. He could not go to bed. Ths landlord, kindhearted in his slowness, bethought him of a barber chair and he di-'ged it from the lumber room and th J afflicted man was soon in the green -rlush arms fast asleep and snoiing only as a man with asthma can snore. Later on the landlord's daughter, a comely miss, big and wholesome, tiptoed into the room with a pillow which she placed near tbe sleeping man, and out she went. With the sweetness of the bashfully kind act in my mind I sought the upper icy re gions and locked myself in an ice chest for the night. Tie next morning I awaited a tele gram from the quartet as a man sen tenced to be banged awaits the news of a pardon. The hours dragged them selves slowly through the day, but no yellow missive came to drive me into a delirium of joy. Had I been forgotten? Was I to remain forever alone in Kan sas? Well, the telegram came after the last train had gone. I could get away from Corning by taking a freight at midnight. I took it. I think that when Kansas was made eyery thing was used but a few scraps and they were thrown together in a hodgepodge ard they called it Corning. The very birds will cot fly over the place, they go around it It should be blotted from the map. It should be hammered into the earth and the hole hammered in after it. It has been for gotten by everyone and everything. A man who would voluntarily go there and live could enjoy life in the penitentiary. The very name is synonymous with ennui, with desolation and dreariness The town is a wart on the warty state of Kansas. If I bad an enemy whom 1 hated I would not like to banish him forever to Corning. Bah! the very name of Corning, Kansas, tires roe to death. William Reed Duhrot, With the Wesleyan Quartet. HALF RATES FOR THE HOLIDAYS VIA MISSOURI PACIFIC. On December 21, 25t26, 31 and Janu ary 1 and 2, the Missouri Paciffc will sell t'ckets to all points within 200 miles atone fare for the round trip, good untill January 4th 1899. jj Don't forget that the two trains each way between Lincoln and Kansas City run every dsy in the year. Further information at the city ticket ofHce, 1039 O st F. D. Corseix, C. P. and T. A. TIME IS MONFY. When you are traveling, due con sideration snould be given to the amount of time spent in making your journey. The Union Pacific is the best line and makes the fastest time by many hours to Salt Lake City, Portland and Cali fornia points. For time tables, folders, illustrated books, pamphlets descriptive of the ter ritory traversed, call at City Office, 1044 O st. E. B. Slossox, Gsn. Agent. ammmnaamK ammmam ' ' mmmnBams uKVsVC ammmnmVH aVk Mk-Jl',""""""""M"B ammtamamm KSssanvmifmmmmmmmmasmmmmmmmmw Bw99KmpttV Bm"Bm"Bm"Bm"HBT9"sw""s"Ss"u7 VnammMMawtSssmmmmmnmni TiSlnmmmV tAaammmmmmmmmmmmmmSaaPi fhmmmBi '-lLmmmmmEBmLmKlffe iH&IIIIIHalmlSSP ammmmm J Xmmmmvi9mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmt LmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmVammmmV -4 We save just put in a complete stock of Mrs. Gervaiee Graham's excellent preparations, including her celebrated Hair Restorer, Cactic's Hair Gro'wer, Cu cumber and Elder Flour Creatn.and various facial remedies. Vieit the DEM ONSTRATION there this week. Free treatments and freo applications given, also fre samples and booklet "How to Be Beautiful" Special exhibit of Mrs. Graham's Hydro Vscu, the latest and most scientific Invention for treating the face. PALACE BEAUTIFUL Near Oliver Theatre. (21 so 13th i- fMlMMIMMMIMMIIIIMMMMMIIIMSMIIIMIIMMMIIIIMIMIIIHMIN but when you buy or sell stoves or furniture see I VAN ANDEL,THE SECOND HAND DEAIEEf : 132 South Tenth St. Phone 581. t 'T'llltt Itn " fTTTtTTTflllllllllMllliml IN THE PATH OF THE WOLF. AU night long in my garret room I tremble with cokl and fear, For ifi the dingy hall outside A soft footfall I hear; The Hack, grim wolf of poverty, sth fangs so sharp and white. Has made hit lair beneath my stak And bluets me day and sight. hen the candle burns low he comes And keeps my soul awake; I hear Urn gnaw at my batten door, And ita frail hinges shake. I quake with dread in my poor bed, Since he may wis at last, And glut hfc hunger once for all The wolf that gnaws so fast. And when the dawn comes creeping in, The while to work I go. He follows me a step behind; I cannot shun him so. And then I hear the tempter near; The wolf is on your track; May I protect you from his fangs?" I fly and look not back. And when I earn my pittance small Again I hear a voice; The wolf k crouching at your side; "k he year friend from choke?" Great God! k labor then a lure That fiends may snare their prey? And round I turn and thank the wolf That keeps such hounds at bay. But, ohl the hunger and the cold, And, ohl the grinding pain, And, ohl the hitter; bitter tears That fal like dreary rain; To think the years are flying fast And lives lake mine must he, With never one glad burst of sun To brighten poverty For, ohl the stream is dark and deep, And; oh! but lite is dear, For all the thorns that pierce the moms" And make the evenings drear. '" I pray for strength to drive the wolf From underneath my stak; But should he stay, AfasMghty God, Give me the strength to bear! Feast, Croesus, at your golden hoard, And drink your sparkling wise; Touch not the garments of the poor, Nor hear when they repine. But wonder not when they do faint And in the struggle fall, Since Wants such a hungry wolf, And oh! your crumbs so small! Chicago Rrcord. The latest thing out, that new coke for the furnace at Greogory's, cheap and clean, I044Ostreet. Phone 3-93. rrrr-i xR. i.Eoiiiikn1.. J Mm-1 uurea Cona Billiousnei habit. Action Ea,B2 it? E sXplTK COrtmcofcTNeb"