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VOL. XIV. NO. XIV.
BSTABLISHRD IN 1880
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OBSERVATIONS.
1
M00'OT
Taken altogether the results of
Tuesday's election in thiscityare very
satisfactory . The defeat of Mr. Barth
was freely predicted, but It is bo much
easier to vote a straight ticket that
even a less welcome candidate than
Mr. Barth is likely to get through on
a party nomination.
Tiie new excise board that will proba
bly enforce the laws impartially and
call a saloon a saloon, whatever the
saloon keeper's name and whether he
runs a hotel in connection with it or
not. Although excisemen do not
draw large salaries and not a large
proportion of their time is given to
their functions, no three men have so
direct and important a relation to the
morals of the city as the members of
that board. It is well also that the
membership should be representative
of the parties in the city.
It is held by the body of voters, irre
spective ot party, that no stockholder
in the gas company and noemployeeof
the company should be a member of
the council. Not that there is any
thing derogatory in either relation,
but there is a bargain to be made with
the gas company and from the nature
of commerce there must oe two par
ties to it, tho city and the company.
In order to satisfy the citizens that
their representatives are legislating
in tho interests of the city no member
of the council should be a stockholder
in the gas company. If for no other
reason than to relieve that body of
suspicion. For this reason the defeat
of Mr. Lawlor was fortunate for the
city, the council, and the gas company
too, which is entitled to a reasonable,
unprejudiced settlement of terms with
the city.
Tiie newly elected mayor lias the re
spect and confidence of his party and
of the citizens in general. His record
in the council is creditable and his
future is most auspicious.
The triumph of the Columbian fair
belonged to the landscape gardener.
Just and many and more pictures had
been exhibited before, just as many
and just as beautiful buildings had
been erected in one spot before, Just
as many samples of dry goods, pottery,
machinery, furniture, tinware, etcet
era, had been exhibited before. But
never had buildings, lawns, statuary,
water and artilicial lighting made
sucli a pact of heavenly harmony.
The unavailing regret of many wko
were unable to spend more than a day
or two at the fair, is mitigated by the
fact that, though they did not see
everything, they saw it all. Mr.Olm
stead had arranged it so that a view
from any commanding point was a
virion of such well composed parts
that, given the point of view, tho
mind may reproduce it again without
labor. Persons ignorant of musical
composition are appalled at the mere
memorizing of long compositions. It
would of course be impossible to any
one not a phenomenon were it not
that a sonata, or fugue, or work of
any kind Is a structure as intelligible
to a musician as an edifice Is ,to an
architect. The eye Is not less respon
sive than the ear and it is, in general,
better educated. Mr. Olmstead did
not make his composition so complex
that it could not be comprehended in
an augcnblick by each one of a multi
tude. And when given the key each
one can reproduce it.
Some pictures and an article, Land
scape Gardening for Factory Homes,
by William Howe Tolman, in The Re
view of Reviews, present some very
attractive back yards to cottages of a
factory town. A very brief rule by
Mr. Olmstead for tho effective plant
ing of a small plat is "the avoidance
of straight lines, keeping the center
of the plot open and massing the
llower effects." Mr. Tolman relates
the story of an Ohio manufacturer
who employed Mr. Olmstead to plant
tho grounds about the factory. Mrt
Olmstead had the set piece in the
center of the grounds removed and
then he pointed out how, "bj making
little bays apd inlets of shrubs and
flowers along the sides of the lawn, a
pleasing effect mightbe secured. Next
he suggested that the two stable sheds
opposite the factory should be con
nected with an arch, the roof painted
vcrmillion, the sides olive, thus form
ing a harmony of color restful to the
eye.' The result was such a trans
formation that this remarkable manu
facturer determined to to preach the
gospel of beauty to the villagers. So
he offered prizes to the children under
sixteen who could show the best kept
back yards, whether lawns or planted
in flowers and vegetables. The best
planted and cultivated vegetable war
dens were to be rewarded by prizes of
ten dollars each. To take charge of
this work he employed the services of
a landscape gardener, who could be
consulted by any of the employes. An
audience of four thousand people
thronged the auditorium when the
prizes were distributed. Tills report
of a village revival is reprinted here
in hopes that it may induce some pub
lic spirited, beauty loving citizen of
Lincoln to do likewise. Doubtless
members of the city improvement as
sociation would be willing to under
take such a work here if a small con
tribution could be secured to begin
on. The education of the people in
the factory district of Dayton, Ohio,
referred to, has proceeded eo far that
"they insisted successfully that a sta
ble located on the fair grounds and
utilized as a bill board, should be re
moved to a distant part of the grounds
and be replaced by a wire fence."
The time of year is approaching when
the ugliness and squalor of many
yards even in the best parts of the city
will be apparent. The efforts of
the city improvement association to
mitigate the unpleasant conditions of
a summer in Lincoln have not been
seconded as they should have been.
Unlike Dayton there is no manufac
turer to take the place of a patron
saint and initiate movements of bene
fit to the whole commune. A popular
subscription placed in the hands of
the association to expend in some such
way as the one I have quoted, or bet
ter still, the appointment of a woman
like Mrs. M. D. Welch as street com
missioner, would transform Lincoln
and increase the value of real estate.
Referring to the Dayton renascence
again: "Viewed from no higher plane
than that of commercialism, there lias
been a decided increase in the value
of property, evidenced by tho state
ment of John C. Olmstead, who vis
ited the factory last October, and said
that K street, opposite the factory,
was one of the most beautiful streets
in the country, when the value of the
lots and the size of the houses were
taken into consideration."
Plays which have the greatest
vogue, like The Little Minister and
Shore Acres arc free fromFrenchlness,
yet It is only occasionally that a play
wright dares to leave out the risque.
Shore Acres is still playing to
crowded houses and The Little Minis
ter was sold out a month in advance
as soon as the New York people found
out what it was and before Maude
Adams left New York to fulfill her
Chicago engagement, it was still
necessary to engage one s scats a fort
night ahead. Notwithstanding the
evidence of the box receipts that in
dicate in this and other similar plays
an overwhelming preference for the
tender pastorale, the tone and color
ing of which are English rather than
French, first class comedians liko Jef
ferson de Angelisor Francis Wlllard
will acceptaplay which has nothing
English about it, except the title and
the words of tho dialogue. The con
sequence Is that men and women of
reputation and ability play to sparsely
filled houses where they might play
to crowded ones. There Is danger of
course in pruning and trimming a play
until one of the Sol Smith Russell
kind with an impossibly magnani
mous and sublimated hero Is evolved,
but if the public must choose
between the two, they choose the
Sol Smith Russell kind. The moral
ist ought to be gratified by this
reflection and the pessimist dis
couraged. It means that in a crowd
of men, ninety per cent prefer to
spend their money for legitimate
recreation. Managers are a long
time learning this. They arc dazzled
by the short and dazzling successes
which a few translations from the
French do attain. In so large a city
as New York it takes a long run and
a large auditorium to accommodate
tho audiences, educated in depravity.
But no record breaking runs have
been made witli risque plays. Such
plays do not have the re-enforcement
of the family man's family. The for
mer goes first, and If edified takes Ills
family as soon as he can get scats, but
lie will not do so, if the play is inde
cent, no matter hov much he may
have been pleased by the French incss
himself.
The difference between Shakspcrian
or Anglo Saxon realism and the
French iness I have been speaking of
is that the former appears as a part of
life and it is neither eliminated nor
made conspicuous. In the French
play it is the central motif to which
everything else is subordinate. Zaza
and Tess of the D'Urbervllles illus
trate as well as anything the Frencli
and the English treatment of the
same subject.
That Americans are gradually com
ing to a self-consciousness of the
Anglo-Saxon standpoint, in contrast
witli the Latin point of view, may
last of all reach the New York
manager who sits in Ills olllce, lighted
by gas or electricity, while the sun
shines above the city, and reads plays
by long-haired, wild-eyed men, or
listens to sopranos and tenors, or in
spects candidates for his ballet. A
season's work under these conditions
spoils his appetite for the simple and
healthful and renders him an unrelia
ble judge of the tastesof a few million
people who go to bed at ten o'clock
and work by daylight.
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Miss Willa Catlier, tho brilliant
young dramatic critic who has been a
correspondent of this paper for several
years, disclaims approval of Richard
Realfas a quadruple bigamist, while
reproaching me for calling h Ira a sot
and a bigamist. Both are ugly words
but Miss Gather admits that he led
four women to what they supposed