VOL. XIV., NO. XXVIII.
ESTABLISHBD IN 1880
PI ICE FIN EC' NTS
LINCOLN, NBBK., SATURDAY, JULY 15, 18D9.
Entered in the pobtoffick at Lincoln
second class matter.
AS
habits of ;i lifetime and follow after
new prophets who make strange signs
and intimate that everything but
tliclr own inventions works badly.
Usona is an ingenious anagram and
the man who invented it can doubtless
get a Job in the rebus department of
St. Nicholas or of sonic other juvenile
bible to the exclusion of all other lit
erature and they will raise the aver
age perceptibly. The Christian Scien
tists and Seventh Day Adventists road
it exclusively. The higher criticism
has also induced scholars, otherwise
indifferent, to study the bible. Then
the nledire of the Christian Endeavor
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
magazine but he cannot rechristcn the societies contains clause binding a
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s
g OBSERVATIONS.
LWV
America or Usona.
It is said that the only objection to
Usona is Unit it is new. That is ob
jection enough. That is everything.
America means the Revolution, the
civil war, the name is In literature
and history. It means the landing of
the pilgrims, the Indian wars, the
Puritan inheritance and traditions.
An American means now everything
the Puritans demonstrated, and
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,
Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster,
Hawthorne, Emerson, Lowell, and
Longfellow besides. It means every
thing we have to bo proud of, and by
the thrills of pride the exile feels when
he sees the American Hag or is identi
fied as belonging to it and owing it
allegiance, it is a good name. The
three consonants and four vowels of
which it is made were of no particular
significance until they were united to
form America, and then, for all time,
United States. It has been christened
in blood and it will last till the nation
is conquered or goes the way of all na
tions. A rose would be as sweet by
any other name, but the new name
would not recall to the old lady the
brier roses that, grew In her mother's
dooryard, the roses her lover sent her,
bridesroses, the roses that have slipped
out of sight and are covered by clods.
The rose itself will recall these other
roses to mind but not a new name
which some imbecile meddler thinks
a more musical and a choicer word.
Words do not mean anything until
they have been used and mellowed,,
until generations of men have given
them life. The words on this page, if
they have any significance at all, re
ceive it from the lovers, mothers,
children, heros, and statesmen who
have breathed them and made them
live. Mr. Kipling knows this and
does not make many words. Ills lists
of the common objects ot the machine
shop or steamship are carefully chosen,
but it Is a matter of recognition rather
than creation. The words that arc
shouted in the machine shop or on
shipboard smell of oil and sweat,
they carry their own atmosphere and
the man or woman of experience can
not hear them without, being trans
ported to the places in which if the
words were not born, they were, at
least, smoothed and altered into on
omatopes beyond the power of any
deskridden scholar to transform.
Kipling knows tills better than any
other writer of the century and he
only puts them down as they are and
lets the wonderful composite of souls
dead live hundred years work their
miracles. Kipling knows enough not
to Unci fault with the sun, moon, and
stars or propose to introduce other and
shinier ones.
Are Americans Bible Readers?
Mr. William Dean Howells reports a
recent dinner of New York literatcurs
where the question "Do Americans
signer to read the bible every day.
These arc not overlapping groups, and
when the army of Christian Endeav-
but even If lie can prove acquaintance
with the parties listed, It has nothing
to do with lilHiihtlity to keep accounts,
drive horses, run a lawn mower, or
wipe an engine clean. Most anybody
who devotes his wholo time to it can
tempt a celebrity into a bowing ac
qtiaintauccor to a coerced recognition
by letter. The acquaintance does not
increase the commercial value of the
claimant at all. Ilcgcntsof the State
University are doubt, hw. rccclvliu'
orcrs Is added totlie scientists, and the scores of letters urging the applicants'
adventists and the body of old fash
toned church members who read it
for no particular reason except It
comforts them and they enjoy It, It Is
their habit and enjoined by the scrip,
tures and the church universal, the
millions of men and women who read
the bible every day in the United
States, cannot be considered as an
inconsiderable or diminishing body.
$30,000 vs. $5,500.
The wonderful achievements of
General Leonard Wood as governor of
Santiago have drawn the attention of
all the world interested in sanitation
and reconstruction after disorganiza
tion, to his treatment of problems
which more famous men have given up
This quiet soldier doctor, as a military
governor has been enabled to make
men clean instead of having to urge
them to be, as most good doctors have
to do. Besides lie lias that raicst of
all gifts and oftenest claimed execu
tive ability and the sense to use the
full authority of Ills position to ac.
complish the purposes lie was sent to
fulfill. Moreover his patriotism is im
peccable. Offered $.'K),000 a year as the
president by the Traction company of
Washington which controls, or expects
to control, all the electric railroads in
acquaintance witn lamoiis men as a
siifllcicnt qualification for the vaccnt
post at the University. The regents
arc acquainted with the type and
there is little fear that the claims of a
borrower of greatness will be seriously
considered.
Not on the Passenger List.
The story which is reprinted from
Harper's Monthly in tills week's Cour
ier, is reproduced because It is not
merely the best short story of the
month In any of the magazines, but
according to the requirements of the
short story and the taste of the public
it is the best story which lias ap
peared for many months. The writ
er's name is that of a woman, Jessie
Van Zile Iiclden, and although it is
not safe to use the personal pronoun
indicated by pen names, in spite of
.lames Egbert Craddock, George Eliot,
George Sand and George Egerton,
most men and women who write, use
either their own names or a pen name
assigned to the sex of the writer and
thus, and from internal evidence 1
conclude that the author is a woman.
"Not on the Passenger List," is a
real short story. It contains about
1,500 words, it gives a tantalizing but
effective view of three lives. It is In-
ind about Washington, General Wood. SCrutable,invitcs speculation, it Is sub-
Read the Bible," was discussed. He
they became a sign for a great country says the guests decided that the bible
whose name can no more bo changed was no longer read orstudied In Amerl
i..... ...... t,n tuur Mint, flouts over It. ca as it was during the puritan regime
Many an artist can make a prettier Hag There were fewer inhabitants of this W()rth t0 ' of tll0 "braVest and
than the one our soldiers have hugged country then than now, but granunt, bcst whl(,h ag been C(1 out gQ un.
and cheered in dying, but no other flag that ana u e reugiou , us BPUdglnjly.
bui the one tlrsumaae oy mat poor
came home from Cuba to inspect the
proposition and he was greatly tempt
ed to accept it. His salary as governor
of Santiago is $5,500 and lie did not
think it worth while to deny that the
$24,500 was an Important considera
tion. But General Wood lias gone
back to Cuba without making any
fanfare about ills service to the coun
try or ills love for the cause. He has
gone back as quietly and unoratorical
ly as any christian gentlemen steps
aboard an ocean steamor for a three
months vacation in Europe. The war
has brought out many such Instances
of sclforgetfulncss and the effect upon
the ideals which a democracy of all
governments, must possess, is perhaps
that
old woman will over bo ours.
The proposition to rcehrlsten Amer
ica emlnates from an alchemist like
tho man who Invented volapuk when
ho. miirht, have been wanting corn.
tlrst emigrants to Massachusetts, still
the proportion of Americans who read
the bible now will comparo favorably
with those who read it In sixteen sixty
something. The Dutch in New York
wnm mom criven to schnapps than to
Suspicious Versatility.
When a man applies for a thirty
dollar a month job and claims to be
an Intimate friend and advisor of
tic with nineteenth century subtlety.
The setting is as clever and complete
as though Irving had done it himself
on the stage of the London Lyceum,
and the story occupies less than two
pages of Harper's magazine.
Was "Tom" aware that Mrs. De
Peyster was wearing tho ring of un
cut sapphires his dying brother sent
back to ills sweetheart? Did lie tell
her the story to wring her heart and
out of brotherly championship for
brother, or shall we accept the insin
uation that Tom told his talc like the
ancient mariner whenever he met a
woman like Mrs. De Peyster to whom
everybody told secrets and who sac
redly kept them? There are a num
ber of other questions that will occur
to those who read the story. There
are as many answers as the length
and breadth of the experiences of the
readers Include. Finally the study of
tho story is recommended to the con
tributors of the Kiote, a univeisity of
Nebraska magazine, whose short
All tie el Sin a ,Ze m a guage any kind of reading, and the English Henry James, W. D. Howells, Edison, stories hold from 2,500 to 5,000 words
hs h stor 1 lit? uckyfo t e in- who settled in Maryland were Catho- and President McKlnley, ho is Immedl- of descriptive preparation for a do
r! .noddle lies and accustomed to let others do ntely but mentally charged with gen- noument which never occurs and for
vnntlvn i-nformors WllOlike tO mCUalO UCB UIIU
....... i .,.! .i...t'.i,n ...oDfl f hlhlo rniirtlnir for thom.
tlie people are i slow to resign tho days sects have arisen who study the he keeps Is not respectable enough, The atmosphere, the setting and
In these latter oral debility. Not that the company a plot too tenuous to be unraveled.