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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1899)
VOL. XIV., NO. XXXVI. ESTABLISHBD IN 18fi PRICE FIVE CBNTS . I X LINCOLN, NBBR., SATURDAY, SbPTBMBER 0, 1800. 4M KNTBREDIN THE F08TOFFIOB AT LINCOLN AS BKCnWD CLABB MATTER. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY -BT- THE COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs Telephone 384. 8AKAH B. HARRIS. Editor Subscription Kate In Advance. Per annum $ 1 00 8iz months 75. Three months 50 One month 20 Single copies 05 The Courier will not bo responsible for vol antary communications unless accompanied by return postage. Communications, to receive attention, must bo'siirnod by tnofull namo of tbo writer, not moroly as a guarantee of good faith, but for publication if adTiiable, : OBSERVATIONS l Church Tardiness. The difference between the attl tude of a protectant minister towards his congregation and a priest towards his parishioners lias never been more sharply defined than by the sermons and hortations delivered by Father Reed who succeeded Father Nugent at the pro cathedral. In every church in this town the minister year after year ineffectually urges the congregation to arrive at the time when the services are supposed to begin. Most of the services are adver. tiscd to begin at half past ten Sunday morning. If the number present at that exact time, not livcmlnutcsorten minutes later.were counted on a morn ing of the most favorable weather, tho total would be something under flttcon not counting the ministers or tho minister's wives, tho choirs or the ushers. Yet all theso years the in defatigable, patient preachers, richly endowed with faiih and hope have politely called the attention of their congregations to tho fact that the organ voluntary, tho hymn and the opening prayer are parts of tho ser vices and of the weekly offering of worship, Ignored by the larger part of the parish. Little children when they first begin to take notice of what tho preacher says hear him reminding their fathers and mothers and tho neighbors, of their tanllncss. These name children may have a spotless school record without a single tardy mark for tho years they have attend cd school and it seems a trlile queer to them when they llrst begin to listen, that thetr fathers and mothers cannot keep iip with their own chil dren, especially when they are only obliged to try once a week. Discarding the patlcnt.meek remon strances of ids predecessors against the. irreverent tardinesses Father Reed announced to his congregation several weeks ago that if they were not in their seats when the services at the pro cathedral began they would not be able to get into them at all that morning. Like the protcstant congregations this one was so used to reproaches for tardiness, that the next Sunday morning tho parishion ers began to arrive five, ten and fif teen minutes late. But they stayed outside and listened to the services participated in by ttiose who iiad noted the tirm lines in tills priest's face. His example is .a worthy one and if all the protcstant ministers would follow it, it might, at first reduce the size of the congrega tions, but it would be the beginning of a reformation we are in great need of. Lincoln is late at church, late at weddings, late at funerals, late at card parties, late in reaching the theatre, late in keeping all appoint ments botli in public places and with private parties. Father Reed accus tomed to a better trained congrega tion, is endeavoring to teach a part of the population the Irreverence of coming to church after the services have begun and If he succeed in cor recting the incorrigbles of one church there is reason to believe (hat the protestant ministers, if they had the nerve, might teach their parishioners the same lesson in the same way. Of course there is a difference in the two congregations. Catholics bend the knee and bow the head when they enter the church. The man who speaks to tliem is clothed witli au thority. He Is set apart from com mon men and lie lias no hesitation in using the authority which his re nunciations and the discipline and traditions of the church confer upon him. The protestant congregation, enters the church in quite a different manner Most western congregations do not even bow the head during prayer. 1 think the western man considers it too humble an attitude. Being Just as good as anybqdy, he is afraid the bowed head is an admission of humility that might be remem bered against him sometime. And most of the congregation listen to the minister critically and with no pro tense of extraordinary respect. As a matter of fact, most ministers are spiritually far in advance of their froward and obstinate congregations, but their very goodness and humility deter them from impressing their su periority on tholr audiences. Thus it will be a more difficult matter for tho protestant ministers to enforce promptness in ejiurch attendance, but considering the very slough Into which Lincoln has fallen in matters social, commercial and political as wollassacredotal, I think tlie min isters should undertake the crusade, heartened by Father Reed's persis tent courage and convictions. Newspaper English. This title has been suggested for discussion at the meeting of the Ne braska state federation of women's clubs to be held at Hastings next month. Newspaper English invites criticism by its looseness, the limited vocabulary of some of those who write for the papers, their frequent self consciousness and the unskillful use of many words to express ono Idea. But bad as it is, there Is something worse and that is tlie stuff that critics produce when thoy send a contribu tion to the newspapers themselves The ordinary, professional newspaper writer or reporter overworks a slender vocabulary. He makes one adjective vulgarity. Aftor alluding to a "black crime committed by this Lincoln papor from Which It escaped without having its neck wrung'' she advises Mrs. Draper Smith, tho able und gracious president of tiio woman's club "to request such publications to keep out of town." Tho article in ThoCourlorwhlch ur roused Miss Falrbrothcr was sent this papor by an Omaha correspondent who was disgusted by tlie drunken and lewd Omaha midway. Soveral of tho best people in Omaha have spoken of the coarseness and license of tlie mid way and regretted that such sights and sounds tdiould be allowed wiicrc It is impossible to keep their children from the contamination. Miss Fair brother is one of the most radical or W C. T. U. members, yet when it suits her purpose to praiso an immoral which the managers of the exposition can not convert Into advertisements for the show. do the work nf t.lin iniinv..irlt,lmr nn- dantlcally stilt in the dictionary, for and repulsive show she hus no scruples - . . "" wll fill t.lin tnnnnnnra nf Iia avnrultlnn lacK of exercise. The vocabulary of tho ordinary man consists of only a few hundred words. Tho emotions and situations which human beings daily experience and endeavor to de scribe are of infinite variety and can not be reproduced except by tlie use of country there tlie words which describe them. There is nothing new under tlie sun and all these accidents and incidents have happened before and have been named by the language makers. To call them by other names is to miscall them and distort the truth, which it Slow Pay and R. C. In every city of consequence in this is a book called by different names but whose value de pends upon its frankness and ac curacy. In Lincoln it is culled tho Blue Book und it records tho names of those who make no bills they do not pay promptly, of those who order goods hero and there lightly and is ttioetrortor all newspaper writers gracefully with no intention of pay to -convey without distortion. But ing for them, of those who pay slowly when the work of tho newspaper hack and of tlioso from whom cash must be is compared with the occasional con- required before they arc allowed to trlbutor, then and only then Is the walk off with goods. , former's skillfulncssapparent. On the Such a compilation must needs be other hand when our work Is compared brutally frank and it is. The com with the really skilled workmen who pliers pay no attention to the society write books and good stones its faults standing or to the ancestral purity of of construction and style discourage , the bl6od which flows through the the most complacent. veins of the men and women they Still there are a few rules of gram- rate. Their point of view is a single mar and rhetoric oven the most unlet- one and is confined to considerations tered writer should study, If not for of the ability to, and habit of paying tlie older readers, then for the chll- bills. There Is a large number of peo drens' sake. Miss Falrbrothcr of pie who can pay but will not every Omaha, for instance, should study an where, and against the names of these elementary work on grammar and 'people in tho ' Lincoln bluo book is after she has memorized a few rules written R. O. which degree, being concerning tlie use of a plural verb Interpreted means, "require cash." with a plural subject otc, and espec- Many of these R. C's. can pay but lally tlie directions governing the use' won't. Like, the whist player who of pronouns and adverbs It would le would rather keep his trumps than of advantage to her to study y take tricks with them, the confirmed standard and very elementary work dead beat regards the liquidation of on. rhetoric. In the prosecution of -a bill as so tnucli money thrown away, her second year's work in rhetoric, which might have been used to buv ono of her follow craftsmen may per haps bo allowed to suggest that she 'devote particular attention to the rules concerning tho use of metaphors and tho confusion caused by mixing them. In the Woman's Weekly, of July 2!), Miss Falrbrothcr, the editor, con tributes a remarkable paragraph. 1 know It for Miss Falrbrother's work by the faults of construction and by the blinding rage which destroys her aim, a rage which in personal converse reduces her to a state of sputtering tilings wiih from a merchant who will not trust him, or saved to look at and exult over. In the meantime his credit Is ruined and that far more delicate factor in commerce the con fidence and respect of ono's follow tradesmenIs irreparably Injured. The stubborn disinclination of the rich to pay their bills embarrasses the tradesmen, who, of course, do not wish to lose a customer nor offend an influential ricli woman. If it wero not for the people of straightened means who go without necessities