THE COURIER.
rorld and claim to control material
laws by ignoring tliem arc sovereigns
without kingdoms and without sub-
lects. By refusing to use the knowl
edge of the ages they deny evolution
md interrupt intercourse between
themselves and their neighbors,
hoac propositions and rule of life
they ridicule.
Finally, true religion conists in rec
ognizing evil and its insidious ap
peals to the body, in admitting the
carelessness of the spirit when the
flesh conquers it and in accepting the
responsibility cf the spirit for the
body's conduct.
MO0MMM0MCMtHMMMMMOMft
itTHE PASSING SHOW.
W I LLA GATHER J
ftiliini liiiiiiifiiiflftftttif iin rtiifm n i I
"1 have trod the upward and the down
ward slope,
And 1 have endured and done in days
before;
And I have hoped, and laid farewell to
hope.
And I have lived and loved, and shut the
door."
Robert Louis Stevenson.
1 believe that bb one's experience en
larges one loses the moro. physical at
tributes of hero-worship, that is, tbo
personality and individual lifo of bril
liant men ceases to interest oco keenly,
and that ono is quito content to tako
tho work apart from the workman and
to Ioeo sight of the man in contemplat
ing tho artist. But certainly when Mrs.
Isabella Strong, Stevenson's step
daughter and amanuensis arrived in
Pittsburg, I felt a very sharp attack of
that devotional curiosity which one
usually knows very little about after
ono is eighteen. 1 wanted to seo this
woman who had lived under tho sarao
'roof with that blithe and gallant epirit,
who had shared bis exile in the south
eeae, who had witnessed that long, man
ful struggle against disease, who had
written down tho text of tboso incom
parable romances as thoy first fell from
his l;ps. This personal b (Tec 'ion for
Stevenson is common among all people
who tind a peculiarly delicate pleasure
in his word?, and who are, as Andrew
Lang put it, sealed of tho tribe of Louis.
Without doubt Stevenson's was the
most winning and lovable personality
in modom loiters, and those who have
come fully under bis subtile influence
are more jealous of bis reputation tban
was he himself. I fancy Charles Lamb
must havo bad something tbiB potent
poiBonal charm, but certainly no writor
of this generation has approached it.
As to the lecture which! Mrs. Strong
delivered hero on ' S oven&on in Samoa"
I can say very little for it. It was all
Samoa and no Stevenson. Sbo told us
how clothes are made in Samoa, and
instructed us carefully as to the roast
ing of pigs and the sauces wherewith
thoy should be oaten, but of R. L. S.,
sho said no effectual word. Moreover, I
dislike the principle of the thing; one
resents tho commorcial uses which Mr.
Stevenson's family persistently rack) of
bis memory. It was only after the lec
ture was over, in the seclusion of a quiet
rconr, looking out upon tho h lis of tho
park where the autumn sunshine burn
ed upon tho colored foliage and tho
umber leaves rustled down through the
blue hazy air, that I persuaded Mrs.
Strong to talk of Stevenson himself.
There, with the pictures she had taken
of him in Samoa, and pages of his dicta
tion still fresh in her momory, ono be
gan to feel quite in.his atmosphere, and
the bluo hills off against tbo sky lino
rocalled u little that mountain far away
t() the Pat itic, where ho sleeps, who is eo
' well romombernd.
Kvcryono knows tho romance of
Stevensdn's lit ; how ho met Mrs.
Strong's mother in France boforo her
soparatlon from Mr. Osbourne, a Cali
fornia merchant, and at tor her return to
thoPacltb coast decidod that lifo on
tho othor sido ot tho Atlantic wbb im
possible for him. Whon ho resolved to
come to America, his fathor naturally
bitterly opposed it and refused to sup
ply the funds for such n mad errand.
Stevenson, up to that time had been
busy learning tho toebniquo of IHh craft
and had produced vory littlo beyond a
fowesBajs, and essay-writing is not a
highly remunerative occupation under
tho most fortunato conditions. "We
have no courago now-a-days," he onco
wrote, but cot taiuly ho did not lack it
then. Almost entire ly without re
sources, bo burnod bis ships boUi.d him
and sot his face toward tho wo3t und tho
future. He crosped tho AtlautL' steer
age, traversed tho continent in an emi
grant car, and reached California only
to fall into a long' and serious illness
through which Mrs. Oabourco nursed
bim, marrying him immediuto'y after
sho secured her divorro. Mrs. Osbourno
bad, when ho married her, two children;
Lloyd, who afterward collaborated with
Mr. Stevenson, and Isabclle, now Mrs.
S'rocg, who becamo biB amanuensis
and secretary.
"His method of composition," said
Mrs. Strong, ' O it was slow aud labo
rious laborious eomeumeB even to
painfulnesp, bb ho believed all gocd work
must b?. He would paco the Moor with
a tiny slip ot cardLoird full ot notes in
biB hand, dictating' to me so slowly that
I was easily ab'.e to writi) it nut in long
hand, and he was ecrupulously o roful
to dictato the punctuation, as that was
rather a hobby cf his. Perhaps be
would finish a chapter that day. Then,
the next mornicg ho would read it ovor,
usually with many a shake ot tbo head,
and wilh a sigh would riso and gird
himsolf for the battle, probably throw
ing tho entire chapter into the flro and
carefully dictating it over sgaln, recast
ing and revising it until it was some
times scarcely iccognizable Poihaps
it would remain in that form, but the
cbancos were that ho would lay it by
for a week and then tiko it up aud
woik it over again and again. Only
once did 1 know him to shorten this
process and write without revision, and
that was in bis last and uncompleted
novel, "Wier of (Iormiston." He
abandoned "3t. Ives'' in a tit ot boyish
enthusiasm for tho new tale, and it
came from hi brain whito hot, full
formed and word perfect. He was
master of it from the flu', bis hand
never falterod or know uncertainty.
On the very teeming of bis death ho
said to me, 'I boo the whole thing as
clearly as I seo you, tho book already
exists, it is!' He, who was always so
modest about bis work, always roady to
poko fun at it, said that "Wirr of Her
mistoa" would be his. mastarpiece. Oj
that last morning ho dictated with
astonishing easo and fluency, at the
very high tide of his power."
Only a fow hours later the ctroko
came which stilled the delicate ma
chinery of that subtile brain forever,
and from that low coral shore thro
went out a tidal wave of loss and sorrow
that was fell around tho world.
"I think," continuod Mis. Strong,
"that there were bb many a9 twelve
different endings written tor '-The Ebb
Tide," and no villain was ever killed
with more difficulty tban Huish. When
I went to bed at night his fate would be
settled in one way, but when I got up in
tbo morniog I would hoar Mr. Steven
son and my brother discussing an en
tirely different eituatlen. 'What is
thiaV I would cry, 'last night Huish
was to dio by falling into a sugar vat in
Satroa.' 'Nonsense,' Louis would re
ply with a shrug ot tbo shoulders,
that is all ancient history. Today ho
is run to earth in London, white at
tempting to burn a woman's wrist with
tho atumpof bis cigar, as she is holding
onto the strap of an omnibus.' His
pictureiquo caredr was finally ended by
vitiiol, much to our eurprleo, but very
many were tho deaths be died before ho
could bo dead indeed. Ho wroto "The
Muster of Ballantrao ' in Honolulu, and
fell into a stain of uttor despair as to
tho ending, offering twonty dollars to
any one of ua who could suggest what
to do with tbo Master.
"In bis dictation ho was always high
ly dramatic. I welt rcmombor bow
gaily tho work wont oa in "St. Ives.'
Ho wcu'd dictato tho conversation of
tho old Scotch d.-over in heavy dialect,
with many a 'Jlcoi mon,' and then,
throwing bis head on ono side and
twirling bis mustache, ho would dolivor
the lines of tho young Frenchman with
tho utmost lightnecB and esprit. I re
member he told me that once, while
writing "The Mentor cf Ballantrae' be
a66umed, as ho thought, exactly the
sinister expression which he wisbod tho
Master to wear, nod en rushing to the
glass was astonished aud not a little
disappiintod to-find only tho too fa
miliar countenanco ot Louis Stevenson,
much twisted and ludicrously awry."
When qucstionoc' na to Mr. Stevenson's
musical accomplishments upon the
flageolet, which he co often referred to
in his "Vailma Letters.'' and which he
sremedtobe much proudnr of tban of
what ho sometimes termed "my damned
literature,'' Mrs. Strong laughed
heartily.
'0, that waB only one of bis gomes
that be took seriously. He understood
tbo theory of music perfectly, but he
played miserably. He used to insist
upou executing classical music upon
that doleful, whoczy, littlo flagoolot.and
the sound of it used to drivo us frantic.
The amusing part of it was that be was
exceedingly vain ot it. Then be- was
ambitious to got up a string quartette.
Ho cajoled my poor brother into sawing
on tho violin, and thouch I have no
more muBlc in me than a hen, insisted
that I should accompany them on the
piano. Hb spent whole days writing out
our parts for ub. But he reached his
Waterloo when be insisted that my
mother should learn some instrument to
make out bis quartette. Sbo would ray
repeatedly, 'No, I will do anything else
for you Louie, but a joyful noise into
you I will not make,' Not to be dis
couraged, ho sent secretly to Sidney and
had a triangle sent on to Samoa, and I
think that ono of the most real disap
pointments cf his life waa that mother
flatly refused to sit and heat that tri
angle." "Ho took all his games just that
s( riou6ly, and he played games all hii
life. He had no patience or tolerance
for people who could rot play, he con
sidered them a cumbranco of the earth
and a heaviness to the spirit. Once a
little boy waa playing ship on the
library couch while Louis stood drum
ming on the window pane. S:veral
times tho child hoisted his toy sail and
took it in, but at last, growing tired ot
the business, he got do-vn and started to
trot out of the room. Lou's turned to
him in a fit of downright vexation, re
marking in an agile ved tone, e"you
might at toast have the imagination or
tbo courtesy to swim out.' I know
nothing more characteristic of him than
that."
TrlEROCK ISLAND WALL MAP OF
THE UNITED STATES
Is the boat offered to the public. It is
very large and specially adapted to
school purposes. Every teacher ot
geography and every business oflico
should have ono. It will be sent post
paid to any address en receipt of fifteen
cents in postage stamps or coin.
Addrcsf, John Sf.iiahtian, O. P, A.,
Chicago, III,
eLHBS-
LOUISA L RIOKKTTS.
IMIMIIII I Ml MIMMl
CALENDAR OF NEIIRABK A (JLUOJ.
Octabor
21 J History Avt c, Roman Invasion of Cler-
I ninny, I Moot Honniin Seward
Wmnnn'H a, .lames 1, ClmrluH I, a, Dlvlno
SI, rlKht of ICIiikh. 2, Lonjr Parliament.
I Civil Wur Syracuse
5KI, K. I. K. O. i, American Literature, Lincoln
23, J Sorosls, American Sculptors and Artists,
I Stanton
oi J Century c, Reformation unit rollulous con-
dltlon or Holland In tho 10th Con. .Lincoln
23, J Womun'M u Franco under Philip Aukun
I tus Mlndon
25, Current Literature Falls City
2"), Literature Exeter
7 I Self Culture- c., Adellna Pnttl, Mollm,
Calve, OrlKln of popular souks. Ht. Paul
28, XIX Century c.,PalntlnK In Flnndors.Sownrd
31, Womun'HC,, Education Fnlrbury
OFFICERS OF N. F. W. C, 1800 I000.J.
Prcs., Mrs. Anna L. ApporKon, Tccumsoh.
V. P., Mrs. Ida W. lllalr, Wayne.
Cor. Sec., Mrs.VlrxInla D.Arnup, TccuuiHoh.
Rec. Sec., Miss Mary Hill, York.
Trout., Mrs. II. F. Doan6, Crete.
Llhrnrlan, Mrs. a. M. Lumbortson, Lincoln.
Auditor, Mrs. E. J. Halncr, Aurora.
Tho firth annual meoting of tho Ne
braska Federation of Women's Clubs
was hold in -York on October 10th to
the 13th inclusive, by invitat;on of tbo
York city federation of women's clubs.
I think it was the concessions of opinion
that this wastbe largest and most en
thusiaatic convention in tho history of
our federation. Ooly two years ago
and the smaller cities in our stato were
lamenting that par nccessitc in the
future Omaha or Lincoln must be the
meeting place because of thesizs of the
convention to bo entertained. But a
year ago at Omaha the intrepid club
women of York extended a cordial
invitation to tbo State fedciation to
meet with ttfern this fall. With some
hesitation for fear of imposing too
heavy a burden upon the hospitality of
York the executive board decided to
accept. Faith in the York women was
justified by ttieperfect manner in which
they cared foHho wauts of their guests.
One lady told mo that they bad meet
ings innumerable the past four months
and that for tbo past four weeks they
bad thought and talked of.,nothing else
but Low they might best express their
welcome to these comirg club eisttra.
When we arrived in York about one P.
M., on Tuesday afternoon tho very air
was vibrant 'with welcome. The depot
waa surrounded by an array of urries
and pbaetons'eacb one in charge of a
hostess whose smile of welcome made
glad the heart of the weary travelers.'
From that moment, until we left, the
city was placed at our disposal. From
the president cf the York federation ot
women's clubs to tho mayor of the city,
everyone, even to the boy pages, (who
Were in conatint attendance upon the
delegates, ready to supply all wants,
oven horses and cairiages) made ua feel
we were special guesta for whose com
ing they bad been evgerly waiting.
The plan of tho Ytrk ladies for en
tertaining the federation was uniquo
and very satisfac'ory. From the depot
tbeladirs were taken directly to tho
Fraternity Hall, a beautiful new build
ing just completed by the five fraterni
ties of York as a union temple for their
lodges. Hero a committee in waiting
rapidly assigned the delegates to the
'hospitably homes which were not satis
fied if they secured only one delegate.
All m:als could be secured within a'
block's distanco from Fraternity Hall
where a large houso had been arranged
ai a restaurant with two competent
ladies in charge. The feeling of inde
pendence accorded each delegate who
waa thus enabled to pay for her own
meals waa another of the many tactful