THE COURIER
novice, and you can't make a novel
y- out of good bits of discription. The
young editor's former glorious career
is much overdone, and the frequent
references to it are often in bad taste,
witness the following:
"As the yacht touched the pier,
pretty girls, or pretty women or jovial
gentlemen, all were overlooked in the
wild scramble the college men made
for their hero. They haled him
forth, set him high on their shoulders
shouting 'Skal to the Viking!' and
carried him up the wooded bluff to
the Casino He had heard 'Mrs. Van
Skuyt' say, 'Oh, we're used to it;
we've put in at several other places
where lie had friends ' lie struggled
manfully to be set down, but his tri
umphal swept on. He heard bystand
ers telling each other, 'It's that young
Harkless, the Great Harkless, they're
all m mad about,' and while it pleased
him a little to hear such things, they
x. always made him laugh a great dea.1.
He had never understood his popul
arity." Why, Bryan, in his palmy days,
knew nothing like it! Another thing
likely to puzzle the practical reader is
the number of indigent persons the
strong and tender "Harkless" was
able to support from the income of
one country newspaper.
As we well know, the great and
good are never known as such in
their own town. I had only to go to
Lawrence, Kansas, to hear that Fred
, crick Funston was a coward and
averse to telling the truth. Yet Mr.
Tarkington tells us that the good
people of Plattville were as dust be
neath the feet of their dear young
editor, and that the young men so
loved him for his virtues that they
r mounted guard every night to keep
the Whitecaps from him A home
trader or a pugilist might stir the
youths of Indiana to such a degree of
enthusiasm, but 1 know well enough
that the inhabitants of a western
village would not have left enough of
this sentimental "tender strong" col-
lege youth for the Whitecaps to carry
off. A las the "tender strong" col
lege man in fiction anyhow! The day
will surely come when he will be
called to render an account of all
these things.
The chapters which deal with the
raid on tl e "Whitecap's village, and
the hospital episodes are considerably
above the rest of the book. Mr. Tark
ington's descriptions of nature are al
most invariably fake and far fetched,
and come dangerously near "fine
writing.'" I think some of them
must be made up of the "daily
themes" the young author did at
Princeton, when his professor told
him to go out and observe nature and
duly chronicle what he saw. Nature
is very nasty and unreasonable about
being "observed," and they who seek
her critically shall not find her. Mr.
Tarkington's English is not always
faultless. 1 find this astonishing sen
tence, which surely his professor ne
glected to underscore, "a crescendo n
portliness was playing a diminuendo
with his youth." Now a Harvard
student might so express his feelings,
if he had been to a Boston symphony
concert the night before, but why
should a Princeton man be thus
tempted? In the face of the follow
ing phraseology, the professor's red
ink pot must have shrivelled up in
impotent despair:
"A tlock of blackbirds was setling
down over the Plattville maples. As
they hung in the fair dome of the sky
below the few white clouds, it occurr
ed to "Harkless" that some supping
god had inadvertently peppered his
custard, and now inverted and emp
tied his gigantic blue dish upon the
earth."
Either that extract is a retlection
on the Princeton chair of English, or
the -supping god" had inadvertency
supped more than was good for him.
The execution of Mr. Tarkington's
novel is so amateurish that It will
scarcely be seriously considered
among literary people outside of In
diana and his view of life is so shal
low and puerile and sophomorically
sugary that grown-ups will have very
little patience with it. Appearing as a
serial in a college weekly it would be
all very well, and might strike one as
a prom'sing piece of work. The
Princeton brand of novel opens up
new vistas before us. The fiction of
the Harvard school and the Barrett
Wendell Method has entertained the
Philistine aforetime, but, God wot it
has never offered us anything so re
freshingly youthful as this.
MxxxKiorvirMvo
THE OLD Mil ON THE RIVER
A FLORA BULLOCK.
I am sure that he was only an ugly
yellow cur with one ear and a half of
another, a lame leg, and a sharp tenor
yawp. It must have been eo, though I
have not Eeen him, nor hafl any one now
living, and no one has pictured Lira for
me. let I have him plainly in my
mind and cherieh his acquaintance. His
name was, is and always shall be
Schneider, and he is companion extra
ordinary to the most genial of the im
mortals; one of the most favored of all
dogdom, because be goes with his mas
ter into the realms of unforgettable
things.
That feast is best which leaves one
or, perhaps I should say, one leaves
hungering for more. This is strictly a
philosophical, an idealistic notion, so
seldom put into practice thai one is not
sale in asserting it as an actual truth.
Only occasionally do we feel the tanta
lizing, suggesting pang of mild hunger
after we have bad a chance to satisfy
ourselves. Of things mental we are
always stuffed so full that we are alwjs
crying for less instead of more, and suf
fer from lethargy and indigestion. Very
few of our writers, for instance, send us
from their boardf with a haunting de
sire for more. And yet what a pleaE
ant sensation that is. I enjoyed Eome
such feeling the other night. Rip Van
Winkle and the scolding but the per
fectly iu9t Gretchen, Dietrich and the
ghostly Heinrich Hudson with his
dumb "family"' lived before my eyes.
But Schneider came not, came not, even
at his master's whistle.
"I thought you maybe knew him. He
was a dog,' said Rip, and the pathos of
his home-coming is complete. It is the
kind of pathos which makes you laugh
until a sort of sharp feeling somewhere
between your throat and eyes stops you.
The trouble, the unhappiness is wiped
out and forgotten when at last old Rip
sits with his family and neighbors and
wishes health and long life to them and
all good friends. But Schneider is cot
there, the twenty years are gone irre
trievably, and only a little artificial life
can remain to tb old man.
Haw easy it would have been for the
dramatist to bring in some ugly mongrel
from the street in order to comptete the
ensemble at the end; how easy and how
preposterous. In the midst of the im
possibilities and incongruities of the
play the management of the Schneider
matter is perfect. How much more in
teresting the dog is than he could pos
sibly be if made to wag his stubby tail
be sure that his tail would be stubby
"in public on the stage." And the
very fact that Rip thinks and talks of
his boon companion did Schneider im
bibe, too when his bow-wowship is not
present measures his good feeling. We
shall not forget Schneider, the unseen,
though other images sent to our minds
by way of the optic nerve may be oblit
erated in time. We shall remember
him as one of the most illusively ideal
characters we have met.
At the Overland theater one has the
pleasure of spending the time between
acts studying a suggestive drop curtain.
Now, I know it is still dangerous to
mention drop curtains to a Lincoln pub
lic. There ate some unfortunate mem
ories connected with the subject. Out
one who has suffered before the Foun
tain of Youth horror can all tho more
enjoy the Indian scene at the Overland.
The attack upon the stage coach which
is pictured there is historical. The
event occutred down on the Blue and is
'recalled by all old timers. The draperies
of Indian blankets, the border of moca
sin work, and the collection of Indian
weapons are in keeping with the main
picture. The old coach is attacked by
a band of warriors dressed, as to their
heads, with the usual feathery toggery,
and undressed as to their bodies, 'like
roal Indians." Tneir weapons are bows
and arrowp, but ono fellow sports a re
volver, harbinger of civilization. A few
buffalo skulls just sticking out of the
sand are suggestive. The stage horseB
are going at a terrible pac. in spito of
the fact that their legs look as if they
were done up in canvas leggings. The
artist was hardly a Rosa Bonheur. A
critical old stage driver says that tho
picture is all wrong. The country of
the Blue is not rightly represented, the
bushes look too mush like sagi brush.
Then, he sas, Indians did not attack a
stage in such country on foot. Well, it
is only a drop curtain and too much may
not be required. The spirit which sug
gested the scene is praiseworthy. It
points no moral, appeals to no passion;
it simply reminds us of old tales which
every day grow older and slip further
away into our own history.
The present fad for Indian pictures in
calendars and works of art to frame in
red mats and moulding and hang on
your walls seems to me curious. Mr
Rhinehart and other Indian painters
have pictures to sell, the Indian still
stands as typical of the west, though
why, I cannot say, unless it be that old
ideas die hard, and we of the west regard
him as a relic of our past, therefore in
teresting. But the pictures are not
pretty, they brinz no satisfaction. In
deed, I believe the main use for these
curios would be to send them back eadt
to friends who would know without any
explanations from you that they were
some neighbors of yours. It would af
ford them much pleasure, I am sure.
At the top of the arch above tho stage
of the Overland is a small treo with the
motto, "Plant trees.' Now. I am dis
posed to quarrel a little with the apos
tle of the foreet for putting the insist
ent preachment up there. I do not
know whether it was meant that the
planting of trees would prevent all fu
ture attacks upon stage-coaches by the
noble red men. Unless that is the
meaning I hardly see the timeliness of
the moral. Mr. Morton's work in the
interest of our forests is worthy of much
praise. The Conservative editorial re
garding the slaughter of the innocent
little spruce and cedar trees for the
Christmas festival should have been
copied in every paper In the country
though I am not sure that much could
be accomplished with a world still
chained to tradition. But that motto
in the theater makes me nervous. I feel
guilty, and ponder whether it is meant
that I should go get my spade that very
night and plant an apple tree. Then,
later, come visions of spades and mounds
of earth. But the disturbance does not
last till morning. It is simply disquiet
ing in a place whither one goes, after
paying the price, to forget the cares of
the world, the treeless plains of the tree
planters' state, and the unpleasantness
of manual labor. A stranger in tne old
town might almost expect to see the
whole audience leave the theater be
tween acts in order to do their part in
following out the injunction.
m8CMIMMCMMMM0OO0ttHC0ti00
LHB3. I
LOUISA L niCKETTS. X
O940
CALENDAR OFNEHRASKA CLUIW.
January.
20, Womnn's c . Clillil Study. Lincoln
., I XIX Century c. Painting In (Ser-
I many Seard
.,., IFinde Slecle c, William Cullen
J llryant .. . . Seward
i i Woman's!.. Household Econ-
" omits North Mend
.w, I lllstorv ami Art c. Art anil Lllera-
J' ( lure During the Snxon Dynasty.. .Seward
22. Woman's c. Phltoxophy uml EthlcsOmaha
22, Wiutn'sc, Household Economics.. Lincoln
., J Francos M. Kuril. Plctur-
J ewiue Holland .Stromsburg
22. Sorosls, Musicians Stanton
22, Woman's c. Krance. ltSH8-lffif7 Mlmlen
. I History anil Art c. Shaksperc anil
-J Macon Albion
. Woman s c, Philanthropic Insti-
1 tutlons of Nebraska. Fulrhury
23. Woman's c . French Onmersntlon ..Omaha
23. Woman's e, Kthlcsaml Philosophy .Omaha
. j Woman's -., Parliamentary Prac-
-" l tlce.. Lincoln
. ICozvc,. The Reformation, 1517-
IGUU Tecumseh
... i Friemls In Council. Dafoe,
Lamb, Myron Tecumseh
21, Woman's c. Oratory Omaha
I Woman's c. Kilucatlon, Sanita
21, lion. Social Life anil Amusc-
ments AshlantI
21, Woman's c, Spain Dundeo
25, Woman's c. Education Omaha
25, Woman's c., English Literature ... Omaha
25, Woman's c . Household KconomIcs....Omaha
25, Woman's c. Art Lincoln
25, Woman's c. Literature Lincoln
,. 1 Woman's c., Financial Pol-
-" J Icies. Plattsmouth
27, Woman's c.. French Lincoln
27, Woman's c, English History Syracuse
27, Review and Arte, Corregglo York
27. Pansy c, Alcott and Twain Tecumseh
27, Woman's c, English History. ..Stromsburg
- ) Woman's c Revolution in
-' ( French Politics North Mend
. 1 History anil Art c.The Franconlan
-' Emperors Seward
27, Fin Ue Steele c, Longfellow Seward
OFFICERS OK N. K. W. C. 1KO A HUM.
Prcs., Mrs. Anna L. Apperson, Tecumseh.
V. P.. Mrs. Ida W Mlalr. Wayne,
Cor. Sec., Mrs. Virginia D.Arnup, Tecumseh.
Rec. Sec, Miss Mary Hill. York.
Treas., Mrs. II. K Doane. Crete.
Librarian, Mrs. C M. LamterLson, Lincoln.
Auditor, Mrs. E. J. Hainer, Aurora.
I wish to extend through Tho Courier
hearty good wishes to the club women
of Nebraska for the year of 1900. May
it be not only a hnppy New Year, but
a year of extended intluence of much
and great good accomplished by the
clubs. Let hearty co-operation be our
watchword, ever seeking the intluence
and power that comes through union.
Ltt us avail ourselves of every possible
opportunity to know each other better
realizing that sympathy is cultivated by
acquaintance. Side by side, heads and
hearts united may the club women of
Nebraska achieve more and better work
than ever before.
Anna L. ArrERsoN,
President N. F. W. C.
I heard a club woman exclaim the
other day, "O, I forgot to send to the
treasurer that eighty cents voted by the
club a month ago as the five-cent per
capita tax." This led me to wonder if
there are any other clubs in the state
which, during the stress and hurry of
the holiday season, have overlooked
this duty to the state federation. It
means so little to each club, but to cur
state federation, of which we are eo
proud.it means selfrespecting independence.
At the last meeting of the parliamen
tary department of the woman's club,
"Privileged Motions" was the subject
under discussion. The possibility of a
mixed club in this department received
a positive impetus, for among the many
motions presented to demonstrate the
afternoon's lesson wa3 one inviting the
men of Lincoln to become members of
thi6 department upon the payment of
two dollars amended to read five dol-
