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VOL XV., NO. VIII
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THE COURIER,
Official Organ of the Nebraska State
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rices and the sting or a state's otH- the one thing possible. He might
cial ingratitude should contribute to have staid behind the trees, ordered a
a Stotzenburg fund Tor the widow retreat, and been on bis way to the
and children or the brave s:ildier who rank or a general now, but he did not.
fell before the trenches of the Fil- He ordered a charge, led it. and fell
pinus at -Quingua. The good sani- with a bullet through bis heart
tation of the camp of the First Ne- When a Lincoln boy, a young lieulen
braska was due to Colonel Stotzcn- an?, just out of the hospital came
burg's discipline,("to his treatment of upon bis body he threw nimself down
his soldiers,' their soldierly, envied beside his colonel and buried his head
record, is due to his training. He made in the trampled dust and wept. The
soldiers out of raw recruits in the men returning from their captured
short time or the encampment in the trenches took up the slender body,
Alameda and before the actual be- and wailing carried it back to camp,
ginning of hostilities near Manila. When a man dies as Stotzenburg
It was not by chance that the First died, for others, and leaves his family
Nebraska was at the front during its in want, bis family are frequently
stay in Luzon. Colonel Stotzenburg saved rrom want by the gratitude of
had made a fighting regiment out of his countrymen. Colonel Stotzenburg's
the Nebraska volunteers. Colonel family has been singularly ignored.
Stotzenburg knew it; the command- He ent into the wara comparatively
lug general in the Filipines knew it young lieutenant. Notwithstanding
and the First Nebraska was assigned the brilliancy of Colonel Stotzen
a post at the very first where trouble burg's victories, his name was not
was expected and where it began. It frequently in the newspapers. He
was not by chance that the First gave all the credit to the men or the
Nebraska was kept busy lighting, First Nebraska and that name flashed
that it was kept at the front and that around the world,
other men and other officers were as- '
signed safer and less glorious duties. Marriage and Divorce.
Considering these things it seems to
..A Mm ncnnle of Nebraska have a Kecently the discussion of the qucs-
duty to perform to the widow of this tlon of marriage and divorce, more
man who so unhesitatingly led the particularly oi uuorce na oeen
charge at Quingua
s
''fWSQO,-Sf
H OBSERVATIONS.
A Soldier's Widow.
The fund for Mrs. Lawton has
reached the sum of iiW.OOO, which is
more than enough to pay oir the
mortgage on her borne in California.
The people or California have con
tributed generously and in very large
numbers to this fund. The widow
and children of Colonel Stotzenburg
were left with very slender means.
Through Colonel Stotzenburg's de
votion to and knowledge of his duty
in the face of cowardly and treas
onable criticism the First Nebraska
made i famous record in the Fili
pines. which the Nebraska legisla
ture, recognized, by passing a vole of
censure up-n bis treatment of the
men who formed a weeping escort to
his body afterwards: his men who
cheered him as be leaped into the
lield where they crouched ucder a
deadly lite, and who cheered him as
he ordered a charge upon the in
trenched Filipinos. Colonel Stotzen
burg did more than lead Nebraska
troops, be patiently drilled them day
after day so that when the lime came
for action they were soldiers enough
to follow him anywhere. In recogni
tion of the silent heroism of bis char
acter, or bis stern acd unfaltering
obedience to bis soldierly training
and convictions, the individual citi
zens or the state who appreciate ',hc
meaning or Colonel Stotzenburg's ser
re
vived. It is asserted by those who
urge amendment or divorce laws with
the view or establishing stronger
bonds of matrimony or at least of
increasing the difficulty or severing
those bonds that the number or
divorces annually granted is increas-
Tlie Courier will receive subscrip
tions for this fund. If every citizen
of Nebraska who knows how Colonel
Stotzenburg kept the name of Nebras
ka high up, where the men of all
tvitiniw s:iu- it, and knew that a trreat
Hi,rr. a irre.it military commander. !c with alarming rapidity. The
was keeping it there, will give in pro- probabilities are lliat such assertions
aif ciu.-uiuiuij niuiuuii lummaiuiii in
Tact. They are most frequently jn
dulged by those irresponsible speak
ers and writers wlio-if cot sensational
are torpid. Lancaster county has a
population or about seventy-five
thousand, about two-thirds or whom
reside in the city or Lincoln. The
records or the courts show that dur
ing the past ten years marriage
licenses have been issued and divorces
granted as follows:
portion as he has been prospered and
as he treasures the fame of his state,
we can perhaps convince Mrs. Stot
zenburg that Nebraska is not unmind
ful or ungrateful. Colonel Stotzei
burg was in the direct line of prt
niotion. IT he had lived no subscrip
tion would have been necessary as it
is now. If he had lived, the path of
glory lay as straight and plain berore
him as it lay before Ocneral Lawton
at the close or the civil war. The two
men were singularly alike in their
avoidance cr military ostentation,
their quick perception and action on
the battle field and the trust and con
fidence in them as leaders felt by
soldiers who had oeen with them in
battle.
Unless Colonel Stotzenburg had
made that last gallant charge across
the rice fields the less of lire would
have been very heavy. While bis
superior officers ordered a retreat
arter he bad run into the field where
the men .had lain Tor hours under a
burning sun, Colonel Stotzenburg or
dered them to run towards the Fil
pinos whose inability to stand a
charge be knew. The other officers
before his arrival were standing un
der the trees debating bow to extri
l.lfKNSKS MVOHCKS I'KK
ISSl'KII. liltAN'TKII. I'KNT.
18!M)-Xlfi. 7ti. 14.
191-570. lit. . 11.
1892-570. 105. ' IS.
18!tt-14. !f 15.
1 94-4 S. 55. 11.
1895471. 75. 1.1.
1S-:190. 51. i:t.
1S97 407. 74. J 5.
1898499. m. 13.
1890-545. 77. 14.
Total Total Avcr.ii.-c unmial
5,159. 7:18: 14.
These statistics do not indicate
that there has been any severe break
in the general levei of marriages and
divorces during a period or ten years.
Nor is there anything to indicate that
what has obtained here is not gen-
cate the men from their perilous eral throughout the states. There
position. When Stotzenburg came up appears to have been a marked in
he comprehended the situation and crease in divorces in 1892 over 191,
and a slight derrease In licenses is
sued . The year 1892, was phenomenal
in many resects. Iloth licenses issu
ed and divorces granted reached the
lowest stage in 189;.The horrors or the
crime or '7:i, never berore fully realiz
ed, so completely engrossed the at
tcnlion of miny ieop'e that year as
to cause some to forget their antici
pated plans while others became ob
livious of present misery. On the
whole there does not appear to be any
present necessity Tor amendment to
the divorce laws or the adoption or a
uniform system by all the states.
The Lincoln School Boaro.
In considering the subject or Eng
lish in the publi? schools or Lin
coln I regret that I have seemed to
under-rate the services of the present
school board. The board as a whole
is composed of scholarly men with a
single mind to the interests or the
schools. The system or education In
use at the present time does not edu
cate ninety-eight per cent or the
pupils. It' is nut- exacting to de
mand that the hair a million dollars
which eight years maintenance of
the grades costs this city should pre
pare the children fairly well for life,
that it should furnish them a work
ing knowledge of English. The sys
tem does not do this. Excluding all
the "natural spellers and writers'
who are r.tre, the average product of
eight years instruction in the Lin
coln schools has a very small vocab
ulary of words he can spell, he can
not, or does not use simple, accurate
English and his work as a clerk, as a
reporter and a a stenographer is, in
consequence, slovenly and unsatis
factory even to the least exacting
employer. J his system however i
not the invention of the Lincoln
school board. The same system,
with variations, is operating all over
the United States. Elsewhere also
the high school is considered as a pre
paratory sch-ol for a university or
college that an overwhelming pro
portion or the pupils never enter.
The public school system begins at
the top with the education or a rew
and works down, where it shou'd be
gin at the bottom and work up.
Every grade is a component part of
the system, but so far as it goes every
grade should bean integral part. As
it now is, the high school teachers
are doing grade work, and the uni
versity professors arc doing high
school work. After long encourage
ment of fads the pupil, whose parents
can afford to keep him in school,
arrives at that point of educational
progress where he begins to specialize.
This is just the point where previous
practice of five ringer exercises in
grammar, arithmetic, orthography
and geography will leave his atten
tion free to occupy itself with the
characteristic problems or science or
literature. But the system has uot
been disciplinary. His m:nd is rigid
and untrained and elementary know!-
