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THE COURIER.
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partruents of the Omaha Woman's
olub, the women's clubs are inactive
In summer. Individual members of tho
clubs utilize the prolonged sunlight of
xummcr to stud- the subject they
mean to lecture upon in the winter.
In the cast most clubs set themselves
a summer task, such as the establish
ment of play grounds or recreation
parks, and free kindergartens, the
conduct of sterilized milk stations or
the organization of fresh air excur
sions Nebraska club women, us a
whole, have not jet accepted the dis
covery that women's clubs are organ
ized to accomplish reforms which in
dividuals are not omnipresent and
strong enough to effect by themselves.
This sixth annual meeting signal
izes the growing sympathy between
Nebraska club women. It has been a
pleasant exporience to see again'the
faces and to hear again the voices of
the women of Nebraska from all over
the state, assembled to celebrate their
unity of purpose and interest in cul
tue and humanity. In the immedi
ate past "'fellow citizenship"' has not
been celebrated bj' women, but these
etate meetings are a demonstration of
a larger state and national citizen
ship that can not fail to strengthen
unity by proving it A common lan
guage, acceptance of the same form of
governniclti and the struggjc fora
livelihood under the same conditions
unite a people, but it deepens sym
pathy to come together and talk
about it.
A full report of the Federation, with
extracts from the papers read, will
be published in next week's Courier.
J J
Flower Pieces.
" Miss Mary E. Wilkins 's writing a
scries of short stories called Flower
Pieces. Tiie second one, called
'Prince's Feather," has just appeared
in Harper's Bazar. Prince's Feather
is that brilliant amaranthine .flower
that is sometimes called Love lies
bleeding, because its heavy red head
bends the stem down to the ground
at the point where it issues from the
earth. It .has a ,Uugh and fibrous
though slender, stalk. It has no flex
ibility, and does not bend in the mid
dle, gracefully and bowingly, as all
mortal plants should, but from the
point of contact with the earth, this
flower bends as a knife blade is shut
into the case. Frost, snow or lack of
moisture do not effect itscolor. When
the lovely rose is rotted, the ama
rantlLretains J ts .shape,, and. cheerful
color.
Miss Wilkins' young man is an
amaranth, a scentless absorbent of
sunshine and moisture, but u affect
ed by their absence, a human ama
rautu of perpetual, indom'table, gay
cty and brightness Mi& Wilkins'
artistry in the telling of a story is
apparent to the casual reader, but the
persistency of the impress on her
stories-make upon the mind, is testi
mony to her workmanship. Over and
over again her characters recur and
the mind trots along after them till
.stopped by the end of the story.
J J
The Army Canteen.
Before condemning President Mc
Kinlej for refusing to destroy the
canteen system, i"i is customary
among .the just to examine it- I he
canteen has been operated since 1889,
and succeeded the "post trader,'" who
bad taken the place of the 'sutler.
This last person is familiar to all the
veterans of the civil war. It is more
than likely they wnl remember a very
disagreeable person who sold adulter
ated liquors and foods at a profit or a
hundred percent. Tho post trader
established his store at the regular
army stations, and sold to whom and
as much whiskey as he chose. Under
the present system every military
post has a canteen now. which is
established 'at the d scrction of the
commanding officer, and carried on in
accordance with certain regulations
of the war department, under the
direct supervision of an officer of the
army and a board of officers known as
the post-exchange council."
The officer In charge buys the goods
and pays the bills, and upon his dis
crct'on and good judgment depends
the success of the p-st exchange.
"But in the exchange as in every
other business undertaking, the wants
of the patrons determine the kinds of
st'ck carried." Privates in the r gu
lary army are not the worst kind f
men, but, as a general thing, they are
nut recruited from the most cultured
classes. Tbey are in civil life un
skilled laborers on farms and streets
and city lawns They are ditch
ers and diggers. They drank beer
and whiskey until they joined the
army and yielded to the temperance
of the ''canteen." Absolutely all the
protits from the canteen are demoted
to the comfort and recreations of the
enl sted men. The canteen is called
'the enlisted man's club." And it is.
Although the privates buy at the can
teen, sandwiches, pies, etcetera, band
kerchiefs, ties, cio hing, groceries,
fruits, candies and beer at the market
price in the reg on where the post is
located, the profit on this merchan
dise ranges from twenty to 01 e hun
dred per cent, and it is all returned to
the privates in reading matter, bil
liard aud pool tables and bowling
alleys. All gambling is prohibited,
and in the bar-room no one is permit
ted to carry away any beer, which is
the only nquorsold. OJya limited
quantity can be consumed by one
soldier. There is no temptation to
sell an intoxicating quantity to one
man, for the penalty is severe, and
the seller profiteth not.
Almost all the officers in the regular
army have staled officially that to do
away with the canteen would encour
.aga disobedience, for the men will
have beer, and tiiey assert that the
canteen has lessened the number of
courts-martial for such offenses asab
sence without leave and drunkenness.
Prohibition will not prohibit unless a
majority of the prohibited favor total
abstinence.
The Sixth Annual Meeting.
The Nebraska Federation of Wo
men's Oiubs met for the sixth time on
the ninth, tenth and eleventh of this
mouth of October, in Lincoln, in the
auditorium of the First Congrega
tional church.
'1 he Federation is the guest of the
federated clubs of Lincoln, viz: the
Lincoln Woman's Club, Sorosis, Lotos,
Fortnightly. New Book Review, Cen
tury and Hall in the Grove. I he
local board of arrangement and re
ception is composed of the presidents
of these clubs, and Mrs. H M. Busb
nells president of the Woman's Club,
is chairman of this board
The members of the New Book Re
view and Century ciUbs met the
guests at the train and conducted
them to the First Congregational
church, where they were registered
and received their badges Comm t
tees from the Woman's club were at
the church to greet the strangers
and to give auy needed assistance.
Sorosis, w.th Mrs. M. D. Welcn, chair
man, arranged for the housing of del
egates. Many Lincoln women, not
memoers or clubs, assisted in the en
tertainment Lotos and Fortnightly,
Mrs C. H Gere, cliairma-, were in
charge or the reception given n
Wednesday evening at the governor's
mansion
Hie question of entertainment has
been satisfactorily settled by the
assignment of delegates and outof
town speakers to volui tee ring host
esses, who lodge their guests and give
them breakfasts. The other two
American meals of the day, called
dinner and supper, or luncheon and
dinner, according to the sophistica
tion of the household, are provided by
a hotel or restaurant or by a church
society, and to serve the delegates at
a nominal cost. This year's delegates
were served by the ladies of the First
Congregational church, The plan is
much better than the old one of quar
tering the delegates and visitors on
resident club women, and thus pre
venting them from attending the
meetings themselves. The arrange
ments for the week included lunch
eons, dinners, the large reception in
the gubernatorial residence and many
smaller functions. By Friday most
o'the delegates had left the city, a
happy, tired, but stimulated, regi
ment of women. The full report of
the meetings is deferred until
next week's paper in order tbat 'it
may be comprehensive and more in
accordance with the laws of perspec
tive whicii govern reports as well as
pictures. These laws require that an
event like the meeting of the Feder
ation be cons dered as a whole first.
As The Courier forms are nearly made
up before the meeting concludes, such
a vie.v is difficult to obtain this week.
J J
Diplomacy.
The democrats of Baltimore coin
pl in that they can not secure a down
town room for headquarters, on ac
count of the unwarranted prejudice
of landlords against Bryan in that
city. On the other hand Mr. Richard
Croker, Croker of New York, has
hired every hall In that city for every
evening from the 16th of October to
the Gth of November, so that the re
publicans cannot hold any meetings.
O.ie of the Baltimore landlords, the
president of a savings bank, when re
proached for not renting his room to
democrats, said according to William
E. i"urMs of The Record, that any
McKinley organization could use
it free of cost, but that he would nut
rent it to a Bryan club for 81,000 a
day. The committee met with a sim
ilar reception when they endeavored
t lease what is known as the 'Hamil
ton Easter building. The owner re
fused even to consider a preposition,
and told them that they could not
have bis building at any price. They
next endea.'ored to secure a lease
through an agency, but the owners
suspected something and demanded
to know the purpose for which the
building was to be used.
J J
Defeat or Dishonor.
Tbe republicans ol Lancastercounty
are at this time confronted with con
ditions which demand serious consid
eration. At the legislative session
of 199, D E. lhiimpson went into
tbe republican caucus and there for
nearly sixty days, by ail the arts of
politicians of his calibre, sought to
become the party's candidate for
United States senator. His ambition
was not gratified, and immediately
upon the nctiou of the caucus being
made public, he united vith tbe
fusion leaders, political enemies of
the republican party, in :m attempt
to defeat the e'ection of the caucus
nominee, Honorable M. L Hay ward.
Shortly after that attempt proved
abortive, it wa- publicly charged that
Thompson was a party to it. The
Journal of March 10 1899 said: "Sev
era! men were seen yesterday who
claimed to have held in their hands
the proposition offeree by D. E
lhompson to the fusionists if they
would make him senator. They claim
that he agreed to practically every
thing in their platform, with the ex
ception of sixteen to one, and besides
promised to keep out of republican
caucuses, to make Benton Maret his
secretary, and to do all in his power
to turn over the citv of Lincoln and
the county of Lancaster to tbe fusion
party." Under that charge Thomp
son remained silent. What man who
placed any value upon his honor would
remai j silent under such a charge if
it was falser Never since the affida
vits of fourteen reputable men were
published last June to .the effect that
Thompson did enter into an agree
ment with the fusionists, having for
its object the defeat of Judge Hay
ward, in which he pledged Ins solemn
word of honor tbat if he was made
senator by the votes of the fusionists
he would oppose measures advocated
by republicans and remain out of re
publican caucuses, has he published a
word in explanation or denial. And
now he is again a candidate f ir sen
ator. Richard O'Neill, John J. Trom
pen. A. W. Lane, John H. Mockett,
Jr., C R. Tefft. E J. Shellhorn and
.Charles J. Warner, legislative candi
dates from this county, are eacli add
all pledged to vcte for him. Resting
upon such a pledge ought they to be
elected? If, arter his defeat. Thomp
son had exhibited loyalty, acquiesced
in the action of the caucus to which
he submitted his candidacy, and again
become a candidate for s-nator, could
he have asked more from the legisla
tive delegation from this county than
its united support? Having been a
willing party to a perfidious attempt
to defeat the party's choice as ex
pressed by its regularly constituted
organization, is he now entitled to
the same reward from republicans
that he might have asked had he sup
ported the republican nominee?
Shall Rosewater and 'I hompson re
serve to themselves the right to bolt
party nominations whenever they
choose and insist upon fealty when
ever it suits them to become candi
dates for office? Are the Lewers of
wi-od and the drawers of water in the
republican party, its rank and file, to
be denied the right to denounce, to
execrate, to punish by their votes,
men whose personal ambition is their
license for any and every act of
treachery to the republican partv;
who never felt an impulse of party
fidelity; who have no taste for the re
ality or an image or representation of
political virtue? The time has come,
as it may nver come again, to confer
upon such apostates, who care no
more for the party than does a dog
for the bone it gnaws, whose purpose
ii to ruin when and where they can
not rule, their fitting reward. No
self respecting republican who prizes
fidelity above perfidy will vote for one
of the legislative candidates whose
purpose is to vot2 for D E. Thompson
for United States senator. To punish
treason to tne party now means more
to the republican party of this county
than the election of ten United States
senators.
How Many Miss It!
At fast, fortune rapped at bis door.
"Whoever it is, 8y I'm out," growled
Harduppe. as he retreated to' bis pri
Vdte office. Town Topics.
"l'ou ought to be ashamed of your
Belf," said Mrs. Bntson, indignantly
"Vou have buu diunk every night but
Wednesday."'
"I know it," replied Batson.apoloietic
a'lly. "I ras sick Wednesday." Town
Topics.
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