The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, January 19, 1901, Image 1

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    L.XVI., NO. Ill
ESTABLISHED IN 1886
PRICE FIVE CENTS
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LINCOLN. NBBR.. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19.1001.
THE COURIER,
KaraXDIN THK POSTOFTICB AT LINCOLN At
8BCOMD CLASS MATTES.
PUBLISHED EVEBY 8ATUBDAY
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TIE GOORIER PRINTING AND POBLISHlNfi GO
Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs.
Telephone 384.
SARAH B. HABHI8. . Editor
Subscription Rates.
Per annum 1 50
8ix moDtha 1 uo
fifty per cent discount for cash payments.
Single copies 05
The Cockier will not be responsible for rol
untary communications unless accompanied by
return tfosUgo.
Communications, to receive attention, must
be sixned by tne foil name of the writer, not
merely as a guarantee of rood faith, bnt for
-publication if advisable.
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An Hallucination.
Id the last ten days of tbe picture
exnibit hung in the art gallery of the
state university, by the Western Art
Association, adult patrons were un
able to enjoy the pictures on account
of te presence of children under
picture age. I know it is a darling
belief, held by those who do not ob
serve children closely, or observing,
idealize tbem, that all children are
elevated and cultivated by a momen
tary view of good pictures. 1 have
closely observed the public school
children at. the art gallery in the last
week of the exhibit. There is occa
sionally a boy or girl of eleven or
a precocious child of eight who ap
pears to be impressed and appears to
be making a comparative study of 'he
exhibit. A large number of the chil
dren stand with their backs to the
pictures swaying on the ropes which
keep them from feeling and smelling
of the trees, water, still-life and fig
ures on the walls. In the eyes of an
other large part of the children as
they enter the hall, dawns, an imme
diate appreciation of the splendid
proportions of the gallery and the
smooth floor 'howbeit encumbered by
the immovable bulk of grown people)
as a running track. Some of the boys
without glancing at the pictures,
which their parents have paid a dime
lor them to see, arrange a race and
agree to terms. The race is no sooner
started than stopped by the unsympa
thetic teachers who do not compre
heud that the boys have found a run
ning track such as they have dreamed
of, but have never hoped to enjoy.
Children are fascinated by the sight
of money and the young man at the
door who receives the tickets was
continually surrounded by littl
children listening eagerly to the
clink of the silver coins, counting the
piles of dimes and quarters and specu
lating on the enormous income of the
young man. Meanwhile severa'
games of grab a-hat-and-run and tag
were in progress all over the large
room whenever the children were
there.
Most of the pictures were beyond
the comprehension of the young chil
dren. The dog and cat pictures be
ing the only ones to receive spon
taneous, uninfluenced commendation
from them. If it were possible to
hold an exhibit keyed just a little
above a child's taste the school chil
dren would be benefited. But as it is,
it is very hard on the teachers who
are anxious that their children should
get out of the exhibit just what im
plement, gushers say may be ex
tracted by a proper application of
pictures to a child. Tnese pictures
are like classical music. If one or
two were hung in the school room, or
where the children might see them in
moments of enforced repose for a num
ber of years, the effect upon their
taste, upon their appreciation of color,
values, composition and drawing,
would be permanent. But these ex
hibits except in the case of the ex
ceptional child, where the children
are sociably herded into a large room
obviously and originally designed for
p!ay, do them no good. The annoy
ance of noise to patrons who wish to
examine the pictures, and to the
members of the art class, who are
copying them, is of little consequence,
of course, if the children are benefited
as much as the art expositors say
they are, and personally the sight of
the children and their naive remarks
when they forget to say what they
have been taught, is the most inter
esting part of the show to me. But my
observation of the children in the
four or five annual exhibits indicates
that they consider the pictures a bore
but welcome the opportunity of get
ting out of school and making a win
ter picnic out of the hallucinations of
their elders. A mother of an only
child remarked lately while receiving
an afternoon call that her son had
remarkablediscrimination and picked
out the best picture in the gallery
immediately, and without being led
to it. Then the son came in and the
mother directed him to change his
clothes as she intended to take him
with her into town. "Well," he an
swered, "I'll go down town with you.
but you don't get me up to that pic
ture gallery again."
jt
Quisante.
Anthony Hope's other books are
stirring tales, to be read at a sitting.
This one, Quisante, is a book of men
tal questions and answers. It is dif
ficult to acquire an interest in the
characters, and afterwards to keep it
alive to the end of tbe book. Mr.
Hope has, in all probability, met
Henry James, who has told him what
bad form it is to write interesting
books. So this is entirely without
the dramatic quality Mr. Hope has
given us reasons to expect from him.
The hero, Quisante, is an orator and
a politician. He is one of those gifted
political beings furnished with the
insight to see what course and what
beliefs will interfere with his career
and unscrupulous enough to recant
any belief and desert any friend the
people who vote for him object to,
and besides he recanted and deserted
gracefully, as though the acts of re
nunciation were prompted by an
inner light. Quisante possessed what
every great orator must, the power of
being greatly moved by the expres
sion of his own opinions, or rather by
those he thinks bis majorities desire
him to hold. He is described as hav
ing inspired moments, when his sub
jpet gets possession of him and he is
ao!e to make converts. In one of
these moments one of the guests of
his host whom he has fascinated, is a
young woman with whom Quisante
has fallen in love. She lias despised
him for his bad manners and for his
lack of principle, but she comes under
the spell. We have to take Mr.
Hope's word for Quisante. He tells
us that he is clever. We never see
him clever. He does not allow him to
exert his fascinations upon the read
er. Nobody cares for him or his wife.
Mr. Hope puts a case: Suppose a
beautiful, desirable much courted wo
man falls in love with an unscrupu
lous, statesman with vicious instincts,
wh will lie, get money under false
pretenses, and who will destroy an
innocent man's reputation for his
own gain. Suppose the hero-villain
loves the woman who finally marries
him. Suppose she is one of the chil
dren of light and eschews deceit.
Suppose after she is married, loyalty
towards her husband compels her to
endorse his lies and reenforce his
statements. Will she continue to
love him? Anthony Hope explains
that Quisante's genius, which the
reader knows only by hearsay, com
pels his wife's allegiance, though she
fears him and is horrified by his
vices and is only really satisfied
with her choice when lie is making a
speech. If Anthony Hope were not
the author it is doubtful if many
would have the perseverance to per
sist in the perusal of Quisante. The
book is not in the form of a diary, but
it might as well be. It is concerned
with the fluctuating love and loath
ing of May Quisante for her husband.
It is a long garrulous tale of woe by a
strange woman we do not care for.
It would be a policeman's duty to lis
ten to her, or an agent of the cha-ity
organization society might be induced
to give her the time, on account of
his sociological studies, but Anthony
Hope has disdained, though be knows
how, to make her interesting, and
readers who read for recreation and a
love of literature who finish tbe book
because they bought it, will not rec
ommend it to their friends, unless
they belong to that class of practical
jokers who express a satisfaction with
a purchase they do not feel in- order
that they may have companions in
chagrin.
A Bank Receiver.
Excellent reports arc received from
Rutland in regard to Mr. D. D. MuirV
conduct of the funds and resources of
the Merchants' National bank of Rut
land Vermont. The reports do Justice
to Mr. Muir's knowledge of banking,
good judgment in rapidly closing up
the affairs of an insolvent bank,
and are another confirmation of
the discrimination and discretion
of the Comptroller, Mr. Charles
G. Dawes, who appointed Mr. Muir.
The Rutland Evening News edited by
Mr Charles T. Fairfield, formerly of
Lincoln, in the issue of January !,
1901, says:
The twenty-five per cent diidend
disbursed this week by Receiver D. 1)1
Muir of the looted Merchants Nation
al bank of Rutland amounts to nearly
180,000. A previous dividend of fifty
per cent has been paid and.it is more
than likely that nearly, if not quite,
twenty-five percent more will be real
ized before this rotten and unfortu
nate financial incident in this city is
closed. This means that .already,
within less than ten months since
the bank was closed and the frightful
looting of its funds by Cashier Mussey
was discovered, nearly a quarter of a
million of dollars have been realized
upon the assets of the institution and
paid out by the receiver. Consider
ing all the circumstances the owners
of the 1320,000 in deposits at the bank
when it closed have suffered mini
mum inconvenience and deprivation.
The work has been done in afairly re
markable way.
This quick liquidation and straight
ening out of an almost inextricable
tangle has been due to two or three
noteworthy facts. In the first place,
the delegation by the Comptroller of
the Currency of Mr. Muir to the task
was the best selection that could have
been made. Without fear or favor he
has prosecuted his dillicult mission of
saving the depositors everv dollar
possible out of the wreck. His long
banking experience and unswerving
devotion to duty have stood him in
good stead. Secondly, the stockhold
ers have come to the front heroically
and, fortunately or otherwise, have
had the ability to pay to a larger de
gree than anyone anticipated the full
assessment on their shares. To pay
the assessment has caused many a
stockholder "actual deprivation. Of
the 3100,000 stock, more than 100,000
has been paid on the assessment and
probably ninety-five per cent will
eventually be realized. The most san
guine at the outset did not dare to
predict that over eighty-five percent
would be paid in. Thirdly, the loans
of the directors of the bank must
necessarily have been of the most part
gilt-edged, or it would have been out