The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, November 09, 1901, Page 5, Image 5

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    THE CO UK TEE
lts present intensity if an anti-domestic
feeling were not in the background.
Vo many girls have to work? Is it
1 M when the daughter of a man in
comfortable circumstances goes to
work in a store or office merely tint
she may have more money to spend on
clothing? Has not the mother a right
to have her help in the home?
Dignity is needed in the modern
homer and that can be secuied only
through public sentiment manifested
in institutions where housework may
be taught as other professions and
trades are taught. American women
re ciever, practical, large-hearted, and
they will soon see what our present
trend is leading to, and will meet the
Question. women a uuus nc iikihiub
women less seliish, more social, and are
helping to build up the right home sen-
1 jja the discussion following the ad
dress, -Mrs. Sawyer used a particularly
forcible comparison. She said: "Mem
bers of a family are too often like
beans in a sack instead of being united
eo closely that when one member is
touched all the others ibrate."
The next meeting of the home de
partment will be held on Wednesday.
November 20th. The subject will be
"Diess," with Mrs. Patrick for leader.
OUR STORIES
M-MIIl VSKA NEWSPAPIMIS.
It seems, when one first thinks of it,
that there are only a few newspaper
names in current use; but a small in
vestigation has shown that the 60b
publications listed for Nebraska in last
June havi over 150 different titles
among them. An examination of the
list shows some curious things, throw
ing light also on the workings of some
newspaper men's minds. Every name
had a reason for being at one time.
The most frequently occurring name
in Nebraska is News. There are thirty
seven Newses. Next come thirty-four
Journals. These are both excellent
names. They tell the story exactly. The
News aims to tell what has happened,
and the Journal to keep a daily rec
ord. Both names are beyond criticism.
Next in number are Republicans, ot
which Nebraska has twenty-nine.
There are also sixteen Democrats, thir
teen Independents, one Independent
Democrat, and two Populists.
A great many of the names have a
bearing on the supposed mission of the
publication. Some have distinct refer
ence to journalism, some have not. We
find no less than twenty-six Heralds,
accompanied by one Trumpet, one Bu
gle, and two Clarions. Quite a number
assume to be judges and leaders in their
communities; there are twenty Tri
bunes, and one Tribunal, two Pilots,
three Monitors, one Friend, one Plain
Dealer, two Criterions, fourteen Lead
ers, eleven Advocates, three Teachers
and one Practical Educator. Those who
adhere most closely to facts are the
twenty-two Times', eight Kecords, six
Chronicles, seventeen Gazettes, eleven
Reviews, ten Registers, two Tran
scripts, four Bulletins, two News Rec
ords, three Indexes, one Recorder and
one Local.
Some profess a degree of humility
before their patrons; there are fifteen
Couriers, three Messengers, four Ex
presses and one Newsboy. Others go
to the opposite extreme, as the two
Champions, three Chiefs and one Chief
tain. Still other views of the sphere to
be filled are indicated by the eleven Re
porters, two News Reporters and one
Editor, two Graphics, seven Advertis
ers, one Teller, one Painter, two Visi
tors, one Call and one Echo. A peculiar
bent of some minds is implied by three
Beacons, one Beacon Light, one Head
light, three Observers, one Watchman,
six Sentinels, two Videttes. one Picket,
three Signals, and one Telescope. The
martial spirit is not lacking; we have
fcur Blades, seven Standards, one Ban
ner, one Veteran, and one Free Lance.
Returning to journalism, we find
eight Presses, four Free Presses, one
Nonpareil, three Telegraphs, one Tele
gram, one Dispatch, one Phonograph,
one Quill, one Faber. two Ledgers, and
one Items. There Is one who is con
tent to be known as an Exchange mere
ly, three who unblushingly proclaim
themselves Clippers and one Rustler.
We are only beginning to get among
the curiosities. There are seven Ar
guses and one Eye; sixteen Suns, six
Stars, three Worlds and one Globe:
sixteen Enterprises, two Advances, two
Progresses, and one Excelsior, and on
the other hand six Posts, six Eagles,
three Bees of all kinds and one Wasp:
on Primitive Christian and one Hoof
and Horn, three Mirrors and one Look
ing Glass.
For patriotism, we have two straight
Patriots, six Citizens, one Statesman,
two Unions, one Republic and one Na
tion. For vocation, five Farmers, one
Granger, one Yeoman, one Workman,
one Worker, one Laborer, and one
oiockman. There are three Eras, two
New Eras and a Coming New Era.two
Homesteads, an Inter Ocean, a Fron
tier, six Pioneers and a Pioneer Grip,
whatever that may be; three Breezes,
a Blizzard and two Waves; a Locomo
tive and a Hub. a Mercury, which per
haps should be listed with the cUpnf'rs
and rustlers; and a Grit and a Quiz.
Morton's Conservative.
The Dregs of the Cup.
He sat at his desk, his head resting
on his arms and a weight of unutter
able bitterness in his soul. Before him
were two letters. One was from his
father and one was from a girl. A
cruel chance had brought them to him
in the same mail. They were not nice
letters, and he had not enjoyed reading
them. Ills father's was very short. It
said:
"You have chosen to like everything
which your home training and In
fluence should have taught you to ab
hor. You have chosen to drift away
from and ignore my lessons. You have
chosen vile men and women for your
companions. In short, you have done
everything that common decency and
filial obedience forbade. This is to let
you know that you are no longer my
son. In your future life you must look
to yourself. You will get no help from
your mother or me. Your allowance
will be stopped at once, and I wish
never to see you in my house again."
The girl's letter was still shorter.
"I loved you and I trusted you. My
confidence was perfect. I cannot think
how you you of all men could have
sunk so low. Was it kind of you to
keep silence and let me think myself
engaged to the creature you have be
come? I pray God that I shall never
see you again."
The boy read and reread these let
ters, and at every reading the iron
sank deeper into his soul. There was
justice in each rebuke and he knew it.
although in his unenlightened mind he
could not see why his punishment
must be so bitter. He had only done
what the rest of the fellows were do
ing. He had held his peace until his
money gave out. and then had waited
for the first of the month and his
check from home. His deeds were not
criminal. They were no worse than
those of his companions. Tn truth, he
was. if anything, better than they. He
had been called a prig, and on one oc
casion a "sissy" for his squcamishness.
He was no worse than any one else.
And why should he be punished? Yet
his punishment had come: a cruel, un
just punishment, he thought.
In his poor foolish brain there was
but one idea His life was over. He
looked back upon the twenty-three
years he had spent on earth and con
fessed to himself that he had made a
miserable botch of living. He began to
reison out his situation: His father
and mother had cast him off. The onn
irirl on earth of whom he could think
decent thoughts had done the same. He
was destitute. He had no money, nor
had he the earning capacity. A liberal
allowance had led to years of indiscre
tion: the consciousness of his father's
wealth and the knowledge that he
would never be compelled to work for
hi ; living had engendered habits or
laziness. He was mentally incapable
of concentrating himself, and physi
rallv lacking the stamina necessary for
work. He realized that if thrown upon
his own resources and compelled to
earn his own living, he would be help
loss He drew the loo-, change from
his pockets and counted it. Thirteen
dollars In three days the first of the
month would come, and with it bills
innumerable. He could not even pay
his room rent. He would have to give
t.r. his rooms. He would lose his furni
ture his books and all the precious
knick-knacks that he had gathered
around him.
He began to review his transgres
sions trving to look upon them impar
tiallv and trving to decide whether, m
the "sight of God and man. his punish
ment was equitable. In the heat of
his self-argument and the agony of his
repentance he misjudged himself, mak
in" his peccadilloes crimes and his
crimes imperishable sin. Then he tried
to think of his redeeming qualities, but
thev were such misty, intangible things
tint he gave it up. and concluded that
he was all bad-a child of sin. a moral
leper, with no future and no past-a
thing set apart from the world and
Iming no place in it.
When he had reasoned thus far the
right and the wrong of the case were
hopelessly muddled In his brain. He
could not see the points of considera
tion to which he was entitled, nor the
Injustice of his father's hasty Judg
ment, nor could he read between the
lines of ills sweetheart's letter and note
the theatrical joy with which she had
welcomed the opportunity of writing
such a tragic note. "Just like a novel."
she had said.
He only saw himself In the light or
his father's displeasure and his own
relentless conscience. And he was so
unhappy and distressed in mind and
body that there appeared to him but
one way of ending his trouble, and that
was by ending himself; by resigning
the unequal contest with time and tak
ing up Ills struggle with eternity.
He sat at his desk a long time think
ing It all out. At length, when he
straightened up and stretched his
cramped arms, he had made up his
mind.
Opening a drawer or his desk he took
out a idle of letters, which he tossed
into the empty grate and set on lire.
They burned slowly and he turned
them over and over with the poker to
let air in and aid combustion. Every
now and then the llames would light
up a letter and bring some phrase into
view. He could not help watching for
these illuminations and reading stray
sentences, although every word that he
was able to decipher made him wince.
The letters were almost consumed
when he reached up to the mantle and
took down a photograph of a coarse
looking girl with a damnatory dedica
tion written across its back. He threw
this in witli the letters.
When the pile of ashes in the grate
informed him that his work was done,
he went to his bureau and took from a
drawer an ominous-looking blued steel
revolver, -with five greasy, leaden mes
sengers of destruction peering from its
cylinders.
He sat down In an arm-chair and put
the revolver to his temple. The small
circle of steel against his llesh gave
him an eerie feeling. He removed it.
put the barrel in Ills mouth, trying to
think what his sensations would be as
the bullet crashed through his brain and
spattered gray matter on the walls and
ceiling. Then he put the revolver down
and decided that death by a pistol ball,
though instantaneous and probably
painless, was not neat, and he wanted
to look neat when they found him.
He thought of chloroform. He had
been under its influence once, and the
recollection of its sickening, choking
odor came to him with disagreeable
vividness. No, chlorform would not
do. He had heard that prussic acid
was the quickest and deadliest poison
of all. but he had none.
It seemed an easy thing to take lire,
yet he was not finding it so easy, alter
all. Seneca and some of the other vic
tims of Nero opened their veins and
died in a hot bath. He almost decided
on that, but he put away the idea n-hen
he thought of the shock to the person's
feelings who would see him lying there
in the discolored bath tub, half covered
with bloody water.
It was late at night and he was
brain-weary with so much worrying.
Half unconsciously he commenced to
undress, all the time trying to decide
the question of how to kill himself.
When he absent-mindedly crawled into
bed he was still in doubt, and before
he had come to any satisfactory con
clusion he fell asleep. William James
Cotiin. in Truth.
f .?
,V t.-
A Modern Love Story.
"I love you."
This is the only way to begin a love
story. Long-winded descriptions of the
hero and heroine, or ornate accounts
or what the landscape looked like,
whether it snowed, rained, hailed and
which way the wind blew, were all well
enough, but the time has gone by for
that. What we crave now Is action,
and something left to the imagination.
So that when Pellington Piker said
what he did say in our brilliant opening,
he wasted no further words, but clasped
to his clerky breast the rich heiress.
whom two weeks before he had met at
Dune-Dune-by-the-Sen. and whom he
had tracked to her house or rather
palace on upper Fifth avenue.
"I know it," said Mildred Goldbonds.
ns she yielded swiftly to his loving em
brace, "and I love you. but what are
we to do? You nre too poor even to
think or supporting yourseir In the style
to which I have been accustomed, while
I am rich beyond the dreams or avarice,
nnd or course, there Is a wide gulf be
tween us. and papa would scorn you, I
know. But stay! I have an Idea. He
Is even now In the next room, talking
stocks. I will listen, and find out what
Is going up. Papa, as you know. Is the
head or eight railroad systems, and
knows all about It. Do not move until
I return."
It seemed hours to Pellington I'lkei.
as he sat with his feet on the eight
thousand dollar rug and waited, but In
reality it was only ten minutes before
the girl he lo-.ed threw herself once
more Into his arms.
"Darling." she cried, "we are saved!
Can you raise any money for margin?"
"I can mortgage my salary Tor two
years ahead." said Pellington. "That
will be a thousand dollars."
"Splendid!" replied Mildred. "I lie.iri"
papa say that tomorrow they will push
up Pumpkin Consolidated one hundred
points. He said It was a snap, and the
chance of a lifetime. We are saved!"
The next night at the same hour Pel
lington Piker stood In the same room.
But what a change was there, from the
hopeful young man who had left her.
to this pale, emaciated creature who
took both of her hands In his and
sobbed even as he spoke.
"It's all over, darling." he said. ' I
mortgaged my salary, pawned my few
effects, borrowed all the little wealth of
my aged mother and put It In Pumpkin
Con!!uated. which dropped two hun
dred points in two hours. I am
ruined."
At this moment Mildred's father en
tered the room.
"What's this I hear about Pumpkin
Consolidated?" he said. "You haven't
been playing that game, have you?"
His daughter, with tears in her eyes,
confessed all. "It was our only chance
to get married, papa dear." she said,
"as I knew- you would never consent to
a poor man. And I overheard what you
said last night."
Her father smiled grimly.
"Why. I only did that." he said, "to
get rid of my butler. He was getting
too fresh on the tips he had heard from
me and the money he had made, and I
fired that off last night about Pumpkin
Consolidated just to get rid of him.
And to think you should have heard it!
Ha! I said Pumpkin was going up.
Poor fellow! How you must have been
soaked."
"I lost everything." said Pellington
Piker, bravely trying to smile.
"Never mind!" said the old man. It
was my fault, and I ought to make It
up to you. Even a railroad magnate
has a conscience. Be my office boy for
six months and keep your ears open,
and then you will be rich enough to
marry my daughter."
All's well that ends well. Tom Ma
son, in New York Life.
.? JV .?
.- Vs -
Two Good Sayings.
Anyone who has much to do with
young men who are earning their first
money, is likely to be painfully aware
how many of them think nothing of
borrowing small sums here and there
which they find It hard to repay. This
is nothing new, however. Benjamin
Franklin had the same state of things
in his mind when he said: "Better go
to bed supperless than rie in debt."
To the same purpose Is the story of the
broom dealer In the old books "A
proud, lazy young fellow came to him
for a besom upon trust; to whom the
old man said: 'Friend, hast thou no
money? Borrow of thy back, and bor
row of thy belly; they'll ne'er ask thee
again, whereas I shall be dunning thee
every day.' " The Conservative.
.? .? .?
tlT .. rf
He It seems as if I had loed you
forever.
She Well, it is nearly three weeks.