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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1901)
iCIMSB5MBtX3aES IS TIIK roTKLEK t l. ,it the home oT .Mrs. Garten, Decern )t.r sixth, at which time .Mrs. Sawyer has kindly consented to give her paper on The Ethics of Home, which will he followed by a discussion by all on tiie subject. ft ft ft Daughters of the American Revolu tion, Deborah Avery Chapter, will en tertain In honor of the Nebraska so ciety of the Sons of the American Rev olution Wednesday evening. December 4, .,t the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Ss.wyer, 1718 F street. This gathering Is In commemoration of Washington's retirement from the army, December 4. 17S3. The program, devoted to special Incidents of the revolutionary war, will be presented by the Nebraska society of the Sons of the American Revolution, ans is as follows: Paper John Paul Jones and the founding of the American navy: Com patriot H. Olney Paine. Recitation "Old Ironsides." Reading "The Sea Fight," from Kichard Carvel. Debate "The execution of Andre Was it justifiable?" Affirmative, Com patriot .1. 11. Daniels, negative. Com patriot, Kuscoe Pound. Song "Hail Columbia." Paper The war outside of America; Compatriot S. P. Funkhoiiser. Hymn "America." The music will be under the leader ship of Mrs. II. R. Ward, who also will render a solo appropriate to the occasion. Miss Lillie Anderson will read. The regular monthly meeting of the chapter has been postponed until Fri day, January 3. -V .? . ." fT r," An interestingly artistic year book from the Ossoli club of Highland Park. Illinois, announces three former Lincoln women on Its programs. Mrs. Francis D. Everett, formerly Mrs. Elizabeth II. Rowen of this city, is president of the club. Miss Kate Stoddard will read a paper on "The Art or the Elizabethan Period." and Mrs. Mary Manning will give readings from Julius Caesar at one of the meetings. '-' V "c- The home department will meet next Wednesday at ten o'clock. Mrs. W. I). FitzGcrald will lead. Subject. Social Duties and Obligations. Hospitality In the Home." - -v -' The art department of the Woman's club will meet next Wednesday at half after two. Subject will be "American Illustrators." - .v .': .- ,i- t- A Commonplace Hero Ity Mary Turner Harris. A happy, ragged newsboy whistled merrily as he walked along, for it was Thanksgiving day and he had an ad mission ticket to it free Thunksglvlng dinner in his pocket. This dinner was to be an event in bis life; for he had never tasted turkey, and the idea of having two kinds of pie at one meal was almost more than he could comprehend. As he hurried along his face fell when he noticed a small girl, even more ragged than himself, sitting on the curbstone, crying softly to herself. He did not stop, however. Tir fellers'll eat all that turkey. If 1 stop," he thought. He walked more slowly, though and stopped whlsllng. At the next block he turned around and looked back Irresolutely. "Guess I'll go and see what's the matter. I can hurry. I'm early anyhow." With this In his mind he ran back. "Say, Mag, what's the mutter?" "Dad died yesterday, and I ain't hail nothing to eat since." she said between sobs. "Well say now. that's ton bail, but l'e had luck this morning. Here's a nickel, maybe that will help you out: or" his faoe grew more thoughtful then he frowned and held out the nick el which she accepted Joyously. He watched her for a minute as Mi ran down the street, then ran after her, calling "I.ookey here! Say! I for got about this. Here's a ticket to a big Thanksgiving dinner. They're going to have turkey and two kinds of pie. Vou can keep the nickel, ltetter hurry or you'll be late to dh.ner. Goodbye." ft ft ft Reiiham Why did that woman keep jou standing at the door for half an hour? Mrs. Renliam She said she hadn't time to come In. ?fe i&l filmed - - SOME MEN WHO HAVE BEEN MAYORS Sketches Reminiscent of the Administrations of H. W. Hardy and R. B. Graham When They Were at the Head of Lincoln's Municipal Government. Jt II. V. HARDY V. Selecting Lincoln as his home m 1S70 H. W. Hardy has not only been in po sition to watch the development Of the city and state, but has contributed a certain fibre to it himself. IJy his one time enthusiastic loyalty to the side of Mxteen-to-one and his once active and still fervent adherence to the prohibi tion question, he Is well known. For two successive terms he served the city as its chief executive, his first election coming in the year of 1S77. In those days the city boasted of a popu lation of not more than 15,000 but it was In the depression of debt. War rants were worth only about 95 cents n the dollar. Mr. Hardy went to work with a zealous determination to reduce the debt and place the city once more n a stable foundation without an in crease in taxes. He succeeded, too. and when the day came that saw the city on a solid foundation and with an easy "surplus he reigned in his executive seat f with a feeling of no little joy. One Incident of his mayoralty on which he turns back with warrantable pride was an illegal act but one which was highly approved by the business men of the city and all with whom he talked or consulted. This was the con tribution from the city funds of $1,000 o be used In the construction of a better foundation Tor the university. With the assurance that he could get an appropriation from the next legisla ture with which to reimburse the city '" turned over the money. When the legislators convened he was advised that an appropriation was to be made for the capitol and the business men who feared that, unless this appropri ation were made without cloud or counter clamor, the capitol might be transferred to Omaha, persuaded him to defer presentation of the claim. So it went, term after term. Some part or feature of the new capitol must be provided for and he was advised to withhold his claim a lit 1 1 - w.iile. The mil was. the claim is still un paid and is likely to continue so This appropriation to the univer sity was made during the second tt-in of Mr. Hardy and it was hi joyous privilege to proclaim that with this outlay $5,000 in surplus rusained in the city treasury and all the ity debts were paid. And not a word in condemnation of the :.p;r priation has come to his ears since. One event of his administration i is una i tie cans nepioratue. tie w is' es it had never happened and that it could be undone. This was the establishment of the scheme of high license. In working for Jl.iieo a year license for the saloons he .-is approved by ids conscience and by the prohibition men of the time but he says he has seen his mistake for long and is sorry. In explanation he rays the prospect of this amount of money pooling into the treasury each j ear. say from forty saloons, acts as a bribe to the voter who otherwise would not tolerate a saloon by his vote. He has the false idea, says Mr. Hardy, that the city ought not or cannot af ford to sacrifice this license money and so the saloons are perpetuated, not only in the city and in Nebraska, but all over the union, more or less, where the high license idea has been adopted. Of present day conditions compared with the past Mr. Hardy thinks there is reckless extravagance in city manage ment. His opinion is that the city could get along fully as well in the fu ture as it does now with a third less expense and that "no one would feel the difference but the thieves." He also thinks the council should be estab lished on a no-salary basis. "The city is well treated by the sehoI board, much better than it is dealt with by the council, for the reason that the board works for honor and not for pelf." he says. In Wyoming county. New York. Mr. Hardy was born in the year 1S2.". Very recently he passed his seventy-sixth anniversary. While yet in New York state he served on the school board, as town and county superintendent and as justice of the peace. After spending some time in Aurora he came to Lin coln ib 1S70. At present he is engaged with his sons. W. E. and E. C. Hardy, in the furniture business. A daughter. Cora P.. Hardy, is principal in one of the city schools. Mr. Hardy supple mented his common school education with a course in Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, and in Genesee college. rnusiial prosperity hamcleriz l the regime of X. . Graham dur ing the years l.svy-'.M. It was a term of substantial imp civ. menis. The sewerage system wa p i fected and large tracts of the citj streets were paved. .Mr. Graham i a native o' N v York, wher- he was born in ISM. He attended the Baptist coleg" at Rjrlington. Iowa, where h graduated In 1S61. In I860 he cam to Nebraska and settled i-i the northeastern part of Lmcater county. He built a grist mill an 1 also engaged In farming. In 18S1 he was chosen rep-eseiit-ative to the state legislature. The fol lowing year he secured the nomination for county treasurer and was elected, serving two teims. In 1SS7 Mr. Graham was elected to the city council, in which body he served until he was called to assume the duties of the mayoralty. He administered the affairs of the city on a conservative basis. There was a maximum growth and develop ment and a minimum expansion of the criminal records. The pumping plant was completed, in addition to depart ures in the way of sewerage sanitation. Concerning the present condition of affairs Mr. Graham said: "Mayor "Winnett has proven an able and efficient mayor. I consider Lincoln a well managed, well gorerned city. I do not believe that we have too many councilmen at present. It might be a good plan to elect half of them at large, but I believe that each ward should have a representative responsi ble to the inhabitants alone." A new department was added to the city government during the term of Mayor Graham. A new charter grant ed by the legislature created the ex cise board, designed to have exclusive control of the liquor licenses of the city. Formerly this matter had lwen regulated entirely by the council. Two members, chosen in the spring election, together with the mayor. coniosed the board. John Doolittle and C. J. Dauh-ich were the two selected to scre as excisemen. Previous to his election to the otliee of mayor. Mr. Graham had served in the council. W. J. Cooper was elected to fill his place but some technical difilculty invalidated the choice of the voters. A soecial election was called. Cp to noon of election day a light vote was polled and everyone thought Mr. Cooper was the only candidate. Suddenly W. S. Hamilton was sprung jj,i ,i i vnH R U. (SKA 11 AM as an opposition candidate and greatly to the surprise of every jne. was elected. 'barges of bribery and corruption were bandied about during the cam paign ami as a result the mayor and loiincil appointed a committee to In vestigate the records of their predeces sors In 1SS7 and 1SSS. W. S. Hamilton. II. M. Rushnell. II. II. Dean. L. C. Pace and William Mclaughlin were appointed to do a little probing in re gard to the matter and after a session lasting almost two months they found te charges were largely groundless. Mayor Graham was compelled dur ing his term to help rescue a portion of the Inhabitants of Lincoln from a flood. On August 12th. 1SSD. heaw rain began to pour down In the vicinity of Lincoln. For eighteen hours the deluge continued. Four or five streams near the city drain about 700 square miles of territory. The water rose rapidly during the night and by Tuesday morning about a thousand families near Salt Creek were In dis tress. Some houses floated away In the submerged district and nearly all the habitations bad one to two feet of water above the floor. The mayor per sonally directed the rescue work and the people were taken from the flood region in boats and on rafts. No lives were lost and the misery and distress of the sufferers were soon alleviated by the l-nevoence of the rest of the citi zens. Mr. Graham at present live at I3lfi L street. His daughter. Olive M Graham, is a teacher in the Capitol school. Two other daughters. Mrs. S. A. D. Shilling and Mrs. M. F. Meeds, also reside in Lincoln. His son. Dr. John Graham, is a practicing dentist in Deadwood. S. D. Mr. Graham re entered active business life Immedi ately after his otlicial career ended, and Is still the head of an artificial stone walk company. to i I: 1 1 !i t X I!