The Courier
Published Every Saturday
Entered In the Postofflce at Lincoln as second
diss matter.
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Single Copy, 06
LINCOLN LETTER
Dear Penelope:
Since receiving your very welcome
communication I have been thinking!
With deep humility I confess the fact,
and take the occasion to warn you nev
er to be guilty of a similar indiscretion.
If you value the good opinion of your
friends, my dear, never think! At
least never let them think that you
think. If you find yourself in danger
of being overpowered by a thought, by
all means let it develop in secret; take
every precaution to conceal from your
friends the calamity that has overtak
en you. For so sure as you begin to
think, your natural impulse is to ex
press your thoughts in words and
words, without a listener, are dead.
From the instinctive reluctance of hu
man beings to assume the role of lis
teners, one would Infer that two tongues
and one ear was man's natural equip
ment, and the danger, therefore, very
great of over working the single mem
ber and under-exercising the dual.
Two facts have been impressed upon
my inner consciousness during my
mental aberration. One, that this is a
world of misfits and of continual and
painful readjustments. Some persons
are Hooded with love, much of which is
unappreciated if not actually unwel
come, while others are starving for the
affection which perverse fate has
turned into another channel. That is
the gist of one of my thoughts. My
brain was quite exhausted with the
simple statement of the fact, and, like
other would-be reformers, I had no
mental energy left to devote to a reme
dy! Indeed, I doubt if a remedy ever
will be discovered this side of the ever
green shore.
My other thought is that a deep- un
wavering love is a liberal education to
the lover. It is worth more as a chai-acter-developer
than a four years
course in the state university. All the
graces mentioned in the good book and
a few omitted from that first catalogue
will grow out of a constant and persist
ent love. Patience, humility, long-suffering,
charity, tact, adaptibllity-all
these and many other virtues character
ize the genuine lover. To these may be
added the intense desire for self-improvement,
the craving for more beau
ty, more wisdom, more accomplish
ments to make one's self more attract
ive to the beloved being. I have a
sneaking conviction that I have
thought these same things before pos
sibly written them to you. I don't be
come well enough acquainted with my
thoughts before they are crowded out
by new ones to recognize them on their
second appearance. Th-y may have a
familiar look, but I am never sure
whether they are my own os something
I read in Shakespere.
This is the season of church fairs
and dinners, when your female friends
try to inveigle you into paying Wal-dorf-Castoria
prices for messy meals
that make you sick and where all soits
of things you don't want are poked
under your nose in the name of sweet
charity. My chronic financial embar
rassment is a partial protection from
these attacks. Poverty is not so bad,
after all, if it saves you from some
thing worse. How many things In this
world people do that they don't want
to do! Nobody in his right mind ever
really wanted to go to a church fair,
yet there are chuich fairs regularly
every season, and there are people who
go to them in spite of their better
judgment. There are insane asylums,
too, and penitentiaries, and occasional
ly people find themselves in those
places much against their inclination.
Mojeska played here the other night.
I had tickets, but at the last moment
gave them away and stayed at home.
It may be sentimental more likely it
is plain idiotic but the last time I saw
Mojeska was In Omaha with Jack and
I didn't want to see her again when he
is so far away. Dear Jack! If he only
comes home for Christmas, my joy will
be complete.
This sudden cold weather has been
an expensive luxury. Plumbers are at
a premium, and their prices have
steeples on them. The cold has been
Intense, and the wind strong enough
to blow you straight to the equator, if
only you were headed that way. To
day it is snowing very fast and very
persistently. I am reminded of tho.se
beautiful ver.-es by Longfellow :
Out from the bosom or the air.
Out from the cloud-folds of her gar
ments shaken. b
Over the woodlands brown and bare.
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
silent, and soft, und slow.
Descends the snow.
K'en as our clouded fancies take
Suddenly shape In some dlvlno expres
sion; '
K'en as the troubled heart doth make
in the white countenance confession.
The troubled sky reveals
The grief It feels.
This Is the poem of the air.
Slowly silent syllables recorded:
This is the secret of despair,
Long in Its cloudy bosom hoarded;
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field."
If you do not care for poetry, and
prefer to have your fancies dressed
In prose, you will like better Lowell's
description of a snowstorm, where he
says. "The preludlngs of winter are
as beautiful as those of spring. On
a gray December day, when, as the
farmers say, it is too cold to snow, his
numbed fingers let fall doubtfully a
few star-shaped Hakes, the snow-drops
and anemones that harbinger his more
assured reign. Now, and now only
may be seen, iloating on the horizon's
eastern edge, those blue clouds from
forth which Shakespere says that
'Mars doth pick the masoned turrets "
Sometimes, also, when the sun is low,
you will see a single cloud trailing a
Hurry of snow along the southern hills
in a wavering fringe of purple. And
when at last the real snow-storm comes
it leaves the earth with a virginal look
on it which none other of the seasons
can rival, and compared with which,
indeed, they appear soiled and vulgar.
And what is there In Nature so beau
tiful as the next morning after such
confusion of the elements? Night hath
no silence like this of busy day. AH
the batteries of noise are spiked. We
see the movement of life as a deaf
man sees It. a mere wraith of the
clamorous existence which inflicts itself
upon our ears when the ground Is bare.
The earth is clothed in innocence as a
garment. Every wound of the land
scape is healed; whatever was stiff has
been sweetly rounded as the breasts of
Aphrodite; what was unsightly has
been covered gently with a soft splen
dor, as if. Cowley would have said.
Nature had cleverly let fall her hand
kerchief to hide it. It is the fanned
snow,
That's bolted by the northern blasts
twice o'er.
Winnowed and packed by the Sclavonian
winds,
packed so hard, sometimes, on the hill
tops that It will bear your weight.
What grace Is in all Its curves, sis if
every one had been brushed by that
inspired thumb of Phidias' Journeyman."
You doubtless have been acting on
the principle that silence Is golden,
knowing that on general principles I
am an ardent advocate of the gold
standard. In our correspondence, how
ever, no political Issue Is at stake, and
silver Is plenty good enough for in
I'm tired and you're sleepy, so with
these few remarks I will sign myself
Yours Affectionately,
Lincoln, Dec. IS. IDOL KLKANOU.
A BENEVOLENT ENTERPRISE
x
Is tho British Medical Instituto tit
Oor. 11th and N Streets, Shol
don Block. It Gives Threo
Months' Services Free
To All Invalids "Who
Call Before Jan
uary 7, 1002
A staff of eminent physicians and
surgeons from the British Medlcul In
stitute have, ut the urgent solicitation
of a large number of patients under
their care In this country, established
a permanent branch of the Institute In
this city. In the Sheldon block, corner
of Eleventh and N streets.
These eminent gentlemen have de
cided to give their services entirely
free for three months (medicines ex
cepted) to all Invalids who call upon
them for treatment between now and
Jan. 7. These services consist not only
of consultation, examination and ad
vice, but also of all minor surgical op
erations. The object In pursuing this course Is
to become rapidly and personally ac
quainted with the sick and ailllcted
and under no conditions will any
charge whatever be made for any ser
vices rendered for three months to nil
who call before Jan. 7.
The doctors treat all kinds of disease
, and deformities, and guarantee a cure
in every case they undertake. At the
first Interview a thorough examination
Is made, and if Incurable you are
frankly and kindly told so; also ad
vised against spending your money for
useless treatment.
Male and female weakness, catarrh,
and catarrnal deafness, also rupture,
goitre, cancer, all skin diseases, and
all diseases of the rectum are posi
tively cured by their new treatment.
The chief associate surgeon of the
Institute Is In personal charge.
OHlce hours from 9 a. in. till 8 p. m.
No Sunday hours.
Special Notice If you cannot call,
send stamp for question blank for
home treatment.
(jus -yw( njr
The Progressive Store
si.
y
Mta
To all Our F r i e n d sBE
We wish you i Bright and Happy Xew Year. The Old Year is fast fading away. At its close will be completed the most successful W
business year in the history of the Progressive Store. We thank all of our patrons who have traded with us in the past, and hope w
bv our same courteous and fair treatment to merit in the future a continuance of your kind favors. W
1 SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW YEAR'S GIFT
Leather Goods at Half
Fancy China, Etc.
A Great Opportunity
One of the largest Leather Goods Manu
facturers in Hoboken, New Jersey, dissolve
partnership the 1st of January, 1902. To
clean up their stock they sold us an immense
lot of regular goods made to sell at
60c and $1.00 each.
The lot consists of Purses, Combination
Pocket Books and Card Cases, Finger Purses, Shopping Bags, Boston Bags,
Chatelaine Bags, Gird Cases, Music Rolls, Wrist Bags, etc., in all styles of
leather, including Seal, Walrus, Morocco, Alligator, Plain and Mounted Effects.
It's a great chance, and only once in a lifetime to buy your Leather Goods
Presents at One-half Price.
m L
LOT1, Qfl
WORTH TO 50c, .fll
FOR U))
LOT 2, HA A
WORTH TO $1.00 "H II
FOR )J)
Elegant values in beautiful
French China Plates, 50c, 75c,
$1.00, 1.25, to S.50.
Carlsbad China Bread and
Butter and Dessert Plates, 10c
to $1.00 each.
This elegant China Tea Cup
and Saucer, in fine Jap ware,
$1.00.
200 styles of Cups and Saucers
to select from, 10c to $2.50.
Fancy After Dinner Coffee
Cups and Saucers, an immense variety, 25c and 35c.
Beer Steins, 50c, 75c, $1.00 to 6.00.
tt i"V"
