THE COURIER
DR. BENJ. F. BAILEY,
Residence, Sanatorium. Tel. 617.
At office, 2 to 4, and Sundays, 12 to I p. m.
DR. MAY L. FLANAGAN,
Residence, 621 So. Uth. Tel 959.
At office, 10 to 12 a. m.; 4 to 6 p. m
Sundays, 4 to 4:30 p. m.
Office, Zehrung Block, 111 So. 12th. Tel. 618.
OBSERVATIONS
J
BY SARAH B. HARRIS
II
Disillusion
Tom Hrown at Kugby was an aver
iiKf boy. There wen- gleams of re
lliifinent and of Justice, indications of
lhe-inan to be, a day nearer maturity
with each .setting sun. In Stalky and
Co. Die hero, who is Uudyard Kipling,
hates and is hated by all the rest of
tlie school including pupils and masters
and excepting only three other boys.
Tom lirown at Kugby Is a boy among
boys playing cricket and proud of the
name of the school of which he is a
pupil. Stalky and his mates introduce
decayed animals into adjacent dormi
tories, spend their leisure out of
bounds, smoking and despising the
other boys who play cricket and are
fond of athletics.
Air. Kipling's recent poem called
"The islanders" is written from ex
actly the same point of view. Although
he has not himself been lighting and
has no intention of joining the army,
lie calls the Englishmen who stay at
home instead of enlisting for the South
African service, "muddled oafs" and
"tlanneled fools." At last Englishmen
themselves realize the essential brutal
ity and egotism of the author they
have Mattered to the top of his bent.
When Kipling was a boy at school he
was convinced that his schoolmates
did not like him because they were
"muddled oafs," who could not appre
ciate his superior points. It is not
likely that the universal disapproval
of his countrymen will have any other
effect upon him now. His last story,
"Kim," is seedy. It has no plot, no
character analysis, no psychological
postmortem. It is deadly dull and has
sold only on Kipling's reputation.
Story-buyers like a plot and prefer
that a book should be interesting.
Readers who profess to be Interested
only in soul tragedies and comedies do
not insist upon a plot, but they do wish
to see the wheels go round. And the
really literary people must have a
strong seasoning of psychology. There
is nothing any of these people like in
"Kim" and they want their money
back. Disillusion affected Americans
first. The English rage Is late but it
was sure to come. However, the dis
affection In England and America will
not affect the sale of any new book he
may write nearly so much as the In
anity of "Kim" and the brutality of
"Stalky and Co." After this when the
young man writes a book the publish
ers will not offer him a price on it
"sight unseen." And the public will
not buy it, as they have heretofore,
without waiting for the verdict of the
look reviewers. That is what a book
reviewer is for: To save a man from
buying an unprofitable book. And
hereafter the much maligned book-reviewer
will stand between Kipling and
his public.
"The Islanders" has not yet been
printed in this country. What we
know of it at this date (January 21)
Is obtained from cable dispatches, and
they lack fullness. Mr. Kipling advo
cates conscription, a system which the
Anglo Saxon and the American tem
perament abhors. He taunts the Eng
lish with getting their fighting men
from Ireland, Australia and Canada.
Ye vaunted your fathomless power and
ye flaunted your Iron pride
Ere ye fawned on the younger nations
for the men who could shoot and ride.
Then ye returned to your trinkets; then
ye contented your souls
With the flannelled fools at the wicket
and the muddled oafs at the goals.
Given to strong delusion, wholly believ
ing a lie.
Ye saw that the land lay fenceless and
yet let the months go by.
Waiting some easy wonder, hoping some
saving sign.
Idle, openly Idle, in the lee of the fore
spent line.
Idle except for your boasting, and what
Is your boasting worth
If ye grudge a year of service to the
lordliest line on earth?
Ancient, effortless, ordered, cycle on
cycle set,
Life so long untroubled that ye who
inherit forget.
It was not made witli the mountains.
It is not one with the deep:
Men, not gods, devised it; men, not gods,
must keep.
"Kach one born on the island be broke
to the matter of war."
".Men. nut children or servants, tempered
and taught to the end."
Men who play golf and friends of
the "muddled oafs at the wickets" re
sent the Imputation tliat they are
fiddling while the colonial troops ate
dying for England. The older the civ
ilization the greater the repugnance to
lighting. Men in the stone age went
about continuously with a knotted
club over their shoulders. Whatever
they wanted they had to fight for, and
to keep it they had to light. Diplo
macy is a later birth. Englishmen
have fought for many centuries. Very
likely the period of development when
Englishmen will not longer fight is ar
riving. When that time comes, the
colonists, the newer peoples will do
the lighting or England will go to
pieces unless the world has also ar
rived at the peace age. It is not
cowardice but evolution that keeps the
old races at home. No scornful poet
who does not follow his own advice
can alter a fact like this. It is the
"muddled oaf who strikes his brother
in rage, not the finest product of an
old civlliaztion.
j .2 -si
C rC TT
Two Lucrative Vocations
Ex-Treasurer Meserve of Nebraska
has been indicted by the grand jury
charged with embezzling the interest
on school funds. Nebraska state treas
urers are convinced that the people
intend that they should enrich them
selves with interest money from state
banks. The state treasurer is yet to
be elected who does not believe that
the state moneys, particularly the
school funds, are his private, specula
tive fund. Joe Hartley was the most
unfortunate of a succession of treas
urers. He was sentenced to the peni
tentiary for breaking the law. He
paid as much attention to It as any of
his predecessors and was apparently
as scrupulous as his successors. Bart
ley's predecessors were not punished.
But it begins to seem certain that the
state treasurer who speculates with
school bonds, or who pockets the In
terest of the money collected by tax
ation will be held responsible by the
people, irrespective of party. There
are many risky ways of getting rich,
but if the people at large continue to
grow more and more opinionated about '
the legitimate and Illegitimate use of
state money, burglary will be a safer
and more visible means of support
than pocketing the interest of money
raised by taxation. When a man gets
along in the Journey of life to the
point where he has age and experience
enough to be state treasurer, or a first
class burglar, he should take counsel
with himself as to which vocation has
the smaller chances of arrest and Im
prisonment. The people of Nebraska
seem to be determined that the state
treasurer shall restrict himself exclu
sively to the use and enjoyment of his
own salary. This view in the history
of the state Is unique. The state
treasurers have not yet adjusted them
selves to It. The Investigation into
Mr. Meserve's accounts has resulted In
the indictment. The jury charged him
with depositing a part of the perma
nent school fund in the Stock Yards
bank at South Omaha, with receiving
the Interest upon it and retaining it
for his own enjoyment, and that there
by he embezzled it from the temporary
school fund to which it belonged. Dur
ing the course of the Investigation
President T. B. McPherson of the
Stock Yards bank and other officers of
the institution testified before the Jury.
- ji -i
" c r
The Smooth Road
A young man in Kansas City was
sentenced a fortnight ago to twenty
five years In the penitentiary. In his
trial he said to the Judge that he had
been drunk but three times in his life.
He was only seventeen years old. On
a Sunday in June at Troost park In
Kansas City Thomas Hedmond stabbed
Thomas Scruggs. At the recent trial
of the case the murderer confessed
that he had not know Scruggs before
he picked a quarrel with him in the
park, that he knew nothing against
him and was conscious of no desire to
injure him. Whisky makes some men
want to light and to kill. It made this
boy who, when he committed the mur
der was only sixteen years old, want
to kill somebody. He killed a stranger
whom he had never seen before and
who was endeavoring to get out of his
way. When he sentenced the boy to
twenty-live years in the penitentiary
the judge said: "The road to the peni
tentiary is kept smooth by whisky.
It's whisky, whisky, whisky. I can't
imagine anything more sad than to
see a boy of your age and surroundings
go to the penitentiary. Some have
suggested that I might shorten your
sentence. But that would not benefit
you. The best thing for you to do
when you go to the penitentiary is to
be the very best prisoner that ever
went there. You did violate the law in
its worst form, but you can convince
the ollicers by your conduct that you
are a man and that you ought to be
free. Perhaps you will be pardoned.
You can only get it by pursuing this
policy. Never let a black mark be
made against you. You can go to the
penitentiary and come out and be a
good citizen. You pursue this course
and you will get along better and have
a better chance of pardon than if you
had a short sentence."
The judge's address to the prisoner
needs to be interpreted. "You did vio
late the law in Its worst form," Is In
tended for no reflection on the law but
on the man. Probably the judge
meant that the violation was an ex
aggerated offense against the law.
Then, "Perhaps you will be pardoned.
You can only get it by pursuing this
policy." "It" has no grammatical
antecedent but we are accustomed to
perverted English and we have learned
to supply nouns and set dislocated sen
tences. But this judge's decisions when
they are quoted are quite as likely to
be used to strengthen one side of a
given case as another.
When sentence Is about to be pro
nounced upon a murderer his victim
and victim's family are forgotten. Un
shriven, unprepared, the victim is
hurled to death. A single, startled,
agonized cry, and It Is all over. The
murderer's old mother, sisters and
perhaps children cling around him at
the trial and it is a constant effort to
remember the rigid form six feet under
ground. Ordinarily the victim's old
mother Is not present and the horror
of punishing the prisoner according to
his deserts is what appeals to the jury
and judge, especially if the prisoner Is
young and Innocent looking. "We are
always most affected by that which is
nearest and most plainly in sight. The
starving millions in India only moved
us to a gentle pity because we could
not see the babies suffering for food
and the half-crazed old people. The
solemn voice of the judge sentencing
the young man to twenty-five years in
the penitentiary creates an aching pity
for him and his mother. Even the
judge forgets the silent one and his
family.
It is impossible considering the stage
which human nature has reached to
arrange matters in accordance with
the ideas of the prohibitionists. Never
theless the temperance agitation which
was begun and Is continued by a com
pany who believe that man can be
made good by laws, has made drlnk-
LOUIS N. AVENTE, D. D. S.,
OFFICE, KOOMS 20, 27, 1, BROWNELL
BLOCK,
137 South Eleventh street,
Telephone, Office, 530.
J. R. UAGGARD, M. D.,
LINCOLN, NEB.
Office. 1100 O street Rooms 212, 213, 214,
Richards Block; Telephone 535.
Residence. 1310 G street; Telephone K9S4
M. B. Ketciii'm, M. D., Phar.D.
Practice limited to EYE, EAR. NOSE.
THROAT, CATARRH, AND FITTING
SPECTACLES. Phone 848.
Hours, 8 to 5; Sunday, 1 to 2:30.
Rooms 313-314 Third Floor Richards
Block, Lincoln, Neb.
Prof E I Pichesnn Tel. 1127
rroi. c. u. Kicneson, ResTaFw5
Academy, Instructor of Dancing
1133 N l . Residence. 904 K St.
Member Normal School Ansoc'n of Masters
of Dancing, Supervisor of Nebraska. Orderi
taken for JIuslc. Beginners' class opens
Wednesday, December 4.
THE
First National Bank
OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Capital $200,000.00
Surplus and Profit, . 54.255.08
Deposits 2,480,252.18
S. H. Bukxham, A. J. Sawyer,
President. Vice-President.
H. S. Freeman, Cashier.
H. B. Evans, Frank Parks.
Ass't Cashier. Ass't Cashier.
United States Depository
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