Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1902)
THE COUBIER OBSERVATIONS BY SARAH B. HARRIS y Dtfehk In a recent newspaper article. Rain maker Wright intimates that he has "clearly stated the theory of the mag netic ellipse around Lincoln." Never theless the uninitiated do not as yet un derstand what the salt basin north west of the city has to do with the rainfall. To still further explain the matter to those densely ignorant of the process of artificial ralnmaklng, the professor says: "One year ago the planets of our solar system were In a position to each other and to the earth in which they had not been for hun dreds of years, and In which they will not be again for the same length of time. These planets, being all relatively on one side of the sun and approaching the earth nearly in a line, were every moment hurling Into our atmosphere their positive magnetic forces. This condition, under the Influences of which the earth and its atmosphere was be ginning to become more intense up to the time of conjunction in November and was not dissipated throughout the winter and is not yet, resulted in a worldwide drouth, Nebraska a'nd Lin coln feeling It along with the rest. Prom May to the last of November, the earth's crust, center and atmosphere were absorbing this avalanche of etheric magnetic force. At conjunc tion the planets commenced to recede from the earth and as they receded the positive forces which had been ab sorbed began to take on a negative type and began to rush out from the earth into space. As this has been go-, lng on from month to month since the conjunction, the forces have become more and more Intensely negative and their outstretching power stronger, the pressure had to give way, and, as a consequence, the weakest spots of the earth's crust are centers of volcanic action and we are now beholding the operation of this terrific force in the Curribbean islands and earlier the earthquakes in Alaska and other por tions of the earth. Around Lincoln and vicinity we know how intensely dry it has been all winter up to the time of the volcanic eruptions, and that all last summer the conditions were in tensified so that the drouth was more severe In this vicinity." The Rainmaker is evidently a product of our public school system. At any rate, his explanation, which he says is perfectly clear, resembles the exami nation papers in English affected By the pupils in the public schools and the university undergraduates' style. More periods and a more generous use of commas might clarify a muddy sub ject. It may be because of Professor Wright's mysterious English that he has been unable to convince farmers. during a drouth, that he possesses the secret and the means of abundant precipitation. Should a native of Thibet station himself on the postofflce square and deliver the most Import ant and enriching secrets in Thibetan, it is likely that the people would laugh at him. There Is something about the mysterious that Is funny. People laugh at it without knowing why. If the Rainmaker has something useful to communicate he must first acquire a literary style that will give dignity to what he has to say, and at the same time serve as a medium for the graphic exhibition of a new idea. Planets cannot be relatively on one side of the sun. Most of them may be on one side or the other. "For hun dreds of years" and "the same length of time" (viz. an indefinite number of hundreds), is not exact, and men who pretend to be discoverers of a new and revolutionary truth are indefinite only at the risk of being ridiculed, and, as a consequence, disbelieved. An "ia- tense" earth is Inconceivable. The Pro fessor's nouns arid verbs do not match. It is as If he said "a fish runs or a reindeer swims." We have words to express the two motions, and if h transposes them he is absurd uncon sciously, or at best obscure. The communication of the Rain maker is an example of a man with an idea or of a man who thinks he has an Idea, trying to communicate it to an audience not familiar with his medi um of communication. There may be youthful inventors and rainmakers In the schools now who will sometime wish to convince an unbelieving world of a great discovery. If they can not speak plain, clear English, they must convince by a demonstration. It i9 frequently necessary for the Inventor to convince one or several men of the value of his invention in order that he may be provided with means to ma terialize his idea and furnish the world a demonstration. With such English as the Professor's, Benjamin Franklin would not have been entrusted with the means to demonstrate his discovery of the copper-plate press, stove or light ning rod. And ho never would have been sent as an emissary from the colonies to England or to France. Many an i&'entor has died impover ished because his native language was a maxe of nouns, verbs, adjectives and conjunctions that he could not -put together so they would carry his Ideas of rodB, chains, belts and cogs to the people whose help he needed. It does not yet appear, but it is not impossible that the Rainmaker has an Idea. It Is certain, however, that If he has one it will be forever hidden from the public J" The Baccalaureate The test of a preacher or a teacher Is the effect he has upon his audience. I do not mean the momentary effect which some orators have upon the people- who listen to their speeches; an effect emotional and Immediately forgotten. The power of a great and life-relevant truth adequately ex pressed is Impressive; and the preacher who selects from a large number of truths those most helpful to his audi tors and expresses them in noble Eng lish so that every individual who hears him is convinced and inspired, is a great preacher. The university sermon delivered by Chancellor Andrews to the class which the institution has just graduated, was surely an Inspiration to the class and to all others who heard it. To live every day as though it were the most Important and complete of one's life, never to be willing to slight the present for what has been or may be, to drink the cup that life holds to our lips every day and be thankful for it, to -take every period of our present life as a whole, is to maintain the Integrity of life, and Is the way to accomplish the most In the summary when the time for the summary Is at hand. This was the sermon, only delivered In delectable style and with catholic quotation from the poets. A youth is prone to consider, some times aided thereto by the indifference and snubs of the mature, that his ac tions and opinions are immaterial and of no special effect upon his future. The. ideals and action of every period are integral. The chancellor said: To manage children and youth from th point of view of what they are to be. not from the point of view of what they actually are. Is to abort all you do for them. He who can not appreci ate child Joy, child sorrow, child rea soning, may go square circles, but he can not teach.... Only a fool could ever mistake a boy for a dwarf or a mani kin." It is by such addresses and by his daily administration of the affairs or the universly and by his attitude to ward the students, an attitude of a man doing his duty and living a life of present accomplishment and expecting the same conduct and response from his associates, that the Chancellor Is gradually raising the moral tone of the most important institution In the state. LetUt aad Spirit What difference does It make to us whether a man named Job ever, lived or not? The vine and the fig tree of the new Testament, Job, Jonah and a few other heroes of the old Testament serve to point a moral. They furnish the concrete object In a lesson. It Is immaterial to us whether there was any particular fig tree, or vine, or any man named Job who was afflicted by cumulative sorrows, or any man named Jonah who was swallowed by a whale There may have been such men known to their neighbors as Job and Jonah in their respective centuries and coun tries, but whether there were or not it does not affect the spiritual truth which the stories teach. Professor. Charles P. Kent, who holds the chair of Biblical literature in Yale university, in speaking about the story of Adam and Eve, says: "The pathetic fact in connection with the present discussion is that the fun damental spiritual truths that the nar rative seeks to teach are lost sight of . In the contention of its historical ac curacy, which was entirely secondary with the authors." Historical accuracy Is one thing and teaching spiritual truth is another. Unless Job be received as a type of the modern man, tempted like as we are and liable to self-righteousness as we are, his actual embodiment in the flesh Is Irrelevant and immaterial. "The narrative of Adam and Eve deals with the origin of sin, the essence of sin and the consequence of sin." The early peoples were not impressed by abstract truths. Even as late as the first years of the Christian era Christ was obliged to teach his disciples and the- multitudes by parables, and only the most philosophical and purely mathematical minds of the present day can escape from the thraldom of mat ter, and reason and conclude without objects or signs of objects. Let X represent Adam, a man, an unknown, and the story of man's fall and departure from the garden of Eden, which is the same thing as the rupture of his harmonious relations with God, applies Immediately to our own willful exile from beauty, and the perfect adjustment of life In accord ance with spiritual and physical law. The man Adam, the thrilling story of the temptation, the scenery of the gar den, the perfect zoological collection it contained, the beauty of the heroine and the tragic climax hinder us from applying the sin and the inevitable punishment of Adam to ourselves. We are neither a primitive nor a fully sophisticated people, and we therefore Insist upon the historical truth of the Adam and Eve story and miss Its spir itual significance which might help to keep us in the paths of righteousness. Professor Kent says: "Within the compass of two brief chapters, the author effectively presents Jehovah's purpose for mankind, the necessity of man's moral culture, that sin is the result of man's deliberate choice, and that the failures of life are the result of man's failure to realize the Divine ideal." -"4 -t J r c Skirt TaMs A few weeks ago Principal Water house, of the Omaha high school, sent home a few of the cadets who ventured to appear at the school in shirt waists. The Omaha high school boys wear a semi-military uniform, and one of the most valuable things they learn at school is a standard of personal neat ness. They are inspected and marked, though not so rigidly as at a specifi cally military school, for their neatness and the condition of their uniforms and their general appearance, which includes coiffure and shoes. Although a shirt waist, when worn by DRS.WENTE & HUMPHREY DENTAL SURGEONS. OFFICE, ROOMS 28, 27, 1, BROWNELLL BLOCK, 1S7 South Eleventh Street. Telephone, Office, 630. DR. BENJ. P. BAILEY, At ofloe.S to 4, and Soaaays, 12 to i . a. DR. MAY L. FLANAGAN, , RMMeaoe.M18o.Utk. TeLtat. At oUm, 10 to It a. m. 4 to 9. av SaB4ayt,to4:p.B. Oflo, Zebras Btock, MIS. lit. Td.NI. J. R. HAGGARD, M. D., LINCOLN, NEB. Oftce, 1100 O street Seoaazlt, SIS, 814, Richards Block; Telephone MS. Baaldence, 1310 G street; Talepheae KM M. B. Ketchum, M.D., Phar.D. Practice limited to EYE, EAR, NOBE. !S52A.TvCATARKH' andfIttincI SPECTACLES. Phone 848. Hours, to 5; Sunday, 1 to 230. Booms 313-314 Third Floor Bicharda Block, Lincoln, Neb. Miss Lippincott I Static, !Uea ( srowaeu mock Lessons In Drawl! Pyrograpfcy.Woed proved caina Palatlai-. ram. IB- , BTila. Chlnaaafla- 1 rated or fired. Studio open Monday, 2 to 5 p. m. ToaadiT. Thnndmv. VrMivaul Saturday, to 12 a. m THE First National Bank OF LINCOLN, NEBBA8KA Capital, fSOO.OOO.OO Surplus and Profits, . 71,804.00 Dapoaita, S.OM.SM-OO S. H. BuairxAX, A. J. bUwtxb, President. VIoe-FweMaat. - I , I ! a. a. AYAira, J-aajnc n Aa't Cashier. nc Paaxa, Aa'tOaakiar. United States Depository SaflfL'aaaCr.r- t AnBBJBBffB3C77'Bfnl The quality of the Piano job as will hare more to do with the incoBSi of your career as a musi cian than poemibly you may think. If you use a IVeber, Bauer, or ' Matthews your success ia assured, erery thing else being equal Yoa can bay any one of than beaattful instruments on aasy tenia at the lowest possible prim conaittent with quality, of the Matthews Piano Co. 1120 O Stnct, Laacaaa X d -s
