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
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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
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OFFICE, ROOMS 28, 27, 1, BROWNELLL
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