Omaha daily bee., January 24, 1904, Page 2, Image 22

About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922

Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE

                
January 21, 10CML.
TB I LLUSTR ATED BE&
Published Weekly by The Pre I'ubllF.h'ng
Company, Uce Building, Omaha, Neb.
Price 6c Per Copy Per Tear, $2.00.
Kntered at the Omaha Post office ns flwotid
l 'If i km Mall Matter.
Fr Advertising Kates Address Pub IwlxT.
Communications relating to photographs or
articles for publication should 1) ' id
dressed, "Kdllor Illustrated Hie, Omaha."
Pen and Picture Pointers
THE ILLUSTRATED REE.
"TTIllKN'IOVKlt a man spring a now
I Idea on the wo: Id the people
I stand and ynf at film, iind If lie
21 rl""ws ''I" lirHl ''I'M with 11 sue-
' cession or Miners wie warm is
innxt likely to dcuouiit ate him a crunk and
have none of him, at lenst not until it has
Kniwn up to him. In nearly cyrry regard
this Is true of the lite George Francis
Train. He died at 75, with the satisfaction
of knowing that the world wiih pi-actl 'n t
and profiting by Id -as he had promulgate!
anil pructlced Ik Fly year hcfor It mijr
to that In another half century the wo ld
will realize, some of Ms later prognostica
tions. It In certain that Mr. Tinin came on
the sceno with a wonderful c;ipiclty for
com men . opr. miration, lie gave up a
clerkship in a great shipping hr.iiFe be
fuuHo ho did not think It afforded him
cte for hlii Idea; he established a ehlj
IIiik house of hlH own, and nan toon at the
head of a bigger business than I he one in
which he received IiIh early training, and
gave It up because It waHn't big enough.
Again he began anew and again ho was
successful In a measure that wou'.d have
sutirtied an orditiary mortal, lint he wa.i
after bigger things, and ugaln and tignln
he r.tartlcd the world with hit projects and
their success. From a purely commercial'
Standard, though hlH life was not a suc
cess, for he llcd a comparatively poor
man, after handling million!! of inon y and
with Irnmt'iiHo profits to lilmsvlf.
fc
Mr. Train waa not content with the meri
traiiHactlon of business that deuls with dol
lars and cents. He wan full of trcmerdous
plans for humanity. He proved himself
again and ugaln the friend of fret dom and
the foe of branny In nny fb m It was
this latter that ltd to his undoing. He de
clined to conform to the conventional!. le,
and It mado him trouble. When Victoria
Woodhull and Tennessee C'lallin were con
fined In the Tombs In New York for al
leged Infractions of public decency, they
having published matter which was then
condemned aa Immoral, Train come to their
defense with all IiIm r.ial, Hnd very soon
wss. confined himself on a similar t hurg-",
and later Wat accused of being Insane.
While In prison on charges from which hs
was lutcr exonerated, his holdings In largj
amounts of property, much of which wai
located in Omaha, were wiped out, and hi
emerged a free man, but with the greater
part of his tangible fortune swept away.
This seemed a turning point In his eireer,
for he wa." never again active In uny great
cnlerpilHe. Ula big Ideas wire not accepted
by the woild hs more than (hlmtras.
mainly becnufcn lie did not appeal directly
to the "practical" side of thing. He
Wanted Omaha people to aid him In i.nd nif
a special tmlnload of children to the Ohl
cngo Columbian expoltlon; he wanted to
charter a liner at a cost of half a million
and take 600 people around the world to ad
vertise the Omaha exposition .and proposed
Similar plana. He made a trip around ths
world to demonstrate that the Journey
could be murio In sixty days, and when a
newspsper reporter eclipsed his perform
ance he made a second dash around the
globe to "break the record" again. In such
projects as these he busied himself during
hlu later years.
Hut Ooorge KranclBnYaln was .a friend
of humanity after his own lights, ills
boast waa that he hud leen in fifteen Jails
and never guilty of a crime. It waa his
enthusiasm for liberty that got bins In Jail
each time. When he found that men
and women would not listen to him. he
imply turned them down and made his
friendships among children and birds.
Slowly his great worth came to be recog
nised, and now that he U de id acknowl
edgements are being made of his services.
One lesson from his life Is as old as human
experience; that genius doea not deal with
trifles. The patient plodder may look after
the little things and die unknown with a
tore of worldly goods, while the great
mind disdains the mlnutae of business, and
passes away with little or nothing of sub
stance, but with a record of great things
achieved for the race. Ganrge Francis
Train will always be remembered aa a man
Whu had Ideas.
Another Hopeless Quest
Poor Diogenes!
Reincarnated, he bore Ids lantern through
the great American cities. The story of
despair was written in his face.
"HUH looking for the honest man?" In
quired a reporter, wlu had nosed him out
for a beat
"No," said Diogenes, sadly, "my queat
now la for the unlndicted official."
Whereat he wept bitterly, In abject hope
leaunetM. New York Times.
(Copyright, 1903, by M. Walter Dunne.)
J I regular habits, of a simple and
nothing to disturb the even tenor
of his life. Monsieur de Ijouhan-
court suffered from widowhood more than
most Tien do. He regretted his lost hap
piness, was angry with the fate which
separated a united couple so brutally, the
fate which had pitched upon a tranquil
existence, whose sleepy quietude had not
been troubled by any cares or chimeras.
In order to rob It of happiness.
Had he been younger, he might, perhaps,
have been tempted to form a new line,
to fill up the vacant place, and to marry
again. But when a man Is nearly 60 such
ideas make people laugh, for they have
something ridiculous and Insane about
them. So he dragged on his dull and weary
existence, shunned all those familiar ob
jects which constantly recalled the past
to him and flitted from hotel to hotel with
out taking Interest In anything, or becom
ing Intimate with anyone, even tempor
arily; Inconsolable, silent, enigmatic, and
funereal In his eternal black clothes.
He waa generally alone though on rare
occasions he was accompanied by his only
son, who used to yawn by stealth, and
seemed to be mentally counting the hours
as If ho were performing some hateful,
enforced duty In spite of himself.
Two years of this crystallisation slipped
by and one was ns monotonous and as
vdd of incident aa the other.
One evening, however, In a boarding
house at Cannes, where he was staying on
his wanderings, a young woman dreused
in mourning, a new arrival, sat next to
Mm at dinner. She had a sad. pale face
that told of suffering, a beautiful figure,
and large, blue eyes with deep rings round
them, which, nevertheless, were like stars
In the twilight.
All remarked her, and although Doulian
court usually took no notice of women, he
looked at her and listened to her. He
felt leas lonely by her side, though he
did not know why. He trembled with In
stinctive and confused happiness, Just aa
If In some distant country he had found
some female friend or relative, who at
last would understand him, tell him some
news, and talk to him In his dear native
language about everything that a man
leavea behind him when he exiles him
self from home.
What strange affinity had t':us thrown
them together? Whut secret forces had
brought their grief In contact? What made
him so sanguine and so culm, and Incited
him to take her suddenly Into his confi
dence and urged him on to resistless curi
osity? She wns an experienced traveler, who
had no Illusions and was In search or
adventure; one of those women who fre
quently change their name, and who, aa
they have made up their mind to swindle
If luck Is not on their Fide, play the con
tinuous role of adventuress; one who could
put on every accent; who for the sake of
her purse could transform herself Into a
Slav, or Into an American, or simply Into
a provincial; who waa ready to take part
In any comedy In order to make money,
and not bo obliged to waste strength and
brains on fruitless struggles or on
wretched expedients. Thus eh immediately
guessed the state of this melancholy sexa
genarian's mind, and the illusion which
attracted him to her. She Keen led the
spoils which offered themselves to her
without struggle and divined under what
guise she could make herself accepted and
loved.
She Initiated him into depths of grief
which were unknown to him, by phrses
which were cut short by sighs, by frag
ments of her story, which she finished by
a disgusted shrug of the shoulders and
a heart-rending smile, and by insensibly
exciting his feelings. In a word, she tri
umphed ever the last remaining double
which might still have mingled with the
aflecUouata pity with wUlua that pour,
solitary heart, so full of
bitterness, overflowed.
And so, for the first time
since he had lieeome a
widower, the old man con
fided In another person,
poured out his old heart
Into the soul which Feemed
to be so like his own,
which seemed to offer him
a haven of cheer where
the wounds of his heart
could be healed. He longed to throw him
self into those sisterly arms, to dry hU
tears, and te still his grief there.
Monsieur de Ixjubancourt, who had mar
ried at 25, as much from love as from
Judgment, had lived quietly and peace
fully In the country, rarely visiting Paris,
lie was ignorant of female wiles and of
the temptations offered by creatures like
Wanda Pulska, who are made up of lies,
and only care for pleasure, a virgin soil
on which any evil will grow.
She attached herself to him, became his
shadow, and by degrees, part of his life.
She showed herself to be a charitable
woman who devoted herself to an un
happy man, endeavored to console him,
and In spite of her youth was willing to
lie his Inseparable companion In his alow,
daily walks. She never appeared to tire
of his anecdotes and reminiscences, and
she played cards with him. She waited
on him carefully when he was confined
to his bed. appeared to have no sex, In
fact, transformed herself; and though she
handled htm skillfully, she seemed In
genuous and Ignorant of evil. She acted
like an Innocent young girl, who haa Just
been confirmed; but for all that, she choso
dangerous hours and certain spots in
which to be sentimental and to ask ques
tions which agitated and disconcerted him,
abandoning her slender fingers to his fever
ish hands, which pressed and held them In
a tender clasp.
And then, there were wild declarations
of love, prayers and sobs which frightened
her; wild adieus, which were not followed
by his departure, but which brought
about a touching reconcllliatlon and the
first kiss; and then, one night, while they
were traveling together, he opened the
door of her bedroom at the hotel, which
she had not locked, and came In like
a madman. There was the phantom of re
sistance, and the fallacious submission of
a woman who was overcome by so much
tenderness, who rebelled no longer, but
who accepted the yoke of her master and
lover. And then, the conquest of the body
after the conquest of the heart, while sho
forged his chains link by link, with pleas
ures which besot and corrupt old men, and
dry up their bruins, until at last he al
lowed himself to be Induced, almost un
consciously, to make an odious and stupid
will.
Informed, perhaps, by anonymous let
ters, or astonished bees use his father kept
him altogether at a distance from him and
gave no signs of life. Monsieur de Iouban
court's son Joined them In Provence. But
Wanda Pulska, who had been preparing
for that attack for a long time, waited for
It fearlessly.
She did not seem discomposed at that
sudden visit, but was very charming and
affable toward the newcomer, reassured
him by the careless airs of a girl, who
took life ns it came, who was suffering
from the confluences of a fault, and did
not trouble her head about the future.
He envied his father and grudged him
such a treasure. Although he had come
to combat her dangerous Influence, and to
treat the woman who had assumed the
place made vacant by death who governed
her lover as his sovereign mistress as
an enemy, he shrank from his task, panted
with desire, lost Ms head, and thought of
nothing but treason and of an odious part
nership. She manuged him even more easily than
she had managed Monsieur Doubaneourt,
molded him Just as she chose, made him
her tool, without even giving him the tips
of her lingers, or granting him the slight
est favor, Induced him to be so Imprudent
that the old man grew Jealous, watched
them, discovered the Intrigue, and found
mid letters In which his son stormed,
begged, threatened, and implored.
One evening, when she knew that her
lover had come in, and was hiding In a
dark cuplourd in order to watch them,
Wanda happened to be alone in the draw-UiC-ruom,
which, was full oi light. and of
beautiful flowers, with this young fellow
of five and twenty. He threw himself at
her feet and declared his love, and be
sought her to run away with him. When
she tried to bring him to reason and re
pulsed him. and told him In a loud and
very distinct voice how she loved Monsieur
de Ixiubancoiirt, he seised her wrists with
brutal violence, and maddened with pas
sion, stammered out words of love and
lust.
"I.et me go." she cried, "let me go Im
mediately. You are a brute to take ad
Vantage of a woman like that. Please let
me go, or I shall call the servants to my
assistance."
The next moment the old man, terrible
In his rage, rushed out of his Mdlng place
with clenched fists and a slobbering mouth,
threw himself on the startled son, and
pointing to the door with a supurb ges
ture, said:
"You are a dirty scoundrel, sir. Get out
of my house Immediately, and never let
me see you aguln!"
The comedy was over. Grateful for
such fidelity and real affection, Monsieur
de Loubarurourt married Wanda Pulska,
whose name appeared on the civil register
a detail of no Importance to a man who
was in love as Frida Krubstcln; she came
from Saxony, end had been a servant at
an inn. Then he disinherited his son, as
far as he could.
And now that she is a respectable and
respected widow, Madame de Louhancourt
is received everywhere by society In those
places of winter resort where people's ante
cedents are rarely gone Into, and where
women of noble name, who are pretty and
can waits tike the Germans can are al
ways well received. Reprinted from the
first definitive edition in English of the
complete works of Guy de Maupassant.
Published by M. Walter Dunne, New York.
According to French law, nobody can
altogether disinherit a child, and no son
or daughter can lie "cut off" with the
proverbial "shilling."
One of the Blessings
She was greatly distressed.
"I could have married an earl." she said,
"If I had had money. He was very de
voted to me for awhile.
"Oh, well, there are other men," was the
consoling reply.
"I know," she admitted, "but an earl!
Think of It! An earl! I'm sure I could
have had him If It hadn't been for that
last slump. In papa's pet stocks. And tlint
odious Kittle Jenkins got htm."
Two years passed and they met again.
"How about that earl?" was the question
naturally put to her.
"I've Just returned from abroad, where I
visited Kittle at her country place." she
said. "She's very brave and patient."
"Is she?"
"Yes, indeed. And do you know, I've
discovered that poverty comparative pov
erty, I mean is a blessing." Brooklyn
Eagle.
The Village Jokcsmith
Th stove In the village grocery at
Squintville roared fiercely In defiance of
the cold outside. Seated around it were
Lera Davis, the proprieter; Seth Stebblns,
and Ah Todhamraer. Enter Ike Cochran,
stamping the snow from his feet, unwlnd
ulne yards of wool comforter from bis
neck.
"Halloo, everybody, killed my hog to
day." Abe Todhammer How much did he
weigh?
Ike Guess.
Seth Stebblns Four hundred.
Ike No, guess again.
Lam Davis Four hundred And- sixty.
Ike No, guess aguln.
Congregation In Chorus Oh, out with
it. Ike. How much did he weigh
IkeDon't know. Haven't had him on
the scales yet. Cleveland Deader.
Businesslike Woman
Jack I had a quenr experience yesterday.
Ned How so?
Jack Why. I bet Tom $3 that the first
girl that ea me along would let me klsa her
if I asked her to.
Ned-Well?
Jack Weil, I told the first girt who cams
In sight about the bet and offered to di
vide, and she took KM and I got only one.
fkunerville Journal.