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ELIA W. PEATTIE-
This favorite author contributes the first installment of an intensely human story in the Sunday World-Herald.
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A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(By Elia W. Peattie)
Forty clubs were represented by their presidents and delegates at the State Federation of Nebraska Women's Clubs held at Lincoln on Thursday and Friday of last week. The congregational church, which has the best audience chamber of any structure in Lincoln, was occupied by the federation, and was filled each sesion. Its capacity is about 600.
The women who, with some hesitancy and doubt of success, called the meeting of organization together last February, could hardly have imagined such success does nto lie in a mere aggregation of numbers. Nor is there abstractly speaking, any occasion for rejoicing because another organization has come itno existence. But when women of all conditions of life, of all ages from 14 to 70, of all parts of the state, come together for such purposes as higher education mutual benefit, and good fellowship, the surely it is worth while.
Anthony Trollope and a number of other gentlemn who have held pends with more or less entertainment to the human race, have dpicted the typical woman as a loving, sensitive, dissimulating, shy, revengeful, small-minded, beauriful capricious and unreasoning creature. This creature hated every woan of her acquaintance who was likely to prove her rival in the affections of any man, had a low code of honor, a tremendous capacity for weeping, and, whatever she did, never frogot her personal appearance.
When much has been allowed to these writers of fiction and creators of caricature, there still remains some drop of truth in this bucket of musrepresentation And the woman's club, if it is destined to do anything, is destined to break down the suspocions, the animostles, the frivolous traditions and the un-Christian exclusion of women.
The federation meeting was a success because from first ot last it was genial, marked with fine courtesy, distinguished by delightful intercourse, and unaffected intellectuaity. Moreover, there was, back of all this, something yet deeper and more fascinating. It was a sympathy between woman and woman, of an intimage sort, and the women left with feelings which had softened and deepened because of their intercoruse.
The Lincoln ladies showed that they were trained women in a very practical manner. The task of entertaining so many delegates was a large one, but it was done with such system that the labor was reduced to a minimum, and the conveniences of the delegate absolutely secured. The spirit of heariness in which they were received gave a glow to the proceedings from the first. Moreover the decorations of the place of meeting-decoration of flags and flowers-gave to the church a sociable aspect. When this structure was filled to its capacity with alert, cheerful and aspiring women, it was easy for those who gave addresses or read papers, or discussed subjects, to do their best. The badges, by the eay, were very tastefil and were designed by Mrs. Canfield, the absent president as a reminder of the regard for her old associates. They were of corn colored sating, with the letters N. F. W. C. and half of a rising sun in silver on the yellow ground
There was not a useless or futile paper read at the federation, and at least one paper and one address bore the mark of genius. Mrs Sawyer of Lincoln talked upon The Home of the Future" with such eloquence, fire and spontaneity that anyone who listened myst have been inspored to a higher sense of domestic and civic responsibility; and Miss Byrne of Omaha. In her paper on " The Opposition to Realism," showed a power of literary criticisim that would have been remarkable even if it had not been linged with a sort of genius, which is a part of Muss Byrne's temperament, and which holds her listeners as if spellbound
The discussion were freely paricipated in, and with a readiness of speech and intensity of interest which would not have been shown a year ago there are, as the result of the discussions, to be several things which will add to the interest of the club this year. The invitation of the Crete Chautauqua to hold a federation meeting on their grounds in midsummer was accepted. Many women who could not attend meeting at Lincoln will be able to attend that meeint The circulating library which has been a bright, but apparently inattainable dream, seems now possible of attainment. Twenty-one dollars and fove cents was raised by the ladies in the last session, and a committee is to be selected by the chairman of that committee-who was nominated frim the floor to communicate with all clubs on the subject of needed books. There is hope that every club will coluntarily tax itself for the benefit of the library which will carry the finest books into the bookless districts
The reception at the home of Mrs. A J. Sawywer added not a little to the aggreeableness of the occasion In many homes there were little gatherings of congenial persons, and the women left with a feeling of having been finely stimulated by the whole experience As Mrs Frank Heller of Omaha said, men have so long taken as thier right the companionship of other men, so long been free to find the best that society might offer in the way of association with their equals, that they think nothing of it But women have led lives more or less isolated When they enjoyed sociability it was apt to be of the sort that fashionable society offers. It held no lasting satisfaction and did not bring happiness or development. The assiciation of women who wish the develop the best possibbilites of life it quite different It is, to a great extent, new, and it is bringing to the women that elation which the men have long feld in congenial companionship Moreover, as the purpose of the organization are largely altruistic, even a high pleasure is derived from it than that which mean generally know.
The criticisms of an adverse nature to be made upon the federation are few. The worse fault the women have is their lack of elocutionary knowledge, If all the clubs would insist that its members should learn breathing and speaking the comfort of audiences which have to [?] to papers would be added to and the labor of the readers lightened. If a creche could be provided in juxtapoition to the palce of meeting, where babiescould be left with responsible nurses, more owmen would be able to attend. If members would be quicker with motions which must be made to permit the regular business to proceed, the presiding officer would be saved some embarrassment.
But there are little things.
The whole comvention was pervaded by an air of delicate refinement, by hearty good will, by iniversal courtesy. When one remembers that Mrs. James Canfield, president of the federation, despaired of bringing together the divers and diverse clubs of Lincoln, and then perceived the harmony with which they were all working this year, the community of interest between women of all stations, degrees of wealth or poverty, of all creeds and grades of cultures, one feels that the federation presented a positive example of what the woman's club can do in the way of breaking down cliques, destroying prejudices and cementing the interests of women.
The names of the new officers have already been printed but are reprinted here for the benefit of any who may not have seen them. Mrs. Allen W. Field of Lincoln is the presdient, iss bBeel Stoughtenborough of plattsmouth, vice presdient; Mrs. Amoret Roseman of Fremont, treasurer; Mrs Allee of Beatrice the delegate to the general federation of women's clubs, which hold its blennial meeting next May at Louisvill Ky.
The corps of officers is strong and popular, and the presdient a lady of executive ability and of most agreeable personality.
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A GHOST STORY.
Some friends of mine moved in a house the other day. Nothing strange about that My friends often moved They had moved from Vienna to Berlin, from Berlin to Paris, from Paris back to Munich, and from Munich to - Chicago. You see, there was never ny telling what my firnds would do. They were Germans by birth, and a merry corwd All of them were musicians The dead father had been famous orchestral leader in the Austrian court The mother, who is still living, and is a fine, arrogant and very handsome, Bohemian, has had her trumphs and been hand in hand with the famous personages of the estage of the last generation If I were to tell you the name of the eldest daughter every one would know it She is a woman with an international reputation, and she has won her laurcls by honest work with a magnificent cantralto voice. Her sister is hardly less famous than herself , but her service to the musical world is with the violin Then there are two sons, musicians both, and a friend, who has always been with the family, and who would not dare desert them. He is a man of business. He invests the money these people of genius make. His skill and their gifts enable them all to live royally Their entertainments are already famous in the literary and musical set of Chicago Their punches have never been excelled in that city, and any Sunday evening at their soirees, you may hear six tounges spoken fluently, and pick artistic quarrels with people form the most divergent parts of the globe. The house is one which rings with gayety. They are materialistic, hearty, wholesome people, with treendous appetitcs, and an insatiable love of leisure Aside from their musical ability they are the most unimaginative persons you could imagine
So, when they came to move, they were naturally not in the least dismayed when the neighbors told them the house was haunted.
"What should we care about ghosts,' said the great singer to me when I ventured to call on my last visit to Chicago ' We made up our minds no ghost walking could disturb us. Ghosts'" and she puffed out her great chest in expression of her increduility, "Why, we said/ Bah! the boys simply laughed. Mother passed it by without comment. She disdained remark. We got the house cheap. Well, that suited us. There was a music room, a dancing room-it was just what we wanted. Besides, the boys could play billards on the top floor. It was quite ideal. The neighbors told us a man had been killed in the front room on the third story. The baron, my husband and myself slept there. We were not worried You are? Well, the first night we were there we went to bed carier than usual -say, midnight. At 2 o'clock I was awakened by hearing someone walking about the floor on my room I awakened the baron He called out. There was no answer The steps made hurriedly for the door and descended the stairs. We concluded it must have been one of the boys In the morning we asked No one had left his room, but mother remarked that she also heard the steps We were interested But it passed We never thought of the ghost-never even thought of it. The next night the baron awakened me. "I hear those tootsteps again," said he. Sure enought, there they were. Again we called out Again the steps hirried form the room and down the stairs. The boys who slept on the story below, heard them, also They called up to us to know if anything was wrong We said no Mother got out in the curridon and touched the button, which turned on all the gas There was no one to be seen, but the steps went on, hurrying down the stairs Then we remembered the ghost The boys guffawed with [?] Mother looked dignified and indignant. She had no patience with the idea of a ghost We simply laughed about it It made a good story to tell at our next gathering. Everyone thought it quite diverting We used to wake up in the night and hear those steps and say, :There's our ghost again. What a persistent fellow he is" and then turn over and go to sleep again All would have been very well if we had not noticed after a time that mother was getting thin and that she seemed to be ageing very fast We called a physician to see her He said she was prostirated from lack of sleep. She had not told us that she was losing sleep. But when we came to question her she moke down untterly, and confessed that she could not sleep for those steps-the steps of the ghost of the murder who hurried down from the room where he had done his awful deed She is teribly pround, is mother. It went hard with her to confess all the Well then the matter seemed to be getting serious. We talked of moving, I will ever leave this house,' said mother, while I live. I have never qualifed before the living I will not quail before the dead. Well, we all obey mother Anyone would obey mother We could say no more Her words are always final But we determined to meet that ghost and have it out with him. The baron and the boys and inveself talked it all over I don't say that we might not have delayed if it had not been that when nest the steps sounded on our floor morher gave way utterly and [?] line a maniac Then we all began to love our nerve The baron-I am sorry to confess it hid the head under the bed clothes and shivered But I leaped out of bed and called ot the boys. 'Come, come." I daid it must be now. It must be tonight 'I felt terrible clated-like a man who goes up a fort to meet the enemy's guns The steps had got down to the second story this time, and the boys came out of their rooms. I jouned them, and the three of us followed those steps The ghost appeared ot be making a stand The steps were not hurried as usual. They were slow. As was expressed our derermination to dive him from the house the steps became obsinate, slow and heavy I walked on after them, angrily 'Go go,' I cried 'Go, you icked and murderous spirit, which will not show yourself. Walk your evil way our of this house forever Go, go!' You wouldn't have known the boys They were as white as the dead themselves-Those great hulking fellows. We went on down the second flight of steps, though the the dining room, through the kitchen, the cellar door opened before our eyes wihtout mortal hand to touch it, and we went still on down the cellar stpes, down the coal bin There was a heavy fall, a frightful wind seemed to fill the
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JAN PAULSEN
THE BOOKMAN
IN NEXT SUNDAY'S WORLD-HERALD WILL APPEAR THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THE PRIZE STORY OF MYSTERY, WRITTEN BY MRS. PEATTIE
THE STORY WILL RUN IN THE SUNDAY WORLD-HERALD DURING JUNE AND JULY.
THE PLOT WILL NOT BE UNRAVELED UNTIL THE LAST CHAPTER, AND THIS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED TILL WORLD-HERALD READERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN A FEW DAYS TO OFFER SOLUTIONS OF THE MYSTERY.
LARGE PRIZES WILL BE OFFERED FOR THE BEST SOLUTIONS.
FULL PARTICULARS NEXT SUNDAY
205
WHERE TEACHERS ARE MADE
State Normal School at Peru an Institution of Remakrable Excellence.
Keeping Pace With the Times, It Now Ranks With Any of Its Kind in the Country.
Present Liberal Policy is Proving a Success Attendance is Growing Yearly-Class Now About to Finish.
A week of notable closing execises, attended by thousands, and the contemplated departure form Omaha of two carloads of the alumni calls attention to the State Normal school- that beautiflly situated academy at Peru Nebraska may be montonous in scenery, and uncertain in climate in some portions, but at Peru, lying in the southern part of the state, it is as beautiful as a king's pleasure ground. Peru used ot be a river town, but it awke one morning to find that it had been jilled by the Missouri, and has been able to console itself only by lying so far from that river that is turgid water, einding below the serlling and wooded hills, turns into silver and enchants the eye. There has been some complain because the State Normal school was "dropped away in the corner of the state," but the surroundings are in reality so remarkably attractive that the school is becomeing a favorite on that account
Within the last two years the standard of the school has been raised very considerably. Up to that time the policy with which it was conducted was conservative int he extreme, and it is a melancholy fact that a few years ago an applicant for a position as teacher in a country school was first accepted on his merits, and then refused whne a diploma was presented from the State Normal school. The memebers of the board had never heard of the institution although they lived but thirty miles west of it. But with the coming of Prof A. W. Norton to the presidency, the school has not only been actually raised as an institution of learning, but it is rapidly beocming celebrated.
HAVE RETURNED TO SCHOOL
This has been the result of a liberal policy of an original method of teaching and the large public spiritedness which has taken Prof Norton into nearly every county of this state lecturing, addressing techer's insitutes and talking to school in educational matters. In this particular Prof Norton and Chancellor Canfield have much resembled each other in their activites A condiserable number of the present pupils of the Normal school are young men and women who have held positions as techers, but who, on hearing Prof Norton have decided to return to school and more fully equip themselves for their responsible work It is a fact, that so materially has this important institution been raised in its value and credit during the last two years, that young teachers leaving it have been able to secure positions immediately for excellent schools, at salraies from $900 to $1200 some of these positions being outside of the state.
In spite of hard times and the need that many young persons who would have chosen a teacher's career have had to work at some hing bringing an immediate income, the attendacne has grown considerably. In 1891 the whole number in attendance was 458 pupils, in 1894 it was 555 The graduates in the elementary deparments number In 1894 they were thity -four in 1891 the graduates from the raining school were ninety-five in 1894 they were 182
WORK OF TWENTY YEARS
The development of the school and the sate can ne infeered from the fact that during the twenty odd years of existence of the school previous to 1893 the number of graduates was 188, while during the years of 1803-4-5- it has been 101. This is the case, not withstanding the fact that the pursuit of thirty-sci studeis is a requirement now for a diploma, while previously but twenty-seven studies were required Moreover, the amount of work along certain lines had been increased During the last year two booksmore of Virgil have been read than previously the work in chemistry and phsucs has been more than doubled, and the work in physology has been nearly doubled All this is the result of a vivid and vital personality at the at the head of the school The State Normal has felt the same acceleration from its head that the university has from the management of Chancellor Canfield Militarism has shwon itslef in a moderate and commendable way, and there are tow companies of cadets, who drill enthusiatically under the tuition of a university student, who has a talent for drilling and who received instruction at Lincoln from the officer detailed for the purpose. The cadets are only partly uniformed, but will be fully costumed next year The college has a paper, the Courler, which is brisk and interesting and typographically good. There are now four societies in the schoo, tow of which have been recently formed These societies are the Junior, the Wellingtonian, the Everett and the Philomathean Under the proper guidance and suggestion these societies have ceased to be organizations for amusement, and have become literary societies, following a systematic course of study, each making its section and pursuing it through the year: and at the "open sessions" giving the school the cream of its work.
BOASTS SOME ATHLETES.
The school is, unfortunately without a gymnasium, though it boasts of a sprinter who can run 100 yards, standing start, in 10 3/4 seconds. Field day is not neglected though that has also been introduced within the last two years, and the program includes some exciting and novel numbers. Being a co-educational institution in the full sense of the word, the young women are not neglected even in the field day program, but participate with a noble disregard of the traditions o f sex
The school apperas to very well equipped in laboratory, as so observatory and in class rooms The buildings would stand some repairing. They bear silent witness to the fact that the appropriations for the school have not always been as large as the necessities demand Standing, as the buildings do, surrounded by sixty acres of beautiful groves, it is easy to forget alll such deficiencies however, in rejoicing in the beauty of the surroundings. What influences such beauty may have upon the minds and spirits of those who are to becomes the instructors of the children of Nebraska the psychologist may determine. Certainly the institution is the most fortuantely placed of any in the state There are give buildings, all staunch and good These buuildings include a dormitroy for the girls and an ordinary at which the yong women and faculty may board
BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
The institution is managed by a board, which, at the present writing, consists of the state superintendent, the state treasureer. Hon Chirch Howe, Hon Wilson E Majors, Hon. B. E. B. Kennedy, Hon. J. A. West and Hon. J. T. Spencer. Mr. Church Howe holds his term but two days longer and leaves behind him term but two days longer and leaves behind him the record of a generous and large adminstration, so far as it lay in high power to secure it.
The school has gained the reputation of late of being conductedupon a pecullar method. To a casual observer it would seem that the method strongly resembles that of the university. Cerainly, insomuch as the pupils control themselves, as all police are absolutely upon honor, there is a strong resemblance Insomuch, too, as the formation of character is considered as of as much importance as the gaining of knowledge, there is a resemblance. To acquire power, strength for good is, according to Prof. Norton, a true education. It is, in a sense, the idea which the great European educators who orginated the kindergarten held.
'Education is easily aquired by the trained mind," Prof Norton says, 'Once a student has acquired power over himself he can learn anything or do anything, he may set out to do. To trimph over whatever obstacles may arise, to act quickly and wisely-these are what mark the cultivated mind I believe taht the student should be taught to meet each day's exigencies, and to acquire the ability to meet them bravely and well. Character seems to me the ground work of the equipment of our teachers The common wealt rests upon the school-the school upon the teacher- the teacher upon his own inner power The man or woman of charcter who take up teaching as a profession will it goes without saying, be well informed That becomes a matter of conscience. And when the lessons of mental victory over obstacles are learned, it is no longer difficult to force the mind to acquire whatever one sets out to have it acquire."
THIS YDAR'S GRADUATES.
The graduating class of forty-one shows in as earnestness and vigor that it has received instruction of an unusual sort. There does not appear to be a member of the class who will take up hi or her duties as instructor in a perfunctory way. The deep responsibility which a teacher bears has been planted in their comprehension
Sunday Morning this class listened with profundest attnetion to the baccalaureate sermon by Dr. Roland of Lincoln. Wednesday best will be the comencement exercises The class day program, by the way, is said to have been quite the jilliest and most original in the history of the school-even Miss Morgan, the preceptress says that, and she ought to know, for she has been with the school for over twenty years. Twenty years, it may be parentherically remarked, is a long time in Nebraska.
Prof. Norton and some of his faculty conducted a summer school at Peru last summer, but owing to a union of a number of teachers' institures this year, he will not take up the school at Colorado Springs. President Norton is form Elmira. N.Y. and a man who has had much experience among many different sorts of pupils-and most obviously a man who has accepted his calling as a sacred one, with incalculable opportunities for influencing the lives of others It is a fortunate thing for the state that such an educator is within its boarders, to counteract to some extent the deadly selfishness and secularism which is too liable to grow up in the public school system. The state is fortunate in having over its prospective teachers a man of profound religious conviction, as well as one of keen intellectual activity, and of aggressive and progressive modernity
ELIA W PEATTIE