The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1899-09-02

beauty far more than Of bread and but.
ter. A meal-whst function IL served
with art. II only with the art Of clean
illness; without that. what an act Of
sensuality!"
The book is alive with vivid portrait.
ures Of the people among whom Mr..
Writings hero lived. Fret among
them is Tilda, the flower girl, and the
next Low Convey, the coster. who is
frequently out Of job, and who spends
more time making musical bird calls on
glass tubes submerged in water than he
does at his trade. IN him Mr.. Whiting
finds the primitive artist of the people.
Old NANNY" says Of Covey:
"Cleverest bird call in London, bar
none. II he was moro genteel-like to
look at he could make q fortune in the
music halls. But there, you can't get
him to put on black coat. He splits
it IL it's anything Of q at, and some days
there amt note in him."
And Mr.. Whiting sdds:
"She spoke half In pity, half in ad-
miration, as though the devine finger
had been laid on Covey and oppressed
him with its weight. 1t is the attitude
OF all simple natures and OF all simple
races toward genius or gift. They
reverence the burden; they pity the
bearer"
Tilda, the flower seller, is worth
whole book In herself, that big, vigorous
piece Of womsnhood, with the bearing
Of q goddess and the grammar Of the
slums, who carried her sick friend in
her strong arms and always ipterposed
In street fights when che saw q good
fellow getting the worst Of 1t.
"She helps one to understand liters.
ture, sacred and profane. The earlier
women Of spirit were furies OF this sort,
feel sure. She is Boadices, skipping
centuries Of time-Bosdicea, strong OF
her hands and generally none too clean
Of them, splendid In reasonle.s passion
and decidedly ioul-mouthed, no British
warrior queen OF nursery recitation, but
down right naughty gal leading her
alley to battle against tho Roman
'slops.' With q trifling difference in
costume, but none in spirit. she is Hera.
the furious and proud, The ferocity in
these types OF womsnhood is the secret
Of their enduring charm"
This Same ferocious coster girl, whom
she hears the arabian Nights" read
for tho first time, overcome by new
and nsmeless pleasure % solemn that 1t
10 almost pain, cries and says she is
going to be Q better girl" Having
created her In such splendid proportions,
tho author digniaes Tilda by martyrs
death. He can scarcely leave her In
John street. he cannot lift her to his
hero's world. 90 he leaves to her the
tragic interest which 10 usually found
somewhere 10 every great work of art.
She dies at ono Of the Queens Jubilee
celebrations In an effort to save noble
man from an anarchists bomb. II
there are many such staunch hearts in
John street. don't wonder that Mr..
Writings hero used to slip away from
his own gay world and 60 back there
where people, having nothing else to
give in friendship, give themselves,
spleudidly. unreservedly. msgnificently.
Not long ago, In the great iron mills at
Homestead, Pa, steel worker fell into
q live cinder pit. Gripping himself in
his fall and lying helpless on the Goals.
A friend Of bis, workman like himself,
leaped In after him and stood in that
fiery pit, holding his comrades body in