davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
A Moral Change.
By FREDERICK HOWARD WINES,

Ex-Assistant Director United States
I J of to-day is a new world; but 1t
takes thought to realize the mag
nitude and enormous scope of the
change that has occurred within the past
fifty years. 1t is not only material
change, marked by the evolution of the
arts; the application of power to trans
portation and manufacture steam, cleo
tricity and the triunphS of modern en-
cheering; by the invention of new TOOLS
typewriter are miner instances; by the
introduction into everyday life of the
telephone,- wireless telegraphy. electric
lighting, the bicycle, the automobile, and
the aeroplane.
Nor is it merely an intellectual event;
the silent but awe-inspiring advance of
the physical sciences, the extension and
popularization OF knowledge, and the up
education. 1t is even more characters
tically a moral change, unlike anything
in history, inasmuch as it includes and
unites the spread of democratic senti-
me1lts and practice with the accumuia-
ton of untold wealth.
I wish to speak of a single aspect of this
moral change. and that the most hopeful,
namely, the growth OF altruism. My
with this phase of the social revolution
than with any other.
The acceptance of the scientific con-
ception OF nature suggests an analogous
must be equally under the dominion of
natural law. Man is a part of nature.
The race is an organic unit. The per-
ception of its solidarity implies quick
part of the individual to the social whole.
! The recognition of a physiological basis
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
Fiction. Poetry, History
BY DANsKE cambridge.


IT appears to me that the liffer-
ence between the literature of the
present day and that of fifty
years ago is the difference in the times.
Fifty years ago the reading class had
more leisure Novels, for instance, were
both written and read more carefully
Ladies led more sheltered lives. and there
were few who thought it necessary to
follow any other career than that afford
ed by the quiet and comfort of home.
There were giants in those days-lit-
erary giants, who wrote always with an
eye upon this circle of readers com posed
SO largely of women of culture, ~delicacy,
and refinement.
o. the dear old novels. those of Scott,
Mrs Yaskell. Charlotte Bronte. Wilkie
Collins. Anthony Trollope, and many 9th
ersl We still turn to them with relish,
we of the older day
Modern novels are, many of them, very
clever; they coruscate with brilliancy, but
too many novelists is to produce a q best
seller" or else to write q story, that can
the drama is not real life, and novels
written with this view are never true TO
Again, the modern novel reflects the
spirit Of the age In old times there were
American novels. were written for nice
people, and nice people then settled
down comfortably to enjoy life after
nerS At present our unsettled social and
domestic conditions are exaggerated in
our fiction.
Take. for instance, the early books of
Henry James, and contrast them with
those he has been writing for the last
ten years, as an example. What leap
from I" Daisy Miller . to g What Maisie
Knew ~
AS for poetry, which is the fine flow
err of literature, alas! the conditions fer
its cultivation are no longer favorable.
The climate has, 1 fear, permanently
changed. The great voices are still, but
we hear, now and then, lovely song
from some one who has the gift and
who does not wait for encouragement.
Those who must sing, will sing; the
trouble is that few stop to listen.
In history modern writer's are, perhaps.
more exact than they were fifty years
ago. but are they as interesting? His
torians should, indeed, be patient search
erS after truth, but when they give the
benefit of their researches they should
endeavor to do so in an interesting manner.
The qualities that make the painstaking
student and the brilliant writer are sell
dom combined in the same brain. That
is. 1 suppose why we have so few really
great historians. Great historians are
almost as rare as great epic poets.
We have very few clever essayists,
but they too often appear to be posing
i for effect.
The born essayist. forceful, simple, Iu-
minouS, unconscious, wise, kindly, hui
morous, and thoroughly. delightful. does
exist, though there are not many of him.
That we know two three among
American writer's is a source of gratitue
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
The Music of the People.
BY JOHN SPENCER CAMP,
Composer and Organist.

TN looking back. say. twenty-five years
over the field of music in the
United States, one is forcibly I'M
pressed with the progress in music of all
sorts and kinds. This is partly due to the
general world musical progress and part
1y, think, to the local conditions obtain
ing in this country.In church music great
advancement has been made both in the
style OF music sung and played, and in
the Importance attached to music as an
alo 10 the church service Many churches
are approaching the fact that the music
in church, both vocal and instrumental
ought to be, first and last, of a charac-
ter consistent with a religious service.
1t is coming to be recognized that the
choir singer and organist should be per-
sons not only of solid musical training
but also of at least good moral charac.
ter and in full sympathy with a religious
service. Organ building has proce sded by
leaps and bounds. and particularly within
the past ten years the mechanical side of
organ building has been reVolutionized
Vare ne Sne as ais9 HWn to be tie
purely organ effect. The pneumatic and
electrO-pneumatic action and also the
electric blowing engine have developed to
a point of perfection hitherto unknown
a mechanical life of fifty years and be
practically as good as new at the end of
that time If properly attended to from
In the domain of piano playing we have
seen a general advance in technique. Vir-
luOolly was pIOUdOly nOV0F greater lndIl
to-day, and the general level of piano
playing has advanced greatly. The sci
Of ante fnse has been nghy devg
turned out by our teachers, with a reason
able certainty of being good, than at any
time before in history.
The interest in piano music has also
been enormously stimulated by the me-
chanical players like the pianola. angelus.
&c. These contrivances enable the aver
age person who has no technique to play
practically everything in pianistic litera-
ture, to say nothing of the mum berless ar
engagements of the popular music, operate
and otherwise, which interests the crowd:
whereas, twenty five years ago there were
no mechanical piano players, now their
number is legion; where there were very
few, speaking comparatively, players and
Students, now there are thousands
A great momentum has been acquired.
and the piano, from being a rare luxury
twenty-five years ago, is now almost re-
garded as a necessary part of the furni-
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
Literature of Revolt.
By HORACE TRAUBEL.

BY HORACE TRAUBEL.
Author of i" With Walt Whitman in Cam
den," &c.
THE difference between fifty years
ago and to-day in literature is
all in the direction of broader
humanism. We are politically and eco
nomically getting rid of the garish and
And this. naturally reflects itself in the
work of the modern author. The much
discussed and often much discredited
i, agitation of AnarchiSm and Socialism in
Europe and America has forced its influ-
ences into every department of the arts
and has, especially in the authorship of
the world. become omni-prevalent and
omni-potential.
The man who writes novels might as
well not write at all as attempt to dodge
the grave problems which radicalism has
rropounded. For to ignore that field Of
writer has either to write the affirmative
books himself or to write books damning
Shaw writes affirmative books and Ches-
terton writes books mainly to tell us
that Shaw has written books that dent
q It is impossible to set aside the forces
Of revolution. They break into expression
incidentally, that while " the world has
been remade within fifty years. he has
he one question Wch flames ercey in
the consciousness of the time he is alto
gether conservative If not reactionary
possessed itself Of the poets, the .histor-
ians, the essayists, the teachers, the edi-
# you write you have got to write one
of two ways You have no other choice.
You may go with the rebels or you may
remain with the conformists. You may
look with joy or you may look with rear
e e DIV i into a security that it never ac-
complished before. You may throw your
life as a sacrifice into the vortex. Or
YOU may play the game with the Bour-
But, whatever you do. whichever way
you look, up or down. or left or right
you can't avoid realizing the. fight and
you can't refuse to be involved: Wherever
you go among authors you find the alter
native discussed. The question is but
this: VIII you shut up or vii you speak, ak;
you take? You might as well he dead
as try to evade the one-line issue.
Literature is being remade in the image
of the people back of literature who are
allure. The people make literature. The
writer's is only the uplifted hand indicat-
ing the course. The people are the soul
that prophetically interests the people
must be the thing that the masters of
their literature exploit.
The thing that prophetically interests
the Significance. of labor in the grading
of social worth. Where is labor put in
the world as 1t is? Labor is put below
money. People are put below goods. The
revolt. viii reverse that ignorant and
In spite of whatever repugnance. all the
states of Europe and America and even
some Of the countries Of Asia, have been
more or less fully the programmes of
revolution.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
Woman $ Progress.
BY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Editor The Woman's Journal. Boston.

By ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Editor The Womans Journal. Boston.
fifty years ago women had mu-
school suffrage in Kentucky and
Ontario. Since then they have been
given full suffrage in Wyoming,
Colorado. Utah. Idaho. New Zealand
Australia, Norway. and Finland; NUM-
cipal suffrage in Scotland, Ireland, kan
sas, Denmark. Iceland, and most of the
Canadian provinces; a vote upon ques-
tions of taxation in Louisiana, Iowa.
Montana, Michigan, and the towns, the
villages, and more than half the third
school suffrage in Michigan, Minnesota,
New Hampshire, Oregon, Massachusetts,
Vermont, Nebraska, North and South
Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Della
ware, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
In addition the laws and customs which
restricted women'S freedom and served
as buttresses to their political disabilities
women were generally looked upon as
of receiving the higher educa-
ton as unwomanly # they engaged in any
of the many public activities that they
ganizations for philanthropic work; when
they were unable, If married, to have any
legal control over their own property,
children, or earnings, and were to all
guardianship and authority of their hus-
bands, it was at least consistent that
they should be treated as perpetual min
ors also in regard to the ballot
it has been knocked away. piece by piece.
until it is only in this one matter of the
suffrage that the fiction Of women's per-
petual minority Is still kept UP.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

the joy of seeing Augustin Days pro-
duction of " The Midsummer Nights
Dream" What a triumph of the
switchboard that wasl And what pos
sibilities for the switchboard are the
mystical dramas of Ibsen and Haupt-
man, of Strindberg and Grillparzer.
Indeed, one can hardly conceive of the
hardihood of any manager daring to
translate the symbolism of 50 The Lady
from the Sea - or 81 Rosmersholm " into
concrete dramatic action without the
kindly, nay, divine aid of the stage
electrician. and as for the exquisite
fantasy Hannele," one is safe to say
that Hauptman himself would have
despaired of putting its filmy and
diaphanous material into manuscript
had he not remembered the wizardry
that is to be evoked from the dynamo
The effect of steam upon the stage is
hardly less direct and certainly not less
portentous. Indeed, our present system
of theatricals is the direct outgrowth
and development of the steam engine
and the railroad.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01


.DR. CHARLES w. ELIOT saying
that the world has been remade
during the past fifty years is a
few centuries behind in regard
to that part of the earth called the
" theatre" which since Shakespeare
time has been remade many times. and
which Is still in the process of transfer
nation.
The evolution of the stage since the
days of the Globe Theatre, where the
master first produced his immortal
works without scenery or decorations,
has been one unbroken stream of mar
vel, skill, and invention.
Mechanical and electrical science, mu-
sic, painting, and decorations, have all
served to remake the playhouse in
front and back of the curtain.
Many new places of amusement have
been built in New York City during the
past decade; in fact. more than the
modern play builder can keep pace
with. What is the cause of the many
failures this present season? No fellow
knows, but we all have a guess. think
people go to the theatre to be amused
and entertained. The plays the thing
it always was and always will be. The
stage is not pulpit. Preaching plays
will bankrupt the managers. The
laugh and the tear drawn by a simple
human story that leaves virtue tri-
umphant makes the swell and gallery
boy acclaim the piece a success.
Royalties and salaries, too, are higher
than ever, thanks to the enterprising
commercial managers, whom we often
hear denounced by some of the profess
sion.
Another failure? blame commercial
ism, shouts the tout ensemble of the
critical fraternity. Commercialism-
HushI Theatres cannot succeed with
out it. Clever commercial managers
might have saved some famous theatres
from going to the wall. know that
missed them
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
, DAVID BELAsCo.

w ? HEN Dr. Eliot said, " The
NM world has been remade
Wv within fifty years." he
might have added quite
truthfully, " and in no department of
that world has the reconstruction been
more radically subversive of the old
order than in that Of the theatre and
the drama" Indeed, 1 am not exag-
gerating when say that in one other
department of modern civilization. and
in one only, have the past fifty years
witnessed a change so violent, so vital
as that which has affected all things
pertaining to theatricals. 1 refer to
the theory and practice of medicine and
&c the art of surgery.
1t is to the great power Of electricity,
absolutely unknown to our forefathers,
that the stage manager of to-day is
enabled properly to furnish adequate
setting and atmosphere in which the
dramatic artist is enabled to interpret
the masterpieces of the past. 1t is to
the great power of electricity, the pos
sibilities of which are even still so great
as to stagger the imagination of scien-
tists-it is to this power, and to it alone,
that most of our great modern master
pieces owe their very existence.
1t has always been my deep regret
that Shakespeare could not have had
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

places no confidence in the employee,
and the employee places none in the
proprietor.
In the cash drawer, In the system of
collecting fares on street cars and rail-
way trains. in the check and counter
check at the hotels, in the elaborate
system of the banks, in the expensive
safe vaults provided against the bur-
glar, the robber, and the sneak thief
in fact, in every direction that our eyes
take. in the business world, we are
bound to see that commerce goes upon
the idea that every man will steal IL
he gets the opportunity; and the whole
trend of the ingenious, elaborate, and
away the chance to steal. The entire
precautional system cries out: =" Every
one of us will steal if you don't watch
usl'' Was it that bad fifty years ago7
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
Fifty Years In Iheatricals.
Steam and Electricity the Vital Factors
in the Stages Progress.

Without the steam engine and the
railroad our. present artistic stature
never could have been attained. With
out the steam engine and the railroad
we would still be getting our dramatic
entertainment under the old stock COM
pany and repertoire system, a very
good system in its day. but now passe
and obsolete, and so to be regarded by
every one who is willing to open his
eyes and view the question not from
the standpoint of maudlin sentiment, of
foolish idolatry of the past, but from
that which is sane and practical.
though none the less artistic.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

x you desire my view on the diff
ference then and now in the
art of music. Here it is:
In opera we are just as much
a colony Of Europe as We were fifty
years ago. Opera is still mainly a
showmans business and not yet an IN
tegra1 of our daily musical life. Opera
is not less of an exotic dollhouse plant
The problems only sensible solution:
good opera and good English Is as little
appreciated by managers, guarantorS,
and patrons as fifty years ago.
Music as an essential factor of Ma
fional culture is not recognized now
officially by our people very much more
than it was fifty years ago. Hence
the cause of Federal, State, Municipal
encouragement of the art for economic,
artistic, and educational reasons in the
interests of the people has not greatly
been advanced. Rank commerctaliSm
in music still outweighs a little the
more businesslike. professional attitude
Of art for arts sake, which incidentally
means art for the peoples sake.
Musical trash is published and con-
sumed in vastly greater quantities than
fifty years ago; in fact, the craze for
ndulterated musical food products has
more than kept its pace with the
growth and Standardization of the pop
ulation, which, on the other hand, of
course, automatically created a much
larger demand for and supply of good
music, whether light or heavy.
You see, I began with the Lamento,
now for the Triomfo. Fifty years ago
American-born musicians worthy of
the name were few and far between.
To-day they number many, many thou
sands. and the European invasion has
been reduced to almost normal proper
tons Then the musicians We're with
ont organization; now they, too, have
their unions, and, on the whole, their
good deeds outnumber their sins.
Fifty years ago our musical indus
tries were in their infancy; to-day they
contribute a remarkable share to the
oountrys business. Fifty years ago
musical criticism reflected the still pro-
vfncial atmosphere of our musical
life; to-day we have some, though not
enough, critics who deserve the name
and who are fully as capable as their
best European colleagues. Fifty years
ago music schools were exceedingly
few: to-day we number them by the
hundreds, unfortunately. still including
numerous musical bucket shops.
Fifty years ago we had no musical
libraries: to-day European librarians
are beginning to view our competition
with concern. Fifty years ago our
church music was Laundering about
y an erratic course; to-day, in spite Of
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
A Woman Playwright.
BY MARGUERITE MERINGToN.

BY MARGUERITE MERINGTON
A to the semi-centennial remaking OF
~ the world, that seems to me less a
starting point for general argument
than the epigraph with which one thinker
in particular defines the area of his own
particular survey of the universe. And
as In the larger universe the new is sim
ply an expansion, a development, modi-
fication of the old, so with that micro
cosm the theatre.
Where Rachel laid down the burden of
French classical tradition some fifty
years ago, Sarah Bernhard took it up
ard who shall speak of Sarah as other
than cOntemporaneous! Fifty years ago.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

ture of well-to-do home In literature
for the piano there has been an enormous
output since Chopin. but no advance has
been made by the modern composers Of
worth of the music over those of the nine
teenth
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

1860, but If any such existed, they were
Insignificant. They could not have had
anything over a scattering individual
example East or West.
Diagram to illustrate the educational
trend in the United States in the last fifty
years BY the side of individualistic or
psychologist education is found that which
is largely economic and sociologic:
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
Former Candidate for Vice Presiden
By THOMAS E. WATSON,

Former Candidate for Vice President.
HR. c. w. ELIOT says, :" The
world has been remade within
IL fifty years"
That's a fact visible to the
naked eye, but the important thing is
the answer that must be made to this
question, Is the newly made world of
to-day better world than that of fifty
years ago?"
It seems to be a fact that a large
percentage of the people have departed
from the old faith, in the matter of re-
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
ELEMENTARY

ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS.
They were at
tended by each
child between )
and IS, an aver
age of less than
"A days a year
mainly the three
RS
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

GRADUATE &
r e 9 E A r G H
SCHOOLS.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
III.

SECONDARY or
HIGH
SCHOOLS.
English & clas-
steal.
Young ladies'
seninaries.
Normal schools.
Business schools.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

By OSCAR G. SONNECK,
Director of the Music Division, Library
of Congress, Washington.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

" ference then and now in the
art of music. Here it is:
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01

KINDERGAR-
TENS
None. but a few
Danes schools !
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL g

KINDERGAR-
TENS.
Public and pri-
vate kindergar-
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-01
An Old Timer S View.
By EDWARD HARRIGAN.

NR. CHARLES w ELIOT saying
| J that the world has been remade
during the past fifty years is a
few centuries behind in regard
Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-07-05
Nineteen Killed
In Train Wreck
m24, fri. 6no

Middleton. Ohio. July 4.-Nipeteer
persons were killed outright. three
were probably fatally hurt. and half q
dozcn were seriously injured in 2
head-on collision between freight and
passenger train on the Cincinnati
Hamilton & Dayton Railroad TODAY. OF
the Killed is were passengers.
The trains were the Cincinnati seq.
ton of the Twentieth Century Limited
on the Cleveland. Cincinnati. Chicagc
st. Louis Railroad (Big Four, and
me second section of y freight train
on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & DAYTON
Road. The latter was attempting tr
make a slcing to give the passenger
Train a clear track when the limited
travelling at a speed of so miles an
hour. flashed around a curve and
dasned into it.
tihe Big Four train had been detour.
cd to avoid blocked track on thu,
ROAD ut Genoa. few miles south of
mere. caused by a freight wreck ear,;er
1T the day. In addition to its rerul,,
crew 1t carried pilot engineer Of tbe
cincinnati. Hamilton & Dayton WIN
was practically in charge of the train
misunderstanding of orders caused
the disaster, which is one Of the
worst this section of the country has
ever experienced.