davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03
A Chapter on Females,

We like to look upon healthy woman she IS prodigy in the nineteenth century. Wher- ever you go you see scores and hundreds of speeny, sickly, feeble girls, who can hardly muster courage to make their beds, wash their faces, or drive an intruding COW from the yard. Tell them about early rising, fresh air and healthy exercise and they heave sigh as long as the moral law, and are ready to faint away. lou expect them to get up before day-to work in the kitchen-to breathe the fresh air of the morning Preposterous and absurd l. They have never seen the sun rise, and would hardly know but the sun continues to shine for ever, if were not for the almanacs and their grandmothers. No wonder every year sweeps to the grave so many young women who have been sickly and effeminate ever since they were born into the world and death will continue to select them as his victim till they learn their duty, and pursue that course which insures health, strength aud long life. Our great grandparents lived to great age-and never thought of lying down to die, till they had at least, reached the meridian of life They were strong, happy and hearty. Why? They rose early, wor ked like beavers, and never spent the midnight hours in dancing
 Instead of being frightened at mouse at their feet :; beetle on their nccks, a hv's foot on their arm, in the absence of their fatIerS and husbands, they would load their guns and shoot bears and catamounts, and keep at bay party of savages. How have their daughters doucll- eratedI What female is there nowadays who wouldn't run from gun, even if it had no lock. The ladies of the olden times out-ved their husbands years and years. How is it now ?- Widows are few and far between, It was no singular thing for our gradmothers to have three or four husbands in course of ther lives. Now it is the reverse. Men have about so many wfes--diseases of late have been to fatal among the female sex. Do you know the cause 1? It is found in listless idcness, inactivity, late hours, thin shoes, muslin dresses, horror of fresh morning air, and in that detcstable stuff stitched in pink and yellow covers, which is flooding our country. If they will do nothing else young ladies will sit and read from morning till night, that sickly sentimental, impure and lcen- tious trash that is thrown in such abundance from the press. This shrivels the mind, warps the affections, chills the Letter feelings and makes the life wrctclcd beyond dcscription.- Let females look into this subject, and act like reasonable beings, and we should see quite diff. fcrrent state of things. We should hear of no fainting away, no sickly consumption, no affcc- tion of the lungs, no suicides
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

CoMPLAINING.--Neal,t the author of the Char coal Sketches thus admirably takes off that class of people who are never so happy as when they are making themselves miserable
 " How are you, Trcpid [" How do you feel today Mir. Trepd 7"
 " A great deal worse than I was, thank'ee !; most dead, I'm obliged to you Pm always worse than was, and I don't think l was ever any better. I'm very sure, anyhow, Pm not going to be any better and for the future you may always know I'm worse, without ask ing any questions for the questions make me worse, ifnothing else does"
 "Why, Trcpid, what's the matter with you ?'
 Nothing, tell you, in particular, but great deal is the matter with me in general and that's the danger, because We don't know what it is. That's what kills people when they can't tell what it is; that's what killing mc My great-grandfathcr died of it, and so will l. The doctors don't know they can't tell they say I'm well enough when Pm bad enough, and so there's no help. I'm going off some of these days right after my grandfather, dying of notll- ing in particular, but of everything in general That's what finishes folks"
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

YANKEES IN VIRG1N1A.-The Richmond( Va.) Dispatch, talking about Yankees locating in Virginia, is witty and wise after this fashion From the Kanawha to Hampton Roads, their nasal melodies will fill the air. and the whole heaven be perfumed with the incense of their savory cod They will build double track rail roads to the Ohio and to the Teennessee line, and ship canal from the James to the Ohio in less time than it takes a contemplative na- tive to turn over such an idea in the mind. In- stead of our large estates, we shall have null titude of small farms, cultivated by emigrants from the banks of the Connecticut while Tan kee schoolmasters, preachers, lawyers, doctors, and artizans will overrun the land.
 The remaining Virginia families will be el- bowed and hustled about by this Praise G od- Bareboned generation, till they shall wish them selves dead or in Texas True, these Obadiahs and Jehoshaphats will make Virginia the great est State in the Union; but is it by these .in- strumentalties you wish her redeemed either by Virginians or by Yankees It is for you, sons of the cavaliers, to decide by whom it shall be done, and whether Virginia shall continue a southern, or become Yankee State.
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

CHRISTIAN REsIcNArloY.-We have rarely met with more touching illustration of Chris. tian fortitude and submission than is furnished ill the following extract from a letter of Profcs- sor Richardson, of Freehold, N. J., who has re. gently become blind. In writing to friend af. ter speaking of his loss in burying beloved child, he adds:
 But nov I have been called to part with all on earth all, however dear, have been bansh- cd from my sight and the earth and sky are gone light and beauty have given place to darkness, eeen my own form has perishcd from my sight. The sun no longer rises and sets- Perpetual night reigns, but startess night l feel the breath of Heaven as it passes by l hear its mournful music indeed live only in a world of sound. Death seems to have begun his work and left it half finished. The dark ness of the grave surrounds me, the forms of loved ohcs have vanished but their voices still sound in my ear. Time is at an end, and there is no longer succession of days-the next light l am to behold will be that of the eternal world, the next morning that bursts upon my vision, that of resurrection. But this is a welcome thought. My mind runs forward and an ticipates with joy the scenes next upon my sight When my spirits sink within me, when think of what have lost in this world, then find an unfading source of consolation in anticipating the light, the joy, the friends of our earlier days who have gone to heaven.
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

as though every bamboo in it would break. l chung to the lashings for support, and vainly shouted to the natives to do the same. They either had not understood Chariey's warning, 1 or were too anxious to reach the shore to pay 1 any attention to it, for they still padded on when suddenly one of them lost his balance, and with wild yell, fell hcadlong into the water In an instant every alligator disappeared be- heath the surface, and oaly few bubbles, which slowly rose, told of the struggle that was going on beneath.
 "Now for the paddle" shouted Allen, springing to his feet, and grasping one, while he motlOned to me to take the other But the native?' I gasped. "1s dead before this time, and they are quarreling over his bones below They have tasted blood and if we do not reach the shore before he is eaten, there will be another victim Pull for your life, if you value it."
 dashed the paddle into the water and we urged the raft rapidly towards the landing, which was only about fifty feet distant
 Look" cried Charley, glancing over his shoulder, "but don't spare your strength"
 l followed the direction of his eyes, and saw more than fifty black shouts raised above the surface of the lake, and after short survey dis appear.
 "The devils know where we are," Allen ex- claimed, without ceasing his toll but think we shall dsappoint them this time"
 |" VOW gold candlestick to Saint"
 At this instant the raft struck the shore, and the Spaniard without waiting to complete his VOW, sprang to the land, and was quickly fol- lowed by the natives and ourselves. We had barely secured a foOthold before half-a- dozen slimy monsters rose beside the raft, and even rested their heads upon it, to be certain that it was vacated. l was too thankful at our escape to molest them but not so with Allen. He took deliberate aim at the largest and fired.
 In an instant we were covered with mud and water, which the alligator in his death-struggle hurled upon us; and then all was calm, and the monsters dead body foated beside the raft As if by magic every black snout had disal- peared and the waters of the lake were unruffled.
 " A brave shot, Signor Aen," cried the Don, searching amongst the provisions for something to revive his courage. "A brave shot, and to prove to you that appreciate it, we will open bottle of the wine of Spain.' We did empty the bottle, and it was not until near sundown that we left the borders of the lake and returned home By that time the Don fancied that he had killed the alligator {: and as we did not contradict him, he used to frequently boast afterwards of his skill as marksman.
 The death of the native was hardly alluded to by the Spauiar,l, for they value not the lives of Mctis in Manila
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

EARTHQUAKE AT JEDDo.-On the night of the 1lth of November last violent earthquake occurred at Jeddo, Japan, which destroyed one hundred thousand dwellings,, ffty-four temples aud thirty thousand inhabitants Fire broke ont in thirty different parts of the city The earth opened and closed over thousands of buildings, with their occupants The Japanese seemed to attach but little importance to the catastrophe. The inhabitants of the city de stroyed were forewarned of the disaster, and many of them escaped. The buildings of Jed do are chiefly of one story, and constructed of very light material The temples of worship, however, are lOftly, and in some instances are constructed of heavy masonry @
 Jeddo is the second capital of the empire of Japan, and the residence of the military Elm peror. It is located on the northeast coast of the island of Niphon, and contains p0pula. ton of million and half of souls. Earth quakes are not unfrequeht at Japan Weneed scarce refer to the one in the bay of. Simada about year ago, during which the Russian frigate Diana was wrecked In 1906 mum Der of Japanese cities were destroyed, and many thousand persons perished Indeed, that quarter of the globe has afforded the most ex- traordinary instances of the phenomenon on re cord. In l572 an earthquake at Pekin buried 300, 900 persons, and at the same place, about seventy years later, one hundred thousand were swallowed up.
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03
A Sensible View of the Gossip about War with
 England.

All the efforts of the United States and Great Brtian to involve the two countries in 0
 war must be futile, so long as the most import ant interests of the people are so identined.- The industrial classes are not affected by the long drawn out, long winded negotiations of few officials. The farmer does not stop ms plough or the artisan his machine, because there is an issue between his government and another, upon points which could be adjusted by wise and sensible men in short time, to the satis- faction of all The industry and enterprise of the country cannot be arrested becuase uipio- matists disagree about the construction of treaty. The seasons come and go, crops are sown and harvests mature, regardless of the lies and bubbles of cabinet ministers. Vessels ar rive and depart, loaded with the products of every cline without apprehensions of any inter ruptiOn in our commercial intercourse with na- tlons. The public mind cannot be induced to believe in the possibility of a rupture growing out of the trifling points at issue, but it must be prepared for a long and tedious agitation of the most unimportant matters for the most violent Announcement of each party by the press of both countries, by all sorts of crimination and recrimination, by the use of every effort to arouse the pride and petty prejudies of the peo- pie interested on both sides of the Atlantic all to end finally in an amicable settlement of all difficulties, in an adjustment of all questions, present and prospective, and the re-establishment of peaceful relations until it suits the govern ment of either country to raise again an issue requiring the rehearsal of similar scenes It is time for our people to place these matters in the proper light. A war between the United States and Great Britian is almost an impossibility-- The people have the issue in their own hands, and are prepared to assume the powers when necessary. Public opinion is the great regula- tor and when necessary it acts decisively.-- There is point beyond which the governments of either country cannot pass without the con sent and sanction of the people, but that point has not yet been approached We are proba- ply as near it now as our rulers dare move, and at the present distance all their negotiations and correspondences all their diplomacy and prevarication, all denials and admissions, are harmless and only serve to amuse and interest the few political demagogues which every country of any importance is unfortunately inflicted with
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

THE SEX FEMININE.--A pleasant, cheerful. lively, generous, charitable-minded woman is never old. The heart is ss young at sixty or seventy as it was at eighteen or twenty and they who are old at sixty or seventy are not made old by time. They are made old by the ravages of passion and feelings of an unsocial. an ungenerous nature, which have cank- cred their minds, wrinkled their spirits. and withered their souls. They are made old by envy, by jealously, by hatred, by suspicion. by uneharitable feelings by slandering, scandaliz- ing, illbred habits which, if they avoid. they preserve their youth to the very last, so that the child shall die, as the Scriptures say. hun dred years old. There are many old women who pride themselves on being eighteen or twen- ty. Pride is an old passion, vanity is gray as the mountains. They are old women that have much of either. They are dry, heartless. dull. cold, indifferent. They want the welLspring of youthful affection, which is always cheerful al- ways active, always engaged in some labor of love which is calculated to promote and distri- bute enjoyment. Old woman, old Iady. old grim face, old gripe, or any other nickname with the epithet old prefxed to it, is as com. mony applied by children to bad-tempereff mo thers, nurses, or aunts, as pretty Kind, aweet dear, and other youthful epithets, are instinc- lively applied to the good-humored grandmam with her wrinkled face. There is an old age of the heart, which is possessed by many who have no suspicion there is any thing old about them and there is youth which never erows old, Love who is ever boy, Pscyhe who is ever girl.
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03
"She has outlived her Usefu,ness,n

Not long since, good-looking man, in mid dle life, came to our door asking for |" the min istcr." When informed that he was out of town, he seemed disappointed and anxious On being questioned as to his business, he re- piled: |" have lost my mother, and as this place used to be her home, and my father lies here, We have come to lay her beside him."
 Our heart rose in sympathy, and we said lOu have met with great loss"
 Well-yes," replied the strong man, with hesitancy, "a mother is great loss in general; {; but our mother had outved her usefulness she was in her second childhood, and her mind was grown as weak as her body, so that she was no comfort to herself, and was burden to eve ry body. There was seven of us soi,s and daughters and as VIC could not find anybody who was willing to board her, we agreed to keep her among us year about. But Fve had more than my share of her, for she was too feeble to be moved when my time was out and that was more than three months before her death But then she was good mother in her day, and toiled very hard to bring us all up."
 Without looking at the face of the heartless man, we directed him to the house of neigh boring pastor and returned to our nursery.- We gazed on the merry little faces which smil- ed or grew sad in imitation of ours--those lit- tie ones to whose ear no word in our language is half so sweet as Mother :" and we wonder cd if that day could ever come when they would say of us, "She has outlivcd her usefulnes- she is no comfort to herself and burden to everybody else '" and we hoped that before such day would dawn, we might be taken to our rest. God forbid that We should outlive the love of our children Rather let us die while our hearts are part of their own. that our grave may be watered with their tears, and OUT love linked with their hopes of heaven.
 When the bell tolled for the mothers burial. we went to the sanctuary to pay our only token of respect for the aged stranger for We felt that we could give her memory tear, even though her own children had none to shed
 "She was good mother in her day, and toiled hard, to bring us all up-she was no comfort to herself and a burden to every body else 1" These cruel, heartless words rang in our ears as we saw the coffin borne up the aisle The bell tolled long and loud, until its iron tongue had chronicled the years of the toil-worn mother. One-two-three-fou four five How clearly and almost merrily each stroke told of her once peaceful slulnber in her mothers bosom, and of her scat at night-fall on her weary fathers knees. Six-seven-- eight-nine ne-ten-rang ont the tale of her sports upon the green sward, in the meadow, end by tue brook. ,Eleven--twelye-th thirteen fourteen fifteen, spoke more gravely of school days, and little household joys and cares. Sixteen seventeen eighteen, sounded out the enraptured visions of maidenhood, and the dream i of early love. Nineteen, brought before us the happy bride Twenty spoke of the young mo ther whose heart was full to bursting with the
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

UPRIGHT MEN.-We love upright men. Phil them this way and the other and they only bend--they never break. Trip them down, and in trice they are on their feet aeain.- Bury them in the mud, and in an heurs they would be out and bright. You cannot keep them down, you cannot destroy them. They are the salt of earth. Who but they start any noble project! They build our cities, whisen the ocean with theirssails, and blacisen the heavens with the smoke of their ears. Look to them, young men, and catch the spark of their energy. st 1T
Litchfield enquirer., 1856-04-03

MONEY is one of the institutions" It gives brains to fool--honor to a kaave-stand- ing to miserable commercials Give scamp a hundred thousand and , dollars h and friends will hogshead Let him loose his money, and the same friends will abuse his very dog. A won drous transforming influence that same article money.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-02-14

A. It A. LAwRENcE.--A Showing up' of
the affairs of this old Boston commission house
has been made by William Gray, Esq e, Treas
urer of the Atlantic cotton mills at Lawrence
showing that half its business talent has left
IT. He estimates the aggregate sales of the
house to be nine millions of dollars per annum
and Its net profits at enc hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars year. He plainly es-
Inmates that this amount of sales is more than
the house can properly manage that the
losses arc over three per cent per annum -
one single bad debt to his corporation having
been $50, 600; and that the profits are dispro-
portionate to the services rendered He saws
that when Mr.. Lawrence returned from his
embassy to England, complaints were made to
him of the want of ability in his firm, COM
mensurate with its enormous business. and
that he promised to infuse into it additional
talent
This statement fell like a bomb-shelI among
the "solid men" of Boston, and the staid old
fogies rallied around the house, but " Young
America conquered. Nine hundred and fif;v
shares decided to leave A & A. Lawrence &
Co. s control, and to trust the experiment of
making the treasurer the selling agent, and
SIX hundred and fifty preferred the old beaten
path The despotic reign of this great COM
mission house may be con sidered at an end.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-02-14

BLINKING OF AN EXPERIMENTAL MORTAR
VESSEL Portsmouth, Friday.-A serious ac-
cldent occurred to day in the trial of the new
lndlarubber mortar raft. the invention Of the
Rev. Mr.. BerthOn, If Fareham This raft
mad been tried several times with every sue
cess, and to-day was appointed for a final
trlai, the raft being ordered out to sea- off
oouthsea Castle, and there to fire $50 rounds Of
shell. She was accordingly lowed out at an
early hour in the morning by boats belonging
to the Excellent, gunnery ship, the mortar
being l3-inch mortar, and the charge Of pow
der 2Olb the usual charge for such piece
party OF seamen, gunners, from the Excel
lent, under the command Of Lieutenant Leth-
Orldge, OK that shin, went out with the raft, as
did also the Rev. Mr.. BerthOn, the inventor
Everything went on well till the 1 9Th shell was
fired, and the conclusion at this discharge was
80 great as to cause the sides of the raft t. hy
apart, and she sank Immediately. Lieuten.
ant Lethbrldge and the seamen gunners were
OF course Immersed in the sea, but we are glad
to say all were picked up, with the exception
OF one OF the men, who mus. have sunk I'M
Inodiately after the disaster as his body was
not afterwards seen. The Rev Mr., Berthon
was on the raft during most Of the practice
but he had got into a waterman's boat to as
certain the effect of the recoil of the mortar
from a short distance. The mortar was siupg
on Captain julius ROberts's principle, which
deprlves 1T Of large amount Of recOil ut its
discharge. The accident is unfortunate as
the previous trials of the raft had proved it to
possess some valuable qualities. Probably a.
little additional strength would obviate such
an accident for the future. The body of the
missing man had not been found late this
eyenlng.-LOHdOn Times.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-02-14

SOLD "SOME The editor of the Troy
Times, getting jubilant over Christmas 5, said,
with quiet delicacy and most commendable
mOdesty:
by the by, We would merely suggest in
passing, that if any of our patrons have any
thing they wish especially noticed, they need
not be backward in placing specimen on our
editorial table. We promsse, both for our
selves and In behalf of our little folks, not to
be offended at any such little freedoms"
1t so CHANGED that one of his patrons was
the same day presented with a plump and
bouncing Z" foundliDg," discovered in a bas-
ket on the Threshold Of his residence by
Biddy, when she went out to wash down the
stoop." Having goodly number OF respon-
abilities of his own, the "patron" consider
ately placed the specimen" on the " edito-
rial table" as he earnestly desired it to be
specially noticed" The editor found it,
and thought surely it was turkey or a SPLEEN
did Shanghai, until it gave unmistakable
vocal evidence of its close alliance to hui
mainly.
In behalf of himself and his "little folks -
the editors friends are anxious to know whe-
ther any offence has yet been taken at 1" such
little freedoms