davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
THE STRENGTH-TESTER.

We paused, last night, at the Fifth
street market, where the man with the
lifting machine discourse to the crowd
whom he had collected: "Here, gen.
tlemeD, is a machine for testing your
strength. There don't no man know
how strong he is until he tries his
strength on this machine. 1t is useful
for a man to know his own strength,
Those as don't misses it often. The Way
l was attracted to it was this: A man
threatened to wollop me; l didn't know
whether l was strong enough to let him
do it or not. a friend recommended
me to try this cry machine. l did
found l was twice as strong as ]
thought, and sent word for the man to
come on, the which he did, and got dress
ed out most beautifully. / bought the
machine at once, and am travelin' with
it just for the benefit of my Teller man.
Who'll try his strength. a man refused
TO try it one day-said the machine was
all humbug. That VERY day at din
ner he ruptured a blood vessel trying to
tear piece of tough old fowl with his
teeth. He didn't know his strength
and lost his life because he despises my
simple means of information.
Try yOWT strength. The exercise is
good for you. 1t is concentrated gym
nastics-condensed pedestrianism, and
canned dumb-bells. One pull is equal
to walking mile; two pulls, and
you can skip your gymnastics for a
week with impunity. 1t is good for the
appetite. In Chicago one hundred and
seventy-fve boarding house keepers
came to me in a body, and with tears in
their eyes besought me to leave the city
In St. Louis the boarding house keep
ers tried TO buy me off. Twant no use
L was not there for money-money was
no Object was working for the good
of my race. The infamous scoundrels
robbed me and drove me out of town
Who'll try neTtP 1t cures consump.
ton. a man was once brought to me
on a bed, so weak that he had to take
the machine to bed with him to pull it
Tried it again, and pulled himself out
of bed. Another, and he picked up his
bed and walked off. That man is now
well, and weighs two hundred and for
ty-two pounds: all on account of my
machine. He never goes by without
stopping TO embrace it and calls it his
preserver. Now then, who'll try his
strength P Cincinnati Times.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
CLIMACTERIC CURIOsITIEs.

The changes in country's climate bv
settlement and cultivation of the soil
often seem strange and inconsistent.
a letter from a late traveller in Nebras.
ka notes some curious contrasts: otis
frequent subject of remark in tho
Ohio Valley, that settling the country.
clearing, ditching the land, constantly
makes it dryer: that old wells and
springs are drying up, and each succeed
ing summer branches run dry which
never did before. The French aoricuI-
turai report makes the same complaint.
and calls upon the Government to stop
the destruction of the forests, as the
means of preserving the rivers. But
here, with settlement, exactly the reverse
phenomena are presented, and the guam
tity of rain i'll Western Nebraska and
Kansas has doubled within the memory
of man. Perhaps this is due somewhat
to the trees planted on new farms, but I
think, also, that breaking up the sod al
lows 1t to absorb more moisture than it
could i'll the prairie state, and in many
Instances turning hundred acres of sod
VIII renew an old spring. Fresh branch
es are starting in gullies which have
been dry hundred, perhaps thousands of
years. Thus springs break out in the
thirsty wilderness, and streams of wat
er in the dry ground!" Here is an i'm
portant principle at work, which will
enable agriculture to make great advan-
ces on what is now the American des-
ert." Akin to these are the facts of
heavy rains this summer in Colorado
and California, states where the rule of
dry summers seems TO have been inVa-
riable heretofore. Who shall divine the
law of shch revolutions?
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
BLAIR'S PLATFORM.

The nomination of Frank p. Blair to
fill the second place on the Democratic
ticket, is all that the worst enemy of the
form on which Horatio Seymour must
stand the revolutionary letter of Blair,
published the day but one before the
Convention met, document of the most
unequivocal character, the reperusal of
which we commend to our democratic
friends. Here is Blair's platform:
There is but one way to restore the
Government and the Constitution, and
that is for the President elect to declare
the Reconstruction acts null and void ::
compel the army to undo its usurpa-
tons at the South; disperse the carpet
bag State governments allow the white
people to reorganiZe their own govern
ments, and elect Senators and Represen-
tatives. The House of Representatives
will contain n majority of Democrats
from the North, and they will admit the
Representatives elected by the white
people at the South, and with the Coop
Grafton of the President it will not be
difficult to compel the Senate to submit
once more TO the obligations of the Con-
stitution. 1t will not be able to with
stand the public Judgment, if distinctly
invoked and clearly expressed on this
fundamental issue, and it is the sure
way to avoid all future strife. To put
this issue plainly to the country, repeat
that the real and only question which
we should allow to control is, shall we
submit to the usurpatiOns by which the
government has been overthrown, or
shall we exert ourselves for its full and
complete restoration? 1t is idle to talk
of greenbacks, gold, the public faith,
and the public credit. What can a DEM
Ocratic President do in regard to any of
these with Congress in both branches
controlled by the carpet-ba9gers and
their allies? He will be powerless to
stop the supplies by which idle negroes
are organized into political clubs; by
which an army is maintained to protect
these vagabonds in their outrages upon
the ballot. These, and things like these,
eat up the revenues and resources of the
Government, destroy its credit, and
make the difference between gold and
9reenbacks. We must restore the Con-
stitution before we can restore the finan-
ces, and TO do this we must have Pres
ident who will execute the will of the
people, by trampling into dust the usur-
pations of Congress, known as the Re-
construction acts.
Il wish to stand before the Conven-
ton on this issue, but it is one which
embraces everything else that is Of val
ne in its large and comprehensive re-
suit. 1t is the one thing that includes
all that is worth contest, and without
it there is nothing that gives dignity,
honor or value to the struggle"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

RICHES AND GOVERNMENTAL heard
a queer opinion, the other day, of one of
our distinguished citizens. An acquaint-
ance of mine, close observer and a
student of human nature, lives at the
upper part of Broadway, and. going up
and down town, he frequently met. in a
carriage or on foot, an elderly person
that attracted his attention. He sDecu-
lated on the face and figure great deal,
and came to the conclusion that the ..pe-
culiar looking old fellow" as he STYLED
him, must have some sad history. '.He
is the most melancholy person see on
Broadway" he added, sand 1 have a
curiosity to know who he is"
One day when we were walking up to
dinner, my companion said s"There's
the old fellow now. Don't you think
he's had some painful experience. See
how worn and hopeless he looks. Who
is he. I wonder. Did you ever see
him ?"
"a thousand times. You know who
he is, don't your"
NO; I've been trying to find out for
three weeks. What is his name ?"
civilian Is. Aston"
"What, the richest man in New
York 2"
THE same.'
.'Well, by Jove, I'll never believe
hereafter that wealth brings content
ment. I wouldn't seem as unhappy as
Astor does for ten times his fortune"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

WE PASS FOR WHAT WE ARE.-Ralph
Waldo Emerson never, uttered anything
truer than the following: "a man
passes for what lie is worth. Very idle
is all curiosity concerning other peo-
pies estimate of US, and all fear of re-
manning unknown is less so. If man
knows that he can do anything-thath he
can do better than any one else-he has
a pledge of acknowledgements from all
persons. The world is full of judgment
days, and into every assemblage that a
man enters, i'll every action he attempts,
he is guaged and stamped. In every
troop of boys that whoop and run in
each yard or square, new conner is
well and accurately weighed in the
course of few days, and stamped with
his right number, as if he had under
gone a formal trial Of his strength,
speed and temper"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

MARX TwAIN's ACCORDION Mark
was, as many other young men are at
some period of their lives, anxious to
learn music. He tried first one instru-
ment, then another, till finally he settled
down to the accordeon. On that soul
stirring article of music, he learned to
play that melodious and popular air,
"Auld Lang Syne.7 For about week
he continued to torture his unwilling
hearers, when, being of an ingenious
turn ofmind, he endeavored to improve
on the original melody by adding some
variations of his own. But who has
ever seen a real genius succeed yet
Just as Mark had finished his only tune,
and wound up with an admirable four
ish, the landlady rushed into his room
and said she:
do you know any other tune but that,
Mr.. Twain 2" He told her meekly that
he did not.
'sWell, them" said she, "stick to it as
it is; don't put any variations to it; be-
cause it is rough enough on the board
ers as it is now"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

GRANTS ECONOMY.-In every place
where Gen. Grant has had the opportu-
nifty and the power, he has made re-
trenchment and reform part of his adj
ministration of affairs. On this point
we have Mr.. Johnson's testimony. In
his annual message last December, the
President said:
Statutory reforms have been intro
duced by the secretary dd interim CGen.
Grant and great reduction of expen-
ses have been effected under his admin
istration of the War Department, to the
saving of millions of the Treasury"
AS the Conservatives are now crying
for economy, they might all go in for
Grant with will. He is the very man
to carry forward an economical admit
istration of the Government.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

LARGE LAND SUIT "A large land suit
is now before the district court of Ne
maha comfy, which involves the title
to about twelve thousand acres of land.
1t seems that in the year 1900 the lieu
tenant governor of Louisiana made a
grant of $500 acres of land to Louis
Lorimier. This claim was not recog-
nized by the act of Congress in 1886, tie
grantee having died in 1908. In the
year 1887 TIE heirs of said Lorimer en-
ployed l. G. Munford to obtain the con-
firmation of their claim, agreeing to
give him one half of the land so Sc
cured. He was successful, and the
claim was confirmed by act of Congress
in 1858. The lands located under this
claim are situated in Nemaha, Marshall
and Pottawatomie counties. A part of
the heirs refuse TO fulfill their contract
with Munford, and he now brings suit
that his portion of the tract may be set
off and his rights recognized. Messrs.
Otis & Click, of Atchison, and Taylor
& Taylor, of Seneca, arc attorneys for
the plaintiff.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

GRAHAM, TREGO AND OSBORNE CoUN-
TIEs.-CommissiOner Wilson, of the
General Land Office, has just received
from the Surveyor General of Kansas
the returns of the exterior lines oftwen-
ty two townships i'll Graham and Ire
go counties, embracing an area of four
hundred and siXty-tWo thousand acres.
The land is mostly gently rolling prai-
rie with first and second rate soil. The
tract is chiefly watercd by the south
fork of Solomon river and it's tributa-
ries. The valley of this stream is about
two miles in width, which is skirtcd BY
groves of timber, consisting chiefly of
oak, elm, box elder and cottonwood.
Limestone suitable for building materi-
al is found in abundance in various por-
lions of the tract. The region is well
adapted for grazing purposes, and the
valley of Solomon river possesses some
advantages as an agricultural region.
The Commissioner has also received
from the same quarter the returns of
the survey of six additional townships
i'll Osborne county, embracing an area
of one hundred and thirty-eight thous-
and two hundred and forty acres. This
latter tract is also watered by the south
fork of the Solomon river, generally
rolling prairie, with first and second
rate soil. There is an abundance of
limestone suitable for building materi-
al in various portions of the tract sur
veyed. The streams are skirted with
timber, consisting chiefly of oak, Clm
and cottonwood. The tract is better
adapted for grazing than agricultural
purposes.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

NEW TRACK-LAYING MACHINE.-Cali-
fornia has produced railroad track
laying machine, an engine which, if it
proves to work successfully, will bring
about new order of things i'll railroad
construction. So far it hardly equals
the old plan, the machine laying about
three-quarters of mile day when the
track has been carefully prepaI ed, while
the workmen at the end of the Union
Pacific have repeatedly laid three and a
half miles from sunrise till sunset. A
striking feature of this machine, wheth-
er advantageous or disadvantageous, is
found in the fact that no man on it can
stop work for moment or hardly look
round without danger of losing life.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

HoNGoPATHY.-The Regents of the
Michigan University, at Ann Arbor,
cndeavored TO comply with the law di<
teaching the principles and practice of
Homeopathy, and at the same time to
obviate the objections of the Old School
Medical Faculty, by opening branch
college elsewhere than in Ann Arbor.
The Supreme Court of Michigan has just
decided that this plan is not in compli-
ance with the law which requires the
chair of Homeopathy to be established
in the medical department at Ann Ar
Dor, and in close connection with the
other chairs.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

The project of uniting Lake Huron
and Lake Ontario bids fair to be real
ity. Able engineers have decided that
the work is feasible, and that it will not
cost more than S40,000.000. It was pro-
posed to raise S20.0O0,0O0 of this in the
United States, and S2O,000,O00 in Eng
land. These loans were to be secured
by grant of 100000 acres OF land by
the Canadian Government Mr. Fred
erick Capreol, of Toronto, has under
taken the financial management of the
enterprise, Some time ago he succeeded
in obtaining guarantees from American
capitalists that they would furnish $780,
100000 if the balance should be sub
scribed in Europe and the land grant
secured. For several months he has
been in England, and it is said that his
prospects of success in securing the 9th
er S20,O00,000 are very satisfactory.
When that is secured it will only be
necessary to obtain the land grant be-
fore the work can be commenced.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

PRESERVING PoTAToEs.-A cores
pendent of the Scientific 1mertcam
says that he has tried the following
method of keeping potatoes for two
years with complete success, though in
some instances the tubes were diseased
when taken out of the ground: Dust
over the floor of the bin with lime, and
put in six or seven inches of potatoes,
and lime again; repeat the operation
until all are stored away. One bushel
of lime will do for forty bushels of po-
tatoes, though more will not hurt them.
The lime rather improving the flavor
than otherwise
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

The daughters of Gen. Scott have
erected over his remains, at West Point,
Il simple monument, consisting of a
block of polished marble resting on a
granite base, and containing the follow
ing inscription: ''NYinfield Scott, born
Dinwiddie county, Va, June 81, 1856 &;
died, West Point, n. V, May q, 1866.
History records his eminent services as
warrior, pacificator and General-in-
Chief of the armies of the United
States. Medals and an equestrian stat
ne, ordered by Congress in the Capitol
of his country, are his public monu-
ments. This stone is mark of the love
and veneration of his daughters. Re
quieScdt IN pace"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
INFLUENCE OF FORESTS.

In speaking of the influence of forests
III equaiizing the rains, protecting the
fields and keeping up the small streams,
the Peoria Illinois) Transcript says:
y heavy mass of trees does not only
break the force of the wind, and so make
the land near it warmer. but it does eX-
ercise controlling influence on the
clouds, and acts as distributor of rain.
Every one has noticed low. in the sea-
sons of drouth, the clouds follow the
courses of the streams. attracted by the
ascending moisture and the vegetation
along their banks. Forests also greatly
diminish the evil effects of floods by
holding the water back like a sponge.
In this way, too, they protect and feed
the smaller streams.
In the old settled countries in the
Eastern States, streams that were con-
siderable in size when the country was
fiji ST settled. have now dwindled into
insignificant brooks, and man. of them
have dried up, except during the fall
and spring rains, when they become for
a few days torrents. The Upper Mis-
sissippi, from the same cause, is yearly
diminishing. Boats that formerly ran
to st. Paul all the season, can get there
now only i'll one or two months of the
year. In some parts of Europe this
subject is so well understood that forest
planting has been undertaken by the
Governments and diligently pursued on
all the barren and unoccupied places III
the empire. The ground is laid out in
districts, planted with trees, and Guilt
waited like any other crop. 1t yields
about two per cent. OH the original in
vestment, and is perfectly sure every
year. 1t is perhaps too soon for us in
this country to undertake such method
ical designs as this, but we ought to en-
courage tree planting with all the means
in our power. With our extensive coal
beds the question of fuel is a small item,
but the climate changes that will be
more frequent and violent as the forests
disappear, ought to induce us to take
some means for their nrntncfinn
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
THE sUTRO TUNNEL.

Since the Government has been re-
quested to lend S5,000,000 TO aid IN bor-
ing 6 tunnel for draining and develop
ing the ComstOck silver lode in Neva-
da, few facts in relation to this enter
prise may not be uninterestiug. The
Comstock lode is fissure vein which
appears upon the surface for several
hundred feet in width and several miles
in length. 1t runs north and south. Dip
ping ut an angle of foFfN-fiVe degrees
10 an unknown depth. Some thirty or
forty companies have sunk shafts upon
it, some of them to a depth of nine hun
dred feet, and over SS0.000,000 of gold
and silver bullion have been extracted.
Biologists have certified that the Com
stock is larger and better vein than
those of the richest mines in Mexico or
South America from some of which
over SSCO, 100000 have been taken out.
The Sutro Company wish 10 drain
the mines both of water and ore by
horizontal tunnel about seven miles
long, starting from the base of the
mountain and striking the lode at q
depth of 1000 feet below the surface,
with numerous side galleries to accom-
modate all other companies. The tun-
mel would be twelve feet wide and ten
high, with a descent of one inch per
hundred feet. 1t is supposed that it
would increase the production of the
ComStock lode to S50.000.000 year.
and would drain the mines for hum
dred years. All companies interested
have agreed to pay Il royalty of two
dollars ton on all ore extracted after
the tunnel strikes the lode, and this, it
is thought, would insure the company
an income of S2,000,O00 per year, to be
pledged to the Government to pay the
loan. The thing looks feasible, but it is
grave question whether the Govern
ment, i'll the present embarrassed con-
dition of the finances, should open its
purse to any scheme, however fair and
promising it may look.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

Governor Oglesby very pithily said,
in speech in Chicago, the other day,
that of the seeded States all are back
in the Union except three; The Demo-
cratic party took them out of the Union,
the Republican party brought them
back. And, it might have been added,
that the Democratic party took them
out to preserve slavery. while the Re-
publican party brought them back con-
secrated to human freedom. For SO
much the Republican party is to be cred
tied, whatever other faults may be charg-
ed to its account.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

John n. Martin, an Indiana delegate
TO the Democratic convention, died in
New York, during the session of the
convention, of delirium tremens.
Another delegate to that convention
was one of the keepers of Libby prison
during the war. Two Union soldiers,
who had been prisoners under him, re-
cognized the delegate on the streets of
New Y ork. and in memory of his treat
ment of them they fell to and beat him
nearly to death. The interference of
the police just saved the prison-keeper's
life
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
General Blair once denounced Stephen

General Blair once denounced Stephen
A. Douglas as E'the most pernicions
demagogue in the United States We
commend the remark to the considers
ton of the real friends of the Illinois
statesman. How enthusiastic they viii
be in their support of Blair! But very
few men have the faculty of drawing
their own portraits SO deity. No man
can paint the character of Frank Blair
more truly than In these words of his
own, ale is the most pernicious dema-
go0ue In the United States"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

The Ellsworth 1dcocate says that Pro-
fessor Nudge, of the State Agricultural
Society, was in that place on Thursday.
He has been inspecting the coal beds in
that vicinity, and reports two distinct
veins; one two feet thick, and the other
forty-two inches. The veins are mex
haustible. The coal burns freely, with
very little sulphur and no clinkers.
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

Mr.. and Mrs. Howe, of Vermont, one
ninety and the other eighty -nine years
old, have lived together the remarkable
period of seventy-one years. Of their
eight living children, the oldest is sew
enty and the youngest forty-two, and
they have forty-two grandchildren and
forty-fiye great-grandchildren What
a family gathering they might havei
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04
Mr.. Horatio seymour's high sounding

Mr.. Horatio Seymour's high sounding
declaration, in his recent New York
speech, that $500, 900 had been ex-
pended for the army and navy since the
close of the war, is collapsed by the au-
thoritative statement of Mr.. Blaine, on
the floor of the House, sfthat S625, 0OO.-
600 of this amount had been expended
Immediately after Lees surrender, in
mastering out million soldiers and
fifty thousand sailors, discharging the
Governments obligations to them for
back pay, bounty and prize money"
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

Ex-Gov. Henry a. Wise, of Virgin
ia, declared in recent speech that he
did not like the Democratic platform
because it said that secession was dead,
whereas lie declared that it was more
alive than ever. But the nominees of
the convention were in his opinion un-
inasmuch as they would
restore the ..Iost Cause
The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-09-04

Seymour, as a man of brains, has de-
Tended, maintained, illustrated and dis
tinguished the tcnnets of the Democrat
ic party."-LOuiSUtUe Democrat.
Grant, as a man of deeds, has defend
ed, maintained, illustrated and distin-
guished the Republic. That is the diff
erence between a housing politician
and heroic patriot.