davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
Terrible Railroad Ride.

The lightning express train, Conductor
Holm, on the Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern Road, left Toledo on time, Mon
day evening, with a little colored boy on
board who ode to Norwalk under circum-
stances that fairly make railroad men
tremble as they contemplate his situation.
At Fremont the boy was discovered, for
the first time, comfortably seated at the
head of the engine, under the headlight.
Being routed from that position, he disap-
peared la the darkness, o. was supposed
to have remained in Fremont. If the reader
has never travelled from Fremont to Nor
walk-thirty mil Son this fasttrain, fair
ly fiying at the rate of almost sixty miles
an hour, q vivid conception of the peril
Gus position of the boy, as he clung to a
truck beneath the baggage car, blinded,
covered, and almost stifed with dust, can
not be easily imagined. When the thun-
dering of the train had ceased, the inspect
or of its motionless wheels discovered
the boy at Norwalk, and brought him out
His face was so whitened with prairie dust
that an impression of the finger upon his
cheek, drawn across the face, left black
mark. The ride was miraculous. Rail
road men say they would not have at
tempted the feat for the value of the whole
Toledo Road. The conductor called out
to the wheel inspector to bring the boy
into the baggage car. Supposing that he
would have to face greater danger at the
hands of the railroad ssmen than he en-
countered under the train, he shot out
into the darkness and was not heard from
again. The conductor want, to give him
free ride in the cars during the remain
der of the journey.-Qe Cleveland PIaindeater.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
The Art OF Living Happily.

THE following maxims or rules of action
might, if strictly observed, go far to in
crease the happiness, or, at least, to
diminish the inquietudes and miseries OF
life:
Observe inviolably truth in your words
and integrity in your actions.
Accustom yourself to temperance and
be master of your passions.
Be not too much out of humor with the
world; but remember it is world of
Gods creating, and however sadly it is
marred with wickedness and folly, yet you
have found in it more comforts than
calamities, more civilities than affronts,
more instances of kindness toward you
than of cruelty.
Try to spend your time usefully both to
yourself and others.
Never make an enemy nor lose friend
unnecessarily.
Cultivate such a habitual cheerfulness
of mind and eyenness of temper, as not to
be ruffied by turmoil, inconvenience, and
crosses.
Be ready to heal breaches in friendship,
and to make Differences, and shun litiga-
ton yourself as much as possible, for he
is an ill ll-calculator that does not perceive
that one amicable settlement is better than
two law suits.
Be it rather your ambition to acquit
yourself well in your proper station than
to rise above il.
Despise not small honest gains, and do
not risk what you have on the delusive
prospect of sudden riches. If you are in
comfortable thriving way keep in it. and
abide your own. calling rather than run
the chance of another. In word, mind
10 use thesworld as not abusing it," and
probably you will find as much comfort in
il as is most fit for frail being who is
merely journeying through it toward an
immortal abode.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22

A MEMBER of large mercantile firm
recently gave bit of his early experience
| in this wise:
"I was seventeen years old when lefl
the country store had tended for three
years, and came to Boston in search of a
place. Anxious, of course, to appear to
the best advantage, spent an unusual
| amount of time and solicitude upon my
toilet; and when it was completed, sur
veyed my reflection in the glass with no
little satisfaction; glancing lastly and
| most approvingly upon seal-ring which
embellished my little finger, and my cane,
a very fine affair, which purchased with
direct reference to this occasion. NV first
days experience was not encouraging;
traversed street after street-up one side
and down on the Other-without success
fancied, toward the last the clerks all
knew my business the moment / entered
the door, and they winked ill-naturedly at
my discontinue as passed out But ma
ture endowed me with good degree of
persistency, and the next day started
again. Toward noon / entered store
where an elderly gentleman stood talking
with a lady by the door. waited till the
visitor had left, and then stated my er-
rand. mo, sir, was the answer, given
in peculiarly crisp and decided man.
ner. Possibly / looked the discourage
ment began to feel; for he added in
kindlier tone, Are you good at taking
a hint? Il dont't know, answered /, while
my face flushed painfully. What wish
to say is this said he, smiling at my en-
barrassment; 'ifI I were in want of clerk,
| would not engage young man who
came seeking employment with fancy
ring on his finger and swinging fancy
cane For moment mortified vanity
struggled against common sense, but sense
got the victory, and replied-with rather
shaky voice, I am afraid-'I am very
much obliged to you, and then beat 8
hasty retreat As soon as got out of
sight, slipped the ring into my pocket,
and walking rapidly to the Worcester de-
pot, l left the cane in charge of the bag
gage-master, until called for 1t is there
now, for aught / know. At any rate, 1
never called for it. That afternoon OBJ
tanned a situation with the firm of which
/ am now partner. How much my un-
fortunate finery had injured my prospects
the previous day l shall never know but
/ never think of the old gentleman and
his plain dealing without feeling, as told
him at the time, very much obliged to
him "
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22

weariness. It has been company in soli
tude; it has soothed our nerves and given
refreshment and strength. Very humble
skill will serve to reproduce a leaf or a
flower; and the work pays for itself If
only one learns by it the infinite beauty
of nature, and comes nearer to God by
seeing how inimitable are His works, one
gains by it. s8l
Finally, every good husband should try
to make his wife have some resource of
this kind, and every wife should do the
same for her husband. Don't infringe on
each others little Saturday afternoon
reverence each others pet pleasures.
We heard once of thrifty husband
who plowed in his wife's little flower
garden, because he thought it a waste of
time. We have seen a wife impatient OF
the botanic specimens, bugs or butterflies,
that Uttered husband S study. Weknew
good, conscientious mother who tumbled
her sons mineralogic cabinet into dark
garret. None of these people were either
cruel or bad hearted, but they had never
considered the sacred right of every hu-
man being to play-spell.
Let us all see to it that we let every one
have their own Saturday afternoon. Life
is not so very long at the best, and bit
of pure pleasure is not thing to be
despised.-HearM and Home.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
MISCELLANEOUS.
A Bell Ringing Cat.

HAVE in my possession white (nearly
true bred) Angora tom cat, about four Oh
five years old, which being great pet is
in the habit of sleeping in my bedroom,
and is let out every morning as soon as the
servants arc up, about seven o'clock. One
morning, some three weeks ago, having
been at a ball the night before, was
sleepy, and did not hear the servants, or
the cat scratching as he usually did, at the
door. There is bellrope at the bed head,
near the door. The cat, finding his scratch
ing of no use, must have stood up on his
hind legs (for the rope is some distance
from the ground) and caught at this AT
all events he pulled the bell with such a
clash that l heard it; the maid of course
came. ft....
This was probably accidental, but the
curious thing is he has rung the bell every
morning since, and on more than one occa-
sion twice when the first pull has failed
1t is a considerable effort for him to do so,
as he has to stretch up at full length q
watched him without his being aware j he
then gets the tassel between his paws and
lets himself down with all his weight and
generally clashes the bell so that it is heard
over the house.-Ldnd and Water.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
Mr.. Beecher rs q Farmer.
BY MARK TWAIN.

L
Mr.. Beecher's farm consists of thirty
six acres, and is carried on ON strict scien-
tific principles. He never puts in any part
of crop without consulting his book. He
plows and reaps and digs and sows &C
cording to the best authorities-and the
authorities cost more than the other farm
ing implements do As soon as the Ii
brary is complete, the farm will begin to
be a profitable investment. But book
farming has its drawbacks. Upon one oc-
casion, when it seemed morally certain
that the hay ought to be cut, the hay book
could not be fOund-and before it was
found it was too late and the hay was all
spoiled.
Mr. Beecher raises some of the finest
crops of wheat in the country, but the un-
favorable difference between the cost of
producing it and its market value after it
is produced has interfered considerably
with its success as commercial enter
prise His special weakness is hogs, how
ever He considers hogs the best game a
farm produces. He buys the original pig
for dollar and half, and feeds him forty
dollars worth of corn, and then sells him
for about nine dollars. This is the only
crop he ever makes money on. He loses
on the corn and makes seven dollars and a
half on the hog. He does not mind this,
because he never expects to make any
thing on corn, anyways. And any way it
turns out, he has the excitement of rails
ing the hog any how, whether he gets the
worth of him or not. His strawberries
would be comfortable success If the robins
would eat turnips, but they won't, and
hence the difficulty.
One of Mr. Beecher's most harassing
difficulties in his farming operations comes
of the close resemblance of different sorts
of seeds and plants to each other. Two
years ago, his far ar-sightedness warned him
that there was going to be great scarcity
of water melons, and therefore he put in
a crop of twenty seven acres of that fruit.
But when they came up they turned out
to be pumpkins, and dead loss was the
consequence. Sometimes a portion of his
crop goes into the ground the most prom
ing sweet potatoes, and comes up the in
fernalist carrots-though / never have
heard him express it Just in that way.
When he bought his farm, he found one
egg in every hens nest on the place. He
said that here was Just the reason why so
many farmers failed-they scattered their
forces too much-concentration was the
idea So he gathered those eggs together
and put them all under one experienced
old hen. The hen roasted over that con-
tract night and day for eleven weeks, un-
der the anxious personal supervision of
Mr. Beecher himself, but she could not
phase those eggs. Why? Because they
were those infamous porcelain things
which are used by ingenious and fraudu-
liant farmers as "nest eggs"
But perhaps Mr.. Beecher's most disas-
trous experience was the time he tried to
raise an immense crop of dried apples.
He planted fifteen hundred dollars worth,
but never one of them sprouted. He
has never been able to understand to this
day what was the matter. with those ap-
ples.-Bufalo Express.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
A Long Lost Letter.

A LETTER was written from Darien
Center, N. Y, by Alonzo +. Astabrook,
dated 1896, to Joel Amsdcn, of Chicago,
inclosing Sl2, consisting of $40 note OF
the old bank of Rochester, then as good
as gold, and a So note on the bank OF
Windsor, Va, equally as good, with the
request that Mr.. Amsden would hand the
money to Mr.. E. S. Brooks. The letter
was sent to Alderman Mason's hotel,
placed in the delivery box, and, after re-
manning some time without being called
for, got among Mr.. Mason's private papers,
and was laid away and forgotten. Recent
ly, upon examining the effects of Mr.. Ma
son, long since deceased, the letter was
found and sent to Mr.. Amsden, who i'm
mediately went and handed the money to
Mr.. Brooks, as he was requested to do
three and thirty years gone by. Mr.. Asia
brook, in this letter, congratulates his
correspondent on the election of Van Bu-
rem TO the Presidency Little Van" ran
his official career, and ten other Presidents
were inaugurated before the letter reached
its destined recipient
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
( LOVE AND AGE.

played with you mid cowslips growing,
When was six and you were four;
When garlands weaving, aower-balls throwing,
Were pleasures soon 70 please no more.
Thro' groves and meads, o'er grass and heather,
With little playmatcs TO and fro,
We wandered hand in hand together;
But that was sixty years ago.
You grew lovely, roseate maiden,
And still our early love was strong;
Still with no care our days were laden,
They glided joyously along;
And did love You very dearly
How dearly, words want power to show;
thought your heart was touched as nearly;
But that was my years ago.
THIN other lovers came around you,
Your beauty grew from year to year,
And many a splendid circle found you
The centre of its glittering sphere.
i saw you then, first vows forsaking,
On rank and wealth your hand bcstow;
U, then thought my heart was breaking;
But that was forty years ago.
And lived on to wed another;
No cause she gave me to repinc;
And when heard you were mother,
i did not wish the children mine
My own young flock, in fair progression,
Made up pleasant Christmas row;
My joy in them was past expression;
But that was thirty years ago.
You dwelt in fashions brightest blaze;
My earthly lot Was far more homcly,
But l, too, had my festal days.
No mcrrier eyes have ever glistened
Around the hearth h-stone's wintry glow,
Than when my youngest child was christened :.
But that was twenty years ago.
Time passed. Ny eldest girl was married,
And now / am a grandsire gray:
One pet Of four years old I've carried
Among the wild-fowered meads to play.
In our old fields OF childish pleasure,
Where now, as then, the cowslips blow,
She fills her baslccts ample measure
And this is not ten years ago.
Bat though first loves impassioned blindness
Has passed away in colder night,
i still have thought OF you with kindness,
And shall do till our last goodnight.
The ever rolling silent hours
Will bring time we shall not know,
When our young days OF gathering flowers
WIN be an hundred yeals ago.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
Boys Rights-By o Boy.

TALK about the women and the darkies
and the-the-all the rest of 'em; none of
'em all are half so badly used as boys are.
l know o lot, and l can give you all their
names. Ask 'em all. They'll tell you to
be boy is to be somebody without right
in the world.
You're to take all the sass that's given
to you, and give none back, cause you're
boy. You are to pay full fare in the cars
and omnibuses, cause you's boy and not
a child; and never have q seat, cause
you're boy and not man. Fat lady gets
in after it's all full, and looks about her /;
everybody looks at you. Old gentleman
says: my son, "reprovingly. Conductor
says, "Come, now, you boy You've paid
your sixpcnce. No matter-tbat is moth
ing. You've been on your legs with
bundles all day. Who cares ?-you're a
boy. Now horse has such load given
to him as he can carry, and a man won't
any more than he can walk under. Ask
boys what grown folks think they can
carry. There's not limit to it.
Who doesen't know a boy who does
mans work, and does it well for tenth of
what man would get for it. Who hasn't
read an advertisement for boy who
"writesa good hand, understands accounts,
is willing to make himself useful; boards
with his parents is trustworthy no OBJ
lection to sitting up all night; no impu-
dence about him. The best recommenda-
tions required, and two dollars week
wages"
Ask boys whether old folks don't make
as much fuss about such places, as if they
were doing you favor that would set you
up for life.
Who wants a boy anywhere? Your
sisters don't in the parlor. Your father
don't; he always asks if you are not
wanted to do something somewhere. You
make your mothers head ache, whenever
you come near her Old ladies snap you
up. Young ladies "hate boys" Young
men tease you, and give it to you if you
tease back. Other fcllows-it's because
they're aggravated so, 1 know-always
want to fight, if they don't know you; /;
and when you get black eye and torn
jacket you hear of it at home.
You look back and wonder if you ever
were that pretty little fellow in petticoats
that everybody stuffed with candy, and
you wonder whether you'll ever be man,
to be liked by the girls and treated politely
by the other fellows, paid for your work,
and allowed to do as you choose. And
you makeup your mind every day not to.
be a boy any longer than you can help it !;
and hear your grandfather or somebody
complaining that there ARE no boysnow,,
and wonder, if he remembers the life they
led, that he don't consider it subject of
rejoicing.
There's only one comfort in it all boys
will grow up, and when they do they gen.
orally forget all they went through in their
youth, and make the boys of their day suf-
fer just as they did.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22
A Young Couple Walk Twenty Eight
Miles to get Married.

AT late hour on Saturday evening, a
young couple arrived here from Lebanon,
Ill, having travelled the whole distance on
foot. They went Immediately to Justice
Jecko's office, but found it closed. They
then engaged separate rooms at Barnum's 8,
and waited rather impatiently for the
dawning of Sunday morning.
The name of the young man was John
Charles Tiedeman, and that of the lady,
Miss Pauline Betzler. The story of their
adventures is somewhat romantic. Tiede-
men is German, and has been raised from
beyhood by the father of Pauline, who es-
tecmed him very highly. Although reared
together, the young couple only recently
discovered that they were desperately in
love with each other. The old man wished
to unite his young and beautiful daughter
to man of wealth living near Lebanon,
and then it was that the seal of the blind
god was broken, and the young people
discovered that they could not live apart.
Tiedeman, after worrying his brain for
many nights and days in endeavoring to
extricate himself from the meshes of tove,
concluded at last to go boldly before the
old man and demand his daughter for a
wife. Mr. Betzler would not listen to
anything of the kind, but Indignantly re-
fused to give the girl to her lover. John
Charles was not dismayed by this refusal
he had heard of cruel parents and loving
daughters, and knew that he could rely
upon Pauline in any emergency. Finding
that the consent of the old man could not
be obtained, the lovers determined to work
out their own destiny without it.
On Saturday morning when Mr.. Betzler
awoke, he was astonished at the disappear.
ance of Pauline, and John Charles. He
waited and waited, but they did not show
themselves, and he concluded they had
eloped. He started for st. Louis, but in
large city it was difficult to find two peo-
pie who were disposed to hide from him.
He waited until the next morning, when he
started out with the firm determination to
annihilate John Charles at first sight He
took walk in the Lafayette park ON Sun
day morning, and the beauty of the place
somewhat modified his feelings and soft
ened his heart. In promenading around
the park, who should he meet but Pauline
and John Charles sauntering arm in arm
and engaged in low and earnest converse
tion. The old man could not help admir-
ing the handsome couple, and thinking
they were well suited to each other, in-
stead of blowing out John Charles brains,
he spoke to him kindly, and in few min
utcs the quarrel was made up, and the old
man agreed to the marriage. They went
before justice Jecko, and in a few minutes
the ceremony was over. The justice was
so much pleased with the handsome young
bride, that for the first time in the course
of his official existence he bestowed a kiss
upon her blushing cheek, which .blushed
still deeper at the conclusion. The old
man was highly pleased at the happy Urn
affairs had taken, and the three returned
to Lebanon in high glee.-S. Louis Demo
crdf
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-22

the moon so clamly gliding through the
stars above me, ] fell Into kind of stuDor,
and can distinctly remember repeating
scraps of verses totally unconnected with
each other. From this state, 1 was aroused
by the loud note of some night bird, prob
ably an owl, and found my arms very stiff
from holding on to the root; while my
legs felt like weights of lead suspended be-
meath me. While trying to change my
position, l fancied l heard the gurgling
sound of running water, and that not far
off listened intently, and found it was
no fancy. Water was evidently running
into the pool, and saw by the root was
cfinging to that the water had risen some
inches GB guim =,
A cheering hope sprang up within me,
as it flashed across my mind that the tide
must be rising, and that the pool must
have an outlet into the river. 7egy ~
The thought infused new life into me,
and struck out in the direction of the
sound. Then, to my intense joy, saw
distinctly, in the clear moonlight, that the
water was streaming in fast through
several small inlets and pouring in quietly
and steadily, through one of the bitches
had previously swan up. I knew that if
the tide rose another foot or eighteen
inches, could, by treading water FAST
spring up so high as to be able to catch
hold of the top of the bank, and 80 swing
myself up. l knew also that the water
could not possibly begin to flow into the
bog pools until 1t was. nearly high tide.
Returning to my resting place, watched
anxiously, the prospect of speedy deliver
ance banishing all weariness Tie
water continued to pour in steadily.
and in greater volume. The dawn
was now breaking, and / had not
much longer to wait. The water had
ceased flowing, and the bank in one
place was barely five feet above the water.
Taking long breath, I let myself sink
low, and then treading water as strongly
and quickly as possible, threw half my
body above the surface of the pool, and
caught the top with one hand. Before the
soft earth had time to crumble beneath my
weight, had obtained firmer grasp with
the other hand, and in another moment
with eager gasps the fresh air of the morn
ing.
The white haze was rapidly clearing
away, and through it l saw five or six
men hurrying towards me.
have a confused idea of being helped
to my lodgings, and of afterwards telling
my adventure to many eager questiOners.
The soaking had had, and the expose
ure to the unhealthy mists which rise from
the morass in the night, caused an illness
for time, but the effects soon wore of.
The heron is stuffed, and adorns my
cabinet, unconscious of the revenge which
overlook its distroyer.-CAd Chambers Journal.