davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-10-14

THE GREAT STORM IN AUGUST "A report
Of the movements and damage done BY the
great storm of August, 1873, has been prepared
at the Signal Office, from data, carefully col
lectcd trom reliable sources, from which II APP
pears that one thousand and thirtytwo vessels,
of which 435 were small fishing schooners, are
kuown to have been destroyed during the 24th
and 18th of August, in the neighborhood of
the Gulf of ST. Lawrence and the Atlantic
shores OF Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and New
foundland. In addition to this large number,
over 90 vessels were destroyed by the same
storm 10 its course before reaching Nova Scotia,
making a grand total of at least 1872 vessels
destroyed within few days. Two HUNDRED
and thirty-two lives are definitely reported as
lost, aud the most moderate estimate of the
numerous cases in which whole crews are stated
to have been lost sweIls this number to nearIy
500; while if to this is added the loss Of life on
laud and in the earlier history Of the cyclone,
the grand total amounts to at least 600 lives.
The records also show that about 900 build
ings we're injured or totally destroyed during
the same dates by this storm.
The fishing interests of the United States
and Canada have been seriously crippled by
these losses, which have fallen with especial
severity upon Gloucester and other New EGG.
land towns.
Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-10-14
R.7.>H SETTLEMENTS
REPORT OF THE CONDJv,nv
OF THE
FIRST NATIONAL BANK

AT ALEXANDRIA.
In the State OF Virginia. at the close Of b,,-;,
Oil the 18th day t>eplcmJvr. Isl;
RESOURCES
Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-10-14

The American and German IourDcymen tail
ors of Baltimore held large meeting yester
day preparatory to strike, at which they we're
addressed BY Bernard Cornell, chairman Of the
executive committee Of International Union.
Committees we're appointed 10 wait upon the
different employers in the city, demanding an
Increase of wages At the meetOg that even
ing the committees reported that none of the
merchant taiIors would yield, at which the
meeting adjourned. 1t is probable that gen
eral strike will be inauguratcd to day
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
Chinese Philosophy.

IN ancient times there lived a man
Shien. During a travelling tour he had oc.
.caslon to rest for the night at aroad-house
TIE weather was insufierably hot, and
with IN the room mosquitoes swarmed bv
tNof1sa,. DIS. Shien fortunately had pro
vided HIMSELF with curtains, but unfor-
tunatelV sL,a curtains were insufficient to
resist the el.,emy. His efforts to keep
them oat were In vain, sounds of huzzing
in unpleasant proximity still continued,
and writing under the intolerable tor
ment of their stiigs, his thoughts trans.
planted themselves to his own peaceful
home. He reflected on the spacious halls,
cool couche2, and the crowd OF hand
maids to fan and wait on their lord; and,
continued he to himself how is it that
should have suffered one moment of e7a7aus
in such paradise? Why leave to seek
pleasure and find misery abroad? Dur
ing these meditations he observed the
keeper of the post, who had no curtains,
pacing the room with the mosqitoes
swarming around him But what seemed
to him inexplicable was that the man still
to be in perfect good humor
Shien, still writing in misery, exclaimed:
My good fellow, you are one hundred
times worse of than myself, but how is
it that, while am in torment of mind,
YOU on the contrary seem happy?" The
keeper replied; Sir, l have just been
recalling to mind the position I was once
placed in; when prisoner, bound hand
and foot, | was helpless prey to these
insects, unable to move a mus
Gle, they preyed upon me with impunity,
and the agony was unbearable. It was
the contrast of that horrible period with
my present condition that produced that
feeling Of contentedness within me- Shien
was startled by the mine herein unfolded
Would, he thought, that the world in
ordinary life would but daily keep in
mind, and carry out such a principle of
How vast then would be the
result to man ?-North CHINA Her9Id.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
A Bad Boy.

THEY say that the chief astronomer at
the Washington Observatory was dread
fully sold a few days ago. 4 wicked boy,
whose Sunday School experience seems
only to have made him more depraved,
caught a FREELY, and stuck it, with the aid
of some muciiage, in the center of the
largest lens in the telescope. That night,
when the astronomer went to work, he
perceived blaze of light apparently in
the heavens, and what amazed him more
was that it would give couple of spurts
and then die out, only to burst forth again
in a second or two. Ee examined it
carefully for few moments, and then be
gan to do sums to discover where in the
heavens thateXtraordinary star was placed
He thought he found the locality, and the
next morning he telegraphed all over the
universe that he had discovered new
and remarkable star of the third magni-
tude in Orion. In day or two all the as
tronomers in Europe and America were
studying Orion, and they gazed at it for
hours until they were mad, and then they
began to telegraph to the man in Wash
ingtOn to know what he meant. The dis
coverer took another look, and found that
the new star had moved about 100000
600 miles in twenty-four hours, and upon
tAdnlHlig tloScfS lle was dldIHleu W per
ceiye that it had legs, When he went on
the dome the next morning, to polish up
his glass, he found the lightning bug.
People down at Alexandria, seven miles
distant heard part of the swearing, and
they say he infused into it much whole
souled sincerity and vigorous energy
The bills for telegraphic dispatches
amounted to $4,000, and now the astrone-
mer wants to find that boy He wishes
to consult with him about something
Mr. 4dlfr
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11

proportions characteristic of all prosper
Gus hives. The swarm consists of one
queen, and some thousands of working
bees or undeveloped females, some hum
dreds of males or drones. This is the nor
NAL combination in the community, and
hives so organized may survive and keep
together for many years. There are re-
ports of hives a century old This is,
probably, an exaggeration, for bee hives
twenty years old are rare, and they do not
often survive more than seven, eight or
perhaps ten years. When | speak of the
lie OF a bee hive do not mean to saw that
inc individuals composing it live together
lor that length of time; indeed, a queen
rarely lives beyond three or four years;
one oi seven years is seldom seen, while
the males never survive the Summer in
WAicn they are born, and the working
Dees ole gradually and are replaced by
new ones. But the hive as community
holds together for longer period, being
constantly renewed by the process of re,
production, and comes at last like a bu-
man settlement, 20 consist of a variety of
individuals born at different times,
When a swarm breaks off from An old
community to form a new colony the Ill
vision is generally due to the appearance
of new queen. The queen bee, usually
quite contented with her lot, watching
over her progeny, active end patient in
the care of her eggs, becomes furious if
rival arises in the hive. She pounces
upon her and they sometimes fight to
death. So well is this understood in the
hive that the workers take care to prevent
such conflicts by holding back the new
queen just ready to be Matched from her
royal cell till the bees have swarmed. At
such time the workers will stand by the
cell out OF which queen is to be born,
ascertain how far her Transformation is
completed, and should there be DISPOSE
uon OF the young queen shortly to creep
out they increase the deposit of wax upon
the lid which shuts the cell, thus prevent
ing the egress of the royal prisoner. If
she tries to break through or attempts to
gnaw her way out, the workers crowd
around the opening or accumulate such
an amount Of wax upon it as to Illustrate
all her efforts When the old queen has
peacefully departed the new one is set
free. WHAT makes this fact more extra
ordinary is, that usually the workers have
never seen the birth of a queen or a per-
feet female before their hive has known
but one queen, and yet they anticipate
and guard against all the dangers likely
to arise from a second. Can it be that
these creatures do the right thing at the
right time consciously by means of any
faculty similar to our reason,
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
A StupendOus Scheme.

a GENTLEMAN whose enthusiasm for
the American centennial is evidently
boundless has written to a high govern
ment official to suggest that at precisely
Twelve O'Clock, M, Washington time. Of
the Fourth of July, 1916, all the gums
bells, steam-whistles, trumpets, drums
organs and other musical instruments in
the country, with the millions of human
voices, "burst forth into sounds ofjov and
praise" He would have an electric Signal
from the nations capital flashed through
all the telegraph wires in the country to
every city, town and hamlet, and bv the
cable to Europe, Asia and Africa and.
we suppose New Jersey-and from the
western wilds to the far-otf isles of the
Orient this gigantic racket should Ibid
the slumbering millions of heathendom
awake and join the happy nations in
singing that sublime invocation to praise
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Now this scheme is magnificently patri-
otto, but it is also Overwhelmingly big; it
will be we'll to think of the consequences.
The combined yell of forty million pair
OF lungs-we set it low, because some
seditious persons probably wouldn't veil
with the proposed instrumental accompa-
niment would produce noise not to be
particularly sneezed at, and it might
"bust things" What if it should rend
heavens concave, brighten the moon from
its orbit, split the planets, crack the sun.
or topple over the foundation of the uni
verse itself-who is going to clear up and
fix things next day. We should hardly
want such a bill for repairs, and we can't
expect the etfete mOnarchies to chin in
it isn't their funeral. But Just think of it,
every man, woman and screaming infant
in this 'tarnal Yankee nation, standing
with breath drawn in, shoulders back,
and tOeing out, ready to pour out their
souls in one gigant Z "Hoop-la" at given
signal Of the signal shouldn't come,
after all, it would be an awful come down,
wouldn't it9 1t is really to much; the
mind can't grasp it. Talk about waking
the "slumbering millions of heather
DOM" Why, it would scare EN- to death.
Our poor Indians would think we meant
them, and would incontinently seek last
reservation in the waves of the Pacific.
And this extending the yell into foreign
countries would be little perilous.
Americans are net numerous enough
there. Away down in Australia, for in
stance, if some grizzly American miner,
the only one in the vicinity, probably,
should hang around the telegraph station
all the forenoon, and, at the signal, sud
denly begin to howl and cut up, they
would think he had gone daft and would
knock him on the head, after the custom
of those primitive provinces. The more
civilized foreigners would stare at us and
call us a pack of fools, while the fellows
in the other planets would wonder what
on Earth was a-going on, and we should
be subjected to their impertinent remarks
for several days. Mono, this thing won't
do; we had better go little slower. A
few more punches of fire crackers, and
another pin-wheel or two, will answer
just as well, and will be infinitely safer
.SDr5nGtieEd (Mussl RepubIic071.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
Welded.

HEART linked with heart in each noble endea
WI Husband and wife;
We're adrift, oh, my sweet, on the beautiful
The river of life.
The shore of my girlhood, far back in the dis
Still | can see;
Rut YOUR love, true and faithful, still makes nv
existence
A heaven TO me.
strong arm of love has never yet failed me.
Never dear heart!
Nor your faith. OIL my darling, when censure as.
sailed NE.
Life, when apart,
Loses its sweetness joys radiant fowe
Bloom never for me-
As lonely walk through the desolate hours
Waiting for thee.
with Faith for the pilot, and Love to cast DER us
The light of her smile.
The waves of the river of life yet before u.s.
Look tempting the while
There is nought in the past that is worth the re-
GREETING,
My darling; instead
Not moment this hour we would fain be forget
ting,
Since we were wed
7 fear not the stormclouds that hover around mo
Drifting with thee
For the Spri ing time and Summer of life yet have
found thee
Faithful to me
On on to the shore Of the blissfu Forever
Husband and wife;
Together well float down the beautiful river
The river of life.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
The Zone of Life.

INSIGNIFICANT as is the spot we inhabit,
the zone of lite-the area which not only
all that live and breathe and move in
habit, but in which all vegetation is con-
tained-is still more limited. From the
submarine forest in the lowest depths of
the sea, to the highest altitude to which
the condor scars above the perpetual
snow, is but twelve miles, Within those
scanty limits, six miles Of air above US,
six miles of water beneath, everything
that has vitality is confined. If the sala-
mander lives in the central fire, the ex-
ception is so small as scarcely to be worth
mentioning. The air presses upon the
earth with force equal to thirty three
feet of water, and upon every average
human body with d weight of fifteen
tons, which only does not squash us fat
as pancakes, because the air surrounds us
on all sides, including our insides, and
thereby the weight is balanced. To most
of us, nature is one vast mirage, suggest
ing infinite decisions; and even to the
learned many things still remain to be
cleared up by slow-moving science in
future ages. Who would imagine, upon
the face Of the NATTER for instance, that,
in an airless world, not a sound could
ever be heard On the contrary, in still
and silent space, one would conceive that
we might hear pin drop from the moon.
Hawksbee demonstrated the contrary of
this fact in a memorable experiment be
fore the Royal Society, one hundred and
eighty years ago. He placed clock I'M
der the receiver of an air pump in such
way that the strikings of the clapper
would continue after the air had been ex-
hausted while the receiver was full of
air, the sound was quite audible; when it
was empty all was silent. Again, when
the air was introduced, there was feeble
sound, growing in intensity as the air
grew denser. At the top OF Mont Blanc
the report Of pistol is no louder than
that of a common cracker let OFT at the
level of the sea above two miles,"
says Mr.. GIaisher, who, as everybody
knows is an aerOnaut Of considerable eX-
| cOuntered a silence more complete and
solemn than in the heights of the atmos-
| nhere-in those chilling solitudes to
Which no terrestrial sound reaches" On
the other hand, clouds absolutely facili-
tate the transmission of sound. Above
great city, to a height of from 900 TO
1900 feet, there is always noise, "im-
mense, colossal and indescribable.n The
whistle of steam-engine is heard at 10000
feet, the noise of a train at $500, saws M.
Flammarion; but Mr.. Glaisher testifies to
having heard this latter when $4,000 feet
up in the air; the barking of a dog and
the report Of a gun rise each up to 5000
feet; the shouts Of & crowd of people, the
Growing of a cock, the tolling of bell, to
5000; and the shout Of a human being to
$500 feet-Chnmbers's Journal.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11

The Count fastened to co,slm,. 'nicate
this order to the Commissary, and was
yet more astOnished when returning to
the presence OF the Empress he heard her
exclaim, amid bursts of the loudest laugh
ter:
Now | understand the cause of this
strange and incomprehensible scene. |
have for years had fine dog, which |
valued highly, and | had given him the
name of Saderland both for the sake of a
joke on my good banker, and also in com
pliment to the English gentleman from
whom l obtained the dog. Early this
morning | gave orders to Neiclotf to take
OFT his skin entire, in order to have it
stuffed, as the poor thing was dead. He
seemed to hesitate whether to obey, and
was very angry, because | thought it was
silly pride on his part" -Cincinaati
Gazette.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
AgaSsiZ on Honey Bees.

In recent lecture Professor Agassiz
said in reference to hOney-bees, that the
bee hive consists when in full activity, of
one queen, several hundred drOnes and
many thousand working-bees. These con-
stitute community by which a combin-
ed system of labor is carried on, tran
scending in many respects the most com
plicated action of man himself Their
structure shows no organ similar to those
by which the mental functions are mani
tested in the higher animals and in man.
They have no brain proper, nor does their
nervous system correspond in any way to
that of the vertebrates. In all vertebrates
the solid front mass Of the nervous sys-
tenn which we call the brain is prolonged
backward into long cord, known as the
spinal marrow, from which many nervous
threads arise and branch, Spreading
through the whole organization The
brain and the spinal cord, in fact the
whole central nervous system, are enclos-
ed in a cavity, the skull and rachitic canal.
separate from those in which the organs
OF digestion, respiration, circulation and
reproduction are communicative chest and
abdominal cavity. For the articulates, on
the contrary, to which all insects, or crus-
tacea and worms belong, the nervous sys-
tenn is scattered along the length of the
body IN succession Of swellings, con-
nected together by threads. The first of
these swellings is situated in the head,
above the allmentary canal the rest are
~ regular distances along the lower side
OF the body. Thus it appears that the bat
terry from which all volition starts, by
which all the acts of life are performed or
regulated, through which all external I'M,
pressions are communicated and acted
upon, are very different in these two types
OF the animal kingdom. 1t is, therefore,
hardly probable that the life work done
by these organs should be the same.
Let US look at some of these acts by
which the quality we call instinct is
manifested in a community of bees. When
such a community becomes too populous
for a given hive the bees swarm" as it
is called that is, part of the overcrowd-
ed population separates from the rest, and
goes off to establish a new colony. In
such case the emigrants are chosen or
form their own bands with direct refer
ence, seemingly, to the future welfare of
the new colony, preserving the numerical
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11

The POTATo-BUG-A correspondent Of
the Iurf, Field and Farm says on this
subject: Get some gas-lime out of the
purifier, and 90 over the rows on a damp
morning, or when there has been a shower
of rain, and sprinkle it we'll over the leaves ;
you will see the bugs drop off, and where
they go is mystery to me. | tried the
experiment myself in a gentleman's gar
den, where the leaves were almost cover
ed, and the effect was truly wonderful;
they all left; and in two days could not
see as much as solitary straggler. 1t is
also good fertilizer, and would destroy
the chinch- if used on wheat or any
kind of land, or on meadows for grass.
Experience is the cause of my writing
this answer to the potato-bug.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11
Appetite.

AT certain seasons, as in spring and
summer, the appetite of even the very
robust is apt to fail, and the relish for
meats and heavy food to wane. This is
all right enough, for animal diet in warm
weather heats the blood, tends to head
aches, and is generally unwholesome. I'M
less sparingly used, On the other hand
fresh vegetables, berries, fruit and bread
are cooling, corrective, and what the
palate most Graves. Don't be afraid to 90
without meat for a month or So and, if
you like, live purely upon vegetable regi-
men. We will warrant that you will lose
no more strength than is common to the
time, and that you will not suffer from
protracted heat, as when dining on the
regulation roast.
Many persons regard hearty desire
for food as something unrefined, indeli-
cate, and to be constantly discouraged
This is greater and more harmful mis-
take than that of coaXing the appetite. 1t
is just as necessary for the man who
works only with his brain to eat beef and
mutton, as for the man who labors solely
with his hands. The stomach and the
brain are twins; the former being the
elder, and having prior right to care Let
that be well provided for; and it will sus-
tain its brother. The people who strive
to check wholesome and natural appe-
ute are the people who regard dinner
merely as feed, not the center of an
agreeable social custom and as the domes-
tic event of the day. We are sorry for
them, as they must regard eating at all as
prosaic duty, obligatory on them be-
cause they have bias in favor of living.
We all know that we must eat to live; but
we by no means live to eat simply be-
cause we enjoy what we eat. We are not
gourmands because we relish chops, nor
are we lnvalids because we want straw
berries.
A good appetite is good thing; but
not if it is to be worried by urging or
neglect.-"Honae and tSocjety,' IN Serb
ner's for -4uQust
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11

INSTRUCTIONS have been issued to Post
masters that envelopes for registered letter
packages are not o be charged with post
age, the envelope being mere pouch in
which letter is transmitted. 1t has been
the practice of many Postmasters to
charge postage not only on the letter but
afterward to inclose it in a registered
envelope and charge postage on the whole
package
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11

SOMEBODY, whether in pursuit Of knowl-
edge or out of mere love Of mischief, tried
a chemical experiment in the St. Johns
bury (Vt) Cemetery, recently. He bathed
nine granite monuments with muriatic
acid The effect Of this acid upon gran
tie is to give it the color of rusty Sheet
iron
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-09-11

Gov. Stafford Of Arizona plainly de
scribes the class of people that don't get
along in the West. He says that gentle
manly farmers, who commence without
means and have hired all their work done,
will undoubtedly be obliged to quit the
business; and those who have invested
the largest portion of their crops in poor
whisky at twenty-five cents per glass will
hardly be able to meet their obligations
and inspire sufficient confidence to obtain
credit in the future"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-08-04
hSMILBURN'S POLAR SODA,
tbs COLDES1 AND BESTIN The WORLD
with pure Fruit, Cream and other Syrupa
DEPOT FOR
MINERAL SPRING WATERS,
No. 1449 PENNsYLvANIA AVENUE
lel6-r near Fifteenth street

h|sCHENCKS MANDRAkE PILLs.-The.,
w pills are composed exclusively Of vegetable
hgreolen@, and although they entirely su perssds
snects They act directly upon the liver, and are
sAusole remedy IN all cases Of arrangement result
Complaint, Bilious Disorders, Indigestion, sici
heaaacne, TYPHOID Feyers, &C., &c, all succumb TO
by all Druggists and Dealers watr