davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
The American Girl in Europe.

A writer in the Arcadian speaks of
"the American girl abroad" as follows:
"We have discovered that she can
dance and speak French. Let us inquire
whether she can talk. Certainly, we
have Just heard her at the table. She
can tell you who was the favorite tenor
in New York last season, and who will
probably be so next, and compare the
principal opera-houses of Europe with
the academy of music at home. She can
relate to you the private history of
Count Walewski and Baron Rosengar-
ten, can tell you why the former was not
received in London society, and what
induced Mrs. Bricabrac to refuse her
patronage to the latter in New York.
She is on intimate terms with the lady
who brought out the Polish exile that
made such sensation among the old
Kuickerbocker families, and can give
you scrappy genealogical information
as to the unquestionable possessOrs of
blue blood. She will criticise with
frankness Les IdeRs de Nine. Aubray,'
and is half a convert to the convictions
of the author of Monsieur Alphonse.'
She will tell You, with as near an ap-
proach to effusion as she ever makes,
that she has eighteen bosom friends and
correspondents at home, and read you
portions of their letters, if you have
purchased for her a sufficient number of
bouquets and advanced far enough into
her good graces. She does not always
speak dramatically, having an odd
way of confusing the nominative and
objective Gas es, and you was in prefer
ence to the plural form of the verb.
But she always has plenty to say, and
is Indifferent as to where she says it.
One of the chief charms of her con-
versation is the patience and publicity
with which she corrects her mothers
pronunciation. That unfortunate lady,
far from being able to master a solitary
word in the French language, has not
been capable of coping successfully
with the difficulties in her own. But
she is never ashamed of her ignorance,
and accepts the correction of her more
gifted daughter with meekness that is
not without certain grace. Words of
five sylIables are her special bugbear,
and her alert daughter is never so en-
crossed in the delights of gossip as not
to detect the false quantity, trip the de-
linquent up, and set the fraudulency
right before the surrounding group"
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
The Graf; Market.

There seems 10 be little doubt now
but that England will need double the
amount of grain that she has raised.
Usually Russia can furnish It cheaper
than we can, but it does not seem 70 DO
the case this year. The probability ~
that there will be heavy call on uH.
This seems so certain 10 be the case that
m Philadelphia, which Has now become
the leading port for the export OF grain,
extensive arrangements are being made
to accommodate the trade.
1t is 20 be hoped that this idea Will
be realized. IL is just what is needed
to revive our dropping western agricul-
ture and with IL, of course, revival
of general trade 10 il TO be regretted
that 80 many vital interests should DO
made TO rest on the mere chance OF an
European failure, and not npon a steady,
regular and certain demand. IL 10
chiefly on the uncertainty Of the Euro
pean market that our agriculture suffers
80 much. This uncertainty will always
exist until we have our chief market
near at home. Some think IL is the re-
lance on this uncertainty which makes
our continual panics. However this
may be, il will not make any difference
this year or now. We want an immedi-
ate market in order 10 advance prices,
and il Europe gives us the one now
promised, il will be good thing for us.
FOTTleUS WeeEiV Press.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
Educated Oysters.

A writer in the Popular Science
| Monthly says "Before the railroad
| days our oyster growers used early IL
| the fall to canvass the villages on the
| Hudson river for orders to be filed JUS
| before the river should be closed with
ice. The meaning of this is that these
| men committed themselves to suppl5
! oysters in the shell, with the guarantee
| that the biyalves thus supplied should
| not lie, before their time came. The oys-
| ters were actually kept alive during the
| great part of the long winter. The fat
bivalves were handled with some care,
| and were spread on the cellar floor, the
round or lower side down, so as not to
allow the liquor to escape. That such
a life required great change of capaci-
ty or habit in the bivalve is evident
and it needed training, yes, an educa-
tiOn, ere the oyster attained to such
ability. And this was the way it was
done: Beginning early in the fall, the
cultlvatOr of the oyster took up the fat
bivalves from their bed where he had
planted them, and laid them little
higher up on the shore, so that for q
short time each day they were exposed
out of the water. After q few days of
this exposure by the retreating tide they
were moved little higher still on the
shore line, which gave them q little
longer exposure to the air at each low
tide. And this process was continued,
each remove resulting in a longer ex-
posure. And with what results Two
very curious ones-inurement to expos
ure and the inculcatIon of a provident
habit OF making preparation for the
same. What providence in an oyster
Yes, when he's educated. When accus-
toned to this treatment, ere the tide re-
tires the oyster takes a good full drink
and retains the same until the tide re-
turns. Once, while waiting for the
stage at a country hostelry, we over
heard the following between two rustic
practitioners at the bar: Come, Swill,
let's take a drink = well, [ don't
know. Amt dry myself. Hows'ever,
guess I will take a drink, for fear I
might get dry = With better philoso-
ply on their side, these educated oys-
took their precautionary drink. The
French method of oyster training is
much more laborious. The adult BIZ
valves are carfully spread out in the
water, and periodical lessons are given
to each one individually. Each oyster
on this occasion receives a tap, not with
a ferule, but with a small iron inStru-
ment. This causes the bivalve to close
tightly. Finally the last day comes
with its last premonitory tap. It's edu-
cation thus finished, it takes passage
with its fellow-graduates for Paris. As
a result of its education, it knows how
to keep it's mouth shut when it enters
society,""
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
The Home of Jefferson.

A correspondent of the Washington
Chronicle who has lately made a pill
grimage to Monticello, once the home
of Thomas Jefferson, thus describes the
mansion in which the great Statesman
dwelt:
1t is a two-story main building an
wings, the former projecting front and
rear in immense porticoes of solid
stone, the center of the building being
capped with plain butill lighted dome
| On the ceiling of the front portico is q
large compass dial, and Immediately y
over the main door there is set in the
wall large clock, with dials showing
inside and out, and there is now exhibi
| ted ladder made by Jefferson himself,
and with which he wound up the time
| keeper at stated periods by the weights
suspended from pulleys on the walls OF
| either side. The main entrance really
consists of three dojlble glass doors, ali
| of which can be removed, and you enter
a vestibule, octagonal in shape, and pass
| Immediately into parlor of the same
| shape. The two apartments have in
laid floors of walnut, mahogany and
| cherry, which have vet to be surpassed
by any work of the kind in this country.
| Although they were in constant use in
| JeffersOn's DAYS. as he always had lots
| of company, and have been used since,
and are still, by picnic and dancing par
| ties, they are not warped nor injured in
the least, and need, apparently, only
| soap and water to restore them TO their
| original glossy appearance. There are
two small dining rooms, one in each
wing, the rest of the building being cut
up into small and badly-lighted bed
rooms. Ventilation seems to have been
buried beneath every other considera
ton, as there is no room i'll the house
through which there could be gained a
direct air current. The beds, even, are
set in recesses of alcoves in the walls,
to form which space and rooms are
sacrificed, and the stairways, one in
each wing, are so constructed, and of such
scant bend that their descent would be
perilous in the daytime without a Ian
tern. A covered way, which is in
rather a dilapidated condition, leads
from either wing to his library and of
fee respectively, and an underground
passage, through which he made his
escape from Col. Carleton and the Brit
ish cavalry, is shown to visitors. There
is suspended in the vestibule a four
light lantern, but beyond the old gig
body, in which it is said he usedto tide TO
Charlottesville, there is not an article of
furniture or curiosity in the house. The
janitor or keeper of the premises is a
white man named Thomas Wheeler, who
lives in the east stwiDg. He was the overseer
for Commodore Levy, the last tenant of
the entire mansion, and as the property is
nov in litigation he remains in charge
by sufferance, sustaining himself by
what he can make off the farm and the
collections (twenty five cents each)
which he demands from visitors.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
A German Opinion on American
Science.

This is the title of an interesting ar.
| ticle by Gends Weiss, in recent mum.
Der of the Wage, from which The fol-
lowing is an extract: ''In the mas,
terly statement which Prof. Virchow
recently gave of the present status of
the doctrine of infectious diseases he
spoke of the progress of medical
science in the United States. Since we
Germans are accustomed to speak
highly only of the practical talent of
the Americans, but to shrug our shoul-
ders in a very eOntemptuous manner
about their scientific requirements, it
will not be uninteresting to hear the
judgment of certainly not over-indul-
gent critic. Virchow says: Truly it
is fearful to think of the school of suf-
fering which the armies had to pass
through before 6he truth was finally ac-
knowledged. In the Crimean war the
French army lost one man out of three
of the whole army, and it is estimated
that of the 95, ,615 lives lost, only 10,-
240 fell before the foe. About as many
died of wounds in the hospital, and the
rest (more than rs, 600 men) were vic
tins to epidemic diseases. It is caleu-
lated that in the American war of seces-
sion 81, 900 men fell in battle and 1884,
900 died of diseases and epidemic3.
What an excess of pain and sorrow,
what an ocean of blood and tears are
contained in these figures And what
a mass of false regulations and preiu-
dices, and misunderstanding too. 1t is
not necessary to recount here the long
lists of sins and mistakes. These are
known too well, and serve as a terrible
warning to others. But it must here
lie acknowledged that it was not the
necessity alone that revealed the evil
and broughtfthe help. That the French
in the Crimea learned from their expe-
rience little or nothing, and the Ameri-
cans in their civil war SO much that
from this time dates new era in mill
tary medical science-these results
we're brought about not by the magni-
tude of the need which the Americans
had to suffer for this was not greater
than that experienced by the French in
the Crimea-but rather by the critical
and truly scientific spirit, the open
mind, the healthy and practical under
which in America gradually
permeated all departments of the army
and which, under the won
derful cooperation of an entire people,
reached the highest point in human
efforts ever attained in a great war.
Whoever takes up and reads the extern
sive publications of the American med
ical staff will be constantly astonished
at the wealth of experience therein
found. The great exactness in detail,
careful statistics even about the small
est matters, and scholarly statement
all sides of medical expert
ence, are here united in order to pre-
serve and to transmit to contemporaries
and posterity, in the greatest possible
the knowldgs purchased
at SO vast ap expense"
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06

Facial Asymmetry.

A writer in the Popular Science
Monthly says "There are many
other facial anomalies, which fail to at
tract attention because we have grown
accustomed to them. We should ex-
pect the convex cast of one side of the
face to fit, line for line, into the con-
cave cast of the other but it is doubt
full if there is to be anywhere found one
single head of this ideal perfection.
Neither the contour of the cheeks nor
the lines of the countenance are the
same on both sides, and they are all the
less SO because every one unconsclously
tends to perform many unilaterial facial
movements, which in time cause a di-
vergence between the two sides of the
face. Besides, the head, projecting as
it does freely into air, is more depen-
dent than we imagine on wind and
weather. Suppose person were to sit
constantly al a window, turning one
side to the cooler atmosphere out-of-
doors, and the other towards a hot
stove the result would be a two-fold
growth of the facial muscles. One side
of the face might become rounded, and
the other fiat or concave !; and, though
such faces are not unfrequent, we do
not notice the anomaly simply because
we are accustomed to it. In the Lapp
we have a good illustration of this une i.
quail development. just as the trees
of his native land are stuuted, SO too
his features become monstrous, irregu-
lar, and one-sided; the frontal bones
are forced, as though by. spasm, down
on the maxillaries, producing the most
singular combinations and contortions
of the features. A not uncommon form
of asymmetry, in more favored lands,
is the presence of a dimple on one cheek,
while the other has no such indentation,
or bat very faint one. In such cases
the face has, as it were, a summer and a
winter side, just like the apple, which
is round and ruddy on the summer side,
but on the shade-side aattened and
ran
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
+" The Camel. %

The London Globe says: : "For the
last few years the milliner's idea has
been to dress her customers as like men
as possible, to give them stand up col
lars and leather belts, to arm them with
umbre las hanging from the waist as if
they were swords, to supply them with
gentlemen's watch pockets, and gentle
mems watch chains. Even in fashion
the world must advance, and the move
for the coming winter is decidedly move
forward. Fashionable ladies, who have
been dressed like men, must now dress
like wild animals. All the tissues are
to resemble furs, and as a few years ago
young ladies were said to wear Dolly
Vardens, so now they will put on their
'camels.' That is the generic name by
which the Partisan n1odistes have called
the years fabrics, though of course
there is variety allowed, and young
lady may appear as a reindeer, as bear,
as a northern elk-in fact, as any rough
skinned animal she may select. But
it is necessary that the skins should
consist of as few pieces as possible.
The camel and collar which will be
known in the fashionable world as a
dogs collar will complete the costume.
But this new invention of the French
dressmakers has not so much originality
after all. The idea is merely develop
ment of the Ulster great coat, which
was borrowed couple of years ago
from the Irish peasantry. This desire
for the toughest materi Is and the
rudest make has produced already
strange results. In Switzerland Eng
lishmen are dressed so like guides that
it is difficult to distinguish them. Even
at Brighton the taste for walking sticks
has declared that perfectly plain bit of
ash cut out of the wood and innocent ot
scraping and vanishing is the most
fashionable cane. A silver ornament is
allowed near the handle as sort of
trademark to show that it belongs to
gentleman. Even if the winter of 1874
should be as inclement as that of 1870,
there may yet be days when the camel
would be too warm, and so less heavy
garments have to be prepared. Still,
the relations with the animal world will
be kept. up. Ladies, when they cannot
go out like beasts, will go out like
birds. All trimmings are to be made of
feathers-cocks' feathers, pheasants'
feathers. This plumage is to covor the
dresses, but whole bird will be in the
hat. A very fashionable lady may,
therefore, assume parrots head and
peacock's tail"
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
Where Figs are Raised in this Country.

There are some twenty-five varieties
of the fig known TO the southern states,
of different sizes, and in color white,
green, purple, brown and black; all OF
which doubtless originated from the
seeds and cuttings of foreign varieties
from France, Spain or Italy. They
have gradually become acclimated in
the state of Tennessee, Northern Ala
bama, and the harder kinds have been
grown successfully as far north as st.
Louis, Missouri, and Chlllicothe, Ohio,
"a Mr.. Worthipgton, of the latter
town, having been very successful in
growing and marketing them in that
place.
Indeed, in that northern latitude it lie
necessary to provide a winter protection
for them, which is generally done by
cutting the roots entirely off on one side
and bending the tree over and covering
with earth. When all danger Of freez
ing is past, the tree is righted TO its
original position and firmly scared to
a stout stake.
Ia Louisiana and the neighhoring
states all the harder varieties will sue
ceed without any protection.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
Microscopic Examination of Adulter-
ated Milk.

1t is stated by Profs. Zoller and Kiss
muller that while large, medium-sized,
and small round butter globules appear,
under the microscope, to fill normal
milk, they seem much less crowded,
although present of different size, in
milk diluted with water, according to
the DECREE of dilutioD. The presence
of only medium-sized and small glo-
bules indicates that the milk has been
skinned after standing a short time,
while milk SKINNED after twenty-four
hours exhibits separate groups Of the
small globules only. BY standing four
hours, under favorable conditions, at a
temperature of 64 to 68 deg, milk
parts with 40 per cent. of its fatty mat
ter, and as much as eighty-eight per
cent. by standing twenty-four hours.
The cream in the first place consists
chiefly of the larger globules, and is
poor In fatty matter that IN the latter
case contains also the mass of the me-
dunn and small globules, and double
the fatty matter. A plate with micro
scopic illustrations of normal milk and
that skinned after four and twenty-four
hours is given by the authors.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
The Survey of the Forty-ninth Par
allel.

The work of locating the boundary
line between the United States and the
British North American Possessions has
been completed, and the American sur
veying party has arrived at st. Paul.
Major Twining and his men were ac-
companied to Fort Buford by two COM
panies of infantry, acting as escort. He
reports that the British commission
started for Pembina overland on their
way to Canada. The joint work be-
tween the United States and England of
marking the boundary line between the
United States and British America on
the 49th parallel of porth latitude
was commenced late in the season OF
1874. But ninety-onp miles we're run
that season. Last year the work was
resumed, and 4O8 miles were run, when
the survey was suspended again. The
party resumed their labors once more
last summer, leaving st. Paul in June.
Since they have run 800 miles of sur
vey, and on September 1st they reached
the monument which marked the west
ern terminus of the old survey on the
summit of the Rocky mountains, thus
completing the entire boundary line
from the Lake of the Woods TO the
summit of the Rocky mountains, dis
tance of $50 miles. Along this entire
distance at average intervals OF three
miles the line is marked by stone pyrl-
mids, ten feet at the base and Six feet
high. There are no points in conten'
ton between the British and American
governments, but a year will be required
for the engineers to work up their
notes before making their report. Maj.
Twining will remain in st. Paul a week
or two, when he will proceed to Wash
ington, where he will establish his Office
and finish his report. He will proba
bly return to st. Paul next season to
superintend planting iron monuments
at intervals of a mile along that portion
of the line between Minnesota and
Manitoba
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
At VesuVius.

Charles Warren Stoddard, writing to
the San Francisco Chronicle of the
crater of Vesuvius, says eve all
stuffed our handkerchiefs into our
mouths, held our noses, and epped up
on the very rim of the cone. On one
side was a yawning chasm, so filled with
vapors that saw nothing; on the other
was the precipitous slope of the noun
tain, down which it was easy to cast
ones self and slide for two or three
hundred feet without much effort. In
few moments we had passed the fiery
or smoky ordeal, and, coming around
the windward side of the cone, we
breathed once more the delicious air Of
the morning. We could now approach
the crater with ease and look far down
into its hideous-nay, its beautiful
depths. 1t is very beautiful. The in
ner walls are thickly coated with sui
phur, and a Pompeiian fresco is not
more brilliant or harmonious than the
rich and splendid greens aad reds and
yellOws that there combine % decorate
this temple of the furies. Sudden puts
of wind sometimes waited the great
clouds that were continually ascending
from the pit high over our heads, and
the sun charging the sulphurous steams
with light, CHASTITY gloom was thrown
for a moment over everything. We
heard the commotion of the elements
beneath us it was as though the pit
we're half filled with fat, frying and
sizzling; the air was heavily charged
with sulphurous gases we felt the heat
of the very ground we stood on through
the soles of our boots in many places
we could not touch our hand to the
rocks without blistering it. Close by
was hole in the side, jutting point
of lava, into which one of the guides
introduced, without the aid of his staff,
a large roll of paper, which no sooner
touched the spot that it burst into
flame; the end of his stick ignited in a
few seconds, yet no flames issued from
the fiery furnace. The boy brought me
a small bit of of lava, at which light
Il -
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-06
The Salmon Catch.

Salmon fishing on the Lower Colum-
bia river, Oregon, has been unusually
successful this season. The best part
of the season is from April to August
this year the largest number of salmon
was taken in July. The thirteen can
ming establishments on the river did not
take less than an average of Is, 900 every
night in the month. During the season
about 100000 salmon we're caught,
ach averaging, when dressed, sixteen
pounds. About 10000 of these were
canned, the remainder salted and bar
relied. Every one who has eaten salmon,
properly canned, knows that it is nice,
but probably few know the fact that
from the time the salmon is caught un-
til it is ready for market it passes
through twenty-seven hands; the can
in which the salmon was put employs
| ten men in the process Of making the