davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
Private Libraries at Auction.

Mrs. Sprague has telegraphed from
Europe forbidding the proposed sale of
her fathers library. Chief Justice
Chase had a large collection of books,
some of which were valuable, and it
must be painful to the remaining MEM
bers of his family to have it scattered to
the four winds. This is the worst thing
about the collection of private libraries
in this country. A scholar reads him
self into hiss works. He marks the
passages which interest him. He makes
notes on their margins. He shows the
growth of his taste and the development
of his mind by TIE volumes, often rare
and costly, he procures with difficulty.
But when he dies the collection crum-
bles, and greedy collectors and second
hand dealers pick up the remains. Dan
iel Webster's fine library, on which he
set his heart and for which he built a
Gothic room at Mansfield, is soon to be
sold under the hammer. And so it must
be with other valuable collections unless
the owners are wise and public spirited
enough to present them to some public
institution which will preserve them.
Mr.. Sumner wisely secured his library
agai,st dismemberment by presenting it
to Harvard, and Theodore Parker placed
his large and valuable collection, a mon
ument of books, in the alcoves of the
Public Library of Boston. If library
is worth collecting it is worth keeping
intact.-Neao York Graphic.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
Somewhat Fishy.

The Milwaukee Wis., Nems is respon-
sible for the following: There was
young girl at the police station yester-
day, upon whom old Mother Nature has
played one of her queerest freaks. She
is young, certainly not over sixteen, with
q not unprepossessing face and q good
figure, but her body and limbs are
covered with scales about the size of, and
similar in appearance to the scales OF a
fish. Medical gentlemen who have ex-
amined her say that she presents the
most extraordinary case of malformation
on record. is true there has been men,
ton made in the books, of children whose
necks and wrists were similarly covered,
but no instance has been reported
where the scales covered the whole
BODY and the limbs. There is
another feature about this exception that
puzzles the medical fraternity most, and
that is the fact that the scales have the
chameleon-like function of changing
their color. The scales on her arm, while
the writer was present, changed twice
from pale amber color to blood red and
back again. The scales do not Overlie
each other as in the case of fish or reptiles,
but appear to be imbedded in the flesh
in q sort of mosaic work, 30 to speak; and
in the color changes, the transformation
does not take place at once in all the i'm
bricated plates, but varies, some turning
red, while others retain the amber color
which seems to be the primary, hue.
The girl says she has been covered with
these scales ever since she can remember.
From her earliest recollection she was
employed as a domestic by the family
with whom she resided, and was COM
PEELED to perform all the drudgery of the
house. As she advanced in age and the
scales upon her body increased and null
tiplied, she became an object of the most
intense aversion to the other members of
the family, and was treated so cruelty
that she fled. This act was the beginning
of long series of trials, which were yes
terday described by her ut the police
station with much pathos.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03

The Pail Mall Gazette, commenting
upon the debate upon the English army
estimates in the House of Commons, says:
1t is true that we may never again be
pitted against so supreme genius or so
boundless an ambition as that of NapO-
leon l. But as regards our system of
recruiting there is something else to be
taken into account than either genius or
ambition; and that is the number Of
troops. There will shortly be three
powers in Europe, any one of which will
be able to bring greater armies into the
field than Napoleon could command
when he held the Continent in the hOl-
low of his hand. When the ordinary
Englishman is following last nights de-
bate it would be we'll if he would test his
equanimity by recalling M. About's
scornful comment on Mr.. Disraeli's
declaration about Belgium. The Eng
lish government, he said, have declared
that if the independence and neutrality
of Belgium should be really threatened,
they would know their duty to their
sovereign; doubtless they would know
it equally well if the news had come that
half million of German troops had
crossed the Belgium frontier. The sneer
is unfounded, we are convinced, in so far
as it implies that in any case England
would not fight; but it is unhappily but
too we'll founded in so far as it implies
that she would fight against tremendous
odds and at tremendous risk. How
much Of this risk may not be set down
not to our military system but to our
heedlessness in putting that system into
practice?
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
John Bright's Secret.

An admirer of Mr.. Bright writes to q
Manchester paper, says the Pal AidH
Gazette, that he has discovered the secret
of the power this great speaker possesses
of riveting the attention of his audience.
This he believes to lie in the fact that he
uses monosyllables very largely. Fhe
grand passage in Mr.. Bright's speech on
the Burials bill, describing a Quaker
funeral, begins, ~ will take the case Of
my own Sect" and on counting tho
words of that remarkable grafton II will
be found that QUITO 100 words, las, more
than 75 per cent, were monosyllables.
On this it Is urged that those in charge
of youth should teach them the use of
monosyllables. An American Journal
lately mentioned school where such
pains had been taken TO instruct the
boys in the art Of public speaking that
il they had learned nothing else they
had acquired the greatest contempt for
all the devices of stump oratory. The
course of study prescribed is left to the
imagination, but doubtless includes the
translation into monosyllables of the
ponderous verbiage which passes current
In most political assemblies as genuine
eloquence. 1t would, however, be cruel
to insist on the introduction of such
teaching into any of the standards"
Many are obliged to speak who have less
TO say than Mr.. Bright, and to them the
sesqmpcdaiia verba are indispensable,
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
Mind Reading Scientifically Considered.

Professor Persifer Frazer, son OF the
late distinguished Prof. Frazer of the
University of Pennsylvania, effectually
settled the question of mind reading by
logical argument in lecture delivered
before the Social Science Association of
Philadelphia, at Mercantile Library
Hall. After lengthy reference to un-
seen and mystical forces, the lecturer
spoke of the spread of belief in modern
spiritualism and the epidemic of mes
merism and electro-biology which had
preceded it in this country, and by log
ical argument showed that clairvOyance
was the result of epilepsy, which Mauds-
ley regards as in greaS part true sem
serial insanity. With regard to the
mind-reading of Mr.. Brown, Prof.
Frazer declared that the faculty which
this gentleman claims to possess is the.
simplest kind Of manifestation of mind
reading, so simple as to naturally lead to
the suspicion that it is merely an acute
deception of those involuntary nervous
motions which we cannot avoid when our
attention is concentrated on single OBJ
ject, and by argument showed that such
was really the case. Only thirty-three
per cent. of Browns mind-reading at
tempts were successful, a percentage
which would certainly be far less if mere
mechanical action took place. After
relating number of Browns expert
ments and failures, the professor dissec-
ted them, and drew for his audience a
clear deduction, the gist and sum total of
which was that the muscular vitality
and nervousness of his subjects afforded
to his keen perception the power he pro-
fesses to possess of reading mems minds;
that neitherspiritualism nor mesmerism
had anything to do in the matter at
all, and the fact that many gentlemen
of high standing and long experience
had pronounced in favor of Mr.. Browns
reading the mind seemed to lend force
to the universally accepted truism, that
all the fools. are not dead yet. Professor
Frazer's lecture was intensely interesting,
and merited the attention and applause
his audience vouchsafed it. it..-Philadelphia
Times
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
Story CT the Big Squash.

The big squash of Amherst Agricuitu-
raj College farm, which grew SO stoutly
that it burst several iron cages, and
finally lifted 4, 4,120 pounds (and of which
plaster cast is preserved), had enough
roots underground to feed it for its her
culean work. Y The squash vine was
washed out with its roots by the eontin-
ued use of garden hose for twenty-four
hours, and the whole root system was
spread out on floor and carefully meas
ured. The main branch was twelve or
fifteen feet long, and aggregated some
1000. One of the seventy modal roots,
four feet long, had 4S0 branches, and
most careful estimate of the ramifications
of the rootlet, based upon the actual
measurement of the division, showed
that the squash vine had between fifteen
and nineteen miles of roots. Reckoning
the number of days it had been growing
(fifty-two), it was found that it must
have been on an average 1000 feet per
day, and on favorable days about 1000
feet. Colonel Clark, the President of the
Agricultural College, says, that while
this growth was going on, and the big
squash was expanding and lifting its
enormous burden, great drops of sweat
stood all over its rough 'rind, proving
that it felt the, great, task imposed
upOn It,
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
The Car Alexander.

Late advices from Europe render ii
almost certain that the continent has
been saved from terrible war solely by
the determination of the Gear Alexan-
der that if Germany again attacked
allies Russia and Great Britain. 1t is an
open secret that Germany viewed with
alarm the rehabilitation of France. The
enormous war indemnity imposed upon
the conquered country, it was supposed
by Germany, would cripple her for half
century. But Bismarck has since
acknowledged that he underrated the
financial resources and elasticity of the
French nation, and their rapid recovery
after paying that indemnity. and the
prompt reorganization of their army
have led Bismarck and Won MOltke to
believe that, to insure the possession of
Alsace and Lorraine, it was necessary
again to seek quarrel with France and
still further cripple her. 1t is now clear
that the recent visit of the Car to Ber-
lin was to protest against the renewal of
the contest. In history, Alexander
ought to be specially designated by some
title expressive of his moderation, his
pacific temper, and his clear sense of the
humaner requirements of his epoch. 1t
should be remembered that on the death
of his father, the Gar Nicholas, he
promptly put an end to the Crimean
war; that, while maintaining the dignity
of Russia, he has engaged in no great
warlike enterprise; that he has done
what he could to forward the industrial
development of Russia, by building
splendid system of railroads, and that the
recent international conferences in Bel
gium and elsewhere, to relieve war of
some of its horrors, were instituted by
him. And now it seems he has inter
posed just in time to save Europe from
what would probably have been one of
the blOodiest wars recorded in history.
That Russia was backed up by England
in this matter is very evident from recent
dispatches, and the proposed conference
of the Gar with M. Theirs confirms this
view. We are satisfied that the Car
Alexander will pass into history as one
of the wisest, the most humane, and the
most statesmanlike of all the monarchs
of his age, and that not the least of his
claims to the regard of mankind will be
the action he has just taken in prevent
ing the outbreak of vast and calami-
tous war.-Neao York Graphic.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03

"Aw-and have you been to Cheddar
Have you seen the Cheddar cliffs p we
were constantly asked, and photographs
of these rent rocks pursued us every
where. Cliffs of what?. OF cheese
For to the Yankee cousin rocks are
plentier far than such sOlidified cream as
the delicious Cheddar cheeses, SO thick
and heavy that it takes two men to lift
one upon table.
But one day, on our way to look at
the cathedral and queer old city of
Wells, Cheddah!" we hear as the train
paused at little station; and 10! a gray,
desolate townlet, its streets writhing
around great powders, and from its
curb-stones, almost, long stretches of
lofty gray and red-tinted walls rising and
shutting off halfarch of sky; rugged
rock-wOrk, with sharp pinnacles, deep
chasms, crevice like passes, and mons
trous rocks SO lightly poised among, the
pinnacles breath should bring them
down; and then the savager features
give way, and we are whirling through a
fine, Vermont-like country of green
moorland hill-sides, covered with hang
ing woods of ash, beech and yew, bold
bluffs with ivy-clad inches, long pla-
teaus rough with brake, and lit with
blossoming gorse, and at the feet of the
hills rich meadows, while lateral valleys,
green as June, creep up between the
shouldering knolls till their verdure
dwindles into the barrenness of the
mountain SUBMITS. And up among the
crags we have passed, tradition says tina!
King Edmund, while hunting, pressed
the deer so hard that stag and dogs went
over the precipice; while the King was
only saved by the apparition Of st
Dunstan, which seized the rearing horse
and turned it. back from the gulf; fol
which salvation King Edmund made st
Dunstan in the body Abbot of Glaston
bury on that very day.-We GALAXY.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
An Authenticated Ghost Story.

A gentleman had occasion to visit a
certain city ofNew England. He arrived
at night, went directly to his accustomed
hotel, and to bed, slept sOundly through
out the night, and in the morning dis
covered his watch had stopped during
the night. When he opened the door of
his room another gentleman was taking
in his boots on the opposite side of the
corridor; and of him our friend asked If
he could tell him what time it was. To
his surprise, the gentleman took no no
tice whatever of the question. He asked
again: "Sir, will you be good enough
to tell me what time it is? My watch
has stopped" No answer. The g60tle-
man, without looking up, shut his door
and disappeared. At that moment two
other gentlemen came walking down the
corridor, and Mr.. X. asked of them the
same question. The two gentlemen,
without looking to the right or left, con-
tinued their walk without an answer or
sigh. "Well," thought Mr.. X, " this is
very curious" However, he went back
into his room. Presently the bell rang
for breakfast, and Immediately a waiter
entered the room, seized him by the arm
and began series of gesticulations. Mr..
x. lost his temper, and burst forth with /:
"What in thunder is the matter p
When the waiter cried "Oh p and van
ished, laughing. Mr.. X. began to think
something was very wrong, but went
down to breakfast. When he entered
the sale mdnger, which commonly had
a dozen or twenty people at the tables,
he found the hall filled with gentlemen
in black coats, all feeding gravely, and in
perfect silence. A waiter silently beck
oned him to a place, and, when he was
seated, he said to his neighbor: "Sir,
will you be kind enough to tell me what
this is all aboutw No answer. The
person, like Charlotte in "Werter,"
went on eating bread and butter"
Our friend began to feel decidedly
what the English call queer, and, get.
ting out of his seat, went to the nearest
waiter, and piteously besought him, for
Heavens sake, to tell him what was the
matter with this house. "Ohp said the
waiter, don't you know? Why, thi'
is the Deaf and Dumb Convention, which
meets to-day in Hartford."-Old anc
Ne,c. lt..fl 49,. Ira
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

DON'T let your horses be seen standing
much at the tavern doOr.
THE hay product of the United States
has more than trebled in the last thirty
years.
If you have yoke of oxen, don't be
ashamed of them and give your note for
span of horses.
In Kansas the season has been favor
able; large areas of wheat and oats sown
are in fine condition.
In Wisconsin winter wheat is slightly
injured. Spring wheat is just being sown,
and fruit is somewhat injured.
WHEN the labors of the day are over
let good books and newspapers invite the
youngsters to the sitting-room.
IT is said that twenty thousand COWS
are kept for dairy purposes within a
radius of twenty miles of Wheaton,
illinois.
If your hens are inclined to eat their
eggs give them a liberal dose of cold lard
chopped up in pieces as you would
mince-meat.
AT present there are fifteen States of
Europe which recognize horses, donkeys
and mules as legal food. We would
rather recognize mule in law than in
hash.
In Burgundy and Lorraine wild
plant grows, on the root of which are
tubers like small potatoes, but which
have the taste of chestnuts, on account
of which taste it is called by the people
the ground chestnut. 1t is now proposed
to cultivate this for food in place of the
potato.
SOME interesting facts are given con-
cerning the experience of Mr.. George
Grant, of Victoria Colony, Ellis county,
Kansas, in keeping his flock of seven
thousand sheep last winter. The ewes
were produced by two or three crosses
American merinos on Mexican ewes. On
tkese ewes combing and middle wool
rams are crossed, the preference being
given to Cotswolds and Oxford Downs
Mr.. Grant divided his sheep into flocks
of one thousand each and found crushed
corn and cob the best and cheapest food.
The loss was very small during the winter,
and the expense light.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
The Spelling Mania.

The spelling mania does set people to
thinking common sense. 1t is found that
the best educated people can't stand a
stream of words played from an old
fashioned spelling-book hose for half an
hour. Culture yields to knack, and some
little schoolgirl snatches the prize from
bachelor Of arts And this leads people
to think whether the trouble is not with
the spelling rather than the spoilers.
The English orthography is barbarous.
One-third of the words have blind letters
in them, or some letter that is not re-
vealed in pronunciation. The rules
have more exceptions than examples,
and 1t is sheer waste of time and mind
TO try TO learn how to spell from thirty
to eighty thousand words and do the
work of an average human being. No
body cares for the honor of being good
spelling machine, as It would prevent
his being good for anything else. Mr..
T. G. MofIatt, ofNew Haven, has written
an elaborate paper urging reform of
the English method Of spelling, by
adopting phonetic notifications APP
proximating it to the methods Of other
European languages. 1t is good
suggestion, bat IL is declaration Of war
on all the dictionaries that is hardly Ia
be thought of.--Ne,o York Graphic.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
JONES, OF JONES COUNTY

knew man and he lived in Jones'
Which Jones Is a county Of red hills and stones
And he lived pretty much by getting OF !oans
And his mules were nothing put skin ana ana pOnes s
And he had bout thousand acres Oh Iand'
He swore that he'd leave them old red hills and
For he couldn't make nothing but yellowish cotton,
And little OF that, for his fences were rotten,
And what little cotton he had, that was boughten,
And he couldn't get living from the land.
And the longer he swore the madder he got,
And he rose and walked to the stable lot,
And he halloed to Tom to come there and hitch,
For 70 emgrate somewhere where the land wa was Ieh
And to quit raising cockburs, and thistes ana sich
And wasting their time on barren land.
So him and Tom they hitched up their mules,
Protesting that folks were mighty big fools,
That 'ud stay In Georgia their lifetime out,
just scratching living when all Of them mought
Get places In Texas where cotton would sprout
BY the time you could plant 1t In the land
And he drove to house where man named Brown
Was living not far from the edge OF the town,
And he bantered Brown for to buy his place,
And said that seeing that money was scarce,
And seeing as Sherifis were hard 70 lace,
Two dollars an acre would get the land:
They closed at dollar and fifty cents,
And Jones he bought him wagon and tents
And loaded his corn, and women and truck,
And moved to Texas, which II took
His entire pile, with the best Of luck,
To yet there and get him little land.
But Brown moved out on the old Jones farm,
And he rolled up his breeches and barred his arm.
And he picked all the rocks from olrn the ground,
And he rooted II up and plowed II down,
And sowed his corn and wheat In the land.
Five years glide by, and Brown one day, ste
who'd got so fat that he wouldn't weigh)
Was sitting down, sorter lahly, -
To the pleasantest dinner ever you see,
When one Of the children jumped on his knee
And says, lyons Jones, which you bought his
land"
And there was Jones, standing out at the fence,
And he hadn't no wagons nor mules, nor tents,
For he had left Texas afoOt and come
To Georgia to see II he couldn't get some
Employment and he was looking rs hum
bic asif he had never owned any land.
But Brown he asked him In, and he sot
Him down TO his victuals smoking hot,
And when he had filled himself and the 6oor,
Brown looked at him sharp, and rove and swore
That whether mems land was rich or poor,
That there was more In the man than there was In
the land" %. iG tftVF
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03

In Denver they give prisoners a buggy
ride from the Jail to the court house to
be sentenced. The other day the Sheriff
got into buggy with two convicted fel-
ons to take sucha ride, and one Of the
Door fellows made leap for liberty. The
Sheriff leapt out after the rogue, and the
other, finding himself In the buggy alone,
concluded 70 drive on. But the horse
became frightened and unmanageable,
and took it into his head to run away.
As the convict i'm the buggy was not to
be sentenced to death, he thought 1t un-
wise TO risk his neck behind the runaway
horse; 20 he jumped for life and liberty;
He was hurt so much when he reached
the ground that he wasn't worth n cent
as a fugitive from justice. He crawled
a little way, but could not get out Of
sight. The buggy was smashed, the horse
spoiled, but the Sheriff succeeded in get
ting both men TO the bar Of justice.
The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-06-03
A FATAL OccuPATIoN.-The sta

A FATAL OCcUPATIoN.--The state
ment has been made by Sheffield
(England) physician that the fork grind
er's occupation is probably more fatal to
human fife than any other pursuit in
England. According to this authority,
there are from eight to ten individuals
at work in the room in which this indus
try is carried on, and the dust which is
created, composed Of fine particles of
stone and metal, the grinding being
always performed on dry stone, rises in
clouds, and pervades the atmosphere to
which the operatives are confined. The
dust, which is thus every moment in
hailed, gradually undermines the vigor of
the constitution, and produces perman-
ent disease of the lungs, accompanied by
difficulty of breathing, cough, and a
wasting of the animal frame, often at
the early age of twenty-five. The aver
age longevity of fork grinders is found
not TO exceed thirty years.