davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
CGOiey's Hen.

Cooley has had some trouble with
one of his hens. She wanted to set,
and he didn't want her to. He put her
under barrel, ducked her at the pump,
threw her into the air, and reasoned
with her, but she would persist in 60
ing back to her nest. Finally he put a
hot porcelain egg under her; but she
skipped about until it cooled, and then
she returned and sat on the egg with
the air of having resolutely determined
to hatch set of crockery and couple
of fower-pots out of the porcelain delu-
sion. Then Cooley resolved to blow
her off. He placed half a pound of
gunpowder under the nest, and laid a
slow match out into the yard. AS soon
as he saw the hen safely seated, he
went into the kitchen to get a light
Meanwhile Mrs. Cooley entered the
hen-house to hunt for eggs and to as
certain if that idiOtic chicken was set
ting yet. Then Cooley came out and
fired the train. In couple of minutes
there was fearful explosion. A second
later, Mrs. Cooley emerged precipitate-
~ from the door, with her mouth full
of feathers, her hair full of blazing
straw and warm blood, and an assert
ment of drum-sticks, gizzards and claws
distributed around her dress. Then
she made dash at Cooley. What the
result was do not know; but I met
him On the following Tuesday with
court-plaster on his nose, and look of
subsection in his eyes, and he informed
NE confdentially that the next hen of
his that wanted to set might set in
peace throughout the ages of time and
all through the unending cycles of eter-
nifty before he would bother himself
about her.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
Young Redskins at School.

The idiosyncrasies of the child of ma
ture designated more briefly as Lo,
still crop out vigorously at times, not
withstanding the efforts of missionaries
and United States troops and peace
commissioners to civilize him, and the
youthful mind of the race seems cast in
the same mold as the matured one. In
Dakota some of the Indian children at
tend school, and it is probably not 60
ing too far to say that one school
ma'am in the territory wishes from the
bottom of her heart that they didn't.
She has recently undergone an expert
ence in teaching young Indians which
should suffice her to the end of her days.
Of course, in the con luct of schools it
would not do to make any distinction
on account of race, and the preceptress
in question has been compelled to re-
strain the copper colored portion among
her pupils to degree far more irksome
to them than to the white children.
For time the Indian pupils submitted
tolerably well to the discipline of the
school-room; but recently an outbreak
came all at once. Looking upon the
school ma am as one maliciously depriv-
ing them of their liberty, the Indian
pupils made, one afternoon, a dash at
the teacher, carrying her out of doors
to the creek, and there actually ducked
her in the water with her head down
ward Imagine such an attitude for a
puritanical young lady from the en-
lightened east! Fortunately the young
braves did not quite drown the young
lady in getting satisfaction for their il.
iuries, and the school goes on as before,
with the sole difference in its conduct
that the teacher doesn't scold so much,
being deferred by painful hoarseness.
Young Indians are bad.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
The Rocky Mountain Sheep.

Among the many different species of
game in country possessing such a
variety, there are none so difficult to
capture as the Rocky mountain sheep,
or big horns, as they are sometimes
called. Living remote from civiliza-
ton and the hunts of man-ranging
along the roof of the continent, on al
most inaccessible peaks high above
timber-line, and endowed by nature
with keen scent and hearing, they are
considered by hunters as being the
most difficult to approach of any ami
NAL of the deer kind.
The horns of the male are sometimes
of enormous SIZE, I have seen them
eight inches in diameter at the largest
part, and weighing sixteen pounds.
Those of the female are small and sharp,
resembling the horns of the goat in
fact, but for the horns and fine silky
wool at the roots of the hair, they
might readily be mistaken for deer.
They feed upon the short nutritious
grass which grows upon the treeless
ridges and ravines along the snowy
range, and when fat weigh from one to
two hundred pounds. The flesh is very
much like that of the deer, but juicie1
and of superior flavor.
They are almost constantly on the
move, ranging from one mountain tc
another, feeding as they go, and finding
some rocky cliff sheltered from the
range of winds, where they lie at night.
Sometimes several hundred may be
seen in one drove, but ererally from
two or three to q dozen. When pur'
sued they make break for th5 highest
point of rocks in sight, where they
stand looking curiously at the hunter
as he slowly picks his way upward to
get within shooting distance.
When that has been gained, however,
the sheep have disappeared; nor does
the tired sportsman get another glimpse
of his game until he has reached the
cliff he has just left, where they may be
seen standing on some point higher up
on the mountain, and still beyond rife
shot. Should the hunter have perse-
veratce and plenty of muscle, he will
probably follow them to the highest
pinnacle of the range to find at last that
his climbing has been in vain, and that
the game he has been following so
faithfully and hopefully have mysteri-
ously vanished from his sight.
The only successful method of hunt
ing the mountain sheep is to get above
them, unseen, and, if possible get a
shot before being discovered. In this
way the herd becomes confused, not
knowing which way to run, and some
tives four or five may be killed before
they recover themselves. Once started,
however, pursuit is useless. Throwing
back their heads they throw themselves
into space as if shot from cannon, and
in few minutes are miles away, taking
leaps of twenty or thirty feet, and
hardly ever making mishap, however
rapid and headlong their flight.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
Eclipse Of the Sun.

The eclipse of the sun on the 18th of
April next is now eliciting nearly as
much interest among astronomers as
the Late transit of Venus. 1t will be
total, and according to the British as
tronomer, Hind, will afford the best
opportunity for the observation of to-
tality likely to be offered till toward the
close of the century. Although the
course of the central line in the eclipse
is principally sea track, fine oPpor-
tunities for observing it will be had
during it's passage from the Nicobar
Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, to Siam.
The central eclipse, it is computed,
passing from the Nicobar crosses Ben
timex Island, where the maximum
period of totality will be four minutes
and seventeen seconds. At several
other adjacent insular stations the phe-
nomenon will be observable for about
the same space of time. The king of
Siam has heartily invited British and
other astronomers to make the observa-
tons within his dominions, and volun
teered to extend them every facility
and hospitality.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
The IdyI of the Streets,

She was stout, ford woman, re-
markably stout and t1orid, but she was
richly dressed, and as she came down
Olive street the manner in which she
curled her lip and turned up her nose
at women whom she passed more plain
ly appareled was frequent, and painful
and free, as the poet expresses it. She
was leading poodle by a ribDon-why
is it that fat, ford women always wear
poodle ?-and the dog was a marvel
in its kind. It was very small and very
vicious, swapping at the feet of pedes-
trains, and Its diminUtive and homely
body, covered with frowsy wool, was
almost concealed by an elaborate blank
ct, which left only head and legs and
tail exposed. And so they came sailing
down Olive street, fat, aristocratic
woman and small, aristocratic dog, and
they were perfectly satisfied with them
selves, though no one else might be.
But Temporal n1attG1atIT ct nos n1aGtG17aatr
IN Ills, and sometimes the change oc.
ours with depressing suddenness. Some
careless shop-keeper had thrown pail
of water upon the sidewalk the night
before, and the bitter cold had trans
formed the water into surface as hard
as adamant, smooth as the highway to
perdition. She came along with the
stately tread adapted to her style, but
she did not see the sidewalk in its icy
guile. Her double chin was elevated
far too high, and her eyes too full OF
a placid and contemplative inner con-
seriousness to admit of noting things
terrestrial. Like Spanish galleon of
the olden time she came still sailing on
Il, - LII h. Al
shall one paint the transformation scene?
Two pudgy feet paved frantically the
glistening surface, then shot swiftly
forward as the body they supported
started back. There was a fierce rush
downward of waving arms and gTOS
grain and sealskin and adipose tissue,
and the earth absolutely shook with the
conclusion. Slowly and painfully the
stately female rose and glanced about
her, but the dog-oh, where was he
There he lay, but what a spectacle
Come to the bridal chamber, death !;
come in consumption's CHASTITY form,
the earthquakes shock, the oceans
storm, ETC., etc., but do not come to a
small dog in the shape of 225 pounds of
solid female flesh if you want to hear
him give a single yelpl Crushed be-
meath mass of quivering humanity !!
Truly, in the midst of life we are in
death There he lay, the aristocratic
poodle, and though he covered ground
enough for good-sized fighting dog
you might have passed him through a
crack in a door. So late a wonder
among pets, he was now better fitted
for book-mark in family Bible. And
the stately woman sobbed asthmatical-
ly and hired a boy to carry home the
corpse, and the tragedy was ended
st. Louis Republican.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
A Distingue Bonnet.

Here" says a Paris fashion cor
respondent, sis bonnet which [ saw at
the Bots day or SO ago. It was of
white felt, as all fashionable bonnets
now are. The crown was high and
pointed, q la IyroL, and the brim
straight, wide, and fiat. In fact, in
shape, it was like those hideous hats
worn by all En2lis lady tourists last
autumn. The felt was unedged. A
long white plume fell on one side Of
the crown over the brim, and the inte-
rior was filed i'll by wreath of flow
ers. The whole was worn at the back
of the head. All elderly ladies have
their bonnets covered with mantilla of
thick black lace, or black crepe Gsse,
edged with bugle lace. This mantilla
is pointed in the center, and the point
droops over the forehead. 1t is
rounded at the back and falls over the
neck. The two sides are fastened to-
gether under the chin. They are
pinned back from the face by jet pins.
One large rose at the side is sufficient
with this bonnet. There is not any
thing more becoming for the elderly
lady (who respects herselD than this
mantilla bonnet; and is worn by all
the aristocracy of Paris. You would
not, however, see it in any shop-win-
dow, nor perhaps ever will. 1t is not a
bonnet to become common. 1t belongs
to those who do not like to be copied. "
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
The Old Garret,

It is a realm of darkness and thick
dust, and shroud-hke cobwebs and dead
things they wrap in their gray folds.
For garnet is like a sea-shore, where
wrecks are thrown up and slowly go to
pieces. There is the cradle which the
old man you just remember was rocked
in; that ugly slanting continuance used
to be put under his pillow in the days
when his breath came hard there is
his old chair, both arms gone, symbol
of the desolate time when he had moth
ing earthly left to lean on; there is the
large wooden reel, which the blear- eyed
old deacon sent the minister's lady,
who thanked him graciously, and twirled
it smilingly, and in fitting season bowed
it out decently to the limbo of trouble
some conveniences. And there are old
leather portmanteaus, like stranded por-
poises, their mouths gaping in gaunt
hunger for food with which they used
to be gorged into bungling repletion !;
and old brass andirons, waiting until
time shall revenge them on their psltry
substitutes, and they shall have their
own again, and bring with them the
fore-stick and backlog of ancient days,
and the empty churn, with it's idle
dasher, which the Nancys and Phobes,
who have left their comfortable places
to the Bridgets and Norahs, used to
handle to good purpose ; and the brown,
shaky old spinning wheel, which was
running, it may be, in the days when
they were hanging the Salem Witches
u. FL. Holmes.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
Our RecreatiOns.

That people will have diversions for
the leisure hour is a truth which leg
islators are sometimes too apt to ignore,
and to which many well-intentioned
persons willfully shut their eyes. A
coal-miner, for example, who spends
his holidays, as some do, in perfecsing
his knowledge of some musical instru,
ment, or in learning to take a credita-
BILE in the glee club to which he belongs,
is wortbier member of society than
if he insisted on improving the shining
hour by patronizing dog-fghts and
badger-batting, beer and pugilism, The
worst of it is that the needful taste for
and instruction in a mild accomplish
ment are not always present, while the
rougher and coarser modes of en-.
joyment force themselves but toe
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
Birch on Congressman.

cad" said Mr.. Birch, the San Fran,
cisco minstrel, CAD, where's your broth
er Ebenezer? 'aint seen him around
for q year or two"
"Ebenezer?" said Mr.. Ryman reflect.
lively. "Ebenezer has gone away a few
days"
"Anything happened to him ?"
Well, yes. To tell you the truth,
Billy, Ebeuezer fell into bad habits.
He lost that fine PERCEPTION which en-
ables a man to distinguish between his
own property and that of his fellows,
so that he forgot himself at times and
became absorptive to that degree that
he scooped in, as it were, any little
portable article he came across, no mat
ter to whom it belonged"
"Your narrative grieves me-" said
Mr.. Birch. F'It lacerates me deeply to
know that Ebenezer should have so lost
his memory, and I think it would have
made trouble"
cit did," said Ad. "The people
called in the police. Ebenezer pro-
tested at the trial that his prosecutors
were trying to blackmail him, but the
judge said that Ebenezer had been steal
ing, and he sent him to state prison for
five years. By the way. Mr.. Birch, l
have not seen your brother Eliphalet
for year or two. do sincerely trust
thatnothing has happened to Eliphalet. J"
"Liph ?" said Mr.. Birch. "Liph's
all right. He went to congress a couple
O years ago and he's a stealing yet"
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
A New Shell.

The English Army and Navy Gazette
has enumerated on several occasions
the various results of experiments IN
dertaken by the committee on explo-
sives, with a view OF ascertainipg the
practical effect of Prof. Abel's proposed
plan for the bursting of the common
shell filled with water, by means of q
detonator, consisting of dry, compressed
gun cotton, enveloping a small cap of
illuminate of mercury. Some months
ago the practicability of exploding Six
teen-pounder common shells in this
manner was satisfactorily established,
and the result of such an arrangement
was the bursting of shell into three
hundred fragments, whereas only about
thirty pieces were produced by the ex-
plosiOn of an ordinary bursting charge
of gunpowder. The effect of such an
explosion among troops in the field
could not be otherwise than disastrous
in the extreme. Lately, however, says
the Gazette, experiments have been
made with nine-inch common shells,
which far exceed in effect that of any
conducted with the filed service com.
mon shell. On this occasion the burst.
ing element employed was wet gun.
cotton in lieu of water. It will be re
membered that the danger hitherto
experienced in the employment of this
explosive has been obviated by wettine
it, discovery having been made to the
effect that it detonated equally well wet
or dry. Nine-inch shells were placed
upright upon the sands at Shoebury.
ness, boarding being erected around
them at a convenient distance, to con.
fine the fragments. The projectiles
being then filed with some eight OF
nine pounds of wet compressed gun
cotton, and "detonator," as described
above, having been fitted into the fuse
hole socket, they were fred by an ordi-
nary electric fuse. The result was ex.
traordinary, the shells bursting literally
into thousands of pieces.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
Don't Do 1t.

Don't firt with a fool. It's bad
enough to fool with a fiirt.
Don't underbill your age. Your de
lection is only a question of slime.
Don't rush. At the end of the race
you will suffice to convince the world Of
your folly.
Don't magnify your neigobor's vices.
It's worse than extolling your own
virtues.
Don't boast of your brain work.
Some inquisitive person might ask for a
specimen brick.
Don't advocate the doctrine of uni
versal salvation. "Hell on the Wabash
is a matter of history.
Don't turn up your nose at barren
land. A farmer without "rocks never
makes stir in the world.
Don't dream that the world can't wag
along without you. A grain of sand is
not missed from the desert. .
Don't attempt to do too much. Al
twenty-five men imagine they will re-
form the world. At forty they are con.
tent to reform themselves.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26

nection between his visit to me and the
little girls disappearance. AS il is,
though all of us knew of your lost child
and the search, and noted the striking
resemblance between our pet and the
descriptions of the child, we were so
sure of the actual parentage of Bertha
Lardo, which was the name she went
by, that I, Nor none of US for mo-
ment suspected her real identy. If you
know person to be A, you know by
the same evidence that she Is not b.
That was an illustration of the con-
sunmate art of this social bandit"
HBut, why did he keep the docu-
ments at all % asked Sir Moncrieff.
81 asked his brother that question, -
said Father Francini. "He shrugged
his shoulders. who knows p he an
swered 'Maffei was good eater. That
was probably a provision in case the
husband died. How then p I asked.
sOh,' he said, the wife knowing her
| own innocence, the husband dead, the
charge of adultry would hurt nobody.
But how could he hurt the wife, then?'
why, by poisoning the child and then
sending the evidence to the mother to
| show the child was living, and all that
up to a certain date. Why, he kept
every one of her school girl letters, to
"dear uncle," from the first one writ
ten. to the one received month ago. .
No wonder you shudder, madam; he
was terrible man
"And you have brought me those
| letters ?"
eyes"
"And does my child know of me?'
! oShe does"
"When will the ship arrive, Father
Francini ?'
"My dear lady, your daughter il
waiting for you now at Morley's Hotel
with her nurse and two sisters from thu
convent,
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
How is Your Pronunciation !

The following extract is suggested
for use by teachers and pupils in
schools as an exercise test of pronuncia-
ton. It must be read off Immediately
without pause to consider which is the
proper way to pronounce the words
l. A courier from st. Louis, an Ital
ian with italics, began an address or
recitative as to the mischievous ma
rional finances.
2. His dolorous progress was demon
strated by a demonstration, and the
preface to his sacerdotal profile gave
his opponents an irreparable and Ia
mentable wound.
8. He was deaf and isolated, and the
envelope on the furniture at the depot
was covert for leisure and the reti-
cence from the first grasp of the dane
ing legislature of France.
4. The dilation of the chasm, or
trough, made the servile satyr and viz
lie optimist yehemently panegyrise the
lenient God.
5. He was an aspirant after the vaga-
ries of the exorcists and an memorable
coadjutor of the irrefragible, yet ex-
quisite, Farrago, on the subsistence of
the despicable finale and the recogni-
tion of the recognizance.
The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-26
Minks-HOW They May Be DOmesti-
Gated.

Mr.. Resseque, who has minkery at
Verona, N. Y, states that minks may
be tanned without difficulty, if taken in
hand when their eyes are beginning to
open. They should then not be allowed
the society of their mother or the rest
of the litter. By constant petting and
handling they become Like domes.
tic kittens and exhibit all the playful
antics of the feline tribe. They can
then be handled without fear of being
bitten by them, but they are repre-
scented as being very mischievous; their
exceeding sharp scent will enable them
to find food which was not intended for
them to eat. Their fondness for water
and bathing will prompt them to go
into an open tea-kettle or any open YES
sci filed with water, and while wet they
will roll and dry themselves in a
clothes-basket of freshly-ironed clothes
or on a lady's dress. In this way they
are troublesome pests.
He states also that tame minks make
excellent ratters and hunt with vigor
and speedily exterminate these trouble
some pests. The rats will Immediately
fee from them when first they scent
them, and they are so bewildered in
flight that they never give battle, but
yield at once, and so swift does the
mink cut the main arteries OF the rats
neck an observer would scarcely think
the deed was done. When tame and
wild minks are confined together the
tame ones always prove victorious, be-
ing much stronger than the wild ones.
Too much confinement will make their
fur look dead and rusty. They require
a dark place to roam and exercise. If
fish is given them during September
and October their fur is much i'm
proved; soft water for bathing purposes
also improves it much. MIR. Resseque
tells an amusing story of a stray cat
that invaded his minkery, no doubt in
quest Of game, but the minks proved
too much. At last the cat gained the
outside of the inclosute, the yard was
strewn with locks of cat-hair, and for
hundred feet or more in the track OF
her exit were found tufts of cat-hair
but Notwithstanding this strSnge per
son can go 10 the minkery with impunny
and observe these shy creatures play
ing like kittens arUlttd him. ~. y.
ITo,.<Y Ia