davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
Proper Food Of Infants.

The London Daily Telegraph says: Dr.
at Birmingham, has usefully drawn at
tentiOn to one or two facts connected
with infant mortality in this country.
1t appears that although 100000 infants
are born in this country every year,
10000 die ere they are twelve month
old In other words, fifteen per cent.
Of British babyhood perishes during
the first year of existence Now, there
are many ways of accounting for this,
Extremely poor folks with large fami-
lies can not always afford to tend new
conner with care, and then somehow or
other it pines away and dies. The
mother is perhaps an ill-nOurished wO-
man, and probably unable to nurse her
infant properly In such cases, with
the best intentions in the world she
often practically poisons it, for to a
delicate infant improper food Is simply
poison. The ignorance that causes
people to misfeed their children is
enough to account for a great deal of
the shocking infant mortality Of which
DR.. Ogle spoke in such strong terms at
Birmingham. There was once cele-
brated child's doctor in Edinburgh who
used to say he spent no end of time
trying to persuade people that for q
baby's breakfast red herring was an ex-
tremely bad kind Of food. Perhaps he
humorOusly exaggerated the ludicrous
errors of diet which even well-informed
people committed in feeding their off
spring; but there can be no doubt that
the insane desire which inexperienced
mothers exhibit to g give the baby q
bit of whatever happens to be going"
engenders much of that infantile diar-
rhea that annually works such an
amount of HerOdian slaughter. 1t is
hardly possible to make some people
understand that the only right and
proper food for child is its mothers
milk, and if that be not obtainable, then
that diluted and sweetened cows milk
is the best substitute, But it is said,
how are people to get good cows milk
in large towns? They never know how
much water has been put in it by the
milkman, and thus they never can tell
how much it ought to be diluted for use
in the nursery. But granting that this is
the case, ii does not necessarily follow
that the only thing that can be done is
to give the solid food or preparations of
starch which under high-sounding
names are often used as substitutes for
diet. Condensed milk, of the purity of
which we can be always pretty certain,
only requires one precaution to be taken
to make its use safe Yet that pre-
caution is just the one that anxious
mothers will not take, the common er
rors committed with it being the not
sufficiently diluting this preparation, Or
overlooking the infant with it after it
has been diluted 1t is to be regretted
that a few simple hints on the proper
feeding of infants, especially on the
easiest and safest way of giving them
substitutes for their own natural nour
ishment, are not impaired to the poor.
If this were done we might hope to see
reduced the terrible infant mortality
that cuts off every year 10 per cent. of
the babies of the nation.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
About Jacan.

Japan, on its 1000 islands, islets and
rocks, with an aggregate area of about
10000 square miles, has a population
of 33,625,676, which is greater than the
population of the United States was,
according to the census of 1860. The
population in the principal islands Is
much more crowded than these returns
would indicate, as many Of the islands
are only sparsely settled. New York,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and
Ohio represent territory equal in
area to that of Japan, but the aggregate
population Of these states in 1870 was
only II ,465, 879-not much more than
one-third that of Japan today, and yet
these states are among the most thickly
populated in the Union. In Japan there
are 216 inhabitants to the square mile
of territory; in the states mentioned
above,Staken as a whole, there are only
"a inhabitants to the square mile. The
Japanese are an industrious and enter
prising people, and they are making
rapid strides in the introduction to their
country of the better features of Euro
pean and American civilization. They
are preparing now for the first of a Sc
ries of annual industrial exhibitions, Of
which advantage should be taken by
American manufacturers. Japan Is q
distant market, but the United States is
nearer to it than any other great manu-
featuring country.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
A Musical Fraud.

A few months ago there came to this
city musical man who gave his name
as DR.. Jules Jordan. His forte was the
fiddle, and he could fiddle as very few
can. He was master of the old mast
ers, and his execution was indeed won
derful. He claimed to have lived in
Chicago, and formerly been leader of
the Mozart Club, Boston. He was also
a linguist, and master of five different
languages, though German by birth.
He was a genteel, polished gentleman,
and his musical talent at once gave
him entrance to the first place in social
circles, where he was the bright, par
tlcular star. Although man past the
meridian of life, he was especially
agreeable to young ladies. To absorb
his time unoccupied with private lessons
and concert playing in the city he pro-
posed music classes in surrounding
cities and towns. Atlantic secured him,
and organized class. On the day be-
fore he was to go there he notified them
he must have money. They sent him
thirty dollars and he took the cars in
another direction, and HIS not been
heard OF since. 1t is rumored since he
left that his hasty exit saved him from
a cowhiding or perhaps shooting, for
promiscuous mixing of heart-strings
with his fiddle-strings among his feml-
nine admirers He may turn up in st.
Louis. If so, bounce him. He Is
about thirty years old, weighs about
200 pounds, wears short whiskers, NOUS
tache, and spectacles.-De Moines Io'cal
Special
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
4 "ZULU" ABDUCTION.
Supposed Abduction of Female Ira
peZe Performer at st. Louis.
St. Louis Special

A considerable sensation has been
created here by the mysterious disap-
pearance of Cora Austin, a trapezists
well known throughout the various
cities of the country, and, who, at the
time of her disappearance, was playing
an engagement at the Globe theatre in
St. Louis. Friday afternoon, about 4
o'clock, she was with her husband at
the Mcdowell Hotel, where they board
ed, and at that hour left for the purpose
of going to the Globe theatre She has
not been seen since, and there are cir
cumstances connected with the case
which indicate foul play. 1t appears
that, on the night of the day she disap-
! peared, a yehiele containing two men
and woman, the latter screaming for
help, was driven furiously along Grand
avenue in the western limits of the city,
and, despite the efforts of the police to
overtake it, the occupants succeeded,
by reason of tho intense darkness that
prevailed, in making their escape.
There is a plausible theory that this We
hicle contained Cora Austin, and that
she was being abducted for foul pur-
poses. The husband is nearly frantic
over his wife's disappearance, and be-
lieves she has been taken away and
murdered. Chiefof-Police McDonough
has taken the matter in hand, and has
his detectives busy in endeavoring to
solve the mystery. The missing wo-
man Is young and of comely person, and
said to be exceptionally skillful in her
profession.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
A Sparrow's Reprehensible Conduct.

The Hartford Times tells the following
story of an English sparrow on the
authority Of friend who had it direct
from the gentleman who witnessed the
occurrence: This gentleman, who re-
sides in New York, had erected last
spring, in his back yard, large box for
sparrOws' nests. 1t was divided into
three rows, each containing four COM
partments. These were all speedily
taken possession of by dozen pair of
sparrows, and the business of making
nests proceeded amid the customary
chippering din of these fussy and pug
nacious feathered colonists. Sitting idly
at the window one Sunday, watching the
birds, the gentleman saw one cOck-spar-
row come flying to his place with fine,
soft white feather in his bill. The box
was SO placed that he could see into the
compartments, and he saw this bird fix
the feather into an incomplete nest and
then fly away No sooner was he out
of sight than a female sparrow from the
adjoining compartment, who had evil
IDENTIFY seen that proceeding, hoped into
her neighbOr's house and pulled out and
carried off the coveted feather. Becom-
ing interested, the observer watched the
performance, expecting to see the little
thief carry her stolen prize to her own
nest; but no; she knew a trick worth
two of that, and here is where she dis
played an undeniable reasoning process,
and acted on clear perception of cause
and effect, making prudent use Of her
knowledge of the character and dispO-
sition of her plundered neighbor. She
| flew off with the feather to a neighboring
tree, where she securely fastened it in
an incOnspicuous place upon and be-
tween two twigs, and there left it. Pretty
soon the bird she had defrauded came
back with straw to add to his nest.
! Discovering his loss he came out with
an angry chirruping that BODIED no good
to the despoiler of his hearth and home,
if he could only find the rogue. His
| first demonstration was to visit his next
door neighbor without any search-war-
rant. In that abode of peace and inno-
! cence he found no trace of the stolen
| feather; and as for the actually guilty
party, she was hopping innocently about,
and loudly demanding-as far as bird
tones could be understood by the man
at the wlndOw-what was meant by this
ungentlemanly intrusion. The cock
/ sparrow was evidently puzzled. Unable,
after a minute search, to find the lost
feather, he apparently gave it up, and
flew away in search of another. The
thief demurely waited till he had got
well off, and then flew to the tree, secur-
ed the stolen feather and took it in tri-
umRh to her own nest"
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
The Weasel.

The Newburg Journal tells the fol-
lowing story of adventure, the little
heroine being young miss of some
twelve years, daughter of farmer resid-
ing near the village of Mount Hope:
While she was engaged feeding hen
and chickens, at an early hour in the
morning, weasel made its appearance
among the brood and seized one of the
chicks. The plucky little girl then
grasped the chicken and vainly endeav-
ored to release it from the fatal laws of
its ravenous enemy. Bereft, in its
eagerness for blood, of fear, the weasel
held on, resisting all the efforts made to
shake him off. Determined not to be
beaten in the contest, the young miss
then seized the weasel by the nape OF
the neck and ran to the house, Il distance
of some two hundred feet, making her
appearance in the dining-room where
the family were seated at breakfast,
with it firmly clutched in her grasp, her
hands bleeding from repeated applica-
tions of its teeth and claws. Here the
family dog was called in, but the weasel
fastened his jaws into the upper lip of
his dogship, who, with howls of pain,
wildly ran about the room. The distress
of the dog, a great household pet, again
put the little girl upon her nettle, and
Selling the weasel she choked him off
the dog, but only to cause him to fasten
his teeth in her thumb, which he bit
through and through. Though the pain
must necessarily be great, the child ut
tered no cry of distress, but patiently
awaited until the grip of the weasel had
been released by his being choked. The
animal was then killed"
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
Music i'm Stones.
Virginia New Enterprise

A gentleman Of this city who has been
taking a look among the old abandoned
mines of Truckee district made a criti-
cal examination of the musical noun
tain of which Il good deal was heard
some years ago when the mines were
first discovered. Some of the early
miners pitched their tents at the foot
of the mountain, and were not a little
surprised and puzzled at hearing, during
the quiet hours of night, tinkling sounds
that seemed to pervade the whole at
mosphere coming from they could not
tell whittier The sounds were not I'M
like those of ii small music-box At
times they supposed that the musical
sounds were caused by the wind playing
among the twigs on the side of the
mountain, but they found that this So
luton of the mystery would not an
swer, as the same bushes were found
everywhere, while the musical sounds
were heard nowhere else than on the
side Of the mountain at the foot of
which they were camped. They spent
much time in scouting about and
listening of nights and quiet hours
during the day, and at last tracked the
strange sounds to a great bed of small
pieces Of rock that covered the slope Of
the mountain These bits of rock were
found to be quite sonOrous, and the
miners concluded that the sounds they
emitted were caused by the action of
the wind among them. The gentleman
who recently visited the mountain says
he went to it expecting to find it a good
deal Of humbug, but he found it
much more of curiosity than he had
anticipated, the mingled tinklings much
resembling the sounds of an Eolian
harp, and frequently attaining a start
ling degree Of loudness and distinctness.
The sounds seem to rise and fall, APP
proach and recede, as though caused or
governed by the wind. On close ex-
animation it was found that the small
flakes of rock covering the face Of the
mountain contained large per cent. of
iron. This iron is supposed to be mag
netic, and there appears to constant
motion among the chips Of it, which
appear to cover the ground to the
depth of several feet in many places.
The whole drift of broken rock seems
to be moving down the slope of the
mountain with the slow creeping mo-
ton of a glacier, and the slipping over
each other of the fragments composing
the mass is thought to cause the ticking
and tinkling sounds, which are so nu-
merous as to mingle and rise into a
single strong musical murmur.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
Putting ON StyIe.

Tim, the newsboy, was seen coming
out of store the other day with a box
of paper collars in his hand. and as two
or three of his associates were very in
quisitive as to what he meant to do with
them, he answered with considerable
pomposity, 4 shall appear in one of
them this very afternoon, and regularly
thereafter till death" Hol no! ho!"
they sneered; but haint you just fling
ing on the style, though. You've allus
looked as mean and ragged as any of
us, and now all to once you begin to
prance around and wear collars" Yes,
and all to once my sister is going to get
married, and all to once the old lady
has bought a sewing machine and big
ACCORDION on trust, and all to once dad
has been on three coroners's juries and
is fixing things to run for constable, and
all to once Pm going to keep up my
end of the family, if it takes my last
dollar, and that's what ails mep'-De-
treit Free Press.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
HuInOr.

Mrs. Eve inaugurated fall fashi,. >.
Woman's tongue is her sword. which
she never lets rest.
There are any number of chaps going
about town talking loudly of support.
ing this or that candidate who have
never yet been able to support them
selves.
To render the labor movement in
tensely popular, platform is wanted
that shall make every night Saturday
night and every day Sunday, so that
we may be paid off every night and
loaf the next day.-EaSOn Free Press
He ran somewhat hastily into cigar
store and said pompously. "Give me
one of your best Matilda cigars" 81
guess you mean Marguerite" said the
clerk Oh, yes" he said, q was
thinking of another girl"
! Mr.. Hayes congratulates the Indians
on their adopting white mems clothes
/ Now let them get died mustache and
stand on some hotel steps and stare at
the ladies, and they will be nearly per
/ feet
Miss Grundy writes to the Graphic
that the wit of Secretary Evarts seems
/ to have descended to his children. The
| following letter. written by one of the
girls, speaks volumes for the wit of the
family:
DEAR PAPA: Thank you kindly for
! the donkey you sent me, but he's so
lonely. Won't YOU soon he home.
papa p
Father said & boy who got kicked
in the face by mule, will | ever be
as goOd-lOoking as / was?" No, my
son, answered the parent, :" / don't
think you'll be as handsome as you
were, but you'll know 4 great deal
more"
/ The man who thought to drive this
office to the wall by stealing the shears
is respectfully informed that-ah,
um-m; by gracious, what is he respect
/ fully informed, anyhow? Without
these shears We feel sort of dazed like.
oil City Derrick.
Many men regard newspaper as
| they do bricl:-bat They like to have
one handy when they are mad, but PAY
no attention to it any other time
! Rome Sentinel.
| The fashion journals say: Feathers
are still the style for hats and bonnets. :"
Beds, too. We slept on a hotel bed the
other night that must have had as much
as 80 or 40 feathers scattering around
on carload of slate but this is CARRYING
feathers decoration to the extreme of
fashion.-BtTd'lgton Haankeye.
ooh, my wife, my love, my sweety,
may heavens angels whistler golden
words as they kiss your peachy cheeksr'
wrote q lover to his sweetheart only six
months ago; and now he wishes the
angels would whisper to him how his
breach of promise suit is likely to end,
as his lawyer frankly says he can't tell.
Naturalists have named the great
Mississippi monster the Pterodactyiuse-
siosauus Observation-Disclosures
yOides Mississippjanus. This leaves little
doubt that it is really a Russian general
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
CONVERSATION.
Is the Art Of Conversation Declining in
America.
Appletons Magazine.

Appleton's Magazine
A complaint was lately made by an
American writer that the art of CONVEX
satlon-an art peculiarly dear to a gre
garlous and social races in state of
decline. The complainer seemed to
think that our life is too hurried and
money-seeking for the proper culture of
an art which Is leisurely and deliberate,
and took pains to compare the CONVEX
satlon heard in our drawing-rooms I'M
favorahly with that the flavor of which
we catch from books of English remi-
nlscence. We suspect that he is too
respondent. 1t is probably true that TO
some degree our institutions and habits
interfere with the free growth of that
polished conversation which is made up
OF certain amount of polished learn
ing, of trained yet ready wit, and of
omnipresent tact We have very few
professional converse who get them
selves up to talk, like Macauley, sgd
ney Smith, and " Conversation Sharpe"
SympOsia, such as those of Holland
House: and even Of the Mitre in the
Temple, are somewhat rare with us.
The long existence of rich aristocracy
which has always rather prided itself on
literary taste. has no doubt given to
English upper society the advantage
and fame IN brilliant conversation. Yet
Americans certainly have the talent of
conversation in no common degree,
though-and this is perhaps rather a
merit than a detrimental does not fol-
low any prototype. We know that there
are more good stump speakers, more
good parliamentary orators, and lyceum
lecturers, and eloquent preachers in
this country than in England. We are
credited with Ethe gift of CAB" in a SUI
peTlor degree. The conversation of our
best drawing-rooms, therefore, may be
less pleasantly pedantic, less deliberately
epigrammatic and witty; but what it
lacks in these qualities it gains, it seems
to us, in vigOr, and force, and native
humor. We meet with many absorb
ingly interesting takers who are indie
pendent of the poets, and have no
carefully indited list of Jokes in their
waistcoat-pocket, to be peeped at and
shot off on occasion. We talk more of
practical things and individual expe-
riences; and our talk is better suited to
our audiences. 1t may be added that
conversation in good American circles
is more delicate and more free from the
stings of witty satire than in England in
the reign of Hook, Smith and Croker
Everything is not, as it ought not to be,
sacrificed to a sparkling epigram. The
great English takers rarely restrained
themselves because ladies were present;
their refining influence has an obvious
effect upon polite conversation among
us There are circles, too, in which all
the ornaments Of the English art APP
pear; only, as in England, they are in
ner circles, within which but few
choice spirits are admitted. The chatty
diner-out," while he is not so ubiqui
tous and conspicuous here as he was in
England thirty years ago, who lived in
lodgings and dependedzupon the skill Of
his tongue for his dinners, is by nc
means an unknown animal in our great
cities.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18

TIMES are kind of shaking off out
here just at present, and | think the
chances are that it will be duller before
long. The fact is, the country has been
overrated, all those fellows that came
rushing here in the spring, expecting to
find another California lying around
loose, have got mighty badly fooled.
Why, all the gold taken out since the
first discovery wouldn't equal one old
creek, such as we used to pan around
in over in the Golden State, along in
'5O.-Letter from q Californian in the Buck
Hills.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
INFELTCTTY.

Where is the promise of the years,
Once written on my brow!
Ere errors, agonies and fears,
Brought with them all that speaks in te3rs
Ere had sunk beneath my peers;
Where sleeps that promise now:
Naught fingers to redeem those hours,
Still, still TO memory sweet!
The flowers that bloomed in sunny bowers
A n withered all; and evil towers
SGpIeme ABOVE noI sister powers
OF sorrow and deceit.
| look along the columned years,
And see lffe's riven fame
Just where it fell. amid the jeers
OF scornful lips, whose mocking sneers
Forever hiss within my ears,
To break the sleep of pain.
can but own my life is vain
A desert void of peace;
| missed the goal / saught TO gain.
| missed the measure OF the strain
That lHlls fame's fever in the brain,
And bids earth's tumult cease.
Myself! Alas, for theme go poor
A theme but rich IN fear:
| stand wreck on errors shore,
A spectre not within the door,
A houselees shadow evermore.
An exile lingering here.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18

SECOND NATURE IN TEXAs-He was a
wild Texan, just from the frontier, and
had boarded the train at Fort Worth for
Dallas. 1t was his first ride on the
" kers,' and as the conductor reached
in his hip pocket for his punch, the sharp
eye of Texan caught a glimpse Of its
polished handle, and quick as thought
he leveled a navy six on that conductor,
saying, Put'er up, or I'll blow daylight
through you. No man can get the drop
on me "-DQAas Herald
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18

devotion, | really imagine you placed
that lady upon a higher PEDESTAL of
favor than ever, in your amiable en-
deavor to take her down,
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18

The Russian eagle had two heads
when this war began. He now has
three The Turks put the other head
on him
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18

New YORK has raised the 100000
necessary to obtain the Egyptian obelisk.