davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
Trajan's Wall.

The events now transpiring ill the neighborhood of the Danube bring into curious prominence the name of the Emperor Trajan, the buttresses of whose bridge, we believe, still stand on opposite banks of the Danube, and whose famous wall seems to be the line along which the tide of war is rapidly rolling. The bridge thrown over the Danube by this great monarch was in some respects at least, the most remark able of all the structures that successive belligerents have erected for the pass age os their troops. It was not mere floating bridge, but permanent struc- ture, carried on piers 150 feet high and 60 feet wide, and it comprised twenty arches, extending altogether over a span of 4,770 Roman feet. This giant structure, then which ancient history records nothing of the kind equal to it, seems to have been intended as fortress as well as bridge. Standing eighty feet above the water, it is supposed to have afforded the command of the Dan ube navigation, garrison posted on it being, of course, able to damage or de- stroy vessels passing under, while they would be above the reach of retaliation. It was destroyed by Hadrian, and it's precise locality has been the subject of some dispute. Ruins, which evidently might have formed the buttresses of a bridge, occurring on the line of all old Roman road, however, seems to leave little room for doubt. Trajan's Wall is another relic of this terribly energetic old Roman. It is, strictly speaking, a rampant of earth about thirty-five or forty miles long, and extends from Rassova, just at the bend in the Danube, to the shores of the Black Sea. Though only an earthwork, it is formidable line of defense. It is eight or ten feet high, with fosse in front of it, while the western portion is still further fortified by deep lakes and the swamp valley of Karasu. In addition to all this, another rampant of similar char acter lies just in the rear of it. This is known as the South Wall, the space between the two ramparts being from LOGO to 2,000 feet.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
A Wallachian Bath.

About Galatz there is standing water that only dries up late in the summer, and the hot air smells like the fat ster- let they give you for dinner,-a fish which, in the Danube, tastes like mud- dy eel, only muddier and eelier. One more example of this curious compound civilization. Asking for some means of washing of the dust and slime which had risen from the road and the water through long, hot journey, I was told that the only bath could have was hot one, and, accepting joyfully, l was shown to one of a range of rooms with plunge baths in the corner. A sturdy Wallachian damsel of 25 or so was the attendant. She spoke only a few words of German, just enough to ask whether I would have soap and alles. Seeing that there was nothing to dry oneself with, consented to have alles, though with some misgiving as to the ultimate result. She told me to get into the bath and ring when was ready for somebody to come to me. I rang accordingly, when she herself ap- peared with soap and towels, bare feet, and bare, mighty arms. With some difficulty succeeded in eliciting the fact that the large piece of flannel she held in her hand was intended to be used in cleaning me thoroughly, and used by herself. The offer was made in perfect simplicity; there was not a touch of coquetry about her, and her baby outside was calling to her. In pursuit of her legitimate business, with the brawny arms which gained food for her child, perhaps for a lazy bus band, she proposed to wash me thor oughly as she would have washed a child or a groom would clean horse. To prevent oneself from laughing a little was impossible as she stood there with her broad honest face and gigantic limbs, but the laughter was at myself, not at her. There we were. the exact counterpart of drawing I remember having seen in Strutt's Antiquities, only in the sketch of old English man. ners it is lady who sits in the bath, and an armed knight who stands or sits and talks to her quietly. There is no reason to find fault with these people they are just ss good as we are, only in different stage of civilization.-C Cor respondence London Times.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
Filtration.

"In certain sense,' says a modern writer. Gall attractive females are more or less hirts." It is true there are some women about as good-looking as the rough side of horse-radish grater who read with glasses and eat with porce- lain teeth, and yet f1irt. There is an excuse for them. It is business with them. They are obliged to snap at the first chance like hungry wolves. But girls who don't have tojump at chances dirt because it's pretty business. True, it is pretty, and it is right. It is avery different thing from being heartless eoqnette. Flirting in the sense we mean is the only way a girl has to find out what her beau, possibly her future husband is like. A man always ap- brooches girl dressed in society polite ness, and it is the girls duty to pierce this thin coating of sugar and plum, and learn what is beneath. She cannot accomplish this without flirting. .~
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17

l am not surprised at David's pray ing to God in the night-warches; at his rising from his bed, and ascending to the roof of his house, and when the mighty heart of the city was still, and the mountains round about Jerusalem were sleeping in the calm brilliancy of an Eastern night, that he should gaze with rapture on the sky. and pour forth such psalm of praise as "When I consider the heavens the work of Thy fingers" etc.
 The night is more suited to prayer than the day. never wake in the mid- dle of the night, without feeling in- duced to commune with God. One feels brought more in contact with Him. The whole world round us, we think, is asleep. But the great Shepherd of Israel slumbers not, nor sleeps. He is awake, and so are we. We feel, in the solemn and silent night alone with God. And then there is everything in the circumstance to lead one to pray. The past is often wildly recalled. The voices of the dead are heard, and their forms crowd around you, No sleep can bind them. The night seems the time in which they should hold spirit ual communion with man. The future, too. throws its dark shadow over you the night of the grave, the certain death-bed, the night in which no man can work. And then everything makes such an impression on the mind al night, when the brain is nervous and susceptible. The low sough of the wind among the trees; the roaring, or eerit sohtsh of some neighboring stream; the bark, or low howl of the dog; the gen. eral impressive silence, all tend tc sober and solemnize the mind, and tc force 1t from the world and it's vani. ties, which then seem asleep to God who alone can uphold and defend it.- Mormon Aacleod.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
Collegiate Athletic Contests.

The annual closing of our American colleges for the summer vacation has brought the students again before the community in that particular attitude which has nowadays come to be their most popular form of public display, namely, that of competive athletic sports. Their foot races and base ball contests have absorbed, as usual, large share of public attention, while the press has teemed with the description of their prowess. The students who have chiefly filled the public eye this year, and gained the most public admi- ration, are not the baccalaureates and orators, but the ball players and oars men. The reporters have told us re- garding these latter how ''goose eggs" ran all over their barred arms and trunks whenever they stirred, and how "their muscles, like ripe grapes, hung in great punches on their breasts and legs" The student for popular admiration is thus no longer the pale devotee of learn ing, consuming his midnight oil, but the sun-browned athlete, glorying in his limbs and thews like the Roman gladiator, or like that Geraint on whom, according to MT. Tennyson, ''the stand ing muscle sloped'' to the admiration of all beholders. But the modern zeal for atletic sports incur colleges is praise worthy zeal. It is a token that the professional ranks of the future are to be reinforced with men of brawn as we'll as brain-with men whose physi- carry the hard burden of professional life without sinking prematurely under it. Of course this desire for physical prowess can be pushed to excess, but the best authorities seem to agree that it does not thus far have any bad effect on the course of academic studies. Very likely few undergraduates, who are especially fitted4to shine as athletes, may neglect a little of the main object of their college life, but the general eff feet of the gymnastic mania is benefi- cial to those who would incline to the other extreme and greatly neglect physical culture. The honored presi- dent of Harvard was a rowing man, and member of the university crew. President Barnard of Columbia and Mo- Gosh of Princeton have, with others in like positions, accorded their testimony in favor of the college athletic contests. Altogether the time does not yet seem to be ripe for putting on the brakes to check the present devotion to physical sport in our colleges.-The he Galarq for 4 A1I0uet
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
A Great Business.

The luxury of carpets, though in Eastern life older even than houses, is in 8 comparative novitiate with our Western civilization. The latter saw little of it until Le Grande Mondrque grafted the Turkish product on French taste; and, as late as the days of Queen Mary, Royalty itself did not refuse rush mating. When inventive genius, im- pelled by the first Napoleon, brought forth the Jacquard loom, and the work men of Lyons rose to crush the new in vader of their industries, it was thought that the acme of improvement was reached; but it remained for Yankee ingenuity to give it's last and mightiest stimulus.
 A half century ago, a Boston man made an application of the power loom to ingrain and other carpets, which had been despaired of in Europe; and, in a brief space, his establishment at Lowell, Mass, turned out more work, in less time, and of better quality, than any other in the world. Our modern ma chinery makes now thousand stitches while the nimble fingers of the Asiatic maidens are making one.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
Adyartisine Agencies.

"pETTENaILL's NEWSPAPER DIRECTORY ANr ADVERTISERS HANDBOOK" recently published by Messrs. s. M: Pettenglll O., advertising agents, 37 Park Row, New York City, is an ele- gant volume, and bears upon it's face the i'm. press of honest, careful and thorough work In these days Of books issued in the interest of lllegitimate advertising schemes and special newspaper lists. or which have for their object the flching of money both from advertiser and publisher, we are glad to welcome publication which, unswerved by self-interest, attempts to deal justly with all parties. Correct informa- ton ID regard to the character and circulation of the numerous publications of this countryis difficult to obtain, but with superior advantages and earnest labor MT. Pettengill has produced . book that will be found of great assistance tu advertisers and all who need such information iu the prosecution of their business It has now been nearly thirty years since MT. Petten- gill began business as an advertising agent. He was the pioneer of the business. The press of the country was 8 small interest compared with what it now is, and there was very little sys- tematic advertising being done. It was MT. Pettengilrs idea to bring about an understand ing between the business men of the country and the publishers; to show the advertiser that legitimate newspaper advertising was the cheapest and best way of bringing bis wares before the public; and the publisher. that in all proper ways he should regard the interests Of the advertiser. He thus aided both and placed both under obligation. How successful MT. Pettengill was is best shown by the im- meQSe puSlneSS eStaDllSQLn0nC Q0 QaS DullC up. and the high esteem in which he is held both by advertisers and publishers the country over. Since he entered into the business great many rivals have come into the field. Many have failed, involving both publishers and advertisers in their disaster. Others, with youth, energy, and capital, have succeeded in establishing mora or less prosperous business; but in the esteem and confidence of both advertiser and publisher no one has ever rivaled the firm of which MT. Pettengill is the head. His name is . synonym for fair dealing and rectitude and his straightforward business course is the more marked in contrast with the methods of some who aspire to outstrip him in business.
 The shyster and schemer in advertising: as in everything else, must have his day, but eventually the advertiser will find him out, and bis lists and worthless schemes, which are three fourths agents profits. will be neglected, and his occupation gone. There may be less immediate gain in the old-fashoned straight forward way of doing business, but, in the long run, it will pay the largest profits. We trust that our young men beginning in the adver- Using business will observe the great success ot MT. Pettengill, and. initiating his methods, lay the foundation on which to build business at once profitable permanent, and honorable. Chicago Inter Ocean, June 15dt
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
YOUTHS COLUMN.

The Boy Hero.-In sermon designed to teach that life of self-sacrifice is the only life worth living, a New York preacher tells the following touching anecdote: -------- ,--,.-
 A rough teacher in school called up a poor, half-starved lad, who had violated the laws of. the school, and said. A~
 s'Take off your coat, sirv'
 The boy refused to take it off. The teacher said again, s'Take off your coat, J as he swung the whip through the air.
 The boy refused. It was not because he was afraid of the lash-he was used to that at home-but it was from shame he had no undergarment. And as at the third command he pulled slowly of his coat, there went sob through the school. .- >- ~~
 They saw then why he did not want to remove his coat, and they saw the shoulder blades had almost cut through the skin, and a stout, healthy boy rose up and went to the teacher of the school and said. l v@
 70 sir, please don t hurt this poor fel- low! Whip me. He's nothing but a poor chap. Don't you hurt him; he's poor. Whip me!'
 'Well," said the teacher, "it's going to be severe whipping; am willing to take you as substitute."
 "Well," said the boy, "I don't care. You may whip me if you will let this poor fellow go.'' 5s$.Sg
 The stout, healthy boy took the scourging without an outcry.
 Probably not one of our readers but will say, "Bravov' But how many will not only admire but initiate the spirit of that self-sacritice.-Yout Cona- pGniOn.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
r. The Ladies of Bucharest.

Probably few handsomer races exist, and the women especially are physical y perfect. Their gentleness to the other sex (hardly the ruder sex here) is pro- verbal, and ,in climate like this pee pie do not, except in gossip. throw stones, at their neighbors. If in the warm summer evenings, the gardens which forms so large portion of every town are witness to a good deal of love making not always according to stric rule, we may fairly say that each na .tion and each part of it have their ow1 ideas on this interesting topic.-Londo, T1;a1ooc
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
Truths.

To be silent about an injury makes the doer of it more uneasy than com- plaints.
 Every one is in one thing at least original-in his manner of sneezing.
 People in love generally resolve first and reason afterwards.
 Men are made to be eternally shaken about, but women are flowers that lose their beautiful colors in the noise and tumult of life.
 Our prayers and Gods mercy are like two buckets in a well; while one ascends the other descends.
 Never reproach man with the faults of his relatives.
 The greatest truths are the simplest so are the greatest men,
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
HUMOROUS.

How MR. PARKER CAUGHT A THlEF.- ''Did I ever tell you how I caught a thief once?' asked MT. Parker of his 1 friend Mir. Johnson, as he sat smoking 8 pipe in MT. Johnson's comfortable ''place."
 'No. tell us about it," said MT. John son. filling the glasses with fresh ale.
 "Well," said MT. Parker, ''I don't mind if do. You see, I bought me a nice Overcoat two or three years ago; it was one of lot of nice overcoats, and I was rather proud of it. I hung it up in the hall one day, and that evening, just as I was coming into the hall from dinner, saw chap getting out of the door with my OvercOat on. I rushed after him, but it was no go-he got away. Next day I met that fellow on Broadway and had him arrested, but when, we came into court and 1 tried to identify that coat he had fifty other them had coat just like mine and I couldn't swear to it, and the judge had to let him go. Perhaps I wasn't mad ! Great guns' said l. sam to be robbed with impunity P. Parker, old boy, , said to myself, this will never do?' So went right back to the store where I got the first coat and got one exactly like it. Now said I, 'I'll set trap for that young man and I'll see if I can t identify this coat I baited my trap with the new coat, and sure enough the sneak thief came along and marched of with 1t. l chased him, but the rascal got away, and began to wish I hadn't been so sharp, We'll, I looked for that fellow more than a week; at last l caught him! Young man, said I, I want that coat"
 "sThere's some mistake here,' said he." e
 "'Yes, sir, there is,' said I; you've got an honest mans coat on.'" "'Well, said he, bold as brass. 'I'll go to court with you. There's a thou sand other coats like this in New York. There's no mark on it; you can't swear to it.''
 "sWe'Il see,' said I.''
 "We went to court. There were the fifty fellows with coats just like mine, as before. The judge took the coat and examined it."
 "'I find no mark, said he; scan you identify this as your property, MT. Parker?''
 Certainly said I; My initials are in it. The prisoner began to grin, for he had searched the coat, no doubt, and found no mark.
 s'Give me the coat,' said I. The judge handed me the coat. and, taking my penknife. ripped the seam on the shoulder, and took out two small peas, There are my initials, said I-'P. .- Peleg Parker.'"
 '@Well, Pm blessed!" said the prisoner. He wasn't (not just then at leasD," concluded Mr. Parker, with a benevolent smile, "but he got two years in the penitentiary nevertheless"
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
Useful Knowledge.

A man walks three miles an hour. A horse trots seven. Steamboats run eighteen. .--..... Sailing vessels make ten.
 Slow rivers flow four.
 Rapid rivers flow seven. Storms move thirty-six. Hurricanes eighty. A rife ball one thousand miles a minute.
 Sound, eleven hundred and forty three.
 Light, one hundred and ninety thou sand.
 Electricity, two hundred and eighty thousand. A barrel of flour weighs one hundred and ninety-six pounds.
 A barrel of pork, two hundred. A barrel of powder, twenty-five. A firkin of butter, fifty-six.
 A tub of butter, eighty-four.
 Wheat, beans and clover seed sixty pounds to the bushel.
 Corn, rye and flax seed, fifty-six. Buckwheat, fifty-two.
 Oats, thirty-fve.
 Coarse salt, eighty-fve. Sixty drops make teaspoonful.
 Three teaspoonsful or a tablespoon full, one-third of an ounce. Four thousand eight hundred and forty square yards make an acre. A square mile, six hundred and forty acres.
 To measure an acre: Two hundred and nine feet on each side, making g square acre within an inch.
 There are two thousand seven hun. dred and fifty languages.
 One person dies at each pulsation o1 the heart. A generation is fifteen years.
 Average of life, thirty-one years.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
POhD'S EXTRACT.
 PONDS EXTRACT.
The Peoples Remedy. The Universal Pain Extractor. Note: Ask for Ponds Extract
 Take no other.
"Me@r, for I will speak ef sxeeKlens thfmGn.W q.

"Hsar. for I w,ll .pes:k sf sxseIis.' POND's great yexesAhle Pain Destroy GIT. Has boon ID use over prompt curative virtues cannot pe sxceied. CHILDREN. No family can a1ord to De SrIises, c.ntusions. Cats, sv,rsiss, are relieved almost instantly by external application; Promptly relieves pam, %, Of ftnEs, old Sores, B9tls, Felons, COrns, etc. Arrests Inflammation, reduces swellings, stops bleeding. removes discolor- LADIES Ind 1t their best n1end- It assuagea the pains to which they are peculiarly sSe Sssd Serso sS ameiforates and permanently heals all kinds of ffnnammattons and u1cNratlons. HEMOKRHOID Ds or PILEA md in this the only immediate relief and ultimate cure. No case. however chronic or obstinate CAh sssSs 1i n use s tho only sure KIDNEY pAbEAsES. It has no equal for permanent cue. ...-...-- sp.ctRc. It has saved hundreds of lives when all other remedies failed to arrest bleeding from nOse, stomach, lunEss TOOTHACHE, Earache, Neuralgia and kheuRnaltsm are all alike relieved. and of . GprsS sshoo,. who are .c quainted with POnd's Extract 0f Wilton Haze1 recommend 1t in their practice. We
 
 of Physicians. many Of whom order 1t for use in their own practice. In addition to the foregoing, they order it's use for SwelltnSs mamed TOnstls, simple aud chronic D1arrh0ea, Csstarrh (for which 1t is specyfc), Ghtlblafns, Frosted Feoe St1ng@ Of 1nsecta, MuRQutt00ms Chapped Hanos, Face, and indeed an manner or skin diseases.
 TOILET USE. Removes 06rOm0as, MOuxhness and NmarttnR, heals Cuaa, Eruptt0ns ana Ptmples. It rssivss ts- pi0oratcs and refreshes while wonderfully i'm proving the Conn mpleXf0m.
 TO FARMERS - ROndsR Extract. No Stock Breeder, no Livery Man can arford to be without 1t. It Is used by all the leading Livery stables, Street Railroads and nrst Horsemen in New York City. It has no equal for Sprains, Harness or Saddle Channgn, Stiffness, Scratches, Sweltings, Cuts, LaceFa- tions, Bleedings, Pneumonia, Colic, Dlar- rh@a, Chills, Colds, 6c. It's range Of action is wide, and the relief 1t affords is 90 prompt that 1t IS invaluable in every Farm-yard as once, and you will never be without 1t. CAUTION P0ndsN Extrmct hAs been i'm. itated. The genuine article has the words Ponds Extract blown In each bottle. It is prepared by the only persons living who ever knew how to prepare 1t properly. Refuse all other preparations of Witch Hazel This IS the only article used by Physicians, and in the hospitals of this country and Europe.
 HISTORY and Uses of Pond's Extrmea, in pamphlet form, sent free on application to PONDS EXTRACT COMRANY. e Maiden Lane, New York.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17
A Remedial Agent of Uncommon

It is & fact which became patent years ago to the people of the United States, that Hos- tetter's Stomach Bitters is remedial agent of uncommon power. As consequence of this recognition, it's sales have increased immense cines of the day. Chemical analysts, after submitting it to the closest scrutiny, pronounce it absolutely pure, and skilful and conscien- tious medical practitioners recommend it's use. A wlde range of disorders falls within the scope of it's curative operation. Among them may be enumerated dysnepsia liver complaint, constipation, nervous ailments, urinary and uterine affections, rheumatism and gout. It is supremely eficacious tonic, hastens con- valescence, cheers the mind, imparts appetite, and promotes aonnd slean.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-17

A PHYSICIAN recently took couple of girls to ride with him.. They-visited one of the cemeteries, and while look ing at the various monuments the doctor remarked that he. knew one person buried in the lot very we'll, he having been one of his patients. One of the little girls, looking around, waved her hand toward the other monuments and innocently inquired, 'sAnd were all those your patients, too?"