davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
One Void.

Perhaps there is no stronger tendency supreme object of our affections; and the folly of having the flowers of hu- man hope rooted in earthly evils is ap- parent when cruel frosts destroy them. A tl7ef, among her interesting family seemed to cling with devotion to her eldest child, a young lady whose ami ability and intellectual gifts charmed every one. But, like heavenly exotic, the rude blast of earth called her-she faded and died. The shock was too much for the worshiping mother, and life became blank to her. In vain she tried to arouse herself to the duty she owed to her promising children still around her, a settled melancholy clouded the sunny sky of domestic in terest. How touching is the sight when those who possess so many blessings, and with loving duties awaiting them. sit with listless hands and heavy hearts. famishing in land of plenty! We of ten see faces lined with care, whose SuAA AAO1tle1uSS. sooAh So PIOope1ouo duu rose colored that we find ourselves won- dering what hidden, fatal grief is cher, ished in the heart. One void alone causes more unhappiness than do those awful calamities from which we shrink | Do not most natures become worn anG wearied by regrets and disappointments more than from heavy grief and mis. fortune? Indeed, it requires more req heroism to become resigned to part witt one idol than to sacrifice necessary good. One object alone is worthy tt claim our supreme love, and that is oul maker; then itis we find his ready hant supplies our needs even before we our selves realize them.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03

room in every rich mans house. The. card-table, that once was synonym of wickedness, is part of the rich mans furniture, which his children may use at will, in the pursuit of a harmless game. A good many manufactured sins have been dethroned from their fictitious life and eminence, and put to benefcent family service on behalf of the young. Athletic sports, such as skating, boating, shooting, ball. play ing, running and leaping, have sprung into great prominence within the past few years-amusements of just the character for working off the excessive vitality of young men, and developing their physical power. This is all well "a reform in the right direction. Much of this is done before the public eye, and in the presence of young women, which helps to restrain all tendencies to excesses and to dissipation. -
 The activities of young women take another direction, and nothing seems to us more hopeful than the pursuits in which they engage. The rich young woman in these days, who does not marry, busies herself in tasteful and intellectual pursuits. The reading club, the Shakspere-club, the drawing class, and kindred associations. employ her spare time; and now there is hardly more busy person living than the rich young woman who is through with her boarding-school. The poor, who sup pose that the rich young woman leads an idle life, are very much mistaken. The habits of voluntary industry now adopted and practiced by the young women of America, in good circum- stances, are most gratefully surprising. One of them who is not so busy during the winter that she really needs a re- cuperating summer, is an exception. Our old ideas of the lazy, fashionable girl must be set aside. They are all at work at something. It may not bring them money, but it brings what is much better to them-the content that comes of an earnest and fruitful pursuit. Ii may take the form of amusement, but it results in training for self-helpful- ness and industry. -..-..
 So, while not much can be done fol | the adult in this matter of amusement
 much is done for the young, and much that will help to give us a generation o1 older men and women, who will not be content with the poor business of kill. 1 ing time. For it must be remembered that while the young women ''assist'
 at the athletic games of the young men
 the young men are indispensable to the intellectual associations of the young women. They meet together, anc stimulate and help each other; and ii
 does not seem possible that either party should ever subside into those time
 killers who haunt the clubs established for men, or those jaded women wht drag themselves around to dinners ant lunches and thronged assemblies.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
THE WHISPERED SECRET.
A sERvIAN SONG.

Two fond lovers in the meadows meeting Kiss each other, kiss on kiss repeating; And while thinking no third party knows it, Lo! the meadows near at hand disclose it i; To the white fiocks and the grazing cattle They repeat the tale with busy prattle; Then the fiocks, who heard it with precision, Print it plainly on the shepherds vision; He repeats it to 8 gay wayfarer Who In turn becomes the soft tale-bearer; To eailor on the sea he takes it; .e..- He into tuneful song then makes it; To his ship he sings it in all quarters, And the ship contides it to the waters; While the waters, worse than any other, Rush in speed to tell the maiden's mother, Then the maiden all the case discerning, Thus exclairns, with wrathful bushes burning: Meadows Oh that Spring had not arrayed Flocks ! may cruel dogs and wolves invade
 you r. -. .....-.. .r..-.--..s. ..s...5 s- Shepherd! thee may cruel Moslem anger van
 .quish l. ?. .- --.... Ea --' .= Wanderer! may you walk in constant an
 guish L. .. a"' F.- ? Sailor! soon may oceans pillows wreathe
 youl- Ship! may fire unquenchable insheathe you!- And thou-to tell mother of her daughter Sink deep in earth, o tattling, treacherous
 watern' -..-.s-. T s:..s.f s,...: .s. =
 l..zz,...., .[s-Scribner's Monthly.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
The Amusements of the Rich.

True amusement is of two kinds, viz. |: active and passive. The active and weary man and woman-those who ex- haust every day their vital energies in workable naturally to passive amuse- ment. A lady of our acquaintance en- gagged daily in severe intellectual tasks, says that nothing rests her like seeing other people work. For this she goes to the theatre, and the play upon her emotions there rests and recreates her. Indeed, 1t is the emotional side of the nature, and not the active, which fur nishes play to those who are weary with the use of their faculties. This fact covers the secret of the popular success of what is called emotional preaching. People who have been en- gagged all the week in eXhausting labor of any kind do not take kindly to high intellectual feast on Sunday. They want to be moved and played upon This rests and interests them, while the profound discussion of great problems in life and religion wearies and bores them. They are not up to it. They are weary and jaded in that part o1 their nature which such a discussion engages. The emotions which have been blunted and suppressed by theil pursuits are hungry. So every form of amusement that truly meets theil 1 wants must be emotive, and must leave them free to rest in those facultie! | which arn waarV
 On the other hand, the young, wht are brimming with animal life, an( who fail to exhaust it in study, call fo
 active amusements, and they must hay
 them. And here the parent is in dange
 of making great mistake. Unless
 boy is milk-sop, he must do some thing or die. If he cannot do some thing in his home, or in the homes o his companions, he will do something } elsewhere. It is only within fey
 years that parents have begun to sensible upon this matter, The bil , liard-table, which only few years az was associated with dissipation, nov lhas an honorable place and the larges
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
Walking Leaves of Australia.

Almost everybody has heard of the walking leaves of Australia. For a long time after the discovery of that island many people really believed that the leaves of certain tree which four ished there could walk about the ground. The story arose in this way:
 Some English sailors landed upon the coast one day; after roaming about till they were tired, they sat down under a tree to rest themselves. A puff of wind came along, and blew off a shower of leaves, which, after turning over and over in the air, as leaves generally do, finally rested upon the ground. As it was midsummer and everything ap- peared quite green, the circumstance puzzled the sailors considerably. But the surprise was much greater, as you may well suppose, when, after short time, they saw the leaves crawling along on the ground toward the trunk of the tree. They ran at once for their vessel, without stopping to examine into the matter at all, and set sail away | II OIA OlAC SCCAhCN to be bewitched. One of the men said that he expected every moment to see the trees set to and dance jig" Sub. sequent explorations of Australia havS taught us that these walking leaves are insects. They live upon the trees
 Their bodies are very thin and flat, theil wings forming large leaf-like organs
 When they are disturbed, their legs are folded away under their bodies, leaving the shape exactly like leaf with its stem and all complete. They are of 8 bright green color in the summer, but they gradually change in the fall, with the leaves, to the brown of frost-bitter vegetation. When shaken from the trees, they lie for few minutes upor the ground, as though they were dead but presently they begin to crawl along toward the tree, which they ascend again. They rarely use their wings although they are we'll supplied in thi | reSnact
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
Some of the Public Men of California.

MT. Frank Pixley, in his San Fran cisco paper, gives brief but very in- teresting sketch, showing what. has be- come of some of the men who have been prominent in the political history of California. He names eighteen and of these eight have became confirmed drunkards. They were John McDougal, who was United States Senator; Chas. Scott, Hugh Murray, Alexander Wells, William Ferguson, who was killed in a duel; William Weeks, Elcan Hyden- feldt, and Judge Tracy. All these were brilliant men in their time, the contemporaries of Roderick, the Senator who was killed in duel, and of Baker, the Senator who fell on the battlefield early in the war. They have been Senators, Governors, Congressmen, commanders in the armies of the coun- try, and died, it is altogether likely, unsatisfied of their ambition. There is no place in the country where ambition has so run away with men as in Califor- mia; 1t has made some, but it has wrecked more. Most who have retired from public strife, are still engaged in the struggle for money, to add to mil lions already acquired in land where money has been easily made. John Corners, who retired from the Senate a few years ago, is the one man of all who has been conspicuous in California, and still living, who contents himself with quiet life, no longer fighting for victories which will do him no good.
 There are nearly 5000 known spe' l cies of fish. ...r.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
After Breakfast.

There is no period at which the feeling of leisure is a more delightful one than after breakfast on Summer morning in the country. It is a slavish and painful thing to khow that instantly you rise from the breakfast table you must take to your work. In that state your mind will be fretting and worrying away all the time the hurried meal lasts. It is delightful to breakfast leisurely then go out and sumter in the garden walk down to the water and give the dogs a swim sketch out a kite, to be completed in the evening |; to stick up new colored picture in the nursery, and to do this and more with the sense that there is no neglect-that you can easily overtake your days work.-Ircing.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
Baby Brutes.

The Central Park menagerie, or rather MT. F. Y. Barnum, who is the proprie- tor of most of the animals exhibited free to the public during the winter, has recently become possessed of q lit ter of partners, two lions, a baboon, and dromedary, all born in the cages. The lions are now nearly four months old, and are about as tall as a moderate sized terrier dog. They are exceed ingly fat, and, like all young of their species, are covered with short downy fur, profusely mottled. They possess, in brief, all the characteristics of kit tens, except gracefulness of motion ; for they are the personification of clum- siness. Their legs are thick, short, and bent, their paws, which already pos sess formidable claws, appear too large, and their bodies are long and ungainlv. The temper of the infants, despite their innocent and childlike expression, is none of the best; for they show ranges of white sharp teeth, and spit viciously on any stranger approaching their cage. The cubs are of especial interest to 70 ologists from the fact of their being off spring of cross between the Asiatic and African species of lions. This mingling of breed has not before been attempted, and the characteristics oi the young will be carefully watched l The partners are of the ordinary variety, peculiar to this country. As is the case with most untanable brutes they breed unfrequently in captivity The cubs are of the same age as the young lions; and were it not for their peculiar markings, resembling closely those of some species of young deer they might well be mistaken for good sized cats. Their behavior, wher stirred up, is a ludicrous mixture oi fear, curiosity, and defiance. A slight poke from the end of cane causes the cub touched to beat a speedy retreat toward the mother; then it turns and watches the stick with intense interest relieving its feelings by an occasional spit. Finally one paw flies forward and spiteful dig is administered, ant then another retreat takes place. This is continued as long as the intrudins object remains in the cage.
 It'is curious to notice, both in the lioness and in the panther, that pecu liar pride in showing their offspring which the domestic cat manifests in th' most unmistakable manner. It seemed also as if the old animals regarded. rap on the bars of the cage, or the intro duction of canes to induce their pro gency to take better attitudes for sketch ing purposes, in the light of gratefu attentions; as, no matter how mucf the young ones spit and scratched, th mothers never showed the slightest re sentiment, but quietly crouched anC stared at the interfoper in abstractec calmness. The writer saw the Iiones deliberately wake up her cubs, wh were cuddled into an undistinguisha hle ball of fur, and spread them apaT with blow of her paw, for no reasol that could be divined other than tha she wished to display them. They man ifested no hunger, but sat up. an blinked like suddenly awakened babie until their eyes became accustomed t the light.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
Common Sense.

The very basis of good taste is formed
 by common sense. It teaches man, in
 the first place. that more than two el- bows are highly inconvenicnt in the world; and, in the second, that the fewer people you jostle on the road of life the greater your chance of success among men or women, It is not nec- essary that the commensurate man need be an unimaginative man; but it is necessary that his imagination should be well regulated. Good taste springs from good sense, because the latter enables him to understand, at all times, precisely where he is, and what he ought to do under the circumstances of his situation. Good taste is just appreciation of the relationship and probable effects of ordinary, as we'll as extraordinary, things; and no man can have it unless he is in the habit of con- sidering his own position, and planning his own actions with coolness and ! accuracy. -.-~ -.ss' , 2
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
CANAAN. CONN.,, FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1877.

whom he knew Rose was engaged; and Rose had felt just little bit of secret pleasure at the thought that Archey Lester didn't quite relish the idea of seeing her married to another.
 The hour came, and everything was ready. The wedding-party entered the little church, and only waited the ar rival of MT. Lester, who was to give away the bride.
 '"Time's up!' said MT. Waring, who was very punctual man. "We can't wait for laggards. must do the giv- ing away myself, I suppose"
 The minister appeared with his book, and the ceremony was abont to begin.
 "Ah! here comes the stragglerv' cried MT. Waring, turning about as Archey entered. "Hurry up my good fellow - feared I should have to be your substitute.
 Archey's face was trif1e pale as he advanced to take the place assigned him. He greeted Rose formally, who was about presenting her future husband when flush of mingled surprise and anger overspread Archey's features.
 ''Is that the man to whom you would entrust your daughters happiness?' he said turning almost fiercely on Mir Waring. t '' "'." 't'f
 "And what fault have you to find with him, I should like to know" flared up the old gentleman
 'EIt was he the dastard !'' said Archey looking the abashed bridegroom sternly in the face, "who not only abandoned the woman whom he would now swear to protect, to the threatening wave il which she was struggling, but like the coward he is struck down the hand tha was trying to save her! What faith car be put in his oath?' ...
 Edward Hardin hung his head in si lence. Rose had not seen him on tha dreadful night; nor had he. recognized her as she stood in the. blazing ligh of the burning vessel, for he had no seen her since she was quite little girl. It was easy now to understand his trepidation at their first meeting after.
 That wedding did not go on. But on' did, not many months after. Who th' kparties were, we leave the readers t' | guess.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
Professor Bells Talking Telephone.

A correspondent asks: "Do you think that the telephone will take the place of the telegraph now in use?" As this question is one which great many are now asking, we would say that we do not. It may perhaps supersede the Morse system to some extent for pri- vate lines and the like, and, possibly, may be utilized somewhat in forward ing press reports; but for regular con- mercial telegraphing, it does not appear to us to possess, as it now stands, any advantages. In the first place, messa- ges would require to be taken down in shorthand by the receiving operator, and afterward copied in long hand and we all know the liability to error, not to speak of the great delay of such a system. Then, again, while "Auld Lang Syne, 'sHome, Sweet Home,' J or anything with which we are per fectly familiar, could be very easily recognized, it is questionable if regular messages could be s'telegraphed' with out serious errors occurring. It is very much like talking through the little
 toy ''lovers' telegraph, '' or an ordinary speaking tube. If great carej is taken to speak slowly and distinctly, and you have an idea of what is coming, you can generally make out enough to un. derstand what person is talking about
 But it seems to us that nobody would care to trust important messages, some times involving life and death, or thou sands of dollars, to being sent in this manner. We chronicled, issue before last, ludicrous mistake made in just this way. A reporter telegraphed over the police wires to the editor of Brook. l lyn paper that he was at the lunatit asylum, where he had gone on busi. ness, and could not get back in time for the afternoon edition. The sergeant told a policeman to step around to the newspaper office and inform the editor that Koselowski (the reporter) was al
 the lunatic asylum. The policeman misunderstood the message, and re
 ported to the editor that Cardinal Mo
 Closkey was insane, and had been re
 moved to the lunatic asylum. It is no
 too much to expect that just such mis
 takes would constantly occur were tht telephone in use for commercial tele
 graphy. For the above reasons we dt not think that telegraphers need have any fears about the telephone usurping to any great extent, the place of th' system handed down to them by Prof Morse.-Tbe Operator.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03
A Batch Of Why's.
respect.

Why are ambassadors the most per feet people in the world7 Because they are all excellencies.
 Why is sympathy like blind mans buff7 It is fellow feeling for fellow creature.
 Why is the sun like a good loaf7 Be- cause it's light when it rises.
 Why is crow brave bird9 Be- cause it never shows the white feather.
 Why is sawyer like lawyer7 Be- cause whichever way he goes, down comes the dust.
 Why are washerwomen silly peopleq Because they put out their tubs to catch soft water when it rains hard.
 Why is a man who doesn't lose his temper like schoolmaster9 Because he keeps cool (keeps school.)
 Why are mountains like invalidsf Because they look peakish.
 Why are umbrellas like pancakes' Because they are seldom seen after Lent.
 Why is drunkard hesitating to sigr the pledge like 8 skeptical Hindoo' Because he doubts whether to give uI the worship of Jug or Not.
 Why cannot two slender persons eve become great friendsq Because they will always be slight acquaintances.
 -Silver-plated pins, shaped mucl like hairpins. have been introduced fo fastening tidieS to chairs and sofas.
Connecticut western news., 1877-08-03

-Silver-plated pins, shaped much like hairpins. have been introduced for fastening tidies to chairs and sofas.
, 1877-07-19
MllWAUKEE'S FESTIVAL.

MiLwAuSEs, Wis, July 1a.-Tho National
Turner Festival In this city bids fur to bo tho
most suexcssiu! ever known, Delegations have
been arriving nil day by rail and straa,es, aud
tonight over forty delegations have registered.
Larsu numbers will arrive during the night.
Thla evening formal reception took place at
Wese Side Turn Hal 10 tic delegates ata visit
ors. Au address Ut welcoEne WIS delivered by
Emil Walber. President Of the Central Co,ntn!t~
tee, to tho turner's frou. Brethren In Milwaukee.
Mayor Butler ha4e hrsrty welcome on behalf
Of the cit!xele Ut Milwaukee. .aftcr brief
Rltecles The eycninG was spent IN friendly in-
To1norrSw IL tho opening day of
the Fest, with graud prosessIUn through
ttlu principal streets and festivities Ut Quint[ls
Park In tllu aftrrtloon. In tue exercises ot shn
evening, uiie feature will be thu MoycMent Ut
1.20U children of tlis city public tels.uls tlnAer
direction VI superintendent brosius. There
will be grand concert with thule cllnrls ol
Y0 yuiecs. AL the principal streets 1f The city
are gayly detlratea with american ant German
tlags, eyefETceuk. strta1ness, aill arghos ~ the
dlIcrrut pu,nts. Over b,oo0 turncrs and trsynls
arrived to-day, and n,any more are expected to-
tb..
IN ths iYfst<rn Assettat.d I'ren.
MILWAUKEE. WIS, July t6-Ehe North Amer.
icau Turner Bumd Is holding fts ani,ua! te&tisat
III this clty. Forty societies arc represented
from 1illercut pafls Vt the euuutry. The city Ii
devoratca, aud fireworks wcru displayed tu-
Night. Agra,nl concert souk plArc this evening,
aud addresses 0t Welconse WvEe delivered by
tbs NaTof aud uoy. Ltttitagtou.