davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02
A Woman's Hand.

Only little, soft, white thing,
Made for wearing the costly ring;
Made for flirting the dainty fan
As only the belle Of the season can;
Made for the stolen pressure or kiss
(Long Branch fashion), raising to bliss,
BY merely the touch of fingers white,
Her escort down by the beach that night
Made for "prize" for the highest bid,
(Aud under the rose thorn lies hid)-
A thing which the honest summer sun
Has taught his honest beams to shun,
Lest freckle or tan its beauty spoil,
And make it too near hand of toll,
Instead of only dainty thing,
Made for ease and the diamond ring.
Only q sunburned, useful thing,
To which the hearts of the needy cling;
To which they turn who have learned The
worth
OF woman's hand on this weary earth;
Made for healing, for smoothing DER
The hearts of those who are faint and sore;
Made for honest work each day,
For driving the shadows of life away;
For holding the "cup of water" to all
Who, faint and thirsty, for succor call;
Made for leading the timid on;
For blessing all it may rest upon;
Made to be won by loyal heart,
Who in its labor will bear part
Made to be clasped by loyal hand,
Which chooseth the best in all the land.
Worth-O double its weight in gold,
This useful hand that can never grow old.
-Hayper's Weekly.
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02
A Dutch wedding.

The ancient Dutch settlers of Albany
and the Mohawk Valley prospered amid
hardships. Having few wants they keen
~ enjoyed their social pleasures. These,
though not many and very simple, helped
them to cheerfully endure privation, and
Kept them in the bonds Of common So
cial ilfe. In the country families, as they
lived quite distant from each other, Wis
lted-they had no time for calls, and
weddings were celebrated with a general
heartiness.
The law required that the banns should
De published on three successive SUNDAYS
IN church. That was to ensure against
marrying in haste aud repenting at leis-
ure, and to give opportunity for any one
to lnterpose legitimate objections to the
marriage.
After the notice had been once read
the friends OF the engaged couple usually
celebrated the engagement by a dance.
oevera! dances followed the marriage. and
the wedding festivities continued for three
days. When the groom had proposed
ana Deem accepted, he made his intended
present of some kind, generally pair
OF silver shoe buckles, or sleeve buttons.
or snuff-box. Diamond rings were not
then unknown, but, as a general thing.
the Dutch lover did not present one to
ms lady love. Both he and she preferred
to invest the money in farm.
Being Dutch they were obstinate in ad.
herring to their engagement. When they
set the wedding day, it was an extraor-
binary obstacle that could put off the
marriage. Clergymen were not album
dant, and, therefore, the Domino was no.
titled several days before the appointed
time. He was expected to be on hand.
rain or shine, snOw or ice, floods and
tempests, Notwithstanding. An amusing
story of novel marriage illustrates this
Dutch persistency.
A young Dutchman and his intended
were anxiously awaiting the wedding
day. They resided on the north side Of
Tomhenick Creek, and the Clergyman
lived on the south side. Now, usually,
Tomhenick Creek was a demure, we'll
behaved stream, but the night previous to
the wedding severe storm caused it to
rise, swell, foam and fret. When the
domino arrived at the south bank, near the
appointed hour, Tomhenick was impass-
able.
Its deep, rapid current was Indifferent
to the wedding hour, and the clergyman
was turning his horses head to return,
when the voices of man and woman
cried, ''Stop!"
They were those of the groom and
bride, who entreated the domino to cross
the creek.
"Stand we're you be, and 1 will make
you man aud wife!' cried the accommo-
dating minister
BY this time, friends and guests had
gathered; the domino read the marriage
service, responses were made across the
noisy creek, and the twain we're made
one flesh.
The young couple started to leave, when
the domino cried out:
"Stop, den, my young friends, Won mo-
ment, if you please. You can't toss the
guilders across the creek, but you can
leave them at the first house below. Tell
dem it is Domino Bunschooten's marriage
fee, and will call and get it,"
Then, bidding the happy couple good
by, he mounted his horse and rode home.
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02

DON PEDRO's INDIFFERENCE TO ETH
QUETTE.-Dom Pedro's Indifference to
the rules of palace etiquette, during his
stay in Berlin, Mortified the German
courtiers. He appeared at the Empress
reception wearing black cravat instead
of the regulation white necktie, which, as
the Cologne Gazette observes, sis indis-
pensable even at the White House in
Washington" Kaiser William and his
Empress called by appointment at the
Hotel de Rome to return Dom PedrO's
visit, but the Brazilian tourist was not in.
AstOnished and somewhat chagrined, the
Kaiser gave directions to his coachman
to drive back to the palace, when q
droshke rapidly drove up, and stout,
elderly man in a gray overcoat, crying,
''Sire! Sire!' alighted, and springing
to the Imperial carriage, helped the Ger
man Empress out. The Emperor Will
liam followed, and on reaching Dom
Pedro's apartments the latter spologized
for his apparently rude conduct by say
ing he had gone to Professor Helmholz
without previously setting his watch to
Berlin time, and . discussion on physi-
illogical optics had so much interest for
him that he overstayed his time. The
Brazilian sovereign had no desire to see
the barracks and parade-grou of Ber-
lin, but the university, the art galleries,
the scientific institutions, and above all,
the palace library, underwent his careful
ineDectiOn
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02

LEGAL BIBLICAL IGNORANcE.-During
the trial of the celebrated Deavenworth
baby case, in which two women claim
the same child, one Of the lawyers, in the
course Of his remarks, pointed to the
painting of Solomon ordering the child
to be severed in halves and divided be-
tween the two women. His Scriptural
knowledge being small, he alluded to
Plate instead of Solomon. The opposing
counsel, supposing he know oil about it,
instantly jumped to his feet, and called
him fool, and said that the order was
by Cesar and not Plate. After heated
discussion they agreed to leave 1t to the
Judge. His honor decided that both the
attorneys were talking upon asubject for
eign to their knowledgs, and, pointing to
the painting, said 1t WA intended to rep
resent Herod, and not Plate or Cessr.
The lawyers considered the matter settled
and proceeded with the case.
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02

TIE latest investigator gives Jerusa-
lem 5000 Ohristians, $4,000 Jews, and
1900 uohammo0ane.
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02

An American air-Orake company Re-
Gently received an order from ENGLAND
for e25O, 900 worth Of brakes 70 b. pIaced
on three hundred Locomotives and ooe
thousand cars.
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02
The Food of Ants.

The food of ants consists Of insects
great numbers of which they destroy-of
honey, hOney-dew and fruit; indeed,
scarcely any animal or sweet substance
comes amiss to them. Some species
such, for instance, as the small brown
garden ant-ascend bushes in search of
aphides. The ant then taps the
aphis gently with her antenna, and the
aphis emits drop of sweet fluid, which
the ant drinks. Sometimes the ants even
build covered ways up to and over the
aphides, which, moreover, they protect
from the attacks of other insects. Our
English ants do not collect provisioo for
the winter-indecd, their food is not of q
nature which would admit of this. Some
southern species, however, collect grain,
occasionally in considerable quantities.
Moreover, though our English ants cannot
be said exactly to lay up stores, some
at least do take steps to provide them
selves with food in the future. The
small yellow meadow ant (Lasius favus),
for instance, lives principally ON the
honey dew Of certain sphides which suck
the roots Of grass. The ants collect the
aphides in the nest, not only watching
OvoI tucul Sucmbclvcc, Out ~ ! nave Uo6u
able to satisfy myself, even over their
eggs-an act which one is much tempted
to refer to forethought, and which in
such case implies degree of prudence
superior to that of some savages.-Popw-
lar Science Monthly.
IRON IN GRAIN.-There are few physi-
clans who do not recommend iron in q
multitude Of diseases, and especially in
chlorosis. Many health reformen and
hygienists have opposed this practice, de-
claring there was quite enough iron in
grain, when we did not remove it all By
our process Of grinding.
1t 10 pleasant to see this view coming
up among scientific physicians. A writer
in French medical journal says, that the
ordinary preparations Of iron are not ab-
sorbed in any large quantity into the
blood when given a. q medicine, and that
preferable mode of getting this mineral
10 in bread made from such grains ~ are
known to contain an abundance Of il.
The -four of oats and wheat, when not
bolted too closely, are better than pure
fine hour-and contains more iron.
AN American air-Orakc company re-
Gently received an order from ENGLAND
The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-08-02


watered from the Jordan, and the ex-
pense for dam and canals would be
small compared with the large number
of square miles of valuable land that
would thus be made productive. If we
reckon the valley at sixty miles in length
aud from two or three to six miles in
width, we should have 1870 square miles
of land as fertile a. any prairie, and
which, at twenty or twenty-five bushels
per acre, would produce between 2,00O,-
600 and 5000, 900 bushels of wheat. If
it is objected that people could not live
in the valley, the answer is that the peo-
pie who cultivate the soil there at pres
emit live there ell the year round, and
besides tho ruins Of q dozen important
towns along the line Of the foothills
show that the valley has been inhabited
BY civilized people at some time in the
past.
If We 60 south of the Zerka we hnd
the Jaaxer region, which the children
of Reuben and the children of Cad once
coveted ~ fine pasture-ground for their
cattle Numb. xxxii.), still abounding in
wheat-delds and covered with numerous
hocks and herds of the Bedouin. At
Khurbet 6ar there II largo plateau ex-
landing north and east distance of three
miles, perhaps, and in this plateau IL the
wstsr-shed between the Zerka on the east
and wadys Keferein and Hesban on the
west and south. The region 10 studded
with ruins, and among them l think
en- able to idsatify soGne II the cities Of
The tribe Of 0ad.
The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-12

During winter which has not been every
thing that publishers could have wished
there has been issued q book which has
attained success unparalleled in the annals
of literature. First published only two or
three months ago, it reached at once a circu-
lation such as not even the most industrious
advertising ever gained for the most popu-
lar novel, Its construction was in many
respects remarkable. 1t set at naught nearly
every literary canon. Many writer's took
part in it's preparation, and their methods
differed SO from each other that it was never
difficult to ascertain where one writer left
off and another began. 1t lacked continuity.
AS for art that darling ideal and infrequent
realization of authors, the book barely
glanced at it. Although it had leading
motive which was never lost sight of, it was
as dlscursive as novel by Victor Hugo or q
mediums revelation from the spirit world.
Its merits, however, were distinctive and
absolute. It's writer's never INDUCED In
exquisite or fine drawn distractions, nor
did they ever ring changes upon the
oft-analyzed passions of mankind. OF
love, indeed that mainstay of the
popular books of all ages, it was as desti-
tute as the heart of the male frt or that Of
the woman who marries for money. But it
dealt bravely, often bluntly, sometimes in
dignantly, with the feelings and needs of
society as it is. It idealized nothing, but
spoke the plain truth without fear or favor.
In it every reader found some one of his
own sentiments or sorrows reflected, and a
fellow feeling makes us deeply interested as
we'll as wondrous kind. The popularity of
this book does not decrease in the least I; it
is still sold daily in quantities that almost
stagger belief, and it somehow finds its way
into portions of the country where the book
seller is as rare as the man who is satisfied
with the condition of his own pocketbook.
Need we say that we refer to the HxRALD's
Complaint Book?'
The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-12

freight At the hearing before the Dock
Commission only the railroad companies
appear, some being in favor and some OPP
posed to the concession. But the market
men and the thousands of business people
whose interests are involved are entitled TO
be heard. The busiest hours of the twenty
four on West street are from three to seven
in the morning, and to block up that street
with long freight trains and dummy en-
gines between those hours would be the
destruction of all the important business
done in that locality. 1t would be well to
inquire where the Dock Commission finds
the authority to act at all in the matter.
The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-12

Mr.. Evarts, who was confirmed by the
Senate as Secretary of State on Saturday, will
take the oath of Office to-day, and Mr.. Fish,
another eminent and honored citizen OF New
York, retires from public life, probably for
ever. Secretary Fish, born in 1905, has
reached the ripe age of sixty-nine. and hav-
ing remained so long in the Cabinet only in
compliance with the urgent entreaties OF
President Grant, it is quite unlikely that he
will ever accept another important public
trust His fellow -townsmen. who know him
so we'll and honor him so highly. will well
come him back to his home, always the
abode of taste. culture. hospitality and
every virtue that can give dignity and charm
to domestic life
Mr.. Fish has been one Of the most dis
tinguished and useful of our long line OF
able and eminent Secretaries OF State.
When he came into Office the country had on
its hands difficult and perplexing dispute
with Great Britain. which Mr.. Seward had
been unable to bring to settlement during
the four years he was in office after
the close of the war; but the problem
which had baffled Mr.. Seward was
successfully and honorably solved by
Mr. Fish. The Alabama claims treaty will
always hold distinguished place in the
diplomatic history of the country, and the
credit Of the negotiation belongs entirely to
Mr. Fish. But this is not his sole praise as
Secretary of State. Our foreign affairs have
never been managed with greater success
than during the last eight years. Peace has
been preserved, friendly relations with all
countries maintained and strengthened, and
our national honor kept unsullied
under the wise, prudent. firm and
yet conciliatory management of Sec
rotary Fish. When the unfortunate
virginius affair occurred Spain was COM
PEELED to make due reparation without at all
disturbing the cordial and friendly rela-
tons between the two countries. The for
eign relations of the government were never
in safer hands than those of the only men,
Der of President Grants Cabinet who re-
NAMED in Office during the whole of his two
terms We say the whole of the two terms
because the few weeks that MIR. Washburne
held the Office before Mr.. Fish's appoint
ment hardly deserve to be counted. Mr.
Fish is the one member of the Cabinet who
has steadily kept the confidence of the Presi-
dent and the country from the beginning of
the administration to the end. After the
many important trusts he has discharged,
as member Of both branches Of our Legis-
lature, as q member of both houses of Con-
gress, as Governor Of the State and as
Minister for Foreign Affairs for as long
period as that great Office was ever held by
one man, Mr.. Fish is entitled to exemption
from further public cares. The good wishes
of the whole country will follow him in his
honorable retreat.
The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-12

The Use OF steam on west street..
Some months ago the Common Council
adopted resolution granting permission
for the use of dummy engines to draw freight
trains on West street below Canal The
Mayor interposed his veto, and in conse-
quence Of the strong and unanimous pro-
test of the large body of persons doing bust
ness on that street, as well as of all the
residents, the Aldermen felt constrained to
sustain the veto. The proposition now
comes up in another shape. Application has
been made to the Commissioners of Docks
for the privilege of running rails on to the
docks, connecting with the Belt Railroad,
and under such concession, with the aid
of the Belt Company, it is proposed to use
steam on that line. The Commissioners of
Docks have no authority whatever to grant
any such privilege. They can control the
use of the docks, but only for legitimate
dock purposes, and have no more right to
allow dummy engines to be used in connec-
ton with the Belt line, or rail connections
to be made with that line, than have the
Commissioners of Excise
We need wide river street on each side
of the city on which steam freight cars
might be run. The West street proposition,
if carried out, would destroy the business of
the street and afford very partial and
wholly insufficient aid in the movement OF
The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-12

Admirers of Wagner's music will be
afforded tonight an opportunity of forming
a correct idea of the theories of that musical
revolutionist as applied to opera. Under
the direction of Messrs. Fryer and Neuen-
dorff series of carefully prepared per-
formances after the true Wagnerian method
will be inaugurated, and the New York
public will be able to realize the
innovations which the musician of Bal
representations This experiment is de-
serving of the most generous support from
the American public, because, however it
may turn out for the imprcsarii it must
help to educate the musical taste of our
people and enable them to form clear and
intelligent ideas as to the value of the Italian
and German or Wagnerian schools of opera.
In undertaking to reproduce Wagners
works in this country on the plan adopted
at Baireuth Messrs. Fryer and Neuendorff
have assumed grave financial risk and
have established well-founded claim to
generous public support. Whatever
may be the verdict in reference to the OPP
posing musical theories, there can be no
doubt of the interest attaching to the series
of performances which will be inaugurated
tonight by the production of the Flying
Dutchman' according to the canons and
rules laid down by Wagner himself.
Everything about the Performance Of this
opera will, it is said, be so novel
that the public will regard it more as a new
work than as an old favorite. The condi-
tions, too, under which the audience will
listen to the musical numbers are to be
changed. In place of brilliantly lighted
auditorium the house will be kept in dark
ness while the performers are on the
stage. Another innovation will be that
more attention will be paid to the
general effect than to the rendering Of
the chief roles. There will be no very
great singers but in compensation we are
promised the best orchestra and chorus ever
presented in the Academy of Music. Both
Mr.. Fryer and Mr.. Neuendorff have worked
very hard to render the Wagnerian festival
a great artistic success, and they are en-
titled to the credit of having called to their
aid the best musical talent within reach.
It now remains for the public to mark their
appreciation of this effort by rallying to the
support of the enterprising managers.
The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-12
The "Who Is It.'' In Florida.

We publish to-day another interesting
letter from our special correspondent in
Florida, in which he gives an amusing de-
scription of the adventures of the HERALD
exploring party on Baal Island. The idol
discovered in the depths of the forest has
aroused the superstitious fears of the colored
element Of the expedition. No inducement
that our correspondent held out could
tempt his dusky attendants to move it to the
panthers, moccasins and alligators and all
the uncanny things that haunt the woods
and swamps rather than attempt to disturb
this grim sentinel of the waste. However,
natural cupidity and a belief that whoever
set up this strange object in such a strange
place must have buried treasure near
it caused the negroes to forget for the
nonce the terrors of night in it's company,
and they began to dig by the light of their
pine torches for the hidden prize. The
ludicrous scene that followed is graphically
described by our correspondent, and cannot
fail to amuse the reader. We commend the
subject of the idol to scientific Investigators.
1t furnishes, perhaps, a missing link be-
tween the history of the present and that Of
the dim past in Florida. The more we con-
slider it ourselves the deeper we are i'm
pressed with the theory that it is the pctri-
fed body of prehistoric carpet-bagger who
had lost his way in the woods while looking
for nomination for Governor of the region.
1t would be doing the figure gross injus-
tice to insist that it was an official of the
Street Cleaning Bureau who had gone to
Florida to avoid the dirt and smells of New
York, and had been turned into stone at the
sight Of such familiar scenes as may be
witnessed in the middle of the swamp dis
trict Besides the figure described by our
correspondent is not in the least degree
dumpy, although scowl may be traced on
its ashy countenance