davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
Human Nature Among Ants.

Wars among the ants have very
much the same causes as among men.
1t is a piece of territory that is coveted,
and the stronger tribe goes out in force,
vanquishes and elects the weaker; or it
is the possession of its flocks and herds,
which one colony wishes to wrest from
another; or in the slave-making species,
colony requires new relay of serv-
ants to relieve it of all care. In this
case number of F0rn,ica rufa or For
mica sangut1seG muster and advance
against nest of Formica nigrd, after
desperate battle-for the red ants are
very brave, and the black ones, though
cowardly, are fighting for their young
the aggressors, who are almost al
ways victorious, bear off the pupa of
the black ants to their own nests.
When they hatch out into perfect in
sects the slaves take upon themselves
the whole care of the colony; they tend
the young, take charge of the nest, and
even feed and carry about their lazy
masters, who will often die of starva-
ton rather than help themselves, even
when food is close at hand. The
slaves, however, have something to say
in the nest. They detain their masters
when they desire to 60 out on a slave
making expedition, till after the time
that tue males and females of the negro
colonies shall have taken flight, so that
the species shall not be exterminated
When the red ants come home without
booty, the slaves treat them with con-
tempt, and sometimes even turn them
out of doors. They are willing to work
for their masters SO long as they can
hold them in respect.
In these combats the ants often man.
ifest singular resemblance to human
beings in the effect which battle pro-
duces in the case of raw recruits. An
ant which at first seemed fearful and
hesitating, after time becomes ex-
cited and shows frenzy or courage,
recklessly throwing away its life with
out accomplishing anything. When an
ant which has reached this condition of
insensate fury happens to fall in with
a body of self-possessed workers, they
quietly lay hold of it, several of them
holding its different feet, gently touch
ing it all the while with their antenne
till it calms down and is able to "listen
to reason. Mrs. Herrick, in Scribner s
M0nthlu.
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS.

1t is not generally known that Ros-
coe Conkling's wife is Horatio Sey-
mour's sister.
"A COW woke UP sleeper in Louis
vile, KY, and he saw the Roman Cath
olic Cathedral was on fire and put it
out.
-Twenty-three persons were danger
ously poisoned at Whitehaven, Pa, the
other day, by eating liver puddings
which had been boiled in copper ket-
tie.
1t isn't healthy to ride horses for
your health. A young lady in Denver
while attempting it got her habit en-
tangled and was thrown under the
horses feet and trampled to death.
"A man in Steuben County, N. Y,
conceived the idea that there was a
great cave under his farm, and COM
menced sinking shaft in the side of
hill. A few days ago, while working in
his shaft alone. stone weighing 2,700
pounds rolled down and crushed him to
death. His absence created anxiety,
and search resulted in finding his body
beneath the stone.
One effect of the late earthquake
was to break off a lawyers argument at
Omaha. Judge Usher had just taken
the floor in the case of the Kansas
Pacific and Denver Pacific Railroads
against the Union Pacific, when sudden
ly the building trembled, chairs and ta-
bles rocked, the lawyer sank back into
his seat and the spectators. terrified and
dizzy, rushed out of the building.
The following singular occurrence
is recorded by New Orleans paper. A
lady placed her baby, aged five months,
in bed, and on leaving the room locked
up terrier dog in it. On returning to
the room she found her child in an in
sensible condition and the dog gnawing
at the unfortunate little creatures foot,
which it had already lacerated to hor-
rible extent. The child's foot was ter
ribly mangled and amputation was
thought to be necessary.
In Placerville, CAL, recently, q
young German named Charley Roth
committed dreadful suicide. Procur-
ING a giant-powder cartridge and two
feet of fuse. he retired to his sleeping
apartment. In minute or two there
was loud and sharp explosion, dis
tinctly heard several blocks away, and
when people from the street hurried
into the room they found him lying on
the pallet entirely headless, an i'm
mense cavern followed out of the up
per part of his chest, his teeth and
fragments of the skull scattered in
every direction, and the walls plastered
with bits of flesh and brains. From
the middle of the neck upward all was
blown to atoms, not a vestige of his
head or face remaining. The presump-
ton is that he lay down upon his pal
let, took the end of the cartridge into
his mouth, connected the fuse with the
cap, and Lit it, and deliberately awaited
the explosion. He had been suspected
of insanity for quite awhile.
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
Sanscrlpt's Rice.

When John Sanscript went down
town last Saturday, his wife asked him
to bring back with him small quanti-
ty of rice.
How much will you haveP'' asked
the grocer, when John called for the
succulent berry.
Well, / guess ten pounds II do, y
said John. ssrll get enough to last the
old woman several weeks" he added,
somewhat doubtingly.
The grocer hesitated, looking quizzi-
cal, and finally weighed out ten pounds
Of rice.
This is new kind of rice, Mr..
Sanscript,'' he said, as he put string
around the paper. 1T swells three
times as much as Louisiana rice, which
you had better tell your wife.
"All right" said John, as he turned
to greet . friend. Two minutes later
he had forgotten the reminder of the
careful grocer.
When he got home John found the
house deserted, but q humming fire was
roaring in the kitchen stove, and he
knew Mrs. s. had just stepped into the
next house to exchange gossip with Mrs.
Mulvaney.
"rn just put this rice to boil, =
soliloquized John. tn please the
dame to see me 30 thoughtful and may
be she'll get me 8 good supper =
An ordinary iron pot with several
pints Of water in it sat on the stove.
"Tll bet six cents Maria put thi6 very
- - = \
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
PERSONAL AND LITERARY.


in letting Stanley discover Interior
Africa the sum of 800, 600 has been ex-
pended.
Editor Samuel Bowles says: moth
ing is the matter with me but thirty
five years of hard work"
--Driesbach, the lion-tamer, died on
his Ohio farm, lately, poor but con-
tented man Of seventy years.
-Farjeon has made more notoriety
from marrying the daughter of Joe JEFF
ferson than from writing books.
Flood and O'Brien, of bonanza
fame, live in unpretentious style in San
Francisco. O'Brien is a bachelor.
in writing for Canadian papers you
have to put a u in your colour. They
don't mind little extra labour over
there, either.
President Hayes annual message con-
tanned $4,000 words. Itwas telegraphed
from Washington to Philadelphia and
other points in forty-five minutes.
Burton, the comedian, used to re-
fresh himself by going into compos-
ing-room and setting up stickfull of
matter, to remind him of early days.
Senator Hamlin is the oldest men,
Der of the United States Senate. He
is sixty-eight. The youngest member
is Senator Dorsey, of Arkansas. who is
thirty-five.
Representative Gilbert G.. Walker,
of the Richmond (Va.) District, an
nounces his intention to retire from pub
lie life at the close of his present term
in Congress.
The health of Elihu Burritt, of
New Britain, Conn, the "learned
blacksmith" is quite precarious, and
he has had several hemorrhages within
few days past.
President Porter and the Rev. DR..
Bacon are to have chairs made out of
the largest elm in New Haven, which
has just been cut down. 1t was nearly
1862 years old, and was planted by the
Rev. Joseph Noyes.
Matt Carpenter is the most brilliant
pleader now before the United States
Supreme Court, and is making there an
income of $4,000 to 100000 year.
Sidney Bartlett, of Boston, is at the
head of the Supreme Court Bar. Sem
ator Edmunds stands next. Ben But
Ter, David Dudley Field and Philip Phil
lips, of Alabama, are other prominent
practitioners. Chicago Tribune.
Benjamin Mott died recently, in
Alburg, VT. He was an ardent sympa-
thizer with the French Canadian rebels
in 1878, and when he left home to
join their forces, his wife, who knew
nothing of his intentions, bade him
bring home a pound of tea. At a fight
next day he was made prisoner by the
British, and shortly after condemned to
death, a sentence commuted to trans
portation to Van Dieman's Land. He
was released in 1916 and enabled to re-
turn home. Like dutiful husband, he
did not forget the tea, but, entering his
house after an eight years absence,
placed package on the table and said
to his wife, who had failed to recognize
him, Z" Mother, here's that tea"
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03

the idea of devoting menagerie money
to feminine education; "that was driv-
ing a lion in harness. He did that
really as an advertisement"
:. He was rather smart in advertis-
ing, was he not?' asked the reporter.
Yes, indeed; one of the cleverest in
the business. Years ago. when ex-
hibiting in New York, after a fight in
a cage with tiger, he was taken out
covered with blood, and apparently
dreadfully injured. There were shrieks
from the audience and much horror ex-
pressed, until physician announced
that his wounds were not dangerous.
For a fortnight after Driesbach ap-
peared with his arm in sling and his
face covered with strips of plaster; then
it was discovered that the wounds wlre
imaginary the gore had come from a
sponge filled with rose-pink, and the
whole performance was nothing but a
clever piece Of advertising. l saw him
seven years ago at White Plains. and
he was getting very old. l suppose his
hard life must have brought him down.
So he's dead, you tell me; well, well,
it's curtain down for us all, sometime"
.Htts6urgh Telegraph.
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
Herr Driesbach.

The death of Driesbach, the lion
tanner, at White Plains, Ohio, has pre-
viously been noted. His career was
somewhat of remarkable one, and,
though he retired from public notice
some fifteen years ago, he is well re-
membered by the middle-aged genera
ton. A reporter of the Telegraph this
morning had little chat with Yankee
Robinson about Driesbach. Robinson
is an old Snowman, has delighted the
public himself many time, and tells
many amusing incidents of his profess
sional life. He had not heard of the
old lion-tamer's death, but was glad to
talk about Driesbach. Said he: He
was little before my time, but l knew
him very well, and remember some of
his exploits. He was the second man
in the country to enter cage of lions,
and the very first to introduce beasts
in spectacular plays upon the stage.
He did it at Barnum's old Museum, in
New York. and other similar places" !"
"How did he get into the businessT'
asked the reporter.
"The usual way in that ine," said
Robinson. "He engaged to travel with
a menagerie when he was young fel-
low, probably as canvasman, or, per-
haps, to take care of beasts, and drifted
into it. He mover had any head for
business, and so never got anything
more out of showing except his salary,
but he saved enough to buy himself a
little home down in Ohio. and has been
keeping hotel there. Before he OBJ
<ss,r,1 II. <~,o.k rar.,fatsru ho x,on6 f0
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
Little Things.

Evar,, ono = Ill nc.
;s ,roY,a.nod ia us ;"a.,1 NJ" u".y ano
L 81 ora, ,rt tha aAo aa. ,nu1nueu .h y .nein
nv Nh tho Nh ,vho,a of n.s I;tn snd .na. ~ ~ mahe
oraat th;n~s orc fa,, nmd $50 snn hn., nUm sno
not even E.a,,ant a,"m.,, ~. ~ '"sH' -
stones on Efe's h;ahma,, = ,hn .,;
80 IS a,.;s.aS a., no M -
d,,t;as tLa ,;t.Io .ns ,... ~ ~, unu a.s.m ~
,,loas,'ros tha, a,,.,. ;,..a,.',., Wy st sns.
the fah,.;n IS e n,,r ,;,,.s W. .a, III az
exon;s;ta @ [ oon,m,;na1;nc NJ u J of anInrs tho tho
va,i;aJ go ,f ,,sa;e l a.
oriental heautv nf farous .assa,otaJ d
n.vamants ill., thot Of tso Smam;sh
hIbambra Vet how few ro,ndm,har
as tbnv aaze ON tben, thot tha;,. ha.,,'
ty ;s ent;raly Sar;vad frnn' ~ G,tla % ,,;o"o.
~ many co,ored woods rnarhIas % p.ou anS
nrec;ouS stones which y;owod sona
ratelv often nosSeSS No ro,,ari, abio
boa,,ir h,,t arti @ i@st;oalI,, on,,,h;maJ n,.,I.o
mn q most glorious Whole So in The
hands of the rra,t M.star A,t;st .I
=, u"n"' Vi oiio Sio"' "a''ei Arue'' al
things, even the smallest, are links III
the grand chain that shall compass His
glory-little threads in the pattern
that He has designed and given us to
work out in our daily lives, though
while working on it we only get
glimpses of its perfect symmetry and
beauty. Mattunt in parro is a fit de-
scription of much in real life. The small
pleasures often bringmore real JOY tous
than the greater ones. and the little sor-
rows and troubles of life are often the
hardest to bear. All of us know well
how little thing coming from loved
one is full of significance to us. Only
look from the eyes that we love, but
our hearts beat, our cheeks flush and
our eyes glow! A word, clasp of the
hand, what joy does it not give us! A
world of meaning lies beneath the COM
mon courtesles OF life. Mrs. Hemans
says: 1.-The road to home happiness
lies over little stepping-stones."
Strange, that once learning the weight of
significance these little things can and do
bear, we should ever again carelessly
fling them away or use them lightly:
Il is the little rift within the lutte
AZ. Ana eyar Win naa sisi Ine s;as us,c ,i"'
In soc;otv little th;nrs h.va ,,roh
moro ;ntluenca than ,va ara wont to inn
ar;ne Soj;tnda in /. crowd ;s tha uarst
of bannv voices and the meals of merry
lauohter. and vet have the conscious.
moss of being ont in the cold on tba
outside of II ali g;vas much tho same
sensation as a beggar feels when,
STANDING ont in the rain and cold from
amidst 6is woe and want he looks in
mon some cheerful. fire-liohted room.
where warmth and nlentS av;st For
there is starvation Of soni as we'll as of
hodv and we often misc onr onnortn-
n;t;as Of do;no GOOD in tb;s way
kindly word Viii cost nc notb;ng II
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
solicited by both belligerents; otherwise me-
diation becomes Intervention.

d,.t,o,, hso,,,,,ss ,,,.s-,.as.,a.s o' '''
a RrYap.nr a;sn4oh :. a. eo.h
nit ..vs reco,,.,,on. .,..a -.n,,., ~ az.
srrrepd.- ~ N,..h r,,. -o,,pr..a :. .,.,,-. -
Prot by the servians had been confirmed.
Irwasreported. ON the Goth ult from
const.n,,no,,,e maj ~. pr.s,.n. - -
proacbIp0 sonh,a and that an non-comhat. anti
hea h.o,, o-.,e.o, - ,.,,,o
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
Destitution and Suffering In New
YOrk-A Sad Case.

Perhaps never in the history Of New
York have the streets abounded with so
many homeless, ragged wretches who
appeal to the passer-by for little pit
tance wherewith to keep alive their
sinking frames and find shelter for
their aching, weary bodies, as there
are now. A touching case is that of
George Weizel, aged fifty-three, who
the other day accosted a reporter of the
Herald near the City Hall. The scant,
tattered rags that covered the shiver-
ing figure, and the torn shoes, split and
burst in many places, displaying the
sore, almost bleeding feet within, were
more eloquent in their appealing pathos
than the mans intelligent and refined
face, which spoke of better days. He
expressed himself in good English.
"I have never felt such degradation
in my life,'' he said, the tears coursing
down his wan face. "For the last eight
nights have been sleeping in FIVE
cent lodging house in Pearl street.
There are 200 people there every night,
of all degrees of wretchedness. They
all sleep on the bare boards, without
covers, pillows or sheets. have not
tasted food for the last twenty-eight
hOurs.n
"You seem to be an educated man?'
"Oh, am, and can speak French"
and he continued the conversation in
very good French. He had acquired
the language, he said, at Columbia
College, where he was educated, be-
tween 1840 and 1843. Old Prof.
Anthem, from whose class he gradu-
ated, was dead, and so were all his
classmates and fellow-students whom
he had sought. He had been school
teacher for many years, but since 1862
had been in the painting business in
Erie, Pa. Through unfortunate real
estate transactions he was ruined, the
Sheriff finally foreclosing a mortgage
upon his house. and thus rendering
him. his wife and two little girls house,
less. While his wife and his children
found shelter with her father, who has
little farm, he wandered to New York
in the hope of again improving his
fortunes. He had found it impossible
to procure any employment, although
he had walked from one end Of the city
to the other. Hitherto he had been too
proud to write to his father-in-law for
aid, for the latter was very poor man
himself, and now his only hope is to re-
turn to Erie, Pa, where he may atleast
be saved from utter starvation. He
has no longer strength to walk all the
way, as be first contemplated doing,
aud must depend upon charity to reach
his home. IN Z. Herald.
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03
A TERRIBLE STORY.

S-ckening Tale of the Condition OF
Affairs Prevalent in and Around
Plevna After Its Surrender to the
Observation-Disclosures Dogs and vul-
tures Feeding ON lead and WOund-
ed Soldiers.
A London telegram of the 26th to the
Chicago Inter- Ocean says:
Mr. >Macgahan, the correspondent of the
London Duly News at Plevna, sends terrible
story of the state of things prevailing in and
around the captured town. Before the recent
great storm Plevna was simply charnel-
house. Modern warfare has no parallel for II,
and its horrors can only be compared to those
which followed in the wake of Ghenghis Khan
or Timour, as their savage Tartar hordes
swept over and desolated Asia.
The famished dogs, of which there are al
ways large numbers in every Turkish town,
were feeding on the corpses Of the dead and
the bodies of the still living wounded. The
savage howls of the greedy brutes as they tore
the putrid flesh of the dead and crunched the
bones between their teeth, the cries and groans
of the wounded as they vainly struggled with
the dogs, might he heard for miles around,
and made the soul sick. Birds were picking
at the skulls, hopping from body to body, with
beaks and pumage besmear,d with human
blood, and screaming with fendish delight
Dogs fought among themselves, and bird
struggled with bird for the possession of a
morsel of human flesh, and the most inde-
scIibable horror prevailed.
In one house alone thirty-seven dead and
ffty-three wounded Turks were found, some
of the former In half-decomposed and putrid
state, and the wounded in condition that
can be more easily imagined than described
Some of the wounded were able to crawl
about, and clutched at odd morsels of food
that were found in the hands Of the dead,
devouring it with fcverish avidity; but thou
sands of them were utterly helpless, and
awaited death or succor with listless fatalism.
One thousand prisoners were huddled to-
gether on the bank of the Vid, and the hor-
roh of their position equaled those of the
great plague which ravaged Europe in the
fourteenth century. Living and dead were
piled together promiscuously in heaps like
wood, and carted away. There were only
three carts available for the work, and the
confusion was indescribable.
- 0sman's bravery is stsined and blackened
by his treatment of the Russian wounded that
fell into his hands. The Bucharest corre-
spondent of the Herald says that fearful ret
ribution has overtaken part of Osman's
Army, which was caught on the march by
that dreadful snowstorm. Fate seems to be
wreaking vengeance for the slaughter of the
Russian wounded, whose corpses lie unburied
on the hills around Plevna
The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-03

step over to the meat-store and buy a
| porter-house steak
As John approached the house on his
return With the meat, he began to sniff
the air.
"I smell something burning. Won
der If that blamed rice had water
enough in it."
He hurried into the kitchen, and
what sight was spread before his eyes?
The stove was covered with rice. The
sides of the pot were full of rice. Rice
was dripping down ON the floor. The
cat was sitting under the table licking
rice from its back. The maggoty
grains Of rice were chasing each other
over the pots rim, and for every one
that dropped into the stove, twenty
more seemed to rise up and take its
place.
Heavens! what a pickler' cried
John. "Tll have to use the other
pot
But the other pots capacity was not
enough. For every tinful of the rice
John dipped out Of one pot into the
other, two tinfuls of rice seemed to
jump to the surface. In less than
minute both pots were slipping streams
Of slippery grains upon the stove.
Course it, I'll fix it," wheezed the
desperate man, getting out the wash
boiler and slamming it on the stove.
Then he began to dip again. First
out of one pot, then out of the other,
into the wash-boiler. 1t was like bail
ing out the sea-the more rice he took
out of the pots the faster the internal
grains seemed to slide down ON the
stove.
"Shades of Demetrius, preserve mer'
This exclamation was drowned out
by the discovery that the boiler was
full and also running over. Then
Sanscript surrendered. He wiped his
moistened brow with the dish-towel,
and sat down to gather his breath.
Meanwhile the rice continued to swell
and make room for the lower grains,
until the stove and floor were covered
an inch thick. At last the fire in the
stove was extinguished, but still the
rice kept creeping and swelling. When
Mrs. Sanscript finished her chat with
Mrs. Mulvaney and returned to her
kitchen she found wretched man try
ing to lift from the stove wash-boiler
full of rice, which refused to quit boil
ing over. Poor John is suffering for
his ignorance. He has had nothing
since then to eat but rice, and Mrs.
Sanscript swears by her back hair that
she'll cook him nothing but rice till
the ten pounds are consumed, which,
the victim has calculated, will be some
time the last of next March. Cincin-
natl Enquirer.