davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1879-11-12


uttermost in filling the government con-
tract for three thousand blankets for the
army. These blankets are to weigh an
average of four pounds apiece. and. as a
rule, out of box of fifty of them there
won't be a variation of an ounce in their
weight. The lessees have orders for fan
mel aud cloth which will require weeks to
fill
To morrow evening the Bowers
Thompson company appears at Harpers
Theatre in the play-"Court and Stage. J"
1t was announced that The Huuchback"
would be given. but by special request the
change above named was made. The play
Court aud Stage is one in which the
stars and support appears to excellent
advantage, affording wide range for fine
acting In Chicago the company won
golden opinions for the admirable manner
in which Court and Stage" was present
ed and will no doubt have a hearty recep-
ton in Rock Island. Reserved seats are
now on sale at Wylie & McCune's book
store.
The new two cent postal card will be
ready for distribution to the post Offices in
few days. A large number of samples,
on different shades of paper and printed
with different coIored inks, have been sent
to Washington for the department to SCI
lect from. The color of the paper will
probably be different from the present
cards. The universal postal union, to
which the new cards can be sent, includes
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

'' To be goose,'' is always used in
modern paTlance in an uncOmpGment-
airy sense. Yet geese are redeeming
their reputation. They were worshiped
III Rome, because one gave an uneon-
scious and OppOrtune cackle; they are
now discovered by the modern artists TO
be very picturesque, pretty and amiable
birds. Not so much sillier than their
neighbors, either. However, they have
given the world a proveTb, and to "be
a goose - is to be condemned to the
lowest estate. 1t was perhaps a wild
goose to which 1fdIcOliO referred when
he talked so learnedly in prison with the
false SIR Topaz:
CIOt0R-What is the opinion of Pythagoras
concerning wild fowl?
MdLUoliO-That the soul of our grandam
might happily inhabit bird.
CIO1on = What thinkest though of his
opinion?
AfdgUohO-I think nobly of the soul, and no
way approve his opinion.
This idea of the transmigratiOn of the
soul is one which repays little study;
it was the beginning of Spiritualism,
Fmaterialism,, all the forms of that
vague effort which man has made
through all ages to penetrate the dense
curtain which we call death, which God
has let down between us and the knowl-
edge we so ardently crave. 1t was not
an unbeautiful belief, that the souls of
the dead came back to US, sometimes in
the form of a bird, singing beneath our
windows, feeding from our hands.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
The True Story of Robin Adair."

The hero of " Robin Adair :" was well
known in the London fashionable circles
of the last century by the sobriquet of
the Fortunate Irishman - but his par
entage and the exact place of his birth
are unknown. He was brought up as a
surgeon, but &c his detection in an early
amour drove him precipitately from
Dublin," to push his fortunes in Eng
land. Scarcely had he crossed the
Channel when the chain of lucky events
that ultimately led him to fame and for
tune commenced. Near HOlyhead,
perceiving a carriage overturned, he
ran to render assistance. The sole oc-
cupant of this vehicle was ''lady of
fashion, well known in polite circles,
who received Adair's attentions with
thanks; and, being lightly hurt and
hearing that he was a surgeon, requested
him to travel with her in her carriage to
London. On their arrival at the metrOp-
oils she presented him with fee of one
hundred guineas, and gave him a gen
eral invitation to her house. In after
life Adair used to say that it was not so
much the amount of this fee, but the
time it was given, that was of service to
to him, as he was then almost destitute.
But the invitation to her house was a
person who decided his fate in life.
This was Lady Caroline Keppel, daugh-
ter to the second Earl of Albemarle and
of Lady Anne Lenox daughter of the first
Duke of Richmond. Forgetting her high
lineage, Lady Caroline, at the first sight
of the Irish surgeon, fell desperately in
love with him, and her emotions were 50
sudden and so violent as to attract the
general attention of the company. Adair,
perceiving his advantage, lost no time in
pursuing it; while the Albemarle and
Richmond families were dismayed at the
prospect of such terrible nleSaILjG75ce.
Every means were tried to induce the
young lady to alter her mind, but with
out effect. Adair's biOgrapher tells us
that % amusements,' long journey, an
advantageous offer, and other common
modes of shaking off what was consid-
cred by the family as an improper
match, were already tried, but in vain !;
the health of Lady Caroline was evi-
IDENTIFY impaired, and the family at last
confessed, with a good sense that re-
fleets honor on their understanding as
well as their heart, that it was possible
to prevent, but never to dissolve an at
tachment; and that marriage was the
honorable, and indeed the only alterna-
tive that could secure her happiness and
life.'' When Lady Caroline was taken
by her friends from London to Bath,
that she might be separated from her
lover, she wrote, it is said, the song of
g Robin Adair, - and set it to plaintive
Irish tune that she had heard him sing.
Whether written by Lady Caroline or
not, the song is simply expressive of her
feelings at the time, and as it completely
cOrrObOrates the circumstances just re-
lated, which were the town talk of the
period, though now little more than fam
ily tradition, there can be no doubt that
they were the origin of the song
NeiOcGStLe (E19g.) Coura1st.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
The Gambling Mania.

The New York Times says: The
number of people who expect to get rich
by investing a few dollars in lottery
tickets, or in the Wall Street gambling
dens, seems to increase daily. The over
whelming probability against aEy given
tickets drawing a prize in a lottery
ought to deter even the most sangUine
from that form of risk, but experience
proves that probabilities do not enter
into the calculations of the buyer Of lot
tery tickets; were the chances ten times
as unfavorable, the number of buyers
would be nearly as great. The blind,
unreasoning hope of a stroke of luck is
an amply sufficient inducement. Over
and above this consideration, there is
the fact that most lotteries are rank
swindles. Only very silly people are
taken in by the ostentatious announce
ment that this or that lottery is under
the auspices of a State Government,
or is managed by certain " eminent and
well known gentlemen whose names
are constantly paraded in advertise
ments. The facts are that in some
States lotteries are licensed by the State
Government, but the State in nowise
guarantees their honesty or fair deal
ing; as to the - eminent gen
tlemen,' they commonly have
nothing TO do with the lottery save To
loan it their names, which is a purely
financial transaction. One of these
swindling concerns has just been exposed
by a suit at law in Louisville, and if was
clearly shown that the company was or
( ganized and carried on as a scheme of
/ wholesale robbery. The risks in Wall
/ Street speculation are greater yet. Let
tiers frequently come to this office from
distant points, asking if certain Wall
/ Street firms who solicit the faYors of
small country investors are trustworthy.
| These firms scatter their enticingly
/ worded circulars over the whole country
through the mails, and there IS reason
to believe that they reap a considerable
harvest The honesty of these persons
need not be called in question. 1t is
sufficient to say to all inquirers that even
the shrewdest of the outside Wall
Street spectators, living here in the city
and constantly watching with keen and
intelligent eve the fluctuations of stocks,
generally retire from their venture seri-
ously out of pocket. Whathas the rural
investor to hope for when he intrusts
his money to persons he knows nothing
about. 10 be put into a pool - where
the chances are twenty TO one that i
viii be lost2
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
How Thick is a Mani

How thick is a man? Who will believe
that n man, 20 years old and 115 pounds
in weight, crawled through a hole in
stone wall by II inches in size, % feet
from the ground, and escaped down a
rope? These were the exact circum-
stances under which Charles Crayton,
sentenced on Friday last to one years
imprisonment and 800 fine and costs
on two indictments for assault and bat
terry, escaped from the Venango County
Jail at y O'Clock Monday night. Cray
ton, together with John Murray, con-
victed of the same Offense and sentenced
at the same time, was confined in the
northwest corner cell, second tier, the
one farthest removed from the apart
ments of the Sheriff Using two case
knives, which had been converted into
saws, he first cut through the one-and-
a-half inch upright iron bar dividing the
window, which is six inches wide. He
then, with cold-chisel, cut into the
wall, which is composed of soft free
stone, until he had freed both ends of a
fiat crossbar of half-inch iron, through
a hole in which the upright was passed.
just below the next crOssbar above he
cut into the upright to depth of three
siXteenths of an inch, and, inserting one
end of a long bed-slat, he and
his partner, by applying their
united strength to the slat, broke
off the bar where the nick had been
made. This left space of six inches
wide and II inches high. Previously he
and his partner had torn their blanket
into narrow strips and plated quite
neat rope therefrom. Securing the rope
to what was left of the upright rod, he
thoroughly soaped the sides of the open
ing, soaped his own naked body and
wriggled through this small hole, climbed
down the rope, dressed himself after his
clothes were thrown down by his accom-
plice and escaped through a storm of
rain raging at the time. His companion,
being of larger frame, did not attempt
the hopeless task of getting through the
window, but went quietly to sleep.
There were found in the cell two knives,
one cold-chisel, one pening-hammer and
two bags, converted into sacks from the
sleeves of a shirt, connected by a cord of
sufficient length to bring them, if hung
over his shoulders, down to his hips, and
which may have been used to protect
his sides as he edged his way through
the aperture, although this is scarcely
probable These were filed with soft
bread. Underneath the window were
picked up piece of meat, wrapped in
scrap of newspaper, an old clay pipe,
and a string of about % feet in length,
composed parly of strips from his shirt,
and partly of hempen cord.-OH CITY
Derrick
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
PITH AND POINT.

Too much of a good thing, as the
kitten said when it fell into milk pail.
Baltimore Ne30S.
WE have received a spiritual dispatch
from Diogenes. " Dear, dear" he says,
that lantern. .''-BSlfaIO Express.
THE Japanese little realize what q ter
rible intiiction they are bringing on
themselves. They have begun to inn
port pianos from Syrdcstse
Herald.
IT Is said that wasps and hornets shed
their stingers in September, and can be
hauled around and wrestled with the
same as house-flies. This is thrown out
as a suggestion to small boys.-DetT0it
Free Press.
AFTER you've tried it a few times
You'll find out that it isn't judicious to
give the man across the table the point
of an excruciatingly funny story just rs
he has filed his mouth with coffee
Boston Post.
- Now, Mr.. Robinson" said a fair
young city visitor to the kind-hearted
farmer, "won't you show us your water
melon orchard?'' 'I haven't n water
melon tree on the place this year,
iist ttlll IlSN WbfO tll WtHitE-kll4ttls
and his questiOner wondered why he
smiled so pleasantly as he answered her.
1" o, YOUTH, with smooth, sand -papered pate
The night is dark, the hour is late,
Why do you hnger on my gate?"
" stay to help your daughter hold
This gate upon its hinges old;
Go in, old man, you're catching cofdP'
The old man sought his little bed
And on il laid his patient head;
afral- my 70 Il safn "a .zaSI
Cincinnati star
90 BOUGHT me a new paIr of shoes to-
day. put them on and they didn't
hurt me. l walked about in the store
with them, and they didn't hurt me- l
walked clean out to the baseball park
and they didn't hurt, and they don't
hurt now. L puzzled myself to know
the reason of this phenomenon. 1t has
Just occurred to me- What is it?''
asked the other. "They We're made
for another fellow. .''-LouiSUilIe Courier
Journal.
"HAvE you ever read any of Jules
Verne's novels?' inquired gentleman
of a young lady graduate who had just
returned home. "Ohi yes," simpered
she; "I've read his Around the
World and one or two others. They
are pretty good; but they can't begin to
compete with his first novel, Pickwick
Papers, - This ''raiscd the Dickens"
so to speak, and young lady wondered
why every body looked so smiling and
pleased HdcbenSGcb Republican.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
Late Views Of the Age OF the World.

Biologists, astronomers, and physi-
cists alike have hitherto been baffied in
their attempts to set up any satisfactory
kind of chrOnOmeter which will approx
imately measure geological time, and
thus give us some clew to the antiquity
of our globe. 1t is therefore worth
noting that Mr.. Mellard Reade, of
Liverpool, has lately contributed to the
Royal Society very suggestive paper,
in which he endeavOrs to grapple with
the question by employing the limestone
rocks of the earth's crust as an index to
geological time. LimestOnes have been
in course of formation from the earliest
known geological periods, but it would
appear that the later found strata are
more calcareOus than the earlier, and that
there has been a gradually progressive
increase OF calcareOuS matter. The very
extensive deposition of carbonate of
lime over wide areas of the ocean bot
tom at the present day is sufficiently at
tested by the recent soundings of the
Challenger. According to the authors
estimate, the sedimentary crust of the
earth is at least one mile in average actual
thickness, of which probably one-thenth
consists of calcareOus matter. In seek
ing the origin of this calcareous matter,
it is assumed that the primitive rocks of
the original crust were of the nature of
granite or basaltic rocks. By the
disintegration of such rocks, cal
careOus and other sedimentary
deposits have been formed. The
amount of lime salts in water which
drain districts made up of GRANTEES and
basalts is found, by a comparison of
analyses, to be on an average about 3.73
parts in 100, 600 parts of water. 1t is
further assumed that the eXcessed areas
of igneOus rocks, taking an average
throughout all geological time, will bear
to the exposures of sedimentary rocks a
ratio of about one to nine. From these
and other data, Mr.. Reade concludes
that the elimination of the calcareOus
matter now found in all the sedimentary
strata must have occupied at least 600,-
900, 900 of years. This, therefore, rep
resents the minimum age of the world
| The author infers that the formation of
| the Laurentian, Cambrian, and Silurian
strata must have occupied about 2O0,-
000,000 of years; the Old Red Sand
| stone, the CarbOniferous, and the PoilIi-
| litic systems, another 200, 900, 900; and
all the other strata, the remaining 200,-
| 100000. Mr.. Reade is, therefore, led
to believe that geological time has been
enormously in excess of the limits urged
by certain physicists; that it has been
ample to allow for all the changes which,
on the hypothesis of evolution, have oc-
CURED in the organic world.-LOndOn
| Eng } AcGdenly.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
How GrasshOppers are Conquered in
the Sierra Valley.

During the past two seasons Sierra
Valley has been subjected to the devas
tatiOns of the Unsuitable grasshoppere
The farmers, however, have not been
discouraged, but have maintained their
unequal fight against the pests, unwil-
ling to lose land so productive and val
liable as long as there was the slightest
hope for deliverance. A new ally has
come to the farmers assistance in the
shape of a white worm. Millions of
little eggs are laid alongside the grass
hOppers' eggs, and the worms coming
out first proceed to feast upon the unin-
cubated egg of the grasshOpper. If
any of the hoppers survive the attack
of the worms, a little red bug darts into
the fray and proceeds to business at
once. The first active work he does is
to eat the grasshopper's head off. He
quietly fastens himself behind the grass
hOpper's ear and burrows into his brain,
which he devOurs in few hours, leav-
ing the grasshOpper physically and men
tally in a bad fix. The hopper does not
always die, but his mental faculties be-
ing affected, he loses his fine sense of
discrimination, and is just as liable to
eat up one of his numerous relatives or
patch of weeds as to banquet upon the
farmers wheat, and finally he perishes
miserably. The red bug meanwhile
| dies in the grasshopper's head for want
of nourishment, and the white worm,
having accomplished its mission on
earth, winds up its business affairs and
is gathered to its fathers, while the hi
larious farmer, happily rid of the multi
farious inseetiverOus pests, takes down
| his fiddle and his bow, and dashes off a
/ familiar hoe-down on his back stoop,
and the hired help "pat juba - while
/ the children dance merrily until the
moon rises in the eastern sky, and al
hands go to bed.-V5rgi1aiG City (NeU.
] Chronicle
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

A FORTUNE is waiting for the man
who will invent some simple fixture TO
prevent persons from rolling out from
the top beTths in sleeping-cars. Acct
dents of this kind often happen, but are
never reported. Within three weeks
man has died from the effects of a fall
in car, and a child had narrow es-
cape from a similar fate on the same
line, tumbling on its head, but sustain
ing no serious injury. If the statistics
on this point could be collected they
Monld be alarming
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

PEACH CULTURE.-DiscussiO on
peach culture in Michigan, as reported
in the Michigan Farmer, furnish some
good suggestions, which may prove use
ful to beginners. A distinction was
made between the treatment of young
trees and larger ones which are bearing
full crops. In order to harden or ripen
the shoots of young and rapidly growing
trees, the cultivation of the soil, 50 i'm
pOrtant during the early part of the sea-
son, should cease in August. Otherwise
they would be likely to keep on growing
till frost, and would be left in a green
and succulent condition, untitled to
withstand the cold of winter. Bearing
trees, on the contrary, should be cUlti-
waited till the fruit is about to ripen, as
the crop continues to consume the
strength of the tree after the cessation
of the growth of the shoots. Some of
the cultivators present stated that they
found it important TO check the growth
of young trees as autumn approaches by
pinching in, and one of them used a
pair of shears for this purpose. In APP
plying all directions of this sort, the
Judgment must be used, for a difference
in soil and treatment would make a diff
ference in the vigOr of the trees and in
the time that growth ceases.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S S
DAUGHTER.

The light house keepers daughter;
Her hair is golden as the sand;
Her eyes as blue as summer seas
That melt into the land.
Her brow and neck are whittier
Than sea foam flying on the wind;
Her mouth is rosy as the shells
That strcw the coast Of Ind.
The winds caress her ringlets,
That down her neck in clusters stray,
And frothy waves flow tenderly
About her feet, in play.
love this simple maiden;
She grows upon me more and more,
And-aslS the moon who twas that kissed,
Last night, upon the shore.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02
/. TIE PENNYYE MEANT TO GrE."
There's a funny tale of a stiagy man,
Who was none too good, but might have
been worse

There's a funny tale of a stingy man,
Who was none too good. but might have
been worse,
Who went TO his church on Sunday night,
And carried along his well filed purse
When the sexton came with his begging plate,
The church was but dim with the candles
The stinfsy man fumbIed eli througli his purse,
And chose a coin by touch and not sight.
It's an odd thing now that guineas should be
So like unto pennies in shape andSlzes
am give a penny, !" the stfngy man said,
The poor must not gifts OF pennies
despise."
The penny fell down with a clatter and rfngi
And back in his seat leaned the stingy man.
" The world Is fun of the poor" he thought
"I can't help them ALL give what cam
Hal hal how the sexton smiled, to be sure,
To see the gold guinea fail into his PLATED
Hal Hai how the stingy mans heart was
Perceiving his blunder, but just too latei
" No matter" he said, " in the Lords account
That guinea of gold Is set down to me.
They lend to Him who give to the poor;
II viii not 50 bad an investment be-"
"Na, ma mon," the chuclling sexton cried
out;
" The Lord is ma cheated-He lCens thee well
He knew il was only by accident
That out o. thy fingers the guinea fell
. He keeps an account, no doubt, for the pufr I;
But in that account He'll set down to thee
Ma mair o. that golden guinea, my mon,
Than the one bare penny ye meant TO gre"
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

EDUCATING HORSES.-I7E-DOOT and
ont says: We once saw an aged lady
drive high spirited horse attached to a
carriage down a steep hill, with no hold
back straps upon the harness, and she
assured us that there was no danger, for
her son accustomed his horses to all
kinds of usage and sights that common
ly drive the animal into a frenzy of fear
and excitement If a colt is never al
lowed to get an advantage, it will never
know that it possesses a power that man
can not control; and if made familiar
with strange objects, it will not be skit-
tish and nervous. If a horse is made ac-
customed from his early days to have OBJ
iects hit him on the heels, back and hips,
he will pay no attention to the giving
out of harness or Of a wagon running
against him at an unexpected moment.
A gun can be fired from the back of a
horse, an umbrella held over his head
/ a buffalo robe thrown over his neck, q
railroad engine pass close by, his heels
/ bumped with sticks, and the animal take
/ it all as a natural condition Of things, i
only taught by careful management tina
{ he viii not be injured thereby.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

VALUE OF WHEY.-In the English
cheese-factory management, the value
of the whey for feeding to young store
pigs is estimated at SI5 per COW anuu-
alfy.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

LIMA BEANs.-A correspondent says F.:
Allow only three or four Lima-bean
vines to a hill, and when four feet high
pinch them off and never permit them
to grow longer than that; this will cause
the growth of the lateral branches and
double the number of pods.
The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-02

AT Rhode, in Germany, during a re-
cent storm, Herr Cordes, a Roman
Catholic priest, hadjust finished hearing
a confession when a flash of lightning
struck the church, entered the confess
sional and instantly killed the priest.