davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27

TELEaRAPH1o DIsEAsE.-Shoem
rooms and in bent and constrained 20.
sitions are subject to consumption; the
students having too much hrain-wo1k
and too little outdoor exercise, tends
to Dyspepsia; the farmers wife, with
farm cares added to her family cares,
tends-more than any other class of per.
sons-to insanity; the clergyman even
has given his ministerial name to 4
throat-ail, disease that il caused BY
bad elocution, undue exposure after
speaking, and especially to spiritual.
parochial and personal anneties. These
are among the old-fashioned diseases.
New employments bring new ailments,
and among these is @the telegraphic dis
ease." OF course, it is only small
percentage of persons that show the
morbid tendency of any employment.
High health, based on vigorous consti.
tuition, will, with q modicum of care,
stand very great amount of impru-
dence and exposure. The tele-
graphic disease comes mainly to
females of nervous organic.
ation-the very class that is most
apt in telegraphy. The cause Of the
disease is close. unvarying attention.
There is no room for automatic work.
This acts steadily on . single part OF
the brain, affects it injuriously, and
causes palpitations, vertigo, wakeful-
ness, weakness of sight, and, later, de-
preston, loss of memory, etc. There
are two courses open to persons en-
ployed at telegraphy who find them-
selves thus affected. The first is to
abandon the business. No present ad.
vantage can compensate for nervous
disease. The second is to use their
leisure hours SO as to give complete
rest to the exhausted portion of tho
brain. Company, amusement and on
tertaining books are specially healthful
in this disease. The patient should
also retire early, 80 as, if possible, to
secure an abundance Of sleep. As an
aid against wakefulness, divert the
blood from the head to the feet, by
heating the feet in hot water Just before
retiring. Good, nourishing, easily
digested food is also necessary, with
oatmeal and unbolted wheat-meal Is
part of the daily diet. Strong tea or
coffee should not be used.
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
THE IRON PEN.

Made from fetter of Downward, the Pri
0ner of Chillon; the Handle of Wood fum til
Frigate Constitution and bound witt Oh
clet Of Gold, inset with three precious stone
from Siberia, Ceylon and Maine.]
thought this pen would arise
From the casket where it lies ~
OF itself would arise, and write
MY thanks and my surprise.
When you gave it me under the pines,
dreamed these gems from the mines
or Siberia, Ceylon, and Maine
Would glimmer as thoughts in the lines;
That this iron link from the chain
OF Downward might retain
Some verse of Poet who sang
OF the prisoner and his pen;
That this wood from the frigato's must
Might write me rhyme at last,
As it used to write on the sky
The song Of the sea and blast.
But motionless as wait,
Like Bishop lying in state
Lies the Pen, with its inter of God,
And Its jewels inviolate.
Then must l speak, and say
That the light of that summer day
In the garden under the pines
Shall not fade and pass away
! shall see you standing there,
Caressed by the fragrant air,
With the shadow on your face
And the sunshine on your hair.
shall hear the sweet low tone
OF voice before unknown,
Saying, "This Is from me to you
From me, and to you alone"
And in words not idle and vain
l shall answer, and thank you again
For the gift, and the grace Of the gift,
0 beautiful Helen of Maine!
And forever this gift will be
AS blessing from you to mo,
As drop of the dew of your youth
On the leaves of an aged tree.
II. " Longtellow IN Ha,per's for December.
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
But the scene Il CHANGING now,
Suckers and BADGERS.

The Madison (Wis) Journal once
printed an account of the origin of the
great seal of the State of Wisconsin,
and, in 80 doing, throws considerable
light upon the causes that led to tho
adoption of the term "Suckers" for
the people of Illinois, and that of
BADGERS for the inhabitants Of Wiz
consin. In 1885, before the present
State of Wisconsin was organized - .
Territory, the principal part of the
population was confined to the military
forts. missionary and trading stations,
and the lead mines in the southwest
portion of the Territory. The charao-
teristic terms Badger" and Sucker
arose in the lead region, according to
the historian in the Journal. The
miners were of two erades-those who
stayed the year round at the @diggin's
and those people who came up from
Illinois only to operate during the
summer season. The permanent resi-
dents, having but little time or mate
rial to construct regular huts, were
accustomed to burroW into hillsides
semi-subterranean cells large enough
for bunking and cooking purposes.
This peculiar mode of life, being SINH
Lar to that of the badger-an animal
then plentiful in the lead regions
suggested the term of "badger-holes,"
as applied both to the cave-ike homes
and the sunken shafts OF the resident
miners, while the latter themselves
were termed Badgers" On the other
hand, the nomadic gentlemen who came
up in the spring and returned in the
fallfrom the great prairie State were
called Suckers" as their habits of
coming and going were similar to
those of that fish. Being in the diggings
but q short season, they did not
sink regular shafts and burrow under
the earth along the mineral veins like
the Badger, but opened large quarry
pits, seeking for foat-ore and such a.
could be obtained along the surface,
The @itinerants were called Suckers
because of the similarity Of their mi
gratory habits to those of the catasto-
mas, and to distinguish them from the
resident 'Badgers;' while the open
pits, scooped out by the former, wero
designated Sucker-holes.' The lead
mine region in Southwestern Wiscon-
sin is still plentitully besprinkled with
these 'Sucker-holes,' exhausted and
abandoned by the early visitors from
over the Illinois border. The distin.
gushing appellations, Badger and
Sucker became, as an obvious &C.
quence, characteristic terms applied to
the entire people of the States of Wis
consin and Illinois, respectively, and
10 the States themselves"
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
Death by MeteOrS.

Mr.. Proctor wrote: IT have re-
ceived several inquiries, some of them
rather anxious inquiries, respecting the
dangers to be feared from meteoric
downfall. If we knew the aver
age number of meteoric masses
which break their way through the
earth's armor-that is, through the
frmament,' expanse of ether, pure
transparent elemental ART would be
very easy to calculate the exact chance
of death by meteorio downfall. As
matter of fact, we have no satisfactory
evidence on this point, because most of
the meteorites which fall upon the
earth escape attention. I suppose,
however, that if Prof. Newton, of Yale
College, rightly assumes the number
OF falling stars of all orders to be 4OO,-
100000 yearly, we may fairly assume
that about 1000 meteorites fall annu-
ally upon the earth's surface. This
allows one meteorite for 100000 falling
stars. New let us take the total num-
Der of human beings at any one
time on the earth as 1,5OO,O00,OOO.
Assume the risk of persons within
doors equal to that of persons in the
open air-fcr a meteorite falling on a
house would not be seriously inter-
rupted in its course, since it would
travel with a velocity of several miles
per second. Again, remembering that
the meteors do not fall vertically, nor,
even if they did, do men always stand
upright, we must take larger surface
for each person than that which he pre-
sents as seen from above when standing.
We may take half q square yard for an
adult, and perhaps quarter of square
yard for the average human being. Now,
the earth's surface contains about 2OO,-
100000 square miles, each containing
about 100000 square yards-in all
2,4O0, 0OO, OOO,O 100000 quarter square
yards-whereas the human race occupies
only 1900, 0O0,O 600 quarter square yards.
Thus the chance Of a single meteorite
striking some one is as fifteen in a.
600, 900, or as one in 100000; and If
400 meteorites fall per annum, the
chance of one death occurring in any
given year is about 1-4OOth. On tho
average one death by q meteor stroke
might be expected to occur in 400
years. If it is true, as I have recently
seen stated, that nine such deaths have
occurred in the last 900 years, it would
appear probable that 5000 meteorites,
instead of 1000. annually reach the
earth"
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
ersed, the supposed brigand again asked.

ersed, the supposed brigand again asked.
stranger, do you fumigate9''' .zsss,.-
IF you mean smoke, sir, do not"
"Do you object, stranger, to our fuml-
eating"
= 1No, sar." And they proceeded to
smoke. :5l f.
At the dining-room, when our friend
came to tender his money, the proprietor
said, ''Your bills paid
:'Wlo paid it2' ,sss.~~~
"That man"-pointing to the supposed
highwayman, who on being asked If he
had not made mistake, replied, SHOT
at all. You see, when we saw that you
didn't irrigate and didn't tumigate we
knew you was aparson. And your bills
are all right as long as you travel with
this crowd. We've got respect tor the
,Church-you bet!" It was no highway
man, but respectable resident Of Den
vera. A. HAYES, JR., in Harper's
Magazine for March,
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
Washington Fifty Years Ago.

e1Ooo uaye IL WIS no easy TASK 10
reach Washington from distant parts of
the country, and the members Of Con-
gTess from those localities used often to
leave their homes three or four weeks
before the opening of a session. A few
performed the journey in their own car
r1ages, and others rode saddle horses,
which they retained for their own use
during the session and then sold. But
large majority of tho Senators, Repre-
sentatlves, correspondents and claim
ants who went to Washington travelled
in the stage-coaches, and there was al
ways great demand for seats Just be-
fore the commencement of q session, on
all the lines which centered at the
capital.
Washington had then been called by
an observant foreigner "the CITY of
magnificent distances" an appellation
which was well merited. There was q
group OF small, shabby houses around
the navy yard and the marine barracks;
another cluster ON the river bank Just
above the arsenal, which was to have
been the business center Of the metr6p-
Oils; and Pennsylvania avenue from
the Capitol to Georgetown, with the
streets Immediately adjacent, was lined
with houses, many of them with shops
on the ground docr. The Executive
Departments were located in four brick
edifices on the corners of the square in
the center Of which was the White
House. +. '''' - = - '.' E"
Pennsylvania avenue the Appian
Way OF our repubGc-was graded while
Jefferson was President, at q cost of
$4,000; he personally superintended
the planting of four rows of Lombardy
poplars along that portion of it between
the Capitol and the White House
row along each curb-stone, and two
equi.aistant rows in the roadway; which
was thus divided into three parts, like
Unter der Linden, at Berlin. In the:
winter and spring the driveway would
be full of mud holes, some Of them axle
deep, and some Of the 'cross-streets
would be almost impassable' beds
of red clay worked by passing
horses and wheels! into 8 q thick
mortar. - On one occasion when
Mr.. Webster and friend undertook to
go to Georgetown in, . haekney.coach
to attend q dinner party, the vehicle
got stuck, in a'mud-hole, and the driver
had to carry his passengers, one At
time, to the Sidewalk, where they stood
until the empty carriage could be pulled
out. Mr.. Webster, in narrating this in
cident, years afterward, used 10 laugh
over his fears that his bearer would fall
beneath. his weight and ruin his dress
suit. John Randolph used to call Penn
sylvania avenue the great Serbonian
bog" and descant on the dangers of
trip over it, to Or from the Union Hotel
at Georgetown. IN the large stage with
seats on the top, called the . Royal
GEORGE =. ,..e.3 -
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
A Puzzled ParsOn.

An old gentleman from the East, of a
clerical aspect, took the stage from Den
yer south in ante railroad days. The
journey was not altogether safe one, and
he was not treasured by the sight of a
number of rifles deposited in the coach,
and nervously asked what they were.
Perhaps you will find out before you
git to the Divide" was the cheering re-
ply. e.
Among the passengers was q particu-
larry ut seemed to him) fierce-look1ng
man, girded with belt full Of reyolvers
and cartridges, and clearly road agent
or assassin. Some miles out, this per
son, taking out large flask, asked,
STRANGER, do you irrigate2''
81 IF you mean drink, sir, I do not
& DO. you object, Stranger, to our irrigat-
ingi"
mo, Sir, 2 and they drank accordinRly.
After s.further distance had been faY-
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
Dakota Wheat Fields.

OF the tour hundred million bushels of
wheat produced in the United States, by
far the largest portion is sown in the fall,
and is called winter grain. The varieties
are conditioned by soil and climate, the
latitude of Milwaukee marking in gener-
| al the northern boundary of winter wheat.
The area suited for the production of
wheat sown in the spring hitherto has
been of limited extent, hut there is an
undeveloped section of the country 80
wide and far-rcaching that It may be re-
garded as the great summer wheat field
of the future. Its capabilities are so vast,
and insurance of production 40 certain,
| that the millions of the Old World NAV
ever think of it as land that will SUP
ply them with bread.
A traveller making the tour of the St.
Lawrence and its connecting chain of
Lakes: landing at Duluth, and Journey
ing west over the Nothern Pacific Rail-
road two hundred miles, beyond the for
est region of the Upper. Mississippi, will
find himself on the eastern edge of this
bread land of the future-the valley of
the Red River, a stream flowing north
ward to Lake Winnipeg. and thence to
Hudson Bay. 40
In August, 1859, the writer of this ar
ticle rode over this former hunting
ground of the Sioux, where through b.
gone ages they chased the buffalo and
fought the Chippewas. The valley Of
the Red river was not vast expanse. It
was reach; Of prairie unbroken by the
pillow. Our own voices or the song of the
meadow-lark. plover and curlew, and
other fowl, alone broke the solemn and
oppressive stiffness of the solitude. At
Georgetown the Hudson Bay Company
had reared house, and two or three set
tiers had set up their cabins upon the
banks of the river. We encountered q
man whose birth. place was in Virginia,
who had been a frontiersman in Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, vidette
of CIVILIZATION.
"Have you any nei ghbors9' We asked.
Y"Oh yes; three families have just set
tied about twelve miles from here. They
are getting pretty thick, and I shall have
to move on, reckon
They have been getting thicker since,
the locomotive is speeding its way across
the valley, on the Missouri, and beyond
to the Yellowstone; 1t is flying down the
valley to Winnipeg, and soon it will
thunder along the Saskatchewan, fa-
away in the distant .Northland.' Farm
houses dot the landscape; towns have
sprung up; the traveller beholds piles of
lumber. long lines of farm wagons,
.pioughs, seeders, haI1ows, reapers, thresh-
ers, and farm engines at every. railroad
station. Marvellous the change in 1869
d furrowlsss plain; 1872 harvest of
eight million bushels Of grain-ere long
to be eighty million!-O. G. Coffin IN
Harper NSqdsine. g. !.
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
AEA.WAVES.
II oousu DORA.

LIT, OF grsy mist, from tho ses,
Hide not ono bright vave from ma
6esl 'Hs lifting, and the sun
TIPS with glory ev,ry one.
Watch each tiny wavelet play
Up the sand, then bsck-away.
Ripping mp the pebbly shore,
Each the other lsppina.o'er;
FroHckng In WAnton glee,
Children offhe grand old Sea.
= 6es-Wsves, - 70 come and 90.
In your ceaseless ebb and dow,
Lave my earth tired, weary feet:
Ease their burning, cool their heat.
Dash your white spray on my brow,
It rests my throbbing temples 80.
Cool, bright ses-waves, and 70 bear
On your placid bosoms there
Whits-winged ships from many cline,
,Gainst the fair Ky there outlined.
And meath your cool Weves 90 deep,
Lazy sunfish bask and sleep;
In your bright reflection there
We've read the mermaids dress thsir haiA
But tho scene Il CHANGING now,
And each vessel dips her PROV
Deep In waves a. black a night
See them dashing in their might
The wind blows free, and Wild, and stron&,
The mad waves wildly dash along.
They snsA aud hiss fore hidden shoa1,
Whirl and toss, then onward roll.
Like fierce eourser bound for homa,
Up the red sands they lesping come;
Then. trailing back, they leave line
OF golden shells and green sea vinea.
80, o bright wsvesl let me stand,
Bee you ripple up the sand.
Watch you with tho moonbesns Play
Hide and Geek, then dart away.
And you're beautiful, but when
Darkness gathers DER tho main,
And your pillows tower on high
TIL they seem to roach tho sky,
You are grand, sublime to me,
Wild, majestic, dear old sea.
ADIa0N OF
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
The international Weather Service.

Enc 10CefnatlOn2l weather Service
p The proposition for such service
was made at tho International Meteoro-
logical Congress, held in Vienna in
1873, and since that time, through the
cooperation of scientific men and the
chiefs of the Meteorological Weather
Bureaus of different countries, records
of uniform observations taken daily and
simultaneously with those taken over
the United States and the adjacent
islands have been exchanged.
The main object of this vast scientific
enterprise is to study the atmosphere
as unit. 1The atmospheric ocean must
be viewed by every thinking mind as q
whole, whose complex parts aot inter-
dependently, as the various parts of q
steam engine, yet all constituting one
grand mechanism" The atmosphere,
unlike the ocean, is individual and I'M
interrupted; and every change of state,
in any part of its expanse, sends forth a
pulsation of energy which is speedily
felt far and wide." In 1873 the Signal
Office at Washington began the regular
publication of a daily international
weather map, charted daily-an enter
prise without precedent in history.
AS these charts in successive order are
spread out day after day, the investiga-
tor has before him vivid panorama of
the physical forces in pictured action,
so that he can readily trace their mutual
dependenceand interaction in the normal
working of the atmospheric machinery.
Mr.. Maury says:
'"The birth, life and death of storms;
their translations from continent to
continent, with the times and directions
they take in such transits; the ther-
mometric, barrie and wind conditions
around the globe at various parallels;
the distribution and amount of rain
fall and snowfall; the laws of our great
"hot waves" and "cold waves" with
many other data for settling questions
of climatology and possibly of fore.
casting in some degree the character
of coming seasons-are some of the
practical problems of every days life
which the international charts and bull
letins will serve to simplify or solve.
Among these none, perhaps, call for an
earlier and exacter solution than the
translation of cyclones from the Asiatic
waters over the North Pacific ocean
to the Pacific slope of the United States,
and the kindred question of the trans
atlantic passage Of American storms to
Western Europe. ." The ocean
is pre- eminently the birthplace and
habitat of storms. Thence when fully
formed and densely stored with aqueous
vapor-the fuel of the cyclonic engine
they assail the land-masses of the
earth, and traversing them, unless in
| tra'asita1 they perish for want of water,
return to their native element.
The golden key to our CONT
mental meteorology is the adequate
knowledge of the barometric depres
sion and associate waves of high press
ure which roll over the continent from
the westward, and in their progress
dominate the weather to the north of
the thirty fifth parallel" Popular Sci.
ence Monthly.
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27

The formal ballot was then taken, with the
following result:
Cincinnati a, Chicago 8, St. Louis 4, Wash
ington 1, blank 1; total 49,
Twenty votes being necessary for CHOICE
Cincinnati was selected. Mr.. Cloudy, of 1lli-
noise, moved that the selection of Cincinnati
be made unanimous. Agreed to.
Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-02-27
upon which the town j. built was originally
purchased. and their promptness in moving in
the matter is worthy Of all credit.

upon which the town j. built was originally
purchased. and their promptness in moving In
the matter Is worthy Of all credit.
NEWS FROM BIsMARcK. - -
I A telegram from Bismarck OF Feb. %.
states that travel across the river at that point
was abandoned to-day and trains stopped run
ming. The snow has nearly disappeared, and
il the present weather continues the river will
break up in few days The blockade on the
Northern Pacific still continues. No train
since the 18th, and but three this month.
Three tons Of mail matter left Fargo Sunday
and is not expected here till Thursday next
Such o continuous storm was never known be
fore in the northwest. Mails are now going
via Deadwood. Sunday party Of eight prom
inent eastern m en- tired of waiting for train,
left for Fargo, 200 miles, with sleigh.
DEATH OF A PROMINENT CITIZEN.
At Hudson, Wisconsin, on Sunday
morning, Feb. %, zeph Plat, of that city, died
apoplexy. He was taken suddenly i'll in his
Office on Saturday. Feb. 81, about O'Clock,
and all efforts to restore him were In vain.
Mr.. Plat was an old settler and one Of the
most prominent citizens in that city. The
loss of no man in the community would have
been more keenly felt by oil classes. He was
liberal and euterprising business man and q
most excellent citizen. He was the senior
member Ct the firm of Plat s. Hill, the most
extensive wheat buyers in the northwest, and
Of the firm Of Platt & Munson, railroad aud
express agents and heavy dealers in machin-
cry. Mr.. Platt leaves g. wife and two child
rem, large number of relatives and thousands
Of warm friends to mourn his loss.
RUSSIAN WINTER PALACE EXPLOSION.
From Lon don, Feb. 81 is learned that
the Duke of Edinburgh has received the fol.
lowing telegram from the Duchess of Edin
burgh: 1.-THE explosion in the Winter
Palace was caused by dynamite. Nine sol
diers were killed: An extra guard is on duty
| in the palace. The empress has been made
acquainted with the circumstances of the ex.
plosion. She has not suffered in health. The
emperor and myself are quite well and not
frightened" The following is the Cars reply
to President Grevy's congratulations upon
his escape: cordially thank you for the sen
timents you express, The spirit of evil is nm.
wearied like that Of divine grace. am glad
to reckon on the sympathies of high thinking
men," All the work-men who occupied the
cellar of the Winter Palace PREVIOUS to the OK
plosion have been found. Their innocence
appears certain. The dynamite exploded in
the palace was contained in metal box, the
cover of which, has been found, but no cleo
trio wire or trace Of battery can be discov-
cred