davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
A Fight Between Bears.

It was found necessary one Sunday
recently to repair the polar bear water
tank at the Cincinnati Zoo, and for the
purpose the brown bears were driven
into the right compartments, so that
their pit could be occupied by the white
bears temporarily:
One of the iron doors of the compart-
ment not being fully closed, one of the
small brown bears discovered what ne
considered intruders in his family's do
main. Every time one of the visitors
passed this opening he rammed one paw
through and tried to give him a swipe.
FINALLY the male polar. when the paw
was stuck out, grasped it and dragged
it's owner through the narrow opening
into the pit. The fight was terrific. The
contestants were unevenly matched.
but, nevertheless, the little brown bear
stood I'D to the work with admirable
pluck. Up and down the pit they went
in the deadly struggle, the little fellow
scoring the first point by bringing blood
from the polar's head: for which ne re-
ceived a rap that made his teeth rattle
and knocked him about ten feet. They
came together again like q flash. and
quicker than thought the polar rose on
its hind legs with his enemy in his en-
brace. AS the pressure was applied the
bones could be heard to crack. Pres
emily the hug relaxed, and dying bear
dropped to the pavement. The polar
now ior the first time seemed to be fully
enraged, and with great leaps jumped
up and down on the prostrate foe, utter
ing deep. hoarse growls that called forth
an answering chorus from all the ami
mails surrounding. He at last held the
carcass down with one paw and COM
nenced rending the bear with his teeth.
The keeper. who had opened the doors,
making a passage way through to the
polar's quarters, now went to work with
a long, pointed iron rod, and succeeded
in driving the polars back to their quar-
ters.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Talking Across the Country.

It is really pleasant to note as you
travel across the republic from Maine
to Colorado, how the topic of CONVEX
sation changes at State lines just as the
expression OF faces and styles OF clothes
gradually undergo an alteration. Down
in Maine, when I got away from the
coasts, I heard lumber and the woods !"
all the time. The men were in the
wood" or the man who talked to you
had just come out OF the woods. Then
you got to the coast, and everybody
tished and you dreamed of dorys and
hake and haddock and things that you
never heard of before. When you 60 to
Bath you begin to pick up all manner of
ship carpenters slang. Then you come
nearer New York, and commercial
travellers filled the air with mercantile
argot, and as you held your way west
ward, and you get irto the oil regions
of Pennsylvania, and for while Brad
ford and Oil City, Franklin and Titus
vile talked bull wheel and pipe lines
and dry holes and heavy oils and refin-
cry, and tank and drill and rigs and
walking-beam and derrick and pump
until YOU could taste oil every time you
talked. Then you moved along through
Johnstown and Pittsburg and heard
about blasts and open hearth furnaces.
and crucibles and Bessemer process and
rails, wire and ingot, until you left
them behind and Indiana was tTlking
to you about slaves and heads and
hoop and poles and vencers and hard
woods and quinine and bent wood and
wagon timber; and by-and-bye Illinois
got your ear ana said "c-o-r-n," and
you got across the Mississippi and out
in Nebraska and heard man say to a
neighbor. "Ben. where is that tim Der
claim of Johnson's?' and you heard Ben
reply briefly: Twelve, fifteen, nine, "and
you knew that you were in country OF
land, and that eighties and quarter sec
tions, and timber claims and honlesteads
and pre-emptions were to constitute
your conversational pabulum for the
next two or three weeks, until you
reached Colorado and began to hear as
say, and dips and lead, and angles,
spurs and sinuositics, and claims, and
carbonates, and that is as far west as |
have been, and / don't know what they
ak about beyond there.-Burlsngton
HG1Ukeye.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
An Acoustic Trial.

A vagrant ass, says the San Antonio
(TeXas) Herald, stood beside the track
of the Sunset railway at the depot this
morning; an engine moved slowly up;
it stopped within few feet of the ass,
and the engineer blew one of those ter
rible screams, prolonged and ear-pierc-
ing; such blast as makes n sleeping
Millerite dream of the day of Judgment:
Did the ass scarep Not worth q cent!
Did he shake the sloth from his limbs,
erect his tail and speed away like the
asses of Bassorah, faster than the Bed
ouin coursers run back to the chapar-
raj? No, he didn't. He turned one ear
toward the engine just rs a deaf man
uses his tin ear-trumpet. and caught
every particle of the sound. And when
the steam-blown whistle ceased its
notes and all the echoes died away, the
animal straightened out his neck,
opened his mouth, and in voice that
dcafened all the railroad men and caused
the freight clerk to drop his pen, ,roared :
II can't! I can't! / can't! | can't! be
beat! be beat! be beat! be beat! l
CANT be- e-be-De-be beat"
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Some Valuable American Coins.

The coin collectors are among the IN
diyiduals who realize the impulse O1
improved times. They report that the
{" craze for coins" has revived to a
wonderful extent. Old numismatics are
taking more interest in their hobbies,
new ones are into the field, and, as O
result, coins are growing scarce and
prices daily tending upward. Among
the coins for which there is now a great
demand are the dimes, quarter-dollars
and halt-dollars of 1879. Only $4,000
OF these coins were issued from the mint,
whereas the average issue OF previous
years has been larger. Collectors are
paving seventy-five cents tor the hall
dollars; thirty-fve cents for the guar
tiers and twenty-five cents for the dimes
of lS79, while the figures obtained by
the dealers from their private custom
ers are nearly twenty-five per cent. in
advance of buying prices.
The articles relative to the old and
rare coins published in the record over
year ago have had the effect of un-
earthing 4 couple OF extremely rare
specimens which are now in the posses
sion Of E. Mason. numismatist OF this
CITY. One of these is Washington sill
yer dollar of 1886, which is believed to
be the only one in this country. and to
which q history is attached.
When Washington was in the height
of his popularity it was proposed to
place his bust upon the coinage. This
was done in some silver and copper issues
of l79l-92; but Washington objected so
vigorously that the coins were with
drawn from circulation. Again in 1896
it was proposed to place his head upon
the dollars, but once more he objected.
and the idea was not persisted in. Two
or three coins were, however, struck
off, and the one just now turned up is
of the number. Where the others wen
10 nobody knows, but this one has been
the possession of a Schuylkill county
farmer for over sixty years. The diverse
has u military bust of y ashington,
facing left, surrounded by the ilegend,
Washington, President" and the date
1896. The head is surrounded with a
laurel wreath. On the reverse is q
spread-eagle, surrounded by fifteen
stars. A broad milling extends around
the margin. The diverse has the name
Birch in very small! letters beneath
the head. This was the designer, who
was the father Of the present auctioneer
of that name.
The other coin is also new to the un-
mismatic world, which has been gen.
orally ignorant of its existence, al
though it was stated in Boston recently
that such a coin was extant. 1t is a
Confederate gold piece the size and
weight of two dollars and fifty cents
gold coin, for which it was probably
intended. The diverse has naked bust
of jefferson Davis, with the name in q
circle. On the reverse is laurel
wreath, with the date 1861. Around
this is the legend: &C. S. A. first
president" This piece has just been
brought to light by a resident of Rich
mond, Va, who values it at Sl00.
Whether it was struck rs sample coin
or intended as q medal is question
which numismatists will now attempt
to solve.-Phtladelphia Record.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Sound and SOmn0Iency.

A .good ear may prove a compensa
tion for the lack of grammatical knowl
edge. William King, a former editor o.
San Francisco, wrote with remarkable
correctness, and occasionally with ele
gance. He knew so little of grammar
that he could hardly tell a verb from
participle or noun from an adjective
But his good car saved him from gram
matical blunders. If an article
sounded right" he knew it would pass
the critics.
One of Washington's generals. Benja'
min Lincoln, had received an inferior
education. While Lieutenant. governor
of Massachusetts, and collector OF the
port of Boston, he wrote essays on com.
merce, agriculture and philosophy;
After he had written an essay, he would
have it read aloud to him.
II don't know anything about gram
mar" he said, by way of apology, but
when I hear an article read can tel
whether it is correctly written by the
way it sounds"
General Lincoln had o constitutions
tendency to fall asleep at all times. In
the midst of a conversation he won ID
suddenly be ''caught mapping" He
was commander Of the Massachusetts
troops during Shay's insurrection. In
debating his dispatches, he woHld fall
asleep between the.sentences. Persons
on the road not infrequently met the old
gentleman driving and fast as leep.
General Scott, during the last years
of his life, was similarly afflicted. In
the early days of the civil war, h" fire.
quently had to be kept awake by artiti-
cial means, long enough to transact nee
essary business. Neither Of these dis
tinguished men ever said with SanchC
Panza, Now blessings light on him
that first invented sleep"
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
A Remarkable Scene.

A few miles off the road down the
open and well-cultivated valley of the
Narbada, in Central India, is mighty
river pent up into third of its width,
and for more than two miles boiling
along between two sheer walls of pure
white marble. hundred feet in height,
with here and there a seam OF fdark green
or black volcanic rock, which enhances
the purity of the marble like a setting OF
jet. What must be the charm, in q
dusty Oriental land, of the GOODNESS and
quiet Of those pure cold rocks, and of
the deep blue, pelucid water. "The
eye," says the traveller, "never wearies
Of the infinite variety of effect produced
by the broken and reflected sunlight,
now glancing from pinnacle of snow
white marble reared against the deep
blue Of the sky; as from a point of sill
yer, touching here ard there with bright
lights the prominenccs OF the middle
heights, and again losing itself in
the soft blush grays of their recesses.
Still lower down the bases of the
cliffs are almost lost in the hazy
shadow, so that it is hard to tell at
what point the rocks have melted into
the water. from whose depths the same
lights, in inverse order, are reflected as
clear as above. but broken into thou
sand quivering fragments in the swirl
of the pool" This beautiful spot is in
tested with bees, which, if disturbed,
many travellers have found very danger
Gus; and, indeed. on one occasion they
stung an intruder to death. The Marble
rocks. like almost every object of great
natural beauty, have been sanctified by
the Brahmins, and many of the COM
3monest legends transported hither.
Across the chasm, the monkey legions
of Hanuman leaped on their way to
Ceylon; the Celestial elephant of India
left his mighty footprint here in the
white rock. Temples to the silva
crown the tight bank of the cliff, and
by the rivers edge is favorite CHAT for
the launching of the bodies of devout
Hindus into the waters of Mother
Narbada, which are consequently
polluted by ghoul-like turtles, mon
strous fishes, and repulsive crocodiles.
that fatten on the CHASTITY provender
thus provided for them.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Words of Wisdom.

Passive. the soul weakens; active, it
raises itself; to use is to live.
The honest man is p superior judge,
even in things which seem to have the
least relation to virtue.
We should give as we receive, cheer.
fully, quickly and without hesitation
for there is no grace in benefit that
sticks to the fingers.
Men. not having been able to cure
death, misery and ignorance, nave inn
agined to MAKE themselves happy by
not thinking oftncse things.
The la.s:ons of mankind are partly
protective, partly benehcent, like the
chaf and grain of the corn; but none
without their use, none without noble
ness which seem in balanced unity with
the rest of the spirit which they are
charged to defend.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
A Cuban .Milkman.

Few matters strike the observan
stranger with n stronger sense of their
peculiarity than the Cuban milkman's
mode Of supplying that necessary ali
ment to his town or city customers.
Driving his sober kline from door to door,
he deliberately milks just the quantity
required by each customer, delivers it,
and drives on to the next. The patient
animal becomes as conversant with the
residence of her masters customers as
he is himself, and stops, unDidden, at
regular intervals, before the proper
houses. often followed by pretty little
calf, which amuses itself by gazing at
the process. while it wears leather
muzzle to prevent its interference with
the supply of milk intended for another
quarter. There are, doubtless, two good
reasons for this mode of delivering milk
in Havana and the large towns In Cuba.
First, there can be no diluting of the
article; and, second, it is sure to be
sweet and fresh, this latter a partlc de-
sideratum in climate where milk with
out ice can be kept on y a brief period
without spelling. OF course, the effect
upon the animal is by no means salutory
and Cuban cow gives about one third
as much milk as one in America. Goats
are driven about and milked in the same
manner.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26

satisfaction in those deep-set, black
cruel eyes to allow one to think tor !;
moment that she was victim: No;
this was the traitor, the household spy
the betrayer of those who fed and
trusted her; and to save her from sus:
picion, her companions in guilt had
bound her.
But where were the brigands? / headed
my men up the broad steps which led
to another apartment, and here we found
them. The contents of boxes. closets,
etc., were all in confusion on the floor,
and filling every spare chair and table,
partly ready to be taken away.
After a brief resistance some were
bound three were in little ante-room,
where we had driven them at the point
ofthe bayonet, leaving our sentinels to
guard them two more men were lald
side by side with two of my poor tel
lows, one of them wounded very badly
in the leg, and one of them in the side;
but we had disarmed all, with the ex-
ception of three, who made good their
escape from the window.
The captured brigands were sent to
Ancona, and all suffered the penalty OF
their crimes
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Some Curious Facts About Memory.

M. Delaunay has made communlca-
ton to the Societe de Biologie respecting
memory as studied under various bio
logical conditions. The inferior races
of mankind, such as the Chinese, ETC.,
have more memory than those of q
higher type Of civilization. Primitive
races VIII ch were unacquainted with
the art of writing had wonderful
memory, and were for ages in the habit
of handing down from one generation
to another hymns as Voluminous as the
Bible. Prompters and professors OF
defamation know that women have
more memory than men. French women
will learn q foreign language quicker
than their husbands. Youths have more
memory than adults. 1t is well devel-
oped in children, attains its maximum
about the fourteenth or fifteenth year,
and then decreases. Feeble individuals
OF a lymphatic temperament have more
memory than the strong. Students who
obtain the prize for memory and recita-
ton chiefly belong to the former class.
Partisan students have also less memory
than those who come from the provinces.
At the Ecole Normale and other schools
the pupils who have the best memory
are not the most intelligent. The men,
ory is more developed among the peas
antry than among citizens, and among
the clergy than among the laity.
The memory remains intact in diseases
of the left side OF the brain, and is much
affected in those of the right, from
which it may be inferred that the right
side is more the seat OF this faculty than
the left. From a physiological point of
view memory is diminished by over
feeding, by physical exercise and by edu-
cation, in this sense, that the illiterate
have potentially more memory than
those who know how to read and write.
We remember, moreover, better in the
morning than in the evening, and in the
summer than in the winter, and better
in warm than in cold climates. Memory
is therefore, to certain extent, in in
verse proportion to nutrition, and more
than that, it is in inverse proportion to
evolution, since it is greatest in those
individuals who are the least ad vanced
from an evolution point ofview-inferior
races, women, children, the feeble, etc.
In short, according to NJ. Delaunay,
there is an evolution Of the memory,
which is first sensorial, literal, and tnen
intelligent; but memory, properly speak
ing, diminishes inversely as the evolu-
tion.-Medicdl Press and Circular.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Africa and Its Population.

Although we have not, nor are we
likely to have for years, any accurate
statistics of the population Of the inter-
ior of Africa, there is very little doubt,
saws New York paper, that we have
greatly underrated it. Much important
information has lately been gathered on
the subject, especially concerning the
distribution and destiny of the inhablt-
ants of that far-of land. In the great
lake district, for instance, there are ter
ritories as thickly settled as many Euro
pean states, relatively small areas pos
sessing millions of people. The negro
regions are by far the most populous,
while the desert portions arc the reverse.
A French geographical society gives the
estimated figures of various subdivisions
of that continent rs follows: In the
Soudan, the population is 80,00O,0 900, or
about fifty-thrce persons per square
mile. The town of Bida, on the Niger,
for example, contains fully 90,OOO in
habitants. East Africa is rated at co.
OO0. 900, and Equatorial Africa at some
&C, ,OOO, 900 souls. A late authority on
ethnology sets down the negroes as
numerically l3O,OOO,OO0; the Hamites,
q, ,OOO, 900; the Bantas, 100000; the
Foolahs, 5000, 900; the Nubians, l,5oO,-
600; the Hottentots, SO, ,000-making a
total of l72 $50, 900. These tigures--only
approximate, of course-are considered
too low both by German and British
geographers, the former estimating the
population as high as 200, 100000. Much
hope has been repeatedly expressed OF
the future of Africa, which is rich in
mineral products, and capable OF main
tanning a prosperous commerce with
other parts of the globe. Along the
coasts and caravan roads the chief trade
has been, and continues to be in slaves.
1t is thought tnat recent effort will yet
do much toward abating the traffic.
Many of the tribes are above the condi-
tion of savages. They have fixed habi-
tations, though merely mud-huts, de-
Tended by stockades, and have some
laws or customs favorable to commerce.
Among several tribes the native mer-
chant is greatly esteemed, and his prop;
erty is safe even during war. The land
is cultivated; the inhabitants wear dyed
cotton clothes; gold and iron are ingen-
iously manufactured and certain kind
of intelligence seems to be very slow y
SPREADING. What Africa most needs is
free commercial intercourse with the
outer world, and that must arrive. Who
knows but that. in the coming cycles,
the highest civilization may not be found
where the first civilization arose?
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
Bird's-eye View of the House of Repre-.
sentatiYeS,

A recent visitor in Washington thus
l.depicts the appearance of the House OF
Representative while that body is in
session: But how can describe the
disorderly and jnattentive assemblage,
like a troop of badly managed school
boys, which greeted us? Some loungiLng
with heels higher than head, or Leg
stretched over neighboring armchairi
some reclining on corner sofas, some
rushing from one desk to another, some
walking about with surreptitious--l
hope they are surreptitious-cigars in
hand or mouth, careless alike ofru.es OF
debate and etiquette of good society.
Probably half-fully half-were busy
with books or correspondence, but the
first impression was go bizarre, so mot
| lev, so wanting in the repose which
usually accompanies power, that only
the incongruities struck one. Some one
was vehemently declaiming with much
gesture and force-Garfeld. OF OHIO, 1t
| happened to be. 1t was a subject which
created much excitement, yet for any
general appearance of interest the men,
hers might as well have been kam-
schatka. There was moments luil IN
the vociferous voice, a dozen men
sprang to their feet hastily demanding
the speakers attention.. there were
hot words and motions; the chalrmans
hammer ratified wildly; and then the
babel of tongues subsidized, and the ora
tor continued TO make his apparently
.unheeded points until another pause
brought another tumult. You heard
calls about "points Of order" which
seemed 80 many points OF dis
order; you heard quips and comments
and questions and answers and retail
ations; but that any grave business re-
ouirine serious thought was going on
seemed hard to imagine. The cuspidors
scattered about on the floor, the air Of
utter indifference, the negligence OF po,,
sition, the incoherent cries and loud
murmur of different occupations were
what,inost arrested attention.
While YOU are still, after two hours
listening, uncertain what has been done,
,r whether anything has been done,
there is a motion TO adjourn, a pell mel
retreat which carries all before 1t, .and
the beautiful HALLS emptied save tor q
few tagging souls who remain to"anlsn
letter or look up reference. oome
one tells you the bill has been passed,
or remanded for another hearing: You
see the whilOm antagonists gong OUT
friendly arm in arm, and your per-
turbed spirit calms itself, While your
body follows the crowd through arched1
corridor and wonderful rotunda ana
pleasant paths of the Capitol grounds,
to recover its wonted serenity the
quiet of the Arlington.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-26
4 New Electric Wonder.

A French engineer named P;.rod:
claims to have discovered method of
conveying large quantities ofelectrlcity
over long distances and distributing it
at any number of points on the way,
exactly like gas or water. Electricity
of sufficient tension is produced in the
ordinary manner, but instead of trans
mitting it by the usual wires or cable,
it is conveyed through immense con-
tinuous truncated pipes having the
same qualities as Leyden jars. Inc
tension is uniform throughout, and it is
thus possible to divert the fluid as may
be required at different points for vari-
Gus industrial purposes. The invention
dispenses with steam engines, Steam
nav be replaced by waterfalls. and
great economy in the production of elec-
tricity is effected. The inventor believes
flat the Niagara might be utilized
and electricity transmitted from the
Horseshoe falls to New York or Boston.