davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11

shall not call in our doctor to your
patient. He is d perfect aristocrat,
and has no idea we keep lodger, and
do not wish him to know it."
" There's n young saw-bones few
doors below" drawled my youngest
gentleman cousin, who resented my
waiting upon any one but himself
"he'll do for your fine old-nuisance.
That very evening Mr.. Griffin had q
bad turn, and l sent for the "young
saw-bones few doors below" in great
haste. He proved to be DR.. Rice, a
frank-looking, brown-haired, gray-eyed,
broad-browed young man, with gentle
voice and quick, light step. And the
old gentleman, taking great fancy to
him, decided on retaining him-a deci-
sion that relieved me greatly, bearing
in mind rs did my aunts embargo in
regard to our family physician.
And from that time for three months,
although very seldom confined to his
bed, our lodger never had a well day.
At the end of the three months, how
ever, he began to mend slowly, and at
the end of two more was on his feet
again. And then he told me he had
made up his mind to return to England.
81 am sorry, very sorry, to part with
YOU" replied. "But it is right that
you should CO."
"Well said, Little Honesty. And
now let's begin to pack" said he.
DIR. Rice and l went with the old
gentleman to the steamer that was to
carry him away, and waved last fare
we'll to HMM the midst of a crowd
also waving last farewells-from the
pier, rs the vessel slowly moved out
into the stream; and then We returned
to our respective homes to read the
letters he had placed in our respective
hands with his final goodbye.
Mine I read in the privacy of my own
room at first; and when I had partly re-
covered from my astonishment and
delight I flew downstairs, called the
family together, and read it to them. 1t
was as follows:
"DEAR LITTLE HoNEsTY-Had I died
which I didn't, thanks unto God to you
and DIR. Rice-I should have left each
of my dear young friends ten thousand
dollars in my will. But having lived,
7 am going to do q much pleasanter
thlng-l am gong to give them the ten
thousand at once. My lawyer will see
you both tomorrow.
"AMos GRIFFIN.
"P. ST have also left slight
bequest to Miss Ethel Egbert. She vii
find it on the lower shelf Of the closet
i'll the room occupied when 1 was her
cousin Dorothea's lodger."
Ethel for once forgot her graceful,
gliding step. She started hastily fol
the stairs, but her youngest brother was
before her, and she was fain to turn
back again as he slid down the baluster
and landed in our midst with something
in his arms.
1t was large framed photograph oI
Amos Griffin, with a card attached bear,
ing these words, can excellent picture
of AN Old Nuisance
I married DR.. Rice. Hmper's Weekly
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11
Meighing q Hog.

A dog-fght sends the pulse OF vii
lage up to $50, and foot-race or
knock down will almost restore gray
hairs to their natural color; but for real
excitement let a man come along in
front of the tavern about sundown
driving hog.
"Hay, where You going?"
"Going to sell this hog"
"Hold on a minutel What does he
weight"
ooh! about 225."
"You're off; he won't go over 200"
Every chair is vacated on the instant.
Every eye is fastened on the hogrooting
in the gutter, and every man fatters
himself that he can guess within a
pound of the porker's weight.
"That hog will pull down jist exactly
1875 pounds" says the blacksmith, after
long squint.
"He won't go an ounce over 1885,"
adds the cooper.
"I've got 50 bill that says that hog
will kick at 210," says the hardware
man.
"You must be wild," growls the
grocer. "I can't see over $50 pounds of
meat there"
Twenty men take walk around the
porker, and squint and shake their
heads and look wise, and the owner
finally says:
eff he don't go over 220 shall feel
that 1 am no guesser."
cover 22O2 If that hog weighs 200
pounds I'll treat this crowdp exclaims
the owner of the bus line.
"I dunno bout that" muses. the
squire, who is on his way to the grocery
after butter. "Some hogs weigh more
and some less. What breed is this
hog?"
Berkshire"
"Well, I've seen some O. them Berk.
sheers that weighed like load O. sand,
and then agin I've seen 'em where they
were all skin and bone. Has anybody
guessed that this hog will weigh 600 2
"No."
"Well, that's leetle steep, but I've
kinder sot my idea on 250."
By this time the crowd has increased
to hundred and the excitement is in
tense. The squire lays half dollal
on $50, and the owner of the hog
rakes in several bets on "between 220 ant
225." The porker is driven to the hay
scales, and the silence is almost painful
as the weighing takes place.
"Two hundred and twenty-three +
calls the weigher.
Growls and lamentations smite tn,
evening air, and shareholders pass owe
the wagers to the lucky guessers, chic
Of whom is the owner of the hog.
"Well, I'm clear beat out" says tn,
squire. "I felt dead sure he woulC
weigh over 300."
"Oh, l knew you were all way off,
explains the guileless owner. "Whel
we weighed him here at noon he tipped
at exactly 223, and knew he couldn'
have picked up or lost over a pound 7
Detroit Free Press.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11
A Sermon in Rhyme.

If you have friend worth loving,
Love him. Yes, and let him know
That you love him, ere lifes evening
Tinge his brow with sunset glow.
Why should good words ne'er be said
OF friend-till he is deadp
If ycn hear a song that thrills you,
Sung by any child of song,
Praise it. Do not let the singer
Wait deserved praise long,
Why should one who thrills your heart,
Lack the joy you may impart2
you hear a prayer that moves you
BY its humble, pleading tone,
Join it. Do not let the seeker
Bow before his God alone.
Why should not your brother share
The strength of "two or three" in prayer ?
If a silvery laugh goes ripping
Through the sunshine on his face,
Share it. 'Tis the wise mans saying
For both grief and joy place.
There's health and goodness in the mirth
In which an honest laugh has birth.
Scatter thus your seeds of kindness,
All enriching as you go
Leave them. Trust the harvest Giver,
He will make each seed to grow.
So, until its happy end
Your life shall never lack friend.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11
Life's Harvest.

Was it not said by some great sage
That life is an unwritten pager
We write our fate; and when old age
Or death comes on,
We drop the pen.
For good or i'll, from day to day,
Each deed we do. each word we say,
Makes its impress upon the clay
Which molds the minds
OF other men.
And all our acts and words are seeds
Sown DER the past, whence future deeds
Spring up, to form or wheat or weeds;
And as we've sown
So reap we then.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11

The jersey glove is in high favor for
travelling. 1t can be bought in old
gold, gray and tan, SO that it is easy to
find pair to harmonize with any gown.
They are long enough to reach the
elbow and have no buttons.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11

Secretary Kirkwood has appointed
Frank La Fesche, brother of Bright
Eyes, the Ponca maiden, to a clerkship
in the Indian bureau.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11

John Chinaman has made, literally,
a new departure in which we are more
interested perhaps than anybody except
himself. The Sydney (Australia) Her.
aid states that in a fortnight over 1000
Chinese arrived at that port, and that
they described themselves as but the
pioneers Of an immense body of emil
grants who were en- route from Hong
Kong. Both pioneers and main body
were of the poorer class, "who had
scraped together the 9S for their passage
and landed penniless." They received
almost as cool reception in Sydney
as they would have done in San Fran
cisco, and were as unwelcome to no one
as to the rich Chinese merchants and
traders in Sydney, who were compelled
to keep them from starving until work
could he found for them. These traders
declared that 10000 of their less lucky
brethren would pour in on them before
the year was out, and that there would
be no cessation to this flood Of paupers
unless prompt and decisive measures
we're taken to stop it. No books have
ever given us an idea of the insufferable
poverty which eye-witnesses describe as
existing in the rice district of the north
of China, a poverty so extreme that
fathers not lacking in domestic affection
sell their children for less than dollar
to save them from slow starvation, and
strangle the newborn babe to keep it
from further knowledge of life which
has in it nothing but torture. 1t is no
wonder, says New York paper, that
this torrent ofmisery seeks every outlet
Of possible escape. It will escape, nc
matter how it is driven back. 1t has
never been found in history that any
starving horde remained within enforced
limits to die while there were fat un
titled spaces of the earth's surface lying
vacant.
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11

Of how the trick is usually played: ga
company will be formed representing q
cash capital of perhaps 100000, for the
purpose of opening new mines and of
carrying on the business OF mining
generally. A claim is bought and
opened. Suppose the mine shows up
or sights for 100000, the capital
stock. The company then proceeds to
put the mine on the Eastern market at
a capital of $1,000,0 900, or possibly, if
the company is unusually sharp, at
S5,000,000. This is done by going to a
few prominent capitalists and saying,
Here, we will let you in on the ground
floor of this company if you will take
some stock and help us along by your
influence The capitalists buy the stock
and lend their names, and in short
time the entire stock is taken by East
ern investors, who are deceived by see-
ing the prominent capitalists as heavy
stockholders. When the stock has all
been taken the money is divided between
those on the ground foor,' and opera
tions go on as in all well.regulated COM
panies. The concern never pays q
dividend in the world, and the second
class of stockholders never see cent
of their money"
The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-08-11

Mayor Richmond, of Pueblo, in the
mining region of Colorado, tells the
Philadelphia Times that many of the
stock companies are operated without
honor or decency, being merely schemes
to beguile unsuspecting people in the
East. He gives the following account
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06
A Prevalent Maeady.

Men and women are equally liable
to that mysterious complaint called
the blues, but their treatment of it
differs considerably. When q man
is in this uncomfortable mood he
will manage half holiday, by hook
or by crook, aud take brisk walk,
or, If that is impossible, he will de-
termine not to think of his anxieties
until he is in better spirits. But
women - especially young women
and girls-sct so differently. Mary
"feels blue" so she does not exert
herself to dress, but sits sewing
the very worst thing one can do
when low spirited; or she reads
some instructive book, and wonders
why it is so dull. 1 venture to say
if Mary had given herself good
days work, such as sweeping and
busting her room, arranging her
bureau, etc., and then taken q brisk
walk, taking little thought rs to
her "best things" that the blues
would have vanished. There is but
one effectusl remedy for the blues
an immediate change of some kind.
| have friend who says whenever
she feels blue she puts on her best
clothes, and really some of US will
find that will do us good. Find out
some one to help or to cheer if you
can but do not refer to your own
downhearteduess. The moment we
confess feeling, be it love, hatred,
or low spirits, We intensity it. Act
and speak cheerfully, and you will
find you are feeling brighter soon.
Give way to your uncomfortable
mood, and you soon become its
slave.
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06
A had Girl TO Marry.

A bad daughter, says the writer,
seldom makes a good wife. If a girl
is ill-tempered at home, snarls at her
parents, snaps at her brothers and
sisters, and "shirksr her ordinary
duties, the chances were ten to one
that when she gets home of her
own she will make it wretched.
There are girls who fancy them
selves SO far superior to their parents
that the mere privilege of enjoying
their society in the house ought to
be all the people should have the
assurance to ask. While their moth
ers are busy with domestic duties
they sit in the easiest chair, or lie on
the softest sofas, feeding on cheap
and trashy novels, and cherish the
notion that they are very literary in
dividuals. The household duties are
too coarse for such ladies as they.
Girls of this sort are generally very
anxious to be married, that they may
escape the disagreeableness of a
home where they are held more or
less under subsection. A caller, who
doesn't have q chance to see how
they behave as daughters, may be
excused for fancying them lovely
and loveable as beings; but one who
does see, is foolish if he commits
himself by offering marriage to a
girl of this sort. If she will not as
sist her mother in the domestic la
bors, is she not likely to be equally
slothful and ill-tempered when she
marries? If she now thinks herself
too fine to work, it is safe to expect
that her views as to that matter
would radically change if she be-
came wife.
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06

Some years ago the late Horace
Mann, the eminent educator, deliv-
cred an address at the opening of
some reformatory institute for boys,
during which he remarked that il
only one boy was saved from ruin
it would pay for all the cost, and
care, and labor of establishing such
an institution as that. After the ex-
ercises had closed, in private con-
versation, a gentleman rallied Mr..
Mann on his statement, and said to
him:
Did you not color that a little,
when you said that all that expens Sc
and labor would be repaid if it only
saved one boy?"
"Not If it was my boy" was the
solemn and convincing reply.
All, there is wonderful value
about "My Boy" Other boys may
be rude and rough other boys may
be reckless and wild; other boys
may seem to require more pains and
labor than they will ever repay
other boys may be left to drift un-
cared for to the ruin which is 90
near at hand put MY Boy"-it were
worth the toll of a lifetime and the
lavish wealth of world to save him
from temporal and eternal ruin. We
would go the world around to save
him from peril, and would bless
every hand that stretched out to give
him help or welcome. And yet
every poor, wandering outcsst,
homeless man, is one whom some
fond mother called MY Boy Every
lost woman, sunken in the depths
of sin, was somebody's daughter, in
her days of childish innocence. To-
day somebody's son is a hungry
outcast, pressed to the verge of crime
and sin. To-day somebody's daugh-
ter is weary, helpless wanderer,
driven by necessity into the paths
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06
A Literary Kettledrum.

There is a lady living in a little
four-roomed cottage in the environs
of Boston, says a writer in Ltppin-
COTS, whose name is well known to
literary people. She depends Who'll
ly upon her own exertions for the
support of herself and children, and
does all her own homework, yet her
cottage is the focus of the best so.
ciety of the locality. A gentleman
calling there recently was received
at the door by a daughter of the
lady, who told him her mother was
too busy to be called, but that he
could see her i'm the kitchen if be
pleased /; and he followed her to that
room. The lady greeted him with.
out the least embarrassment, though
she had on a big apron and her
sleeves were pinned back to her
shoulders. She was cutting pump
kin into strips for pies; and there
sat a venerable gentleman grsvely
pairing the strips to the accompani.
ment of brilliant conversation. ]
was asked to guess who this gentle.
man was, and, after several fruitless
attempts, was told that it was the
poet Longfellow. While the pump
kin-paring was in process, another
distinguished poet called, and he
also insisted upon being impressed
into the service. 1t was q dreary
day outside, and no one cared to
leave the pleasant cottage, 80 they
al stayed to lunch, one of the piei
forming the piece de resistance Of
the occasion. Speaking of this in
cident afterward, the lady said, any
friends are kind enough to come to
see me, though they know l canno,
leave my work to entertain them
Visiting and work must proceed
together, and when / set my callers
at work with me we are sure to have
an agreeable time"
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06
Tomatoes.

A common mistake in the culti-
walton of this plant is to imagine
that it requires an enormous space
to perfect its growth in. OF course
if it is allowed to wander at its own
sweet will, it will occupy great
deal of ground. But this is not at
all the best way to get ripe fruit,
though any amount of leaves, stalks
and green tomatoes may be produ-
ced by it. Please give the following
a fair trial. Set the plants in rows
two feet apart, and fifteen inches
between the plants in the row.
When the first bunch of buds has
fairly made its appearance nip ffthe
whole of the shoots growing be-
tween the stem and branches, but
allow the main stem to grow on un-
til four, or at most, five, punches OF
buds are formed. Then the plant
being, probably, about three feet
high, pinch off the main stem, three
inches from the highest bunch, and
continue to nip off the shoots as be.
fore, as fast as they make their ap.
pearance ; just as in the culture ol
tobacco.
If this is properly done, the great.
est amount of ripe fruit that the eli.
mate is capable of producing will be
secured. Stakes, about foar feet
long, will be required to tie the
plants. They should be driven firm.
ly into the ground and the stem
should not be too tightly bound. ]
have practiced this mode of groging
tomatoes for twelve years, and have
never failed to obtain an early crop
of we'll matured fruit. Keep the
ground we'll stirred and mulch with
nalf-rotted manure. Use lots Of Ii.
quid manure.-Illustrated journal
Of agriculture.
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06
Gipsy Superstitions.

For a class of persons that are
popularity supposed to live by work
ing on the superstitions and creduli-
ties of their fellows, the Gypsies
are themselves singularly supersti-
tious.
Some Gypsies set their boots
crosswise before they 60 to bed,
fancying thereby to keep away the
cramp.
A female Gypsy carried the skel-
eton of mole's foot which she call
ed fairy foot because she be-
lieved 1t good against rheumatism !;
and it is a standing truth among
them that babies in teething should
wear q necklace of myrtle stems,
which for boy, must be cut by a
woman by a man for girl.
An adder's slough or q bit OF
mountain-ash, is certain to bring
good luck and with the same OBJ
jects, some children wear round
their necks black bags containing
fragments of bat.
In order to hurt an enemy you
have only to stick pins in red rag
and burn the same; others for the
same end resort to the cruel prac-
tice of sticking pins into q toad till
il looks like a hedgehog. and then
bury it with certain observsnces.
The sight of q water wag-tail, if it
does not fly when conjured in cer-
tain rhyme to do 80. is a sign that
strange Gypsies are to be met on the
road.
OF an old woman "ghost-seer,"
we are told that she carried in her
pocket, a little china dog dressed
like a doll. l mind, says the Gypsy
who told the story, she lost it once,
and she was in an awful state till it
was found and she used to fancy ii
would talk to her when she was all
alone smoking her pipe in the wagon.
You should have seen a pack she
had of every old fortune-telling
cards, which was painted in differ
ent colors. She used to select the
different ones for each day; some
times she would have those with the
devil and serpents on 'em then other
days she would carry those with
birds and palaces.
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06

Sidney Smith, in one of The ablest
of his essays, says: ....t
81 know of no principle which it
is of more importance to fix ia the
habits of young people than that of
the most determined resistance to
the encroachments of ridicule. Give
not up to the world, nor to the ridi-
cule with which the world enforces
its dominion over every trifiing
question of manner and appearance.
Learn from the earliest days to in
sure your principles against the
perils of ridicule. If you think it
right to differ from the times, and
to make 9 stand for any valuable
point of morals, do it however Pc
dantic it may appear; do it, not for
insolence, but seriously and grand
ly, as a man who wears a soul of his
own in bis bosom, and does not wait
till it shall be breathed into him by
the breath of fashion. Let men call
you mean if you know you are just /;
hypocritical, if you are honestly re-
ligious; pusillanimous, if you know
you are firm. Resistance soon con-
verts unprincipled wit into sincere
respect; and no aftertime can tear
from you those feelings which every
man carries within him who has
made a noble and successful execu-
ton in q virtuous cause.
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06

Enfranchise woman, and you ele-
vste the politics of the state. You
so to speak, empty the caucus into
the psrlor instead of the psrlor into
the caucus; you elevate the charac.
ter of the laws, because you have
increased the moral and intellectual
power of those who exercise the
franchise; you have doubled the
power of doing good; you have
broadened and deepened the foun-
dstions upon which the whole
structure Of government rests, that OF
the franchise you have strengthen
ed and consolidated the power for
doing good. Woman is better than
man. She has a keener sense of
justice. By intuition she discovered
truth, while man is cropping in the
twilight of reason to discover that
which woman sees at once, and by
intuition, as in the light of noon day.
Ii can do no harm it must do some
good to enfranchise women. =
Enfranchise women we may then
hope that something of that fidelity,
purity and goodness which makes
home of all places on earth desira.
bic, will find expression and vitali-
zstion in the laws and in the judg.
ment Of its administrators, in the
regulation of society, in the preser-
vation of social order, in the sup
preston of vice, in the establishment
of reason, in the triumph of mercy
and justice.-Judge o. p. Mason.
The Columbus journal., 1881-04-06

Mr.. Wendell Phillips related the
following in his address in Boston,
recently: "In q railway car, once, a
man, about 60 years old, came to sit
beside me. He had heard me lec-
ture the evening before on temper
snce. Il am master Of q ship he
said, sailing out of New York, and
have just returned from my fiftieth
voyage across the Atlantic. About
80 years ago l was a sot; shipped,
while dead drunk, as one of the
crew, and was carried on board like
a log. when came to, the captain
sent for me. He asked me: "Do
you remember your mother" l
told him she died before 1 could re-
member anything. "Well," said he,
81 am Vermont man. When l was
young l was crazy to go to sea. At
last my mother consented I should
seek my fortune in New York" He
told how she stood on one side the
garden gate and he on the other,
when, with his bundle on his arm,
he was ready to walk to the next
town. She said to him, "My boy, |
don't know anything about towns,
and I never saw the sea, but they
tell me those great towns are sinks
of wickedness, and make thousands
of drunkards. Now, promise me
you'll never drink drop of liquor"
He said, 81 laid my hand in hers and
promised, as looked into her eyes
for the last time. She died soon
after. I've been on every sea, seen
the worst kinds of life and men
they laughed at me as a milksop,
and wanted to know If l was q
coward. But when they offered me
liquor l saw my mother across the
gate, and I never drank drop. 1t
has been my sheet-snchor; / owe
all to that. Would you like to take
that pledge?" said he.' My COM
panion took it, and, he added, 1T has
saved me. 1 have a fine ship, wife,
and children at home, and I have
helped others How far that little
candle threw it's beams! That earn
est mother saved two men to virtue
and usefulness-how many more he
who sees all can alone tell"