davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
Bill Arp on Poetry.

feel the poetic inspiration all aboard.
but somehow my rhymes have to be
powerfully strained. This 1 suppose is
the fault of our language, though pos
slbly 1t may be mine, for there are
power of folks who swell up and gush.
but are not poets. Maybe that blank
verse Is my forte in the spring of the
year, for they say it is higher type of
rhapsody and is more esthetic. Blank
verse don't jingle Ike jewsharp. but II
eievates man to more ETHEREAL regions
Blank verse has no long meter, nor short
meter, or IS, rs or As, but Just meters
all along the line, wether its long or
short, like the choir sings in the church.
and can trot, pace or gallop through a
sentence and make the tune to tit il
meter or no meter. Still 1 don't think
old people ought to try to write poetry.
Tor they can't get up sufficient gush.
Age knocks the poetry out of man lust
ike marriage knocks the music and ro-
nance out of woman. She ouits
playln' the piano in about two wears and
takes to the sewing-machine. She ouits
singing and goes cluclxin' and scratchin'
around. L don't like that. It ALWAYS
makes me sad to see an anxious. care
worn mother, and it would seem like
enough to scare of her own piris from
marryin, but somehow it don't. The
longer man keeps up his boyish FEELINGS |
and hilarity and plays boss with his little |
boys, and the longer woman can lauob
and frolic and picnic and romp with her
the better for 'em. /
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23

The odd thing Is that the alchemists
were probably right in principle, even in
their widest dream. Every fresh adj
vance of chemical science encourages
the belief that the metals, in their
various classes, are really identical as to
ultimate substance-indeed, possibly all
of them together, with, it may be.
the other elements, blend into such COM
mon matter as the scarcely imaginary
hydrogenium, of which hydrogen Is the
vapor DIR. Norman Lockyer's re-
searches with the spectroscope tend to
confirm this unity OF material and if it
exists Paracelsus was right, and gold is
merely an allotropic form of other sub
stances. In saying this, however, we
hasten to reassure the Stock Exchange.
by adding that theory would bring
chemists none the nearer to practice in
regard to manufacturing gold by the ton.
The student of science can make palla-
dunn or platinum combine almost mirac-
ulously with hydrogen, and melt gold
in selenic acid but he knows little of
that subtle and unapproachable chem
istry by which the earth's primeval heat
fused and formed, under pressures and
conditions inimitable by us, her gold
and iron, her salts, and crystals. Man
A-Abot eAAo Al hbiE5StCD tsA1A 0tob GUM, VI
work for the shining stuff with hand
or head. The worst that could happen
to shake the great idol on his metallic
throne would be-what is certainly
geologically possible the sudden dis
covery of a mother-nugget' of gold, a
monstrous central deposit in the cavern
GUS base of some Australian or Cali
fornian reef, furnishing, say, half a mil
hon tons of specie. That would shake
the market and send silver up, but spec
ulators need not fear science, nor the
modern alchemists.
Meanwhile, if we have not inherited
from the ancient Archimages the uni
versal solvent or the elixir of life, at
least they gave US chemistry. 1t was in
CROPPING. along that dark fantastic road
of wild desires that Roger Bacon discov-
cred gunpowder, Gebir nitric and hydro
chlorlc acid, Valentine the precipitation
OF iron, and Paraceisus his grand doc
trlne OF the unity of visible matter.
Thus does nature teach her children.
Withthe childish allurements of alchemy
she led them toward chemical truths
with the superstitions of astrology she
seduced them into the sublimities of
astronomy. Gold also-the embodiment
OF weath-is mike manner her go-cart,
as 1t were, or nursery-plaything. for hui
manity. While men traverse lands and
seas, and toll and strive and suffer, to
hoard up his yellow shining dross, the
work of effort and evolution goes briskly
on; the race develops, and the. globes
surface Is exploited. The loving mother
who, by the proffered orange, tempts
her child to walk, does much as nature
does to the human race with this glitter
ing gold. London TeLeqraph.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
Affection in the RoraI HonsehoId.

When the Princess Louisa returned TO
Canada and her husband. after an alb
sence of year or two, the meeting be-
tween her and her husband was affecting.
She permitted Lorne to-kiss her hand
Well, if he IS that kind Of a fellow. who
can be separated from the one he loves
for so long a time and then be stood of
with simply kissing her hand, that is ali
we want to know.of HIM. He can't slide
on our cellar door. The idea of kissing
her hand What kind Of an ice cream
freezer can he be, and what sort Of
refrigerator IS the Princess, for heavens
sake. Ii he was one of our Wisconsin
fellows, and she another, he would have
rushed up to her and put both arms
around her and squeezed her until there
would not have been a whole bone in
her corset, and he would have taken one
look at her blue eyes and seen them
twinkle couple of twinks, and then he
would have found where she kept her
mouth, without the aid of a grand
chamberlain, or anybody, and he would
have kissed her right before the whole
of Canada, ON that steamboat, until she
would have forgotten whether she was
in Quebec or heaven, and he would have
hung ON until the Princess would swal-
lowed her chewing gum and made up her
mind she would never leave him again
the longest day she ived.-Peck's Sun.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
MAN AND HIS BUTTONS.
His hethOd of Sewing Them m, - %,
Difficulties EBcoanIered an"

New York Graphic
Did you ever see man In the solitude
and privacy of his study attempt 10 sew
on button by himself? 1t is. in all its
details, one OF the most interesting per-
formances in the world. First he limits
for button. Generally, to secure il. be
robs Peter to pay Paul, ard cuts from
another garment. This button may be
much larger or much smaller tbcn the
size he Is wearing. Next he hunts
needle. Probably he goes out and buys
a paper of needles. He always chooses
the largestneedles, having an imnression
that large needles will sew stronger than
small needles. AS to thread, he GETS the
coarsest he can find, and this he doubles.
He would thread his needle. He takes
his big needle in one hand and his coarse
black thread IN the other. He bites off
the thread to a desired length. Then he
tries to twist it to a fine point. Gener-
ally in this he succeeds in making two,
and sometimes three, fine points out of
one end. OF course he can't get all
these fine points through the needles
eye at once. He tries hard to make that
needle and thread get ON friendly terms
with each other, but they won't They
don't want to get acquainted. They do
each other. Sometimes it is the needle
that kicks sometimes the thread. Some
times he imagInes he has really threaded
his needle. 1t is an ocular delusion.
The thread has missed the needles eye
by half an inch. 1t is harder work than
saving wood. At last the needle Is
threaded. Now he tries to sew the but
ton ON without taking his trousers off.
This proves a failure He twists him
self into an uncomfortable position, and
so would sew. But he can't sew SO.
He rms the needle into himself, and the
contrary thread always insisting IN foul
ing or in doubling around the next but
ton. Then one part of the doubled
thread won't work tremendously with the
other part. One part draws through the
buttons eve first and leaves the other
part behind. Then it gets hltched up,
and the ambassador swears. Or the
needle breaks. And then he swears.
He may not swear audibly. But the re-
cording angel knows what IS going on
inside of him, and debts him with every
item. He sews hard. He has forgotten
all about the necessity for thlmble.
He jams his thumb down onthe needles
head and it punctures his thumb or runs
under the nail. BY and by. he sews the
buttons eye full of thread His big
needle won't pass through any more.
He must stop. He ends by winding the
thread as many times as it viii so under
the button And perhaps he leaves off
with two or three inches of thread stick
ing outside. A woman can, through
many outward indications, tell when a
man has been trying to sew on a but
ton. He doesn't know the shibboleth of
needle and thread, and it catches some
where every time. At last the button
Is sewed ON aud he is proud of his work
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
Military FpisOde.

This story Is found IN the memoirs of
q Prussian officer of distinction. He
was at the time on the staff Of General
Winterfeld, one of the most skillful and
competent captains of his day, and Win
terfeld was the general IN command at
the time spoken of.
Two soldiers had been condemned to
death. In a drunken condition at night
they had assaulted an officer Of the line,
and one of them had drawn a knife upon
him, but he could not positively say
which of the twain held it. And the
men themselves did not know. Neither
of them remembered anything about it.
So both of them were condemned to be
shot.
They were both excellent soldiers, and
only one Of them had been guilty of using
a weapon.
The officers of the division, including
him who had been assaulted, asked that
the men might be pardoned. At length
Winterfield said he would pardon one Of
them. Only one had held E2ife, aud
only that one ought to die. He would
pardon one, and the men must them
selves decide which of them should be
shot.
How should the decision be made?
LET us shake the dice" said one of
the condemned
And the other agreed to it. And anon
1t was agreed to by all interested The
two men took their places by the side of
a big drum and were to throw the dice
upon its head. Two dice were given
them and proper box for shaking.
The first nah threw two SKIES. He
groaned in agony. He felt that he had
consigned his comrade to death.
But when the second man came to-
throw he also threw two SKIES SsWon-
derful y cried the lookers-on. They
were ordered to shake and throw again
This time the second man threw first
two aces. "Hot Good You viii live,
Peter" But when Peter came to throw,
the dice presented those same two aces.
And now the beholders were wonder
stricken, indeed.
Another throw was ordered, and Peter
threw a five and a deuce The other
e-deuce. After the excite
ment had again subsidized the men shook
once more. The first threw two tours.
q" Oh now throw fives and save your
self, Peter. Peter threw-two fours
AT this point the colonel orderedthem
to stop. He went and reported the mar
velous result to .Winterfeld. He said ;
g Clearly, General, Providence viii have
those two men to be saved.
And saved they were. The general
cared MOTTO oppose the wonderful fate
Of the dice. 1t did seem proVidential,
and SO he accepted it.
And the redeemed soldiers lived to |
prove that the saving fate had given back |
10 Prussia two of the very best and |
of her sons.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
A Good One.

In very mountainous Eastern State,
IN very picturesque region, a line OF
railroad was IN operation. 1t was built
at one point upon the opposite side of
two mountains, with of course a valley
between. A locomotive was stationed
at the summit of each to pull up the
trains. In one instance, when a long
passenger train had reached within
short distance of the top, the heavy wire
cable broke and away it went, more
rapidly than the imagination of the mar
rator, to the valley and up the other
mountain, a half mile, like a flash, and
the presence of mind of passenger, a
book agent by the way, arrested it from
rushing down the other side. as he
checked it by the brakes. Anyhow
back the train went to the bottom and
again assembled the other side, thus see
saving for the greater part Of the day,
before the power Of gravity overcome
the momentum. The ladies shrieked,
but the speed was such that the train
left the sound behind, and the prayers
that were uttered on the crest of one
mountain were met by the returning
train in the yalley.-BrelhaR hide
pendent
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
Appearances of Arsenic Eaters.

Whenever you clap your eyes on n
woman as plump as a partridge, with a
milky Wilderness of complexion. puffy
eyelids and swollen skin, you've found a
victim OF the habit, said physician to
reporter, in abiding to the growing
use of arsenic among ladies. eff there
Is delicate tinge of red on the cheeks.
don't be deceived. Paint, not Nature. is
responsible for the bloom, made hideous
and CHASTITY by contrast with the corpsey
wilderness of the rest of the face. The
arsenic eater is seldom downcast or de-
spondent, come what may, for the drug
not only affects the skin, but produces
mental exhilaration. The plumpness
produced by arsenic is not natural
plumpness, but rather a dropsical c,sadi-
ton of the skin. Cessation of the habit
causes this water-distended skin to col
lapse, and wrinkles and sallowness are
the inevitable results. OF course, no
woman is willing to submit to this ordeal
when it may be prevented, at the mere
sacrifice of health and intellect, by a
continuation of the use of the drug. The
inevitable results of the arsenic habit
are hideous and incurable cutaneous
eruptions, loathsome diseases of the
scalp, falling out of the hair. dropsy.
and oftentimes insanity. But what care
the footlight favorites or the society
belle for those trifiing after-inconven-
fences so long as they can borrow illu-
sive charms and fictitious beauty by the
use OF the deadly drug?'
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
Some Rolling Stones.

Some rolling stones do gather moss.
James Harris tried his hand at many
things in various parts and one day took
1T inAhis head to plant few orange trees
at Ocala, Florida. He now owns 70, 900
& Of the trees and has an annual income
from them of $4,000.
Henry Meyers worked hard for many
years at Bodie, California, but gathered
no moss to speak Of In 1880 he cut his
tether and began to roam around the
rockies. He tried farming in Idaho last
summef, but gave that business up in
disgust. On Wednesday, two weeks
agn, he struck afquartz ledge of free
gold In Shasta County, California, and
now is rich.
Charles Newall's mind always ran upon
farming, but neither on the Atlantic
coast nor in the Mississippi Valley could
he DO anything for himself After rolling
around the country for several years he
struck out for the Pacific coast. His adj
ventures were numerous. In 1871 he
reached the Pleasant Valley, Washington
Territory, with fifteen horses and eight
dollars in money. His ranch of 1000
fertile acres now brings him in the gold
by the handful.
Sailor Jack" Flood started out in
his youth with the purpose of making
q great deal OF money In spite of the
ndage often repeated by his mother, to-
wit: "A rolling stone gathers no moss, ;"
Flood roamed over sea and land for
many years, now on this continent and
then on the other, or eating salt grub in
the forcastle of ship. A month or so
ago Flood struck it rich near Colma,
California, and now owns 1.-The Sailor
Jack, a quartz lode of alleged rich
ness.
Josiah L. Walls, colored, tried farming,
fishing and politics. His only success
was during the reconstruction period,
when he secured seat in Congress.
When. the Democrats regained the as
eeiidancy in the South, Walls sought in
various ways to make living. A few
years ago he struck the cucumber idea
and began to raise that vegetable in
Alachua County, Florida. Now he is
well-to-do, shipping 400 crates of cucum-
bers and tomatoes day during the early
summer.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
The She Pope

Inere Is story, now generally re-
garded as fabulous, thafa female named
loan lothers say Gilberts or Agnes oil
English descent, but horn in Ingelhelm,
or Malnz, Germany. fell in love with a
young Benedlchne monk named Zelda,
ana IN order to be admitted into the
Monastery of Fulda. where he was clols-
tered, assumed male attire. She AFTER
ward went with him to Athens, where
he d!ed while they were pursuing their
studles. Soon after this she went 10
tome, where her great learning brought
ner INTO distinction, and from success
iul career as a professor she was elected
oy general consent of the college OF
Cardinals to be the successor OF Pope
Leo ~, who died A. D. $50. Others
say she was the immediate successor OF
Pope Adrian IL, who died A. ID. ST..
Her title was Pope John VIII; title
which IN the Roman Notizie, or otlclaI
calendar of the Roman pontliis, Is as
crIbed to different person. 1t Is further
related of this female Pope that she
administered the pontifcal office with
great ability until her sex was discovered
by her giving birth to a male child dur
ing the excitement and fatigue OF pro-
cesslon to the Lateran Palace, which was
quickly followed by her death, some
say puerperal fever, while other nara
tives declare that she was stoned to
death. DR. Dollinger has written an
elaborate analysis of the various stories
IN regard to this parsonage, going to
show quite clearly that she was medic
val fiction, yet it cannot be denied the
belief in the veritable existence OF the
pontificate of Joan was general through
out the Catholic Church from thirteenth
to the fifteenth century and was not
discredited under the Reformation, when
it was made use of by the Protestants
to scandalize the papacy- Dolhnger
saws she was first mentioned by Chron-
icler Stephen de Bourbon. who took his
inforpatiOn, he thinks, from the chron-
icle of the Dominican, Jean de Mailly,
no copy of which is now known to be in
existence He attributes the origin OF
this scandal upon the lnfallibility of the
Poapacy to a grudge nourished against
the popes on account of the prosecutions
inflicted particularly by Pope Benedict
VIII. on themonks of the Domican and.
Minorite orders. Certain it is that good
Catholics at one time had such faith in.
the existence of Pope Joan, or John,
that they placed In the Cathedral of
sienna, along Will lliOSe OF the Otnef
popes, a bust of the popess, with the in.
sciption, "John VIII, a woman from
England" and this statue held its place
without serious objection ON the part of
priests or people, until the beginning of
seventeenth century. The Holy Chair
is the chair used IN the enthronement of
the popes. The tradition that the form
OF this chair is due, in a certain particu-
lar, to the fraud said to have been per-
petrated by Joan, IS now treated 10y his
torians as a vulgar fiction Chicago
Inter ocean.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
. where the Tax Falls.


- The Farmers JourndF directs attention
to significant fact, that seems to have
cutie escaped public attention, in. con-
nection with the tax on distilled sprits,
VIZ that whisky which is used as bev-
erage, and is at best but a luxury, paws
but about one half the tax-.per gallon
that is paid by alcohol, which enters into
the arts and manufactures and is a
chemical agent of inestimable value
The explanation is that whisky is ONLY
about one half the strength or proof of
alcohol So
Many Seem to think that a high tax
tends to lessen the-use of spirits as
beverage. This view, however, does
not seem to be sustained by the facts or
the statistics ofthe Revenue Department.
Before the tax was put upon spirits fully
S3 per cent. of all that was made was
used in the arts and in manufacturing.
Now nearly all that is made appears to
be consumed as beverage Before the
days of the tax alcohol was extensively
used in preparing dyes for calico, car
pets. etc. lt-was also largely used-by
furniture manufacturers, varnish makers,
matters, druggists and in many other in
dusfrles-. Now wherever it is possible
substitutes are employed, such as wood
spirits and fusel oil, which have an OBJ
Jectionable odor and are rank poisons.
1t is estimated by those most compe-
tent to judge that if the tax should be
reduced to so cents per gallon that at
least 16. 900, 600 gallons of alcohol would
be used in the above industries This
would create market for over 4. OOO,-
600 bushels of grain, while it is further
claimed that the Government would
suffer no loss of revenue
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-23
Good Manners.

Perhaps good manners are not good
morals, though the time was when the
words morals and manners amounted to
pretty much the same thing.
When the New Testament was trans
lated into English, in 1911, it taught it's
readers, and still teaches us, that "evil
communications corrupt good manners"
And the revisers of 1880 have left the
good manners to stand, changing only
communications into company. So
have very high authority for saying that
what L am driving at in this letter has
something to do with the basis of char
acter. A bad man may have the hand
soonest manners, the manners of gem
tleman, and thereby the more thoroughly
fitted to work all manner of mischief
with greediness. He is a hypocrite in
the world, as one who merely pretends
to be a saint Is hypocrite in the
church.
But the beginning, middle, and end of
good manners may be condensed into the
divinely given principle of preferring
others to ourselves denying self for
the happiness of another rendering to
everyone his due, as superior, inferior,
or equal.
If mothers form the manners of the
children, they should feel the burden of
responsibility. They may permit the
Unborn waywardness of the child to go
unchecked, while he grows to be pert,
saucy, forward, disagreeable, dreadful
boy, terror to the neighborhood, and
nuisance TO everybody but his doting
mamma. She gives him stick of candy
when a stick of something not so sweet
would do him more good. She coddles
him into curse that by and by will
come upon her own head Just as the
twig, etc. Blood is great, and blessed
are they who are well born. But more
than blood, better than pedigree, is cul-
ture.
Train up child in the way he should
go. he viii go in 1T then Teach him
to respect those who are older than him
self; to rise up before the aged H1neas
was pious, because he honored his
father. 1t Is a long way toward godli-
ness to obey ones parents. And happy
is the parent and happy the child when
love is returned with love.