davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-12-14

! John W. STOUT,
! q ATTORNEY AT LAW,
! STANTON VA.
VIII practice in the courts holden in Augusta and
adjoining counties. now
The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-12-14

| DISSOLUTION
The partnership heretofore existing between
| J. B. BLACKLEY and G. T. BLACKLEY, is this day
| dissolved by mutual consent. MR. j. B. BLACK
! LEY Will settle all business Of the concern.
| J. B. BLACKLEY,
! Oct. A. 1882. G. T. BLACKLEY.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
Prose Poems From the Chinese.

4 Woman Before Her Mirror
Seated before her mirror, she gazes at
the moonlight The bamboo blind is
down, and breaks the entering light it
seems as though all through the room
one sees jade shivered into a thousand
atoms. But instead of combing her hair
she let's down the bamboo blind, and the
moon appears yet more brilliant even
as a woman clad in silk, who lets her
robe fall
The Porcelain Partition In the
midst of the little artificial lake there
rises pavilion of green and white por-
celain. 1t is reached by bridge of
jade that curves like the back of tiger.
And in that pavilion friends clad In
bright robes are drinking together cups
of lukewarm wine. Gaily they converse
or write verses, pushing their hats lit
tie back on their heads, or tucking up
their sleeves. And in the lake itself,
where the little bridge, reflected upside
down, looks like a crescent of Jade, there
are also friends IN bright robes, upside
down, IN a pavilion of porcelain.
The Stairway Of Jdde.-Under the
sweet light of the full moon, the empress
-remounts her stairway of jade, all glim-
mering with dew. And the hem of her
robe softly kisses the edge of every step
the white satin and the Jade resemble
each other. The light of the moon has
burst into the apartment of the empress !;
as she passes over the threshold she is
all dazzled for before the window, upon
the curtain that is embroidered with
crystal pearl, there seems TO be a com
pany of diamonds disputing for the
light, and on the floor of pale wood
there seemeth to be circle of dancing
stars.
Characters EterrdL-Even while l
make verses, watch from my window
the swaying of the bamboos. let char
acters fall upon the white paper; affair off
one would fancy plum tree leaves were
falling crosswise upon snow. The de-
hghtful GOODNESS of mandarin oranges
passes away when woman carries them
too long in the gauze of her sleeve
as a white frost vanishes in the sun; but
the characters which have let fall upon
the paper will never become effaced.
Any one who has noticed the popularity
of Chinese written characters will APP
preciate the extremely poetical sin1iIe. J
The Fdn.-The young bride is sittin g
alone in the perfumed chamber, into
which the husband entered for the first
time only the evening before. In her
hand she holds her fan, wherein these
characters are written when the air
is sitting, and the winds are still, I am
beloved, and they beg the boon of re-
freshment from one. But when the
winds arise, and the air grows cold, I am
disdained and forgotten" And while
reading these characters the young
woman dreams of her spouse and sad
thoughts, like clouds, wrap themselves
about her. "Now is the heart of nv
husband young and ardent; my husband
comes to me that his heart may be re-
freshed But when his heart shall have
become chill and tranquil, will 1 not,
perhaps. be disdained and forgotten %
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
village Architecture in CHINA.

Villages, not badly built by any means
occur at intervals of mile or two apart
all along the roads of China. Very good
brick, much about the same size, shane
and material as those made in this conn.
try, compose the walls of the better
houses, while for the poorer order az
edifices mud is used The brick walls
in China are excellent, better than the
cheaper brick walls in America. and INIT
little inferior to our best pressed brick.
When villages are constructed of mud
there Is a striking resemblance to the
villages of Egypt. The houses have no
outside windows and but one opening
which Is the door. The openings for
light are upon inner courts or backwards
and are without glass. The caves are
made to project, so as to keep out the
rain, and III doing so of course exclude
much light as well Blinds made of
Stats are sometimes used, and thin, light
paper pasted over the Stats serve to keen
out some of the cold air and to let in n
little light. The houses are invariably
one story high. And at the bottom of
this custom Is a superstition that higher
houses would interfere with the spirits
of the air ('Fung Chui") and offend
them, thus bringing disaster upon the
house or village. In front of each door.
and at distance of eight or ten feet,
stands detached wall, fifteen feet long
and as high as the caves of the house,
concealing the door from any person
standing in front of it. This is for the
purpose of protecting the house and
family from malignant "Fung Chui," or
spirits, which are popularity believed to
fly only in straight lines and to be in
capable of turning a corner. 1t follows
that when traversing the air in search o
a certain house, when they come in con-
tact with the wall they are thrown off at
an angle and thus baflled of their fell pur-
pose, and fly In tangent through infinite
space and are lost. A Chinese village
has but little in common with those OF
this country, either in detail or IL gen
eral appearance. While the villgaes OF
America copied from English prototypes
are peculiar, from their detached and
separate build, with gardens and grass
plots, those of China are compact, hud-
died together and present from a distance
the aspect of mere dead wall. One
peculiarly of all Chinese cities and vii
lagos Is the absence of steeples, spires or
pinnacles of any kind While NIoham-
medan countries have the mosque, with
its flashing domes and graceful minarets,
and European aud American centres of
population are marked by lofty towers
and spires. China Is almost absolutely
without any of these striking architec-
tural points. Theresult is great monotOny
and dullness of aspect.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
Old Trees.

The ages attained by some of the
coniferae are scarcely less extraordinary
than their colossal bulk. The greatest
longevity assigned TO any tree is perhaps
credited to the celebrated taxodium of
Chapultepec, in Mexico, lit feet in cir
conference, which is thought by De
Candolle to exceed in age the baobab of
Senegal, inferred to be $3.50 years old.
Goeppert states that Tdrodiunl DIST
chunl has been ascertained by its annu-
lar rings to live 1000 years. The man.
moth tree has been estimated to live
1000 years in California. De Candolle
quotes number of instances of longevity
In the yew, and EndlicheI considers one
in Derbyshire to be 2, 1895 years old, and
the one at Grasford, in North Wales,
], 400 years old. The pines. cypress, frs,
larches and cedars are credited with
ages of 200, 800 and even 500 years.
Picea 200 feet in height is mentioned by
Goeppert, as ascertained by its annular
rings, to be $50 years old, and lark of
40 feet to be $40 years old. The Scotch
pine (Pinus sylUestus) is said to require
200 years to mature its timber to perfec-
ton. In Veitch's Manual of the Conifera
the ages of some of these are stated at
considerably less. Other examples of
longevity greater than 500 years are
mentioned. These are Cedras deodora,
$50 to 900 years; cedar of Lebanon, 600
to 800 years. 1t is important. however,
to recognize the fact that rings of growth
are not in all cases trustworthy guides,
and the subject is still involved in some
obscurity. The rings of growth In
eucalyptus have been ascertained to be
biennial White cedars planted in Eng
land show symptoms of decay, as In
Richmond Park, as if their full age IN
this climate at least were already reached.
London Gardeners Chronicle.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
The Cuban Gentleman.

He appears TO you at first a man all
hair, eyes, teeth and shirt collar. 1t IS
not precisely the correct view, but such
is apt to be the impression conveyed TO
a conservative and doubling mind. After
better acquaintance he gives you the
idea of a man who is Mt least Sui !QeHeriS,
with unique form of body and
hitherto unclassifed type of mind.
After year or two he begins to seem to
YOU to be a rather clever fellow, with
traits that are seldom observed to exist
in a character otherwise excellent, but
an agreeable man in many respects. To
a coutenance always expressive of n
certain refinement, often of great
beauty, and almost never coarse, angular
or hard, he joins physique the thinnest
and most attenuated ever found com
patible with locomotion and the, general
control of a muscular system. His legs
are spindles, his arms much like fattened
sticks somewhat enlarged at the articula-
tons. OF stomach he-rsually has about
as much as birds of the crane species
are remarkable for, and is seldom dis
posed to undue enlargement in the
region of the waistband. His shoulders
are thin and sharp, and If he stoops
slightly, it need not necessarily be re-
gardcd as an indication either of
scholarship or disease of the lungs.
His complexion is seldom fair, and gen
orally of not unhandsome swarthiness,
though sometimes approaching a hue
that, by the present opinion of prejudiced
mankind, is not exactly society color
But l have never seen a Cuban with
what we call dumb" face or an I'M
intelligent eye.
This man is the born dandy. He
wears jewelry like a woman and like a
woman's. He pinches feet that are
small enough naturally into agonizing
shoes. He wears collars monstrous in
size or ridiculous in smallness, with
shirts of dazzling colors and cuts so very
sharp ends of his collar bones and the
very bottom of his thin throat. At the
date OF this writing he goes about the
streets with pantaloons that hang upon
his little legs like bags, and flap and
yaw in the breeze. His coat seems TO
have been made for taller man, whereas
year ago 1t had tendency to creep up
ward toward the back of his neck. But
the centerpiece and glory of his costume
is his hat Where such fashions in
headgear as he delights himself with
really have their origin | know not. As
the climate is warm, and seemingly for
that reason, the hat is narrow, black,
heavy and shaped like an inverted stove
kettle. This man sometimes attends a
Ball IN black dress suit, a white neck
tie and a green shirt. A Cuban town is
full of such figures, and few of them
are, by any chance, at work at anything.
Born IN a slave country, the presumptive,
probable or actual heir to share in
some sugar plantation, or if not, living
by his wits or upon his relations, the
young Cubans imagines that his destiny
Is 10 ornament the tropics to be a thing
of beauty, and kill time while he
is thus elegantly occupied. -C Cuban
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31

The probability that nearly every
large town or city will soon be supplied
with large quantities of electricity for
lighting purposes has given rise TO con-
siderable interest in the plan of making
use of the Same supply for producing
power for light household work. Several
small motors have been devised to
meet the expected demand. The first
of these little machines was constructed
about three years ago by NJ Marcel
Deprez, and was found to work effec-
lively. Asecond apparatus of this kind has
for some time been used by NJ. Trouve,
an electromagnetic being used in place of
the permanent steel magnet of Deprez
This motor drives sewing machine
very readily, although it is of very small
bze. Trouve's little electric canoe at
the Paris electrical exhibition was pro-
PEELED by some Of these engines, and NJ
Tissandier has suggested their use for
balloon steering. The last and best
motor is that of Mr.. Griscom, the
American electrician. One of these
powerful little machines, four aud a half
inches long and weighing little more
than two pounds, will run a sewing ma
chime very rapidly with small expendi-
ture of electric energy. The lack of
labor-saving conveniences in the house
hold has often been deplored, but the
introduction of electricity seems to offer
a source of power which may serve in
many ways to tighten the toll of the
weary housewife.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31

Whether a man or woman is any
richer Tor having beautiful smile, may
be moOted point; but one thing GER
tain, the world is richer for 1t. There is
nothing more potent for good; no such
inestimable blessing TO others, as the
warm, intelligent smile. Every one,
probably, can recall some one whose
smile seems TO open the paradise of
loving heart, and invite admission. And
yet such smiles ere rare, scarcely one
person in hundred reaching the acme
of perfection IN this respect. The per
son who smiles Is not always a laughter.
Indeed, the smile is not the true indica-
ton of humOr at all. 1t rather reveals
the genial and loving qualities of the
heart. The person who smiles may also
laugh, but 1t is because he combines a
sense of humor with the warmth of
genialty. The person Is not only blest,
but blessing, who combines the two
Perhaps nothing In all the world is so
beautiful as the smile of a child. Only
grave babies smile The majority of
them bubble over in such madcap
laughter, the remembrance of it is catch
ing But the recollection of the grave
baby's smile seems somehow to briHg
the. tears to ones eyes. The parting of
the beautiful lips, the revealment Of the
white teeth closed, the slow emergence
into life of the coy and half reluctant
dimples and-note this mot the brighten
ing of the eyes) but the slumbrous depth
of inner feeling revealed by the softening
and hanging over of these luminous
windows of the gentle, reticent and low
ing young spirit. JVitD30ns.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
The Stereotrned Smile.

1t is impossible, of course, for mere
human being to fathom the secret springs
Of human action IN another. A persons
features may express something and 1t
is very often the case that they do, when
he gets a full hand or four OF kind
but upon general principles It Is safe
enough TO say mans face expresses n
little of what is running through his
head, and his language still less. In
stances have been known where men
specialized on the board of trade and
lost every dollar they had in the world
and more too, so if they had settled up
they would have been sixteen thousand
dollars in debt, but they never let on.
They continued to do business, buy and
sell, draw checks, and their bright smile
haunted them still, and before the final
day of reckoning came around they had
recovered lost ground and were ten thou
sand dollars ahead of the game. These
instances, of course, we do not hear
much about. 1t is only those who fail
to catch on before the settlement comes
around that are spoken of in the news
papers as being temporarily embar-
raised to the extent of $40, 600 or $780,
000," and for whom there Is much SYM
pathy. Actors and actresses have con-
siderable control over their features, so
that they can be called from clawing
each others hair behind the scenes to
go upon the stage and melt the audience
to tears by their gentle tones and silver
plated sorrow. But it all ends at the
drop of the curtain, and they go to their
hotel and sleep like a hired man after a
days work in a hay field. The business
man, however, who is skating over
mighty thin place in the ice, takes his
little comedy right home with him, and
though his countenance may be as smooth
as though he had been ironed by the
Sheriff-(and feels he is liable to be at
any moment)-his dreams will be filed
with cat concerts, and crows will come
and step their feet in the corners of his
eyes. But we started out to tell what a
Boston bankrupt told his creditors the
other day, when they had assembled to
see how much he could pay on the dol
lar. He said he had been bankrupt for
years, that all he could do he could not
turn the tide he kept sinking deeper
and deeper, but he had never seen a
chance to let go. The business hung to
him like dog to a bone, and he could
not kick it off. People were willing to
lend him any amount of money, on in
terest that he could never pay he had a
family to support, andcould not see any
other chance to make a living. He was
dashed to the wheel, and the only way
was to keep the old thing dead ahead
until she filled and sunk. The man did
not say this in a gloomy manner, but
with that winsome smile that he had
practiced for twenty years, until it had
become stereotyped.-Peck's San.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
The Sorrows OF Singers.

The. lot of the famous singer Is not
always happy one. From the days OF
Malibran, who was in America over half
a century ago. to those of poor Christine
Nilsson, trouble and sorrow have spared
none of the great singers who have been
popular idols. The most lucky of these
is Jenny Lind, who retired on
fortune before her voice failed, aud who
leads happy domestic life in London.
But Malibran when young married
rascal and although her second marriage
was not unfortunate, she lived but
very short time after it. Her contem-
porary and rival, Mile SOntag, married
an Italian Count, and entered fashionable
life, retiring from the stage when quite
young. But her Count was also n rascal,
who squandered all her money in gambl-
ing, and she had, when nearly fifty
years old, to resume her artistic career,
which was brilliant to the last. But her
husband was jealous as well as q spend
thrift, and when she died in Mexico there
were suspicious that she and the hand
some tenor PoZzolini were both poisoned.
Mile Grisi, who was the acknowledged
grandest dramatic singer of her time,
welded q man whom she did not love
and who was not worthy of her, and she
made a scandal by leaving him for the
arms of the equally famous tenor, Mario.
Mile. Alboni, probably the grandest
contralto singer that ever appeared In
public, was married for the fortune in
her voice by an Italian Count, but the
marriage was not happy one, and they
lived apart for some years. He did not,
however, squander her money, and when
he died she lost no time in becoming the
wife of q French subalteran officer,
much younger than herself, who loves
her fortune devotedly, and makes him
self generally disagreeable to those that
rent houses or apartments of hers in
Paris.
Nelson's husband, NJ Rouzand, is
said to have inherited insanity from his
family, and he was literally madly in
love with her when he persuaded her TO
become his wife. He was crazy, too,
about stock speculations, and, after
gambling all his own and his wife's for
tune away on the Bourse, he died in a
mad-house. Another great singer, Mile.
Heilbronn, who was pet of Paris some
years ago, married French Count, and
lost through him, all that she had, in the
crash of the Union Generate. She is
now compelled, after having lost the
freshness of her voice, to return to the
stage. Everybody knows how Adelina
Patti threw herself away upon a poor
old French Marquis, from whom she
fed, after he had enriched himself out
of her earnings; and how she has thrown
herself away in another manner with
Signor Nicolini. Adelina is reported by
q Western interviewer, to have said, also,
that her sister Carlotta's husband is a
bad fellow, who spends all his wife earns
in gambling.
These are only few examples; more
might be given to illustrate the facility
with which popular singers, who can
earn from $500 to SIS, 900 night, sacrifice
themselves on the altar of hymen, who
must be a very mercenary kind OF
divinity. Philadelphia Bulletin.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31
POPULAR SCIENCE.

OYSTER shells are utilized by being
burned to lime.
DILUTED oxygen sustains life; pure
oxygen destroys it.
IT Is said that hysterical persons have
a marked taste for vinegar and green
fruit.
RIVER mud is mixed with chalk and
burned and ground to make Portland
cement
REMEDIES are said to be known for
the poison of all snakes, except that of
the cobra.
A HERRING yields over 10000 eggs,
myriads of which are devoured by vari-
Gus enemies.
No LESS than one%ffth the alge of the
Antarctic Seas have been identified with
British species.
A BosroS chemist has found seventy
five per cent. of terra alba in sample
of cream of tartar.
EXPERIMENTS tend to prove that hui
man respiration is less rapid in the trop-
les than in cold regions.
A RIvER-DoLPHIS of South America
has the greatest number of teeth found
in the order of whales, ODD.
MoRE water is admitted to the atmos-
phere from the Transportation of a forest
than from an equal body of water.
SAUERKRAuT is cabbage in the first
stage of fermentation, which, if COM
pleted, yields quass, Russian tonic.
OLD boots and shoes are turned to ac-
count by the chemical manufacturer in
producing the cyanides and ferro-cya-
hides SO indispensable in photography.
The best known infectious agent of
the soil, the Bacillus maldri9, cannot
live without air, aud the more water its
habitation contains the less favorable
does it become to the life of the organ
ism
WHITE wine is said TO be more injuri-
GUS to the system than red, the latter
containing tannin, which being an as
tringent. closes the pores of the stomach
and prevents the alcohol from at once
reaching the brain.
THE suggestion is made that air for
ventilation be drawn into buildings
through tubes sunk about ten feet in the
ground. By this means it would in
winter be warmed by Ice f. and in sum-
mer cooled to 23e f.
THE chief constituent of the tea leaf
is proved, by analysis, to be the alkaloid
theme. When separated, so as to be
seen in its perfect purity, theme appears
IN snow-white, silky, filifrom crystals,
flexible and fragile, without odor, but
having mildly bitter taste.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-31

"While 1 was in Topeka last winter, :"
said the Hon. Arthur Edgington,
had pretty rough time of it. 1 got a
bad cold, and, then that not being suffic-
iently severe, l was also attacked with
rheumatism. The pain was in my left
shoulder. At times L almost writhed in
agony. l tell you, sir, that the pain
could not have been greater had my
shoulder been screwed up in wise. l
was utterly helpless, and felt like l was
destined to remain in that condition in
definitely. Ny friends and a physician
were generous in their prescriptions and
my room soon became a miniature
apothecary shop. But nothing did me
any good. One day some one told me L
was enduring a great deal of needless
pain when 1 could invest fifty cents In
bottle of ST. Jacobs Oil and be cured.
l invested in bottle of the Oil, rubbed
it on my shoulder twice, and In two
days forgot that / ever had rheumatism.
Yes, that is a great remedy, and no
mistake. They can't say too much IN
favor of its healing power"
The above was uttered by Mr.. Edging-
ton while sitting in the porch of the La
Gonda House, at Columbus, the other
evening, and was overheard by an es-
capped reporter, who is travelling over
the country incog. Inquiry developed
the fact that Mr. Edgington is one of
the most widely known men in Kansas,
figuring prominently in politics, and
acting as the responsible agent of the
Bradstreet Commercial Agency. Upon
subsequently making Mr.. Edgington's
acquaintance the reporter was assured
that all he had heard was true, and he
was at liberty to use it in the papers,
Os,0ego (Kdn Democrat