davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
How Cinnamon Bargain for Wives.

HOW Cntnamen bargain 1Or wives.
An Australian Chinaman, when anx-
ious to have wife of his own nation.
sends letter to an agent IN Hong Kong.
The following Is a condensed translation
of the epistle
81 want a wife. She must be a
maiden under twenty years of age, and
must not have left her fathers house.
She must have never read book, and
her eye-lashes must be half an inch in
length. Her teeth must be as sparkling
as the pearls of Ceylon. Her breath
must be like unto the scents of the mag
nificent odor groves of Java, and her
attire must be from the silken weavers
of the Ka Li-Ching, which are on the
banks of the greatest river In the world
the ever-howing Yanktse Kiang."
The price of a Chinese woman deIiv-
women only cost $52; therefore. the
heathen Chinese import women in
couples. The importer never sees his
women before they arrive, and then he
generally selects the best-looking one.
The other is shown around to a number
of well-to-do Cinnamon, and, after they
have inspected her, she Is submitted to
what may be called public auction. At
recent sale at Sydney a young girl
aged about nineteen was offered, and,
after some spirited bidding, she was
purchased by wealthy Chinese store
keeper, whose place of business is In
one of the leading towns of New South
Wales, for 1920. The melancholy aspect
of the Celestial girl, as she went away
in company with the man who purchased
her, was deplorable to the last degree
North China Herald.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
Charles Lamb at Home.

I availed myself of Charles Lambs
friendly invitation August 5, 1884. On
reaching his cottage, which stood back
from the road, (nearly opposite the
church. between two houses which
projected beyond it, and was screened
by shrubs and trees, I found that he was
out taking his morning stroll. 1 was
admitted to a small, paneled, and agree
ably shaded parlor. The modest room
was hung round with engraYings by
Hogarth in dark frames. Books and
magazines were scattered on the table
and on the old-fashioned window seat.
chatted awhile with Miss Lamb-a
meek, intelligent, very pleasant, but
rather deaf elderly lady, who told me
that her brother had been gratified by
parts of my poem, {" Emily de Wilton, y
and bad read them to her. ELLA
came in soon after-a short, thin man.
His dress was black and he wore
capacious coat, breeches, and CATERS,
and q white neck-handkerchief. His
dark and shaggy hair and eyebrows,
and heated face, and very piercing Jet
black eyes gave to his appearance
singularly wild and striking expression.
The sketch of him in FraSer's Mdgd-
zine gives true idea of his dress and
figure, but hls portraits fail to represent
adequately his remarkably :" fine Titan
head full of dumb eloquence," as Haz-
lit described it. He grasped me cor
daily by the hand, sat down, and taking
bottle from a cupboard behind him,
mixed some rum and water On another
occasion his sister objected to thisopera
tion, and he refrained. Presently after
he said May I have a little drop
now ? only leetLe drop" "No, said
she, "be good boy" At last, how
ever, he prevailed and took his usual
draught. On each visit Ohat of August
5 having been quickly succeeded by an
other) found that he required to be
drawn into conversation. He would
throw out a playful remark and then
pause a while. He spoke by fits and
starts, and had slight impediment In
his utterance which made him, so to say,
grunt once or twice before he began
sentence but his tones were loud and
rich, and once, when he read to me a
passage from a folio of Beaumont and
Fletcher (Which his sister had brought
down to show me Coleridge's manu-
! script remarks at the end of each play)
the deep pathos of his voice gave great
weight to the impression made by the
poetry. He would jump up and slap
| his sister playfully ON the back, and a
rOOmy SnuH-DO4 O1teu phsseu DSbMooh
them on the old round table. There
was not that point in his conversation
which we find In William Homes. He
agreed with me that Mooreis poetry was
like very rich plum cake-yery nice,
but too much of it at q time makes one
sick. He said that Byron had written
only one good-natured thing, and that
was the "Vision of Judgment. ''Nary,
he added to Miss Lamb, "dont you
hate Byron? "Yes, Charles" she
replied. "That's right" says he.-
Notes and Queries.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
HICKMAN, FULTON COUNTY, KENTUCKY. FRIDAY. MA
got him all used up. he started to leave,

got him all used up. he started to leave,
I but, Sue"
Yes, honey"
The dominic had got so weak hisself
that he had just straddled off and reeIed
round hike he was drunk and before he
got turder enough-wot with bulgin'
torard and staggering backard-little
blaekey put out his bill and caught hun
by a wing futher, and held his hold till
dominic got on his feet agin and turned
round and licked him over. Now.
Sue"
"Yes. honey"
Every time the dominic whipped
him and started off, little blackev would
do the same thing. He was clean tuck
cred out all but his eyes (and he could
just barely turn them in his head anI
his bill. And you ought to been there
to seen him stretch out his little, weak
neck, with not feather on it, and take
dominic by the wing or the tail every
tune he tried to leave. I never see such
grit in my life, Sue; cos, you see, Sue,
he knOwed he couldn't move, and he
knowed that every time he caught hold
of dominic and held on he'd get licked
aSin but he kept dom it, Sue.
Yes, honey"
Iii III lltoL TIE UOLlIulC was cl ear
wore out a whippin' of him and tainted
dead away, and lay with his mouth open
and his tongue a lollin' out. Then
when blaekey saw that tongue a layin'
alongside kind of piert look hoped
into his eyes, and he stretched his little
weak neck out and caught it in his bill.
This kinder walked the dominic up,
Sue"
Yes, honey"
"And he squacked murder, Sue. -
Yes. honey"
"And the best was that whichever
squacked first would be the one that
was whipped and the way L raked the
pile of red beans was just sinful, Sue;
and Kate's as mad as a March hare and
gone home to tell ma
e" But you don't mean to say that Won
took all your sisters beans, do you ?"
Yes, honey" Words reached in
imitation of SUe.)
"And do you really mean to keep
them ?"
" Yes. honey"
"Well, raoac ?" said Sue, laughing. "I
don't know what to do with such boy
anyhow"
We carried our poultry business
through another year and with still
greater success. We would probably
have been engaged IN it yet but for
male biped, who, perceiving how well
she could live without him, made the
discovery that he could not live without
her. This dissolved our partnership,
and terminated a neyer-to- be-forgot-
ten period of my life.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
Measure of Things.

We measure from ourselves, as things
are for our use and purpose, so we ap-
prove them. Bring pear to the table
that is rotten, we cry 1t down 1t is
naught But bring medlar that is rot
ten and tits fine thing and yet, I'll
warrant You, the pear thinks as well OF
itself as the medlar does. We measure
the excellency of other men by some ex-
cellency we conceive to be in ourselves.
Nash poet. poor enough, as poets
nsed to be. seeing an alderman with his
gold chain. upon his great horse, by. way
IF scorn said to one of his companions ::
"Do Won see yon fellow? How goodly,
how big he 1ooksi Why, that fellow
can not make q blank verse" Nay, we
measure the goodness Of God from our
selves we measure His goodness, His
Justice, His wisdom by something we
call lust. good, or wise in ourseH And
in so doing we Judge proportionably to
the country fellow in the play. who said
if he were King he would live like
Lord and have peas and bacon every
day, and whip that cried "slash p
John ,SeLdefs.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
TIE WORKSHOP.

SATURATED solution of sulphate of
copper in water is recommended as the
cheapest and best thing for writing on
zinc labels. The writing should be done
either with hard wood stile or with a
blunt quill pen.
DE FossE, of Paris has introduced a
paper covering for furniture. 1t is
made in imitation of Cordova leather,
and Is said to be so effective in its pur-
poses as to promise competition with
textile fabrics for upholstery work.
Ir is stated that in Mexico wooden
railway ties cost about $l.50 apiece,
and that some of them laid ON the
Mexican National Railroad last May are
now decayed and unsafe. 1t is said that
it has been found cheaper to order iron
ties, worth So each, from England than
TO use wooden ones.
MISERAL-TANNED leather is impervious
to water and is said to be much more
durable than leather prepared in the
ordinary manner. Tests have been made
which show that belts of mineral-tanned
leather are not only thirty per cent.
cheaper, but are stronger than common
belts. The mineral process of tanning
Is reported to have been introduced into
eight tanneries in Germany.
Two processes have been recently in
troduced by NJ. Seguin, of Paris, by
which IL is claimed that the RESISTANCE of
iron TO the various strains to which it is
subjected is considerably increased In
one process the piece of iron is raised to
cherry-red heat, and dipped in a mix
ture of sulphuric acid and water. In
the other process the piece is similarly
heated and quenched in a mixture of
one part of turpentine and six parts
water.
Mr.. +. SIENIESs proposes to adapt
toughe1ed glass to the manufacture of
street lamp posts, water mains and other
articles usually made of cast iron. His
claim for glass is that it is stronger than
iron; it is imperishable and incorrodible
The profit TO the maker is twice that of
cast iron, but the specific gravity of
glass is so much less than that of cast
iron that the consumer will be able to
obtain articles at about thirty per cent.
cheaper than cast iron.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
She Was Kissed Too Much.

1t isn't often that girl is kissed too
much, and less frequently does a boy
suffer from too much of that sort of
thing. 1t is different from washing and
ironing and cooking and sweeping down
the stairs, that girls have been known to
seek kissing rather than those things,
and often much to the neglect of them.
1t has never been supposed that any
great danger lurked in kissing, even
though a great deal Of it be done, and if
1t has sometimes fatigued the very ardent
for sometimes the very best things
will fatigue one-it has usually been
fatigue which all were willing to accept.
1t appears, however, that there is a
great deal of danger in kissing which is
not sensibly and decently done. A story
comes through the English papers Of an
extraordinary young German couple who
wagered to kiss each other ten thousand
times In the course of ten hours. That
seems easy enough, and probably there
are thousands of Young lovers who pre-
sumo they have time and again done
some thousands better than that. The
wager was the result of discussion
about how many kisses could be crowded
into given time. The enterprise was
undertaken with great Figor, the only
drawback being the plAsence OF spec
tators. Within the first hour two thou
sand kisses were exchanged, and the
outlook was propitious. The record,
however, did not keep up, only one
thousand being added in the second
hour. From this time on the business
Jagged, and at the end Of the third hour
both broke down. The young woman
tainted in the midst of too much of a
good thing, and the young mans lips
were cramped out of their usefulness
and paralyzed.
1t isn't worth while expressing an
opinion about an extraordinary couple
like that. They have their own punish
ment in the fact that the matrimonial
engagement between them was broken
off in consequence of the strange per-
/ formance. Probably there isn't any
warning in this for American girls. They
don't make q public exhibition of their
kissing. and they are never known to
faint at the end of the third hour. They
are the kind of girls also who do moi
paralyze the young mems lips, and the
Young man whose lips don't paralyzt
must be pretty poor young man if he
gives a girl time to faint between kisses
| But don't do it in public-it isn't worth
much that way.-PhitadelphiG Times
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
"In that tower
Which 10 this very hour
Is looking seaWard." "

proposed to take the manuscript to
New York and sell it for not less than
$50. On my return thither my first visit
was TO the poet Halleck, at his desk in
the dingy counting-house of the primeval
John Jacob Astor, IN Prince street. We
had often talked about Longfellow, and
Halleck felt and displayed a lively ap-
probation of his genius, which he de-
MED to the English laureate, whom we
all venerate. The old poet was delighted
with this new effusion of his younger
lyrical brother, and knowing the value
of his opinion in the eyes of our titerdti,
l asked him to express his admiration IN
a few brief works at the foot of the man.
uscript If l remember rightly the in
scriptIon ran 81 unhesitatingly pro-
nounce the above to be, IN my opinion,
Professor Longfellow's finest effort. +"
This was duly signed, and rushed down
to Louis Gaylord Clarke of the Knick-
er6ocker Magazine, who stood aghast
when L announced the price of this
poem, he Having only paid S25 for its
predecessors. The intrinsic beauty of
the lyric, which by this time I had
learned to read with tolerable effect,
overcame a reluctance to which his pow
erty, not his will consented, and had
pride and pleasure in renting the $50
to Cambridge that evening
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26

A MAN who gives weight to what he
says by an oath, pledges his simple word
to be light, unworthy of belief He
lacks the character to swear by himself,
and so goes about to find something
more stable than he himself is to which
he can nail his assertion so that 1t will
stay. An oath is a trellis, without which
the assertion would fall to the ground.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
LITTLE Mrs. WILLIE.
By MAReAREr EYrrNeE

One summer Of my ffty-hye
find in Memiryis pages
As bright az though II had not been
Enshrincd for many ages.
II passed II was sturdy chap,
Whose years scarce numbered seYenl
At an old farmhouse on a hill
That seemed 20 me near heaven.
And there a little maiden lived,
Who had been ehristeDed Mile;
But when We met and loved they called
Her little Mrs Willie.
Oh, what a cunning tot she was,
As sweet as ripest berries,
With blue-gray eyes and dimpled chin,
And checks a. red AZ cherriesi
Among her tangled curls the gold
or sun was wont 10 lnger,
ring Of gold. mite, she wore
My gift-on one small finger,
And every morning early
A rose, or pink, or lily,
To fasteu in her pinaf0rC.
Brought little Mrs. Willie.
And through the daisied fields and lanss,
When II was pleasant weather,
As gay as birds, hand asped in hand,
We'd wander OF together;
Or by the sparkling brook we'd sit,
AID watch the shining fishes;
Or play beneath the old oak-trees,
With acorn cups and dishes.
n
Add make the air grow chilly.
on came my jacket 70 inwrap
Dear little Mrs. While.
And when the pale moon rose, and IN
The west the sun descended,
The katy dds sang loud TO tell
The happy day was ended,
We lingering Kissed, and slowly sato
Goodnight in tones OF sorrow;
Then whispered, with a sudden light
IN sleepy eyes, Tomorrow -
And 1 could hear her pray. the nights
We're then 20 calm and stily,
"Bess Wilhe!" and in turn prayed,
=" Bless little Mrs. Wiliei'
September came. The maple leaves
Were turning when We parted.
She wept, but i kept back my Tears,
Though just a. broken-hearted.
OF course We thought 70 meet again,
But met again, ali, neyerl
The good-by said that autumn morn
Was good-by said forever.
But many times in dreams I've heard
The crickets chrplng slfrllly,
While have roamed mp hill, down dale,
With little Mrs. Willie.
Yes, Of my summers hfty-ive
The one that made me seven,
Spent in tho farmhouse on the hill
That seemed SO near 20 heaven,
Was far the brightest And the love
We children gave each other,
SO true, 80 pure, IN very sure
We neYlS gave another.
And eve aow on rose-sWeet nights
(Perchance 1t may be silly,
For she must be quite fifty- threel,
70 my prayers add feryentiy,
''Biess little Mrs. Willie ="
Farper's Weekly.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26

THE CONCORD HYMN.
bE ,l tne vide bridge that srched the food,
,, ef nag TO April breeze unfurled,
heie 1hee the enibattled farmers stood,
A"u 1red the shot heard round the world.
Au1 .,it ipe long since in silence slept
"a Ae .S the conqueror silent sleeps;
az Ie ane the ruined bridge has swept
N"n the dark stream which seaward creeps.
o1 MN Inls green bank, by this soft stream,
.r.s !" set to-day q votive stone,
1u1 va memory may their dead redeem,
T" heh ike our sires our sons are gone
~ snat made these heroes there
.t.san ~ me and leave their children free,
psT Tin. .lnie and nature gently spare
Inc snait we raise 10 them and theei
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26

MORE helpful than all wisdom 1s one
draught of human pity that viii not for
sake Us
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As illustrating the style of the late
Ralph Waldo Emerson, below are two of
his poems. The first is clever little
fable; the other the celebrated patriotic
poem which has been so widely quoted :
THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL
The mountain and the squirrel
Had quarrel;
And the former called the latter Little Prig;
Bun replied:
You are doubtless very big,
But all sorts Of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up year,
And a sphere.
And 1 think no disgrace
To occupy my place
II I'm not so large you,
You are not so small as 1,
And not half spry.
I'll not deny you make
very pretty squirrel trap.
lalents differ; all is well and wisely put
III cannot carry forests my back,
NEITHER can you crack a nut.
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26

he sprang to his feet and embraced me.
The doubling Thomases were at dis
count that morning. The poem revealed
to me his methods of work. After the
emotions of mutual satisfaction had sub
sided, he told me that he mad carried the
scheme in his head ever since the previ-
GUS summer, when, after having visited
with a cavalcade of my brothers and
sisters-among whom was the present
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe-the skeleton in
armor, up at Taunton, and then visible
IN a museum at Fall River since burned
to the ground-he challenged my sister,
in their home gallop over the Newport
beaches, to make poem out of the rusty
hauberk and grim bones they had been
inspecting. "That, said he, twas nearly
a year ago, and the poem only flashed
upon me last week " 1t viii be remem-
bered that the closing scene is laid
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
HOW 4 POEM WAS SOLD.
san, wards story OF E.ousf-iIow'. "SkeIe-
fontiR Arnsor.v

From the Moth American Resiew.l
After breakfast he told me that he had
recently written poem which smiled to
him. but which his habitual counselors
and companions who, presume, were
Charles sumner, @. G. FELTON, and Geo.
S. Hillard-had frowned upon as be-
meath the plane Of his previous lyrical
performances He then proceeded to
read 10 me the "Skeleton in Armor. +"
which so stirred my blood that took
the manuscript from his hands and read
it to him witt enore dramatic force than
his modesty bad permitted him to dis
play. This ma have been presumption
on my part - III remember when /
came to fkle e-r~xceacko-
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26
THE coNcoRD HYMN.

The other poem of high order of
poetry is entitled:
The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-26

As with his wings slant
Sails the fierce curmoant,
Seeking some rocky hasnt
With his prey laden;
So toward the open main,
Beating to sea again
Through the wild hurricane,
Bore the maiden ~
Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-12-23

A DELICATE INSTRUMENT. The
Yale College heliometer. with its del
icate mechanism, was packed in the
most careful manner for transporta-
ton from Germany to the United
States. 1t was first inclosed in tin
box; this was packed in straw in a
larger wooden case; then this was
covered again with straw, and the
whole done up in canvas and fitted
with handles, 50 as to be carried
easily. The case was not opened in
New York by the revenue authorities,
but an officer of the Custom House
was sent to New Haven, by permits
sion of the Secretary of the Treasury,
to look on while the instrument was
being unpacked to see that nothing
dutiable was contained in the case -
New Haven Register.
Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-12-23
HOW HE TRACKED THE MONEY.

Dickens has burlesqued without
mercy the endless routine Of official
business in his satirical description of
the ''Circumlocution Office" There
are uses, however, for all this pune
tilious formality, especially in large
establishments. and not the least of
these benefits is the facility with
which it enables responsible persons
to trace ont frauds. locate and rectify
mistakes. and identify losses. a good
instance of this is the following story
of the disappearance and recovery OF
several thousands belonging to the
famous house in "Threadnecdle
Street
More than fifty years ago there
lived near London MIR. Field. a
widower, with seven interesting chill
dren. and holding a position in the
Bank of England something analo
gous to that of teller, so called, in the
| banks Of this country.
Making up his accounts one day, he
found himself nine thousand pounds
short. about forty five thousand dol
! lars.
As he or his securities were liable
! for all losses or dcfalcatiOn, this ms
! fortune was to him absolute ruin.
One who has occasion to visit tn,
Bank of England to exchange larg.
note for smaller ones, or for gold
goes to a desk and writes his name
and address on the back of the note
He then takes it to wicket, or open
ing, and presents it for examination
A large card is taken down, and. L
correct. mark is made ON the note
Then to another wicket, where Il like
examination is made. Then t.
another place, in continual line. \
small portion is torn off the note anC
cast into a basket. and on slip o
paper an order is gwen on the mex
place, and You receive your notes, o.
gold.
Mr.. Field could only imagine tina
in giving notes in exchange he NIGH
have given ten one-thousand note
for one hundreds. which would leave
him minus nine thousand pounds.
He rushed to the basket Of refus,
notes and found one of one thousan,
pounds. On the back was the nam,
of Mr.. Brown. and the address
Turks Head Inn.
Mr. Brown was a traveller, then
and might he already gone f1om tina
house. f-
He reached the inn with what speeC
may be imagined, and found IA coacl
there, filled with passengers, and jus
about to leave the yard.
4 Breathless with anxiety he ap
preached the window of the coach
and inquired if any gentleman by TIN
name of Brown was within.
"My name is Brown" sad pleas
ant face; 'swhy do You ask ~ >.
"Did you change thousand poun'
note at the Bank of England to day?
Il did" = ~ 81 II N
Have You the notes given in ex
change?"
II have, just as you gave them t.
me-"
The coachman was impatient, Il
also were the passengers; but IL
some way the baggage of Nj. Brown
/ was allowed to be taken down, an'
the package containing the note
displayed. There were ten notes o
one Il ousand and sixty pounds, mucl
to the establishment of Mr.. Brown
himself.
Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-12-23
A Cincinnati paper tells (perhaps)

A Cincinnati, paper tells tpefhaps)
a big story of a walnut tree. In 1864
an Indiana man, as the story runs.
bought the tree for 81, and he sub
sequently sold it for $65. The buyer
sold it to a Cincinnati lumber dealer
for 800; the Cincinnati dealer sold it
to a New Yorker for $22Oo,a and he
cut it up into veneering, which he
sold for 10000 p = fsaH yah ..is-