davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
Steam Thrashery.

The farmer is getting the advantage o.
che inventive faculty Of the present age.
Steam thrashing machines are slowly but
surely ~displacing the old method Of
thrashing by horse power. 1t takes more
help to keep the machine running up to
its full capacity than it did by horse
power, but then a much steadier motion
is given, and the much dreaded thrash
which is a great boon to the farmer and
his wife. There is only one team needed,
and that the thrashing men furnish
themselves, and use it for hauling water
for the steam engine. Where tho
thrashed grain has to be taken any dis
lance, of course teams have to be used for
hauling it away. The steam thrashing
machines are made extra large, with .
big cylinder at which two men stand to
feed it. This necessitates two band cut
tiers and an extra two men to pitch to
them. These steam thrashers combined
with the improved machinery for putting
the grain into the ground in the spring
1--WE refer to the screw pulverizer) and the
self-binding reaper, make the farmer
practically Independent of hired help, for
a crop of 100 acres of small grain can be
sown, reaped and thrashed as easy a.
twenty acres could by the old and slower
methods. This is a very important item
in the farmers economy, for in some
the rush Of harvest at any price, and
where it is to be got it is generally Of an
inferior character and has to be paid
e%xorbitant prices of from So to e3 per
day. The steam thrasher is of immense
benefit to the farmer, and the day will
soon be here that every neighborhod will
be supplied with a machine. Farmers
can use the steam power that it takes to
run the thrashing machine for all the
necessary purposes of grinding grain,
Smelling corn and cutting hay with a chat
cutter, when the machine is not in use for
t%hrashing.
Suitable arrangements must be how
ever, provided for guarding against fire.
Where possible the engine should be
placed far enough away from the farm
buildings so there will not be the remot-
est chance of fire. The best way to carry
this power from the engine to buildings
is by a wire rope, as a belt cannot be used
to carry power as far as a wire rope; and
then, too, the belt, when used in wet
weather, will get wet and slip.-Breeder5
Live Stock Journal.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
Under the Sea.

II first began diving in 1863" said
Captain Anthony Williams to a Philadel-
phla reporter, recently.
Can you breathe as freely in your div
lng-dress as you can out of it?"
Yes, indeed. When ten or twelve
1athoms under water my breathing is as
wholly devoid of effort as it is when |
am walking about on dry land. You
know that, by means of an air-pump
worked by two men, the diver is supplied
with air. Through a hose his air passes
into the back of his helmet, and near its
place of entrance is a spring valve for its
escape. This valve can-Ae controlled by
the diver, but he usually sets it before
going down into the water, and seldom
dlsturbs it afterward. The pressure OF
the air being greater than that of the
water, a surplus Of the former readily es-
capes. When this valve is not sufficient,
Inc diver can open in his breastplate a
similar spring valve, intended only for
such an emergency. He can also regu-
late the amount Of air pumped to him by
signals upon the air hose to the men en-
gagged in pumping. These signals each
aiVer writes down very carefully and
gives to the man in charge of the life
tlne. BY means of these we can send up
lor tools, materials, etc. When a lengthy
communication is to be made, we send
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
A Deserter Set Free.

Last week a conductor named Graves,
employed by the Pennsylvania Street Car
Company, was arrested upon the charge
of being a deserter from the army. He
had been in the employment of the CON-
pany for q number of years. He has a
wife and two children. A little over q
year ago a worthless scoundrel found out
his secret, and has been using it to black
mail the poor conductor out of his scanty
earnings ever since. At last the demands
of the scoundrel became 30 great that
they could not be met. Then he de-
nounced his victim to the War Depart
ment, and Graves was arrested. The
penalty for desertion in time of peace is
imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth for
two years. When Graves was brought
before the military authorities he pre-
sented a very sad appearance. While in
the army he learned of the severe illness
of his mother and two sisters. He de.
serted when he could not obtain a fur.
Tough, and came home to Georgetown.
His two sisters died before his arrival.
His mother still survived. Soon after
his returning home he married. Yester-
day Mrs. Graves, with a beautiful babe
in her arms, came weeping into the pres
ence Of Secretary Lincoln and begged for
mercy toward her poor husband. off you
send him to prison." she sobbed, my
babies and 1 will starve." Secretary
Lincoln is as tender-hearted as his great
father. He sent for General Drum and
said something must be done at once.
The Adjutant-General is also of a very
kindly nature, in spite of his rigid
discipline. He lookedup the records and
found that Graves was enlisted when a
minor, and deserted before becoming of
age. The father of Graves testified that
the boy had joined the Army without
his consent. "Then," said General
Drum, "you are entitled to his discharge,
upon making application for the same,
upon the ground of his having enlisted
without your consent before he became
of age" The Adjutant-G General sent
word to the Secretary. There was no
need of relaxing discipline by pardoning
Graves, as he was entitled to a discharge
under the law. This morning an officer
walked into the prisoners room at the
military rendezvous where recruits are
held and said: "Come, Graves, you
must get out of this" The latter sup
posed that he was to be transferred to
military prison. He moved out with a
heavy step to the bright room into which
the morning sun was shining. As he
stood there he saw the door open, and
then his wife and baby appeared. He
clasped them in his arms, and burst into
tears as his old father tottered up the
steps "Come, my man." said the officer,
'you have nothing to blubber about.
You are free. Here is your discharge
paper" Graves grabbed the paper in a
perfect frenzy OF Joy. cam l free| he
asked-"no more dread of arrest-uncon-
conditionally free?' eyes," replied the
officer. "Come on, Molly" said Graves,
II am a happy man this day. There is
only one more thing I need now-to meet
that cursed blackmailer. Won't punch
his head when 1 find him!"- Washington
Cor. Chicago News.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
Bad Teeth and Disease.

Had we the means we should endow q
charity the great aim of which should be
to prevent disease by establishing an In
stitution for the treatment of decayed
and imperfect teeth. There are more
cases of disease of various kinds and Va
rious degrees of severity emanating from
bad teeth than almost any other cause.
The trouble is easily remedied if taken
in time; but those who suffer most are
they who have not the means to employ
competent dentists. 1t is pitiful to see
the children of the poor as they grow up,
gradually losing their teeth by decay
and neglect and becoming d~yspeptic at
twenty and old and haggard at thirty.
If there is nobler charity than that
which would supply free dentistry ia
the poor, and dentistry at cost to those
who are able to pay no more, we know
not what it is. But there are persons Of
ample mean who pay no attention to
their teeth or those of their children,
They should be taught the importance OF
attending to this matter, and, if they
then refused, they should be punished
toward their families. There is no e1-
cuse for any person having bad teeth. A
child a be taught the Importance of
attending to the teeth, and every child
that has his second front teeth should be
provided with a toothbrush and be re-
quired to use it at least once every day,
using CASTLE soap. Once in six months
at furthest a dentist should be employed
to examine the teeth and properly fill
any that may be found decayed. Were
this plan generally adopted we should see
Halls Journal Of Health.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
Travelling by Electricity.

When steam was first brought into
general use as a motor, a great deal of at
tention was paid by inventors to the
problem of making its use universal in
stead of combining it to certain conditions
that had to be prepared expressly for it
at great labor and expense. They felt it
was desirable to make it q draft force
upon common highways Is we'll as upon
railways, but the weight of machines
that would have to be used and the diff
Guilty of making engines that would
traverse the natural Instructions of Or
binary roads were found to be so great
that M satisfactory results were ever OBJ
tanned. But steam is looked upon in it's
turn as too cumbersome and too slow,
and leaving that to do its work in the
channels where it is now operating, the
inventors have dashed out upon the
plains of science and lassoed that more
powerful and fascinating force-electric-
ity-and they are 10Y engaged in tanning
it and teaching it the tricks that are in
demand in the great arena of human in
dustries. They gain thereby, force
swiftness and delicacy, and az their UNI
~derstanding of the action of tho new
servant broadens and deepens, mankind
is to be made the gamer in ways little
dreamed of now. The great value of the
new force in all its possibilities of de-
velopment will be its universal applica-
ton to common things. Let it be known
to you, happy and unfortunate lad of
the not remote future, that it will ehurn
the cream, rock the cradle and turn the
grindstone, among its more prosaic duties,
and it will utter no complaint of aches in
its back, or WEAKNESS in its limbs. The
Pail Mall Gazette recently said: "Elec-
tricity is now entering the field against.
the horse Is a means of traction. Two.
eminent electricians claim to be able to
bottle up twelve horse power in q storage
battery, weighing three hundred weight,
and they promise to produce, in a few
months, q perfectly practical electric
twenty miles without recharging the.
accumulators, and able to ascend all
such hills as are now possible for the foot.
tricycle., and even sleeper gradients, if
auxiliary foot gearing be used to help
the electro-motor, when the incline is
great. This is no measure of what is
coming. 1t is merely a hint of what
science expects to Immediately accom-
plish. But the youth of to-day will not
be an old man before he can see the
public travelling W suburban roads, up
hill and down hill, drawn by an unseen
but not unknown force. The horse has
qualities that will make him always a
favorite, no matter to what more capable
and tireless servant his burdens may be
transferred, but he will not long remain
the necessity that he is to-day. Elec-
tricity is awakening the world and giving
an impulse to the development of q
grand civilization that has never before
been available. Post.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
Camping with the Baby.

Bourgeois" sends from Denver to the
angler a bit of fisherman's painting of
life at Pine Grove, on the South Park
Railroad. In it occurs the following tender
piece of wood sketching. 1t is not out
Of season, for pretty things are always
welcome:
"It was determined that baby and I
.hould tend camp for half an our or so
that afternoon, while the three natural
guardians wandered off to the adjacent
hillside for wild flowers wherewith to
deck the tea-table. This was no new
business to us. The young man, with a
pillow at his back, seated in the middle
Of a blanket rubbing his face with a
teaspoon; I lying prone three feet away
with nay toes beating an occasional tattoo
on the soft sward, my chin in my hands
and briar. root between my teeth, watch
ing him. There was a bright light in
his eyes, and his cheeks were rosy, soft as
velvet yet firm and cool. What is there
like the touch of a baby's cheek pressed
against your own! You must turn and
kiss it, just as you did it's mothers the
first time you had a right to. But is
there anything more ridiculous in life
than to see a baby attempt to put a spoon
into his mouth before he has got the
knack Of it. See him hit himselfin theeye
with it, pretty much as a drunken man
would knock fly off his nose; smear it
down his face, with his mouth wide open
and turned up like a young robins, but
it misses the place on the way down; he
takes it with both chubby fists, looks at
it with dignified surprise, as though for
the first time aware of its presence, lets
go one hand, whacks the spoon against
one ear and drags it across his cheek
with the same result. But persistence
is characteristic of this baby, a quiet
determination that has something appall-
ing about it. If there were any raspberry
jam on that spoon his face would look
worse than a railroad map Of the State
OF New York. Finally, and as it would
seem after all, more by accident than
design, the spoon reaches the right place;
ne twists it round to the distortion of
his rosebud mouth; then he looks at me,
sees me laughing; the fun seems to dawn
upon him; he takes the spoon out of his
mouth, pounds the blanket with it, and
smiles back at me, and the smile resolves
itself into a well-defned laugh. The
sun has just disappeared behind the
range, but there is a ray of golden light
that fingers about the baby's head that
makes me think-think of the one go
like him, and from the base of the hill,
with her hands full of wild flowers, the
tallest Of the three starts towards me
and l remember only the sunshine of the
long path"
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
The Fourth Of March.

In very early times, when March 3
was supposed to be the last day to which
Congress could extend itself in the. odd
year with propriety, it would occasionally
be found hard at work as the Sd passed
into the 18th. As the 4th of March is
tie day for the Inauguration of the Exec
utive Department of the Government Of
the United States, that date has become
the first in this Nation. 1t was fixed
upon in 1888 by action of the Continen-
tai Congress, which, on the 18th of Sep
TENDER, adopted the following resolve,
preceded by a preamble which set forth
in order the reason for the action Of that
Congress at that time: "That the first
Wednesday in January nextbe the day for
appointing Electors in the several States
which before the said day shall have rati-
fed the said Constitution, that the first
Wednesday in February next be the day
for the Electors to assemble in their
respective States and vote for a President,
and that the first Wednesday in March
next be the time, and the present seat Of
Congress (New York; the place for COM
mencing the proceedings under the said
Constitution" The first Wednesday in
March, 1889, fell on the 4th of March,
and hence the precedence Of that day in
our history under the Constitution" It
was not till the 30th of April, 1889, how
ever, that Washington became President,
owing to various circumstances; but in
1893, when he entered upon his Presiden-
tial term, he was inaugurated on the 18th
Of March. Were 1883 an Inauguration
wear the ceremonies would be postponed
to the 9th of March, as the 4th of
March VAS Sunday, the first of the
month. Next year will be leap year,
and the 4th of March will beon Tuesday,
and the next President will begin the
twenty-ffth Presidential term on We'd
nesday March 4, 1885. Our century of
of March, 1889, and the President to
complete it will be chosen in 1889, il
we shall insist that the work must be done
by q ~newly-chosen President. Properly,
we should say, the man who will 60 out
in 1889 will be the completing Chief
Magistrate Of this Nation, as will regard
the first century of the Nations Consti-
tutional life. 1t will be soon enough to
discuss the matter almost six years hence.
Possibly the Both of April, 1889, the
hundredth anniversary of Washington's
first Inauguration as President of the
United States, would be selected as the
most fitting day on which to have a
National celebration of the beginning of
our career as a people with q fixed gov
eminent of limited powers, and with the
principles of liberty admitted in every
way-save where the colored race were
concerned.-Boston Traveller.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
DIR. Monroe is curious old hermit

DIR. Monroe is curious old hermit in
Arizona. He is the only dweller in Rucker
Valley. At the back of his cabin some
sacks were hung, as though carelessly, but
when drawn aside the opening of a tun-
mel wa disclosed. This secret passage was
l2O feet long, arched with stones, enlarged
to a considerable chamber in the center,
and represented years of hard work by
the owner. He had arranged a key Of
gunpowder, with a fuse ready to be
lighted, SO that, in case his enemies dis
covered him in this retreat, he could blow
them and himself to pieces. The foes
were imaginary ones, Of course, but he
firmly believed in their existence, though
sane on all other matters.
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
A Natural Mistake.

A few days ago a registered letter was
received at Postofice Station A, ad-
dressed to an aged German living in the
neighborhood, and was given to the let
ter carrier for delivery, but was returned
to the station because its owner wal not
at home, and there wa no one on the
premises authorized to sign the required
receipt. After several other efforts to
deliver it, it was sent to the General
Postofice; and the German, on calling
at the station and making inquiry about
it, was informed of the facts, and
furnished with a slip of paper on which
was written a certificate that would en-
able him to obtain the letter on. applica-
ton at the General Postofice.
Armed with this document, he made
his way to the big Federal building and
was soon wandering through its mazes
seeking for the Registered Letter De-
partment." Observing on the gallery a
line of citizens standing outside the
closed door of IN Office, each provided
with a slip of paper similar in appear
ance to the slip he held, he fell in at the
foot of the line, which was rather a long
one. At intervals of ten or fifteen min
utes the Office door opened, a man
emerged and departed, a voice called
"Next!" The man at the head Of the
line entered, and the door closed behind
him. In about an hour and a half the
patient Germans turn arrived, and, en-
tering the room, he found himself alone
with a gentleman Of professional aspect
who, giving a hasty glance at the slip Of
paper, said:
"That's all right-take off your coat"
"Dake off mine goat? Vot you dink
I come for? To got shafed? 1 Want"
"Oh, that's all right-take off your
coat; Ican't examine youunless you do"
"Den [ vos got to be examined? So?
Dots all right, l s'bose," and off came
the coat.
"Well, take off your waistcoat and
shirt; do you think | can examine you
with your clothes on"
"Look here, mine vriend, you dink I
vas a tief? You want to search me?
Veil, dots all right. I peen an honest
man, by gracious, und you don't Wind no
shtolen property my clothes insite. 1 vas
nefer zearch before already"
II don't want to search you; I want to
examine you. Don't you understands?
mo, I ton'd understand him at all
but dots all right-dere's my shirt off,
und if 1 a cold catch dot will your fault
peen."
The professional-looking gentleman
placed his hand affectionately on the Wis.,
itor's shoulder blade and applied his ear
to his chest, listened ~intently; then
tapped him on the breast bone and
punched him in the small Of the back,
inquiring if it hurt. =.
"Hurt? No, dot ton'd hurt; but MAYBE
Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28

If dose foolishness don't stop somepody
ellus gifts bretty soon hurt"
"Does that hurtY was the next dues.
ton, accompanied by a gentle thrust
among the ribs.
"Mo, dot don't hurt, but Ply gracious,
ooh, be quiet, I'm in a hurry, and
have got a dozen more to attend to. Now,
can you read this card when 1 hold it out
so?"
"No."
"Can you read it noww bringing it a
few inches nearer.
"No, but you choost pring me utmine
sPegdagles by my goat booklet, und 1 read
ooh, that won't do; your eyesight i.
defective, Tn sorry to say, and you're
rejected: Put on your clothes again,
quick, please"
"Dot's all right. So 1 vos reelected,
Ell? Veil, dot vos nezezzary, I subbose;
but it's very vunny, choost the same.
Und now I've been reelected und oxam-
ined, und all dose dings vot you do NIT
me, maybe you don't some objections got
to gif me dot rechistered letter."
"What registered letter."
"Dot rechistered letter vot vos sboken
a!pout on dis biece of baper from Station
A."
"Ihe dickens! who sent you to me with
that? 1 thought you had come to be ex.
amined. Didn't you apply for appoint
ment as a letter-carrierW
"As a letter-garrier? No, I don't want
to be a letter-garrier. 1 hat good pusi-
ness got by mine own self; but py gra,
cious, | wants mine rechistered lette,
from fro Germany vat mine bruder sents me
"Here," said the professional gentle.
man, opening the door and sailing a mes
senger from the lobby; "show this gen.
tleman to the Registered Letter Depart
ment;" and the bewilered foreigner was
conducted to the proper window.
It happened to be the day for the ex.
animation, by the Postofice medical off.
Ger, of candidates for appointment as let.
ter-carriers.-M Y. San.