davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
TIE Nose.

Character is shown in the nose.
Great warriors have been distinguished
by the size of their noses. Both Keno
phon and Plutarch agree that Cyrus
the Great was distinguished by a great
and hooked nose. Antiochus of Syria
was surnamed the Hawk on account of
his nasal popularity; and Cicero, the
great Roman orator, was named from
a wart upon his nose. One old writer
describes the Apostle Paul, Of neat and
agile person, small headed, high brow
ed, thick bearded; and of a fair, hooked
nose. The three great monarchs of
history were grifinstor big nosed men.
Mohammed, Charles ", Emperor of
Spain. Germany and Low Countries,
and Francis I. of France, wore noses
chat rested on their upper lips. Napo-
leon had a preference for men with
big noses; sc did the Duke of Yelling
ton, the hero of Waterloo. An old
author declared the biggest nose, the
best nose, and instanced the Roman
emperors. Numa's was a foot long,
and they surnamed him Pompilius.
Lycurgus and Scion, the wise men of
Greece, IA to nose, and all seven Ro-
man kings except Tarquinius, and he
was dethroned. Homer's nose was
seven inches long. Small noses are
heldto indicate feebleness of purpose
and lack of energy, yet the patient
historian, Gibbon, had n scarcely
visible among his puffy cheeks. Carat,
a Frenchman, says sthe root of his
nose lay buried in his skull deeper
than those Of Kalmuck's yet Gibbon
did not have the nerve for years to
propose to the woman he loved. His
nose was like that described in the
Chronicles of C1overnook." "The
hermit had no nose-none, ladies, none.
There was a little knob of flesh like a
! small mushroom dipped in wine, which
made its obtrusive way between the
good mans cheeks, and through which
he had been known to sneeze; but i'm
pudence itself could not call that piece
Of flesh a nose" southey had a large
aquiline nose. So did Marie Antoinette.
According to Hazlitt, the nose of Sam
uel Taylor Coleridge was small, feeble,
nothing like what he did; but Word
worth's nose was "a little aTched and
large"
Charles Dickens characters are
always doing something with their
noses-blowing them, snoring through
them, or pressing them against window
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

panes. In "Nicholas .Nickleby" little
Miss Creery, the portrait painter, dl-
lates to Mrs. Nickleby on the conVen-
fence of living in the Strand. When
she wants q nose or al eye for any
particular sitter, she has only to look
out of the window till she gets one.
"Does it take long to get a S noW?'
asks Nicholas. "Why, that depends in
a great measure upon the pattern.
Snubs and Romans are plenty enough,
and there are fats of all sorts and sizes
when there's a meeting at Exeter Hall;
but perfect aquilines, 1 am sorry to say,
are scarce, and we generally use 'em
for uniforms or public characters
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
7gse Horseshoe SMperstitiam.

The superstitious notions concern
ing the good luck horseshoe that have
been handed down to us by tradition
undoubtedly originated when horse
shoeing was in its infancy. History
informs us that the vulcanian art was
practised by priests and other sacred
men in ancient times. The sacred
smith not only fashioned the weapons
but shod the horses of heroes. The
Druid priests are said to have been
skilled workers in iron, and practised
the vulcanian art in great secrecy.
The Anglo-Saxon monks are said to
have been skillful workers in iron.
The smiths art was SO highly priced in
the days of King Edgar that he enact
edthat the priests should learn and prac-
tice it. st. Dustin, who acquired great
fame for being a cunning worker in
iron, lived in the tenth century, and
gave himself up to solitary existence,
practising his art in secret. The mis-
terry connected with this saint caused
the simple people in his day to veneer
ate him. St. Elroy was bishop of
Noy, France, in the seventh century,
and by some means or other became
the patron saint Of horse-shoers in
nearly every country in Europe.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
Character. at Home.

Home life is the sure test of char
acter. Let a husband grow cross and
surly, and the wife grows cold and un'
amiable. The children grow up saucy
and savage as young bears. The
father becomes c~allous, peevish, hard,
a kind of two-legged brute with clothes
on. The wife bristles in self-defense'
They deyelop an unnatural growth and
sharpness of teeth, and the house is
haunted by ugliness and domestic
braWls. This is not what the family
circle should be. If n must be rude
to any, let it be to some n he does
not love,-not to his wife, brother, or
parent. Let one of the loved ones be
taken away, and memory recalls a
thousand sayings to regret. Death
quickens recollection painfully. The
grave cannot hide the white faces of
those who sleep. The coffin and green
ground are cruel magnets. They draw
us further than we would 60. They
force us to remember. A man never
sees so far into human life as when he
looks over a wife's or a mothers
grave. His eyes get wondrous clear
then, and he sees, as never before,
what it is to love and be loved what
it is to injure the feelings of the loved.
It is a pitiable picture Of human weak
aess when those we love best are
treated worst.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

A Japanese cremation costs about
81. One shilling's worth Of fuel is the
average consumption required for each
body. Granite supports are laid in
pairs all along the earthen floor, and
on these the coffin-chests are placed at
5 ?. M, when the well-dried fagots
beneath are kindled. The fires are
replenished from time to time, and at
6 A. NJ, the man in charge goes round
the building, and from each hearth
collects and stores in a separate urn
the handful of ashes which alone re-
mains. Some wealthy families secure
the services of Buddhist priests to
watch all night beside these funeral
pyres. but this is considered quite a
work Of superogation. After the re-
ligious service in the house the attend
ance of the priests is optional; but in
many cases they return on the morrow
to officiate at the interment of the
ashes.-China Nal.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
Americas Future.

The Washington correspondent of
the Cleveland Leader gives the views
of Supreme JudgeFfeld concerning the
future of America, as follows. The
judge is reported to have said:
The future of America is illimitable.
Many men now living will see the day
when we win have a population of
10O, OOO,O 0o, and when our territory
will be bounded by the Isthmus of
Panama on the south. Mexico will be
annexed to the states before many
years. and our railroads are already
reaching to bring it into the Union.
We have been getting only 100000
of her commerce and we should have
the whole 100000, which it will
amount to. American railroads will
soon cover the country as a net.
American telegraph operators, station
agents and other employees will follow.
they win buy land along the track,
and marry Mexican girls. Emmigra-
ton will follow, and we viii soon have
American judges and ~officersin Mexico.
After this, annexation will follow
without trouble. Then will come
Central America in the same way, and
thus the great American race will cross
the Isthmus, and the southern con-
tinent will fall into it's hands. I look
for the day when both North and South
America will be inhabited by English
speaking people. 1t is the greatest
colonizer Of to-day, and u may own the
world in the future. Look at it !!
There is Australia, as targeas our con
tinent, owned by the English. There
is Tasmania, an island as large a the
United States, inhabited by English
speaking people. New Zealand is
another vast body under their power.
Canada and southern Africa are Eng
lish, and India is fast succumbing to
them. No race wipes out other races
as does the English or the Caucasian.
It either swallows all it comes in con-
tact with or it exterminates them.
The Indian it is exterminating to-day.
It tolerates the negro. america is a
magnificent field for such a race, and
the Americans are the most prosperous
people in the world to-day. We are
the richest people N comforts. Amer
lea wastes enough every year to keep
France most royalty. 1t viii be the
great nation of the future. All it
needs to become 50 and to continue so
is . system Of good laws properly adj
ministered and a sound medium of
currency. These once had, other
things win follow.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
CURIOUS CARNATIONS.
Strange Burial Customs ON the Banks
Sacred River Ganger.

strange. Burial Customs ON the Banks
Sacred River Gnnger. Il
During our travels in India / had
abundant opportunities of witnessing
the process of cremation as practised
by the Hindus, more especially at
Benares, the most holy city of the
Brahmins, the bourne which every
pious Hindu Graves to reach, in time to
die there, on the banks of the sacred
river Ganges. Many a time I have
seen the dying laid down to breathe
their last breath alone on the hallowed
shore, while their friends went off to
bargain with the neighbOring timber
merchant for as much wood as their
limited means could procure. Often In
the case of the very poor this sum was
so small that the humble fire has bare
ly suficed to char the body, which was
then thrown into the river and suffered
to float seaward, in company with many
another, in every stage of putrefactlon,
spreading the seed of pestilence on the
sultry afr, and poisoning the stream in
which myriads hourly battle, and from
which they drink.
In the case of the Weather Hindu
the funeral pyre is carefully built, and
when the corpse has been washed in
the river it is sWathed in fair linen,
white or scarlet, or, still more often,
the shroud is ofthe sacred saffron-color,
on which is shoWered a handful of YER
million paint, to symbolic the blood of
s%prinkling as the atonement for sin.
Sometimes the body is wrapped In
cloth of silver or of gold, and is laid
upon the funeral pyre. Dry, sweet
grass is then laid over it, and precious
amounting oil, which shall make the
flame burn more brightly, and more
wood is heaped on, till the pyre is very
high. A Brahmin then brings sacred
fire, and gives a lighted torch to the
chief mourner, who bears it thrice or
nine times, sun-wise, round the body
He touches the lips of the dead with
the holy fire, then ignites the pyre.
Other torches are applied, simultane-
ously, and in a very few moments the
body is burned, though the fire smoul-
ders long. Then the ashes are collect
ed and sprinkled on the sacred river,
which carries them away to the ocean.
Night and day this work goes on
without ceasing 9. and many a wierd
funeral scene | have witnessed, some
times beneath the burning rays of the
monday sun, while my house-boat lay
moored in midstream, to enable me
better to witness all the strange phases
of religious and social life enacted on
it's shores, and sometimes in the course
of our night ~journeyings, when the
pale moonbeams mingled with the dim
blue flames, casting alurid light on the
withered, witch-like forms Of the
mourners, often a group of gray-haired
women, whose shrill walls and piercing
cries rang through the air as they cir
cled round the pyre in solemn process
sion, suggesting some spirit dance Of
death. When a body has been con-
sumed all the mourners repair to the
river, beating their breasts and howl
ing, and proceed to wash themselves
and their clothes, and perform divers
ceremonies Of publication necessary
after touching a dead body.-Contem-
poraTy Re0ieW.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
The Deadly Parasol.

Why does the young lady hug her
sunshade SO affectionately?
She is in the employ of a surgeon.
In the employ of a surgeon? What
do you mean?
Do you not see the crutcb of her sun
shade protruding from her left Shout
der2
Oh, yes; / see that quite plainly,
There, did You see her gouge out
that gentleman's eye?
It was neatly done.
Very: that is probably the twentieth
eye she has obliterated during her walk.
The surgeon will pay her for her kind
ness to him.
Does she confine her operations to
optics?
No; sometimes she destroys q nose,
and occasionally slashes d cheek. She
il very versatile. She is more terrible
than an army with banners.
But do not the gentlemen hate her?
Oh; no; they love and admire her;
but they detest and despise her parasol.
ZEZs
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
PEARLS OE GRT.

We often have to diet in order to
live it.
The majority of heroes are I'M
written.
If life had no struggles it would
have no triumphs.
lie that will lose his friend for a
Jest, deserves to die a beggar by the
bargain.
Nature never sends a great mar into
the planet without confiding the scorer
to another soul.
Duty cannot he neglected without
harm to those who practice as well as
to those who suffer the neglect.
Precept is instruction that is written
in sand, and washed away by the tue;
example is instruction engraved on
the rock.
The work an unknown good man has
done is like a vein of water flowing
hidden underground, secretly making
the ground green.
The idol of to-day pushes the hero
of yesterday out of recollection. and
will IN turn be supplanted by his sue
! cessor of tomorrow.
If you cannot wear diamonds, put
up with pearls; if you cannot afford
neither, be content with what yor
have. Adaptability is in itself a jewel
A good wife is like the ivy which
beauties the building to which II
clings, twining its tendrils more low
ingly as time converts the ancient
edifce into ruin.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
The To:ters In the To,v,..

Away in glee, DER land and sea,
I'VE, the favored, fortuned, free,
To shady, sweet, cool country places!
To hear Gods echoes 'mong his hills
To see Gods smile in mirrored rills-
To feel the glad, grand joy that thrills,
When in the strong salt surfs embraces
Do We forget the toll and sweat
With foreheads Bonded down?
Do We forget? Does He forget
The toilers in the town.
With patient heart each fills his para
On fiery, l~urnaccd forge or mart,
With body, brain or hands Travelling.
Though factory fires be raging red,
The red sun raging on our head,
Bread winners still must win the bread
Lest little ones for bread go wailing!
Ah! waiting infants, work-worn wife,
So pale and frail in faded gown;
Oh, is it worth the strife, their life?
Poor toilers in the town.!
The father slaves in glare and CRIME,
lnhaling crime from alley slime;
Poor little gasping children suffer,
On squalid stoop the ~listless group
OF old-young mothers grieve and droop,
And watch the piteous baby troop,
Or to the weakest pity offer.
They pass brave words, though hearts be sore,
Count fifty smiles for one cold frown,
Among the poor-the kindly poor
The toilers in the town!
My lady sits in siIken mitts
And yawns, and knlts by starts and fits,
And signs, and eyes her broad, green lands.
A sad-eyed shopg RI, sick with heat,
/ Looks out upon a stony street,
! ooh, for one hour to find my feet
Straying in grass or cool, sea sands!!"
To work, the day is early yet;
No time for tears, so choke them down,
Iwonder now does God forget
The tired toilers in the town.
-.Marson T. Fortescue, in ". Y. Truth
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
something about Canton.

Miss Isabella Bird writes: Canton is
intoxicating from its picturesqueness.
color, novelty and movement. As we
sat at midday at the fve-storied pag-
oda which from a corner wall over
looks the Tartar city, and ever since,
through this crowded week, I have
wished the sun might stand still in
the cloudless sky and let me dream of
gorgeous sunlight. without heat; of
marrow linesHrich in color; of the gIints
of sunlight ON embroideries and cloth
of gold, respondent even in darkness,
of hurrying and colored crowds in
the shadow, with the blue sky, in mar
row strips, high above !; of gorgeous
marriage professions, and the voice of
sthe bridegroom and the voice Of the
bride; of glittering trains of manda-
rims; of funeral professions, with the
wall of hired mourners clad in sack
cloth and ashes; of the Tartar city,
with its padogas; of the hills Of graves,
| great cities, of the dead outside the
walls, fiery red under the topic blue;
of the potter's field. with its pools of
blood and crosses of crucifixion-now,
as or Calvary, symbolical Of shame
alone: of the wonderful ~riyer-life,s and
all the busy, crowded, costumed hurry
of the streets, where blue banners
hanging here and there show that in
those houses death has stilled some
busy brains for evermore.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

The Mexican Central railroad does
not traverse nearly as desolate a re-
gion as many suppose. There are along
it's line twenty-one cities that have an
aggregate population of $4,000, and
nine of them are state capitals. It
runs by seven minis which work me-
tails to the value of not less than $685.
100000, and the agricultural value Of
twelve states t~rayersed is quite $780,
OOO.OO0.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18
CLIPPINGS FOR THE CURIOUS.

Certain Hindoo sects believe that
there are precisely $4,000 transmi.
grations allotted to each mortal.
In Italy and Japan, water from the
hot springs is extensively used in the
gardens for the production of early
crops.
There is a natural bridge in Arizona
which, it is said, far surpasses in size
the w%ell-known natural bridge in
Virginia.
Harvey discovered the circulation OF
the blood in 1919. By the ancient
Greeks warm air, and not blood, was
supposed to course through the arteries
and veins.
A monster lobster in the London
fisheries exhibition was sent over from
America. 1t measures three feet in
length, and one of its claws weighed
eight pounds, the total weight being
about twenty-eight.
Boots, with high heels were first
worn by Madame de Pompador. She
dressed her dainty feet in them on al
great occasions when she desired tc
show her importance. Hence the eX
preston, son her high heeled boots"
There is a German superstition that
the finger pointed at a star will Ger
tainly rot away, because the angels kill
it, and the Ojibways warn theil
children not to point at the moon, tell
ing them that, if they do, she will
bite their fingers off.
Nearly all the myths as to the origin
of fire represent it as stolen from the
gods, sometimes by a bird, sometimes
by an animal, sometimes by a man. II
several Of these legends the stolen fire
is hidden in wood, whence it may be
brought out by rubbing.
The Hartford Conn, Times says
that it has been found that worm-eaten
and partly decayed logs make the best
sounding-boards for pianos, and within
a few years piano firms have sem
agents. through Connecticut to fine
fallen and partly-decayed chestnut
logs, and such timber has been sold al
good prices after the owners had con
sidered it entirely useless.
The Duke of Bridgewater observed
that though the men employed by hin
dropped work promptly as the bel
rang, when he was not by. they were
not nearly so punctual in resumine
work, some struggling in many minutes
after time. He asked to know the
reason, and the mems excuse was, thai
though they could always hear The
clock when it struck II, they coulG
not SO readily hear it when it struck l
On this the duke had the mechanism
of the clock altered so as to make il
strike thirteen at 1 o'clock, which il
continues to do until this day.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

tiers, in an ordinary clinker boat bold
ly pulling into the river. He had
found a boat while the rest Of us were
gazing at the movements Of the scoW,
and had used all possible dispatch in
reaching the Gene. As he forged out
into the stream he made a hasty sur
vey of the situation, and then piled
the White ash with redoubled energy.
AS he sped along, the boat almost leap
ing from the water at each stroke, a
cheer arose from the people on the
shore that fairly rent the air. The
moment Smith appeared, the attention
of the men on the scow was riveted
upon him and his frail craft. On and
on he shot, each moment narrowing
the distance between him and the
scow, but the latter was getting alarm
ingly clo,e to the rapids, to enter
which was certain destruction to all
on board. Those of us on shore could
not help admiring and applauding the
heroism of young Smith, but we could
only feel that the result of his daring
would be to add another to the list of
the lost. AS he neared the ill-starred
craft, he turned his head and shouted
to the men, Scatter along the side of
the boat and drop in as l pass by The
command was promptly obeyed, and in
an instant the little craft was along
side. One after another the men
sprang in, until the four were in the
bottom. Now came the moment OF
painful anxiety. What will he do?'
was the query which came to every
mind. To attempt to return against
such current was a hopeless task; to
go forward into the rapids was sure
destruction, and to hesitate WASH
less fatal, for the head of the rapids
was now but a few rods distant. But
Smith had his plan of action, and never
hesitated a moment. Alta point some
distance ftom the Canada shore the
current divided at the head of the rap
ids, part of the stream flowing around
an island in the vicinity of the burnt
spring. In reaching the current lead
ing around the island lay the only
hope of escape. Taking a diagonal
course across and down the stream,
Smith bent every effort to reach the
Canadian divide. 1t was a desperate
| struggle for the lives of five men be.
tween the sect hing, boiling waters, and
the muscle and endurance of young
Smith. with the odds seemingly against
him. But the divide was finally
gained with not a boats length to
spare, and the frail craft shot down
between the island and the mainland
like a rocket. At the foot of the island
the channel widened materially, the
current slackened, and the water be.
came more shallow, and here young
Smith landed his boat, having per-
formed one of the most heroic and
daring feats eve performed by NOR
tai man. The stepping ashore Of the
men was the signal for another cheer,
that for a moment drowned the roar
of the cataract, and the rescuer was
literally borne upon the shoulders of
the excited people.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

Assuming that the migration of
1883 win equal that Of 1882 and 1881,
these three years, it is estimated win
give the United States not less than
two hundred and fifty thousand Ger
man farmers and mechanics. and over
fifty million dollars Of German money.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

Digging for sandWorms is an indus
try in which two hundred and five
Thousand dollars are investigated and
which employs n thousand men in
New York.
The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-18

In Rome, augustus tomb is the site
Of q variety theater, and Casar's death
place i occupied BY . grocery store.
The Dawson journal., 1883-10-11
A New Combination.

Senator Brown being interviewed
as to what the consolidation Of the
Central and State roads meant, re-
piled as follows:
"The object was to meet the
strong consolidated combinations that
are being made by Northern syndi-
Gates which threaten 70 swallow up
all the roads of the South and put
Georgia and the Southern States nn-
der the control of one or two grand
foreign corporations. We do not in
tend, so far as the roads above men
toned in Georgia are concerned, that
this shall be done; but we Intend to
hold the Georgia system so that the
Georgia roads will help one
another against foreign com
petitors seeking to use them for
the benefit of lines outside of the
State. We will act together as one
common fraternity against the COM
mon adversary when necessary.
The contract just made puts it where
no northern syndicate by purchasing
a majority of the stock of any one of
the roads mentioned cah control it as
against others. The contract which
has been very carefully drawn binds
the roads to work with one another
upon the terms mentioned"