davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
japanese Holidays.

The japanese have more than twenty
fanciful names by which they designate
their beautiful country, but the sobri.
quet which to a foreigner seems most
fitting is certainly the land of holidays.
No excuse is too trivial for japanese
to make holidays, and when he does
not make them himself, the govern,
ment politely steps in and makes them
for him. Thus, one day in every six, call
ed ichi roku, is statute holiday; so is
the third day in every moon, whilst the
list Of national festivals commemorative
of great men or of great deeds is sim
ply inexhaustible. If great man dies
In England, they commemorate him by
monument in Westminster Abbey; ii
a great man dies in Japan, he is remem-
bered by holiday; so that what with
the mythical great men who are thus
remembered and the historical great
men who have died during the past
FIVE thousand years, it is little difficult
to find day of the japanese year
which has not the name of celebrity
attached to it; just as, in glancing
down a Roman Catholic calandar, we
find that every day has its particular
saint. But the greatest day of the year,
the festival par excellence Of the people
the festival into which is compressed
the essence of the fun and enjoyment
and happiness Of all the other days put
together, is the festival Of the new
year. We may be familiar with the
celebration Of the day in Paris or New
York, but the proceedings there are
tame and lifeles1 when compared with
the spontaneous outburst of rejoicing
which characterizeS new years day In
Japan.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
WhiStling Superstitions.

In whatever way regarded, either as
graceful accomplishment or as the
spontaneous expression of light
heartedness, whistling has in our own
and foreign countries generally at
tracted considerable attention. Why
it should have been invested with so
much superstitious awe it is difficult
to say, but it is curious fact that the
same antipathy which it aroused
among certain classes of our country
men is found existing in the most dis
tant parts of the earth, where, as yet,
civilization has made little or no i'm
perceptible pogress.. Thus Captain
Burton tells us how the Arabs dislike
to hear person whistle, called by
them el sifr. Some maintain that the
whistler's mouth is not to be purified
for forty days; while, according to the
explanation Of others, Satan touching
a mans body causes him to produce,
what they consider, an offensive sound.
The natives of the Tonga Islands, Poly
nesia, hold it to be wrong to whistle.
as this act is thought to be disrespect-
full to God. In Iceland the villagers
have the same objection to whistling,
and so far do they carry their supersti-
tious dread of it that eff one swings
about him stick, whip, wand, or
aught that makes whistling sound,
he scares from him the Holy Ghost;
while other Icelanders, who consider
themselves free from superstitions,
cautiously give the advice: DO it not;
for who knoweth what is in the air ?"
However eccentric these phases of SUI
perstitious belief may appear to us, yet
it must not be forgotten that very sim
liar notions prevail at the present day
in this country. A correspondent, of
Notes and Queries for instance, re-
lates how one day, alter attempting in
vain to get his dog to obey orders to
come into the house, his wife tried to
coax it by whistling, when she was
suddenly interrupted by a servant, a
Roman Catholic, who exclaimed in the
most piteous accents, "If you please,
ma'am, don't whistle-every time a
woman whistles, the heart of the bless
ed Virgin bleedsp In some districts
of North Germany the villagers say
that if one whistles in the evening it
makes the angels weep. - Popular
Science Monthly.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
PUNGENT PARAGRAPHS.

A watch like faith, is comparatively
worthless without works.
Why are there no female bill-collec
tors because a woman's work h
never "dun."
There's millions in it," said Smitlr
"In what?" asked Brown. ".Why in
billions, Of course. hal hal halP
Many man thinks that the word
has taken up arms against him when
his stomach is struggling hard with
boiled dinner. s
"You say your brother is younger
than you, yet he looks much oider2"
eyes, he has seen a great deal of trou.
BILE; but never married"
"I am saddest when / write humor
Gus articles" said funny man to an
acquaintance. "And |" replied the &C.
quaintance, "am saddest when read
them"
1t is wrong to laugh at the crooked
legs of the young man in tight trousers.
but it is perfectly proper to laugh al
the tight trousers upon the man With
tL2-croSLgl lcGS
Medical journals continue to inform
people chow colds are. taken."' The
Globe gently initiates that little infor-
nation upon how to get rid of them
promptly would be equally acceptable.
1t gives a New York man an awful
start to suddenly observe a clipping
from the Chinese newspaper which
has been left lying on his table by
some mischievious friend. His FIRST
thought. of course, is that it is wash
bill
Two young city ladies in the country
were standing by the side of wide
ditch, which they didn't know how to
cross They appealed TO a boy who
was coming along the road for help,
whereupon he pointed behind them
with startled air and yelled " Snakes!
The young ladies crossed the ditch at
single bound.
Lii asks her mother: "What dc
you like best, good dreams or bad onesr
GOOD ones. And your" "Oh, lik5
bad dreams best" "Why?" "BecauSs
when l have good dreams I find whel
wake up that they are not true, and
that annoys me; whilst when | have
had bad ones 1 am happy when I wake.
because they are not true"
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
Pele'S Hair.

A singular product of vitreous lavas
is called In Hawaii "Pele's Hair"
This silky, filamentous substance is de.
scribed by Miss Gordon Cumming in
her latest book of travels, as "of rich
olive-green or yellowish-brown color
and glossy, like the byssus Of certain
shells, but very brittle to handle" 1t
is said to be produced by the wind
catching the fiery spray thrown up
from the crater, but the extreme fine
ness of it's texture seems rather to sug-
gest the action of escaping vapors
within the lava itself. This view is
strengthened by the circumstance that
a perfect counterfeit is fabricated at
iron-works by passing jets of steam
through molten Stag, when a material
resembling vitreous cottonwood, adj
mirably adapted for packing fragile
articles, results. The chief seat of it's
natural production is the great
Hawaiian crater of Kilauea (personi-
fed as the Fire Goddess Pele), and it
is found well adapted for nest-building
by some inventive Hawaiian birds.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
A Cheese.Making Berry.

A cheese-making berry has recently
been discovered in India, which seems
to be capital substitute for rennet.
Puneria, as the natives call it, is the
berry of plant known scientifically
as "withania coagulans," a shrub
which is common in the Punjab and
Trans-Indus territory, and which has
long been used by the Afghans and
Belooches to curdle milk.
Experiments conducted officially on
farm belonging to the governor Of
Bombay have demonstrated the effic-
iency of the berry in the manufacture
of cheese, perfect curd being produc-
ed and the cheese turning out excel
lently; and, with view to the more
extended cultivation of the shrub, an
experimental plantation is to be estab-
lished at the government botanical
gardens at Saharanpore.
The puneria, so-called from the Per-
sian name of cheese, is prepared by
placing about two ounces of the ber-
ries in small quantity of cold water,
and allowing it to simmer by the side
of fire. for twelve hours. It is said
that half a pint of the decoction will
suffice to curdle ffty-fve gallons of
milk.-CGsseWs Family Magazine.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
Among tho MongOIs.

The Mongol of to-day is in many re-
spects separate man, timid, yet given
to long, lonely journeys over painless
deserts; habitually abstemiouS vet a
drunkard; controversialist, yet super
stitious; a thief by instinct, yet law
abiding; rough, brutal, and cruel -
yet in one respect gentler than any
European. Nothing can induce him
to hurt an animal, however low in the
scale of creation. Nowhere" says
recent traveller, "will you find less
cruelty than in Mongolia Not only
do their cattle and flocks receive ex-
pressions of sympathy in suffering, and
such alleviation of pain as their owner
knows how to give, but even the
meanest creatures (insects and reptiles
included) are treated with consider
Grafton. Crows perch themselves on
the top Of loaded camels, and deliberate
ly steal before the very eyes of the
vociferating owners; hawks scoop
down in the market-place at Urga, and
snatch eatables from the hands of the
unwary, who simply accuse the thief
of patricide, and pass on. Ny bald
headed camel driver was nearly driven
to distraction one evening by cloud
of mosquitoes which kept lowering
over and alighting on his shining pate.
During the night there came q touch
of frost, and when we rose in the
morning not an insect was on the wing.
Looking at them as they clung be-
numbed to the sides of the tent. he re-
marked, The mosquitoes are frozen r
and then added, in a tone of sincere
sympathy, the Mongol phrase express
sive of pity, 'Hoarhe ! hoarhe ? There
was no sarcasm or hypocrisy about it."
This tenderness is the more strange be-
cause the Mongols in their few cities or
standing camps let beggars die of cold
and exposure. though they never dis
play the complete callousness of
Chinese. The Chinese government in
Lama Mao, the great entrepot, pun
ishes highway robbery with violence
by a sentence of death from starvation;
and our traveller saw this sentence
carried out, the man being placed in
cage in the street, with his head out
side, so that he might see the eating
shops, and die slowly of hunger and
thirst. He was four days dying there
in public. The Chinese citizens found
this interesting, and strolled up every
evening, laughing and jesting, to see
the unhappy wretch suffer.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14

culated around amid the perfumed
groups, with his agony Eradicator," +"
selling off the precious panacea with
great success.
Mrs. Heatherley giggled audibly;
the assistant bishop elevated his Roman
nose with an air of superciliousness;
the fair violinist laid down her bow,
and only the instant announcement of
supper would have prevented general
dissolution of this social parliament.
Uncle Jones ate as if he were a
starved wolf, and then drank as he had
been transformed into a fish; and final
ly fell asleep on sofa in the corner
and snored aloud, with his pocket full
of "salve-boxeS" and handkerchief
over his face.
He went home the next day. The
Cherry hill Jones's did not urge him to
stay longer; and Mrs. Heatherley called
to condole with Mrs. Jones in person.
1T must have been SO mortifying to
the poor thingw said she, with simu-
lated sympathy.
But Mrs. Jones did not see her. She
was crying in her own room, and sent
down a message of "Not at home"
Il don't care how soon we leave
Cherry hill" she sobbed. al never can
look any one in the face again. 1 never
was so ashamed in all my lifel And if
ever anyone mentions the name China,
or the Chinese, in my presence again,
I'll commit suicide, that / willv'
For Mrs. Jones's party had not been
q success.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14

Forty years ago, or more, a small,
brightly spotted turtle was described
as living near Philadelphia, and two
miserable specimens were sent to
Professor Agassiz. 1t was called
Muhlenberg's turtle, and since then
not one has been seen until last
summer. My friend was always on
the lookout, never failing opick up or
turn over every small turtle he met
on the meadows or along the creeks,
and examine whether the marks on its
under shell were those of the lost
species. Finally, one of the bitches in
the meadows was drained off to be re-
paired, and there, within a short dis
tance, were picked up six Muhlenberg
turtlesl If you go to Cambridge,
Mass, you can see four of them alive
and healthy to-day. They could easily
have gone out of that ditch into other
bitches, and so into the creek; but, if
they ever did, they have succeeded for
twenty years in escaping some pretty
sharp eyes.
This little incident has a moral for
Us in two ways. One is, that often
the apparent rarity of an animal
comes from the fact that we don't
know where to look for it; and the
other, that it takes practiced eye to
know 1t when you have found it, and
to take care that it does not get lost
sight of again. Practice your methods
Of observation, then, without ceasing,
You cannot make discoveries in any
other way. And the cultivation of
the habit will be of inestimable advan-
tage to you.
This is the merest hint of how,
without going away from home, by
always keeping his eyes open, a man,
or a boy or girl can study, to the
great advantage and enjoyment of
himself, or herself, but to the help of
all the rest of us. I should like to tell
you how patiently this naturalist
watches the ways of the wary birds
and small game he loves; how those
sunfsh and shy darters forget that he
is looking quietly down through the
still water, and go on with their daily
life as he wants to witness it; how he
drifts silently at midnight, hid in his
boat, close to the timid heron, and
sees him strike at his prey; or how,
concealed in the topmost branches of
a lofty tree, he overlooks the water
birds drilling their little ones, and
smiles at the play of a pair of rare
otters, whose noses would not be in
sight an instant did they suppose any
one was looking at them. But l can
not recount all his vigils and ingenious
experiments, or the entertaining facts
they bring to our knowledge, since
my object now is simply to give you
suggestion of how much one man may
do and learn on single farm in the
most thickly settled part of the United
States.--iSt. Nicholas.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
The Early Rain.

Down through the misty air,
Down from rSe gloom above,
Falling, pa,tering everywhere,
The rain comes quick with love.
Softly the missel.tmush
Sings in the golden storm;
The robin under laurel bush
Waits ior tomorrow morn.
Drip, drip, drip from the caves,
Pit. pit, pit on the pane,
Swish, swish, swish on the drenched leaves
Lis! tits the song of the rain.
Grasses are bending low,
Green is the corn and thick;
You cAn almost see the nettles grow,
They grow so strong and quick.
Soft is the wind from the west,
Softer the rains low sigh;
The sparrow washes his smoky breast,
And watches the gloomy sky.
Stirred are the boughs by the breeze,
Scarcely leaf is still,
Something is moving among the trees,
Like restless spirit OF i'll.
Standing watching the rain,
Do you seem TO hear
The voice of God on speaking again
To mans ungrateiul carr
Promising plenty and peace,
Carriers with treasure heaped,
L y.
Till the harvest oi earth be reaped.
The .frSoSy.
Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-06-14
A Fowl Ball.

Scene at the baseball ground. A ball
was knocked sidewise and caught on a
fly. Foul and out p was the cry Of
the umpire. A charming high school
girl looking at the game calculates:
"Ah, reallyl How can it be a fowl2
1 don't see any feathers p And she
turned to her attendant with an inquir-
ing look. "Well-ohl Yes, you see,
he stammered, "the reason you don't
see the feathers is because it belongs to
the picked nine" Peoria Transcript.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-14

AS a mOnopolist government is
no less cruel and heartless than in
dividuals. This fact was strikingly
illustrated by the recent suits by the
UnitedStates against certain persons
in New York city who were main
tanning establishments for the de-
livery Of letters throughout the city.
The offices of these men were
bounced upon by officers Of the
government, the packages for de-
livery seized and the employees of
the concerns placed under arrest.
The otfense consisted in carrying
on a business that government for
reasons that most people recognize
as sufficient, has made q govern
ment monopoly. 1t is not to be
thought of that we could get along
at all without postal service in
private hands, but it is not to be
denied that government exercises
an alarming power in ruthlessly
putting its foot upon Individual en-
terprises that compete with 1t. In
the matter of mail distribution, if
the service were all that it should
be private parties would not under
take competition. for the good and
faithful service could not bs per-
formed by individuals at the price
for which government ought to doit
It is not probable that the system
of government monOpOlies will be
extended very far. It is an exercise
of pateTnaI power that could be-
carried to an unwholesome extent.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-14

plated their dutie being clearly
prescribed, their actions are sup
posed 70 be purely ministerial; in
other words, II an applicant for
registration appears and takes the
prescribed oath or oaths, thus show
ing so far as his cWn testimony can
that he is eligible, the election
officers aforesaid have but one duty
to perform-to enter his name; and
if he should swear falsely, there is
way to reach him, but that way is
not through or by means of the
Utah Commission.
1t is to be deplered that SO i'm
portant a body should lend them
selves to the furtherance of a
scheme concocted and agitated by a
class whose principal justification is
that any means tending to advance
their peculiar ends are proper, with
out reference to law order or Cos
pei. 1t is also to. be regretted
that men whose experience is
SO extended, whose requirements
are by no means inferior and whose
judgment should be free from the
slightest faint of partizanship or
bias, should give cause for it to be
said of them that the sphere which
the law authorizes them to fill is by
them found too narrow for the con-
summation Of a fixed programme,
and that therefore it must be en-
larged. 1t looks as if they had de-
termined to supply what they may
consider deficiencies in he act of
Congress, thereby arrogating powers
which common people have all
along supposed TO reside in the chief
law-making body alone.
The determination on the part of
the majority in Utah to contest in
the courts the legality Of such pro.
ceedings was not arrived at a day
too soon. If any class or set of men
can construe legislative enactments
to suit themselves, going beyond
the boundaries of plainly defined
law to COMPASS desired en- DIS, then
indeed the courts are resort which
those who are oppressed by such
proceedings look to as at once
source of protection and a means of
redress.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-14

THE LATEST. issue of Puck con
airs another of its telling cartoons
entitled "Boycotting the Pope"
Leo Kill and Parnell L are seated
in papaI chairs, and the subjects are
cumming from Leo to Parnen with
their money bags, pouring into
the latter's treasury the Peters
pence. The Pope's hair is On end,
and two Irishmen are kissing the
soles Of Parnelrs feet. On the wall
hang portraits of St. Michael Davitt
and st. Patrick Egan. The cartoon
is suggestive.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-14

THE NEW YORK Herald has OBJ
tanned a number of letters from
prominent members Of the next
House of Representatives, in which
they state their preferences for the
speakership. The vote stands
Carlisle, 10 Randall, 8; Cox, 2
Hancock, of Texas, 2; Hewitt, i;
with two others who say they are
determined to vote for no one who
VIII not pledge himself to work for
tariff reform. As all the gentlemen
above mentioned are pronounced
tariff reformers, with the exception
Of Randall, the Herald poll
shows II for reform to only
against it.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-14

1T WILL be remembered that Viii
liam H. English, a statesman" who
tailed the presidential ticket for the
democrats at the last campaign, was
sued some time ago by one w. D.
Murphy, another statesman who
stumped Indiana for the first named.
Murphy wanted $1,000 and his ex-
penses, $3.50, but English thought
the price too high, especially as he
wasn't elected. Suit was instituted
for the money. but the other day the
ex-vice-presidential candidate was
able 60 compromise with Murphy
upon the basis Of S4OO. It is too
early to predict as to the next dem
ocratic ticket, but it is not too early
to declare that whoever the party
aomiaates for vice-president viii,
if he happens to possess a %barreI."
not have it bound with iron hoops,
and he bung sealed. Itis better to
get along without barrels" but
having them, they are nuisances if
not Eaed.
The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-14
Utah CENTRAL

DOUND TRIP TICKETS WILL BE
IL issued By the Utah Central Railway
Company for the Thomas Musical Festi-
val at special low rates to Salt Lake as
follows ThurEdsy, June 14th:
Frisco, $40; Milford, So; Deseres, SO.
Friday, June 10Th. JuEb and interms-
date stations for prices and other psrti-
ticulars see posters. q
Saturday, June 10Th, Ogden and inter
mediate stations, by special train, for
prices and particulars see posters.
A special train will leave Salt Lake
Friday night after concert for Spanish
Fork and intermediate stations,
Special train will return TO Ogden
Saturday night after elise OF concert.
Tickets will be good to return on any
train until and including Sunday, June
18th,
FRANCIS COPE.
General Ticket Agent.