davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
Tim nicked M q froo and dro,no5 =

Tim picked up a frog and dropped it
as if it were hot. He was frightened.
Colonel, thar's somethin' wrong.
Everything's agin' me-the devils in it.
It's heavy as lead, an you've knocked
it stiff as a maulin wedge. I'm oittin'
fiighty-jest like the a-ger took me
afore, an theirs misery comm in my
legs. I've got the a-ger!'
[ gathered up the frogs and took them
and Tim to the house, where he began to
revive on a glass of whisky.
Tim, . l said, there is Your rifle: [
don't want it; I'll have fun enough tell
ing about your missing the frogs and
my having to kill them with the pad
die. :"
Don't, don't" said Tim. They'd
never stop runnin' me an boastifin'
over me. I'd rather gin yer my ole
rifle
''And then, Tim, [ added, .swhen l
tell them that YOU don't know a frog
when you see one-but keep shooting
all the morning at chunks of cast-iron
what will they think of you? What
glorious fun it will be. Here look at
this, =" and handed him one of the iron
frogs.
''Slce me up and kiver me with salt
if hit haint iron. How did you liver get
hit turned inter iron so quick?' said Tim
with most piteOus mixture of shame
and establishment in his face. I'm
ready for the buryin' sarmen NV dern-
ed fool. I'll give yer the rifle and taters,
too, eff yer Il keep Your mouth shut. I'll
bring yer hull pail full of live min
ners fur perch bait, an am purp
Nv Spiders, if yer'u say nothin' to no
body nary time"
AS soon as [ could stop laughing [
said: Tim, do you thin> I'm q fellow
you can stuff anything into and he'll be-
lieve it?''
''Derned if [ do. l never done it. /
never said SO nohow no time anyway.
Don't kick me, Colonel. I'm chawin'
the ground. You've got me this time "
He turned rs he was going away with
his rifle and said: ''Thet's gospel truth
/ telled Yer bout the squ'rls, though,
an eff hadn't q fresh chaw in I'd git
mad an say somethin'.' -
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
i New Mexico Sand-Stnrm.

The sand-stOrm, of which we had q
very lively sample recently, constitutes
the one and only disa@reeable feature OF
our New Mexico climate but this doesn't
come often nor remain long. and dis
agreeable as it is when its visits occur.
1t Is paradise itself in comparison with
the cyclones of the Mississippi Valley.
scattering death and destruction in theil
pathway. and is infinitely less disagree
able and uncomfortable than the driv-
ing snow-storms of the North. the mar
roW-chilling east winds of the Atlantic
coast, or the. mud that envelopes the
earth for weeks at time, throughout
North, South and East. The sand-Storm
IS never uncomfortable cold. it is never
muddy, and never strong enough to be
dangerous; it is simply ''dirty"-and
that expresses all Of it. 1t fills you1
mouth, and nose. and eyes. and ears; it
piles up drifts of sand on the lee side OF
fences; just as drifts of snow are piled
up in New England, though not so great
Il depth; it fills the air with sand every
where, indoors and out; it covers the
counters and desks and goods at your
store, and the furniture and even the
dishes at your house; the tightest win
doWs are not proof against it; it comes
IN under the doors and around the
frames, and filters through the most in
tnltesimal cracks, through which YOU
would think the air itself could not pen.
citrate; the atmosphere of your room is
filled with it, and the paper upon which
you try to write is covered with it; like
1.-The gentle dew of heaven" it falls
alike upon the just and the unjust. and
tails everywhere; it is useless to fight
against it, and our best course is to
make up your mind at the start to en-.
dure it, and to say in the words of Pat
rick Henry, LET it comet But, after
all, it is clean dirt; it doesn't stick like
mud, and 1t doesn't soil anything The
blow lasts usually from one to six hours.
and when it is over all you have to do is
to ''shake YOURSELF" busting and sweep
ing will remove all Eestiges of it from
house, clothing and furniture; every
outdoor nuisance, every atom of decay
ing animal or vegetable matter. every
fostering spot, everything that could
contaminate the atmosphere, is careful
ly buried, and the air, purified and
electrified by the sand, is so luxuriously
eXhilarating that the breathing of it is
a joy which you feel more than compen-
safes you for all the disagreeableness of
the storm. albuquerque Journal.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
Henry James Rival,

II Mr.. Henry James intends to retain
his pre-eminence as the International
Novelist, says New York Life, it be-
hooves him, without question to exert
himself. If he has read ''Mr. Isaacs"
he will not need to be told that he has
a rival who seems not ill-itted to sup
plant him in the affections of his coun-
trymen. If any one doubts this let him
set up the author of Mr. Isaacs along
side of Mr.. James and compare the
two
Mr.. James, to begin, was his fathers
son, but Mr.. Crawford, we are told, not
only had parents, but is the nephew
both of his uncle and his aunt Had
Mr.. James ever an aunt? Not that we
know of.
Both gentlemen were of American de-
scent. This is an accident of birth and
neither can be held accountable for it;
but Mr.. Crawford's parents did what
they could for their son by choosing It
ally for the LAID of his nativity, thus
giving him better international start
than that of Mr.. James, who, being I'M
able to influence his parents, was born
IN America, and may never get over it.
Mr.. Crawford, too, was educated in
lands in which Mr.. James eager spirit
was not able to Turk until he had passed
the period when the mind is most sus-
ceptible to the influences of his envir-
Onment.
The effect of Mr.. Crawford's early adj
vantages may be seen in the extent of
his literary range and in the marked
originality of treatment which marks
his dealings with his characters.
Mr.. James confines himself to anaIy-
sis of the mental processes of the Young
Man-Who-Might-H ave-Done Something,
Observation-Disclosures
Do-Something, the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
To-Have-Him-Do-Something, his Friend
Who-Don' Notwithstanding And
Never-Did; their relations, male and fe-
male; English lords of assorted sizes,
German professors and cOuriers. But
Mr.. Crawford, in his one book, has not
only the disinfected Yankee and the
British lord, which he shares with Mr..
James, but Parthians, Modes and Ella
mites and jewellers in MesOpotamia-let
alone spooks- who dream dreams and
see visions, and talk of incomprehensi-
BILE things in a diyerting variety of
tongues.
None of Mr. James people ever ac-
tually do anything except eat and change
their clothes, but Mr.. Isaacs and his
friends have as much restless enterprise
as freshmen at college, and, at a pinch,
Mr. Crawford does not hesitate to call
upon the moon to come down and make
faces for his readers amusement En-
terprise like this is apt to be rewarded.
Let Mr.. James beStir himself
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
FlatterY From an UNEXPECTED Source.

Encourage newspaper men, Tor you
know not what annoyance they 60
through. Their most deliberately pre-
pared articles sometimes thrown out be-
cause of the pressure on the columns;
expected to make accurate report OF
some speaker, who is so indiStinct of ut
terance the whole discourse is one long
stenographic guess; the midnight that
finds you asleep, demanding that they
be wide awake; their most careful work
DETAINED by one careless type-setter;
their lives ground out between the wheels
of our great brain manufactures; sick
ened with the approaches OF those who
want q newspaper commentator or
retraction; now called out to sketch q
funeral and now pugilistic encounter;
shifted from place to place by the sud
den revolutions any day liable to come
in any journalistic establishment; pre-
carious life becoming more and more
Drecarious. Be affable to them when
YOU have no AK to sharpen on their
grindstone. Discuss in your own mind
what the nineteenth century would be
without the newspaper, and learn that
every opportunity to cheer all who have
anything to do with this great interest
from the chief of the editorial staff
down to the boy who throws IN the morn
ing and evening paper on your base
ment window. --Ial21dge.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
The Boy on the Chain. Cane.

They were working right in front of
the hotel at little hamlet in Alabama
the chain-gang. There were nine VIII
demonstrating men. each wearing
shackleS and having no shame as they
looked into the faces of the strangers on
the Yeranda. A chain-gang is an every
day sight in the South, and few people
waste sympathy upon the justly-pun-
1shed Wretches, but all of Il sudden some
thing happened in this gang never to be
forgotten. A boy not yet II years old
came up>with Il pail of water, and we
saw that he belonged to the chain-gang.
Larceny had sent him to associate with
those villains for three long wears. He
looked pale and broken down, and his
shame compelled him to avert his face
rs he came up. 1t was sad SIGHT to
see tot OF q boy like him brought out
and degraded and disgraced, and he
telt the situation so keenly that at the
first kind word from the platform the
tears welled up and blinded his ewes.
There was a woman there from In
diana who walked straight down to the
boy and put her hand on his head and
shed tears with him. There must have
been something in his look to remind
her OF some One-perhaps son at home
or one under the sod. Her heart was
full of sorrow and sympathy and her
words broke the lad down. This lasted
tour or five minutes, to the great aston
1shment and ANNOYANCE of the armed
guard in charge. The lightning express
coming down the road had just whistled,
and the iron rails were quiyerin0 under
the approaching thunder, when the guard
called out:
Come, you young thief, get back af-
ter more Waterr'
The woman started back at the words.
dragging the child with her, but in an in
slant he broke away, wheeled and clasp
ed her hand and kissed it, and then
what? Not hand could have been
lifted to prevent. The express was thun-
derlng up at forty miles an hour. not in
tending to make q stop here, and the lad
turned from the woman whose kind
words had opened the weIl-springs of
his heart, and at the same time Mortified
him at his situation, and with one spring
he alighted in front of the locomotive.
Next instant his crushed and manoled
body was flung into the roadside ditch.
and he had served his sentence. We
picked him up tenderly, and the women
Wept over him as they washed the pale
face and folded the boy-hands over the
crushed and broken breast, but the lad
was beyond the need of earthly friends.
M Quad
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
The Northern Boundary.

The whole of this boundary, from
Michigan to Alaska, has been distinct
ly marked by the British and American
Commissioners; and some interesting
details have been published of the way
in which this difficult task was accom-
plished. The boundary is marked by
stone cairns, iron pillars. wood pillars,
earth mounds and timber posts. These
structures vary from five feet in height
to fifteen feet and there are $50 of them
between the Lake OF the Woods and the
base of the Rocky Mountains. That
portion of the boundary which lies east
and west of the Red River Valley is
marked by cast-irOn pillars ut even mile
intervals. The British place on every
two miles, and the United States one
between each British post. The pillars
are hollow iron castings, and upon the
opposite faces are east in letters two
inches high, the inscription. ''Conven-
ton of London and October 20,
1878"
The average weight of each pillar
when completed is eighty-five pounds
With regard to the wooden posts, the
Indians frequently cut them down for
fuel, and nothing but iron will last very
long. Where the line crosses lakes,
mountains of stone have been built, the
bases being in some places eighteen
feet under water, and the tops project
ing some eight feet above the surface
of the lake at high-water mark In
forests, the line is marked by telling
the timber a rod wide and clearing
away the underbrush. As might well
be imagined, the work of cutting
through the timbered swamps was very
great, but it has all been carefully and
thoroughly done, The pillars are ali
set four feet in the ground in ordinary
cases, with their inscription faces to
the north and south, and the earth is
well settled and stamped about them.
The IRON posts afford little temptation
for dislodgment and conveying away
by the Indians.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
The Test.

Seven women loved him. When the wrinkled
Enwrapt him from their unfulhlled desire
Death, pale, triumphant rival, cOnquering all
They came, for that last look, around his pyre.
One strewed white roses, on whose leaves were
hung
Her tears, like dew; and in discreet attire
warbled her tuneful sorrow. Next among
The group a fair-haired virgin moved Sc
Whose sanity heart no vain repinings wrung,
Reached the calm dust, and there, composed
and queenly,
Gazed, but the missal trembed in her hand;
That's with the past" she said, NOR may /
meanly
Give way to tearsn and passed into the land.
The third hung feebly on the portals moan
ing.
With whitened lips, and feet that stood in
sand,
So weak they Secondhand all her passion own.
ing.
The fourth. ripe, luxurious maiden came,
Half for such homage to the dead atOning
BY smiles on one who famed later flame
In her slight soul, her tickle steps attended.
The fifth and sixth were sisters; at the same
Wild movement both above the image Bonded,
And with immortal hatred each on each
TO know the dead had 'scaped the others
reach!
Meanwhile, through all the words Of anguish
spoken,
One lowly form had given no sound Of speech,
Through al the signs of woe, no sign nor
token;
But when'they came to bear him to his rest,
They found her beauty paled-her heart was
broken;
And in the Silent Land his shade contest
That she, of all the seven, loved him best
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
Bennett as a Pilot.

James Gordon Bennett is probably the
most eccentric rich young man in the
world. When he gets q spasm he is
liable to do the most unsupported things.
He has a yacht that cost him about a
quarter of million dollars, in which he
roams about the high seas. He was at
Villefranche, not long ago, and one day
he went aboard his yacht and sent the
captain and mate ashore, and attempted
to run the yacht himself. The other
craft had to get up steam, and 60 away
out into the broad ocean to keep from
being run down. He run into French
gunboat, and frightened several sea cap
tains out of their boots, and then headed
his yacht for shore and landed her high
and dry on the beach. On being offer
ed assistance to get the boat off he de-
clined, saying he run her ashore for his
own amusement, and the boys could
launch her again. The impression is
abroad that Bennett was drunk, but he
was only allowing his budding genius a
little holiday. Bennett should be made
secretary of the American navy, if he
can scare anybody with his boat. -Pecs;'S
Sam
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
A Suspicious Box.

The dynamite scare has taken posses
sion of the officials at Washington. At
any rate this is the inference to be drawn
from the following story, for which the
Critic vOuches:
A suspicious looking Irishman at
tracted considerable attention in the
park back of the State Department, this
afternoon, by his peculiar movements.
He carried a queer shaped box, and the
impression soon got abroad that he was
a dynamite tiend, who intended to blow
our International Courtesy Department
into smithereens because of its alleged
sympathy with England. A Waterman
and several spectators soon closed in
upon the mysterious Celt, and the for
mer grutfly demanded:
What are you doing here?"
i won't tell yez, +" quietly responded
the Irishman.
Then III arrest We"
And phat for, sure?"
ION suspicion"
ION phat's that?"
..Suspicion. Sneaking about the
grounds with that queer box. Whatare
We dom with it anyway" exclaimed
the Waterman, excitedlv.
'sAh, yez bladerskhites; yez are
afraid, are yez? Why, I'm jest catch
ing sum grasshoppers for me canary
birds
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
A Prehistoric Cemetery.

Two miles from Mandan. on the bluffs
near the junction of the Hart and Mis-
souri, Rivers, says the local newspaper,
the Pioneer, is an old cemetery of fully
100 acres in extent filled with bones of q
giant race. This vast city of the dead
lies just east of the Fort Lincoln road.
The ground has the appearance of hay
ing been filled with trenches piled full
of dead bodies, both man and beast,
and covered with several feet of earth
In many places mounds from to 10
feet high, and some of them 100 feet or
more in length, have been thrown I'D
and are filled with bones, broken pot
terry, vases of various bright colored
flint, and agates. The pottery is of a
dark material, beautifully decorated.
delicate in finish, and as light as wood,
showing the work of a people skilled in
the arts and possessed of high state of
civilization. This has evidently been q
grand battlefield, where thousands of
men and horses have fallen. Nothino
like systematic or intelligent explora-
ton has been made, as only little holes
two or three feet in depth have been
dug in some of the mounds. but MANY
parts OF the anatomy of man and beast.
and beautiful specimens CT broken pot
terry and other curiosities, have been
found in these feeble efforts at excava-
ton. Five miles from Mandan, on the
opposite side of the Missouri, is an
other vast cemetery, as yet unexpIored.
We asked an aged Indian what his peo-
pie knew of these ancient grayeyards.
He answered: Me know nothing about
them. They were here before the red
man.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
Rejecting Books for Various Reasons,

h6J6CIlug DOCKS Tor various Reasons,
once picked out handsome assort-
ment for customer about to refurnish
his house. He had no acquaintance with
books, but he looked over the titles, and
made some rather interesting expurga-
tons. He told me to pull all the stand
ard Authorities in, anyway, and he would
attend to the rest. He threw out ''In
the Meshes''-which he supposed to be
book OF fishing-because he was mo
angler" BosWells Life of Johnson"
was rejected because he didn't want
political campaign works, and wouldn't
have the biographies of the Presidents.
they all lied so. His wife discarded
"The Spawowgrass Papers on the
ground that they did notwant any books
about getables, and 1.-The Law and the
Prophet" was not wanted because the
old gentleman had given up business
altogether. The man, who once pur-
chased 1.-The Mill of the Floss" believ-
ing it to be an account of prize fight.
was tOlerably well-informed man com
pared with this customer, who said that
beauties of the British Dramatists''
was a sell, because the work "'did not
contain q picture of one of them" He
expected to find it full of portraits of
actresses. The man even held up a fine
edition of ''Plutarch," and asked how
many lives man was supposed to have
He had not once thought of opening the
work. These men do not bother US
much, for they are easily satisfied; but
what do you think Of a gentleman who
refuses to pay his bill because you have
cleft out the electromagnetic most i'm
portant work of all''-from a complete
edition of cold Daniel Webster's works. -
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
A Vine that is Likely to Cover all Georgia

Boad Harris says that some years ago
he and Col. DuPree were coming from
Gainesville, and stopping at a farm
house in Barlow county to get water,
they saw gourd vine that covered over
an acre of ground. This vine where it
came out of the ground was as large as
his (Boad's) body. Boad thinks that
the vine in a direct line would measure
over five miles in length. He and Col.
DuPree counted the gourds on said vine
up to something over four hundred, and
had to stop on account Of the lateness of
the hour, fearing they would not have
time to get home before night. So he
don't know how many gourds were on
the vine, and dislikes to make 4 guess,
for fear some one might think his ideas
were exuavagant.- Cherokee, a., Id
II nee.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

In heaven we are told. there IS more
ioy over one sinner that repenteth than
over ninety-and-nine who have never
gone astray. 1t is just the other way
here below. There is more JOY over one
righteous man who goes astray than over
ninety-and-nine thousand sinners who
have kept at it all their lives.-B0ston
Transcript.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

George II. Corliss, of Rhode Island, is
building the engines for the first cotton
mills to be erected in China.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

The Arkansas press association make
4 vigorous fight against the laws which
makes legal publication of a noticepost-
ed on tree or stump. This law, THOUGH
it be unjust to the printer. IS rather a
wise provision, for the average Arkan-
sas man woald ride up to tree and
spell out 4 sheriff sale when it wonId
never occur to him to take up a news
paper. -4rkanSa1C TrdUeker.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

1t takes a 'oman five times rs long ter
git in de bed as it does a man. She has
ter cross de flo certain number OBJ
times, an has ter tumble 'mong de
quilts, turn down de lamp too low, an
den go back an turn it up too high. A
oman walks mighty light when she's
got shoes on, but when she takes 'em off
an walks, she shakes de whole house,
like dog trottin' 'cross bridge.-Ar-
k0ns01O IrareLer.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

R. F. Gaggin tells Pittsburg iron max
ers that iron can be made in Western
Kentucky for S12.55 and on the Cum
berland and Tennessee rivers for S. less
than Pennsylvania prices.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

1t may be mighty big source for
consolation when a po' man sets down
an says: Its all right. fur de rich man
can't Git ter heaben;' but gib de po'
man a chance, an@ see how quick he'd
stan in de rich mans shoes.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

De men what made de ole sayin's
mout hab been spectacle gentlemen,
but da didn't allus tell de truf Desay
in dat q barkin' dog neber bites, ANITA
fack. based my safety on dat procla-
nation, once, went inter mans door
yard, and was bit monst' Gus bad by
dog what had barked at me.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14
Plantation Philosophy.

IF de niggers had more soap an few
er preachers, dar would be prove
ment Da mout not shout so much. but
da'd be deblish sight cleaner.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-14

1t amt with while fur ole man, eben
eft he does wantermarry, ter caper 'roun'
like boy. De ole boss may try ter acl1
like de colt, but one or two capers gibs
him away.