davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
The Election of Lincoln.
ben: P riley Poore. !


The electoral votes for president and
of the house, on Wednesday, the 18th
of February, 1861. The senator's went
there in procession, headed by the vice
president, advanced up the middle aisle,
and took seats in the area i'll front of the
speakers desk. Vice President Breckin-
ridge took the chair of the speaker,
while the latter sat at his right hand
The teller took position at the clerk s
desk. Senator Trumbull of Illinois,
Representative Phelps of Missouri, and
Washburne of Illinois, were the tellers;
on their right was the clerk of the senate,
Mr.. Dickens, and on the left Mr. Forney,
of the house.
The vice president said that, according
to the constitution, both houses of con
gress had assembled in order that the
votes might be counted and declared for
president and vice president of the
United States, who were to take their
seats on the termination of the present
term, the 4th of March, 1861 1t was
his duty to open the electoral votes, and
he now proceeded to perform that duty.
The votes were accordingly opened by
states, and the separate vote of each
state was announced by the tellers. Wher
the name Of South Carolina was called q
suppressed laugh was heard from al
parts of the house. Vice President
Breckenridge then announced the whole
vote,to be: For Lincoln and Hamlin, 18(
votes; for Breckenridge and Lane, z
votes; for Bell and Everett, 80 votes; fol
Douglass and Johnson, II votes. He
therefore declared Abraham Lincoln, O
Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine
to be duly elected president and vic'
president of the United States. There
was no demonstration of any kind OF
the floor of the house or in the galleries
The senate then retired and the hous'
adjourned
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
English Song-Writlng.
THE Athenaunl. |

Without going so far as to say that no
man is poet who cannot write a good
song, it may certainly be said that no
man can write good song who is not a
good poet. Heartiness and melody-the
two requisites of a song which never can
be dispensed with-can rarely be com
passed, it seems, by one and the same in
dividua1. In both these qualities the
Elizabethian poets stand pre-eminent,
though even with them the melody is not
so singable as it might be made. Among
the more prominent poets of our time,
Mr.. Browning, though he has heartiness
in plenty, betrays love of rugged con-
sonantal effects such as would always pre-
vent him from writing first-rate song.
Here, indeed, is the crowning difficulty OF
song-writing. An extreme simplicity of
structure and of diction must be accom-
panied by an instructive apprehension OF
the melodic capabilities of verbal sounds
and of what Samuel Lover, the Irish song.
writer, called singing" words, which is
rare in this country, and which seems te
belong to the Celtic rather than to the
Saxon ear. "The song-writer,n says
Lover, "must frame his song of opeI
vowels, with as few cultural or kissing
sounds as possible, and he must be con.
tent sometimes to sacrifice grandeur and
vigor to the necessity of selecting singing
words and not reading Words
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
Pen-PIcture of Oscar Wilde.
VANITY Fair.I


Oscar, the Youngest son of the late Sir
William Wilde, archaologist, traveller
and queens surgeon in Ireland, won the
Berkeley medal in Trinity college, Dublin,
and a scholarship Migrating to Magda-
len college, Oxford, he took two 'tirsts"
and the "Newdigate. Then he went
wandering in Greece, and, full of Neo-
Hellenic spirit, came back to invade So
cial London He invented the aesthetic
movement. He preached the doctrine
of possible culture in external things.
He got brilliantly laughed at, and good
naturedly accepted. In 1881 he pub
lished a somewhat startling volume of
poems, and at once went to America to
preach his gospel of culture.
Then, as an itinerant art apostle, he
wandered from New York to San Fran
cisco, lectured TO all sorts and condi-
tions of men, produced play and came
back to London Suddenly he gave up
dado worship for dandyism, cut his long
locks and accepted life. He is a sayer
of smart things, and has a rare flow of
thoroughly Irish wit, and an excellent
notion of the advantage that may accrue
to any man from drawing attention to
himself anyhow He has lived through
much laughter, in which he has always
joined He has many disciples, and is
of opinion that Limitation is the SINGER
est form of insult" He is % years old
comes Of a literary family, and is essen
TALLY modem.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
A FEW SUGGESTIONS
Thrown Out for Fourteen Y ear-Old
Boy to Think Over.
mi. Oua3,s aTalk with Bows ~

[M Qua1s "Ta1k with BoysrJ
All, my lad! just wish l was about
IA years old and had the chances you
are daily throwing away.
What would do?
Why, I'd post myself. For one thing,
I'd walk down to the depot and when o
locomotive brought in its train and went
off to the round-house I'd follow it and
find out how it was made. I'd have u
peep at every lever and crank and cog
and wheel and rod I'd know why and
how steam exerted its power. I'd satisfy
myself why that boiler mounted on
wheels was able to pull and push.
When left the round-house I'd 90 to a
factory and overhaul stationary engine
and see where the two differed Then
I'd get hold of some railroad man and
pump him until | was posted even as to
the quantity Of oil used to run locomo-
tive 100 miles.
1t may not be money in your pocket
TO know these things, but it will be food
for the mind You cannot post yourself
too much. The mind is book i'll which
there's always room for another page.
Did you ever take common door
lock apart? Then you do not know that a
bit Of brass spring is the hidden mystery
which works both catch and bolt With
out this insignificant trife, costing less
than a penny, the lock, costing from
thirty cents to dollar of itself, would
be only so much old iron You
have opened and shut a pocket knife
thousands of times, but it never occurred
to you that a spring, acting on different
| principle, holds the blade shut or open.
| You see paper-hanger at work, but
| you are ignorant of the fact that he
must begin his work in one corner of the
room by plumb line, or he will not
make good job of his papering. You
can't tell whether a horseshoe is put on
with six or ten nails. You never
counted the spokes in the wheel of a
wagon. You never counted the bricks
which hod carrier can shoulder up the
ladder You don't know whether COW
| has teeth in both jaws or only in one
You don't know that laundering De
troit lad 10 years old carelessly put to-
gether the pattern of ice-tongs now useC
all over the country, and let a man stea
his idea away and make a fortune out o
it. If he had been an observing boy ht
would have seen and realized the value
of his action -, He went about picking
up sods and stones, and when Offered
ten cents for his crude tongS he le
them go with the feeling that he haC
made a good thing.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
WE SHALL KNOW ALL.
fowenl Meredith. ]

Owen Meredith
Whom we first love, you know, we seldom
wed.
Time rules us all. And life, indeed, is not
The thing we planned it out ere hope was
dead.
And then, we women cannot choose our lot.
Much must be borne which it is hard to bear;
Much given away which it were sweet tc
keep.
God help us al who need. in'eed, His care
And yet, l know, the Shepherd loves His
sheep.
Ny little boy begins to babble now
Upon my knee his earliest infant prayer.
He has his fathers eager eyes know.
And, they say, 100, b 5 mothers sunny hair.
But when he sleeps and smiles upon my knee,
And can feel his light breath come and go,
thinl of one tHeaven help and pity meD
Who loved me, and whom l loved, long
ago.
Who might have been all, what
dare no: til nix!
We ell are changed, God judges for US best.
God help us do our duty, and not shrink,
And ii tu5t in Heaven humbiy for the rest.
But blaine US women not, if some appear
Too cold at times, and some too gay AMI
light
Some griefs gnaw deep; some wees are hard
TO bear.
Who knows the past? and who can judge
us right?
All, We're we judged by what we might have
been,
Ana not by what we are, too apt to fall!
My little chlld--he sleeps and smiles between
These thoughts and me- In Heaven we
shall know ali!
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
The Boston ans Voice.
lRo. ton Cor. Philadelphia Times. !

tEOs ton COr. HnlladeipGlt lines
The very tone of a Bostonian's voice
has gentle, dog-eared curve, so to
speak, that suggests frequent handling,
a mellow turning of tones, readiness
to go on or turn back until the question
is made quite clear to us. There is
detailed touch in the voice that answers
and questions us that seems to fold
about its words in kind of patient,
loving natrralness and to close about
the spirit Of the listener in a subtitle en-
couragement to- the ideal value he has
somewhere placed upon himself. The Bos-
tonian listens as well as he talks His
interrogation is perfectly sincere. He
means you should bring your facts and
theories to the front. If he sounds the
personal note in himself he rings your
own out with quite as benefcent impair
tiality. Emerson is said to have been
an almost too good listener. He listened
to your smallest fact with an eXpectant
attention that shriveled your conscious
ness into nothing. But one of Emerson S
most potent charms, is the sensA of room
that he seems to offer to the hunblest-
not only the ense of room, but that he
causes us to feel that he has given us
almost of his very identity-so gracious,
so impartial in his view and sympathy.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
The "Luck,, of c@ur d,AIene.
[EXchange.l

tiIAChftbSt'l
The "kid's fund" was established by
the pioneers of Eagle City, NJ. T., for the
endowment of the first native C@ur
dAlener The fund had just reached
the comfortable sum of 5000 dollars
when it was appropriated by an enter
prising son of the soil, whose mother
had walked thirty-fye miles, through
snow from three to ten feet
deep, in order to give him birth
within the confines of Eagle. The woman
was living with her husband-a freight
hand on the Northern Pacific road-in a
cabin near the main line, when she heard
of the premium offered for babies up at
Eagle, and determined to secure it. When
the husband and father reached the camp
he was presented with the 5000 dollars
in dust and nuggets. with which he went
prospecting, and, it is said, struck it
rich. Romance still fingers about the
mines, and Bret Harte's ''Luck OF
Roaring Camp is well nigh parailcled
in this story from Eagle City.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
A Good short Sc, ry.
rDet, oit Free Pre- S. !


It is impossible to give = receipt for
the manufacture of good story. The
chief ingredients are handsome girls and
young men of various grades of intelli
gence. AS in the making of q cake, the
way you mix them mp has a good deal
to do with the success of the story
About the best thing the writer can do
is to study the stories that have been
successful. The best short story
that was ever written in Am3.i;a,
or anywhere else, is probably T. B.
Aldrich's 'Margery Daw." A splendid
story of an altogether different stamp
is "a Man without Country" by +.
E. Hale. Frank Stockton is very good
at short story. 'sThe Lady and the
Tiger is an example of what he can do
in that line. Mrs. Margaret Eytinge
writes about as brisk and breezy short
story as an lady writer anywhere.
Charles Reade was good at short stories,
and SC is Wilkie Collins Some of James
Payn's hort stories are models.
1t is d very good thing for the person
who sets out to tell a story to have a
story to tell.
Every newspaper and magazine is just
yearnlng Tor some Spflghtly young
writer who can tell good story. AS
said before, give some thought to the
matter-don't dash it off. Place your
incidents in the best possible manner,
and don't let the interest drag if you
can help it. Don't use too much
time describing gorgeous sunsets
nor beautiful scenery; get down to
your work, and when you get through
stop. 1t is useless to try the effect of
the story on your acquaintance. Those
who like you will consider the story the
best ever written; those who don't will
tell their friends what nonsense it is, but
all will tell you that it is frst rate.
There is too little brutal candor in this
world. Finally, my brothers, you write
really good story and it is rejected, the
loss is the papers, not yours, for some
other sheet will snap it up quickly
enough.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
Most villainous shave.
[Japan Cor. Cornhill Mage

Japan Cor. COfQnlll magazine.
There is no European quarter in Kioto,
the capital of the mikados On the night
of our arrival we went into a barber
shop for shave, and the excitement at
our appearance increased in intensity.
The crowd blocked up the narrow street,
the first line flattening their noses against
the window, and steaming it with their
breath. Inside the shop there was re-
fiex of the excitement. The barber him
self, though pale, was collected in man.
ner, and gave me only one cash. But
his whole family were ranged in a group
in the kitchen, which opened into the
shop. The assistants stood around,
from time to time handing un-
necessary articles to the operator.
The most hoi eless case was the small
boy, whose duty it was to stand by and
hand paper, combs, brush, towel or what
ever might be needed by the barber. He
stood at the elbow of the chair whilst
was being shaved, with his foot half a
foot from mine, his lips slightly parted,
and pair of gray-brown eyes unnatu-
rally distended, fixed upon my face. I
fancy he was in condition of modified
catalepsy AT any rate, he neither
moved nor spoke whilst the barber
rasped me.
1t was the most villainOus shave ever
suffered. A dinner-knife would have
been for the purpose luxurious article
compared with the razor. | besought
the barber to let me off, but without
avail. 1t was the opportunity of
lifetime, and he would not
limit its duration to any yolun-
tary act. We had brought Ito,
our guide, with us, necessary precau-
ton; otherwise before we could have
made our protests understood we might
have had few bald places artistieally
arranged on our heads, and perhaps our
eyebrows shaved off in the manner of
the Japanese After much haranguing,
Ito induced the man to let me go, to the
manifest disappointment of the crowd,
who were only consoled by seeing the
young gentleman from Glasgow take the
chair. Finally the barber charged one
and eight-pence for his fendish work,
which, considering we had left the
United States, seemed dear for a shave.
The price to native would have been
two pence half penny at most, and he
would, in addition, have had his ears
and nostrils shaved and his hair brushed
and oiled
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
Forrest and O,Conor.

"The true story" of how the late
Charles O'Conor came to act as counsel
In the Forrest divorce case is told by
The Syracuse Herald Mrs. Forests
friends at first tried to engage him, but
he refused positively to have anything
to do with the case. But they had
spread abroad reports of their intention
to engage him, hoping thus to frighten
Mr. Forrest, and Forrest heard and be-
lieved them. A few hours after his
final refusal to be Mrs. Forests counsel,
Mr.. O'Conor took his seat in horse car
to go home. A moment later Forrest
entered. His eye fell upon O'Conor and
flashed fire. Believing the lawyer to be
his wife's counsel, he strobe up to him,
and in the presence of the assembled
passengers he deliberately trod on his
toes. Mr.. O'Connor rose, quilted the
car, and returned to his Office. There
he wrote a brief note to Mrs Forrest, ac-
cepting her case without retainer; and
more remorseless warfare was never
waged by counsel upon an adversary's
client than that which Mr. O'Conor
opened against the great actor the next
day.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02

[Pittsburg Commercial-Caze

81 believe said a downtown real
estate man, ''that two hundred million
dollars would about cover the actual
wealth of the Trinity church-New
York-eorporation. 1t is certainly as
rich as the Vanderbilt's, and has a
steadier line of profit. Besides the i'm
mense rents coming in from property in
the city, the church corporation holds
mortgages by several hundred Episcopal
church edi ices all over the country, on
which there is an average of nearly z
per cent. interest, payable quarterly.
The fund is under the control of board
of trustees, selected from the yestrymen
of old Trinity and st. Paul's, and if you
think they give any money away, or
handle the revenue on benevolent gospel
principles, go and try to negotiate a
loan; They will tie you up with iron
bands and make you come to time like a
sheriff. They keep it in the family,
because it's too good thing to let go.
All the trustees get rich.n
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
After Their Retirement.
[Ch cago Herald.

IOH CLe5O IIVI ttiN
Gen. Grants recent difficulties have
enco ragged newspaper correspondent
to inquire into the lives of the various
presidents after their retirement from
office Washington, he finds, went to
Mount Vernon and raised tobacco, and
jefferson, Madison and Monroe followed
his example at their homes; John Adams
returned to Quincy and raised corn and
cabbages; Jackson returned to the Her
mitage; Van Buren, went to his Kinder
hook farm; Polk died a few months
after retu ming to Tennessee; Fillmore re-
entered his old law office at Buffalo;
Buchanan pursued agriculture at Wheat
lands; Hayes lives on his Ohio farm.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
A Tobacco Trick.
fCincinnati Enquirer.1


The field hands in Kentucky and Vir-
ginia recognize the poisonous nature of
the weed, and when the sun is excep-
tionally hot, or from any cause they
have particular disinclination to work,
it is common trick for them to bruise a
leaf of tobacco and place it under their
armpits. In an hour after doing so the
strongest among them will be seized
with a shuddering, his face will grow
pale as death, his muscles refuse to act,
and after time he falls to the ground
in the most horrible spasms. Of course
in the first stages of the illness, he is
generally excused from work by the
oyerseer; but if the leaf is retained in
position for any length of time it is
weeks before the man is able to take up
his old duties
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
Wasted Wealth i'm Nevada.
Virginia City Enterprise.


During the bonanza days, when nearly
a dozen big mills--on Sixmile and
Seven-mile canyons-were rushing
through the rich ores of the Comstock,
the tailings that left the mouth of Six
mile canyon were allowed to run to
waste, and spread abroad on the desert
to the northward of the town of Sutro
Six-mile canyon was then filled from
end to end with blanket-sluices and all
kinds of sulphuret catching traps 1t was
thought that when the tailings left the
mouth of the canyon they contained so lit
tie valuable material that it would not
pay to catch them up in a reservoir, but
the blanket sluices caught only the sui
phurets and other heavy matter. They
did not get the chloride; that went out
with the slums. For some years past
men have been delying for this wealth
lying scattered upon the desert sands,
and they are still gathering it in. In
the places where they are now mining
for this material, it does not show on
the surface. The shifting sands of the
desert have hidden it, and it is over
grown with sagebrllsh and grcasewood.
The deposits must be prospected for, but
when foundpay well for the work of col
lectinp
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
Pacific Coast CLAIMS.
Hartford Post. ]

Alas for the glory of Rhode Island
clams AT a recent meeting of the
California Academy of Sciences r. E.
G. Stearns, Ph. D., spoke of the rapid
increase of the soft-shelled or long
necked CLANS in the Pacific bays. Some
Oregon clans weighing fifteen pounds,
with necks three feet long, require three
men to dig them. They are accessible
at extremely low tides. Their delicate
white meat, when boiled, cut into strips
and fried in batter, is exceedingly good.
Some enterprising Yankee will be intro
dncing these monster bivalyes on the
Atlantic coast; and then what will be-
come of the Rhode Island clam -bakesl
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
washing Out the stomach.
THE Lancet.


The practice of treating patients suf-
fering from chronic dyspepsia, who re-
sist the influence of regulated diet and
drugs, by washing out the stomach,
which originated some years ago in
Vienna, has recently taken root in
America, and has formed the subject of
a short paper by DR.. W. B. P1att, in The
Maryland Medical Reporter of recent
date. We are there informed that cases
most intractable to all other treatments
have quickly yielded to this means. The
principle underlying the treatment is to
keep the stomach clean, and, as far as is
possible, at rest, for a time sufficient to
allow of its complete recovery. The
operation should be performed in the
morning, before breakfast.
A soft, red rubber tube is passed gen
tly down into the stomach quite to the
pylorus; with this is connected about a
yard of common flexible tubing and a
glass funnel, which is held on level
with the patients breast, and tepid
water is poured slowly into the funnel
until a sensation of fullness is expert
enced; the funnel is then depressed to
the level of the waist, and the fluid al
lowed to syphon out. The process is re-
peated until the water returns quite
clear The washing should be repeated
every day for week or ten days, and
during that time the diet should be re-
stricted to milk or a little meat; then The
washing may be done every second ol
third day, and finally abandoned at the
end of three weeks. The advantages
claimed for this method are that it i:
efficacious, simple and safe, and it GER
tainly is worth trial in intractablt
cases of chronic dyspepsia, a diseas,
which makes its victims burden tt
themselves and their friends, anC
hitherto has brought but little credit tx
physicians.
The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-08-02
THE DONKEY BOYS OF CAIRO.
The DroIIest Street Gamins in the
WorId-'The Esrutes' Noted Names.


Cairo Cor ST. Paul Pioneer Press
Cairo would not be Cairo without its
donkeys and donkey boys. They are
unique institution.
These Arab donkey boys know smat-
tering of the principal European Ian
guages, and can tell instantly in what
tongue to address you. Not only are
they thus keen, but they are also the
drollest and most humorous street gaminS
| have ever seen. They are great at
pantomimc, and you cannot forbear
laughing at their good-humored antics.
The donkeys are exceedingly small, but
gentle and longSuffering. The majority
Of them are much abused, and bear
around Oh their bodies the marks of the
merciless donkey boys. "AIine berry
good donkey, sar," said one. "Mine
name Yankee Doodle, sar," said an
other, keener even than the rest Then
the others took up the keynote
and "Gen. Grant" Mrs. Langtry," J."
and other similar celebrities were at my
disposal. Had | been French, it would
have been monsieur" instead of
''Sar" and the donkeys would have
been named "Napoleon," Waterloo, y
etc.
] did not make any bargain before
hand When inquired at the hotel as
to what was the proper tariff, the
answer was: Give the beggars-a
great word with the English-a plastre
or two per hour. There is no regular
rate" OF course the boys always grum-
bic and demand backsheesh, whatever
the fee bestowed, but no one minds that.
So on this particular morning | babe the
boy hold the opposite stirrup while
mounted-the stirrups are not fastened
but in the event of fall the distance is
ridiculously slight On each donkey's
forehead is a brass tablet with his
number inscribed upon it.