davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
A Big Drink and What Came Of 1t.

One of the principle collections of
the Rathhause collection in Bavarian
Rothenburg is an immense pokal or
goblet, holding twelve Bavarian schop
pen, full six quarts. 1t was intended
to be passed around the table at grand
feasts, but on one memorable Oc-
casion it was drained to the last drop
by a single individual, who WIS none
the worse for the excess. Perhaps his
motive was his protection. 1t hap
pened in this wise: When, in 1851,
Couut Tilly, with his whole army, took
possession of the city, he called the
council together, informed them that
they were all to be beheaded and sent
the Mayor to summon the executioner
forthwith. AS may be supposed, the
man did not hurry to do his errand,
and when he at last arrived at the house
the executioner plumply refused to I'M
dertake the task of cutting off the
heads of his respected fellow citizens,
the Councillors.
During this interval. while the peo-
pie were lamenting, the executioner
protesting and the Mayor shaking in
uio oHOCS, OiiC tilCiT ucS-
peration, hit upon bright idea. Thev
filled the great pokal with their choicest
wine and offered it to lilly and his at
tendants. In a few moments the
temper of the naughty conqueror was
softened, he grew more compassionate
toward his victims, and at last becoming
jolly over his frequent draughts of the
mellow liquor, he promised to set his
trembling prisoners at liberty if one of
their number would, in his presence,
drink the pokal full of wine.
This offer seemed at first only cruel
of their misery; but after
an anxious discussion a certain Herr
Nusch, former Mayor, accepted the
challenge and succeeded in the ap-
parently impossible task. lilly kept
his word; servant was sent in a,
haste to call back the Mayor and bi.
the executioner cease his preparations
The street through which the servant
ran on his welcome errand is called
Peace Alley (Friedensgasschen) to this
day, and the descendants OF the brave
ex-Mayor still enjoy yearly pension
from the public funds, besides remain
ing owners of the famous pokal. Nam
haitian.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17


glass makers had an entire street to
themselves in the Porta Capena. The
Roman glass works then shipped to all
parts of the civilized world, and speci-
mems of their production are to-day
found throughout Europe and even in
Ireland. When Rome commenced TO
decline and her great people fled to
Byzantium. they took with them their
glass industries, and Constantinople be-
came the greatest glass manufacturing
city in the world. This prestige it held
up to the Tenth or Eleventh Century,
and when it entered upon its decline
and fall the glass blowers fled to Venice.
and there established what afterward
grew into the celebrated Ve.<tian glass
ware.
Thousands of intelligent people with
whom the name Portland vase is tamil
lar really know nothing about it, and
thousands more see limitations of i in
store windows and have not the sligkt-
est idea of what they are gazing upon.
The Portland vase was found in sar-
cophagus dedicated to the Emperor
Severus, who was killed A. d. 325)
three miles from the city of Rome, on
the road to Laurentim. It's ten inches
high and six inches wide, made of dark
blue glass ornamented with opaque
figures in white enamel cutin bas relief.
1t is supposed to have been made at
least 200 years before the Christian era,
and brought to Rome as trophy from
one of her numerous conquests. The
white enameled figures upon the blue
background have been cut out the same
IS cameo is cut, which, taking into
consideration their intricacies and deli
cacy and the extreme hardness of the
glass, must have been an enormous
labor. When discovered it was bought
by the Barberini family; purchased
from them by Sir William Hamilton.
and sold by him to the Duchess OF
Portland. When she died her son be-
came its possessor by paying 50. l45
for it. 1t is now in the British Museum.
When first placed in the museum it was
left exposed, and lunatic knocked it
down and shattered it. 1t haa been
restored, however, and is now
cautiously looked after. A copy of it,
made by gravers and chisels, is valued
at Sc, 600, and took two years to finish.
The base is considered the chef d'euvre
of ancient ornamental glass manufac-
B0ttLers' Gazette.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
The First Ice.Palace.

In the construction of this work, built
by the Empress Anna Ivanovna, on the
Neya, 1879, the simplest means were
used. First, the purest and most trans
parent ice was selected This was cut
into large blocks, squared with rule
and compass, and carved with all the
regular architectural embellishments.
No cement was used. Each block when
ready was raised to its destined place
by cranes and pulleys, and just before
it was let down upon the block which
was to support it, water was poured
between the two; the upper block was
Immediately lowered, and as the water
froze almost instantly, in that intensely
cold climate, the two blocks became
literally one. In fact, the whole build
ing appeared to be, and really was, a
single mass of ice. The effect it pro-
duced must have been infinitely more
beautiful than if it had been of the most
costly marble its transparency and
blush tint giving it rather the appear
ance of a precious stone.
In dimensions. the structure was fifty
six feet long, eighteen feet wide. twenty
one feet high, and with walls three feet
in thickness. At each corner of the
palace was pyramid of the same
height as the roof, of course built of ice,
and around the whole was low pal
isade of the same material. The actual
length of the front view, including the
pyramids, was one hundred and four
teen feet.
The palace was built in the usual
style of Russian architecture. The
facade was plain, being merely divided
into compartments by pilasters. There
was a window in each division. which
was painted in imitation of green mar
bic. The window-panes were formed
OF slabs of ice, as transparent and
smooth as sheets of plate glass. At
night, when the palace was lighted, the
windows were curtained by canvas
screens, on which grotesque figures
were painted. Owing to the trans
parency of the whole material, the
general effect of the illumination must
have been fine, the whole palace SEEM
ingly being filled with delicate pearly
light. The central division projected,
and appeared to be door. but was in
fact, a large window, and was illumina.
ted like the others. Surmounting the
facade of the building was an Orna-
mental balustrade, and at each end OF
the sloping roof was huge chimney.
The entrance was at the rear. AT each
side of the door stood ice-imitations OF
orange trees, in leaf and flower, with
ice-birds perched on the branches
II. Maria George, IN 81. Nicholas.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
For Young Readers.
GRANDMAS ANGEL.

Mamma said: Little one, go and see
lf grandmother ready to come to tea
knew mustn't disturb her. so
i stepped as gently along, tiptoe,
And stood moment TO take peep
And there was grandmother fast asleep!
. knew it was time for her to wake:
thought I'd give her a little shake,
Or tap at her door. or softly call:
But hadn't the heart for that at all
She looked so sweet and so quiet there,
Lying back in her high armchair,
With her dear white hair, and little smile,
That means she's loving you all the while.
didn't make q speck of a noises
/ knew she was dreaming of little boys
And girls who lived with her long ago,
And then went to Heavea-she told me so.
vent up close. and didn't speak
O-e word, but gave ner on her cheek
The softest bit of little kiss,
Just in whisper, and then said this:
Grandmother dear, it's time for tea -
She opened her eyes and looked at me,
And said: why, Pet, just now dreamed
OF little angel who came and seemed
To kiss me lovingly on my face.
She pointed right at the very placeI
: never told her twas only me:
i took her hand. and we went to tea"
sydney Ddyre, IN st. Hichotds.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
Risky.

n. and NJ, cadets. tan and hairy,
and looking much oller than they were,
found themselves one vacation with
Only five shinings between them. and
in need of capital. They were accus-
toned to agricultural pursuits, and N.
plumed himself on his judgment of
sheep. LET Us 60" ne said, Ito the
sheep fair at E. and buy flock and
sell them at q profit" They attired
themselves in proper raimeuf and went
to the fair; ster a general inspection
of the pens. they bought one hundred
sheep at thirty mine shillings a head
that is to say. they agreed to buy them.
III. went with one of the droyers to a
public-house Ostensibly to hand him
over the money, but really to gain time
and to spend his five shillings in treat
ing him, while n. remained with the
other to dispose of his bargain at a
profit, if he could. For whole hour
he did no business, but in the end he
sold .he flock at. forty shillings head.
realizing five pounds sterling by the
transaction. We talk Of bad quarter
of an hour, but here were four Of them
for poor n. Suppose you had not
sold them" I said, "would you not
have got into frightful rowr" '.Yery
lkely," he said. ..All the time was
thinking less of the buyers than Of
Botany Bay" For at that time We had
transportation.-cornsiu Asgasias.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
Thinning Out the Human Race.

The Novoje Vremja warns Russian
mothers of new religious sect, which
has already given proofs of its exist
ence. In Rostov, on the Don, an officer
engaged middle aged nurse for his
three -year-old son. She was very at
tentive and seemed to love the child.
but after two months she suddenly left
the situation and the town. Ihe child
began to all the very next day, lost its
memory, and suffered from continual
drowsines. A week later it died with
out having been really i'll. The corpse
was placed in the coffin, when a young
Jewess burst into the house, threw her
self upon the dead child, and, crying
very bitterly, said: 1.-The same woman
poisoned my child. She was my nurse
before, and now she has murdered your
poor boy!n The woman spoke the
truth. 1t has been found that in Rostov
there is a society of child murderers,
who poison children by means of mar
cotics. They are instigated to do so ty
q fanatical woman. who says: ,"It is
every woman's duty to spare thz evils
of life TO as many children as possible,
and to make them pasticipaA in the
bliss of heaven before the earth has
contaminated their soRls,
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
Sugar in Lumps.

A correspondent who asks the differ
ence between the sugar which is sold in
apparently smooth-cut Jumps and other
white sugar, the Jumps of which are
somewhat rough on their surface, is
thus answered: The difference is con-
siderable, and the latter, which is pure
loaf sugar cut into Jumps. always COM
mands a higher price in the wholesale
market, and can not be adulterated. 1t
is called in tie market ''cut-loaf." The
former quality of sugar is what is known
as ''cubes." The cut loaf sugar is made
in Jumps of fifty pounds out of cane
sugar, then sawed INTO slabs, and these
slabs are partly cut through and partly
broken 1t is easy to d stiDguisb the
marks of cutting and breaking on each
lump. The cube sugar is made of soft
sugar and pressed in molds. which
givds the smooth appearance The cut
loaf will keep in shape in any climate,
and is suitable for shipment. The cube
sugar will som times on sea voyage
resume the consistency of the soft
sugar, and the change of form is due to
adulteration.
The safest sugar for anyone to buy Is
pure loaf sugar. and il is much sweeter
than any other. The principal sub
stance used in adulteraling sugar is
glucose. which is sugar made from va
rious vegetable Substances. chiefly
grain. While glucose is sweet, it Is
easily detected by the expert because it
is not so sweet as cane sugar. 1t is,
nevertheless, very extensively used to
adulterate cane sugar and produce the
cheap sugars which are sold in the
market. Reputable dealers sell it as
glucose, but there are many dealers who
sell glucose for sugar. The nature Of
the glucose is to make close, sticky
sugar; it does not produce grains. like
cane.-N Y San.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

say; "You don't remember me, DR.. Brisac:
I am La Severina-" Under the withered
features of the woman recognized your
former acquaintance in Algiers. By what
series of misfortunes she came TO he a
despoiler of the dead ] shall not attempt to
explain. Enough to know that before dying
she allowed the priest to communicate q part
of her confession. and. as 1 have for long
thought, she 1t was who stole Lucien &C Mar
seiIles.
After a host of adventures, which shall
tell you later on. poverty compelled her to
abandon the child at Vienna She left 1t TO
the charity of the landlord where she lodged
No. ~ ORosenstrasse.an and never heard of the
boy after. This address will give you some
trace. Apply at once TO the Austrian EN-
bassy. Tout q tOi. BRIsAC.
Mad with Joy, the Colonel ran to the
Embassy and explained the object of
his mission. For a fortnight after,
which seemed to him a lifetime, he
lived in fever of suspense, and was
going to bed one night when his valet
brought him an official letter, with
large red seal bearing the Austro-Hun-
gariaa arms. He read as follows:
MONSIEUR LIE CoMTE: / ain instructed by
the Minister for Foreign Affairs to inform
you, in answer to your inquiries, that the
child abandoned in Vienna, ut the address
given, on the Goth September. lS46. was
y NJ tSe Msrv seboo Of
which he left last year with the rank of sub
Lieutenant. Posted to S. A. T. the Arch1uke
Albrecht's regiment of Hussars he was killed
at the battle of Solferino. He bore the name
of his adopted father, Karl Gottfried.
One hour afterwards the valet entered
the ColonePs room, and found him sit
ting in his chair. His face was deadly
white. His eyes, dilated and immov-
able, were fixed upon the fatal letter.
The servant touched him lightly on
the shoulder, and his master dropped
motionless ON the floor.
He was dead London Society.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
The Art OF Cracking Hickory Nuts.

81 understand that there is quite q
science in cracking nuts?"
"There certainly is, and there is some
difference of opinion as to the best
method of doing it. got my expert
ence in this business when l was a boy
in Westchester County, N. Y. L guess
that there are more crack hickory nut
crackers in that section than anywhere
else. Thirty or forty years ago the folks
had nut-cracking matches up here.
While sitting around big fire in farm
house kitchen they cracked the nuts,
eating the meats with apples and ciier.
They threw the shells into the fire. The
shells burn very briskly, and when they
are charred glow like rubies. Lots of
queer stories are told about the old
hickory nut time. When 1 was boy
nv mother, who was born in Westches-
ter County, told me about an old man
who lived in a little house in the woods,
and who during the whole winter sat
by the fire and cracked and ate nuts
He cracked so many nuts, they say.
that he required no other fuel than the
shells to keep the fire going. can't
swear that he did not use anv other fuel
but the nutrshells, but there Is no doubt
about his having existed, for my Iaother
often saw his house."
What do you think the best way?'
1.-The one that was always the easiest
for me was to take hammer and nice
round cobble stone. These secured
you take hold of the nut between the
thumb and fore6nger of the left hand
and rest the side of the nut on the sur
face of the stone. Hold the nut firmly
and then give it sharp blow with the
hammer. If you hold the nut fright and
strike it right the kernel will come out
in two pieces. SorAe person prefer a
block Of hard wood 10 stone, and some
use a dat iron.-C Csazcinxati NeUs-Jour-
nal.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

A genuine sssske hunt of considera-
BILE proportions took place near Pleas
ant Plains, ). l., afew days ago. Near
the village is she ''snake woods" A
party of young men from Pleasant
Plains entered the woods provided with
shovels, picks and crowbars. Rotten
stumps and large stones were over
turned and mounds with snake holes
about them were opened. In every
case hundreds of reptiles were found
coiled up and matted together. They
were chopped to pieces by the shovels.
The party worked hard several hours
and eft in the woods an enormous
mum ,er of dead reptiles. Several
thousand must have been Slaughtered /
M = San.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

wAny person who takes the paper regu
mis- name or whether he is a subscriber or not
Is responsible for the pay.
The courts have decided that refusing t
take newspapers from the post-office, or re
1poving and leaving them uncalIed for, 4
aIima facie evidence of INTENTIONAL FRAuI.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

She had not minded her hard Job at
all. and resumed her place at the clock
as if nothing had happened. d.-Nary L.
Boties Branch, ts Houtfs Companion.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17
THE ARCTIC WATCH.

i.
Behold upon the frozen foam,
AHtfie vessel far from home,
The yacht Jeannette-
The polar star above her lies,
"A sward of light set in the skies;
The Arctic wave is on her deck
And Hope has left the broken wreck.
Bereft of all things else but Fate.
And sinking, sinking, sinking yet,
Behold her lying desoiate,
The lost Jeannette!
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

Deaf heroes on a field of snow;
One lonely heart that, beating slow,
Yet dreams of home.
Where golden fruits are on the bough,
And ali the woods are crimson now,
Tne last of that high-hearted band
Keeps vigil in that bitter land:
And crowned with thorns of frost and pain,
Lives DER bis boybood days again;
And in his drear deaJh-watch upiiftS
His gaze, and sees beyond the drifts,
The iceberg tall a crystal gate,
BY which his risen comrades walt,
Not weak and worn like men who died,
But robed, and crowned. and glorified.
Familiar voices greet his ear:
The lips that love him call him dear:
Frost-iower and thorn that bound his head
Melt OF, and ii is wreathed instead
With lilies of the purein-heart,
His icy garments fall apart;
The pain and toll. and danger passed,
The long death-watch is done at last!
He stands form Of living light,
He Joins his comrades In their flight,
They pass the sward set in the skies.
No waste white deserts now to roam,
They upward, upward. upward rise,
And win the gates of Paradise
o, welcome homel
Minnie Hutrlg. IN The Manhattan.
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

lowed 1orth ana VlVld lghtnlng played
over the ghastly sight beneath.
1t was after the delivery of the charge
''home" that Colonel de Valmont sud
denly saw rise before him about a doz-
en- hussars, in white, of the Archduke
Albrecht's regiment. Led by a young
Lieutenant with fair hair and budding
mustache, they sabred the French
dragons with maniacal fury, making
their way through them like a cannon
Lieutenant was at the Colonel De
Valmont saw his sabre flash as he raised
it to cut him down. He had only time
to pull the trigger of his pistol and the
Austrian fell, killed by bullet in the
forehead.
AT the end of the engagement Colonel
de Valmont, returning to camp, passed
over the scene of the conflict. The
body of the Lieutenant still lay there
on its back. A thin trickle of blood
marked the spot of the bullet-wound.
The face of the young officer was as
calm and placid as a child asleep. De
Valmont gazed at him with profound
emotion. A few yards off some dis
mounted men were guarding Austrian
prisoners, among whom was az officer
of Albrecht's hussars. Pointing to the
dead body the Colonel asked:
''Sir, can you tell me the name of that
brave fellow?"
s'Karl Gottfried," was the answer.
One month after the peace of Wills
franca, Eugene de Valmont returned to
Paris with the army of Italy. where he
found the following letter awaiting his
arrival:
MILAN. 9th August, 1854
M DEAR OLD FRIEND: You know that
am still at the Military Hospital here where 1
shall remain until all our wounded are re-
moved. They brought in the other day sew
eral marauders caught BY our men riting the
dead, and on soue OF them who tried to
escape they fired. Among them was an old
woman disguised as q man. A bed was found
for her, rs she was on the point of death
xofrered my services TO dress her wound. and
Judge OF ny amusement when ] heard her
The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-17

: OA
articles of ornament Window glas wass
unknown to them. and glass itself was
chiefly used for articles of ornament
and luxury. The Ph9nicians were the
second people to 60 extensively in;o the
manufacture. They excelled in articles
of orDamentation, more especially
beads, which the early traders took
with them and distributed as money
among the wild tribes of interior Africa.
Glass making in Phenicia commenced
probably 1000 years before the birth of
Christ and continued till the Seven
teenth Century, A. ID. Sidon was a
great ''glass town" as late as the
Twelfth Century. Damascus had sew
eral manufactures and it was also made
by the Jews at Antioch. Two centuries
ago it was quite trade in Smyrna. In
the British Museum there is a green
glass bowl made in Assyria, bearing
the name of King Sargon, which places
its manufacture at least seven and a
hslf centuries before the Christian era.
Glass was also made at Carthage at an
early day, aud one of her workmen has
left his stamp upon time at his tomb
in Lyons, where M. Deville
found the inscription ''Juies Alex
ander Africanus, citizen of Car
thage, Arrest in Glass" and M. Deville
concludes that Jules started on the
tramp from ,arthage to Lyons about
150 B. G. Glass was manufactured in
Greece probssly about the same time it
was in Carthage, but it never reaeAed
high ststh Of perfection there Rome
is supposed to have entered upon glass
making only some three or four hun
dred years before the Christian era. She
brought it iAto the empire along with
her otfhr conquests. Alexander
Severus, 22o B. c., levied o tax upou
It's maphi hiActure within Che Imperial
fsfy. and Ia the reign Of Tiberius the
Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-06-10
steamer passengers.

The following passengers left for the
north yesterday per steamer orzabaii
For San Franciseo-T B sleeth, g q
Harris, 2 Moore, @ II Morton, Mrs Por-
ter, s Mckinley, wife and son, " shlrp'
ser. II shirpser. } 7 Craik aud wife,
PGrillwilzer, Rk Prevels, GFsill, PC
Backers and wife, y N Moroney and
wife, D X Hall and wife, Mrs Frank
Hammond and child, J Boughton, )
Zumwart, } II Belden, Mrs LL Bee, and
six in the stcerage.
ForPort Hartford L Fisher, w olmey.
L yann, C b lawson and wife, Miss l.
7 Mccarthy, J II Kerr, d NJ Menzies'
G I Hambridgc.
For SANTA Barbara-Mrs II kinkead,
Miss J B Kibby aud maid, A Eldred and
wife. II y Moseley, y Levy, LG Gutter
rez, T. Foster, W Lenieke, Mrs II Bel
den and two children, $ b Fulton, /
Darl
Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-06-10
choosing u profession.

~ have almost mede up my mind to
become a lawyer."
"Indcell What qualities do you pos.
sessy"
FRANKLY
"Yes, frankly"
"Well, | am studious; have an excel
lent memory, good reasoning faculty
and n love Tor the philosophical, AT col
lego took honors. " =,
. Superb Forty years ago you might
have achieved celebrity Mt tho Philadei.
phIa bar. But have you atura for tricks
Can you measure every body by the
standard Of fee? Could you become an
adept At defeating justice by framing
excuses to have eases put of for months
and years after having sworn to delay no
persons causog Would you browbeat
witnesses? Have you command OF 'bil-
lingsgateg Would you use the court to
further your own schemes or gratiiy your
own feelings
"Why, no" tt
"Thon go 10 Texas and raise cows"