davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
Queer EiandS.

Although many whales have no
teeth, the spermaceti whale, for exam
pie, has most formidable set. With
these it sometimes does terrible cxecu-
ton among the pursuing boats.
As may be supposed, such whales as
have no teeth are properly provided
for in some other way. Many of them
subsist entirely upon the countless
millions of jelly-fsh, molluses, and
other kindred animals with which the
ocean is plentifully stocked; and as
they are soft and yielding, teeth are
not needed either TO capture or maSti-
cate them.
\ net is what is needed, and this
the toOthless whales have. Depending
from the upper jaw, which may be six
teen or seventeen feet long, is hedge
OF baleen, or whale-bone. as it is COM
monty called. This is about ten feet
long, and consists of Il number of
plates, solid at the upper end. but
fraying out, fringe-like, at the lower
end. There are about six hundred of
these plates on each side of the jaw.
and i'll large whale their weight will
be some two thousand pounds
When the hungry giant wishes a
meal, he opens wide his cavernous
mouth, and letting his enormous low
er lips drop down, drives through the
water with all the force of his power
full tail. Millions upon millions of the
tiny creatures upon which he feeds are
thus taken into the gaping mouth
which, when full shuts tight.
The plates of baleen close down on
lower hn
A large volume of water has been tax
Ell in, too, however, and this must be
gotten rid of some way The way is
simple. The whale merely forces the
water out through the interstices in the
baleen, and the hapless fish remain to
be swallowed 1T leisure down the
throat, which is often not more than
two inches in diameter.
Occasionally this habit of the whale
produces very curious and beautiful
effect. Many of the soft, ielly-like
creatures in which the ocean abounds
shine at night with bright, phosphor-
escent light; and the water, too, dash
ed into spray by the vigorous sweep of
the monster 5 tail, becomes charged
with the same phosphOrescent glow.
and lights up the sea like drops of
molten silver
Under such circumstances, when the
dark giant surgeS through the waves
with distended NAV. he seems a mon
StrOuS submarine tire-eater Swallcwino
Jumps OF flame and defying the wet
element with showers of flaming drops,
which he leaves behind him in weird,
shining wake. Prom n Submarine
ftre-eater, " by John r. COrye.t IN the
Christmas ST. Nicholas.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
Is Genius Hereditary?

1t has been shown by the researches
of Cation, Ribot, and others, that law
of heridity exists, and is applicable to
our psychological qualities. Without
attempting to deny the operations of
this law, it is our intention here believ-
ing that its scope has been considerably
magnitied, to endeaVOr to determine its
limits in particular directions. With
this object we shall confine our inquiry
to two points: Is it according to a
good philosophical method to explain
by heridity alone all the most complex,
most delicate, and most considerable
phenomena of human life, when we
can, with at least as much probabi-
lily, bring in other causes which,
though they have been much neglected,
are very perceptible and even more
directly observable? And is it true, as
is assumed, that all the exceptions to
the law of heredity, some of which,
and those the most extraordinary ones,
can not be accounted for by any as
signable cause. Other facts in the
category can equally well, perhaps
better than by heridity, be explained
by reference to the medium, to educa-
ton, to habit, to the moral and intel
lectual atmosphere in which the child
lives, to the force of influences to
which it is subject, and to the
examples that are set before it. We
acknowledge that the medium can not
afford an explanation of genius and can
not create superior faculties; but it
furnishes the opportunity for their
manifestation, and reveals them where
they exist. How many noble and high
minds have been cxtinguished by I'M
favorable circumstances and hostile
mediums! What an important part,
on the other hand, may have played in
the expansion of superior minds in
certain favored families, by the in
fuence of examples of the most delicate
methods of investigation in questions
of the natural sciences by habituation
to rigorous methods in the exact scien-
ces! Who could in such cases separate
what, in the working of such different
influences, is attributable, to education
and what to heridity?-M T.. Caro-,
IN Popular Science Monthly for De-
cema6er.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
Articles Eaten in Modern PLAYS.

when Clara Morris, Modjeska or
Bernhardt sit down to the supper in
Camille, said the manager, "a lay
out of real Tiands and sparkling cham
payne must be provided that sometimes
cost for single performance as high
as $50 to $40. Six persons sit at the
table in that scene, and when the star
is a paying actress, like any | haye
mentioned, we can afford to provide a
costly spread. OF course an ordinary
actress won't get $25 table in Ca
mile. About $40 or $12 is fair av-
erage for a single layout for this play
In Herne's Hearts of Oak q very pref
ty supper is feature in one of the acts.
The dishes come on steaming hot and
the actors sit down to the tables and
eat with appetites that suggest the pos
sibility OF their having f0regone the
regular vesperal meal at the hotel for
the sake OF eating it on the stage. This
spread costs from Sc 10 So a perform
ance. In AS You Like It the chaps
who banquet in the Forest of Alden
have a real meal set before them, and
in dozens OF other plays palatable vi
ands are provided for the performers.
ST. Louis PostD9spdtch.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03

cross an enormous court yard bare
headed, without any shade except a
little ian. One must also either avoid
passing before the central palace gates
or else do so with his body bent almost
at right angles. Finally, when you
come TO the side door, by which alone
IL IS lawful to enter, you must leave
your shoes at the bottom of the stairs
ana walk for several hundred yards
over the scorching planks until you
reach the throne hall, where you must
squat, taking care to hide your feet as
much as possible, until the King deigns
10 Issue from his private apartments
hen he does come he speaks from be-
hlnd screen and a confidential at
tendant repeats his august words.
David Dudley Field is indignant
about the growing disregard of smokers
Tor the rights of their nOn-smoking fell
low beings. He has nothing to say
against the use of tobacco as such, but
confines himself to the assertion that
abstalners have rights which every
smoker who pretends to be moderately
conslderate of others ought to respect.
In the Continent he asks how the smok-
er and the nOn-smOker can reconcile
their respective pretensions. Nothing
is easier, he thinks. Let the smoker
smoke unto himself, but let the one
who does not smoke or take tobacco in
to n mouth or blow it out of his nos
trlI> De free from the ANNOYANCE. The
nOn-smokers have their remedy in their
own hands. Let them resist every en-
croachment on their rights. Let them
refuse to attend places of amusement,
or take passage in. con> eyances where
they are not protected against tobacco.
Gin Conn., Gazette.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
A Chinaman'S BrOncho.

Hip Long Gee, Chinese gardener,
says the Denver Republican, was the
proud possessor of broncho and a
spring wagon. He has the wagon, but
the fiery, untamed steed of the plains
is no more Yesterday Hip was seated
on his wagon leisurely going down
Blake street. He had a mammoth
squash on the seat with him, which a
brother Celestial admired. He halloo-
ed TO Hip to hold on, and the horse not
being used to the English language,
started off on dead run. He ran two
blocks, and in endeavoring to turn the
corner of Sixteenth St. stumbled and
fell, breaking his neck. The wagon was
piled on him rather promiscuously, and
vegetables were scattered around Ike
at a country fair. When the wagon
was lifted off Hip, who was buried in
the ruins, he was found hugging the
mammoth squash, frightened until he
was as pale as Mclean man. AS
soon as he recovered his senses he
walked around the horse, lifted its
head. and discovering that it was dead
gave it a vicious kick, and exclaimed:
"D-n him. away gono to hellee."
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
4 Plea for TaDeStry

Who can tell why the working of Ia
pestry has gone out of fashion? 1t
would be so much more satisfactory
than the endless procession of tides
and pincushions and sofa-pillows, each
IewOman would give her spare time
and thought to do a larger piece OF
work. 1t might be done in small sep
arate squares, so that there would be
no objection to the clumsy roll of can
vas, which could not be moved about
or looked upon as fancy work; and it
would be so picturesque and full of the
spirit OF romance to see a lovely lady
with her cOlOred crewels and her quaint
designs, and know that she was stitch
by stitch achieving great work which
would keep her memory bright for
years. Nobody cares what becomes of
the smaller pieces of needlework after
their bloom is, SO to speak, worn off,
but let us dicture to ourselves the reli-
giOus care with which we should guard
the handiwork of our great grandmoth-
ers, if it were of this sort. We veneer
ate the needle-books and work-bags
and samplers almost absurdly, and this
is an index to our capacity for appre-
clating more important treasure.
Besides, it is great loss both to art
and literature that our stitches tend to
such petty ends. An embroidery frame
is a charming addition to a portrait,
and nothing could make more de-
lightful and suggestive background
than the blurred figures and indistinct
design of tapestried wall. And in a
story, what aid a writer could give his
reader by his suggestions of the work
the heroine slender fingers toyed with
idly, or called into existence skillfully
in buster hour! What light, indeed,
the description of the design would
throw upon the character of the maid
en-! We could make up our minds in
stantly to many certainties when we
knew whom she had taken for her hero
in battle piece, or if it were only
quiet landscape which she deity woVe
when her lover met her frst.-Decena-
Der atlantic.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
Mankind's Mistakes.

1t is mistake to labor when you are
not in fit condition to do so.
To think that the more a person
eats the healthier and stronger he will
become.
To go to bed at midnight and rise
at day-break, and imagine that every
hour taken from sleep is an hour
gained.
To imagine that if little work or
exercise is good, violent or prolonged
exercise is better.
To conclude that the smallest room
in the house is large enough to sleep in.
To eat as if you only had minute
to finish the meal in, or to eat with
out appetite, or continue after it has
been satisfied, merely to satisfy the
taste.
To believe that children can do as
much as grown people, and that the
more hours they study the more they
can learn.
To imagine that whatever remedy
causes one to feel Immediately better
as alcoholic stimulants-is good for
the system without regard to after
efforts
TO take off proper clothing out
of season because you have become
heated.
To think that any nosrum or patent
medicine is q specific for all diseases
flesh is heir to.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
a Hint for Persons Contemplating
Bankruptcy.

In the tin box OF gentleman recent
ly diseased, the executors found $40, 900
bonds of a certain southern railway,
dated long before the war.
The bonds were forwarded to a well
known Wall street banker to dispose
Of AS the bonds were not listed on
the New York Stock Exchange, they
were turned over to broker in unlist-
ed securities. This brokers' experiences
were remarkable and unique. In his
efforts TO make sale he stumbled over
an Israelite. The latter said:
L cannot buy $40, 900 of those bonds.
You gather 500, 900 of them and we
WI talk business. They are worthless,
and $ 90, 900 will not cost more than
$4,000"
But why Go you insist upon $780,
OOO?" asked the innocent and surpris-
ed broker.
"Because,h returned the Israelite,
Il can sell 800 900 bonds easier than
can sell $4,000. If you was going
to fail, and knew your creditors were
disposed to be unfriendlY and dis
agreeable, how delightful it would be
to pull down your tin box and haul
out 100000 Of these bonds. Gentle
men, you say to your creditors, these
represented good money once, dollar
for dollar; but alas for the south and
It's reputation. There you are What
are they going to do about it?"
In conversation with the broker our
was assured that hundreds of
thousands of these worthless and repu-
dated southern bonds had been BOUGHT
from estates by dishonest bankrupts,
and turned in as assets to deceive and
swindle creditors.-N Y emo. AdUr.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03
CIumSiIy Organized Families.

Our country swarmS with class of
listless young men, the pets of clumsily
organized families, the idols of insipid
and ignorant mothers and the beau
ideals Of society" as brainless as
oysters. The young man who never
did anything. who does not know how
to do anything, and who has for a
season been assent from the scenes of
industry and business, the march of
commerce and the halls of finance, will
soon be st his post of duty again. at
his mothers apron-strings, the ball
room, the sidewalk promenade and the
2ilded saloon. Every rich mans son,
-esred in idleness, INDUCED by thought
Less mothers and neglected by rapscious
fathers, is curse to the community
in which he lives.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03

are mostly manufactured in the interior,
rs for instance in theProvinces of Aidsu,
Yechizen, Wakasa, etc.
When Shunkei ware is made, the
surface is first prepared with a primary
coating of glue alum SO as to fill up all
the pores, and is then polished and
sometimes painted with gamboge or
saffiower, together with the sap of
unripe persimmons, which gives it a
brighter appearance. Afterwards the
coating of varnish is applied with a stiff
brush, and as a certain percentage of
oil has been mixed with the lacquer, it
requires no polishing, but acquires the
brilliancy by mere hardening. Boston
Transcript
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03

Good morning, sir. I've got very
nice map of Kentucky I'd like to have
you look at" YELL look at him. :"
Il had better 60 in the house and show
it to you" Il thinks you peter oud-
side schtay; you got more room dere. :"
well, now you see on this side is q
map of Kentucky, while on this side
Cunning it around to him) is msp of
the United States" Och, | don'd
puy me no SIGH map like dose. :"
why? What's your objection to it?'
Why, it don'd vas correct" And
why isn't it correct?" ''Don'd Won cot
some no sense? Don'd you know dot
Gentucky vas in der United Schtates
und not on der odder side fon tip
hentucby State journal.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-01-03

A young Mo mon preacher lately
dis CURSED n the Sat- Lake Tabernacle
on the subject of My torefataers. 1t
would have been more interesting had
he t;.ken Tor his topic My Four ho.h-
er5"
New-York tribune., 1884-03-03
NETWORK DAILY TRIBUNE, MONDAY MAkCH 81 Ioot

before the Pendleton Committee, and they add
another to the items of proof that competitive
examinations do not grind out "college-poy
clerks, as some of tho politicians have always
been asserting. Among the good results oil a
years working of the law is the dimlnutlon OF
political assessments, the oilice-holuerS
probably feeling by this time that they are as
free to refuse to contribute as any other class oi
citizens.
The work of the Civil Service Commission Tor
its first year Is one of which the Republican
party has the right to be proud, and when VIII
help it before the more thoughtful class OF
voters this fall. The Democratic party Is more
open in its hostility to the system than 1t was
at the time when the law was passed. In the
very face of the Presidential election, bills nave
been introduced in Congress by Democrats 10
repeal the law. Can any one doubt what they
would do after the election9 1t speaks volumes
for the temper of the Republican party on TINS
question that probably no Republican poll
tcian who thinks he has future would dare
to lift hand against this law.
New-York tribune., 1884-03-03
PERSON1L.

Mrs Astor continued to improve yesterday. She
converses cheerfully and appeared to DO steadily
gaining strength.
Mr. Eastman JOhnSOn's oil painting of the Hon.
Charles j. FOlger has been received at the rooms Of
the Court of Appeals at Albany and will be placed
over the Bench.
The Rev. Il. Heber Newton is having serious
trouble with his eyes, and is obliged to remain in
darkened room at his home in Garden City. L. l.
He has not occupied the pulpit at All Souls Church
for the last two Sundays.
NJ Lalande, Deputy OF the Gironde is one Of
the French statesmen who favor the Importation
of American pork. "AllOw me TO congratulate
You on being friend of the transatlantic hog"
said caller 10 hm. "Oh. no. he replied an
his enemy. | would like to Kill and eat him.
When Mr. Gladstone arose in the House Of Com
mons TO reply TO Sir Stafford NorthcOte in the de-
bate on the vote of censure be showed himself in
good form from the very first sentence clear and
firm in voice, animated in manner and emphatic in
utterdnce. Throughout his speech the House was
IN state of great excitement. but when after
speaking OF GoIdOn auI hs mission he dropped his
voice hnpTessyely and went Oh to announce the
formation OF British force at SuaEim for the relief
of TOkar says The London Tel gIdph the prOyerbll
pin might have been heard dropping, and at the
same time great load seemed 10 be lifted OF mems
hearts. 4 short but emphatic perOralOn. demand
ing acquttal for the Government IN the name Of
justice, finished, amid roar OF Liberal cheers a
speech which had lasted an hour and forty
minutes,V
New-York tribune., 1884-03-03
TALKS ABOUT TOWN.
TIE ESTABLISHMENT OF WILLS.


T. E. DriggS, laUyer Of Detroit, Ntchigan-I drew the
original bill which passed year ago by the Michigan
Legislature, providing for the establishment OF wills dur
ing the fetmeS of the testaors The necessity OF such
law occurred TO several years ago. There omitted
clause which considered very important providing
that the contents of will should not be required
made public. 1t claimed that IL could not be known
that was improperly Influenced unless the
Of the will be made known But argued that during
mans lifetime the provisions OF his will are matters
which him alone and there is a strong repus
to giving them publicity. Such public alton would
be apt TO create bad feeling, and in Of gifts TO
charity would seem like cheap bids for popularity.
The question of undue influence OF fact and gem
orally based on the assumption OF weak mind. II the
testaor satisfy the court that he OF thoroughly sound
mind that he knows all about his property and mis- heirs
a Judge should require OF him make such dis
closures Probably in nneenths OF the that have
brought the would have thought
while the alive Of questioning his capacity
10 dispose OF his property by will otherwise
make the law OF practical value the tesator
must be protected from disclosing the contents OF his
will.
ErJUdge Amos g. HUI, Ialcyer.-Mr. Hustled, who has
charge of tie bill to establish wills before the Legis
ature fayoTs its passage and have letter from hin
appointing hearing the subject lind old friend
Of mine, Mr. t. L. Drggs drew the original Michigan
bill lie Is wrong, think. about keeping the wills
tents secret. How court adludge to bo OF
sound mind In respect to subject which kept sealed
from the examination OF the court The inspee-
ton Of the will itself may afford the strongest evidence
that the testator in making the instrument sub
ject to bias insane on particular point
or was frauulenty imposed on. The Will may be deeo-
tive In FORM statute Of trusts and void
generally. As matter Of prudence should hesitate to
otter any bill with such a clause Ia IL think 10 would Kill
IL. The bill in It's present shape, providing for pubca-
ton of tho contents OF will will benefit that class OF
men who desire 10 die intestate and yet have oi
of vagaboud relatives who would squauder the Inherit
ance as divided by the court These will take advantage
of the aw those who indifferent tmid 20 on
as formerly aud leave their wills 10 be the prey OF ths
courts after they are dead and defenceless.
New-York tribune., 1884-03-03
SMOKING IN PUBIC.

AT Brooklyn theatre, thronged with a notably
brilliant audience, an ultra-iashiOnaby dressed
man with lighted cigar in his mouth attempted
70 pass in. but was informed by the ticket-taker
that he must first dispose of the tweed" But
sa-ayD he protested, "cawn't q gentleman smoke
in the stallsf in Lunnon, ye know, they don't OBJ
iect." The other was obdurato, whereupon the
smoker turned away, expressing to the ultra-tash-
ionabiy dressed woman who accompanied him an
intention Of getting constable to teach the
cad that gentleman had some rights even in this
blarsted country" Alter n few words with the
policeman at the door. no returned minus the cigar,
and passed INTO the theatre quietly amid the smiles
of the bystanders
Now probably not even the most credulous of his
hearers believed his remark about London theatres.
But the foreign mail brings us a striking proof of
tho fact shat such q state Of affairs would be
greeted with delight by considerable class. In
Mr. Labouohere's London society journal Truth,
we read this surprising paragraph: " Most ladies
like the smell of smoke; those who do not are be-
hind tho age, aud would do well to accuStom
themselves to it. The modern nuisance is not the
smoker. but the lady who objects to hm. The
one thing III which a muslc-hall is better than q
New-York tribune., 1884-03-03
BISMARCK AND GERMAN PARTIES.

The Laskcr episode has ceased TO interest
Americans. 1t is regarded as too trivial an in
cident to affect the relations OF two great ma
tiOns. 1t serves to remind national Legislators
of the futility of making any incursions i'll tho
realm of foreign politics, even when they are
influenced by generous motives. That is the
only moral to be drawn, so far as Americans are
concerned. The intensity of feeling with which
the affair continues to be discussed by the Ger
man press tends to emphasize this moral 1t is
a distinct political issue which the Reichstag can
scarcely avoid debating seriously. The Liberal
Union has already sent through its Executive
Committee its congratulations to the House OF
New-York tribune., 1884-03-03

theatre, is that smoking Is allowed In all parts OF
it, Well, he would be bold man VINO wrote
thus about the ladies Of this city. Perhaps MI.
Labouchcre considers Americans "bohind the age"
in that we do not make our best play-houses moro
to resemble the smoky dives Of the Bowery PosSi-
bly, he regards us as nuisances" because we pre-
fer to see Booth and Mccullough and MOdjeska not
through clouds of cigarette smoke, or because by
the help of Nilsson or Gerster we can endure 10
spend an hour or two without pulling at weed"
If 80, it is very sad; but We cannot help IL.
Whether or not Mr. Labouchere's screed be libel
upon the ladies of London, the ladies Of New York
still cling to the oldfashioned taste Of preferring
the fragrance of roses and jasmines to that OF
smouldering tobacco; and the gentlemen OF New
York retain too much of odfashioned polIteness TO
stiomatize them as "nuisances" for so doing.