davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Old New England Tayerns.

Many a New England village inn
could, in the opinion of the most fastid-
ious of Frenchmen, we'll bear comparison
with the best to be found in France.
The neatness of the rooms, the goodness
of the beds, the cleanliness of the sheets,
the smallness of the reckoning, filed
him with amazement. Nothing like
them to be found in France. There the
NNyfarer who stopped at an ordinary
over night slept on a bug.infested bed,
covered himself with ill-washed sheets,
drank adulterated wine, and to the an
noyance of greedy servants was added
the fear of being robbed. But in New
England he might, with perfect safety,
pass night after night at an inn whose win
dows were destitute of shutters, and
whose doors have neither locks nor
keys. Save the po%stofice, it was the
most frequented house in the town. The
great room, with its low ceiling and
neatly -sanded floor, its bright pewter
dishes, and short backed, slat-bottomed
chairs ranged along the walls, its long
tables, its huge fire place, with the
benches on either side, where the dogs
sleep at night, and where the guests sat,
when the dipped candles were lighted,
to drink null and flip, possessed some at
traction for every one. The place was
at once the town hall, the assembly
room, the courthouse and the show
tent. There the selectmen met. There
the judges sometimes held court. On its
door was fastened the list of names
drawn for the jury, notices of vendues,
offers of reward for stray cattle, the
names of tavern haunters, and ADVERTISE
ments of farmers who had the
best seed potatoes and the best
seed corn for sale. It was at
the General Greene" OF the
i"United States Arms" or the ''Bull's
Head" that wandering showmen ex-
hibited their automatons and musical
clocks, that dancing masters gave their
lessons, that singing school. was held,
that the caucus met, that the caucus met
during general training. Thither came
the farmers from the back country, bring
ing their food in boxes and their horses
feed in bags, to save paying the landlord
more than lodging rates. Thither many
a clear night in winter came sleigh-loads
of young men and women to dance and
romp, and when 8 o'clock struck, GO
home by the light of the MOON. Thither,
too, on Saturdays, came half the male
population of the village. They wrangled
over politics, made bets, played tricks
and fell Into disputes, which were sure
to lead to jumping-matches, or wrestling
matches, or trials of strength on the
village green. AS the shadows length
ened the loungers dispersed, the tavern
was closed and quiet settled upon the
town.-MclM Masters History.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
A. Mlser's Horrible Fate.

Bent under the weight of years, low IN
stature, clean-shaved face, sandy hair,
bright blue eyes, but deaf as a stone,
such was the little old Frenchman, Pedro
Ermin. On the day that the eagles OF
France fell wounded and defeated on the
field of Waterloo, and fortune turned
her back on the first soldier of the age,
Eymin, the buglcr, under the orders OF
General Ney, sounded the signal for the
attack on St. Johns Hill. It was the day
fatal to Napoleon, June IS, 1885,. Eymin
was seventeen years of age then. His
home life in this city was far from happy,
and he neared the winter of his days
abandoned by his wife and daughter. A
miser, his clutch on his gold grew tighter
rs he neared death. Many a bitter law
suit had been prosecuted here by him
when he found himself, as he often did,
robbed of portions of his sequestered
wealth. He could have lived in a.palace
and rolled over the Paseo in q sumptuous
carriage. In o little room, No. 8 Gale
de Monzon, lived the old miser. His last
DAYS were sad and his death was terrible,
as the revelations made now at the trial
of his murderers prove. He died a fear
full and mysterious death behind the
massive walls Of the e~x-convent of San
Geronimo in this city. In the groin of a
musty corridor, where the sunlight did
not enter, ne was partially strangled on
May 10, 1885, and, tied hand and foot,
left to die a living death in q great box,
and scarcely dead was attacked by my
riads of ferocious rats, entering through
the half opened lid of his awful coffin
City Of Merico 1wo Republics.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Sham Mushrooms.

"You notice on the bill of fare that
your turtle soup is but ten cents more per
plate than mock. turtle soup, said q
stranger in a great, gilded eating house.
Calipash and calipee, green fat, an his.
toric delicacy, famed in the history of
the worlds metropolis as the acme of
epicurean delight, for ten cents more
than a fried meat ball. But the age
likes to think it is eating turtle soup. 1t
sounds rich-therefore the veally coun-
~tcrfeit. I am going to eat a Spanish
omelette," continued the stranger,
changing the subject. The stranger
gave his order to a coloreu waiter, who
Vawned and twisted his mustache, and the
omelette was brought. The stranger
investigated the ingredients of the savory
mess with his fork and on the end Of
the utcnsil produced a mushroom. look
at this" he said. Then he picked at the
appetizing vegetable with his knife,
scraped off the covering Of and
began pairing the stem. It crumbled
under the operation in q decidedly un-
vegetable way. The reporters eyes
popped out on his cheeks.
"What is it," he asked.
"Dough," replied the stranger. ut
is an old trick. Mushrooms are scarce
and high. Still the patrons like to have
the sensation of ordering mushrooms in
that composition. If prices were put up
to the mushroom market they would
abandon the restaurant. So they use
dough. 1t is harmless. I would advise
the proprietor to stick to dough, and not
indulge in toadstoois, which might work
injury."-Pdiladelphia Press.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Saving and Doing.

What is my opinion of saying and moi
doing2 1t is a fault as universal as
speech, and it has done an i~ncalculable
amount of injury. The child learns it
from its parents aud hands it down to
; all posterity, so that it may be called an
inherited blcmish of character. The
mother will tell her child she will do
thus and thus if it does not do so and
so, and the kid finds out, after one Ur
two trials, that the mother is indulging
in an allowable variety of mild lying,
and, besides presuming npon that to do
as it p%leases, adopts it as g. part of its
early training, and in after years uses it
as it has been taught to do. This habit
has become 80 common among all
classes that, in the rare cases where a
person does or does not as he says once
that be will, it is productive of all sorts
of trouble. For instance. a man tells
another that if he does not return
promptly a certain sum of money he has
borrowed, he will never let him have
any more. The borrower, presuming
upon the universal practice, de-
lays a day, Or two or three,
and comes up smiling, to make
good the loan. for he is honest and will
pay. He feels that he has done the fair
thing, and is sure that the lender didn't
mean what he said, because nobody ever
is that particular, etc. In a few days he
may need another loan, and, of course,
goes to the same friend to procure it.
Then the friend, doing what he has said
plainly that he would, is roundly abused,
not only by the borrower but by the
borrowers friends, and the general
opinion of all is that the lender should
have impressed the borrower with the
fact that he could get no money from
him, and so prevented the poor borrower
from getting into trouble. All around
in similar cases we hear the cry of those
who are struck: eyes, I know You said
so, but I never thought you would do it."
People make all sorts of threats about
what they will or will not do, but those
threatened laugh softly, and 60 right
ahead, doing as they please; for they
know that it will all end in mere talk,
and it generally does.-Ars. Broom, IN
Merchant IaMoeler.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Obedience TO the Letter.

Not long ago a young man IN Carson
got married, and started for California
with his young wife. AS he boarded the
train his father babe him good-by, and
gave him his blessing.
My son." said the aged sire, shaking
with emotion, etc., remember these
words if you never see me again: Never
60 into a place where you would not
take your wife!"
The couple settled down in Mariposa
county, and recently the old man went
down to visit them. He proposed a bear
hunt, and they were fortunate enough
to track a grizzly to his lair, among some
of the powders in. the chaparral. As
they approached, the bear reused up
and sent a growl of defiance which
shook The trees.
"Go in there and kill him2" said the
old man, e~xcitedly.
The son held back, further acquaint-
ance with the bear seeming in some re-
spects undesirable.
"Count me out" he said.
"Have I crossed the sea and settled in
America to raise a cowardw shouted the
father.
II but recollect your advice when
left Carson" was the reply. Chow can
I forget your sage precepts9 Didn't you
tell me never to 60 where I could not
take my wife, Now, how would Sally
look in there with that bear?"
The old man clasped his dutiful son
to his bosom, and as the bear issued
from his lair, exclaimed:
"Speaking of Sally, let US hasten home.
Our long absence might cause her need
less alarm"
In about fifteen minutes they had
reached the ranch, the old man a little
ahead.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Liliputian Tribes.

Mrs. Alice LIE Plongeon writes a curl
Gus account, published in the Scientific
american, Of some villages of pigmies
discovered by her husband and herself
on the eastern coast OF Yucatan. It is
singular that recent chronological discov-
cries in various parts of the world have
related to dwarf tribes, and Mrs. LIE
Plongeon, before describing the Lilipu-
tian towns of Yucatan, reminds US that
q number of stone tombs were found q
few years ago on the banks Of what the
printed account calls the river Merrimac,
containing adult human skeletons only
three feet long, and it is probable that
the colonization of Central Africa will
show the existence of many tribes of
little men. In Mexico, particularly in
the south, the dwarfs play a large part
in the traditions of the natives, who at
tribute to them the construction of the
ruined buildings found there. and some
times profess to have seen them, or to
have been disturbed by the sound of
their hammering at night. The place
most frequented by the dwarfs seems to
have been Cozumel Island, a low, fiat
reef, about twenty-four miles in length,
off the cast shore of Yucatan. On this
island still exist the ruins of pigmy cities
of considerable Importance, with TEN:
pies built of carefully-hewn stone,
the largest of which is fourteen feet long
and nine feet high. and mas a doorway
three feet high and eighteen inches wide;
and zeal by are we'll constructed trium-
phal arches nine feet high. On the
n%eighboring coast are still to be seen. the
remains of villages, all the houses in
which are of stone, but so small that no
one larger than an ordinary child of two
years could comfortably get into them.
There is some reason to suppose that the
little race still survives. According to
the Indian guide who led DR.. and Mrs.
Le'Plongeon to the ruins, and who pro-
fesssd to have seen the drwarfs frequent
ly, they are very small and quite shy,
appearing only at night, with large hats
on their heads, and never speaking to
those whom they meet. Many of our
readers are old enough to have seen the
"Aztec children; :" the diminutive speci-
mems of a race supposed to be extinct,
which were exhibited about the country
twenty-five years ago; and it is not i'm.
possible that the remnant of tribes which
occupied the country long before the
Toltec conquest may be found in the val
legs of the Cordilleras, just as represen-
tatives of nearly all the ancient European
races are found still existing in the re-
moter Alpine valleys.--Ame'ican Archi.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Baydad.

A city of over 100, 900 inhabitants,
with no place of public resort, wher:
every house resembles a fortress or q
prison, the ponderous doors opening
upon narrow, gloomy lanes winding be-
tween grim, bare walls, and cracking
heavily on their hinges, to reveal the
low, dark, vaulted entrance that leads to
the courtyard inside, sometimes pictur'
esque enough with pillared vcrrandas
and arabesque l~attices, but always ram
bling, uncomfortable, in~convenient, un-
cared for, to English ideas what q mans
home should be-a city where the luxury
of q wheeled conveyance is unknown
for who could drive anything that goes
on wheels in lanes six feet wide that
twist round every house corner, and
the mud lies ankle deep in winter and
dust darkens the air in summer? A city
through the midst of which flows a
mighty river, on which tie traffic
is. carried against wind and
steam by men harnessed like
beasts, on which the only
native boats for pleasure or profit are on
the same model, and no better In con-
struc, ion than the corac'e of the ancient
Briton, on which foreign enterprise has
placed steamers which have to contend
against every device and delay known to
the crafty Ottoman. A city unrivaled
for. position and fertility of soil, en-
vironed by desert which might be made
to blossom as the rose, the center of
trade for a whole continent, yet. sunk in
decay and poverty; where 30, 900 Jews
contend in the struggle for existence, or,
more properly, for q bare subsistence,
with twice as many other Orienta!s not
less supple, willy, patient and persever-
ing than themselves, in q city where
poverty and oppression have sharpened
every mans wits. A city that might sit
enthroned as a queen upon the waters,
heir and daughter of mighty Babylon and
the later splendors of Madam, Seleucia
and Ctesiphon, now grovcling in the
dust amid the ruins of a long forgotten
former glory. Such is Bagdad of to-
day, the city of Haroun.a al Rashid, the
familiar home of Sinbad the Sailor and
the other worthless of the "Arabian
Nights. "-Satuyaay Reuiew.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
WORDS OF WISDOM.
There is no policy like politeness;

There is no policy like politeness; and
a good name. or to supply the want of it.
Let friendship gently creep to a
height; if it rush to it, it may soon run
itself out of breath.
In studying character, do not be blind
to the shortcomings of q warm friend or
the virtues of a bitter enemy.
If thou desircst case, in the first place
take care of the ease of thy mind, for that
will make other sulferings easy.
It is no help to a sailor to see a flash
of light across a darkness, if he does
not instantly steer accordingly.
The seeds of love can never grow bus
under the warm and genial influence of
kind feelings and affectionate manners.
Words are spiritual forces, angels of
blessing or Of cursing. Unuttercd, we
control them; uttered, they control US.
It is better to be the builder of our own
name than to be indebted by descent for
the proudest gifts known to books OF
heraldry.
Some arc brave one day and towards
another, as great captains have often
told me from their own experience and
observation.
Whatever is coming, there is but one
way to meet ito go straight forward,
to bear what is to be borne, and to do
what is to be done.
No person can be so feeble or so poor
that he has not q duty to perform;
which, being performed, makes'him n
with the highest and greatest.
Let us remember those that want nee
cessaries, as we ourselves should have de-
sired to be remembered had it been our
sad lot to subs!st on other mems charity.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Curious Case of Nervous Sympathy.

At the last meeting of the French
academy of medicine, DR.. Brown'Sc-
Guard related a very remarkable instance
of the power of sympathy which came
within his recent observation. A little
girl was looking out of a window in a
house in the Batignolles. The lower
sash was raised and the child had placed
her arms on the sill. Suddenly the sup
port on which the sash rested gave way
and the window fell with considerable
force on the little girls arms, inaicting
a severe bruise. Her mother, who was
in the room at the time, happened to
look toward the window at the moment
of the accident and witnessed it. She
tainted with fright and remained in
sensible for a minute or two. When she
recovered she was conscious of a severe
pain in both arms, and on examining
the seat of it she was amazed to find on
each arm q bruise corresponding in pc.
sition to that left by the accident, OF the
child's, though more extensive.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
She Answered,

The dude was visiting a charming
young society lady, and as they sat on
either side of an open crate fire his heart
was full of a burning desire to say some
thing not only complimentary, but bril-
liantly suggestive. So, after revolving
the matter in his mind during a ten
minutes burst of silence, he said:
"Ah, Miss Lille, why are those fire.
tongs so like Frederick" He meant her
to guess, or him to tell her 'because they
glowed in her service, or were PROSTATE
at her feet" or something of that kind.
Miss Lille, lookingso solemnly demure
that the clock stopped, said she didn't
know unless it was because they had
two thin legs and a brass head. He was
cropping blindly foc the front door be-
fore she had recovered from the shock Of
her own volley. - Goodalps Sun. a."
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Husband and Wife's Epitaphs.

A visitor in the old town of Norfolk,
Conn.,, was tramping in a graveyard
there the other day, trying to read the
moss-hidden epitaphs, when his eye fell
upon a tombstone with this inscription:
Here lies the body of Lieut.. Nathan
Davis, who departed this life Sept. 18th,
1871. in the nth. year of his age.
Death is a Diet
that's justly due
that l Fave paid
and so must you.
On the opposite side of the slab was
the following: Here lies the body OF
Mrs. Elizabeth the wife of Lieut.. Nathan
Davis Descd. She died June the 3Oth
1856 in the 97th year of her age.
This Diet i W
is justly due
and j am come
TO sleep with you.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
IN.AUTUMM.
The flowers
~ TT

The flowers
OF summer fair,
The blooms we loved so well,
Which made so redolent the air,
Clothed the wide wales with tapestry most
rare, -
Have yielded their pure lives to autumnt
spell;
Yet, nodding everywhere,
Are blossoms debonair,
Which summers glare
f And hours
Knew not;
Gay asters nod
In breezes cool, and swing;
And rocks the graceful golden rod;
The milkweed's hidden silk escapes the pod,
Climbs the blue sky Ikea winged thing,
Then seeks again the sod;
Ger lodges grey and broad,
Held by frail cord,
Doth rock
And ring
Tie harebell blue;
The maple trees are red,
As are the clouds the sun sets
r- through; r- ~.g-Z%
The sumach's waving flags are crimson, too,
As tho a rainbow's dyes were DER them
spread.
The world is sweet to viewl
Nature to me and you
A lesson true
Doth fling.
She tells
Us everything
Must suffer change and die
IT'S all. wise Allali's ordering;
And tho the change hurts like an adder's
sting,
Not ours is it to halt and question why;
He best knows where to fling
The sunshine Of his wing
And when to ring
Farewells.
Portland, (Ne.) Transcript.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
THE INTERPRETERS.

L
Days dawn upon US that make amends for
many
Sometimes,
When heaven and earth seem sweeter even
than any
Mans rhymes.
Light had not all been quenched in France,
or quelled
In Greece,
Had Homer sung not, or had Hugo held
His peace.
Had sappho's self not left her word thus long
The sea round Lesbos yet in waves OF song
Had spoken.
And yet these days Of subtler air and finer
Delight,
When lovelier looks the darkness, and diviner
The light.
: The gift they give of all these golden hours,
Whose urn
Pours forth reverberate rays or shadowing
showers
In turn.
Clouds, beams, and winds that make the live
days track
Seem living
What were they did no spirit give them back
Thanksgiving
Dead air, dead fire, dead shapes and shadows,
telling
Time nought;
Man gives them sense and soul by song, and
dwelling
+. In thought
In human thought their being endures, their
power
-Abides:
Else were their life a thing that each light
hour
Derides.
The years live, work, sigh, smile, and die
with all
They cherish;
The soul endures, though dreams that fed it
Fall and perish.
In human thought have all things habitation;
=, Our days
Laugh, lower, and tighten past and find no
station
That stays.
But thought and faith are mightier things
~ than time
Can wrong,
Made splendid ouce with speech, or made
sublime
BY song.
Remembrance, though the tide of changet that
rolls
Wax hoary, ...
Gives earth and heaven, for songs sake and
the souls,
T- Their glory.
-AIgeraon Charles Suinbaurne.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-28
Everything from Paper.

Since the discovery Of paper from rags,
about 900 A. D., We date the paper age.
Since then all has been easy enough.
Books took the lead, newspapers follow
ed, periodicals, magazines and trade
journals closed the triumphant march
toward complete happiness. Scientists,
always short-sighted folks, began to look
upon the paper age as nearing its close.
Poor souls! Paper bags and paper boxes
made them smile; paper boats, paper
barrels and paper wheels gave them a
chill in the dorsal region; paper collars
and paper handkcrchiefs set them hum
ming and having; paper bottles and
paper tea caddies and paper chimneys
created quite a lutteri in so called ''scien-
tifc circles"; paper timber and paper
flooring render them rather uneasy
paper shirt fronts and paper slippers
broke them down entirely. But the end
is not yet. We are, in reality, only just
entering upon the border, so to speak,
of the genuine paper age. In a few short
years, in our paper shirts and paper
trousers, we shall sit down to our paper
tables, upon our paper chairs and drink
our coffee out of our paper cups and eat
our eggs with paper spoons. When we
90 out of a morning, we shall make
ready our paper shoes, paper o%vercoat,
paper gloves, paper umbrella OR paper
cane and paper hat; kiss the baby,
happy in his paper pinafore, trip lightly
down the paper stairway, over the paper
sidewalk to our paper carriage, and start
down town, and continue our noiseless
ride over the paper pavement, stopping
once more, possibly, to order the latest
paper novelty for our better-half. Oh
no, ye wise men, the end Of the paper
age is not yet!-Mew YORK. Herald.