davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17

Mahmoud wandered now disconsolate-
ly about the city, vainly endeavoring to
find some familiar face or scene. But
everything appeared strange to him, and
there was not one who recognized him.
At last, he met an old man, whose bent
form aud snow white hair testified that
he must be very near the age of a cen
tury. Of him, Mahmoud asked: "Dost
thou remember Ali, the son OF Has.
SAM"
The old man shook his head at first.
Il am his son Mahmoud," continued
the young man, 81 am Mahmoud Ben
Ali"
At that the old man pricked up his
ears. II remember when was boy,
of hearing my father tell about young
| fisherman named Mahmoud who disap-
peared one day very suddenly, and left
his aged parents to die of want. That
was many years before thou vast born.
Their graves can show you. if you de-
sire to see them"
Lead me to them," groaned NAH
moud, feeling very sad and thoughtful.
He was conducted by his aged guide to
an ancient cemetery outside the city
walls. Age and decay seemed to have
chosen the place for their habitation.
Everything was in a ruinous state, and
there were his parents graves with the
crumbling stone, which told that they
had been there already hundred years.
The young man fell down and wept
immoderately upon the soil that covered
the remains of those he had so loved and
revered. When he arose the old man
was gone. ssas .aossar7 a.fEa 8 s-s
'It is thework Of that spiteful fairy.
he cried, wringing his hands. ell was
the day yielded to her Establishments.
She has used enchantment Perhaps
this will revoke the spell.
He still held possession OF the golden
casket, and he now took it and examined
it curiously. At last he inserted the
key: ,,
II will do it," he muttered. "She
told me never to open it, but things can
not be worse than they now are. What
can happen more lamentablc than my
parents death, or to be hundred years
behind my timer Allah guard me from
worse"
So he turned the key, and opened the
casket. From it issued q white vapor,
which enveloped him, and under its in
tluence the young man fell to the
ground. But he was young no longer.
He lost his elasticity of limb, his hair
turned gray, and his form was bent as
with the weight of years. In few mo-
ments he died, clasping fast the golden
easket, whose contents had been so
fatal.-The Interior.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
GREAT INDUCEMENTS.
How Nose schaumburg Surprised the
Clerk on New Years Day.

How Nose schaumburg Surprised the
Clerk on New Years Day.
On the last day Of the late year 1885,
Tom Snickerson, a young man in Nose
schaumburg' Boss Clothing Emporium,
intimated that he was going to quit.
'Do you really wants to kervit my
employments?" asked Nose.
"Yes, Mr.. Schaumburg, you are pay
ing me only seven dollars week and
you treat me as if was yellow dog. l
can no longer put up with such low
wages and harsh treatment. You don't
seem to think that have any feelings,
but / have
.sYou must not kervit my employ
ments. would not lose you for mil
hons. / wants you to consider yourself
as identified NIT dot Nose Schaumburg
Boss Clothing Emporium. No, Mishter
Snickerson, It would preak my heart to
lose you, indeed it would. lvill see dot
you have no more causes OF COMPLAINT
about harsh treatments"
eyes, but how about raising my sal
airy dollar week, making eight dol
lars in all?" asked Snickerson.
| II would not raise dot salary, but l
tells you vat does. You say dot I treat
| you like a yellow dog. Veil, from now
on I treats you no more like q yellow
dog, but chust de same as ven you vas
schentlemen. How. you likes dose in.
ducements, ehp You did not expect
would make dose concesshuns, DOM
itp T likes to make pleasant surprises
for my clerks dot New Years on. Do
ish dot kind of a man Nose Schau,nburl
| vOs. "-.1saos 8ifsinqs.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
JUDICIAL SALARIES.
The Bill Opposed Which Seeks Uniformity
of Compensation.

The Bill Opposed Which Seeks Uniformity
of Compensation.
The bill which pa ,sed the Senate
to fix the salaries of United States
district judges at uniform rate of
$4,000 annually was opposed by some
Southern and Southwestern SEN
ators, who think that the pay which
satisfies county Judge in an agricul-
tural community ought to be enough
to command the services of United
States district Judge i'll New York,
Philadelphia Or Chicago. The fact that
State judges in large cities are paid al
most always much greater salary
than the United States judges seems to
be matter of no consequence to the
economical opponents of the proposed
slight increase. That the Federal
courts ought not to be placed at a re.
lative disadvantage to the State courts
around them is proposition few will
gainsay. Yet the fact that meager
salaries are paid Federal judges where
State Judges receive a comparatively
liberal recognition is unjust to the
United States judges and is calculated
to deprive the Federal bench of rs
high order of talent as the State courts
in the same places easily secure.
There are thirty-six United States
district Judges. One. who sits in San
Francisco, gets $1,000 a year; one in
New Orleans receives $4,000; eight,
who hold court in the largest cities in
the United States, get $4,000 each,
and the forty-six others have to be con-
tent with $500. Within the last ten
years some of the strongest judges on
the United States Circuit and District
bench have resigned their places on ac-
count of the inadequacy Of the salary.
That salary was fixed long ago, when
sBhe country was poor and the cost Of
living in a style BETTING Judge was
much less than now. It should have
been raised long ago, and the opposi.
ton Of such men as Morgan, though
ostensibly made ON the ground o.
economy. is really dictated by hostility
to the Federal judges themselves. The
United States judge in Alabama
he informed the Senate, is inferior ii
attachments to every other in the State
and therefore he is opposed to increas
ing his salary. In spite of this
weighty objection, the Senate passed
the bill, but there is danger that thu
Democrats in the House will incline tt
the opinion that it is hardly WORT
while to increase judicial salaries unit
there are few more Democrats on tn,
Federal bench.--2hiladelphia Press.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
METAL SHIPS.
The Present Deplorable State of the Great.
est Navy In the World.

When timber gave place to iron and
steel in the construction of war ships,
the naval possibilities ofGreat Britain
became practically illimitable. Prior to
that great change, the British admiralty,
after exhausting its home supplies of
oak, had to seek in the forests of Italy
and of remote countries those hard,
curved, twisted and stalwart trees which
alone sufficed for the massive frame.
work of its line-of-battle ships. How
recently it has escaped from this neces-
sity may be inferred from the fact that
the present writer, on taking office at
the admiralty in 1868, found her Maj
esty's dock-yards largely stored with re-
cent deliveries Of Italian ann other oak
timber of this description.
And here it may not be inappropriate
for one whose earliest professional
studies were devoted to the construction
of wooden ships, but whose personal
labors have been most largely de-
voted to the iron era. to pay a
passing tribute of respect to the
constructive genius of those great
builders in wood who designed the
stanch and towering battle ships of the
good old times. Skillful, indeed. was
the art, sound, indeed, was the science,
which enabled them to shape, assemble
and combine thousands of timbers and
planks into the Grace de Dieu of Great
Harry's day Cl51D, the Sovraigne of
the Seas of Charles reign Q63), the
Royal William of half a century later
Q6S2-92), the Victory, immortalized by
Nelson, and in our own early day such
superb ships as the Queen, the Howe
and scores of others. Only those who
have made a study of the history of sea
architecture can realize the difficulties
which the designers of such structures
had to overcome.
With the introduction of iron aud
steel for building purposes the ne
cessity for ransacking the forests of the
world for timber suitable for the frames
and beam-knees of ships passed away,
and Great Britain, which early became,
and thus far remains, first and greatest
ia Cuc pAOuuCVlOA VI 11OA sSAN
steel. was thus invited to such a
development of naval power as
the world has never seen. The mer-
camille marine of England at the present
time furnishes splendid demonstration
of the readiness with which the CONNER
cial classes have appreciated this great
opportunity; but the royal navy, by al
most universal assent, supplies a mel.
ancholy counter-demonstration, and
shows that neither the capabilities of a
race nor the leadings of Providence suf-
flee to keep nation in its true position,
when it falls into the hands Of feeble and
visionary administrators. Any one who
will contrast the British navy of to-day
with the British navy as it might and
would have been under the administra-
ton, say, of such a First Lord of the Adj
miralty as the present Duke Of Somerset
proved himself in every department Of
the naval service five-and-twenty years
ago, will understand the recent outcry in
England for safer and more powerful
fleet. Sir Eflsoard Reed, IN Harper's
MngGziNe.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
cuRRAN's WIT.
A Few Samples of the Saliva Of the Wit.
tiest Of Irlshmen.

A Few Samples of the Saliva Of the Wit
tiest Of Irlshmen.
To the bench Curran could be at
times unccremonious. In his early
days Judge Robinson made an attempt
to extinguish the rising advocate. Rob
inson, it was currently reported, owed
his elevation to the publication of
political pamphlets, remarkable only
for their slavish meanness and sour
rility. In arguing his case Curran
said he had consultsd all his law
books and could not find the principle
contended for. Il suspect, sir" said
Robinson, that your law library
is rather scanty." sit is very true,
my Lord" said Curran. "that my
books are not numerous; but I have
prepared myself for this high profess
sion rather by the study OF
few good books than by the com.
position of great many bad
ones" Curran was occasionally
nonplussed by witness. Inquiring his
masters age from a horse trainers
servant, he could get no satisfactory an.
swer. "Come, come, friend" urged
Curran, 'has he lost his teethP' ''Do
you think retorted the servant, "that
I know his age d.. he does his horses
by the mark of the MOUTH" Once
foiled by Limerick banker with an
iron leg, Curran in his address to the
jury said that his leg was the softest
part about him. In debate in the
House of Commons he stated that he
needed no aid from any one, that he
was proud to be ''the guardian of his
own honor" Indeed" exclaimed Sir
Boyle Roche, II congratulate Mr.. Cur
ran on his holding sinecure." Lord
Clare was determined enemy of Cur
ran while he was at the bar. The Lord
Chancellor ruined his practice at the
Chancery court, and his clients were
always sufferers. Indeed Curran
stated that the losses in his pro.
fessional income from the ami
mostly of Lord Clare amounted to no
less than 100000. The incidents in
court in consequence of this disagree
ment were sometimes ludicrous On
one occasion when it was known that
the advocate was about to make an
elaborate argument in chancery, Lord
Clare brought a Newfoundland dog
upon the bench with him, and paid
much more attention to the dog than to
the barrister, and the fact was COM
mented on by the profession. At a ma
terial point in the argument the Chan
cellor lost all decency, and turned quite
aside to fondle the dog. Curran stopped
at once. go on, 60 on said Lord
Glare. "Oh, beg thousand pardons,
my Lordv' was the ready reply. 81
really took it for granted your Lordship
was engaged in consultation. "-Temph
| Bar, .
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
PiTH AND POINT.

81 hev often noticed" says Josh
Billings, s'the man who would have done
such wonderful things eft he had bin
thare, never gifts thare."
"A Burlington man has given up
bantering his wife. He laughed at her
for using cosmetics, and she informed
him that when he stopped painting his
nose she would stop painting her
cheeks.-Free Press.
Mamma with much show of indig-
nation)-'I have called you three
times. I am very much annoyed"
Charlie (who is fond of Bible stories)-
"Well, The Lord called Samuel three
times, and he didn't get mad about it,
did he?"-LJe.
"A beautiful woman, with an artiti-
cially heightened color, once said to
General Shields: "How is that, having
obtained so much glory, you still seek
for more?" "Ah, madam" he replied,
with more force than politeness, show
is it that you, who have SO much beauty.
should still put on paint?'' -San Fran
cisco ftrgonaut.
-"Clexton, Tn afraid your marriage
relations are not the most pleasant"
.'Why do you think SO. BromleyP"
You are getting bald, you know"
Eyes; but it's not because my wife
pulls my hair out. do it myself by
scratching my head in my efforts to de-
wise means to crafty her extrava-
yance. Phtladelphta Gail.
MIR. Fauxpas Ito young LADY,: All,
Miss Charmante, I.have just come from
the side of Mrs. Smith, who has been
asking me about the beautiful young
lady at the flower table. Miss c. Zap
pearing to busy herself in arranging
some fowers): Have you never known
how l detest f1attery? Mr.. F. (who
thinks he may have blundereD: O, but
really, you know, it is dark over where
she is sitting. One can hardly see you -
Ha,per's Bazaar.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
HENRY |. BI0SSAT, Business Manager
THE MELLOW STRAIN.

The sinking sun had streakcd the west
With f1ecks Of gold aud crimson bars;
The wandering wind had sunk to rest,
And in the cold ctst rose the stars.
Thc evening chimes, like gladstone psalm,
Peatod loud from outline Old church tower
And DER the valley fell the calm
Which broods upon thetWitlght hour.
Loud through the eve wrapt listening vale,
From humble bower OF Byzantine,
blackbird triled his mellow tale,
AS II he sang through luscious wine.
BY cottage, grange and hall around,
Erapturad listeners fingered long;
All heard tile self same flnting sound,
While each interpreted the song.
A little child scarce three years old,
In wonder woke to vision dim
OF crowns and ducimers of gold
And surging strains of holy hymn
In that sweet land that's brighter far
Than shining shores In emerald seas,
Where giows the lustrous evening star
Above the fair IIesperdes
maiden at the moss. fringe1 we'll,
Beside her pitcher fingered long,
Her soul enthralled with the strange spell
Contained within that mystic song.
For, oh to her it ever sings
OF love which all her being fills
And of the lad that twilight brings
From over the dividing bills.
To child and youth and maiden fair
That bird made glad the closing day,
But dame ana sire with sllyered hair
Drew sorrow from it's roundeiay.
All filtered through the years of woe
On their hearts fell the mellow strain
Waking the songs Of long ago
And made them sigh for youth again.
all the Year Round
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
GOVERNMENT WAGES.
A Suggestion That the Remuneration
Should Not Be Higher Than If the EN-.
ployes Were "Privste Individuals"


A Suggestion That the Remuneration
Should Not Be Higher Than If the EN-.
ployes Were "Privste Individuals"
There was force in the suggestion of
the printers employed in the Govern
ment Printing Office at Washington
that they were as well entitled to higher
wages than were paid to printers in
private employ as the clerks in the
departments are to higher salaries than
individuals and private corporations
pay for the same kind of work. The
force of the suggestion is not of a kind
to strengthen the demand of the print
ers. It does not show or tend to show
that they should receive higher wages
for their work because they are in Gov
eminent service than they would for
the same work in private employ. But
it does show that the Government clerks
should be governed by the same rule.
It is not surprising that honest arti-
sans and workingmen in the service not
only Of the United States but of the
State and the city, should have their
attention called to the fact that Gov
eminent clerks are better paid than
clerks in private life. Nor is it very
surprising that they should conclude
that they should receive similar con-
sideration. But the true remedy for
the irregularity is not in making the
workingmen employed by Government
a favored class. It is in putting the
clerical force upon proper basis. in the
matter of wages.
There is no sound reason why the
Government of the Nation, the State,
or the city, should pay any more for
the service it requires than a private
individual would have to pay for the
same service. And if it were not for
the spoils system any overpayment of
public employees would be condemned
so strongly and generally that it could
not possibly be continued. But for
that system, indeed, the notion of such
overpayment could never have got it.
self established in practice. If it had
never come to be regarded as neces-
sary that Government servant should
bear particular party label, or that
his employment should depend upon
considerations wholly distinct from his
capacity or fitness, the idea Of paying
him any more than a private employe
would never have been entertained for
a moment. - pe
If the civil service ever reaches the
point-as it one day may--of absolute
divorce from politics and the spoils
system, this discrimination between
public and private employment, which
is one of the worst effects of the sys-
tenn, will be wiped ont. A govern
ment wholly free in the manner of Sc
lecting its employees will not consent to
pay more for service rendered than
private employers do.--DetroI Free
Press
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
AN UNBLusHiNG STATESMAN.

John Sherman Makes Statements Which
Ought to Make a Cucumber Turn Grim
son. ,-..f ... Hr-
Senator John Sherman, when adj
dressing the Ohio Legislature the other
day, was kind enough to speak well Of
the New York election laws as safe
guards against fraudulent voting. He
held up the New York system as an ex-
ample for Ohio to initiate. The purity
of the ballot, he thinks, is not sufficient
ly protected in Ohio:
"The time has arrived when both political
parties should address themselves to this
question, and prevent fraudulent voting For
myself, could never see in State affairs that
politics should be brought into play. 1t is
different with great National questions In
State affairs you should be patriotic, regard.
less Of political affiliations, aud regard this
question from the same standpoint. 1t is APP
parent that there ought to be a general revis
ballot is dependent upon single districts and
small voting precincts. The occurrences
which have happened recently should con-
vince men of all political opinions that rad
ical change should be made"
This plea for honest voting, for the
purity of the ballot, for additional
safeguards against fraud in elections,
sounds strange enough from the lips of
the statesman who was the chief pro.
moter in Louisiana of the fraud by
which the vote of that State was stolen
ten years ago, and who received as his
pay the Office of Secretary Of the
Treasury. But Sherman did not blush.
Then the unblushing statesman went
on to compliment the man whom he
helped to defraud:
II invite your attention to the example set
by the great State Of New York. In that
State, in 1868, great frauds were perpetrated
by a man whose name will be repudiated by
any party-Boss Tweed Then it was that
men of both political parties went to work
and reformed their election laws. II 1t had
evtable. Men Of both parties resolved upon
reformation, and it resulted III the best cleo
ton law in the world. In the dispute, last
fall, over the election. they awaited the OH
the most distinguished mon to bring about this
reform was Samuel J. Ttlden, and am glad
to speak Of it here" asa
At this point the Ohio Legislators
burst into applause. Perhaps it was
the name of Tilden that provoked the
demonstration. Perhaps it was the
statement that elections are purer in
New York than in Ohio or Louisiana,
for example. Perhaps it was the con-
summate audacity which enabled John
Sherman to keep his blood in his heels
while awakening memories sham eful
enough to have made cucumber turn
| crimson. He never blushed.
Did any man or woman living ever
see the color of conscious guilt come
into John Shsxman's cheeks?-N. z.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
INSECT MlMICS.
Butterflies That Protect Themselves By
Their Stimulation to Leaves.

Butterflies That Protect Themselves ny
Their Stimulation to Leaves.
II, says California naturalist, we
look among insects we find a remark
able display of mimics. Perhaps you
have noticed in the woods how often
butterflies dart up where you have not
noticed them. They have been pro.
tected by their stimulation to the leaves
and flowers, and the birds that prey
upon them are equally deceived. In
the southern part of this State wonder
full examples are seen in the walking
sticks and the mantis. The former
seem to be actual twigs, endowed with
life; the body is straight, seeming
twig, while the legs are like branches
from it, and with its slow methodical
movements it would hardly be consid-
cred a living creature. Some of these
in South America attain length OF
eight inches. An allied form, in Gen.
trail America, found by Belt, the natur-
alist, so mimiced a moss-covered twig
that even close examination some-
times puzzled the observer. The leaf
insects are particularly interesting, as
they are almost exact in their resem-
blance to dead and living leaves, so
much so that they even deceive the for.
aging ants that rush over them, not sus-
pecting that the fallen leaf is the willy
mimic they would tain capture. Among
The plume moths are many of such deli
cacy that they resemble the down OF
plants in their flight through the air.
and when alighting on a flower their
animal nature would never be sus-
pected One Of the most beautiful cases
of protective minicry is that Of the
orang e-tipped butterfly. When open it
is very plainly seen, its wings being Of
white, black and orange, and, flying
about, is quite conspicuous; but as soon
as it alights upon a favorite plant, and
closes its wings, it becomes at once an
exact mimic of the white blotches of the
under surface. a
These animals, continues the natural
list, YOU see, generally mimic plants and
twigs, but there are others that are more
remarkable, from the fact that they
mimic animals that from their poison
GUS qualities are safe from attack. Thus
it is we'll known that birds do not es
pecially care for hairy butterflies, SO il
Central America, Belt found curiou
beetle that was tidbit for the birds
clothed in a coat Of long brown hairs
closely resembling the thick, hair,
caterpillars. In the same localities
spiders have been found that looked es
actly like ants, and were thus enabled t
creep upon their prey, the real ant
Wallace observed butterfly tina
though an acceptable morsel to tn
birds, deceived them by mimicing tn
fight of a poisonous butterfly. If a biz
chased it, it at once assumed the curior
and laborious fight Of its poisonor
model, and the bird, noticing its evidel
mistake, would always give up the pu,
| suit.-Sdn Francisco Call.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17
Mrs. George M. Daniel. of HI

Mrs. George M. Daniel, of Hous-
ton County, Georgia, has a suit Of
clothes in her possession that is 1903
years old. It was Mrs. Daniels grand
fathers (Mr. Crow's) wedding suit.
Mr.. Grow cut and made the suit with
his own hands.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-02-17

With the decadence Of pie-eating in
New England it is noticed That ghost
stories are falling of.-Boston Posi-.