davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26

Lots of cranks visit the Philadelphia Mint. The majority look sensible and are we'll dressed, but some can be idcn- tified as insane at the distance of block, and the attire of these are in keeping with their disordcred intellects. Men and women who are little "gone in the upper story," as the poet puts it, go to the Mint usually with but one errand- to collect thousands of millions of dollars which they firmly believe is there de- posted to their credit. Most of them are from the city, but once in while one puts in appearance who has come goodly distance by rail to get money sup posed to be all ready. By long and painful experience the jolly chief usher of the Mint has been led to adopt one unvarying mode of treating his cranky vititors. He don't fling them into the street. He don't even order them away, or advise them to go to a place where intollects arc cheaply repaired, but instead, he agrees to all they say, acknowledges that there are tens of thousands of millions of dollars, as the case may be, waiting for them, and then gets rid of them by some polite excuse for temporary delay in pay ment of their claims, or sends them upon fools errands to see government officials who exist only in imagination.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
VitalizIug Influence of Sunlight.

have often been asked, says Dr. Felix L. Oswald, at what age infants can first be safely exposed to the influence of the open air. My answer is, on the first warm, dry day. There is no reason why a newborn child should not sleep as soundly under the canopy of garden tree on a pillow of sun-warmed hay, as in the atmosphere of an ill-ventilated nur- scry. Thousands of sickly nurslings, pining away in the slums of our manu- featuring towns, might be saved by an occasional sunbath.
 Aside from its warmth and chemical influence on vegetable oxygen, sunlight exercises upon certain organisms a vital izing influence which science has not yet quite explained, but whose effect is illus trated by contrast between the weeds of shady grove and those of the sun-lit fields, between the rank grass of deep valley and the aromatic herbage of a mountain meadow, as we'll as by the pc culiar wholesome appearance of "sun- burned" persons and sun-ripened fruit. Sunlight is too cheap to become fash ionable remedy, but it's hygienic inf1u- ence can hardly be overrated.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Pie Not Q Yankee Invention.

Pie is not one of the inventions which @ punitive providence left for the exer else of Yankee genius. It is very much older than America, so far as the modern age knows anything about America. It is French, Spanish, Italian, English, German. It is of the north. It was carried into the British Islands by the marauding migrants from the northern seas. Our own word is a corruption of very early British word, and is, in etym- ology, a first cousin of "pastie" or "pasty." Pie is our name or what is now more familiarly known as ''tart" in the land where all was once pasty.
 The tart of to-day differs from con- temporaneous pie only in this: The in- terior of the tart is thicker than the inte- rior of the pie. It takes more apples to make tart than to make pie, if the pie-maker be frugal, as she generally is. In the European countries the tart is baked in deep earthern dish. In Yan- kee land pie is stewed into sogginess in a tin pan. Chicago Herald.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Doing Something Heroic.

He had been court1ng West End girl for long time, but he has quit now. It happend Sunday night after church. They were sitting as close together as the sofa would permit. She looked with in- cffable tenderness into his noble blue eyes.
 George" she murmurcd, with Q tremor in her voice, ''didn't you tell mo once you would be willing to do any great act of heroism for my sake2"
 'Yes, Fannie, and I gladly reiterate that statement now," he replied in con- fdent tones. ''No noble Roman of old was fired with loftier ambition, brav- CT resolution than l."
 ''Well, George, I want you to do come thing real heroic for me-"
 "Speak, darling; what is it2"
 Ask me to be your wife. We've been polling long enough"
 The sequel is stated in the prefacc.- Washington Critic
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
CANAAN CONN.,, WEDNESDAY,, MAY 26 88s
How the Indians Made Sugar.

Thomas Conant an old resident of Canada, writes to- the Toronto Glo6e: The Jesuit fathers, who were the first white men in this country among the h. dians, tell rs that the Indians made sug- ar regularly every spring by tapping the sugar maple. At this time the Indians did not have iron kettles for boiling the maple sap in. Then it becomes Q curious question how they did manage to boil down the succulent juice without kettle to boil it in. They tapped the trees with their tomahawks, and inserted spile in the incision to conduct the sap from the trees to the vessel beneath. Their spile was piece of dry pine or cedar wood, grooved on its upper side for the sap tc Sw down. No doubt this process was extremely crude, still, with all its crudi- ties, they succeeded in producing a con siderable quantity of sugar each spring. Their buckets were made by taking a roll of birch bark and sewing up the ends with deer sinews or roots. Thus they got vessel capable of holding pailful, and no doubt the sap caught in such yes sells was just as sweet as that which we now gather in our bright tin pails at far greater expense and trouble. Gath ering the sap from the birchen buckets, it was carried by the original red man to the boiling-place. At this boiling place was large caldron made of large sheets of birch bark. Beside the caldron fire was built, and in this fire was placed a lot of stones. As soon as the stones be- came heated to a red heat they were dropped into the birchen caldron, prcvi- ously filled with sap. By taking out tho cooled stones and putting in more hot ones, and repeating the process, even slow as it was, they got the sap to boil ing. Once got to boiling, by relocating the extracted stones, they kept up tho boiling and so continued the process, un- til after time they got the sap boiled down, and sugar was the result That was making sugar without the aid of a kettle, and no doubt many will doubt the accuracy of the statement. It is a positive fact, for my forefathers who came to this province in the last century have handed down in family tradition the story of the process just as I have narrated it. Indeed, they were eye-wit- nesses of the process themselves. With the advent of settlers of course the Indi- an soon learned better, and traded his furs with the fur-dealer for iron kettles, and then began making sugar much as the white man does now.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26

Henry County, Virginia, and Ross vile, Kansas, takes pride in the fact that their politics are run by young men. In the former case every person who holds office in the county is under 27 years of age. Tho Circuit Judge is 88, the County Judge s8, the Attorney for the Comwon- wealth 24, the State Sentor a7, the Dele- gate to the House 27, the Treasurer S1, the Superintendent of Schools 34. Clerk of the Circut Conrt 25, the Sheriff 24, and the Jail Physician 94. In Rossville, the Mayor is only s3, the Police Judge 27, the Principal of Public Schools 25, and the Postmaster go,
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Keepers of government lighthouses are

Keepers of government lighthouses are no longer to pine by reason of the dull monotony of their duties. Some inven- tive genius at Washington has evolved a scheme for saving the lighthouse keeper from the evils of idlcness by making him @ collector of bird and frog statistics. A big blank is furnished, entitled "Investi- gations in Economic Ornithology," with Q series of questions relating to the names of birds seen, the date of the first appearance of each kind of bird, the number of specimens, the second ap- pearance, the last appearance, and the comparative frequency of appearance. There is also calendar furnished, on which the lighthouse keeper is required to make an entry of the date on which the first toad, the first frog, and the first first peeper or tree toad were seen, and the date on which certain mammals and reptiles emerged from state of hiber. nation
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Tho Arabian Horse,

Arabian horses arc being imported into America to slight extent of recent years Messenger, tho famous old stallion from whom our American trotting stock is all descended, had large strain of Arabian blood in him.
 Arabian stallions have been brought to this country from time to time as pres ents to public men and others. But it is doubtful if a full-blooded Arabian mare was ever in the United States. They are valued more highly than the stallions. and not allowed to leave the country.
 There are six distinct families of horses in Arabia, and the pedigree of some of them runs back unmistakably for five hundred years. They come of old families.
 These are the horses for swiftness and endurance. They are not draught horses, but in the two qualities named they excel all other breeds in the world. They have delicate necks and fine, small, straight limbs, flashing eyes and strong, flowing mane and tail. They are not large, fifteen and half hands being an unusual height. The back is not arched much, the tail is high set, and the hoofs are always small, black and very tough. Centuries of pounding over the sands ot the desert have made them so. They have small ears and powerful chest, from which they get their great endurance, They are distinguished for soundness of wind and limb, though their high-bred, far-off cousin, the Kentucky horse, of late years seems to be developing a lack of hardness.
 The Arabian horse is noted, too, for its gentle temper and intelligence. Its mas ter, the Arab, says the horse is Allah's best gift to man.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26

In the course of testimony taken in a suit in which Samuel J. Tilden is inter- ested, MT. Tildcn said it was painful for him to speak. 'I have an affection of the larynx which impairs the elasticity of what are called the vocal chords, so that thoy will not come together, and air passes through without their helping to form words, and so reduces me to whisper. There is no soreness or apparent disease, but only the loss of elasticity, so that it makes me talk with great difficulty, and generally in a whisper, excepting when l have cold, under which the chords ap- proach each other better"
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
The Warlike Apache.

A correspondent of the Chicago H,te,. Oceaa says: The Apache is not only the most warlike of American Indians and I do not except the Ute Indians, the Sioux, nor the Comanches-but he is also the most skilled in war. Trained to an endurance which would be unattainable in more cndurable country; with the eye of Q hawk, the stealth of coyote, the courage of tiger, and its merciless ness, he is the Bedouin of the new world. He has horses that will exist on blade of grass to an acre, and will travel 11O miles in twenty-four hours thereby with out falling dead on the homestretch. He knows every foot of his savage country better than you know the interior o1 your parlor. He finds water and food where the best of us would starve to death for the want of both. More than 100 different plants yield him intestinal revenue. He has fastnesses from which no force can dislodge him; and when you lay siege he quietly slips out by some back door canon, and is off like thistle down on the wind.
 The dangerousness of an Indian is in inverse ratio to his food supply. The Apache, born to starvation, his whole life constant fight to wrest living from vixenish nature, as we'll as to wrest life from his neighbor, is whetted down to a ferocity of edge never reached by the In dian of section where wood and water and facile game abound.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
A ssGentIeman's'' Legal Status.

Who is a agentleman, has long been puzzling question; but an English judge has settled the matter, and passed jpdg. ment in particular instance that de- fendant before him was not gentleman. There is an old Act of George IT,, which provides that cursing and swearing on the part of laborers, soldiers and sailors shall be punished by fine of one shil- ling; by any other persons under the de- gree of a gentleman of a fine of two shil- lings; and by person of the degree of gentleman or above by fine of five shil- lings. A man named Bliss was arrested for profanity, and convicted before a Kentish justice, who fined him two shil- lings, thereby declaring him to be "un. der the degree of a gentleman. Per haps MT. Bliss might appeal, declaring that he should have been fined five shil- lings. Who would not pay extra three shillings to be judicially declared a gen. tleman2
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26

Nevada is sometimes spoken of as the extinct state, because it's population has dwindled down to few thousand from the collapse of the mining industry. It has been claimed that there was no hope for tho state, but the Dayton Nesos Re- porter thinks differently. It finds in tho southern portion of the state pleasant region capable of sustaining porma- nent population. It says: 'In the vicinity of the Colorado River-our southern boundary-not only do olive trees grow, but many other trees indi- genous to tropical climes. There may be seen fourishing the orange, lemon, fig and pomegranate. The vine there produces as delicious fruit as in the most favored localities in France, Italy or Spain. There also has been produced the finest of tobacco and the soil yields cottont at the rateof 1000 pounds to the acre.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Tho Little Hunchback.

I'm nine years odl an you can't guess how much weigh, I beti Last birthday weighed thirty three, an weigh thirty yeti I'm awful little for my size-I'm purt high littler am Some babies is, an neighbors all calls me ''the little man!n An Doc one time he laughed an said, II 'spect first thing you know, You'll have a little spike-tail coat an travel with showp' An'n nen laughed-till I looked round and Aunty was cryin'- Sometimes she acts like that, cause I got sCSrv'ture of the spineln Iset-while aunty's washington my little long leg stool,
 by to school;
 say: ''Who wants to fight the little man at dares you all to-day!" Am nen the boys climbs on the fence, an' lit tie girls peeks through, An they all say: '"Cause you're so big, you think we're feared O youp' An nen they yell, an shake their fist at me, like shake mine The're thust in fun, you know, cause got ''curvture of the spinep' At evening, when the ironin's done, an auntys fixed the fire, Am filled an lit the lamp and trimmed the wick an turned it higher, An fetched the wood all in fer night, an locked the kitchen door, Am stuffed the ole crack where the wind blows in up through tho floor She sets the kittle on tho coals, an piles an makes the tea, Am fries the liver an mush, an cooks 0 egg fer me, An sometimes, when cough so hard, her elderberry wine Don't go so bad fer little boys with ''curv lure of the spine" But amty's all so childish, like, on my ac- count, you see, Pm most afeared she'll be took down, an 'ats what bothers me Cause eff my good olo aunty ever would get sick an die, don't know what she'd do in heaven, till I come by an by, For she's so ust to all my ways, an every thing, you know, An no one there like me, to nurse, an worry over SO, Cause all the little childrens there's so straight an strong, an fine, Theys nary angel bout the place with ''curvture of the spine"
 J " Rileu m fhe C,ty-re,,t
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Quito Sane.

Harry-I hear that you have lost your father. Allow me to express my sympa- thy.
 Jack (with sigh)-Thank you. Yes he has gone; but the event was expected for long time, and the blow was con- seauently less severe than if it had not been looked for.
 H.-His property was large2
 J.-Yes; something like quarter ot million.
 HI heard that his intellect, owing to his illness, was somewhat feeble dur ing his latter years. Is there any prop ability Of the will being contested.
 J.-No, father was quite sane when he made his will He left everything to me.-Boston Courier.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26

A great many bright ideas owe thei, inception to good dinner. Sir Edward Thornton, the British minister at Wash ington some years ago, was dining at Sec rctary Fish's one evening, when the lat ter made the remark that the two great English speaking nations could not af- ford to have the then existing Alabama misunderstanding contiue. MT. Fish sug- gcsted the formation of commission to settle the controvcrted matter for all timc After dinner the two men talked tho matter over at considerable length, and the Geneva conference actually took shape from that hour.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
HUMOROUS.

Plan facts-Wcstern prairies.
 The way of the world-Round its axis.
 The original boy cot--Cains little crib.
 A temperance movement-Turning on the water.
 It is a wise railroad stock that knows its own par.
 A cannibal is believed to be very fond of his fellow men.
 Professor-Which teeth comes lastt Pupil-the false ones, sir.
 A porous plaster has been boycotted, but the proprietors resolve to stick.
 A six-ycar-old child being asked, "What is rope9' replied, "A fat string"
 The man with No. 15 neck and . No. 14 collar has hard struggle to make both ends meet.
 Dun (drawing out bilD Excuse me, sir-Perplexed debtor (hurying away) Pray, don't mentionit.
 It was Vassar graduate who wanted to know if the muzzle of Q gun was to prevent it from going off prematurely.
 "Who should decide when doctors disa- gree 2" We don't know who should, but we know that the undcrtakers generally does.
 sCan February March9" asked tho punster, with a sickly smile. 'Perhaps not" replied the quica man, ''but Aprl May"
 There are many and various ways ofbe- coming man of mark; but the easiest and most effcctual way is to lean up against some newly painted railings.
 That new dictionary with 240,0 words is intended to provide sufficient ly large vocabulary with which to ad- dress the base ball umpires during . dispute.
 There is a slight difference between the dead beat and the apprehended thief. One asks the bar to charge the account, and the bar asks the other to account the charge.
 Professor at Cumulative cannot taste in the dark. Nature intends us to sec our food" Student--''How about . blind mans dinner 2" Professor-'sNa- ture has provided him with eyeteeth, sir" ... | A good deal is being said lately about the ability of young wives to cook. The ability of young husbands to provide them with something to cook ought not to be entirely left out of the question. When you sec business man look melnn. cholic, With haggard face and dull, complaining eyes, | It's not because of biliousness or colio Tho trouble is he doesn't advertise.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Long Sentences.

The London Figaro says: "Mr. Gladstone's longest reported sentence, If I mistake not, was found to contain 167 words. This was until lately thought to be the longest on record. But now 1t appears that Senator Edmunds has beat en it with sentence 16S words long. The Grand Old Man, however, still pos scsses an average which has not been surpassed. A statistician, to whom time is clearly no object, has discovered speech of the Premier's in which there are ten sentences which contain an average o4 seventy-t two words apiece"
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
A Wonderful Toy.

A wonderful toy has been on private exhibition ill Paris. Fancy seven life sized kittens covered with real skin, but with eyes of emerald set in white enamel and playing upon flute, zithern, . violin, drum, harp, cornet and an accordion, all perfectly harmonized and going through the most striking airs of the new and successful comic operasl The unseen mechanism is of the same kind as that of musical box, and the sounds given forth are most delightful, so that the owner of this remarkable toy can have most agreeable concert at any time by touching certain springs and winding them up.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Color of the Sea.

The changes in the color of the sea have attracted the attention of seafaring men from the earliest times, says writer in Science for AM. They struck with wonder the PhGnicians when first they ventured out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic; they excited the astonish- ment of Columbus and terrified his com panions while in search of the far-famed India, and they are no less surprise to the modern navigator, to whom the march of discovery has left few unex- plored regions in store. Numerous theo- ries were offered in explanation of these changes, some ascribing them to the vary ing color of the sea bottom, some to diff ferences in depth, others to the presence of certain coloring substances, others again to the chemical composition of tho water. Most of these suggestions con. tained an element of truth, although no one of them, taken by itself, suffices to account for alteration in color which had often been observed to occur in the course of few hours sail, and within distance measuring less than a ships length. Among the problems which have now for the first time received a satisfactory solution, new light has been thrown upon the conditions which affect the color of the sea water in every part of the ocean, thus completing the information fol which we were indebted to the unaided exertions of earlier travellers. One of the most remarkable and most widely distrib uted contrasts of color is that which is known to exist between the intensely blue seas situated between the tropics and the green seas of higher attitudes. It appears, as the result of recent obser- vations, and more especially of series of experiments made on board the Ger man frigate Gazclle, that there is an inti- mate relation between the colors of sea- water and the proportion of salt held in solution by the latter. On comparing the specific gravity of green water with that of blue water it was found that the latter is always heavier than the former, and, therefore, contains more salt, the two differently colored waters being sup posed to have the same temperature. In other words, the greater or lesser inten. sity of the blue color of sea water may be taken as direct index of it's saltness and of it's specific gravity, so that when we observe the color of the water success. lively change from deep blue to bluish green and dark green we may conclude that the water has become at the same time less salt and less heavy. This result agrees with the experience of navigatorf in every part of the ocean, for as the yes sel proceeds from the dense and salt wa ters of the tropical regions toward thu lighter and fresher waters of higher lati tudes and of the polar regions the colo of the sea is seen to change from an in tense blue to greenish blue and greer tint. There are, however, numerous ex captions. Green seas are met with be
 tween the tropics and blue seas are on countered in the temperate region, ant even within the Arctic circle, but thes
 exceptions, far from contrad1cting, onl
 tend to confirm the above rule.
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26
Warned.

sI tell you, it's great thing to have a girl who knows enough to warn fel low of his danger"
 ''Have youa" inquired ono of the com pany. .--.-
 "Yes, indeed; Julia's father and moth CT were laying for mo the other night, when sine heard my tap at the window, and what do you suppose that girl did9"
 "Can't think"
 "She just sat down to the piano, and sang the insides out of Old Folks at Home.' You can just bet I didn't call that evening""
Connecticut western news., 1886-05-26

'It seems,". says the London Lancet, "that the little toy balloons of India. rubber bladdcrs which the children in- fate with the breath may be readily re- vcrscd by inspiration, and even drawn into the air passages. In two instances recently death has occurred by suffoca- tion, a balloon of the sort being drawn into the opening of the glottis. This is g matter of danger which ought to be recognized. Parents and nurses should be on their guard.