davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
A Railway Catechisln.

How many miles of railway in the
United States? One hundred and fif.
ty thousand six hundred miles, about
half the mileage of the world.
How much have they cost? Nine
billion dollars.
What is the average cost Of construct,
ing q mile of railroad? AT present
time about 100000.
How many people are employed by
them? More than 100000.
Who built the first locomotive in
the United States? Peter Cooper.
How long does steel-rail last with
average wear? About IS years.
What is the cost of palace sleep.
ing car? About $4,000, OF $1,000 il
"vestibuled."
What is the cost of high-class
eight-wheel passenger locomotive:
About $4,000.
What is the longest American rail
road tunnel? Hoosac tunnel, on the
Fitchburg Railway, (44miles).
What is the highest railroad in the
United States? Denver and Ric
Grande, Marshall Pass, 1852 feet.
What is the highest railroad bridge
in the United States Kinzua viaduct
on the Erie Road, 3O5 feet high.
What is the longest railway bridge
span in the United States? Cantilevel
span, in Pougkeepsie bridge, 54S feet
What is the longest mileage opera.
ated by Il single system? Atchison, TO.
peka and Santa Fe system, about
5000 miles.
What line of railway extends farth
est East and West? Canadian Paci
fic Railway, summing from Quebec tc
the Pacific ocean.
What road carries the largest mum
Der of passengers? Manhattan Ele
waited Railroad, New York, 5000 g
day, or l9l ,625, 900 yearly.
What is the fastest time made by g
train? Ninety-two miles in ninety
three minutes, one mile being made III
forty-siX seconds, on the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad.
What is the fastest time made be.
tween Jersey City and San Francisco
Three days seven hours thirty-nine
minutesand sixteen seconds. Spe
cial theatrical train, 1876.
What are the chances of fatal accid
ents in railway travel? One killed il
10, 100000. Statistics show that more
are killed by falling out of windows
than in railway accidents.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
What Does Johnny Read2

ooh, everything" says his father
proudly. Johnny is perfect book
worm, and we just have to drive him
away from his books"
Sorry to hear it, master Johnny a
live boy has no business to be Il book
worm. tits no more sign of smart
boy to be a great reader than it is of Il
strong man to be great eater. Ono
may read too much as we'll rs eat too
much, and the brain as well as the
stomach be loaded with undigcstcd
food that is only an injury to it. 1t is
not what you eat, but what you digest,
that makes you strong. 1t is not the
food in your stomach, but the food
taken up by the wonderful machin-
cry of your body and made over into
blood, and bone and nerve, and sinew,
that keeps up the daily growth OF
your body, and builds you up into Il
man. And just so the food which you
give your mind must be taken up and
worked over, and become part of the
mind itself, or it is good for nothing.
If it has no nutrition in it, nothing to
make new thoughts and new ideas, il
it cannot give something to the mind,
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
What the Deacon was Good For.

A. E. Dickinson, editor of the Reli-
gious Herald, of Richmond, Va, was
telling the Philadelphia Baptist Asso-
citation the other day how necessary it
was to enlist the active services of ev-
cry member of the congregation, when
some one pertiently asked "What are
you going to do with man that can't
do anything?"
"That's q mistake" returned the re-
verened journalist. Every man is OF
some use. If he can't do one thing he
can do another. The point is to find
out just what he is fit for, and having
found out put him at it. This recalls
an actual experience I once had in a
backwoods congregation in Virginia.
1t was my first visit among the people
and I was anxious to make it success
full. It should be remembered that
church in the backwoods means a
gathering of all the people and good
many dogs. After the opening hymn
1 called on old Deacon Blank 10 lead
us in prayer.
"Taint no use askin' me-" he said ;
az can't do it,"
Suppose you start the next hymn,
then"
"Can't sing, either"
"How about taking up the collec-
ton? 1 guess you can manage that!'
mo, Pm a bad hand at getting
around. Better get some one else"
Noticing that the old fellow car
ried a stout walking-stick, an idea was
suggested.
"Well, brother, do you think you're
able to keep out the dogs?"
"You bet I air." he confidently re-
piled. Then, taking seat ut the
door, he battled with the brutes
throughout the meeting, and, after
it was over, more than one of the con-
grcgation was followed home by yelp-
ing ours with broken limbs.
Evory man has his sphere of useful
ness. s.-Philadclohia Bulletin.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08

One day modest, gentle pilgrim
over eighty years of age, was looking
on Fulton street for hardware store
once known to her. Not being able to
find it, and from feebleness becoming
more confused, she entered another
store to make inquiries. Having been
rightly directed, she pursued her
quest.
A young man standing at the coun-
ter had been much interested in her in
quiries, and by her winning face and
niunror. He asked the proprietor if
he could tell him who she was, for he
felt like sending her a Thanksgiving
present. 1t was so ordered by provi-
dence that her name and address were
on the books of the establishment, as
she supplies them at times with little
articles of her own make !; therefore it
was given to the boy who gladly start
ed off. He told his story to few
schoolmates and his teacher, the re-
suit being a barrel of provisions,
enough to last the old lady nearly all
winter-potatoes, cabbages, tea, sugar,
apples, etc., capped off by large
homemade mince pie!
When sent to her tenement, she re-
fused to take it, certain it was mis-
take but the cartman would leave it
and the old lady was dumb with joy
and astonishment.
She said to me: "Why, T never had
such thing to happen to me in all
my life before. I can only keep say
ing, Great are'thy tender mercies, O
Lord Thou openest thy hand and sat
isfest the desire of every living
thing"
How many boys and girls could
Tighten up the dwellings and hearts of
poor, aged people during the holidays,
if they would but seek out the truly
needy and deserving, who are never
found clamoring at the door of public
and private charities ? A very small
sum from each one of half dozen will
fill barrel with wholesome food, and
fill a lonely dwelling with gladness.-
Christian ut Work.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
Sunday-Sch0Ol Books Deteri0rating

"That Sunday-school books have
very generally lost their distinctively
religious character" says secular
paper, "is q feature of the times"
He then says: "That it is deemed
sufficient that they have moral ten
dency, and they mostly consist of nov
els.n
This witness is true. And many OF
the novels are poor trash. We could
give the names of men and women
whose stories are found in most of the
Sunday-school libraries, and who have
made fortunes by. writing them,
where the fact that the books are not
immoral is all that can be said in their
favor.
The free use of the books found in
many Sunday-school libraries is per,
nicious to children. One of the prom
inent members of a Methodist Episco'
pal church, to our knowledge, has
long refused to allow his children to
bring home books from the library, he
preferring to select and purchase fol
them.
A boy who was punished for reading
tlimsy novel OH Sunday astonished
his mother on the. following Sabbath
by bringing home the same book from
the Sunday-school library. A few
good works of fiction worthy the
name of moral will not injure such
libraries-may, indeed, be an advan-
tage to them-but when the majority
are of that class, and when cheap
wishy-washy stories that weaken the
mind and, instead Of introducing the
germs of manly virtue, perpetuate
puerile sentimentality, constitute the
bulk of such libraries, their influence
becomes more than doubtful.
The Richmond Religious Herald
says: "The subject of Publications
was before the Presbyterian Synod in
North Carolina, and a very sprightly
speaker arose and spoke as follows:
Some of our Sunday-school publica-
tons are of Il questionable character.
Not long ago I was glancing over one
of these, when 1 happened to light
upon an account of some matters in
Texas and pretty soon found myself
in the midst of very graphic account
of a fight between man and bear.
Presently I came to this sentence :
GAS this book is intended for Sunday
reading, we must make this story OF
the bear-fight short" ,"
We commend greater care in the
choice of books and in appointment of
the committees who select the books.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08

or awaken something in it, then it is
chaff, rubbish, poison, anything but
food. Half q dozen lines of the right
sort, read in the right way, are worth
volumes Of trash, or even of good
sense carelessly read and then fC Crgot-
ten.
Don't throw away your books, John
ny, but learn to go through them as
the miner goes through bis painful of
sand and quartz, watching for the
gleam of gold and carefully picking
out the precious bits.
And we should like to say to
Johnny's father and mother, do not
rest satisfied while your boy breads
everything" 1t is a direful day for
you have neglected to direct and cul-
tivate his taste until he has come to
be a mere devourer of the stories OF
wild, improbable adventure and ex-
citing fiction, which is poured out
like a flood for the destruction of our
boys but even yet you can do some
thing to counteract the evil if you are
willing to work for it-taking your
child with you into the field OF art, of
history, and of science, which may
be made as charming to the unfolding
mind as the regions of romance.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08

sleep through cold night night I'm,
der Il bush by the roadside from sheer
lack of money to pay for his lodgings.
If he had lost heart then, the New
England pulpit would have lost the
sturdiest Puritan of these modern
days. Cody mothers also can bring
their testimonies of the tears, the
prayers, the self-denials, and the faith
full trainings of sons and daughters
whose after careers have brought hon
or and joy to the parental heart. The
love-tears soaked both the soil and the
seed, or there had been no harvest.
We pastors, too, have our experiences
we have often known what it was to
60 forth weeping, bearing our load OF
seed, and to come back singing, laden
with the sheaves. God never makes
his choicest blessings too cheap. Let
every young minister who means to
reach the highest usefulness lay his
account to one thing: his sweetest
pleasures will be wrought out of his
sharpest pains, and hardships will
pioneer his richest harvests.
AS this world is only q training
school for a better world, Gods dis
cipline commonly runs along these
same lines. The seeding in sorrow
brings the reaping in song. Some Of
my readers may be now treading the
burrows of aff1iction with moistened
eyes and trembling steps. Good
friends, do not let your tears blind
your eyes, either to Gods love or your
own duty, When sorrow is allowed
to settled in the heart, it often turns
the heart into stagnant fen Of bitter
waters, in which sprout all manner OF
noXious reeds of murmuring and self
ishness and unbelief. Turn that sor-
row outward into a current of SYM
pathy with others, and it may drive
many a wheel of benevolence. Tears
are often wonderful fertilizers of the
soul; they are the heart-water that
grows some sweet graces, just as the
irrigating brooks in Nevada turn bar
ren sand into a garden. Sow on, ye
suffering ones you will be the better
men and women for this severe school.
ing. If faith grows, and unselfisl
love grows, and patience grows, then
sorrow will end in song, and weeping
will bring the reaping.-1he Rev. Z.
l.. Cuyler.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
True Liberty.

How false is the conception, how
frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous
phantom which men call liberty
There is 10 such thing in the universe.
There never can be. The stars have
it not the earth has it not; all men
have the mockery and semblance Of it
only for their heaviest punishment.
The enthusiastic would reply that by
liberty he meant the law of liberty.
Then why use the single and misun-
derstood word? Ifby liberty youmean
the chastisement of the passions, dis
cipline of the intellect, subsection of
the will if you mean the fear of in
hicting, the shame of committing, a
wrong; if you mean respect for all
who are in authority, and con-
sideration for all who are in depen-
dency; veneration for the good, mer-
cy to the evil, sympathy for the weak
If you mean, in word, that service
which is defined in the liturgy Of the
English Church to be ''perfect free
dom," why do you name this by the
same word by which the luxurious
mean license, and the reckless mean
change-by which the rogue means ra-
pine, and the fool equality; by which
the proud mean anarchy, and the ma
lignant mean violence? Call it by
any name rather than by this, but its
best and truest test is obedience.-RlS-
lin.
For, brethren, yc have been called
unto liberty only use not liberty for
an occasion to the flesh, h,-I'aM.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08

In a little book on "Evangelistic
Work." by Rev. Arthur It. Pierson,
we find the author indulging in the
most melancholy reflection in regard
to the slow rate OF conversion to
Evangelical Christianity, both at
home and abroad. The writer says -
Those who have made study of the
matter, taking survey of the whole
area of Protestant and Evangelical
Christendom, and the average acces-
sions by conversion for the haf-cen-
tury past, tell US that the increase is
about seven converts yearly to every
one hundred church members. If
this be true-and it tallies with such
conclusions as we have been able to
make from Il tolerably broad induc-
ton from facts,-we are making such
slow progress toward the worlds
evangelization that we are gaining
from the world only about four new
converts year for every hundred pro-
fessional disciples.
At such rate, even had we unlim-
tied time for the work, it would take
half millennium of years for the thir-
ty millions of Protestant Christians to
reach the half of the race now with
out the gospel. The melancholy fact
is that the population Of the world is
more rapid in its increase and displace-
ment than the church is in its evange-
liZing march. With all the progress
made, after all the triumphs of the
gospel, and Notwithstanding all the
open doors and multiplied facilities of
communication and impression, the
host of the unsaved is undoubtedly
vaster to-day than it has been at any
previous age of human history.
These are not the only conditions
that complicate the great problem.
The Gouch itself lacks picty, and
therefore poper. We have conceded
that one-half the race is already
evangelical; but is this true? There
are millions nominally connected with
Romish, Greek, and Oriental, and
Protestant, and Occidental communi-
ties, and even churches who are sunk
and buried in ignorance, superstition,
and virtual idolatry.' There are mil
lions more who have form of godli-
ness, but deny the power thereof; and
vet millions more who, in the very
blaze of gospel light, live in irreligion,
immortality, and intidelity.
Such, then, is the problem, and such
some of the factors and elements
which enter into and complicate it.
The host of the unsaved is vast
multitude. Practical indifference as
to the peril of lost souls is eating like
dry rot at the very foundations of
evangclistic effort; and who is suffi-
cient for these things?
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
Putting Away the Stove.

When putting away stove for the
summer. first clean it out well. Be-
fore taking it down, while there is a
coal fire in it, throw III u handful of
salt. When the fire is out and the
stove cold, take out the ashes, and with
Il coal chisel remove the clinkers,
which will have been loosened by the
salt. Place some large, heavy news
papers on the floor under the funnel,
extending from the chimney hole to
the hole in the stove where the piping
fits on, also around the stove to pre-
vent any SCOT falling on the carpet.
Move out the stove, keeping the piping
on until the funnel is out of the CHM
ney hole about two inches. Take the
funnel carefully from the stove, and
carry it into the yard, shake it into
the ash barrel, and lay aside. Clean
out of the stove as much of the SCOT
around the drum and back as can be
conveniently removed. With Il brush
broom brush out the inside, taking
care to keep mouth and nose covered
while doing it. If the lining is ad-
Unstable, take out and do up each piece
separately III newspaper, and you will
not he so likely to have it broken
when wanted for use. Take off doors,
feet, and whatever can be readily re-
moved to tighten its weight, and have
it carried to the place it is to occupy
for the summer. Put OH the feet,
doors, ETC., and it is ready for the final
oiling or backing, whichever is de-
sired. The usual way is to 60 over
the whole surface of the stove with
kerosene, being careful that the oil
goes into every crevice. This keeps
the stove from rusting. Another and
by far better way, is to cut up the
quantity of polish wished, and i'll
stead of water, use warm melted lard.
Rub the mixture thoroughly over ev-
cry part of the stove and funnel.
This way has been tested by a friend
of ours with excellent success for
some years. If the stove is to be put
into Il closet, to be sure, the backing
can he done before it is placed away.
When the stove is BACKED put in the
inside on the crate the packages of
lining, and in the lower part the
wrench, and the funnel close by. Be
sure that the place in which it is stored
is perfectly dry, or will have cause you
to regret ever taking it down. DO not
on amy account place it away. in a
damp cellar or Il shed that is leaky
rather let it remain up all summer,
no matter how small the room may be.
If stove is put away in a dry place,
and cleaned according to the direc:
tions given, when taken out in the fall
it will be in excellent order to put up
| for the winter.-American CultivGtOr.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
How TO Kill Grass and Weeds.

If the battle against the weeds is
kept up until the end of the growing
season, for a few years, the expense
will be very much lessened. 1t is q
great mistake to give the weeds O
chance to seed in the autumn. Many
are careful to keep the weeds down the
first Of the season, but cease their eff.
forts when they think it is no longer
necessary to keep them down for the
benefit of the present crop. They give
the weeds a chance to seed and the
grass time to increase and strengthen
its roots for another year. How often
we see farmers fight the battle with
twitch grass, hoeing five or six times
in May and June, and at the very
time when they might kill it let
it rest, and, by SO doing, give it q
chance in the autumn to fill the ground
with roots, so that the following year
the battle must be fought over again,
with no better success. Thus year af-
ter year the ground is filled with this
troublesome grass, and the belief is en-
tertaiued that it can be killed only by
digging out all the roots; when the
fact is, there are but few troublesome
plants so easily killed, if properly un-
derstood.
The time to kill it is not in the spring,
but in the summer. No amount of
spring hoeing will kill it, because the
roots at that season will live without q
top for many weeks; but during Au-
gust, if the root is deprived of its top,
it will die. Consequently, if the top
is cut off just below the surface of the
ground at that time, it is very sure to
die. To make sure work of it, it is
best to hoe the ground over the last OF
July, and again a week or ten days
later. A sharp hoe should he used and
care should be taken not to leave the
end Of a single root above the ground,
for, if not cut below the surface, it does
not decay, but dries, and thus pre-
serves life at the bottom; but when
cut below the surface the whole root
will decay, if left undisturbed until
warm until weather is over. On this
point we speak with confidence, be.
cause we have given it thorough
trial l.-IuSSuchuSettS PLOlUn1011.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
How to Reach the Masses.

The selfish and luxurious tendency
of Christians was, to go to their COM
Portable places of worship, whereas
their first duty was to 60 and fetch the
people. 1t did not matter how they
did it, where there was a will there
was a way, and if they could drive
Christians into the open-air, they
would be sure to find Il way. A wise
word on this subject had been spoken
by Mr.. Moody at a convention held to
consider how to reach the lapsed mass
es. After oil the learned Divines had
spoken at great length and with great
fluency and wisdom for about six
hours, Moody, rose and said: "Well,
brethren, the time has come to close
this convention. We have only three
minutes left, but 1 can tell you my
views. If you want to get at the
lapsed masses you must go and fetch
em."--Hugh Price Hughes.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-08
A Point in Manners.

Learn to be man of your word.
One of the most disheartsning of all
things is to be associated in All under,
taking with a person whose word is
not to be depended upon-and there
are plenty of them in this wide world,
people whose promise is as slender a
tie as SPIDERS web. Let your given
word be as u hcmpen cord chain OF
wrought steel, that will bear the heav-
lest sort of strain. 1t will go far IN
making a man of you; and real man
is the noblest work OF God; not q
lump of moist putty, moulded and
shaped by the last influence met with
that was calculated to make all i'm
preston but man of forceful, ener-
gized, self-reliant ana reliable charcter'
a positive quantity that can be calcll-
lated upon.-CHristian Standard.