davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
THE CHINESE AND THE COMETS
Ancient Accounts of Sui-Sins OF
Brush. stars.

DiscurslNe Essays.
During thousands of years in the history
of man, the ignorance of the human mind,
even among nations of high culture, from
the highest in rank to the most humble,
has been such that when physical phen
omepa have presented themselves to obser-
vation, the character of which was not
properly understood, kings and great men
of all nations have fancied that such ap-
pearances have been sent as an omen 10
indicate the approach of some extraordi-
nary event or some impending calamity.
They have imagined these phenomena TO
have been produced by Nature expressly
to communicate some important incident
connected with their good or i'll fortune or
with their lives Hence the state of
national opinion in nearly all countries,
and from ancient times regarding the ap-
pearapce of comets. In the present day,
notwithstanding the advances made in
physical astronomy, considerable diversity
of views exist as 20 the origin of
these cosmical bodies. Many myriads
are supposed, by some astron-
omers to circulate in the solar sys-
tenn, though less than a thousand have
been accurately observed in Europe in
their passage through known constella-
tions; while the orbits of scarcely four hun
dred have been calculated from direct
observations made with the required accu-
racy Out of this number the mean dis
apce of fourteen comets from the sun,
ascertained to the present time, is found to
he less than that of the planet Saturn.
The most ancient and authentic accounts
of the appearances of comets which, in the
Chinese tongue are called sui-sing, literally
signifying brush-stars or broOm-stars, are
given in the registers and records OF tie
Chinese comprehended in period of
nearly four thousand years. These recorfs
contain a regular series of eclipses, of the
appearance of comets and other astronOmi-
cal phenomena, extending over period OF
1858 years, all the eclipses of which were
calculated and represented in diagrams
before they occurred. and were carefully
observed and registered. The Chinese eagle
of sixty years dates from the reign of the
Emperor Fie-hoi, 1857 B. G. Hwang ii, in
26O8, B. c., built an observatory for the ac-
curate observation OF celestial phenomena
aud the correction of the Chinese calendar.
The metonic cycle of the Greeks was
known to them more than two thousand
years anterior to its discovery by Meto in
Greece. Want of accuracy in the predic-
tion of eclipses by the astronomers was, by
law of the empire, punishable with
death, at time when it was necessary for
the authorities to obtain the most correct
information in relation to the periodical
occurrence of the equinoxes, the solatices,
eclipses, the appearance of comets and
other phenomena, both for civic, political
and religious purposes Hence the high
degree of advancement they had attained
in astronomy many centuries anteceden
to the foundation of the most ancient and
celebrated Greek cities or the establish
ment of any of the Hellenic states
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
~ gOriental POliteness.

The Gazette de France publishes some
curious notes upon the etiquette of the
East. For instance, Turkish offendi,
when speaking to another about himself,
always says your servant" your valet" or
"your slave" and to the other he says
"your high" or "your eminent personality"
Instead of saying II saw you at the theatre
the other night" he would always say
AT the theatre the other night l saw the
dust of your shoes'-after all, a rather
doubtful sort Of compliment. But here is
the Turkish form of invitation to dinner
my Generous Master, NY Respected
Lord This evening, if it pleases Allah,
the sun of worlds, approaching the king
dom of shades, shall put his foot into the
stirrup of speed. you are invited to en-
tighten US with the luminous rays of your
face, which rivals the sun. Your arrival,
like the zephyr of spring, will drive away
from us the somber night of solitude and
isolation"
And here is the formula for an invitation
to a soiIee or raki party:
"My Noble and Respected Friend: This
evening, when the silvery bark, the moon,
now fourteen days old, shall float upon the
surface of the blue sky, spreading around
love and tenderness, we shall be reunited
at the village Roumili Hissar, in the place
called Hozietti. Mollah, locality full of
delights, and all the night until the awak-
ing Of the dawn we there shall taste the
joys of dry water snd wet fire (cOgnac and
raki). We will not admit of delay of
the thickness of hair. May the power of
sails and oars hasten your arrival, which
will be source of joy for all your friends"
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17

sisted upon walking eighteen miles day.
In short time he was dead Above all
O man must not become frightened There
were three men who came out from Eng
land, and on the voyage the people on
board the vessel frightened them. telling
them that they would surely die. The men
made their last wills and testaments
and expected % die. Shortly after land
ing they were taken with fever They
gave up all hope. The missionaries tried
to arouse them. but it proved useless.
They sank down into mood of despair
and died"
The future of the Congo Free State is
very promising. Stanley. the explorer,
estimates the ivory production alone to
amount to $150,000 annually, but of
course ivory cannot be classed as a staple
production The vegetation is luxurious,
and as soon as experienced botanists in
vestigate the country many valuable herbs
will undoubtedly be discovered.
The temperature of the Congo district
is in the dry season, which answers to our
winter, about 72 degs. In the hot season
the average is 80 degs., and the limit
about SO degs. There is always a fine
breeze blowing, so that the weather is
never suffocatingly hot. The country is
fenced in by mountain chains and threaded
with navigable rivers. There are in all
over 1000 miles of waterways in the Congo
district.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
Do Kind Deeds Now.

Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your
love and tenderness sealed up until your
friends are dead. Fill their lives with
sweetness. Speak approving, cheering
words while their ears can hear them, and
while their hearts can be thrilled and made
happier by them. The kind things you
mean to say when they are gone say before
they 60. The flowers you mean to send
for their coffin send to brighten and
sweeten their homes before they leave
them.
If my friends have alabaster boxes laid
away full of fragrant perfumes of sympa-
thy and affection which they intend to
break over my dead body, would rather
they would bring them out in my weary,
troubled hours and open them that l may
be refreshed and cheered by them while l
need them.
would rather have plain coffin with
out flower, funeral with eulogy, than
life without the sweetness of love and
sympathy. Let US learn to anoint our
friends beforehand for their burial. Post
mortem kindness does not cheer the bur-
dened spirit. Flowers on the coffin cast no
fragrance backward over the weary way
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
A Rat Story.

Even rats are not without their good
qualities. Miss Frances Power Cobbe tells
us story of French convict who was re-
formed by a rat-a man who was long the
terror of prison authorities Time after
time he had broken out and made savage
assaults on his ailors Stripes and chains
had been multiplied year after year, and he
was habitually confined in an underground
cell, whence he was only taken to work
with his fellow convicts in the
prison yard but his ferocity long
remained untamed. AT Las it was observed
that he grew rather more calm and docile,
without apparent cause for the change, till
one day when he was working with his
comrades, large rat suddenly leaped from
the breast of his coat and ran across the
yard. Naturally the cry was raised to kill
the rat, and the men were prepared to
throw stones at it, when the convict,
hitherto ferocious, with sudden Outburst
of feeling, implored them to desist and al
low him to recover his favorite. The prison
officials for once were guided by happy
compassion, and suffered him to call back
his rat, which came to his voice and
nestled back in his dress. The convict's
gratitude was as strong as his rebelllous
disposition had hitherto proved, and from
that day he proved submissive and orderly.
After some years he became the trusted
assistant of the jailers, and finally was
killed in defending them against mutiny
of other convicts The love of that humble
creature finding place in his rough heart.
bad changed his whole character. Who
shall limit the miracles wrought by affec-
ton, when the love of a rat could trans
form a man?
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
BISHOP TAYLOR.
HE TALKS ABOUT HIS MISSIONARY
WORK IN AFRICA.

He Is Now in New York Attending the
the Bishop and His Famous Missionary
Steamer, the Henry Reed.
The African mission of Bishop William
Taylor, who is now in New York attend
ing the big Methodist conference. has
been singularly successful. He was ap-
pointed a missionary bishop at the last
general conference, and is the only man in
the Methodist church holding that office.
Since the beginning of his work 5000
natives have embraced Christianity under
his ministrations. He has under his
supervision some fifty preachers, sixteen
of whom are women. Bishop Taylo states
that Liberia. with its settled communities
of Christian Africans, with its organized
government recognized by the nations,
and it's social regulations, will be used by
him as the base and support of his future
operations. He has arranged for opening
a dozen industrial schools, the chiefs of
the different tribes visited having agreed
to plant and attend to the first crops of
food required by the mission. to furnish
building sites and to erect buildings.
Bishop Taylor agrees to provide teachers,
preachers and all other things necessary
to put the mission in a self supporting
way.
ITO adequately understand the difficult
ties which missionary in Africa has to
surmount," he says, lit is merely neces-
sary to state that the languages and dia-
lects of the natives are innumerable. The
Bible has been translated into sixty-six
different tongues, yet this is but small
proportion of the actual number of lam
guages spoken. 1t is estimated that there
are nearly 600. can say from experience
that it is no play to pick up language
in the study of which all the rules of your
own grammar simply help to puzzle you
was appointed to my work in Africa four
years ago, and sailed from New York on
Jan. o. 1885. | took with me ffty-two
missionaries. After short stay in Liver
pool set sail for Africa, and landed at
St. Paul de Loanda, on the west coast,
where a large mission house had been
prepared for me- While staying there
many of my workers became i'll. One of
them died because he would not take
quinine, which is the most effectual rem
edy for African fever. Finally got the
permission of the governor of Angola to
establish five mission stations-the first
at Loanda the second at Dondo, the third
at Uliangre-a-pepo, the fourte at Ma
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
Tradesmen in Japan.

The boys seen in nearly all the places OF
skilled labor suggest what is the fact, that
apprentices begin to learn their trades usu
ally much earlier than in our country, SO
that when majority is attained the mas
terry of the crafts is thorough. Another
striking feature of the japanese system is
that of heredity. Skill runs in family
lines. Not few of the famous artisans OF
the present decade are descendants in the
ninth, tenth, and even twentieth genera
tions of the founder of the establishment.
1 once employed a carpenter in Fukui, who
was proud of his ancestry of wood-wOrkers
through tw enty- seven generations; and the
temple records show such boasting to be
true, though. often adoption interrupts the
actual blood line. At a papermakers
establishment in Awotabi, in Echizen, l
dined with the proprietor, whose fathers
first established the industry millennium
ago. the national history showing also that
the Coreans before the ninth century of our
era, visited the place.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
PEACE.

"Who knows how often he offendeth?'
When Conscience's white light burns dim
In doubt of Right that word descendeth
Alone, from Him.
We cannot tell we see but blindly
Thro' the strange cross-lights given to all
By rules than all our own more kindly
We stand, or fall.
so If, in this inspired disorder
We seem at times to lose our way.
And by mans laws to cross the border,
We can but pray.
We can but say we know not wherefore.
Mans evil may be oft Gods good;
We think he understands; and therefore
'Tis understood.
We can but feel the mystic teaching
Has told us over and again
For Gods commands to slight the preaching
Commands of men.
Strange mystery twas so forever;
Then let the yearning spirit rest
Through the long trouble of endeavor,
Upon His breast.
Know that he knows; all else VIII follow
As surely as the light the dark,
And as the flight of hawk or swallow
Rests on the Ark.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
LOVE DOES NOT GROW OLD.

When ! was twenty she was ten,
Within my arms held her then
She was a child-it was not wrong,
Since then seems not so very long.
Now she is twenty-to be bolder
! ought, since | am so much older
And yet feel somewhat afraid
OF thoughts that come in one decade.
Candy and dolls used to bring,
And get a kiss for everything;
And ct for naught would turn back
This havoc of the almanac.
As childish gifts are out of place,
watch the roses on her face;
$50 you remember ?" Yes" said she,
THAT YOU were then so kind to me"
At once ! grew discreetly wise,
some words spoke lit up her eyes,
put them bravely. Well, what then?
Within my arms she drops again
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
FRIENDS.

Its an overcome sooth for age an youth
An it brooks wi nae denial -s~~ CIV
That the dearest friends are the auldest friends,
And the young just on trial.
There's a rival bauld Wi young an auld,
And it's him that has bereft me
For the surest friends are the auldest friends,
And the maist o. mine hae left me.
There are kind hearts still, for friends to fill,
And fools to take and break them;
But the nearest friends are the auldest friends,
And the graves the place to seek them.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
THE WAsHERWOMAN'S SONG.

Wiring out the old, wiring out the new,
Wiring out the black, wiring out the gray,
Wiring out the white, Wiling out the blue
And thus | wiring my life away.
An occupation strange is mine;
Al least il seems to people droll
That while I'm working at the line
I'm going. too, from pole to pole.
Where'er go strive to please,
From morn to night rub and rub;
I'm something like Diogenes-
almost live within the tub.
To acrobats who vault and spring
In circuses take a shine;
They make their living in the ring.
And by the wringer / make mine.
Ny calling's humble I'll agree,
But ] am no cheap calico
A. some folks are who sneer at me;
I'm something that will wash, you know
smile in calm. / strive in storm,
With life difficulties | cope,
Ny duties cheerfully perform;
Ny motto: While there's life there's soap
Wiring out the old wiring out the new,
Wiring out the black, wiring out the gray,
Wang out the white, wiring out the blue
And thus l wiring my life away.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17


lange and the fifth at Lulaaberg. Dondo
Is considerable town, situated about 240
miles from Loanda. 1t is laid out in long
streets. and has sidewalks, lamps and
many other improvements.
***
1t is necessary in prosecuting mission
ary work in the interior of Africa to use
the waterways Of the continent. Bishop
Taylor has small steamer on the Congo
river in which he makes periodical jour-
neys into the country. 1t is built in Sec
tions, and can be taken apart and trans
ported from one stream to another to suit
his convenience. His work is confined
mostly to that part Of Africa known as
Congo Free State. According to Stanley's
estimate, it embraces over 10000
square miles. and has population of 3d.
600, ,000 The natives are barbarians, and
it is said that some of them have been
guilty of cannibalism. When king or
chief dies they kill ten or twelve persons
in most savage manner, and adorn their
houses with the skulls. They believe in
fetiches and witchcraft.
When a man dies they believe that
some one has bewitched him, and they
try to find out who it was, that they may
put him to death.
The country along the upper Congo is
ravaged by Arabs in pursuit of slaves. In
travelling along the upper Congo one may
see villages that once contained 5000 and
5000 inhabitants desolate and in ruins.
The Arabs surrounded the villages and
burned them, having either killed the
people or carried them into slavery. From
the mouth Of the Congo for nearly 130
miles the river is navigable by the largest
vessels. Then como the falls. or rapids,
which extend about $50 miles The de-
scent is 900 feet. When Bishop Tay,of's
steamer, the Henry Reed, ascended the
river it was taken to pieces at the foot of
the falls, and one piece was given to each
native to carry. With it was also given a
scrap of paper describing his load. At the
end of their journey they came to the
bishop. saying:
Master. here is my load; look at the
paper; see 1t is all right. Now give me
my pay and will go home"
To do justice to their honesty it may be
stated that not a arivet was lacking. Above
the falls steamer can go 1900 miles on
the main stream, or 5000 miles on the
stream and it's branches.
"a nan who goes out to the Congo as q
missionary must be not less than 25
years old, of sound health, and careful
about adapting himself to the exigencies
of the weather." said Bishop Taylor
to your, correspondent. Total absti-
nence is an absolute condition Of
health. A man must learn what not
to do. A young man came there and -
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
GEOGRAPHIC STKCTURES.
From Whence the Forces That Have
Elevated Mountains.

Within the past twelve or fifteen years
it has become widely accepted view
among the geOlOgists Of Europe and Amer
lea that the forces which have elevated
mountains are derived from strains set up
in the outer envelopes of the earth by the
secula cooling and shrinkage of its interior;
but it should be borne in mind that geOlOg-
ical science has f1ourisbed most in those
countries where the best known and most
thoroughly studied mountains and ridges
are greatly plicated. To the European
geologist the Alps and the Jura have
always been the most commanding and in
teresting of geographic structures. To the
Briton the Highlands of Scotland and
Wales have been equally absorbing fields
of research, in which the solution of
the problem of mountain building has
been attempted. In America geology had
its first and most rapid growth in the APP
palachian region, and, when it sought fresh
fields in the Pacific slope, it irst found
them in the coast ranges and in the Sierra
Nevada. All of these regions are more or
less plicated and it is not to be wondered
at that a universal conviction should have
grown up that plication and mountain
building are only different names for one
anu VIC sduC tAluk, VI tuao thO pioOSeo
which built the mountains folded the
strata at the same time. But as soon az
the geologists penetrated the vast noun
tain belt which lies east of the Sierra and
west of the Great Plains, and
proceeded to careful study of
the forms there presented, a wholly different
state of affairs was revealed. Not a trace
of systematic plication has yet been
found there. The terms "anticlinal" and
"synclinal" have almost dropped out of the
vocabulary of the Western geologist. The
strata are often flexed, but the type of the
flexure is the monOcline.
The Rocky Mountain region discloses
whatever it has to tell us about physical
geology with marvellous clearness and en-
phasis, but there is no teaching more clear
or more emphatic than the absence of
plicating forces from among the agencies
which have built its magnificent ranges
and hoisted its great plateaus. They have
been lifted by vertical forces acting
beneath them. The country at large shows
no traces of widespread, universal hori-
zontal compression; on the contrary, it
discloses the absence of such stress.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
Helena, Montana. Thursday, May II, 1888

tographs taken of the horse in motion,
and | began to buy fast horses and breed
them. 1t was very expensive amuse-
ment at first. but it is now profitable, and
think that it is useful as we'll We are
raising much finer class of horses in the
United States now than ever before, and
believe that by proper breeding we can
double the working powers and the stay
ing powers of our work horses. l believe
the thoroughbred makes the best work
horse as well as the best running or
trotting horse"
"How about fast horses?"
II do not think there are any very fast
trotters who have not a trace of thorough
bred blood. and l don't believe that any
horse without such trace has ever made
Q mile in three minutes"
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
IN CHURCH.

] feel a solemn sanctity.
sweet rest of soul is mine,
Ny heart abides in pious peace
NV bonnet sets divine!
Grace. like a river, fills my soul,
In chattened joy sit,
! feel religions deepest power
My sacque's perfect fit.
A holy fervor penetrates
Nv souls remotest hooks.
An earnest, chastened, fervid joy
How neat that ribbon looks!
The good man tells of Christian peace
The organs anthem swells,
bathe in streams of pure delight
NV dress cost more than Nells.
holy rest! o Sabbath calm!
o chsstened peace serene!
] feel thy deep abiding spell
How dowdy is Miss Green
! feel pure religious glow,
o rapture underlined
know my bonnet looks so nice
To those who sit behind!
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
Blessed be the Peacemaker.
| From the Boston Globe. |

Fred D., five years old, had to learn
a verse to recite at Sunday school. His
verse was, Blessed are the peacemakers"
He did not exactly understand what it
meant, and his mother explained it to him,
telling him that whenever he saw two boys
quarrelling or fighting, he must be little
peacemaker and try to stop them.
The next night as he was being un-
dressed he said: Mamma, Iwas little
peacemaker to-day"
"Were you ?" said his mother. "how?"
81 saw two little boys fighting in the
street and stopped them"
That's a good boy" said his mother,
giving him kiss; "and how did you part
them?"
"Why, just ran up and fred stones at
them until they stopped fighting and ran
away"
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
The Age of Fishes.
From the Swiss Cross. |

Crows are commonly said to live for 100
years, and turtles are said to have even
longer life; but if Prof. Baird be right, the
greatest animal longevity is possessed by
fishes. Prof. Baird says that as fish has
no maturity, there is nothing to prevent it
from living iedefnitely and grow continu-
ally. He cites in proof pike living in
Russia whose age dates back to the
fifteenth century. In the Royal Aquarium
at st. Petersburg, there are fish that have
been there 140 years.
Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-05-17
An Old Virginia Law.

A relic of the ancient time was revived in
Virginia recently, when counsel for man
about to be tried for murder asked that the
indictment be quashed because the foreman
OF the grand jury that returned it was the
owner Of grist mill The old law forbade
the possessor of a mill from serving on
Vry.-Nashville American.