davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

UPWARD GROWTH OF CONTINENTS
The notion that the ground is naturally
steadfast is an errOr-an error which arises
from incapacity of our senses to appreci-
ate any but the most palpable of it's move
ments. The idea of terra firma belongs
with the ancient belief that the earth was
the centre of the universe. It is, indeed,
by their mobility that the continents sur
vive the unceasing assaults OF the ocean
waves and the continuous down wearing
which the rivers and glaciers bring about.
Were it not that the continents grow up
ward, from age to age, at rate which
compensates for their erosion, there would
be no land fit for theatre of life; if they
had grown too slowly, their natural ene-
mics, the waves and rain, would have
kept them to the ocean level if too fast,
they would lift new surfaces into the re-
gions of eternal cold. AS it is incessant,
growth has been so we'll measured to the
needs, that for hundred million years,
more or less, the lands have afforded the
stage for prosperous life.
This upward growth, when measured in
terms of human experience, is slow; 1t
probably does not succeed, on the average,
one foot in three or four thousand years.
The rate varies in times and places. Un-
der varying conditions, as when a glacial
sheet is imposed on the continent-as it
was, in the Immediate past, in the north
ern part of North America-a wide area
of the ice laden land sank beneath the
sea, to recover it's level when the depress-
ing was removed. Still, the tendency Of
the continents is to elevation, and even
the temporary sinking of one portion Of
their area is probably in all cases compen-
sated by uplifts in another part by which
new realms are won from the sea.-[Scrib-
ner's Magazine.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

ISOLATION OF THE BATTLE FIELD
It was an ugly give and take. We could
not not see the enemy, but the whis and
ting of bullets proved that they were not
far away. AS the excitement increased
one of men in his haste fired off his ram
rod, and held up his musket that might
see what he had done. Without thinking I
started to the rear, where, short distance
away, lay musket.
No sooner had I left touching distance
of my company than an irresistible sense
of loneliness and dread seized me. Every
step made the sensation more acute. Soon
I was practically panic stricken. Some
how, however, got the ramrod of the
useless musket, and went back to the line
on IA run. With the return came assur-
ance and courage. I never felt mole alone
or helpless than in those few moments of
isolation. The air seemed full of Kissing,
shrieking demons. I was sure that each
moment would bring death.-[Rev. Clay
MacCauley.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
CAN A MAN BUY HIS OWN WIFE ?

That is a question on which the Massa-
chusetts supreme court has just divided.
Four of the judges say no, three say yes.
It is singular case. A husband NAL
treated his wife. She left him and retain
ed counsel to sue for divorce and alimony.
He proposed that if she would return and
live with him as his wife he would put in
the hands of third person his note for five
thousand dollars, payable to her after his
death. She consented and returned. Soon
afterwards he died, but the payment of
the note was refused by his legal repre-
sentatives. An action was then brought
in her behalf to recover the amount.
1t is we'll known principle that there
must be q good consideration to sustain
the validity of promissory note. 1t
must appear that the person who promises
has received something of value to induce
him to promise.I In this case the agree
ment of the wife to return to her husband
was the consideration which induced him
to make the note of five thousand dollars
for her benefit. 1t was agreed on one side
that this was q valid consid eration in law
and therefore the note was good. On the
other hand it was contended that it was
not valid consideration and hence the
note was worthless. l..--........- .f...
1Ho uIdJOIiGy Vi tHo CUuIV tdhC tio iollCA
view. Here are. the reasons:
The consideration of the note was the
agreement, or the performance of the
agreement, of the wife to life in marital
relations with her husband. 1t was not to
perform some service for him which could
be hired, as to keep his house or nurse
him in sickness, but to give him the fel-
lowship and communion of wife. That
is not a service which the wife can sell or
the husband buy. Perhaps husband can
hire his wife to do anything for him which
a servant can be hired to do, or can buy
of her anything that is the subject of bar
ter; but servant cannot he hired to fill
the marital relation, and the fellowship
of the wife is not an article of trade be-
tween husband and wife.
The minority judges maintained that
the wife had good ground for divorce and
a right to refuse to return to her husband, {,
and that therefore her agreement to return
was good consideration for his promise
to pay her. But the opinion of the major
ity was the judgment of the court, and the
widow did not get the five thousand
dollars.
A similar bargain to this one has been
held good by the New York court of ap-
peals, and it would be held good in Penn
sylvania.-[ New York Herald.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

The HABIT OF STUDYING FACES.-A
face is not mere embellishments or fam
lily device; it is cipher in which are con-
densed ones history and character. So
large and clear are these written that it is
wonder people can err so blindly in their
estimates of each other, and are so sur
prised at being deceived. In the first
meeting there is an exquisite, electric i'm
preston of the real self of the person be-
fore one, and, good or bad, it is we'll to
keep this mental negative for reference.
The habit of studying faces brings out one
convincing fact, that it is i'll disposition or
neglect which prevents most women from
being attractive. The features will be
equally good in two faces, but the play Of
expression and signs of feeling will decide
one to be charming and the other to be the
reverse.
One must discriminate between ill nature
and i'll humor, the latter being matter of
nerves and health, the former of moral de-
feet. A woman of sunny, truthful, un-
selfish disposition, by her very sensitive
ness to mean doing and wrong, may have
a capacity for honest antagonism and scorn
" hich limited natures very foolishly con-
denim as wicked. Or she may have over
taxed nerves which save themselves by
than neuralgia tWinges in changing wealth
er, and spring from the same physical rea-
sons. These things are far different from
the ingram peevishness, narrowness, hard
ness and petty malignity which write out
their harsh characters unmistakably on
the faces of women. In these wide social
exchanges, the railway stations where
every grade of society comes in review,
the sensation is one of regret and surprise !;
it would take so little to make most of
those women at least charming, if they
would only be tidy, good natured and
kindly Shirley Dare.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
WOMEN WORK TOO HARD.

Neither in civilized, semi-civiliZed, nor
savage nations do women get proper re-
Taxation and rest. The savages make-ot
their women creatures only comparable to
beasts of burden. The Comanche warrior
takes better care of his horse than he does
of his wife. The Turk or the Arab either
locks her up as prisoner, or makes of her
slave. In many countries the wife does
all the drudgery of the household, besides
part of the drudgery of the shop, the
mine of the field. There are European
states, the rulers of which hold high heads,
where the sturdy yeoman thinks it we'll
enough to yoke his wife and cow to the
ploW while he trots contentedly behind
the handles. Even in enlightened and
republican France it isno uncommon sight
to see woman hauling, unaided, the
heavy huckster's cart, from which the
man sells the fruits and vegetables and
pockets the receipts.
In this goodly land, indeed, it is some
thing different, but even here the Woman's
work is as hard or harder than is the mans.
The man employed in the factory, when
he quits work stops to rest. The woman
drops her thread in the mill to pick it up
again i'm the home. The farmers wife
gets up before day to get the farmers break
fast and start him atield. His work is
done with the going down of the sun.
Her work lasts all day, and when darkness
comes she sits down and plies her sewing,
or her knitting, or her mending, poor
weary soul to rest herself, while the good
man smokes. This is no fancy picture.
1t is every day life in the thousands of
households. And the women engaged in
the higher occupations, literature, the
arts, ETC., are bound by no lighter thral-
dom, especially if they have homes and
husbands and children. The man of let
ters shuts himself up in his office or his
den, and gives his mind and his time
wholly over to the work in hand. When
it is done he rests until another day brings
its work. The woman of letters is lucky
indeed, if she can concentrate her mind,
for the time being, upon her work. And
when it is done there are thousand and
one demands upon her in her woman's po-
sition of housekeeper, wife and mother,
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
who corroborated it, and added these fur

who corroborated it, and added these fur
ther historical facts:
cat that time Mr.. Arthur's friends had
great difficulty in keeping from him the
threatening letters which poured in upon
him. He was deeply distressed by the un-
fortunate position in which he found him
self, and we dreaded the result If he discov-
cred that hundreds Of letters were addressed
to him charging him with Garfield g
assassination and threatening him with
like fate. I.weH remember receiving at
that time confidential letter from Murat
Halstead, editor of the Cincinnati Com
mercial, in which he warned me that he
had credible information to the effect that
seven men in Boulder county, Colorado,
had solemnly pledged one another to 60 to
Washington and take Arthur's life. TOLD
Mr.. Arthur nothing of the matter, but
wrote to Mr.. Halstead that / hadAo fear
of the Boulder county desperadoes or any
other men who took the trouble to regis
ter solemn oaths and all that sort Of thing,
and that the Vice Presidents only danger
was at the hands of just such cranks as
Guiteau, who would not indHlg in pre-
fatory. threats AMI who4k erese4 He tseould
only be announced by knife thrust of pistol
report. Of that stripe was, the man who
fired into my window upon that night
when he thought Arthur and were to-
pether talking"
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

OPEN EYES AND NERVOUS TENSION
We are told to keep our eyes open, but
it is often we'll to keep them shut. One
of the chief causes of nervous disease is
straining of the eyes and the constant
tension of mind. When stretched out in
the barber's chair do not try to read a
newpaper, but close your eyelids under
the soothing undulations of the brush or the
dreamy sensation of the shampoo. In
railway carriage, instead of staring out
your sockets at the landscape, or over q
brook, fold your arms, bow your head and
listen to the whir of the wheels. In the
concert room, in place of constantly sur
yevine the audience or watching the sing
er, shut your eyes at times and let the
music sink into your soul and rest your
tired nerves.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

naS No one can be aware, until he has
actually tested the matter by experience,
how much the devout study of the Bible
will do for his soul, how it will modify and
spiritualize his tastes, how it will enlarge
his vision of spiritual things, how twill
clarity, simplify, and intensity his faith,
how it will make invisible things real to
him, and enable him to endure, ''as seeing
him who is invisible" The most charm
ing book in this world, beyond all compari-
son, is the Bible to one who studies it
enough to see its charms.-[The Independ-
ent,
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
KEEP YOUR CONSCIENCE CLEAR.

Whoever believes that knavery, cruelty,
hypocrisy, or any other vice, can, under
any circumstances, promote even the
temporal happiness of him who practices
it, is but superficial observer and shall
low reasoner. In the worlds parlance,
men who acquire wealth and influence by
unwarrantable means are called prosper.
GUS. But what is prosperity in the true
and legitimate sense of the word? Web
ster tells US: "Advance or gain in any
thing good" No man can be deemed
truly prosperous whose conscience is i'll at
ease, and whoever enriches himself at the
expense of justice, duty and honor, plunges
his soul, even here, into a state of adverse
ty, which no indulgence of the senses, no
adulteration of time-servers and parasites,
nothing that money can buy or power
command, will effectually or permanent
ly relieve.
Another strong argument in favor OF
doing right is, that out of every hundred
men who seek wealth by dishonorable
roads, ninety-nine come to poverty and
shame. This is a fact, and taken in com:
the small percentage Of aspiring knaves
who win their game, feel in their souls that
it has been dearly won at the sacrifice OF
inward peace and self-esteem should long
have made all the world honest, on selfish
principles.
The retrospective review of a disap'
pointed scamp must I've melancholy in the
extreme. He sees, of course, with terrible
distinctness, how each departure from rec
titude helped to cloud his life, sink him
deeper in misery, and ALLEVIATE him from
the sympathies of the noble and the good.
He is conscious of the besotted blindness
which led him to put his trust in cunning
and chicane, instead of choosing the path
of duty and leaving the consequences to
Providence, is compelled to acknowledge
to himself that roguery is the twin of fol-
ly, and a pure life the best evidence of a
sound brain as we'll as of Christian spirit.
Be assured, therefore, that it is good
worldly policy to keep the conscience clear.
It tends to comfort, content, and produces
real happiness; nor can this fair earth,
and the excellent things with which it
abounds, be thoroughly enjoyed by any
Cresus to whose gold cling the curses OF
the wronged. The closing scenes of life
are, however, the grand test of the wis
dom or folly which has shaped its course.
Sir Walter Scott's dying words tell the
whole story: "Be a good man, Lockhart
nothing else will comfort you when you
come to lie here"
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

men; averaging 27.4 cannon shots to hit
oneman, 145 musket shots to hit one man."
But in this statement the term shit" as
applied, includes the wounded, while the
old saying refers only to the killed. Cen
eral Bragg reported officially only 5000.
Still, Rosecrans need not complain of
this, as Bragg, in turn, generously over
estimates Rosecrans's loss. Any such
error, however, would not affect the pro-
portion of wounds inflicted by the two
arms of service, according to the report
quoted. It seems strange that 10000 ar
tillery missels should kill and wound only
729 men, and that of the cannon pointed
at the Confederate's columns it should take
twenty-seven shots to hit, kill, wound or
scratch one man.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
SEEDS WORTH 500 AN OUNCE.

Few persons have any notion of the fact
that SO per cent. of all the flower seeds sold
in this country come from abroad. More
than half of these are grown in Germany,
where vasts tracts are devoted solely to
this purpose. Travellers say that these
huge farms, with acres upon acres OF as
ters, chrysanthemums, mignonettes, sweet
pease, and so on, all in bloom, are an as
tonishing sight. Imagine whole district,
many square miles in extent, all one con-
tinuous garden. The gathering of the
seeds on these plantations is labor re-
quiring infinite skill and patience. Each
blossom must individually receive the
most careful attention. Take, for instance,
the pansy. On each little plant no more
than two or three flowers must be always
kept in process of going to seed, which IS
to be removed from the bush when it IS
ripe and before it has an opportunity to
scatter itself. Manure-water must be con-
stantly applied, to make the little John
ny-jump-ups" grow bigger-for that is the
way. YOU know, in which the monstrous
pansies one sees in lighthouses are pro-
duced-and great pains must be taken
with the crossing of breeds, so as to obtain
the best possible results. So it is also with
other flowers. The seeds, once harvested,
are bought up by contractors and forward
ed in bulk to the wholesale dealers of Eu-
rope, who send them by the ounce or
pound, to this country. The merchants
here do them up in small packages, mark
ed with their own stamps, and in this
manner they reach the public on this side
of the water. Some of them are enor-
mously expensive. The writer bought,
last season, a microscopicquantity of some
pansy seed which cost at the rate of $1,000
per ounce. But they were we'll worth the
money. The flowers which sprang from
them were vegetable butterflies, counter
feiting those gorgeous insects not only in
the brilliancy of their varied coloring, but
even in the shape and peculiar markings
of their wing-like petals. Fuchsia seeds
of the finest quality bring 500. .0Oan ounce,
and others-such as those of the gloxinia,
cluneraria, coleus and echeveria-fetch yet
higher prices, equal to many times their
weight in gold. A few are so valuable
that they have actually been counted out
at 50 much apiece. THERE'S small num-
ber of gardeners in the United States who
make business of growing select strains
of certain rare plants for the market; but
the supply derived from these sources is
not considerable Chicago Tribune.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

and in fulfilling them the hours that should
be given to rest are occupied. There is
no greater drudge in the world than the
woman who undertakes to do mans work
and woman's work, too. She never rests.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
EVERY ANIMAL ITS OWN DOCTOR.

Animals get rid of their parasites by
using mud, dust, clay, etc. Those suffer-
ing from fever restrict their diet, keep
quiet, seek dark places, drink water, and
sometimes plunge into it. When dog
has lost his appetite he eats that species of
grass known as dogs grass, which acts as
an emetic and purgative. Cats also eat
grass. Sheep and cows, when i'll, seek
certain herbs. An animal suffering from
chronic rheumatism always keeps, as far
as possible, in the sun. The warrior ants
have regular organized ambulances. La.
trielie cut the antennR Of the ant, and
other ants came and covered the wounded
part with transparent fluid secreted IN
their mouths. If a chimpanzee is ever
wounded it stops the bleeding by placing
its hand on the wound or dressing it with
wounded leg or arm hanging on, it com
pletes the amputation with its teeth.
A dog on being stung on the muZzle by
a viper was observed to plunge its head
repeatedly for several days in running
water. This animal eventually recovered.
A terrier hurt his right eye. 1t remained
under counter avoiding light and heat,
although it habitually kept close to the
fire. It adopted general treatment, rest
and abstinence from food. The local treat
ment consisted in licking the upper sur
face of the paw, which it applied to the
wounded eye, again licking the paw when
it became dry. Animals suffering from
traumatic fever treat themselves by the
continued application of cold water, which
M. Delaney considers more efficient than
any other method. In view of these in
teresting facts we are, he thinks, forced
to admit hygiene and therapeutics as pro.
posed by animals may, in the interest of
psychology, be studied with advantage.
Many physicians have been keen OBJ
servers of animals, their diseases, and the
methods adopted by them, in their instinct,
to cure themselves, and have availed Of
the knowledge so brought under their OBJ
servation in the practice.
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18

WHY CORN BREAD IS SCARCE.-Corn
bread, once staple and common article of
food, is coming to be regarded as q luxury.
Not only is this true of the north but also
of the south, where Indian corn was at
one time preferred to wheat for making
bread. A Georgian said in explanation
of the change: 'The complaint that q
really prime article of corn or Indian meal
cannot be obtained in towns and cities is
general. A country miller told me that
he could not produce good corn meal by
the use of modern grinding machinery.
The soft and best favored meal is made
from new corn. This the proprietors Of
large mills refuse to grind. To get good
corn meal the grinding must be done slow
ly, and it must be given time to cool prop
erly before it is moved. This can only be
done in country mills, and the supply is
far behind the demand.
"Besides this, corn meal cannot be kept
long without deteriorating. 1t is not in
the matter of bread making alone, how
ever, that cornmeal has fallen into disuse !;
it is less used for cooking purposes gener-
ally. The great increase in wheat grow
ing, and the improvements in the Hour
making line, together with the high price
of corn and low price of wheat, is in part re-
sponsible for this state of things. Few per-
sons now use corn for economical reasons.
Many, however, would prefer it for con-
siderable portion of the time, if good
article could be procured. The southern
corn is preferred of all other, although the
flint corn raised in New England is an
excellent article; but it requires large
amount of cooking. Corn chat grows in
the prairie regions of the west is the most
undesirable, and as this represents most of
the cereal that is for sale it is not used to
any great extent"
Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-07-18
WHAT Is TIME?

sometimes L nave StOOQ before tne
clock in yonder observatory and watched
the hands as they approached the hour Of
midnight; twelve o'clock strikes, and ]
slip from to-day into tomorrow. Where
has the day gone? Yes, where do these
beating seconds go? So f1eet-Winged that
they are here, they have flown, vanished
into the dim past! Do they travel onward
forever through UNIVERSAL space, as some
have fancied our words and actions 40
Might we by some magic overtake them
and live them o'er again? Vain hope
They are gone irretrievably. Only the
present is ours. What we gave to that
present as it passes will endure forever
but it can never be adulterated or recalled
Have you ever thought of the difference
in this respect between time and space
We are limited by the latter as well as by
the former; we can be in one place only
at time; and if we speak of absolute
space, perhaps we can never revisit the re-
gions we are now passing through, unless
the endoWments of a future life enable US
to track the devious course we are now
pursuing for, owing to the motion of the
solar system, it comes to pass that even al
the end of the year we do not arrive at the
spot where we were twelve months before,
but strike out into before untrodden realms
of comic space. But practically, as far as
place has any interest for us, we are free
to come and 60 at will. We can revisit
old scenes and explore new ones, being
only limited by earth's extent. But with
time how different! Past seasons we can
recall only in memory, future ones we can
anticipate only through our imagination,
So that time is more evanescent and,
perhaps we might say, ideal conception
than space. Both conceptions have, when
we come to analyze them closely, many
elements of mystery. But time partakes
pre-eminently Of the marvellous. The
fraction that is with US now we accept
without thought, but this infnitesmal frac-
ton is linked by indissoluble bands to an
eternity past and to an eternity to come.
The fugitive moments are golden, for
though we shall never see them again,
they are building up for us character and
destiny which shall last forever.