davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16

two hills of corn night and morning. He
uses twelve to fifteen ton of plaster in
winter in the stable, and feeds silage and
grain morning and evening. In summer
he milks the COWS at 6 A. NJ. and g P.
NJ, in winter at 6 A. NJ. and . 80 P. NJ.
The milk is set in submerged cans as
soon as possible after milking. After the
cream is SKINNED it is raised to a tenn
perature of sixty-two in summer and
Sixty-fve in winter to ripen, which gen
orally takes about t~wenty-four hours.
During this process it is frequently
stirred, the aim being to keep 1t at a
uniform temperature. He churns it alta
temperature of sixty-two to sixty-four IN
summer and in winter from siXty-four
to sixty-Seven. He uses a revolving box
churn, and churns on an average about
forty minutes. AS soon as the butter IS
well granulated stop churning, draw off
the buttermilk and her wash the butter
with a weak brine. The butter is then
taken out, salted-one ounce salt to a
pound-worked, put up in one pound
prints and sold.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
A MECHANICS VIEW.
Wages and Living as They Were
Forty Years Ago.

The Springfield Republican publishes
a portion of the address of James Bart
lett, an old citizen of Detroit, at the
semi-centennial of Michigan. Mr..
Bartlett is an intelligent workingman
and no r~hapsodist. He had long been
a machinist in Massachusetts, when
young, and spoke of things within his
own knowledge. His own recollection
went back forty-fve years, for he first
began IN 1912, in a machine shop en-
ploylng about so men on cotton ma
ch1nery for Lowell. He said
1.-The wages of o machinlst IN this
shop We're 81 to $1.25 a day !; n nabob
OF a pattern maker received the sum OF
Sl.5O. They went to work at 5 o'clock
In the morning and worked until 7.3O at
night, with an hour for breakfast
and three-quarters for dinner. 1t was
several years before we obtained eleven
hours a day. 1t has now been ten hour
a day for twenty-five years or more, ana
we are hoping to get the same or higher
pay for working eight hours. L know
the condition of the machinist is better
then when [ first tho guild. He has
better pay, better houses, better educa,
ton, better living; and hope he WILL
keep on improving for the next nifty
years. Large machine shops were start,
ed before 1886. Onein Lowell employed
over 1000 men on cotton machinery.
Now the country is dotted with them:
For my part, I don't want any more OF
the good old times. The present time
is the best we have ever had, though
[ hope not the best we shall ever see.
In fifty years we have reduced our hours
of labor from fourteen to eight hours a
day, our wages are doubled, and the nee
essaries of life are much cheaper Ga
barrel of salt, which cost $3.50 years
ago. has haensqSAG Michigan for rs
%cents). The great curse of drunkenness
is very much diminished. We live i'll bet
ter houses, better warmed and lighted,
and we are better clothed; a high school
education is within the reach of every
child; books are free to all; the poorest
laborer who meets with an accident in
our streets will receive surgical aid
that no king could purchase fifty years
ago. Our. great railroads distribute the
fruits of labor 50 that famines are i'm
possible. Beef killed on the prairie is
sent all owe the country, and supplies
the markets of Europe. Fish from the
salt seas and from our great lakes are
eaten fresh all over the continent, and
tropical fruits are peddled round all our
Streets"
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
DAN EMMETT, THE MINSTREL.
Pleasant RecolIections of His Early
Days.

Dan Emmett, the once renowned and
successful minstrel, is living in Chicago
in poverty. An emissary of the Meas of
that city who called on him a few days
ago found q silver-haired old gentleman
whose face is lined with crows feet,
whose nose is becoming a bit pinched,
and whose hands have grown yellow and
thin" He is se~venty-three years old,
and he began the "nigger business
nearly sixty years ago. Dan Emmett IS
the author of "Dixie," and here follows
his own account of the origin of that in
spiration:
''The way [ come to write that song
was like this: Along in the fore part of
the war the minstrel business was at the
top. Anybody who could sing a mig
ger song was sure of good money. I
was with Jere Bryant's Minstrels in
New York in them days, on Forty-sec-
Well, one night Jere came to me and
says: Dan, getme up a new song; make
her catchy and noisy 1 told him 1
moseyed home thinking about what I'd
write. The soldier boys were marching
through the town on their way South
II1CI, anu lint a IdoLL L hCIO1ACd NY
muse. Most of the boys in blue were
goin' to Dixie's land, and just took the
inspiration on the jump and wrote up
my song about "Way Down South in
Dixie's Land" Well, sir, she took
from the start, and in less'n a week
everybody, and especially every soldier,
was a-singin' her.
"But the song I'm proudest of is old
Dan Tucker 1 got 'er from a Georgia
nigger-not exactly as he told it to me,
but with the main ingredients, however.
Money! No, never made a cent out of
her: not a red. But I had lots of fun.
Lordyl how the boys, the old-timers-
most of EN- dead and gone now-used to
sing her in the ~'walk-around' at the
close of the olio. Oh, pshaw, I've been
on earth three times, an L wish 1 could
make a fourth trip if l could have the
good ole days back again. When |
wrote 'Sich a Gitten Upstairs an 1
give her to the boys an they sung her
the first night I felt so happy an light
that I'd a-few up in the air only for
being held down by my gallusses.
Among other songs [ turned out was
old Joe,' Coin Over the Mountains
odd Mistah Brown and Dandy JIM"
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
Butter Making,

During the late session of the Dairy
mems Association of New York Mr.. w.
II. Gilbert read a paper on 'Buttcr
Making" He said, as reported in the
Orange County Farmer, that when he
went into butter making he made up his
mind that he wanted a butter cow. From
information and reading he further made
up his mind that the jersey was tie
best. He began by buying a registered
Jersey bull and bred from the best COWS
on his place. During the past season he
made in June one pound of butter from
1857 pounds of milk; in August, from
Ills pounds; in September, from 1871
pounds; in October, from 18.43, and in
November, from 1913. He has about
100 COWS in milk, from two to ten years
of age, their average weight being about
$50 pounds. He likes his COWS to come in
during the fall and early winter. In sum-
mer they Craze in the day and are in
ward at night. About July he begins to
feed green clover and continues until
August; then feeds green corn fodder,
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
NEW Works. WHARF RATS.
And the Floating Police Station
Which Watches Their Holes.

tt NAV seem strange that there are
GANGS OF human beings who live on the
rivers and are housed like water rats
under the docks and piers of this great
town, Not even London, with its hosts
of Thames pirates and its skulking boat
robbers. ever had q more lawless multi
tude than the thieves that for many
wears made the harbOr of New York a
terror to honest mariners and a danger
to commerce.
Most of the old gang who swept the
rivers and piers in their snaky black
boats ten to twenty years ago have been
shot to death, drowned or have died in
prison, and although the waterside of
the city is much safer than it was in
those days, there are still more preda-
tory ~rascals that keep the Waterman
wakeful along the piers where goods are
temporarily stored.
The working ground of the river
thieves is wherever booty is to be found
and carried away with the smallest risk.
At the East river docks, fronting the
Brooklyn navy yard, where the river
sweeps around q ragged jutting turn and
the tide dashes about uncomfortably, the
pirates occasionally hold high carnival.
The big south side tencments running
down nearly to the waters edge are hid
ing places for the criminals and storage
ground for their plumber.
So too Oh the west side down in the
neighborhood of Charlton and the adj
joining streets abutting on the docks of
the North river, where the vicious ele-
ments live and thrive, and the water
thieves find chances for robbery and odd
corners in which to hide what they have
stolen.
Before the present system of police
surveillance and repression was adopted
no mans life was thoroughly secure ON
any of the richly laden vessels that lay
within easy reach of the docks when the
darkness of night covered them, and
many q tale of piracy is yet told among
the grizzly-bearded 'longshoreman that
crowd the drinking places along the
West street piers.
The scandal of the lawlessness, the
robberies and occasional murders that
occurred on the water front eliminated
II night when q richly freighted sloop,
captain, crew and vessel, were taken
bodily from an East river pier, towed
out safely far into the bay and stripped
of everything of value hat the sloop and
its crew possessed. The hull of the boat
was left, but that was about all, and the
crew were landed and warned to get
away from New York as fast as they could
ship again. And they did, for when
after long investigation two of the chief
pirates were captured, not a man of the
sloop's party could be found to testify
against them.-N. 7. Graphic.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16

Examine your fowls and see if they are
not afflicted with this so-called disease.
1t may be detected by a rough, sca!y eX-
crescence which generally appears on the
shank, just above the foot, and spreads #
allowed to run till it reaches to the hook
jcint and down into the toes. At first
the shank will have a mealy appearance,
and as the substance collects it gradually
hardens till it becomes of a bony nature
and greatly affects the health, though
disease may not be suspected by those
unused to its ravages. The disease is
caused by an insect which is identical!
with the insect causing itch in the human
family, and if filth is not its prime cause
it is greatly aggravated thereby, and
cure may be effected by rubbing the
parts with an ointment made by mixing
equal parts of sulphur, lard and kerosene.
An application about once a week for
two or three weeks will be sufficient,
when the substance will begin to peel
of.-Farmers' Home Journal.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
The Formation of Soils.

Cur soils, as is well known, depend
upon a variety of actions which serve to
break up the rocky matter of the earth,
and to commingle that matter with or
ganic materials more rapidly than the
crosive agents can remove the detriius
from the point at or near which it de-
Gays. For the formation of the soil two
actions, at least, are essential. First. the
bedrock must be broken into fragments
sufficiently separated from each other to
permit the passage of roots between
them; second, the rock fragments must
be still further comminuted and COM
mingled with organic waste t. make the
combination of organic and inorganic
matter on which the utility of the soil
absolutely depends. Although the earth
worms are undoubtedly very important
agents in overturning and breaking up
of soil, it appears to me that they are
most effective in the titled fields or in
the natural and artificial graSs-lands. So
far as | have been able to observe, these
creatures are rarely found in our ordinary
forests where a thick layer of leaf-mould,
cOmIninglcd with branches, lies upon
the earth. The character of this
deposit is such that the creatures are not
competent to make their way through it,
and they therefore in the main avoid such
situations. Moreover, wherever the soil
is OF a very sandy nature, earth worms
are scantily found if they are present at
all. These worms are practically limited
to the soils of a somewhat clayey charac-
ter, which have 10 coating of decayed
vegetation upon them.
AS the greater portion of the existing
soil has been produced in forest regions,
| shall first examine the action of various
animals upon the soils of wooded coun-
tries. The mammals are, of all our verte-
brates, the most effective in their action
upon the soil of forests. Twenty species
or more of our American mammals are
burrowers in the forest bed. They either
make their habitatiOns beneath the
ground, or resort to it in the pursuit of
food. OF the e, our burrOwing rodents
are perhaps the most effective, but Il large
number of other small mammals resort to
the earth and make considerable excava-
tions. -Popuiar Scjeice Monthly.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16

Every farmer should study the capacl-
of his farm, so as to be able to turn its
resources to the best account. Some
farms are naturally adapted to grass pro-
ductlon, and can be made to produce
heavy crops of hay yearly for a long
time. Other farms soon run out when
seeded to grass, but are good for crop
ping. On such farms a large area should
be ploughed yearly, cropped and fertil-
lied, and seeded down. For a few years
good crops.of grass can be obtained, and
then the land needs ~reseeding. The aim
on such farms should be to have from
one-thIrd to one-haif of the tillage under
the plough all the time, so that the
grass land will all be newly-sceded, and
the farmer will be able to re-pIough as
soon as the grass begins to run out.
Then there are farms that are rocky and
rough. The soil is stony and fertile, but
is not adapted to cultivation. Apple
trees, perhaps, will thrive with remark
able vigor on such land, and the farmer
should accept the indication, and plant
1t to apple trees until he has all he can
take care of. A man in Fast Winthrop,
Me-, had a farm of that character. 1t
was of little value for tillage, but he
found that the Roxbury russell throve
remarkably well, and produced excellent
fruit. He "took the hint" and set his
farm largely to Roxbury russell trees
until nearly thirty acres were covered.
Now, in ONE years, he sells So, 900
worth of fruit. He has made a rocky
and almost worthless farm one of the most
valuable in town, simply because he
used it for the purpose to which it was
best adapted. This is what the farmer
should try to do-study the capabilities
of his farm, and then try so to manage
it that he will draw out of it the best
that it is capable of atfording. 1t will
not do to manage farms all in one way,
on account of the great diversity in soils
and physical conditions. ID. H. Reg
nOLds, in Examiner.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
Wanted to See.


A dialogue in which a fair but unfash-
ionable young woman took part was in
cidental to the hanging of Dan Driscoll,
which took place at the Tombs in New
York. The witness whose testimony
went furthest to convict him was Carrie
Wilson, a typical Bowery girl, who saw
the murder. She went to the prison the
day before the execution and askedWard-
den Walsh if she would be permitted to
ser the hanging.
"What's de matter wid me seeing
Danny hung?" was her wording of the
request.
Cant be DONE" said the Warden,
positively.
"Den I want you to cut off a half q foot
of de rope-see?-for a keepsake"
Even that was denied to her.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
Apprentices of Past and Present Days.

The Carriage H5aSs15 thus contrasts
the apprentice of former times to those
of the present
Apprentices af the present generation
are ignorant of the hardships and mis-
fortunes of the boys in by-gone days.
The latter were members of the masters
family, boarding and sleeping with
them. Part of his business was to mind
the children, if there was any, run all
the errands for the household and shop
from 5 o'clock in the morning until 7
IN the evening, and sometimes even
later than that. Many of the boys OF
the present day do not believe this, BUTT
is nevertheless true. The boy had to stay
as long as tie agreement made called for,
and II he ran away he was considered an
outcast. If the parents of the boy
could raise q certain sum, the term OF
apprenticeship was shortened accord
ing to the amount of money paid. In
time these boys became good mechanics,
obtaining q thorough knowledge of their
trade.
The apprentice of to-day is consid-
cred equal in standing with the mechan-
&c. He commences work at T o'clock
!nthe morning and quits at 6 in the even
ing, III some cases earlier, and is never
kept over his regular time. The en-
ployer treats him the same rs he does
his workmen, sometimes better, and he
is paid either by agreement or what he
IS worth. There are many who still
would like to see the old apprenticeship
system OF fifty years ago in force again.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
The Fires We Have to Fight.

"Do you know how half the most
dangerous fires start I" asked an old
fireman. A woman had just gone
into the basement with a wooden box
filed with hot fishes. "Well, that wo-
man illustrates it to perfection. They
will put ashes in a box or barrel and
then take them down to the cellar. The
first thing you know a live coal in the
ashes sets fire to the barrel, and then
You have an awful lot of smoke that
maybe suffocates somebody.
"Then again, it makes a fire bad for
the fireman to fight, for they cannot To-
cate it. 1t is down a cellar, and the eel
lar is filed with smoke. | tell you
the fremen use plenty of 'cuss' words
when they are called to a fire like that.
Always put ashes in a tin vessel and a
passing ear carried the speaker away
toward the quarters Of his engine com
pany.-N. Y telegram.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
THE WAR SHIPS.
How the Naval Vessels are Classed
Some Confusion.

Secretary Whitney has decided to
name the new 6,000-ton battle ships the
Maine and the Texas, and the order for
their naming will be issued soon. The
Secretary was governed in selecting the
names by the law on the subject, which
has been construed since 1876 according
to the navy regulations as approved in
that year, while Mr.. Robson was Secre-
tary of the Navy. Up to that time the
law of 1919, as amended in 1858, gov
erned the naming of all United States
vessels. 1t provided that sail and steam
vessels of the first class, having more
than forty guns, should be named for
the States of the Union. Sailing vessels
of the second class were to be named
after rivers; those of the third class after
cities and towns, and those of the fourth
class as the President might direct.
For steam vessels of the second class it
was provided that they should be named
after the rivers and principal cities and
towns, and those of the third class as
the President should direct. After 1853
there were changes in naval construction
and armament that renderedthese classes
absurd. There were no ships of seventy
four guns or of forty, and the ornaments
steadily lost in the number of guns as
the regulations of 1876 it was provided
that first class vessels should be those
of 1000 tons and under down to 2 1000.
Vessels of 1000 or less down to 1000
tons were to be of the second class.
Since then, however, the classes have
again been necessarily changed. The
dividing line is 1000 tons, all vessels
above that being first rates, and those
below it down to 1000 tons, second
rates. AS the new battle ships were
above 1000 tons, they were given the
names of Maine and Texas to comply
with the legal requirements to name
vessels of the first class for States of the
Union. Mr.. Whitney. to avoid any
criticism as to the determination of
names, took the name of the State fur
thest North for one, and that of the
State furthest South for the other, thus
complimenting the extremes of the coun-
try. In the last naval register, issued
in July, 1887, the Chicago, $500 tons;
the Charleston, 3,730 tons, and the Bal
timore, 400 tons, are classed as first
rates. The Trenton, 5000 tons, is classed
at the head of the second rates. There
appears to be some confusion about the
matter, for here are first and second
rates called otter principal cities and
towns and u second rate that exceeds a
first rate in tonnage. The Secretary adj
mits that there is n necessity for amend
ing the law and the regulations, for &C
cording to the recent practice of the de-
partment there will be no way of know
ing tonnage Oh armament by the name of
the vessel.
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16

Didn't l tell you so?" said a gentleman to
an acquaintance whom he CHANGED to meet on
the street; Its always the way" Whats al
ways the way?" inquired a mutual friend of
the two men who happened along just then.
why, just this" replied the first speaker:
you see Smith, here; the last time l met him
he had one of the worst coughs you every
heard. He complained of a loss of appetite, of
night-sweats, of low spirits and other unmis-
taxable premonitory symptoms of consump-
ton. l told him to get a supply of DR.. Pierce's
Golden Medical Discovery at once. Hed did SO,
and look at him now Did you ever see a
looking man? The Discovery has
snatched thousands from c~onsumptives'
graves. 1 knew it would cure Smith. IT'S al.
WAYS the way.n
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
An Anthem.


A sailor who had been to a cathedral
and had heard some very fine music,
was descanting particularly upon an
anthem which gave him much pleasure;
His shipmate listened for a time and
then said: 81 say, Bill, what's a hanthem3"
"What!" replied Bill, "do you mean to
say you don't know what a hanthem Isl"
"Not me-" "Well then, I'll tell yer. Ii
[ was to tell yer, ere, Bill, give me
that 'andspike,' that wouldn't be a han
them. But was L to say, Bill, Bill, Bill,
give, give, give me that. Bill give me,
give me that hand, give me that hand
spike, spike, spike. Bill, give, give me
that, that, hand, h~andspike, hand, hand
spike, spike, spike, spike. Ah-men,
All hem. Observation-Disclosures
spike. Ah-men, why, that would be a
hanthem,
News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-02-16
Things That Letter Carriers Find Out,

The letter carriers could, if they would,
tell a good many stories. There IS n
in particular, whose route runs along
Lake Park avenue below Eighteenth
street, who is brought twice or three
times q week face to face with what may
be q very pretty little romance.
On certain days, no matter what the
weather, this carrier finds waiting for
him Just around the corner from a fine
mansion, a handsome young woman.
There is a smile and a look of expectancy
on her face as the man of letters APP
proaches, and when he hands her a pack
ct she shows her teeth at him in a fright
full sort of way and hastens home, the
letter carefully concealed under her seal
cloak. Sometimes there is no letter, and
then the young I'M shows no teeth.
Her smiles vanish, and h returns to
her parental mansion with her pretty
head hanging low with disappointment.
It would not be fair to tell which one
of the fine houses the young woman
comes out of two o. three times a week
for her letter, and the carrier himself is
as non-committal as a sphynx or q signal
service officer. And as for the man who
writes the letters-of course they are
written by a man-and the nicely of all
these inconvenient precautions and con-
cealment, you can guess as well as any
body.
The carriers say such incidents are by
no means uncommon. There are a good
many girls who get letters which not for
worlds would they have fall under the
eye of a keen and not over-indulgent
mam an9a;sr These IN are taken fraGs
distance from the parental mansion. In
the postal regulations there is a clause
forbidding carriers to give mail matter
to any one on the street, but who be-
sides the blissfully ignorant mammas is
going to take the trouble to raise an OBJ
lection? Let the poor girl have her let
tiers, and here's luck to her and to the
writer of them-perhaps a poor young
man who is struggling for the wealth
which will enable him to support and
nurture the dollhouse flower who has
won his heart. Chicago Herald.