davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-10-25

TOR RENT, THAT DESIRA-H =.
L DUPLICATED STOKE No. So7 Broad q
street. between Third ana Fo1r,h, with nice
dwelling above, containing modern improve
ments II. :. TAYLOR,
Real Estate Agent and Auctoncer.
artas
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

of that little child if 1 could; roosting about
over the country, fighting straw Satan
with miscellaneous brass band, with no
home to remember, nothing but the clash OF
arms and the bray of the trumpet, together
with that of the gentleman who does the
speaking for the party. But will change
the subject.
had q very trying experience last week.
1t was painful, but not fatal. I had been
travelling all the night before, and fatigue
and brain fag were fighting for my very ex-
istence. got room when I arrived, and
retired 10 seek much needed rest. had
Just retired, in fact, having carefully locked
the door and left the key in the lock, that
the curious could not look in through the
KEY hole and see me as I lay there asleep
and make 81, 600 painting Of me.
Just then there was slight rattle at the
door, such as you hear when 9 chambermaid
attacks it with pass key and comes into
the room to sweep holes in the carpet and
fill your lungs full of debris. I smiled to
myself, for my own key was.in the door, and
/ said softly as I bathed my blushing
features IN the pillow: "Ahai Anal ye can
not enter now" But she continued to rattle
away with her key, and soon saw, with
horror, that my own was beginning to lose
its grip, and finally it fell to the floor with
a loud report, having been pushed out OF
the lock from the other side.
/ can hardly describe the horror OF my
situation. I thought of handing my hand
kerchiefs and perlumery over the transom to
her, and begging her, If she had mother or
any other relatives in whom she had any
confidence whatever, togo away. thought
of going to the door and telling her that we
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

down. Let US fight him without gloves.
Let US knock his head off, Oh, 1 have
never saw better time than now while he
is thinking about something else Let us
sock it to him now. Let us mutilate his
disagreeable features and send him back to
hades looking like man in the almanac
who explains the Zodiac and who allows his
works to show for themselves"
The band then strikes up a selection or
fragment of campaign song that sounds so
sacrilegious'that it honestly makes the chills
and hot flashes chase each other the entire
length of my being. 1t is like hearing the
Razzle Dazzle song over your mothers
grave.
The band is composed of six pieces, the
bass drum leading. 1t is supported by a
colored man, who has Joined the band be-
cause he is passionately fond of music, can
wear cap with braid around it and enjoy
season of much needed rest. Coming in
at intervals, there Is a croupy bass horn
that has lost its horn voice by sleeping in
barns throughout the State. There are four
other pieces of music, but their relations
with each other are strained. The players
pause ever and anon to polish their red
sweep of nose with the corners of their
shawls or to agitate their chillblains against
a brick building, and so it often falls out
that they do lose various notes, for which
their auditors thank them and anon snow
ball them as they are in the act of journey
ing through an unfriendly world.
l have often wondered what sort of life
these warriors against Satan lead. What is
their home life? While they are battling
against the powers of evil and advertising
themselves good deal more than they are
morality and religion, what is their record
as they journey through said unfriendly
world p
A CHILD OF DESTINY.
In the extreme left wing of this detach-
ment in front of the hotel, there is woman
wearing gray shawl and pair Of red yarn
mittens. She is carrying little child in
her arms and small satchel by means of a
strap over her shoulder. Perhaps ought
to say that each one carries his own bag
gage. But would like to know the future
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

coupe, driven by silky-coated horses. sees
more joy in drive than do our natives on
this momentous drive to ''town'
But the brightest, fairest DAY in all the
year TO the Cracker element is the red letter
circus day. This to the supplemented
Cracker is the luxurious treat Of the year.
How he enjoys the Jokes of the old clown,
and how his heart swells with pride and
glory when the elephants eats peatnuts out
of his Every own hand, and who is more
honored in all the land of Crackerdom than
the successful rider of the trick mule. The
pink lemonade and the indigestible ginger
bread, the games of chance and the side
show, with 'the only captured mermaid,
all appeal to his soul. 1t is only until very
recently that many of these natives beheld
the first locomotive, and then Travelled 90
in an oxcart to see this Yankee innova-
ton. What this Florida native must think
of the magical changes in the way of prog
ress coming over the State would be inter-
esting TO know, but when the revolution is
wrought bv radicals and Yankees" the
opinion would be far from fattering.
IGNORANCE AND WEALTH.
Few of these people can read or write, and
with the Bible and newspaper minus guam
titles in every home, morality and civil lib
erIV must De unknown IeIIuS. IN uiuy III
stances the Cracker is wealthy. Towns
spring up, and his land becomes valuable,
but the old way is good enough for him,
and he cares little for the luxury that
wealth might bring him. In politics the
Cracker is always Democrat; why he does
not know, unless it is that all the negroes
are Republicans, and he 'just amt gwine
to vote with them"
Occasionally, in driving through the rural
districts, one sees palmetto-thatched build
ing, politely called schoolhouse. Here at
rare intervals teacher has charge, and woe
to him if he teaches anything that won't
reconcile itself to the minds of the patrons.
One pedsgogue, during this season, Colum-
bus like, ventured to prove to the tow-headed
pupils that the "earth is round like ball
and turns on its axis" but in SO do
ing aroused the ire of fond parent
who found it easier to convince that if such
were the case, "the water would all run out"
and soon demolished the teachers theory, by
a childlike experiment-placing a bucket
of water on a stump, with.the generous re-
minder ''that if that ere water was all
spilled in the morning, the chiller might
60 on to school," but the bucket kept its
gravity and the Cracker philosopher, with
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
CRANKS WHO BUY BOOKS.
What a Purveyor in RcadinR Matter Says
About Peculiar Customers


About Peculiar Customers.
"I suppose we have about as many cranky
and peculiar customers as other merchants,
if not more" said a Pittsburg bookseller
the other day. Gas rule we deal with an
intelligent class, but intelligent people are
Just as apt to be eccentric as any.
''For example, there is a man looking over
a lot of new books at the other end of the
store. You might wonder why some of the
clerks do not go and wait on him. Well,
they don't because they have orders to let
him alone. He is good customer and his
ways are well known. If 1 should go to
him and try to sell him something he would
become indig nant and intimate that he
knows what he wants and will buy it if he
finds it. He may stand there for an hour
and finally sele ct book, bring it to me and
ask me to wrap it up; whereas, if 1 inter
fered, most likely would lose the sale.
"Other customers come in day after day
and stand and read some of the books, be-
coming absorbed in them. One man comes
three or four times week, never buying
anything until Saturday-his payday 1 sup
pose-when he almost invariably purchases
and takes away something.
Sometimes we are good deal amused
by ladies who want novels-they don't
know or care what, so long as they are good
stories. Often we are obliged to make the
selections ourselves, and then. if the buyer
doesn't like the story, we are sure to hear
from it when she returns. try to avoid re-
commencing books as much as possible-I
never urge people to buy, if they have any
taste or intelligence. Once in while we
see customer who judges of the value of
a book by its size. If she purchases %
cent novel she wants the very biggest one
she can get for that price. Quantity and
not quality is her guiding principle"
"Do people ever steal books from your
store?"
every rarely indeed. The people who
buy books are seldom thieves. If suspi-
cious looking person enters we keep an eye
on him, but we allow most people who come
here to do about as they like. 1t pays bet
ter in the end"
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

his superior in principle, education and
public spirit. No association can change a
Cracker, his clanish views preventing any
possibility of reformation, while the negro,
with his love of imitation, models after the
best class of whites. and, although he often
appears in many laughable lights, is gradu-
ally making Improvements over the "old
plantation darkey."
The Cracker, on the contrary, continues
the same sluggish, selfish individual, op-
posed to the worlds new opinions and pro-
gressions, blind and obstinate in the belief
that the ways of his ancestors are better
than the new tangled Yankee idees," and
'89 finds him less progressive than half a
century since. We find him to-day so inert,
ambition and self-respect, such zero quail
ties in his composition, that he is satisfied
with mere existence. 1t seems impossible
to make any improvement in his character
and life, and if Dickens Bundle were to
speak, he would substitute CRACKERS for
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
WOMEN WHO WANT DIVORCES.
Peculiar Cases Which Come to the Attentio,
of a Lawyer.

Peculiar Gases Which Come to the Attention
ola Lawyer.
"It It's nonsense to talk as iflawyers had any
sympathy with lax divorce laws" remarked
a Pittsburg attorney. 81 don't believe that
a man of any standing in the profession
anywhere, even in Chicago, likes to take up
a divorce case. It's disagreeable business
at best, and respectable lawyers try to dis
suade their clients from divorce proceedings
except as derTaier resort.
''It's queer, though, what ideas people
have on the subject. A woman, in a fit of
pique against her husband, which will pro-
badly last but few days at best, comes to
me and asks me if she can procure a di-
vorce. When have questioned her and
analysed her complaints frequently find
them Of the most trivial character. In such
a case l usually give liberal amount of
advice, but of quite different character from
what the applicant expects. Nine times
out of ten the woman takes the same view
of the matter as 1 do, after have argued
with her, and promises to go back to her
husband, at the same time requesting me
never to mention the fact that she has talked
about getting divorce. Why, there is one wo-
man could name who has been here seven or
eight times, resolved on getting divorce. She
is still living with her husband-I happen
to know both of them well-and L believe
their married life is on the whole about as
pleasant as that of most people,"
"Is uniformity of divorce laws desir-
able?"
Certainly it is-a good law, which should
be the same in its application in every
State, would De blessing to the country.
IT NAV come in time hut not soon I faor
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
T0BIES A TEMPTATION.
Why Tobacco Smokers Are Unusually Mum.
erOus in Pittsburg.


erous in Pittsburg.
''I believe that there are more men who'use
tobacco in Pittsburg than in almost any other
city," remarked Penn avenue tobacconist
a few days ago.
How do you account for it," he was
asked.
''The Pittsburg toby, so abundant and so
cheap, is chiefly responsible, believe
There are few cities in the country-per-
haps none, except Wheeling-where the
toby, or more properly, the stogy, is so pop
ular In the East and in the West smok-
ing material in this form is almost un-
known, and about the cheapest smoke one
can get is 5-cent cigar, often so vile that a
habitual toby-smoker would throw it away
in disgust. Where one can get four satis-
factory smokes for a nickel there is little
inducement to economize on tobacco, and
the consequence is that men and boys al
most all learn to smoke. 1 believe that
nearly four-ffths of the men in Pittsburg
use tobacco in some form, most of them
smoking it.
Tobacco chevers are not as numerous
tere as elsewhere and pipe smokers are
fewer still. The toby has brought about
this state of things Its consumption is
steadily increasing. Why, there are men
in this city, who are worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars, who habitually use
tobies, not from motives of economy, but
simply because they like them. It's one Of
Pittsburg's peculiar characteristics.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
HEIILYoEROCHON e
A Legend of Bay ST. Louis.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH
MAURICE THoAIPSON.
CHAPTER L

made vry face. "yOu win get your eyes
put out."
the girl for whom so many men have been
willing to risk their lives In deadly COM
bat?" questioned the artist, as If some inter-
esting thought had returned to him sud-
denly. "Is that house your Chatezu de
Rochon?" :.
The Creole drew up his shoulders and
spread out his hands half eomieally. His
pipe was gripped between his yellow teeth,
and he spoke with his lips only as he saidi
Certainly, M'sieu, certainly that 10
where the Lily lives-the Lily OF Rochon-
and tell you she is as beautiful as the
Virgin-as beautiful as"
'I'll judge of that myself Victor, If
get the opportunity" Orton interrupted,
"but tell me, what flag is that huttering
among the trees?"
''That's the lily banner, the old mans
whim. He keeps it there, old Gaspsrd Ro-
chon does. L suppose he likes it. That's
his boat lying in along shore there.
From the yellow flag that played like 9
fame against the dark background Of mag
nolia foliage, Orton's eyes fell to the trim
little sloop-rigged craft that rocked at her
anchoring place near q small wharf. The
boat was white with q yellow stern-board
upon which was a blue lily. The young
man saw at once that it was fast little YES
sci built by cunning hand.
"That boat, she can fly like bird,
Victor remarked, in his soft patois, "and
the beautiful NJ 'zelle, how she does love
to sail when the breeze is stiff! Mo'sieu
Rochon he likes it too, when the wind blows
big guns and the sea is on heavy. Dieu,
but he's bad one, that Mo'sieu Gaspard
Rochon."
"Chiehy in what is he bad?" inquired
Orton, rather absently, his mind busted
with the picture of the girl IN the boat a.
suggested by Victor's words.
"0h, they say, don't know if it's true
though, that he made his money by the
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
A PLACE FOR AN ARTISTS PICTURES.

A PLACE FOR AN ARTIST s PICTURES.
Early in the present century, on bright
morning soon after the beginning of March,
a small schooner sailed up the Bay Of st.
Louis and cast anchor off what was then To-
cally known as Magnolia Point. There
had been thin, gray fog on the air, bnt the
sun had flung this aside, leaving the water
and the sky blue and dreamily brilliant to
the far horizon Of che Gulf
On the west shore of the bay, not far from
where the little vessel lay, stood mansion
recently built by Gaspard Rochon and now
occupied by him and his niece with q
numerous household of servants. One or
two other plantation houses, but less preten-
tious in every way, were visible here and
there, even as far as to the mouth of the
Jordan river.
The scene was one to please the eye of
poet or artist, and there was an artist on
board the schooner, young man Of leisure
whose love Of the picturesque and the
strange coupled with that passion for ad-
venture which was more prevalent then
than now, had led him to explore this nook
OF the South where, since the days of Bien-
vile, had fingered trace of that wild life
which made the gulf coast for so long "a time
a region of romance and mystery. g
Looking from the water to the land the
shores, which were mostly high white
bluffs, were fringed with broken and bill
lowy line of woods made up of all the semi
tropical trees, notably pines, live oaks,
cedars and magnolias. A somber duskiness,
as of slumber and deep rest, pervaded the
vistas running back under moss-hung
boughs into the fowery and fragrant wilder
ness. Down to the verge of the white and
steeply sloping bluf-lines the underground,
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

the consciousness of a conquerer, said:
Just amt gwine to have no such Yankee
stuff put into my chillers' heads" and the
terra Gotta, tan-colored urchins are taken
from school influences to grow up ignorant
and superstitious, like their fathers before
them, and with the proud idea that Daddy
is heaps sharper as the master"
There is field for the missionary and the
book agent and to their tender mercies we
consign the natives of Crackerland.
NJ M
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
Cr1cEer Cabin

Cracker Cabin. er he is, Cracker
he always has been, and q Cracker he will
be until Gabriel blows his horn. From its
association the term means laziness, ignor-
ance and immortality. What the moon
sinner is to Kentucky, the murderous
political "bulldozer" to Mississippi, the
Cracker is 10 Florida. This native loves no
one outside Of Craclerdom, but his greatest
hatred is toward the African.
The enmity existing between the negro
and these "poor white trash" of the South
is SO intense and so inborn that it is often
the cause of many bitter feuds, even mani
Testing itself in the prattling children. The
little woolly-headed African playing in the
sand hears the taunting "nigger," and with
q contempt that is almost loathsome, quickly
hurls a handful of sand, along with the
scathing missile-"You yaller-faced Crack
er!''
UNPRoGRESSIvE NATIVES.
To the discredit of this benighted class of
the Caucasian, candor compels the admis-
sion that the Southern negro is infinitely
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

one sees the characteristic Florida family
numbering siong. Behold an oxeart drawn
BY two or four lean, hungry, weary-looking
oxen, the cart laden with women and chill
oren, the products Of the little sand patch, a
attending angel, live alligator. may COM
plete the outfit. All except the women and
children are exchanged at the nearest town
for the Crackers nectar and ambrosia-
whisky and tobacco. No millionaire in his
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
A POLICEMAN'S PLANT,
Hc Objects to Being Made n BuEaboo ts
Brighten Children.

no OD1ects 10 being maoe buBaDo0 10
Brighten Children.
"Half the children on my beat are afraid
of me" remarked a police officer to DIS
PATCH reporter.
"Why should they be?''
"They shouldn't be-that's the case ex-
actly-but they are. 1t all arises from the
foolish practice some mothers have of say
ing to their children when they are unruly
or get into mischief, You'll have to look
out or the policeman will catch YOU Now
I'm fond of children-I have family of
my own-and I'd rather the little ones, no
matter whom. they belong to, would like
me than fear me. But it's almost impossi-
bic for an officer in his uniform to get on
friendly terms with a child. simply be-
cause the youngsters are made to think that
the officers do nothing but arrest people and
lock them up. For my part I object to
having children taught to look upon me as
monster. It isn't right"
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
The Birth of a Blizzard.

Detroit Free Press.l
A man in Western Dakota saw blizzard
born. 1t started on the top of a large hill
and was a ball of white fog no larger than
his hat when he first saw it. He should
have carried it home and locked it up, but
he did not think of it until too late.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
SLUMS AND SALONS.
Fashionable Society Inquiring Into
and Taking Interest in
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ARMY
Mrs. Booth and Her Methods Discussed by
Gail Hamilton,
ACALL TO THE RICH TO HELP THE POOR


HERE are a good many
of us who fight shy of the
Salvation Army, and
who, from inherited tenn
permanent and disability
or fixed habits and tastes,
always must. The drum
and the fife, the poke
bonnets aud parading
women rather repel than
attract us, and we can
but look askance at a
worship which seems to
invoke anything but a
quiet spirit.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

"paupers, and say, "What have Crackers
to do with soul or spirit, either. It's quite
enough we let 'em have live bodies
Yet with all his shortcomings the Cracker
has his virtues, and unquestiouing hospital
ity is g shining part Of his simple life, ior
whoever heard OF a Cracker turning a
stranger away from his door. While his
wife, his nine or dozen lean, lank. cadav-
erous looking children and numerous dogs
stand in the background, he gives you the
best his home affords, which is generally
corn bread, bacon and black coffee Then,
If you talk mo whisky" I'd seattle the
radicals" and praise Fiosi3a swamp land,
entertainment is insured for the season.
A CRACKER HOME.
The home Of the FLORIDA native is built of
logs, the cracks stopped with mortar. There
are generally two rooms1 with perhaps a
porch in frent, that is used as a storage
place for the farm implements, guns, etc
The sallow, careworn looking women do
most Of the field or garden work, but they
do it with the same spirit of meekness and
willingness of the Indian squaw, and more
affection and kindliness of feeling exists in
their homes than in many brownstone
fronts. Among these liege lords are MANY
bloodthlrsty desperadoes, but the devoted
women see all the good that beams forth. and
on the principle that "aIl men have their
faults, and stealing is Bills" resent like
hunted tigress any insult toward husband
or lover.
"When ignorance is bliss, tits folly to be
wise, " issexemplihed in Crackerdom, when
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03

be fashionable fad in Fifth avenue draw
ing rooms than not to be in them at all.
There is vital connection between the pur-
lieus of wretchedness and the palaces of
luxury. 1t was just this vitality of con-
nection which, in regular evolution, burst
into the blood-red blossom OF revolution in
the mad days of Louis the XVI. 1t would
be a sore disgrace to the nineteenth century
if it should fatuously copy the eighteenth;
if it could find no more excellent way to
cope with It's evils than by "uprisings" in
this great and lust Republic.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
SWEET WILLIAM NYE
Discourses on the Peculiar Things He
Meets on His Travels.
ATTACKING HIS SATANIC MAJESTY.
The Fierce Siege Conducted by Hotel
Chambermaids. ;
A DEMAND FOR TOWELS Or A FUNERAL
rwH1rrrx FOR THE D1srArcH.1

. 1 pen Lhese AineS,
the plaintiff wall
of a brass band
comes c stealing
through my case
ment. I trust that
the intelligentcom-
positor will not
strive to set me
right on that word.
I refer to the wall
OF a plaintiff when
he has tried to en-
force the payment
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-03
A FLORIDA CRACKER.
Graphic Description of Those Lazy
Lotus Eaters Of the South,
The POOR WHITES OF FLORIDA.
An UnprOgreSsiFe, but Very KOSpitable
Class of People.
PROVING THAT TIE EARTH is FLAT
rcORHksroxDExcE OF THE D1srArcH.i


SOUTHPORT
DA, February 25.
The Cracker" is
the lowest grade of
the poor whites of
Florida. The de-
rivation of the word
seems to be un-
known, buta Crack