davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

his crew to land, he returned to Green
land. His glowing descriptions of the
country implanted a desire for further in
vestigation in his countrymen, one OF
whom named Leifr soon after set out for
it in a vessel manned by thirty
five men. To the southwest of
Greenland he discovered land,
which, according to the descrip-
ton given, is supposed to have been
Labrador, but farther to the south he
found the same wooded land which
Biarni had discovered. Thereupon he
determined to explore its coast for some
distance, and two days afterward he
came with northwcsterly wind to an
island that was separated from the main
land by strait. After sailing through
this strait he came to beautiful inland
sea, on the shores of which he erected a
dwelling. The sea teemed with splendid
salmon, and the grass retained its fresh
appearance throughout the winter. The
days here were not so short as in Green
land and Iceland; for on the shortest
day the sun was nine hours above the
horizon. One of the crew, who was a
German, discovered that grapes grew
wild there. Leifr named the island
Vineland. Subsequently it was visited
by Leifr's brother, who was killed by the
natives, but n settlement which after a
little took root in the country continued
to trade with them for 200 years. 1t is,
perhaps, as well to add that Vineland is
supposed to have been Massachusetts in
the vicinity of Boston, the other parts Of
this country in which the Northmen are
supposed to have settled being near
Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island, and as
far south as Cape May.
In the next place the country possesses
history of almost unequaled antiquity
among modern European nations and a
rich and unique literature. As has been
said above Iceland was settled in S74,
but many years before that it had been
visited by Norwegian vikings. The pro
ductiveness of the islands first attracted
the visitors, but what chiefly promoted
colonization was the oppressive rulc
Of Harold, the fair-haired King
OF Norwa:. At first patriar-
chal government prevailed, but
toward the year 92S the colonists cstab-
lished free republic, which remained in
cxistent 500 years. The Norwegian
mona.c-s aad long looked coyctously
upon this sturdy community, however,
and a. las. in 1852 King Hakcn succeeded
in bringing it under his sway, though
with TIC express reservation that Iceland
should retain its independence aud be
governed by its own laws. That engage
mcnt has not been repealed, and is still
the basis of union with Denmark as it
was with Norway. At present the feel
ing between the two countries ICELAND
and Denmarlz) is not as friendly as ii
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

almost scorching. Great tongues OF
angry flame Tapped over among the waters
and reached out toward them. Then,
with final cracking whisn! they died
out, leaving a black smoking surface be-
yond.
The fire swept on around the bayou,
but meanwhile Emmet'ss small blaze
sprang up and stretched away, gathering
force and speed as it swept wider
space. :.
Comet took things quietly after his
swim, which had cooled his skin, and his
dripping coat of hair served to protect
him from the violent heat which reigned
for a moment.
"Ven," said Emmett, when the coast
was clear; "Yell, little poys, We ken ko
to YOU house now
Walkers house was only mile dis
tant, but they reached it after the tird
had passed, and found that Mrs. Walker
had been nearly wild about her boys
until she saw them coming. .
81 might have known you'd save 'em, ="
she said to Emmct, while grateful tears
ran down her face, as she listened to tho
story of their escape. Their cattle had
taken fright and came home about an
hour beforc.- Youths Companion.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
The Dealer Came Out Ahead.

A gentleman who rode down the street
with a South Side feed and commission
dealer the other day was surprised to hear
him utter low, chucking laugh as he
paused to let pedestrian have a chance
for life on the crossing, says the st. Paul
Globe: "See that man?" he asked; "the
one with the light suit3" eyes; what
about it," "Nothing only he thinks he
owes me S. or S., and he don't owe me
a cent. elbow is that2" "He used to
trade with me, and on every order for
food or oats he gave me he would be
twenty or thirty cents short. Of course
that was nothing, and he would pay me
the next order But the next order he
was short again, and so on. 1t was his
little game to beat me. I sat up nights,
studied hard in the rules and finally beat
the game" "Howl" "Why, before
delivering his order I opened the sacks
and took enough oats to cover his short
age and squared his account. Now ne
has quit trading with me and goes around
the block for fear I will ask him to pay
up. But he don't owe me a cent, and he
is lust as welcome to trade with me as
eyprn
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
A Bows Diet.

The food of growing boys, and cspe-
cially of those who are students, demands
careful attention. While they should not
be allowed to cram themselves with all
sorts of sweets and rich things, neither
is meagre fare at all advisable. The
following is the dietary of one Of our
better boarding schools: Breakfast-Oat-
meal, with an abundance of pure milk,
bread and butter, little meat or eggs,
but not both. Lunch-Fruit, rolls, buns,
Albert biscuits, milk, panned oysters, in
season or sardines. Dinner-This meal
should be served after study hours, and
should consist of at least four courses: A
light soup, two kinds of meat, potatoes
and another vegetable, a salad with crack
ers and cheese, and plain nourlshing
pudding. If the dinner is served earlier
than o'clock, we would suggesta wafer
with tumblerful of milk at 8. AS all
boys require fat, and universally dislike
fat meal! !leaving it on their plates, it is
we'll to give them light suet puddings OF
similar dishes, with fats nicely blended
throughout. York Dispatch.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
What Causes Thunder q?

Ask this question to twenty persons
chosen at random, and probably no two
answers will be alike in any important
particular. The general idea on the sub
iect will be found to be vague and un-
certain. One of the most terse and con-
else descriptions of the natural phenome-
non is that given by MIR. Him. lie
says:
The sound which is known as thunder
is due simply to the fact that the air
travcrsed by an electric spark-that is,
flash of lightning suddenly raised to
a very high temperature, and has its vol
ume considerably increased. The col
umn of gas thus suddenly heated and
expanded is sometimes several miles long,
and as the duration of the flash is not
even millionth of second, it follows
that the noise bursts forth at once from
the whole column, though, for an OBJ
server in any one place, it commences
where the lightning is at the least dis
tance.
In precise terms, according to NJ.
Hirn, the beginning Of the thunder clap
gives US the minimum distance of the
lightning, and the length of the thunder
clap gives us the length of the column:
He also remarks that when a flash OF
lightning strikes the ground, it is not
necessarily from the place struck that the
first noise is heard. Again, he points out
that a bullet whistles in traversing
the air, so that we can, to a certain ex-
tent, follow It's fight, the same thing also
happening with falling meteorite just
before striking the earth. The noise
actually heard has been compared to the
sound produced when one tears linen. 1t
is due really to the fact that the air rap
idly pushed on one side in front of the
proiectile, whether bullet or meteorite,
quickly rushes back to fill the gap lett IN
! the rear,
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

cheeks accompany this, and the result is
decidedly pleasing. 8
The men are we'll grown, but arc not
so good looking as the women, and are
remarkable for their long waists and
short legs.
The churches usually consist of a little,
square-shaped, tar-covered barn, either
made out of planks or Of earth, with two
small windows in the gable and little
aperture in the roof. Externally, with
but very few exceptions, they are desti-
tute of any kind of adornment. The
churchyards are just as unostentatious,
for tombstone is rarity. Across even
is scarcely to be found upon grave In
Iceland, and the green mounds are soon
leveled to the ground.
The usual food with which the traveller
is entertained is smoked or dried NUT
ton, which, when not too old, is not an:
unpleasant dish. The common bread con-
sists of thin, fiat cakes, but even this is
not an article of daily consumption, the
poorer classes eating dried fish instead,
plentifully smeared oves with a sour but
ter, or even mixture of tallow and oil.
On the coast the people eat a great guam.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

The language has a great facility for
forming new words, but it does not adopt
the common foreign names of science and
new inventions. Thus telegraph IS
called "frettafeygir," bearer of news,
and telegram "hradfrett," quick news.
The Icelandic literature, which, with the
exception OF few unlmporranr Norwe-
gian productions, has been written
wholly in Iceland, consists generally of
songs of victory or of praise, elegies, ep-
igrams and sagas and skalds, or fictitious
or historical romances. These works
really belong to the ancient period of
Icelandic literature, the second, or mod
ern, period dating from revival of the
seventeenth century. History, homilies,
Jurisprudence, poetry were all taken up,
and with such spirit and fruit that during
the last hundred Years no other nation
can show so large proportion of literary
men.
Iceland is in shape good deal like
that of the heart, the greatest length be-
ing 325 miles and greatest breadth 200
miles. Its area, including the adjacent
islets, is 39,75S square miles, of which
16,243 are habitable. The population
in its most fourishing period exceeded
100, 1000, recent censuses giving the fig
cures as follows: 1864, IS, ,Os4; 1869, 69,-
506; 1870, 69,763. At present it is in
the neighborhood of 70, 900, but is again
on the decline, due to the gradual ex-
haustion of the fertility of the island
and the increasing severity Of its win
tiers. The present project of moving
the nation is not the first. In 1875
starvation and disease had brought the
population down to something like
100000, and the proposition was seri-
ously entertained Of removing the rem
nant of the people from the country.
Prosperity, however, slowly returned
to the Icelander, and the project was
abandoned.
The coast line of Iceland is deeply
indented with bays, fiords-inlets ex-
tending far inland between lofty ter
raced mountains and jutting promon-
1uC W CSlClu uoloo dtC oIuStoSee
with rocky inlets. and open, like those
or the northeast, to enormous ice drifts.
Iceland is of volcanic origin, the center
being IN elevated band of tufa, from
1900 to 1000 feet above the sea and
forming a wilderness covered with vast
lava beds, barren heights, tracks of black
volcanic sand, hot springs and bog
The mountains lie about the coast,
chiefly in the south, among which are
number of fertile valleys extending
along the water courses. Some
of the loftiest mountains have an alti-
tude ranging from 1000 to 1000 feet,
while some few volcanic peaks attain
to a greater height. Snaefell, for in
stance, reaches $3.50 feet; Hecla, 1851
feet; Eyafjalla, 54S2 feet, and oraefe,
6241. These volcanoes form solitary
and barren crests, rising from the plains,
without any connection with mount,
ain ridge or plateau. Hundreds of erup'
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
A Sea Monster.

The Cape Sable (Newfoundland) Ad-
vertiser reports that the crew of fishing
schooner short time since, while a few
miles from Cape Sable, saw what at first
sight they took to be genuine sea ser
pent come up to the surface for an airing.
They could see that the immense black
mass was propelling itself slowly away
from them, and they resolved on giving
chase and having a closer view. The
Captain and another man sprang into a
boat and were soon alongside, when they
discovered it was turtle of iather vast
dimensions, being fully fourteen feet
long, eight feet broad, and between five
and six feet in thickness. Then a wicked
looking head protruded from under the
shell to the length of four feet or more.
After vain efforts to capture the creature
with a gaff, harpoon was tried, but the
iron rebounded from the solid shell and
the attempt had to be abandoned. Dur
ing the struggle the monster made the
spray fly on all sides: and it was not safe
to get near him.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

tity of fish, principally haibut, while in
some parts of the interior trout and SAL
non form large part of the daily menu.
Corn brandy and coffee are the principal
drinks, vast quantities Of both being
taken. Snuff taking and smoking are
also largely INDUCED in. There is no
deep sea fishing carried on, however, for,
strange though it may seem, the Iceland
ers, though they are brought up by the
sea, and though they derive s. great part
of their sustenance from it, are not
nation of sailors. In some parts of the
south coast of Iceland the people eat
horse flesh and thrive on it, saying
that it imparts good compilations, but the
animal is too expensive and useful to be
used as an article of food. Dogs are
favorite animals, every Icelander keeping
a prodigious quantity of them. Whaling
is not very vigorously prosecuted, partly
because of the Icelandcr's poor seaman
ship and partly because the variety found
IN these waters is not valuable ono. :
Lastly come the sea birds, which are quite !.
an important article of diet.
Iceland, as has been remarked, is 9
treeless country, although here and there
may be seen plot containing trees.
But woods are not really missed in the
landscape. When, for instance, one
lands on some eminence, and looks
toward a mountain some miles distant
clad in its dark-b summer dress, or
if one gazes over grassy plain, where NO
dcfying fences obstruct the view, but
where river winds sinuously along, or
lake reveals its shining surface, the senses
do not feel the want of forest land. Sew
eral beautiful and delicate kinds OF
grasses and plants, too, abound in Ice.
land, while the flowers are numerous and
lovely.
To resume, Iceland is a land Of mount
aims that reach far up into the sky, ol
boundless sandy plains, of swift and
foaming rivers, of deserts Of lava; snow;
ace, sa1u Or stone, land apoundlng Wild
legends and myths, of volcanoes, the in
exhaustlble field for wonderment and
for investigation.-San Francisco Ctroni-
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
japanese Land System.

By a law lately promulgated in Japan,
titlc-deeds of land are abolished through
out the empire, and their place taken by
a system of land registration. The de-
tails contained in the deeds are hence
forth to be entered in land register, to
be kept at the head Offices of the various
administrative districts. By this measure
all questions relating to taxation and to
the transfer of property are rendered
even more simple than they were before.
Formerly title-deeds showed the dimen-
sicns of the land, its locality, the name
of its owner, and its supposed market
value. The last item was recorded for
purposes of taxation, and large liberties
were then taken with respect to it, own
ers being generally careful that only a
fraction of the sum actually paid or OBJ
tainable for their property should. be
shown on the face of the title-deeds. In
the case of transfer there were no trouble
some formalities or heavy expense insep-
arabic from such transactions in Western
countries. All that was necessary was
that the old and new owners, or their
authorized representatives, should attend
at the proper Office, and on payment of a
small fee obtain official alregistration of the
change of proprietorship. The new sys-
tenn still further simplifes the matter, as
all records will be kept in one book, and
an official entry there will satisfy every
purpose. 1t will also be recognized that
the values recorded in the register are
taxable values, Quite independent of
sales or purchases effected in the market.
The safe custody of the registers will be
matter of moment in q country where
fires are so frequent and so destructive.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
ICELAND.
A FAR-OFF LAND OF MANY NAT
URAL WONDERS.
Antiquity OF Its People-Pecufiarities
of Icelandic Domestic Life and
Scenery-A Treeless Land
of fVolcanic Origin.

Apart from the interest tfat lies in the
proposed wholesale transfer of the Ice
landic nation to Alaska, the people of the
Denmark island dominion have other
claims upon the attention of Americans.
To Icelanders the honor of being the
discoveries of America is claimed by
them to be due. Shortly after the first
colonization of Iceland "a. D. s74) a
mariner named Gunnbjorn was driven by
tempest to the shores of Greenland,
some 800 miles distant, and from that
time on settlements were founded and
o regular intercourse established. In
1901, one Bjarnj Herjulfssonur-it Is we'll
that school children should remember
this namc-while on voyage from Ice
land to Greenland was driven by storm
out into the Atlantic. After sailing for
some days he discovered q beautiful
wooded country where plains and rising
grounds alternated with each other along
the coast, but as he could not prevail on
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
HIDDEN.
on the pathlesS prairies

Afar on the painless prairies
The rarest Of flowers abound,
And in the dark caves of the valleys
There is wealth that will never be found
So there are sweet songs in the silence
That never will melt into sound.
The twilight illumines her banners
With colors no artist can teach,
And aloft in the clouds there are sermons
Too mighty for mortalS to preach
50 life has its lovely ideals
Too lofty for language to reach.
Afar on the sea theresa music
That the shore never knows in its rest,
And in the green depths of the forest
There are choirs that carol unblest.
So deep in the heart there's cadence
And music that's never expressed.
Larry Chittenden, in Mail and Express
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

helmet, studded with gilt stars and en-.
ve1oped in white veil OF tuiie. The
bodice is of black cloth, richly hemnned
with gold or silver oak leaves. The
skirt, also of cloth, is embroidered with
silk and silver, while gold belt OF IN
genious workmanship encircles the waist.
Over all is thrown full cloak of black
cloth, with cape of green velvet
trimmed with ermine. The Icelandic.
women have very thick and beautiful
hair, which they arrange in graceful
plaits. Sometimes it is dark and curl
ing, but generally it is of "corn-golden"
hue. Blue eyes and pink and white
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
French Politicians.

According to French arithmetician,
178 members of the last French chamber
were thin, while only 81 were fat, and
the remainder were betwixta and between
1874 deputies were tall, 121 small and the
rest of middle size. As to hair and
whiskers, 131 wore boards, while S5 were
shaven; 173 sported the manly mustache,
while SO favored 'smutton chop" whiskera
a la NJ. Jules Ferry. Finally, 43s were
smokers, and 1S9 abstained from the use
of tobacco.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30
Diving for Turtle.

Along the North Carolina sounds men
and boys catch terrapin in the winte7
with dredges. The marshes s611Wnedi,
and the terrapin, buried in the mud,
feeling the warmth and thinking thst the
springtime has come, leave their beds:
In the summer boys %ade for them, and
when the terrapin leave the water they
are hunted to their nests by dogs. The
huge loggerhead and hawkbill turtles IN
the sound waters are caught in curious
way. Formerly they were speared or
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-30

shot, but their vitality is such that even
when their heads are struck off the turtle
swims away, living long enough to get
out of the reach of the fisherman. Within
a few years the turtle have been captured
by diving for them. The fisherman has
the painter of his boat tied to his ankle
when he dives. When he sees turtle
he dives so as to come behind the creature
and seizes it by the shell or neck back of
its head. The turtle instinctively swims
upward toward the surface and the fisher
men guides it toward the shallow water
in shore and when he gets there he has
the animal at his mercy Warrington
Star, ..-. }
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-30
General advertisements.
GEO. w. LINCOLN,

THE WELL KNOWN BUILDER STILL N THE FIELD AZ a 20
i and is in
class OF work belonging 10 ms
my
ndsr do and all KINDS OF
thana be %
le same
tEaw what's Orth
Thanking the public favors
l respectfully
GEO. W. Ni-'~0A''
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-30

One Of the British medical journals gives
tie results of an inquiry undertaken in a GER
tim district TO ascertain the degree Of accur-
aCy which was observed in the dispensing of
prescriptions In all, 80 prescriptions were
sent out-namely, 80 to chemists and drug
gists, IA to cooperative stores, to doctors
shops and 1 TO cert II drug companies.
They decided to give a Jeral margin for er-
rors, and accordingly q d not schedule any
prescription as incorrel, ly made if the chief
constituents were within 10 per cent. of the
amount ordered. According TO this classical
ton no fewer than l. out of the 80 preScrip-
lions were incorrectly dispensed; the limits
of error were also very wide indeed, for in
one case the quantity of the drug supplied
was less by s. per cent than that ordered,
and in another 81 per cent. more than had
been ordered The chemists and druggists
pure and simple came out of this ordeal with
great credit, as in only two cases did the
errors mount up So largely as to be scheduled,
while cooperative stores figure on the black
list three times, the doctors shop once, and
the drug company" three times Briefly,
of the latter class - per cent. were untrust-
worthy; also, 80 per cent. Of those from
doctors shops" while 20 per cent. of those
from stores and per cent of those from
regular druggists exceeded the margin of
erFov.-ChiCaCo News
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-30
THE ADVERTISER.

necessity to Every English speaking 1nhabitant Of the
h"gdom who desires to keep pace the times
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-30
How Tnchnntmcn s1non-

The question has oftoh been asked ''When
90 tugboatmon sleep" In point of fact, so
far as d r1hing and lying down in bed,
nothing o. that kind ever occurs to their ex-
perience; lat still they manage to obtain a
full and, IN fact liberal allowance of slum-
Der, because they have trained themselves to
lie down at any time and in any shape, where
the temperature is high enough, without any
formality Of divesting themselves of cloth
ing, and at once dropping off TO sleep for an
hour or as much more as is possible. In this
way. it may be confidently asserted, twelve
cut of each twenty-four hours of a tugboat
mans life may be devoted to slumber if he SO
chooses, and is, indeed. generally spent in
this manner. New y ork World
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-30
THE ADVERTISER,

represents the Interests of the Politician Merchant the
Planter the Storekeeper, LAWYER tie Workman and -
fact, all Glasses of the Community
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-30
THE ADVERTISER,

LAS " many years been noted for its Reports of LegisIa Il
Important Law Cases, These are recorded
erm when the importance of the occasion warrants it.