davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
Sugar-Making in Cuba.

Louisville Courier Journal
The Cuban sugar planters are placing i'm
proved machinery upon their estates, and
will endevor to revive the prosperity of an
industry once fourshing on that island
Sugar making In Cuba has received some
hard blows of late. The machinery is very
costly, and it requires a large capital to
conduct a plantation. Good labor is scarce,
and the expressions of the Spanish govern
ment are very discOuraging. The noun
tains are filed with bandits, who sometimes
carry off the planters and burn heripened
corn fields, which ignite like dry grass.
More formidable to the Cuban sugar planter
than all local disadvantages is the growth
of the beet root sugar industry. Former
ly Cuba enjoyed a monopoly which her
inhabitants thought could not be broken,
but they were as badly deceived as the
Brazillians, who imagined that they con-
trolled the coffee market of the world
France and Germany now make all their
own sugar from the beet root. The sugar
cane is no longer a necessity. The beet
root can take its place, and the two will
have to struggle for supremacy. Tobacco
is also AN enemy of sugar In Cuba, and
many OF the wealthy men have Abandoned
the civilization of the latter for that of the
weed, finding the change to their profit.
Entire districts formerly consisting of sugar
plantations are now tobacco fields. This
is true of the other West Indian islands
also. Throughout them all the sugar in
dnstry is not fourshing, and the people are
to pursue other branches of
agriculture more extensively.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
TIGHT CORSETS AND HIGH HEELS.
Still Doing Their Deadly Work Despite the
Growth of Knowledge.

Now that rational ideas as to dress have
acquired definite place In public esteem,
it may be imagined that the practice of
tight lacing and customs of like nature
if known at all, are not what they used to
be, says the London Lancet. A case of
sudden death lately reported from Birming-
ham proves that it is still to early to in
dulge in such illusory ideas The deceased
a servant girl of excitable temperament
died suddenly in an epiletoid fit, and the
evidence given before the coroner respect
ing her death attributed the fatal issue to
asphyXia, due in a great measure to the
fact that both neck and waist were I'M
naturally CONSTRUCTED by her clothing, the
former by a tight collar, the latter by a
belt worn under the stays.
We have here certainly those very con-
ditions which would lead US to expect the
worst possible consequence from a cOnvul-
sive seizure. There is no organ of the
body whose free movement is at such times
more important than the heart. Yet here
we find on the one hand its movements
hampered by tight girdle so placed that
it could with difficulty be undone at criti-
cal moment. On the other a continuance
admirably adapted to allow the passage of
blood to the brain, while impeding its re-
turn. This is no isolated case as regards
its essential character, though happily
somewhat singular in its termination.
Minor degrees of asphyxiation, we fear.
are still submitted to by good many self
torturing children of vanity. The tight
corset and high heel still work mischief on
the bodies of their devoted wearers. Taste
and reason. indeed, combine to deprecate
their injurious and vulgar bondage, and
by no means unsuccessfully. Still, the
evil maintains itself. Cases like that
above mentioned ought to, if they do not
open the eyes of some self-worship-
ers of the other sex, who heedlessly strive
by such means to excel in a siclly grace.
We would strongly impress on all of this
class the fact that beauty is impossible
without health. and would advise them, in
the name of taste as well as comfort, to
avoid those methods of contortion, one and
ALL by which elegance is only caricatured,
and health may be painfully and perma-
nently injured.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
Gas in the Stomach.
Youths Companion.

what is the cause and cure of belsh-
ing Although my meals are not over
hearty, my stomach feels full and some
what oppressed after eating Between
meals, and especially two hours before one.
the gas forces itself up to my mouth, and
the result is the habit is disagreeable to
me as it is to others"
Two or three general causes may bring
about such condition of the stomach;
The first cause is over eating by persons
whose normal digestion is not particularly
faulty. Less food-say one-third less
would be attended with no such annoyance.
But the stomach is unequal to the amount
usually taken, and more or less of it fer
ments, instead of digesting, and thus gen
crates certain gases.
1t should be remembered that the power
of some persons to digest is naturally weak
while that of others is vigorous. OF
course, therefore, the question of the
proper quantity of foods one to be
decided in each individualcase. Again,
a naturally strong stOmachmay have
become weakened by over-much
care. confinement within doors, lack of
healthfull exercise, bad hygienic surround
ings, excessive brain work. insufficient
sleeep, or. perhaps, by habitually eating
just little too much.
The second cause of habitual belching is
chronic dyspepsia. This may have been
induced by marked overlooking, excessive
brain work, or harassing cares long per-
sisted in. But. however induced. the CON
dition is essentially the same. The digest
i've fluids are much lessened In quantity.
and the action of the stomach greatly
weakened.
As a consequence, the food remains too
long In the stomach, and passes out of it
sour and fermenting. beyond the power of
the bile to neutralize its acidity.
The cure, as N the former case, will de-
pend on the removal of the cause. on care
full attention to all hygienic conditions.
with more or less medical treatment. all
persisted in for a long time.
A third cause of belching, or probable
one, is the habit of swallowing air. It is
believed by some experts that many per-
sons, of a peculiar nervous susceptibility.
unconsciously form such a habit, since
chemical analysis shows that what is bel
ched up is not gas, but atmospheric air.
By the heat of the stomach, this is. of
course. greatly increased In volume. In
such cases the cure will follow the cor
rection of the habit
Mrs. Linnaus Banks, an English novel
ist, has received a grant of $500 from the
royal bounty fund.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
The BIoodiest Battle.
Cincinnati Times-Star.

The battle of Leipsic was the bloodiest
ever fought. 1t took place October Is, Is
and 10, 1913, between the French and the
AuStrians. PruSSians and Russians. The
French were 100000 strong and allies
100000 More than $4,000 men persisted,
and the French were defeated Boston
Traveller
Unless the studious Traveller cons its
history lesson more carefully it can not be
allowed to stand at the head of the class.
If it viii turn to its Student Gibbon"
or any standard textbook ON the subject,
it will find in the battle of the ma
TONS fought near Chalons, France, In
the year 45l, between the Huns and their
allies uuder Attila on one side, and the
Romans and Visigoths under Theodore on
the other. it is said that SOC. 900 men were
left dead ON the battlefield, nearly four
times that number slain at Leipsic If by
"bloodiest battle ever fought" The TRAY
eller simply means the largest number
killed in proportion to the number engaged.
it Is still away off. Who has forgotten
Gen Leonidas' little scrimmage at Their
mopyla, or the little affair on the Little
Big Horn. In which Custer fell. or dozen
other famous battles In which one or an
other army was practically exterminated?
Even our Chickamauga surpasses Lelpslc
in percentage of killed and wounded.
WORK has been resumed ON all the Lon
don docks affected by the great strike
Some collisions took place between the
eX-srikerS and the men who were hired
by the companies to take their places, but
at last accounts peace had been restored
aud work was going forward satisfactor-
ily.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03

edge. Some of those seen by Ross. especi-
ally to the south of the Falklands. were of
enormous size, and sometimes Sc tame
that they did not even get out of the way
o. the ships keel. Gralnpuses are also to
be met with. Pengins abound on sea and
land, their cry frequently being heard
above the storm at places as remote as 100
miles from any known shore; they are very
large birds, varying In weight from so to
IS pounds, and they feed chiefly off the
crustaceous animals. On being opened,
from two to ten pounds of pebbles have
frequently been dislodged from the
stomach. White petrels. which frequent
the pack and thus give warning ON the
approach of any large body of ice, stormy
perels and blue perels are found IN great
numbers, ynd sooty albatrosses. Cape
pigeons, skua gulls and other oceanic
birds are also met with in considerable
numbers. In fact. sea and air are full of
life.
The ice conditions naturally present the
most interesting and characteristic fea-
lures of the antartic regions. The voy-
ager, on leaving the temperate zone to
penetrate into the frozen waters of the far
south, would require to have very con-
siderable knowledge of navigation among
ice as his chief equipment, and in order to
make any length of stay there he would
need vessel of more than ordinary
strength, capable of withstanding an occa-
sional nip from the battering rams of the
dangerous foers
What is the life history of these floating
ice islands and icebergs? They are all
shed from the parent icecap that surrounds
tho r1plo Of 4no 81
projection of the icecap into the sea are the
causes of their disruption. Here, for cen
turtles perhaps, the great iceberg grows
and moves like a living thing. Each sea-
son fresh layer of snow is added to its
thickness, which the rays of the sun con-
vert into ice more or less solid. Slowly
the huge cumbrous mass moves over the
lower-lying lands and through the valleys
NOUS weight rocks and boulders, which,
from the cohesive nature OF ice, it some
times gathers up and conveys along with
it; and this debris is eventually deposited
at the sea bottom
The coloring of the bergs is magnificent.
The general mass closely resembles loaf
sugar; the caves and crevices are of the
deepest and purest azure blue; at night
they emit luminous glow and there are
reasons to believe that many are to some
extent phosphorescent. Like the berg of
the Arctic seas they are bounded by per-
pendicular cliffs on all sides. Some of
them are more than two miles and some
as many as four miles in circumference,
while bergs four miles in diameter have
also been seen. They have a uniform
height Of about rs feet, 80 per cent OF
their volume being submerged.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
The Drink Demon.
Texas Siftings.

In New York the other day John Lynch,
cobbler, wound up series of drunken
quarries with his wife by shooting her
fatally with pistol, and he is now in jail
Until a few months ago they lived happily
together he industriously working at his
trade and she taking care of their
humble home and their three
little children. But she took
frequent quarrels following. Result, wife
prospective, and orphaned children Ism t
this terrible picture? 1t happens every
day. What can be done to check the evil
of drink 1t is the gravest question that
this country has to deal with now. Eman-
cipation struck the shacl1les from the limbs
of many thousand, but there are millions
bound body and soul by the demon of drink
What can break this awful bondage?
Proclamations are powerless, and prohibi-
tory laws, are powerless I'M
less backed up by an overpow-
ering public sentiment. Great is the
power of rum in our big cities and its
strongest ally, it seems to us, are those i'm
practicable. though well meaning, extrem-
lists ON the temperance question who will
admit of the compromise, ''Annihilate
the traffic is their motto, and it can not
be done. A more practical way is to tax
so high that men will be discouraged from
going into the business. and the number
of saloons be materially diminished There
is hardly a corner in New Y ork that hash t
its saloons, and there are mainly supported
by the wages of the poor. Wipe them
ont
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
N0nEO from the diary Of tourista,
MI TN commercial travellers, buai-
ness men and others hae

from the diary Of tourists.
NlEN commercial travellers, busi-
ness men and others hae
revealed:
That the Wisconsin Gentry has tbs
unqualified endorsement Of all;
That the Wisconsin Central has today
the most popular line between Chicago
and Milwaukee, and st. Paul, Mime
apolis and the Northwest;
That the Wisconsin Central is daily
adding TO its admirers as the rscog-
nized Pullman line between Chicago
and Milwaukee and Ashland, Duluth
and Lake Superior;
That the Wisconsin Central touches
the most prominent points In Wiscon-
sin, and that it his more important
business centers on its through line
than any other railway to and from
the Northwest;
That the Wisconsin Central has made
an envlable reputation with its peer
less Dining Car Service;
That the Wisconsin Central runs faa
trains on which all classes of Dassen-
gers are carried with commodious and
distinct accommodation for all;
That the Wisconsin Central has repre-
sentatives distributed throughout the
country, who will. cheerfully give any
information that may be desired and
that its terminal agents are specially
instructed to look after the comfort OF
passengers who may be routed via les
line.
For detailed information apply to yous
L A
tives of the Wisconsin Central.
VIM. 8. MELLEN, JAMES BARKER
General Manager Gen1 PaSSr. & Tkt- Az
LOUIS ECKSTEIN,
Asst Gen1 Passr. & Tiki. Agk
MILWAUKEE,, WIS.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
HE.MADE THE LINE POPULAR.
The Tale Told by an Engineer to an Old
Passenger.
York

In the smOking-car, along with half a
dozen others of us, was an engineer who was
going down to Peoria. and after time the
Judge started to draw him out by saving:
81 presume you have had your share of
close shaves. along with other engineers p
Il have sir, was the reply.
been In many smash-ups?"
"a full dozen, [ guess. :"
''Any particular adventure that might be
called wonderfully
''Why yes, [ did have one, - replied the
man after relighting his old cigar stump.
81 didn think it any great shave myself,
but the boys cracked it up as something
extra.
''Let us hear about it, said the Judge,
as he passed him Havana.
''Well one day about three years ago [ was
coming west with the lightning express
and was running to make UP lost time.
Down here about twenty miles two roads
cross, as you viii see, and there are a lot
of switches and side-tracks. | had Just
whistled for the crossing and put on brakes
when the coupling between the tender and
the baggage car broke
q see, l see murmured the Judge.
AT the same moment something went
wrong with old No 40, and | could not
shut off steam She sprang away like a
flash, and as she struck the crossing she
left the track and entered a meadow filled
with stumps.'
Good heavens!"
''She kept a straight course of about
forty rods, smashing the stumps every sec
ond, and then leaped ditch, struck the
rails Of the D. and r. Road, and, after a
10 i ! e
miles =
Amazing! Amazing!"
''Ihen, at a crossing, she left the metals,
entered a cornfield, and bearing to the
right, plowed her way across the country
until she came to our own road again.
She had a long jump to make over a marsh,
but she made it, struck the rails and away
she went.
''You-don -say-sor'
Il was now behind my train, and. after a
run of two miles, got control of the en-
CINE, ran up and coupled to the palace car,
and went into Ashton pushing the train
ahead of me-
''Great SCOTT And was no one hurt?''
Not a soul and not thing broken.
The superintendent played mean trick
on me though"
''How p
''Why, the farmer who owned the
meadow paid the company s19 for the
stumps had knocked out for him. while the
eornfeld man charged So for damages. The
superintendent pocketed the balance of the
money.
1.-The scoundrel! And how much are you
paid a month";
Ninety dollars.
THAT $ for running on the road?''
Yes
'tAnd nothing for lying?"
mot I'd .
That's an outrage The superinten-
dent is an old friend of mine and I'll
see that you get the 50 on the stumpage
and a salary of 5000 month as long as you
live. 1t is such men as you who make a
line popular
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
THE ART OF QUARRELLENG.
Ii is the Second Word Which Fans the
Angry Spark Into a Flame.

The first words of quarrel, which are
generally too trifing to be remembered,
are like few sparks that fall upon the
dry leaves of the forest. The angry retort
is the puff of wind that blows them into a
fame. Then the mischief is done past re-
call, says the Youth Companion. Then
two hearts. friendly few moments be-
fore, are full of anger Then words are
spoken which may be 9rgotten, and the
friendship is seldom cutie as it was before,
Hence the old saying. 1T is the second
word that makes the quarrel. y That sec
Ond word usually wounds the pride or the
self-lOve of him to whom it is addressed
1t may take form that implies doubt of
the others veracity-a dire offense to any
one not wholly debased. Often it insinu-
ates a low, small, unworthy motive. Some
times the maddening word is truth, as
when Brutus told Cassius he had an itch
ing palm to sell his offices for gold Cas-
sius was so enraged that he cried:
~ an itching palm!
You know that you Brutus that speak this,
Or, by the Gods, this speach were else your last
Ugly truths must sometimes be spoken,
but not when two persons are bound by IN
terest and duty to avoid quarreling
Another most irritating retort is one
which attributes cowardice. Courage and
truthfullness being the very foundations of
respectable character remark which con-
yeys an intimatiOn of awant of either is a
pure provocative of quarrel
There are tones in the voice which can
not be described, but every reader, unless
he is high class saint, has used them in
the early moments of quarrel. The most
innocent thing in the world may be said
in such way as to rasp and humiliate,
particularly if it is accompanied by a GER
tain look out of the eyes.
Human beings, old or young, never ap-
pear In so poor and mean a light as when
they are quarrelling. A family quarrel is
among the most sOrrOwful and vulgar of
all displays of human intirmity.
Among the people living in the same
house, sitting three times day at the same
table, being together in the evening, work
ing together In the daytime all possessing
a nervous system and tender self-love, it
must needs be that offences come Irrita-
ting words will be unintenitonally spoken;
expected attentions will be omitted, the
material of a quarrel will frequently be
created. Two things should be borne in
mind by every inmate; one is, that it takes
two persons, at least, to make a quarrel; ;
the other that the quarrel usually dates
from the second word.
Tom-What did you take my bat for?
Charles didn t take your bat, and YOU
know it.
Tom-You are liar
In this case Charles made the quarrel, be-
cause he met the merely irritating first
word with grossly insulting second. Put
down the brakes hard upon the second
word
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03

spirit-controlled premises. According to
this gentleman, on last Wednesday, bed
in one of the upstairs rooms caught fire
from no apparent cause, and burned up
completely, without the flames commune
eating to single other object in the room
There was no fire in the apartment from
which the bed could have caught. besides
it was In the afternoon when the chamber
was not occupied This, of itself. was
disturbing occurrence, but it was nothing
to what the family felt when, on the next
afternoon at about the same hour. a
chest. containing clothing. in another
part of the house, was discovered In flames,
and despite all the efforts made. burned to
ashes without even scorching the floor
upon which it stood, and without anything
else being injured In the slightest.
On Friday afternoon the spirit of the
same fre-fend again took possession of
another bedroom. and DESTROYED the bed
and clothing as completely as on the first
visit. and with as little injury to the other
surroundings. Then the family did get
scared.
Another house was secured and prepar-
ations made to move ON the following
Monday but on Saturday, at the usual
hour In the afternoon, dress hanging In
a closet was consumed by fire while gar
ments hanging all about it had not even
the smell of smoke upon them. This was
too much for the Miller family, and not
withstanding it was Sunday, they got out
of the house and away from their 1npleas-
ant fire. worshiper, and the house is, to-
day, the object toward which many Wis
itors are tending.
There is no explanation of the mysteri-
Gus fires, except that they were the work
of spirits which, of course, is no explana-
ton at all, but the facts remain as above
stated, and the neighdorhood is all ex-
cited over the strange manifestations of
which the Miller fannilu 1rara the ricti1nS
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
Children and Stories,

Nothing appeals so strongly to the i'm
agination, the sensibilities, the moral
nature of a child as a well-told tale, says
Philadelphia Times. They rebel against
what is commonly called preaching" but
the greatest rebel of them all will yield to
the softening influences of tale that car
ries It's lesson with it. Is that not enough :?
But the story does more. 1t broadens
their views, cultivates their finer feelings,
destroys selfshness, teaches them to appre-
ciate their relations with others and planes
down the rough places that would fill their
lives with friction. Thus much it does to
them morally. But it is equally helpful to
them mentally. A young mind must have
recreation as well as young body. The
story brightens and refreshes it, brushes
away the cobweb that will gather even at
a tender age, and fits it to return with new
vigor to its more serious work More than
that; it adds to the child s information by
acquainting him or her with certain
phases of life. with manners and customs
that are not taught by mere history. By
all means, then, let the children read
stories.
Edgar Fawcett has written poem
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
WAS IT GHOST WORK.
Mysterious Fires Which Are Believed
Have a Supernatural Origin.

About two miles east Of McComb, ON
the road from this city to that village,
says a Findlay Ohio dispatch to the To
ledo Blade. is farm house which, at
present. is the center of "a good deal of
uncanny speculation caused by a series of
fires as strange as they are unaccountable.
Up to Sunday the house was occupied
by family by the name of Miller, but
they could not stand the pressure put upon
them last week. by what they allege were
spirits, and they moved out. From a
member OF The family the Blades cor
respondent obtained the following partic-
ulars of the mysterious occurrences which
eliminated in their removal from the