davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
AFTERNOON TEAS.
Pleasant Hospitality That IL Enjoyed by
Every Body.

Pleasant Hospitality That IL Enjoyed by
Every Body.
For several seasons past the custom
OF giving afternoon teas has been large
ly Oh the increase. 1t is very pleasant
hospitality and enjoyed very much.
One can go in street costumes. pass
short time pleasantly and be at home
early enough for home duties and have
the evening at disposal for something
else.
The refreshments can be of the light
est kind, dispensed in dainty way to
lend to the attractivsness of the Occa-
sion.
In small places such a custom could
be introduced without making them too
formal. each lady having her own day,
and in this way much pleasant socia-
bility could be extended and the con-
slant running in and out, which inter-
feres so much with many housekeepers'
plas, could be entirely done away with.
l can not conceive of any greater
annoyance than living in a neighbor-
hood where one is liable to Interrupt
tons at either end of the house.
Every housekeeper needs certain
times to put her house in order, and to
be interrupted in it means often serious
disarrangement of the whole day.
If housekeeping is ones business it
needs attention, and no one can enioy
a call when she is feeling something is
being done too much in the wav of
cooking or left undone in the way of
arranging.
How much nicer if the whole set of
ladies would organize a method of
campaign for the season, each decide
on her own day. and be ready for
frienos at that time. Cour-
ier-Journal.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
No Small Cups in Chicago.

Several gentlemen who have visited
New York told us some time ago that
in polite society in that city there OBJ
tains pretty fashion Of serving coffee
in miniature cups-after-dinner coffee
it is called. as we recollect. 1t is
deemed vulgar to serve coffee in large
cups, because when gentleman feeds
he should prefer to feed delicately and
not out of a trough. We once asked
Prof, Fishbladder why it was that
small coffees hadn't been introduced
in Chicago society and he said that it
was because they were regarded dan
gerous. i. seems that the Calumet
Club years ago did import a lot of
these miniature cups with a view to
utilizing them for after-dinner coffee.
But at the very start there befel an
accident that drove the innovation out
of favor. One of the wealthiest and
mcss influential members of the club,
while endeavoring to make away with
his usual after-dinner coffee. swallowed
the cup. and for weeks his life was de-
SPARED of. Ever since then in the best
Chicago society the regulation coffee
cup has been the size of sitz bath
Chicago News.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
How Hair-Cloth Is Made.

Many people understand, of course,
how hair-cloth is made, but for the
edification of those who do not, we will
explain the process. In the first place,
horse-hair can not be dyed. 1t repeis
coloring matter; SO to make black cloth
it is necessary to secure natural black
hair. The horses. in many cases abso-
lutely wild, running unrestrained, are
regularly coralled and shorn. OF
course black hair is preferable, but
sometimes gray stock is utilized. Not
only the tails. but also the names are
cut; the hair is punched. These
punches seldom contain hairs of less
length than two feet; some are even
three and three and a half feet. and
the thickness of the punches is usually
two or three inches The hair-cloth
looms are provided with what we may
call a nipper, in place of shuttle, and
the nipper is so finely actuated that il
travels across the warp and seizes from
the punches one hair only. the jaws OF
the nipper being too fine to grasp more
than one, and carries it across the welt
threads. dropping it into its exact
place. The action of the loom mechan-
lcally forces the hair next to its prede.
cessor, the warp crosses upon it, snug
~ holds it in its place, the nipper trav-
els back and seizes another, and so on
and on. The delicacy and almost hui
man accuracy it'll which each sepa-
rate hair is placed between the warp
threads is really incredible. -Uphoi-
Sterer.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
MISCELLANEOUS.

There are different ways OF show.
ing wrath: the teakettle sings sweetest
when it is hottest.
The latest railway signal indicates
automatically the time that has elapsed,
up to twenty minutes, since the last
train passed it.
There is an old negro in Quitman
County, Georgia, who has never
owned lock. He has been for years
mailing bar of wood across the door
of his crib every night.
"A philosopher on Western paper
finds that only one person in every
10000 dies in bed while asleep, and
concludes that it is waste of time to
lie awake and worry over the danger
of that.
"A farmer, residing at New Dig
gins, ILL.,. recently put his milk cans on
the woodpile to dry, and the ref1ec-
lions of the suns rays from them set
the wood on fire, doing considerable
damage to his house and barn.
A young man of Poughkeepsie
was so overjoyed at his admission to
the bar lately that he lost his senses
for time. He got a brass band OF
nineteen pieces and marched up and
down the street ahead of the drum
major, carrying a broom. He was ar
ranging for fireworks and other jubila-
tions when his friends secured him.
The Oldest pieces of wrought iron
now known are probably the sickle
blade found by Belzoni under the base
of a sphynx in Karnac. near Thebes;
the blade found by Colonel Vyse, i'm
bedded in the masonry of the great
pyramid; the portion of the crosscut
saw exhumed at Nimrod by Mr.. Lay.
ard-all of which are now in the British
Museum.
Here is a musical morsel that must
have come from Germany. No beggars
in this country would show so much
consideration. The story is that a
man asked the well-knOwn author for
ditlo. 1Ou 1dFO d V1Ollu SdIu
the man of words, ''but you do not play
it." go, sir. give me a penny and don't
make me play. Assure you you won't
regret it," Clearly it was impossible
to resist an appeal of this sort.
"A funny case was tried in the JUS
tees court at Jasper, Ga, for damages
to hog by reason of the loss of one
of the hogs feet in a collision with a
train. In three hours legal fight the
defendants counsel cOntended that the
rules of assessing damages was the loss
in weight of the hog by reason of being
run over. which in this case was one
foot, weighing half pound, which at
ten cents a pound would be five cents
damages. The plaintiffs counsel in
sisted that the rule for assessing dam
ages was the value of the hog when
hurt, with the cost of nursing and
medical treatment, together with such
damages as the enlightening mind OF
the jury thought proper for the mental
pain and anguish of the hog. The jury
gave the plaintiff S..
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
-.-~-~-.- -
A DROP OF WATER.
No Other Travellers Journeys Can Com.
pare with Those Made by 1t.

No Other Travellers Journeys Can Com.
pare with Those Made by 1t.
"lt has been more than two hundred
years since | passed along here the first
time, was the astonishing statement
of stranger who had been padding
down White river, and who stopped in
the shade OF the old covered bridge at
Washington street.
There were no bridges over the
stream then, and no reporters here to
interview me. In fact, there is little
here to remind me of my first trip.
This stream has drawn into its bed like
turtle into its shell since my early
days. 1t used to swell out through all
these lowlands. There was no bottom
to the water and you couldn't see
across it when was boy
''Are you sure this is the same
stream?"
'Ihere can't be any mistake about
it. never err in these matters. The
course of streams do not change even
ii they shrink from rivers to brooks.
spent several days in this latitude
before, and for Whole week was laid
up against a big hill which stood out of
the water north of here (now Crown
HILL
''How often do you make these
tours?''
''1rregularly. / am always on the
go, but l can control my course en-
tlrely. belong to a rowing, restless,
lrrepressible and almost indestructible
race. One year | am in Australia
Another am up on the Andes noun
tains. now l am upon HudsonBay; anon
in Yucatan. My periods of rest are few,
yet l never tire. Sometimes | am cut
off from many Of my tribe, but if can't
reach them one way do another. NY
favorite routes are down the courses of
rivers l never travel over land. and
If lose my way or get off into pond
or slough that has no connection with
living waters, hide my time with the
frog and snake-feeders
'1ou mean that you stay with them
until freshet comes, which enables
you to sail out into the Waterways"
mo. Sometimes that is the case,
but if get tired of waiting. and be-
come weary of my companions, shake
the mud off my feet, put away terres-
trial shape and form, fade into the in
visible. and, rising high in the air,
seek friends and cOngenial climes."
''Who are you, that you do these
things?"
IL am drop of water. Now you can
understand why am old without be-
Ing gray; how it is that l travel con-
stantly by stream Or air, range over
the wide creation, and, sometimes by
chance, as fluid Or vapor. make second
and even third trips to the same place.
But l must be away. | am billed to
play part in a cloud-burst in Cuba on
the eleventh of this month"
And the shining drop ran along a
drowsy fisherman's line and dropped
off on to black bass back and was
lost among a million fellow travellers.
indianapolis News.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
AMERICAN CORK OAK.
Its Growth in California No Longer
Matter of Experiment..

It's Growth in California No Longer .
Matter of Experiment.
The growth of cork oak in CalifOr-
MIA is not a matter of experiment; it's
success was demonstrated long ago.
The distribution of cork acorns by the
Patent Office, about twenty-five years
ago, may not have accomplished much
in other parts of the country, but it
gave us a start, and there are now
trees yielding cork and bearing acorns
at number of different places in the
State. There are trees growing on
Mr.. Richardson's place at San Gabriel.
There are samples of cork and acorns
shown at the San Francisco citrious
fair by H. A. Messenger. of Calaveras
County. There are trees of similar
age in Senoma, Santa Barbara and
Iulare, and perhaps other
counties. The State University
is growing seedlings from
California cork acorns, and will likely
have trees for distribution next year.
There is no doubt of the adaptation of
the tree to that State, as the widely
separated places above named all fur
nish proper conditions for its growth.
1t is, of course, crop for which one
has to wait some time, and therefore
needs patience in the planter.
All the cOrkwood of commerce comes
from the Spanish peninsula, where
trees abound not only in cultivated for
ests. but grow wild upon the mount
aims. The tree is like an American
oak, with leaves similar to the oak,
and acorns. 1t takes ten years for the
bark to become proper thickness to
be manufactured into bottle shoppers,
life-preservers, or seine cOrks. When
stripped from the tree, it is to be boiled
for two hours. cured in the
sun for week, and pressed into
fat pieces for baling and shipping
The denuded trunk, like hen robbed
of her eggs, does not sulk or quit the
business, but throws out fresh cover
ing for fresh spoliation. Que tree has
been known to yield half a ton of cork
wood. One pound of cork can be man
ufactured in IA champagne corks
The baled cork is sold to cork manu-.
facturers.
The most extensive cork mandatory
in America is in Pittsburgh. Besides
the ordinary demands for cork bark. a
good supply of the buoyant material.
after being burned to make it still
lighter than the original material, is
shipped to Canada and New England.
where it is made into seine corks The
averge annual Importation of cork
wood into this country. entirely at the
port of New York, is 10000 bales a
year. A bale weighs 100 pounds, and
is worth, on this side of the water.
$2O, making a total value of the i'm
portation of 81, 100000. It comes duty
free. Ohio Valley Manufacturer.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
JOHN BULL IN PARIS:
How He Quieted ar Unduly Sensitive and
Prrpery FrenchmaE.

How He Quieted ar Unduly Sensitive and
Prrpery Frenchmar.
An incident happened in little res
taurant over in the Latin quarter the
other day, which was highly amusing,
and it showed how much more reliance
an Engtishman places in his muscle at
crisis than Frenchman does. We
We're all sitting at a small round table
"a big young Oxford graduate, a
junior from Harvard, reporter on the
Paris edition of the New York Herald,
very solemn German gentleman and
myself. Over in a corner a small Paris
ian, with a waxed mustache. a pointed
beard, flowing scarf and high-heeled
shoes, sat slipping an absinthe frappee.
He was not gOOd-natured Frenchman.
think he believed us all Germans, for
he scowled at us whenever we raised
our voices in way to disturb him III
the reading of his paper.
Presently the solemn German of the
party began a conversation with the
young Oxford man upon the subject of
the late Emperor's illness. The Ger
man interspersed his talk with many
protestations of devotion to his lost
sovereign, and then proposed the
health of the present Emperor. At
this point the Frenchman at the other
table jumped up, battered over to the
old German, and, with a very fierce i'm
precation upon the heads of all Ger
mans, struck the old gentleman light
blow across the cheek with his open
hand. The German rose to retaliate
when, without word, and with no APP
parent excitement, the young Oxford
man grasped the Frenchman about the
waist, tossed him over his shoulder,
and the next instant had dropped him
out of the open window. down into a
aower-bed in a yard at the rear of the
brasserie
The Frenchman was not injured, and
came rushing back after moment,
offering to kill every one in short or
der. He was Immediately seized and
pitched out of the window again, in
spite of his kicks and struggles Then
the young Englishman bolted the door
which would permit him to get back
into the room. and talked with him out
of the window, which was too high for
him to reach.
There was a great deal of laughter
over the incident. and when the En-
glishman lowered glass of absinthe
out of the window to the maddened
Frenchman, asking him to Join in the
health of the republic, the humor of
the situation was complete. When we
walked up the street shortly after
ward all the girls in the baker-shops
and wine-rOoms came to their doors to
admire the big shoulders of the Ok
ford and the Harvard boys. l have
no doubt that their six feet of broad
strength looked like the proportions
of giants in the Paris girls eyes, used
as they were to the dim ihutive appear
ance of such peppery little fellows as
the one who was dropped from the
window in the brasserie. -Paris Letter
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09

"A little girl said to her mother one
day: Mother. feel nervous!" ..Nery
ous!' said the mother; what is nery
ousP' why, it's being in hurry al
Over!"
domestic Bliss-"You seem yerv
happy, Dora" Dora. Ah, YES:
nave every reason to be. We hav. q
beautiful home, two lovaay children .
snug sum in the bank. my husbands
NE Is insured for $50, 600, and his
health is very far from robust. Life
WHO is that distinguished look
ing gentleman over therer' ..Tba,
Is General Airbleau. the great military
man. "Ah, the great military man.
l nave heard of him. What battle wa.
ne inF" What battlee don't know
I'm sure He's magazine writer. Won
know. Merchant Traveler.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09

1t is hard for naughty man ever
to forgive one that has caught him in
a fault, and whom he knows has rea-
son to complain of him; his resent
ment never subsidies till he has re-
gained the advantage he has lost, and
found means to make the other do him
equal wrong.-Bruyere.
--One of the difficulties OF corton
spinning. an exchange says, is a lack
OF moisture in the atmosphere; but that
has now been overcome in some meas
ure BY the invention of q ..fos ma
chine. which generates what at first
glance appears to be steam, but which
- really . spray of water separated
into SO fine mist that it has the an
pearance of enc of natures fogs. Bv
the use OF this spray the temperature
q spinning room can b lowered r.
me right degree. and The. .h,,.,; ait-,,
s sssss. s !: sss ss' J.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
IRON IN BUILDINGS.
Different Effects of the Rust From 1t on,
Stone Work.

Different Effects of the Rust From 1t on
Stone Work.
Iron has been USED in connection
with masonry from time immemorial,
but the results have not been always
the same. Some of the most beauti-
full monuments of medieval art have
been ru ned by the oxidation of the
iron bowels and clamps employed in
their construction, the iron, with Its
accumulations of rust. acting to dis
rupt the stone work it was designed
to hold together. On the other hand
it is said, that iron clamps have been
taken from still older Roman con-
structiOns as free from cOrrOsl0n as
though put in yesterday. Not only lm
iron used in connection with masonry
has the difference in liability to at
tack by rust been noted. but under
other circumstances as we'll; Tor IN
stance, it has been asserted that steer
weapons of English make are most
susceptible to these attacks IN the
climate of India while those OF native
manufacture enjoy almost entire lm'
munity. Whether this results from
some quality in the metal ITSELF or Ia
due to some treatment after the manu-
featuring process is completed ha'
never. to our knowledge. been eA'
planned. 1t has been claimed Ilia'
Bessemer steel is not liable 10 COR
rosion to the same degree as ro'ieu
iron, but that material has been III u''
so short a time that we. as yet po'
sess but little real knowledge on '''
subject. World.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09

1t was Connecticut boy VINO SUI
prised his teacher in reading the QUIZ
day by his Interpretation oil tne '0
tence: There is a worm; uo
tread ON him." He read slowly o."
hesitatingly: There is a w"
doughnut; tread on him!'
The responsibilities OF lie hr
gagged not by what we are Oo' rho
wha. we may become. The man hi.
has ventured only to the llml'S " ~ the
conscious force has only reach0u
threshold of his possible attainment
F. G. Clark. If
The real test of the genulnoi ~ or
an inward affection as it appea' N
consciousness, is the course OF ao',' one
which it leads. If it does not 10 ~ Line
to act rightly, it is not OF m"cn ~ s,rs
What men practically do Is so;. fasl.
index to the character oil 'nA
ings. independent
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
There are more than $50 Indian
dialects in North America alone.

-DIessou rs the man VINO invented
laughter. exclaims a Boston Herald
scribe. After sleep it is the great
panacea for all human ills, for those
who can laugh with a good relish are
those who have digestions unimpaired,
and the seque ice. easy conscience.
Virtue. which is relative term, and
health are twins, and a brave pair they
make to face the world with its petty
narrow ups and downs. The only ami.
NAL, barring the hyena. who laughs il
man. and he, too oftsp neglecta hie
privilege.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09

See that lady putting on her
gloves" said Frenchman, discussing
national peculiarities with an Ameri-
can friend. DO you know that's the
first means of recognizing an American
ady on the streets of Parish We would
as soon think of buttoning up our vests
or putting on our ties after leaving the
DOR for walk, in Paris. Many and
many time have we picked out Amer
iesAs in Paris by that sigu.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
Can't Get Rid Of His Nickel.

About a year ago some wag polished
of a nickel till it only resembled the
coin of the realm in size and color.
After it had dropped into the bottom
OF the bobtail car box the driver eyed
it suspiciously and, evidently THINKING
the other side of the coin might be ali
right, he gave the decisive pull and
let it pass. From that time to this the
company has been endeavoring to get
that nickel back on the rascally pub
lie. But. strange to say. every man
who tears open the little envelope con-
tanning it and its companion piece
always chucks the smooth nickel back
into the box. Of course no driver can
now complain because the coin ALWAYS
comes out of the company's package.
During its first year of service it has
taken about 2,190 trips, and as it ia
getting thinner and smoother all the
time, there is now no hope of it's ever
escaping street car service, except
through the romantic charity of some
kind deliverer. or through the final
dissolution OF the company's corpora
tiOn.-Baltimore American
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09
PlTH AND POINT.

People fiatter us because they can
depend on our credulity .-Tacitus.
Enthusiasm is good to raise men
upon. but discipline is the only thing
to fight on -Beecher.
Affection goes into bankruptcy
when it marries for money and fails
to get it.-N. 0. Picayune.
To know how to be silent is more
difficult and more profitable than to
know how to speak. Lee.