davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
BUFFALOES AS PETS.
The Monarch of the Plains Is Not IntelIi
gent But.Very AhectiOnate.

The Monarch of the Plains Is Not IntelIi-
gent But>Very Afiectionate.
Mr.. Hornaday, according to the Pitts
burgh Dispatch, places the buffalo very
low, indeed, in the standard of mental
capacity, and makes this stupidity the
cause of his determination. But if the
monarch of the plains lacked intellect,
he certainly did not want for affection.
The manner in which the bull buffalo
protected the calves Sf the herd is
glorious example OF paternal instinct.
An army surgeon related the following
instance to Mr.. Hornaday: HE was in
the camp one evening when his atten-
ton was attracted by the curious action
of little knot of six or eight buffaloes
Approaching sufficiently near to see
clearly, he discovered that this little
knot was made up of bulls, standing in
close circle, with heads outward,
while in concentric circle at some
twelve or fifteen PAGES distant sat at
least dozen large gray wolves Except
ing man, the most dangerous enemy of
the buffalo). The doctor determined to
watch the performance. After few
moments the knot broke up, and still
keeping in a compact mass, started on
trot for the main herd, some half mile
off. To his very great establishment,
the doctor now saw that the central and
controlling figure of this mass was
poor little calf. so newly born as scarcely
to be able to walk. After going fifty or
hundred PAGES the calf laid down, the
bulls disposed themselves in circle as
before, and the wolves who had trotted
along on each side of their retreating
supper, sat down and licked their chops
again, and though the doctor d id not see
the finale, it being late and the camp
distant, he had no doubt that the noble
fathers did their whole duty to their
offspring, and carried it safely to the
herd" The buffalo, if taken when
young, submits with surprising readi-
ness to the restraints of captivity. Mr..
Hornaday declares buffalo calves make
excellent pets.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
HOOSiGR SHREWDNESS.
A Man Who Was Prepared For All Sorts of
Contingencies.

A Man Who Was Prepared For All Sorts of
Contingencies.
There are several champion mean
men in this country" said the circus
agent, ''but my champion mean man
lives in town in Indiana. If any other
State can match him I'll let one thou
sand orphans into our show for nothing"
Give us the particulars" remarked
one of the group.
''Well, when our advertising car got
along there last season the men wanted
one side of cooper shop to display some
of our finest pictures. The owner wanted
twenty-five dollars in cash and ten free
tickets for the privilege, but we refused
to be robbed. He finally came down to
twenty dollars, then to fifteen dollars
and we offered him ten dollars. He
said he would take an hour to think it
over, and at the end of that time | went
to get his answer.
"'What do you estimate the tickets
worth?' he asked.
Fifty cents apiece
"sAnd | can sell minep
"1f you wish
'''Well, you see how it is. My wife is
very sick and liable to die. If she lives
we can use two of the tickets to go to
the circus. If she dies l can use one,
but I'll have to give the other to my
sister-in-law for helping at the funeral.
That's just what l have agreed to do.
Make it 5000 and ten tickets, and you
can have the shop
LAS business is business, / agreed to
his terms, but never ached harder in
my life to give anybody a good licking. J"
N Y Sun.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
A FEMALE SAMSON.
A Swiss Girl Who Lifts Two Hundred ant
Fifty Pounds with Ease.

A Swiss Girl Who Lifts Two Hundred and
Fifty Pounds with Ease.
The strongest woman on earth has not
been long in making her appearance at
the music halls, and, according to &C.
counts, if she had visited the Aquarium
some few weeks ago she might almost
have entered the lists with Cyclops, for
she seems to think nothing of lifting
$50 pounds. Nine. Victorine is Swiss,
and for many years was ignorant of her
extraordinary strength, or, at any rate,
of it's remarkable value.
1t was only by chance she discovered
it. One day, when out walking, she
saw two men vainly endeavoring to lift
huge fender from a cart. Smiling at
their unsuccessful efforts, she volun-
teered her aid, and, to their extreme
surprise, accomplished the feat unas-
sisted. The story reaching the ears OF
an eager exhibitor, overtures for intro
ducing her to an admiring public were
instantly made, and, after a few weeks
of severe training, she made her first
appearance.
Nine. Victorine is indeed a prodigy,
for, in addition to her really marvellous
strength, she is not, like so many
wonders unpleasant to look upon, but is
extremely fair of form and face. This
makes the third exhibitor of unusual
muscle in London, for Samson still has
a number of admirers and sympathizers,
while Sandow is drawing crowds at the
A.hambra. -LondOn Letter.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25

FEMININE Charms Not things Exclusively
of Youth.

FEMININE Charms Not things Exclusively
OfYOuth.
One OF the truths which this woman'a
era, as one calls the present period, has
maze emphatic, is that womans charm
Is not,' as the earlier novelists taught
ana people generally believed, thing
exclusively of youth. No changes of
thought wrought in the last century are
more naked than those which note the
steady advance in the period of life at
which the feminine part of humanity is
thought to reach it's prime, says writer
IN Dress. The heroine of the original
novel was the thirteen-year-old. ''Sweet
sixteen" and blooming eighteen" were
the tavorite ages less than half a CEN
fury ago.
mo woman is so charming as the
woman OF thirty years. wrote q wise
and witty Frenchman, and many a man
OF modern society has echoed his senti-
ment. In the better circles girls do not
enter society at as early an age as they
did when the big ''old maid was affixed
to them if they didn't marry by the
time they were twenty-five. The modern
young woman is busy with her studies
and preparations for the future up to
the age of twcnty-one and later.
Inc age of our grandmOthers, who
took the responsibility of life upon
them wnile they should have been chill
dren, is past. The girl who marries at
sixteen no longer exists, and the old
time fallacy that girls are earlier ma
tured than the boys for the cares of
existence is rapidly giving way to more
progressive thought.
The average boy of sixteen or eighteen
is quite as matured as the girl of that
age. She is no more fitted lat that stage
OF the growth to assume the role of
womanhOod than he is of manhood. The
Spartans recognized this physiological
truth when they made a law forbidding
their females to marry under twenty
Ave.
The women of prom inence in the
world to-day, the social leaders and the
society favOrites, are no longer in the
freshness of their first youth. The
reigning favorites of the present are
women who have studied life, and whose
faces oftener show lines of thought than
cheeks of bloom.
The color of blooming eighteen" no
longer comedies it's crudities and So
ciety's queens are oftener women in the
thirties than girls in their twenties:
women, moreover, who have something
more fascinating than beauty, more real
than style. The modern woman is
learning the secret which made Mines.
de Stael and Recamier the rivals of the
youthful beauties when old age had
claimed them, or would have claimed
them had it been given a chance.
The loneliness of youth is the lowell
ness of the rosebud, but the glory of the
garden is the rose. What woman would
wish always to be eighteen? Who
would be, as DR.. Holland expresses it,
always kitten? Who would not rather
grow into Nine. de Stael than to stay
for all time in Clarissa?- Herald.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
RATS IN ENGLAND.
The Right Little, Tight Little Island
Needs Pied Piper Badly.

The Right Little, Tight Little Island
Needs a Pied Piper Badly.
The plague of rats, from which more
than one of our agricultural districts are
at present suffering, threatens to assume
serious proportions. In East Lothian,
though the vermin have been destroyed
by the thousands, and all the terriers,
steel traps and phosphorus paste in the
neighborhood are in requisition, their
numbers exhibit no appreciate diminu-
ton, while from the Fen district, in
Lincolnshire, it is reported that they
never W. re so numerous or destructive.
The potato pits are invaded, the turnip
fields constitute browsing ground for
the swarm of rodents, and every granary
has been compelled to pay an unwilling
tithe to the horde which has overspread
the country.
Since "Hamelin Town in Brunswick
Land" was afflicted in similar fashion
such pest has seldom been heard of.
1t is true that for the present they have
not fought the dogs and killed the
cats, and bit the babies in their cradles,
and ate the cheese out of the watts, and
licked from the cooks own ladle," but
they are in fair way to accom-
plish all these misdemeanOrs unless
their career is brought to speedy close.
Indeed the rats seem to have come to
stay. Unlike such vermin generally
they are burrowing holes by the road
side, and when we remember the amaz-
ing rapidity with which they multiply,
it is hard to say whether we should
wish the farmers of Lincolnshire and
East Lothian a severe winter or an open
one.
For though the frost might drive the
rats from the fields, it would certainly
force them to seek the shelter OF the
stable and byre, while an absence OF
frost would favor their increase. Mean
time the naturalist who is not an owner
or cultivator of the soil can not fail to
feel certain qualified interest in the
latest inroad, which is simply one more
attempt on the part of nature to assert
itself. 1t is protest against the per-
severing efforts of civilization to destroy
the balance of life, since this undue in
crease of rats must be traced to the de-
struction If the birds of prey, weasels,
stoats and other animals which harry
them. lust as the multiplication OF
weakling grouse has not unreasonaDly
been attributed to such feeble hedgllngs
being afforded, owing to similar cause,
an extra chance in the struggle for OK
istence.-London Standard.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
A MISSIONARIES LIFE.
Heroic Work of an American Woman i
the Wilds of Africa.

Heroic Work of an American Woman in
the Wilds of Africa.
In this place, one Of the most unciyil-
lied parts of West Africa, an American
lady is living without white ompanions
instructing the natives and cheerfully
performing all the duties that devolve
upon her as missionary. She is Miss
Martha Kah, of Cheyenne County, Neb.,
and she is the only representative left
of the missionary party established here
by Bishop VIM. Taylor.
Several men were in the party when
it came to Africa, but the trying climate
proved too much for them. The SUPER
intendent of the station, Mr.. Steele, was
compelled by i'll health to return to
America last year, and then Mr.. Sortore,
of Missouri. and Miss Kah were all who
were left In April, 1889, Mr.. Sortore
died with African fever and Miss Kah
is now alone, and is far too busy to be
greatly disheartened by the sad events
that have robbed her of all her COM
paniOnS.
Miss Kah superintendent the house
keeping while the others were with her.
and now she is obliged, in addition, to
keep the school going, and to direct the
labors on the plantation. She teaches
school five days every week if not pre-
vented by sickness The plantation was
opened by Mr.. SOrtore, and on it is
raised considerable manioc, bananas
and COCO 1t is necessary to keep up the
plantation, for Miss Kah, in addition to
her missionary work, must support her.
self; the theory of the Taylor missions
being that the missionaries all support
themselves.
1t is marvellous how economically bliss
Kah and her recent comrades lived in
this savage part of the world; and yet
they have always been prepared to en-
terrain Hospitality any traveller who
comes here.-Mamby French Congo)
Letter.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
PuNGENT PARAGRAPHS.

The proprietor of a gaming house
should never abuse his betters.-Texas
Siftings.
-Wife-'Who will mend your clothes
shen | am dead and gomez" Husband
Nobody. I'll be able to buy new
clothes them Munsey's Weekly.
Mrs. De Fashion-''How is this, my
daughter? l hear that since your mar
riage you have dropped out of society
Mrs. De Sense-''No, mother, | didn't
drop out Iclimbed out. N. J. Weekly.
Mrs. Hobbs parent of an infant ter
ror and several half grown terrors)-
ssWell. Mr.. Hobbs, since you are so dis
satisfied with the way am raising our
larling Willie, maybe you will conde-
scand to inform me how you would raise
bows Hobbs Certainly. every boy
ought to be kept in hogshead and fed
through the hung hole until he is twelve
years of age" ''And when he reaches
the age of twelve?" ''Stop up the bung
hole"
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
CROWNED AFTER DEATH.
Tire Only Queen Who Never Knew Her
Royal Station.

hOydI
There is no more remarkable page in
all history than the one which tells of
the browning of Inez de Castro's flesh
less skull as Queen of Portugal. She
had been married clandestinely to young
Dom Pedro, and was murdered three
years later by assaSsinS instigated by
her father-in-law. When the young Dom
heard of her death he was beside him
self with grief and rage. Two of the
a:Sassins fell into his hands and suffered
terrible torture, which only ended by
their hearts being torn out while they
were yet alive. When Pedro came to
the throne few years later he had the
bones If Inez taken from the grave,
placed upon a magnificent throne, robed
in royal purple, and actually crowned
Queen of Portugal! The court was sum-
moned and compelled to do her
homage. just as if she were real
living Queen. One fieshless hand
held the scepter and the other the
orb of royalty. On the second night of
this weird ceremony the feshless Queen
was borne before grand funeral cortege
extending several miles, each person
holding a torch. Lying in her rich
robes, her crown upon her grinning
skull, in a chariot arawn by twenty
coal-black mules, Queen Inez, the only
Queen who never knew her royal sta
ton, was driven to the royal Abbey of
Alcobaca, where the bones were inferred
with as much pomp as though she had
died but yesterday. The monument
erected to the Queen who was never a
Queen during life, is still to be seen in
the able, standing near the one erected
to her royal husband, Pedro, the Just"
1t is said that the whole cause of this
outrageous proceeding was an attempt
of Philip II. of Spain to secure the
throne on the grounds that the mar
riage of Inez was illegal. These events
occurred during the three years follow
ing January l, 1347, the date of the mar
riape of Pedro and TneZ
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
ELEVATOR SICKNESS.
How 1t May Be Avoided During Rapid
Ascent or Descent.

Il
Ascent or Descent.
great many people are unable to
ride on elevator cars on account of the
feeling that their hearts and souls are
being pulled out of them when the ma
chine starts to drop. People with heart
affection are frequently forbidden by
their physicians to ride in the cars, and
it is disagreeable to thousands who ride,
in spite of it, to save time and legs in
the big buildings of the city.
A well-known lawyer, who has very
level head at most times, admits that
his head feels empty when the elevator
starts down, but claims to have discOv-
cred very simple mechanical trick by
which he avoids the all-gone feeling.
He is willing to have it suggested to his
fellow mortals anonymously.
81 take long BREATH" he said, Gust
as 1 step on the elevator, and hold it
with a tight pressure. Then, just as
the elevator begins to sink, let it out
exactly with the motion of the car. The
quicker the car starts the quicker and
harder press out the air, and L dom
feel as if my soul had flown out; in fact,
/ can avoid the least disagreeable SEN
sation.'
Another gentleman who tried the ex-
pertinent vouched for the results in his
case. Don't imagine that you have to
blow so that every body else in the car
can hear you," he said. Call you need
to do is to hold the breath tightly and
let it go noiselessly out the nose. I
think the sensation is due to the sudden
change of pressure of blood in the heart
and head, and the compression of air in
the breathing organs offsets that press
ure by reaction when the car starts. D
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
THE PRESIDENTS ROOM.
Visitors Are Allowed to Stay Five Minutes
i'm the ADartment

Visitors Are Allowed to Stay Five Minutes
in the Apartment.
''You would be surprised" said the
guard in the Presidents room at the
capitol, ''to know how often visitors
come in here, and, after looking around
at the general effect of the furnishings
and decorations, which, you observe, are
red, ask:
And where can we find the Blue
Room we have heard so much about?'
''They have mixed up the capitol and
the White House in their minds, of
course. Constantly people inquire of me
where the Presidents living quarters
are-whether at this end of the capitol
or at the other"
Are people permitted to come into
the Presidents room, sit down, and stay
as long as they like?" asked the reporter
''Most emphatically not. The room
would be used as a sort of club by the
lOungers of the capitol if we permitted
any thing of that sort The time al
lowed people to stay is five minutes. If
visitors overstay that limit they are po-
litely requested to leave. Why, l have
known country folks to come here and
bring lunch, evidently with the inten-
ton of eating it upon the center table
or of picknicking on the sofas. Such
persons are apt to think it an outrage
that they should not be allowed SO
trifiing an accommodation. This is the
most comfortable room in the capitol
and it is not surprising that people
should want to take rest here incident
ally to the fatigue of sightseeing. We
have to devote our attention chiefly to
depressing visitors of the sort speak of
ard to looking out for vandals, who
want to cut the tassels off the chairs for
uementoes, to take slices out of the
sofas for the same purpose or to snip
pieces off the curtains to remember the
Presidents room by. Women frequently
come in here and, taking off their bon
nets, prink to the full five minutes al
lowed them before the long mirrors. -
Washington Star.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
THEY LIVE ON CREDIT,
How Petty Officials in Russia Swindie
Trusting rradesmen.

How Petty Officials in Russia Swindie
Trusting rradesmen.
Full four-ffths of the officials of st.
Petersburg receive less than $50 a
month. Most of them have a houseful
of children, and they must all spend
part of the year in town, where lodgings
and provisions are expensive. have at
last got clew to the mystery how they
manage it. 1t is all done on credit.
The credit of petty official is practical
ly inexhaustible. He and the majority
of his compeers live-at least in the
country-at the expense of credulous
tradesmen. Their spouses, especially.
are born geniuses in this department of
industry.
From the very beginning" says a
well-known publicist, ''they established
their household on basis of fraud. In
their houses strangers are sure to be
taken in. Every man, woman and child
who comes in contact with them is
plucked like an elder duck"
Most of these people pay only half the
rent covenanted for, and some manage
to get their meals thrown in. The
tradesmen, who compete with each other
suicidally, wipe out their last Years
debts rather than run their heads into
new nooses.
The peddlers and bagmen, who are
continually strolling about these places
with their bags of wares on their backs.
are not too small flies for the spiders;
webs woven by those gentlemen" The
lady of the house or her worthy spouse
holds watch on the balcony, eagerly list
ening for the cries of the itinerant
vendors, who, having no books, give
credit, and are paid in promises.
Suddenly the cry: "Children's bootsl
Children's boots!'' is waited along. with
many less pleasant things, upon the
balmless breeze.
'Walk in here through the wicket to
the right, cries the landlady from her
porch. And the victim walks in. shows
his wares bargains, haggles and leaves
several pairs of boots.
And so family of three, four or five
persons manage to live in the country.
II not exactly on the fat of the land. vet
on tid-bits of whatever is in season. and
can afford to play cards with neipbbors
and relations, and go to a concert OF
private theatricals now and against
Petersburg Letter.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
DURABLE TIMBER.
Eight Valuable Suggestions Based mn
Prof. Ranxine's Experience.

Eight Valuable Suggestions Based nm
Prof. Rankine's Experience.
Professor Rankine says: "There are
certain appearances which are charac-
teristic of strong and durable timber to
what class sOever it belongs /. In the
same species of timber that specimen
will in general be strongest and most
durable which has grown the slowest.
as shown by the narrowness of the an
nual rings. 2. The cellular tissue. as
seen in the medullary rays when visi-
be) should be hard and compact. 3.
The vascular or fbrous tissue should
adhere firmly together and should show
no wOoliness at freshly-cut surface.
nor should it clog the teeth of the saw
with loose fibers. 4. If the wood is
Acolored, darkness of color is in general
"a sign of strength and durability. s. The
freshly cut surface of the wood should be
firm and shining, and should have some
what of translucent appearance. A dull
chalky appearance is a sign of bad tim
Der. g. In wood of a given species, the
heavier specimens are in general the
stronger and the most lasting. Z. Among
resin in their pores, and among nom
resinous woods, those which have least
sap or gum in them, are in general the
strongest and most lasting. 8. 1t is
stated by some authors in fr-wood that
which has the most sap wood, and in
hard wood that which has the least, is
the most durable-but the universalitv
of this law is doubtful Timber should
be free from such blemishes as clefts or
cracks radiating from tie center: cup
shakes or cracks which partially epar-
ate one annual layer from another; v
"up-sets," where the fibers have been
crippled by compression; V ''ringalls, {"
or wounds in the layer of the wood
which have been covered and concealed
by the growth OF subsequent layers over
them"
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-04-25
DueIing in Germany.

The Emperor of Germany has his
faults, but his resolution to put down
the practice of dueling merits the warm
est praise. Of course there is really no
difference between the duelist and the
murderer, except that the former more
frequently kills in cold blood. But it
has taken people a good many centuries
to learn even this elementary truth, and
in Germany, which is not the least en-
lightened of nations, it has been difficult
to drive the fact home. The dullest
man in the Fathera and understands,
however, what cashiering an officer
means, and it may safely be concluded
that the punishment which the Emperor
proposes to infiict upon the challenger
will have the effect of stamping out the
duelists in the German army.-London
Figaro.