davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
ALL SORTS.

The lion and the tiger, and indeed.
most of the carnivora, do not grind their
food, using their jaws only up ana down,
the molars acting like chopping knives,
or rather scissors. Their mouths, in fact,
are veitable hash mill.
Meteorological observations which have
been taken at 900 meteorological and hydro
graphic stations, by many thousands of
observers, show that during the twenty
years, 1910 1860, much rain fell; the next,
187O-1S80, was wet. The fluctuations be-
came more accentuated the farther they
penetrated into the continent
Photography has apparently disproved
the theories of the old school meteoroio-
gists, who maintained that lightning
never turned back in its path. An ex-
animation of lighting photography
shows that fash not only turns back
sometimes, but tangles itself into a kind
of knot
Investigations in the Alps and Pyrenees
have shown that height produces modif-
cations, not only in the shape of plaLcs,
but in the thickness of the bark, the color
of the leaves, and even in the anatomical
structure OF certain organs. The leaves
become thicker at great heights.
and their faces often have double laver of
oellules.
If a piece of dyed cloth is dampened and
rubbed on clean white paper, the absence
Of any stain shows that the dye is fast
color. Another test is to lay the cloth be-
tween two sheets of paper and iron it,
There should be no mark in this case,
either. Again, if the cloth is covered with
a perforated sheet of thick paper, and ex-
posed for some hours to direct sunlight.
the color of the exposed parts should not
fade
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
FRENCH ARMY DISCIPLINE.
Brutal Punishment Visited upou Folders
for Bad BEHAVIOR.

The punishment in vogue in the French
army are OF very severe nature, says Van
lty Fair, more especially when it is con-
sldered that the men thus punished are not
by any means criminals, but only soldiers
who have not behaved so we'll as they
might. These are deported to Algiers
under the name of ''camisards. where
they are enrolled in the com
pagnies de discipline. Before en-
barking the man has his boots taken
from him, which are replaced by sabots,
and on arriving at his destination he re-
ceives a uniform of gray wool and a cap
with large brim. The men are farmed
out to do work, and are all the time under
the supervision of non-commissionedo off
GERS, who treat their interiors with the
greatest brutality. 1t is, however, the
punishment to which the men are subjected
for the most triaing offenses which must
excite indignation.
A common punishment is to keep them
night and day in a hole in the ground
with perpendicular walls, so that escape
is impossible. Searching heat by day and
cold by night, with rations reduced to one
quarter of their roper quantity, make the
very common punishment of the gargoule
extremely trying The imprisoning of
men In the tombeauS, or regulation tents.
which are only so centimeters broad and
60 high, is no rarity, and during their in
generation the prisoners receive no water
nor wine nor coffee. A little meat and
some bouillon is their whole nourishment
during the day.
But those who are punished in cells are
incomparably worse off. They are never
allowed, under any circumstances, to leave
the hole they are kept in, by day or night.
They have no duties of work to pass the
time, and only get some warm soup every
second day, with very limited quantity
of water. The punishment is made still
more severe by putting the man in irons
on certain occasions. The delinquent has
iron rings around his ankles, which are
connected by an iron bar more than
a foot in length, so that his legs form an
isosceles triangle with it. He is forced to
lie down ON his face and then his arms
are chained on his back, whereupon he is
put into his tombeay. Fs can only eat
his sour like dog, and if be wants to
drink he must seize his bottle with his
teeth, and should he let the bottle fall his
ration of water is lost for that day. ANY
complaints made are at once stopped by a
gag.
Only quite recently a punishment was in
use called crapaudine. The prisoner s
hands and feet we're chained together, and
in this posture he was strung up on to an
iron bar. The camisard is also in use. The
soldier is first put into a straight jacket,
his hands are tied on his back and round
his neck and iron collar is fastened, which
is attached to an iron bar in the wall. The
as eight days, unable to lie down or to do
anything for himself
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
The Cyclone and the Rose.

A sudden hush seemed to have fallen
upon the village. The farmers horses,
hitched to the rack on the public
square. stood closer together. and the
town COW walked briskly toward home
where her calf stood, rubbing his head
against the fence. The canvass avn
ings in front of the stores. trembled and
swelled, and the leaves on the locust
tree standing near the courthouse we'll,
quivered. The air was warm. When
ever woman appeared on the street,
a futterlng of white was seen. The
sun had been blazing all day, but was
now hidden by gathering of cloud in
the west. The courthouse bell struck
three. and several women, arrayed in
calico and sun-bonnets, came out of
store. climbed into wagon and drove
away. The leaves on the locust tree
futtered and the canvass of the avn
ings began to flap against the posts.
Uncle John" said the county clerk,
meeting an old farmer in the street, II
believe we are going to have Storm
Yes looks sorter that way"
A stiff breeze sprang up even while
they were talking. The down of the
dond~ IN fitted past. a horse broke
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
A New Hat Material.

Many of the cheap Derby hats that
will be worn on the streets of ST. Lonis
this spring. says the Globe Democrat,
will be made of a new material of
which the hatters have just got hold.
The stuff is called linters. 1t is short
cotton left on the seed after the cotton
has been ginned by the cotton-raiser.
He sells his cotton to the merchant and
the seed to a mill that makes cotton
seed oil. The miller puts the seed
through another gin, specially made to
clean short cotton from the seed. In
an oil-mill of small capacity several
bales Of cotton are ginned from the
seed in this way. The fiber is broken
and very snort and up to few months
ago the mill sold it to stuff bedding
with. Its price was about half that of
average cotton. The negroes in the
south were the buyers generally, but
occasionally the mills would get good
big order from concerns that made pill
lows and mattresses, Suddenly some
body found out that it could be made
to initiate felt for cheap hats. The ex-
pertinent then of making hats of lint
ers was tried on large scale this win
ter by New York factory, and the hats
were sold to retailers for introduction
very cheaply. The test showed that
the hats stood wear, and the oil-mills
were at once called on by the manu-
facturers to make contracts for all the
linters they could get off the cotton
seed. Now linters has gone away up
in price, and is only a few cents a
pound cheaper than cotton. The dis
ccvery is likely to have lower effect
npon the kind of Derbies which have
sold for So; and, in fact, some merchants
are already using the linters Derbes
as LEADERS" for their other goods, sell
ingthem at half the cost of the felt hat.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
WOuld-Be Suicides.

DR.. Cushing. a retired physician on
the West side, gave me an interesting
fact a day or so ago about suicides,
says the n. Y. Star.
Not once in a thousand times" said
he, do either men or women kill
themselves while in the presence of
another person. The tendency of the
suicidal mania is always toward soli-
tude. That is why in all the asylums
of the land people who have a dispo-
sition to kill themselves are always kept
together and there is no danger then"
Another remarkable fact is added
another physician who joined in the
conversation, that people who attempt
suicide and fail are almost ALWAYS
afraid to die. When | was a Young
doctor in hospital we used to some
times play pranks on men brought in
who had tendency to kill themselves.
l recall very interesting case which
happened not long ago. A man was
carried into the institution who had
attempted twice in one day to commit
suicide.
LET US see, said l to another ply
stefan, how badly this man wants to
die;
Il handed him harmless mixture,
of which he gave the man a good dose
| turned quickly around, snatched the
bottle out of his hand, and said so that
the would-be suicide could hear me:
My God, doctor you have killed
that man! Get the stomach pump at
once
The man, who only few hours be-
fore had tried to take his own life, in
stantly became scared to death at the
thought of losing it. He begged like
good fellow to be saved. | have never
known it to be otherwise that if per-
son fails to take his own life, he is
afraid to lost it by accident
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
A Homily on Hens.
London Standard.

Are hens birds? They are certainly not
quadrupeds, nor reptiles, nor yet fishes
Still less appropriately can they be called
insects. But all the same are they birds :?
If we go to the nursery (about the only
place left where we are sure of getting
facts) we find that bird is "a thing that
flies about, and builds its nests and sings "
Now, whereabouts in this definition can
we edge in the hen? 1t cannot sing as
Chaucer says, che worthe a boterfle, -
while as for its nest-building, its genius
In that direction is about equal to a cows
Fly about! What spectacle it would be
to see the fat, fluffy partlets of the yard
circling about in the air, soaring lark-like
towards heaven gate or lying on the blue,
poised on level wings as falcons poise.
Imagine the mixed feeling of the fowl
boy if he saw his charges, cochins, brah-
mas and all the rest, suddenly awaken to
the recollection of their glorious heritage
of the sky, and sail away into the empy-
rean, Or, perhaps, remembering what is
expected of birds, fly off to join the sylvan
choir. and, fitting from tree to tree, ravish
the listening woodland with their artless
melody! No, as a flying, nest-building
and singing thing" the hen does not
come within many geographical degrees
of being bird.
Nor. judged from moral point of view,
does 1.-THE tame village fowl approach the
proper bird standard. Once upon a time
the ostrich used to be harshly spoken of by
moralizing poets:
The ostrich, slliest of the feathered bird,
And formed of God without parents mind,
for it was supposed to have no maternal
feelings. Later and better Information
has cleared the character of the ''steel-
digesting ostrich of the charge of indif-
ference to her eggs. But the better we
know hens the less respect we feel for their
mother instinct"
She is kind of egg-machine, laying ac-
cording to her species, more or less lrregu-
larly all the year round. Every now and
again she seems to protest against her
own artifciaiity, and says, $50 to, you
fowl-boy; have been laying eggs for ever
so long, but where they go to [ have no
idea, and now I'm going to hatch some
thing don't care what And down
she sits-on anything or nothing. And
there she persists in sitting. Then comes
the fowl-boy, who lifts her up, puts num-
Der of eggs under her, shuts her up and
goes off. By and by the eggs hatch, but
what comes of them? The hen doesn't
care whether they are pheasants or ducks
She promptly appropriates them as ''chick
ems, and not all the mlsbehavlor of her
alien progeny nor the supercillious re-
marks of the yard ever shake her fidelity
to her charge. 1t is very pretty to watch
her with her troublesome brood. and not a
little touching. But it is very funny, and
makes one puzzle over the real nature of
what is called maternal affection.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
Jean Paul Wrote Them.

The last issue of Dcutsche Dichtu1ag,
a continental semi-monthly of high lit
erary standing contains many hitherto
unpublished aphorisms and letters of
Jean Paul. Here are some of the for
mer:
''Although a man marry but once,
he always has as many wives as chill
dren. Every child brings his wife a
new mood. Have you three children
you have four wives.
Men whose opinions have the weak
est foundations are least open to con-
viction. Swampy land is not liable to
earthquakes,
"Phantasy looks at pain through a
convex, stoicism through a concave,
glass.
The stomach is the greatest pedant.
Spectacles in the darkness logic with
out feeling.
Trees in the thin forests are strong
and rough in thick forests, weak and
shapely. So lonely men are more ro-
bust and unpublished.
The nobler the man, the thicker the
doubt in darkness. The higher the
mountains, the heavier the clouds.
Only in hot, passionate heads, as in
hot countries precious stones; in cold
countries, iron.
"a book printed only in capitals is
hard to read; SO life full of Sundays.
Feeling discovers, understanding
recognizes reasons.
The great man gives snort notice
OF his coming deed. So the sun. The
more brilliant its beam the more sud-
den its setting.
The aged sage is in an air-ship high
above the world. Around him all is
still and dead. Below him lie the
clouds and busy cities. He is fright
ened by his own voice. But around
him is spread all heaven"
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
Old Fashioned Way.

Wise people are usually in no hurry to
adopt or reject new ideas. They examine
carefully before they venture In ways
they are unaccustomed to. There are
many old fashioned. simple methods of
doing work that give far better results
than can be obtained from the complex
machinery which has been invented to
take their place. The simplest method
the best method Life is too short and
into our homes. Already the tide is set
ting against what witty, American es-
sayist has called the modern inconven-
iences.' Sensible people do not now
build houses with stationary washstands
in their bedroom, where the waste pipe
gives free access to water gas. Bath
rooms are built now at the side or in
some way insolate, so they can readily be
aired and lighted, not. as for herly, open
ing into sleeping rooms, from, from
whence they receive their only light and
air. Steam heat is rapidly taking the
place of the dry-air furnace, heat mixed
as it often was with coal gas and cooking
odors of the basement kitchen. There is
no heat, as all the world knows, so health
giving and beautiful as an open fire. The
oid-fashioned habit Of keeping the fire.
place open all summer, so fire could be
kindled and kept burning low on the
hearth and damp summer S day was
comfortable and a pleasant one. There
are many days in the summer when the
atmosphere of house is improved by a
brisk fire of light wood early in the morn
ing and late IN the evening.
The old-fashioned way of making bread
rolls. mullins and biscuit was with yeast.
1t requires forethought to set such bread.
1t cannot be stirred up at moments
whim like biscuit and mullins made with
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
FARM, HOME AND GARDEN.
MY LITTLE WIFE.
IL n d.

O. happy is the heart that hears
Love : gracious glad evangel!
Thrice happy mine that hears II sung
At home by such an angel!
| wonder, as she fits about.
II Time can ever touch her:
If grim Old Age can dare TO come
With cruel claw TO clutch her
For, o, she's ever on the wing!
No busy bee can match her.
SO bllthe and bonny. too, ii seems
That Care could never catch her
OF sweet, unselfiSh ways and works,
My little wife's ne'er weary,
She lives to love, she lives to bless,
My darling and my deary.
You wonder when you hear the song
OF nightingale or linnet.
How such wee bit bird can hold
A heart so big within it.
And, when l see her soul a-shine
From out her fairy figure,
l marvel that so great a guest
Can bide in bonds no bigger.
4 saint: o, no. She has her faults,
And yet she sheds about her
Such light of love. | doubt if Heaven
Be really Heaven without her!
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26

Prof. ]. P. Finley gives the width of
the path of destruction in tornadoes, as de-
termined from the records of eighty-eight
age being 369 feet: The 6eo length Of Of the the
n mes the a1e1sge Geng 4 be mes ch n
varies from Z to 100 miles an hour, the
average being, All miles. These ex-
tremes may often occur in different por-
tons of the track of single tornado. The
shortest time occupied by the tornado
minutes, the average being "a seconds.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26
Care of Ashes.
American Agriculturist.


Statistics of insurance companies show
that the cause OF an astonishing number
OF fires IN country places is carelessness
with ashes. In localities where wood is
still the fuel, every one knows that cover
ing a few live Goals with fine ashes will
preserve fire for very long time Live
Goals, covered In ashes in a wooden ash
barrel OF bin, will keep fire as long as in
the fireplace, and their presence not rare
ly manifested by the burning of the barrel
and the shed that contained it, if no
greater loss result. Wood ashes are in
themselves of sufficient value to warrent
care in keeping from becoming injured by
exposure to the weather, and at distance
sufficient from buildings to prevent any
possible danger. Ashes should always be
taken up IN iron vessels. The best ash
house we have seen was built of brick and
covered with an arch of brick. An
opening was left in one end for the intro
duction Of ashes, and another at the
ground level, closed by an iron door, for
the removal of the contents Better let
the ashes go to waste than to try to pre-
serve them N any shed Or other outbuild-
ing connected with the dwelling Coal
ashes are worth very little as fertilizer,
but they are worth saving. They should
be sifted daily, and the cinders
and the fine ashes saved separately.
The cinders as foundation to be covered
by the ashes and rolled, make a most
excellent path or road Their mechanical
action upon stiff, heavy soil is beneficial.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26

Scientific investigations, extending over
a period of years, have disclosed the fact
that, almost without exception, mild
winter is followed by a summer character
lied by constantly recurril electrical dis
turbances. The summer of 1881. as being
within the memory of almost every one
may be mentioned as an example. While
it is not easy to account for this, it is known
to every electrician that atmosphere
more or less warmed is great developing
agent of electricity. and the same may be
said of metals. The heating of iron de
velops in the bar electrical currents.
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26

Mr. Mifson "a wealthy wido wer) My
little boy is very slow about learning to
walk. really don't know what to do
about it, Miss Massey = why don't
YOU get him stepmother ?''-Jester
Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-26

A southern journal says pea vines are
the very best crop OF ensilage.
The morning call., 1890-07-16
WHAT NIGHT HAVE BEEN"

The Portland OreqoniGn recently said that
if Great Britain had dealt with colonies a
hundred years ago as she does now the
United States Of America would be to-day
as loyal defenders of Great Britain as are
Canada and Australia. England would not
only have saved her colonies, but also the
$500, 600 600 she spent in the War of indie
pendence. An English gentleman carries
the what might have been" little further
The United States would have saved the
war expenses Of 1912 and the S5OOO,OO0,O0O
expenditure on account of the Civil War
Pensions to the amount of S1,117 100000
would have been saved. Against this vast
expenditure would have been the cost of
purchasing the slaves, which the English
man assumes would have been done by the
English Government. The speculations,
both of the OregoniGn and its correspond
ent, remind one of the man who arrived
at the conclusion that he would be at least
$4,000 richer if he never had been born.
lie arrived at that conclusion by careful
computation of what he had cost his
parents and what he had cost himself. The
United States of America would never have
been born, in the full sense of the word, if
the colonies had remained under the con-
lIbl VI GIedb lldiE we oDOulu HbNeI
have felt the throbbing of national life if
we had not been called upon to act for our
selves. The cost of war is a trihe COM
pared to the incentives to industry which
these wars have impaired. The War Of
1872 showed the necessity of establishing
home manufactures, and that of 1861 con-
firmed the experience of the first war. The
lives lost in battle and through the disease
brought on by exposure cannot be re-
stored; but. so far as dollars and cents go,
the wars we have had Injured to our benefit.
Five thousand millions seems a large sum,
but, large as it is, it is small in comparison
to the earnings of a nation of 10000, 900 peo-
pie during a period of twenty-five years
AS colonies of Great Britain the people of
the United States would have continued
producers and sellers of raw material. We
should probably have been represented in
the British Parliament, and our fiscal pol
icy would have been dictated by that Par
lament. Under the policy Of free trade
which England has maintained for the last
forty years the manufactures of the colonies
would have been limited to the rude kinds
of work that must of necessity be done on
the ground. But it is probable that the
English correspondent of the Oregonian
was intent only on carrying the OregORidH'S
original conceit to the point at which its
absurdity becomes clearly apparent
The morning call., 1890-07-16

turn now from tie employees of iron found
dries to employees in iron mines. Is there
any good reason why the wages of IRON
miners should be reduced that the wages
of iron manufacturers may be increased
Is not the production of iron ore an indus
try worthy of encouragement? Would it
be wise to shut down our iron mines be-
cause, like many other American industries,
they are unable to compete with the prod
ucts of cheaper foreign labor. The differ
ence between the cost of American iron ore
in this city and the cost of foreign ore is SO
small that if the duty on the latter were re-
moved it would be used almost exclusively
by our manufacturers. The effect then of
taking off the duty on foreign iron would
be to secure market for the foreign prod
uct at the expense of the American product.
1t is not certain either that iron ore would
cheaper the amount of the duty, if the duty
was taken off. Foreign producers might be
able to add nearly the amount of the duty
to the price of the exported article.