davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14
VALUE OF AUTOGRAPHS.
Some Reflections OF Interest to Ardent Col
lectOrs of Signatures.

Some Reflections OF Interest to Ardent Col
lectors of Signatures.
A collector of autographs, as of other
things, and almost beyond other collect
ors, enjoys a second pleasure, beside
that of contemplating and exhibiting.
Collectors have no overweening pride in
collections. They know they and theirs
are mortal, and will come to Wellington
street in time. Meanwhile, they have
the charming occupation of watching
the turn of their market, and speculat-
ing on the eventful value of their in
vestments. AS they experience when
ever they bid and buy, the oldest estab-
lished among their favorite wares were
continually going up and down. 1t
might be expected that autographs, like
the rest of the worlds treasures, should
vary with the rising or declining pros
perity of the day. That is natural. 1t
is more surprising to find that relative
values are never steady and fixed.
Hume, and Johnson, and Voltaire, it is
manifest, are no longer autograph names
to conjure by. Bolingbroke, Queen
lyle attract no such s4dent worshipers
as Lamb, Shelley, Keats, Dickens and
Thackeray.
When there are such vicissitudes in
the worth of the names of personages
whose rank might be presumed to have
been long ago determined, it is clear
that the autograph collector is left more
or less to guess work in appraising in
shillings and pounds the handwriting of
living celebrities. Yet, he can not
escape the risks; and, if he have the
genuine collectors passion, he ought to
revel in the necessity. Any body with
a long purse can buy up letters by
Shelley, Lamb, Scott and Byron. True
sagacity and insight are requisite to in
vest successfully upon the autographs
prospects of the existing generation.
Collectors who plunge upon rising
statesman may find that he is no better
than political Mr.. Toots. They may
have amassed manuscript verses by the
bard of the future to discover that the
future prOnOunces the phenomenon a
pOetaster.
To turn over the pages of an autograph
album of living or all but living names
is to walk through a neglected church
yard. But, on the other hand, there are
occasional consultations. In the darkest
corner of birthday book may lurk
name, requested out of reluctant polite
ness, which hereafter will fetch guineas
in the auction-room. 1t should nerve
the genius of the obscurities of the gen.
Grafton to feel that by bound into fame
they will confer the sincerest gratifica-
ton at any rate upon all possessors of
their ographs.-London Times
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14
TORTURE FOR BILL.
HOW Lizy's Little Brother Makes Her
Beau's Life a Burden

Beau's Life a Burden.
When big, gawky, overgrown rural
youth of about nineteen summers, makes
his first appearance in public as beau
to a bashful, sweetly modest miss of about
the same age, their misery is already so
great that the wretched youth would be
justified in Staying the young brother of
ten or twelve years, who maliciously in
sists on tagging around after the young
couple at Fourth of July celebration,
and frequently giving utterance to such
hendish expressions as these:
eli, there, look at our Bill!'
''Think yer derned smart, don't We,
Bill Weatherwax, beauin' Lily Shockly
'round!'
'Hee, hee, hee! See Bill and Lizv!
Say, Bill, does your mother know yer
out?"
Ii poor Bill has at any time in the
dead and gone past offended this inter-
esting younger brother that vindictive
youth 'gets even" by following steadily
in Bills wake all day propounding such
notifying questions as these:
"Hey, Bill, ye spent all that fifty
cents pop give you this morning? He'll
wallop you if yu do!''
Eye goin' home in time to do up the
chores, Bill? Pop said you'd had to and
you'd better, sir!"
"Don't we jist think yer some pump
kins, Bill Weatherwax? Now don't ye?
How mighty smart we are!'
His fertile Imagination suggests the
propriety of gathering together all the
small boys of his acquaintance and get
ting them to follow around after poor
Bill and Liza, a giggling, jeering, fiend-
ish crowd of young vagabonds who add
to Bills anguish by saying: "Hurrah for
you Billr'
Take good care of him, Lizy!"
Say, Bill, did We shave fore We start
ed from home?"
This sort of torment goes on and is
increased by the pleasing ingenuity of
the small boy, until poor Bill and the
blushing Eliza are reduced to the last
stage of misery and they separate, after
which it is to be hoped Bill ''gets even"
with the small boy.-Drake's Maya
zine.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14
A Fortune Finds Its Owners.

About fifteen years ago two brothers
named August and Fritz Plocke, shoe
makers by trade, came with sister, to
Berlin from their native place, Reopen,
near Frankfort on the Oder. Their
grandfather or granduncle had emf
grated in the beginning of this century
to England, and thence to the Cape,
where he acquired :. fortune of several
hundred thousand thalers. After his
death at the Cape,in 1885, his heirs were
advertised for in the papers and the
Plockes advanced their claims. The
Cape Government, however, disputed
the documents, and, when conclusive
documents were sent at last declared
that they were superannuated. and that
the inheritance had, therefore, fallen to
the English crown. At length, how
ever, the Cape Go ,rnment has &C
knowledged the claims of the Plockes,
and is expected that the capital,
amounting to nearl. 100000 marks,
will be paid them at the beginning of
next year.-LOndon Standard
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14
STORIES ABOUT HORSES.
remarkable Traits of Equine Intelligent
Observed by Bob Burdette

remarkable Traits of Equine Intelligence
Observed by Bob Burdette.
A writer in Harper's Magazine saws
that horse when tied in the stable
should always be kept so that he NAV
see the passers-by and the other horses.
ana thus amuse and occupy himself"
mat Is good plan, but think mine is
still better. / own one of those intelli-
gent horses myself. l have never no.
cceo him politely passing hay to the
otner horses in the stable, but possibly
that is because there are no other
horses. have frequently observed him
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14
The Best of All Cribs.

A mother says: ga cIothes-basket
makes one of the incest possible cribs
for baby. All my children were
raised in clothes-basket and a ham,
mock, with never cradle or crib. n
was a large-sized one (the basket. 7
mean), with handles at the ends. For
the first baby it was covered with blue
sllesla and dotted Swiss. But when the
other babies came an old cretonne for
the inside and out did very we'll. The
sides were padded with piece of old
bed-quilt, and little mattress made for
the bottom. When baby fell asleep the
basket was easily carried into quiet
room, which could be made dark" The
idea could not be a bad one. Such a
basket would do very nicely for the
babies who are just learning to sill alone.
The padding would save the little
heads from many hard bump, and also
keep the little ones from feeling the
drafts which rush along the floor. DE
troit News.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14

When man is vile and villainous.
and thinks nobody knows it, he is cher
ishing big error that will some dav
greatly confuse him.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14

THE CHINAMAN'S HADES.
How the Wicked Heather Is Supposed tt
Fare in Pluto's Kingdom.

How the Wicked Heather Is Supposed to
Fare in Pluto's Kingdom.
The sixth court of hell is situated at
the bottom of the great ocean north of
Wuchio Rock. 1t is vast, noisy ge-
henna, many leagues in extent, and
around it are sixteen wards or ante
hells. In the first ward the sinful soul
is made to kneel for long periods on hot
iron shots; in the second they are placed
up to their necks in filth; in the third
they are pounded till the blood runs out;
in the fourth their mouths are opened
with red-hot pincers and filled with
needles; in the fifth they are inclosed
in net of thorns and nipped by poison
Gus locusts; in the seventh all the flesh
and bones are crushed to jelly, all ex-
cept the head; in the eighth the head is
denuded of skin, and the flesh beaten on
the raw; in the ninth the mouth
is filled with fire; in the tenth
the pounded flesh off of the body
is licked and roasted by sulphurous
flames; in the eleventh the nostrils are
subjected to all loathsome smells known
to their tormentors; in the twelfth they
are to be butted by rams, oxen and buff
faloes, aud at last subject to crushing
pressure by being trampled by horses,
in the thirteenth the heart will be taken
out and skinned, in the fourteenth the
skull will be rubbed with sandstone I'M
til it has been entirely worn from the
jelly-like mass which was once the
body; in the fifteenth the body will be
separated in the middle and carried
with the bare, bleeding ends sitting on
red hot plates to the sixteenth ward,
where the skin will be removed, dried
and rolled up, after having written upon
it all the sinful deeds done by the soul
while an inhabitant of the fieshy body;
after that the body will be consigned to
the flames. st Louis Republic.
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14
WONDERFUL BLIND MEN.
One Is an Ohio Man and the Other q NJ
tive Of Franco.

One Is an Ohio Man and the Other q Ma.
tive of France.
It is almost incredible that Simon Col
for twenty-seven years, is an expert
carper-weaver, makes and prints paper
flour sacks in colors, doing the printing
on Washington hand-press, and with q
perfect register. / have known him for
seven or eight years and have seen him
frequently on the streets of his town,
cane in hand, walking rapidly, making
all the ms and outs, going down into
basement or upstairs into business
Office, never making a mistake and
never being hurt. A year ago he made
canoe from his own design, and the
same boat won race in the regatta
upon the Susquehanna at Columbia. He
is the patentee of brush handle, makes
fishing nets and cane-seated chairs. His
latest triumph is the mastery of the
typewriter. He bought one some
months ago, and is now able to operate
it quickly and correctly. He is said to
be an expert euchre player, but I can
not vouch for that, though it is scarcely
more notable than many things already
mentioned which I have known him to
do.
Vidal, the blind French sculptor, has
been without vision since his twenty
first year. He is now one of the wonders
of Paris. One can understand how
blind farmer would cultivate the ground
with the pillow, spade and hoe; how he
would feel around the tender plants and
gently loosen the dirt from their roots;
or how the blind Birmingham (Ala.)
miner tells, with the sense of touch
alone, the direction and to what depth
to drill his holes before putting in the
blast: but the work of Vidal stands out
in bold relief, unique, wonderful and in
comparable. To be sculptor it is gen.
orally supposed that one must have the
mechanics eye" and the artists taste
and perspicuity. The latter faculties
Vidal has TO an exceptional degree
even more acute, he believes, than if
the former were not lost to him forever.
By slowly passing his hands over an OBJ
ject he notes it's external proportions,
and initiates them in clay in a manner
which strikes the beholder dumb with
surprise. A dog, horse, human face, or
any thing alive or dead, he models with
as much ease as any of the dozens of
Partisan sculptors who still retain the
faculty of sight. From 1855 to 1875 Vidal
received more medals than any other
exhibitor of works, in the Paris art ex-
hibitions. Many of his works, made in
the solitude of his perpetual midnight,
are now on the shelves at the great Ex-
position, where the blind wonder con-
tends in friendly rivalry with his less
unfortunate brother artists. He never
complains, is always genial and festive
when among his friends, who always
speak of and to him as though he could
see, and we'll may they do so, for he is
one of the best art critics in all Paris
The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14

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Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-03

the woods from tho rest OF us, and dasi >
ed alone into a squad of Vermont men,
where he received q cut from a saber.
How ho escaped being killed is mira
Gle. The Vermonters were busy escap-
ing, presume, and did not take time to
kill Sam carefully and effectually.
Zone of my men, Hunter, saw him do
ing battle alone, like hunted tiger in
his lair, and went to his rescue. Now
Hunter was brave soldier and he DASH
ed up to rescue Sam with the same con-
fidence that n hundred men would at
tack one. 1t had the desired effect any
way, for he caused the squad to retreat,
leaving Sam bleeding but alive. 1t was
scattered wild chase for three or four
miles, and dead men lined the roadside.
made Sam Captain for hispart in the
battle.
ave issued forth forlorn hope that
morning, only wishing to cut our way
through Captain Flint's ranks and
escape, but the deadly revolver pitted
against the saber made victory smile
unDn q ~
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-03
RANDOM SHOTS.

PENNSYLVANIA has 153 camps OF Sons
of Veterans, with membership OF
5,O56.
New HAMPSHIRE has "a camps OF Sons
of Veterans, with 779 members in good
standing.
THE Secretary of the Interior has de-
cided that soldiers can not assign home
stead rights.
THE Grand Army of the Republic has
bought the Cedar Creek battle ground in
West Virginia.
IT is said that there are nearly 200, 600
ex-Union soldiers in circumstances ap-
preaching destitution.
THE Grand Army of the Republic
posts of Denver, Col, propose to build a
Grand Army hall in that city to cost
$500, 900.
The cost of sustaining the regular
army of the United States last year was
$40, 46G, 46O. This included all the diff
ferent departments of the service.
THE Grand Army of Ohio is organized
into battalions and brigades, and now
they are holding battalion and brigade
reunions. The Ohio Soldier speaks very
eHcOuruB lHSiy VI Sho pan.
THE annual report OF the Assistant
Adiutant-General of the Department
of Minnesota makes the following show.
ing: Net gain in membership during
the past year, 1874; membership in good
standing December 81, 1889, 9,346; loss
by deaths during the year, rs. Finan-
cial condition as follows: Receipts,
| S3. .577. .52: disbursements, S., 5S7. SO; num-
Der of posts, 17s.
THE membership of the following
Communicates of the Military Order OF
the Loyal Legion January 81 was as fol.
lows Pennsylvania, 7sS; New York,
sl2; Maine, IS; Massachusetts,, Tor; Cal.
ifornia, $40; Wisconsin, 1876; Illinois,
37s; District of Columbia, 476; Ohio,
6S5; Michigan, 213; Minnesota, 257; Ore
gon, 94; Missouri, 246; Nebraska, 146
Kansas, 237; Iowa, 1875; Colorado, 100
Indiana, 140. -"t''- p" @c"''
The death of John Jacob Astor recall:
the fact stated in Townsend's 1.-The
Honors of the Empire State in the Wal
of the Rebellion" that he was the frs
private citizen of New York to make
contribution for the defense of tho ma
tion on the outbreak of the civil war
With his own funds he provided for thu
purchase and equipment of the tug-boa
|, Yankee, and sent her to the relief of TIN
garrison at Fort Sumter. Mr.. Asto
earned tho military title of Colonel il
recognition of his military services, bu
it is not generally known that ha bor
, it, or how we'll he deserved 1t.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-03
Mr.. Randall as n Trooper.

Recalling the fact that Samuel ].
Randall was for short time private
soldier in the Philadelphia City Troops
during the war of the rebellion, one of
his old comrades in that organization
said last week: Perhaps it is news to
the present generation, who have only
known Mr.. Randall as stout gentleman
whose movements were not agile, that
he was once fine horseman. We had
scarcely better rider when we were
taken into the National military SER
vice. He bestrode rather fractions
horse, that he guided and controlled
with perfect science. He was an expert
in the saber drill, and there was scarce
ly better swordsman in the troop. We
were all sorry to lose HIM when he
stripped himself of his soldier clothes to
go to Congress. He has made all the
fame since then that any man could de-
sire, but for all that we who were his
old companions can't help feeling that
if he had remained soldier, instead OF
doing his enormous work as Congress
man, he would not be dead to-day
Washington Critic,
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-03

take care of the baby between
them, and between-times they do sew
ing for their L ctle pockets. I've got no
objections just humor them, and tell
them to do just as they please. Would
you believe it, ma'am, they bought o
scwing-machine last year between them.
Sister Annio used to have an elegant
voice, ma am, but / consider that she
has just coughed it away. She takes
after her ma in coughing, ma'am."
AS he talked, the mans eyes kept
continually glancing up the yollow-
streaied road, and in .ho clear light,
under his beard, his long thin-lipped
mouth could be seen nervously biting
the postprandial tooth-pick. One would
have said that he was expecting tho mes
senger who shortly afterward made his
appearance, waving yellow envelope
in his hand. lie appropriated the mes
sage when it arrived without hesitation,
opening it, and reading it aloud:
SISTER Annie died during the night"
The messenger rodo his horse quietly
away in tho direction OF the stable.
The professors food, for the moment,
disappeared from his eyes, and pre-.
sumably rested easy on his stomach.
SIT will bo heavy blow to Olympus
it will be mighty heavy blow to Olym-
pus, ma'am,"
He got his huge frame doubled up into
his self-made attitude of sitting again,
but his foot remained quiet, and his
bony hands clasped the telographic dis
patch instead of his knee.
II don't know what the parson will
do without her. Tho parson will miss
| her, ma'am, moro than any one in Olym
| pus. | consider that she just founded
the church there; and as for the Sunday
schcol-there isn't n child in the place
that wouldn't go to Sunday-school tt
have Sister AMMO for teacher. She
played the melodeon and taught then
hymns, and she was the organist OF the
church. Then there's the prayer-moet
ing Wednesday night, and the reading
every Friday evening. Sister AMMO die
the reading. Sho got up magazine
club, too. l consider Sister Annie
very accomplished woman, ma'am. Sh,
was universally beloved" He pro
nounced this slowly and impressively
as if he or Sister Annio were originating
the time-worn commcndation.
''She mover used to complain. ma'am
l do not believe she knew how tn com
plain. II ii had not boon for tho cough
ing, like as not no one would hay
known she was sick. When told he
goodbye yesterday noon, sho smile
tho moment she stopped coughing, an
pretended 1t was nothing. told m
wife not to mind me, just to go on an
look after her sister. She was most wol
ried to death about my dyspepsia" ii
paused, nibbling at his toothpick. 9
do not believe that that sulphur waite
is going to agree with mo, or may be
is the fried eggs. OF course, ma'am
Certainly, If you have letters to write.
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-03
singular Nervous ArectIon.

At the Vienna general hospital the
medical officers are at present watching
a curious case. The patient is man of
about fifty-four years of age, who was
a navy up till last year, when he hurt
the forefnger OF his left hand. The
finger had to be amputated. Since then
the left hand has always been in mo-
ton, and now the nervous affection has
spread over the whole body and the
patient is obliged always to turn to the
left side. When laying in bed he gives
sudden jumps into the air like fish
when lying on dry ground. A similar
case attracted, recently, the attention
of medical men at Paris.-Vienna Lot
ter
Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-03
iNplA's WILD BEASTS.
Thousands of Human Boings Killed
Snakes and Tigers.

Thousands of Human Beings Killed By
Snakes and Tigers.
Every country on the globe has its
own special curse. Wild beasts are tho
curse of India. They destroy on an
average about twenty-five thousand per"
sons year, most of whom are killed by
the bite or the hug of snakes. The
British governments in India, which pay
rewards for the Staying of wild beasts,
keep also exact accounts OF their depre-
dations, which are published from time
to time in the newspapers. The London
Times summarizes the last report thus.
During the year, twenty-five thou.
sand one hundred and thirty-four per
sons we're killed by snakes, nine hun
dred and twenty-eight by tigers, two
hundred and twenty-five by wolves, one
hundred and nincty-four by leopards,
one hundred and thirteen by bears,
fifty-seven by elephants, twenty-four by
hyenas and eleven hundred and SIXTY
nine by other animals, including scor-
pions, iackals, lizards, boars, crocodiles,
buffaloes, mad dogs and foxes
SIN the same year nearly sixty thou
sand domestic animals were destroyed
by wild animals, but in this case the
proportions are quite different, for while
snakes were responsible for the deaths
of eleven-twelfths of the human beings,
they only killed two in every fifty
seven animals, tigers and leopards doing
the greatest damage.
"In the case both of human beings and
-, Il 60 hs,
on the increase; in tho former case, the
number is higher than any one of the
previous ten years, and in the latter it
is third in ten years in point of numbers
killed.
"At the same time the numbers of
wild beasts killed and the rewards paid
for that purpose are increasing. In 1886
twenty-five thousand wild beasts were
destroyed, and four hundred and seven.
teen thousand snakes. Among the wild
beasts were nearly seven thousand
wolves, four thousand leopards, about
fifteen hundred each of tigers, bears and
hyenas, and seven elephants"
India contains population of two
hundred and seventy millions of people,
and it seems surprising that the wild
beasts can hold their own against such
multitude; but, in fact, a large portion
of the territory is covered with dense
growths of forest or bamboo, scarcely
| penetrable by man, in which huge snakes
and savage tigers, and other beasts, find
themselves perfectly at home.
Besides, it is not every man that dares
face a tiger, wild elephant, or a boa
constructor. nor can the Indian VILLAGERS
in remote places command the weapons
which make the conflict equal between
men and savage animals.
The people there are effeminated by
the warm climate, and are kept ex-
tremely poor by the various tax-gather-
ers who prey upon them. Two hundred
and seventy million people OF our hunt
ing race would soon do for India what
Saint Patrick is said to have done for
Ireland.-Youth's Companion.