davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
The Soldering Machine,

There is some talk here, says Doyles-
town Penn correspondent of the New
York Times, about reviving the "sober-
ing machine. Forty years ago 1T was
familiar piece of mechanism. Simple in
construction, durable in use, it served its
purpose well and effectively. In those
days drunken man was rare sight. A
few citizens of this place remember it
we'll "Jack" Reynolds was one of the
men who manned the machine, and he re.
collects when it did yeoman service. But
the persons who fell victims to it are too
modest to recall its purifying effects.
1t was devised because it was necessary,
and it consisted of the running gear Of
an ordinary wagon with the hind wheels
taken off and box fastened to the axle.
Sobriety was the watchword of the half
dozen men who ran it. Whenever a
drunken man or woman was seen on the
street the machine was brought out. The
victim was placed on the broad of his
back in the box. Then the command
Yves given and the occupant was run out
of town. 1t was seldom that man got
the second dose of the soldering ma
chine. The tramps soon got to dread
the ride Of mile or so, and they never
returned after the first experience. The
wife beater Jared the same, and its in
huence had salutary effect on this class
of people. The old inhabitants say that
the soldering machine" of nearly nalf
century ago was much more effective than
the threats and violence of the White
Caps of the present day.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
New Way to Have Shoes Shined.

"Well, never saw such a thing before!
Just look at that.' exclaimed lady
standing at Seventh-avenue parlor.
window in Harlem yesterday. She
must be crazy" The other ladies in the
room crowded to the windows and gazed
upon the sight which was the cause of
the explanations, each adding an excla-
nation to the string.
Across the avenue was a bootblack's
stand. and in the chair sat little girl
dressed in red. The bootblack was in
dustriously polishing her shoes.
''He ought to know he is running the
child's shoes.
81 wonder what her mother will sayln
etc.
The bootblack worked away, while the
little girl critically watched his move
ments.
When the job was finished the little
girl slipped out of the chair, paid the
bootblack. picked up her fathers shoes,
which she had stuck her feet into so that
the boy could shine them easily, and ram
home.-Ner York Times
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
SELECT SlFTINGS.

A white rat with black head is q
curiosity at Pen Yam, N. Y.
A young girl at West Chester, Penn,
has utilized one of her finger nails as a
pen,
A girl in Pittsburg has been sent to
the Reform School for calling her father
crank.
Ripe bananas were picked from the
trees in Sacramento Cali garden on
January s.
A colored man in Cincinnati, who had
been suffering from influenza, died dur
ing tit of sneezlng.
The first really successful sewing ma
chine was introduced in this country by
Elias Howe in 1916,
The repeal of the Stamp Act in the
American Colonies took place in 1855, to
the great joy of the people.
Twin hens eggs, fully developed and
connected by tube, were found in the
fowl house of l.. b, Livingston, of Bal
timore.
The first census was taken in 1890,
when there was less than 1000, 900
people. In 1880 there were over 50,-
900, 900.
About 400, 900, 900 people use opium,
while $50, 900, 600 are confirmed opium
eaters; and OF these 95, 900 live in the
United States.
The Vanderbilt chandelier, bought in
Paris for $4,000, was sold by the million
aire for $500 because the small screw
heads were plainly seen in its construc-
ton.
The letter carriers in all the large
cities find good many empty purses in
the letter boxes. Pickpockets think it
safer to drop them there than on the side
walks.
The latest device in Boston for sustain
ing the literary spirit up to highly re-
muneratlve intellectual point is "Brain
Salt" which is said greatly to brighten
and enliven the mind.
The latest thing in book canvassing is
for manager and chaperon to take a
company of lady canvassers and travel all
over the country with them. There may
be dozen or fifty ladies in company
A curious dwarf japanese tree, brought
from the Paris Exposition, was exhibited
at a recent meeting of the Royal Botanic
Society in London. The specimen was
only two feet high, and was said to be
about 1870 years old.
jeremiah Smith, of Morgan County,
Ohio, has a cat which is known by the
neighbors as ''solar spectrum, From
the tip of its tail to the end of its nose
there are distributed all the colors OF the
rainbow Its nose shines like a carbun-
Gle, and there are several shades of violet
on the fore legs.
During the recent floods at Anaheim,
CAL, every hummock was swarming with
hares and rabbits that were driven from
the plains. They were slaughtered by
thousands by boys and men, who used
sticks, and when tired of the sport would
run the poor beasts off their dry places
into the raging waters.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
THE FARM AND GARDEN.
TIME TO SET POSTS.


somc farmers argue that it is best to
set posts early in the fall when the
ground is solid, OF course post care
fully set at any time will remain in its
place, but fall is really much worse
time than is the spring. Digging the
hole makes the soil loose, and if done in
the fall it has not time to become COM
pacted again. Water filters down
through the loose soil, which will raise
the post little every year until it throws
the post out altogether. II the soil has
time to settle it absorbs less moisture,
and after the first year, if the heaving
out has not already begun, it will rarely
begin. In the spring, posts may be
sharpened at the end and driven down
into the soft earth, which will close firm
ly around them. 1t is necessary to put
them below the freezing line, as the
wedge shape which facilitates driving
down also makes it more easy for the
frost to heave the post up.-American
Cultipator.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
An Offended Cats Revenge.

Goats have feelings like the rest of US,
/ too," says a lady in the New York
Tribune, land show them in much the
same way sometimes. My husband is a
Protestant clergyman. A Catholic priest
lives not far from us, in the same block,
in fact, but we bad never made his ac-
quaintance. Some years before | got
the cat | now have, we had an unusually
large Tom, with yellow patches of fur
on white background. He was a great
favorite with the children, especially
with the baby, who was never contented
unless Tom sat on a chair beside him at
meal-times and had share of everything
the baby himself ate
Gone day the children received
present of little black and tan dog, and
they were SO delighted with their new
pet that Tom was left quite in the
cold. When dinner time came he got
up in his accustomed place beside the
baby, expecting to be fed. But baby
would have none of him; nothing but the
new pet would do, and so the dog occu-
pied the place of honor, and Tom had to
be thumped to make him get down.
at was an insult that called for blood,
and watching his opportunity after din
ner, Tom pitched into that dog, and was
giving him an awful licking when the
children with shouts and blows fell on
the cat and beat him soundly till he fled.
"When the novelty of the new pet be-
gan to wear off, however, as it did a few
days ago, inquiries were made for Tom
again. But no Tom could be found.
Then it became known that nobody had
seen him since the children beat him
away from the dog. Tom was evidently
lost. Perhaps the beating had broken
some of his bones and he had crawled
away to die. Great was the wailing.
but no cat could be found. Two or
three days after that I passed the
Catholic priests house, and there, inside
the sash, seated on the windowsill, wash
ing his face in the sunshine, saw the
big yellow and white spots of our Tom.
He had deserted us and gone over to an
other faith. | told the children and
they went and got him, but no coaxing
or petting could persuade him to stay in
our house an hour after they let him
have his liberty He could not forget
our desertion of him III favor of a rival,
aud so he stays still with the priest, who
gives him an excellent character.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
No Longer Men of the Cloth.

The old custom of dressing oneself into
a walking advertisement of ones profess
sion, st. Louis tailor says. is fast be-
coming obsolete Some of my loudest
dressing customers are lawyers and doc
tors who have grown tired of being
branded with their vocation. | don't
Nom TO say that ministers, too, are get
ting to be loud dressers, but even they
are making concessions that were not
dreamed of ten years ago. There's a
wide margin for artistic and tasteful
dressing outside of black, and wide
range of handsome and wholly desirable
fabrics other than broadcloth, doeskin
aud farmers satin, even for professional
men to choose from. It's not so much
the color or the cut of the garment that
makes it quiet or loud, but the way it is
worn.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
Red Flannel as a Remedy.

The popular belief in the sanitary eff
cacy of red underwear is a clinging SUI
perstition, nothing more. Red was in
ancient times considered a potent charm
against the evil eye. AT one time in the
sixteenth century, when the evil eye was
esteemed to be especially triumphant in
England. there was boom in red tape
which it has never since experienced.
Many people to this day believe that a
red string worn about the neck is sure
preventive of asthma, measles and mumps.
The relics of this old faith are to-day
best preserved in the great confidence
which obtains in the medical virtues of
red flannel, and not SO widespread be-
lief that the milk OF red COW is better
than that of any other COW. As to red
flannel, it has the single merit over other
colors, that the dyeing material used des-
troys all vestige of animal life in the
wool, and that red flannel will not shrink
as white flannel does.-Globs- Democrat
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
The Vanity of Hair Dyeing.

Hair dyeing is not entirely feminine
fad, says barber to a Giobe- Democrat re-
porter. 1t is exceptional for men to take
the trouble and suffer the annoyance, and
even pain, which continual bleaching
and dyeing entail. But some men are
guilty of the weakness, and they are not
all actors or men Who live by their wits
and personal appearance. Ladies gener.
ally prefer gold, but men who are dis
satisfied with the natural color of their
hair almost invariably go in for black.
To keep up the deception, two, if not
three applications week, are necessary,
and one customer of mine had me visit
him every alternate day for over three
years. Dyeing the hair kills it in time,
aad makes it brittle and thin during the
process, while the number of scalp dis
eases sacrificed at the shrine of vanity is
legion. Several BARRIERS now decline all
dyeing business. and am one of the
number. But IN years gone by did my
share, and admit having made aquantity
of money at it, The acids used are so
strong tina, they positively make the fin
gers sore. aud as the scalp is much more
sensitive than the fingers, the tortures
endured by those vino subject their heads
to constant irritation in this manner can
be more easily imagined than described.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
FEEDING CORN FODDER.

Ibelieve there is vast loss of time,
which is money, in this country, says
Professor W. A. Henry, from the useless
husking of corn, when both the corn
and fodder are to be fed to steers or
cows. / believe the silo offers the best
means of preserving fodder, both ears
and stalks, for stock. but realize that a
large per cent. of our farmers are not yet
in condition, or think they are not, to
use the silo. Knowing this, / desire to
see corn stalks or fodder corn. managed
in the next best possible way. When
our farmers have come to learn their
value as they should, there will be an i'm
mense amount of feed utilized that is
now almost wholly wasted. The farmer
who turns his cattle into the stalk fields
does not get over twenty per cent. OF the
value of the fodder, as rule. ! think
and this amount is greatly reduced by
keeping the cattle out in the winds and
storms of early winter. where they are
losing more flesh than the fodder they
eat will put on. The stalk-feld is de
fusion and snare.
The first step of advance is to cut aud
shock the corn, and feed this in the barn.
yard after the ears have been husked.
BY this system of feeding, as ordinarily
practiced, probably forty or fifty per
cent. of the food valuc of the fodder :
utilized. Better than feeding husked
fodder is to feed it unhusked in the barn
to cows. A step in advance Of this sys-
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
CARE OF SHEEP.

Sheep require excellent care and most
judicious management in mild winter.
Dampness is most prejudicial to them.
The wool saturated with wet chills the
skin by the evaporation of the moisture,
and this produces trouble with the lungs.
Bronchitis, catarrh and pneumonia pre-
vail unless the utmost care is taken ia
provide roomy and dry shelter. Crowd,
ing Is extremely unhealthful. 1t ruins
the wool by causing it to felt and mat;
this is called "cotting," and renders Tie
fleece unstable, besides heating the sheep
and making them susceptible to chills.
Roomy quarters, well drained, and kept
clean, with abundant dry litter, are in
dispensable. 1t is better to make two
flocks than crowd one. If the yards are
muddy the ground should be scraped and
channels made to carry off the rain and
keep the surface as dry as possible. Ewes
with young lambs are best kept on a
barn floor if suitable building has not
been provided for them. In regard to
feeding, one point is of special impor-
lance, which is to give some laxative food,
as inseed-oil meal, to avoid dangerous
costiveness. -New York Times.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13

tenn is TO run the corn fodder, ears and
all, through the feed cutter, and give the
COWS cut corn fodder, We have exper-
imented very considerably in this direc-
ton with cows, and our results show n
saving all the way from nine to nearly
forty per cent. of fodder by the use Of
the feed-cutter, Where we saved only
nine per cent. the corn stalks were small
and readily eaten by the cows without
cutting. Where nearly forty per cent.
was saved, the corn stalks were large and
coarse. In the latter case the cows left
several feet of the stalks uneaten, unless
they were cut up. Some farmers find
difficulty in having their cows eat the
coarse parts of the corn stalks, even after
they have been cut up. Doubtless if the
corn was cut and shocked when the
stalks are over-ripe, there is little use in
trying to get cows to eat such stalks, even
if cut with the feed cutter; but when fod-
der has been cut and shocked as early us
it should be, in most cases, all, or very
nearly all, of even the coarse stalks
will be eaten if the feeding
is properly managed. have in mind the
case of dairyman who was feeding Sow
enty milch cows in winter and who wrote
me in regard to the feed cutter. My ad-
vice was to use it and cut up all his
stalks. He reported to me later that at
first he was very much discouraged and
disguised, as the coarse parts of the I'M
eaten cut stalks piled up in the feeding
managers and became great nuisance.
He suspected his management was wrong
however, and fed smaller amount of
the fodder to each cow. By starting
with clean managers, not overlooking,
aud taking care to keep managers clean at
all times, he was enabled to make great
success of this system of feeding.
Whether it will pay to use the feed
cutter depends upon several circum-
stances, of course, but in general, I
think, where man has ten cows or more
there is place for this machine. Those
who buy feed cutter should get one
large enough to be run by horse or other
power, as the hand cutter is but de-
fusion and snare. Furthermore, q
great deal larger machine should be
bought than seems sufficient to do the
work, for the farmer will soon have more
cows to feed, and more work for the ma
chine to do, who begins systematic feed
ing. Then, too, the machine will be on
hand when the silo is built, and the
farmer who begins to utilize corn fodder
as he should is almost certain to end with
the silo.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
HUMOR OF THE DAY.

Making lots of money-The mints.
Everything goes-Exccpt the Sunday
night caller.
True charity-Raising the wind for
cyclone sufferers. C0Nrier-Journal.
You can sometimes get square meal,
but boarding house steak is mostly
round. Time
Suggested new reading of an old say
ing-A green winter makes a fat doctor.
--Bnfaio Express.
The railroad engineer may not have
much style about him, but wealth and
fashion follow in his train.
A young lady has had pair OF fur
mittens made from the skin of pet
cat, and she is purr- mitted to wear
them.
"Aren't you going to divide your jum-
bic with your little sister, Willie"
"Yes'm, gave her the hole five minutes
ago, "Munseys Weekly. .....
She'll think cigarette smoking is
something vile What do you smoke
mostly in Chicago He--(of the Lake
City, Hams. Thine.
A contemporary asks: 'Shall the
coming woman proposeY If she doesn't
intend to she may as we'll be notified first
as last that she needn't come.-7tme.
''Yes, said the poet to the boy, as he
stepped into the elevator, II am going
up. / want to feel for once in my life
that I'm rising poe,. '---Nec York Ne'os.
Age was never so painful subject to
any woman rs it is to the boy who is
trying to raise his first moustache, and
court twenty five ycar-old girl. Time.
This we can say for elm who mum:
No one has ever Eeard
OF any person deaf and dumb
Who doesn't keep his word.
Chicago Herald.
There are two reasons why some peo-
Pile don't mind their own business. One
is, that they haven't any mind; the
other, thrt they haven't any business
Harvard Lamp0oH.
whats papa's boy going to be when
he grows up?" policeman Sand
what'll he do when he's great big po-
liceman?" "Club the stutfin' out of
papa" -MsO York Sun.
''See that man2 Well, he employs no
travelling agents, and yet his runners are
all over the State" 'How is that2"
''He's sleigh manufacturer I'll have
cigar -La1rence american
Little Angel (sent down to the parlor
to entertain a caller)-"Oh, yes, my sis
ter will be down In minute. She is
getting over crying spell because her
other beau didn't come"
His purse was low, his honor scant;
H did all orts of thing he shouldn't,
He was, in truth a mendicant,
And what is more, amend he wo ldn't.
Merchant Traveller.
The Rev. DR.. Primrose-''Arey you not
ashamed to be in class with boys SO
much smaller than yourself?' Little
Johnnic-'sNot much, | amt. | can lick
every mothers son of them ''-Ne,o York
Sun.
Tailor-s'Y You promised me faithfully
yesterday morning that you would call in
and settle for that suit last night, if it
rained pitchforks. Customer-"Yes,
know; but it didn't rain pitchforks. -
Time.
An ordinary clothes-pin factory will
turn out two hundred and fifty clothes
pins minute. And yet some people
thinks that tramps have hard time. If
they don't get clothes enough to keep
them warm they can burn the clothes
pins Merchant Trdceler.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.

Cows never thrive well when compelled
to live on the east wind.
A COW, to do her best, must be Just as
contented and happy as it is possible to
make her
A good dairy COW is wonderfully
delicate and sensitive piece of animal
machinery. Take care of her.
Asking cow to give good flow Of
milk from dry straw as food, even with
December pasture added, is like expect
ing figs from thistles.
A farmer deeply impressed with the
idea that his business is the poorest in the
world will never learn his calling, nor
will he be likely to get much profit from
it,
Don't think that any ''poultry pow
ders" or any ''egg food" in creation will
make your hens lay unless they have
proper food, comfortable quarters and
good care besides.
If you invest in pig don't hunt foI
the cheapest, scrawniest beast you can
find, but get good article, one that will
be constant delight to watch as it feeds
and develops.
Where the milking is done in a feeding
stable the drops should be cleaned and
thoroughly busted with plaster before
each milking Its odor-absorbing quality
is of great use to the da'rymen.
Corn ground cob gives satisfactory re-
suits to many dairy1nen who have tried
the plan. The cob, besides containing
some nutriment, renders the grain more
digestible and easier assimilated.
To feed too much is waste, because
stock do not relish eating food that they
have picked over. To fed too little is a
waste, because the gain that it is possible
to realize both with the stock and from
the feed is lost.
Rich mellow cheese can never be pro-
duced from SKINNED milk, despite the
most delicate manipulations Of skilled
manufacturer. Cheese without its natural
quota of butter-fat is devoid of its
most essential recommendation.
Stable manure is complete fertilizer
in the sense that expression is generally
used; that is, it contains all the elements
required for plant nutrition. If there
were plenty of good manure available
and convenient, there would be but little
necessity for purchasing single pound
of commercial fertilizer.
Many make mistake in the manage
ment Of sheep in not providing them
with good shelter during the winter.
The difference in the growth of wool and
the quality between sheep that have beer
| kept under Il comfortable shelter al
winter, and those that are exposed, often
makes the difference of profit or loss.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13

must il be that would try to separate
such couple as that"
And he glanced with almost iatherly
pride at the handsome pair who were
standing under floral arch, receiving
the congratulations their friends were
showering upon them.
"Bless my hearth he added, softly;
'ssurely the angels themselves must smile
on such wonderful love us theirs, -
Popular Monthly
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
Novel Cure for a Rat Bite.

Mrs. Inaba, VINO lives in Iyo prov
ince, was bitten by rat twenty years
ago, which nipped her toe one night
while she lay asleep. For sixteen years
she felt the effects of this bite, and at
times the wound would swell and tester.
Last January she suffered acutely and her
limb swelled up to a great extent. Just
then she heard that for the bite of rat
there was no better remedy than the
flesh Of cat. She at once ordered one
OF her servants to 90 into the village and
catch the first cat she came across. This
done, it was cooked and Mrs. Inaba set
TO work to eat it. Next morning she
was much better, and in two or thrcs
days the swelling had go-s down and
she was quite well again. -;,saka (Jspan)
AaiaieAi ShiabuH.
The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
THE EASY ROAD.

Nv the road of "By-and-By"
Stretching ON forever
One who travels comes at last
To the house of "Neverw
Very tall, and very high,
Iron barred securely,
Those who enter find themselves
Guarded very surely!
"By-and-ByN IS an easy road;
Through soft fields and mosses
No high hills, no sandy soil,
Anywhere it crosses,
II hard places come between,
Round them it goes winding,
Very slowly leading ON,
Smoothest travel finding
Looking on ahead, one sees
But a soft mist showing,
While on either side the scene
Ever fair is growing,
But there comes an end, some DAY,
Where one sees forever,
Dark and grim the iron gates
OF the house of "Neverp