davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10

DANGEROUS FELT HATS.
A Disastrous Experiment with One Use,
for Strainlng Nitro-GIycerinc.

-----
A Disastrous Experiment with One Used
for Strainlng Nitro-Glycerine.
Every body knows how terribly ex-
plosive nitro-glycerine is under concus-
sion," said dealer in oil-well supplies
from Bradford, Pa, "but few know the
lasting properties of the explosive, and
how next to impossible it is to destroy
its deadly qualities. In manufacturing
nitro-glycerine one of the processes is
tostrain it through felt, usually through
the crowns Of old felt hats, they having
been found not only the most con-
venient and effective for the purpose,
but also preferable for economy. This
felt is burned up after using, to do away
with all danger that undou btedly would
result from careless handling of it after
ward.
"At one of the factories in the north
sern oil-field once an employe, resolved
to test the life of nitro-gly ycerine, and
he took hat-crown that had been used
as a strainer, washed it thoroughly, and
then put it through course of treat
ment with alkalis. He laid the felt
away on shelf out of. the reach and
knowledge of anyone else in the fac
tory. 1t lay there two years, and one
day the man happened to think of it
and took it down. Workers about
nitro-glycerine are notoriously reclS-
less, but the most careful and timid
man would scarcely have had any fear
of this two-year-old strainer, especially
after the treatment it had received.
The workman had no idea that there
could possibly remain in the felt
the slightest suspicion Of danger, and
to show that the stuff had been an-
initiated he put the felt on the iron
arm on the timers bench, where the
cans for holding the explosive are sol
dered, and struck it with hammer.
The result was a surprise to that fac
tory. An explosion followed that
broke both arms of the workman
stunned three other men, hurled the
heavy iron arm through two-fo3t
wall, and wrecked the timing shop.
"Nitro-glycerine can't be annihilated
and from the careless manner in which
| it has been handled ever since it came
in use in the oil regions it is a wonder
that there is town standing in tn,
whole field. IN. Y. Sun.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10

A certain set of philosophers, in
capable Of feeling affection for any
one but themselves, have delighted in
sneering at love and marriage and
have argued that bachelorhood is the
only conservative state. Their theory
is not borne out by the statistics of
married and single life in modern
times, SO far, at least as the masculine
gender is concerned If longevity is
desirable, then it is better that we
should marry than remain bachelors;
for it appears, that at every age, from
twenty to eight-fve, the death rate of
the benedicts is very much smaller
than that of their minated brethren.
Gentlemen who prefer short life and
merry one to prolonged lease of
matrimonial placidity, will probably
agree in opinion with the cynical phi
losophers.- Farm and Fireside.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
A Cure for Mosnulto nites.

A German chemist, after a somewhat
learned dissertation on the various mos
quitoes and their respective character
istics and virulence, condescends to give
a useful piece of practical information.
He says that of the various remedies
recommended for mosquito bites, such
as ammonia, oil of cloves, chloroform,
carbolized glycerine, etc, none is better
than ordinary soap. He is an ardent
naturalist, and on his frequent excur-
sions in the country he invariably car
ries small piece of soap, with which,
in case of bite, he makes lather all
over the affected part and allows it to
dry on. He almost invariably finds that
the relief is instantaneous and that all
pain soon ceases Should it continue,
however, as sometimes happens, 1t Is
only necessary 20 repeat the appliov
ton, Chicago Timea
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
why He Didn't Stay.

Once q Californian always Cali
fornian. The old-timers who go away
to foreign parts generally return A
San franciscan who has been sup
posed to be making cords of money in
London got back recently to Kearney
street and had to submit to the usual
interrogations.
Didn't like it on the other side,
eh?"
"Oh, yes, liked it fine"
Mice place to liveP"
Elegant, grand, magnificent! Gods
own country"
81 wonder why he didn't stop over
there if it is SO fine" remarked one of
the crowd after the returned exile had
left.
"He explained that very satisfactor-
lily, l thought.
( "How's that?"
"Why, he stated it was heaven and
that's too high altogether for the aver.
age San Francisco rounder. San
Fran cisco Chronicle. - gfs 1
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
OOiNGS OF WOMEN.

!, hYouNd lady, the daughter of y min
lister, has recently been appointed a
pastors aid" at St Paul's Church,
Chicago.
A YOUNG Mohammedan woman, DIR.
Razai -Koulairof, from the Crimea, has
lust passed her examination as doctor
and surgeon in Odessa.
MARTHA ]. LAMB, the writer and edi-
tor, is member of twenty-six learned
societies, some of which have never
before admitted woman.
DIR. MARY c. LOWELL, graduate of
the Boston College of Physicians and
Surgeons, has accepted the chair Of
physiology at Mount Holyoke college.
A UNION of benevolent and protec-
tive character is contemplated by the
waiter girls of Chicago. There are
about five thousand girls serving as
walters in the hotels and restaurants
in that city.
The Gutenberg Woman's Associa.
ton of Gutenberg, Sweden, which is
now fourishing literary and benevo-
lent club, began with debating So
ciety formed by few school-teachers,
who met once fortnight to discuss
matters of general interest
Mrs. OWENS, tenement-house inspect
or in Chicago, has reported to the chief
inspector that the proprietors of the
Boston" store, in response to her re-
quest, have fitted up new and we'll
appointed lunch-room for their women
employees at an expense of several
thousand dollars
/ THERE are two very expert and pop
ular women mechanical engineers near
Parkersburg, w. Va. One OF them
Addie Il. johnson, 10 years old, lives
near Tallyho. She has had entire
charge for three years of an engine
which runs grist and planning mill
She has natural talent for machinery,
and can take down and put together an
engine as quickly and as deftly as any
experienced male engineer in this part
of the country. The other woman en-
gineer is Ida Newett, of Cairo, Ill, who
has been a practical locomotive engi'
neer for several years Both are w.
married
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
HUMOROUS.

The tramp is a man who waited for
the wagon too long and had to take a
walk. Galveston News,
-"Now. immie, you must eat your
chicken or you shan't have any pie."
81 can't, mamma. I'm bird-defender,
and it wouldn't be right "-Harper's
Bazaar.
-1She-"He was desperately in love
with her, Why, he sent her costly
flowers and presents nearly every day
for two years" He-"Did he finally
win her?" She---"No. He earned her."
Epoch. -2
He Had a Choice, ired Boy Con a
farm)-'Kin / 60 fishin' this after.
noon?' Farmer-"No, but be a good
boy and work hardin mebbe next
week you kin go to funeral" Hired
Boy-"Kin l go to your'n?"-Epoch.
"A Pleasant Time. Miss De Fash
ion-''Did you have pleasant time
this summer" Miss De Style-'Per.
fectly lovely. We moved around SC
much didn't have to be seen in the
same dress twice. ."-Demorest's Maga.
zine.
Not So Bad.-Auntie (severely).--
"Is it true, Mary, that you went to the
theater the other evening, and Charlie
only three months dead?" Mary
(young widow)-"Yes, auntie, but my
escort was colored gentleman
Yankee Blade.
Heard on Broadway Car
"Madge, why do you drag that stupid De.
Smith around with you everywhere you
go?" Madge-"Why, Cholly is stupid,
to be sure, dear, but he always wears
his clothes to match my dress. Pitts
burg Dispatch.
"A Knowing Dog.=Clara-"Towsel
knew when you were coming. He
recognized your name when we called
it." Tommy (breaking in)-"Yes, we
said, here comes that feller that's goin
to get left on Clara and he wagged his
ail."-YanlSee Blade. $50
--He-"My dear, in return for the
poem that | wrote for you, you have
sent me lock of hair. But alas! how
is it see that it is not from your head?'
She-"That is fair enough. Neither
was the poem from your own head"
Demorest's Magazine.
1t Works Both Ways.-V Visitor (tc
inhabitant of very small village)-"But
surely you must find it very dull here,
never getting any newspapers. How
d'you know what's going on in London
for instance?" Inhabitant-"Eh, mon
but dinna we ken that tn folk in Lun
non are jist as ignorant O. what's gaur
on wi us?"-Judy
"A Plain Case-A famous Chicago
lawyer once had a singular case tC
settle. A physician came to him il
great distress. Two sisters living in the
same house had babes of equal age who
so resembled each other that their owr
mothers were unable to distinguish
them when they were together. Now
it happened that by the carelessness O
their nurses, the children had become
mixed; and how were the mothers tC
make sure that they had received bach
their own infants? but, perhaps, sale
the lawyer, ''the children weren-
changed at all" "Oh, but there's nc
doubt that they were changed" sait
the physician. Are you sure of it?'
Perfectly" "Well, if that's the case
why don't tyou change them back again'
/ don't see any difficulty in the affair
Boston Gazette
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
unoIe sllas a Commentator.

A dozen men who were in the habit
of loafing away their Sundays outside
of the old Penobscot meeting-house
while their wives attended service were
gathered by an enthusiastic young pas
tor into the Sunday-school. They were
called the "horse shed class" and no
members OF the school were more reg
ular in attendance or original in re-
sponse. One day the lesson was upon
the death of Moses, and the teacher,
having located "Nebo's lonely noun
tain" upon his map, asked the meaning
of "Nebo. mo doubt having in mind
the tutelar deity in honor of whom the
Babylonish dignitaries bore such goodly
names as Ncbuchadnezzar, Nebuzara-
dan, etc. u
"What do you say, Uncle SIP" "
"Wa-al," answered the old man SOL
emnly, "I've hearcd that them Bible
names all has meanin's, an reckon
it's so f a body only jest studies into
'em. Now, this here, to me, is plainer'n n
two times two. calclate Moses called
it Nebo because the mountain was SC
marster steep it made his knees bow to
ret to the top of it. I've cluin hills
right here in Maine time m time ag in
as you would call Nebo an not feel as
if you's swearin, neither. Marster
teepr'-Lewiston Journal.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
WONfAN'S GENIUS.

The Many Inventions That Testify to Her
.., Ability as an Inventor.
While those who decry women use as
one of their chief arguments the state
ment that women have no inventive
faculty, women It seems, from the
actual official returns, go straight on in
venting. Not to speak of Catharine
Greene, the wife of Gen. Nathaniel
Greene, who undoubtedly invented the
cotton gin, md whose second husband
induced her to-abate her fear OF rdicule
and claim an interest in it, or of Mrs,
Walton's achievements with noise
deadehing, with burning, and
with Similar experiments, there are
many other inventions by women of
equal Importance. One woman has in
vented a method of converting a barrel
of oil into ten thousand cubic feet of
gas; another has invented sewing
machine that needs no threading;
others have invented the rufiiing and
quitting attachments to such machines,
and arrangements for sewing duck and
| leather. One such attachment made O
| fortune for Miss Helen -Blanchford; and
a new ,haby-carriage brought to it's in
ventor. woman, the sum OF a hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. Another
woman has invented superior street
sweeper; another, Il spinning-wheel
carrying as many as forty threads
another, a plaa for heating cars
another, a screw-cranlS, for steam.
ships; and a chain elevator, a horse
shoe machine, reaper and mower, 4
danger Signal, and so on without end,
owe their existence to the brains OF
women. 1t was Miss Knight who in.
vented complicated machine for max
ing the quare-bottomed paper bag,
and refused fifty thousand dollars for
the patent, and who also invented an.
thirty pairs of hands in folding these
bags 1t is Mrs. Armstrong who has
| invented a machine for feeding cattle
on trains; it is Josephine Davis who
has invented an arrangement of lamps
and rubber cloth for q hot vapor bath
at home; Mrs. Beastly, a machine for
turning out complete barrels by the
hundred; Anna Conolly, a practical
fire-escape; Mrs. Bailey, an attachment
to beds by means of which the patient
can raise and lower himself. And
among all these inventions none is per.
haps of more pleasing and grateful
character than that of Mrs. Nancy
Johnson, who invented the first ice
cream freezer, but who, not SO wise as
some of her sisters, sold her patent for
fifteen hundred dollars, all ice-creams
previous to her crank having been
made bya slow and laborous stirring
And this is merely slSimming over
the surface and selecting a few in
stances that most easily strike the eye
leaving the multitude unmentioned
Nor are these inventions confined it is
evident, to the walks in life most ia.
miliar to women, as, among others, the
grain-elevator, the screw-crank fol
steamships, aud the barrel-maker tes
tfy And while the existence of al
these patents and their results ougb
to confound the careless speaker whit
thinks SO lightly of feminine capability
it does something far more importan
in showing how greatly enriched tn,
whole world will be when the feminin
mind as we'll as the masculine is full.
brought to the work. -lIarper's Bazaar
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10

have any tendency TO take woman 0m
of her true place in the home, TO give
her mans work to do and TO develop
masculine qualities in her 1t finds no
sympathy in the south. The southera
woman loves the retirement of home,
and shrinks from everything that would
tend to bring her into the public gaze.
The higher education Of woman, which
has been so widely discussed OF late
years. and to encourage and promote
which such noble schools for women as
Wellesley, Vassar, Smith and Bryn
Mawr have been founded, and so many
great male universities in the north
and in England thrown open 70 them,
is duly recognized and felt among the
young women of the south. This wide.
spread aspiration ofgsouthern young
women for broader culture finds expires
sion in the eagerness with which they
are seeking admission into the best
of the higher institutions provided
for males, and this not because
co-edueation finds favor in the
south for it is, perhaps, less encour-
aged here than in any other part of the
United States-hut only because there
is no higher institution of learning for
women which provides for them the
extensive facilities and broad culture
furnished by at least few institutions
for young men. Many feel that the
greatest educational needs of the south
to-day is an institution that will pro-
vide for young women as thorough an
education and as broad a culture as is
provided for young men at the Univer-
sity of Virginia. the Vanderbilt or
Johns Hopkins-an institution that will
not be in competition with any existing
female college in the south, but will
hold itself above them all by establish
ing and rigidly maintaining high condi-
tion of entrance as well as graduation,
and whose pride will be the high quail
ity of the work it does, not the number
of pupils it enrolls, though numbers
would also come in due course of time.
The active, earnest, vigorous young
womanhood of the south is demanding
such an institution. Surely a demand
so Just and need so widely and
seriously felt can not go long unmet.
Where is the philanthropist who will
bless his own and succeeding genera
tions, and make himself immortal in
the good he will do, by giving the
young women of the south a Smith
college, or a Wellesley, or VassarP
Is it possible that a million dollars
could be spent in any way where it
would accomplish more good than in
founding such an institution for the
daughters of those noble women of
whom we have written. w. +. Fillett,
in The Century.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
YOUNG WOMEN IN THE SOUTH.
They Are Securing An Education for Self
support and Not for Social Culture
Only.

They Are Securing An Education for Self
support and Not for Social Culture
Only. ,--....
The fact that SO large a proportion of
the young women now attending south
ern colleges are securing an education
not for ornament but for use, not for
social culture merely but in prepara-
tion for self-support, has had the very
natural effect of making them more
earnest and diligent in the prosecution
of their studies A much larger pro-
portion of college girls comes now from
the middle and poorer classes than for
merly Many of the poor girls of the
south to-day are the daughters of edu-
Gated parents whose property was
swept away during the war, their cul-
ture surviving the loss of home and
property. And what will an educated
and refined mother not do, what sacri-
fees will she not make, in order that
her daughter may have the benefits of
an education? If poor she will prac-
tice the most rigid economy and sub
nit to the severest personal self-de-
NAL if thereby her daughter is enabled
to enjoy the advantages of an educa-
ton; and many are the southern moth
ers who since the war have done this,
and more, to give their children an ed
ucation. And there are many noble in
stances in which an elder daughter,
| having been thus educated through the
labor and economy OF her parents, has
generously requited their loving self
denial in her lehaif by going to work
herself and helping each of her young
er sisters to obtain the education which
their parents were anxious but unable
to give them. 1t is Victor. Hugo who has
called this .'the century of woman" Il
is certainly an age that has witnessed
great changes in the life, education and
labor of women everywhere; and thesC
| changes have all been in the direction
of enlarging the sphere of woman's ac
tivities, increasing her liberties anC
opening up possibilities to her life
hitherto restricted TO man. 1t is ;
movement limited to no land and TO NJ
race, So far as this movement ma
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10

termed protective envelope or at
mosphcre, which absorbs, as the spec
sroscope shows, q large part of the ra-
diations proceeding from the tremen-
dous inner core of the solar globe.
Other stars poSsess'a singular absorp-
tive envelope, and in consequence are
ranked in the samo class with the sun.
In some stars this envelope is far more
effective in producing absorption than
is the case with the sun, and such stars
seem to be smoldering and sinking
toward extinction, though in some
cases they occasionally flare up with
furious outbursts, as though struggling
against impending fate. But by far
the greatcst number of the stars ap-
pear to be less effectually blanketed
with absorbing vapors than the sui is.
Sirius, for instance, the brightest star
visible to us, and Vega, one of the
most brilliant ornaments of the mid
summer evenings, shine with a splen-
dor and intensity Of radiation far ex-
ceeding the suns, independently Of the
greatest SIZE Sirius. for instance,
pours ont seventy or eighty times as
much light as the sun, although recent
estimates of its mass show that 1t is
perhaps not more than four times as
heavy. The intensity of Sirius radia-
tion must then be many times greater
than that Of the sun, in consequence OF
the absence of an absorptive atmos-
pherc capable of stopping q large
share of its rays. Life bearing planets
could not possibly circulate around
Sirius at distances proportionate tothe
earth's dista nee from the SUM- and If
the curtain that screens off from us
the full fury of the solar light and heat
were withdrawn the life of the sun
srnitten globe might all vanish amid
the vapors of its steaming seas.
The sspectroscopo shows that the
lglowing atmospheres of some of the
stars occasionally flame up to an in
tensity exceeding that of the fiery
globes within them. That kind of an
accident happening to the sun would be
very awkward for us poor mortals but
the consoling fact remains that the
stars which exhibit this uncomfortable
popularity evi IDENTIFY telong in diff
fcrent class fir ON that in which oui
great star at present sta nds. Yet un
ceasing change, often in acc ordancc
with laws which we do not understand
is the order of the universe; and SC
having for our god of day and of life
an orb that we know is subject tc
varying moods, we must not be too
certain that the ultima te fate of man
! kind, as some people have concluded, il
to be frozen to death on an ice envel
oped and sun-aba ndoned globe.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
DID NOT MATERiALIzE,

In my callowcr days believed
In phantom, In spook and Ia wrath;
Like crcdulous youth received
Superstition as part OF my faith.
would wander by gravoyards at night,
And would hide, nothing dauntcd,
In rooms that were haunted
But OF spcctors ne'or caught sight.
For they never materializcd,
NO, thoy never materlalized,
Again and again have sought them in VAN.
And they never materiaiized.
When to wisdom and age attained
courtcd maiden OF wealth,
Her father my offer disdained
And we planned to be married by stealth.
To the parsons sho promised TO 60,
And her ardent aloror
Arrived there before hor,
But her fcslcnoss plunged me In voc.
For she didn't inaterianzc,
No, she didn't materiahza,
Though l waited oil day In q confident way
She didn't matcrialize.
Speculation next entered my brain.
And thought OF the ways OF the street
Where tits easy u fortuuo to gain
In water, in gas or In whect
So turned allmy wealth into gold,
ana the very last ducat
Wont intotho bucket
But the fortune I'll never behold;
For twill revor matcrlallze,
No, twill never materiniize,
though keep up my end TIL Two no more to
spend, srffr
Twill never matcrialize.
Then went TO town in tho west,
For my genius thought needed room,
And bought mo q lot like the rest
or the boomers awaiting boom.
And stayed thcrc year and a day,
For the boom we awaited E
Was sadly bclatcd
Or somehow got lost on the way;
For 1t didn't materiallze,
No, II didn't materalize,
And the trumpet OF doom can't enliyen that
boom
For twill mover materialize.
now have gray hair or so,
And some brain matter too. that Is gray
And I've found thoro's no wisdom below
Like experience brings into play.
Oh, tho visions of childhood are vain,
And Us We grow oldor
With hearts little colder tt
We arc dreaming OF castles in Spain;
But they mover materializc
No, they never materialize.
II VIC don't win our luck by good judgment
and pluck
1t will never materialize.
George Horton, in Chicago Herald.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
The Rest of His Body Was Free.

! Lawyer-Your honor, l would claim
that my client was not guilty of burg.
larry. That crime is defined as forcible
entry with his whole body. My clients
hands and arms only were concerned in
this robbery.
Judge-I shall instruct the jury tc
that effect. Gentlemen, you are
charged to remember that you may only
bring in verdict convicting the pris-
oner's arms and hands N. Y. Mail and
Express.
Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-12-10
a New Role.

The opening of Oklahoma and the
rush for the Indian land have brought
fair women before tke public in new
eharaeter-thato of woman boomer-and
p such she is said to be braver and
more daring than even the man advent
urer One of the most famous of these
women is Nannetta Daisy, finely edu-
Gated and beautiful woman of thirty,
who was ~ eader of a score or more
of women soomers, having their head
quarters in Indian territory. Nannetta
had been a school teacher and newspa-
per writer and missed by but one vote
being state librarian of Kentucky. At
the head Of her amazon company of
boomers she took up claim near Ed
munds, one of the best in the country.
This claim was contested by railroad
engineer, the contest terminating in a
shooting match. Both were slightly
wounded, but public opinion was in
favor of the woman. A squatter jury
placed her in possession and warned the
man to leave the country Once a
Wppx