davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
SPLINT-BASKET MAKING.
The Rapidity with Which Experts
Turn Them Out.
A Lively Time Between Two Wofkmens
Who Were Competing for Supreua-
acy-Over 90, 900 Baskets In
One Month.

The manufacture Of gra pe-baskets
has grown to be an industry second only
to the raising of the grape in many OF
the towns along the shores of Lake
Erie, says the Jamestown IN. Y. Sun.
A grape-basket is constructed of bass
wood and is made up Of eight distinct
pieces, minus the handle. The ham
dies are not put on at the factories, but
by the growers when used. A good
basketmaker can turn out about fifty
baskets an hour if he moves lively.
Formerly what was known as the
splint-baslzet was used. TWAS cheap
or grade, and not nearly SO strong or
durable, and, containing but four
pieces, was of course more easily made.
Many people while in the grape country
might be curious to know just how
many of these splint- baskets could be
made by one man working month. A
tilt that Perry Bigelow and Charles Ben
nett of Portland once had between them
illustrates the possibilities Of splint-
basket making
Each man differed somewhat as to
the capabilities Of the other in that
direction, and to settle the matter they
started thirty-day match, without
gloves, catch-as-catch-can, no partic1-
lar rules to govern, and each to work
as many hours as he chose. So it was
not only a question of expertness, but
of endurance. Both worked in the same
shop.
What q pounding! Up and down,
like flash, moved the hammers in the
hands of the two men; like a flash the
splints were bent into place and the
nails sent flying into their sides with
the speed of SO many hornets, and bas-
kets rained ON the floor in a shower.
Did the boys begin to get tired in the
course Of a week or two? Well, if they
did they didn't show it. The longer
they kept at it the faster they worked.
Their movements were almost auto
matte and as regular as clocAwork, and
so evenly matched were the men that
the twenty-ninth of the month there
wasn't a difference in their piles of
twenty. Ever and anon Charley would
stop to wipe his face, and Perry would
gain ON him; then Perry znayhap would
have to brush fly away, and then it
was that Charley got in his fine work.
The night preceding the last day Per-
ry went to a dance, returning at three
o'clock. The race was about even up,
and he thought that by slipping into the
factory at that hour and working until
breakfast at good lively jog he would
have Bennett dernoralized and beaten.
He had just picked up his hammer and
spat on his hands when the door opened
and 10! there was Bennett.
Four hours till breakfast, five till din
ner, and then till six o'clock-tap, tap,
tapl 1t was better than Il bear dance
and lively enough to stir the most stolid
citizen. Neighbors gathered in crowd
around the shop and watched the fun,
At exactly six o'clock Perry threw his
hammer out Of the window. He was
just five baskets behind. Score: Ben
nett 52,95o; Bigelow, 52,945.
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
Gold Rings and White Horses.

An extraordinary belief or supersti-
ton has broken out among the little
! girls in eastern cities. Strangers have
wondered because they have been ac-
costed by little girls not yet in their
teens and asked if they have ring. If
the gentleman has a ring on his hand
. they want to touch it. That is the only
formality of the immediate proceeding,
but it is part of ritualism that is as.
founding. The belief that has gained
. currency among them is: IF touch
] and count twenty-five rings, then count
five white horses, and then see five col.
ored people, then the next boy speak
to will marry me-
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
WILL LISTEN TO THE SUN.
Edison's Cosmical Telephone to Hear Sun
Spots Roar.

Edison's Cosmical Telephone to Hear Sun
Spots Roar.
One of the most curious arrangements
contrived by this most curious man for
his personal amusement and gratitica-
ton, says the Chicago Tribune, is the
arrangement which Mr.. Edison calls
his s'cosmical telephone. Edison owns
an iron mine at Ogden, N. j. There is
bed of magnetic iron ore about mile
long and so feet wide, which he says
runs down into the earth for five or six
miles. He estimates the amount OF iron
in the mine at 10000 100000 tons.
Around Ogden there is an enormous in
classification of the magnetic forces OF
the earth. It is well-known fact that
the daily variations in these magnetic
forces, as shown by the needle, are di-
rectly Influenced by the disturbances in
the suns spots. These variations are
regularly recorded every day at Kew,
near London. Mr.. Edison says that at
his iron mine near Ogden he has more
than million times the concentration
Of magnetic lines that there is at Kew.
To record the daily variations in his
own magnetic lines at Ogden, Mr.. Edi-
son has constructed his cosmical tele-
phone.
''There are the most wonderful
things going on in the suns spots all
the time he says. "Didn't you ever
see them9 Why, they are beautiful.
The disturbances are tremendous.
Bursts Of hydrogen fly out Of these
spots $1,000 miles long. Awful things
happen up there. You can see them
every day with my telescope"
To construct his telephone he has
surrounded the whole bed of magnetic
iron with poles. On these poles he has
The ends of this cable run down into a
little house and are connected with the
ordinary receiver of common Bell
telephone. The idea is that the sur
rounding of this enormous bed of mag
netic iron with copper wires will oper-
ate for the formation of a. gigantic
magnet such as is used in the receiver
of the everyday telephone. Through
this tremendous receiver Edison says
he will be put in direct telephone COM
munication with the sun, only the COM
1nunication Will be onesided. He can
hear everything that goes on mp there,
but he can't do any transmitting. He
believes that every disturbance in the
suns spots Will cause q corresponding
variation Of the concentrated magnetic
lines at Ogden, and that this variation
will be at once detected in some way by
the receiver of his cosmical telephone.
''Yes, sir he says, 81 can hear them
with this telephone. The next time
there is any violent change i the SUMS
spots which disturbs the magnetic
lines or earth I shall know it, and if
100000 miles of hydrogen go chasing
away from the sun I shall hear it.
The cosmical telephone is not yet
completed, as the wire stringing is not
finished: but scientific people other
than Mr.. Edison will watch with curl
Gus wonder to see what success he will
acIieve.
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
"WHlskERs" ON A NICKEL.
It's the Very Latest Joke Out and It's
Good One.

ssWhat are you doing that for?'
asked a New York World reporter of a
downtown elevator boy, who was in
dustriously hacking the edges of a
nickel with sharp knife.
ssPuttin' up a job on one Of de IL
rakes," he replied, as he started the ele-
vator with a velocity that doubled up
the knees of puny-looking man who
wanted to go to the top floor.
ssWho are the II rakes?"
He left two girls on the second floor
and blew chewed wad at messenger
boy on the third, then he answered:
ssDe rakes are de fellows wat pull in
de coin at de elevated station windows.
Dey tink der mighty slick in maxim
change. and de lazy way dey slide it out
makes you tired. But we fellers are on
to 'em. We whites sharp edges on a
coin like dis and hops it down hard on
de wood. De man paws it, but it don't
rake. He tries it again, but his fingers
slip off. It's fun to see him get ratified
when der's a big crowd waitin'. Tree
of de fellers had man wild last night.
We mixed up in a seven o'clock crowd
and each Of us had cut coin. De ticket
man was slidin' change his purtiest when
a lad chucked down nickel with
whiskers on. He pulled at it six times
and then had to pick it up. After a
few people had passed struck him wild
a sharpened dime. It took him min
ute to rake it in and gimme change,
and a Hollum train went up wild a big
crowd pushin' to get through de gate.
Den de money slipped all right for a
minute, but another of de gang set
down a fixed piece. It stuck fine, and
de man was so mad de station trembled.
It's de last Joke out-nint' foort'
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
JUST LIKE HUMANS.
MIR. and Mrs. Seal Have a NIisunderstand-
ing and Fun Ensues.

II
There was trouble in the seal fam
lily at the Central park ''Zoo'' the
other day, says the New York
Times. Papa Seal chastised the
baby seal for playing 1nischievous
FRANKS, whereat Mamma Seal waxed
exceedingly wroth and attacked her
lord and master with such fury that he
beat a hasty retreat and clanbered up
on the cement banks of the tank. There,
greatly to his surprise and sorrow, he
found more trouble. A. surly pelican
was strutting along the edge of the
tank, and the presence of the big wet
seal was to her unvelcome. She peched
viciously at him with her sharp bealz,
and with squeal of pain he slid back
into the water.
Mamma Seal, however, had not got
over her anger, and she thrashed the
luckless head Of the family with her
tail so energetically that he again
sought the dry hank.
But the pelican was waiting for him,
and she proceeded to tap him Oh the
head with her knifelike beak. The
seal could not stand that, and once
more he rolled back into the water.
Again and again he was driven out of
the tank by his spouse, and again and
again he was driven back by the peli-
can.
This domestic comedy lasted for fully
twenty minutes, and it was watched by
half hundred persons. Finally, the
irate spouse took pity on her ''wcrser'
half and permitted him to remain un-
molested in the tank.
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
A Frog That Cries.

A Baltimore freak is frog of good
size and trifie light in color, but APP
parently not different from any other
frog. The freakishness developed when
his frogship was worried, when, instead
of hopping off or giving utterance to
the deep, sonorous note usually heard
from frogs, he simply opened his mouth
and cried. The cry is nothing if
not human, and suggests, both in tone
and volume, a peevish child. The cry is
not single note, but several, and is
continued even after the annoyance
ceases.
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
BENEATH SAND OR WAVE.
Covered Cities Whose Streets We're Once
Full OF Life and Action.

Covered Cities Whose Streets We're Once
Full Of Life and Action.
The city under the sea which has
been discovered between Grade and
palo, in Istria, is believed to be the
ruins of elisa, mentioned by Pliny as
situated on an island Of that name. A.
diver reports having seen the streets,
walls and quays, but the doors and WIN
dows Of the houses appear to be cho]zed
with silt and seaweed. While on this
subject. says Cassell's Family Magazine,
we may mention that the remarkable
ruins of zimbabye, which have been
discovered in Mashonaland, are to be
explored by Theodore Bent, with the
aid of the Royal Geographical society,"
Treat progress has been made in I'M
,arthing the Romano-British town Of
Silchester, near Reading. The site COW
ers a hundred acres, and is situated on
the Strathfeldsaye estate of the duke
of Wellington. Walls, gates, streets,
baths and private houses have been laid
bare, and rich collection of pottery,
implements and coins has been made.
Among these are an iron carpenter
plane and blacl1s1nitll's tools. Some of
the eAlge tools are still keen enough to
work with. A piece Of tile retains the
imprint Of a baby's foot, and another
that of a shoe or sandal with springs in
the sole. The pottery ranges from
coarse cooking vessels to artistic ware;
the iron work shows orname1tation and
the needles or other household articles
bear witness to fairly high degree Of
civilization among the Ibero-Celtic pop
ulation, who, to the best of our knowl'
edge, made up the ancient Britons. 1t
is mistake to speak of these, our early
forefathers, as Celts. They were prob
ably more Iberian than Celtic, at least
in England proper.
The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
The United States Navy.

Only about twenty-five United States
ships, exclusive of the revenue cutters
and the training squadron, are now in
commission, but it is estimated that five
years hence there will be forty-nine
ships available for active service, and
that of these only three or four viii be
of the antiquated types that now make
up the bulk of the navy. Before that
time arrives, however, there will be q
vast change in the makeup Of various
squadrons. The Asiatic squadron in
particular will have got itself q new
outfit Several of the vessels on that
station have been kept there for years
past chiefly because they we're unfit for
the voyage home across the Pacific.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
The Latest Woman's Craze.

Topeka, KANSAS, September 25.-
Shortly after tho election in this State last
fall Miss Fannie McC Cormick, the Peoples
party candidate for superintendent of
public instruction, declared in a speech
that if the farmers wives had been prop
erly organized the Alliance would have
elected its entire ticket. Yesterday the
charter of the National Woman's Alli-
ance, with Miss Fannie Mccormick as it's
president. was filed with the Secretary of
State. The incorporators include the
wives of each of the Alliance Congress
men and Senator Peffer's wife heads the
list. The organization is national and
vice-president is named for every State in
the Union. Lecturers will be sent into
the field to establish Sub-Alliances to
operate with the Farmers Alliance. The
object Of the association Is to establish
bureau for the education Of women on
economical, social and political questions,
and to make and develop better state
mentally and financially with the full and
unconditional use of the ballot.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
Southern Industrial Progress.

BALTIMORE, September 24.-Tho Man.
ufact,ver's Record of this week contains its
Quarterly review of the industrial pro-
gress of the South, showing that, not
Withstanding the usual dullness of the
summer and the late financial stringency,
there has been q steady and solid ad.
vancement. Reviewing the progress of
that section since January, the Record
says: "The most trying period which the
industrial growth Of the South has ever
encountered, and doubtless the most try
ing that it will over have to face, has been
that covered by tie last nine or ten
months. It would have been natural for
rapidly developing section like the
South, where thousands Of new enterpri-
ses were being organized. or were under
construction, to have felt the effect OF fl.
naucial troubles far more seriously than
any other section, but such has not been
the case. Of course, many enterprises
lust getting under way when the panic
came have been halted, and some have
been abandoned, but this has been main-
ly in the line of development and town
companies. The manufacturing enter
prises in operation have gone along stead
lily. Banking anu general business OPP
erations, though somewhat restricted in
volume, have stood the financial strain
remarkably we'll. Despite the extreme
depfession In iron, Southern furnaces
have generally been running to their full
capacity and making some profit; cotton
mills have been busy, and in nearly eve
ry line Of manufacturing there has been
steady, substantial gain, even through
the great monetary stringency. The way
in which the South has stood the strain
has surprised the financial world, and has
materially strengthened the confidence Of
the capitalists of the North in the great
future Of this section.
"The panic is passing away; the whole
country is entering upon period OF un-
precedented prosperity, and In all human
probability the next two years will be the
most active in industrial advancement In
the history of our country. In this great
activity and prosperity the South will
undoubtedly share. It's vast resources
will command the attention Of capital
new furnaces and steel works will be
built, new cotton mills established, new
mines opened, many miles Of railroad
built, and in every branch Of Its trade
and industry new activity will be felt. !.
"During the last nine months the South
has continued to establish new manufac-
turingtenterprises, and In that time 2,742
new concerns have been organized, the
list being as follows: Iron furnaces, g;
machine shops and foundries, r.; agri-
cultural implement factories, 12; hour
mills, 40; cotton mills, So; furniture fac
tories, 80; gas works, 20; water works,
II; carriage and wagon factories, 26;
electric light plants, 1A; mining and
quarrying enterprises, 4l3; wood work
factories, 372; ice factories, 5S; canning
factories, 4s stove foundries, 6 /; brick
works, 129; iron and steel works, rolling
mills, etc., 40; cotton congresses, 1s;
cotton seed oil mills, g.; miscellaneous
enterprises 8S3-total 2,742.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
Ten Men to be Hanged.

LAURENs, s. c., September 25.-The
most death dealing sentence in the legal
annals of this State, except in cases of in
surrection, was passed at Laurens to-day,
ten negro men being sentenced to be
hanged for the murder of another negro.
The charge was conspiracy and murder.
Some months ago Jim Young, Monroe
Young, Allen Young, Henderson Young,
Tom Atkinson, John Atkinson, Lige At.
kinson, John Adams, Perry Adams and
Jack Williams, having some cause of
quarrel against Thornton Nance, also col
ored, arranged plan to take his life
and carried it out successfully. At this
term of the Laurens Court they were
all tried together for the crime, and
all convicted. A motion was made for
new trial and refused, and Judge Hudson
sentenced the whole ten to be hanged on
October q next.
At the same term of Court Ike Kinard,
colored, was convicted of the murder Of
Samuel G. O1ner, q white man, and was
sentenced to be hanged on October 16,
this making eleven negroes sentenced to
death at these bloody assizes.-Special to
Ners and Courier.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
Wemen Never See q Joke.

Brown, do you know why you are
like d>nkey?"
"Like a donkey3" echoed Brown,
opening wide his eyes. "No, don't"
"Do you give it up?"
II do"
Because your better half is stubborn
ness"
"That's not bad. Ha! ha! I'll give
that to my wife when get home"
"Mrs. Brown" be asked, IN he sat
down to supper, 'do you know why am
30 much like Donkey"
He waited a moment, expecting his
wife to give it up. She looked at him
somewhat commisseratingly as she an
swered:
II suppose because you we're born 80. !"
Boston Beacon.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
She Loved Him In Poverty.

ATLANTA, Sept. 2l.-Richard Hornig,
q poor German, settled near Anstell some
time ago. He was an honest, hard-work-
ing farm laborer, and won the respect and
confidence Of all who knew him. He re-
ceived but little attention from the wo-
men In the settlement. But there was one
poor girl, Miss O'Shields, who was al
ways kind to the stranger, and their
friendship soon ripened into love. AS
both were very poor, matrimony was not
thought of.
A few months ago a letter with for
eign stamp arrived at the Anstell post
Office, directed to Richard Hornig. tan
nounced to him the death Of his father
in Germany, and that he was sole heir to
5000, 90 marks. Mr.. Hornig visited Ger
many, and had no trouble in getting his
fortune, and returned to Anstell last week.
OF course this change in his condition
made marked change in the reception
accorded him. But his heart was still
true to the little woman who had been
his friend when he was poor stranger,
and he made her his wife to-day.
Miss O'Shields was taken from the cot
ton field and arrayed in silk and fine lin.
en- and surrounded by all the luxuries that
wealth could buy. Her husband says
that he intends to send her to the best
schools in the old world to fit her for her
new life. When asked why he did not
marry an educated girl, Mr.. Hornig re-
piled that such showed him no attention
when they thought him a penniless stran-
ger, and he would always feel, should he
marry one OF them, that bis wife wanted
him for his money. He knew the bride
he had selected truly loved him, and this,
he said, he desired above all else.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
Death of Gov. Perry's Widow.

GREENvILLE, s. c., September 25.-
Mrs. Elizabeth Francis Perry, widow of
Ex-Governor B. F. Perry, died here to-
day from blood poisoning, caused by a
carbuncle which came on her neck about
ten days ago. Mrs. Perry was born in
Charleston on October %, 1918, and was q
daughter of Hext. and s. B. Mccall.
Her father was prominent lawyer. Her
mother was sister of Robert Y. Hayne.
She was educated in New Havenn, Conn.,,
and married Governor Perry on April q :,
1887.
Since her husbands death she had pre-
pared and had printed several volumes of
his life. She was a woman of brilliant
attainments and noble Christian charac-
ter. She leaves four children.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07

- There is post at the corner of the
public square in Fsirmount, No., which
gets bolt of lightning from nearly eve.
ry thunder storm that comes along. Three
men, five horses and twenty or thirty
sheep have been electrocuted at the spot.
-"What did you do the first time you
got into battle ?" said young lady to an
old soldier. "Of course you didn't run ?"
ooh, no, didn't run, miss; not at all.
But if I had been going for doctor, and
you had seen me you would have thought
somebody was awful sick"
Country Editor-Thank the Lord,
to>morrow's Sunday. Visitor-You rest
Oh that day, I SUPPOSE "Yes; all we
have to do is cut wood, light the FIRE,
milk the COWS, dress the children, clean
the clstern and praise the Lord"
Sixty cents q year is what Edison
predicts will be the coat of heating AID
lighting a house when electricity has full.
ly shown its power. But we'd be glad to
have 1t come in our time.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-07
4 dispatch from Guthrie, o. T.,

A dispatch from Guthrie, o. r., says:
A Government inspector just in from the
CHEYENNE and Arapahoc Indian reserva-
ton tells of large number Of strange
deaths among the members Of these
tribes. For nearly week they have been
holding a grand dance on the Washita
river. They dance all night and during
the day feast on melons both green and
ripe. During the past two days nearly
100 of the Indians have fallen unconscious
during the dance and fully half Of them
have died. Scores of others are very
sick, The dance was started by the Indi-
ans to appease the evil spirit and drive
away q malarial fever which has been
prevalent among the tribes all summer.
causing the death of several hundred Oh
them"
An ingenious Philadelphian, who
wa. formerly an Australian, has patented
a shoe with ventilated soles. The valves
in the shoe are made OIL the same princi-
nile as the tricuspid valves of the heart
which allow air to enter freely, but close
tightly against anything in fluid form.
These shoes, the inventor claims, arc
oood in more senses than in one. Not
only will they keep the feet cool, he says.
but they will also prevent corns, and Will
remove the Objectionable odor caused NJ
the same time.-Philadelphia Record.
"A short while ago we happened to
see queer thing in the shape Of petrl-
fed rabbit. He. had run into hole 10
escape, probably, from pursuit and pe-
coming wedged in had to remain. Some
property in the soil had changed him INTO
solid stone, but left every hair unrufied
and natural as to color. He seemed so
natural that we could hardly resist the
temptation to shy a stone, or to whoop up
the dogs and have chase.-Cra'for'esr'"e
Democrat.
-Sayles j. Bowen, who, in Grants
wealthy and powerful besides, is now a
messenger in the office of the chief clerk
of the treasury department with salary
of $50 month. His decline furnishes
striking illustration of the vlcissitudes OF
public life at the Capital.