davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22

THE electrical instrument recently in- vented for avoiding the pain incident to the extraction of teeth has attracted considerable attention. Briefly, it con- sists of adjustable prongs, carrying buttons and connected with an electrical battery. The buttons are placed on the face over the nerves leading from the teeth to the brain, and circuit is estab- ished the moment the extracting in- strument touches the tooth. (
 A NUMBER of Philadelphia physicians and surgeons have organized an electro therapeutic society for the discussion of questions of electricity combined with medicine and surgery. The main object of the society is to reduce the amount of empiricism with which the practice of electro-therapeutics has hitherto frequently been associated, and to in- duce regularly certified practitioners to take up the subject on scentitlc basis.
 IN tests on number of different per sons, an electrician has found the effect i've resistance of the human body to be less to the alternating than to the direct current in the same individual with great variation in the resistance to either current in different persons. In five subjects the resistance to continuous current of 50 volts ranged from 3,32O to 10000. The tests revealed incidentally striking difference in the strength of current different individuals can endure.
 SOME wonderful work has lately been done in the removal ot diseased parts of the human body by electrolysis. Dr. Abrath, who has paid special attention to this branch of surgery, states that he has removed tumors and cancers with ease by electricity where no surgical interference with the knife was possi- ble, cases which have baffled all medical and surgical treatment, including liui- ments or injections. Grown-up people who had been under hospital treatment and dismissed as incuyable have thus escaped the horrors of suffocation or other miserable deaths. These he has had photographed in their perfectly cured state after electrical treatment. He not only finds that the electric cur rent will kill the cancer cell beyond where the knife can go, but that hem orrhage and shock are more or less pre- vented with the use of electrolysis and sceptic@mia or pyemia, which so often follows removal with the knife, is nearly always avoided.
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22

"Selene," in the Baltimore American writing of tho attractiyoness of women, compares them to flowers. Those tht have beauty all mind, well cultivated are like the flowers with beauty ant fragrance - they are never end!nl sources of delight. Others are far t. look upon, but a close inspection diGcov- CTS thorn. Tie third kind are l.l:c the homely wall-flowcr, neither hand some nor graceful, but so full of sweet ness that to be near them is joy inex- pressible. So many girls, who are brought up with the knowledge that they are gifted with forms and faces of unusual loveliness, depend too much upon those advantages for their success in life. They never realize the ncccs- sity of applying themselves to the acqui- sition of knowledge; they grow to wom- anhood with meagcr education, no ac. complishments and a much exaggerated opinion of their charms. Tho result is that they enjoy only for brief time the prestige for which they are so am bilious.
 Some of the plainest women ever knewwere the greatest favorites. Their presence in room was the signal for good-humored enjoyment. Time never f1agged when they were of the party. The lack of mere facial symmetry was forgotten when under the spell of their genial influence. It is not unusual to see handsome man welded to home ly woman. We have all heard and, per haps, made the remark: "Wky, what did such good-looking man ever See in that woman to love?' We are thinking of only the outward appearance, when, in truth, the character of such woman may be so lovely and attractive to those who know her that none would have her different if they could. Itis great pity when a girl allows herself to grow discontented and unhappy about her looks. When this is the case it is time for her to heed the fairy's warning and shun the mirror by thinking less of ap- pearances and more of other things.
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
WONDERS OF THE SEA.
How Continents WOuii Change Wero tl
 

How Continents WOuii Change Wero tue
 Ocean t' Dry Up
 CAt the depth of about 3, 50) feet wave s are not folt. Tho temperature is tho same, varying only tc:l, from the ice of the pole to tho burnia: sun of tho equator. A mlS down tle wator has pressure of over a ton 10 the square inch. If box six feet wide wero filled with sea water anl allowed to ovapo.- ate undor the sun, thcro would be two inches of salt loft on tho bottom. Talk ing the average depth of tho ocean to be three miles. thoro would be q layer of pure salt 23C feet thick on the bed of the Atlantic. Tho water is colGor at the bottom than at tho surface. In many bays on the coast of Norway tho water often freezes at the bottom before it does above.
 Waves arc vory deceptive. To look at them in storm ono would think the water travelled. Tho water stays in the same place, but the motion goes on. Sometimes in storms these waves arc forty feet high and travel fl fly mics an hour-more than twice as fast as tho swiftest steamship. Tho distance from valley to valley is generally iifteon times the height, henco wave five feet high will extend over sevonty-five feet of water. The force of tho sea dashing on Bell Rock is said to bo seventeen tons for eIch square yard.
 Evaporation is wonderful power in drawing the water from the sea. Every year a layer of the entire sea, fourteen feet thick, is taken up into tho clouds. The winds bear their burden into tho land and the water comes down in rain upon tho fields, to flow back at last through rivers. Tho depth of tho sea presents an interesting problem. If the Atlantic were lowered from G, 5G4 feet the distance from shoro to shore would be half as great, or 1,5o0 miles. If low cred little moro than threo miles, say 19,6S0 feet, there would bo road of dry land from Newfoundland to Ireland. This is the plan on which tho great At- lantic cables worc laid. Tho Mediter- ranean is comparatively shallow. A drying up of eco feet woull leave three different seas anl Africa would be joined with Italy.
 The British channel is more like a pond, which accounts for its choppy waves. It has Gccn found difficult to get the correct soundings of the Allan. tic. A midshipman of the navy over came the difficulty, and shot weighing thirty pounds carries down the line. A hole is bored through tho sinker, through which rod of iron is passed moving easily back and forth. In tho end of tho bar cup is dug out and tho inside coated with lard. The bar is made fast to the limo and a sling holds the shot on. When the bar, which cx- tends below the ball, touches the earth, the sling unhooks and the shot slides off. The lard in tho end of the bar holds some of the sand, or whatever may be at the bottom, and a drop shuts over the cup to keep the sand in. When the ground is reached shock is felt, as if an electric current had passed through the line. Chicago Tribune.
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
AND CURIOUS TREES.

A DU BoIs man has in his yard palm tree in blossom, and plum tree on which plums are now growing as large as nuts.
 BEAR-uUNTERs in Fresno County, Cal. penetrating thick underbrush, came upon the biggest tree yet reported in that wonderful State. The rope that girdled it four feet from the ground was 129 feet inches long.
 NEAR Clifford Station, on the Staten Island railroad, there is peculiarpiece of woodland, spot where the roots of the trees will attach themselves to the trunks at from four to six feet above the level of the ground, giving to the stumps an odd, spidery appearance. The soil of the vicinity is very porous, which lends weight to the opinion that the banyan-like grove has been formed by the action of frost and water.
 THE root of California tree recently made Q remarkable journey for the wa ter of a sewer. It followed the sewer casing until it reached high brick wall in which, several feet up, was very small hole leading to the other side. This hole the root made bee-line for, passed through it and ran down on the other side, where finally it found the water it sought. How did the tree. know of the hole in the wall? How did 1t know that the sewer was on the other side?
 ON the plantation of John H. Roberts, near Robertville, s. C., there is tree, if not destroyed by the turpentine hands, that does not touch the ground by six feet. A pine sapling, cut down at some period unknown to the oldest in- habitant, lodged on tho limb of an adja- cent tree. The growth of the tree and limb gradually closed around it until it became completely imbedded. Draw ing it's life from the tree, it grows and presents a luxurious appearance. All trace of the stump from which 1t was cut has long since disappeared.
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
POPULAR SIGNATURES.
How People Sign Their Business and Sc
 clal COrrespOndcnce.

How People Sign Their Business and So-
 cial Correspondence.
 A friend of mine, says correspondent of the Writer, always used to crowd just as much as he could on the last page of every letter he wrote, so that at the bot tom he might have left only just room enough for his name. Thus he avoided the use of any complimentary phrase that to him was meaningless, and to the receiver of the letter might mean more or less than the writer would wish. I have often seen him painfully wrestling with his imagination or his memory for ideas or facts enough to make ink and paper come out even. Surely his meth- cd of getting over the difficulty is awk- ward, to say the least. If the ending happened to come naturally in the mid dle of the page it would be better right there to omit the distasteful phrase than to make your own time and that of your reader with needless sentences, added merely ito ft." Custom, how ever, prescribes that all letter writers shall at the end say something polite to their correspondents, even though the body of the letter contains the most caustic sort of Scotch blessing. No doubt, too, there are shades of meaning in the many forms that this politeness assumes. You will seldom find a man who always signs his name with the same phrase in front of it, there being usually an attempt to make the phrase accord, at least to some extent, with the nature of the rest of the epistle. Itwould at first seem hard, then, to learn from any given body of correspondence the comparative degrees of popularity that these phrases possess, but, curious to try 1t, examined 300 of my old letters, 15O purely business letters and an equal number of general nature from friends and acquaintances, none from relatives, and all from different persons. Here are the statistics:
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
ROMANCE OF ROSES.
Whence Three Popular Favorites
 Derived Their Names.

Interesting Legends Attached to Beauti- full Flowers-Marcc.al Nells Present to Empress EugenIe-The Bon
 Silene and Jacqueminot.
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
Lori.I: for Honey.

A successful boring for honey has been m,.Gc ill North Tennessee. For m.ny years swGrns of bees have been noticed by boatmcn On Fox DluT. on tho Cumberland river, near Franklin. KY. nc bia:f is one EUadrtd ;nd seventy 'cct high. .:ld iao r;vcr's chaEa.l runs
 rnct.y u,:y,c: it. Thn bees have brcn
 'acrvcG "I0It big Assure noar the
 ln;cr of tAo LlU,r, and tho opening
 o:.ll not Jo reached from above or be- low without great dang 2r ot being stung to ac2,h. Aj tho Lees lad never been robbed, it vas believed l..:.,a amount of honey was stored ia tho cliff. Be- ccnsly wCll-borCr visited thc Lluf and was at oTcc impressed with the iGca hat Ee wo::.l r2:ni tlc w.nlcr;ul Ioncy sto". ':3I:To with hi1 Gr:ll At.,r .oAc c,2&ilg. h2 persuaded , number of farmers |, ua.,-r,y, tho expense, and
 slr2c-.a3,. hole was b.c.1 .J..l ...o t,p ,f tao bluf Atad depth of cighty-flve feet ao drill struck the honey. Barrels and ,ubs by the score were filled and carried T to ncighboring farms, a1l the sym -.icate has sent to Louisville for more receptacles.
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
A Good SchOOl Story.

The following story was recently told by Galveston high school teacher: A ono time there was visiting in that cit the famous Tom Ochiltree and Nj. Mackay, the California millionaire, an the teacher in question gave outone da "Our Visitors as the subject for com position. Among those which w@rt submitted was one by bright girl w.iicl commenced as follows: "We have i: our midst two distinguished visitor MT. Mackay and Tom Ochiltree, rcpr' senting, respectively, gold from Cal. fornia and brass from Texas"
 At Dinner tn Ch cago.
 The invited ministers were deploring the fact that the cateohism is but little studied by the children of the present day. The hostess, according to the Christian Union, differed from them, saying: "It is not so in our house. James has inst received a prize for a perfect recitation of the catechism, and even little Johnny is beginning to learn it. Johnny, tell the minister What is the chief end of many" The little fel- low addressed had been too intent on the enjoyment of an unusually good dinner to hear "uTht but the question directly addressed to him. and was, per haps, littln annoyed at the interrup- tion, for he replieJ, rathei impatiently: 'l don't know, but I suppose the one with the head onr'
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
CHOICE BITS OF HUMOR.

PROUD MOTHER (piqued that her child's advances meet with no response from fair stranger)-"Why, baby, dear, that's not your grandmar'
 "WHY so downcast?" "I lost mag nifcent umbrella yesterdayw "Leave it in the train?" "No; met the owner of it in the city, and he recognized it at once." 1.
 ARcHITEcT-"Have you any suggest ions for the study, Mir. Quickrich?' Quickrich-''Only that it must be brown. Great thinkers, understand, are gen. erally found in brown study"
 INDIGNANT LANDLoRD( (to tenant of flat) -"I thought you said your children were all grown up, and here you have three noisy babies in the house." Tenant "Yes, these are my grandchildren" |.
 WOMAN (to tramp who had eaten whole mince pie)-"You seem to have a good appetite" Tramp (with tears in his eyes)-"Yes, madam, this is all have in the world which can rightly call my own."
 CHoLLEY (whose legs are a trifle bowed, to a atailor)-"Aw-I'm very par ticular y know, about the fit of my trousers" Tailor-"The fit will be all right, sir. I'll cut the cloth with pair of bent shears"
 INDIGNANT VIsIToR-"I told you five or six times to wake me up this morning at seven. Here it is ten o'clock. Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Hotel Porter--"I did wake you up sooner, sir, only you didn't hear me-"
 FIDDLER Gin conciliatory tone)-"I presume those lovely children in the yard are yours, madam?" Madam (frigidly)-'I have no children" Ped dler-"Pardon me; since see you more closely l see that the brats could not possibly be yours" .- sp
 "WANTED-reliable men," read Mrs. Bascom from the advertising columns of the paper. Then she raised her glasses upon her forehead, looked severely at her husband and remarked: And the world Il wait considerable number of centuries yet before it gets 'em." ...
 "I've gota complaint to make," said an office boy to his employer. "What is it?" "The book-keeper kicked me, sir. I don't want no book-keeper to kick me-" "Of course he kicked you. You don't expect me to attend to every thing, do you? 1 can't look after all the little details of the business myself" ssi
 UNCLE RAsTUs (to his young hopefuD- "Dolphus, yo' young rascal, yo' take dat slate pencil outen yo' mouf an stop chewin' it" Dolphus-"Yes, pa." Un- cle Rastus-"Don' yo' know it am dan gerous to de linin' ob de stummack to chew slate pencils? Some day eddica- tion will kill yo', chile-kill yo', sho'"
 A YOUNG fellow, not quite so wise as Solomon, was eating some Cheshire cheese, full of mites, one night at a tavern. "Now," saiG he, ''I have done as much as Samson, for have slain my thousands and my tens of thousands" "Yes," answered one of the company, "and with the same weapon, too - the jaw bone of an ass."
 BLIND BEGGAR-"Alas! madam, I am starving" Charitable Old Lady-"Poor creature, am sorry to say have noth- ing smaller than ten-dollar gold piece. (She opens her purse) Not a single smaller piece of money" Blind Beggar --"I beg your pardon, madam. l see a fve-dollar bill. Gle draws his purse from his pocket.) can easily change that for you"
Tombstone epitaph., 1891-02-22
GOSSIP OF LONDON TOWN.

LONDON photographers are forming union.
 THE curricle, or double-horsed two- wheel cart is being considerably re- vived in London.
 LONDON is now to have penny week. ly called Treasure Trove, started by the enterprising Archibald Grove, of the New Review.
 THE population of London can be best estimated by the not generally known fact that it is greater than that of Nor way and Sweden combined.
 THERE has been erected the first and only modern windmill in London. It is placed on the top of warehouse, and has wheel thirty feet in diameter.
 ELECTRICITY has been introduced as light into the British Museum, thus en- abling that institution for the first time in It's existence to be kept open in the evening.
 A rug valued at s5,OoO was bought in London lately. It was about thirteen feet square and had about 256 stitches to the inch. The material was wool combed, not cut, from the animal, and worth more than its weight in silk.
 THE Parnellite business cost the Lon don Times exactly elS0,000. The share- holders of the paper were compelled to forego their dividends for the last year and for the first six months of this year in order to pay it. John Walter owns sixteen shares and his loss was f4S, ,0O0, the dividend on each share being a3,OOO. The circulation of the paper and it's re- ceipts for advertisements are constantly increasing.
 LONDON editors receive the following annual salaries, whether they earn them or not: MT. Delane. of the Times, received S2o,0 ,000, and the present editor, MT. Buckle, receives S25, ,OOO; the editor of the Standard is paid S15,0O0; MT. Pol lock, of the Saturday Review, S1O,000; MT. Hutton, of the Spectator, S1O,OOO; Edward Lawson, proprietor of the Tele- graph, receives no salary, but two as- sistants are paid ,5OO; Mir. Burnand, of Punch, $15,000; the editor of the Daily News, S20,000; Frederick Greenwood, ''The Casual Pauper," of the St. James Gazette, is paid S9,0OO.
 THE promoters of the Watkin Tower have under consideration proposal which, though it is somewhat suggest i've of Jules Verne, is submitted by well-known engineer, and is said to be quite practicable. The tower is to be not less than 1,200 feet high, consider ably loftier than its prototype at Paris. At this atmospheric level the air, even over London, is absolutely pure, and it is proposed that by means of machinery specially devised for the purpose, sup ply of fresh air shall be drawn to the street level, and thence distributed to houses and public buildings as water and gas now are.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-22
ADJUSTMENTS.

The APPLETON QUARTEr.-The concert to
be given tomorrow night at Lincoln Music
Hall under the auspices Of the Columbia
Athletic Club will afford the musical people
Of this city an opportunity to again hear
Miss Harriette Whitney, whose progress is
well known in Washington. To a naturally fine
organ she has given the most careful study and
earnest practice and she now possesses a con-
tralto of exceptional purity and power. The
Appleton Quartet is an organization OF ladies
whose voices are said to blend beautifully and
each Of whom is q solOist of a high order. Mr..
Myron Whitney, the eminent basso, will also
sing at this concert, and there is no singer
more popular here than he is. The program
has already been published. and the advance
sale indicates q large attendance. Seats may
be secured at Metzerott's.
B1scHoFF CoNcERr.-The second concert of
the course occurs tomorrow evening, con-
sisting of a pianoforte recital by Mr.. Henry
numbers furnished by DIR. Bischof. Mr.. Wal
Ter is an adopted son Of Mrs. Scott Siddons,
and his piano playing produced a marked i'm
preston upon the Music Teachers National
Association at their recent meeting in Detroit.
An addition to the program will be noted with
pleasure. Mrs. Wickersham, 80 well known to
Washington few years ago as Miss Agnes Nc
Grew, will sing a solo. A few good seats are
still on sale at Ellis & Co.'S.
Rev. r. 8. Macarthur Of New York will de-
liver his popular lecture, Elements of Success
In Life, at Calvary Baptist Church. 8th and H
streets, next Wednesday evening at 3 o'clock
Tickets at Metzerotts tomorrow and after.
Tickets at Knabe's for the second concert of
the Washington Musical Club, assisted by Miss
Ida Klein and Signor Mariana Mama, at Uni
versalist Church, next Wednesday evening.
Tickets for Stepniak's lecture or ''The Rus
Hall, next Monday evening, for sale at Meter
otis,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-22
THE RAUM INVESTIGATION.
Testimony Given Before the House Speci
Committee Today.

Testimony Given Before the House Special
Committee Today.
The Raum investigating committee heard
testimony from James O'Donnell, pension
Office employe, to the effect that when on leave
of absence he had cared for a pair of horses
belonging to Green B. Raum, jr.
Edward W. Jennings, clerk in the pension
Office, testified tina. some time previous to his
appointment in the Office he had spoken to
Commissioner Raum about organizing a re-
frigerating company in Virginia. but in this
undertaking he was not successful, owing to
the lack of time. He said, in response to ques-
tions. that he never had any money or stock in
the refrigerating company. Mr.. Cooper was
not permitted to inquire into the details of the
conversation.
Pearly Dickerson, an employe in the pension
office and for time in the mail division testi-
fed that mail addressed to Commissioner Raum
as president of the refrigerating company had
been handled by him.
Mr.. Cooper filed with the committee certi-
fed copy of the articles OF incorporation of the
Columbia Universal Refrigerator Company,
which, however, Mr.. Raum said had not been
Incorporated and consequently the stock had
not been issued.
The committee then adjourned until Mon
dAy.