davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
"NOr so VERY AWFUL"
Comments That Mrs. simpson Heard Re"
garding Herself

Rardtng Herself.
Two retined-looking ladies sat in the
members gallery of the house of repre-
sentatives picking out the various
statesmen ON the floor with the aid Of
the chart in the congressional directory,
says the Washington Post. A rather
vociferously attired young lady saun-
tered in and took seat beside them.
''Dc tell me where Jerry Simpson ISL
exclaimed the newcomer; Il have
heard so much about him" One of the
ladies pointed out the alliance Kansan
in the arena beneath. ooh, no, that
.sn't Jerry Simpson, protested the loud
young lady confidently. II would know
him because have seen his pictures. y
''And I have known Mr.. Simpson for
some time myself" replied the lady.
"Well, he does not seem to be such a
bad-looking man after all, the vocifer-
Gus young lady commented after care
full scrutiny. 81 wonder if he brought
his wife with him?" Il believe she is
in the city," the quiet lady asserted. Il
would like to see her too. They do say
she isn't so very awful. How doyou sup
pose she likes all the things the papers
say about him?" And the fashionable
maiden ratified away several conjectures
in regard to Mrs Simpson. 'She doesn't
mind it," responded the elder lady.
"Do you know Mrs. Simpson, too?" in
quired the sightseer. Every well,'' re-
marked the other, serenely. II am Mrs.
Simpson"
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
FRANCES FORTS.
Defonses of the Republic Against
Her Enemies
rhe Line Of Great Fortresses and In
trenched Camps, on the Eastern
Frontier Enormous Arm
aments.

A feature OF Frances preparation lot
the next war with Germany that has
not attracted much attention thus far is
the line of forts and intrenched camps
guarding her eastern frontier, says a
writer in the Illustrated American. 1t
little has been said about these fortifi-
cations, it is only because little is
known. The government has endeav-
ored to preserve secrecy in regard to
them even more strenuously than it
has denied information about meinite
and the Lebel rifle. In the modern
system of fortiication much stress is
laid upon the Importance OF keeping
the enemy in the dark.
No longer frowning parapets an
nounce to him the quarter whence he
may expect resistance. The present
aim is to lure him into trap and then
NOW down his regiments by a hail-like
fire from hidden gums. For this purpose
rapid-fre guns will be largely used.
The Maxim gun can deliver about seven
hundred bullets per minute. 1t can be di-
rected by one man, who will show only
his head above his screen and will be
tended by one other man completely
covered. Smokeless powder being
used, regiment would be decimated
and panic-stricken in moment by such
a fire and would be in full rout before
The location of the gun could be discov-
cred. To carry out such a defense sue
cessfully it is important, of course, to
preserve the most complete secrecy
about the plans of the Notifications.
Therefore only general facts are known
about the line of forts on the eastern
frontier of France.
The Notifications consist of great in
trenched camps and huge fortresses
The largest forts 1900 Frouard, Pont St.
Vincent, Lucey, Wiley lie Sec, d'Arches,
Remiremont and Gironaguy - have
added to their otherwise enormous
ornaments armored towers with the
heaviest cannon. Every frontier fort
or intrenched camp is within gun-shot
Of the next one, is connected with the
others by telegraph and is linked to the
other members of the chain by a
double-track railway. The only break
in the railway connection is between
Fort Giromaguy and Fort de Servance.
Batteries occupy between the forts all
the positions commanding approaches.
The guns of the forts vary in number
for each between twenty and fifty.
Some, however, have as many as
eighty. In several forts there is
room for two thousand head of cattle,
and in all for enormous quantities OF
provisions. Theszguarters of the men
and officers are airy and ample. The
cannons command completely the
slopes, which are, moreover, SO woven
over with wires and so mined with tor
pedoes that the stand of an enemy
there and the undermining of the walls
are impossible. -. s..~
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
CARING FOR PEARLS.
A Simple Preservative to Give TIL
Stones q Bright Appearance.

A Simple Preservative to Give These
Stones Bright Appearance.
One Of the most beautiful and costly
sets of pearl jewels ever made was an
heirloom in the Egmont family, of Hol-
land, says a writer in Kate Fields Wash
ington. During the war which led to
the establishment of the Dutch republic
Count Egmont.of that time, pawned the
Jewels to the Venetian government for
a large sum of money, which was used
to further the efforts of the liberal
party. Afterward the pearls were. re-
: deemed, and when later Count
Egmont married the daughter of the
duke of Richelieu this magnificent
treasure was bestowed upon the bride,
who frequently displayed it's splendor
at the court of Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette.
Every one who knows the fragile ma
ture Of pearls was astonished at the
freshness and purity of color of those
exceedingly old jewels, and Count Egg
mont explained the mystery by i'm
parting the family rule concerning their
care, which was simply to inclose a
piece of the root of the ash tree in Il g
box which held the jewels.
There seems to be no visible connec-
ton between ash trees and pearls, and
Button, the naturalist, who was told OF
the recipe. said it was all nonsense; but
the fact remains that the Egmont
pearls, which had been treated after
that rule for centuries, had never faded
or become furnished, while much newer
pearls had shown discoloration or lost
their luster after a few years possession.
This rule is like many other popular
prescriptions which are considered sup
erstitious, but which nevertheless are
founded upon an unfailing though un-
discovered law. The wonder is how
these mysterious alliances between
natural substances become known to
m mankind.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
Renewing Youth.

A Central American newspaper tells
of a man living in Sau Paulo, Brazil,
who is considerably over hundred
years old and who lis growing young
again. He has recently grown new
set of teeth, and his hair, which had
turned gray, is now almost black again
He is in active business as horse
trader, and occasionally he rides over
ten leagues in day. He has been
married three times, is now a widower,
and is quite wealthy. The paper cas-
ually remarks in the course of its story
that the old man suffered greatly ut one
/ time with tumor, but this was cured
BIZ being rored BY an OK. a
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
SUICIDE !; or SOL DlERs.

Startling Facts Regarding sEurppean A.
mics Effects Of Rigid Discipline.
DR.. Longer, who was appointed at the
late international medical convention
of London to report about the number
nationalities, published the results OF
his Investigations From the doctors
report based upon the military statis-
tics from 1875 to 1887, it appears that the
largest number of suicides occurred in
the Austrian army, averaging every
year 1870 to every 10000 soldiers. This
does not include forty cases Of foiled at
tempts at suicide, and it represents 20
per cent. Of the general mortality
among the Austrian soldiers.
Next to Austria is Germany, which
from 1878 to 1888 averaged sixty-three
to every 10000 soldiers, not counting
ten cases of unsuccessful attempts at
self-destruction. In the italian army
from 1874 to $780, on the average, forty
soldiers in every 10000 committed sui
eide every year The French army
from 1872 to 1889 lost in Europe twenty
nine soldiers to every 10000 annually,
and in Algeria it lost just twice as many
by suicide. In Belgium there occurred
twenty-four, in England twenty-three,
in Russia twenty, and in Spain four
teen soldiers to every 10000 committed
suicide.
In previous years in England the
greatest number of suicides occurred
among old soldiers, but since the cOndl-
tions of the service were changed the
number Of young suicides increased in
the army In France, Italy, Germany
and Austria most of the suicides are
young soldiers; in Austria especially
mostly recruits commit suicide in the
in the first few months of their joining
the army.
Soldiers serving term of imprison-
ment seldom commit self-destruction,
but they commit it mostly when other
disciplinary measures are applied to
them.
The perferred means of suicide is,
among the foot soldiers, the use of fire.
arms, while cavalrymen in most cases
use the moose or cut their throats. The
suicides using firearms for their pur-
pose generally shoot themselves in the
head. The native Algerians form an
exception to this rule, because disfgur-
ing the head is considered a great sin
among the Arabs. They direct the ball
to the heart. In the summer season
suicide by drowning occurs very often
among the soldiers.
The cause of suicide in the army is,
in most cases, fear Of punishment, but
in the Austrian and Russian armies
aversion to the military service or rude
/ treatment provolSes many soldiers to
Self-deStructiOn.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
CHINESE JUSTICE.
The Prompt Mode of Procedure In Il
Tlowery Kingdom.

The Prompt Mode. of Procedure In the
Tlowery Kingdom.
In many respects the Chinese are
their ways are not those of western
peoples. London Truth relates an in
cident that is characteristic of Chinese
methods in government During the
recent 'anti-foreign-devil' riot at some
place between Tong~Tu and Kaiping,.
the mob destroyed good length of the
railway that had recently been carried
through the district. e....
The local mandarin, instead of using
the forces under him to quell the riot,
sent the soldiers to assist in the evil
work. The entertainments were leveled
for some distance and the rails thrown
into the river. and an attempt was
made to destroy the bridges. Mr.. Kim
der, the head engineer of the line, laid
the state Of the case before the toatoi
Of Tientsin, who is the head director of
the undertaking. The toatoi sent for
the mandarin.
ITO please yourself and your friends
said he, ''you have destroyed the rail-
way track. To please me you will put
it back just as it was before. If, in one
month from to-day, the trains are not
running as before, you lose your head,
and your family and ancestors are dis
gracesl
"Mr. Kinder estimates the damage
and loss by non-running of trains at fifty
thousand taels, which SUM you will have
to pay out of your funds to the company.
''For labor, all your officials, soldiers
and townsfollzs will work as you direct,
receiving no money for their labor, and
all salaries are stopped until the repairs
are complete. shall appoint board
of publishers to return with you, with
power to torture and imprison anyone
who makes the least disturbance or
trouble"
The mandarin begged for mercy on
the plea that, as the country was all un-
der water, he could not possibly get
mud and stone wherewith to build the
embankments. The toatoi saw the
force of this plea and he said he would
give him chance.
He could pull down any Of his forts
that he liked in order to provide ma
terial for the repair of the railway, and
he would give him three months after
the railway was completed to rebuild
his forts at his (the mandarin's) own
expense.
In less than three weeks the trains
were running again, and the mandarin
and his agents are now rebuilding the
forts.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
CHINESE CAPITAL.
Interesting Information About the
RS City Of Po.zing.
u Comprises -Four Cities with Popula-
3ss tiOn Of Million and IIalf-Its
s Poorly Built Structures The
z Great Wills.

Picking. the capital of the Chinese
empire and Of the province Of Chilli On
the Tunghui river. has a population
4 estimated at one mill4sn FIVE hundred
4 Thousand, says the New York Recorder
It stands on an extensive sandy plain,
and consists Of Kin-Ching, the prohib-
tied city, containing only the palaces of
the emperor and the dwellings of his
immediate retainers; Hwang Ching, the
imperial city, with a large number OF
court officials; Nui-Ching, the Tartar
city, comprising twelve square miles,
and Watching the Chinese city, with
fifteen square miles of area. The Tar
tar city is surrounded by wall sixty
feet high and fifty feet thick, the Chi
nese city by one thirty feet high and
twenty five feet thick. They are built
of stone and brick and filed with earth.
The suburbs include an area of twenty.
Eve miles.
The prohibited city, two miles in cir
cun1ference, is entered by four gates,
each surmounted by a tower. The
buildings are superior to any others in
the empire. The meridian gate leads
to the imperial buildings, and is re-
served for the emperor solely. Five
marble bridges spanning a little stream
lead to marble paved court and the
gate Of extensive peace, at which the
emperor receives the homage of the
courtiers on great state days Ascend
lug the stairway, the tranquil palace of
heaven is reached, into which none
can enter without special royal per
mission. The number of people within
the prohibited city is small, most being
Mantchoos.
The imperial city, surrounding the
prohibited city, has wall twenty feet
high, pierced by four gates, through
which no one can enter save by special
permission It contains the tablets of
the deceased emperors and expresses
and the affairs Of the gods. There are
also the Russian college, military stores,
and King-shan, the artificial mountain,
with each of it's Eve SUBMITS crowned
by a pavilion.
The Tartar city surrounds the impe-
rial city and contains the principal gov
erected in 1850. Near by are the Rus
sian Church of the Assumption and the
temple where his majesty and princess
worship their ancestors on the first day
Of every month. The city is in
control Of the general of the nine
gates, near whose headquarters is
the high tower in which are the i'm
mense drum and bell that proclaim the
hour Of midnight. Not far away is the
white pagoda with it's obelisk erected
by Kublai Khan in the thirteenth CEN
tury, about which upon one hundred
and eight pillars lamps burn continu-
ously in Buddha;s honor.
The Chinese city is the most popu
lous, but it's structures are poorly
built The houses are of brick, one
story high, with roofs Of tiles. 1t con,
tains the affairs to Heaven, to winter, tc
agriculture, and the pool dedicated to
the spirits of the waters, where his
majesty performs special supplications
whenever the country suffers from
drought
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
The Razor Strop.

A great many men who find that their
razors cannot be kept in order by a
common leather strop buy the sort Of
strop used by BARRIERS, imagining that
with this the razor can be kept in per-
feet condition. They are generally
greatly disappointed to find that their
razors cut no better than before.
The faux is not with the razor
nor with the strop, but in their
not knowing how to use a BARRIERS
strop. To sharpen razor with bar
ber's strop requires not only consider
able strength but also peculiar swing
of the wrist. Unless this be learned
the more you strop razor the less it
will cut
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
TENNYsoN's APPEARANCE.
He Has q Beautiful Face and a Noble

He Has Beautiful Face and a Noble,
Commanding Aspect. ..
Everybody knows by photograph the
manner of man Lord Tennyson is-sure-
ly beautiful face, if ever the adjec-
tive could be applied to masculine
features, and never more beautiful in
any stage of life than now, when age
has fixed all the finer features, and lent
them new dignity and majesty, says
Sir Edwin Arnold in the Forum.
Every body is familiar with the broad
forehead, the clear, deep eyes, the
strongly cut nose and finely chiseled lips,
the long hair fringing those temples
shrines of high thought-and the genial,
massive and commanding aspect of the
poet.
Albeit past his eighty-second birth
day, Lord Tennyson's figure is only
weakened, not broken, by age. His
hair preserves much ct: it's old, dark
color, and, excepting in places, is hard.
ly more than ''sable-sllvered." His
spirit is as alert, his glance is as keen
and ahght as ever. Though he does
not rise upon our entrance, making no
ceremony Win ITleuuS. TIC tettuS dt Oucc
an animated conversation. 1t is a sum-
mer day, or rather, early autumn; but
the weather has been chilly and the
winds are blowing from that dismal
quarter. the east, so that the poet is
wearing loose wrapper, and around
his neck a white silk handkerchief
loosely knotted.
Bv the way, on the left side of his
neck there lodges a small brown birth
mark, very characteristic, as if drop
of dark wine had dropped there and
had stained the skin. His hands are
manly and powerful in outline, but del
icate and finely formed, as those OF a
poet should be. On his head, as an adj
ditional protection from the caprices
of the English weather, he wears a
small black velvet cap. These precau-
lions arc the more necessary, because not
long ago he was suffering sadly from
rheumatism and bronchitis, which at
one time, indeed, filed all his friends
with anxiety, and became for weeks to.
gether a nationsl concern.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
" THE IRISH STANDARD: SATURDAY, HJANUARY l6.
WEEKLY TR,Ps 70 HEAVEN.

The Rcmarnablo Imposture of 'sThe Dy-
ing Prophet" of Russia.
..The Dying Prophet is just now the
sensation in Russia Certainly he is
most extraordinary being II he be
what is claimed, a more wonderful per-
sonage does not exist If he be an i'm
poster, then he is the most marvellous
imposter of the age. The audacity Of
his pretensions, the skill with which
they. are maintained, and, above all, the
profound effect produced upon all who
come in contact with him have no par
allel in modern history. So strong IN
deed is the impression created by his
doings that the procurator OF the holy
synod and other high ecclesiastical of
fcers of the empire dare not interfere.
This strange person, says the Chicago
News, is named Tagarelli and is Of
French or Italian extraction. He was,
however, born at Tihis, in the Caucasus,
where he has lived since childhood. He
has been bedridden and utterly help
less. A few months ago curious
change was observed. In brief, he died
to all appearances. According to all
ordinary tests he was certainly dead.
That was on Saturday. They prepared
his body for burial. The corpse lay in
it's coffin until Monday, when the f'1-
neral was to take place. At the very
hour set for the obsequies the young
man suddenly returned to life. Ever
since the same event has occurred every
week
He declares that he really dies and
that his spirit, departing from his body,
passes into the other world. What
manner of world it is he will not di-
vulge, nor will he tell anything of his
doings there save one. That is that he
has access to the book kept by the re-
cording angel in which are set down all
the sins of humanity. There is scarcely
person in Tifis who has not visited
him. They all plead guilty to the
charges he reports against them and
tearfully beseech him to intercede with
the powers of the other world in their
behalf. Thousands Of people from all
parts of the empire daily throng about
his cottage, seeking to know from him
the story OF their own i'll deeds. Many
of them go in idle curiosity or in a
skeptical spirit, but all who are admit
ted to his presence come away con-
WINGED of his supernatural knowledge.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
SHE QUIT SUDDENLY.
Tho Mortified Young NJ III and tho Ell
tic with a Motto.

The Mortified Young Nun and the Elias
tic with q Motto.
Tragedy and comedy are very close
together sometimes, says the New York
World, and the same swell which near
ly ended the life of one person upset a
group of dozen merry bathers and
tossed them topsy turvy toward the
beach. One of the number, a New
Yorker, was thrown headlong into a
bevy of girls, ami ne has distinct i'm"
preston of shapely limb grazing his
waist just as the breaker rolled over.
That occurs scores Of times daily, and
the young fellow recovered himself and
went ON bathing. A quarter Of an hour
later he met lady he knew and the
pair went upon the beach. Suddenly
his companion started, and murmuring
some sort of an excuse left him.
The bathcr was very much discon-
certed, and, casting his eyes around to
discover the cause, his gaze fell upon
something dangling from his belt. He
grasped it, and was astonished to ind
in his hand wide yellow garter OF
generous length, one of those senti-
mental seek-a-beau girdles so popular a
few months since, bearing the legend,
Slope on, hope ever" The New
Yorker still has the elastic, and he says
the owner may secure it by calling at
the Stockton and proving property, al
though he fears the inscription is not
applicable in this case.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
Relariva strength of Men and Women.

A French experimental has tested the
strength of fifty robust men and fifty
healthy women, all Q. the middle class
of society and between twenty-five and
forty five years of age. He used an ap-
paratus recording the greatest down
ward pressure with the palm Of the
hand. The strongest man was able to
give with the right hand a pressure
equivalent to one hundred and eighty
seven pounds. The short men was near
ly as strong as the tall, the average diff
ference being less than seven pounds.
The force exerted by the strongest
woman was only ninety-seven pounds
and that by the weakest was but thir-
ty-five pounds, while the average was
seventY-two pounds.
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
DEMOCRACY IN ENGLAND.
Rapid Growth of Liberal Ideas In Great
Britain.

Rapid Growth of Liberal Ideas In Great
Britaius
The rapid progress Of the political in
stitutions of Great Britain toward pure
democracy has received several strik-
ing illustrations of late, says the
Epoch. But none is more remarkable
than the virtual agreement between
the chiefs OF both parties that the
house Of lords can no longer stand in
the way of an emphatic expression of
popular will Even as drag on the
car of legislation, the hereditary
branch of the Legislature has lost it's
power. The absurdity of retaining it at
all will doubtless be recognized before
long by others than radicals in British
politics.
The adoption by the conservatives of
the movement for an English land pur~
chase actIis another Indication of the
though the creation of a class of small
acknowledgements of the old
English yeomanry-may seem to be cal
culated to make supporters for the to-
ries, the longstanding privileges which
such stroke of policy would under
mine are among the most cherished in
situations of English conservatism.
They could hardly disappear without
carrying with them much of the politi-
cal and social structure which has
been raised on them, and changing the
whole face of British politics. In the
new order OF things the division of par
ties would probably be between radi-
calls avowedly republicans, and con-
servatives reinforced by moderate liber-
ais devoted to the preservation of the
thrnna
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
Cxr-Tails as Food.

Savages find many sources of food
supply where civilized people would
starve. In Utah the flowers of the cat
tails, which. bloom in the spring, are
regarded as a delicacy either raw or
cooked. Boiled they make a very good
soup. California Indians make bread
from the pollen Of cat-tails, which
they collect in large quantities by beat
ing II from the plants and catching
It On blankets. se..S ss53 81 .ss
The Irish standard., 1892-01-16
Fats Are Unlucky.

There is very strong dislike to the
bat among the peasants of south Ger
many. A feeling of disgust and fear
takes possession of the farmer who
finds bats in his chimney, not only be-
cause he believes the creatures will
feed upon his pork that hangs in the
smoke, but because bats are regarded
as unluclky and bring poverty and mis-
fortune. s4 ss