davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Crafty Master Fox.

A fox was one day seen coming out of
a pile of stones near the water side.
He hid in the heather for awhile and
then pushed out something on the water,
which proved to be bunch of moss.
The wind took it into the middle of the
lake and blew it past some ducks sitting
on the surface.
Having watched his venture for per-
haps ten minutes with apparent salts
faction, and observed that it neared the
ducks without arousing their suspicious,
our friend began to collect another and
larger bunch of moss, which he allowed
to float in the same direction, but this
time he swan behind it, taking care to
show only his eyes and nose above
water.
Just as it was passing the group of
ducks he made a sudden dive, pulled
down bird and swan back to shore
under water. Arrived there he carried
the duck to the pile of stones, where his
wife and daughter were no doubt wait
ing to enjoy the fruits of his labors.-
''Forty-five Years of Sport"
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Preliminary to the Baptism.

When Bishop Goe, of Melbourne, wa:
a curate famous pugilist in the parish
who went by the name of Jim the Slog
ger and who had never darkened 6
church door, called at the parsonage
asking him to baptize the baby. Ac
cordingly the bishop repaired to Jim's
house, but was surprised on being ad
mitted to see Jim lock the door and
pocket the key. ''Be you the parson
come to sprinkle my kidd" he asked. On
the bishop asserting, he continued, ':Ye1
can't sprinkle that kid till you and me
has had fight, parson."
The unfortunate parson protested, but
finding protest useless "stood up" to
Jim. The battle went for the bishop,
and Jim, pulling himself from the floor,
muttered, "He's the parson for me. ~
The baptism was proceeded with and,
as the story goes, jim took to church
going from that day Pail Mall Gazette.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Animal Wisdom.

In moving to a new place of residence
we found on the premises large cat
which had been left there by the former
occupant. She was not of the real do
mestic kind, but lived principally in the
barn, occasionally venturing into the
house to obtain her food. On one oc-
casion, much to the surprise of my wife,
she came up to her and mewed several
times, turning each time toward the
door leading to the barn. This she re-
peated until Mrs. N was induced by
curiosity to follow her, when she led the
way to a barrel half full of straw, up
the side of which she climbed, all the
time mewing and looking at my wife,
and there were five kittens, cold and
dead. Mrs. N remarked, ''They are
cold and dead, pussy" and the cat went
away satisfied.
She would sometimes scratch the chill
dren, and we We're fearful she would
seriously injure them, and one day l
said in her presence that II would shoot
her." She was missing for about six
weeks, and of course had then ''got off
the notion. Forest and Stream.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Wbx Tbey Reg Newspaper,.

Begging newspapers seems TO be one
of the occupations of Gotham's small
boy, and according to one of these
urchins a good revenue is derived from
the business. The practice is known as
Canada business" A gang of eight or
ten boys besiege the entrance to the
bridge and elevated road every morning
and keep an argus eye on all persons
carrying newspapers. They stretch out
their arms asking for the newspapers
and often pull them out of the hands of
passers by.
The ''newsies" are very persistent,
and occasionally get into little snarls
with dyspeptic persons who get down
town in bad humor. The temper of
these people might be intensified did
they know that, according to confes-
sion of one of the boys, a newsdealer of
speculative turn of mind originally
put the boys up to the practice they fol-
low. If the newspapers are too much
soiled to sell, the boys turn them over
to the speculator, who holds them IN re-
serve, paying the boys a pittance and
then realizing full value by handing
them over to the respective newspapers
as return" and getting copies of the
current date for them.
The youngsters have learned his meth
cd though, and most of them do their
own returning" as well as begging"
now. The practice is bad every way, as
it is fast converting the little hustlers
into indolent beggars.-New York Com
mercial Advertiser.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Paying Women the Same as Men.

The school board of st. Paul has abol
ished the distinction of sex in the mat
ter of salaries. Hereafter the women
teachers will receive equal pay with the
men. In establishing the schedules OF
future compensation for the teachers OF
the high school and the manual labor
school no sex distinction is made. Here
after it will be purely a question of ca.
pacity, individuality and efficiency. The
schedule adopted reads:
Grade 3-First year, $3.50; second
year, $1,000; third year, $1,000; fourth
year, $1,1O0; fifth year, $1,1OO; sixth
year, 81 200.
Grade 2-First year, $1,000; second
year, 81, 100; third year, 81, ,206; fourth
year, $1,000; fifth year, $1,4OO; sixth
year, 81, 800.
Grade First year, $1,000; second
year, 81, 200; third year, $1,4OO; fourth
year, $1,000; fifth year, $1,000; sixth
year, 81 200; seventh year, 81 800; eighth
year, 81 300; ninth year, $4,000.
Thus, no matter whether the teacher
be man or woman, the salary for the
same service will be identical.
Woman's Journal.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
CF URCH DIRECTORY.

PhnSHf TERL4N CHURCH-Rev r. Alley
andef, pastor. Public worship every Sabbath
hioriiliis aad evening; Sabbath school $50 a. M
ayeSehhisss; general prayer meeting "Wednesday
Fehihg. strangers welcome to all services
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Ia ~, hliisole9' pastor sabbath preaching II
=. NJ; p. M; young peoples meeting, Monday
NehuigS; general prayer meeting, Wednesday eve
n!hgSi odDDalh school 2:3O pm. Strangers cor
daily invited to all services WI
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN N CTIIJRCIt- Raw
Thomas Balph, pastor. Sabbath school. 10 A m
puDne worship, IL a. m; weekly PRAYER meeting
Friday p m; monthly prayer meeting last Satlr
day Of each month, p. m; woman's missionaTv
lciety, last Saturday of each month, D. m. dis
trlet prayer meetings, flrSt Tuesdays, Wednesdays
thursdays and saturdays each month, D. IN.
young wOlnen's prayer meeting, second Saturday
each month at the parsonage, / p. m
AFRICAN NJ e. CHURCH-Rev Albert March
pastor Sunday service, 10:30 a. m.; Z D. m; Sab
bath school, go u. m weekly PRAYER meeting
thursday evenings. Strangers welcome.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Defining n Cocktail I'm Court.

A witness in a case recently ON tria
in one of the courts in Boston testified
that the defendant was not drinking
man land only took cocktails" Judge
Blank, who presided, is a teetotaler
He noticed among the spectators a vel
known physician, a bonvivant, and al
the recess called him up to the bench
and asked him to define cocktail.
"a cocktail" responded the doctor
lis feather dipped in an emollient
which is applied to dry or irritated
throat for the removal of dryness or ir.
ritation."
The learned judge thanked him, bu,
the story that the court subsequently
dipped feather in vaseline and touch
ed his palate with it under the impres
sion that he was taking cocktail is
probably a lawyers yarn. Boston
TRANSCRIPT.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
A METROPOLITAN WILDCAT.
City Woman's Remarkable Experiences
with a Strange 2ussy.


4 New York woman had an expert
ence a few nights ago which she will
not eOOn forget-One which, considering
| her environment, was very surprising.
Her home is ground apartment, occu-
pying two floors, however, in one of the
high class apartment houses in Fifty
ninth street overlooking the park. The
library is on the second floor, and in
this room she was seated one night
whe1Sa peculiar noise from the family
parrot, who was in his cage in an oppo-
site room, attracted her attention.
Thinking the bird was merely rest
less and wanted his cage covered, she
picked up a soft woolen couch cover
and started across the hall. AT the
threshold of the second room she saw
crouching on the top of the parrots
cage a gray cat, which had succeeded
by his weight and clawing in inclining
the cage almost to the tipping angle,
poor Poll meanwhile travelling up and
down the upper side in frenzy of
fright. The unequal struggle could not
have lasted many seconds longer, and,
urged by the crisis, though really
alarmed at the unusual size and fierce
appearance of the cat, Polls mistress
advanced into the room shaking the
couch cover and attempting, after the
manner of women, to ''shoo" the cat
away.
She had half crossed the apartment
when the animal made spring at her,
and but for her quick movement in
covering her head with the couch cover
which she held her face would have re-
ceiyed the brunt of the attack As it
was, the cat clawed violently for an in
slant at the mass of woolly material in
which he was enmeshed; then, aided by
the desperate push which the now ter
rifed woman gave him, leaped to the
floor and dashed into the library.
Mrs. - recovered her senses and
closed the door between herself and the
cat, then violently rang the bell for as
sistance. The maids responded and,
after carrying Poll to place of safety
in a remote room, an attempt was made
to dislodge the cat from the library. At
sight of her pursuers the creature began
to rush about, jumping through brass
screen with force enough to break Il,
knocking over bric-a-brac and loose
books, and ending by scaling the win
dow casing as if it were tree and run
ming out on the bare curtain pole. From
this high perch he glared down at those
beneath him until Mr.. IS arrival
shortly afterward. He was then prod
ded down and leaped through window
opened for him to the pavement below,
darting off to the park as soon as he
reached the ground.
Policemen and others familiar with
Central park say that stray city cats
often find homes in its sequestered
hooks, growing wild and raising prog
eny that become almost as fierce and
terrible as genuine wildcat. In this
instance the animal was doubtless driven
from its haunts by hunger, and, getting
in on the ground floor, was attracted up
stairs to the parrots cage by the scent
of the bird and its food.-Her Point of
View in New York Times.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21

Birds do not eat firefies, and even
bats, which seem to eat everything else
that they can chew or swallow, never
touch lightning bug. There must be
something distasteful in this insect to
the feathered world, and thus the spe-
cies is preserved, for if it were not so
lightning bugs would soon become ex-
tinct, as the torch they carry would
only serve the purpose of attracting
their enemies.
1t may be that the uncanny appear
ance of the insect, giving forth as it
does brilliant flash of light every mo-
ment or two, deters birds and bats from
attacking it, but if a lightning bug were
a toothsome morsel to birds bill, any
number of the feathered world would
soon overcome their repugnance to the
little living torch and go hunting for
lightning bugs.-St. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Why His EYesirht Failed.

DIR. Optycuss-You are standing al
eighteen feet. Can you read thest
letters?
Patient-No, sir.
DR.. Optycuss two feet
nearer. Now?
Patient-No, sir.
DR.. Optycuss-This is strangel Come
four feet nearer. Now?
Patient-No, sir.
DR.. Optycuss-Most remarkable case
l ever met. Stand four feet away from
the chart. Can you read now?
Patient-No, sir.
DR. C,stycuss-Great Pisistratus! am !
ma.if Young man, you are the most re-
markable case that has come within my
experience. You conquer me. You can
know more about yourself than l do.
Have you any idea why you can't read
these letters?
Patient-I never learned to read.-
London Tit-Bits.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
"All's Well That Ends Well"

The Scotch, with unconscious absurd
ity, sometimes talk of tempting Prov
idence" In writing "All's Well That
Ends Well" Shakespeare was tempt
ing" the higher criticism. Ever since
the days of Zenodotus in Alexandria the
higher criticism has reveled in lathe
tizing," or marking as spurious, this part
of an authors work because it is ''un-
worthy of him." that part because it is
mot in his STYLE" third portion be-
cause it is repetition of something he
has said elsewhere, and so ON, till in
Homer there are few lines to which
some German or some Alexandrian
Greek has not urged objections. To
similar exercises of idle ingenuity has
"All's Well That Ends Well" been ex-
posed.
When Lucian met Homer in the For
tunate islands, he asked the poet which
of the rejected passages were really his
own. "All and every one of them" !"
answered the shade; and Shakespeare's
ghost might have made as inclusive a
response to critical inquiries. Yet "All's
Well" is certainly play full of difficult
ties and enigmas. 1t was first printed
in the folio of 1923, and very badly
printed it was. None of the dramas
contains so many passages that appear to
be corrupt; none is so rich in the unin-
telligible; none so open to conjectural
emendation.-Andrew Lang in Harper's.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Mutterings of an Undertaken.

"Put on airs, my bea~+' muttered
an undertaken, travelling q. elevated
railroad. ''Put ON airs, but when | gel
you there won't be any airs. and one oi
you will look pretty much like the
other"
A bevy of bright and naughty damsels
had boarded the train at Twenty eighth
street and their bearing annoyed the un
dertaker.
81 tell you," he said, when | bury
them they all look pretty much the
same. They don't sneer at the poor old
undertaken, either. never saw proud
looking corpse in my life, and I've bur
led thousands. No difference, sirI The
millionaire in the icebox and the paupeI
you coulnd't tell apart. Puta president
or a senator in the morgue and | defy
any one to pick him out from the other
people there.
"That's what think always when
see people putting ON airs. 1t doesn't
worry me in the least. | remember the
time when the undertaken will be lay
ing 'em out and when a live newsboy
will be worth fifty of 'em. New York
Herald.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21

BE true if you would be beloved. Let
man speak forth with genuine earnest
ness the thought the emotion, the actu
al condition of his heart, and all men
so strongly are we knit together by
the ties of sympathy-must and will
give heed to him. In culture. in extent
of view, we may stand above the speak
er or below him, but in either case, his
words. if they are sincere, will find some
response within us; for in spite of all
carnal varieties of outward rank OF in
ward, as face answers to face, so does
the heart of man to man.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Asked Once n Year.

On the night of March 8, 1891, Mr.
Wickwire brought home package
"What have you there, my dearY
asked his wife.
"A clock" said Mr.. Wickwire, with
perhaps trace of something unusual il
his tone; "a newfangled clock, that runs
whole year with one winding. Here.
after l propose to go to sleep in peace"
His words came true; but Oh the night
of March 8. 1892, he was awakened with
great start. He was dreaming at the
moment. He was in railway wreck.
and, as he thought, the broken driving
rod of the overturned engine was slowly
piercing his vital organs. He walked. as
before said, with start, and found his
wife arousing him with her elbow.
"What's the natter" groaned the hus-
band.
"Did you wind the clock, Henry
dearr-Indianapolis Journal.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21

WHENEVER you are in doubt which OF
two things to do, let your decision be
for that which is right. Do not waver,
do not parley; be square up to the mark,
and do the right thing. Boyl when you
divide that apple with your little sister,
be careful not TO keep the largest half
for yourself. Young mani don't sneak
out of the house by the Iear steps be-
cause you wish to escape your fathers
eyes. Maidenl let not the most trifling
deceit pass current in those little acts
which make the sum of your life. No
matter who you are, what your lot, OF
where you live, you cannot afford to do
that which is wrong. The only way to
obtain happiness and pleasure yourself,
is to do the right thing. You may not
always hit the mark, but you should,
nevertheless, always aim at it, and with
every trial your skill will increase
Whether you are to be praised or blamed
for it by others, whether it will seeming
ingly make You richer or poorer, or
whether no other person than yourself
knows your actiOn-still, always, in all
cases. do the right thing. Your first
lesson in this will become habit, and
to do wrong will seem an absolute i'm
possibility.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
The Tall Hat in England.

No one ever says good word for the
tall hat. 1t is reviled and abused on all
sides, and yet it holds its own against
all corners with an immobility worthy
of better cause. Nearly all the syn
onyms-and they are lnany-adopted to
designate the tall hat are of disrespect-
full character. Men liken it to stove
pipe or chimney pot; the name topper"
itself is decidedly lacking in dignity.
But though we are told that nothing
kills like ridicule, ridicule has wholly
failed to overthrow the dominion of the
tall hat. If the last man be an English
man, we can well imagine that his i'm
pavid front will face the ruin of the
universe beneath the shelter of a silken
tile.-London Globe.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
WAKENING.

The broad white curve of the beach,
That lies like a bended arm:
The amorous waves that seem ever a-react
To kiss it and die a-calm-
And still the lowering sky,
And still the splendid day,
And the far white sails, and the sea guIl'i
cry,
And the sun path over the bay.
How many and many a time
Have questioned the stranded shells.
II they knew, perchance, of the magica
cline.
Where the answer of dreaming dwells.
And barking the waters kiss,
Content have ! dreamed alone.
In the glorious thrall of day like this.
And wistful want unknown
There speed the outbound ships,
Here lieth the sunshine warm,
With the spent waves pressing their curv.
ing lips,
On the white shores bended arm.
Then for what is the day more tair2
Why bluer the deeps of space2
Oh, the sun on the gold of a woman's hair -
The love in her eyes-her facel
Charles w. Coleman in Lippincott's.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Wild Horses In Russia.

In the steppes of Russia, where wolves
abound and the horses lead wild life
and have to shift for themselves, it is
said that young colt will sometimes be
made so furious by the prosecutions of
his enemies that he will rush wildly
among drove of wolves and bite and
strike until he has slaughtered large
number of them. These horses are ex-
ceptionally fierce, rendered so, it is sup
posed, by the extreme variations in the
climate. AT one time of the year they
suffer from the intense heat of tropical
sun and at another they live among
raging snowstorms and extreme cold.-
Washington Star.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Ancient Sunersfitinns.

The ancients peopled all distant lands
with monsters and all distant seas with
horrors. Unknown and distant coun-
tries were, to their superstition, peopled
with "gorgons. hydras and chimeras
dire" The distant seas were filled with
monstrous dragons and serpents, of
which the sea serpent is today, perhaps,
survival. The unknown oceans were
filled with whirlpools that sucked in
mariners, who were sacrilegious enough
to approach them, to an awful death.
Perhaps these superstitions, as much
as any one thing, kept the world for so
many centuries an unexplored and un-
known waste.-Yankee Blade.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
GRAINS OF GOLD.

Nothing is law that is not reason.
There can be no shadow without light
The noblest mind the best content
ment has.
Thinking right will keep you from do
ing wrong.
Iffaith were always equal, where would
be its merit!
Doing wrong always kills something
in your own soul
Look where you are going, and know
where you are looking
Censure is the tax man pays to the
public for being eminent.
Extremes are ever neighbors; it is a
step from one to the other
Sometimes we may learn more from a
mans errors than from his virtues.
Truth is as impossible to be soiled by
any outward touch as the sunbeam.
Man, living, feeling mans the easy
sport of the oyermastering present.
Nopleasure is comparable to the stand
ing upon the vantage ground OF truth.
Wise sayings often fall on barren
ground; but kind word is never thrown
away.
That which history can give us best
is the enthusiasm which it raises in our
hearts.
The silver -leaved birch retains in its
old age a soft bark-there are some
such men.
In trouble we often come off better
than we expect, and always better than
we deserve.
The only failure a man onght TO fear
is a failure in cleaving to the purpose he
sees to be best.
Words are wise mems counters, they
do but reckon by them; but they are the
money of fools.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21

Lettuce fritters are delicate break
fast or luncheon dish. Select crisr
rather small leaves of young lettuce and
tear apart in pieces about the size of q
quarter of a dollar, stir thickly into d
batter of one egg, one tablespoonful
sweet cream, salt and enough -four tc
make a moderately stiff batter. DroI
by the spoonful in hot lard, or fry il
olive oil, just enough 20 keep the skillet
from burning.-New York Times.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
Setting the Verdict Alright.

Years ago an elderly and brusque
jurist from Sandusky used to hold dis,
trict court here, and on one of his visits
a beautiful young woman was tried be-
fore him and jury on charge of steal.
ing eighty-five dollars from a man. She
was clearly proved guilty, but the jury,
impressed by her youth and beauty
found verdict of not guilty.
"Mr. Clerk" remarked the old judge
"pay the eighty-fve dollars to the pros,
ecuting witness, it having been clearly
proved In this court that the defendant
stole it from him, and you may also pay
these twelve fools their fees and LEI
them o."-Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21

The following anecdote is told by q
young Englishman, who says: II was
coming home from India on leave of alb
sence. The ship did not arrive for some
days after it was due. My twin brother,
Ben, had come up to receive me, and ouI
aged mother was very nervous.
lone morning, after she had under.
gone several disappointments because of
the ships delay, rushed into her room.
saying, 'Oh, mother, how are your Her
answer was, No, Benjamin. it's a bad
joke; you know how anxious l am for
Alfred 1t was some time before |
could convince my mother that was
her son Alfred, who had been away so
long. and not my twin brother, Ben.
playing joke on her."
Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-07-21
A scythe as Old rs Moses

An Egyptian scythe, dug up on thC
banks of the Nile in 1890, is exhibited
among the antiquities in the private
museum of Flinders Petrie, London
The shaft of the instrument is of wood
set with row of fine flint saws, which
are securely cemented in groove. This
discovery answers the oft asked ques.
ton, How did tho stone age man har-
vest his crops?-St. Louis Republic.