davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

WATERMElOsS OF PRECIOUS MEMORY.
velope and lHbaled, "a long way) after
Lonytelow." To be sure, there have
been many trivial RHYMES aud jingles
written concerning the king Of berries
the watermelon is a true berry and the
black berry is not-b'lt the anOi1ltel poet
of the watermelon has not yet began to
sing. for exalted poetry must be serious.
That the advent of this singer is not
fur off is likely, for, AS the watermelon
has grown III Importance as an element
Of agriculture aud eOm1ncrCea1ut finance.
newspaper writers in many cities have
begun to deal With it as BELTS an article
Of SO much moment, and SERIOUS treat
n]ent III newspapers always precedaS
treatment by serious veraltivl4,. Perhapi
the most notable production having the
watermelon for it's subject that has yet
appeared is u five column treatise Writ
ten Ey Il Slvant of st. Louis. This
learned writer has traced tle WaterIlel-
on from the time Of the Ptnlenlies down
through the pages of history to tllc bus-
Ting present.
Although the watermelon is unloubt-
elly Il fruit that has been known to
man since and before the dawn of civil
li2atinll, it was not until a few Years ago
that its cultivation and sale We're reduced
to such Il science as to place it on it's
proper level as. regards other products
Of the earth. There are, however, fea-
trlres Of the watermelon business as it
is at present conducted that glieYously
pain the t1ut' Inelon leyotec.
It was only Yesterday that ! met Il
citizen who. like myself, WAS among the
group Of outsiders bossing the job Of
unloading a cargo Of wtltermeions on
one Of the New York docks 4 careless
longshorelnin dropped Il melon, which
Of course burst into many fragments
and spilled it's precious juices on the
pl;lnks.
.sDrat the mani" exclaimed my casual
acQuaintnncc ssI'here.s another first
class melon spoiled. Why, sir, it anyers
me to see snch unwarrantable lack Of
care in the handling of such noble fruit.
When | was a boy, I'd have had my
jacket tanned to excess if I'd broken
such melon. But there We're no such
| melons where | lived. although we had
Watermelons, and i'll comparative plenty
when we could keep the sinful sons Of
our neighbors from hooking them.
II was a deacon S grandson, and lived
with my father, and he with his, in one
of the backwoods townships of New York
state. My grandfather planted his water
melons one season in d patch Of newly
cleared l;nld away back III the woods.
He told no one where it was for feal, that
the aforesaid wicked youngsters might
/ find it ont and rob it,
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
THOMAS r, OAKES,

tirely due to bad if not questionable
financiering. The receivers appointed
Thomas F. Oakes, president Of the com
pany; Henry G. Paine of Milwaukee, Il
prominent corporation attorney. and
Henry G. Rouse, president of the Mis-
souri, Kansas and Texas-are all accept
able to the board Of directors, though
they are supposed to represent the
"standard Oh interests rather than
those Of Henry Willard, who was chair
man of the board up to June last.
The company has paid no dividends on
it's preferred stock since May, 1899, bnt
has been engaged in scheme for fund
ing its floating debt by the issue of col
lateral trust notes. Since it was char
tered by congress in 1864 it has frequent
ly defaulted in it's payments, the first
time as far back as 1874, after the fail
ure Of Jay Cooke q Co., its fiscal agents,
and in 1875 it was placed in the hands of
Of a receiver-C4eorye W. Cass. Then
came the first Willard regime, which
promised SO much and did so little, and
finally went up in smoke because the
floating debt had become unwieldy.
Willard retired then, as he has this
time, amid considerable clashing of ad-
verse interests, but before long was again
practically at the helm and directing the
financial policy Of the road along lines
alleged by interested people to be the
reverse of conservative and safe. A suit
to recover $40 900 900, said to have been
lost to the road through his mismanage-
ment, has been begun i'll Philadelphia,
John D. Rockefeller, who was elected to
Wizards position i'll the directorate, re-
fused to serve, but his refusal was not
made public until after the receivers
We're appointed.
There are now about 90, 900 miles of
railroad in the Uuited States in the
hands OF receivers out of total at the
end Of 1892 Of 1929 miles. This esti-
mate includes the Northern Pacific, 5000
miles; the Erie, 1,9GS miles; Richmond
and Danyille, 3,25S miles, East TeDnes-
see, Virginia and Georgia, 2,G13 miles;
Georgia Central, 2,GS1 miles: Reading
1,185 miles; Union Pacific, Denver and
Gulf, ..iG3, and ii number of smaller
companies.
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
stun4}Ys-syssE 4 vine With three ripe mel

stun}ls-sysssE 4 vile With three ripe mel
Ons on it.
:. Goodness me, my father said, here's
your gran pas melon patch. And Iswan
to mercy If lie ain a-comin this way
now homo from meeting. Then my fsi
ther dropped his fishpole i'll some weeds
and sat down on a good sized stump, at
the roots Of which lay a good sized melon.
Get upon that little stump by that
little melon, bub,' he said to NE, and
when grandfather came along he found
us there. He edidn't say anything at first,
but lie took off his coat, rolled up his
sleeves and sat down on a big stump
next to mine, at the roots of which bic
melon was lying.
*''WatchinS the melons grow, see,
Samuel he said after awhile to my fa-
ther. Did you catch any fish, Then
without waiting for an answer he said:
I s'pose you would like to plug one of
them melons today. But you can't. It's
the Sabbath day, and 7 think you've
committed sins enough already for one
Sunday
"[Ihen we all went home to dinner,
and my grandfather looked very solemn
all the afternoon Till he fell asleep in
his chair reading Fox's Book of Mar
tyrs.' The next morning the three mel
ons We're gone, and ny grandfather laid
it to the frnward youth Of the neighbor-
hood, 10 whom | have already twice al
luded was glad he did not ask my
father OF ME about it..
s'NVhen I see these delicious, these
matchless. these monster melons wasted
as they are by these Needless, wretched
1ongshoreDen, | remember how hard
my father and | worked to get those
three melons. and I am indignant.
There" he groaned, "another melon has
been brollcn!"
It il a fact that melons are SO cheap
and plcntifal III their season nowadays,
even as fa1, away from the fields they are
grown i'll as New York, that they are
handled without much care The melon
Of precious memory has been displaced
by the melon Of commerce. It CRATES
upon the sensitive soul to see them i'll
such quantities, but there is this saving
truth for consolation; The melon OF
commerce is better than the melons Of
precious memory used to be, for the re-
sources of science have been called in to
assist in developing the fruit. -....
The present plenitude of melons is
due to the transportation companies.
When the railroads had gridironed the
south, thcir managers began to cast
about for freight to carry. Then they
thought Of the luelons--1ich, big, juber-
ous--wasting il the south. and tie
mouths longing, hungry, watering for
them i'll the north, So the railroad men
shipped IL fetv carloads. but the fruit
WAS 700 tender to bear the long ride BY
rail aad harder melons lad to be culti-
waited. Then the planters lad to he
taught how to crate the melons, and the1l
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

= tHt4nIE1IIlAI5 Il Melon lLAl
the markets had TO be organized in the
northern cities. When this was all done
dollars came rolling into the pockets Of
the men who had done it, and 1uelons
are now shipped in enormous quantities
to every big city in the country, river
and coasting steamers and schooners be-
ing pressed into the service as we'll as
the railroads.
It would be hopeless task to try to
figure up how many men, women and
children reap financial reward from the
cultivation Of and trade III melons. The
St. Louis savant who has made Il study
of the matter shows conclnsively that
money made from melons is factor in
the pockets Of stockholders in almost all
the railroad and steamboat lines, and
that when these individuals go abroad
they spend some Of that money there
and so it's influence is worldwide. Sta
tistics are sometimes a vain thing any
way, but it has interested me to learn
that this seasons shipments from south
west Georgia alone will aggregate 5000
carloads and that melons from that re-
gion go to 1S4 different points, the states
farthest west being the only ones not
taking them. 1t is expected that the en-
tire state Of Georgia will put out about
5000 carloads this year. and thata round
million Of dollars will be paid in return
for them to the growers and the rail
roads Of the cities New York eats
most melons, next comes Chicago, then
Cincinnati, then Boston, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, St. Louis, Minneapolis and
SO on down III the order named.
It should not be understood that Geor-
gia is the only state raising melons in
quantities. They are grown in the Caro-
linas and in Florida, in Tennessee and in
Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio,
Indiana Illinois and New York. On the
Pacific coast they are plentiful in south
ern California.
It is the exceeding plenteonsnesso of the
watermelon that has rendered possible
those refined entertainments known as
''nlillion Matches" wherein two indi-
viduals of color pit against each other
the capacity of their stomachs and the
rapidity Of their jaws ''for the collec-
ton They have not been SO frequent
Ill New YORK 0l lilte years us tlGy We're
in the days when certain Journalists"
used to organize them for the benefit of
thssir friends CT to make sales for news
paper stories describing them.
It is held by students of the water
melon that each district produces a diff
ferent variety Of melon. but | cannot
vouch for this. After the Georgia crop
comes that from the Carolinas, and then
the Virginia and the New Jersey crops.
And there is something about all Of these
melons that like. I. D. MARSHALL.
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

OFFICERS OF THE SENATE.
men who possess the esteem of their old
colleagues, and 10 years ago when Gen
eral Anson G.. McCool1, popular con-
gresham from New York, failed of re-
election he was promptly placed i'll that
position. General McCool1 is now Sue
ceeded by General William r. Cox of
North Carolina, also all ex-congressman
and a man OF many friends. General
Cox was born in North Carolina and
educated in Nashville where he studied
and placticed law. He entered the Con-
federate army as q major Of the North
Carolina troops and was promoted to the
rank Of brigadier general. Since the
war General Cox has practiced law at
Raleigh and has served three terms in
congress.
Colonel Richard Jesse Bright of In
diana, the new Sergeant-;lt-ar filled
the same Office during the last period Of
Democratic ascendancy in the senate
from 1879 to 1888. Colonel Bright was
also sergealt-at-a1ms of the last three
Democratic national conventions. He
WAS born in Madison, Ind, March A.
university settled down to the practice Of
law III his native town. In 1865 he pur
chased the Indianapolis Sentinel and
conducted that paper for three years
Since 1885 Colonel Bright has prnctic d
law in Washington The salary OF his
position is 81, 500 a year.
Rev. W. III. MilDurn, who has for years
been known as ''the blind chaplain Of
the house," has now been transferred to
in 1923 and for over 40 years las been
totally blind. III 1S43 he became a Meth
odist preacher in Illinois. lie was elect
ed chaplain Of congress i'll 1915 and again
in 1868 and 1855. The chaplain of each
branch draws 5000 II year.
Of the house Offices the clerksl1ip is
the most important aud rcmunerative.
carrying a salary OF 81 800 The door
keeper probably stands second in intiu-
ence on account of the patronage at his
disposal. james Kerr, who is now serv-
ing his second term as clerk, was born
i'll Mifflin county, Pa, in 1851. He now
dwells i'll Clearf:ald county and is en-
gagged in coal mining and railroad bust
ness. Mr.. Kerr was chairman of the
Democratic state committee III Pennsyl-
vanift in 1890 and 1891 and conducted
the successful pattison campaign.
Doorleepel Alden Bailey Hurt occu-
pied the same office i'll the Fiftieth con-
gress. He was born in Mississippi 35
years ago and was elected to the legis-
lature at the age Of 23. He occupied a
position in the postoffice department in
Washington for number Of years and
is now president of the News Publish
ing company at Chattanooga, Tenn.
Herman w. Snow the serge;,nt-at-
arms, represented the Ninth Illinois dis
trict in the last congress- He was born
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

most mechanical g. w. G. FERRIS.
achievements OF the century, The en-
gineering problems encountered were
novel and difficult. but the greatest of
them was involved in the short time IN
which the wheel must be completed it it
were to prove remunerative. It was
The middle of last December before the
preliminaries were settled, and the foun-
dations, which are 40 feet under ground,
had to be laid during the coldest weather
of the winter, Live steam was freely
used in mixing the concrete to keep it
from freezing. The work Of erecting Che
ironwork began about Feb. %, and on
June21 the inauguration ceremonies took
place
The highest point of the wheel is 2G5
feet above the ground. The axle turns
on the tops Of two pyramidal towers no
feet high There are 36 passenger cars
on the Wheel each seating 40 people.
The view from the top is superb, aud
the sensation Of making the trip, which
takes 20 minutes, is both novel and ex-
hilarating.
Mr.. Ferris is not less interesting than
his great wheel He is a pale, quiet,
thoughtful looking man of S3 and is at
the head of one of the greatest civil
engineering firms in the country. He
was born in Illinois, but went to Ne
vada with his parents in a prairie
schooner when only 4 years of age, To-
eating first at Carson and then at Vir-
ginia City. He took his engineering
course at the Rensselaer, Polytechnic
school in Troy, N. Y, and for some
time afterward engaged in railroad and
bridge work, which gave him consider
able reputation in the engineering
world. Physically he is tall and we'll
built, and his bearing is kindly and un-
assuming.
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

can congress at the great exposition.
The doctor is a ruddy complexioned
man Of 36, with strong, clean cut fea-
tures and Of medium height. He talks
excellent English and is quite willing to
give the American people the benefit Of
his experiences in Africa, but is pre-
cluded from a lecturing tour by his off
cial position in the German colonial de-
partment, which forbids the acceptance
Of paid engagements. He was born at
Neuhaus Hanover. in 1857, his father
being a clergyman. He has an uncle in
Chicago in the pork packing business
and WAS once invited to enter his rela-
tive's firm, but preferred the more ad-
venturous career Of an African explorer,
He founded the German East Africa
company i'll 1884 and has been ever since
engaged in African schemes Of one com
plexion or another The reported mas
sacre in 1889 Of an expedition which he
was ut the head of aroused IL great dea
Of interest all over the world He, like
Stanley, had gone to the relief of E1nin
Pasha, and it n;ly be that his failure
where Stanley succeeded gives some col
vi W iilo FCly ILolIOuuCEtt LOohlllpS W
that gentleman.
He says that Stanley's discoveries
were largely Of the flake" order, and
that his famous Moon mountain and the
Mo1nbuttl dwarfs had been previously
discovered and reported-the former by
Cussati and the latter by an Italian in
1867 and by Schweinfurth in 1870. OF
the rescue Of Elnin lie says, Stanley in
duced him to go away under false pre-
lenses and wlllfully deceived him on
several occasions.' The doctor quotes
Enin as saying: STANLEY dragged he
away by the ears to save 1ne. | did not
want to be saved, and | did not need to
be saved.
"Howcvcr," said DR.. Peters, "sotanley
had to close his journey with some sort
of a climax, and it appeared highly de-
sirable to save I1nlin and drag him to
England against his will. l do not think
Stanley will be particularly pleased if
Emin is still alive, and do not believe
he is dead"
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
RICH, JUICY, MELTING
WATERiHELUNs, LARGE AND sWEE-
FILLED WITH RuBY, FLAkY MEAT

Ea The Sout'.lansl they Are Grown; In the
Nortialasid They ARC vn-isi. and
Green and smooth and Round, Better
Eating N.'sr Was Found.
Should yol ask me. whence these melons?
Whence these ruby hearted monsters,
With t1air swelling gen n'rous rpundn"ss,
With tlleir juice like heavenly nectar,
With their seeds Of cb0il haclneas,
With their rlnds so smoothly polished,
With their tins oi notified grccnness,
And their luscious, toUthsUIne sWoet tnass,
Than al honey. three times sweetsr?
should answer, should tell you,
From tne sundy soil OF Georgia,
From the regions fthe southland,
From the country Of the Sunshine,
Where the happy colorcd brother
Feeds on s.millioils,' full Of gadness,
Feeds and sleeps, and. waking, feeds more,
Full OF 10y i1ecaiise he iiNeth
And can stuff himself with melons.
Il is my opinion that the poets Of this
day and generation have sadly neglected
the watermelon, and this is why have
preserved the lines above printed, which
We're found on the back Of q vayrant en-
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

r. D. JACKSON. C. r. OFERRALI4.
ship, has had a varied and interesting
career. He was born in Frederick coun-
ty. Va, in 1910. When but Is years old
he was appointed to fill the vacancy in
the office OF clerk Of the Morgan county
court occasioned by the death Of his f;l-
ther, and two years later he was elected
to the same position for a term of six
years. He enlisted asa private in the
Confederate cavalry in 1861 and was
colonel in charge Of all the cavalry in
the Shenandoah valley when the war
closed He WAS wounded many times
in battle and was once reported dead
and had the rare pleasure Of reading
many hattering obituary notiec5 pub
lished about himself.
When the war was over, he studied law
and practiced at Harrisonburg. He was
sent to tho state legislature il 1871 and
elected county judge Of Rockingham
three years later. In 1852 he Was seat ed
in the house OF representatives after Il
contest and has retained his member
ship there ever since being reelected five
times. He is a great personal friend OF
Speaker Crisp, and was made chairman
Of the elections committee III the Fifty
second congress.
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

rades and lifelong friends--he was born
at Portland, Me. He was at Bowdoin
college with Longfellow, though a year
later in his classes, and owes it to the
early suggestion of his college friend
that he began to write for publication.
Hawthorne, Cheever and Sargent Prem
tiss We're his college mates, and the lat
ter was i'll his class. Oliver Wendell
Holmes is another great friend of his.
After his college days Mr.. Mcclellan
was associate editor Of the Boston Daily
Patriot, subsequently incorporated with
The Advertiser, and for d time published
a monthly known as The Pearl He con-
tributed to Willis Monthly, The New
England and the old Knickerbocker
Poetry and prose were equally at his
command, though he best loved to en-
balm in verse the scenes and incidents of
the sports afield of which he was so
fond. His little gem, 1.-The Trout Brook,
attracted the attention Of the editor Of
Blackwood's Magazine, who printed and
commended it,
Mr. Mcclellan has published four vol
umes Of verse, 1.-The Fall Of the Indian,
s.The Year, Mount Auburn" and Rod
and Cum" and his work is very pop1lar
with sportsmen. He has Travelled over a
great deal of the United States III search
of good angling and shooting and still
finds what sport he can i'll those health
ful recreations at his Long Island home.
He is a hale old man and thinks a walk
of a mile or so does him good. He does
not care for anything not pleasant to the
eye and never reads anything unpleas-
ant if he can avoid it. He has but one
weakness-the deadly cigarette
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
MONTANA UNION RAILWA Y.
TIM + TABLE.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC.

The Financial Vicissitudes of a Gigantic
Enterprise.
The financial vicissitudes which com
PEELED the Northern Pacific railroad to
admit its insolvency and consent to the
appoint1nentof Of receivers are officially at
tributed to the great falling off in its
earnings consequent upon the extraordi-
nary business depression, but there are
men bold enough to assert that it is en-
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

getting all the
credit for the ex-
position, and de-
terllli1led that the
engineering pro-
fession should be
represented by
something that
would stand as a
monument.
His dete1.1nina-
ztion WAS carried
out, and the Fer
ris wheel stands
among the fore
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
THE OLDEST AMERICAN POET

do Smokes Cigarettes and Likes to Read
z.arge Print.
The distinction of being the oldest
American poet living belongs to Isaac
Mcclellan Of Greenport, a quaint old
seaport town on the north shore Of Long
Island, away down at its extreme east
ern end. Mr. Mcclellan is 81 years Of
age, and, like Longfellow and N. ?. Will
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
National: Flowers.

Some OF the flower E;lt|gta Of nations
sugar maple: Egypt, lotus; England. rose:
Franco, hoWcrtle-lu lilv): Florence,
gigiio (lily); Germany, corn flower; Ire-
land, shamrock leaf; Italy, lily: Prussia,
linden; GiI,suny lelignol.ette; Scotland,
thistle: Spain, polnegranate: Wales. leek
1naf
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02

~ " a TF,ItEFFIiJ-<A VF GH1.THF.ItCIl
Zone Sunday my father didn't go to
meeting with my grandfather. and | re-
mained at home also, and we two went
out to walk My father tool; along his
fishing tackle, and it is MY impression
that he meant TO break the Sabbath Iii
fact, he did drop his hook into the wa
ter. but as he lost it and ditln catch
anything but a big root he said he broke
nothing but his tishline When my ia
ther had accomplished that much, we
turned about and started home by a
short cut. When we We're about half
way there. we came to d little clearing
full Of stu1nps. Ii the middle of Tie
clearing was a melon patch, and in til.
middle of iu-running along by three
The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1893-09-02
First Record of Ice Cream.

The first record of ice cream in our
history appears to be in the account of
the festivities following Washington's S
first Inauguration as president in the
city of New York in 1889. Among the
ices used on that occasion was ice cream