davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
PROGRESS RAILWAY BUILDING
Advance Made IN the United States and
Great Britain.


Great Britain.
Great Britain and Ireland have now
about 10000 miles of railways, of which
a little over one-half are double
tracked. Their capital stock and debt
amount To the enormous sum of $780,
OOO,0 The net earnings were last
year little over i per cent. of the capi-
tai invested and the gross earnings
were for last year almost S41O, ,OOO, 900.
The railway system of the United
Kingdom is practically finished, says
the Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph.
Nothing in the way of new
railroad construction Is going on
worth mentioning. A little over
100 miles of new road were added,
and part of this was an exceptional
matter. The picture presented in these
few figures is that of a finished coun-
try, fully developed in all parts and re-
sources.
Now turn to the United States Our
mileage now amounts To III, 900 miles,
more than eight times as large as that
of Great Britain. The gross earnings
last year amounted TO over thousand
millions of dollars. During this time
there were railroads of a total length
of nearly 1000 miles constructed. In
other words, every three or four years
we build as many miles of railroad as
the total number that sufiices the Eng
lish, Scotch and Irish people
And the American task is not done by
any means. The growth along exist
ing lines can well be imagined when 1t
is considered that the English railways
serve population of s,9OO,OO0, or one
mile for every 1900 inhabitants, while
our 10, 900 miles serve for 60 GOO, 900 of
people, or one mile for 800 inhabitants,
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
THE WORLDS ODD COUNTRIES.

THE Egyptian is taxed fifty cents on
the palm tree that grows in his garden.
THE average depth of sand in the
African desert is thought 10 be thirty
to forty feet.
THE natives in Vera Cruz do a large
trade in frefiies, which they catch by
waving blazing coal at the end of a
stick. The insects fly toward the light
and are captured in nets.
A xUMBER of remarkable figures of
hammered silver, representing men.
women and animals. have been exhumed
from peat bog in Jutland, Denmark,
and placed in the National museum at
Copenhagen
THE highest place in the world regu-
larly inhabited Is the Buddhist town of
Haine, in Thibet, which is 10000 feet
above sea level. The highest inhabited
place in the Americas is at Galera, Peru,
Is, ,635 feet above sea level.
A DONKEY named Mirambo was Henry
NJ. Stanley's chief reliance when pass
ing through one of the most savage dis
uricts of Africa At the explorers word
of command, he would bray in the most
stcntorian manner, to the great alarm
of the natives.
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
WIDOWS OF INDIA.
After Their Husbsnds' Death They Are
Subjected 70 Mnch Morriment.


Subjected To Much worriment.
Among the many sad things connect
ed with the lives of women in India
nothing is more pitiable than the state
of the poor little widows, saws the
Youths Companion. A child-wife, only
six or seven years old, is regarded by
her husbands family as the cause, more
or less direct, of his death. She is
treated at best with dislike, and often
with great harshness and severity
Therefore the death of a young wife
before her husband is the cause of great
rejoicing among her friends that she
has thus escaped widowhood.
They are convinced that the gods
have favored her, and that she has been
advanced a degree in the great series of
births and deaths through which every
Hindu passes on his way 10 final perfec-
tion. The prayer of every little girl
before marriage and of every little
girl and woman after marriage is that
she may never become a widow.
The preservation of a husbands
health Is matter of the greatest inn
portance, and on a certain day of the
year special religious ceremony is OBJ
served with this end in view IL is en-
phatically the ''Women's Day and oc-
ours about the middle of January. when
the sun is believed TO turn northward.
Offerings are made at the temples,
money is given To the priests, pilgrim
ages are undertaken, HASTINGS under
gone, and vows performed for the pres
ervation of husbands health and life.
When he is i'll the wife removes her
Jewels puts on coarse clothing, and de-
votes herself to prayer and austerities.
II he dies her woe begins.
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
A TROUBLESOME RIVER.
Destruction Caused by the yellow River
of China

Destruction Caused by the Yellow River
of China.
The st. Petersburg Gazette referring
TO the latest inundation of the Yellow
river in northern China, which will
again bring u population of more than
a million upon the point of starvation,
points out that these frequent or peri
odical calamities are the work of man
rather than of nature. Many centuries
ago the Chinese interfered so much with
the stream as to compel it to change
its course and dig n new bed for itself,
But this bed the current has never
grown truly accustomed to, 1t will de-
posit its immense quantities of sediment
carried down from the mountains in the
most unsuitable localities, forming
shadows and barriers which, when an
unusually large mass of water rolls
down, will overflow and break through
its dykes and inundate the fertile
grounds along the river bed. So it has
been for centuries past, and the living
generations are experiencing again and
again that the sins of the fathers are
being visited with most terrible cruelty
upon remote descendants. 1t is doubt
full whether the river could be turned
back into its old bed, lying dry at pres
ent- But, if it could, the old bed has
been changed so much in the course of
: centuries that even there. in its old.
natural and wonted haunts, the cur
rent of the river might not become tran
quill, but be forced to produce periodical
inundations as it does in its present
course
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
DON'T BE TOO POSITIVE.
The Bank Deposit business Ma
Thought lie Had Made.

Don't be too positive" said a bust
ness man to Boston Herald writer.
| Il used to be. / am not now quite SO
sure about things. You would natural
ly think that ones life-in business and
other avenues of its devious course
| tends to make a man careful, not to say
| conservative; but it does not rule.
| To most men experience serves as a
stern light rather than a head light
Take a case of recent occurrence A
| friend of mine who is in business on
North Market street recently thought
he had made a deposit of one hundred
and fifteen dollars in his bank. / say
| thought he himself was cock sure he
had made it.
'fIis bank book had been left with
| the bank for settlement, and nv friend
| merely made out ii slip and handed il in
to the teller. A few days later when
he received his bank book settled up,
behold you, that deposit was not en-
tered. He at once took the book to the
young man who was teller on that day
and said:
lyon have not credited me with
one hundred and fifteen dollars, my de-
posit of such a day
The teller obligingly looked over
his Slips and book, and said he; i have
no entry of it, neither do remember
deposit of such an amount
Then arose a dispute. My friend
was positive he had made that deposit.
He was going to have it credited or he
would know the reason why. He felt
aggrieved; in fact his feelings We're
venomOus.
The bank held special board meet
ing to consider the matter. They de-
cided they could do nothing. The tel
Ter had always borne good reputation.
Could my friend remember whom he
saw in the bank the day he made his
deposit?
oh, yes he said; Il will swear l
saw So-and-So as | entered the door
"'Hunt him up, then said the bank
people; see if he remembers seeing
YOU
"The person could not recollect such
an event.
said the bank people: Can you rec
ollect who else was near the tcller?'
'''Oh, yes said my friend; that
young man. pointing there.
But that young man merely smiled,
and suavely said that he had no remem-
brance of the occurrence.
II ANh'A Nsho hC grew
like. He consulted prominent lawyer
in Boston. The man of law said, lacon-
ically;
"'You have no redress. The banks
word is as good as yours Go slow
Are you sure you made the deposit? We
men do queer things at times. Look
about Your desk and Office
Suffice it to say that the hundred
and fifteen dollars did not turn up. Ny
friend in the interim grew still more
positive,
''Some two weeks elapsed. One day.
going through an old overcoat hanging
in his office. he found the deposit slip.
money and all. Tableau. Imagine his
feelings. Retractions were in order,
He went to the bank and explained all
in very crestfallen manner and vowed
contrition to the teller
Now he bemoans the sad fate that
should have caused him, n shrcwd bust
ness man, ut his time of life To lose con-
iidcnce In himself and his actions. His
favorite aphorism to-day is: Don't be
too positive"
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
Degrees of Cold in Montana.

Everything goes by comparison out
in Montana" said the president OF one
of St Louis big silver mines. ''once
a welf-known character named Maekay
was asked by lady visiting the west
if the weather did not occasionally be-
come intensely cold.
- oh, yes" he replied, 1T gets right
sharp here sometimes
Well persisted the lady, how cold
does it getT'
That depends he answered, evas-
lively. Now, to-day is what we
miners call a one-shirt day. When the
weather gets colder it's a two-shirt
day, and when the billiards come
there are three-shirt days The lady
was much mystified until I explained
to her the habit of the miners of put
ting on one or two shirts above an
other, according to the temperature" &"
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
WHAT THE VOICE SHOWS.
Upper Notes of the Register Character
Istic of Savage Tribes.

Upper Notes of the Register Character
Istic of Savage Tribes
Man inherited from his immediate an
cestors, the apes and monkeys, IA voice
of considerable altitude, in which the
lower tones were almost unknown, says
Nast's Weekly. The monkeys chattereo
To their fellows from tree To tree in
Shrill head tones, the natural vocal eX-
precision of a weak and timid race, in
whose physical formation the head had
begun to hold an important place. The
upper notes Of the register were char
acteristic of the first men, as they still
are of savage tribes and peoples and of
the half civilized IN rmbers of modern
society, whose voices have never been
subjected to discipline.
The voices of country people accus-
toned to magnificent distances and con-
vcrsation at long range are, if not keyed
higher, oftener used in the upper
ranges than those of the city people,
who feel obliged by the necessities of
good breeding To moderate their tones.
When man is seif-contained he uses
the middle and lower tones of his voice;
when angry the voice mounts gradually
to the head. III the gentler sex would
oftcncr bear in mind the eulogies of
Shallespe;ig. and Scott of that voice
gentle and low which is an excellent
thing in women, they would more rarely
have occasion To wonder why they have
ceased to be attractive.
The music of the Chinese, Japanese,
and of all wild tribes is keyed high and
sung usually in falsetto, the lower
notes being obtained by drums, tom
toms, or some other instruments of the
lsind. Although their songs are far
from agreeable To the ear, they still
think they sing, an illusion shared. it
must be confessed. by considerable
number of persons in the most refined
modern society.
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
NigIlant Chemists

Adulteration is bad and sanitation is
good, but some of the results shown by
vigilant inspectors and clever chemists
IN their efforts TO show the frightful
dangers that surround us and run down
offenders against sanitary laws are very
funny Awholesale and highly respect
able grocer was tried in a London court
few days ago for selling tartaric acid
adulterated with lead. The acid was
used in making lemonade, and the lead
IN II got there from the vessels in which
1t was manufactured. The prosecution
showed that the tartaric acid contained
.O0026 per cent. of lead The defense
showed that in order to get a twentieth
part of grain of the poison into ones
system II would be necessary TO drink
lemonade every day for six months at
the rate of 220 bottles day. The ex-
perts added gravely that before the
twentieth part of grain could be taken
IN that manner the experimenter would
die of dyspepsia. The charge was dis
missed, but to satisfy the sanitary Off
Gals the judge agreed TO state case"
presumably as a warning TO other evil
doers-
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
Elephant. ns Einancier.-

The penny-iI-the-slot machine has
been adapted TO the use of the elephants
at the Manchester zoo. When a visitor
gives the elephant a penny the ami
NAL drops il in the slot and gets a bis
cult There is no use in trying TO de-
ceive the animals by half-pennies.
Those despised coins are always flung
in the face of the giver. The other day
visitor gave a baby elephant a num-
Der of half-pennies in succession, but
all were thrown back. The animal was
then given :wo half-pennies at the same
time. The creatures demeanor changed.
For more than five minutes he held the
two coins in his trunk rubbing them
together and seeming TO be pondering
deeply. AT last he dropped the two
half-pence in the box together, with the
result that the combined weight gave
him the desired biscuit, at which he
gamboled about in a manner which ex-
hibited extravagant delight.
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
GRANITE COLUMNS.
How the Hard stone Is Turned Into
shape.

How the nara stone Is Iurueu into
shape
Granite for columns, balusters. round
posts and urns is now worked chiefly in
lathes, which, for the heaviest work,
are made large enough TO handle blocks
twenty-five feet long and five feet in di-
ameter. Instead of being turned to the
desired size by sharp cutting instrC-
ments. as in ordinary machines for
turning wood and metal, granite is
ground away by the wcdge-like action
of rather thick steel disks, rotated by
the pressure of the stone as it slowly
turns in the lathe. The disks, which
are six or eight inches in diameter. are
set at quite an angle to the stone and
move with an automatic carriage along
disks, two on each side, and a column
may be reduced some two inches in di-
ameter the whole length of the stone by
one lateral movement of the carriages
along the bed The first lathe for
turning granite cuts only cylindrical or
conical columns, but an improved form
is so made that templets or patterns
may be inserted to guide the carriages,
and columns having any desired swell
may be as readily turned For fine
grinding and polishing the granite is
transferred to another lathe where the
only machinery used is to produce
simple turning or revolution of the
stone against iron blocks carrying the
necessary grinding or polishing materi-
ais
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
LARGEST In THE WORLD.
A Mammoth Search Light at the
Columbian Exposition.
Ii Has . Power of 100. 600. 900 Candies
and Its Glare Can BE Seen at
Distance Of sixty Miles ON a
Clear

At the worlds fair grounds the other
night the scientists in charge made a
test of the search light, which is to IL
illuminate jackson park and large parts
of the earth adjoining. The vast elcc-
trio light is perched on the high tower
of the transportation building. 1t is a
wonderful thing. this great light whose
rays can be seen sixty miles away and
which can locate a man from ten To
twenty miles distant, according To the
power of electricity that is on
The light is the largest and strongest
one in the world. 1t was made by
Schuckert & Co., of Nuremberg. Ger
many, and it has been brought To this
country by Prof. Fred w. Tischendoer-
fer, a mechanical and electrical expert
He brought the immense light to this
country expressly for the worlds fair.
and it will be on exhibition until after
October 21, when il will be taken down
until the opening of the fair next wear
The light is what is known as a four
foot refiector-that is, the great mapni-
flying glass, through which the rays are
thrown to such a distance, is four feet
in diameter
The direct power of the light is I5O-
600 candles, without any glass whatever.
With the big glass, however, the power
is magnified to 100, ,OOO, 900 candle power
The carbons used in the radiator are
twelve inches long and one and a quarter
inches in diameter. They are fastened
inside the lamp merely with two up
right pieces of steel The lamp itself is
operated on a sort of carriage something
after the manner of Maxim gun. 1t
can be turned in any direction and can
be tilted so that the rays will ascend
straight up.
This big search light has only been
in Chicago few days. 1t was made
expressly for exhibition at the fair by
the German firm. The test was grand
success Under the searching rays
every portion of the fair grounds could
be as distinctly seen as in the broad rays
of the sun. The Columbian guards en-
circling the grounds could easily be dis
eerned as they paced their beats.
When the full power of the light was
turned on the city of Chicago Gould be
viewed distinctly, though the night was
anything but clear. Prof. Tischen-
doerfer claims that on a perfectly clear
night Michigan City, across the lake,
would be perfectly visible. He also
claims that on such night the rays
from the lamp could be seen by persons
sixty miles away,
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
TRAGEDY IN REAL LIFE.
SAD Mistake of HorsethIsf Hunters on
the Rio Grande.


the Rio Grande.
THE most pathetic scene / ever wit
messed, says Judge II. L. Cawthorn. of
Texas, in the ST. Louis Globe Democrat.
was third of century ago, but il is
as plain 10 my eyes to-day as il was
then We had been bothered by horse
thieves down on the frontier. and Won
know what that means in a wild coun-
try. A crowd of US started out after
the scoundrels, and Just before we
reached the Rio Grande we saw two
horsemen off TO the left who acted sus-
piciously. After them we went. and il
was pretty race for awhile till they
disappeared behind "a cluIup of trees.
we mad shot to stop them, and when
we got IN sight of them again we found
that one horse had been shot and they
had deserted him, while both were rid
ing the other. They were evidently
MeXlcans-a man and a boy-and the
man showed fight, turning and firing
al US, hnally hitting our deputy sheriff.
we gained on them rapidly, and pres
emily well-directed fire sent them all
in a heap.
When we reached them the boy
was kneeling in front of the diving
Mexican, sobbing and moaning as IL
her heart would break, while her hair.
which had fallen from her cap. fell be
low her waist. 1t was a case of clone
ment and they had taken us for her ia
TIERS servants, while we had been
equally stupid and had taken them for
horsethleves. When he began to gasp
she drew little pearl-handled revolver,
and before anyone could think of stop
ping her placed the mu zzle under her
ear and fell into his arms a corpse. No,
we never heard who they were. We
buried them and went after the horse
thieves"
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
uumm,nr Bird. small But pIucky.

Notwithstanding their diminutive
size. pugnacity is one of the most con-
spicuous traits of humming birds Even
kingbirds and the boldest hawks are
afraid of them, being compelled to re-
treat before the impetuous assaults of
the tiny warrior, whose boldness is only
equaled by the lightninglike rapidity
of his movements, thus battling any at
tempt at resistance on the part of the
more powerful adversary. The lance
like thrust of the needle-like beak is
usually directed at the eyes of the enc
NV When two or more individuals of
either sex happen near the same spot,
spirited and often violent conflicts are
almost certain to ensue-
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
BUILT a RAILROAD ON FAITH.
The Piucky Te1an Who Built the Arkansas
Pass Road Did Good FinaneierIng.

Fnss Dio eOoo ffn8nclering.
From South Texas came a man who
built six hundred miles of railroad with
five-dollar bill and faith, and the bill
was borrowed one. He moved up from
Corpus Christi to San Antonio with all
of his possessions heaped on a two
wheeled cart, according to the St Louis
Globe-Democrat- He got a charter to
build railroad from San Antonio to
Arkansas Pass He graded a mile of it,
throwing great deal more than one
shovel of dirt with his own hands The
receiver of another road loaned this in
defaugable builder enough old rails
for a mile of track. In distant part of
the state was purchased an old engine
which had been condemned six years
before and sent to the shops to be
wrecked for scrap iron. Two old cars
We're picked up somewhere else at a
bargain And that old engine, drawing
those old cars, steamed into San An
tonic On engine and cars in bold let
tiers were painted in lamp-black: IS. A.
and A. p" With one mile of old rail
track and with the equipment of the
old engine and two old cars Uriah Lott
started the Arkansas Pass system. There
has been some tall financiering in the
history of railroad building in this coun-
try, but there isn't anything which for
dazzling pluck quite approaches the
story of the building of this six hum
dred miles of road in South Texas. To
the one mile of track three were added
three miles by diclScr for some sec
ond-hand rails which street car COM
pany had bought from a narrow guage
company. On this basis credit was
made with a Pennsylvania rolling mill
for ten miles of rails. When they ar
rived there wasn't money enough in the
treasury to pay the freight But it was
got somehow. Ten miles of track gave
foundation for bonds which built forty
miles more, and SO the system grew into
Its present proportions. This man who
built the Arkansas Pass system rode from
San Antonio to Chicago at one critical
period in his enterprise without a cent
in his pocket He had transportation,
but he hadn't anything to buy food, and
he went through hungry.
The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-02-03
JAPANESE ART WORKS.
Chief Ives Assured That Japan's hes
Paintings VIII BE Here

Chief Ives Assured That Japan's Best
Paintings VIII he Here
Tegima and his tall secretary, Yambe,
who represent the Japanese commission
in Chicago. attended meeting of the
fine arts committee recently. Tegima
never comes around unless he has an
announcement to make from the millado
of Japan. Tegima told Chief Ives and
the art committee that the artists of
Japan would make 4 fine display of
paintings and sculpture work at the
fair. This announcement caused Chief
Ives to look at the little fellow sternly.
The Jap never WINGED, but repeated the
statement 1t surprised Chief Ives, for
Japanese artists have never shown any
of their paintings ut great expositions-
Their displays in this line have always
been in the form of fantastic decora-
tions Tegima speaks English well.
1--WE are going to show our bestpaint-
ings." he said, land want all the space
we can get. And statuary, also, and
many fine carvings, all very beautiful,
will be brought over. Americans will
be the first to see them"
Tegima then told the committee that
Japanese artists were now ready to be-
gin decorating their section of the art
building. He said the royal artists had
made their designs and were now pre-
pared to transfer them to the building.