davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
MACHINES FOR BUSINESS.
An ONCE Containing Appliances for Rapid
Communication.

THE desk of business man nova
days is quite mass Of machinery"
said the manager for a commercial
firm TO Washington Star writer. lob
serve this one of mine for example.
ITO begin with, here is a phono-
graph, into which | dictate all my let
tiers. Afterward young woman who
acts as my amanuensis takes the
cylinders and copies them off. For
communication otherwise than by
writing, have at my hand small
stand which supports a telephone. 1t
is ornamental and movable. l put it
out of the way or set it in front of me,
according TO my convenience.
with this little instrument l can
talk from my desk with all the world.
IL is a long distance telephone, and
with it can call up Boston as easily as
Baltimore. Besides, / have at my
other elbow similar continuance for
communicating with the various rooms
under my superintendent in this
building. At a moments notice l can
make connection with any one of them
by sticking the plug into the proper
place in this circuit board
MY desk is a center TO which ever
so many wires run for score of diff
ferent purposes. Some of them fur
nish Inc with electric lights. Others
give power TO my electric fan. Over
head you will notice a clock, which at
noon every day is corrected by cleo
tricity from the naval observatory. My
Office is n nest of machines and wires,
the latter reaching out to the utter
most ends of the earth. For, by means
of this telegraph sounder at my left
hand, ! can transmit intelligence to
Europe, to India, to New Zealand. or
to Hong Kong. 1t is not without rea-
son that this is called the age of me-
chanical civilization"
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
LEASING a WIFE.
A Queer Custom Formerly In Vogue In
England.


England.
Taking wife as one does house
on lease has actually been done more
than once in England A Birmingham
correspond ent in the Gentleman's Mag
azine, in 1883, writes: "Since residing
in this town have often heard there
is method of obtaining a wife's SIS
ter upon lease. j never could learn the
method to be taken to get wife upon
lease or whether such connections are
sanctioned by law; but there is an emf
nent manufacturer in the vicinity of
this town who has had his deceased
wife's sister upon lease for ninety
years and upward, and i know she
went by his name, and enjoyed all the
privileges and received all the honor
due to the respected name of wife"
And as late as 1858, also in Birming
ham, which would seem to be espe-
cially given TO the leasing of men and
women, woman who appeared in
court against her husband said in evil
dence that she was not living with
him because he was leased to another
woman, and the document setting
forth the terms of the lease was pro-
duced and read. But this agreement,
couched in imposingly legal terms,
the man and woman pledged them
selves to mutual exertion, by work
and by labor, and by following all
their business pursuits to the best of
their abilities, skill and understand
ing, and by advising and assisting each
other for their mutual benefit and adj
vantage, and also to provide for them
selves and each other the best supports
and comforts of life which their means
and income may afford"
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
MEN TIGERS OF INDIA.
a Strange Superstition OF the Ignorant
Natives.

A Strange Superstition OF the Ignorant
Natives.
The belief is very general through
ont India that men are turned into
tigers by eating of certain root. IL
is supposed that tigers who destroy
many human beings are men who have
Sarimant, chief of Deori related TO the
author of "Rambles and Recollections'
the following anecdote:
THE tigers which now infest the
woods from Sugar to Deori are neither
more nor less than men turned into
tigers-a thing which often takes place
in the woods of central India. The
only visible difference between the two
is that the metamorphosed tiger has
no tail, while the lora, or ordinary
tiger, has very long one.
"In the jungle about Deori there is a
root which if a man eat of il he is con-
verified into a tiger on the spot; and If
in this state he can eat Of another root
he becomes a man again. When ! was
a boy a melancholy instance of the
root eating occurred.
MY fathers washerman Raghu, was,
like all washermen, great drunlard;
and, being seized with violent desire
to ascertain what a man felt in the
state of tiger, he went one day TO the
jungle and brought home two of these
roots and desired his wife to stand by
him with one of them, and the instant
she saw him assume the tiger shape to
thrust il into his mouth.
The washerman ate his root and
became instantly tiger, but his wife
was so terrified at the sight of her hus-
band in this form that she ran off with
the antidote in her hand.
Poor old Raghu took 70 the woods,
and there ate good many of his old
friends from neighboring villages but
he was at last shot and recognized
from the circumstance of his having
no tail.
You may be quite sure" concluded
Sarimant, when you hear of a tiger
without a tail that it is some nnfortu-
nate man who has eaten Of that root.
and of all the tigers he will be found
the most mischievous."
The Sarimant religiously believes
the truth of this story and so do his at
tendants and mine; and out Of a pop
ulation of thirty thousand in the town
of Sugar not one would doubt the
story of the washerman if he heard It,.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
ORIGIN OF HOSPITALS.
The Work of n King In the Third Century
Before Christ.

Hospitals, as we now understand the
term are of modern growth, says the
Quarterly Review. True il is, as Mr..
Burdett tells us in the historical sec
ton of Hospitals and Asylums of the
World" that in the records of Egypt
and ancient India we find illusions to
institutions that foreshadow the hos
pitfalls of latter times, and even our
asylums for sick animals are borrowed
from the east.
An inscription engraved on a rock
near the city of Surat tells how Asola,
a king who reigned in Gujerat in the
third century B. c., commanded the es-
tablishment OF hospitals in all his do
minions and placed one at each of the
four gates of the royal city of Patna
Six hundred years after this Ia Han,
an intelligent Chinese traveller, who
visited India in 800 A. D., records that
Asol1a's hospitals still existed and
fiourished, but the successive floods of
conquest swept all away, and by the
beginning OF this century only hos
pital for animals remained of all the
pious kings foundations.
Ancient Egyptian records are more
vague in the illusions to the treatment
of the sick, but it seems likely, from a
legend which is given In the "Papyrus
Ebers," that clinic existed in connec-
ton with the Temple of Heliopolis. 1t
is equally probale that, if the history
OF the temples of Fsculapius could be
unveiled, we should find that in them
also "a hospital supplemented the
shrine, and that the sick who offered
sacrifices there found something more
than faith healing" within their
walls. But from none of these are our
hospitals derived; they were destroyed
or forgotten in the barbarian con-
quests, and SO utter is the oblivion
into which they fell that it is now an
article of the popular creed that it is
to Christianity we owe the first idea of
care for the sick and afflicted.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
UNANIMOUS oooRkespsRs.
An Odd Type of Man Peculiar to the
Wholesale business Houses.


From all outward appearances the
most important mcn--in their own es-
timation-in the large wholesale dry
goods establishments of the city are
the doorSeepers. In this respect they
occupy positions analogous To their
prototypes, the floor-wallIers of the re-
tail establishments, says the New York
Herald
No doubt the positions have their re-
sponsibilities, and what positions have
not in large business house, from the
humblest two-dollara-weelC Office boy
and porter TO the head of the establish
ment? Responsibility, therefore, is not
monopolized by the doortenders and
affords no reason Tor the fine assump-
tion of superiority which the actions
of the men imply.
The duty of the doorlleepers is pri-
marily to take the time of the sales
men and clerks on entering and leav-
ing the stores, shaking hands with hay
seed customers and bawling out the
names of the statesmen they desire to
see in stentolian tones. In addition TO
these they are expected to exclude
peddlers and beggars and 10 see that
no one removes small parcels of rner-
chandise unless they bear the proper
tout check" of some one in authority.
1t is in the manner in which these
simple duties are performed which
makes many of the doorhecpers ridicu-
lous They would be obnoxious were
they not so supre nelly absurd. In a
voice. the volume of which might do
credit to the late Count Johannes in
passion, and with n look supposed to
strike terror TO guilty soul, one of
them stationed in IA Broadway jobbing
house overawes little messenger boys
and creates in the minds OF some of
the firms humber customers an i'm
preston that he is powerful factor in
the firm.
This latter quite possibly is what
the man desires 20 do, for as n sup
posed power these simpletons seek to
propitiate Cerberus. They drop an oc-
casional cigar into his hand and some
time during the winter probably send
him a turkey or a big pumpkin. With
the proprietor of the peunut-stand on
the corner and the bootblack. both Of
who are privileged TO ply their trade
in consideration of keeping the side
walk clean, he exercises mild system
of blackmail
The vender, in return for his favored
glances, supplies him with peanuts and
apples; the bootblacll shines his shoes
for nothing. No newspaper boy is per-
mitted TO enter the store without the
understanding that he is TO give the
doorleepcr paper. Such are the per-
quisites of the position of doorlseeper
in wholesale downtown house. Not
all of them, of course, accept these
petty tyrannies, but some of them do,
and display very contemplate spirit,
foo in DOING So
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
Canadian Sledre Dogs.

Six or eight dogs are used on each
sledge. They are fed only once in
wenty-four hours, and that is in the
morning before the start Is made and
after the dogs are in harness. At that
time about four pounds of frozen fish
are given to them. Everything must
be in readiness for the start, and the
men must look TO it that they are at
hand TO jump on the sledges, for at the
very instant that the last morsel of fish
disappears the dogs are off at break
neck speed. Strange as il may seem
the drivers do not dare TO feed the dogs
unless they are in harness. Otherwise
they would scatter, and nothing more
would be seen of them. They are
driven with one long rein attached TO
the leader A whip with a very short
handle and very long lash is used to
urge them on, though in most cases
they need no urging, for they seem to
feel that the faster they GO the quicker
they will come TO the post, where food
and warmth and lazy life await them.
They travel often as far as ninety miles
q day.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
FAST ART WORK.
A Charcoal sketch Worth One Hundred
Dollars Drawn In Ten Minutes.

Dollars Drawn In Ten Minutes
Improvisation as an art is usually as
ISOLATED with music, but artists also
can dash off" a picture when the
spirit moves them; and the spirit seems
to have been very vigorously at work
on Mr.. T. b. Hardy, whose seascapes are
so widely renowned. on a certain fes
tive evening not long ago. says the
London Telegram. There was stretched
before him, so ii is credibly reported,
a sheet of paper measuring about three
feet by four on an easel, and upon this
canvas he was invited 10 execute char
coal drawing in ten minutes. The sub
ject chosen by him was The Pool
below London bridge, with the usual
accessories of the tower looming in the
background and .barges and steamers
coming up the river on the floodtide
So deity did the artists hand trace
the design already recorded in his
brain that the whole picture was fin
ished within the very short space OF
time already mentioned. Aerial and
wave effects" we read, 'were obtained
by rapid rubbing with the hand or a
cloth" 1t might naturally. be expected
that drawing done under such trying
circumstances would be omewhat
''slxetchy," and no doubt the details in
1t were rather suggested than careful
" filed in; but the result was very far
indeed from being mere smudge, and
the company of brother artists, literary
men and actors before whom the feat
was exhibited were loud in their
praise. Their appreciation indeed was
shown in the most practical of all pos
sible ways, for Mr.. Hardy's charcoal
sketch, which had taken him only a
sixth part of an hour to complete, at
once changed hands for the price Of
twenty guineas.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
Girls I'm Alnskan Society.

Visitors to SitlSa pronounce it not a
bad thing at all to be girl in Alaska
society, for girls are long way above
par in the social swim. There are card
parties and receptions, there are teas
and dinners on the trim little gun
boats, with men 10 preside at the urn
and show how badly even the best of
the sex do the things woman does so
gracefully. There are balls in the
Russian castle on the hill. where in the
old days the Muscovite governors
brought their high-bred wives and held
carnival through the long Alaskan
winters. Like the japanese, in case of
company everybody borrows of every
body. The governors wife is served
from her own china at the captains
dinner. and the lieutenants bride may
eat from her own wedding spoons at
the paymaster's party, but there is less
strife and envy and uncharitablencss
than in social circles at the great cen
tiers of civilization, where everybody
is striving to Guido everybody else.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
LOVERS VOWS ON PAPER.
How English Newspaper Proposes to
Simplify Breach OF Promise Suits.

Simplify Breach OF Promise Suits.
The London Spectator, moved by the
painful spectacle of the modern
breach of promise case, proposes a
novel eXpedient in order TO overcome
the difficulties which such suits pre-
sent. 1t says: There would be one
very simple method of tightening the
task of the jury, which would also
afford TO young women and their
guardians a means of ascertaining
whether the lover had any serious in
tention of developing into a husband
or not Let no promise of marriage
be held valid unless it is made in writ
ing upon properly stamped paper. II
the plaintiff could produce a formal
promise of this kind, there would be
10 need to go into all the history of
a doubtful courtship, or TO consider
any other factor in the assessment of
damages than the respective incomes
Of the contracting parties. Of course
it will be objected that such propo-
sition is injurious to all the romance
of cOurtship and marriage. But where,
we would ask is the romance in nine
out of ten breach OF promise cases that
find their way into the law courts?
These cases are hardly ever brought
except by people whose affections
have not been deeply engaged in their
acceptance of a sutton. For one young
woman who now brings an action for
breach of promise at least nine are
Tilted and suffer in silence. The
more their affections have been en-
gagged the less they can bear TO tell
the pitiful tale of their disappoint-
mont and witness the poor little
romance of their life exposed TO the
ridicule and laughter of an un-
sympathetic world. If it once became
understood that the ardent lover
should offer such a proof of his good
faith. then girl would know well
what to expect from lover who with
held it. At any rate, parents or
guardians of the lower and middle
classes would not allow young man
TO grow too particular in his atten-
tions'--as their phrase runs unless he
showed a disposition to furnish this
guarantee. Then, if the promise were
unfulflled, even the most modest and
sensitive maiden could proceed
against her faithless lover without loss
of pride or dignity.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
DRoBATE oRDER:-state OF Michigan

DRoBATE ER:-state OF Michigan
County of Uratiot. So. At a session of the
Probate Court Tor said County, held at the
Probate Office In the Village OF Ithaca on tho
9Th day OF March in the year one thousand
eight hundred ana ninety four Present,
John NJ. EyeTden. Judge of Probate In the
matter of the estate of John ;. Gorfon. de-
ceased On reading and Ming the petition,
duly verified OF Almon a. Gorton praying that
an admnis rltor be appointed OF the estate Of
seid decreased.
Thereupon Il is ordered. that Monday. the
10th day of April next, AZ ten o'clock In the
forenoon. be- assigned for the bearing OF said
petition. and that the heirsat-lsw Of said de-
ceascd, aud all other persons interested in enid
estate. are required 10 appear at a session OF
said couri then TO be holden In the probate
office. III the village of Ithaca and show cause,
II any there be, why the prayer of the petit
toner should not be granted; md IL is further
ordered that said petitioner give notice to- the
persons inter- ste in said estate, OF the pen
doncy OF said petition ana the hearing there
OF by causing copy OF thie order TO be pub
lished In the ANA RECORD 8 newspaper
printed and circulated in said county three
successive weeks previous TO said day OF hear
ing.
"a true copy. JOHN NJ. EvERDEE,
SEAL. Judge of rebate
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
An Ahsent-Nlinded Duke.

The duke of York, Queen Victoria's
grandson, who recently welded
Princess May of Tecl1, is habitually alb
sent-minded. On his wedding trip he
visited Sandringham. where he was
waited upon by dcputation of farm
ers, who expressed their wishes for his
happiness and long life, and all that
sort Of thing. The duke appeared in
deep thought, and. when the congrat-
ulations ended, he replied, gravely; II
thank you for your good wishes. in
tend to raise a fine lot of red-polled
cattle and Berkshire pigs on my re-
turn" The farmers, and especially
the orator, must have felt immensely
gratified at that reply.
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
CHARACTER AND PHYSIQUE.
Red Hair Was Regarded with Disfavor by
the Romano.

Judging character by physical indi-
cations was practiced by the ancients
as well as more occult arts of divina-
ton, the quality and color of hair be-
ing especially a subject of theory.
Straight, lank hair was regarded as in
dicative Of pusillanimity andocoward-
ice. Napoleon was only the exception
that proved the rule, for his hair was
as straight as an Indians. Frizzly hair
was supposed TO accompany coarseness
of nature and clumsiness of manner.
The compromise between these two
types was considered most desirable,
that is straight hair, ending in softly
turned rings. Achilles and Ajax Tela-
mon had this sort of hair and such
also were the locks of Timon, the
misanthropic Athenian. In color au-
burn or light brown hair was consid-
cred the most beautiful, as well as in
dicative of intelligence, amiability, in
dustry and extreme susceptibility to
the charms of the opposite sex. Black
hair was regarded with disfavor by the
Romans, but red was an object of ex-
IRENE aversion, prejudice carried to
such an extreme that even donkeys
suffered from it, according to the prov
erb: LAS wicked as a red ass" Among
the Copts red donkey was every year
sacrificed by hurting it from high
wall
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
LEGAL NOTICES.

DROBATE ORDER.-state OF Michigan,
j County OF Gratiot ~. At q session OF the
Probate Court for said County. held at the Pro-
bate Office, in the Village OF Ithaca on the 10Th
day of March In the year one thousand eight
hundred and ninty-four. Present, John NJ.
Everden. Judge OF Probate In the matter Of
the estate oil Jonas J.. Yerian, deceased. On
reading and filing the petition, duly verified,
OF Virginia y. larian, praying that certain
instrument now on file in THIS Court, pur-
porting 10 be the last will and testau ent Of said
deceased, may Ice admitted To Probate, and
that administration thereof he granted 10
Virginia Il Yerian the executrix named In
said will
Thereupon Il il ordered, that Monday, the
10Th day OF April next, al ten O'Clock in the
forenoon, be ssgued Tor the hearing OF said
petition, and tnat the heirs-at-law OF said de-
ceased, and all other persons Interested In said
estate. are required To appear nj session OF
said court. then To be holden AT the probate
Office in the village OF Ithaca and show cause,
II any there be. why the prayer OF the petit
TONER should not be granted: And IL Is fur
ther ordered, that said petitioner give notice
u persons interested III said estate of the PEN
dency of said petition, and the hearing thereof,
by causing "A copy of this order to be publ shed
in he ALMA RECORD a newspaper printed and
circulated In said county three successive
weeks previous TO said day of hearing.
"a true copy. JOHN NJ. EyERDEN.
7S5-iw Judge of Probat6o
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13

THANCERY SALE:-In pursuance aud by
" virtue Il an order and decree of the cir
cult court for the county of Gratiot in chan.
Gerry, in the State of Michigan, made and dated
on the thirteenth day OF March A. ID, 1894, III u
certain cause therein pending wherein Helen
+. Montague is complainant and John N. Bard
and Rachel Bard are defendants. Notice Is
hereby given, that for the purpose OF making
the DEBT mentioned in said decree together
with interest, costs and expenses ana the
peDses of this sale shall Sell at public auction
to the highest bidder at he north front door
OF the court house in the village OF Ithaca,
county of Gratot and state OF Michigan on
Tuesday the fifteenth day of May A. %. 1894
At ten O'clock in the forenoon all of the fol-
lowing described premises or so much thereof
as may be necessary TO raise tho amount due
10 the said complainant for said principal,
interest and costs. towt.
All that certain piece or parcel OF land sit
uated In the Township OF Eba, County OF
Gratiot and State of Michigan and described as
follows to-wit: The south half w. of the
south half Ga) OF the northwest quarter "a of
section eight 90 township nine 30 north of
range one (l) west containing forty (4O) acres
more or less
Dated Alma Michigan, March 2sth, 1894.
join ID. SPJNNEY,
Circuit Court Commissioner In and tor
Gratiot County, Michigan.
&. L. WILSON. solicitor for complainant,
Saranac, Michigan. 7sG-7w ,
Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-13
Curions EloMers.

The Brazilian flower known as the
running antelope" is so called be-
cause its white petals have a series of
well-defned, dark-colored lines and
dots in which the imagination can
readily trace the form of an antelope
with its limbs outstretched and head
thrown back, seemingly fleeing for its
life. In the "caricature plant" one
species has the initiative form on the
petals, and another has it outlined in
the ribs and shading of the leaves.
This last mentioned curiosity bears a
remarkably well-executed likeness of
the duke of Wellington, and has on
that account been named Arthur and
His Nose" Among the orchids the
initiative form is entirely different in
character, being exhibited in the shape
of the flower itself. Some are exact
counterfeits of bees, butterflies, moths,
etc, while others take upon themselves
the form of worms and beetles.
Naturalists believe that in the first in
stance il is natures trap to lure other
bees, moths and butterflies, but in the
case of the worm and beetle orchids
or those that are exact counterparts Of
toads, lizards and huge spiders, they
90 not attempt to explain.