davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-04-24

COWS huldied IN the shelter Of the
h1yrioka to keep from being blown
away
~ think we're going to have
Storm said Mr. MarryatL 'Tm
quite certain smell snow In the air
And there are more cheerful places
during a northeast blizzard than Uncle
Origen's house"
He was almost disposed 70 be sorry
that he had como whom he stood there,
knocking and humping with the
handle Of HE umbrollaat the shrunken
panels Of the front door.
Pretty soon a crooked old man, with
his garments fastened with tow-strings
instead Of buttons, came shuiling to
the door and peepod suspioiously
around It.
"Heh?" said he, with ono hand
back Of his poor old purple ear.
'Pears to me / heard somebody
knocking, didn't ~"
eyes. it's me. came the reply
John Marryatt, from Albany, don't
you know2"
MARRIED." squeaked the old man.
"To who?"
'John-Mar-ry-attl" distinctly
repeated the visitor. Chow is my
Uncle Origen?"
The crooked old man sheltered his
candle-hame with one hand and stared
as if he were gradually being trans
formed into one huge eye.
'Land sakes aliyel said he.
Didn't you know? He was buried
yestordayw
Here was a cheerful welcome for a
city visitor.
''But what can do2" said Marry
att, with a helpless gaze down tho
darkening mountain-side. 81 came
to visit him. had not heard"
"Walk in, walk in, said the old
man, holding the haring candle high
above his head and fattening himself
against the wall. ITS pretty lone
some here but there's the deceased's
chamber you can sleep in, and 1 trapped
rabbit in the pine wood this
morning that Isabella's just stewing
up"
"Isabellap repeated John Marry
att.
She's the old woman in charge
my sister," explained the ancient
warder Of the castle. "Ain't much to
look at, but a proper good cook"
'But, said Mr.. Marryatt, 81 don't
think 1 care about sleeping in the
room where-Uncle Origen died.
The old man stared at him with
Gull, CLASSY eyes
"Eh?" said he. "Wy not? You
don't believe in sperritooalism, do
youP" erie
Nonsense /" Marryatt
"Then why amt one room as good
as another ?" asked the old man stol-
idly.
Nevertheless, would prefer to go
on to the nearest hotel, {" impatiently
uttered John.
Saint none short O. seven mile, y
said the old man. "And that's only q
summer machine. They don't run il
arter the waterfalls friz up. But
there's a freight train, with passenger
caboose hitched on, that stops at Cut
ting Corners at midnight"
"Where is Cutting Corners ?"
eight mile away"
"And how the dickens do you sup
pose 1 am to get eight miles from
here, when it is pitch dark already p
cried Marryatt, with not unnatural
irritation.
"There's Jenkins one-hoss wagon,
mildly suggested the old man. "Pn
goin' to jenkins Directly arter a boz
O. stove blackin', a paound O. taller
dips and a quarter of paound o
green tea for Isabella. can tell
Jenkens to come round and cart ye tc
the daypo, eff ye don't grudge a dol
lar"
"By all means" said Mr.. Marryat
hurriedly. "And while you are gone
Isabella, as you call her, can give me
some supper"
He sat down in the old. low-eeilef
The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-04-24
Breaking it Gently.

Little Ella-Papa, 1 know what ]
am going to give you for your birth,
day.
Father-What is it, child?
ELIZA beautiful shaving cup.
Father-Why my dear, / have al-
ready got one.
Ella-Yes, but I broke it just now.
The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-04-24

The great blizzard Of 1888 began
March II and ended March IA,
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
Christian Unity.

From the New York Herald.
A great many attempts have been made
to find some platform on which all Chris
tian denominations could stand in BROTH
eriy unity. The project mas been more or
less a failure, because each denomination
is of the opinion that its own platform is
the only one on which everybody can most
easily unite.
Now it is proposed to have what Is called
"a life creed" or an ethical creed" which
is to supplement the creed historical. Ian
Maclaren was invited to put 1t into shape,
and this was the result of his labors:
believe in the Fatherhood of God. / be-
lieve in the words of Jesus. 1 believe in a
clean heart. believe in the service of love.
l believe in the unworldly life. 1 believe in
the Beatitudes. I promise TO trust God and
follow Christ, to forgive my enemies, and
TO seek after the righteousness of God,
Ihe various sects are being more or less
agitated on this subject, but there is an
ominous degree of n-committalisma among
the clergy. Their chief fear is, and 1t is
certainly very natural fear, that after a
little While this addendum to the regular
creed would become a substitute for it.
Looking at the matter from a purely Sec
ular standpoint, this life creed would be
a better factor in the evolution of society
than the ordinary historical creed. for the
reason that the latter is purely speculative,
while the former is eminently practical.
Christian unity. however, is the most diff
ficult task ever undertaken. The good peo-
pie of the world are in love with their diff
ferences. Still. it is a mighty good world TO
be in, and everything that is desirable is
coming nearer day by day.
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
The Final Test.
From the New York World.

From the New York World.
1t is pleasant to see that a New York
publisher has had the hardihood to iss6e
a holiday edition of Pope in spite of the
verdict of critical culture that his poems
are not poetry.
According to the cultured" people who
preach "art for arts sake" what the world
needs most in pictures is more nymphs
and bacchantes, frolicking around in their
unadorned classical perfection. or else moro
old English hideousness and old Gothic
crudeness. And by the same rule, in lit
erature we are to have in one year the
extreme of sacrificing sense in q vain at
tempt to reach perfection of form, followed
the next by reaction to the strange and
the grotesuue which sacrifices form with
out regaining sense.
L this is art. on either hand, then neith-
er Shakespeare nor Pope was an artist.
Alike in many things, they are most alike in
this-that they had something to say be-
fore attempting to say it. 1t has been
truly said that this is the source and or
igin of all good writing. 1t is the secret
of power both in Shakespeare and Pope.
1t taught them to mint the truth and
give it currency as coin. accepted without
question at it's face value. No doubt there
are now in actual circulation among Eng
lish speaking peoples moro phrases from
Shakespeare and Pope than from all other
EneIish poets put together, and more from
Pope than from all others except Shakes
peare and possibly Byron.
That, after all, Is the supreme test, and
no amount of preaching "art for arts
sake" can atone for failure to meet Its
requirements.
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
okLAnoMANs roR crnA.

The plan of some enthusiastic natives of
Oklahoma to invade Cuba as a band of
peaceful agriculturists was probably
evolved by parties who were active in MAX
ing the run at the opening of the Strip.
The idea is 10 purchase or lease land in
the island. ostensibly for the purpose of
raising tobacco. although the proposed COL
ony is not to be restricted to the practice
of husbandry. but may also engage in
other civil enterprises" which is generally
understood in Oklahoma to mean efforts
for the liberation of Cuba. In order to be-
come member of this colony for the cul-
tivation of tobacco, which is also an oath
bound society, it costs 800 as an entrance
fee. and. in addition, the colonist has to
purchase his own firearms and defray his
own expenses to the tobacco field The
head OF the proposed colony to raise tobac-
co is termed the supreme commander. -
and he is to have a number of assistant
commanders and couple OF surgeons, the
latter probably to operate on the tobacco
worms, together with Il treasurer and other
necessary farming officials.
Novel though the plan may be. It does not
appear very practical. The Spanish gov-
ernment is not likely to be hoodwinked by
any such device and the tobacco raisers
would find themselves in trouble as soon as
they arrived on the island. However. If
the president of the Cuban republic should
issue proclamation, opening up for set
tlement large body of territory in Cuba,
without any penalties attaching to soon
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
Love. whose other name is Justice-which
was before Alfred, before Lycurgus, before
slavery. and will be after it,
Feminine Football.

From the Boston Advertiser
A paragraph has been going the rounds
IN the public press to the effect that some
local comment has been caused by the in
PRODUCTION of football into a Vermont fe-
male seminary. Possibly most of the story
Is made up of eXaggerations; but there are
great many people who are becoming
convinced just now that football affords
a very good opportunity for the training
OF girls. Basket bali, it is true, is more
popular, and is likely to remain so; but
either sport is likely to develop certain
qualities which are much desired by a
NUMBER OF those who take part in the
shopping excursions of the present week.
OF course,the proper thing for most wom-
en- TO have done was to have finished shop
ping at least week ago; but there is
plenty or evidence to show that the great
majority Of shoppers were not SO fortunate
as to carry out that programme. 1t can
also be asserted with much safety that q
vigorous training in football would be of a
great assistance to the average shopper at
this time. At least, it seems so to anyone
who observes the dense crowd of humanity
made up of thirty or forty individuals, all
struggling to reach any small counter in a
retail store during the present week.
OF course. girl who had spent one or
two seasons on the football field would find
no difficulty in rushing through this crowd
for gain OF five or ten yards. So in the
crowded aisles, the much thronged streets
and on the stairways, football training
would be decidedly useful to Christmas
shopper, who now finds herself taking
twenty minutes of her valuable time in
the mere journey from one place to anoth-
er. All these considerations are worthy
of attention. Possibly. however, the need
for football training will disappear when
l,.t..N -slr&r1
some day, happily and expeditiously, on a
bicycle.
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
wEArHER FoR ,pEcEMnER.

Missouri as is well known, has weather
prophet who has for long time made it
a labor of love to study the moon and
other heavenly orbs and from their hostile
or pleasing aspects tell us the kind of
weather we are going to have a month or
so in advance. In the latter part of No
vember Mr.. Hicks, for such is the fore
casters name, closely scanned the firma-
ment and saw therein numerous evil por-
tents of wild commotion among the ele-
ments. In order to be certain that he was
not deceived he consulted a goosebone,
which fully confirmed his observations.
Then he printed his forecasts for the month
which he asserted would "bring some of
the most remarkable and violent storm
periods ever witnessed" He declared that
Venus, Mercury and Mars were unusually
irritating to the earth and that the moon
had been in the sulks for some time, all of
which boded no good for us. After con-
sulting the standard barometer in Mer-
curry. Mr.. Hicks predicted great storms
of rain and snow about the 18th, "fol-
lowed by warm waves. winter thunder and
lightning. high and dangerous gales. end
ing suddenly in sweeping blizzards and
COlQ waves success
sion." From the 18th to the 23d inst, by
reason of the particularly pernicious as
poets of Vulcan and Venus, Mr.. Hicks
prophesied one of the most marked and
violent storm periods of the winter, with
grave danger threatening life and property
on and along the Great lakes and the At
lantic coast" Owing to the moon getting
full on the19th, IAN intense cold wave" was
forecasted, to be followed "along about
Christmas" by destructive rains, with
lightning and thunder in the far South,
changing to billiards, sleet storms and Sc
rious blockades in the northern districts.
The month will close with terrific winter
gales and an extreme cold wave that will
sweep the continent"
If, as stated. Mr.. Hicks confirmed his OBJ
servations by the Missouri goosebone,
then the latter meteorological instrument
has fallen far short of its usual unerrfng
accuracy. Professor Hicks may have in
advertently used a goosebone of 1895 or
some other year. in which event the mis-
take easily accounts for his lamentable
falling down" on December weather
When grounding day comes around it will
be well for Prophet Hicks to revise his
charts and get in shape to predict things
that will come TO pass.
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
Deadly Peril. of the Rich.
from the New York Press


1t is an irony of fate that there are dam
gers to the rich which fire and building
legislation cannot reach. Law properly en-
forced can make the crowded tenement
house almost absolutely safe from the per-
lis of confiagration. But there Is no way
in which the comhustible qualities of Win
dow draperies can be minimized by legis-
lative restriction. Hundreds of mortals
have met agonizing deaths because OF the
conjunction of a naked gas flame and 4
too generous upholstery.
So the piano lamp" an article OF suffl-
cient vogue to have figured rs an emblem
of the luxury of official corruption in Il
recent investigation of a great municipal
department. suddenly startles town used
to ordinary horrors by wiping out n
wealthy household of five persons. With
its peculiar facility for being tripped upon
and tipped over 1t may be said incidentally
that II is a wonder that 1t has never man
aged to enroll itself in the category of
deadly things before.
But the fact remains to mock the observ-
er that, had the means of the family in
Fffty-eighth street never been equal to this
particular item of domestic decoration, the
family In Fifty-eighth street would have
lived out this and many another happy
holiday season.
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
HIS ..LittIe FelIer..
From the Detroit Free Press.
ct haDnaned IN ha dcpt-T, Ira nv

From the Detroit Free Press.
II happened to be down In my cellar the
other morning when the ashman came
around to collect the ashes," said a gem
tleman who resides on Second avenue. ''I
was opening a barrel of great red apples
at the time and when the big, dust covered
and necessarily untidy man came back
with the empty barrel picked up an ap-
pie and held it out toward him, saying as
did so:
Won't you have an appler
''He took 1t eagerly. saying as he did so:
Thank ye. sir; I've a little feller at
home who'll be tickled to death to git 1t.
most always find something or other I'm
the ash barrels to carry home to i'm at
night, but it amt often 1 git anything
equal to this big apple. I tell ye the little
feller's eyes will shine when he sees it.
II don't know how many times that day
my thoughts were of that big, rough hand
carefully in his pocket for that little feI-
ler.'
when evening came I thought of the
little feller' who was on the lookout for
the big, dust covered father, with the cal
loused and soiled hands, but with the true
heart and the kindly word that made him
king in the eyes of that little feller.'
TT must have been a very poor and hum
BILE home to which the man went at the
the little feller's' presence to make beauti-
full even the bare walls and floors and to
bring the love light to his fathers eyes
and joy to his fathers heart.
These little felIers' glorify and beautity
many a home in which poverty abides.
But human affections can sweetly and pa
tientIy endure toll and rags and poverty
when there is a little feller' to meet and
greet the father when the long day Ii
done"
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
MUcwuMps AND CIVIL SERVICE.

Two or three days ago Mr.. Gibson, a
member Of congress from Tennessee, made
few appropriate and pertinent remarks
upon civil service reform. and incidentally
paid his respects to the Mugwump with
whom civil service is as the law and the
gospels Here is what Mr.. Gibson said of
this class of men who consider themselves
too good for any party: Some men, very
excellent men in their own opinion, seem
to think it rather disreputable for any
man to take an active part in politics.
They seem to think 1t a grievous fault for
man to be a Democrat and still moro
grievous fault for a man to be a Repub-
licau, while 1t is but little short of high
treason for a man to be a Populist. Ac-
cording to these honorable men, for they
are all honorable men, all truly good citi-
zens should disdain to belong to any par
ticuIar political party, but keep themselves
in a position to damn them all as equally
bad. In their estimation none of them have
any rights any good citizen is bound to
respect. According to these honorable men
the perfect citizen is Mugwump. and their
main object seems to be to glorify and
and to hold Mugwumpery up to the gaze
of the American world as the beau ideal,
the pink of perfect citizenship and to fill
every office with the beauty and the chiv-
airy of Mugwumpery.',
Having thus accurately defined the Mug
wanp and his habits, Mr.. Gibson advanced
scmr very sensible, notions in reference
to civil service. in the following language:
"But men say to me, Does not the Re-
publican platform favor the civil service
law?' Tot that reply that do not under
stand the Republican party to be commit
ted to a civil service law that keeps Dem
ocrats in and shuts Republicans out. In
the South, after Mr.. Cleveland and his
cabinet had turned almost every Repub-
Iican out of Office and put Democrats in
their places. he extended the civil service,
SO as to keep them in, and keep them in
during life or good behavior. I want 1t
expressly understood that am opposed to
that sort of civil service, and I believe
that the great body of the Republican
party is opposed to it, platform or no plat
form. That is a sort of civil service that
says turkey to every Democrat and 'buz-
zard' to every Republican. I want no
buz=ard in mine; Christmas is too near
both Christmases, the church Christmas
and the Republican Christmas"
Whether Mr.. Gibson is right or wrong
he undoubtedly voices the convictions of
many thousands of his intelligent fellow
citizens of all partiesAmen. too. who are
not officeseekers themselves, but are SIM
ply desirous of seeing fair play in poll
tics and despise cant and hypocrisy. The
confessed spokesman may not be an esti-
msble character. but he is far above the
sanctimonious, shifting Mugwump.
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
The Actual John Brown.

A. NJ. Courtenay, in January Chautauquan
After capture. however, the brave old
man bore himself with dignity, gentleness,
serenity, and fortitude that atone the folly
of his crime. though not its guilt. That is
explained-may the wolrd be generous
enough to add excused-on two grounds.
First his morbid mental condition.
Judge Richard Parker, of winchester, who
presided at his trial, man of great acute
ness and fairness, a careful student OF the
case firmly believed Brown to be partially
insane Beecher said, 1.-The shot that
struck the sons heart lin Kansas crazed
the fathers brain. I mourn the obscura-
ton of his reason"
His counsel proposed the plea of insanity.
but Brown Indignantly repelled it. He
probably knew nothing OF the subtler
forms of mental alienation and supposed
insanity to mean either idiocy or violent
mania. A man may live near the border
line of sanity, with all his acts and ideas
normal, except in one mastering passion or
purpose, of which he is unable to judge
soundly. This is often the case when there
is an insane diathesis, or even a constitu-
tional tendency to nervous instability,
which may lie latent through life, or devel-
op into hysteria, hypochondria, or mono-
mania.
There was insanity in Browns family.
On the mothers side were numerous in
stances, and Browns own first and sec
ond sons were deranged. Such heredity
affords fruitful field for the growth of
passionate deIusions, and it is probable
that Browns long broodfng over slavery
developed into monomania during the eX-
posure and excitement in Kansas.
The evidence all points to monomania on
a subject not inherently absurd, and to a
degree not destructive of general normal
ity, so that he passed for years, and with
most men, as sound shrewd, and saga
cious.
The second plea on his behalf is that in
all the sane area of his nature, by far the
greatest part, he was absolutely conscien-
tious.
After all one cannot deny n certain hom-
age to the hero outlaw, for ii is sublime
for a man to die willingly and unfiinching-
ly, however madly and mistakenly, out of
love for a cause.
And the pity of it Is that he threw away
his life; for great forces were in motion
which abolished slavery, and would have
done so had Brown lived and died in
peaceful obscurity as a tanner in Craw-
ford county AS Emerson truly said, The
arch aboiitionist. older than Brown, and
older than the Shenandoah mountains. is
Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
A Ray of Hope for kansas.

From the New York Sun.
Leedy, the Populist seer who is to be the
next governor of Kansas, has given up his
plan of blowing blood in the ears of cap
italists, and there is hope that he will be a
quiet, sane and conservative official. John
Breidenthal, chairman of the Kansas Popu-
list state committee and candidate for
PETERS job in the senate, has declared in a
New York financial paper that the Kansas
Populists are no small potatoes of capital.
lists themselves. So let reason resume her
throne among the sons OF the sunflower
and keep it If she can. 1t is encouraging to
note that some of the dervisheS who
howled in the most ear-rending manner
during the campaign are mild as mice now
adays and hardly give a squeak where they
were wont to split the heavens. Probably
they thought that bowling and roaring
were popular diversions in Kansas, but now
that cold weather is coming on and there
is no necessity of exciting themselves about
ratios and plutocrats and the crime of
1873" they can afford to be quiet and to at
tend to some other business than Populist
meetings. If the Kansas Populist leaders
are capable of protracted periods of COM
mon sense and mental sobriety, now is
their time; and they seem to be taking it.
1t is not made clear, by Mr.. Breidenthars s
article, why the Kansas Populists, being
plutocrats on a small scale themselves,
should have been so heated against other
plutocrats, but perhaps the saw about two
of a trade explains the matter. Or perhaps
the more violent Kansas Populists come
from the western part of state, region
which seems to have been singularly rich
in bad weather, bad seasons and entomo-
logical incursions. The climate of Western
Kansas must reform to keep pace with the
improvement reported or hoped for in the
intellectuals of the Populist party.