davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
Living Beneath a Lake.

An Englishman. who has a lake upon
his estate, recently caused it to be
drained, and in the deepest part he
had a house built, which contains
smoking, dining and servants rooms.
The floor is Of stone, resting upon a
founda tion Of concrete. The sides and
roof are composed Of thick plate glass.
There is a passage under the water
from the boat house to the glass house
and air is obtained through large
clumps Of artificial water lilies which
rest upon the surface Of the lake.
1t is indescribably pleasant to sit in
one Of the rooms upon a warm day
The air is cool; there is no sound to
be heard, and it is interesting to watch
the fish swimming around attracted by
the glare of the electric lights.
The house cost comparatively little
to build. The owner contemplates q
more ambitious scheme. He has two
square miles Of forest, which he In
tends to inclose by.a wide, deep trench,
a strong iron railing and high stone
wall. He will then turn loose into the
inclosure every sort of wild animal
that he can procure, lions, tigers, ele-
plants, ETC., in order to ascertain il
| they can live at large in this climate
and without unduly interfering with
each other. There is to be a network
Of underground passages leading I'd
numerous stone towers in different
places in the forest. and from these Id
intends to watch the animals and
study their habits when in compare:
lively wild state.-London Truth.
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

L IN ..s
nerves; second day. sMore at his wife
f fer the first time 81 lc., they were mar.
ried, and licked one OF the children for
speaking above whisper when he
was i'll the room; third day
You may be right" interrupted the
man with the pipe, land then again
you may not. Yours is pretty good
story; but I'm not at all sure that it's
the same one was going to tell. The
fact is, I'm not posted on all the details
of the story. and was only thinking of
the particular feature Of it in which
Brown made IN eightcen-carat fool of
himself"
'.Of course I'm coming to that"
said the man with the paper. '''We'is
say that he kept it up for three or four
days and then broke over after prom
isinS himself that he would smoke
only one cigar and"
''But he didn't"
ooh, we'll; maybe he stick it out a
week or even il fortnight and then.
II knew you had another story in
mind,'' broke i'll the man with the pipe
disgustedly. ''He didn't break over at
all. He's still sticking to his swear
eff. Didn't | tell you I WAS sorry for
him! DO you suppose I'd have any oc-
casion to be sorry fer him If lie was
smoking again! OF course not It's
only because he's blamed fool enough
to stay quit that he excites any SYM
pathy."
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
A HISTORIC CANNON.
It Fired the Last Shot in the Last
Battle Of the Rebellion

It Fired the Last Shot I'm the Last
Battle OF the Rebellion
The cannon which fred the last shot:
in the last battle OF the late war is a
gun worth knowing something about.
Hence, the sale of the S-inch Colum-
bad, Lady tslocomb, . which is adver-
.tised in the Mobile Register to take
place there on the 18th, arouses the
interest Of old soldiers and old sol
diers' sons, for the reason that it is
generally supposed to be the gun
which fired the last shots Of the war,
OF that fired SO many deadly volleys
in the last battle that took place due
ing the civil war.
This last engagement. Sid an old
soldier yesterday. took pIat:;. at Span
ish Fort This engagement. Of course,
was not regular battle. and is not.
perhaps, recorded in history as such,
but it was, nevertheless, a conflict
fierce, and fire flew that day as never
before. Gen. Forrest had sent to Span.
ish Fort during the last days of the
war sufficient force Of men to guard
the place, and among the number was
the Fifth battalion Of the Washington
artillery, Capt. Cuthbert Slocomb in
command. The Lady Slccomb was
brought there and there fired it's last
shots when Wilson'S raiders stormed
the place and took it. There the Lady
Sloconlb, for a few hours before the
Old fort was surrendered, belched forth
Tire. and scattered death like an intelli-
gent Delng. hut to no avail, as the
enemy numbered several times as
much as the garrison.
After the surrender Of the fort some
Of the members Of Capt. Slocomb's
command one night rolled the Lady
Slocomb off the earthen emb1nkment
into a lagoon. or old slush hole, and
buried it, giving as their reason that
they die not want the gun to fall into
the hands of the enemy. It was after
ward dug,u and carried to Mobile.
where it was purchased by Henry
Badger, a prominent Confederate Of
that place, who had served through
the War, and knew Of the excellence
OF the Lady Slocomb.
The GIN was named after the wife or
Capt. Cuthbert Slocomb, who went out
in 1862 in charge of the Fifth battalion
OF the Washington artillery The gun
at the battle Of Shiloh spat out it's first
smoke, and spread its first desolation
in the ranks of the enemy. Through
all the memorable struggles of the
Army of the Tennessee it went and
everywhere it gained well deserved
renoWn. 1t was prettily mounted and
was at that time, as it probably is
now, handsome gun
Now the old relic is to be sold The
estate Of Henry Badger is being wound
UP, and the gun, along with other relics
OF the Confederacy, is to fall into the
hands Of others. Years ago several
efforts were made by the Washington
artillery to buy the gun, and they VIII
III ali probability be heard from at the
sale.-New Orleans Picayune.
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
THE pEHRLY NAUTILUS IND IT'S
KINDRED.

No man who wishes. to obtain a clear
conception of the present condition Of
any civilized nation can ignore history.
He must study the development Of the
nation from its beginning to Its present
state, and know something about all
the people with which it has come in
contact, The present is everywhere
the child Of the past.
Likewise the naturalist, if he desires
to understand thoroughly living things,
must have knowledge Of the related
forms Which have persisted from the
earth. He must learn the succession
Q fthese forms and the notifications
which they have undergone during the
lapse of ages.
But it is still more necessary that the
student of fossil animals should under
stand the structure and habits of those
who now live. These statements may
be gconfirmed by study Of the nauti-
lus. The animal itself belongs among
the rarities; the shell is common and
we'll known. Field Columbian Muse
UNI possesses an alcoholic specimen Of
the animal in it's shell, and consider
able number Of the shells, some whole,
others sectioned so as to show the in
ternal structure. Some Of these are
small; others reach a diameter Of nine
inches 45
The form Of the shell may be seen
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

/ OrthOceraa.


from the figure; the tints which adorn
it are indescribable. Like most snail
shells, that of the nautilus is wound
spirally, but, unlike them, all the coils
are in one plane. But the nautilus diff
fers from the shells of all snails In an
other, and more important respect. In
a living snail the body Of the animal
usually fills the whole shell from the
mouth to the tip of the spire The nau-
titus, on the contrary, occupies only a
portion of the shell, about one-half of
the last turn. The rest of the shell is
divided by cross-partitions into a large
number of chambers, and these are
filled with air. Furthermore, a slender
tube, the siphon, runs from the outer,
or body, chamber, through all the 9TH
ers to the center of the shell. Z All this
may be seen from the figure Of the
nautilus. The structure may be bet
ter understood it we imagine that we
take a common tin horn and number
of circular tin disks of different and
proper sizes. Let each disk be concaVe
on one; side and have hole in it's cen
ter. Imagine small disk to be sol
dered across the tube near the small
end, and at intervals Of half an inch
other disks as far as the middle of the
tube The tube would now be divided
into a number of chambers, the outer
most Of which is large, and would rep
resentithe portion of the shell occupied
by the animal. But the holes in the
disks s]Mould connect the chambers.
Now, suppose that a small tin tube
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

shell. In many fossil species it is thor
oughly calcified. Hence no air or wa
ter can pass through the siphon into
the chambers. The air in these cham
bers is undoubtedly secreted by the
posterior portion Of the body Of the
nautilus, just as the air bladder Of a
fish secretes the air in it. It is diff
cult to understand how the shell, cen
tanning air at a pressure produced by
from 20 to 800 fathoms Of water, can
Withstand the expansive force when
brought: to the surface
The nautilus is one of the old settlers
of the earth. The genus began it's ex-
istence at least as early as the be-
ginning of the silurian and has in all
geological periods furnished species
not very different from those now in
existence. More than 800 species are
known to have existed. It's golden age
was during the coal period, when at
least 81 species existed, but it has
steadily dwindled in Importance until
now there are only about half dozen.
If the reader will enter the paleonto-
logical rooms Of the museum he may
see some Of the ancient species. A
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
Ancyloceras.

just fitting the holes were to be run
from the bottom of the outer chamber
to the tip of the horn, and to be SOL
dered to the partition where it passes
through them. This would represent
the siphon and would open into the
body chamber, but none Of the others,
and would, furth ermore, shut them off
from one another. The figure Of the
OrthoceraS will illustrate this arrange
ment
Ii we now imagine that we take this
horn, and, beginning with the tip. wrap
it around the finger, one turn on the
other, we shall have something like q
nautilus shell. Indeed, there is reason
for believing that the nautilus has
been derived from a Straightforward
bered shell, like that Of the orthoceras,
simply becoming more and more bent
then closely -coiled. AS long as the
nautilus lives new chambers are being
formed. At intervals the animal moves
forward in it's body chamber and then
secretes itself behind new partition.
The shell grows, meanwhile, by addi-
lions to the free edges of the mouth.
The outer walls Of the shell consist Of
two layers, an outer one, resembling
porcelain and banded with terra Gotta
and white, and an inner, pearly one,
which displays the iridescent tints.
Very often, in shop shells, the outer
layer has been wholly removed
The nautilus is a close relative Of
the squids and the octopus. From the
body and out Of the mouth Of the shell
it can extend sometimes as many as
ninety arms. In the center Of the circle
of arms is the mouth, armed with pow
erful, parrot-like jaws. Like all the
squids and octopi, the nautilus is Who'll
" carnivorous, it's food consisting Of
crabs and fishes. In the East Indian
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
THE NEW ARTIFICIAL SILK.
1t Is Made From Wood Pulp, OIL
Rags and Vegetable Waste.

= SS5O
Rags and Vegetable Waste.
An interesting new product, to be
seen at the Philadelphia Museum, 23s
South Franklin street, is. artificial silk
which is made from wood pulp, old
rags, cotton stalks and various Other
sorts Of vegetable waste. From in
formation received from correspond
ents, the museums are enabled to give
a description OF the process of manu-
facture Of this new fabric.
All vegetable fiber, such as wool
flax, cotton and jute, may, by a pro
cess of digestion, treatments by acids
and alkalies, be reduced to what, il
the commerce of chemistry. is known
as ccllulose-in other words, they be
come mere cellular tissue, the sub
stance secreted by the living proto
plasm Of vegetable cell, in order tt
form its investing mebrane or eel
wall. Cellllose is, indeed, made from
wood pulp, the debris from cotton
jute and other spinning industries
etc, for variety of commercial pur
poses, and it is this material which is
the basis of artificial silk.
The process Of preparation Of this
fluid is purely chemical one: 1t is il
the subsequent treatment of the fluid
and it's conversion into textile fbe1
that the main interest centers, from an
industrial point of view. The process
is shown in operation upon a machine
which is modification of the ordinary
flyer spinning frame The fluid, a
muddy, yellowish substance, is con-
tanned in glass jar, from which it is
c>F.veyed through a pipe to a row Of
small bent glass tubes, each having an
extremely fine nozzle or orifice. These
tubes are arranged in a hollow trough
Of water, the orfice being beneath the
water level AS the fluid leaves the
nozzle the water removes so per cent
Of the solvent, and the fluid Immediate.
ly coagulates, and it is drawn off in
remarkably fine filament of brilliant
luster, and, when dry, of great tenaci-
ty. Half a dozen such fllaments are
gathered together and spun. The yarn
can be spun to any thickness of count,
and thread, it is claimed, is, of even
may be produced Of unlimited length.
The artificial silk will stand washing
and ironing, without losing luster or
without suffering any impairment of
color.
A company has been formed to man
ufacture it, with {. capital Of S10sOO0.
Its works are near Manchester, Eng.
The samples now on exhibition at the
commercial museums show all the pat
tiers that have yet been turned out. It
believed that samples of this fabric
are to be seen nowhere else in the
country.
1t is LING turned out in England for
the South American markets at 10
cents per yard, and the fabric is made
of a uniform width Of 10 IL inches.
1t seems likely that the new wood silk
will come into general use for goods in
which an attractive appearance is more
desired than lasting qualities, such as
fringe. braid, gimp, neckties, etc.-Phii-
adelphia Ledger.
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
He Frightened the Agent

The life insurance agent entered the
office with that assurance for which all
his class are noted.
Excuse me, SIR he said. II called
! to ask you if -
Eyes, yes, of course interrupted the
business man, getting up and extend
ing his. hand. ''I'm glad to see you,
/ DOCTOR
II beg your pardon, sir; you"
ooh, I know all about it," again in
/ terrupted the merchant. ''Your profess
sional air is sufficient introduction.
A man who has been an invalid as
long as have gets to know physicians
by sight"
The agent tried again to suggest that
there seemed to be some mistake, but
he was unsuccessful.
"No explanation is necessary" as
serted the merchant. CDR. Smith has
| been our family physician for q long
time, and / have every confidence in
him, but he thought ought to see q
specialist. and asked him to send one
around. Pm glad you came"
But. my dear sir"
II. am inclined to look upon the
bright side of things myself, and 1
think DIR. Smith rather exagserates the
seriousness Of my trouble. I refuse to
believe, you know, that I haven't over
six months to live. However, if you
agree with him l suppose Ill have to
be convinced. DO you want to sound
my lungs frst?"
II Cont think you
"Oh, we'll, it's irl1naterial to me. My
left lung is practically all gone, any
way, and perhaps you'd better begin
with the heart That has always been
weak, though, ever since I was a boy,
and l don't think it is much weaker
now than it was a month ago. It
ought to be good for another year. Of
! course you must remember in dag
! nosing my case that consumption runs
in the family and that my constitution
has been more or less undermined by
yellow fever. Il
! : He realized that it was unnecessary
The Agent Was Already on the
Stairs.
to continue the recital for the agent
was already on the stairs. He had ac-
complished his purpose.
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

BacuIfte

circles. If now the edges of the tin
disks forming the partitions had been
crimped, like the edges of a pieDan,
the lines where they touched tie tube,
or horn, would have run around in q
zigZag or wavy manner. By having
the crimps themselves crimped the lilsa
would have been more complicated.
Even in the nautilus it is somewhat
undulating. But in the family Of am
monites the complication gradually be-
came enormous. The baculite, which
was a straight shell like the orthoceras,
illustrates the course taken by the
edges of the partitions. Where the line
runs backward and then again for
ward there We're, in life, in the body
chamber, something like pockets into
which lobes of the animals body en-
tered. But the baculite had very sim
pie partitions compared with some 9TH
.er forms. Our figure Of the phylloceras
shows a higher grade of complication.
This figure represents a. specimen,
with a portion Of the outer wall re-
moved. The parts left white would be
occupied by lobes aad fringes Of the
animals body, and Into and between
these ran the partition wall. After a
time the animal would move forward
a EouOI WACn t1uOIll0Is QdIll.
ton would be produced, whose edges
would run back and forth like the one
shown. In some shells when the wall
is removed the partitions are seen in
great numbers and forming most COM.
pIicated patterns.
& In form the ammonites present re-
markable variations. They may be
straight, bent like cows horn, coiled
loosely like the gyroceras, OF closely.
as the phylloceras. The figure of the
ancyloca,as shows one of the more re-
markable forms. Although most of the
species havesth shell with all the coils
in one plane, some are found in which
they wind around just as does the shell
of q snail. Specimens of all these
strange shells may be seen in the mu-5
scum. Some of them exceed two feet
in diameter. More than 5000 species
are known to exist. All these am
monites are long ago extinct. They be-
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

One Pound of Coal on Steamship.
The value of one pound of coal at
different epochs of steamship evolu-
ton, as given by Mr.. A. J. McGinnis,
president Of the Liverpool Engineer
ing society, has been as follows: In
1910 a pound of coal propelled a dis
placement weight of .57S ton eight
knots; but the earning weight was only
one-tenth Of this, 80 per cent of the dis
placement representing the hull, ma
5chinery and fuel In 1850, with iron
vessels and the screw propeller, a dis
placement weight of six-tenths of ton
was propelled nine knots by a pound
of coal; but the proportion Of cargo
had risen to 81 per cent, or .16 ton. In
1850, with higher boiler pressure and
the surface condenser, 80 ton dispIace-
ment was propelled ten knots, and the
cargo was SO per cent, or 27 ton. In
1870, after the compound engine had
come into Use, Is tons displacement
was propelled ten knots. and here the
cargo formed so per cent of the whole.
being nine-tenths of ton. In 1885
there We're two classes Of freight
beats; the tramp" propelled 34 tons
isplacenlent eight and one-ha1f knots.
with go per; cent, or two tons of cargo:
ut the same time the enormous steam
erS OF the North Atlantic were driving
a displacement Of 3.14 tons twelve.
knots, with 81 per cent, or Ii tons OF
cargo. On the modern express passen-
ger steamers the cargo weight is down
to 90 ton per aol:ld of coal. Railroad
Gazette. IS
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
had him licked to standstill inside 81


had him licked to a standstill inside Of
three minutes. .
Then where did you get that eye y
was the rather pointed question fired
ut him.
Just as had him finished he an
swered, '.the girl called me a slob-
sided dude, and cut in with right
handler that blinded me. Then she in
formed lee that if Jim wasn't drunk
he could lick six of me, and before l
could recover from my establishment
she landed on my chin. That little
girl that I was trying to protect from
insult and violence at the hands of a
big bully did me up in a little less than
half of one round and then went over
and took his arm and led him away
He adjusted the bandage over his
eye again and limped away with the
remar
Whenever you hear Of a case that
for gallantry and courage you let me
know. I want to keep away from it. Z
Chicago Evening Post.
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08

81 Want to Keep Away From IT."
anatomy, he consented to explain what
had happened.
You see, I've always been believer
in gallantry,'' he said, land make it
point to chip in whenever I see
beauty in Distress
Every creditable,' commented one of
the listeners.
Don't you believe it for minute"
returned the young man who had tried
to be gallant. ''If there's one thing
that a wise man will steer clear Of it's
anything in this rescue line, and from
this time on I'm going to be wise.''
Whom did you try to rescue?" asked
one Of the crowd.
''Iow in thunder should I know? ~
retorted the man who was in need Of
repairs do you suppose I could see
anything after got that? Judging
merely by the feeling, I tried to walk
away with a steam roller in active OPP
Grafton"
He was getting somewhat excited
and angry, so no one yentured any as
sertion for fear he might shut up tight
and refuse to tell the story. Il.
WELL he said at last, "you see, it
was just this way: saw a big, husky
looking brute talking disrespectfully
to mighty pretty girl, and it nat
urally riled me. She kept telling him
to leave her alone, but he kept poster
ing. her just the same, and once or
twice he caught her by the arm and.
tried to make her go with him, and
anything like that sort of makes a
man mad, you know. It looked like an
easy gameato go against, too, for he
was drunk; 50 ] decided to take hand
in" 3.
but he wasn't so drunk as you
thought" suggested the man who
thought he. could tell the whole story
in adIancG
He was worse than. / thought"
Then maybe he was one Of those
fellows who fight best when they are.
drunk
He couldn't fight a little bit, and !
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-10-08
Popular Golf Stockings.
The golf stocking has met with

The golf stocking has met with as
tonishing success in this country, and
the gentleman who introduced it is re
garded as a public benefactor by those
young men who could not boast OF
much development of the calf. But
the rage for golf stockings is not a cir
cumstance to what occurred in Chica,
go the other day, among a party Oh
seventy full FLOODED Sioux who stopped
off in that city for few hours. All Of
Chicago's boasted sights were regard.
ed by them with phlegmatie indiffer
ence; but when these untutored chill
dren OF the forest and prairie beheld a
job lot Of golf stockings they INDUCED
in a war dance and exhibited their joy
in various other ways.