davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

great relish. This is interesting only in
the light of his after greatness, of course,
for that is the way the Lincolns them
selves roasted potatoes and ate them,"
said Mrs. Heibach, with a smile.
Shortly after that" she continued, az
was married and don't remember seeing
Lincoln again. My father and mother
died and my brothers and sisters moved
away, so that our family was broken up.
Once after Lincoln was elected President
he wrote me letter in regard to some
business. | did not think very much of it
and OF course it got lost 1t was only after
he was killed that got to thinking much
about him, and even then it seemed hard
to realize that one of the greatest men
that ever lived should be the same Abe
Lincoln that used to run about our house
on such familiar terms, never caring a
whit about his appearance.
What was his letter to me about?
Well it was in answer 10 one | wrote him.
After my fathers death we learned of an
interest we had in the estate of his father
in England. We had no one particularly
to turn to for advice and one day l sat
down and wrote Abe = Mr.. Lincoln, he
was then at the White House, Washing
ton, telling him all about it. Almost by
return mail the answer came, written in
Lincoln's own hand expressing his sor
row for our loss and his in the death OF
his old friend Grant, and telling me to
make out the papers and send them to him
and he would attend to the matter for US
and that it would not cost us a cent.
~ did so, but there was interference
| from some others in our family, which was
large one. One wanted to 90 one thing
and another wanted to do some other.
This probably illustrates more than any
thing how difficult it was for us women
to believe that our old neighbor, Abe
| Lincoln, was wiser than anybody else.
even though he was then President of the
! United States. l put no value on his
autograph letter, and allowed it to be de-
! stroyed or lost-perhaps threw 1t III the
fire myself. And as for his advice it was
overruled by the others IN the family, his
offer OF assistance, which would doubtless
| have served us to the full accomplish
ment of what we desired, was ignored.
We put the matter in the hands OF a
Chicago banker and lawyer and never
got anything out of it."
1t was only after the death of Lincoln
that Mrs. Heibach began to appreciate the
real greatness OF her one time neighb0r.
She says she has always been diffident
about bringing her knowledge or relation
ship to him to public notice, although she
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

but straight marks, which means that
death has come. The respiration is OBJ
served to always cease before the heart
does.
Then the ribbon rods long perhaps, is
taken off for future study, and soon knot
of young men and women may be seen in
terestedly dissecting the remains on an
other laboratory table.
By these and great number of similar
experiments the students are constantly
inquir1ng for themselves into the secrets
of life. Every part and function, so far as
possible, is placed under experimental in
quiry.
But the students do more experiment.
ing on themselves and on each other than
on the animals sacrificed. One thing, for
instance, that the students all do is to
map out the surface of the body according
to its sensitiveness to various things. For
instance, how far apart can two points
touching the skin be distinguished as
two and not one. Students go in pairs
to corners, and while one shuts or
averts his eyes the other will touch his
skin with his compass, and the subject
tells if he can whether he is touched with
one or both of the compass points. zone,
one two, one, two," says the subject, and
half the time he is wrong. Every answer
is recorded and results figured out later.
The students learn that people vary in
perception of this sort, but that as rule
we can distinguish on the tip of the
! tongue two points from one when they
are IL milIimeters apart in the palm of
the index finger at %, in the palm of the
second finger at "A, on the back of the
hand at 1913 and on the back at 66 milli-
meters. Practice increases this percep-
tion and the back of the hand can be edu-
Gated.
They practice the perception OF time in
tervals with the touch and find that the
touch beats the ear in this. By the touch
intervals of one fifteen-hundredth of q
second can be distinguished from con-
tinuous pressure, while vastly slower
sound intervals would seem continuous
sound.
Those recording machines are in con-
slant use in studying human respiration,
circulation, and so on. The students sit,
stand and lie by them and get the graphic
records of their circulation and respiration
when they are tired, when they are rested
and when they come in from hard bicycle
ride. In taking the record of circulation
cardiograph is fastened over the heart and
its beating against a sensitive rubber bulb
is transmitted to the recording pens.
They measure the carbonic acid gas ex-
hailed under different conditions, the tidal
and residual air in the lungs and so on.
The machines record the slightest laugh
ing, coughing or talking, and these things
can be distinguished in the record.
The study of the influence of nervous
! stimulus on the involuntary muscles and
| of the amount of work the voluntary
muscles can Go under various conditions is
another of the many fields into which
Professor Jenkins and Professor Greene
! lead the students.
1t is not surprising that 175 Stanford
students are deeply interested in various
mysterious problems of physical life.
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

principles. Physiology is generally taken
to be the study of whether one ought
to eat hard or soft eggs and when to
take salt water baths, but at Stanford
it is pursued as science, and by the most
modern educational methods. There are
now at Stanford more students doing the
latest laboratory work than there are in all
the other universities of America put to-
gether. They get at the laws by which
the different parts of the human body
work, and do it by finding out for them
selves. A world of problems are solved
by the students. They measure for them
selves the velocity of nervous impulse;
the effect on nervous action of tempera-
ture, drugs, and so on; the effect of vari-
Gus conditions ana stimuli on the nature
and power of muscular contraction, etc.
They study arterial pressures, the control
of different sets of nerves over circulation,
and they study respiration and other
physiological functions in all sorts of
WAYS.
This educational work involves a great
slaughter of the lower animals in
that part of Santa Clara County. They
don't need any pound for dogs
about Palo Alto. If anybody wants to
get rid of a good-for-noth cur they
can find plenty of Stanford boys who
will ioyously take charge of him and lead
him to the physiological laboratory, where
his last unconscious gasps and his faint
dying heart beats will be caught on a paper
ribbon and preserved. Likewise cats. The
Stanford boys, however, never steal dogs
or cats, despite rumors of mysterious
feline disappearances. Then tie boys set
traps for mice and rabbits, tramp off to
the marshes to catch frogs and turtles and
to the woods for lizards and other things.
The fishermen and marsh hunters down
there know the home turtle market.
They don't do much in the way of vivi-
section, and whenever it is done the vic
tim peacefully sleeps under the influence
of anesthetics. A number of dogs have
recently shown in the laboratory how
their blood circulated. In the study of
the circulation of a dog he is placed on a
laboratory table and chloroformed. Then
a canula is inserted in an artery of the
neck and connected by rubber tube with
the big and complicated recording
machine, which is run by an electric
motor, while long pendulum, with elec-
trical connections. marks the time. G. w.
Green, who is an ardent student himself,
will show how to bare the vagus nerve
leading to the heart and then it is touched
with an electric wire.
The recording pen which has been max
ing rhythmic zigzag lines on the paper in
response to every infnitesimal change of
heart pressure, will appear to have fit for
a second or two and there on the paper
will be seen Just how the dogs heart spas
medically contracted. Then drugs and
polsons such as pylocarpin, promo caffein,
nitro-glycerine and so on will be given the
| dog, and their action on the heart will be
plainly seen. Probably the dogs respira-
ton is being similarly recorded on the
same ribbon with another pen, and after
three or four hours of experiment the re-
cording pens will go up and down ON the
moving paper more family. Soon the
movements peter out and the pens make
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16
nerves reaching the heart only regulate its

nerves reaching the heart only regulate its
movements. and only to certain extent.
Through the nerves the effect of drugs,
of mental states and the need of the body
for more or less blood is conveyed to the
heart, retarding or Fastening its move
ments.
The study of the movements OF the
heart with the aid of the minuteIy precise
recording machines show that there is a
certain period in heartbeat when the
movement cannot be affected. The heart
sets the limit to the extent that it will be
interfered with. If an electric or nervous
stimulus be applied just after contrac-
ton has begun that contraction will not
be interfered with and the stimulus will
have to wait until the heart is ready to be
affected by it. The period in beat dur
ing which the heart maintains its inde-
pendence is called the refractory period.
Another OF the ways in which the heart
asserts its independence is in the way in
which it maintains it's rhythm. Ii a quick
stimulus is applied, making one quicker
contraction-making the heart lose step
it will give a very slow contraction to
wait for the regularly rhythmic instan: for
the next beat. Alfthese things are studied
with great detail in the physiological
laboratory.
Miss Briggs study of the refractory
period deals with special unsolved prob.
lem. 1t is disputed among psychologists
whether the power of contraction resides
in the heart muscles themselves or in the
nerves and ganglia of the heart itself
When the turtles heart beats away in the
glass bulb, Is the power resident in the
muscles or in the nerve matter among
them? Now Miss Briggs is tackling this
problem. Her investigations will be an
important contribution to physiological
science, and she may possibly achieve
quite famous triumph.
She is now working with slice of the
heart only. A piece of heart muscle
placed in blood will contract, too, as the
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

realizes now that they must be of general
interest. Once entered upon the subject
she delights to recall and dwell upon the
incidents in her life associated with that
of the martyred President. OF these there
seems to be no end. In speaking of him
her nina leaps from one occasion to
another with great rapidity, and
without regard to order or sequence.
She will tell of how she once
pushed him into mud-puddle
when she was small girl and in the next
breath tell of some happening of years
later. But it is all SO marked with the
strong individuality of Abraham Lincoln,
boy and man, that there is no mistaking
it, and it is all very interesting. With the
exception of dates the old lady's memory
is remarkably clear and she tells her story
with vivid detail Mrs. Heibach is very
well preserved old lady, her face showing
but few wrinkles, her eyes are clear and
bright, and she reads without the aid of
glasses
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

He had no political ambitions, however,
or, indeed, was not much at money-mak-
ing. We all lived in log cabins and in the
very plainest fashion.
"My father was interested in Lincoln
not so much because he showed signs of
greatness but because he. was so thor
oughly honest and good. L think he was
as near perfect in that way as man could
be. l don't think an evil thought ever en-
tered that mans head. He would not
take the slightest advantage Of anybody.
If he had horse to swap he wanted to see
the other man get as good as he gave.
My father worked very hard to secure Lin
coins election to the Legislature, going
| about the country making speeches and
electioneering.
But as for myself" continued Mrs.
Heibach, ''I never took any particular in
terest in Abe Lincoln, and that is one rea-
son perhaps why 1 cannot fix the dates of
| any of these things. He was the fast one
of our neighbors that L would ever have
! thought of being great man. But when
l think of him now l can see that he was
different from the other men. There was
something about him that made him
every body's. friend. He always had a
| smile on his face when he talked, but
when he was studying one of my father s
books he looked so serious that he seemed
to be sick, and always frightened me SO
that / seldom went near him.
''For several years after that 1 don't
know just when 1 saw Abe Lincoln and
when l didn't. He seemed to be around
most of the time, no matter where we
lived. I remember when he was married
and when Robert (Bob, we called him)
was born.
But during these years Abe Lincoln
was becoming a great man." said Mrs.
| Heibach after pause. 'He never forgot
his old nelghbors, though. / recollect
once, when he had got SO that everybody
| looked up to him, that he called to see
my father on some important business.
He had a number of State officials with
him, and was dressed in what were con-
sidered fine clothes in those days. After a
few moments conversation Lincoln left
| the party in the front room with my faith er
and went out into the kitchen to see my
mother. There happened to be some
| potatoes roasting in the ashes at the time,
and Lincoln saw them. Reaching down
he scraped one out, and after rubbing it on
his elegant black pants to clean it asked
my mother for some salt. She pro tested
and wanted to get him plate, but he
wouldn't allow it, and broke it open while
/ standing in front of the fire and ate it with
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

farmland. / know his folks were awfuliy
poor, and Lincoln would be absent from
his home for weeks at a time.
''My father took great interest IN hlm'
and allowed him the freest use OF MS
library. This Lincoln appreciated greatly
and availed himself of it as much as ms
work would permit him to do. de wouiu
read in our house and often take the DOCKS
to his own home. Then l remember ne
became candidate for the State Leglsla-
ture. My father was among the hrst, II
not the first, to bring forward his name Tor
the nomination. At this time, you under
stand, 1 had no idea that Lincoln was any
body more than a woodsman, while my
father was quite big man in the eommu-
nity. He was well read and made speeches.
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

with incidents of her early life in which
Lincoln figured. Her father family and
his were neighbors both in Indiana and
Illinois, and she may be said almost to
have grown up with Lincoln. Her mem
ory of the events of those pioneer days is
perfectly clear, although she does not at
tempt to cite dates for any of them. They
were simply the everyday affairs of her
early life, to which she had no occasion TO
attach the month and year.
Her father was James L. Grant. He
was an Englishman and q lawyer, but
while he had no faculty for money-mak-
ing, neither was he devoted to his profess
sion, although he gained some local emf
nence in it and was deemed quite an
orator. He was a friend and in the early
days a champion of Lincoln. Mrs. Hell
bach claims the honor for him of having
first proposed Lincoln for the State Legis-
lature, worked hard for his election and
predicted greater things for him as the
years would run on. Mr.. Grants people
were wealthy, and he had come out on the
plains of Indiana and afterward to Illinois
with collection of books that formed for
the time and place quite fine library. He
did not practice law much, but bought q
big stretch of land and raised cattle.
Il cannot remember time when 1 did
not know Abe Lincoln" said Mrs. Hal
bach Yesterday. 1T seems to me that the
two families, his and mine, were always
neighbors. l remember him as tall
lanky boy, who was good-natured and
kind to everybody, and was constantly
doing favors for some neighbor. L remem-
Der as a little girl that we lived in In
diana-that is, have since learned it was
Indiana. Then l remember that the Lin
coins moved away, and after some time we
moved also. The country where we set
tied was wild and there were few people.
But l found that the LIncolns were again
among our nearest neighbors. | very we'll
remember the first visit that Lincoln paid
upon our removal to the new country,
which was Illinois. You should have
seen him. He was then very tall and was
dressed in the toughest clothes.
His pants were like bags and were
stuffed into the tops OF his boots. They
were so big he couldn't get them all in,
and they hung down over the front in a
comlcal manner. But he romped and
played with the children like great big
schoolboY.
About this time I considered Lincoln
the ugliest person ever saw, but in time
his face grew TO be good-looking. 1 don't
know what kind of work he was doing
about this time, but think it was that of a
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16
A Stanford Scientific Girl Takes
Them Out by the
Score.
PROBLEM OF W0MAN's BREATH.
Pursuing Secrets of Life in Dogs
Turtles and Boys in Physio.
logical laboratory.

There is a bright young lady student
down at Stanford University who is dill
gently, month after month, working away
with hearts that she keeps palpitating for
hours after they are torn from the places
where they grew.
Miss Evelyn Briggs is studying the ere
fractory period of the heart, and to find
out about that mystery scores OF still beat
ing hearts have been sacrificed on electric
brass affairs in the university laboratories.
OF course, they are not human hearts that
are thus grimly toyed with on the border
land between life and death, but it is a
highly important secret OF the human
heart that Miss Briggs is ardently pursu-
ing.
They are the hearts of mud turtles that
keep up the interesting procession from
the bay marshes to the pneumographs.
AS has long been known the heart of a
turtle or q frog can be kept beating for
many hours after death if it is supplied
with blood or even proper salt solution.
If turtles heart is removed promptly
after death and put INTO blood it Will lie as
though dead for about four hours, and then
will begin its rhythmic contractions just as
though it was where it belonged and the
turtle had come to life again.
Among the great number of scientific
machines in the physiological laboratory
down there is a rather complicated little
one in which a turtles heart is placed and
kept pumping blood from one bottle into
another The heart is placed in a little
glass bulb, at the top OF which are tubes
which are connected with the openings in
the heart. Rubber tubes connect with two
reservoirs placed about on a level with the
heart and the heart will pump away
for twenty-four hours or so without
getting tired. No stimulus of any kind is
applied. BY a delicate mechanism the
movements of the heart cause a. pen to
graphically and exactly record them on q
moving paper ribbon. By this means the
! physiological action of the heart can be
studied to great advantage. There it is
| right before the observers eyes, and the
strength, time and faintest variations oi
movement are plainly recorded.
This shows that the power and tendency
to contract is inherent in the heart itself
and that each contraction is not due to 6
stimulus involuntarilY supplied by the
nerves reaching the heart, as has been
supposed up to a comparatively short time
ago. The heart works away like an indie
| pendent thing or life within us. The
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16
Beauties of Colonial Architecture.

Nothing is much better as model for
American domestic work than colonial
architecture Of the early part of the
century; nothing is worse than
"modern colonial" for to the popu-
lar architect house may be made
colonial by covering confused plan and
a chaotic exterior with details unintel-
ligently copied from old colonial furni-
ture He is serenely ignorant of the
fact that what is good in an old colonial
house is its superb frankness, straight
forwardness and simplicity. From pur-
ist's- standpoint much colonial detail evil
dences a debased taste, and is merely the
result of an uneducated builders attempt
to call to mind the work with which he
himself was familiar in England. But
against the plan and general mass of an
cient colonial houses no criticism what
ever can be usht.-Ladies' Home
Journal.
The San Francisco call., 1896-02-16

TT HERE is an active, alert little
woman, 70 years of age, but who
wears the appearance of not more
II than 55, living up on Mason
street, VINO was a familiar neigh
Dor and friend of Abraham Lincoln during
his early years and until the time he was
elected to the Presidency. She is Mrs.
Annie Heibach. With her husband she
came to California in 1862, her husbands
sympathies not being strong enough with
North or South to lead him to enlist, and
when 1t came to the period of the draft his
negative feeling caused him to wish to
avoid it. The husband is now dead and
Mrs. Heibach lives with her two
daughters.
The little woman's memory is charged
The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-06
WILL BE 4 GREAT EVENT
Horse and bicycle Races at the Driving
Park Tomorrow

The PAGES at the Gsntlemen's Driving
park tomorrow afternoon VIII be the
most hotly contested Of the season. Be-
sides what was given IN yesterdays
Eagle there VIII be q bicycle race for
for boys with seven entries. the prize
being AZ order on John c. McNaghtel
for a pair Of William hneeland' tan
lace S. % shoes.
There WI be 4 half nile bicycle race.
Best Two IN three, for q purse OF $S.e0
TICh SIX cor taStants
There VII also Be fancy riding by the
expert waeelman. Professor A BelfeA
Al this and more - the afternoon Is
Ions enough n addition 20 the running
races Tor thOTouShbreds and the go
trot o. pace with such favo-1tss as Maud
:, winner = TIE last race. often called
Tbs &lkuIai3'' by an admitting public;
Truly May and Ben Donovan. the sec
ond and tAird horses IN the last event,
and the feet footed Hazel Heel. and The
a. yet unknown Butcher. and the little
STot1e- With a Big name. John McCol-
Tough, better known ss Pony John
AID last but Tot least bv 10 mean
VII Be- cile three minute trot or IA -
with such worthy Contestants s= Me-. I.
z NG-ray's daughter Of the great Doni-
neer. Mss EGJh. who vas the best
yea-Nrg At the STATE fair grounds =
1888; D-. ". A Miu5cks Bsssse Young.
daughter q the superb Joe Young. w5-,l
1rocJe5 = better Than 20 when 70 zears
old, 3 royal descendant q the great
Blac6 Hawk; Nr. Il. L. Fo-5's Freddie
z. a sou OF BsaOa West SIS; and Ed
tor Eies1 Alma \. 2 fine large fly BY
Bonnie Boy whose daughter. Bonnie ReT
took . record % 21Ti4 as a chre>y4sr-
old ard whose half brother. Joe Patane7
the matches, ID Vae greatest pac-aS
STALLION IN the world. And shere = an
other. Carrie S.muo1's Marion. q hand /
sons feEoTT that Charlie - ANXIOUS ., I
get used - going - company. They
VIII al be there ard = snybody fails 70 1
have a goodttne i Won b tl,s fault OF !
the GsntlemAl's Driving club.
The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-09-06
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHOSEN
That and Other Important Business Done
by County Committee.

The Republican county committee
met vest erday and had a most success
full and encouraging meeting. The fun
committee was present and its various
members made very fatuer1ng reports
from their respective townships. The
special CORES pendent OF the Pittsburg
Gazette was also present and having
recently Travelled IN twenty-five states,
made report that SET the committee
Wild with delight
The following executive committee
men were appointed: john A Dor2n. J.
H. Mccall, ". II. Dwight, .. II. Pit
finger end J. ". Chambers
The newly appointed auditing COM
r1ittee = as follows: Tom WilSCn, Tom
Noss and J. p EmbriCk-
twas decided to hold campaign meet
ings in every township In the county.
All day meetings VII be held AZ the
( loNin 0saces: Mt. Hope. Valley
Center, Goddard. Clearwater, Hays
VILE and Derby.
Bolh the OT-pheus AMI Goddard Glee
clubs were engaged for the campaign.