davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25
Written for The Prison Mirror.
BRUSH UP YOUR MEMORY.

There are great many ways in
which we can make good use of our
time while here. 1t may not be always
possible to pursue such work or studies
as we have been accustomed to follow
in the outer world; yet we can accumu-
late store of knowledge that will be
of infinite value in regdining the posi-
tion we have wantonly lost.
Our present misfortune should be a
stimulus to make further eXertion to
strengthen weak points in our charac-
ter. In this hiatus in our life let us do
what we can to guard against the re-
currence of the same misery. We
should look at our Imprisonment in a
philosophical light, and make the best
possible use of it. 1t will do no good
to claim you were convicted on insult
ficient evidence or rant about this, that
or the other man who got you here for
spite, as you may think. Such actions
only worry others as we'll as yourself
and are entirely valueless. One fact is
clear: you are in prison and two paths
are before you. One to improve your
education; the other to remain numb
skull.
Among other things we should spend
considerable time in improving our
memory. A good memory is neces-
sity for any ordinarily well-informed
man. AS an author once said: ''It is
no use gathering treasures if we can
not store them; it is equally useless to
learn what we cannot store in the
memory" I have read accounts of
phenomenal memories that would be
considered as impossibilties were it
not for the undoubted veracity of their
source. These great feats are achieved
in very simple way. Practice is the
architect and builder of such mental
storehouses. Their possessors did not
read to kill time as so many of us are
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25

tiOn that society is his enemy. He
feels himself an outcast and drifts into
life which very soon lands him in
the penitentiary.
We have in our country about twelve
million people who are unemployed
the most of their time, many going
from place to place throughout the
country and all cultivating the disease
of idleness which surely leads to crime.
Now the question of most Importance
to society is: how can the evil be
abated? A question will admit that
is not easy of solution. Millions of
dollars are spent every year in the vain
endeavOr to suppress crime, yet the
number of criminals is increasing at
an alarming rate. Most of the penal
institutions are adopting reformative
measures, the good influences of which
are obvious, in the way of education,
and while education is an accomplish
ment which will be of incalculable
value to him, cultivation in some use
full line of industry would be of much
more importance. When his term of
incarceration has expired and he steps
again out into the world, what bless
ing to him if he could feel that he was
master of his own destiny-that with
his acquired skill he might start life
anew with reasonable hope for sue
cess. Animated with the thought of
something brighter and better, and
cOgnizant of the danger that turks in
idleness he has strong incentive to
habits of industry.
We do not expect to have confidence
in us restored at once upon leaving
our present abode. But most of us
have the desire of reinstating ourselves:
not in week, or a year perhaps, but
honest effort will at some time be rec
Ognized. We realize the difficulties
that lie before us, and know full well
the temptations that will assail us, but
our pathway would be less numbered
if we might go forth with confidence
in our ability to make an honest liveli
hood in some useful calling.
A. r. B.
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25

upon it's changed condition, and how
its heart rebelled against the injustice
of such fate. 1t were better never
to have drank the glad moist elements.
1t were better never to have given the
life so freely bubbling up through stem
and leaf to feed the beautiful flowers l
thought my own. 1t were better to
die! Anything were better than this
this despoiled, MANNED, mutilated life!
How like the lilies are human lives
and experiences. Oh, the cellars that
some of us are living in today! 1t may
be the dark cellar of unbelief in hu-
manity and good; it may be the cellar
of disappointed hopes and ruined life.
1t may be in the cellar of grief and
heartbreak that life's fairest flower has
been rudely snatched from us when
it's perfume was sweetest. But how
dark and cold; how hopeless and deso-
late! The heart cries out in agony.
"How long, Oh Lord, how long" Can
we not open our eyes so blinded by
pain and see standing beside us the
great Gardener pointing forward to
another summer, a summer of richer
more luxuriant bloom, a summer of
fruition?
The drunkard you passed on the
street today is only in his root period.
The mud and slime lie thick about
him. But bye and bye will come the
instinct-blind and fitful at first 1t may
be-the instinct impelling growth. 1t
is always so. When the time is ripe,
the soul outgrowing old, crude con-
ditions Graves something higher, and
as the craving grows, it makes its own
higher condition possible.
| love to think that all life is tend
ing upward; that what we call sin is
but negative condition.; that there is
no such thing as retrogression. love
to think that where men see only evil
and degradation, God sees gathering
the soul shall evolve like a star. |
love to think that hands reach down
and voices call, "Come up-come up
into the higher life of the intellect, of
the Spirit! Come up where the good
only is beautiful; where sin drops off
from its own weight! Come up where
souls are not clogged and senses dulled!
Come up to call back to every thing
below you like the lily"
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25
Written for The Prison Mirror.
TWO LILIES AND LIFE.
(BY MRS. j. M. IVES, st. Paul.

Did you ever think as you saw
water-lily floating so daintily among
the green pads that its roots were
fastened down in the mud and slime?
Long before it had dreamed of the lily
life of sunshine, it was only germ.
AS it followed the law of development
and growth the rootlets fastened them
selves firmly in the soft soil, and the
tiny shoots began to push their way up
through the water. Day after day
slowly and steadily they rose higher
and higher until one morning the broad
green pads spread themselves upon the
surface of the lake and the green lily
bud began to unfold its latent beauty
Kissed Ivy sun and breeze, petal after
petal opened pure and waXen, until at
last the golden heart of the lily lay
revealed.
How dark it had been down there
The drift had tangled about its long
stems, and the struggle to reach the
surface had been so hard; but all was
forgotten in that beautiful. wonderful
life of air and sunshine. Did you hear
it calling to the little undevelOped
shoots as they wearily pushed their
way, weak and disheartened, toward
the light. I'D mt be discouraged, push
up little longer, you are al coming
up into the sunlight, into this new
blossom life" We too have been as
you are, we have all cOme-sOme
slowly and through deeper waters
but all at last c,ming up; up, up into
the beautiful sunlight You are more
than you have guessed or dreamed
down there. "You are more than
roots and stems: You are to unfold into
beauty" Did you hear it calling?
Have you ever watched your gar
dener in the fall take up bulb and
carry it down into the cellar to await
transrlanting? You did not see the
convnlsive shudder and Intellectual
struggle as it was loosened and de-
tached from the only life it had known.
You had not stood above it in the
early autum, silent, sympathizing
spectator of it's pain and anguish as
the last and fairest flower was broken
from it's stem. You did not follow it
down into the d rk cellar and know
- bitterness with which il fleet ed
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25

The infdlIibiIity of juries is we'll es-
tablIshed, but an anecdote OF a cele-
brated case tried before the late Lord
Justice Bowen, of Liverpool, is told In
"Lpaders of the Bar" in the Strand
Magazine, which places an English
jury in an amusing light. The Lord
Justice, it is said, had keen apprecia-
ton of the humOrOuS-which the
twelve Liverpool men had not.
Amin was captured very late one
night on the roof of house that had
just been broken into. He was armed
with burglars jimmy, and over his
boots were drawn a pair of thick, ribbed
stockings. He was tried for burglary;
and we believe pleaded not guilty, put
ting forward as his defense that he
had not any fel n Gus intent.
Lord Justice Bowen, in summing up,
told the jury that the facts were un-
contested, and that if they believed
the prisoners story, and reasonably
thought that a man would draw stock
lngs over hi> boots, arm himself with
a jimmy, break into house and climb
on to the roof, not for the purpose OF
committing felony, but merely III order
to take the evening air, they should
acquit the prisoner. The jury failed
to see through the delicate satire of
the Judges address and acquitted the
priSOner-EX..
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25

can feel it in yourself. The believer in
the Darwinian theory of evolution
would trace it to the lower or brute in
stinct that still clings to u.s. Certain
it is that it grows upon us from our
youth and is checked or increased ac-
cording to the training or education we
receive.
Practically speaking, no one has been
able to entirely eliminate this connect
ing link, if l may so call it, between
man and the brute creation. If we
could do so we would be perfect. But
we are able to stop its growth, and
clear its traces from our character to a
considerable extent and it is duty we
owe to ourselves and associates to
do so.
You will ask what this is we are to
subdue? Did you ever see two hungry
beasts eat out of the same trough? If
you have you noticed that the stronger
one chased the weaker away even
though there was enough food to sat
isfy dozen. There is selfishness of a
similar kind among men. 1t is this
selfish, angry, vicious nature that we
must subdue before we can be truly
happy. How many of us there are
that fret and fume and make life mis-
erable for ourselves and friends! The
loss of tritle or the slightest misbap
will set us to cursing all creation in
general and ourselves in particular.
Now, is there any sense or satisfaction
in this useless waste of energy? None;
it does not help us to right any mistake
we may have made. nor does it facili-
tate our labor. There is saying that
runs: GA poor workman quarrels with
his TOOLS" How many poor workmen
there are in the world! | have seen
men myself in particularly throw a
hammer against the ground as violently
as they could simply because they, not
the hammer, mistook finger for the
nail they were driving. These Incl
dents are all outcroppings of our brute
nature, and leave an impress on us that
others may read as the index to our
character.
We must follow one of two courses.
Our higher nature points out road to
true happiness, or as much of it as we
can enjoy in this world. Our lower in
stincts point out road to physical and
mental ruin and misery. There is no
halfway between them; either one will
govern our actions. We know the eff
fects of both. The one will keep us
down, the other will raise us up. The
one makes life paradise, the other
Will make it a veritable hell. The one
will lead us into the light, the other
keeps us in darkness. The sensible
man will be guided by one, none should
be slave to the other. j. l..
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25

in the habit of doing. They made it
point to retain part of what they
read; in this manner they erected ac-
curate receptacles for desirable knowl-
edge.
In reading books or newspapers we
ize few lines daily, increasing the
quantity as our retentive capacity i'm
proves. BY doing this we will find it
possible to grasp the cream of book
by merely reading it over slowly. How
many of us after perusing book can
repeat five lines of it in the authors
own words? Very few; we have dim
idea of the principle he wishes to ad-
vance, but clothed in our clumsy Ian
guage it loses all force in conveying it
to others.
If you will only make the attempt to
improve your power of remembering
what you read, the result will be a nat
ural mental appetite for what is good.
This will give you truer estimate of
what is to your best interests in life,
and will sharpen your wits to the ac-
QUESTION of the useful, and ulti-
mately cause you to abhor the nOnsen-
sical, ten-cent detective stories, which
are written by fools only because there
are so many human jackasses ready to
purchase them L..
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25

In every line Of business, no matter
whether conducted on a large or small
scale the little wastes, the little
economies, are the ones that turn the
balance of accounts, either for profit or
loss, and it is these little things that
need the closest attention. If the
larger, more important details of every
business are carefully looked after
there is very little chance for neglect,
carelessness or oversight. The work.
man who spoils costly piece of ma
chinerv. or causes a loss of any con-
siderable account, is held responsible,
and is generally very careful in this re-
spect, but in the little things he is not
so prompt in exercising care and
economy, and these little things are
looked upon as of no consequence and
as having no real value. We have heard
it asserted by man who, begin
ming on barely nothing, succeeded in
building up large and profitable
business, and retiring with a consider
able fortune, when asked how he man
aged, what was the secret of his sue
cess, he replied, "By saving what 9TH
ers wasted; looking after the little
things and seeing that not thing was
thrown away or cast aside as too small
or insignificant to be of any value.'-
FX
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25
Written for The Prison Mirror.
TRUE HAPPINESS.

1t is claimed there is natural long
ing in the heart of man for happiness
that reaches above all earthly power to
satisfy. That this claim is true we are
best able to judge individually. l have
no doubt but there are times when we
all feel this supermundane longing
more effectually than words can con-
vey it to our senses, times when the
harmonizing of our mental faculties
raises us above the dreary routine of
ordinary life. Every surrounding fea-
ture of our life tells us that we were
made to be happy. There is no period
of our life in which we could say we
had reached the acme of possible hap
piness. At some particular time we
may have felt that we had gained the
ideal point above which no greater hap
pinesS could be attained; but it was
only momentary feeling, and after
events showed us that it was but like
the grateful breeze on sultry day
that coels us for the moment and then
vanishes. We will always have that
supernal longing for something more
satisfying than visible nature or the
ingenuity of man has yet been able to
provide. This strange, Unsuitable long
ing is one of the most forcible argu-
ments in proof of a future existence.
In strange contradistinction to this
yearning for higher state, there would
seem to be implanted in man a natural
affinity for what is base and will make
him unhappy. Whether this attrac-
tion for evil is born with us or acquired
makes but little difference. 1t is there
like weight that is forever pulling us
back. l can feel it in myself, and you
The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-03-25
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CONTENT A PLEASURE.

There are no ills but what we make
By giving shapes and names to things
Which is the dangerous mistake
That causes all our sufferings.
o fruitful grief, the worlds disease!
And vainer man to make it so,
Who gives his mseries increase,
By cultivating his own woe!
We call that sickness which is health,
That persecution which is grace,
That poverty which is true wealth,
And that dishonor which is praise.
Alas! our time is here so short,
That in what so e'er it's spent,
OF joy or woe, does not import
Provided it be innocent.
But we may make it pleasant, too,
If we will take our measures right,
And not what heaven has done undo
BY an unruly appetite.
The world is full of beaten roads,
But yet so slippery withal.
That where one walks secure it's odds
A hundred and hundred fall
If trodden paths are then the BEST
Where the frequented are unsure
And he comes soonest to his rest
Whose journey has been most secure.
1t is content alone that makes
Our pilgrimage pleasure here
And who buys sorrow cheapest takes
An ill commodity too dear.
Selected.
The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-11-20
THE RAILROADS.

Says the Waynesburg (Pa-) Independ-
emit: Last Friday Mr.. John w. BoIeau.
who has charge Of certain coal interests
and also the Connellsville & Wheeling
railroad project, arrived here, and his
presence revived inquiries as to the flu
ture OF these two enterprises. As TO the
former he was somwhat reluctant, but as
TO the railroad he said the survey would
be taken up where left off some time ago,
and completed on 20 Wheeling and one to
MoundsviEe, w. Va. II Is expected this
work will be taken up in the near future,
and Mr.. Boileau viii have charge OF It.
A Finance q Construction Company has
been formed IN New York, and Is idenu-
fted with this movement, and the best
information obt1inable leads one to be-
heYe that the work OF construction will
be commenced in the epring. The pro-
jected line from Millsboro to this place
has been somewhat of a puzzle to our
people, but later revealed plans throw
new light on the project, and render II
more logical and feasible. It is the In
tentlon 10 build the road from Union
town to Wheeling or MoundsYille, and a
road TO Millsboro is a branch, the object
of which is to develop the coal lands of
that section, The advent OF spring is ex-
pected to bring active and definite move
ments In all these interests. In the last
ten years our people have heard much
about 4 railroad from UniontOwn To
Wheeling, and at one time was so far
advanced that the contract for building
the road was let, and for reasons the
whole matter was called off. A railroad
from Uniontown TO Wheeling Is a most
logical and practicable business venture
and capital thus invested would not be
misapplied. This will make the third
company now seeking to build a road
over this route, the others being the
home company, of which Senator Walton
Is president, and the Wheeling & Con-
nellsvtlle company, which maintains its
organization, and expects to build the
road. Why not combine them all. and
then go to work with a vim, and put the
road through?
The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-11-20

have yet to hear that 1t has failed to
do all that / claim for 1t,
To II one suffering from any of the
ills attendant upon continued loss Of
sleep l can and do heartily recommend
1t. Very truly yours,
MAYME l.. HAINES.
In all cases of ervou prostratIon,
nervous indigestion, neuralgia, sleep
l~essness, hysteria or incessant head
ache, the objective point of n true REM
edy like Paine's celery compound Is to
make more blood, gather flesh and in
crease the number of red, health-giving
corpuscles in the blood.
Paine's celery compound fills the YES
sells with red blood. drives out the dan
gerous humors and thus gives relief to
a host Of aches, pains and weaknesses,
Women and men who have lost flesh
and grown colorless and are subject to
aches and pains, gain quickly in health
from Paine's celery compound. There
Is hardly n family Of any size where
there Is not some member who is fee
bic, forever tired and below the stand
ard of heal5 to whom Palne's celery
compound would prove OF Invaluable
help. Not only does this great invig-
orator drive out the aches and dis
tresses that have accumulated because
of neglected rheumatism or neuralgia,
but the liberal gain in flesh and blood
that is always a noticeable and encour-
aging result of It's ues, brings about bet
ter health in the digestive, as%similative
and seCretive organs; in other words,
all over the body.
The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-11-20

There exists among women who are
much in society a form of WEAKNESS re-
sulting from overtaxed nerves, more in-
tense and depressing than any known
to tired muscles.
The overcrowded lives of such women
makes them slaves of anxieties and an
noyances which they cannot ignore.
The following letter from one of New
York's busiest %hostesses shows how I'M
plicltly Paine's celery compound is re-
lied on among the most intelligent,
wcll-to-do families as well as in the
many more humble households all over
the country.
New York City, Oct, 0, 1897.
Gentlemen:-I think 1t but fair to you
that | bear testimony to the beneficial
results of my use OF Paine's celery
compound.
Two years ago / was almost n wreck
from nervous prostratlon, resulting
from overwork, mental and physical.
/ had lost my memory completely, and
friends feared / would never recover.
After trying several remedies to no
avail, my physician prescribed Paine's
celery compound, and within a few days
there was II decided Improvement in my
condition.
After the use OF three bottles I was
so much better that 1t was unneces-
sary for me to continue it's use. Since
then I have recommended 1t widely, and
The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-11-20
BOATS LEAVING TOMORROW.


The marks at 6 p. m. showed o feet Z
inches and stationary. Weather clear
and cool. The top-notch of the rise
shows a little more water than was ex-
pected.
The Ben Hur was detained three hours
at this port yesterday by the government
inspection OF her boilers by Inspectors
Thomas and Clark, of Wheeling. She
passed the examination successfully.
The coal tow passed Wheeling yester-
day. The flagship was the Fred Will
son, which went down Thursday evening
at s o'clock. Tows passing yesterday
we're as follows: Enterprise and lorna
do, II a. M; Charles Hook, 2 p. M; Ed
Roberts, Smoky City, James Moren, Josh
Cook, 3p. M; John Moren, 4 p. M; &. D..
Wood, Fallie, Tom Dodsworth, Little
Fred. Charles Brown, Samuel Clark, 4 p.
m; Pacific No. 2, Coal City, Boaz. Ray
mond Horner, 8 p. M; Pacific No. /,
Mariner, G p. IN.
The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-11-20

OIL CITY-River 2 feet 3 inches and
falling. Cloudy and cool.
CORRESPONDENCE s feet 2 inches
and falling. Weather cloudy and warm
er. The James G. Blaine and the
Florence Belle are down packets on
Saturday and the Adam Jacobs and
the Nellie Hudson are up.
BROWNSVILLE-Rlver 6 feet Q
inches and falling.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES rs feet and
falling at the dam. Clear and cool.
PARKERsBURG-ohIo river 10 feet
G inches and stationary. Weather,
cloudy and cold. Passed down-The
Valley Belle. Due down-The Ben Hur
and the Virginia. Up-The Argand. The
coal fleet is expected down during the
night. The Little Kanawha is rising.
POINT PLEASANT-River 81 feet
and falling. Clear.
CTNCTNNATI-River So feet and
stationary. Clear.
CAIRO-River SO feet and falling.
Clear and warmer.
EVANSVILLE-River nj feet and
rising. Clear and cool.
LOUISVILLE-River stationary with
5 feet 4 inches in canal; 9 feet 9 inches
on falls; s feet G inches below locks.
Clear and cold.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 10 feet and rising.
Clear and cool.