davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
A Pointed Question.

The great question whether the use
Of forks is understood in Chicago hav-
ing been happily settled in Paris, it
may be asked in seriousness whether
forks are not too much used in Chicago
and everywhere else. Not that anybody
wants to use the knife for conveying
food to the mouth, but might not the
teaspoon as a part Of the dinner equip
ment be a little more prominent?
People of breeding train their chill
dren to eat peas, for instance. with a
fork, tabooing the spoon for no apparent
reason other than that its use would
simplify and facilitate the operation.
On the anne principle they ought to eat
their peas with chopsticks, as a China
man could easily do. So with certain
kinds of pie and pastry. The relish is
marred by the loss of juices too thin for
the fork to carry. Yet the man who
values his social reputation must not
ask for a spoon.
The proper use of the silver fork
might be better understood if it were
regarded as a modified shovel with linn
i~tations imposed by it's Sits. For solids
it is an excellent shovel. For liquids it
is naturally a failure. The countryman
who on his first visit to a city hotel
asked the water for a spoon with no
Sits in it was no legitimate subject Of
ridicule. He was an impartial critic,
being without the prejudice Of habit or
tradition Hotel Mail.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
A Thirteen Month Year.

1t is suggested that on Jan. /, 1900,
a new division of the year into 13
months be instituted. If such a division
were made, the first IL months would
have 2S days, or four weeks each, and
the new month 30 days, TO make 800,
end 80 in leap years. After a few days
there would be no need to refer to calen-
dars, as the same day of the week would
have the same date through the year.
II Jan. | Were, say, Monday, every Mon
day would be the LIST, Sth, 18th and 22d;
ryery Tuesday the I'd, 9th, 10th and
33d, and so on through the year. The
changes of the moon would be on about
the same dates through tho year, and
many calculations, like interest, dates
of maturing notes, Easter and many
other important dates would DO simpli-
fed. Exchange.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
A FATHERLY ASSURANCE.
The Old Gentleman Was No Linsuist. but
He Knew Life.

mt hneW Lire.
Nj. Cumrox's son was studying his
Latin lesson. There was the tremolo Of
encouragement in his voice as he re-
marked:
81 don't seem to get along with this
lesson very well, father"
Cant you say any of it,"
"Yes, l can say 'ano, amas, amat, ;
and then 1 always forget what comes
next"
"What does those words mean, john
n.y." asked Mr.. Cumrox, who deserves
credit for being always ready to add to
a somewhat deficient early education.
"They mean i love, thou lowest, he
loves"
"It does seem too bad to see you
startin in SO soon," the old gentleman
unused, with the difficulties that have
always surrounded that verb. But you
might as well commence young to learn
that them words III one way or another
cause two-thirds of the botheration that
occurs in this life"
"Please, can / quit school, them
"No. 1t Wouldn't be any use. You
couldn't dodge 'em, and you might as
well go right along and get as familiar
with them as possible. You'll find that
~learnin 'em amt half the worry that
handlin 'em is after you know 'em.
Cheer up, Johnny, and remember that
most of your trouble is still ahead Of
you. Washington Star.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
HAS THE UMBRELLA FAD.
Chicago Man Who Carries 1t to Greater
Extremes Than Most People.

Chicago Man Who Carries 1t to Greater
Extremes Than Most People.
There is a man on the North Side
who has the umbrella fad. 1t would
hardly be fair to tell his name, as 1t
was learned in confidence, and the fad
might not be regarded as a mere eccen-
tricity by some people who have suffer
ed from it and they might be tempted
to complain to the police. Again, every
body who has lost an umbrella-and
that e o majority Of the people Of
Chicago-would look up his address in
the directory and sweep down upon him
with the hope that his lost property
might be in his collection.
There are other men who have a
weakness for taking umbrellas, but no
man is known to have carried it to so
great an extreme as this ~ He has o
collection numbering 400 umbrellas of
all kinds. A good many of them were
bought. Some of them were borrowed
permission, and others were acquired in
other ways which it would be hardly
polite to mention. The man is a good
citizen in other respects, but he is a vic
tim of the umbrella habit, and when he
sees an umbrella he is compelled to
struggle very hard to resist the e apta-
ton to make himself its owner. Usual
ly he yields to the temptation, and the
coveted prize is transferred to his col
lection.
The umbrella collector does not make
any great display of his collection. The
umbrellas are piled up in a big closet in
his bedroom, and he very seldom visits
it. Now and then he looks over them
and counts them with satisfaction. The
last time he counted them there were
398 in the closet. He has added a few
TO his collection since that time.
In every other way except this pas
sion for umbrellas, which amounts to a
mania, the man is perfectly sane. His
friends regard him as a very clever
man, and he holds a responsible posi-
tion in a big wholesale house down
town. But umbrellas are his weakness.
He is a victim of the umbrella habit
just as another man might be q victim
of the opium habit or morphine habit,
and his relatives are in constant fear
that the habit may some day get him
into trouble. Chicago Times Herald.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
ON A LOW PLANE.
Japanese Commercial Morality said 10 he
Below Par.

Japanese Commercial Morality Said TO he
Below Par.
1t has long beeI known to those who
had dealing with the Japanese that
commercial morality in Japan stands
almost on the lowest plane possible to a
civilized people. With few exceptions
even those japanese who prove estima-
BILE and high minded in all other matters
are not to be trusted in business transac-
ton. In Japan the man who fails TO
take advantage of his neighbor in a bar
gain is looked upon as a fool. The ex-
PLANTATION of this state Of things given
by Robert Young, who edits a Kobe pa
per, is that merchants in Japan have
hitherto occupied the lowest rung on the
social ladder, being deemed inferior to
the tillers of the soil and but little above
the par;ah class. Up to comparatively
recent period trader was but another
name for trickster and the pursuit of
commerce was held to argue a lack of
integrity.
With changed commercial conditions
this low standard seems to have re-
manned unaltered, so hat the Japanese
trader is always thinking how he can
best the foreigner, and he will not
fulfill his engagements if by so doing he
is likely to suffer loss. Mr.. Young gives
cogent reasons for believing that the
mikado's subjects soon will lose the for
eign customers they have gained unless
their code of commercial morals is ma
terially and rapidly improved.
Already japanese consuls have re-
ported that the country's foreign trade
is seriously injured by merchants who
send abroad matches that will not strike,
rice that is not up to sample and stuffs
the only merit of which is cheapness.
Guilds have been formed to introduce
better methods of business, but they
have not wrought much improvement,
and the situation cannot be radically
changed 50 long as there is no public
opinion to support the application Of
morality to business. AT present the or
binary japanese trader has no CON
science, and until he acquires one the
expected competition of Japan in the
markets of the world is not likely to
be worthy of serious consideration.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
CONSUMPTION
TIE Conditions Which Invite u Foothofd
OF This Dread Disease.

The germs of this disease cannot OBJ
tain a footlold until the resistive pow
ers Of the tissues have been reduced.
There must be not only the seed, but the
soil. This impaired power of resistance
may be the result of heredity, and this
influence in the causation of disease is
seldom shown to better advantage than
In the history of consumption. There
have been instances in which a single
case introduced into a long and sound
ancestry has vitiated the stock forever.
How unfortunate that such matters
are so little considered in marrying and
giving in marriage! 1t is not that the
disease is inherited, but the vulnerable
tissues, the feeble resistive powers, rem
der the offspring an easy prey to the
ubiquitous bacillus. This weakness often
shows itself by a tendency to become i'll
from slight causes, a sickness not by
any means to be COMPOUNDED with merely
q lack Of robustness or strength. One
organ or part Of the body, frequently
the mucous membrane, is usually more
prone to become affected, and the Begin
ming of the disease can often be traced
to an attack Of some slight ailment.
Not only the children Of consumptive
parents may show these characteristics,
but also those Of parents generally en-
feebled, or whose ages are widely sepa-
rated, or who are closely related by blood,
or of a mother who has previously borne
a number in quick succession. Even
when heredity is sound the same condi-
ton is sometimes induced by coddling,
by improper feeding, by attacks of acute
disease or by want and distress. In
growing children a bad carriage of body
may act injuriously by contracting and
reforming the chest. The stopped posi-
ton which boys sometimes assume in
bicycle riding should be discouraged for
this reason. William L. Russell, M.
D., in Popular Science Monthly.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
Tohaccn an Essential.

In a general order issued recently the
president virtually recognizes tobacco
as an article essential to the well being
Of great exertion, as we'll as in times Of
peace and routine. The order, which
smanates from the wal department.,
reads as follows:
"Under the authority vested in him
by section 1146, revised statutes, the
president hereby establishes an emer-
gency ration for troops operating for
short periods under circumstances which
require them to depend upon supplies
carried upon their persons. Its compo-
nent parts are as follows: Bacon, 10
ounces hard bread, l6 ounces pea meal,
4 ounces, or an equivalent in approved
material for making soup; coffee, roast
ed and ground, 2 ounces, or tea, half an
ounce; saccharin, A grains; salt, ga
ounce; pepper, A ounce; tobacco, half an
ounce"
The secretary of war directs that this
emergency ration be resorted to only OIL
occasions arising in active operations
when the use Of the regularly establish
ed ration may be impracticable; that,
although its nutritive qualities permit
its use ON half allowance. it will not be-
80 used except in cases of everything ne
cessity and never for q longer period
than ten days, and that not more than
FIVE days. emergency rations be carried
on the person at one time.
BY order Of the secretary of war, the
subsistence department will provide
tough parafin paper for wrapping the
proof packages the pea meal in cylin-
drical packages, and the coffee, tea,
~saccharin, salt, pepper and tobacco in
suitable packages Star.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04

, by wed
and it Is
loorest wIh
Is ConsldeI
1w is mnCh
ID and s8F
|er thus de-
ar, hecanS
Y aHpefim
lever tbeE
hbroken a
land eI
z is PLACED
SO a sInaa
cart. The
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Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
THE ORIENTAL PEDDLER.
The Hawkor Of the East Adopts the Gam
bling system.

-----s-
The Hawkor of the East Adopts the Cara
bling system.
The hawker of the east is picturesque
in costume and of many na~tionalities.
His sunny smile and white, cleaning
teeth are of the very essence of the blue
sky overhead. He does not stand still in
the street and appeal to ~passersby to buy
his wares. He fits from cafe to cafe and
interviews loungers smoking their mar
giles in the open air. He adopts the
gambling system as being a more direct
appeal to human passions. In his hand
he carries a lucky bag. When he enters
q cafes he invites you to dip your hand
In the bag and try your luck for a pair Of
live turkeys, a beautiful Egyptian shawl
shimmering with gold or silver en-
broidery, or some other Of the many
ornaments peculiar to the east. 1t is diff
cult to resist his persuasive ~eloquence.
The method Of procedure is this: In
his lucky bag the hawker carries 200
numbers. The figures are neatly inscrib-
ed on small slips of stiff paper. These
are rolled and curled up in the lucky
bag, which resembles a pillow case more
than anything else. When the peddler
enters the cafe, his quick eye soon de-
tects a likely customer. To start by do
Ing a trade will greatly enhance his
chances with others. Terms are arrang-
ed, say three tries for a half franc.
Then you guess, perhaps three times, at
the lucky number, say between 100 and
100, as arranged.
On drawing the first number You pay
down your half franc. OF course the
odds are very much against you. The
hawkers in Cairo and Alexandria make
q very fair harvest when these cities are
full. AS much as 10 to IS francs for a
turkey which costs 5 francs is pretty
good profit. Somebody, of course, wins
Ii in the long run.
The articles disposed of in this way
comprise boxes of splendid peaches and
other fruits, soap, flowers in great va
riety, plants and the beautiful poin-
settia, turkeys and other live stock,
game in season, fish, dates, a great va
riety of ornaments, cunning devices in
clocks, furniture, etc.
There is another side TO the picture.
The eastern hawker would not be con-
tent with the mere gamble for a lucky
namber without exercising his natural
ingenuity. While he is talking to a
would be ''flutterer'' he drops his hand
into the bag and begins shaking up the
numbers. These, it should be explained,
are made up in patches of tens and
twenties, which are composed of a
slightly different qualities of paper. In
the bag is a false bottom. So delicate is
HaSsan or Adults touch that he can
distinguish one batch from the other
with his hand. Instantly you select your
numbers he switches them off into the
reserved compartment. You may easily
be tricked half a dozen times in this
way without knowing it. The face of
the hawher on such occasions is a study.
Never for a moment does he relax his
attention to you. His smile is sunny as
the eastern morn. His respectful gra-
ciousness never leaves him. -Pearson's
Magazine.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
TIE LONGFELLOW STATUE.
& Fitting Memorial Of tie Poet ut Port
land, His Birth place.

& Fitting Memorial Of tie Poet ut Port
land, His Birthplace.
One of the best instances Of what the
statue of any great man should beat
any rate, i'll the respect Of its situation,
its perspective with regard to other me-
MORALS and the local estimation in
which it is held-is the statue Of Long
fellow at Portland, by Mr.. Franklin
Simmons. 1t is a dignitied seated figure
of the poet in bronze, occupying q con-
s~picuous site in the best part Of the
town, in the middle of a square which
is now known as Longfellow square.
The statue was raised a few years ago
by fund solicited through a wide field,
but chiefly obtained, | believe, in Port
land. The sculptor was chosen through
that curious local spirit which has af-
fected unfavorably many Of u archi-
tectural and other monuments. He was
avowedly selected because he was a
"Maine man." though he had never
seen the poet. However, the result in
this case seems to have been happy. The
statue has much beauty, and the like
ness is said to be excellent.
This statue stands in the poets native
town, as is entirely proper. 1t may APP
peal every day to the eyes Of thousands
of young people, born very much as he
was born, who should see in it the sng-
gestion Of possibility for them. Poetic
ally it makes the stranger fancy the
genius or spirit Of the man still linger-
ing among the scenes of his youth, and
it symbolizes the satisfaction which ey-
cry mar feels to have his name reGleIn-
bered il his native town.. e. Cham
berlin in Atlantic.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
The wonderful, Marching Ant.

Paul Du Chaillu tells Of the doings
of a queer African species of ant, which
the natives call the bashikonay, which
marches through the forests in a regular
line. This line usually averages about
two inches in BREADTH and is often sew
eral miles long, with not a break in the
column "All along the line," says the
great traveller. ''larae and fierce looking
ants act ~ officers. keeping the angular
army in order.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04


Court,
IlCncuh
|eanaetts
SENDS
NAMED
a of tbs
!. c0H
1. and 70
atd com
|.e in the
Dakots.
Of thh
/ fail 70
he time
|heGouF
|nentsd
18Th
Dakptap
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
The South caroIinian.

The South C%arolinian has always ar
rogated to himself the name Carolinian,
and be has never been on very familiar
terms with his northern n%eighbor. His
feeling for his southern neighbor, the
Georgian, is also one of mere tolerance,
for the latter has long been called the
southern Yankee and fairly deserves the
appellation. He has much of the
shrewdness and push that mark the
typical down easter, I" and he has a
considerable share Of that worthy's
moral earnestness. In addition he has a
good deal of the Virginian's geniality
and love of comfort, of the North Caro-
linian's unpretendin2 democracy and of
the South Carolinian's tendency to ex-
hibitions of fiery temper.
But over and above everything else he
has an honest and hearty and not un-
founded pride in Georgia, and a sort of
Masonic utilization with every person,
animal, institution, custom-in short,
thing-that can be called Georgian. He
may not always stand for culture, but
he does always stand for patriotism,
state and national. He loves success,
strength, straightforwardness and the
solid virtues generally-neither is he
averse to the snowy ones-but above all
be loves virtue in action. Though pos
sessed of a strong, clear intellect, he il
more particularly a man Of i've senses,
of which he makes as good use as he
can. He may not always taste the
sweetness or see the light of the highest
civilization, but he has a good healthy
appetite for life.-W. +. Trent in At
lantic.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
25
THE ROSE OF A

When love, our great immortal,
Put on mortality
And down from E1en's portal
Brought this sweet world to be,
At the sublime archangel
He laughed with yelled eyes,
For he bore within his bosom
The seed of paradise.
He hid it in his bosom,
And there such warmth ii found
1t brake in bud and blossom,
And the rose fell on the ground.
As the green light on the prairie,
As the red light ON the sea,
Through fragrant belts Of summer
Came this sweet world to be.
And the grave archangel, seeing,
Spread his mighty vans for flight,
But a glow hung round him fleeing
Like the rose of an arctic night,
And sadly moving heavenward
By Venus and by Mars,
Re heard the Joyful planets
Hail earth, the rose Of stars.
g. f. Woodbury. in Century
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04
Eleven Times Around the Earth.

Just think of it! ELEVEN times
around this globe of ours" in the space
of 60 seconds! Can you imagine any
thing that moves with such remarkable
speed? Sound travels only ~ l-2 miles
per minute, and a rifle ball (if it's speed
were not diminished by resistance)16 l-2
miles. Light passes through a distance
equal to z 1-2 revolutions of the earth in
one minute, but electricity travels so
astonishingly fast that it is able to COM
plete the circuit of the earth IL 1-2 times
in 60 seconds. st. Louis Republic.
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04

ct in Ma~
|heeks
~noise."
GRIEF
dear
+ lips
asekeepins
Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-02-04

The southern entrance of the Red sea
is commanded by the fortress OF Alden
and the fort ON the little island OF
Perrin, in the strait of Babel Mandeb.
the guns Of the latter completely cover
ing the narrow channel and the fortress
dominating the entrance to the sea
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-12-09
PREMIER sAGAsTA SATISFIED.
Says President Mckinley Has No In
tention of Intervening
in Cuba,

Madrid, Dec. S.-The premier, Senor Sa-
gasta, in an interview regarding President
McKinley's message to congress, is quoted
as saying he thinks the message satisfac-
tory because the threat to intervene in
Cuba was made merely to give satisfaction
to a portion of American opinion, without
the intention of executing it,
Continuing. the premier said that the
government would not make n declaration
on the subject. He believed the presidents
words would have influence with the in
surgents, and added that the cortes would
not be convened until the government had
ascertained the effect of the message upon
the United States congress.
The impartial, commenting on the mes
sage. says: 1T shows certain cleverness
and evil intention in its reference TO fill
clustering expeditions. Mckinley speaks
with what appears to be excessive cynicism
to those who have not lost all notion of
justice. This government must show the
Yankees that the Spanish flag floats over
Cuba, and that they have yet to tear it
down."
Z, Liberal says:
1T is more favorable to Spain than Pres
ident Cleveland's, because it recognizes
SIain's intention to labor enthusiastically
to re-establish peace in Cuba"
The ministerial Ell Gloho praised Presi-
dent McKinley's message. The Socialist
Republican Ell Pals asserts that the mes
sage is Shameful" as it implied the
moral bankruptcy of the monarchy"
The Republican Progresso takes the
ground that the message is a great hu-
initiation.
Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-12-09
FIRST CUBAN RESOLUTION.
Mr. Allen, of Nebraska, Urges the
Senate to Recognize Cuba's
IndcDendence.

Independence.
Washington Dec. s.-To-day's session of
the senate occupied less than an hour. the
time principally being consumed by the
members in the presentation of memorials,
resolutions and bills. A resolution present.
ed by Mr.. Allen, Populist, of Nebraska, de-
claring 1t to be the sense of the senate that
the United States should recognize the po-
litical independence of Cuba, was made the
subject of some remarks by the Nebraska
senator in the course of which he criti-
scised the president for not carrying into
effect the pledge @ Of the Re- Republican AI party party
ntZe the independence of the Cubans. At
the conclusion of Mr.. Aliens speech, the
senate. on motion of Mr.. Hoar, adjourned
as further mark OF respect to the late
achusetts.
Mr.. Allen, in presenting his resolution,
said that hej had long urged the United
States to recognize the Independence of the
tent with the recognition of belligerency,
but would insist upon the acknowledgment
of absolute political liberty. He was sat
isied that the people would not be content
ton. Inasmuch as the Cubans for more
than two years on many battlefields had
demonstrated their valor and love for lib-
erty. he felt that they had earned a rec
it ought to be accorded to them without
further temporizing. If necessary, this rec
ognition should be backed by fleet of
American vessels in Cuban waters. He ex-
ish bonds in this country, American citi-
Zens holding property in Cuba which had
been injured or destroyed by the insur-
gents and the carrying trade of the coun-
had Joined to prevent the recognition oi
Cuba'S political Independence.