davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1898-12-31
why She Refused the Room.

From Tit Bits.
A German lady, arriving for the first
time in England, drove to a first-class Lon
don hotel, asked for a room. and was
shown into very small, scantily furnished
one. She said, in a determined manner,
and in very broken English, Il will not
have this room"
mo, ma'am,' said the porter, and
brought in the first box.
MAN. repeated the lady emphaticalIy,
Il will not have this roomr'
mo, ma am said the porter, and
brought in the second box.
The lady thought her faulty grammatical
construction was the reason of the porter's
continued obstinancy, and repeated, with d
stern Gistinctness:
Man, L viii have this room not have"
mo, ma'am,'' said the porter and
brought in the third box, whereupon the
lady left the room Indignantly, but the
porter drew her hurriedly back across the
threshold, pulled a rope, and to her intense
astonishment, the lift went up
Evening star., 1898-12-31
The Old Garret,

ben Z. Rexford in the Boston Evening Transcript
Swing aiar the garrett door
How the rusty hinges creak,
Pause before you venture DER
The old threshold, worn and weak
Comes, rs oft such ques tions will
Who knows what's beyond the sill?
Here, all things plain to see
There all things mystery,
Where old treasures shut fast
In the storehouse Of the past.
From the rafters overhead
Withered herbs. in dusty rows
Hang like branches and dead;
But. WIENER soft wind blows
Through the windows broken pane
Faint, sweet fragrances again
From their leaves are shaken free,
As an old time memory
In the cobwebbed minds of men
Stirs, and tries TO live again.
Here the spiders web is spun
In the dusr and in the gloom
Here are woven, one by one.
In viewless nniseiess loom,
Fabrics ft for fairy wear.
Frall as Ir1st and quite fair,
Showing patterns Tnyer far
Than those Of uIa lagos are
W hen light from heavens blue
Shines the silkch mtshes through.
In that shadowy corner stands
An Old cradle. ami it seems
si0w!y rocked by Fhanfom hands
While baby siesps and dreams
And lullaby 81 resi-
Trembes softly throagh the gloom
VI TINS menorA[il&un led room,
From the lips That fbng ago
Turned TO dust MheRe grave flowers grow
In that old, worm-eatpn chest. Ft
What quaint things age stored away
Stomacher and brQidcred vest
Satin gown and wig 5f gray.
| can fancy I'lantour felix
Dancing the HidRights stroke,
-.r- In the garments, hidrlCn here
For who knows h-w many u Year?
'Twere eerie sight to see
Their GRIM gliostiy revelry.
Almost hidden from the sight. ,,et 80
- BY the wreelage of tie past
In the dim and dusty light
From the cobwebDed window cast,
' '' Shows mirror, and therein
Many a ghost nf what has been
Seems to rist and swiftly pass
Like shadow Ger the glass.
In the d aptis Of It / see
Things that almost frishten me.
Faces moullered into dust
IaHIg ago look out at me -o.
From the tarnishcd frame, whose rust
MOckS at human vanity.
As Il shadow forms, for they
Form, md fade, and pass away,
Like the ripple a stream,
Or the fancy of dream.
Here-then lost in shadows vast,
The procession Of the past
Longer here 1 dare not stay.
FoI it somehow seems to me
We are trespassers today.
Shut the door and turn the key.
Leave 1t 10 the dead, who quit
Their old graves 10 visit II.
Whence they come where they go,
What they come seY-who shall know?
i shall solve the mystery
When the grass grows over me.
Evening star., 1898-12-31
A Hard PUDDING
ndon Weekly Telegraph.

From the London Weekly Telegraph
Some time ago. writes volunteer. 7
spent week with a garrison battery in a
South Coast fort. On the last day the SER
geanfs sat down to an exceptionally fine
dinner. the crowning glory of which was
a large plum pudding. l had made the
pudding two days before, had it boiled,
and now, reheated. it made it's appearance
amid the welcome shouts of my brother
warriors. and / naturally felt a bit proud
of II, for L hadn't been ships cook for
nothing
Seems mighty hard remarked the SER
geant major, as he vainly tried to stick his
fork into it. Have you boiled US a can
non ball. Browney2"
.Or the regimental foot ball?" asked an
other
Where did you get the flour from?'
questioned Sergeant Smith.
Where from" l retorted. From store
No. ;, of course
The deuce you did, roared the quarter
master sergeant. Then, hang you you We
made the pudding with Portland cement"
And so it proved. The pudding is now
preserved in the battery museum.
Evening star., 1898-12-31
In 1898.
From the Cnics go Record.

From the Chicago Record.
Did you put Spanish dictionary in my
handbag?" inquired the congressman, as
his wife he'd his overcoat for him.
Yes DEAR
And my Hawaiian tutor promised to
meet me at the Capitol, didn't he?"
Faithfully"
And you put that pamphlet on Tagal
verbs along with the Spanish book?"
ITS right there, dearest"
'And, let's see; went through my exer-
cises in Malay and the use of the Negrito
subiunctive all right last night, didn't I?'
Perfectly
well. then,' said the congressman, as he
reached for the doorknob, ''if don't forget
nay Visaya, my Sulu dialect and my Chi
nese mestizo, guess I'm ready to address
Congress on the finance question"
Evening star., 1898-12-31
RAN M " Err SE.
Greeting to the New Year.

Greeting to the New Year.
ritten for The Evening Star by Annie Landret
Perkins.
1t is rising out Of the east,
The glad New Year,
And the Old Year now is dead,
With its lost sunlight and laughter,
Its memories dear.
Some faces never shhll smile again
On the year to be;
Faces that seemed the light of life
And the saving hope of heaven
To you and me.
But shall we frown to see again
Another year? u
Because below the dust some sleep
Who watched with us, and who last time
Were with US here?
One watched with me last year who died
Before the summer,
Yet Will | smile to hear again
The storm of sounds that rise to greet
The blithe newcomer.
Oh, welcome, welcome from the east,
Thou glaI New Year;
Let those lost faces be no more
Than themes of rest as sadly sweet
AS sadly dear.
Evening star., 1898-12-31
On the Prov sdense of God.

My Lord hath taught mestow to want
place wherein TO iaY,my head;
While He is mine, I'll he content
To beg or lack my daily bread.
Heaven Is my roof, earth is my floor:
Thy love .an keep me dry and warm;
Christ and Thy bounty are my store,
Thy angels guard me from all harm.
Must / forsake the soil and air
Where fast l drew my vital breath
That way may he as near and fair
Thence may come 10 Thee by death.
Al countries are my Fathers lands;
Thy sun, Thy love, doth shine on all;
We may in all lift up pure hands,
And with acceptance on Thee call.
What IL in prison ! must dwell,
May not there converse with Thee?
Save me from sin, THY wrath, and hell,
Call lie Thy child, and l am free.
No walls or bars ,an keep Thee out,
None car coniine a holy soul;
The streets Of heaven 1t walks about,
None can Its liberty control.
RICHARD BAXTE
Evening star., 1898-12-31
His Back to- the Foe.

From the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post
An army officer tells that in one engage
ment there Were numbers of young fellows
who smeit powder for the first time, and it
is not surprising that at times the recruits
We're trifie unsteady.
However" said the old officer Il only
remember one case of actual flight. and
when 1 think of it L can scarcely refrain
from laughing.
In the very thick of a hotly contested
engagement one of my own men threw
down his rifle and bolted.
Here. you coward ] roared after HIM
what are you running for%
Without so much as a glance over his
shoulder. the fellow replied: Because I'm
in a desprit hurry, an 1 can't fiyr''
Evening star., 1898-12-31
Vanity Fair.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

From the Pail Mall Gazette.
Silken and satin and velvet floss,
Nhetting the hunger of longing eyes,
DraperIes softer than Woodland mess,
Colors as bright as the summer skies;
These are the wares that the merchant cries
As music streams on langHid air
Burdened with many a madens sighs
In the golden mart of Vanity Fair.
There is a diamond ft to emboss
The shield Of Il Paris; there. too, lies
A song whose surges ofipassor toss
With such art fOps and ash llants prize;
The slave OF fashion struts here and buys,
JOstling. Or hustled by men af prayer,
With often a fool in critics euisc
In the golden mart of Vanity Fair.
lIS d
An outcaSt lone where Won roads cross,
Ever IL trade in speqteciesIples
That whose weareth secs posgp and dross
From the silded stails in yaper rise,
Fabrics, whose hue With the Iris vies,
Change to the sables of grim despair,
And the ruby's fame Gibbs low and dies
In the golden mart uf Vanity Fair
L'ESvoIan
Prince, enough is n word to The wise;
Let Others hatter In freHzy5there;
Folly may loiter but RoIiar Ifies,
In the golden mart ofIEanfts Fair.
Evening star., 1898-12-31
A Portland Wreck Story.
From the Portland Express.

From the Portland Express.
Hers another coincidence with the loss
of the Portland. A sea captain tells that
right after the steamer was built he was
given large picture of her. 1t was framed
and covered with glass and quite heavy
He hung it III his parlor and never took it
down during these years The Sunday
when the Portland went down he and his
wife were sitting in the parlor reading
when suddenly the picture fell with a
crash. smashing thu glass into a thousand
pieces.
Evening star., 1898-12-31
His Last Question,

FTVfn Ihe thIcagO NeWs
The counsel for the opposition had been
bullying the witness for an hour or more,
when he fiIally asked:
rs it true that there ara traces of In
sanity in your family??'
1t would be folly TO deny it," replied the
witness My great-srandfather, who was
studying for the ministry, gave it up TO be-
come d lawyer"
Evening star., 1898-12-31
Where the Laugh Came In.
From the Detroit Journal.

rom tDe Detroit Journal.
The critic liked the play, but thought it
not well suited for charity benefit
1T would be better If it had a dash of
comedy he suggested
"Oh. TO be sure!" exclaimed the radiant
young thing who was the moving spirit in
the affair How would it do If we were
to read the statement of our receipts and
disbursements at the end?"
OF course. there was the old question, rs
farce, strictly speaking, comedy?-
Evening star., 1898-12-31
Across to England.

Cast I never SO delicateIy, the same ex-
pllcit warning is repeated again and again,
with the effect that although the dainty
''Str Richard, which have substituted for
Kate probably floats over the heads of
hsIf a hundred fish, they only wink at 1t
tor would wink II they had eyeiids to wink
withaD, and lie low
There Is not an hour of daylight left
Evening star., 1898-12-31

w have arrived now al the part of the
cast known a. The Kitchen where the
current s!ackens and the river widens into
tranquil poll Several fish sre showing
there, but. alas, there is not a breath stir
ring The surface is CLASSY and save a
single INDECENT roll at the lure without ef-
fsct, NOT q salmon of them all will take the
slightest notice Of Kate" So We make up
our minds 10 invade England: the boat is
drawn up TO the top OF the stream and
IpWeI across operations are begun from
The right bank BY the time the foot OF
the cast j. reached another brace Of salmon
lie in the boat. twenty and seventeen
pounds. : short interval for lunch follows,
end We 90 of To Try two other casts IN
succession, but "Fummie''-a swirIine
strong torrents 700 heavy today; nothing
looks Up there Down. then. ha u mile TO
Are Three StanrS. Il famous place for big
rsh- The current * held up here by
''Cauli' OF Weir. and rolls suilen and dark
under a high cliff on the Scottish shore
gorgeous With the leAfy livery cf autumn
Oh, fur q puff OF wind. IL is distressingly
calm. the line falls en the surface like a
carr rope. Come en- IL seems to say 10
that fna fC low who has Just gided up
head Jud tail as stiff as a board in mid
current Come ON, here - something he
wants you TO believe Is dainty fare Don't
You believe a wOru OF it, il * not fly or
d shrimp, Is fish. or nything good to eat
at all, but just a bundle of fur and feather.
with "a weil-tempered double hook. and here
am ! behind 10 to drag You ashore, if you
are such fool TO bite at it
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12
Morosco's Grand Opera House.


 Under the Polar Star" Clay M. Greene's spectacular drama of an expe- dition to the north pole. Is to be the at traction at Moroscos next week. with George P. Webster the star in the char acter part of Dr. Rabon, an amusing and volatile French scientist. Silas Rod man, a Boston millionaire, has fitted out an expedition to discover the north pole. In the far northern attitudes the steamer is seen approaching the icebergs, which finally crash upon and surround her, where she remains firmly imbedded for two years. Throughout the two preced- ing acts the romance and intrigue of the play have been unfolded. Helen Blaine, fearing danger for her betrothed, ships with the expedition, disguised as a col ored cabin boy.
 The third act witnesses the desertion of the officers by the crew, melted to mutiny by the villain. A realistic confagration scene shows the party perishing amid the flames of the burning vessel, which Bran don has fired. The fourth act is weird scenic spectacle. The entire stage is transformed into sea of floating ice, the party being seen upon the moving foes. Dr. Rabon discovers that they are in 90 degrees of latitude, passing directly over weak and famshed adventurers fling Old Glorys folds to the Arctic breeze. Crunching, grinding sounds are heard, the foe is rent asunder, and as the party are rapidly drifting apart, their despair is transformed to joy by the arrival of a rescuing. party in steam launch; The villain, in the face of death, having signed a confession exonerating the hero, the story happily ends, Helen confessing her love for him.
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

sights his big prey much as a duck
 hunter brings his shotgun to bear on 8 winging mallard.
 When a torpedo-boat goes into action
 everybody is ordered below except the
 man at the torpedo-tube and the ex-
 ecutive officer, who sights the self
 moving missile The engine Is spin- ming the propeller around 45C
 times a minute Not a light Is seen
 on the boat, and 1t drives straight
 through the night toward the black
 shape which sweeps the water with luminous fingers of the electric search light, feeling for just such deadly pests
 as a torpedo-b boat. The little craft
 has no puffing steam 10 betray 1t, for ! every bit of steam goes to the conden-
 ser, to return as water to the tremb-
 ling boilers.
 An impression Is abroad that tor
 pedo is shot under water. The fact Is the torpedo is elected from a tube which is mounted on a standard bolted to the deck. The tube may be swung around, and has a vertical motion, so that the inclination may be varied. The torpedo Is ejected by charge of four
 ounces of black powder, just enough to throw the automobile projectile into the water. When once in the sea the torpedo's own propeller drives it to the
 mark at the rate of 20 knots-nearly 34 miles-an hour
 While the principal object in firing a torpedo is to blow up a hostile ship
 it Is equally important to prevent the torpedo exploding near the torpedo boat, so the firing mechanism per forms a double service. It keeps the torpedo a harmless shell until 1t is al least 75 yards from the launching point
 and it explodes the guncotton when the war nose rubs up against the bottom of the enemy's ship. The device which bladed screw fan on the extreme bow point of the war nose. When the pre- scribed distance is covered the mechan- | ism driven by the screw fan sets the firing pin" in a position to strike the detonating cap of the primer case when
 the torpedo comes in contact with the target.
 The true value of the torpedo boat in naval operations has to be yet recog-
 nized. So far In our present war 1t has
 not played an important part, and 1t is
 possible that the future will relegate | its greater usefulness to coast and har-
 bor defenses. Still, 1t Is even now fir
 naval warfare a formidable foe. The
 blazing searchlights that a threatened ship turns on the surrounding water are not sufficient to avert attack; the netting with which vessels are sur rounded Is easily cut In twain by the nippers or scissors attached to the tor
 pedo, and a vessel assailed by torpedo boats Is pretty certain to succumb, al though 1t Is certain to sink several o1 its assailants in the struggle.
 An example of the efficacy of the tor
 pedo boat may be found in the blowing up about four years ago of the famous
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

E F the greatest of Frenchmen, who
 understood so we'll the value of a
 dramatic situation off the stage,
 could take a glimpse of San Fran
 cisco's theatrical situation just now
 he would probably repeat his oele- brated motto to the effect that there Is no indispensable man, or manager. But just now San Francisco, though 1t may not admit his necessity, Is very glad of MT. Frawley's existence. The historians who claim that the oppor- tunity will surely produce the man will assure you that if Frawley had not ar rived some one else would. But the fact remains that Frawley seized the opportunity to establish a western stock company and built up its west ern reputation. He had the courage to try, where so many before him had failed. He had the good fortune, and the merit, to succeed. And success is the most irresistible of virtues.
 Since it's modest beginning some years ago every step of the Frawley Com
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

room are two small compartments with four hunks in each. These form the wardroom, cabin, messrCom and state room of the officers.
 An imaginative person might per haps be able to see in his minds eye what discomforts attend life on board a torpedo craft when she is quiet, but it is difficult to conceive how much these restricted surroundings are az gravated when the torpedo boat goes tearing through the water. Every thing then Is set to vibrating and trembling, as though a great earth quake had the boat and her crew at its mercy. It requires long experience to become habituated to the rocking and shaking. Writing is out of the ques- tion. Reading is almost impossible, and 1t Is not easy even to eat and drink Add to this the odor of oil, the smell of steam, the heat and the wet, and only the stoutest hearts can en- dure it. Rest and sleep are quite i'm possible and the crews have to be changed every three or four days for recuperation.
 The risks, too, are enormous. To launch her torpedo with any hope of its fulfilling its mission the vessel has to come within 800 yards of its intended victim. She is consequently we'll with in the range of the machine guns of the gunboat for at least 900 yards. Rushing up at the rate of twenty-four knots an hour she would cover the 900 yards of danger space in about sixty six seconds. Then she has to fire, turn and return once more over the dan gerous 900 yards. Altogether she Is in imminent danger for about two min utes and a half. It does not seem long, but when 1t Is remembered that the rate of fire of the machine guns is 1000 shots per minute, one sees better what a thrilling two minutes and a half 1t is. The little torpedo-boat is exposed to about 2500 shots, and if only 1 per cent struck their mark she would be hit twenty-five times
 No range-finders or spider web sights are used to draw a torpedo bead on a hostile warship from the deck of a torpedo-boat. The sighting Is done with the eye of judgment and exper- fence, gained from practice. It Is an exaggerated case of wing shooting, for when the torpedo is launched the boat is travelling rapidly, and the ensign, hanging over the off side of the boat,
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

IFE on a torpedo boat Is with
 out doubt the most thankless
 task a sailor can have allotted
 to him, for 1t is a life of intense
 misery, alternating with risk of death. In the first place. torpedo boat is constructed on lines totally diff ferent to any other seagoing craft. For the sake of speed almost every other warlike and seagoing essential is suppressed. All the parts are made so light that they are narvels of work manship. The frames are as frail as they dare be made. The skin Is skin, indeed, of the thinnest steel. The lon gitudinals are mere strips of metal 50 delicate, in fact, is the construction that a bump even into floating spar will twist the bow back on itself, and to brush against, say, the spile Of dock would twist the body out of shape as easily as one might crumple piece of stiff paper in the hand. Not infre- ouently the space below is so low that men under the usual height have to be chosen. On some a man six feet high could only stand erect in his quarters by letting his head go up through the hatchWay!
 The first six or eight feet behind the knife-edged bow Is given up to col lision bulkhead and Is not unlike a magnified hollowg ground razor. The space is much too narrow to be used for anything. Next comes the torpedo room, then the mems quarters, and the eighteen or twenty men are literally packed like sardines. Next come the boilers and the engine room, occupying the entire waist of the vessel and part of the afterbody. There Is not an inch of waste space and the heat issuchthat the men who have to keep the hery maws aglow with all the fuel they can eat must be able to stand fire with nearly as much immunity as do sala- manders. Tn the engine room the en- gineer and his assistants, like the stok- CTS, are stripped to the waist, rivulets of sweat roll down their bodies and woe betide them if anything breaks. as often happens. or a fireman misses his footing, which unfortunately hap pens, too, sometimes. Abaft the engine
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12
THEODORE kOsESTS yO1n I BURKE.

the stage in San Francisco. There would be many larger and more impor- tant cities bidding for his talents. But he has energy, perseverance and ambi- ton, and although it is unlikely that he -or any one else, for that matter-Will reach the ideal standard, San Fran cisco owes him support and will give it to him, for the simple reason that in so doing she benefits herself.
 What a San Francisco manager needs Is an independent point of view, and conviction that the West Is as well able as the East to furnish dramatic ability "A real stock company is the only school of act ing worthy of the name" In course of time the presence of Frawley's com
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

pany has been a step upward. It has still far to go. And just how far it will go depends upon its manager, mainly.
 The Century for June publishes two articles on Augustin Daly and his com- pany, in which J. Ranken Towse tells what qualities are necessary to the ar tistic success of a theatrical manager.
 The ideal manager must not only be a judge of good acting, and thor ough master of the principles that gov ern it, but must also be capable of de- tecting and developing ability in begin ners, and of exercising direction and control in the case of players of wider experience. He must, of course, be ac- quainted fully with all the possibilities