davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
Stories of Henry George.

The activity and power of intellect of the late Henry George did not prevent absentmindedness. A writer in The Re- view of Reviews says that this quality was "the jest of his circle"
 Names escaped him. I heard him say to MT. Dayton, the candidate on his ticket for comptroller and one of the best known men ill New York:
 "You won't mind it, 1 hope, if for get your name. am so conscious of the danger of getting names wrong that when the need of remembering comes it rattles me, and away the name goes. "
 He came late to dinner at the Lotus club, where he was to discuss with some friends the question of his being a can- didate in apprehended contingencies. It was raining, and he took from his pocket the slippers with which Mrs. George had insisted on providing him in case he should get his feet wet, and as he put them on he apologized with honest gravity:
 ''I lost time looking for a man I kept asking after as Kinsella, and it turned cut his right name was Moriarity. At least think that was what he told me it was when I found him.''
 But there was no absentmindedness when discussion of the business i'll hand ensued; he was keen and wide awake.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
The Rnlldoe n Good Dog.

No member of the canine family has been moro consistently maligned than the bulldog. Writers who have no in- innate knowledge of the dog and his at- tributes have described him as stupidly ferocious, and illustrators have pictured him as a sort of semiwild beast, till the general public has come to look upon him as dangerous.
 "Give dog bad name," is an old saw, and perhaps a true one, but when it is applied to the bulldog it is mani festly unjust. Writers, too, have fallen into grave error in claiming that the bulldog is deficient not only in affec- tiOn, but in intelligence.
 Stonehenge, who is considered one of the greatest Of canine scientists, claims that tho bulldogs brain is relatively larger than that of the spaniel, which dog is generally considered to be the most intelligent of the canine race, while the bulldogs affection is never to be doubted. Outing.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
Oi fIOm MeSnuite ReanS

The problem of how to utilize the vast quantities of mesquite beans that grow on the prairies of Western Texas has, 1t is believed, been solved. Nu- merous experiments at converting the bean into marketable commodity have been made in recent years, but have been productive of no permanent re- suit. A. J. COnley, manager of the Luling cotton oil mill, believes he has solved the problem. He has gathered a ton of mesquite beans and treated them in the same manner as cotton seed. From the top of beans he secured six teen and One-half gallons of clear, am. ber-colored oil, very rich and with very pleasant, aromatic smell. The cake is dark brown, quite oily and is eaten greedily by stock. It is a welI-known fact that stock fatten rapidly on the beans, and that the year when the crop is heavy one is always a prosperous one for stockmen. Last year the beans were very plentiful, thousands of tons oa them falling from the trees and rot uns. IT they could have been saved in Che shape or oil cake there would have been almost enough to carry stock through the winter.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
WON A WIFE WITH AN EGG.
Oklahoma Farmer Made Happy by a
 Random Love Messarc.

oklanoma tarmer Made Happy by a
 Random Love Message.
 Ross Williams, of Enid, O. T., wrote lovelorn message on an egg ready for shipment several weeks ago. and as a result he won himself a bride
 What the young man said on the egg was this: "On farm in the Cherokee strip sit sad and lonesome bachelor, thinking sadly over my fate, and would love to come off the nest and join my life with that of some comedy young lady of not too many summers growth. Should the message on this egg meet with the eye of fair one who is matri- mentally inclined on short acquaint- ance, and who thinks she could enjoy prairie life with a student of natures beauty, address Ross Williams, Enid, O. T."
 In due course of time this reply came: Dear MT. Williams-From the quiet precincts of my boudoir write thee. I am lonely, too, and have often longed to quit city life and go West, where the tall wild grass sways in the wind as if listening to the sweet songs of the chinch bugs. After chOpping wood to kindle the kitchen fire and after the fire was ready for business and the pan was sizzling in the sparkling fat, I, was about to break an egg into the pan, when, behold. your message meets my gaze. It seemed like dream of lost, unknown love. I am comedy, but not fair. Age, g, no money, but plenty of grit. Let us exchange photographs. It may all end in another American union, long to be preserved Methinks know you now.
 BESSIE CARROLL"
 Further correspondence resulted, and a few days later the young people were married.-NeW York Herald.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

A telephone operator in a place near New York City was at Christmas the recipient of checks for five, ten and q hundred dollars, diamond pin, dress pattern and eight boxes of candy; al- though she was known to the donors only by her gentle, respectful voice, her readiness to accommodate, and her operative number. When Doctor Holmes gave one of his heroines the sole title of Number Five" and Sketched her in rose-color, he, too, pro- claimed that character is independent of name or position, and has its sure reward.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
UNSPOKEN SYMPATHY.
Little Children Who Were Remarkably Careful Not to Hurt an Unclo,s Feelings.

Little Children Who Were Remarkably
 Careful Not to Hurt an Unclo's Feelings.
 He. was big, burly, good natured conductor on a country railroad, and he had watched them with much interest as they got on the train. There were two handsome, round faced, rosy check ed boys and three sunny haired, pretty little girls of various sizes and ages A grave, kind looking gentleman, evident ly their guardian, got in with them, and the conductors attention was soon caught by the fact that the apparently eager conversation was carried on by means of deaf and dumb alphabet, the gentleman joining in so pleasantly that the conductor beamed on him with ap- proval. Naturally kind hearted himself, 1t pleased him to see this trait in others, but his honest eyes were misty as he thought of his own noisy crowd of youngsters at home and contrasted them with this prim little company who smiled and gesticulated, but made no sound.
 It was plain they were off on a holi- day jaunt, for they all had satchels and wore festive ''go away" air, and the conductor, whose fancy played about them continually. settled it in his mind that they belonged to some asylum and were going with their teacher for va cation trip. He Couldn't help watching them and nodding to them as he passed through the car. They returned his greeting in kind, being cheerful little souls, and he began to look forward with regret to the time of parting.
 At length at one of the rural stations the gentleman kissed the young ones hurriedly all round and got off the train. They leaned out of tho windows and waved enthusiastic farewells as the car moved on. Then the biggest 'little girl" took a brown paper bag from her satchel and distributed crackers in even shares. The conductor in passing smiled and nodded as usual as the little girl hel. out the paper bag to him.
 "Do have some," she said.
 He started back in sheer aInazement.
 "What!" he exclaimed. "You can talk, then-all of you?''
 "Of course!" they cried in chorus.
 The conductor sank into the seat across the aisle. ''I thought you were deaf and dumb!" he gasped.
 "Oh, how funnyP' cried one of the rosy checked boys. "Why, that was Uncle Jack, poor fellowl He was born that way. We wouldn't talk while he was with us; it might hurt his feelings, you know. Hello, here's our station Come on, girls!" And the five dropped noisily cut and waved their handker- chiefs from the platform as the train moved on.-Belle Moses in St. Nicholas.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
Stores His Silver CheapIy.

"As am not keeping house I have DO use for my silver, so determined to put it where it would not be so liable to be stolen as ill my flat" said bIsi- ness man the other day "Simultane- ously with this determination came the need of considerable sum of money therefore put the silver in charge of a benevolent concern, which charges no more interest on the money it lent, with the silver as security. than bank or than safe deposit company would charge for storing the silver am con sequently either paying no interest on the loan or getting my silver stored for nothing; l don't exactly know which. New York Sun
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

In many places agricultural fairs have been diverted from their legiti- mate purposes and turned into mere circus combinations. In some places the evils connected with the latter have grown to be intolerable. Fakirs work all sorts of fraudulent schemes, disrep- utable showmen give exhibitions that are grossly immoral, and gamblers run swindling games openly. Such things eventually kill the fair and drive the agricultural society out of existence.
 As an example of the true kind take | that of the Valley Fair Association Of | Vermont It has given twelve annual fairs, and the last one was even great
 CT success than ever before. This fair
 Is patronized by the best people of the
 Connecticut Valley, and the attendance | last fall was coco the first day and 15, 1000 the second. The treasurer of the society, Mir. Estey, says: We started in with a capital of $10,000, with whIc!. we bought our grounds, and com menced the buildings for the accommo- dation of horses, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, farm products agricultural and mechanical implements, etc., etc, and we now have a property that has cost us $25, 5,000-and all but the original cap- ital stock has been made from the fairs. We have never failed to add a goodly sum each year to the property from the profits made. We started out with the avowed purpose of never permitting any fakirs of any kind on the ground. no pool-selling, no games of chance, but a legitimate agricultural fair Our dis play this year in all departments was said by people who have attended a large number of fairs to equal if not surpass anything they had seen. We have adhered strictly to our rules, and am confident that all our managers believe that 1t is far more profitable than any other course. I believe that if this course was followed by other agricultural fairs in the country, they would prove not only of greater benefit to the people who attend them, but also to the stockholders"
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

The trade retUlus Of the United States for the ca-eutar year just closed are one of the 4e=- .amarkabie eXhib- its in the cOmul...a. history of the country, in thaJ they show that in no year since the organization of he gov ernment have the exports of the coun- try been so large Of GIT entire product in 1897 nearly S1,1D.O00. 900 worth found foreign purchasers and vas sold abroad. During the yaa- We rurchased in the foreign market rl5du-ts amount
 Ing to $I42, 2,630 so that 10 be exact the nations balance sheet was $3S2,- < OOO,OOO in our favor. The year previous our balance was S311,3G0.517, which was phenomenal being, up to that time, the largest our his ory. This showing is interesting as slowing the growth of our fore .gn trade and com merce, but it is still more sO IS an eX- hibit of our condit. IS creditor na- lion. While it is trJe that we sold abroad $3S2, ,00C 0J0 more merchandise, produce and silve- tlan We bought, we received no nor gold than we paid to 'he foreigners. With such a balance standing to our credit and nothing standing agains it, he question of pre-
 serving our gold reserve in the treasury would be the most simple of all our economic queStiOus, while the subject of currency reform would not require a moments attention from statesmen or financiers. Both of those problems would solve themseiyes. II therefore becomes an interesting study 70 decide where the apparent balance of trade in cur favor has gone and why it does not appear in gold imports to settle that balance. A very considerable portion of this balance has been absorbed to pay the interest on our indebtedness held abroad. Tuis is estimated at $5,000,000,000 and ar i per cent. inter- est would provide for S200 100000 of our balance. Another item is the amount expended by Americans abroad. Navigate reports show the number of OturistS and others who an nually go abroad to be about 100000. and the eXpenditUres Of these travellers is estimated at $T1O each, or total of $75,0O0000. Another item against the balance is the net fraigh, charges paid foreign ship-OWuers for r8nsporting our goods. whi rh is estimated at s per cent of their value. which would be about S46,240,0UO Account must also be taken of the money sent by immi- grants back to their native lands. This, however, is so indefinite that it is hard to estimate it. The amount sent home by the Irish, Germans, Italians and Scandlnavians Is enormous It could hardly be less than Sl0.000. GOO, and it might reach a sum four or i've times as large. But leaving out hat item entirely and our uat balance s at once reduced to abou $70O000C0. It is quite probable that when the profits of for eign syndicates owning mines. brewer 'es, manuafctories of all kinds and lands have been returned the apparent balance of $70,O93000 would disappear altogether. It s because our balances are provided for before they are cred ited to us that makes our financial problems so ser r.1us and peTpleXing.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

Although France has now been a re- public for about twenty-Seven years. there Is still a royalist party which entertains hopes of a restoration of the monarchy. The expectations of thls party have centered in the Duke of Or leans, the head of the House Of Orleans. Some stir has been occaSioned in French political circles by a recent let Ter or manifesto from the duke which, though 1t Is not an actual abdication of his claims, recommends his followers to make the best of existing conditions and to labor for the supreme interest of France rather than the interest of their party. This action removes one disturb ing Influence from this years general parliamentary elections in France, and tends to strengthen the republic.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

eyes of children and 1t has been proved that same shade of cream WI q, dead surface of soft. mellow tint. varied in its d~gree of whiteness to suit the quail ity and quantity of light, is preferable to all or any other. The cr9yons to be used on such boards should be of clear, dark-green. In schools where this modern board has been introduced in place of the old black surface, with its white chalk, there has been not only an improvement in the eyes of the chil- dren who have had to use such boards but a great increase in the amount of attention they have given to exercises on the board by reason of the greater ease with which their interest could be retained. When so much can be so easily accomplished it seems almost criminal to retain in use the old black board. It has done injury enough to entitle 1t to be retired.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

The immensity of the tobacco manu- featuring industry of the United States does not appear until one has the curi- osity 10 look at it in some of it's i'm portant details. The report of the in- ternal revenue department of the gov ernment gives some figures that are surprising. In the fiscal year of 1897 there were manufactured in the United States 4 ,04S, ,4G3, ,3O6 cigars or about GO for each man, woman and child in the United States. To make the cigars re- quided about 35,000 tons of tobacco.
 Besides the cigars were made 4,967,-
 Al, ,232 cigarettes, 153, ,397 ,907 pounds
 of plug tobacco and 11,761, ,690 pounds of fine cut chewing tobacco. Smoking tobacco to the amount of S3,54S, ,0S4
 pounds was manufactured, while 12,- 70S, ,919 pounds of snuff were made. To make all these manufactured goods 2G1 ,417,5 ,590 pounds of tobacco were used and this embraced 3,343, ,5..T pounds of leaf, 16,375,SS3 pounds of scrap, 4,S40,4 pounds of stems, 3O,- 912,213 pounds of licOrice, 23,391, ,757 pounds of sugar, and 15, 40S 107 pounds of other materials, not enumerated, were used. This makes a grand total of 416,567, ,733 pounds of material that went into the manufactured tobacco made in the United States. The Ameri- can people are the largest consumers of tobacco of any on the globe and it is almost an exception in a party of men 10 find one who does not use tobacco in some form, more or less temperately. Occasionally a man is found to whom tobacco is immediately injurious or hurtful, but, despite the fact that the active principle of tobacco, nicotine, is so deadly a poison, the American people seem to be able to consume large quan- titles of it without showing serious evil effects from it,
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

War Is being made in some quarters on the abominable blackboards in use in public schools very generally. It is well-established fact that the worst color on the eyes Is black, and even tail ors, when mems clothing used to be made by hand, were accustomed 10 charge more for making a suit of black clothes than any other, for the reason that the color was so much more iniu- rious to the eyes. Experiments in the color of so-called blackboards have been made with a view of determining what color .s least injurious to the
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

Worry wrecks more lives than work. An outgrowth of one of the psychologi- can whims of the time is a chain of Don't Worry" clubs. Without Sub- scribing to all the tenets of these or ganizations, almost every individual could better his condition by adopting and trying to live up to their motto. The substance of their belief is beyond dispute, and may be summarized in few words: Worry never yet bettered the condition of any individual; it never yet failed to make worse the condition of the person given to worrying. There ought not to be need of ant:-worry so- cictles. The instinct for self-preserva- ton should array humanity in opposi- tion to the adversary, worry.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

The sufferings of the worthies record cd In the eleventh chapter of the Epis- tie to the Hebrews included wander ings fin deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth" A re- cent traveller in Syria and Southeastern Asia Minor found that Christian Greeks and Armenians have, in repeated in- stances, retreated to almost inaccessi- ble caves where their lives have some shelter from the storm of Turkish per secution. Endurance of privation and rain for the sake of the faith is not an extinct form of human experience.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02
When Collins Was Prominent.

Human conceit was the theme of a little group of men the other day, and one reliable citizen told this remarkable story:
 "I've known conceited men in my lifetime, but there Is a picture some where i'll this town which illustrates an excess of self approval not often encoun- tered. I have not seen the picture for several years and would like to show it in proof of my story, but to borrow or steal it would doubtless be impossible. A number of years ago, when the Mount Vernon association had been organized to reclaim and preserve the old home of George Washington, this acquaintance of mine-Collins by name-went on a summer excursion to the national capi- tai. While there he made Q trip down the Potomac river to Mount Vernon and happened to be on the grounds when the Mount Vernon association was hay ing photographs taken of various points of interest, including the old tomb of Washington, the new tomb, etc. When the new tomb was photographed, vari- ous men of national prominence being in the group standing beside the mauso- leum under the fine trees which shade it, Collins, Uninvited, by some hook or crook managed to slip in among the by islanders and thus became figure in the photographs This was bad enough, but the sequel is worse. He brought the picture home with him, and unless the enraged gods have destroyed it it still hangs i'll his parlor along with other monstrosities of bad taste, bearing un- der the photograph this legend:
 "'Collins at the tomb of Washing ton. '"-Detroit Free Press.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

At a recent church fair in a small city the receipts aggregated over four thousand dollars, which were mostly gained in unfair competition with the town merchants. A dealer who sue cumbed to solicitations to give five pairs of shoes saw them marked at less than cost, and affirms that he was af- because he charged more than the bazaar saleswoman. There are several sides to church fairs, and all are bad.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

It is high time to stop the seed swim dle perpetrated by the Department of Agriculture. A Western man says he wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture for some tobacco seed and carefully specified that he wanted certain brands of plug, and was put off with the silly excuse that they were giving out noth- ing hut fine cut this year.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

St. Louis claims to have a woman whose eyes are turning to stone. She would probably get along all right in Boston; all the Boston girls use the cold, stony glare, if the novelists are trustworthy
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

It costs some $9,000,000 a year to keep cur warships in shape. Such sum isn't much if the ships don't so act as to raise doubts whether it's for the floating debt or the sinking fund.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

In New York police court the other day a stranger, who claimed to be real count, was fined $3 for disorderly conduct. But he evidently was an im- postor, for he had money enough to pay bis fine.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

An educational test for immigrants is not always just. The red-mouthed are, as a rule, fairly well educated, while some of the most de- sirable immigrants are densely ignor- ant, but willing to learn American ways and become American citizens.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

A young husband in Georgia has left home and abandoned his family be- cause his first born is a girl. This is carrying personal aversion to the "neW woman" idea entirely too far.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

It may be significant, now that Cor nellus Vanderbilt, IT,, has returned from his wedding trip, that he has en- tered upon a three years course in philosophy at Yale. It is not known that he felt the need of being trained to be philosophical before.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

The private secretary of Ambassador Hay has been arrested for riding his bicycle on the sidewalks in London. The idea! Have Americans no rights which England respects? Must the work of 1776 and 1872 be done all over again?
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

The latest novelty in cars is a car which Is really a sal twater tank on wheels, designed to transport oysters and other shellfish into the interior in their native element. Ere long the far West will be able to enjoy oysters on the half shell that are just as fresh as
 those served in the East.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

A single order for 100000 tons of Mesaba iron ore has been received in this country from Wales, and it will yield several million dollars to the mine owners. Such a big shipment of raw out of the country is astonish- ing and significant.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

Several surgeons in Cincinnati are about to operate upon girl whose "heart isn't on the right side" We feel certain, however, that those doc tors, if they will look around little, can find other girls who wear their hearts on the left side.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-02

Successive suicides among young women prominent in social life form a chapter If tragic interest in journalis tic chronicles. Parallel with these de plorable occurrences stand accounts of dreadful murders of children by chill dren. It is not enough to simply cata logue these and other horrible deeds as the acts of ''degenerates." It Is in