davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
The Brave at Home.

The maid who binds her warriors sash With smile that well her pain dIssem
 bles,
 The while beneath her dropping lash, One starry tear drop hangs and trem.
 bles,
 Though heaven alone records the tear, And fame shall never know her story, Her heart has shed drop as dear AS e'er bedewed a field of gloryl The wife who girds her husbands sword Mid little ones who weep and wonder. And bravely speaks the cheering word. What though her heart be rent asunder. Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear, The bolts of death around him rattle. Hath shed as sacred blood as e'er Was poured upon the field of battle. The mother who conceals her grief While to her breast her son she presses, Then breathes few brave words and
 brief,
 Kissing the patriot brow she blesses, With no one but her secret God To know the pain that weighs upon her, Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod Received on Freedoms field of honorl Thomas Buchanan Read.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
Visitors From Space.

Whatever be their origin, it would seem that these solid bodies (meteorites) are hurtling through space at velocities which may be anything between 10 and 40 miles a second If they come near enough to this earth to be attracted by it, their course is changed, and present. ly they enter our atmosphere. The re- suit is sudden check to their speed, owing to the intense resistance and fric- tion engendered by contact with the air particles.
 What happens may be likened to the sudden application of the wooden brake block to the rapidly moving wheel of an express train. Heat is generated il. exchange for motion, and the trail of sparks from the checked wheel is rep resented in the checked meteorite by a luminous trail. We commonly call it a shooting star, and if its mass be small it is possibly altogether dissipated in heat and gas, or it may ultimately find its way to our earth as dust. Such "meteoric dust" has been found on the eternal snow of mountains, where dust of the ordinary type would be impossi- ble. If, on the other hand, the mass of matter be large, it's surface only will be affected by the sudden heat gener- ated, and it may fall to the ground en- tire or possibly explode and be scattered in fragments over Q wide area.-Cham- berS' Journal.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

Cuba was the island we went to war to set free; but the accounts of the treatment of the Philippine Islands by Spain suggest strongly that some pow CT nearer geographically to those isl ands than the United States ought long since to have wrested them from the Spanish grasp, in the interest of hu- manity. Here is what seems to be an authentic statement of the tax burdens laid upon the islanders: "All males over 21 years of age must pay poll-tax that equals eighteen dollars of our money, and the women must pay fourteen dol lars. A man must pay license to sell cocoanuts from his own trees or indigo of his own raising. Every article of furniture that costs two dollars of our money is taxed. The curtain never goes up at the theater unless ten dol lars is paid to the government, and for every act of slaughtering his own ami mals, clipping his own sheep or felling his own trees, the Philippine farmer must pay a fee to the government. There Is exacted government tribute for getting married and for being buried, and at every step and turn of his life the tax-collector holds out his hand to him, and it Is not demand that can be refused" No wonder Spain wishes to keep a possession that yields such a return; no wonder also that the last sixty years have developed seven teen rebellions in the Philippines.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
TELEPHONES IN THE NAVY.
Our warships Equipped with a New
 Set of Signals.

Our warships Equipped with a New Set of Signals.
 The present war between this country and Spain is credited with hastening the equipment of United States naval vessels with a new signaling system.
 The apparatus of the Telephotos Company, of Buffalo, has been ap- proved by the United States Navy De- pertinent, and several sets are being made for American warships. The telephotos Is considered the most rapid, most powerful and effective night sig nal system yet invented. It consists of a series of four double lanterns, light ed by powerful groups of incandescent lamps, the four double lanterns being hung vertically on strong wire cables, the upper end of which can be run up to a mast or yardarm, while the lower end is intended to be fastened to the deck of the vessel. The upper half of each lamp Is white and has within 1t 6 group of three lamps surrounded by powerful magnifying lenses. The lower half Is red, and has four lamps, in or der to make the red beams the strong CT, which are surrounded by heavy red lenses.
 The carefully insulated cable con- meets the lamps and passes from the lower one to the deck or bridge, where a keyboard enables the operator to spell out the code signals about as rapidly as a typewriter Is manipulated, and very much in the same manner. The key board is arranged on a standard and inclosed like a pinnacle, the operator standing in front of 1t while manipu- lating the keys. By simple automatic arrangement each key, as depressed, lights combination of the four red and the four white lights, making let ter or a number, according to the code of signals. All of these operations are automatic and the combination is made by one touch of the key. Another fea- ture of the keyboard Is that when one letter is down all the other keys are locked so that another cannot be acci- dentally pushed down and confuse the signals.
 Any key pressed down can be turned one-quarter way around, like a screw, which motion locks 1t in place and leaves the signal burning in case 1t is desired to use 1t as a standing signal for an order in the secret naval code. Thus the keyboard can be used to tele- graph ordinary instructions by the usu- al letters, to send cipher dispatch or special code orders. Notwithstanding all this apparent complication, the key board Is compact and its mechanism SO simple that 1t cannot be readily dis turbed or gotten out of order.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
H3fs8s 5s 8H8 Hs8 Hs8 H f
e>e~s>s>s~e

There was considerable ill-feeling be- tween the two camps. It all began with Billy Chetwynde declaring that he could paddle from Silver Glen dam to the railroad bridge in twenty minutes | Nobody had ever thought of doing 1t in less than twenty-five before, and Hal Burgess, who heard Billy's boasting from the other tent, stuck his head through the flap and said:
 What you growing about, Billy? Do you want to make a new record for Still River?"
 Il can do a better sprint than you, anyway, Mir. Smartiew exclaimed Bill ly, shying a saucepan at Hars head. But the head was immediately with drawn and there was only Halls mock Ing laugh in reply to the missile, and that was all the beginning. But the ending
 Hal took 1t up the next morning as soon as Billy appeared When you going to make that wonderful record, Billy? he asked, and before the day was over we were all squabbling over the individual paddling of both crowds. Nothing would satisfy us but chance tournament in which every member of the Chetwynde crowd was pitted against some member of the Burgess fraternity. Now take my advice: when ever two parties of school friends camp out near each other see that there is no racing or trials of dexterity. At least If you want quiet time.
 There isn't a more peaceful spot in all the State than the stretch of quiet water known as Still River. But from the day Billy and Hal got to wrangling over who could make the best time be- tween the dam and the railroad bridge. the two tents full of fellows were in a continual squabble. Before we were all having jolly good time and every fellow behaved himselif. But after the ''mild-eyed angel of peace folded its wings and fied"-well, as my young brother Teddy remarked with great freedom of speech, ''the Kilkenny cats weren't in itv'
 The race came off, and naturally the greatest excitement was over tbA trial
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
Discouragfng.
SnObbishness.

A lady living in an unfashionable street invited a gentleman of leisurely life to her home, because in her sim plicity she thought he seemed lonely. He came, and at the close of the even- ing remarked to her, "I had no idea should meet so many distinguished peo- pie at your house," his voice uncon- sciCusly emphasizing the pronoun. In a little book, About People" Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells gives the following in- stance of lack of good manners:
 Snobbishness is not confined to one set of people. Emphasized by fashion or literary pretensions, it spreads from village to city. It exists in sardine fac- tories and in palatial mansions; it is met with at picnics and dances as we'll as at dinner or conversation parties. The links are close.
 One of Boston's oldest families gave reception. Two scions of other old families attended, to whom the host said. "I'll introduce you to those ladies opposite" and he moved toward them.
 Excuse us, said one of the men; "the ladies ara of peasant style of beauty; it is hardly worth while.''
 The host bowed low in recognition of their farseeing power, adding. "Yes, they are my nieces from the country, but will not trouble you"
 No apology would he receive, though one was eagerly offered.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

the trouble as the mil did not want HaPs father as arbitrator. and there. fore the message was to be sent him from Lonsdale so that there would be less liability of the strikers learning of 1t. thought myself nat cid Nolan was a pretty leaky sort Of fellow to be let into the secret for if he'd tell a party of school boys like us, why wouldn't be tell other people?
 Naturally we were all excited over the prospect of a row, and the day the strike came off Hal and two or three of his crowd went over to Silver Glen to see what was going on. MT. Bur gess wouldn't be able to get up till the evening train, which reached the Glen at about !, and the hands had a whole day to talk and get 9lled up on Sam Pickles whisky. Theyd be in fine fighting humor by night.
 Most of Us forgot the recent race and a good many of our differences in the strike excitement But Billy Chet- wynde was IS gloomy as an owl and spent mos of the day oD the river. He couldn't set over his defeat at Halls hands. Heretofore Hal and him had been as "thick as theyes"- chum- miest chums in the sQho0l-and I don't know but the fact tlat they were no longer friends really troubled Billy more than being beaten in the canoe race.
 Hal didn't show u1 a supper time, and Fred, who came down from the Glen early in the afternoon, said he was worried. The tempe of some of the strikers was bad and Fred said he fear ed Hal had got int, trouble. Billy, when he heard this, got out his canoe again and padded ID stream. What happened after thd we only know from Billy own story. and for won- der, as 1t Is hard wo.k to get Billy to talk about 1t even nGy.
 He padded up to he dam to see If he could hear or see ything of Hal. It was getting dusky on the river, and as he Uant up near he vest bank he was en- < fn the snados5 Some of the messs-, -aybe half 3 dozen of them were talking together under the dam
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
between Billy and Hal. Both had the

between Billy and Hal. Both had the
 best canoes of the lot-real Indian
 birchbarks made by Johnny Nose (OI
 Nosey Johnny, as we called him), 6 half breed Indian who was quite q character about Silver Glen. All we could think or talk about were the races, and fishing, ball play and swim
 ming were forgotten while we prac- ticed our strokes on the quiet waters of the Still River.
 Well, Billy was inclined to "blow" on all occasions, and he had done an extra amount of bragging before this race, so perhaps it served him right to be beaten. But hated to see Hal do 1t. Hal was always so awfully topping" when he got the best of a fellow. Billy had declared that he could make the distance in less than twenty minutes, and he was just twenty-one minutes and seven seconds in getting over the course, according to Freddy MaxwelIs s stop watch, while Hal got in in little over nineteen minutes.
 Well, the Burgess crowd was, of course, too unbearably fresh to live with after that, and when 1t was dis covered that Ned Chetwynde, Billy's cousin, had invited Halls brother Dave around behind the tents and thrashed him royalty, we older fellows, who should have drowned upon any such proceeding, never took either of the vOunOStnrS tO task
 So these were the strained relations existing between the two camps on the day the mill hands at Silver Glen struck. We heard they were going to strike the day before, for Jim Nolan, Hal's fathers gardener, drove by on his way to Lonsdale and told us about 1t. Mr. Burgess was one of the chief owners of the mill, and Nolan had been sent to telegraph him to come up from New York and settle the trouble with the men All the old hands liked MT. Burgess and they would listen to him, knowing that he would give them fair 
 But the men who were stirring up all
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
Social Mistakes.

Perhaps the greatest of all social mis- takes Is to be continually talking about oneself. There is no word in all the vocabulary of conversation so tedious to others as that personal pronoun "I. '' Though one of the smallest words in use, there is none that takes up mora room in the everyday world. 'I' is a bore. It Is better not to mention his name oftener than can be avoided. An other social folly is ''gush." There is an insincere ring about it. True, there are people who gush from sheer good nature in wishing to give pleasure, yet they should remember that even amiable exaggeration is like coarse sugar plum, agreeable at first, but leaving a doubt ful taste in the mouth afterward.
 On the other hand, there is a certain class of people in society who are equal ly foolish in going to the other extreme They feign indifference about everybody and everything, seldom expressing either interest or admiration. They think it ''bad form" to show any pleasure in life, and sign of superiority to be in- capable of enthusiasm. A social folly is to imagine that people are always looking at or thinking of you. Such ideas are often the offsprings of conceit. As a matter of fact, the people very often look at you without seeing or thinking of you. They have other things to think of. If we could only convince ourselves that we are not always the pivot of our friends and acquaintances' thoughts, there would be fewer hurt feelings and imaginary grievances Spokane Spokesman Review.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

on the west side. having evidently met
 there by Appointment. Billy's canoe wasn't. noticed at all and he heard what they said Tn about two minutes
 he had got the gist Of the matter, and If ever there was a frightened boy in a canoe, that boy was Billy Chetwynde, and he was in that canoe on the Still River at that identical moment.
 He learned that these men were the ringleaders Of the strike; that they were determined the strike should go on, and that Mir. Burgess should not talk with the men until the trouble had gone far enough to make an amicable settlement impossible. And to gain their end they had secured the assist ance of two rascaly tramps who had agreed to "draw" the spikes out of a rail at the bridge below, So that the evening train, with NIT. Burgess aboard, would be ditched!
 Some time after Billy left camp that evening we saw something shoot by our tents like a streak of light. It was boy in canoe. We all jumped up and looked after the rapidly disappear ing streak.
 "It's that chump, Billy! said Fred, in disgust. We shan't be able to get him off the river ali summer. Any body'd think life or death depended on his going over that course in better time than Hal made"
 And 1t did; but he didn't know it. Bill ly had heard one of the conspirators declare that 1t was half-Dast six. As he turned his canoes head around in the shallow water he heard the mill clock strike the half bour-and the evening train crossed the railroad bridge at ten minutes to sevenI
 He couldn't stop 10 tell Us anything about it. He had but twenty minutes to reach the bridge, climb the bank and flag the train, and 1t is aD acknowledg- ed fact that he made better time on the Still River that night than WAS ever made before, nor has 1t beer equalled since, for he cid It!
 The train came around the bend at
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
Where They Marry to Kill Time.

One strange feature of Australia SO cial life is the perfectly casual way in which men marry for no ostensible pur. pose except the purpose of vanishing wearily around the corner immediately after the ceremony. In 8 Sydney case now on hand the husband, it is alleged, married in 1894 and shortly afterward made his tired, indifferent exit around the corner and never came back. In 1896 he married again and immediately faded away up the street. He never hv- ed with his second wife When he was arrested on a charge of aggravated har- em, he offered no explanation whatever Apparently he only did it because fel- low must do something
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

The Sabbath day, or seventh day, has
 been observed for many centuries be-
 yond the beginning of our era, and
 among peoples quite uninfuenced by
 the sons of Israel. In some sense, and
 to degree varying with different peo-
 ples, 1t has been holy day. In some | cases the sacred character of the day
 was not considered, but it was a time for rest, for cessation from the regular
 occupations and the customary thought
 of the week. And possibly out of this admitted need grew sentiment which
 eliminated in reverence for Sunday, and final setting it apart as holy, ded- icated to the service and worship of the Deity. Institutions of so slow a growth are sometimes estimated with out regard to the causes for their es- tablishment without considering the reason for their origin. It has happened that the Sabbath day lost its hold upon man in an age when human reason was dethroned as the only guide and arbi- ter. But back of mans little judgment was the great human necessity for that very ordinance. Somehow the interval was fixed so wisely that the weariness of six days was satisfied in the repose of the seventh. France tried one time to set the days of rest farther apart, and one in ten became the rule. But the reason which ages of experience proved before revolutions were possi- ct hn la
 fell. And the head and the heart and
 the soul of man yearned for the one ,ilcJ- Az .s----a-, ,n r>1- ~at-rnad to 1t And it was not alone repose which gave the day its warrant. It was not all mat ter of physical exhaustion, though that was a potent consideration. It was the veneratiOn of a diety, recognition of sacred day, the appreciation of one season different from other seasons. That was and Is at the root of the req son for the Sabbath before the begin ming of our era, and beyond the influ- ence of Judaism, just as 1t Is now, and in .Christendom. Man needs a change of thought and of labor and break in the mOnotony of existence. Coupled with that sentiment which brought rev erence with the day was-logically-a tendency to better apparel. Man put on his fairer garments that day. He found sort of worship in the act, and it made him better. He expressed and emphasized the difference between himself and the animals beside which he had worked through the week. He was a nobler creature. The Sabbath was made for him, and it blessed him. The mission of Sunday has never changed from those distant eras when the one day in seven was slowly set apart and recognized. It calls to rest l But the rest that best utilizes the day Is that departure from the thought of | the week, from the plans of common occupation, from the study, the care the very amusement of the other six | days. The rest that best bleSses man is the resolute markings of this day as different from other days and better and holier than they.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

the LonsdaIe crossing on time. and in the half darkness the engineer saw g figure wildly climb the trestle and swing its arms almost in front of the engine at the edge of the bridge. The engine-driver stopped the train in time, the loose rail was discovered, and after 1t was repaired they bore Billy to Silver Glen in 6 state of mild col lapse, but a good deal of hero.
 The canoe record of the Still River course remains something like eighteen minutes, and nobody has since cared to scale down Billy's time. But I doubt If Billy cares much about the record after all, now that Hal and he are friends again.-Rocky Mountain News.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

Why should we be humiliated by what the military attaches wish to say about our appropriateness for war? The attaches are here to report what they see. If they underestimate our mill tary capabilities, there Is no harm in that for us. The strength of a nation Is not in what other natios think of it. Moreover. if We are not foOliShly confi- dent and shortsighted, we shall recog- nize the truth as we'll as the attaches and shall profit by our experience.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

Vegetarianism in Germany is grow Ing, according to news paragraph, be- cause the appeal is made that the indi- vidual's body is healthier without the flesh diet. In England, the vegetarians are more apt to appeal on moral grounds, it appears, of the inhumanity of killing the animals for food. One would think that as people are mostly constituted the vegetarians should be gin in the German way, but end the ar gument in the English way. A tandem has more force than a single rider.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

Perhaps 1t is well that the insolence and the exactions of the trusts grow heavier to the breaking point. Perhaps there Is promise in the very fact that they use the machinery of government provided by the people to despOn the people. To end an evil it is simply nee essary to make it unbearable. If the trusts prove that though they can tax the people the people cannot tax them, their end will speedily follow.
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

camp moSe than a dozen of the most expert riders were rejected because their heart action was not healthful. A New York physician attributes the sndden decline of a well-known society young woman, whom he has sent South for relief from lung trouble, to overex- ertion in making century runs." The bicycle is a useful and harmless source of recreation, but the century rider makes it an instrument of torture and death
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

Hooley, the English promoter who failed for many millions, has been call ed 'the modern Monte Cristo." His record suggests that he may have beeb chanS
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20

In troublous times the wisest and best Of men and women are preserved from inward disturbance and insanity because they fully believe in the silent activity add supremacy of truth and goodness. They see that in this human world of ours there is a great deal go- Ing on besides. disorder and corruption. violence and misery. The late Doctor Furness, of Philadelphia, once said to friend, "The devil makes much noise and show with his work, and alarms us all; but God is silently busy all the time in a world He has made to His own hand; and He does infinitely more. While We think nothing about it."
The St. Johns herald., 1898-08-20
4 GIimpse Of Real War.

AS the blue brown line of the Sixty. fifth came down the street woman with a child in her arms stepped out from the curb and held up the baby to one of the soldier boys for a last good by kiss. Almost immediately a hulk ing policeman, who could never have had a wife or child of his own. caught her roughly and pushed her back on the curb.
 The line went on amid the cheers of the crowd, the waving of flags and the inspiring music of the bands. It was much like parade, after all.
 But in the tear-stained face of that poor woman and the great, wondering eyes of her little child, those who watched the incident saw first real glimpse of war.-Buffalo Express.