davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22

probably thought that, with five or six
boys at each end of thu rope, they
would be able to upset us. !:
But tie next moment they received
an impressive obiect-lesson. The mo-
mentum of the heavy pung was some
thing prodigiousl We scarcely felt
the rope when we struck it, and the
next instant a dozen Number Seven
boys were taking most extravagant
leaps as they were jerked into the road
behind us! All Of them had been
gripping the rope hard, and some of
them were carried so feet before they
could let go! They werS about the
most astonished-looking boys that l
eyer saw!
As for the pung, it did not stop till
it reached the foot of the hill beyond
the Bridge over Longmeadow brook,
where we found the man AND horses
waiting to haul it back up to Number
Six.
The bog-trotter boys had not wholly
recovered from their discontinue
when we went by; their school bell
was ringing, and when Rufus politely
asked them what they thought of our
blockade-runrc they had little to say.
"Ho!" Lem said, feebly.' "What do
we care for your old rantum-scooterp'
And the name stuck to, Rufus armor-
clad. We soon came to call it the
Rantum.S Scooter ourselves.
The Number Seven Boys knew bet
ter than to attempt to hold rope in
front of the blockade-runner again;
but they still imagined that the rope
would stop us, if only the ends could
be made fast. Next day at noon, when
we coasted down, we found that they
Lad drawn it7tight across the road and
tied one end to tree near the school
house and the other to a horse-post in
front of the grocery opposite. The
rope snapped like twine when we
struck it.
A day or two later, as we coasted
down, we found that they had collected
eight OF ten OK chains, but they did
not dare to use them; perhaps because
they feared to kill some of us, or pos
sibly because the selectmen had threat
ersd to have them punished if they
seriously molested us more.
After this they no longer tried to
stop us, but they pelted us hard with
frozen snowballs. For ordinary snow
balls we cared little, since we could
draw our heads down into the box as
we passed; but soon 'Thias, Lem and
some of the others began hurting heavy
Jumps of ice into the pung.
To set such missiles at defiance,
Rufus and Dol rebuilt the box of the
pung, making the :des higher, putting
top on it and covering it with sheet
iron.
During the following week we made
the coast not less than 20 times with
this curious continuance. Lumps OF
ice aud even stones were launched at
! II. l>--L tr.
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
HUMOROUS.

"Why is the villain in the play al
ways dark man?" 81 guess It's be-
cause villains are naturally opposed to
the light. ,.
"What can equal the warmth OF .
true woman's love?" asked, the dear
est girl. "Her temper" replied the
savage bachelor.
sI don't know what's to become OF
that boy of mine. He was never
known to get anything right. " make
a weather prophet of him."
Watts-I understand the Chinese
are the most lightly taxed people on
earth. Potts You needn't worry
about that. We shall probably civl-s
lize them before long.
Miss Upton is the most circurn-
spect young lady / ever met. Tom
How so? Jack--She refused to ac-
company me on the piano the other
evening without her chGperen.
"When talking weather, always be
sure of your man" said Crimsonbeak.
"What would be lovely day to man
who sells umbrellas would not be SO
considered by a sandwich man.
He-What makes you so pensiye2
She-I've just been wondering If yoE
will love me when I'm old. He-GShh On
what's the use borrowing tr @o12e
You've always had weak luz 5; ah!
you may never get old.
Tramp-Will the gentle -
triae to O poor. man2&Drs5s
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
AN INLAND Iron CLAD.
BY c.. A. STEPHENS,

But the next noon they played q
new and worse trick on us. Eight of
ten of us set off to go down singly, one
sled few yards behind another, when,
rs we drew near Number Seven school
house, Rufus Rundlett,, who was
ahead, noticed that Matthias Monsen,
one of the larger boys at the Corners,
was standing on one side of the road
and his brother Lem on the other.
"Look out for snowballs!" Rufus
shouted back to us. Neither he nor
any of the rest OF us. saw that new
rope lay across the road on the snow
till the Monsen boys, raised it and
caught us. Rufus sled was capsized.
and all the rest of us were piled up in
a heap. Some of us were scraped off
our sleds, some had their sleds upset;
for the Number Seven crowd had
three OF four boys at leach end of the
rope, and rs fast as sled came along
it was caught by the rope and jerRed
over Meantime dozen other Num-
Der Seven boys were raining snow
balls upon us. We had to pick our
selves up, recover our sleds and get
away as best we could.
''Try it againH' they shouted after
us. eff you think you can run by
Number Seven try it again!'
For day or two we had little dis
position to try it again; they were too
big and too many for us to thrash, as
we would, perhaps have been justified
in doing, and we did not dare to try
the coast; but we chafed under the re-
straint and beat our brains for de-
vice to break it effectually.
f"Dol' Edmunds, who, after Rrfus,
was probably the most energetic OF
our boys, proposed to run big mar
ket pung sleigh down, taking one OF
the thills under each arm as he lay
face downward on his narrow coasting
sled between them. This feat had
sometimes been performed on the hill
by the older boys. Dolls idea was that
the pung, loaded with ten or q dozen
boys, would break the rope or jerk it
away from those who tried to hold it.
1t was evident. however, that if the
rope were so held as to upset his sled
the pung thills would drop and the
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.

The Ceylon yellow silk spider has a
body that weighs nine ounces.
There are 40, 900 native pupils in
the Sunday schools of the Fiji Islands.
A West African king is the owner
of an umbrella which measures six
yards in diameter and affords shade
for a table with thirty diners.
An English guide-book makes the
curious assertion that a large proper
tion of those who have made the as
cent of Mont Blanc have been persons
of unsound mind.
A subterranean city exists in Cali
cia, Austrian Poland, which contains
population of over 1000 men, women
and children, many Of whom have
never seen the light of day.
The ancient Chinese and Japanese
frequently used to draw pictures with
their thumbnails. The nails were
allowed to grow to a length of IS
inches, and were pared to a point and
dipped in vermilion cr sky-blue ink
the only colors used in these thumb
nail sketches.
Probably the most curious European
oath is administered in Norway. The
witness raises his thumb, his fore
finger and his middle finger. These
signify the Trinity while the larger of
the uplifted fingers is supposed to
.epresent the soul of the witness and
the smaller to indicate his body.
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22

will thunder like Niagara, anu soW
legislators at Washington will do well
to give it heed.
Respondent in the gold seal Of the
State of Utah, handsomely engrossed
on parchment and signed by the Sec
retary Of State, the credentials OF
Brigham II. Roberts, of Utah, have
finally put in an appearance in the
House of Representatives at Washing
ton. They were received by Clerk
Mcdowell, and after being indorsed as
to the time of receipt were deposited
in the big safe wherein all the creden-
tials of members of Congress are pre-
served. IS
The document is very simple one,
except in the elegance Of its execut
ton, and in this respect Utah has
called in the best resources OF the
steel engraver and engrosser. The
credentials were executed at Salt
Lake City on December 10, but not
until now have they reached the au-
thorities of the House for filing. They
are about the last to come, as most OF
the credentials were filed soon after
the November elections. The matter
now goes over to the Fifty six Con:
gress, which alone has power to deal
with Roberts.
Roberts's nomination for Congress,
it is said, was brought about through
the influence of the Mormon Apostle,
Heber j. Grant, and the "Church OF
the Latter Day Saints. His record
was we'll known, and it was decided
to make all aggressive campaign and
exert all the Influence of the Mormon
hierarchy to secure his election and
admission in Congress-. Repeatedly
the church was urged to Withdraw
him from the race, but it refused. In
the very crisis OF the campaign, the
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22

,.vvv=uuo e,,tYct utsonici sVG
for sale. Will eat an z :tsT
fond of children, the fci.oz.ng from,
an old newspaper: WANTED, two ap-
prentices. Will be treated as one OF
the family"
Danglers-So the engagement be-,
tween Miss Trilby and George Win
kles is off? Morrison-Yes, she was
too sensitive. Awoman ran peram-
bulator over her foot, and when she
told George about it, he asked her IL
it upset the perambulator.
The Dear Girl am really aston
ished to hear you advance the propo-
sition that child should not be cor
rected in tho presence of strangers.
The Savage Bachelor-He should not
be; because he should never be in the
presence OF stl augers; that's why.
ooh, that 1 should have mar led o
funny man she wailed!" 'What is the
matter, dear?" asked her most intim-
ate friend. "He came home and told
me he had n sure way to keep jelly
from moulding at the top, AID when
I asked him how, he said to turn it
upside down"
The following doubtful compliment
is fragment from o loye-letter:
GLOW wish, my da:ling Adelaide,
my engagements would permit me to
leave town and come to see you! 1t
would be like visiting some old ruin.
hallowed by time and fraught with
thousand recollections.
''Stop, or Til shoot called out the
policeman. '.Ha, hal" laughed the
malefactor, nor paused in his
fight. "Stop." the policeman now
shouted, thoroughly incensed, "or
I'll shoot at random I" Here the
malefactor halted at once; for even to
such as he life is sweet.
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
oldest House on Earth.

The oldest domicile on earth is that
recently erected at Yokohama by an
eminent German bacteriologist. 1t is
microbe proof house, built of glass
blocks. There are no window sashes,
and the doors, when closed, are air
tight. The air supply is forced into
the room through pipe, and filtered
through cotton wool to cleanse it of
bacteria. To insure further steriliza-
ton the air is driven against glycer-
inc coated plate glass, which captures
all the microbes the wool spares. The
few microbes brought into the house
in the clothes of visitors soon die in
tbs warm sunlight with which the
house is flooded. - Leeds Hospital
Magazine.
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
A cANNIBAL EXECUTION
The Victim Is Torn to Pieces and Dis
appears Instantly.

appears instantly.
Many of the Batete!a tribe fought
side by side with the whites in the
recent war with the Arabs which re-
suited in the expulsion of all the Arab
slave dealers from the Congo state in
Africa. The Batetela cannibals are
splendid fighters, but are among the
worst savages who have been found IN
Africa. "During excursions in the
neighborhood of their town." wrote
DR.. Hinde, the famous traveler,,' Il
on more than one occasion saw public
execution. When the chief of town,
who is of course M absolute monarchj
decides that man must die, he hands
him over to the people. The man is
Immediately torn to pieces and disap-
pears as quickly as hare is broken
up by pack of hounds. Every man
lays h Id of him at once with one
hand and with the other whips OFF
piece with his knife; no one stops to
kill him first, for he would, by so
doing, lose his piece. More than once,
after @ drumhead court-martial, when
spy or deserter was shot, the on
lockers have said to lis, 'Whysdo you
bury him? It's no use; when You are
gone we shall, of course, dig him up.
Hanging fetiches over the grave with
view to rerenting the people from
touching it for fear Of magic had no
effect. These people seem to, have no
form of religion whatever, and no fear
of death or evil spirits. Through the
whole of the Batetela country. extend
ing from the Lubefu to the Luiki and
from the Lurimbi northward for some
five days march, one sees neither gray
hairs, nor halt nor blind. Even
parents are eaten by their children on
the first sign OF approaching decrepl-
tude. 1t is easy to understand that,
under the circumstances. the Batetela
have the appearance of a splendid
race. These cannibals do not, as
rule, file their front teeth, nor do they
tattoo tile face"
Between 5000 and 10000 of these
Batetela cannibals fought in the war
against the Arabs. The fact that so
many cannibals were fighting under
Baron Dhanis proved an important
element in his success. ''The teach
ing of the Mohammden religion,
wrote DR.. Hinde, "does not concede
that man whose body has been mutt
lated can enter into the highest heaven
where only perfect men are admitted.
AS a consequence of this belief, the
white Arabs and other faithful follow
ers Of Islam would, after rebuff, in
stead of trying to retrieve the fortunes
of the day, flee from the field with all
possible speed-not so much to save
their lives as through fear that their
bodies, in the event OF their falling,
would be torn to pieces"
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22

:. 4,v ,t0viitteu Uuu,u
steer the pung in that way and be
completely covered by it.
The most of rs were afraid, how
ever, that the bog-trotters would
scrape us off of the pung with their
rope. At this stage of the argument
Rufus proposed making the puIg into
q wooden armor-clad.
Dol and he worked nearly all the
following night. They took off the
low pung box and replaced it with one
far larger and stronger, made of ioist
and pine boards. Itcoyered the pung
runners entirely, being over eight
feet long by four feet wide, and the
sides rose to height OF over three
feet, quite sufficient to shield all who
sat within them. The box was made
fast to the runners and had kind OF
prov in front, projecting three or four
feet in wedge-shaped triangle.
When they hauled it to the school
house next day everyone who saw it, in
Guiding our woman teacher, agreed 1t
was the most singular coaster ever
seen in those parts. Rufus, when lying
under it on his little sled to steer, was
almost completely hidden from view;
and a short trial trip down the first
pitch of the hill showed it to be nee
essary that he should be strapped to
the little sled.
Rufus was ready to start at once,
but the courage OF many of the boys
was not quite equal to taking passage
In so novel a contrivance. Indeed,
some little bravery was required, for
if Rufus failed to steer it broken necks
might be the result. Then, too, no
one knew how strong the bogtrotters'
rope would prove to be or what would
happen when we ran foul OF it.
But next day, after we had eaten
our noon lunch, Rufus having sent his
fathers hired man, with a span Of
horses, down the hill in advance, placed
himself under the pung i'll position
for steering.
"Come on, boys" he called, "who's
afraid?"
Dol Edmunds was the first to climb
in, and nine of us followed him.
"Shove off, exclaimed Rufus, and
in moment more we were gliding
down the first pitch. Altogether the
pung. the heavy box and its load of
boys must have weighed ton. 1t
rapidly gathered speed. Down the
second pitch it swept, hummed across
the level stretch and took the third
pitch, faster and faster.
It was amazing that Rufus steered
so we'll, but he seemed to know how
at once. My own sensations swung
between terror and wild elation.
Down the long fourth pitch we shot,
gaining tremendous headway. The
pung was now going so fast that the
jar and jolting motion had entirely
ceased. It seemed as if the roaG had
been oiled. The keen rush of cold air
cut our faces, and brought to my eyes,
I remember, was haze of tears,
through which saw dimly wild pro-
cession OF hurrying trees and roadside
fences.
The Number Seven boys had seen us
coming. AS we headed down the fifth
and last pitch we heard them shouting,
and seven or eight OF them ran across
the road.
"They're stretching their ropor'
Dol exclaimed. Jumping to his feet,
he pulled off his red woolen muller
and waved it d:fiantly, while we all
yelled like wild indians. The bog
trctters yelled back defiance and raised
their rope. In their ignorance they
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22

y
Rufus Rundlett is another instance
TO prove that "the boy is father to the
man." When 16 years of age he helped
to invent an armor-clad coasting sled,
ssthe Rantum-Scooter," and he alone
steered it down Wilkins hill to victory
over the .Number Seven" boys; and
now he is commander Of an armor-clad
ship, quite rs capable, 1 doubt not, of
routing an enemy.
The schoolhouse in 'tNumber Six, J"
where we underwent mill form OF
education together, stood. at the forks
Of the county road, with the cross
town road, which led down Wilkins
hill, on one side and Mill hill on the
other. The county road extended
north and south, along the crest of o
fine, broad ridge of land divided into
ten fertile farms, owned by as many
well-to-do farmers whose families
made mp our school district.
3 We young people of Number Six
had always been little inclined to
look down on the boys and girls OF
Number Seven at the Corners, near
the foot of Wilkins hill, for the deni-
zens of Number Seven were a some
what poor and shiftless lot. The
larger boys were pugnacious and i'll
disposed, and unless schoolmaster
were strong enough to thrash four OF
five of them, he pust suffer the hu-
initiation of being carried out Of the
schoolhouse.
At Number Six, on the contrary, the
pupils were well-advanced, self-re-
specting and orderly. An able teacher
was required, but less to govern than
to instruct. Still, I now think that
the contempt in which we held, the
Number Seven boys was rather phar-
isaical, and I do not wonder they re-
sented it. We nicknamed them ''bos-
trotters, (" an7 they retorted by calling
us Chill dogs" The two districts
also belonged to two rival political
parties, a fact which sharpened the
animosity between them.
Wilkins hill was the best coasting
place in the county. 1t consisted OF
five steep pitches, with intervals of
less abrupt descent between them,
which made altogether run OF more
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
The CnIonel,s Spectacle !.

"Colonel Roosevelt is very near
sighted" said one of the New Or
leans boys who saw service at Santi-
ago, "and when the hot fighting was in
progress his luggage consisted almost
entirely of spe tacles. Near-sighted
people always have an abiding fear of
loosing their glasses, knowing their
absolute helplessness without such
aid, aud I was told by one of the New
York club contingent that Roosevelt
took particular pains before leaving
home to provide against such disas-
ter.
"He had been in the habit of wear
ing nose glasses with black silk cord
attached, but the arrangement was
entirely unsuited to campaign, where
the glasses themselves would be liable
to fall off constantly and the cord to
catch on twigs. So he substituted
very large round srectacles, with steel
hooks for the ears, and had dczeu
pairs mounted. These he planted
around his person and equipment,
trying to distribute them so that no
one accident could include them all.
One pair was sewed in his blouse, an
other in his belt, another in his hat,
two in his saddlebags, and so on.
"At the fight at Gunsimas his horse
was barked by a bullet while held by
nm orderly and plunged frantically
against a tree. Colonel Roosevelt
came rushing up, all anxiety, and be-
gan pryiug under the saddle flap.
sThey haven't hurt the nag, sir, said
the orderly. L know replied the
colonel, with tears in his voice, but,
hang 'em, they've smashed my
specsl' New Orleans Times-Demo'
crat
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22

lL'
afraid tc-r.y the hill, but if Number
Six boy had not made the 'srun" at
Is or IA years of age we deemed him
backward lad.
The coasting sleds most in favor
with us were small and narrow. They
were shod with half-round steel shoes,
which were slightly bowed to make a
''spring" space of an inch at the mid
dleiof the rnnner. Our favorite pos
ture for costing on this hill was face
downward, with toes extended behind
to aid in steering. Usually in start
ing at the top of the hill we ran for
ward, one after another, flung our
selves down on our sleds and thus set
off at speed.
On moonlit evenings, when there
were girls lin the party, trains were
often made up Of ten OF twelve sleds
some of them large hand-sleds, on
which four or five could sit at ease.
The forward or. leading sled was called
the engine and was steered by one
OF the oldest, strongest boys. Such n
train, humming down that long hill by
moonlight, gaining speed at every pitch
till it shot past the Corners at Num-
Der Seven, going 90 miles an hour, af-
forded an exhilarating spectacle.
There was an almost uninterrupted
view from top to bottom of the long
descent; and besides the steerer on
the engine there was norman"
whose business it was to blow tin
horn if we saw team or pedestrian
coming up. All the others, too, ie ned
in a tremendous shout of ''Road! road!
road!''
The hill was so long that not more
than three or four coasts could be
made in an evening and generally not
more than one during the noon inter-
mission, when school was in session.
A hired man from one of the farms,
with span of horses and long pung
sleigh, saved us the drudgery of pull
ing our sleds up the hil!.
Laws relative to coasting were not
then very strict in Maine, and we sup
posed we had right to coast down
the road at 60 miles an hour. Nobody
had e7er made any objection. The
only drawback to the sport was that
we had to run past the schoolhouse in
Number Seven, and the bog-trotters
were accustomed to rush out and pelt
us with snowballs. The place was
locally known as Wilkins Corners.
There had been good coasting for
three or four weeks before Rufus
Rundlett devised the Rantum-Scooter;
the entire hill was smooth as glass.
Nearly every morning, noon and night
some of us Number Six boys were
coasting, and often there were parties
of 20 or 80.
The loafers and bog-trotters had
ieered at us as We few past and snow
balled us as in former years, but be-
fore long the Number Seven boys
actually undertook to stop all Number
Six coasters. They rolled great snow
balls into the road in front of the
schoolhouse and built a. high fort clear
across the road. -Four Gf our boys
who started to coast down were OBJ
lised to take to the ditch. The bog
trotte.s then rushed from their fort
and by pelting them with snowballs
forced them to run back up the hill.
They shouted that no hill dog should
pass that schoolhouse.
But as their fort stopped teams as
well as coasters, one of the selectmen
of the town ordered them to remove
it at5once, and during the following
eyening q train Of ten sleds from Mum
ber Six coasted defsntly by,
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1899-03-22
Christian churches of differentgt

Christian churches of different de.
nominations, all over the land, have.
now taken up the anti-polygamy Cruz
sade, and, at the present time, it's
the absorbing topic. -
For the second time in our history,
the hydra of polygamy has lifted it's
head in defiance of the American peo-
pie. Utah, repudiating the sacred
pledges it gave as On essential condl1
tion of admission to Statehood, has
notonly failed to suppress the crime
of plural marriage, but has promoted
and encouraged it. Emboldened by
apparent public Indifference, it lately
elected to Congress notorious poly
gamist with three wives. This man
a a'convicted ofender-is knocking at
the doors of our national legislature,
and claiming the right to voice and
vote in making laws for the American
people. Public indignation, slow to
awake, has been fully aroused in pro-
test against so shameless proceed
ing, and the demand is universal and
insistent that Congress should e1er-
else its prerogative and purge itself
of the contamination. From every
StaSe-Utah alone excepted-there