davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
Negrocs in Porto Rico.

Dr. II. X. Carroll, of Plainfeld, N. j.,
the presidents special commissioner to
examine into the political and social
conditions in Porto Rico, was much i'm
pressed by the high character of tlse
negro population there. Tie most ca"
pable builders, carpenters, bricElayeFs
masons, printers, plumbers and arti.
sans generally are negroes, he said
They mingIe with the white workmen
on terms of perfect equality, and, so far
as DR.. Carroll could find, there is no
color line. When he held public hear
ings in the different towns on the is
land TO get at public sentiment, repre-
sentativcs of the artisans guilds or
gremios came before him. More than
half of the delegates selected by the
grcmios to meet him were negroes. He
found them, he says, practical and
hard headed thinkers.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
THE HOUSE CHAPLAIN
Rev. Henry ~ Couden and His Stir
ring Public Career.
lost His sight While Serving as a
Defender of the UniOn--Afterynrd
Studied for the Ministry and
Won Success.

Five or six years ago the relations be
tween England and the United States
were strained over the Venezuelan af-
fair, and it seemed as if only a spark
were needed to ignite the flames of war.
But the country was slow to understand
the humiliation of the diplomatic de-
feat that England was preparing for US,
and congress was pretending not to see
how far England was going in her ag-
gressions.
One morning DR.. Couden entered the
chamber just on the stroke of the clock
and was taken to his station below the
desk of the speaker. He was nervous,
for he had not been long in the house,
and he was not quite certain of his
ground. But he began with apparent
confidence, and, speaking distinctly,
prayed long and earnestly for peace be-
tween the two nations.
lie prayed for Gods blessing upon
the congress and the speaker of the
house of representatives. Then, as he
nearcd the end of the prayer, he raised
his voice so that it could be heard in
every corner of the vast hall.
"IIeavenly Father" he said, 'let
peace reign throughout our borders,
yet may we be quick to resent an insult
to this our nation!"
To-day DIR. Couden's home life, says
the Philadelphia Saturday Evening
Post, is as full of quiet and sweetness
as his younger days were of hardship
and vicissitude.
His reading is done by Mrs. Couden,
who keeps him in touch with the doings
of the world, and reads aloud the books
which he uses in preparing his sermons
and other writings. She is his lost
sense regained.
At the outbreak Of the civil war Dr..
Coudcn was a boy of II, overflowing
with life and spirits, and ardent in his
patriotism. So, when President Lin
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

coin issued his call for $4,000 men for
three months, young Couden was
among the first to present himself for
enlistment.
Before the three months had expired
he had enlisted again in the Sixth Ohio
infantry for a period of three years. He
fought in the battles of Laurel Hill and
in the skirmishes at Carrcll's Ford and
Green Brier. lie was in the battle of
Shiloh and Perrysyillc. But it was aGta o.
his transfer to the Mississippi marine
brigade that the engagement in which
he was wounded took place, 1t was
there that the light failed him forever.
Young Couden become blind imme
dia.ely, and he says that he felt then
that lie would never see again. When
the doctor came to examine him the
young sufferer heard that his case vas
hopeless.
"Wiil l see, doctor?" he asked anx-
iously.
The doctor smiled sadly; eff you're
good boy, you'll see-after you die!" he
answered.
When young Ccudcn went back to his
home in Cincinnati he began the manu-
facture of brooms, and afterward the
selling of confectionery. But he soon
determined to study for the ministry.
This he did in a sevcn-ycar course at the
institution for the blind at Column
BUS, O.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

one pocket, but tugging deep into the
other for his handkerchief to wipe his
heated brow, out flew GRUMPY bread
and stringy ham and cake that looked
as if the frosting had been nibbIed by
mice. The passengers smiled. They
could not have been human and done
otherwise. But the man made no al
iowances for uncomfortable risibiIities
He glared at the offending men and
women, savagcly thrust back the bread
and battered cake into his pocket and
envcloped his burning countcnance in
the cooling pages of the morning paper.
But there was a look of flint i'm his
eye that spoke the finish of the home.
concocted l~ncheon.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

Slaves" nor the APES" of Bible history
came from India, for Africa, as is well
known, has ever been credited in his
tory as the ivory, slave and ape e-produc-
ing country. Further, there is consid-
cradle doubt whether any other coun-
try, India included, could at that period
have produced the quantity of gold
mentioned in Chronicles and Kings.
Scattered throughout the country are
colossal ruins of fortresses, temples of
distinctly Phoenician origin, identical
with the ruins now seen in the land of
the Phoenicians and built by the same
race as erected Stonehenge on Salisbury
plain and later built the rounded tow
ers of Ireland. Here is the herringbone
style of building, as in Arabia, Sardinia
and the British isles. There, too, are
the gigantic monoliths, cloven stones
and stone circles, with affairs and sacred
enclosures.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

the construction of a drainage system
which will take care of all the storm
water and drain every inch of soil be
tween the Mississippi river and the lake
and reduce the moisture in the soil full
~ SIX feet. The first section of this
system will soon be finished and will
drain the entire business section.
The drainage canal proper is 80 feet
wide and 25 feet deep, built of brick and
cement on a concrete foundation, and
covered over with asphalt. This work
has seemed a wonder to all who have
investigated it, and is one of the great
engineering triumphs of the decade, of
which its originators, Maj. Harrod and
l.. w. Brown, have ample reason to be
proud. TO build canal of the dimen-
siOns indicated in some places would be
childs play, but to construct miles
upon miles of monster culvcrts in the
soft soil of New Orleans seems little
short of miraculous. Recently party
of engineers and representatives. of the
press descended into the culvert at
Canal street and walked a distance of
two miles upon a surface wide enough
to accommodate three teams driven
abreast. That these underground
tourists were more surprised than
when they took their first boat ride in
the great sewers of Paris is not surpris-
ing. 1t will require fully five years to
complete the work 50 auspiciously be-
gun, and a total outlay of perhaps S.
0O0, 600, of which So ,OOO, 900 have already
been expended. When completed, the
new system will carry off the drainage
TO the Gulf of Mexico, by way of Bayou
Bienvinuc and Lake BOrgne, thus keep
ing uncontaminated the waters of Lake
POntchartrain, one of the most pic
turesque lakes in the United States.
The system of sewerage and of re-
moving the night soil is still as primi-
tive in New Orleans as when Bienville
marched across the swamps from Biloxi
and planted the standard of France
upon the banks of the Mississippi. The
vaults arc cmptied twice a year, and the
offensive matter dumped into the river,
producing a condition at once unsani-
tary aud offensive. This fact has at last
been impressed upon the people, and
even those most stubbornly opposed to
progress are beginning TO realize that
in order to avoid quarantines and their
attendant evils and business dcpres-
siona, and epidcmics and pcstiIence, the
cause must be removed. A campaign
was begun a short time ago for the con
struction of a modern sewerage system,
thorough system of municipal water
works and an adequate system of street
paving; and il is almost certain that the
people viii vote in favor of issuing
bonds for that purpose. Such improve
ments would not only redeem the city
from filth, but make it at once the
hcalfhiest and most beautiful muni-
cIps"ty IN the south and the greatest
p0It outside Of New York,
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

life if the present age lies between
IL and Sc years. This is the rule Sub
tract the present age from Sc and divide
the remainder by .; the result will give
the number of years you have yet to
live. This old rule was discovered by
the mathematician De Moivre, who emi-
grated to England from France in 1865
and became a member of the Royal So
ciety. The curves given by Mr.. School
ing are interesting to examine. A first
diagram shows the chance that every
man has of living one year longer than
his present age. At birth this chance
is to !; at years, 119 to 1; at 10, 512
to /; at Is, 347; at 20, 207; at 25, 1856;
at 30, 120; at IS, 81; at 40, rs, etc. Mr.
Schooling affirms from his calculations
that of 1000 individuals of so years, 500
will live to be 70, 1870 to 80 years and
II to 30; while of 1000 agenarians,
will reach their hundredth year. We
may add that for men of 65, the average
expectation of life is 10 1-3 years.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
STREET CAR EPISODE.
Little Willie Got Something from
Dis InduIGcnt Ma That He
Didn't Ask For.

81 meet good many strange people,"
sfid the street cas conductor, as he
stopped the car TO let the fat party
off. put yesterday think l capped the
climax.
IAN overdresscd womor. and a small
boy got on my car, II as l rang up
their fares the small boy became in
tcrcsteE in my bcll-punch and insist
cd on singing the little bell just like L
did.
Il couldn't see my way clear to anus
ing children at five cents u ring, and
said as much.
Then the woman flared up and said
she thought that / might let little Will
lie ring the bell if he wanted to.
Il kept my temper and explained to
her that the street car company collects
ed five cents from me for every time
that the bell was pulled.
she put her fat hand into her pocket.
book, and. extracting 25 cents, handed
it to me, and said, haughtily:
"You may let little Willie ring five
times
"Now, one of the company's rules
says that we must be polite and oblig-
ing at all times, so | submitted.
Little Willie, with a coo of delight,
rang the bell, while | stood there like
n fool; the mother bcamed, and roar
went up from the passengers.
AS escaped to the other end of the
car the woman said, with toss of hex
head:
"Littlc Willie always gets what he
asks for
"a moment later little Willie con-
cciyed the plan of ringing up his moths
cr, using her ear as IA handle, and Civ
ing it such Il jerk as to bring tears to-
her eyes.
"Then little Willie was turned down.
and got what he should have received
in the first pIace-a good spanking.
"Thcn an unfccling passenger re-
marked in an audible tone of voice that
that was probably the first time that
little Willie ever got something that he
didn't ask for. N. Y. World.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
ADDS Pr TO HIS LUNCH.
The Tardy Suburbapite's MOrtif,iD
Struggle with the Re-
Paper Parcel.

The man in the suburbs had his lunch
neatly tied III square paper parcel
which did not look its function. He
started from the house in orderly pre-
cision, says the Chicago Chronicle, but
had barely turned the corner when he
stubbed his toe and dropped the unsus-
piciouS bundle to the sidewalk, split
ting the yellow paper and depositing
sandwiches and cake on the ground.
Then the train whistle sounded it's
warning note, and in despair the tor
tured suburbanite crammed cake and
bread prOmiscuously into his pockets
and started on run for the station.
lie caught the last platform of the last
car and hurriedly sank intoa seat. When
the conductor asked for his ticket he
managed to extract the small paste
board without showing the contents Of
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
The death rate of New Orlebas now

The death rate of New OrlcBas now
is about 20 per 1000. Improved drain
age conditions will lower it easily to
Is; and the completion of the sewer
! age and paving systems and an abun-
dant supply of pure water would, speak
| ing from scientific experience, reduce
| it to ten or even nine per 1000.
Preparatory to these far-reacbing
| innovations the city council has caused
the telegraph, telephone and electric
| light companies to place their wires
| underground, SO that in the space of
half a decade New Orleans will have
evolved from the slowest TO the most
progressive city in America.
The public buildings, many of them
old and uncomfortable, are about to
give place to modern and architectural
Is perfect structures, and the parks,
unequaled in point of natural beauty,
are being improved at rapid rate.
Audubon park and City park, by the
way, are famous for possessing the
most exquisite oaks in America, some
cf the trees being 300 years old.
That the commercial Development
will more than go hand in hand with
the city's sanitary improvement can
not for an instant be doubted. New Or
leans has always been the great cotton
trade center of America, and has han
died immense quantities of sugar and
rice in addition. Moreover, it is the sec
ond largest grain exporting point in the
United States. But its trade in manu-
factured goods and its manufacturing
interests are in want of development.
Capital has been kept away from the
city by its unsanitary condition, and
the same cause has hampered it's ship
ping interests. Situated nearly 100
miles from the mouth of the Mississippi
river it possesses a harbor which, at
comparatively small expense, could be
made accessible TO our modern ocean
leviathans. The United States govern
ncnt is fully aware of this fact, and has
just let a contract for the construction
of steel floating dry dock, to cost $780,
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
THE LAND OF OPHIR.
There Is Evidence That II Was what
Is Now Called MOnOmotapa,
Africa.

The Monomotapa region, in Rho
desia, is the ancient land of Ophir. The
gold mines of the ancients are now re
discovered and the gold ingot molds
rediscovered in Rhodesia are identical
with the tin ingot molds used by the
rhoenicians in Cornwall. 1t is believed,
says the Matabele Times, that the Phoe-
nicians worked the South African
mines 1000 b. c. Scripture tells us how
Hiram the Phoenician king, brought
enormous quantities of gold, ivory and
slaves for King Solomon, and where
could all these have been discovered to-
gether, and in such large quantities as
described in holy writ, if not in this
portion of southeast Africa? Jobs ref
erences TO gold dust locate the source
Of Solomon's wealth in the parts, and
certainly neither the ivory" nor the
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

| 600, which pOrtends the establishment
of navy yard and the deepening of the
| river channel. Once thoroughly
healthy city, free from the incubus of
| quarantine, New Orleans will command
| the trade, by force of location and SUI.
| perior facilities, which it now seeks to
| control by other means.
Manufacturing enterprises are natu-
rally attracted by sanitary surround
ings and shipping facilities, and the
New Orleans of the nine teenth century,
a town of sentiment and tradition, will
evolve itself into mighty mart, where
sordld competition will be tempered by
art and letters and the high breeding
OF its social leaders-a typical twen-
tieth century metropolis, cosmopolitan
| in population, international in COM
mercc and thoroughly American in cit
| lzenship and higher civilization.
The writer has dweIIed at some
length upon the material aspect of the
present condition of the city of New
| Orleans, because higher development
depends upon material surroundings.
The women of New Orleans recognized
this inalterable fact long before their
| husbands and fathers, and were among
the srst to advocate the construction
OF the great drainage canal already de-
scribed. Their efforts were ably sec
ondcd by the press and by the younger
element of business and professional
men who realized Tat The future of
their city depended upon progress,
both within and without. And AMONG
this coterie of bright and promising
public men none is entitled to greater
praise than Mr. Sidney Story. VIII. as
member of the city council and inhu-
entail club man, crystallized sentiment
INTO action and made the dreams of
others reality. Young, ambitious aud
sIngularly devoted to the city of his
birth, he overcame obstacles which
were fortified by the pre- iudice Of CEN
turIes, and coerced cooperation when
simple reasoning failed. Oppositiop
based upon sentimental grounds, he
had TO fight in season and out of sen
son: but the end has justified his ef-
1orts, and when the history of New OR.
leans is written his name deserves n
prominent place on its brightest page
In the meantime he merits public rec
ognltlon at the hands of his fellow citi-
Zcns, and the Indications are that he
will receive if, as we'll as those who
worked with him for the good of the
|rcSceht cltN. G. w. WEIPPIERT.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
No LONGER ASLEEP.
New Orleans Beginning to Recog-
nize Her Own Importance.
Customs and Conditions Existing for
Centuries Giving Way To Mod
ern Ideas and Up to Date
improvements.
Especial New orleans GaD Letter.I

Especial New orleans tLd } IetterI
New Orleans has been the Rip
Van Wrinkle of American cities. For
years she has slept and allowed
great opportunities to pass her door
unheeded. The good things that
might have been hers for the asking
were waved aside with Indifference.
sometimes with contempt. Blessed by
providence with a geographical location
which, for purposes of commerce, has
no equal on the American continent.
her people clung to the traditions of the
past, to unwholesome sanitary condi-
uons and unprogressive municipal gov
ernment, which frequently was tainted
with corruption and premedtated NAL
administration of affairs.
But the day of awakening came at
last. 1T came suddenly, unexpectedly.
New blood was introduced into the
council chambers, men noted for en-
terprise and honesty, young men filed
with local pride and an understanding
of the city's most crying needs, were
chosen to make its laws and restore it
to its proper position as the metropolis
of the south, the gateway to Central
and South America and he islands in
the Caribbean, the great trading center
of the American gulf coast.
For 200 years the surface drainage
of the city was emptied into Lake Pont-
chartrain, a beautiful body of water
just north of New Orleans, but little
over year ago the city council began
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

It is interesting to know that 4,2OO
species Of plants are gathered and used
for commercial purposes in Europe. OF
these 420 have a perfume that is pleas
ing, and enter largely into the manufac-
ture of scents and soaps. There are
more species of white flowers gathered
than of any other color ,124 in all.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

Mushroom juice is sure cure
against snake poison, according to an
eminent scientist. lie has found that
all mushrooms possess q substance
which acts as an antitoxin against ser
pents,
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

The Swedish company which was go
ing to raise the sunken Spanish war.
ships at Santiago has given up the task
Those Swedes will know better another
time than to undertake what Ameri.
cans can't do.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

First Boy (gloomily)-I've got to cut
ldndlingS and empty three buckets of
ashes and build two fires and go to the
store on an errand and then fill thu
coal box.
Second Boy OBVIOUSLY got
a reg lar picnic, You have. just think
of me Mother said when / came home
from school to-day I'd got ter hold the
baby.-Harlem Life,
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
A Young Executive.

Earl Beauchamp is one of the young.
est men who have in recent years been
appointed to a colonial goYernorship.
He is not quite 27 years of age.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27
uo&v lie WON Her

Hawksley-IIere's pretty girl
elOped with a dentist!
Blunt-H'm! l suppose at the last
minute he didn't pull the tooth,-Phil-
adelphia North American.
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

sc" water for street Spl mixing.
The Merchants association of San
Francisco. says the Popular Science
Monthly, has been trying the expert
ment of sprinkIing a street with sea
water, and finds that such water binds
the dirt together between the paving
stones, so that when it is dry no loose
dust is formed to be raised by the wind:
Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-27

The Length of Human Life.
According to NJ. l. Holl Schooling, of
Brussels, says Cosmos, there is an old
rule for finding the length of mans
The Topeka state journal., 1899-11-04
FITZ Is PLEASED.
Glad That Jeffries is Given the Deci-
sion Over Sharkey

Chicago, Nov. 4.-Bob Fitzsimmons
was greatly pleased at the result of the
fight, declaring that his contract to
fight the winner brought him once more
the chance to fight Jefries, who Wrested
the championship from him.
Il can't understand. though" said
Fitzsimmons, "Why JeffrieS did not
knock him out 1t really looks to me as
though he should have done so, and 1
am mighty sorry he did not. I haven t
anything particularly against Sharkey
If he did help to rob me of the decision
in San Francisco, but if Jeffries had
knocked him out it would have been q
kind about it. AS long as am going to
fight Jeffries for the championship
wish, just on that account. that he had
knocked Sharkey out. That would
make my title to the championship so
much clearer when I beat Jeffries, as
you may be sure I am going to do"
Concerning the decision, F'itzsimmons
said:
TT is hard for a man not at the ring
side and watching a fight with his own
eyes to say what a referee should do.
but know Siler, and I am willing to
bet on his decision any time. He knows
the game, and if he said Jeffries won,
why, Jeffries did win, and by a good
margin, too. I have not read all the
enough for anybody"
From the stage at the theater last
night, F'itzSimmonS, after the fight,
made a short speech to the audience.
He declared his intention of fighting
the winner, saying that both Sharkey
and .Jeffries have agreed to give him a
match.
"Pn beat Jeffries, sure" was his last
remark, as he lodged behind the cur
tain.