davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
In THE ODD CORNER.
QUEER AND CURIOUS THINGS
AND EVENTS.
Strange Creatures, the Peculiar Charac-
teristics of Two Pet TOads-What
Young Wasps Feed Upon - Among
Tahitfs Savages.
To Thyrza.


Without a stone to mark the spot,
And say, what Truth might well nave
said,
By all, save one, p~erchance, forgot,
All! wherefore art thou lowly laid?
BY many a short and many a sea
Divided, yet beloved in vaini
The past, the future fled TO thee,
To bid us m~eet-no-ne'er again!
Could this have been-a word, a look,
That softly said, I'VE part m reace,"
Had taught my bosom how 70 brook,
With fainter signs, thy souls release.
And didst thou not, since Death Cor thee
Prepared a light and pangless Dart,
once long for him thou ne'er shall see.
Who held, and holds thee in mis- heart?
on! who like him had watched thee here?
Or sadly marked thy glazing eye,
In that dread hour ere death appear, &.
when silent sorrow fears 10 sigh
Till ali was past! But hen no more
Twas thine to reck Of human woe,
Affections heart-drops, gushing DER,
Had flowed as fast-as now :hey few.
Shall they not flow. when many a day
In these, to me, deserted towers,
Ere called but for a time away,
Affections mingling tears were ours?
Ours too the glance none saw beside,
The smile none else might understand;
The whispered thought of hearts allied,
The pressure of the thrilling hand;
Inc KISS, so g~uiltless and refined,
Ihat Love each warmer wish forbore;
Those eyes proclaimed so pure a mind,
Even passion blushed to plead for more.
Ihe tone, that taught me to rejoice,
When prone, unlike thee, to repine;
The song, celestial from thy voice,
But sweet to me from none but thine;
The pledge we wore-I wear it still,
But where is thine-Ah! where art
thou!
OFT have / born the weight of ill,
But never bent beneath till now!
Wen hast thou left in life's best bloom
The cup of woe for me to drain.
Ii rest alone be in the tomb,
/ would not wish thee here again;
But If in words more blest than this
ny virtues seek a filter sphere,
lmpart some portion of thy bliss,
To wean me from mine anguish here.
Teach me-too early taught by thee!
To bear, forgiving and forgiven:
On earth thy love was such to me,
1t fain would form my hope in heaven.
Byron.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21

Chicago Record: The late Charles
General Custer were intimate friends,
and Osborn annually visited the gem
eral at his camp on the plains. Dur
ing one of the Indian campaigns he in
vited Osborn and a party of friends out
to Kansas, and after giving them a
buffalo hunt, arranged a novel expe-
rience in the way of an Indian scare.
AS Osborn was lying in his tent
night firing was heard at the outposts
and the rapid riding of pickets. Boots
and saddles" was the order in the dis
turbed atmosphere of the night, and
Custer appeared to Osborn loaded with
rifle, two ~revolvers, a saber and a
scalping knife. Charley" he said, in
his quick, v way, you must de-
Tend yourself. Sitting Bull and Flea
ln-Your-Boots, with Wiggle-Tail-Jim
and Scalp-Lock Skowhegan. are on us
In force. I didn't want to alarm you
before, but. the safety of my command
is my first duty. Things look serious.
If we don't meet again, God bless you."
The broker fell on his knees. my
God, Custer" he cried, "only get me
out of this! I'll carry 1000, 900 shares
of Western Union for you into the
firm to get me home. Only save me-"
But Custer was gone, and the camp by
shrewd arrangement burst into a blaze,
and shots, oaths and war-whoops were
lntermixed, until suddenly a painted
object doomed on Osborn's sight, and
something was flung into his face-a
human scalp. He dropped to the
ground, said the Lords prayer, back
ward, forward and sideways, until the
noise died away, and there was ex-
posed a lighted supper table, with this
explanation on a transparency:
"Osborn's treat!"
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21

In a greenhouse in this garden l have
two tame toads, named Martha and
Jane respectively. Also there is a tiny
one called Babette, but she can hardly
be counted, as she is small and seldom
On view. These toads are strange and
interesting creatures, differing much
from each other in appearance and
character. Martha is stout and dark
colored, a b~old-natured toad of friend
ly habit; Jane, on the other hand, is
pale and thin, with a depressed air
which suggests resignation born of
long experience of circumstances over
which she has 10 control. Some of this
depression may be due to the fact that
once, entering. the greenhouse in the
twilight, l trod upon her accidentally,
a shock from which she seems never to
have recovered, although, owing to tho
adaptive powers Of toads, beyond a
slight lattening she took no physical
harm from an adventure which must
have been painful. Indeed, l am not
sure that of the two of us l did not
suffer most, for l know Of few things
more upsetting than the feel of a fat
toad beneath ones foot. Anyhow,
since that day Jane has never quite
trusted me. These toads I feed with
lob-worms, or sometimes with woodlice
and centipedes taken from traps made
of holloWed-out potatoes, which are set
among the flower pots to attract such
creatures. In the latter case, the in
sects must be thrown before the toad,
which never seems to see them until
they begin to run, although, its ears
being quick, it can sometimes hear
them as they nov along the floor be-
hind it. When the toad catches sight
of an insect it's attitude of profound
repose changes suddenly to one Of ex-
traordinary animation. Its swivel eyes
seem to project and fix themselves
upon the doomed creature off which it
is about to lunch; its throat begins to
palpitate with violence, and it's general
air betrays intense and concentrated
interest. Presently, from contempla-
ton it proceeds to action. BY slow but
purposeful movements of its crooked
limbs it advances, pauses and advances
again, till at length it reaches a posi-
ton which it considers convenient.
Then, just as the centipede gains a
sheltering pebble, a long pink flash
seems to proceed from the head of the
toad. That is it's tongue. Another in
slant and the pink thing has twisted
itself round the insect and retired into
the capacious mouth, and there, once
more wrapped in deep peace and rest,
II - Tod i+r nxrAr 4I1nnnJ IN ,so,,a
thankfulness to heaven, or, rather, to
the roof of the greenhouse.-Rider
Haggard in Longman's.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21

Teddy, dear!" called mamma.
"Yes'm," replied Teddy. He was
busy over his book on the cool, shaded
piazza, and it was a warm August
afternoon.
Il want you to take Victor down to
the river for a bath. The dog is so hot
in the cellar"
But, mother, at SHUTDOWN"
who promised to play the hose for
Patrick at sundown?"
81 did," said Teddy, a little smile re-
placing the sober pucker over his nose.
Dear me, mamma" he remarked,
pulling on his cap. what a thing it is
to be man of the house,"
EYES," returned mamma, ut is a
beautiful thing to be a cheerful little
man of the house,
Presently she losed the big St. Ber-
nard, and he came leaping toward Ted
dy, eagerness in every movement, for
his freedom usually meant a bath these
hot days.
Come on, Vic!" called Teddy.
You're more bother than you're
worth, old fellow!" he declared,
fondling him. Just think of me, a
two-legged boy, waiting upon you, a
four-legged dog!" Victor could not
think about it, but he licked Ted0y's
hand lovingly, as if to acknowledge the
condescension, and they started off.
ut seems to me-" said mamma to
Betty, when they sat on the porch later
with their fancy work, that Teddy and
Victor have been gone a long time"
They're coming this minute, NAM
ma" murmured Betty, peering through
the creeper.
Why, Ted, how flushed you look'
Charge, Victor! That's right. Did he
have a cool swim, dear.
did he?" cried Ted, excitedly. Then
dis round face sobered. Mamma" he
said, how strangely things happen!
If I had not promised to play the hose
why, you see, mamma" he eontin-
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21

ued, breaking off and plunging into the
heart OF his story, when we got down
u he water, there was Patrick's old
father trying 70 swim for his straw hat,
which had blown into the river. He's
so old and feeble, l thought it queer he
should be swimming for his hat so
wildly, with all mis- clothes ca. so l
sent Victor in for it, and what do you
Think"
"What?" cried Betty, breathlessiy.
HE never wen near it, but straight
for Patrick's father instead, and
brought him to shore. A wise thing,
too, for the old man had given out. l
pulled him ashore, dripping, and then
away went Victor after the hat, and
brought that! The poor fellow grabbed
it and pulled a t~en-dollar bill out from
under the leather. He had drawn it
from the bank and thought he had lost
1t, and they're so poor! He cried over
the money! Vic and l took him home,
and his sick old wife cried over him.
Oh, l tell you twas a wet timei" he
finished, winking oddly himself.
Mamma and Betty both looked sus-
picious also, and Ted said, Come
here, Vic, till l apologize. You darling
old dog, / am proud to wait or you,
sir!" and he buried his arms in the
damp fur of the noble fellows shaggy
neck. Lillian L. Price.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
Franks Visit to the Quartz Mill.

A few days after Franks visit to the
mine, his father took him through the
large quartz mill, where the ore was
crushed aid the gold separated from
the rock. Frank had often stood out
side, listening to the roar of the ma
chlnery, but now that he was shut in
with he noise, he found it much louder
man he had expected. He could hard
ly hear his own voice, and could not
catch half that his father said, al
though he tried hard to do so. They
went first to where the ore was emp
tied from the cars into a large bin
with a %slanting floor. From there it
slid into the rock-crusher, a machine
with two great iron jaws, which
opened and shut, breaking the large
Jumps of ore into small pieces. 1t was
fascinating to watch this machine
chew rocks" AS Frank said, it
looked exactly like the mouth of a
hungry crocodile" Next they went up
several flights of stairs to an immense
bin where the broken ore was stored,
and from whence it was slowly fed to
the stamps pounding away below. The
stamps were heavy iron hammers,
fastened to an upright iron rod, which
worked up and down in an iron frame.
Each stamp weighed over six hun
dred pounds, and eight or ten of them,
going at once, made the building shake,
as o may we'll suppose. Little
streams of water ran under the stamps,
W0Ghinp nIlt tho Hno1u orI1ChnI npo orJ
carrying it to gently sloping copper
plates, covered with quicksilver.
Franks father explained that the
quicksilver caught and held the gold
h a was washed over it, but allowed
the dirt to wash away. This dirt,
however, was too precious to lose, for
1t contained a good deal of gold COM
bined with other minerals. 1t was
therefore dried, put into sacks, and
sent away to go through other pro-
cesses, by which the gold was obtained.
AS it was o nearly time to quit
work for the day, the stamps were
stopped, and the combination of gold
and quicksilver, called amalgam, was
scraped from the plates into small can-
vas bags and taken to the amalgama-
ton room. Frank followed to see what
was done with it, and found that the
bags were pressed until the free mer-
curry oozed out. The amalgam was
then heated, and the quicksilver
driven off in the form of vapor. And
here at last they had the elusive gold,
for which men and machinery had
labored so long. Frank was given a
tiny bit of the pure, glittering metal,
and also a piece of amalgam, for his
cabinet. Nina c. Kyle.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
How a Doll Averted War.

From the Philadelphia Times: "A
strange story is told of how a child's
playth1ng once had a soothing influence
upon a warlike Apache tribe, and vas
the means of avoiding a serious war.
1t happened when Mr.. Bourke was in
Arizona with General Crook. The gen.
eral was trying to put a band of Apach-
es back on the reserve, but could not
catch them without killing them, and
that he did not want to do. One day
his men captured a little Indian girl
and took her to the fort. She was
quiet all day, saying moi a word, but
her black beads of eyes watched every
thing. When night came, however, she
broke down and sobbed just as any
white child would have done. They
tried in vain to comfort her, and then
Mr.. Bourke had an idea. From the
adjutant's wife he borrowed a pretty
doll that belonged to her little daugh-
ter, and when the young Apache was
made to understand that it was hers to
keep, her sobs ceased and she fell
asleep. When morning came the doll
was still clasped in her rms. She
played with it all day, and apparently
all thought of ever getting back to her
tribe had left her. Several days passed
and as no overtures about the return of
the papoose had been made by the
tribe, they sent her, with the doll still
in her possession, back to her people.
MIR. Bourke had no idea of the effect
his benevolent act would have upon
the, Indians. When the child reached
them, with the pretty doll in its chubby
hands, it made a great sensation among
them, and later on it's mother came
back to the post with it. She was kind
ly received and Hospitality treated, and
through her the tribe was 500 after
ward persuaded to move back to the
raSprVn
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
Ger these graves where all strife is
ended
Corporal Edwards Not a Hero.

Corporal Edwards Not a Hero.
The deluded followers of Aguinaldo
are running up against a lot of marks
manship that would be the wonder of
the world were it accomplished by any
except American troops. Generally
speaking, the entire civilized world
knows how well the men who wear
the United States uniform can shoot,
but in the array of accurate fire there
are exceptions. and an officer just re-
turned from Manila tells of one Of
these. With American advance is an
individual known as Edwards. He is
a corporal in the Third United States
artillery, now serving as infantry, and
beyond the fact that he gave Kentucky
as his home, nothing is known of him.
Yet the blood of Daniel Boone, Nor
gan, Ballard, Dave Bowie. and a host
of others famous on the pages of from
tier history must flow in his veins, or
else there is something in the Blue
Grass country that still makes marks
men. Edwards is a regular, not a hero,
hence his little exploit with a covey
VI lhC ouohJ 4 vi AN
has not been previously reported. He
was sent on the advance to scout, and
with three companions was carefully
moving through a country all swamps
and bamboo thickets, when he was
fired on by a hidden foe. Divining that
the shots came from a clump of bushes
a hundred yards away, Edwards
charged the clump. He was all alone
in the charge, but he did hot mind
that. At his first rush four natives
broke cover and made a dash to get
away. They had a full 100 yards start
and had only $50 yards to 90 across
open country before reaching a dense
swamp. Right here Edwards showed
how he .ould shoot. He carried the
regular Krag service piece and had
five shells in the magazine, with one
in the barrel. He opened fire and five
times the Krag spit fame and steel
jacketed bullets. Then all the natives
were down. An examination of their
bodies showed hat the first was hit
in the nape of the neck; his spine was
splintered and he fell dead. The sec
ond was hit full between the Shout
ders, his spine cut in twain, and he was
dead. The third was shot plumb
through the small of the back, the
spine being shattered to flinders. The
fourth man alone escaped instant
death, and at him Edwards fired twice.
The first ball crashed through one of
his hips and crushed the joint, and ere
he could fall another tore through his
Jaw about on a line with his wisdom
teeth, If he had any, and from the
two wounds he died in ten minutes.
Edwards still had a shell in his gun,
but there were no more Filipinos in
sight.-Philadelphia Press.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
Little Miss NIuffet.

Little Miss Muffet discovered a tuffet
(Which never occurred to the rest Of
us),
And, as twas a June day and just about
MONDAY,
She wanted to eat-Iike the best of us.
Her diet was whey, and l hasten to say
1t is wholesome, the people grow fat
on it,
The spot being lonely, the lady not only
Discovered the tuffet, but sat on it.
A rivulet gabbled beside her and babbled,
AS rivulets always are thought to do,
And dragon-fies sported around and ca
vorted,
As poets say dragon-fies ought to do;
When. %glancing aside for a moment, she
spied
A horrible sight that brought fear to
her,
A hideous spider was sitting beside her,
And most unavoidably near to her!
However u%nsightly, this creature politely
Said: Madam, l earnestly VOW to you
I'm penitent that l did not wear my hat.
Should otherwise certainly bow to you
Though anxious to please, he was so i'll
at ease
That he lost all his sense of proprlety,
And grew so inept that he clumsily slept
In her plate, which is barred in society.
This curious error completed her terror,
She shuddered, and, growing much
paler, not
Only left tuffet, but dealt him a buffet
Which doubled him up in a sailor knot
1t should be explained that at this he
was pained;
He cried, Il rave vexed you, no doubt
of it!
Your fists like a truncheon." You're
still in my luncheon"
Was all that she answered; Get out
of it!'
And the moral is this-be it madam or
miss
TO whom you have something to say;
You are only absurd when you get in
the Curd,
But you're rude when you get in the
whey.
Guy Wetmore Carrye.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21

sting renders the spider insensible to
pain or not is a question not yet set
tied. However, the chances are in ia
o of the theory that It does. Any
way, we need waste no sympathy on
the spider, the most bloodthirsty OF all
the little people of the field and woods.
There is a sense Of r%etributive justice
in the thought of a spider helpless and
at the mercy of q small insect which 1t
would have mercilessly devoured had
it been able. So We need not accuse
u alert, Industrious cement-maker of
any unreasonable cruelty If she, like
us, insists upon a meat diet for her
young, nor need we have any fear OF
her sting, for she seldom uses 1t as a
weapon of offense or defense.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
Sights in ConstantinopIe,

Constantinople teens with monu-
ments and relics Of past ages, which
time has consecrated and not destroyed
and which await the contemplation of
the visitor. The column of Constan-
tine the Great, erected in $50, still tow
ers, blackened and mutilated, but erect,
in the center of his ancient forum. I'm
posing remains of the gigantic triple
wall and of the moat still stretch from
the Golden Horn to the Marmora. The
ruins of Justinian's palace still rise
from the edge of the sea and the palace
of the Heblomon still crowns the sew
enth hill. The monastery of Chora,
now Kachrie Djami, and a dozen other
Byzantine churches still present all the
popularity of the Byzantine archi-
tectural school. The subterranean els
terms, the most enormous ever con-
structed anywhere. still exist, the chief
or Royal cistern-now called by the
Ottomans Yeri Batan Serai, or the I'M
foreground palace-still standing, with
it's 1886 marble columns in perfect SYM
metry. In the museum are the famous
s~arcophagi from Sidon, two especially.
those of Alexander" and of "The
Weepers," unsurpassed among all the
existing legacies of ancient art. Most
precious of all the gifts of antiquity
is the bronze serpent of Delphi, cast by
the Greeks in 476 B. c., placed by them
in the favorite shrine of Apollo,
brought hither by Constantine 800 A.
D., and still showing distinct, as If
cut today, names of the immortal cities
which fought against and defeated
Xerxes. Most venerable of churches,
Sancta Sophia, still scars h~eavenward
with it's marvellous dome and it's af-
1uence of mosaic and it's u~nequaled
churchly history of more than 1850
years.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21

1t was said during the late war with
Spain that Americas success was due
to the fact that her sailors could shoot
straight. Skill of. that kind is no new
thing for Americans. AS far back as
1775 it was found that the marksmen
OF this land could stand a test specially
designed to throw out all but the most
expert. Harper's Magazine reminds its
readers of the June of that year, when
congress passed a resolution creating
Z corps of sharpshooters. Couriers on
relays of swift horses carried the news
to the various county committees on
the frontier. In less than sixty days
from the date of the resolution, four
teen hundred and thirty, instead of
the eight hundred and ten men re-
ouired, had been raised, and had Joined
the army, marching from four to seven
hundred miles over difficult roads, and
all without costing the continental
treasury a farthing. Volunteers had
poured into the little recruiting sta
lions in such numbers as to embarrass
the officers, who would gladly have
been spared the duty of discriminating.
One of these officers, beset by many
more applicants than his instructions
permitted him to enroll, hit upon a
clever expedient. Taking a piece of
chalk, he drew upon a blackened board
the figure of a mans nose, and placing
this at such a distance that none but
experts could hit it with a bullet, he
declared that he would enlist only
those who shot nearest to the mark.
More than sixty men hit the nose. So
much for American Workmanship in
revolutionary times.
The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-21
what Young wasps Feed Upon.


From the C~hautauquan: The wasp is
not a vegetarian like the bee, and our
cement-maker has before her the prob
lem of supporting her young with meat
rather than with bread. AS her eggs
are laid out in hot weather and as
enough food must be stored in the cell
with the egg to mature the young in
sect, the question is how to preserve
the meat fresh for so long a time. She
meets the difficulty thus: After a tube
is finished except n end, which Is
left open, she flies off on a aunt for
spiders. She finds a fat, healthy one,
pounces upon it, stings it and carries
it off and places it in the mud cell. She
repeats this process until she has
placed as many spiders in the tube as,
according to her Judgment, will be
needed. She then lays an egg in the
cell and walls up the opening. The re-
markable thing about this performance
is the magic effect of her sting. Wheth-
er It is the result of a subtle poison or
whether it is a special spot in the
spiders nervous system where the
sting is inserted we do not know Ger
tain it is that after being thus stung
the spider lives on in a paralyzed con-
dition for weeks and even months. 1t
can move only slightly and remains
helpless in its mud sepulcher until the
wasp egg matches into a voracious
grub, which at once falls to and eats
with great relish the meat thus mirac-
ulously preserved. Whether the wasp