davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

Honors for literary men are rare.
There was Scott's baronetcy (he want
ed it as a man of family with feudal
principles, not as man of letters),
and he got it. The sheriff was knight
ed by nature, and they gave him his
spurs. 1t is probable that several
men of letters have managed to de-
cline official honors. When Lord
Tennyson accepted gracefully what
his sovereign gracefully and grate-
fully gave, some literary persons
"booed" at him. The great poet
neither coveted nor churlishly refused
official recognition. To him the mat
ter, we may believe, was purely in
different. And it really is Indifferent
to most men of letters. Knighthoods,
as q common rule, come to the be-
knighted because of their much ask
ing, except when they come in an
official routine in the public service.
Having nothing official about as, hav-
ing no routine, we cannot look to re-
ceiving ribbons and ORDERS And, l
hope, we cannot be expected to sue,
and poster, and hint and intrigue for
bits of ribbonsl Is it not agreeable
to be out of that kind of work, to pull
no strings, to solicit no academician
for his vote and interest? Am | tc
envy my college contemporaries, w.o,
being of certain seniority in the pub
lie service, blossom into X. G. .. s. I
North American Revlews
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
Thirteen Jurors in the Box.

A notable discovery was made in
Mr.. Justice Braces court-th of the
thinnest man in existence. Architects
of palaces of justice. wherever they
may be, have always held it to be a
maxim of their art that for twelve men
summoned to serve on a jury space
ought to be provided for only eleven,
and jury boxes are constructed accord
ingiy. 1t was therefore q matter of
great surprise when one of the
counsel in case discovered, after his
leader had opened and called his first
witness, thirteen heads in the box.
True, it was after luncheon; but as
the discoverer is q teetotaller the sur
plus could not reasonably be ascribed
to the usual source of optical augmen-
tation.
Nevertheless he counted the con
tents of the box several times to make
sure, and thirteen was the result on
each occasion. Then he ventured to
consult his leader, who called his
lordship's attention to the extraordi-
nary fact, and after Mr.. Justice Bruce
had tried his own arithmetical powers
on the jurors and also totalled up thir-
teen, he ventured to ask what it all
meant. An inquiry by an officer of
the court disclosed the fact that the
odd iuryman had been duly summoned
as a juror in waiting, and had strolled
into the box unobserved in preference
to standing in the corridor. The good
men and true did not notice his pres
ence, and when he was dismissed they
did not find themselves more at ease.
SO thin must he have been that he
may he expected soon to become a
candidate for the attention of the
Psychical Research society. London
Telegraph.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

the East launched two whaleboats,
with an equipment of men, to pursue
a superb whale that was observed at
some distance. The huge creature
was harpooned and wounded to the
death. While it was writhing in its
last agonies one of the whaleboats was
struck by it's tail and shattered to
pieces. The sailors who were in it
were thrown into the water. All but
two were saved shortly afterward by
the other boat. The body of one was
recovered, but the other, man named
James BARLEY, could not be found.
When the monster was dead it was
hoisted alongside the ship and the
work of cutting it up began. When
the stomach of the whale was opened,
what was the surprise of the whale
men to find in it their lost comrade,
James BARLEY, unconscious but
alive. They had much trouble in re-
viving him. For several days he was
delirious. Not until three weeks had
elapsed did he recover his reason and
become able to narrate his impress
sions. 81 remember well," said he,
"the moment when the whale threw
me into the air. Then I was swal.
lowed, and found myself inclosed in a
firm, slippery channel, whose con-
fractions forced me continually down
ward. This lasted only an instant.
Then I found myself in very large
sac, and by feeling about I realized
that had been swallowed by whale
and that I was in his stomach. !
could still breathe, though with much
difficulty. had feeling of insup.
portable heat, and it seemed as if I
were being boiled alive. The hor-
rible thought that L was doomed to
perish in the whales body tortured
me, and my agony was intensified by
the calm silence that reigned about
me. Finally 1 lost consciousness. I"
The captain of the Star of the East
adds that cases where whales have
swallowed men are not rare; but this
was the first time that he ever saw
the victim come out alive after his ex.
perience.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
PRIVATE BLAIR OF THE REGULARS.

1t was Private Blair, of the regulars, before
dread FL Caney,
Who felt with every throb of his wound the
life-tide ebb away:
And as he dwelt in q fevered dream on the
home of his youthful years,
He heard near by the moan and sigh of two
of the volunteers.
He raised him up and gazed at them, and
likely lads they were,
But when he bade. them pluck up heart he
found they could not stir.
Then bullet plowed the sodden loam and
his fearless face grew dark,
For he saw through the blur sharpshooter
who made the twain his mark.
And his strength leaped into his limbs
again, and his fading eye burned
bright;
And he gripped his gun with steady hand
and glanced along the sight;
Then another voice in that choir OF fire out
spake with a deadly stress,
And In the trench at Ell Caney there lurked
Il Spaniard less.
But still the means of the volunteers went
up through the murky air.
And there kindled the light of a noble
thought in the brain of Private Blair.
The flask at his side, he had drained it dry
in the blistering scorch and shine,
So, unappalled, he creptfand crawled in
the face of the firing line.
Inc WhlfrlhS bullets sped oerhead, and
the great shells burst with roar,
And the shrapnel tore the ground around
like the tusks of the grisly boar.
But on he went with his high intent, till he
covered the space between,
And came to.the place where the Spaniard
lay and cutched his full canteen.
Then he wrigg!ed back DER the bloody
track, while death drummed loud in
his ears,
And pressed the draught he would fain
have quatfed to the lips of the volun-
teers.
'Drinkl' cried he; "don't think of me. for
I'm only a regular.
While you have homes In the mother-land
m where your waiting loved ones are"
Then his soul was sped to the peace OF the
dead. All praise to the men who
dare,
And honor be from sea to sea to the deed
of Private Blair!
Clinton Scollard, in Leslies Weekly.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

When man in England sues another
man for money owed, he may charge
him with conspiracy against the queen,
IN that he seeks to prevent her mai
esty from receiving the taxes due to
her, by wrongfully impairing the abil-
lty OF the plaintiff the money which
he owes to him. When the case gets
into court, the conspiracy is dropped,
and the money question is tried out.
Mrs. Richard Kelly of Conshohocken,
Penn, raised an American flag over her
pigpen in which was confined a porker
which John Blake claimed was his
property. When John Blake went
after the pig, Mrs. Kelly knock ed
him down with clothes pole. Hell
defense was that he was disloyal be-
cause he was really making an assault
upon the American flag. She was ac.
quitted-by a jury of men. The curl
osities of law are not entirely Eng.
lish.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
TALES OF PLUCK
AND ADVENTURE.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
A Moment of Great Peril.

In no case of danger is there so
great a GOODNESS required as in deal
ing with cobras. Without it, the
smallest element of danger may be
magnified thousandfold; with it, the
greatest peril finally overcome with
little suffering. The following re-
markable incident occurred to people
with whose relatives the writer was
personally acquainted. 1t is we'll to
state, as preliminary explanation,
that Indian ladies of even the highest
birth and rank wear no shoes or slip
pers in the inner sanctum of their
homes. Whether it be the rich carpet
OF the plain mating, the cold marble
or the rough sandstone, their feet are
bare-the red alta (dye on the edge of
the feet) waving in picturesque curves
over the half-olive surface. One
evening, just at candle-light, young
girl of twelve or fourteen was moving
about room over against whose open
window stood a tall peepul-tree pro-
lecting its long branches right on to
the sill, when suddenly she stood
still, trembling all over, her pursed
lips vainly striving to stife shrek.
"Mother!' she cried at last, in
plaintive wall, still with her foot
rooted to the ground.
eyes, my darlingl" cana the oft
reply from the adjoining room.
"I-l-am trampling on o sn AXE
on its headw
Well can we imagine that mothers
agony-her child in the next room,
not yet bitten, but the turn of a leaf,
and she to lie corpse by her side.
"Keep still, my child! keep still I
am coming-keep still! move not!-I
am coming"
Thus speaking to encourage her
child, she approached cautiously with
a light. There stood the girl, the
blood gone from her face, her eyes
transfixed in horror--but still rooted
to the ground like statue. The
snake had coiled its body round and
round her slender ankle even to the
fringe of her white sari. It struggled
hard to free it's head, and had it been
been a little larger, it might have sue
ceeded and bitten her long ago; but
the girl pressed with all her little
weight on that foot.
The mother put her foot over that
OF her child, clasped her to her waist
and thus they stood, mother and
child, over the serpent's head. Long
they stood in silent anguish; for, one
little turn of that tiny foot, and moth
er and child had died in each others
arms. Hard the mother pressed with
her full weight on the child's foot
till slowly and gradually the coils be-
gan to relax. She pressed on and on
with greater hope, till the coils fell to
the ground and lay in lifeless circles
around the child's foot. The cobra
was smothered, its head crushed!
The mother sat down on the ground,
rocking her swooning child to her
bosom, weeping like mad thing
Wide World Magazine.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
A Kleptomaniac,

During a street blockade one time.
a load of oats was stalled by large
express wagon. Behind the oats was
q clean and hungry Cassius" sort of a
horse acting as motor to an ash wagon.
The animals most noticeable parts
were his ribs. They seemed waiting
to burst through the skin in a way
menacing to anatomical beauty. His
nostrils were more prominent than
his ears on this particular occasion,
and as he knew oats when he smelled
them, SO also did he know to laval
himself of an exceptional change.
Craning his neck toward one of the
bulging sacks, he united the string
with his teeth. The life-sustain-
ing provender flowed out and down
the NAV of the ingenious and half
famished beast. The kleptomaniacal
equine indulged until he was satisfied,
quietly and ioyously, when the block
ade was Strengthened out and all
moved on, one, at least, made better
and happier by the incident.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
One Rooster's Busy Day.

Saturday afternoon q rooster that
had decorated window in the lower
part of Lewiston during the last sea-
son of Thanksgiving got out of his
cage and flew across Lisbon street.
The owner went after him, and he
went into Maynard Goff's door and
upset box of cigars of the best
variety, and then flew into the box of
old coins that Mr.. Golf keeps on his
back shelves. The owner followed
him in and made desperate lunge at
him. He missed the rooster, which
flew out of the door and went down
the street in the air, squawking
ferociously. He next went into the
open door of Nelson Gagne's store,
and made flying leap on the counter
in the backsroom. Here were several
men enjoying quiet smoke. One of
them was just drinking a glass of
water, and the rooster flew into his
face, upsetting the water and sprink
ling it on his shirt bosom. Mr.. Fred
Peltier caught the rooster by the tail
feathers, and pulled them out. The
alarmed bird escaped again and went
into the fish market of Sammy Stuart,
where in the window was a pile of live
Holsters, mad and squirming about for
something to bite. One of them closed
on the leg of the rooster, and, though
he was too cold to bite hard, held on
till the owner OF the bird arrived and
caught him. (Me.) Journal
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

During the visit of a travelling
menagerie to Ely, England, local
hairdresser named Arthur Dobson,
for a wager of $25, entered cage con-
tanning two forest-bred lions, and
there shaved the lion tanner before a
large crowd. The tanner, who occu-
pied seat facing the lions, had in the
middle of the operation to get up and
drive the animals, which became
threatening, to the far end of the
cage. Dobson showed great nerve.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

Steel rails now figure as the cheap
est finished product in wrought iron
or steel. A good lesson in the finance
of modern industry is also afforded by
them. To establish steel rail works
an expenditure Of 5000, 600 is required
before single rail can be turned out.
The steel is made to conform to an &C.
curate chemical composition-the most
accurate in the ordinary range Of tech
nical operations.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

The shipbuilding interest of Maine
reports an extraordinary revival of
activity, exceeding anything known
in ten years past. A portion of this
is due to naval orders, but the great
er part, according to report, reflects a
boom in the West India trade-par-
ticularly trade between our ports and
those of Cuba and Porto Rico, and
the coastwise trade of those two is
lands.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
MASCOT ATE THE SHIPS PAINT.
Sailors of the Gloucester Make a Capture
and Rue 1t.

and Rue 1t.
1t was seven bells in the forenoon
watch of the blistering July day when
the auxiliary cruiser Gloucester sent
ashore landing party at the quaint
Porto Rican seaport Guanica. The
party had landed three hours earlier
and had done its duty with the regu.
lars of Miles army in sending the
Dons skedaddling into the heavy
tropical forests which fringe the foot
hills of the Porto Rican coast.
1t was now an hour of relaxation,
In an unlucky moment Spanish ban
tam cockerel emerged from under a
house and emitted lusty crow. Then
it was that Lieutenant Norman gave
his historical order: "All hands chase
chickensp The line of excited men,
o'-warmen scattered in untactical dis
order, pursuing the gallinaceous
enemy.
''It was more work to capture one
of those clipper-built 25-knot chick
ems than to sink the Pluton, said Mr..
Chapman. "I thought I had the fowl
foul when she tackled ship, leaving me
in stays. In minute she was hull
down on the horizon. ran across the
bows of rooster by pure luck and
put him out of commission. Later I
grabbed another by his tail, and wrung
his neck.
Paymaster Down had his sport also.
proceeding on a private expedition,
hessighted goat with progeny around
her to the number of four. He took
her in tow in triumph. Following
the instincts of good Mother Nature,
the four little goats, who split even,
two being Nannies and two Billies,
trailed along behind. One of the
Billies was drafted as a mascot for the
battleship Massachusetts and the
other Billie was retained as the
Gloucesters special mascot The lat.
ter Immediately distinguished himself
by eating the saddle of the Colts
automatic gun.
After he had got his sea legs on
things would disappear as completely
as If they had been thrown into the
lucky bag. One fine morning the
shlp's painter was coming on deck
with pail of red'lead.
'Lay aft, McGeel" sang out a
weather beaten bos'n's mate.
Dropping his pail, the painter
obeyed this order. Returning in fif-
teen minutes, he found that the con-
tents of the pail had disappeared.
Billy had also disappeared. He was
found leaning against the armorer's
chest in highly suspicious condi-
ton. His whiskers were as crimson
as Harvard football players sweater.
Hospital Steward Cox gave him emetic
after emetic. 1t was in vain. The
animal grew ''dopier" and "dopier,"
and was put ashore finally. Undoubt-
edly he would have made satisfac-
tory deep sea lead if he had been kept
on board day longer.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

y
late war. In the calm days of the truce
that followed the hard fighting at
Caney, and on the San Juan ridge of
the first of July, heard many com
pany commanders tell stories of the
lntrepidity of the "wire- e-cutters"-
soldiers who are equipped with in
struments adapted to cut the barbed-
wire fences which abound in Cuba.
Many companies and regiments were
inextricably mixed up in the advance
through the death-swept goods on the
San Juan River, and it often happened
that when company commander called
for wire-cutter to come forward, he
did not know who the soldier was that
answered him, and there was neither
time nor opportunity to find out.
This wire-cutter worked almost al
ways at the imminent risk of his life,
The barbed-wire fence was we'll calcu-
lated to delay the advance of power
ful force. Sometimes the fence was q
lortiication; sometimes it was merely
the accidental boundary of an old field
or an estate. In either case, the wires
were looped loosely from the posts so
that, as rule, no axe or machete
could separate them by blow at the
post. They were in dropping tangle
which no two hands could separate to
enable mans body to pass through,
and the wires were invariably so high
that no one could vault over them.
These defences always compelled a
halt. Commonly, nothing served to
open the way except the heavy shear
like implements known as wire-cut-
ters, with which wise provision had
furnished every regiment of the Amer
lean regular army. The man who
carried these wire-cutters had more
important Office than the color-ser-
/ geant, for the colors are seldom car
ried into battle. If he were disabled
and left his wire-cutters behind him,
his company might be detained for a
long time at the cost of many lives.
A terrible instance of the effective
ness of this defence occurred in the
open field at the base of the San Juan
hill, before Santiago. Here barbed
fence forced whole regiments to halt
in the face of a whitening fire of Span
ish musketry.
In the tire-swept zone of the Mauser
or Krag- -Jorgensen rife, it is no cow
ardice for soldiers to lie down, or,
when an advance is to be made, to
run in a crouching position. Indeed,
the men are commanded to do SO, and
often rebuked by their comrades when
they stand too erect. Nearly all the
men who marched through the belt of
woods and the open meadow that lay
In front of the Spanish position on the
Ban Juan ridge, had lain on the ground
and advanced by series of these
crouchlng rushes, until they were
very much mixed up.
Battalions and companies became
lntermingled, for it is impossible to
keep PROSTATE or crouching regiments
In even lines, and re-enforcements
were pushing up speedily from the
rear. 1t was not from decentralization
that the troops were mixed up, but
from the very rapidity of their ad.
vance. and because the regiments were
kept too close together to enable them
to move in extended order without be.
eoming intermingled.
When the foremost officers came out
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

In international complications Eng
lishmen have but one fear. Russia is
1.-THE gray terror" always in the back
ground. How close the Russian
French alliance may be, OF what Rus
sia's interest is in any quarrel in
volved, is mystery. Kipling has
helped coniure up Il picture of the
gray uniformed Cossack hordes be-
yond the Indian mountain passes that
has entered into the popular imagina-
tion and figures III all British concep-
tion of foreign relations. Some have
urged war with France, not so much
for hatred of France, but "because
it will weaken Russia" Indian frontier
wars are fought, not to conquer wild
tribes for the sake of conquest, but to
strengthen that part of the empire
against Russia The desperate anx-
iety about Chinese affairs is because
Of Russia. Russian designs real or
imagined, are the reason for much
warlike activity The czar's avowed
peaceful ideas are simply not believed.
Said a French diplomatist in discuss
ing the situation; "Nicholas is keep
ing the peace of the world, not by
love, as he would wish, but by fear.
He is probably the only man on earth
England is afrnid OF.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

In reply to an inquiry from Ne
braska Consul-General Gowdy, of
Paris, sends information regarding the
importation of live hogs from the
United States into France. There are
no prohibitory laws in respect to the
importation of hogs, but that of COWS
or steers from the United States is
absolutely prohibited. Hogs upon
arrival are examined by an official
veterinary surgeon. If contagious
disease is detected the animal is killed
and its fellows put under strict sur
veillance. The expense of landing
hogs at Havre is 1913 cents per head.
In addition charge of $1.35 per day
is made ON each animal for the use of
cattle pens. Duty on hogs is 81 cents
per pound.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

Experts estimate that the amount
of money spent for Christmas toys by
the American people exceeded $55,-
600, 600. 1t is a happy and cheerful
sort of country that can spend that
amount in playthings for the children.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

Enthusiasm manifests itself in
strange ways. In London the con-
fectioners have moulded ice-cream
into likenesses of General Kitchener,
despite the utter incongruity of as
sociating seasoned warrior with SO
delicate and perishable a Wand.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

1t has been stated in various quarters
that it is physical impossibility for a
whale to swallow man. Here are
some facts which bear upon the matter
in an interesting manner:
English papers report that in
February. 1891. the whaler Star of
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

Orders have been issued to have
our warships restored to their ante
bellum appearance. We shall now see
them wearing the white paint of a
blameless life.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

There is graver warning to France
tn the decrease of births from $685.
900 in 1856 to $50, 900 in 1897 than in
the studied words of Sir Edmund
Monson's lecture.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
E.nenaes Of Rritish Navy.

In Queen Elizabeth's reign the ex-
penses of the navy were about $4,000
a year, a contrast to the present huge
sum of e25,0O0,O00 sterling spent an
nually on the feet.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

Which would you rather miss, a
train or your dinner?" Well don't
know. Either would be likely to give
one sort of gone feeling Life,
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

so her husband is an editor?" yea.
But, good land! II there's anything In
the way of news she can beat him pub
fishing it abroad Baltimore Sun.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

v VFO1J NUI oO"O
of the bravest of
the brave, who
do deeds worthy
of praise, are
never known by
name. Thi 8 is
true is an espec-
- ~
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
Don't Tobacco spit and Smoke rour life Auov

To quit tobacco easily and forever, be mag.
netic, full Of life, nerve and vigor, take No.To-
Bac, the wonder worker, that makes weak men
strong. All druggists, soc or 81. Cure guaran-
teed. Booklet and sample free. Address
Sterling Remedy Co, Chicago or New York
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02

A Mexican has made a combination
sword and revolver with the cylinder
and trigger in the hilt of the sword
and the revolver barrel pointing down
the swords blade.
Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-02
THE WIRE FENCE
AT SAN JUAN.
BY j. L. Chamberlin,
> IN every war some

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