davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26

n SOFT rustic When berry
turned a leaf. At the top of the new
page she began again:
i've give up. Leah amt goin' to
answer my letter. It's most night
now, and L sem it acrost yesterday
mornin' when Mis- Daggett's little
boy went past to school. She don't
want me to come overland to-mor.
row mornin' they'll bury Little Ben
jie! / shan't ever see his face again.
1t was like a cry of pain. in little
neat set letters, there on the page,
1t seemed to echo through the room,
The diary slipped to the floor with
a gentle thud. 1t lay there. unno-
ticed, a long while. The twilight
dimmed tonight while Diantha Der.
~ sat musing. The darkness crept
wrapped her in. The low creak of
| her chair, as she rocked monotonous-
ly. was the only sound in the room.
After awhile she began to talk again
aloud, as lonely women do.
Tuesdays Decoration days, 90,
80, yes, Tuesday. To-day's the 27th
o. May. Well, I'm goin' to cut off
some o. my geranium tree blooms and
carry 'em down to Little Beniie Tues
day. They'll look so beautiful-and
Benjie was dreadful fond o pink flow
ers. There'Tl be enough to make a
great wreath at his head. I guess I
can spare n lot OF them to Little
Beniie! I shall have him all to my
self-Leah's got a spell of rheumatism.
If 'twarn't for that. 1 couldn't 20 at
ALL"
She experienced a fierce joy. and the
sound of it was in her voice. She was
glad that Little B~eniie's mother was
sick. Across the yard there was no
glimmer of light. Little Benjie's
mother sat in the dark. too. and
unused. A faint remnant of daylight
kissed her wan face gently as it van
ished.
He was such a little mite of a boy.
Benjie was. when I put him into
pants" her thoughts kept on. with
relentless cruelty. land l sent him
oNCi u bluIlId ~ SiloH Chl " Z
When he came back, all his little
pockets We're full o goodies. 1 can
see just how he looked. struttin'
acrost the yard. takin' long steps like
4 man. And I can hear how Diantha
laughed. She couldn't have been
much fonder of Little Benjie-she al
ways called him Little Benjie-if he'd
have been her own boy. But after
ward-afterward. when he laid still
and cold. in his blue clothes. she for
got shed ever loved him. She forgot
then. If he'd been her own boy,
would she have forgot? Would she
have kept away from him then be-
cause of a little foolish QUARREL"
In the bitterness of her soul. Leah
Swallow flung out her arms and cried
out sharply. The rough motion tor
tured her pain-racked body. but she
scarcely felt it.
"Benjie! B~enjie!" she moaned.
"Benjie-mother's boy, why didn't I
hold you back? I need you so. Why
did I let you go? Weren't there other
boys enough? Weren't there boys
whose mothers had other boys at
home? And you were all I had. Ben
jie! We thought it was so fine. dear
the soldier clothes and the sound o.
the band playin' the Red, White and
Blue and the glory of settin' Cuba
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26

Vt But ghostly sentries
seem to guard the silent battle lines:
Ger all the land. from sea to sea. the gar
lands softly fall
On those who sleep upon the plain or on
the mountain rail-;
The gentle ringdove softly cooes where
once the grass was red.
And tears and blossoms mingle DER the
Nations sacred dead.
For them no more the stirring fight, for
them no chargers neigh.
The blades they drew where Death was
king a Nation wreathes to-day;
The bushes in Virginia's wales wave DER
them fair and free.
And seraphs guard their bivouac from At
lanta to the sea;
A common country hastes to pay its trib-
ute fair OF flow'rs,
For May for them her treasures yields
from all her fragrant bow'rs.
The Southland and the Northland meet be-
side the crystal rili
Beneath the flag that won the day on grim
San Juan's Hill.
+Columbia's heart beats fast to-day DER
every silent line
AS she mingles the palmetto with the
branches of the pine;
She looks and In a vision sees a marching
line of gray
And on each flank a dash of blue, and then
she turns away;
MY children" cries Columbia. "See! In
bonds of love they come,
I hear again their martial tread, I hear the
mufled drum:
NJ North! No South! One Union meath
the flag hat made US free.
They crown their hero comrades sleeping
now 'twiXt sea and sea-"
The ocean sings a requiem to the lands IN
mortal brave,
The rose of peace blooms sweetly upon
every sacred grave;
They fought and died beneath our flag
from Sacramento's pines
To where the war-cloud lowered DER Ma
nila's battle lines:
They sleep the soldiers dreamless sleep
where clear the rivers run
Through lands of peace and plenty to the
mighty seas of SUM-;
The blue-bird trills her matchless lays
from out the cannon's mouth
Which guarded grimly long 6 the gate
way Of the South.
In peace they rest this holy d~ay-Colum-
bias gallant dead,
For them again the banners wave, for
them the tear is shed;
Their campfires burn no longer on the
mountain and the plain,
But where they sleep beneath the flag the
blossoms fall like rain;
To them the Nations boundless love goes
out from shore to shore,
The fought the fight. they kept the faith;
they're ours forevermore;
A grateful Nation bows her head beneath
the skies Of May.
And Columbia strews her garlands on her
own Memorial Day.
IT. c. Harbaugh. in Ledger Monthly.
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26
FOR LITTLE
%BENJlE%
Decoration Dy Story.
%

@I1MSXS@ slow care. There
~NYM& were 50 many!
eight-thirty-nine!" Diantha Berry
cried. delightedly. The level rays of
the late afternoon sunshine sifted
through the close branches of the
great tree geranium and made an &C.
centric tracery in lines of light on
her plain face. The splendid plant
stood head and shoulders above her,
and its topmost leaves swept the
whitewashed ceiling. Its clusters of
rosy pink petals peeped out b~lushing-
iy, all over it.
Across n narrow space of yard little
Leah Swallow put or her glasses and
tried to count the blossoms, too. Her
pale, lean face was wistful with long
ing. On her own window-sill 4 pot of
stunted cactus grew.
1t was late May, and the tiny village
band down the street a little way
waspracticingthe"Sta Spangled Ban
ner" ambitiously. 1t was hired to go
to q little distant town to play on
Memorial day. There was only one
soldiers grave at home, and the peo-
pie had never made any observance
of the day there. 1t was of that one
soldiers grave that little Leah Swal-
low was thinking-ard Diantha Ber-
ry, across the yard. But it was Leah
who was crying.
By and by the great tree gHranium's
petting ended; Diantha went back to
her sewing at the other window.
81 declare, I believe 1 can smell lini-
ment," she said, aloud. "Leah's got
another of her spells of rheumatism,
I guess. She uses dreadful smelly
liniment, and the winds this way. /
can smell it as sure as I live"
A sudden memory made her grim
features relax into a smile. She was
thinking how Leah used to say-when
they were bits, knee-high-that she
could smell Mis- Job Daggett's boiled
dinner round two orners. Her talent
for smelling had developed early.
The band struck up the "Red, White
.andBlue," and the faint rhythm of the
music set Diantha Berry's feet tap
ping. Across the strip of brown
grass, it sent Leah Swallows head
down into her open hands.
Not that can't let 'em play
that" she sobbed, desolately. THAT
wa Benjie's tune. 1t don't seem as
ii anybody else had any right to it
but Beniie. He used to sing it when
he wasn't but a speck of a knee-high
boy and played soldier Then, after
ward, when-when it wasn't play, he
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26
DIANTHA BERRY SAT MUSING.

| full fond O. flowers. His mother'G got
a cactus blossom pinned onto his coat,
among the brass buttons. 1 can't bear
a cactus blossom. If things hadn't
been just So, I'd nave tent Little Ben.
jie off to war with plenty O. my pink
| geraniums on his soldier coat"
Diantha Berry's voice came to a
stop with a jolt. She had forgotten to
| see how many blooms the tree gera-
mum had last spring-when Little Ben
iie went to a Little Benjie! she
eyes; Little Benjie in his b%rand-new
soldier suit. with his brown, curly head
up in the air, tramping away like a
veteran. How plainly she saw him!
The way the morning sunshine had
| played with his brass buttons-how
plainly she saw that! Was it the daz-
zle of it in her eyes that made them
water? Diantha Berry was old-if 60
years is old-and lonely and grim.
There had been few shadows-or sun
aashes-in her life. Little Benjie had
been more to her than, in her heart,
she would confess. He had been to her
almost what her own son might have
been.
She sat back in her chair now, rock
ing fiercely. and remembered many
things. Little Benjie was in them all.
They filed before her mind in steady,
relentless succession-the time when
Little Benjie put on his first bits of
trousers and stumped across the yard
to show her the pockets in them-the
time when he first went to school and
she tucked a pair of his beloved straw
berry tarts, unnoticed, into his lunch
basket, for a surprise-and the time
Diantha Berry drew in her breath
sharply, with the pain of remember
ing-the time when. in his brave sol
dier clothes, he marched away to war.
TO the tune of the Red, White AID
Blue" That memory hurt her. She
wondered, in dull misery, if mothers
could feel worse than that. If Little
Benjie's mother-but she would not
finish that thought out. Her thin
lips clenched. What had she to do
with Little Benjie's mother? 1t vas
only Little Benjie that mattered to
her.
But I'd pity her-Td do that, if
'twarn't for the way she treated me
when they brought home Benjie's body.
I'd have forgot all the rest then
wasn't 1 ready to? Wasn't 1 the first
one tt give in? Do you suppose I'd
have let a miserable little quarrel
stan between us then. when Little Ben
jie lay dead in the house? But Leah
felt different. She wouldn't make up
even then-then. If 'twarn't for that.
I'd pity her, settin' acrost there, all
alone. I'd be sorry for the mother O.
Little Benjie. I'd go acrost and see how
her rheumatism was, and I'd run down
the street where the bands practicin'
and make 'em stop goin' over that tune
of Little Benjie's. I'll tell 'em to have
pity-it hurts his mother sc to hear
it. But now"
She turned the pages of the diary
in her hand, searching for something.
It was not thereof course not. 1t
was in the next little book further
along in the rom. She took it down and
found the page she wanted.
"They brought little Benjie home.
dead. to-day. Little Benjie dead! I
saw 'em take the box out of the hearse
and carry it in to Leah--Door Lesh!
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26
HONOR[D A|SSOJAANS.
Acceptance Of the Statues Of Benton
and Blair by the United
States Congress.
ELOQUENT EUlosIEs N The SENATE.

Couatsrfsits Of Thomas Hart Rsntea BAD
tsonsl Hall Of Fame - Representative
of Missouri's Hishsst Typ Of Cisissa-
ship and 6tatssnanshiR
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26
40 HN q a.
(oLUMBIkSl
DAN

HERE stately trees
beneath the sur
their emerald
foliage spread
And the rivers seek
the ocean. sleep
Columbia's hero
dead;
No bugle blast awakes
them now. no a
cry shakes the
pines,
D,,A ~-Ar- ---
The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1900-05-26

Let Memorial Day be haliowed;
And the parent. widow, child,
As they gather where are resting
What { them death has despoiled.
Feel that with them it's BETTING
Thus to spend the time apart.
With the dead, who lie around them.
And the SORROWS of the heart.
IL. N. THOMPSON.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
BIG STRIKE. IMMINENT.
New York Maehfnists MT Logger
heads with Their Employers.

New York Machfnists MT Logger
heads With Their Employers.
New York. March 81. = 4 strike of
10000 members OF the international
Association of Machinists and the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers in
the New York district may be precipi-
tated this week by the action of the
New York and New Jersey Machinery
Manufacturers association In organic
ing To resist a demand for nine
hour day which was TO be made April
1. This was inauggssted by Mp.
Ward, district business agent. Il. j..
Warner. district organizer, said he ex-
pected Grand Master Machinist O'Con-
nell to reach here to look over the
ground and take charge Of the matter.
The strike will extend from Paterson.
N. j.. into New York State as far as
Newberg. There are 10000 machin-
lists In the district, Of which $4,000 are
unienist. We can take out every man.
union or rioL-union.' said Mr.. Warner.
I'VE are In this fight to stay. and will
not stop until we secure 1jne-hour
day. In Chicago every machinist Is
Idle, and In Cleveland 1,500 are out
and LOCO have won their strike"
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
Foreign Gar.in.

Russia has club that can be used
on Turkey
The sultan yields railway concessions
10 the car.
Isthtnian canal commission was fcfeCi
In Nicaragua.
British subjects In Colombia are In
need pf protection.
The Paris exposition VIII not be
ready before June.
Tire Panama canal commission has
600 surveyors at work.
There IL talk of an international
demonstration against China.
THE Canadian premier promises TO
Increase the CclestIafs' poll tax.
sarplus labor In Porto Rico Is to be
given employment on public works.
The Chinese siowager empress and
her aids have begun an autocratic rule.
Leo NH. Is preparing an encyclical
letter on South Africa favoring peace.
The federal council of switzerland
has declined to mediate in the Boer
war.
The prince of Wales is TO be rein
stalled as grand master of English
MasonS.
Emperor William declares that the
omen door in China should be main
tanned.
Buhonic piague caused 1900 deaths
in India in a week. Seven hundred
were IN Calcutta
Vaccinations with the sultan's broth
erin law caused the exile OF eight
ladies Of the palace.
The gunboat Wheeling left Manila
recently for Tuku. China, 10 protect
American missionaries.
Russians are said to be melting the
Armenians against the German rail-
way in Asia Minor.
The situation OF missionaries in
China is serious. The anti-foreigD
movement is increasing.
At meeting of Irish Nationalist
memhersSof the house Of commons it
was agreed that the Irish commoners
should not be allowed hereafter TO pair
with either Liberals or Unionists.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29

Details OF the sudden eruption from
the central crater OF Mount Etna, last
July, are gradually coming 10 light
through scientific reports. One Of the
most striking phenomena OF the out
break was the formation of an "erup.
tive pine" or "cioua-tree" directly
above the crater. A famous example
OF these volcanic Emoke-treea Ia that
which was seen standing over Veau-
yius during the destruction OF POM
pcii But Etna In far mlghsier and
IoftIer volcano than yesuvius. The
verge OF It's great crater IL nearly H.
900 feet above sea level. and the
"eruptIye pine" last Jaiy rose more
than $4,000 feet abose the crater. 1t
was finally blown of by the wind, hid
Ing the sun as II drifted away In an
elongated black cloud.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
nELLIGEnEsT STUDENTS.
Furi0us Pitched Battle I'm the Mis-
hnEri sfnie LnINersIfy.


Columbia, Mo-. MarclI 27.-Students
of the state university engaged In a
furious pitched battle In the audltori.
um OF the institution Saturday night.
There was intense rivalry between the
classes over the preliminary contest to
select representatives Of Missouri uni
versity 10 a place In the debate Will,
the Nebraska university, which takes
place here in May. While awaiting
the decision Of the judges when The
debate was over members Of the aead.
cfaIc cInsses and the law students
came together In front or the r0strum
and fought. The lights were turnf3
out ard the struggle went on In the
dark. doors being broken down and
furniture smashed Six OF the students
had their clothing tern into ribbons,
but none were badly hurt. The de.
baters selected by the judges are Mil
tor Nj, Deafing Of Golnmbia, John
Kramer OF Carrellt0n aud IL. i. Ward
Of Cinbb.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
ARCH REBEL KILLED.
British Finally Get Rid of the Chief
Dfsturber In Borneo.

Dfsturber In Borneo.
Tacoma, Wash, March q. Yester-
days Oriental mail contains the news
that the British forces in North Borneo
have finally killed Matt Seiteh, the
archrebel who has three times melted
the natives TO rebel against British
rule. He was killed in February in a
fight which followed that in which the
British land and naval forces under
Capt. Harrington destroyed three
stcckade forts where Selteh and his
followers made their strongest stand.
In the fight naval gun from the
British gunboat at Labuan was used
very effectively, sending solid shot
through Selteh's forts. The British
exhausted their ammunition during the
fight. As soon as more could be Sc
cured they started after Seiteh and
killed him in a fight further back in
the mountains. His followers were
dispersed. The news was eabled TO
Singapore and Hongkong by Capt.
Harrington The British Chartered
Company OF North Borneo hired Selteh
TO end his rebellion two years ago. but
he started another war when his
money was gone.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
blockade Raised.

Luddington. Mich, March "a. = The
blockade OF Pere Marquette steamers
was raised yesterday when the car
ferry and steamer No. 3 entered the
port after siege of sixty hours. This
was the longest delay the boats have
experienced in many years and the
first time the ferry was ever baff1ed.
4 high wind caused slight movement
of the ice and the powerful car ferry
worked into port stern foremost, tow
ing No 8. The other three steamers
left at noon for Milwaukee but they
have not yet penetrated the ice field.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29

A situation involving some tension
has arisen out Of conflict OF inter
esta between the live stock companies
and the frontier settlers. The COM
panies wish TO continue their occupan-
cy OF the great plains of tho West aa
cattle ranges. and are urging tbs gov
eminent to lease them to the highest
bidders. The settlers Wish the lands
subdiyided for homes and farms. and
protest that they shall stiil be held
open 10 individual purchase or to pri-
yats entry under the homestead law,
which gives 100 acres 10 each actual
occupant who makes certain improve
rnents. The governor Of Nebraska In
vltea other Western governors TO a
conference In the interest Of the set
tiers.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
In General.

Large lumber docks are 20 be erected
ut Ashland. Wis.
The cold wave In the South proved
disastrous to fruit.
Speaker Henderson Is In favor Of an
eIght-h0ur day law.
Macrnm will not withdraw q word Of
his published charges.
Prohibited tobacco articles win be
seized after April 20.
The Canadian Pacific viii resist the
anti-c0nmFssicn rule.
Dave Sullivan defeated Kid Broad In
n twenty tiye-rJund bout.
Americans are given a chance to bid
on the Siberian railway.
The weekly trade review shows that
business continues brisk.
The heroic act of colored man In
New York saved six lives.
Smallpox broke out In camp of rail-
road iaborers In Montana.
The st. Louis & Cairo road has been
foreclosed by the Mobile & Ohio.
The Northern Pacific. denies that it
has designs ON the Oriental trade.
The Rockefellers carried the village
election In North Tarrytown, ". 7.
American capitalists are to invest
S10,0Oo.0O0 In q steel plant in Mexico.
Intliana's female heavyweight. $50
pounds. died while playing dominoes.
Officials of the Chicago ard Mime
apolis lines may agree TO combine.
There is trouble ~ Cape Nome. and
soldiers have been ordered to Alaska.
Girl babies are born in Cleveland.
Ohio. which resemble the Siamese
twins.
Illinois coal production last year was
o, 4S4, 445 tons, an increase of 25 per
cent.
The Texas antitrust law has been
upheld by the United States supreme
court.
Independent telephone lines In Wis
coLsiu have decided TO work as one
system.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29

Kidding the heart OF malice does not
In itself free the hands from cruelty.
A man may act cruelty from malice.
but he may act Just as cruelty from
sheer GOODNESS. He that would be kind
must not only be delivered from the
spirit of hate. he must be filled with
the spirit OF love. If the hands are
never to be cruel, the heart must never
be cold
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29

The manager Of an immense business
declares that 1t costs his house twenty
thousand dollars year simply to cor
rect errors ia invoices and other pa
pers mistakes due to poor writing and
poor English, for which employees are
responsible. Some stenographers
need but the idea to turn out the per-
feet letter" said he. while others are
a means OF grace because they try the
patience" The money lost because Of
Ignorance and careiessness In that ain
gle house would pay the salaries Of a
considerable body of teachers In acc
ondary schools whoae pupils are sup
posed 10 learn how TO write plainly and
speak correctly.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29

In the enterprising city of Buenos
Ayres automobile carriages are no
uncommon sight, In the form both OF
private vehicles and OF delivery wa
CONS. Cycle roads now radIate from
Buenos Ayres to a distance of sixty
and seventy miles In the surrounding
country, and under the care of the Ar
gentine Touring club these roads are
reserved for the use Of bicycles and
automobiles.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
PLAGUE SCARE DYING our.
Men Sick ut sam Francisco Have Not
Developed Plague Symptoms.

! San Francisco, March "a. The
plague situation In this city Ia nm.
changed. Chinatown II being patroiled
by an army who are having It's dirt
and filth removed as fast as possible.
There have been no new cases reported
and thnse reported In the past have
not developed symptoms OF plague.
The plague scare Is not In reality a
scare at all, the general public paying
little attention TO the matter. The
health office Is active simply MS mat.
ter of precaution.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
HEAD HuxrEns cArrrnEp.
Prisoners Taken ny British Expetii-
tion sHpdes Several CRnuibaIs.

tion Includes Several CRanibnis.
Victoria. n. c., March 2I.-In Aus
tralian advices brought by the Warri-
moo II news OF successful eSpedi-
ton against the head hunters of the
Western island under British Consul
woodford's directions. twelve prisoners
being taken. including several canni-
balistfc chiefs. Earl Ruchamp is 10 re-
sign at the ena Of the cnrrent year rs
governor of New South Wales. The
belief is that he will resign as soon as
the imperial parliament has passed the
commonwealth bill.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
BECOMES INSANE ON TRAIN.
Man Threatens to shoot Passengers
~ They D0n't Obey Him.

Wichita, Kan, March q. A man,
evidently insane. left bis seat In the
smoker Of a g., II. I. Il r. train. near
here. and began swinging his revolver,
threatening 10 shoot every passenger
who did not 1eave the common coach.
which was crowded. Passengers fell
over each other In their haste 20 get
into the next chr, but they were not
rapid enough for the old man, and he
began firing through the windows, The
woTen md children were finally
locked IN another CIR ard tie train Of
Hcials were posted on the platform 10
watch Him. He was finally placed
under arrest.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29
Wen and Girl. Strike.

Milwaukee, Wis. March 2T.-About
200 men and forty girls employed in
the works Of the United States Glue
company. located at Carrollsville. ten
miles south of this city, are on o
strike. The trouble was precipitated
through the discharge of Assistant
Superintendent Murphy Deputy Sher-
ifs are on guard at the plant to pre-
vent violence.
The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-03-29

A young missionary far In the inte-
riorof Chinareceiyed for baptism a lit
tie child. The name given was Moo
Dee, so unusual combination that
the minister asked IT'S origin. 4 have
heard or your man Of God, Moo Dee,"
was the reply. In our dialect Moo
means lore aud Dee God. I would have
my child, too, love God" Mr.. Moody
was not Chinese, but his name told
In that language the secret OF his life.