davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
A GENTLE ACT.

The intuition of woman is proven
bal. Whatever man is willing or
unwilling to accord to her, he must
admit that her intuitive faculty is
amazingly acute. 1t may not always
be evident in the selection of husband
and helpmeet, but it generally is in
the smaller affairs of life, as witness
this: Two passengers on a car who
attracted most attention the other day
were woman and man. She was
exquisitely dressed He was old and
shabby. 1t was cold day, and he
was inadequately clad. The woman
regarded him intentently for some
time, but he kept his eyes on the
floor. When the old man got up and
started out of the car, without hesi
tation the woman drew something
from her purse, and, touching the old
mans arm, put the coin into his hand
as he turned. Now, there was not
one man in that car who did not feel
the woman had made a mistake.
There was such an air of respectable
ity about the old man it would not
have seemed unnatural in him to re-
ject - event resent = the profered
money. But the we'll dressed woman
knew what she was about the old
man took the coin, bowed his thanks
and alighted. But the incident did
not end here. When it came time
for her to leave the car every man on
the back platform raised his hat to
her as she swept by.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
A CRUsoE COINCIDENCE.

Rev. DR.. Edward Everett Hale
calls attention to some quaint and Gu
rious features in connection with Rob-
inson Crusoe, which have not hither-
to been pointed out. He writes
"Readers who are curious in Eng
lish history must not fail to observe
that Robinson Crusoe was shipwreck-
ed on his island the goth of Septem-
Der, 1850. 1t was in that month that
the English commonwealth ended,
and Richard Cromwell left the palace
at Whitehall. Robinson lived in this
island home for twenty-eight years.
These twenty eight years covered the
exact period of the second Stuart
reign in England. Robinson Crusoe
returned to England in June, 1857;
the convention Parliament, which es-
tablished William Ill, met in Lon
don at the same time. All this could
not be an accidental coincidence.
Defoe must have meant the true
born Englishman' could not live in
England during the years while the
Stuarts reigned. Robinson Crusoe
was never the subject of Charles II.
or James II. He was not man
without a country because he had
a little country of his own but he
was man in a country where there
was no king but himself. -
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
HOW TO BE HEALTHY.

Two baths, says the newest health
authorities, should be taken every
morning.
For no less important than the tub
bath for the body is the air bath for
the lungs.
Perhaps you have never taken an
air bath, and mistakenly fancy that
it may be necessary to turn yourself
inside out to accomplish it.
On the contrary, the directions are
extremely simple.
You need no apparatus, and it
takes but a moments time and very
little effort.
Every night the lungs become filled
up with impure air and more or less
poisonous gases. A person may go
all day without ridding his lungs of
these impurities. Therefore, it is as
important to bathe the lungs every
day as the body.
Few people know how to breathe
correctly. The lungs are not filled
by merely expanding the upper por-
ton of chest and raising the shoul-
ders. The entire front of the chest
should be forced out as one inhales.
There are number of exercises
for expanding the chest which you
can practice in your room as we'll as
in gymnasium. A doorway will
serve as we'll as the most complicated
gymnasium apparatus. A narrow
doorway is preferred. Stand direct
ly under the frame and place the
hands fiat on the door casing, the tips
of the fingers coming at the height
of the shoulders. Walk through the
door without removing the hands
until you are arms length away.
This draws back the shoulders and
brings the important chest muscles
into play. Try this for fifteen min
utes every night and morning It
will help you get to sleep quickly
when you go to bed.
Another plan is to expand the
chest the same way before an open
window. Stand about foot back
from the window, placing the hands
on the window frame on either side
at the height of the shoulders. With
out moving the feet, let the body
swing forward as far as possible and
return to perpendicular position.
Practice this about twenty times night
and morning at intervals of ten Sec
onds. Another exercise both for the
arms and lungs is to stand with the
heels together and take deep breath.
Then stretch one arm backward and
upward, then the other, meanwhile
moving the body backward, forward
and to the sides while expelling the
breath slowly.-Philadelbhia Ledger.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
WHY BIRDS MIGRATE.

Speaking of birds coming b ck
from the South, let me explain, so far
as l can, says writer in the Wo-
mans Home Companion, where they
have been, why they went, and why
they take the trouble to come all the
way back again. Many thousands of
years ago birds didn't migrate at all.
There was no occasion for them to do
so. All the northern countries, even
Greenland, and the most northern
part of Europe, were warm the year
round, and the birds and other ami
mails which lived there found every
thing they needed close at hand.
But by and by there came great
changes in the conditions of the eli
mate, and gradually there began
period known as the "Ice Period, F"
when large part of the northern
countries became extremely cold,
and were buried under the ice. Of
course, the birds which lived in these
countries could not stand the severe
change, SO they had to either go to a
warmer climate or die. The sensible
ones all went South and made the
best of it. But they never quite for
got their northern home, and long
after, when the great ice-cap melted
away, and when the northern coun-
tries became warm again, the descen-
dants Of the birds which were driven
out by the cold went back to their
own country. There they found
plenty of food, SO they stayed and
made their nests and laid their eggs.
But alas the climate was no longer
as it used to be-mild and warm the
whole year round. It was divided
into seasons, and the warm summer
was followed by cold winter. They
Lad scarcely reared their young be-
fore they found that the air was be-
ginning to get cold again, SO as soon
as the little ones were strong enough
to stand the long journey they all
flew away to the South. But they
never forgot where their real homes
are. Every spring there comes over
them great longing to go back and
make their nests where they them
selves were born. They cannot re-
sist that longing. No matter where
they may be--down in the Gulf States,
in the West Indian Islands, or per-
haps thousands of miles away in the
southern part of South America
back they come by tens of thousands,
and by millions to their old homes in
the North.
Many of the smaller and weaker
birds, like the fy-catchers, vireos,
wrens, kinglets and bluebirds, in
order to avoid their enemies, the
hawks, make their long flights by
night, stopping for food and rest in
the daytime. The larger and bolder
ones, like the hawks and crows, and
those of extremely rapid flight, like
the swallows and humming birds,
migrate fearlessly by day, and there
are some, like the Canada geese,
which travel just when they choose,
by day or night. Migrating birds
usually fly at height of from one to
three miles, and this enables them to
see the rivers, the mountain ranges
and the coast line. By these they
direct their course, the old birds re-
membering the way they came be-
fore, and the young ones following.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
RIDING THE HORSES TO WATER.

When the clover bloom whitened the pastures,
The wheat fields CLEANED bright in the sun,
When the meadow lark, hid by the roadside,
Sang in Joy of new day begun
When the wild rose bloomed in the thicket
Half hid by the tall, dewey grass,
To ride the horses to water
A barefooted laddie and lass.
When the sun trailed his crimson and purple
Behind the tall poplar trees,
When the bird note was hushed in the tbicket,
And the clover bloom dreamed of its bees,
We hastened away to the meadow,
Down the path. thro' the soft, warm grass,
To ride the horses to water
barefooted laddie and lass.
Oh, my beautiful clover starred meadow,
How far off you seem today
And you, little path on the hillside,
Were never so far away;
My heart ever cries for the children
And the stir of the wind blown grass,
AS they rode the horses to water
A barefooted laddie and lass.
Detroit Free Press.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19

volving self-castigator for parents to
any capitalist who will undertake to
construct and introduce it on the
plans and specifications am ready to
supply. If it can be introduced so
extensively that every parent who is
obliged to whip child "for its own
good" will first get under the ma
chine and take FIVE lashes for every
thing he has done in the last month
worse than what he is obliged to whip
the child for, then the problem of
higher education and higher civiliza-
tion will be worked out by simply
touching the button of the castigator
and standing under it until all the
children who need the best possible
start in the world get the best posi-
BILE parents to start with.-St. Louis
Glo6e-DemocyaFs Lay Preacher.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
AUNT soPHRoNIA.

The secret of making ones self an
agreeable guest, warmly welcomed
when one comes and sincerely regret
ted when one goes, does not always
lie in the possession of conversational
talents or general accomplishments.
This little authentic dialogue, which
took place between Mr.. and Mrs.
Parkins the evening after their Aunt
Sophronia Greene had ended weeks
visit at their house, indicates surer
means of making ones self welcome
"How lonesome it is" said Mr..
Parkins, now that the children have
gone to bed 1 wonder what it really
is that makes Aunt Sophronia' S visits
so especially delightful %
"Why, suppose it's because she
never finds any fault said Mrs.
Parkins.
Are all our other guests accus-
toned to find fault with things which
go on about the house !'
No, but"
"But what? Aunt Sophronia sell
dom says anything particularly peril
nent or entertaining. In fact, she
says and does very little. :"
"That's true but she is always
good-natured in a quiet way"
"But lots of other people are good
natured, and yet nobody's visits give
us so much pleasure as Aunt So
phronia's. There must be some
other and positive reason"
Mrs. Parkins knitted on silently
for a few moments, as if in brown
study, and then, dropping her work,
exclaimed:
"William, 1 know what it is !"
"Well ?"
whenever Aunt Sophronia opens
her mouth to speak, it is almost al
ways to bring out, either fatty or
else in some roundabout way, some
good quality of one of the children.
II guess that is so," said Mr..
Parkins, raising his eyebrows as if
searching his recollection.
And did you ever hear her so
much as refer, in all the times she
has been here, to any one of their
numerous failings?"
"Never !"
"Then we've found her out"
Yes, we've found her out, but
she can't come again any too soon I"
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
TREE BLAZEs AS EVIDENCE.

There is in the rooms of the engi-
aeering department at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology one
of the most curious collections in the
country. In consists of dozen
'blaze' cut from tree trunks and
serves the young surveyors who are
trained at the institute as an object
lesson in the importance of peculiar
kind Of evidence that is accepted as
final by the law courts of the North
ern States in land disputes when care
fully drawn plans and properly attest
ed title deeds have been set aside as
untrustworthy.
Blazes, the sharp, glancing cuts in
a tree which expose the fresh wood
beneath the bark, are not only used
to indicate the course of a trail
through the woods, but are employed
by the surveyor to mark the direction
taken by the imaginary line which
divides forest tracts of different own
ership, so a knowledge of how this is
done and of how to distinguish blazes
made generation or more ago is a
very necessary part of the equipment
of the modern civil engineer.
In marking trees the surveyor fol-
lows as closely as may be the exact
boundary, cutting into the fresh blaze
first an arrow which points the direc-
ton in which his line passes, then a
private device which stands for his
signature. In States where town.
ships are laid out with regularity and
set off at their corners by stone "mon-
uments" the surveyor also registers
the distance and direction of this fix
ed landmark at each even mile. So,
no matter how careless he may be in
his written descriptions or how far in
error in his calculations, he leaves
"on the spot'' evidence of his meas
urements which is inefaceable so long
as the trees remain standing.
The permanency Of the records kept
in this way on tree trunks is remark
able, nature having provided that
while tree adds a new layer of bark
each year blaze can never heal over
entirely, the wound simply drawing
together aud forming an outer cover
ing which never attaches itself to the
inner core. At first this scar appears
as an indentation, but in time it's
thickened edges turn outward and
form an excrescence, so it is always
to be detected by the experienced
woodsman and can be cut out in the
presence of witnesses and brought
into court.
These curious bits of evidence gain
their Importance largely from the fact
that they cannot be made to lie in any
particular, for nature has arranged
that they shall fix dates as accurately
as they preserve Inscriptions. The
outer shell which has grown over the
blaze is sawed away and the rings in
the wood beneath the bark are count
ed, and in the Northern States, where
the difference of seasons is so sharp
that a tree has never been known to
take on more than one layer in a
year, their count fixes the year when
the record was made with absolute
exactness. In most of the Southern
States, of course, this rule of date
does not hold, since a tree may take
on more than a single ring each year
in a milder climate.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
MAUD MULLER REVISED.

Maud Muller on a summers day
Set hen In a brand new way.
lMaud, you see, was city girl,
Trying the rural life whirl.)
5ne covered box with tinsel gay,
LINED 1t snugly with new mown hay,
ed Ellled 1t nicely with eggs, and then
6tarted to look for a likely hen.
Uut OF the flock she selected one,
ana then she thought that the work was done.
IL would have been, but this stubborn hen
$1,000 up and cackled "Ka-doot!" and then
Maud Muller came, and in hurt surprise
looked coldly into the creatures eyes;
Inen tied its legs to the box. You bet
/ know how to make you set.'
6ut st1ll it stood, and worse and worse
Snrieked forth its wrongs to the universe,
Kicked over the box with tinsel gay,
ana lgnominiously tapped away.
Then bad boy, over the barnyard fence,
lee lee need: Say. Maud, there's difference
tween hens, you know, and it is that
One says 'Ka-doot! = and one 'Ka-datr"
Inen Maud recalled that the ugly brute
she tried to set had said "Ka-doot rs
And ever since that historic day
She Dushes in an embarrassed way
10 think of the bobble she made once when
She tried to set a gentleman hen.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
have his own mingled with his wife's
when he Should die II, hic +,,rn

have his own mingled with his wife's
when he should die in his turn.
When he did die it was in Philadel-
phia, and the undertaker's first orders
were to embalm the body. He had
no sooner embalmed it than he re-
ceived orders by telegraph to Gre
mate it. So he cremated it. Then
he was instructed to send on the ashes,
but this he declined to do until his
bill for embalming and cremating had
been settled.
In the meantime trouble over the
dead mans will had broken out in
California, and nobody was paying
bills just then. Soa peculiar state Of
affairs came to pass. The urn with
the wife's ashes-which ratified lone
somely around in their ample recep-
table-was produced as evidence in
court, while the husband S ashes were
held in Philadelphia as security for
the undertaken bill.
Apropos of California cremations,
there was that of Durrant, the young
murderer. The crematories in San
Francisco were so squeamish that they
refused to burn the body, and the
father had to take it to Pasadena.
The medical men of the State had
been keenly interested in the young
man, and were anxious to have the
brain for examination. The family
was determined they should not get
it. So the father did not let the cof-
fin out of his sight until he saw it
placed in the retort of the Pasadena
crematory.
Pet animals have sometimes been
cremated, but the prize instance of
this kind was when a rich London
woman had pet Yorkshire terrier,
named Monkey, cremated, and the
ashes placed i'll a S., 900 urn.
Branch 90 of the Cigarmakers' In
ternational Union is at the Labor Ly-
ceum in East Fourth street. On the
top of desk there is, or was not long
ago, novel exhibit. 1t was a COL
lection of fifteen cans and one urn,
containing the ashes of sixteen men,
bers of the union. In vault along
side of the bowling alley in the Arion
clubhouse there is similar collection
of the ashes of dead Arionites.
Helen Bertram, one of the Bosto-
mans, was credited with carrying her
husbands ashes in a chamois bag
suspended from a gold chain around
her neck. AS the ashes from a full
grown body weigh from three to FIVE
pounds it is doubtful if the singer car
ried more than small sample of her
husband with her in that way. 1t is
by no means uncommon, though, for
surviving widows to carry the ashes
of the departed with them whenever
they travel.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
SHINGLES AND sHINGLE NAILS.

1 wish to say just a word on the
subject of shingling. Farmers and
stockmen, from the nature of their
occupations, require large, commo-
dious barns, sheds, pens, coops, etc.
All these buildings must be covered
with some cheap, effective, water
tight material, and wooden shingles,
taking the country as whole and
conditions that generally prevail, are
esteemed most practicable for the
purpose. The best cedar shingles
are the most economical in the end,
as they can be laid much faster and
are far more certain to make tight
roof than the cheaper grades contain
ing knots that are most sure to give
trouble, sooner or later Buy the
grade marked Extra" and do not
begrudge to extra" cost.
Now comes very vital point, name
ly, the kind of nail to be use to fas-
ten the shingles. This matter has re-
ceived very sure and practical demon
stration. Never use a wire nail of
any description. Be sure to employ
a cut nail every time. Furthermore,
use an iron cut nail of proper size
not steel cut nail. The wire nail
will not stand the moisture conditions
which prevail on a roof. 1t is slim,
rapidly corrodes under dampness, and
very often will drop shingles that
have been laid less than five years,
shingles that have not seen one-third
their period of usefulness. This
makes it very expensive, and I know
of many losses of this kind that are
to be traced to the use of the wire
nail.
The steel cut nail, while vastly bet
ter for the purpose than the wire, is
very inferior to the iron nail. Steel
corrodes much faster than iron. This
has been demonstrated beyond shad-
ow of doubt in the case of steam
boiler tubes, as we'll as with roof COW
erings. / myself recently was work
ing on an old roof, removing old
shingles that had been laid thirty
years, and replacing them with new
ones. This was shingled with the
old-fashioned iron nail, and this nail
was tough and strong, necessitating
much effort in taking off the old
shingles.
This matter of shingle nails is 10
notion of mine, and l cannot empha-
size it too strongly, as l have seen
the wire advocated but short time
since in certain newspaper article,
whereas 1 positively know that to use
a wire nail in shingling will invaria
bIy result in financial loss.-M. S.
Perkins, IN Country Gentleman.
The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-04-19
HORSES FOR THE FARM.

Speaking of the present advocacy
of heavy draft horses-Pe Percheron,
Clydesdale or Shire-from I 900 to
1000 pounds can be found, The
Amer1can Cultivate, says:
Such horses serve excel1ently we'll
in the heavy trucking of the city.
Here is where dead weight or main
strength and awkwardness will count.
What would pair of these 1900 to
2,2oo pound horses do on plow or
harrow in the spring when their feet
sank in the mud almost as deep as
the plow? They might not feel the
weight of the plow, but they would
feel their own weight before night.
With a pair of the little Vermont
Morgans, the two of them not as
heavy as one of those big fellows, we
could draw heavier load through
miry place or a snowdrift than we
ever saw pair of those big ones draw
in bad place.
And when on the road they could
trot eight or ten miles an hour or
walk four or five mile on dirt road
not for one hour only, but for FIVE or
six hours in day for as many days
as there are in the week, and that not
in rubber tired sulky, but, a good
honestly made farm wagon with from
two to four persons in it.
That is the kind of horses that
used to be bred in Vermont and some
of them not quite as completely built
in Maine, and some of them, little
coarser built, came here from Canada,
with legs about as large and hairy as
the Clydes. None of them ever got
spavins or crooked knees or tender
feet if they had decent usage, for
they did not go down the street as if
they had taken contract to pound
down the paving stones.
The breed of these horses cannot be
entirely exhausted. There must be
some farmers who have good brood
mares yet, and there may be a few
stations that have the Morgon blood
in them. If such can be bred, we
venture prediction that in FIVE years
they will be in demand and in ten
years more popular on our New Eng
land farms and hilly roads than the
heaviest western bred horse that may
be offered at the sale stables in the
city. Do not make the mistake of
trying to put too much weight into
them by trying to breed from the
heavy stations nor too long legs on
them in the hope of getting a two
minute horse, but try to get a good,
honest, we'll built horse of 1000 to
100 pounds with the disposition of
lamb, the willingness of the OK and
the endurance of the mule.
MEEKs-"My mother-in-law has
been in an insane asylum for over a
year"
Weeks-tW What a lucky mortal