davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
q q VENERABLE EASTER EGG D.

DROBABLY the Oldest Easter egg in
existence is that owned by Henry
H. Seitzinger. a resident of Fountain
Spring. Schuykin county. Pa. Mr.. Seit-
Finger is seventy years old and TIE egg
is fifty-seven. Consequently, he has
thirteen years of ege when he became its
proud possessor. 1t is goose egg OF
remarkable size, and bears a very
unique decoration. On one side is en-
graved with the date, 1916; on the other
are carved the owners initials.
There is a story connected with the
eggs history. Henry .seitzingers father
kept the toll gate at Newcastle. Half
way between the toll house and the
school lived a family named Miller
These people had a flock of geese and
as their property lay directly in Henry's
path to school, he frequently encount-
cred them. he was a small boy, and
somewhat timid, fact which the geese
in all probability insunctively recog-
nized, for they made him the special
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

This is quite mistaken idea. Tram
is the old Swedish word for wooden
sledge, and the world owes the success
full modern tram almost entirely to John
Warren, a Manchester man.
Before his time George Francis Train,
had laid tram lines in London. But
these were built with high rails like
those used on railways, and constituted
such a desperate danger to traffic that
the vestries had them all torn UP. Mr..
Warren devised the fush-rail system.
built the first tram to run upon it with
his own hands and within fourteen
months from the time he commenced
operations had 900 people at work max
ing the trans, and another 1,500 run
ming them, and looking after his horses,
Of which he owned 1000 He made a
fortune out of his enterprise, and so did
another almost unknown inventor Rob
ert scrope.
To Mr.. Scrope we owe the invention
first practical adoption. Within twelve
months of commencing the manufacture
Mr.. Scrope had twenty branches at work,
employing some thousands OF men.
In all the worlds history there is no
more startling instance of ingratitude
and forgetfulness than the history of
Henry Cort. He expended the whole of
his private fortune of e 20 ,o00 in perfect
ing his inventions for pudding iron and
rolling 1t into bars and plates. Then
he was robbed of the fruits of his toll
eminent officials. and In the end left to
starve. This was in 1884. Since that
date Corts inventions have conferred
upon England an amount OF wealth
equivalent TO &700, 00O0 600, and given
constant employment to about 500, 600
workmen for the past four generations.
When the first British railway was
built from Stockton to Darlington, the
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
FADS IN WRAPPING PAPER.

M ORE and more is the esthetic
IFl creeping into trade. 1t has even
extended to wrapping paper. In this re-
spect the druggists are the leaders. as
the purchases at pharmacies are not
bulky, and the proprietors can afford to
be artistic in small details. The drug
gist who wraps up a small parcel or
bottle in white paper and ties it with a
red string is behind the times. The up
to-date pharmacist pays almost as much
attention to getting attractive wrapping
paper as he does to the purity OF his
drugs.
Il have adopted this soft, dull tinted,
unglazed gray as my shop color" said
one druggist. cit is distinctive and acts
as a sort of advertisement for me, for
customers become acquainted with it.
For tying / use nothing but this orange
cord / have not noticed a marked in
crease of custom from my efforts to
make the bundles things OF beauty, but
I am convinced 1t will pay. Naturally
we feel We are doing great educational
work when we turn bottle of bitter
medicine into a symphony in gray and
orange"
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
q ELECTRICITY IN THE BODY D.

T may strike you as rather strange to
be told that at times your body is
nothing less than dynamo, fully
charged with electricity. Nevertheless,
according to Sir James Grant. an emf
heat English physician. as a result of
Sudden draughts and the contraction Of
ordinary colds the human body becomes
charged with electricity to a surprising
degree.
The electricity generated under such
circumstances is not to be despised. 1t
is CT just as good quality as that de-
rived from the regular electric battery,
although, Of course. its quantity is too
Insignificant TO be utilized for any
practical purpose.
The main effect upon the victim Is TO
make his muscles hard and tense, a fact
which often leads him to imagine that
he Is suffering from some kind OF mus
eelar rheumatism. Indeed. physicians,
after superficial examination, some
times diagnose the case in the same way
The trouble. however. is simply that the
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

survive, how about the Doa of New yea
land and the aepvornic of Madagascar?
Both are islands, are large and not
nearly explored. May not the gigantic
birds still live in their deepest. most
secret regions? Any number OF folk in
New Zealand believe in the moa abso-
iutely. Great areas of the island have
not been trodden by single naturalist.
Lonely travellers tell, year after year,
with perplexing regularity, of uncaany
shapes in the dark midnight forests,
under whose eiephantine tread thick
boughs crack and splinter-fantastic
monsters which the dogs dare lot at
tack. Are they noas. the great birds
greater than the greatest ostrich. still
alive?
1T is that same lard whose interior
is haunted by mysterious quadruped.
The Maoris call II the waitoteke or
waitoreke. 1t Is said to be a water
animal and to dwell in the lakes of the
high mountain lands. The natives say
that IL lays eggs like the wonderful
duckbill. But. instead CT the bill-iike
mouth of that strange Australian craa-
ture, the waitoteke has immense jaws.
with saw-like teeth-in other words,
teeth unlike those OF any mammal now
known, the teeth of the fantastic ich-
thyosaurians. Waitoteke or waitoreke-
We know nothing of IL except the Maori
stories. But a famous student and ex-
plorer Of New Zealand, the zoo;ogist
Benedict Friedlaender, recently ex-
preSSed Z n mo bic halfaf IN ;fs axfS+anoa
He has Important reasons for so belieY-
ing. But he hasn't caught ii yet.
These are the permissible dreams OF
the zoologist Of today-if he wishes 10
dream. The solution. however, will be
gained. not by dreamers who wait for
chance, but by workers, by serious in
vestigators. as in all else that is touch
ed by the intelligence of man today
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

trains were signaled at night by a can
bic burning in the station window. With
out the modern system OF semaphore
signaling the express service of railway
communication which we enjoy today
would be an impossibiiity. Yet the very
name of the inventor Of the method
of working semaphores from a distance
has been forgotten. 1t is said that this
idea originated in the contrivance of a
porter on the London and Northwes-
tern Railway.
Having two signals at some distance
apart under his charge. he conceived the
happy notion Of weighing The
handle of one and attaching to it a
clothes line so that he could work it
from the other. An inspector saw the
ingenious device and elaborated it, with
the result that signal cabins were estab-
lished all over the country.
The name of Macintosh is commemor-
ated forever in the waterproof garments
which have, in the country ar least, al
most superseded the umbrella. Yet an
article in the annals of Philosophy, .
dated 1918, proves that it is another man
we ought to thank. instead of Macin-
tosh, for the blessing of the waterproof.
In the article referred to Prof Syme an
nounces his discovery of the powers of
benzine to dissolve india rubber, and
tells how he rendered a silk cloak and
other garments perfectly waterproof by
brushing them over with thin solution.
In ITO Captain Planta, Swiss officer
or engineers. after years of patient ex-
perimenting. produced a steam carriage
which ran on the ordinary road.
Twelve months later a French engineer,
whose name has been forgotten, i'm
proved upon Captain Planta's machine,
and produced an automotor, which he
exhibited before Louis XIV and his court
| at Versailles. 1t is this machine which
still stands in the Paris Conservative.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
MYSTERIOUS ANIMALS WE DON'T KNOW

There are two possibilities for rs
naturalists: one IN the survival of the
prehistoric forms, and another Is the
possible existence of unknown forms in
the territories that are still unvisited
of US lords of creation. Every part of
the earth that is marked 'unexplored'
has its phantom beast for US. :.
There is the common wild horse The
cave jewellers of Europe scratched a pic
ture OF queer little horse on pebbles,
cave walls. and pieces of bone. 1t was
a funny. big-headed, short-legged brute
Could there ever have been such a
horse? We disputed about it for many
years. Today the Berlin Geological Gar
den has a pair OF them which were
caught in the steppes OF inner Asia-the
true primeval wild horse.
Theoretically nothing stands in the
way of the existence of the mammoth IN
Alaska, since its colleagues of the gla-
OK. live there now. d
Two creatures certainly still are to
be looked for in the northern Polar cir
cle-the giant aux and SteIler's sea
COW, colossus of the order of oceanic
mammals. The great aux went lost in
Iceland, the sea COW in the Boring
Straits. We call them extinct now. YET.
we possess skins OF the great aux and
descriptions of the sea cow by persons
who saw the living animal. The sea
COW certainly still existed in the eigh-
teenth century, and the aux survived in
the nineteenth.
he znnlapir@i Lar nd iS in
Australia and New Zealand. A big lizard
lives there today, which is the only liv-
ing representative of the prehistorical
saurians that formed the link between
reptiles and reptilian fish. Now there
are still stories of the existence of a
mighty lizard, bigger than a crocodile.
Could such giant have survived Trav =
elera have crossed the interior and re-
crossed it without seeing one.
But If the monster lizards 10 not
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

"Springland" lies just across Wiscon-
sin Avenue from John R. McLean's
country home, Friendship" and is i'm
mediately north of Cleveland Park II
stands on the highest ground in that
part of the District and is far above the
level of Rockville. In cutting down Wis
consin Avenue to establish a grade,
workmen undermined giant oak which
stands at the edge of the estate in front
of the mansion. A stone wall was built
beneath the great tree to keep it from
falling. Evidences of the same care may
be seen in all parts of the estate.
Old-Fashioned Furniture.
Mount Vernon has no better care than
"springland. Miss Nourse and her ag-
ed brother guard their homestead with
all the skill of the patriotic women who
rescued Washington's home from decay
Modern furniture has not found its way
into the old manor house Brass and
irons, mahogany cabinets. and antique
chairs which would delight the collector
Of rare furniture harmonic with the
wide ireplaces and quaint windows of
small glass.
The only trace of the modern about
''Springland' is a telephone wire, which
enters the front of the old house. It is
strangely out of harmony with the CO.
Ionial surroundings. The venerable
| installation of the telephone but finally
yielded TO the wishes of young relatives.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

muscles have become charged with cleo
tricity to an unusual degree.
No less strange than the ailment itself
is the remedy adopted by Sir James
Grant some years ago, and now followed
by many other physicians. Sir James
has been in the habit of treating these
supposed cases OF muscular rheumatism
By inserting fine steel needles into the
affected parts, the number Of needles
depending upon the extent Of the all
ment. The needles, as a general rule.
are inserted in the places where the pain
is most intense. and are left there for
one or two minutes. The effect is mag
ical. At the expiration of the proper
time the patient finds that his muscles.
which. before, were as hard and as tense
as though he had caught a cramp,
are quite flexible and he can use them
without pain.
The reason of this cure is simple. AS
soon as the needles are inserted, the
electrical accumulation is discharged,
passing through the body OF the operator
although without causing him any dis
comfort.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

object of their attacks. One large goose
in particular exhibited q vicious tendecy
whenever she saw him, and at last sue
ceeded in terrifying him to such an ex-
tent that the affrighted youngster would
take to his heels whenever he heard
her hiss. Mrs. Miller otter watched this
little comedy from the window. until
the tears ran down her face from laugh
ter. But one morning, shortly before
Easter the little bow received large
egg from Mrs. Miller. accompanied by
note saying that it was sent with tho
compliments of his old enemy. the quar-
relsome goose.
Young Seitzinger's mother stained the
egg with logwood dye and he took it to
an uncle who scratched on 1t a quaint
design For ffty-six years Mr.. Seitzin-
ger has regularly brought the egg out
every Easter. He keeps it in a small box.
embedded in cotton. 10 exhibit il TO his
friends. The egg is perfectly sound.
Its owner Will allow no enc to touch
it for fear of mishap, and he fonGles
II with as much glee as IL he were still
boy of thirteen.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
Still q Farm in Spite OF It's
Location in One of The
Most Fashionable Sub
urbS OF the Cdpit0I-IvU-
Covered Old Building
That IS a JOu TO Artists
and Lovers OF Bedutu. D.

''springland' is popular with artists.
The old estate commands a view OF the
wooded Maryland hills which lie beyond
the Chevy Chase line. and offers fine
opportunity to landscape painters Then
the picturesque manor house is much
admired by persons Of artistic tastes.
who delight In sketching the pure type
of colonial architecture.
The Nourse estate lies in the part
of the District which is most admired
by President Roosevelt He frequently
walks for hours through the dense woods
east of ''Springland" and rides along
bride paths which lead from the Rock
vile and Chevy Chase car lines into the
deep valley which lies between them.
Roads have been cut through the
rugged forest in this interesting part OF
the District, but they avoid the deep
ravines whose beauty can be seen only by
the pedestrian or the horseman who is
not afraid of a ride through thickets
which have not been prepared for the
timid rider.
President Roosevelt's Favorite Walks.
Frequently the President and his afh-
letic friends walk for hours through
these dense woods When the Presf-
dent is in Washington the Roosevelt
carriage often stops along the Rock
Vile and Chevy Chase roads. and
members of the Roosevelt family dis
appear in the forest General Wood used
to accompany the President and his sons
on their walking trips last summer, and
since General Wood left Washington
several younger army officers have been
the Presidents walking companions
-'springland'' may be reached either by
way of Wisconsin Avenue or Pierce Mil
Road. which is one of the most pic
turesque OF the older highways which
| have been in use since the organization
| of the District. II extends from he
Rockville turnpike to Rock Creek. and
| passes through an interesting bit Of
country which IS unknown 10 residents
Of the District who do not venture away
! from busy lines of travel
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

IN RECENT years. and especially
since Sir Harry Johnston discover
= ed the prehistoric okapi, still living
in Africa. biologists have been growing
more and more willing to accept the be-
lief that perhaps many of the so-called
extinct animals still may be living IN
as yet unexplored parts of the world
What science is still willing to accept
today in this line has just been summed
up in an authoritative essay by the ia
nous naturalist and Darwinist, Prof.
Wilhelm Boelsche. He says:
1.-The unicorn used to be an animal
to be relegated without further argu-
ment into the limbo of fable. 1t disap-
peared from the field centuries ago when
the first rhinoceros arrived in Europe
Then naturalists said that OF course 1t
was the rhinoceros that gave origin TO
the fable of the unicorn. the horse-like
beast with a single horn sticking out
straight from its head.
But since that time. we have found
the bones of q huge horse-like beast
that actually did carry such single
straight horn We have named it elias
mothsrium.
eve know that the eIasmotherium
lived in the Rhine Valley and in Siberia
as a contemporary of the mammoth.
Now in Siberia the Inhabitants Of
the unexpIored tundra country talk to-
day of both the mammoth and a mighty
black beast with a single horn. Do they
know the latter merely from having
seen a frozen specimen, as they have
seen frozen specimens of the mammoth?
Or did their fathers actually hunt the
beast? Or is this elasmotherium not g
extinct animal after all. but living
survival in some of the immense, never
explored tundras OF Siberia? 1t is only
recently that the world is finding out
what herds of musk oxen still survive
in the remote north in the midst Of the
ice.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
W ': ::s q: : s:s:: :: s en- n: ::

n n ENTION the telephone. and in
INN stantly the names of Bell and
Edison come before the minds
eyes speak of wireless telegraphy, and
one Immediately thinks of Marconi. The
name OF Santos Dumont is as closely
connected with the flying machine as
that of Robert Stephenson with the
locomotive. Yet there are dozens of
things, big and little, which are a part
of our daily life, of the origin of which
we never think: or, if we do. we fail to
connect them with the names OF their
inventors--men as worthy of praise as
any Of the worlds benefactors.
When our grandmothers were young,
pin money was necessity, not a figure
Of speech. Pins were sold at four
penny. 1t is to the forgotten Samuel
slocum, an Englishman, that we owe
the cheap pins of today. In 1880 the
Idea came TO him that pins. which were
then made by winding fine wire on the
head and fastening it TO the post of
the pin. might be made at a single
operation. But. strive as he would. ne
could not perfect the idea. At last he
shut himself up in a room in his house
in the Isle of Wight and remained there
eight days, seeing no one and having
his meals passed in 10 him. At the end
Of that time he had every detail per-
fectly worked out. and in 1881 the manu-
facture of the modern pin commenced.
A few years ago. comparatively speak
ing, every one laboriously laced his boots
from the lowest hole TO the top. There
was none Of that lightning crossing of
the laees into the neat little hooks with
which the raodern lace boot is provided
The inventor OF the boot-hook. H. A.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

FEW of the historic old estates
which were the pride of the Dis
trict of Columbia half a century
ego have withstood the onslaughts of
hustling real estate agents.
Fantastic cottages, fashioned after
cuts printed in woman's magazines, have
sprung up about most of the manor
houses which are still standing. Sub
urban streets have burrowed their way
through forest and field, and street
signs mark cowpaths which will not be
improved for twenty five years.
Many of the old estates have fallen
into ruin. The houses have met the
fate of the Van Ness mansion. which
stands in Van Ness Athletic Park, as a
gloomy reminder of the days when the
land on which Washington stood was
part of the Davy Burns farm
But there are some of the old estates
in the District which have withstood the
onslaughts of the boom addition fever
and the ravages of time. Age has. in
deed, added charm to manor houses
which have undergone only necessary
repairs. and weIl-trimmed groves have
taken on added beauty with the passing
years.
Hidden Among Noble Trees.
'-springland'' is probably the most
beautiful old country place in the Dis
trict. The mansion on the historic es-
late is only stones throw from the
Rockville car line, but is SO well con-
cealed by trees and shrubs that 1t is
almost impossible to catch glimpse of
the stately old house from Wisconsin
Avenue.
The Nourse family has owned Spring
land" for nearly one hundred years.
Major Charles ]. Nourse built the dig
nihed old stone mansion in 1927 and
lived there until his death fifty years
native of New York,
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
Glimpse of the Old House Through the Trees

consin Avenue to the mansion. and is SO
thickly lined with trees and shrubs that
it is almost impossible to see the house
from the gates.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

vines surround the stone house. which
is green with age. The large lawn is
we'll cared for. A graveled driveway
leads from the stone gateways on Wis
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14

The large stone pillars which support
the Colonial portico OF the house are
overgrown with Virginia creeper. Great
oak trees whose trunks are girded with
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
Springland From the Northwest.

but lived much of his life in Virginia
and always considered himself a vir-
ginian. His estate bears the traces of
the Old Dominion
Like Old Dominion Colonial Homes.
The house with its wide colonial
porch. it's dormer windows, and the low
additions at each end would have har-
monized well with the homes which
lined the James River $50 years ago.
Major Nourse had nine children, two
of whom. Miss Mary Nourse and James
B. Nourse, still live in the old home
stead and guard it against the invasion
of modern ideas. The estate formerly
contained hundreds of acres. It has now
been reduced to twenty acres. but this
land surrounds the manor house and
retains all the charm of the original
estate.
A Farm in the City.
"Springland" is still farm in spite
of its location in one of the most fash
ionable suburbs Miss Nourse and her
brother have horses and cows and hogs
Small fields are cultivated to supply the
needs of the family. Each winter meat
is killed and smoked on the farm and
the little household is as independent of
the outside world as Virginia planters
were 100 years ago.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-06-14
BEAUTIFUL SP2N(lZND 11HNOP HONE OF THE NO2SES D

A Rare Old ESt0fe That Lies
Hidden Among the Trees
Almost Within the CITY
Limits. and Which Has
Lost None Of It's original
Charms By the ADVANCE
Of improvements. D. D.
The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1903-01-11

Ezra Kendall has boon doing strange
stunts sin,r hr Departed from vaudovilIr
and started starring In 'ylaG vinegar Buy.