davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1903-08-01
You would not accept anything from me.

You would not accept anything from me-
1 will take nothing from you!
Whether or not she ever regretted this
refusal of good fortune we may not know.
though such an offer from the chief of the
French state would have come in very nan
dy to old Madame Duperron of late years
in particular when Whitellw Reid as min
lister of the United States. eadeavored to
have her named titular as we'll as actual
lessee of her newspaper stand a. the corner
of the rue Scribe. She married a soldier.
became a widow. and went into newspaper
business for good. This is all We know.
apart from what see.
Still Red-Cheeked
What we see is very aged. very healthy
lady. her back bent from stopping. but her
cheeks as red as apples. Seyenty-five
years old. and a rigorous vegetarian. She
never touches wine. beer or other alcoholic
drink. Her whole life passes in the open
air. There are those who, considering her
age. warn her against the sudden changes
of the Paris weather. when in midsummer
day of intense sweltering and oppression
from humidity is followed by night so
cool that you must put on your light over
coat. We have no such twenty-four-
changes in America. To such warnings
she replies:
Il have lived on milk and rice and open
air for forty years. Were [ to coop myself
up l should die
w nat IS more HheiS Is NHa' II oito f",'
the bustling boulevard life at her stand
the change to placid leisure such as other
ancient ladies lead would bring about the
fell result she prophesies Activity Is life
to such one. All the day long she hands
out papers-the most cosmopolitan collection
to be found on any one stand in the world
There are the dailieS. not of Paris only. but
all France and Europe. Hungarians come
for their "Pester Lloyd: Austrians for
Vienna 'Neue Freie Presse': Prussians for
the Berlin "Tageblatt': Italians for the
Rome "Tribuna": Spanards for the Madrid
"Imparcal," and Russians for the "Nov-
oSti."
But these representative dailies are only
tritiing Side-iSSue, scarcely appearing on
the stand When you ask for one of them
Evening star., 1903-08-01

their trade in this branch alone is at least
five times much as ours. They supply
% per cent of all the plows. drills seeders.
and horse-pow threShiug machines, and
a large part of the American imports go
through their hands. The value of their
business is already considerably over a
hundred million dollars Il year, and ii Will
Increase right along.
Next to the Germans come the English,
who are shipping about sixty-hvs million
dollars worth of farming tools and other
machines into this country and next the
Americans. who furnish a possible twenty
million dollars worth.
Russia's Mighty Farm.
All this. however. is as nothing in COM
parison with the possibilities of the future
This Russian empire is the biggest farm
upon earth. 1t includes one-sixth of all
the land upon the globe. and there are mil
lions OF acres which have not been touched
by the plow. Here in European Russia
there are more than eighty million farm
ers actively engaged in tilling the soil. and
that with tools almost as rude as those
used In the days OF the Scriptures. I wish
I could show you some of them. The Rus
sian plow is little more than a wooden
stick The sokha. the kind used chiefly
In the Black Earth Zone. has two iron
shares but no point. and IN other places
heavy twO-wheeled wooden plowS are used.
In western Russia, Poland and about
Odessa there are many iron plows, but no.
where do l see our American implements.
There should be an enormous market for
cultivators and sulky plows Of our make.
but so far the Germans have captured the
business
Other tools are even worse. Many Of
the harrows have wooden teeth. and the
old spiked tooth iron harrow Is rare. Most
of the grain Is sowed broadcast by hand
and 1t is only along the Volga and in the
hnd Tpn nrf rfNlrH
drills.
Chances for Our Threshers.
There should be a big sale of American
threshers. Russia is one of the great grain
producers of the world In Europe alone
II has yearly crop of about two billion
bushels-chieiy rye. oats. wheat and corn.
The biggest item Is rye. which forms the
bread of the people. The average yield of
this is T35 million bushels. and large part
OF IT is exported to Germany. where It
makes rye bread for the soldiers In
wheat Russia ranks next to us in the
markets of Europe. 1t produces 300 or 400
million bushels annually. The oats crop
Evening star., 1903-08-01

stand the system of Russian land owner
ship in order to do his work we'll. He will
find that about one-third Of all the land
here belongs to the state and imperial fam
ily. The CZar owns more than 100000 900
acres in Europe alone Much of this land
is under cultivation. and his agents buy
farming machinery in enormous quantities.
Many of them are susceptible to persua
sion. and tudiciouS present at the right
time will help sale.
A second third of European Russia be-
longs TO the peasants. 1t came to them
when the cZar freed the serfs This was
at about the same time as our abolition
movement. We freed 10000 negroes at
a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives
and Il big national debt. Russia freed fifty
millions without losing life. and it
gave every man. woman and child, on the
average, about seven acres of land. 1t did
not give the land to the individuals, how
ever but to the villages and these VIII
lagos apportion them out from time to
time among the families.
This land was taken from the mobiles, but
they were paid for it. The serfs had been
working the lands and had the villages
upon them. The peasants were given the
villages and enough land about them to
average thirty-three acres to the family SO
that village Of a hundred families got
thirty-three hundred acres Of land in COM
mon This land Is still 50 held, and the
village as a whole Is responsible for the
taxes 1t is bound to pay SO much for the
land. and the payments run over forty
their lands outright. Others are still pay
Ing for 1t. Altogether, from such payments
and from the lands granted the crown peas-
ants the government now gets about s4Oy-
0OO,OOO a year.
The Mobiles Have Big Estates
OF the private lands of Russia about
three fourths is owned by the mobiles. Some
of them have tens Of thousands of acres.
the average size of the estates in the north
being from $1,000 to 10000 acres. Those of
the south are much smaller.
There are also many peasants and quite
a large number of merchants who have
their own farms. The mobiles and the peas
ants are better customers than the mer-
chants. Many of the former give large or
ders for agricultural machinery and some
of the latter farm intensively. The mer-
chants buy land as speculation and work
it TO death. They cut off the wood. and
crop and recrop until the land gives out,
and then sell 1T again. All over Russia
however. there is little good farming. The
common plow only scratches the earth and
the yield per acre is small. The average
product of rye is only eleven bushels. wheat t
from ten to thirteen bushels. barley about
Evening star., 1903-08-01

twelve bushels, and oats seventeen bushels
per acre. Much of the soil Is as worn ont
as the old tobacco and cotton lands of the
south, and 1t will take careful cultiva tion
to make it valuable.
Flour and American Mills
There IS little chance here for the intro
ductlon or American flour. The freight
rates are too heavy and of late years the
Russians have been putting up modern
mills OF their own. The first roller patent
process mill was introduced along late in
the sixties, and since that time an enor-
nous number has grown up near the railroad
and rivers. 1t IS estimated that there are
now 20, 600 mills in Russia, which are grind
Ing 31.0O0. 900 600 pounds Of -four every year.
Estimating a pound Of -four to a loaf of
bread and that one loaf will feed a man
one day this would be enough to feed the
Evening star., 1903-08-01

of sour cabbage and cucumbers. Most Of
them have chickens and other fowls They
have cows, but make but little butter and,
rule, family is well off if it has meat
once week.
One of their peculiar daintles Is sunhower
seeds. which the peasant carries about
with him in his pocket and eats as we do
peanuts. He uses the oil of such seeds
for cooking and salads, and that to such
an extent that sunfloWer farming has be-
come a great industry. There are 100, 900
acres of sunflower farms in central and
eastern Russia, and 100 mills which press
out 2O0,0OO00O pounds of sunffower oil
every year. The oil sells for a cent and
half a pound, and the refuse is valuable for
stock feed and also for pigeons and pouI-
try. The sunfower crop is planted in the
fall the seeds being drilled in. The plants
are thinned out to about a foot apart. They
are ready for harvest in the summer. and
If the soil is good acre will yield about
fifty bushels of s, ed.
FRANK G.. CARPENTER.
Evening star., 1903-08-01
Proved It Too Well.

From the Chicago Tribune.
Here the orator paused took drink of
water, and produced from the depths of an
inside pocket newspaper clipping which
he unfolded and held at arms length.
Fellow citizens" he said, with concen-
trated scorn, "a measy sheet whose name
1 shall not dignity by giving 1t mention re-
prints the old and exploded slander that
used to be republican. and that 1 ran for
office once as a populist. When was your
candidate for Congress three years ago this
same contemplate charge was made
against me. Did 1 not prove conclusively
then, by aff1davits from men Of the highest
respectability, that I always had been
democrat?"
You did, pard"' yelled a rock-rooted old
democrat in the front row. That's what
beat US, by gravyr"
Evening star., 1903-08-01

equals alone 600 million bushels, and the
parsley yields more than 200 million bush
els.
This mighty grain crop has 90 be thresh-
ed, and ut present large part of it is
hulled out by hand or foot.
There millions of bushels threshed
out by fails, other millions are trodden out
with horses and cattle. and a vast quantity
Is threshed by driving carts over the
grain as It comes from the field
On the larger estates the horse or steam
thresher Is coming in, but. a rule. 1t Is
from Germany or England. The roads here
are very rough. and the farmers are afraid
of the American thresher on account of its
nGh! weight The Germans sell more than
the English. and they are doing a consider
abIs business in Poland in southern Rus
sis and along the Volga
year or 80 ago an American from North
DAKOTA brought In some horse power Ameri-
oan threshers and sold them They have
Evening star., 1903-08-01
been giving satisfaction. and they may
form the opening wedge for this kind OF
our machinery.
American Drummars Needed

been giving satisfaction. and they may
form the opening wedge for this kind of
our machinery.
American Drummers Needed.
What is needed Is an army of American
drummers with a practical knowledge Of
agriculture and agricultural machinery and
at the same time the ability to speak Ger
man and Russian. Such men could be
found in the northwest. and they could
make enormous sales for our great factor
les
country from village to village and from
fair to fair. There are many fairs and
markets held at regular intervals all over
Russia The men should have samples of
their machines and supply in stock at
the port The Russian wants to what
he buys. but he is willing to pay a good
price and he wants the best. In a future
letter l will write of the Mini Novgorod
fair the biggest fair of the world. which
would make good headquarters for such
work
Russian Villages as Customers.
Our drummers will find this market
curious one They will need to stay here
for months before they understand their
possible customers In America you sell
to the Individual farmer. Here vast
amount of business is done with the gov
ernment, and the towns and villages. in ad-
dition to that with private persons
Russia is a country of villages. Ihe
people do not live in houses scattered over
the farms They are collected together in
little hamlets. usually composed of log
cabins containing from few hundred to
thousand people. They have their stables
and cattle in the villages and drive the
latter out to the fields. They go out to
work in gangs every morning and walk
back every night.
A vast portion OF the land is owned by
the villages as such, but not by the ind1-
viduals living in them. The head men of
each town divide up the land from year to
year. giving so much to each family, and
the crops are divided at the end of the sea-
son.
The village council fixes the time of SOW
ing the crops and of gathering them. and
it may buy machinery to aid in the work.
Thus a little tOwa may have a half-dozen
threshers, mowers and reapers. and a good
American drummer may get a big order at
one clip. He may introduce plows. rakes
and other small tools. at the same time
working each little community as a lobby
ist does legislature.
Indeed the drummer will have to under
Evening star., 1903-08-01
Dubling Gap.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
MELVILLE. Pa, July 80. 1907.
This season al Doubling Gap White Sul<
phur Springs, Cumberland county, ale
though late, promises to be the greatest
and most prosperous in the more than
century run OF this pioneer Of American
watering places. Guests are coming in
numbers to drink the waters and breathe
the bracing, cool mountain air of this fas
nous resort.
Entertainments Of constantly varying
character are arranged nightly by the
guests. aided by Mr.. George Albert Freyer.
the afYable and genial host, and they are
all the more charming because relieved Of
any severe formality,
The guests who love outdoor amusement
revel in aquatic sports such swimming.
boating. Venetian fiambeau fetes the
lake. water races. bathing. &c
The bowling alleys are always crowded.
Mountain climbing still continues in great
favor las the beautiful and picturesque
scenery which abounds here amply rewards
any and all efforts of the climbers.
Dancing In the evening, card parties,
amateur plays. charades concerts both vO!
cal and instrumental, by professional and
amateur talent. keep the guests amused
and in good humoI until very late hour.
especially these amusements are all
given entirely free to the guests.
Evening star., 1903-08-01
Americans in Paris Will Offer
a Testimonial.
so YEARS AT HER STAND
SELLING PAPERS AND ANSWER
ING QUESTIONS.
A Fine Courtesy From the Jockey Club
to Their Much Esteemed
Friend
Of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
PARIS, July ~. 1908.
Americans in Pars-swen members of the
colony. plain business men. and hurried
tourists-are all signing their names to 4
paper and contributing sums for a test-
monial Of most unusual character. The
person to be honored is an old French lady
who works for her living
She is Madame Widow Duperron. who
keeps the newspaper stand at the corner
Of the rue Scribe and the Boulevard For
almost fifty years she has been the guide,
philosopher and friend of tens of thou
sands of Americans. They come to her to
find their home newspapers, and remain to
gossip with the dear old creature learning
more of living Paris than all the guide
Evening star., 1903-08-01

boys. who attempt to handle Puck and
Judge. surrounds the stand.
Il say. ma am. how do We so 10 the Cata.
combs~'
Ask for tickets at the consul generals"
They are succeeded by bridal couple.
Dear msdarne. we are going 20 buy
scalskn. Had We best wait TIL reach
Geneva or buy it here in Paris
You can get good one cbeaper In
Geneva" answers the old lady. Paris viii
give you but one advantage"
What is that
THE stylish cut
And see by the brides clrIr truthful
ewes that she has made her mild up o
have that same stylish cut. Md now
cCmeS up a sporty youth from New YOrx
city or Chicago or ST. Louis.
Madame Duperron. if put money in the
| hands of that fat bookmaker With the blue
mustache N the N cafe. will lie be sac
to pay up?
The baron"
:'Oh. yes. he is good pay. Ge; a dollar
| wash bill
! SO she shows herself friend to al Amer
| leans. Indeed we buzz around her so much
that one day when saw a slender gran 10
Dame in expensive mourning Walking with
cane and almos. as old as Madame Du-
perron herself alieht from a Continental
| Hotel cab to greet her very graciously. I
| wondered. instnctively. what fine Ameri-
| can old dame she might be.
| Friend of Ex-Royalty.
| 1T was the Empress EuSene!" manama
| told me later when ! asked her. once q
| year does the imperial widow come to
| Paris. staying quietly at hotel. lnva.is
| ably she makes a visit to our old friend At
| ths newspaper stand Why? How comas
| it? l could never learn. But | know also
| that the aged Countess de Castiglonc-for
| time the empress rival In the gorgeous
| days Of old when both were young-i
used to walk down the Boulevard at night
| with her dogs and chat in the same way
with Madame Duperron.
She has aristocratic friends, though shS
works for her living. Yet in spite OF all
her years Of service she IS not the tituiaS
| of the newspaper stand. but only the active
manager. Those "kiosques' for selling
papers are a government monopoly. and
| one must be appointed to them. like a civil
| service -employe. Now. the theory Is that
| widows Of non-commissloned officers and
| other functionaries ought to be preferred in
| such appointments. Madame DuperrUn "a
| such a widow. But-there are others.
! Therefore some other lady comes. at inter-
walls. to ask for large section of tho
| profits. She is the "titular." Now. when
| Whitelaw Ried was minister to France. he
| was friend of Madame Duperron. So he
| made efforts to have her appointed "titular'
| as well the facto holder of the stand.
| He failed. Then came Minister Coolidge.
| who tried and failed. Then We rose to the
| height of having an ambassador. Ambas-
| sador Eustis tried-and failed. And Madams
| hyperion continues to do the work-and
/ hand over the profits. But one thing re-
| mains a souvenir of all these friendly
| visits. ministerial and ambassadorial. 1t Is
| camp chair with a back. which sits be-
| side the 'kioSque" Not every casual vis.
| itor may sit on that chair. 1t Is the ans
| bGSSadOrS chair.
Jockey Clubs Guest.
And just across the Rue Scribe ,urIousiy.
| TO eyes. Over big cafe-is the aristo-
| cratic Jockey Club. the most famous ani
| eyrluSiya iuStitutinu Of kind the
Evening star., 1903-08-01

We'll. old chap. were you sorry to leave
Lunnon?.
"Cawn't say I was, old fellow. Beastly
fog. you know"
"Deah me! Why you'll be pwaising
Amewjca neXt."-Smart Set.
Evening star., 1903-08-01
BIGGEST OF FARMS
There Are Eighty Million
Farmers in Russia.
HOW THE LAND Is HELD
THE ENORMOUS ESTATES OWNED
BY THE CAR.
Homes of the Tillers of the Soil and
Features of the
Villages.
HOW THE LAND Is HELD
Copyright. 1903, by Frank G. Carpentcr.)

Copyright 1903, by Frank G. Carpentcr.)
MOSCOW.
My scouting expedition this week has been
along the tracks of the invasion of Ameri-
can agricultural machinery. Our army OF
farm tool exporters is slowly but surely
making its way into Russia One firm isship-
ping much a million dollars worth
year. and score more are doing a good
business. The imports 50 far are confined
to few specialtes. but new tools come in
every year. and our commercial invasion
of Russia is to be largely in machinery. We
already have the bulk of the business in
reaperS and mowers and other harvesting
machines. but far behind in every
thing else.
The Ubiquitous German.
As 1T is now, the Germans have the bulk
of the business. They have sent their drum
merS here and made them learn the lam
guage. They have good agents In all the
principal towns and Sub-agents in the sur
rounding country. that they are working
Russia just as the American wholesale deal
er works his territory at home.
Their systematic organiza ton tells, and
Evening star., 1903-08-01

Maud-"Gladys was over this morning.
and l do believe she ran off with my
driver
Marian-'Carriage or golf?'-CncinnatE
Commercial Tribune.
Evening star., 1903-08-01

Charles H. Niehaus Of New York has
been commissioned to executs the statue
Of John ]. Ingalls, which Is to represent the
state OF Kansas In the statuary hall Of the
United States Capitol
Evening star., 1903-08-01
THE IDEALISTS.

A party of Americans. including small
Evening star., 1903-08-01

recently been erected, which Is likewise
somewhat out of the ordinary. 1t Is by Karl
Seffner and pictures the great German poet
in the heyday of his youth as a student,
wearing long coat stock. beruffled cuffs
and queue. In his right hand he carries a
book and in his left his hat. and 1t would
S en- that the statue had been erected more
b. the tickle lover than to the man of
g.nius, for on the pedestal, in low relief.
are carved portraits of Katchen Schon-
kOpf his first love, and Friederike OeSer
her devoted friend. Some one posing as
sage said that monuments should be erect
ed not to great men, but to their mothers
according to which reasoning 1t Is more
than appropriate to dedicate the memo
rials of this poet to his sweethearts.
For the past half year or more Karl Bit
ter the director of sculpture for the Louis
lana purchase exposition has been keeping
a small colony of workmen artists and
artisans busy in his Weehawken shops, en-
largfng the statues for the exposition. BY
a later-day device, known as a ''pointing-
up machine the small models made by
the various sculptors receiving commits
sions are mathematfcally and accurately
enlarged to heroic size In staff only re-
quiring the trained hand of a sculptor In
the finishing. This is not; only tremen-
dous saving In time, "butSfn expense, and
thus enables the management of present
day eXpositions to indulge. in greater DEM
onstrations Of the plastic art than their
predecessors. There will, in fact, be more
than a thousand pieces of. sculpture to be
seen at the st. Louis worlds fair, of which
about eight hundred will she originals and
it is believed that the display will surpass
in monumental effect anything which has
heretofore been attempted:
Aftk ri
The British Tailoring Gazette makes the
following curious plaint against the men,
bers of the artists guild for their alleged
disregard of the fit ,Df tNascuine attire:
The trouble does not lie with the trousers,
but with the artists, They do not UNDER
stand because they do, not thoroughly study
the fine lines, the noble structure, the beau
teous curves and MASSES of the modern
trouser Themselves very commonly indif-
ferent OF the finer points of dress, they
ignore that, although a useful art, tailoring
includes large element Of the fine arts"
x \
There are, 1t would SEEM many fine
points in sculptural criticism which the art
world overlooks. for Mr.. st. Gaudens has
told how recently he heard an Irishman
passing his Sherman statue, but lately un-
veiled in New York. remark that 1t was all
wrong; for. said he, would an illigaut
military gtntleman hike Athe gineral be
riding and let the lady '(F'ahe) walk7"
Charles HI. Niehaus OF New York has
been commissioned to executs the statue
OF John J. Ingalls, which is to represent the
state OF Kansas In the statuary hall Of the
United States Capitol