davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
A VEGETABLE PORCUPINE.
The ChOlla the Best Hated Cactus In
America-Wild Cattle of
Arizona Feed ON 1t.

The best hated cactus in America is
the cholla. The Mexicans say that if
you go near cholla joint it will jump
at you. Certainly if you touch one it
will stick, and when you try to free your
self it will pierce your other hand as
we'll. Each pendent joint seems to reach
out for the passerby, and the ground be-
meath the broad cholla trees is strewn
with fallen fragments, many of which
take root and grow, says Country Life
in America.
After one has felt the sharp spines
through heavy boots and seen their
needle points, it is source of continual
wonder to see the wild cattle Of Arizona
quietly browsing on chollas. The
phrase cactus fed" as applied to Ari-
zona, is not figure of speech. During
the years of drought thousands Of cat
tie carry themselves over until the next
grass by eating chollas. With their
leathery tongues and lips they strip the
spiny joints from tie trunk and leave
the wide-spreading cactus bare and
woody skeleton. 1t is only the range
cattle, whose mouths have been hard
ened on the thorny mesquite and iron
wood browse, who will undertake to eat
cactus, and cattlemen therefore often
burn the thorns from chollas and popals
in order to tempt their more fastidious
animals to eat.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
AN INDIAN BATTLEFIELD.
Ground of q Remarkable Engagement
Between Sioux and Pawnees
In Kansas.

A Kansas man believes he has discov.
cred the scene of great fight had be-
tween the Iowa and Kansas Indians
near what is known as Oak Mills, in
Atchison county. The Kansas Indians
held the country along the Missouri
river until about the time Of our rev.
olutionary war, when they were driven
away by the Sac and Iowa tribes. which
came down from the north and con-
quered the region. The Oak Mills loca-
ton is supposed to have been the place
of one of their greatest battles. At this
point many human bones and imple-
ments of war have been plowed up.
Kansas has been the scene of Indian
battles innumerable, and almost every
county has traditions of fights Of this
character, says the Kansas City Journal.
One of the most remarkable engagements
of the kind took place in comparative
ly modern times between the Pawnees
and Sioux In the valley of Beaver creek.
near the northwest corner of Kansas.
The Pawnees were slaughtered in
great numbers, the Sioux being the vic
tors. After the battle the Pawnees re-
turned and cared for their dead. This
they did by erecting platforms out OF
poles and branches, and putting the
bodies on them out Of the reach OF
wolves and other animals. When the
| first fringe of the white settlement had
reached as far as Phillips county some
| of these platforms were still standing,
and still supported the whitened bones OF
the dead reposing upon them.
A buffalo hunter once told Topics Of .
curious sight he saw at this graveyard.
Some horse hunters" were hunting in
the vicinity. Horse hunters were those
who chased the buffalo on horseback.
and they were hated cordially by the
foot hunters" who stalked the game.
because they ran the buffalo out Of the
/ country. On this occasion mentioned the
horse hunters stampeded a great herd
of buffalo right through the Pawnee
graveyard. They struck the rotten poles
in their mad fight and sent the bones OF
the dead flying in every direction. In
deed, when they had passed not plat
form remained standing. In the years
which followed many passing hunters
picked up skulls and other bones and
carried them away as curiosities. One
of these skulls was secured by man at
Hays City. 1t was remarkable from tht
fact that an ironpointed arrow had gone
through one side and nearly through tht
other. People who had seen the bow
only in its toy form used to look at thii
skull and marvel at the prodigious force
which the Indians could give to theil
primitive weapon.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
THE DEMON OF THE PIT.

A din of voices shouting hoarse,
whirl of outstretched arms;
A little truth, a mass of lies,
A score of false alarms
And standing in the midst of It
We see the Demon of the Pit!
A hundred faces, white and strained,
Are peering to behold
The man whose name throughout the land
Is hailed the leader bold;
And standing in the midst of it
We spy the Demon Of the Pit.
Another cent! Another cent!
A madding, fearful sway
The King of yesterday goes down,
Another rules to-day.
But monarch over all of 1t
We hail the Demon of the Pit
A crash of wasted. blighted hopes,
A pistol shot-a scream!
Another life is yielded up
To join the awful stream;
And grinning in the midst OF 1t
We see the Demon of the Pit.
A ruined mill, with crumbling walls,
Ten thousand starving men:
..How long, o Lord? How long?" they
cry
Then cotton jumps again,
And gloating over all of 1t
The King is Demon Of che Pit!
-McLandburgh Wilson. Ia N. Y. Sun.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
work of Corean Women.

As there are no labor-saving machines
in Corea, woman's work is done by the
crudest and hardest methods possible.
from hulling rice with a heavy wood
or stone pestle to washing clothes by
beating them in the streams and IRON
ing them with sticks. In order to iron
the clothes must always be ripped apart
and wrapped round wooden roller
while damp; they are then beaten by
either one or two women. 1t is surpris-
ing to see the gloss on the white calico
and the sheen upon the linen produced
by this method of ironing; it surpasses
the dressing one sees in this country
on newly bought linen. Since the peo-
pie dress exclusively in white, the
woman's day-and often much of the
night, too-is spent in washing, iron
ing and sewing
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
WAR TIMES IN INDIA.
When Warfare Was Regarded as
Royal Sport and Every Man
Was q Soldier.

In the bygone days all the princely life
of India took its chief glow from the
fierce sun of war; Every raja was SOL
dier and led his levies, few or many, to
war or foray; and when he did not fight
for his own land, he allied himself to
some puissant lord. All that is over now,
writes Sir Edwin Arnold, in Youths
Companion, but the cities and places OF
central India everywhere bear signs OF
the gold old times" AS an Indian
ballad runs:
Now the swords and spears are still.
God will have it and God knows best.
Riding through such part OF India as
the Deccan you still notice the thick and
tall walls Of mud round each village,
with towers pierced for the bowmen and
spearmen, and the eressets for the war
beacon over the entrance. At the gates
of the towns there are cunning covered
ways and recesses where an expected
enemy could be caught as in q trap, and
the massive teak doors will be armed
with sharp iron spikes. thickly clustered,
protruding six inches. Your native ser
want would respectfully hide smile if
you asked him why.
Every Hindu boy and girl knows that
this was in order to prevent war ele-
plants from butting in the great folding
gate slabs with their mighty foreheads.
Not even elephants will match their
skulls against six-inch spikes. A city
like Agra or Allahabad will still have q
girdle of ramparts round it, as in an
cient Troy or Rome, and every fort and
palace it's deep-cut ditch.
These tokens of the warlike age re-
main with many others; but India her
self has gone to sleep in the shadow OF
the British raj, and it is only the larger
dependencies which keep up armies and
still pursue, except for show, the roya
sport of war. The fighting stuff" is
there as ever. Nowhere may you see wal
material more gallant, cavaliers firmel
| in the saddle or surer in their sword-griI
than such as are still recruited as loya
auxiliaries of King Edward VII. to the
standards of Sindhia and Holkar, OF tht
Gailkwar and the Rajput princes; o.
the Nizam, the Sikh lords and theprince'
of Mysore. But such military luxurie:
are mainly confined to maharajas o
many guns"
It is the custom in India to mark ant
honor the rank of native magnate b.
the number of cannon fired in saluta
ton of him when he appears abroad ol
Is, II or guns still caracoles amid tn
smoke, in aspect a magnificent militar
public occasions. The maharaja OF II
commander; and very splendid he vii
look in the ancestral coat of mail an
helmet upon his richly caparisoned Arat
with it's name and tail dyed brick rec
and gilded hoop.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
BENTON, LOUISIANA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1901

would 60 away together. And would
kiss him and lay my cheek against his
beard, and tell him I was sorry had
not kissed him before he went.
do you remember what friends you
were with that poor fellow, Bernard
Basing, last year?" asked my uncle.
My heart gave one great thump. 1t
was the first time Ihad heard his name
his dear name.
Eyes, remember" answered.
Mice fellow, wasn't he? Poor fel-
low"
"Poor fellow!" said, family.
"Died in San Bobadil; beastly place
for him to have to go to. They had tc
bring the body down in coach; no rail.
road, you know"
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04

demnng of order and discipline hurng states to
their destruction liberty but the pversion of liberty Sim
cere and genuine liberty liberty which permits everybody do what
right and last the only hamper but she has
proclaimed should be of the broadest kind
Not with truth their assertion that faith opposed
to science On contrary of and that
no small degree those truths which above
have knowledge but that derived from faith
are many very important the order of which
attain but wch.are perceived with much greater
certainty and clearness illuminated with the light of faith
Why should who the guardians Of Catholic TRUTH
spprove genius all the inventions of experimental
science every of knowledge Short whatever calculated to
promote the interests All this rather be encouraged
But the other hand bound from the nature of
apostolic Office reject and condemn those conclusions of modern
philosophy social theories by which the of human affairs
led whittier the divine allow But in this him
derng not of humanity but its destruction
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
Right Sort of \ Girl.

The Cincinnati girl who married o
poor young man who thought her poor
Also. remarks the New York World
and then informed him after marriage
that she is worth $780, seems to be
of the good old American variety OF
girl who was not in the market foI
counts of no account
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
TALES TOLD AT DINNER.
By o Bald-Headed Man Who Has q
Fresh Auditor for Each
One He Tells.

There is tall, lean-faced, bald
headed man, who always eats his
luncheon in a certain corner of
downtown cafe. He always has some
friend at the table with him, and, ac-
cording to the testimony of the wait
ers, he never eats with the same friend
twice, says the New York Tribune.
There used to be a rumor that the rea-
son of this constant change Of COM
panionship was because the friend paid
the bill; but the head waiter at last
killed the story by fiat contradic-
ton.
Those who have CHANGED to overhear
the bald. lean man, however, firmly
believe that he needs a new face in
front of him each day in order to have
his stories appreciated. They are al
ways the same stories, and each seems
to be inspired by a different dish. The
soup will prompt one story, the Meat
another, and there will be one for
every kind of vegetable.
Thus, when the soup is brought on
the bald, thin man will smile and say:
In ordering soup / always think OF
the Chinaman who made an oyster
stew. John worked for a wealthy old
lady, who knew how to cook, and vino
always instructed her servants in the
preparation of her dishes. When she
first showed John how to make an oys-
ster stew, she found that the milk was
sour. and accordingly she threw it
away. Then she put in some fresh
milk, and completed the task. About
a month after that, when showing
some visitors the house and telling
them what a wonderful Chinaman she
had, she came upon John in the act OF
making an oyster stew. John took the
milk pitcher. and quietly poured all oi
its contents into the drain. Then he
took some more milk and made the
stew"
| The fish story that always goes witt
the second course runs as follows:
Talking about fish," did you evel
hear of the fishing contest between two
Adirondack anglers? Well, one of then
bet that a worm was the best bait an(
the other bet on minnows. The none,
was put up, two witnesses were callet
in, and the two fishermen seated them
selves in the end of boat They hat
agreed that the man who landed {
trout first with his bait should get tn,
money. Finally the man who had ;
minnow for bait felt nibble, ant
hauled out of the water a magniacen
mountain trout.
"'Pve won the bet,' he said, as b
pulled in the fish, and one witness wa
just about to hand him the ten dol
lars, when they discovered that bot
hooks were in the fish's mouth. o.
closer examination 1t was found tina
the minnow had swallowed the worn
The two men got into such disput
over the matter that they finally upse
the boat, and all we're drowned save
, solitary witness, who lived to tell th
tale"
Should the bread that is placed o
, the table be nodded in long, thin roll
the bald, thin man will say:
81 suppose you have heard the stor
; of the man who bought loaf of V
emma bread and then got on trail
, He fell asleep and let the bread pr
! trude out of the window. When I
!. awoke he found three mailbags ham
!, ing on to that loaf of bread"
II Down on Honest Labor.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
Retort Discourteous.

Mr.. Nervey-Miss Roxley, adore
you. Will you not be my wife?
Miss Roxley (haughtily)-The idea
Of your proposing to girl of my sta
ton! You should know better.
II do know better, but no richer. -
Philadelphia Press.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
GERMAN DISTRUST OF US.
Americans Regarded as Selnsh, Ma.
terialistic and Very Un-
sympathetic.

Everything unlovely about US has
been caricatured for German misinfor-
nation, and our reputation has suffered
accordingly, says the World To-day.
We are supposed to have no sentiment
except for dollars, no ideals except to
get the largest heap Of them, no culture
except shortcut routes to knowledge
convertible into money, and no scruples
that keep us from grabbing whateverwe
can reach. The only theory on which !
can account for the magnificent treat
ment that individual Americans receive
in Germany is that they are regarded as
exceptions to the rule, and with all their
strange ways still, of course, much SUI
perior to the great majority who stay
at home. It is hard for the German to
believe that any good thing can come
from such a majority, such material
istic, unsympathetic, selfish mass.
While this allusion affects the many,
and the few know better, the second
contrast between Germans and Ameri-
cans has It's most immediate effects
among the political theorists. To them
the United States is not properly ma
ton at all. 1t is an aggregation Of peo-
pie without sovereign, therefore with
out sovereignty, consequently not strict
ly and fully state, but political nom
descript, monstrosity, an illegitimate
claimant to the rights and privileges Of
statehood.
Our loose political system, with its
play Of hide and seek for responsibility
between the states and the federal gov
ernment, seems to the Germans q cum
ming device to encourage lawlessness.
Our free and easy disregard Of law. our
| 1aunty fashion Of improvising oficials.
and in general our unblushing democ-
| racy, makes them feel that 1t is no vir-
| tue, but sheer political necessity which
constrains them to belle their principles
and treat this misguided collection oi
adventurers as though they were prop
erly constituted state.
L
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
PRICE OF HOSPITALITY.

Thank you for your wet eyes.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
More Than Two.

'She's quite young. unmarried, too
] suppose?"
"Oh! unmarried three"
unmarried three?"
eyes; divorced three times."-
6elphia Ledger.
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04
The Church and Science
By Pope Plus x.

Man naturally thirsts after the truth, and en-
braces it lovingly and clings to it when it has been
offered to him. but on the other hand the corruption
of nature only too many to hate above all else
the proclamation of the TRUTH for thus their
exposed and their passions checked.
The church does indeed condemn and deem
worthy of severe restraint that unchecked license of
thought and action for which no authority, human or
The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-02-04

To work at a trade seems to the gerv-
ians unworthy Of q free man. Hence ef-
forts Of the government to establish in-
dustries have remained fruitless.
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02
The Duicimer.

The leaves were blowing red and brown
Beneath the beech trees bare.
When the Dark Maid came to our town
With gold pins In her hair.
Her eyes were like a forest pool.
Her lips they were so sweet,
Every man put aside his tool,
To watch her down the street.
The leaves were blowing yellow snd
gray,
When the Dark Maid came along the
With silver-buckled shoon.
Her mantle fell like folds OF mist,
That rift and shift and change:
Was never wandering lutanist
That played a tune so strange.
The leaves were blowing crimson ana
The wind was like a sigh
That sobs across a ferny void
Before the raindrops fly.
And none beheld her, whence she came,
or knew the way she went,
Our hearts being stirred to smouldering
flame
OF tenderest discomfort.
The leaves were blowing ash and dun
Athwart the edge OF night,
When the Dark Maid toward the setting
sun
Sang herself out of sight.
And every man, from marvel reused.
Took up his toll again;
How should that fairy JOY be housed
In homes of mortal men?
But still against a singing wind
In dreams we follow her
The Dark Maid never looks behind.
That plays the dulcimer.
May Byron in The Spectator.
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02
For the Asking.

T~hirty-fve years ago a man sold
inscribed: IF You Don't See What
You Want, Ask For It." They were
suspended in conspicuous places in
stores all over the United States, and
customers were tickled by the compli-
ment. Any merchant could have had
the cards put to press by the local
printer, but few thought of it. Besides
to print two or three was expensive.
In this lackadaisical world Of ours 1t
is necessary to tell the great majority
Of people what to do even In their
own lines of business. Initiative Is
the gift which the gods most grudg-
ingly hestow.-New York Press.
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02

From Paris the latest automobile
fad has come, and the dog that goes
motoring with his master or mistress
will hereafter wear goggles, coat and
cap in New York just as his European
brother has been doing for several
years.
Women will be very prompt to take
up this new fad, the automobile supply
dealers believe. II has long been a
custom in France to protect pet dogs
with the peculiar outfit Of the automo-
bilists, and it Is contended by those
who have set the fashion that a dog
needs such protection quite as much
as q human being. 1t is argued that
the dogs eyes are even more suscep-
tible to the injurious effect Of wind
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02
THE COW WAS CURIOUS.
She Visited a Saloon, a Store and q
Hotel Durinn Her Promenade.

The proverbial bull In the china
shop was literally outelassed last
night by a rebellious COW that broke
away from its herd and raided two
stores and a hotel hear Sixteenth and
Market streets.
The COW belonged to a herd which
was being driven east on Market
street. When the animal reached
Seventeenth and Market streets, the
COW became stubborn and refused to
follow its companions. II trottss away
and before the drovers could ssop it
entered the saloon OF Edward Cronin
at 1918 Market street.
There were sixteen or eighteen men
lined up around the bar, and when
"Sookie' strolled calmly in many Of
them imagined that a friend Of the
neither regions had taken new form.
There was a wild scamper and the
knocking a few glasses from the bar
the COW left the place.
II then calmly strolled into the dry
goods store at 1916 Market street. A
number of women were in the store
shopping, and those hat wore red
lodged out of sight in the twinkling
Of an eye. Then the others followed
within a minute later.
Then the COW left the store and
sauntered into the woman's entrance
to the Keystone hotel, a few doors
away. Night Clerk Hoff threw up
his hands and fed. The animal walk.
ed through the hallway and then
scattered the guests in the dining
room. In the kitchen three womeo
cooks dropped pans and dishes and
skipped out Of "Sookie's" way.
Then the COW tried to go upstairA
The staircase was narrow, however.
and II became fast about halfway up.
With the help of several men the Gov
was pulled downstairs by its tall.
1t rejoined the rest Of the herd and
later tried to ascend the steps Of the
Arcade building, but the drovers head
cd 1t of.-Chicago News.
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02

and dust than are those of the auto
mobilist, and for this reason he is IN
titled to the protection afforded by
goggles.
Lap dogs, accustomed to the atmo-
sphere of a house, cannot stand the
chilling effect of the draught created
by the swift motion Of the automobile
on country roads, 1t is asserted, and
for this reason they must have an au-
tomobilo coat.
SO the New York dog that goes rid
ing in a touring car henceforth. II he
be a real stylish dog, must put on all
the "toggery" of his master or mis-
tress, be he pug. bull terrier. grey
bound or Great Dane.-New York
Press.
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02

At this time when the eyes and at
tention Of the entire civilized world
are focused on Russia, the car and
his great army in the far east, the
horoscope of Nichilas II. should prove
OF interest, vel to those who do not
believe that the position of certain
planets about the time Of a persons
birth has anything whatever to do
with the ups and downs Of life.
The cza was born at ST.. Peters.
burg, May Is, 1868. The time of day
was noon, DR. to get the time down to
astrological nicely at II h, Sc N, IA s,
a. m, st. Petersburg time. Accord
ing to a horoscope published in an
astrological magazine called "Des-
tiny" there were untoward aspects in
The heavens about that time which
determine that the car at this time
is In a most terrible position.
An evil influence has been at play
about him all his life. Simple and un-
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02

assuming in manner. with both the
ability and the desire to do his duty,
he stands surrounded by friends and
counselors who are false and decep-
tive, and by enemies who are power
full and unyielding.
He is not a robust man, and his
constitution is by no al strong
His system is weak and de-
ranged, and he lacks stamina and
force Of will. Heavenly signs at the
time Of his birth foreordained that
Fate would be too powerful for his
weak frame and feeble will to stand
against.
All Of these doomful, dubious signs
the astrologer who ciphered out the
horoscope i%nterprets as disastrous.
The portents point to the defeat Of
Russian arms in the present struggle
with Japan, internal eruptions in the
great empire Of the bear, humiliation,
dismemberment, and death OF the
car.
The Falls City tribune., 1904-09-02
Prize for German Scientist.

Prof. Wilhelm Pfefer, professor Of
botany at Leipzig, has won the Otto
Wahlbruch prize awarded for the most
important contribution to science dur
ing the last two years.