davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
The Modern Divining Rod.
From the Chicago Inter-ocean.

Most people even casually acquainted
with ancient superstitions know what a d.
viz ing rod Is and what are supposed to be
its powers In the hands of certain persons.
Every now and then q diviner arises to
startle the ignorant and puzzle the inteli-
gent with strange apparent power to find
mineral deposits, and especially subterran-
can water courses, by the aid of hazel or
other stick held in the hands while moving
over the earth suspected to contain the hid
den treasures. While the diviner and his
lod have often been the instrument of
fraud, and have been suspected to be at
best but a means of making seem super
natural knowledge obtained by entirely
natural methods, yet there have been cases
of water divining, If not Of metal finding,
where fraud seemed SO imres sible that SCH
ence has been thrown back upon the ex-
PLANTATION that some individuals possess
senses much keener than the ordinary
that they can perceive things which ordi-
nary men cannot.
Travellers astray in deserts have often
noted, for exam pie, that their horses can
men can discern no token of its neighbor-
hood. Hence 1t Is suggested that there are
some men so sci stive to the presence of
water that they feel it is near them, though
there be 10 sign of 1t on the surface of the
earth. On this theory the tremors of the
rod are not caused by the water, but by the
sensations of the diviner who holds it.
Whatever may be the truth about the an
Gent divining rod and the n ysteriouS power
it sometimes seems to reveal, there is moth
ing supernatural about the modern divining
rod recently exhibited infl ondon and vouch-
ed for a scientifically possible device by
no less an authority than Professor Silva
nus Thompson. The appartion is intended
to locate hidden mineral deposits, and is
constructed on legitima tie scientific lines.
It seems to utilize the discovery of Sir
William Preece. that the flow of electric
Impulses through the earth is affected by
the underlying geological formation. With
Instruments resembling in general charac-
ter those used in wireless telegraphy the
chars cter and changes of waves of electric
force set up in the suspected field are test
ed 1t is el@''ned that thus not only the
existence but even something of the size
and direction of hidden ore bodies may be
detected Thus the prehistoric divining rod
may come back irto use again in mining
and prospecting, no longer as the agent of
any supernatural power, or incomprehensi-
BILE force, but merely one of the multi
tude of marve!s of science which to our an
cestors would have seemed to prove their
users in league with the devil.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
vesuvius Eruption Profits.
,rom the Pail Mali Gazette.


Vesuvius, with its eruption, has done
more than provide magnificent fireworks
to attract the foreigners; it has set four
communicating, Tore del Greco. Bos-
cotrecase, and Ottaiano-by the ears. 1t
seems that each claims that the volcano
stands within it's confines, If not all, the
greater part of it, and that 1t (the COM
mune) can thus Claim the taxes of the
guides, Cooks railway and the one hum
bred and one other things which yield
money The quarrel is a pretty one, and
bids fair to be unendings as no sooner have
the confines been established and a COM
parative, If discontented, peace patched UP,
than the volcano belches forth new lava,
forms new hills and valleys and obliterates
the confines.
Since the late eruption feeling has risen
to such heights that the people of one COM
mune throw stones at those of the Others
and refuse to speak as they pass by. Each
declares that 1t has ancient documents to
prove its rights beyond dispute but when
the moment comes for exhibiting them
they somehow have misplaced them. They
would have been the most useful to the
council of state, to whom they have an
pealed but they cannot be found. Mean
while until the quarrel Is settled. Resina
has decidedly the best of it, as while the
others were terror-stricken, she boldly fly
ed her confines by herself taking In the
whole mountain.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
REMARKS FROM THE TREE MAN.
We'd Better Hurry Up Our Reforesta-
ton, Says He.

from the New York Suf
How many leaves do you think a tree
has?" asked the man who had read 1t all
up, stopping his friend in the park. VI
course you don't know Some birches nave
100000, and each leaf has 100000 mouths.
l know of sixty-year!old beech that had
1900 leaves and thirty five-year-old one
that had only 5000. These 5000 leaves,
dried, weighed only ten pounds, and the
5000, dried, only three-quarters of pound.
But they do tremendous work IN season:
during q spring and summer bircnes ana
lindens have been found to exhale 600 or
lo0 pounds of water per pound Oh dry
leaves; the ash tree about 50O; Deeches'
4oo; naples, 400. and oaks, go. Inc conf
fers give out about 100 pounds tree TO
stagger you stir more, an acre of beech
forest of, say, 500 trees, would exhaie about
2,OG0,0 eco pounds
And the funniest part of 1t all to me is
that the water In a tree, or the moisture,
really amounts to more than half the
weight or the tree, or from 90 to ~ per
cent, while the wood weighs but 40 to 40
see weighs more than what you do see.
Funny, isn't it?
LAS to forests and water" continued the
tree man, II learned that partial cutting
the tremendous effect of lessening so great
an area of water as the Caspian sea. /
inquired the comparison and found that, pro
rata, feet of water would be taken on
Lake Superior, off Lake Michigan, 10 of
Lake Erie and q off Lake Ontario. 1 was
staggered.
Then l found that deforestation, as we
call 1t, has robbed the Vistula river Of 26
inches of water, the magnificent Rhine OF
" inches and the beautiful blue Danube of
65 inches. Let me hit you nearer home
The Hudson has been called a drowned
river because the sea so encroaches upon 1t.
But you're drowning it more now by your
deforestation. and you'd better hurry up
these apk ho uol
water now, they say, goes up to Hastings
The Schuylkill is less In volume than ever.
So is the Mohawk and so is the Connectt-
cut Even the fish left the lower part OF
the Savannah river, but they're trying to
do something with that water now. AM
other queer thing is that Christopher CO.
lumbus son. Fernando, who crossed the
ocean with him, was the first man to start
the question of forests causing rainfall
by his observations of the wealth OF vege-
tation on the Island of jamaica
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
A Friend of washington's.
rom the Cornhill magazine,

While many persons have known Lincoln
and Grant, and few were acquainted with
washington and Lincoln, so far as am
aware but one person was ever born into
this world who knew the triumverate of un-
crowned American kings. That individual
was Horace Bnney, leader of the Philadel-
phia bar, and among the foremost leaders
of the profession throughout the land, with
whom spent memorable hour In the year
1874. During that delightful interview he
stated that when youth his home was
near President. Washington's Philadelphia.
residence, that he had met him almost daily
for several years, and that he frequently
held conversation with the general Mr..
Binney also mentioned the interesting fact
that he had been acquainted with every
President of the United States up to the
time of Grant, during whose second admin
istration he passed away at the great age
of ninety-dve.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
sAvAGEs USED ELEVATORS.
Employed, Too, Many Other So-Called
Modern Inventions.

From the London Answers
The first knife was, of course, flint flake.
and the earliest spoon shell, to which
primitive man learned III the course of ages
to fasten handle of wood.
Such articles as these. together with ham
mers, axes and needles, are easily recog-
pized as having come down to US direct
from savagery. 1t is, however, more
startling to find that such a comparatively
modern invention as the lift has been used
for ages by tribes whom we designate as
savage. The application of the principle
Of the modern vertical lift may be seen
today among the bee hunters Of the Island
Of Timor.
To get at honeycomb seventy feet over
head with nothing between it and the
ground but smooth and branches trunk
seems at first sight impossible without lad
ders or ropes. 1t is a simple matter to the
Polynesian. He cuts few yards from the
tough stem of creeper and forms of it a
bush rope. With this he makes a loop
the loop a little above his head. he leans
back and begins walking up, his bare feet
pressed against the trunk. Repeating the
operation, he gradually gains the top. The
whole ascent Is made without exhausting
use Of muscle by utilizing the principle Of
friction.
Cotton weaving has done more for Great
Britain within the last century than any
oiiS otHtT INDUSTRY. Inc INDIANS OF Central
and South America have for centuries ma at
used a loom so elaborate that ours is com
paratively speaking but a slight improve
ment upon it.
We should never have had the Panama
hat but for the quick-fngered Indians of the
dsthmus of Panama. Even today their
secret process for seasoning the erasa
blades used in weaving these hats remains
unrivaled. Basket makers of the same
region make baskets which will hold water
without leaking-another invention which
is quite beyond us.
Felting was invented by Polynesan saw
ages, and brought by the Hawaiian natives
to a perfection we have never excelled.
They not only made coverings for their
houses and blankets out of felt, but by
pounding the inner bark of certain trees
succeeded in producing soft and comforta-
bic seamless garments of this material
such as sleeveless coats and cloaks.
Mortar was made by the people of Tahiti
when our ancestors were shivering in holes
in the rocks. They dived into the sea,
brought up great Jumps of coral, burned
them in pits using wood fuel, and mixed
the lime they got in this fashion with sharp
sand and water. With this mixture the
ingenious savage plastered the walls and
floor of his house, and better mortar
could not be obtained.
Another purely savage invention. which
is perhaps the most familiar object of mod
ern life is the tobacco pipe-not ofily the
common clay which the North American
Indians nodded centuries ago out OF the
red sandstone of Colorado, but the wooden
pipe. the prototype of the everyday briar
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
Better Care for Aged clergymen.
From Leslie's Weekly.

From Leslie's Weekly.
1t is encouraging to note that several of
the larger religious denominations are pro-
posing to make more generous provision for
their aged and superannuated clergymen. A
goodly proportion of the twenty-milion-
dollar thank offering raised by the Meth
odists win be devoted to this purpose. And
we learn from the Christian Register. the
organ of American Unitarianism. that the
American Unitarian Association has under
consideration proposal to adopt for the
Unitarian clergymen in this country plan
of pensions and insurance similar to that
worked with much success by British and
foreign Unitarian associations. The plan
provides for voluntary administration of
a fund which assists ministers to pay pre-
nfitms emitting them to annuities or insur-
ance from long-established and reputable
companies engaged in such business.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08

Harry Thomas. well known as tase bali
pitcher, was given a term in Jail and heav-
lily fined at Roanoke, Va, yesterday for
non-support of his young wife, whom he
Is alleged to have deserted a few months
after their marriage, a year ago.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08
Baptist Home Managers Elected.

AT the annual meeting of the lady man
ayers OF the Baptist Home, located at a24s
N street northwest. the following officers
were elected for the ensuing year: Presi-
dent Mrs. w. II. Hoeke; vice president,
Mrs Caroline Miller; treasurer Mrs. Sarah
Nice Spoford; secretary, Mrs. w s.
Olive
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08

dispatch from PiHar del Rio. Cuba,
states that ]. L. Cleveland, an American,
has been killed there by policeman
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-08

The Richmond, Va, common council an
creased the mayors salary from S2.Osa, to
3.c0n and gave him an allowance for q
stenographer.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25

The fourln cay q paGi4s HOlfl tain
of water, the biggest So have eyer
seen IL all M NE caHe towering up
and fell on IL" RodIaH thought Size
was foundrred but -le shook II of
and we SAW Iaai the after deck house
and the hand steering gear lad been
carried a@ay as clean an cutting of
the top Of u cake. a piece Of the truck
had got JaMurd In the wheel chains
and the next bash the rudder got broke
the chains Ia half minute We were
wallDwlug hclpiessiy In the trough 81
the sea, and | knew that another biz
sea would end the chapter. Getting
the men together | made try at get
ting the chain picked up and spl!ed
The steward, who was bra>& .ad
went over the side and got W tbf
loose end. We had tied ourselves to
gether for the work, and that was a.
that kept Us from being washed over
board. In d few minutes We had con
nccted Up tie chain with Il strong
strap and were ready to get back umid
ships when the wreck of the hand
steering gear. which WAS swinging
free, came clipping around and caught
the stewards leg, taking 1t of like a
butcher chops off q bone.-Metropoll
tan Magazine.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
Gle AT nnptiarn.

Gifts to infants Oh their baptism arr
Of ancient origin. Formerly the spon
sors generally offered gilt spoons TO The
child. These spoons We're called apostle
spoons, because the figures of tha
twelve apostles were carved at the TOT
of the handles. Rich sponsors gave the
complete set Of twelve, while for thost
who were not so opuIent four was con
sidered the proper number, and poor
sponsors would content themselves
with offering one. In the latter case
the handle of the spoon generally ex
hibited the figure OF any saint In honor
Of whom the cnild received its name
1t Is In allusion to this custom that
when Cranmer processes himself to be
unworthy of being sponsor to the young
princess, Shakespeare makes the king
reply;
Come, come my lord, you'd spare your
spoons"
The mug or spoon and fork Offering
of the present day appears as a very
debased survival of really beautiful
christening Offering Westminster Re
view.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25

Lothian road, a prominent street In
Edinburgh, was made in single day.
Sir James Clerk of Penlcuik bet with
a friend that he would between sun
rise and sunset prepare the line of
road. extending nearly mile in length
by twenty PAGES in breadth. 1t hap
pened TO be in the winter season. when
many men were unemployed. He had
no difficulty in collecting several hun
dreds of these on the ground at the ap-
pointed time, when he gave them all a
plentiful breakfast of porter, whisky
and bread and cheese. after which, just
as the sun rose, he ordered them to set
to work, some to tear down Enclosures,
others to unroof and demolish cottages
and a considerable portion to bring
earth to fill up d great hollow to the
required height. The inhabitants. dis
mayed at so vast a force and so sum
mary a mode of procedure, made no
resistance. SO active were the work
men that before sunset the road was
sufficiently formed to allow Sir james
to drive his carriage over It.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
Coined Names.

Carrasaljo, the name Of New Jer
sey lake, has Spanish sound. but II
comes from n combination of the
names Of the three daughters of the
man who named the lake-Carrie, Sal
lie and Josephine. Ducoda, Wash.
was named from three settiers-Buck
ley, Coloton and Davis; KenOva
w. Va, from Kentucky, Ohio and Yir
GINA, near the intersection of which
the town Is; Delmar, Del, from Deia
ware and Maryland; Texarkana, Ark.
from Texas and Arkansas. and Oynthi
ana, county seat of Harrison county
Ky. is named for the two daughters
Cynthia and Anna, OF Colonel Harri-
son, for whom the county was named.
Nebraska has a town called Ohlowa,
the derivation of which Is easily seen.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
How indiana Interpret Dreams.

According 10 one authority this Is the
Interpretation Indians give to certain
dreams:
II you are young man or woman
and dream Of flying low ii Is II sure
sign you are short lived, and II Is time
you were preparing your little bust.
ness 10 do your lying al some other
place. If you dream of dying among
the house tops or just above, you will
reach the fifty or sixty notch.
If you dream that you are away
above the tree tops. then you are good
10 live up into the nineties, and If you
dream that you are humping the stars
with your gourdhead, then you will
reach the century notch. To dream
that you are solid with Il black eyed
beauty is sign that you will Kill Il tine
buck deer before you sleep again. 10
dream of blood means also meat in the
pot. To dream Of your would be moth
er-in-law breaking bow over your
head IS sure sign that You will not
be her dear beloved son n-law. II
you dream of eating sofky with de
ceased friend, make your will before
another sun goes down.-kansas City
Journal
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25

Thomas Jefferson invented the mod
ern pillow. There were plows, of course,
thousands Of years before the time OF
the Sage Of Monticello. but he first
laid down the mathematical principles
that underlie the construction Of the
pillow and so enabled any blacksmith to
make one. A pillow consists of two
wedges, a cutting and lifting wedge
and jefferson discovered and enunciat-
ed the proportions of each and the re-
lattons each bore to the other. Before
bis day no two smiths made plows
alike. Now they are all made in &C
cordance with mathematical formula.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25

The extreme delicacy Of the spec
trum test Is illustrated by the fact
stated by LOmmel, that the three mil
lionth part of Il milligram Of salt of
sodium. an impereeptible particle of
dust to the naked eye is yet capable Of
coloring the fame of q candle yellow
and of giving the yellow lines Of 30
dunn In the spectroseope. Indeed So
dunn In the form of a common salt
Sodium chloride) Is so universally
present as an impalpable dust floating
in the air that 1t Is next to impossible
to get n spectrum which does not show
the sodium lines.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
StnIe bread.

1t is generally supposed that the
staleness of bread arises from its be-
coming actually drier by the gradual
loss of water but this is not the
case. Stale bread contains almost ex-
actly the same proportion of water as
new broad after 1t has become COM
pletely cold The change is merely in
the internal arrangements Of the mole
cules of the bread proof of this is
that If we put a stale loaf into close
ly covered tin, expose 1t for half an
hour or an hour TO a heat not exceeding
that OF boiling water and then allow
1t to cool, 1t will be restored in appear
ance and properties to the state Of the
new bread
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
apn, LII, Ramiw

A ram, famous in West Virginia VII
lage for its propensity to butt was en-
ragged one morning, says the Phnadel-
phia Press, to discover Uncle Billy, an
aged darby, asleep In the pasture,
Uncle Billy sat with his head bowed
low and his bald spot shining in the
sun. The ram eyed 1t from distance.
Uncle Billy nodded, and the bald top
of his head babe defiance.
The ram stood up and waved chal-
lenge with its horns. Uncle Billy nod
ded In acceptance. With a sharp
"Ba -a-a-a-a.' the ram charged and
launched itself like a catapult at the
offending pate.
A little later 1t packed itself up from
the ground and wandered away to the
farthest side Of the pasture to Illuminate
over the collision. Uncle Billy looked
up drowsily.
"Po' li'r ramw he murmured. HE
done wandered fom de fold and foun'
sorrow and tribulahon"
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
The American Honeymoon.

Faithful in few things, the American
public yet remains true to an old hon
eymoon tradition which assigns those
to whom Europe Is an impossible ex-
pense to Niagara Falls and Washing
ton, the national capital In these two
centers bridal parties have been since
long before the civil war the pride and
the prey of hotel men and cabmen
Modern maids may consider them a
little old fashioned, but when the time
comes to choose a wedding tour the
west. the middle west and the rural
east OF the United States are still true
to Niagara Falls and Washington. 1t
Is in the spring and summer. when Of
course the larger number of marriages
take place, that these resorts are 50
popular In the winter New York itself
is the Mecca of the newly weldon
don Telegraph. t.t-.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25
THE SECRET SUCCESS.

Forty millions bottles of August
Flower sold in the United States alone
since its introduc ion! And the demand
for it is still growing. Isn't that fine
showing of success? Don't it prove
that August Flower has had unfailing
success In the cure of indigestion and
dyspepsia-the two greatest enemies of
health and happiness? Does it not afford
the best evidence that August Flower
is a sure specific for all stomach and
intestinal isorderss-that it has proved
itself the best of all liver regulatorsp
August Flower has matchless record
Of over thirty-five years in curing the
sng millions of these distressing com.
plaints-a success that is becoming
wider in it's scope every day, at home
and abroad, as the fame of August
Flower spreads. Trial bottles, 25c; reg
ular size, TIC. at q. R. Eogg's Drug
Store.
The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1904-08-25

Prizes for winners of horse races
hundreds Of years ago took curious
forms. The earliest was the "brigia
prize In England was a bell This Idea
was taken from the custom among
owners of pack horses of decorating
the best horse, which led the cavalcade.
with Il bell, so thAt ON dark nights and
In dangerous places the whereabouts
of the leader might be known and the
others follow boldly At Carlisle. sill
yer bells were raced for by the moss
troopers and dalSsmen and specimens
Of these bells are still retained in the
town hall