davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
ON IEon'Si' HEADQUARTERS 10 norrsi

and begin by all sorts of devices to wiring
money from the richest Of their country
men.
They go, for example, to rich merchant
aud announce themselves as the members
of the knights of the Temple of the Sun, or
some other high-sounding order. The joss
needs new silk robe, and after a careful
balancing of deserts this particular mer-
chant is considered the most worthy to
provide 1t. In recognition of this liberality
on his part the society protects him In all
sorts of ways. If he Is robbed they find the
robber and either kill him or deliver him
up. II some one steals the patrons girl
they restore the young lady and do not stop
at murder to effect the restoration,
II In any complication their benefactor or
any one attached to him should perchance
be killed, 1t is the moral duty of the So
ciety to wipe out one Of his enemies to bal
Rpce the account. and they do II In the
most businesslike manner. 1t is to be said
Of the Chinaman that, whatever may be his
walk in life. he lives up to a business con-
tract to the letter, whether II be to de-
liver laundry or to take life.
81
The Ratchet men,. or highbinders, have
small cliques organized among themselves.
They are certainly to be classed among the
powers that prey, and they are very busy
little people, although they seem eternally
/ idle. The stealing Of girls is popular In
| dustry among Cinnamon of this class
| Cases of girl stealing are seldom brought
4 to light by the police. but as a matter OF
! fact are very common. A company Of these
Chinese banditti devise means of seizins
some attractive girl who Is practically q
4 bond slave of one of their enemies and take
| her away to some distant city. If by any
| chance the police or the missionaries who
| work among the Chinese discover her oil
| take steps toward her rescue, one Of thu
Cinnamon Immediately swears out a war
| rant for her, charging her with grand lar
| ceny, and the gang swear her into prison
| in order to keep her out Of the hands of the
| missionaries. The life to which young wo
men of this stamp are doomed by theil
| captors Is too revolving to bear discussion.
Such industries these, together with
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
ADIsEAsE OF CIVILIZATION"
Reasons Put Forth to Account for In
crease Of Insanity.

crease or INSANITY.
From the New York Evening Post.
The old question whether insanity in
creases as civilization advances is still
open. It is part of that larger problem
whether evolution Is to be Interpreted in
terms of optimism or Of pessimisrn. Many
reasons, both theoretical and practical
have been given for supposing that the
number OF the insane is increasing. 1t has
been argued that the nervous system OF
man is being developed disproportion-
ately to the rest of his bodily organism
The body of the brute is adapted to Its in
stincts; the body of man is an old bottle filed
with the new wine of highly specialized
intelligence and emotion. It has been sup
posed that the progress of evolution tow
ard a happy ideal Is interrupted and I'M
peded more and more by dissolution and
degeneracy. This doctrine, defended very
skillfully by such writers as Maudsley
and Nordau, has been partially justified
by popular opinion and by statistics.
We are told that the industrial and
commercial life of the present Is SO in
bend and break under the pressure. There
is work without recreation. excitement
without rest, gayety without pleasure
in short, nervous expenditure without
corresponding satisfaction. If the distrt-
button of wealth and power be more equal
now than in former days there are men
VINO are rlCner no" IHdn at any otueT
period of history; and the moral misery
OF the poor is deepened by examples OF
extravaganza and luxury brought home
to them by daily experience and the daily
press. There is a struggle and stress In
social life unknown in other times. Men,
women and children are oyerworked.
There are sweatshops, unwholesome fac
tories and long hours. Labor is so spe-
cialized that the joy Of complete achieve
ment is impaired. The rewards Of sue
cess are great but competition is greater,
and the attainment Of success more diff
cult.
Consequently, fatigue and ennui are
more widespread than ever before. They
predispose men to nervous disorders. Fa-
tieue disease and sadness invite intern
perance. 1t is not the tntemperance OF
former generation-the drunkenness of
the three bottle squire, or of the luXuri-
Gus rich 1t is the intemperance of the
poor. of the hard-worked men and women
who live from hand to mouth, and VINO
seek to bring a momentary 1dealism into
their lives by an artificial stimulus. There
are preparations of drugs innumerable,
advertised everywhere to add fuel to the
fire beneath the cracked boiler. to urge
on the faded and depressed to morbid
activity Cities like flaming lamps at
tract the multitude like moths. Bad sanl-
tary conditions and crowded tenements
beget weak bodies and weak minds, breed
immortality and consequent disease. Thus
the idea has become more or less preVa-
lent that society Is going down hill as
fast as heredity self-indulgence, disst-
patton and hard work can make II go.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
Dancing.
From the Boston Transcript.

rom the boston Transcript.
Teachers of dancing-beg pardon-pro-
fessors OF dancing. take their calling SO
seriously and talk when In session, as they
now are. so persuasively of its Importance
to the human race that even those who
have put away all thoughts of dancing are
led to take an interest in the newest thing
In steps And this present convention or
professors of dancing II seems has some
thing very like a real problem with which
to struggle. 1t is found from statistics
gathered principally from summer resorts,
that the two-step is so popular the graceful
waltz Is becoming a wail-fower, and this
from the standpoint of a professor who Is
something of an artist. and likewise a bit
of a poet, is all very wrong, since II Is the
waltz that aids the esthetic development
OF the body. And the duty of the dance
promoters Is evident-the two-step must 80
and waltz so enchanting in its move
ment as to boom the reform must come. So
''credo'' waltz. SO called because its orig
inator devoutly and fervently believes II Is
the waltz needed. is to be Introduces
throughout the country. But professors may
only propose-the dancers do the rest.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
on A. GA1BI ING DEM
IN CHINATOWN Ar TER A REGULAR
. . SUNDAY. SHOOTING. =.

TO Mott street to lay In supplies of dried
fish, rice sprouts, ducks eggs preserved in
lime and all the other imported delicacies
which appeal to the Chinese palate. They
gamble too. The Chinaman, like most
Asiatics from Toxic to Constantineple, is a
gambler bred in the bone, and will court
chance anything that offers. They
smoke opium and wind up the night at the
Chinese theater, where only a fortnight or
so ago the entertainment committee" OF
one of the 'tongs' turned loose with AS
and shot down some half dozen Of the rival
society.
The chop suey restaurants which during
the week draw most of their income from
respectable but whimsical Americans with
a penchant for the picturesque and a fac
ulty for enjoying almost any kind Of
cooking that differs from what mother
used to make" are crowded ON Sunday
with Cinnamon, looking much like one
another as granary rats. They sit perched
on their heels on four-legged stools and
wag tongues and chopsticks through hours
of gluttony. If all the guns and murderous
knives that are hidden under the blouses in
a Sunday restaurant crowd could be laid on
the tables at once 1t would eclipse the mu-
scum at police headquarters. Over dishes
of chowan and hom-dong- ching-chu and
all the rest are plotted these slaughters
which have become of late the regular Sab
bath devotion.
New York and Brooklyn churches, with
the missionary spirit strong in them, are
inclined 10 coddle and make much of the
Chinese laundrymen. People with the mis-
sionary tendency, like people with any other
tendency, must work 1t off in some way.
need of moral reforming as can be- and
there are, no doubt, Instances Of Chinese
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

Exercise OF the Benevolent Intellect" They
have their foundation IN the old blackman-
ting societies OF China, which date back to
rernotest antiquity, and, indeed. are Of .
piece with similar institutions everywhere
in Asia.
In China these societies, which are or
ganized sometimes by a very small COM
pany Of men, plumber people In many ways.
II man Is about to undertake journey,
for instance, he goes to the leader OF the
strongest organization he knows of and
asks for hodygnard, for which he pays
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

roundly. A guard is thersupon assigned to
accompany him which has the password
and through whose Offices he is allowed to
go without hurt or robbery. It costs him
lot Of money, but without such projection
his loss would be many times multiplied
would have been held up and plundered
and himself probably murdered, as an ex-
ample to others. This system has been
transplanted to America and improved on
In many ways. When Cinnamon OF this
type get over here they organize strongly
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

who, being decent. in the beginning, have
been led by the mission teaching to be
decent according to American standards.
but any extensive publication of the tong"
Chinaman Is an Augean job. for he is q
most prodigious hypocrite.
These societies. or "tongS." have titles
which being translated are most righteous
and high sounding. as, for example. ''The
Lily of Charity or the Society for the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

manager and showed a paper under his
nose.
Take a seat, boy" he said, land I'll see
you In about half an hour, when I'm
through with this
BEG your pardon was the reply. ''but
my time is valuable. I'll wait If you think
there's a chance that you'I employ me-
but if you don't want boy please tell me
and III look somewhere else
The manager was nonpussed for a mo-
ment; then, laughing heartily. he called to
one of his assistants:
Here Bond, take this young man and
start him at work. And don't waste any
time about 1t, please-his time is valuable"
Thousands of city boys and young men
when they set about to look for their first
job put their trust in the want ads OF
the daily newspapers A few days expert
ence at answering lads" showed a partic-
ularly keen Jewish boy OF an eastern city
that he stood little chance of getting a
job in this way. Everywhere he went, no
matter how early, he found scores of boys
ahead of him. and, in some places, literally
hundreds. So he decided that he would do
a little advertising his own hook
But he had no money-at least not enough
to advertise simultaneously in all the lead
Ing papers-and as his parents Were none
too well off, he did not feel like appealing
TO them for assistance. Therefore, instead
of looking for work for the next few days,
he hung around ferry slip, and picked up
quite deal Of change each day helping
women across the WIDE truck crowded
street with their baggage to and from the
station. Then, when he had sufficient
money to purchase a boldface lad" In five
papers for insertion on a Sunday-he had
previously learned the rates-he handed
this In at the various offices:
A HEBREW BOY. 10, WHO INTENDS TO WIN
out wants to start at bottom and learn business
with good frm
That was all. besides his address But
before night of the day of publication three
men had hunted up the boy in his tenement
home. He took job office boy with the
second a Gentle: and a part of his first
weeks wages of five dollars went for post
age for the nearly one hundred answers
that he wrote TO letters from firms asking
him to call around. he saying In effect that
he had position, but he thanked them just
the same.
Rather unusual thing for boy to do,
wasn't 1t? But he Is an unusual boy, which
is proved by the fact that today. at the
age of twenty-five. he is head of one OF
the departments of the firm with which he
| began at the bottom.
In the course of a year thousands of city
boys get started in life's serious work
through the medium OF employment
agencies. The more responsible OF these
agencies guarantee to land a client In
position satisfactory to him within pre-
scribed time. But before they will set
about doing this the client Is required to
make a deposit generally five dollars, and
when he secures work the first weeks
wages or salary, or a percentage OF 1t, is
to be paid at the agency.
This system Is more or less costly, OH
the other haid, 1t frequently lands q
Ifr..~ sx.g, f1>o4 H. x.fevt>f
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
Had No Kick Coming.
the Philndelphla Prsss,

See herep cried the irate man. II pro-
pose to sue you. Look at my head You
guaranteed to cure"
Pardon me-" interrupted the maker OF
Phaken's Balsam. "but we distinctly adj
yertise that we cure partial badness
but
well, was only partially bald when 1
started using your stun; now I haven't .
hair
'sThen. sir. you're cured Of your partial
badness. aren't your
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
Incorruptible.
Chicago Tribune

From the Chicago Tribune.
Mortimer Cfugston. editor of the Spike
town Blizzard. returned the pass that had
been sent him by the X, Y. and z. rail-
way company.
Sir he wrote to the general passenger
agent s'the Blizzard cannot be brfbed by
the paitry offer of free transportation for
its editor Besides. this pass is only good
between Pipeyf1ie and Mulberry Junction.
asked for pass over your whole line
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
Amended.

From the Philadelphia Press.
Miss Prim-sMyi wasn't 1t hot yesterday?
I didn't seem able TO dress coolly at all.
Miss Slim-"Yes 1t was simply too warm
for anything
Miss Prini-'sY ou--er-mean 1t WAS simply
too warm for scarcely anything, don't
your"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
those Tammany fellows in New York don't

those Tammany fellows in New York, don't
your"
The doctor nodded.
We'll. I'm going to look for job in New
York and l want you to give me a letter
of Introduction TO a Tammany man"
Thought you were q republican, young
MANI"
Il am but, doctor. Tammany's the thing
in New York, isn't it? And won't Tam
many man know where jobs are waiting for
energetic chaps?"
The boy got his letter. A day or two
later he placed il in the hands of the man
to whom 1t was addressed. When the lat
ter had finished reading Ii, the boy spoke
up, by way of appendix:
Il don't want you to make job for me
or hunt me job. Just tell me where you
it, I'm = '0' may &c i'uH'' anu II 81 'i'''
The Tammany man thought awhile and
gave the boy the names of two or three
firms. One CHANGED to be that OF pub
fishing house. and as 1t was nearest at
hand the boy soon presented himself be-
fore the manager
Il am looking for Job with YOU" he
said politely.
Well. we're In need of just the right
sort OF boy the reply. Perhaps
you're he BY the way what do you know
about the sort of work we do here?'
For an instant Ii was in the boys mind
to engage in some skillful equivocating, but
something inside of him checked him. and
looking into the mans face, he said ear
nestly:
Not id thing"
And the next minute he felt his knees
, shaking under him over the slip of the
tongue, though his ears told him that the
man was saying:
You're hired. Start to work tomorrow
morning"
Three months later when the boy re-
ceived his first summons to the manager 9
office and stood before that worthy with
his heart suspiciously near his mouth, he
was asked:
DO you remember what you said to me
| when you came here looking for work. and
asked you what you knew about the bust
ness?"
yves. SIR" was the reply, somewhat
| shamefacedly.
We'll. took you because you were can
dor Itself, went on the manager. Every
boy who had come to me before had sworn
that he knew a whole lot about the busI-
ness. but not one of them did They lied
to get work. You didn't. A business man
hates a lie almost as much as the Lord
does. During the six months you've been
here you've continued to be candid: but.
I'm glad to say, you seem to have broken
your habit of swearing. And. by the way,
you move up peg next Monday. and so
does your salary"
Il
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

his last summers lightweight pinned close
around his throat
Fine morning, old man. said l.
Maybe you link 30, major. replied the
hobo, but you stan ont In de breeze longs
have in Fourt of Chuiy toys an you'll
have to have long pipe dream to t'ink It's
q fine mornin' Say, pard. cup o. coffee an
q sinker wouldn't 60 bad
Il took the tramp to the lunch counter.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

Temerity sometimes succeeds as well as
candor In landing the first job.
II was into Providence CR IL whole
sale house that a boy of about thirteen or
fourteen walked one day and asked in a
bright CHEEKY voice of the manager:
Have you got a Job for me, siry"
just then some one walked up to the
New-York tribune., 1905-04-16
continued from page 81

. SV"N FSSS ~
raised the dead soldier and learned what
manner of death he had died. Some In
strument, blunt and heavy, had strucl
him from behind. Peering keenly arounC
him, Orlopp perceived a great stone
rough and jagged, and he said that Il
was the weapon. y clear insight helping
him surely, he looked up at the
belfry, and understood that the stone
had been dislodged from the battered
masonry above and that a puff of wind
it might be, had cast 1t down to Kill the
sentry. The truth seemed almost a pitt
full satire upon the idle stories which haC
been told him And vet the suspicion
of the footsteps remained.
Orlopp lifted the dead body of the
Uhlan reverently and dragged it to the
rear of the chateau. Then he returned
and set out upon so close a scrutiny OF
the wrecked apartments that no cupboard
remained unopened, neither nook no1
Granny unsearched The belfry alone
baffled him. for a Prussian shell
had blocked its staircase with masonry,
and the aperture remaining did not per-
nit him to pass. He argued justly that
where he could not go an ambush could
not lie, and so he returned to the largest
of the many rooms below and prepared
to pass some hours within it. If there
was a mystery of the Chateau Delacroix,
the day should tell 1t to him. Upon that
much at least he was determined
True, voice of greater heroisn whis-
pered; Why not burn the place and have
done with it," There was straw enough
to have fired half Paris What, then,
held his hand? Fear that the Prussians
would shoot him as he galloped away:
He never had feared the Prussians since
the war began What them He scarce
ly knew Deep down in his mind there
may have been a premOnitiOn of the
truth. He did not choose to admit SO
much
The bells had rung; he believed that
he had heard footstep within the house
Supposition made it possible that the
breeze might have rung the bells, and
that the foOtstep existed merely in his
imagination He accounted it as con-
firmation of his idea that the long win
ter's morning repeated none of these
accidents. Though the hours were il
tolerably long, no sound from within
marked their passing; and he only could
watch and wait by the great broken
window, whence the German shells could
be seen plunging down upon unhappy
Paris, and the idle French soldiery march
ing and cOuntermarching upon a pur-
poseless errand. So little did he fear
these that he lit a fire in the CRATE as
the afternoon drew on, and drawing a
broken chair to the blaze, he ate the food
that he had brought with him, and even
permitted himself to sleep. His in
domitable will had determined that the
mystery should not harm him. He at
any rate did not suffer from that hysteria
which robbed men of life because Others
had died in the house they guarded
1t was full dark when he opened his
ewes, and the fire had burned low IN the
CRATE. For a little while he remained
unconscious of his environment-then
almost with a start he realized It, Some
thing had touched his hand, so gently
so softly, that feather might have been
brushed against it. And vet to a man
walked from sleep with all the tales OF
New-York tribune., 1905-04-16

there is a fog, do not say unkind things
about it,
You are never going to the Chateau
Delacroix, doctor?"
Why should l not go?"
"Oh-but-yOu know-nO one who
goes to the Chateau Delacroix ever comes
back"
Then let your beautiful voice sing my
requiem Al re7cir, Lieutenant. We
shall have a story to tell after all. :"
He waved his hand to the astOnished
lad and set off at a canter toward the
chateau The fog had lifted by this time,
and the sun began to shine.
New-York tribune., 1905-04-16

Chateau. he log ldu llIIcQ Dy lllIS IAIilO'
and the sun began to shine.
The Chateau Delacroix was an old man
sion, half farmhouse, half country do
main such as rural France abounds in.
1t lay upon the spur of the hills, with
wooded heights behind it and the great
plateau of the river Marine before its
broken gates. BOmbarded alternately
by Prussians and by the French, the
better part of it showed great gaping
holes and riddled walls and the grim wit
nesses to the realities of war. But the
belfry stood almost intact; and as
Edmund Orlopp rode up to its western
door one of the bells above struck three
sOnorous notes that echoed a little
weirdly across the valley. A quick
glance at the face of the clock told the
doctor that it had stopped at the hour
of five. He did not understand why or
how the bell had been struck, unless a
human hand had struck it. The silence
in the great courtyard of the chateau
was intense He did not believe that
the Prussians were in the house, and
entered it boldly.
After all, the luck of the day had gone
with him so far But for the wreathing
mists which the dawn summoned, his
approach to the chateau could not have
failed to draw the sentries fire, alike
from the French and Prussian lines
Here he was, however, in the dreaded
courtyard, alone with the mystery
When the bell above him again struck
three reverberating notes, and three of
a higher timbre from a second bell fol-
lowed them, he would have confessed to a
moments S alarm had friend pressed him,
but not to a stranger For the court in
which he stood was at the foot of the
belfry, and he barely had reached
the door when he encountered the body
of Prussian Uhlan, stiff and stark, a
revolver in the hand, the helmet torn off
the head. And at this Orlopp arrested
his step and listened as with a hunters
ear for any sound that would betray
the secret.
\ man of resolute nerve, it is to be
admitted that this dead witness to un-
known perils within the chateau grew
upon him in manner ne had not inn
agined to be possible. How had the man
died? What unknown enemy struck him
down? Was the house tenanted by cut
throats such as follow every army7
Again he listened with strained ear for
any sound or signal of alarm Was it
true or false that he heard a pattering
footstep in the house, so soft, so strange
that his heart leaped at the warning'
He would not have dared to say so. And
it became too plain to him that men had
died there from sheer imagination. Its
reputation had killed them, he said
The dead buried ten deep in its gardens
were the hidden SDeCterS of their fears