davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28

Communication TO the Philadelphia Ledger
The revival of the sea serpent tales and
theories naturally brings to mind that
other marine curiosity so often m nt.oned In
connection with the sea superintendent,
the mermaid. Many stories are told of this
remarkable creature, not only by ancient
but by comparatively modern writer's and
travellers.
OF course, such superstitions were not to
be let pass by those INSCRIPTIONS and
scheming individuals who are ever ready
10 use the credulity to their own benefit.
mus, 10 say nothing of the impostures con-
stantly practiced at fairs and by travelling
snow people, a striking instance of this
KIND occurred not many years ago in Lon
oon. A mermaid was exhibited in leading
street at the west end of the town. a
pretty round fee was charged for admis-
sion. and the dupes were shown a strange
looking object in glass case which was
4nbIushingiy declared to be mermaid.
But the imposture was too gross to last
long. AS the result of law suit which
arose over the profits that accrued from
the exhibition, it was ascertained to be the
dried skin of the head and shoulders of a
monkey attached by glutnous matter to
the dried skin of a fish of the salmon kind
and the whole was stuffed and highly var
nished, the better to deceive the eye.
In pamphlet communicated to the Royal
Society In 1916 by one Thomas Slower, IAN
ingenious chirurgeon' who had lived for
some years in Virginia Mr.. Slower would
seem to have reckoned the norman among
the Inhabitants of the colony judging from
the minute accuracy of his description of
the creature, which is as follows: "a most
prodigious creature much resembling
man. only somewhat larger standing up
right in the water with his head neck,
shoulders and breast to the cubits of his
arms above water; his skin was tawny
much like that of an Indian; the figure OF
his head was pyramidal and slick, without
hair; his eyes large and black and so were
his eyebrows; his mouth very wide, with
broad black streak on the upper lip: his
neck, shoulders. arms and breast were like
those of a man. his hands, If he had any,
were under water" The above is suggest
i've. as illustrating the creative powers of
the mind of a person having faith in such
superstitions. coupled with a vivid imagina-
lion
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
TRUSTEES SALE OF VALUABLE PROPERTY
ON TWELFTH STREET BETWEEN | AND
II STREETS NORTHWEST, IMPROVED BY

TRUSTEES SALE OF VALUABLE PROPERTY
ON TWELFTH STREET BETWEEN AND
II STREETS NORTHWEST, IMPROVED BY
HOUSES NUMBERED s0s AND go 18TH
the District of Columbia, passed May 20, 1895 In
Equity Cause No 1884, wherein William C. Fow-
defendants the undersigned as the trustee ap-
poLied by the said decree, Will on WEDNESDAY,
I'm, sell at public auction in front of the prem
Uses the following described property, to wit:
Jrs subdivision. duly recorded in the office OF the
surveyor Of Washington city, of lots numbered one
Gu; two o. three g! and four a! Of Davldscn's
eighty t2S5), as the said square is marked and
laii down on the plat, and known and distinguished
on the ground plan of said city Of Washington,
and which said part and parcel Is bounded and
described follows: Beginning on 18th street
81 feet inches south from the northeast corner
OF said lot &c" and running thence south along
less 10 the center OF party wall; thence west at
a right angle TO the line OF 18th street 104 feet
line Of i2th street IS feet inches; thence east
104 feet inches to the place of beginning; to-
fegress and egress over through and upon a GER
taiu alley p feet inches In length running
north side of said lot south along the western or
year boundary line OF said lot until 1t strikes the
kept open and in order and repair at the Joint ex-
pense Of the owners Of much Of said lots "C'
and ''B" as was conveyed TO William Clampitt by
Sarah A. Keller ct al. by n deed dated February
%. 1850. and recorded In Iiber ~ A. S. No.
10 at folio 1877 ct seq, of the land records OF the
District OF Columbia, improved by two brick
houses located on the west side Of 18th street
northwest between ! and streets and known
as Nos. COS and 9l0 18th street northwest, Wash
fngtOn, ID. c.
Terms Of sale; One third cash, balance in one
and two years from date OF sale, the deferred
payments TO be represented by the promissory
notes Of the purchaser purchasers with interest
at per cent per annum until paid, payable semi
arnuaIly secured by deed OF trust upon the prop
eTty sold, or all cash. at the option OF the pur-
chaser. All taxes paid to date OF sale. All con-
ytyCrclng and recording at cost OF purchaser. A
deposit OF $3.50 each house required at the
time Of sale Terms Of sale must be complied
with within ten (ioi days from date of sale Taxes
paid to January !, 1906. JOHN b. LARNER,
IHOS. J. OWEN 4 son, Trustee.
dc2S-dSds, eSu Auctioneers.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28

TRUSTEES. SALE OF VALUABLE LAND, BENG
q, CONTAINING TEN ACRES OF LAND.
MORE OR LESS. ALSO PART OF LOT IS,
WITH IMPROVEMENTS, SITUATE SEAT
PLEASANT, IN PRINCE GEORGES COUN-
By virtue Of a deed of trust, duly recorded in
for the Prince Georges county, Maryland and at
the request of the holder of the notes. we will
sell, at public auction within the auction rooms
Of James w. Radcliffe, 920 Pa. ave, NV. Wash
FOURTH, A. b. 1906 AT THREE O'CLOCK
PM, the following described real estate in Prince
Georges county, Maryland:
One third undivided interest In lot numbered
twenty -one (2D in a subdivision of part of Seat
Pleasant the said lot containing ten of
Pleasant Farm. Beginning for the same at a
stake the S.W. of lot 10 and running N.
30 so F. 441.5 IT. to intersect the west right Of
way line of the Chesapeake Beach railway, and
with the same s. So 81 E. 445-4 feet to the 8. y.
line of lot 10, and with the same s. So GA w.
eos IT. to the place of beginning containing
1905 square feet of land.
Terms Of sale: One-third cash. balance in two
equal nstallments, at and two years. with in
terest at per cent per annum, payable semi-an-
trust the property sold; all cash. at the op-
ton of the purchaser 4 deposit of $500 will be
required at time Of sale. All cOnveyancng, record
ing, etc, at cost of purchaser. Terms of sale to
be complied with within fifteen days from day Of
sale. otherwise the trustees reserve the right to
resell the property the risk and of default
ing purchaser. after five days advertisement Of
such resale In some newspaper published In WASH
ington, ID. C.
DAVID WARNER, Trustee.
HENRY JOHNSON, Trustee.
]. J. WiLMARTH, Attorney for Holder Notes.
de21 de obs eSuSde25&ial
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
The Weather Sharps.

from the chicago Chronicle.
Probably the most remarkable of all
anomalous facts is that the weather should
be the most universal topic of converse ton
ard comment and meteorology the least
developed and least understood of all
sciences.
The ordinary salutations of the day are
almost invariably accompanied by a. ref
erence to the state of the weather To bid
an acquaintance "Good-morning'' and pass
him by without calling his attention to the
fact that .it is a fine day" or that it looks
like RAIN or that at Is pretty cool' or
propounding the abused interrogatory rs
1t hot enough for your" Is seemingly as
discourteous as to fail to make inquiry con-
corning the state OF his health
The most charitable light in which such
an omission can be viewed Is to assume
that the one at fault is preoccupied or in
haste or the unfortunate possessor of an
eecentricity of manner commonly defined
as curt or Is altogether lacking in pune
tilio and the fine amenities that prevail
among people of culture and refinement.
Usually g. refernce to the existing state
of the weather Is accompanied by a proph-
ecy In relation thereto uttered as solemnly
and authoritatively as though the prophet
We're recognized savant In meteorologi-
cal science
1t may be said In extenuatien that the
self-constituted weather prophet Is not ac-
tuated by vanity to display knowledge of
an abstrusd scisrce. but rather that he II
obeying a nd Il impulse founded upon an
intuitive knowledge acquired through her.
edity and the power of observation since
prineval man first read the signs of at
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
c. G. SLOAN & Co. AUcr1oNEERs, 14o7 @.

TRUSTEES SALE OF VERY VALUABLE MOD
ERN RESIDENCES IN TUE BEST SECTION
E N N6s 26 2oe H haB Iii hFIq 81 PEW
EXTENDED, AND NOS, 1863, 1865, 1867, 1869,
MERLY c GALTfoRNIS AvESUE, 'i'1 L. 0'',
En1ST T and BY virtue Of the power and suthGr
corded on the a6th day Of May, A. d. 1904 In
records Of the bisrict Of Columbia default having
been made in the payment OF Interest on the debt
offer FOR sale at public auction in front OF the
property on WEDNESDAY, THE THIRD DAY or
JANUARY A ID. 1906, AT THREE O'CLOCK
PM, the following described real estate with the
improvements, easements, rights, ways and appuT-
tenanees thereunto belonging, situate and lying in
bered hfty-une t5D sixty co. both inclusive, in
w. p Keilogg's subdivision Of lots in block num-
bered four a., Washington Heights" as per plat
recorded in L.ber County No. H. folio SO, Of the
records OF the office OF the surveyor OF the Dis
trlct OF Columbia, with perpetual right Of way
for alley purposes over the following described
parts OF said lots ftty-fou (54J, hffy-dye 66),
nifty nine 800 and sixty go, for the use and
benent OF said lots fifty -four (54) hfty-fye 55),
hfty-six go and nrty-ni 59), viz Beginning for
the same at the northeast OF said lot sixty
100, and running thence west along the north line
Of said lot sixty tGO) five (5l feet, thence south
lot nine 0a) thence west along the north lines
Of said lots fifty four 54 and fifty five C55) thirty.
(sD feet one and one-half ClisJ inches to the
northwest corner OF said lot nfty-nye (55) thence
south on the east line OF said lot mty-fve (55)
lot atty four 5ij, aud thence north along said east
line thirty nine S39) feet to the place Of begin
hing. improved by ten modern residences nearly
completed, known premises numbered 1863 1868
1861, 1859, 1871. 1873 and 1875 ~ street. or
formerly Known California avenue and prcmses
numbered 2l0T. 2l09 and 21ll i9th street NV. ex-
tended.
Terms Of sale: Each house will be offered for
sale separately. A deposit of $500 per house must
be made with the trustee at the time of sale sub
teet TO forfeiture II the OF sale be not COM
Piled with, and the balance of the purchase price
for each house shall be all cash at purchaser 5
option or One-third cash and the balance in equal
portions In notes Of the purchaser payable in one
and two years from the date Of the sale with In
tcrest thereon from their date Until paid. at the
rate Of five per cent per annum, payable semi
annually, and secured by deed OF trust on the
property sold. All conveyancing and recording at
the expense OF the purchaser.
Terms OF sale must be complied with within If
teen days from the date Of sale or the property
win be resold at the risk and cost OF the default
Ing purchaser. after five days readyert isement IN
some newspaper published in Washington ID. O.
UNION TRUST COMPANY OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA, FORMERLY THE UNION TRUST
AND STORAGE COMPANY OF THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA Trustee
BY EDWARD j. STELLWAGEN. President.
Attest:
aBoRGE f. FLEMING. Secretary.
ueisdts, Iii, eSu&hoIidays
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
RAILROADS.
SOUTHERN RAILWAY.

Trains leave from Pennsylvania Station.
1885 am. Daily. Local for Harrisonburg War
1881 am. Daily. Washington and Florida Lin.
tied. Through coaches and sleeper to Columbia,
Savannah and Jacksonville. Parlor car to Pine.
hurst N c., week days, Dining car service.
First-class coaches and sleeper to New Orleans
4:oi pm. Week Days. Local for Harrisonburs
and way stations on Manassas branch.
Z 40 pm daily. New York and Atlanta Express
First-class coach to Atlanta, sleeper to Columbus
Ga; Sunset tourist sleeper Washington to San AN
$3.50 pm. Daily. New York and Florida Express.
Through coaches and sleepers to Columbia Sayan.
nah and Jacksonville. Sleeper to Augusta and
Port Tampa p dining sss s Sa7h carte
tied (va Lynchburg). Firstclass coach and sIeene,
to Roanoke. Knoxville. Chattanooga and Memphis:
sleeper to Birmingham and New Orleans. Dining
io:45 pm. Daily: Washington and Southwestern
Limited. All Pullman train; observation car to
Atlanta and Macon; club car to Atlanta; sleepers
to Nashville, Atlanta, Macon, Birmingham, Mem
TRAINS ON BLUEMONT BRANCH.
Leave Washington $40 am, j 30 4;45 h.os
pm. week days, for Bluemont: 82S pm. Week
days for Leesburg only On Sunday leave Wash
Through trains from the south arrive washing.
ton 642, 6:52, 8:40, $3.50 an 300, $3.50 and $3.50
pm. daily. Local trains from Harrisonburg ii :65
lottssvilie. s:iO am; from Lynchburg s2o pm.
Tickets, sleeping car reservations and detailed
Information can be had at ticket Offices 705 18th
ST.. Gil Pa. ave. and PENNSYLVANIA Station. Bag.
a. B. SPENCER, Gen. Man.
Dec: II. s. H HARDWICK. Pass. Traf. Mgr.
7, ACT
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
Charing Gross Catastrophe.
From the London Chronicle.


Devisers of newspaper headlines have
been hard put to 1t for brief description
of the happenings at Charlng Cross Sta
ton. you can say 1t all in i've words is
the motto over the desk of the news edi-
tor, and he prfdes himself on examining
disaster, corpses, injured and all into a
line of type Many words have been used
TO startle the reader. But among them all
the catastrophe that defined the accident
in paper that shall be nameless was the
right one For a Catastrophe Is, roughly
speaking, head over heels tumble down.
And that was the remarkable experience of
the workmen on the roof and the people
belowi A "hecatomb'' was evaded, and no
hundred bulls of the stock exchange We're
buried beneath the railway company's CIR
ders and timbers. 1t was a tragedy" 1t
was dramatic" 1t had its pathetic Incl
dents" Yet it was not a holocaust"
Thank Providence for thati The final in
suit heaped on the unhappy Hilda was the
statement that her end was a holocaust"
You must get word even II you waste
meaning. But fire and water are hostile
enough to remind US of their difference
only fire can effect q holocaust and
burn the lot"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
BISMARCK WAS NERVOUS WRECK
How the Iron Chancellor Described
His Weakened Condition.

AlS w e6kene0 COud1t10n.
From George Bancroft's Letters in Scribuer's
Bismarck Is a man OF robust frame. made
for hardy health; there Is nothing weak
about him in his natural organization; and
his normal state Is that of energy In mind
and body; and here is this little injury
clinging to him for the rest Of his lifetime
and disturbing him so much that he suffers
pain whenever he tasks himself too much,
and pain brings on sleeplessness and agita-
ton OF nerves, and the three together unfit
him for the daily warfare Of public life,
make him irritable and inapt to sustain
contradiction.
Last spring he was on horseback at a re-
view here in Berlin, the fatigue Yves Just too
much for him, as the day was warm and
dusty. The president of the imperial diet
went up to him q had this from the presi-
dent himself, whom got to repeat 1t that I
might not ERR, and asked after his health
"Wretched," says Bismarck. why, whats
the natter" said Simson. Bismarck an
swered. and there were two dozen persons
around him who might have heard IT can
not sleep. l cannot eat, I cannot drink; I
cannot laugh, cannot smoke 1 cannot
work.
Simson advised him to use the vapor bath.
"The cold I suffer FROM" said Bismarck.
does not come from a cause that baths
could remove" What Is the cause?" said
Simson. All" said Bismarck, Itch babe
nerven bankerot," which in English is,
from the review he went to council, sat in
a draft to escape the heat, went home and
was seized with a pleuritic attack, which
menaced his life.
AS soon as he was well enough, about
three months ago, he went to his estate in
Pomerania. But though he improved in
health he still could not sleep as you and
l can.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
Tobacco and Office.
rom the London Chronicle

From the London Chronicle.
The civil service, writes correspondent,
does not do its work entirely on snuff, for
in some offices cigarette smoking and even
the more manly pipe, is permitted. Why
smoking should be allowed IN the foreign
office and the war office, but not at the
colonial office or the admiralty is a thing
that no one can explain. though the In
diligence may be based on Evolutionary
precedent instead of being within the will
of the head of the department for the time
being. And other incentives to work are
occasionally winl1ed at by easy-going chiefs,
although for appearance sake the tuTnbler
is generally masked from a strangers sight
by a row of books, or is kept in drawer
Of convenient depth.
Could the compositors and civil servants
who still maintain the snuff-taking habit
be described as up to snuff" Only pun
ningly perhaps, since the phrase appears
to be metaphor, not from ability to take
or appreciate snuff, but from hounds keenIy
alive to scent. Snuff Is only another
form of sniff and the snuff of the snuff
box Is simply something shifted more or
less as one might snuff or sniff up" the
morning air. AS substantive "snuff'
used to mean Indignation, Of which O sniff
is one familiar sign. So Ben Jonson says,
he went away in snuff" and 81 take 1t
highly in snuff" The snuff OF candles
and "suffing out" are quite different words
being akin TO snip" and SNAP"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
New Years in Foreign Lands.


The custom of gift-giving at New Year
has long been in vogue In sunny France,
where Christmas is purely religious fes-
tival unmarked by the social delights of
other lands But New Year day is a great
popular festival among the French, chill
dren and adults alike joining In it's pleas
ures. 1t is a great family day. Paris is
noisy all day long; nothing more brilliant
could be Imagined than the windows
of Paris at New Year. In Scotland, too,
the practice of making presents Is more
prevalent at New Year time, and the LIST
OF January is much more of a holiday than
with us. Many quaint New Year practices
originated with the Scotch and are still
kept up. A custom which began in the
earliest times is that called first footing"
That is unique and probably original
custom of sthe children of Belgium, who
spend the day trying to capture some mem
Der of the household, whose ransom Is the
provision of sweetmeats for ALL The an
rfent idea of feasting prevails among the
hospitable Norweglans and Swedes, who
spread bountiful tables for New Year
guests. At Stockholm there Is grand
public banquet IN the exchange. the central
figure being the Ring, who feasts, with his
people in truly democratic fashion,
The custom OF smashing high hats on
New Year eve, prevalent in Berlin had its
beginning In 1913. when the poorer classes
thus showed hostility to the Weather peo-
pie.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-28
Automobile Headlights.
From the New York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
The ever increasing part that the auto
mobile plays in the LIFE Of the times
and, alas, In the deaths of the day-is re-
fected In the space that the machine and
their manufacturers, owners and drivers
as we'll as their opponents, occupy in the
daily press. Our news columns this morn
ing tell of the vast number of automobiles
seen yesterday spinning along the roads in
the vicinity of the city, while in the col
umn of letters from Herald readers is reg
istered an earnest complaint against al
legged disregard of the speed laws by the
drivers of automobiles that pass in steady
procession through upper Amsterdam
avenue. Dangerously speeding within the
city limits is not the only misdemeanor by
which feather-headed amateurs and reck-
less chauffeurs endanger the Ives of others
and excite a popular prejudice that af-
fects the body Of careful and prudent
persons who enjoy the sport. Driving
through the streets at night with binding
headlights more glaring than those of a
railway locomotive is one of these offenses
that should be promptly and sterrly dealt
with.
These lights are properly used in trav-
ersing dark and unsafe turnpikes through
sparsely settled country districts, but in
lighted and paved streets of the city they
are not needed by the occupants of auto
mobiles and are a distinct menace to the
safety of the public. Machines bowl
through the most crowded portions of
Broadway in the evening, with the glar-
ing rays from these searchMghts binding
and bewildering pedestrians who are cross
ing the thoroughfare, frightening the
horses of vehicles moving in the opposite
direction and throwing into dangerous rel
alive obscurity the roadway on either side
OF the sharply defined lane which they IL
illuminate with such intensity. One of these
machines becomes even more dangerous
when 1t sharply turns a corner, its swing
ing light binding and startling pedestrians
and every horse subjected to it's fierce rays
Prudent drivers of automobiles do not
make use of these lights in the streets.
and when returning from the country are
careful to eXtingulsh them before enter
Ing the city. contenting themselves with
the ordinary side lights required on all
vehicles. The offenders are reckless and
irresponsible chauffeurs and foolish ANA
tours who enjoy the fright and commo-
ton they produce and laugh at the male
dct!ons hurled after them by persons
whose lives they imperil. What real auto
mobilists think OF these persons Is re-
Elected In their denunciation by the presr-
dent of the Automobile Club of America.
whose 700 members are exhorted to use ali
their influence to prevent the use of these
lights in the cfty's thoroughfares.
Their use Is prohibited by law in foreign
cities, and unless the offenders here at
once mend their ways there should be leg
isiation subjecting them to such penalties
as will speedily suppress their indefensible
and perIlouS practice.