davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
Unique Gift-GlvIng.


 Christmas present hunts are delightful. It is an especially happy suggestion If one pr two out of a family are to be left alone at home while the rest go away for the Christmas festivities. Unfortu- nately, this sometimes happens. The pres ents for those left behind should be con- cealed in different remote places all over the house and to each present jingle should be attached, giving directions more or less definite or vague as to where the next present is to be found. The open ing jngles giving directions for the start of the hunt are left in an envelope for the lonely ones, and they have no idea until this Is opened on Christmas morn- ing what Is ahead of them. This same plan can be carried out when the whole family is assembled also A bright red cambric bag and an opening jingle can be given to each one, and the run be- gins.
 An interesting way not requiring qulto so much rhyme writing is simply to scat ter labelled presents around the house in places where people will come upon them unexpectedly. The one danger IS that. without any indication as to whether there are more or not, some may pc missed. This danger can be avoided by numbering them or telling each one now many he may hope to find.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29

working up a business. Realizing the necessity of convenient locality rented this studio. From some half dozen customers, most of them club women, my business has grown until now l am forced to employ two reg ular assistants and am already dread ing the day when another will have to be broken in. One assistant does my office work, while the other spends all her time in the libraries I have to have material to build up articles and speeches on, and 1t Is her business to get as much as the libraries can give.
 Couldn't I make as much money as magazine or newspaper writer? l certainly don't believe I could make half much. There Is a great diff ference between speaking and reading. speech or article that would pass muster and even be considered clever len well spoken might prove both fiat and unprofitable reading. There is nothing original in my work-a few jokes, not always new; a few facts, historical or to suit the subject under discussion, clothed in good English. Any well educated woman willing to give her time and mind to it might do as well. It is lack of time among the people who are rushing about In their efforts to keep up with every hing more than anything else that puts money in my pockets. The major ity of the men and women whose speeches and toasts I supply could do just as well themselves if they only had the time to think them out"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29

wards appeared, the pulp gatherers seemed somewhat fastldious in their se- lections, and would shift their position several times. Sometimes, also, the scar already made would be continued by the same or another worker; and often 1t would be overlaid. But, as a rule, the space which measured the amount of fibre removed at one visit to the pole cor responded with the amount of pulp laid on at one time by the builders on the nest; and that in both cases was determined apparently by the carrying capacity Of the jaws. The visits varied in length. Thus, of three noted, one was four min utes, with seven shifts; one, two minutes; and one, three minutes nine seconds.
 Wishing to get some idea of the num- Der of visits made by the insect pulp gatherers, I counted carefully the scars within several square inches of surface, and therefrom estimated the number with in a square inch around the enHre girth of the pole. Thence I roughly calculated that at least 40000 visits had been made for wood fibre. Some of these were made by yellow jackets and brown wasps, but most of them by hornets from the study nest, as could be determined by the di- rection of the insects flight. One must also consider that in many cases the scraped surface had been gone over more than once so that the estimate Is prob- ably below rather than above that men, toned There were several similar poles in the vicinity, all more or less thus marked, the one nearest to the above quite as freely. Even from this in- adequate estimate one can see the enor- nous industry of our colony.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
The oriuinaI Papermakers.

Dr. H. c. McCook in Harpers Magazine
 for January.
 Of course, the writer knew that wasps are the original papermakers, and long since pointed the way to the use of wood pulp for that papermaking which has so immensely increased in later years and is threatening much of the literature of this era with early extinction. But from what particular objects was the pulp gathered?
 Now came rare surprise. A few feet beyond the old tree stood a chestnut telephone pole. While passing 1t one day hornet was seen to alight upon it. Eureka,- mystery was solved. For straightway the insect began scraping off the surface with it's jaws Settling well bes into it, drew them together. thus removing a particle of fibre, and backed down a little way. This act was repeated until it had covered a space about three fourths of an inch long, and one-sixteenth wide, just the stretch of the hornets s jaws Meanwhile a tiny pellet of wood dust had been gathered and rolled and pushed beneath the mouth; whereupon vespa flew away. In fact, her method of gathering building material was just the reverse of that used when giving 1t out in construction.
 Now the post was carefully inspected, and it was found to be mottled on all sides and to the top, about IS feet. with streaks like that which the hornet had just left, the fresh marks upon the abraded wood showing distinctly against the weathered surface. The streaks were not all nf equal lenEthi for as 1t after
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
Silk Worms Monopoly Gone.

Discovery of a new source of silk sup ply may well excite worldwide interest
 inasmuch as there is no civilized country that does not use vast amounts of tnlS
 most precious and beautiful of all fibers. So writes Rene Bache in the Technical World Magazine for January. Limited as is the productive capacity of
 the silkworm, that industrious caterpillar is able to turn out only certain quan- tty of the material in the course of a year-a quantity which, though large, is small relatively to the enormous de- mand.
 Whence, of course. the high price of silk And whence also, the search that ], has been made all over the earth. during
 many years past, for other slk-spnning
 insects, to supplement by their efforts those of the much-prized caterpillar atore- sad.b, Experiments in this direction have even been made in the United States, where we have at least two well known
 species of moths which are excellent silk makers.
 It is newly announced, however, on the
 authority of G. E. Eager, the American
 consul at Barmen, Germany, that a re-
 markable discovery of wild silk, produced by spinning caterpillars. has been made in the region surrounding the East Af-
 rican lakes by a German resident of New
 York City, who. while conducting an ex-
 plorng expedition through that little known part of the world. came upon great
 numbers of the nests of the insects in question. Since then he has secured
 special concessions from both the English and German colonial authorities. with n
 view to gathering the crop of wild silk and sending 1t to market.
 Progress of the silk industry the new discovery and study of it's possibilities for
 small investors. forms the theme of the
 balance of this interesting article, fully H. lustrated.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
How Weston Walks.

By His Daughter, L. NJ. Weston in Les
 lies Weekly.
 Before walk father used to draw up a time table showing how many miles he could make a day (which he often nobly dsregarded). He gave his valet instruc- tions as to what he should bring him in the way of food and drink, and the times he must have it; what he meant when he whistled once. twice, etc.-and woe be to the luckess man if he failed to obey in the least particular, trainer! Well. I should like to see the man who could train my pa. He kept account of every lap put up, and would call out from the track if a mistake was made He bossed everything in connection with his own walks, which is one reason why he failed to keep the Astley belt. He was in splendid condition when he reached America, and fully expected to retain the trophy in the contest at New York. but he did not have the management of the belt walk In New York, and, as near as can find out, was opposed and irritated in every way possible. Moreover. he could not bear the tobacco smoke with which the hall was thick. He therefore gave up the contest in disgust. Father read signs and omens in connection with his walks like an East Indian fakr. One walk was lost because valise filled with valuable autographs was stolen. That was bad sign"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
A Society Hunt on Game Preserve.


 In the January American magazine Upton Sinclair begins his new society novel, in which he Eliminates the fan tastic extravagances of the idle rich in New York city. Here is a description of a society" hunt on a multimillionaire's $ game preserve:'
 "Then began the hunt. The equipment of Black Forest included a granite building, steam heated and elaborately fitted, in which an English expert and his. assistants raised imported pheasants- magnificent bronze-colored birds with long, floating black tails. Just before the opening of the season they were dumped by thousands into the covers fat, and almost tame enough to be fed by hand; and now came the hunters.
 "Fihst they drew lots-for they were to hunt in pairs man and woman. Montague drew Miss Vincent-'Little Rain drop in the Mud-puddle.' Thea Ollie, who was master of ceremonies placed them in a long line, and gave them the direction; and at signal they mayed through the forest. Following each person were two attendants, to carry the extra guns and reload them; and out in front were men to beat the bushes and scare the birds into flight.
 Now Montagues idea of hunting had been to steal through the bayou forests, and match his eyes against those of ths wild turkey and shoot off their heads with a rifle bullet. So, when one of these birds rose in front of him, he fired, and the bird dropped; and he could have done 1t forever, he judged-only 1t was stupid slaughter, and 1t sickened him. However, If the creatures were not shot, rhey must inevitably perish in the winter snows i; and he had heard that Robbie sent the game to the hospitals. When the day s sport came to an end his score was 15 better than his nearest competitors, and he and his partner had won the day.
 'rhey crowded round to congratulate him; first his partner, and then his rivals. and his host and hostess Montague found that he had suddenly become d person of consequence. Some who had previously taken no notice of him. now became aware of his existence; proud society belles condescended to make con versation with him, and Clarrie Mason, who hated de Peyster, made note of a way to annoy him. As for Oliver, he was radiant with delight. When it came to horses and guns, l knew you'd make good he whispered.
 Leaving the game to be gathered up in carts, they made their way home, and there the two victors received their prizes. The mans consisted of a shaving set in a case of solid gold, set with dia- monds. Montague was simply stunned, for the things could not have cost less than 5000 or 5000. He could not persuade himself that he, had a right to accept of such hospitality, which he could never hope to return. He was to realize in time that Robbie lived for the pleasure of thus humiliating his fellow men"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
Enqlish Lingual Mannerisms.

From London Letter in New York Sun.
 No people on earth are more uncon- scious of their language mannerisms than the English. In no country are such mannerisms more common or more grat- ing to the unaccustomed ear. Of all ex- pressions with which the Enghshman punctuates every bit of conversation which contains two or more consecutive sentences his inevitable '1 mean to say is the most irritating.
 He Is seldom a fluent talker. A few years ago his little stumbings and hesi- tations were marked with liberal sprinkling of err" ah'h, um," etc. He has come to realize that these inarticuiate strugglngs for the translation of his thoughts are, to say the least, inartistic, and now instead of um 1t is T mean to say" or the timehonored but happily disappearing Don't you know. But this growing national disease or .'I mean to say" has at last been discoV- cred and condemned by one of the Eng lishmen themselves so it is permissible perhaps for a foreigner to speak of it. The discoverer has written to the papers warning his countrymen of the dangers of this insidious national obsession. He did not notice it at home, but he has been travelling abroad, and he writes all the way from Japan to tell his com patriots that all Englishmen whom he has met on his travels are "l mean to saymiaes." He has been shut up in trains and carriages with them, and he protests that the effect has been 'prejudical to both morals and health"
 Imagine" he says being confined in railway carriage with six persons all talking something like this
 '' I mean to say, don't you know, that Jones walked up that mountain by him self; you know, that, of course. l mean to say, nobody in his senses would try to climb up a place like that without guide. Do you follow me? 1 mean to say, fellow should always take a guide up a mountain in the event of getting lost, don't you know; that Is, l mean to say, fellows people get very anxious if he | gets lost in the mountains in that way: I besides, it's very foolish. l mean--. and on.
 We have asylums for other kinds Of lunatics. and don't you think. l mean to sa- Horror the cursed things conta- gious."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
Too Much Prosneritv

In Everybody's Magazine for January,
 Edwin Lefevre the Wall street expert
 and well known writer of stories of
 finance, gives, in "The Game Got Them"
 the inside story of the recent panic,
 as seen through the eyes of Wall
 street. Mir. Lefevre says in part:
 Who would have said that the tour
 ing and the projected European
 trip of 90S had regretful1y to be aban- doned because some years ago few
 cold-eyed, eagle peaked gentlemen in London coveted few gold mines in the
 Transvaal? And that the reason why Santa Claus will not bring the Russian
 sables this Christmas is that Russian i grafters. dreaming of vast Manch urian plunder, also dreamed that the Japs were apes? Yet these remote events
 are clearly causes of such disappoint- ments. For the Boer war, so far as concerned the world of business, which
 does not trouble itself with ethics,
 meant the loss of about a thousand mill
 lions of liquid capital. q Not very long
 after that stupendous financial loss
 came the war between Russia and Jap
 an, and a still greater amount of capi- tai disappeared forever-somethi ing like a billion and a quarter of dollars. Then
 came the San Francisco disaster. The loss there was, let us say, five hum dred millions of dollars; that much
 wiped out at one fell swoop. Thus you
 have in a few years the loss of over
 two and a half billions of dollars of
 this little worlds liquid capital. Re-
 member, this was no stock market loss, no mere disappearance of an elu- sive paper profit" on a speculative line,
 no shrinkage of bank accounts incl dental to the collapse of some absurd
 boom. no diversion from one channel of trade Into another; but the actual and
 definite and irretrievable loss of tha
 much of the worlds capital. which it could have used, which 1t needed to do business with.
 And serious though so stupendous
 a loss at any time would be, it proved much more than usually serious be- cause during the past three or four years the entire world has been un-
 usually busy. Aside from spasms of speculation in stocks and staples and
 metals, there has been unprecedented activity and expansion in industries and manufactures, not only in the United States but also in Germany and
 England and France. In our country because of the national optimism, the expansion has been extraordinary, the volume of business simply colossal; our l industries have grown at such a rate that we have been unable properly to finance that growth. This state of af-
 fairs has been clear to all for many months We have had too much pros perity for the money; more than we | could properly pay for. Didn't the railroads pray for less business so that l they might earn more per ton per mile /.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
Making the Pure Food Law Ridiculous.

From Ieslie'S Weekly.
 Everybody believes in pure food, and everybody including manufacturers of food products, is convinced of the neces- sity for pure food law such as the one which is now in force by national en- actment But a law made by the repre- sentatives of the people to secure pure food products is one thing, and the ar bitrary enforcement, not of the law itself, but of so-called rulings" which are at variance, according to good lawyers, with the express provisions of the statute is another.
 For example. Dr. Wiley rules that all ice cream must contain a certain percent age of butter fat, no matter If the in gredients from which it Is made are per fectly pure and wholesome His sensa- tional statements about the gelatine used for the holding up of this product when it Is to be shipped to a considerable dis tance are ridiculed by chemists of high standing. The effect of these and other loose statements of the same character upon legitimate business Is very consid- erable.
 Not to President Roosevelt, but to the chief chemist of the agricultural depart ment, must be ascribed a goodly meas ure of the depression from which the bus mess of the country Is now suffering. To take only one example-the farmers of the United States, who last year raised products aggregatlng In value nearly $7 800, GOO 900, may have something to say
 about bis attacks upon corn .syrlip,- in the manufacture of which a large pro-
 portion of their greatest cereal crop Is consumed It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the making of standards was ex- pressly avoided by the framers of the pure food law, and that no government official has legal authority for imposing
 them upon manufacturers in fiat contra diction of the provisions of the pure food law. In doing so and erecting prohibl- tions which are palpably absurd, Dr. Wiley is bringing the administration of the pure food law into contempt, and put ting one of the strongest weapons pos sble In the hands of its enemies. We want pure and wholesome foods, not 1nicky and technical "rulfngs," which have no relation to the purity or whole
 someness of a product and that infict un- necessary hardships both on the pro- ducers and consumers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29

They usually reply in the formula that they are prevented by contract from appearing for nothing and that the friend must apply to their manager. In the meantime they telephone the man. ager to say no.
 Some of them are franker. C<ie woman always has an answer ready for the persons who come to ask her to sing for charity.
 CT will do 1t gladly she says if each one of you ladies of the committee will contribute to the charity the amount I usually receive for appearing in concert
 "As that happens to be $100 or more the lady usually retires and then writes that she regrets it will be impossible for the committee to accept the offer"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
God and Roosevelt.
-om Everybody's Magazine.

From Everybody's Magazine.
 Little Betty had been playing quietly on the porch one ofternoon, unnoticed by her father and a friend who were discussing the recent financial panic. When the guest had gone and bedtime had come Betty was unusually silent and thoughtful. And when she knelt to say her prayers. pause followed the usual petitions in behalf of papa an mamma an Aunt Mary an Uncle Tom an Rover an Bridget" Finally. with great earnestness, she resumed:
 An now, God please take great care of Yourself cause if anything should happen to You we'd only have MT. Roosevelt--an' he hasn't come up to papa's expectations"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
How Weston Walks.

From Harpers Weekly.
 A certain member of the fashionable Metropolitan and Chevy Chase clubs at the national capital has all his life borne many quips by reason of his exceedingly din1inutive stature.
 Last spring the diminutive clubman took unto himself a wife, the daughter of a well known federal officer, who is said to be as witty as her father.
 Mrs. Blank" said friend one day recently, .I have just seen your husband for the first time since his marriage Do you know, he seems shorter than ever''
 Why not?" asked the wife. with a smile; 'hes married and settled down.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
The Open Road.

In the January American magazine David Grayson, author of Adventures in Contentment," begins a new series called "rhe Open Road" He says:
 "ls it not the prime struggle of life to keep the mind plastic? To see and feel and hear things newly? To accept nothing as settled: to defend the eternal right of the questioner? To reject every conclusion of yesterday before the surer observations of today?-is not that the best life we know? And so to the Open Road!
 What more than this is the accom- plishment of the great inventor, poet. painter? Such cannot abide habit hedged wildernesses. They follow tho Open Road, they see for themselves. and will not accept the paths or the names of the world. And Sight. kept clear, be- comes, curiously, insight. A thousand had seen apples fall before Newton. But Newton was lowered with the spirit O {: the Open Road,"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29
Truth.

From the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
 What is truth? said testing Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Thus wrote Lord Bacon.-Richmond Journal.
 Thus wrote Sir Francis Bacon be- fore he was made Baron Verulam. In his day the question was still unsolved. Now, everybody knows that Truth is the intangible spot of light in the bot tom of the well.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29

as a log falling down in my grate caused me to stir, l fell to wondering what sort of angels would accompany the presents 1 intended to make on the morrow.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-29

My methods are very simple. To begin with. I came to New York with
 tn e intention of writing for the papers. I didn't make much of a success, ano seeing this opening I determined to step In the breach and try my hand at
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-19
SPECIAL BAND CONCERT
At THOMAS SQUARE

BY special permission, a moonlight
band concert will be given this evening
at 7:3o, at Thomas Square. The fol-
lowing program will be played:
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-19
RETURNS TO THE SEA.

Robert Tolmie, who has been one
of the Advertiser force of compositors
for the past two years, goes as boat
swain on the ship Dimsdale which may
leave here for Portland on Thursday.
Mr.. Tolmie has been follower or the
sea for a number of years and was
a member of the crew of the Dimsdale
some time before coming to Hawai- as
mate of the Louisiana, an American
ship which visited this port two years
ago. He came as mate of the Loulsi-
ana and left her because of his beng
a. British subject. He is man OF
fine education and is well thought OF
in the ONCE by his associates as well
as his employers.