davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
so Ways the World"
Thoughts Morals, Bargains,
and Books.
Thoughts on Morals, Bargain

There is a story going the rounds that
shows the trend Of modern life among
young girls, very forcibly indeed Tt seems
that a certain Sunday school class, COM
posed of forty girls ranging from thirteen
10 seventeen, was being examined by a
priest here. The lesson for the day was
on St. James the Great and St. James the
Less Not a girl could tell him thing
about either; they even mixed Up the two
apostles 10 any extent and couldn't for
the life Of them remember anything about
their lives well" said the priest "do
you read the papers?'
Yes" said the girls en- masse.
What have they been full Of lately?
asked the priest Tell me-
"Of the Thaw trial, piped up the girls,
on familiar ground at last
And what was the herOine's nameE
Evelyn" said the girls in chorus
And what were the names Of the men
COncerned?' asked the priest.
'Thaw ard Stanford White answered
the girls promptly en- masse. with great
animation. It was evident that they knew
all about it.
What are your parents thinking or.
said the priest, Ito allow you TO read
such things-tO educate you in crime and
fail to teach you anything about our
Lords apostles?'
The class was abashed and silent, and
if it comes 10 that. what are parents
thinking about?
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
WAYS OF SENDING LETTERS.
French Military AerOnauts Drop a
Communication from Balloon,


Letters by air ship are the latest novelty
OF the French postal system. Last month
a party OF military aeronauts ascended
from Meudon and steered for the war
office at Paris. When over the building
the air ship was brought 20 a halt and a
letter addressed to the minister for war;
Gen. Picquart, dropped from the car.
Through their glasses the aeronauts
watched the missiye in its descent, and
as soon as it had been secured turned the
aerostat and made their way back to
Meudon.
A very ingenious method is employed 20
facilitate the delivery of letters 10 the
islands of the Tonga group in the Pacific.
These islands, guarded as they are by
dangerous rocks and breakers, says Lon
don Tit-Bits, are difficult and hazardous
of near approach, and would often, were
the ordinary outline Of delivery employed.
have TO go Ietterless. To obviate this the
steamer that carries the mails is supplied
with skyrockets, by means of which
letters are projected across the danger
zone onto the shore.
During the winter, when st. Kilda has
no direct communication with the main
land, the inhabitants deposit their letters
in small buoys Of a peculiar shape These
are then thrown into the sea, and are by
the currents carried to the mainland,
where they are rescued from the waves
and their contents taken to the nearest
post-office. A floating post-office. consist
ing of "a painted cask, is attached by
chains to the rocks az the extreme point
Of Terra del Fuego. TO this strange Office.
which is under the joint protection Of all
nations. every passing ship sends a boat
to post and collect letters.
j. O. OShea relates how Bazaine, dur
ing the siege of Metz, sent message
through the euemy's lines. A young
poseur, who volunteered for the diff
cult task, had one of his teeth drawn and
an artificial one. in which was a hollow.
substituted. In this was placed a quill.
within which was a dispatch in cipher.
reduced by photography to microscopic
miuUteness-
Then, disguised as a beggar, he left the
town, the sentries. to give color to the
Tuse. discharg.ng blank cartridges N MIN
as he fed. Taken prisoner by the Ger
mans. he was brought before those in au-
Jhority, to whom he told such woeful
tale Of his sufferiuEs at the hands Of the
French that be was released, with many
expressions of coincidence. He duly exc
cuted his mission.
When R0chefort in consequence Of his
virulent attacks upon Imperialism. was
forced To seek refuge in Brussels he sun
continued 10 circulate La Lanterne in
France. How he introduced the prescribed
paper into that country was a mystery
70 the authorities who little suspected
that in certain plaster busts of the En-
per0r and Empress. which reached the
empire from Belgium, were carefully con-
cealed the obnoxious sheets printed on
'dimsy"
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

/ Spaniard. but have you any clothes that
/ you could use as a uniform Walton re-
membered that he had a white duck suit
( in his grip. and asked if that would do.
The very thing said the commandante.
and he went on to give Walton his in
structions.
lie explained that the officers ranks
were known according TO the stripes on
their upper left sleeves. Three stripes
We're for a lieutenant, four for a
captain, five for a major. and six for a
colonel. The army tailor was a negro
man. who had his shop down in the
brushes near the river. and If the senior
Americana. the sauve communicate de-
clared, would take his coat 10 the black
man, the fellow would sew on four stripes
for one bolivar. A bolivar is about 90
cents
Walton, with his duck coat under his
arm. went to the tailor bright and early
the next morning. The tailor was in his
dirty-lOOking shop, seated on table try
ing 20 teach "a monkey 20 use needle
and thread when Walton entered. The
monk was consigned 10 the lower
branches Of a tree near the door. and
several unkempt black children were
/ shooed from the room, upon Walton s
appearance and the tailor all smiles and
bows, was ready for business.
Walton stated his Grand and the
tailor, waving the fOrmality Of an order
from the commandante. got out half a
dozen pieces Of green cloth, which he
had handy in a drawer and went 10 work
with deft fingers 10 convert the civilian
| into a full-hedged captain. Walton knew
Spanish well, and 10 while the time away,
engaged the coon in conversation
Tailor Advanced His Rank.
when the talk Jagged a bit, the tailor
suddenly stopped sewing and looked
around 20 see that no one but his visitor
was in hearing, and satisfied that they
We're alone, whispered. For one bolivar,
I sew on four strips, and you a captain;
for two bolivars 1 sew on five stripes
and you a major Tie proposition ap-
paned Walton al first, but the negro as
sured him that the COmmandante would
not mind much. and that once the senior
uniform was fixed. he couldn't help HIM
self Walton was ready for any adven-
ture, and with laugh, told the black
to go ahead He sewed on the FIVE
stripes and Walton paid him his forty
cents and went back 20 report for duty
at the palace. He arrayed himself IN his
duck suit, and the communicate, inspect
ing him, noticed the five stripes Did I
appoint you "a major pr a c0l0nelT the
fat little man asked, scratching his head
I reheCuvely. ana Walton Struggling his
shoulders. which implied that be did not
remember. wished that he had given the
mOke three bolivaTs 10 sew on six stripes.
Walton was promised a big salary,
but that army although il had lots OF
officers, never once b0asted Of a pay
master ia all the seven weeks that the
American stayed in the hot little town.
and finally the adventurer. with small
funds IN his pocket and heartily tired OF
the whole affair. went down the river
20 the coast and hired himself out as a
cook on a Norwegian schooner bound FOR
Cuba. He made Havana. got 90 his feet
again. some way or other. and came back
10 the States"
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
PODUNK IS REALLY A TOWN
II Is in Connecticut and Was Named
After an Indian Tribe.
Name signifies n Hot Place, and the
POduHks We're Great Fighters
in Their Day.

Look on any good map Of Connecticut
and you see the River Podunk, which
runs for miles through the town Of South
Windsor and empties into the Connecticut
just over the line in East Hartford The
POdlnk is not a brook. Il affords a good
water power for the mills M Pleasant
Vile and the stream does not run dry in
the summer, says the Hartford Times.
Since we have begun to tell about the
Podunk River we may as well add the
facts that IN this town, through which
the Podunk flows. were born Jonathan
Edwards, Oliver WolcOtt, and John Fitch.
the latter the father OF all steam naviga-
ton. whose first thoughts Of what might
be accomplished by putting an engine
into a boat, no doubt. came 10 him while.
as a youthful cl0ckmaker, ne wandered
along the shores OF the Podunk, d full
century and half ago. He was born il
January, 1913.
POdunk. Connecticut. is the place to
which TO send all letters for Podunk peo-
pie. where the name Of the State is not
given. There is no other POdunk any
where which can hold a candle" 20 this
7
In fact. our Connecticut Podunk is the
original article, and all others are mere
limitations
After the Euglshmeu under the lead Of
Winthrop who were determined 10 be
Americans arrived i'm Salem in 1850. one
of the first Indian chiefs who came from
the backw0ods TO make their acquaint-
anCe was WahquinnaCut, who went 10
Boston in 1851 TO see them, and he is said
to have belonged to the Windsor tribes,
or Poduuks-
Podunk signifies the place OF fire or
place of burning, from 'pOtaw,' fire, and
''UnCk' place Offence POtaunk or PO-
dunk, or Potunk. None Of the historians
intimates that il was an Indian synonym
for hades, but il certainly meant d hot
place. It is also made clear in their an
cient histories that the PodUnks were
great fighters, or hot stuff in the YER
nacular Of to-day None Of them was
ever converted TO Christianity
The PodmIzs owed their gradual ex-
tinction TO their bitter feuds with the
Mohawks, down the river Sixteen or
more of the Podunks were killed at one
time in a Mohawk ambuscade. A rem
nant of the tribe existed in East Windsor
in 1745. but had quite disappeared in 1869.
says DR.. Stiles, who also says that il was
somewhere in the Podunk wilds of Wind
sor that Miantonomah, the great Nara
gansett chief, met his death at the hands
Of Uncas, his Mohican conqueror, prob
ably September y, 1913 Uncas was a
mighty man of war. and sent his son,
Oneko. over into the NipmuCk country
Massachusetts, on a raid about 1860. The
Nipmucks were trimmed on that occasion
in great shape. This happened in what
is now the town Of BrookheId. The set
tiers from Ipswich got there about that
time and found that a meadow at the
head of Quabaug Pond was called Po-
dunk, and the name has lasted, although
it does not appear that any of the Po-
dunk tribe of Indians ever lived there
For Podunk history you must come 10
Connecticut, and there is plenty of il
here
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
The Spoiled DarIings.

OF course, once grown. the world does
not care a pin about anybodys spoiled
darling. It ticks every candidate for an
eatree into good society into shape and
comments freely on their appearance, be
havior, intelligence breeding The elderly
women of wealth and distinction impale
the young aspiranJ on a pin, as If he
were new species of butterfly. and sit
ting on the wOolsack OF assured position,
bearing the mace of authority. they make
or mar the fortunes Of many d youth or
maid. They have the handsome estab-
hshments. They do the entertaining
They ask Maude to a bail. OF Charles to
a dinner, when pleased by their modesty
or refinement. or talents for listening, and
Maude perhaps makes the match OF the
season, and Charles gets q position that
makes him the envy of al his friends
The stupid or selfish young girl. the III
bred one, above all. does not realize this
at all. and she often is Il perfect failure
in society in consequence.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
The BOOkstaus.

There are some delightful books to be
picked up in the out-of-the-way streets Of
this city. if people know what to buy.
Families are constantly breaking up here
and moving away. many of them families
of wealth, refinement, and taste, and this
is a great place for finds not only IN
books, but furniture. prints, rugs. horses.
and carriages. Many diplomats when re
called. send quantities of things to be
sold by auction. or sell their effects 10
secondhand dealers. One may pick up
almost anything in Washington. One
lady here got for a song a beautiful cab
met that Lord Napier sold when he left
Washington; another got two hue Rafael
MOTghens at a ridiculous price; a third
got a tea set Of scores, with the royal
monogram louis PhilIpe), Tor SO But IN
books there are delicious bargains 10 be
Ead-complete editions Of English classics
(some Of them fiTst editiOns). rare Elze-
virs quaint old pamphlets. one of them
giving filings at the costumes of Cr0m-
wells wife; fascinating Latin classics IN
their modest brown-Ieather covers. All
these have been picked up here, and may
be again.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
The nntifuI Mother.

There is nothing more common among
US than the dutiful mother. who. on the
whole, does exactly as Tommy (aged six
or Susie (aged ten or hfteen) bid her
They are publicly rebuked and privately
bulied. They are wax in the hands of
their children. Tommy decides often
whether the Family shall go 10 Nara
gansett OF the White sulphur. Susie ridi-
cules her mothers dress. tastes, manners
ideas. friends, and tells her what kind
Of card she must have, how she must be-
have at a tea. what IS done now and
Is 'up-to-date." and swell" and stylish,
when the mother has forgotten more IN
gentIeness and good breeding and fine
feeling than Susie will ever know il she
lives 10 be a hundred. bred as she Is
under the feverish. vulgar. and selfish
conditions Of the material world and age
in which her lot has been cast.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
A PLUCKY SHERIFF.
How Hardy WhitIOck WithstOOd
Lynching Mob in Illinois.

From the Boston Transcript.
John L. Matthews tells this story Of
the foiled attempt AT a lynching bee in
Danville, H., a few years ago:
1t was in Danviile that a mob Of
best citizens wrecked the city hall
after the police had been disarmed by
trimming mayor, and brutality Iynched
a negro who had killed a drunken white
man in a saloon brawl More drunken
with their madness than their victim had
been with whisky. they dragged his
muJilated body 10 the c0gnty jail and de-
manded eleven other negroes who were
within. Inside stood Hardy Whitlock,
ready to give his life TO preserve the
sanctity of the stronghold OF the law
he had been elected TO guard.
He had already mingled with the mob
and identified the leaders. He knew what
sort of best citizens they were. When
they battered his door open he fired buck
shot into their legs with "a riot gun, and
then down the length OF a steel rail they
carried, sending nearly q score 10 hos
pital-'the sore-hand brigade they were
called. When they attacked his house he
stepped out on the veranda in the full
glare of an electric light and fired shot
after shot at them while revolver bullets
spattered against the wall behind him.
His life was charmed and he went
through the night UnsCarred I'LL. at day
break, the militia relieved him. a dozen
Of the lynChers went TO the pelitentiary
for that nights work; but of all the best
citizens identified only one was above
the grade of unsNued laborer.
when it was all over a former sheriff
came TO congratulate the hero.
- came down last night, Hardy, he
said. and saw you was standing them
fel!ers of all right, SO I didn't interfere.
but I was there in reacn, so 1 could have
butted in if I thought you needed it
Hardy looked at him with his steel
blue eyes il open contempt.
Every man and boy in Danville knew
I needed help last night he said. Every
man and boy knew I was facing that
mob, taking shot for shot and needing
every friend I had in the world 20 help
me out And every man who knew that
and stayed snugly at home, or did what
you did-came down and looked on-ls a
d-n coward-just a plain, ornery d-u
coward-and you can tel them ali that
for me-
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Dr Johnson,

When DR.. Johnson's famous dictionary
first came out. a young girl in London
said TO him: Doctor, there are terrible
things. not at all nice things, In that die
tionary Of yours
An my dear. you are nasty girl.
You've been looking them out-that's 1t.
You ought to be soundIy whipped for IT,
replied the great bear
Girls there are who have morbid minds
like Marie Bashkirtseff, and girls who are
sensational, and girls who are curious,
and girls who are impressionable, and 1t
might be well for their mothers 10 re-
member that they take upon themselves
a fearful responsibility when they allow
such seeds 10 be sown broadcast in their
minds. TO blossom later IN Heaven alone
knows what deeds
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Lost Book.

1t is sad to think of the thousands
upon thousands of dead books on rich
meas shelves, doing TO good to anybody.
rarely taken down from their shelves.
wasting their valuable, precious counseis.
conceits. instructions, wit. wisdom, and
tancies on the desert air. They might as
well be the heaps Of dried leaves whirl-
ing about our streets in the autumn. The
truth is old and ever new that we have
only what we share and what we Law UP
in such ways we lOSe-a great beautiful.
wasted force is lost in every such library.
II makes only for vanity TO the owner
and vexation Of spirit to those who know
how precious they are, or might be. in
many a home and life
FRANCES COURTENAY BAYLOR.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
The Best plan.

By far the most sensible plan in book
buying for ordinary people is just to buy
quantities of the best books, and 1 speak
of contents, not paper binding, OF
illustrations, when I say best and let
his children and neighbors and friends
freely read, borrow, handle, even keep
them, without feeling anything except
that he IS a public benefactor. The re-
suit Of such generosity and good sense is
sure 20 be seen in the living epistles'
around him to whose hearts and brains
and souls and work these books have
been transferred, having been dgested,
appropriated reproduced. as books Were
meant to be by the Great Giver Of them
all.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
shelley

1t is related of Shelley that once he was
so terrified by horrible thought that he
rushed out into storm and walked all
night in a great tempest of feeling that
he could not calm. And so it IS that
some Of our lads are as sensitive as Shell
ley. as melancholy as de Maupassant as
shy as Dean Stanley. as nervous as Troll
lOpe. and as unreasonable as possible.
What are their parents doing in allowing
them to read the accounts Of vile horrors
that the calmest, sanest, mature man
avoids with perfect horror and disgust?
Much of the crime of every nation is due
10 Just such parents
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Rook IoNers.

But the book-iover knows better. When
he wants a book he HES him to the book
staIls-he wants old books and never for
gets the well-knOwn rule. when new
book comes out. buy an old one" lie also
wants rare books. and he loves "a find
and adores "a bargain He dOtes on
the Quai dc VOltaire if he be a French
man; he haunts Harrington Road. and
Aldgate and Shoreditch, if he be an Eng
lishman He delights in long leisuTely
prowls in the old quarters of every city
and country. He knows q book when he
sees 1.-THE is sure of himself. He is gem
orally a man OF small means, but perfect
taste and highly educated, Of course.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Granny.

Poor granny is SO entirely out Of the
running that she is simply already dead
and buried while still in her seventies
Nobody scarcely remembers to ask for
her when people call. The children treat
her as if she were a cook Her own son
or daughter is up to the eyes in business
OF the social whirlpool and often gran
ny's only companions are the servants.
They throw the poor lonely old soul a
conversational bone or two Nhen they are
not busy, but many a lone. lorn, sorrow
fuI hour does she spend in her room, sit
tins tete-a-tete with death, and recalling
her whole life. wondering where Matty
is. and when she Will have even one nice,
long morning or evening with her only
SON"
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Hobbies.

4 hobby is delicious thing. and some
famous people have ridden them down
double to posterity. ike John Stuart Mil
and his intelligent wife, Charles and Mary
Lamb. to a certain extent Carlyle and his
brilliant, peppery Jane. Happy is the
man-yes. blessed-who has a hobby and
can afford 10 crafty it-thrice happy if
he has one heart and mind set near him
and thoroughly IN sympathy with his Dur-
suit. his tastes his temperament, his ILL
luck, or good fortune
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
hooks and Hooks.

He is in no danger of buying trash OF
counterfeits, having, like the greatest vi
the tribe, dear Charles Lamb, perfect
knowledge Of the immeasurable difference
between q book. and a thing in book IS
clothing" Out Of five thousand books
all ranged in the shop windows. heaped
on the floors. buried under counters. and
entOmbed in the back regions Of the long
narrow, dimly-lit. mUsty. fusty shops of
q city. written by hundreds Of authors
In dozens Of tongues, he viii pick out as
III by some infaiIible instinct fifty that a
collector would delight in and recoup him
self hundred times over for what he has
spent.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
The ChaBerOu.

One chaperon complained bitterly Of a
beautiful young girl who had ninety
nine points In the hundred in her OWE
hands. set there by Nature when she was
born. "Oh. yes, she is pretty" said Mad
anne; but she Is staying at my house.
She was brought 20 this ball by me; l got
her card for her; I have sat on this hard
bench all evening. and she has not once
been to ask me if I vas enjoying the
evening. nor given me a thought
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Crabbe.

Crabbe, the English poet, IS a cOnspic-
nous instance of the difference that d
powerful friend makes in a young mans
career. a genius, he would have been
hopelessly wrecked in the deep waters of
poverty but for Edmund Burke. He came
up to London poor lad OF eighteen, with
nothing but some surgical instruments
and his clothes He was deeply in love
with the girl whom he afterward married.
He failed in medicine. He was the round
peg in the square hole as a doctor
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Book Collecting

Most young men who are university
bred bring away enough love of books
from their alma mater to begin 10 form
a library Most OF them lean 10 gorgeous
and beautiful specimens Of the b0oimak-
ing art in spOtless splendOr. vaTiegdted
cloths, or morocco. calf. Russia, editions
de luxe Of the best known authors
Dickens, Thackeray, Macaulay, Scott
and the like.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10
Ruskfn.

Books were the breath Of John Rus
kin's nOstrils, of course. He couldn't so
much as imagine by a painful effort any
BODY doing without them, and the best
ones, toO-anything else he had a royal
scO:n for. He says that to his mind. the
abyss of penuTy" IS not to be able to
buy books.
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

patron and the gaol" At last he appealed
10 Burke, who became his warm friend
and most helpful critic; took him into
his own house and made his fortune
When he published The Village" the
Duke of Rutland took him up. The
Newspaper" and The Parish Register"
The Borough" and Tales of the Hall"
completed the quota 10 English literature
OF the poet whom Byron calls Natures
sternest painter, yet the best"
The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Il hear that you called me a land
shark, said the real estate dealer hoty.
Yes" said the customer, and 1 desire
to apologize for it. The lots you sold NE
are under water at high tide. You're
really a marine shark"
However. even this concession did not
seem to restore the entente cordiaIe.