davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

uOW James G. Blaine might have
IL been saved from the effects of the
famous blunder by DR.. Burchard in
the campaign Of 1884 is a story re-
vived in Washington by the news of
the death in Brooklyn the other day of
Andrew Devine, long reporter of the
house of representatives. Devine was
friend of Blaine and was assigned
by the Associated Press to travel with
him in the campaign. He supervised
Blaine's speeches and would furnish
local data and make suggestion for
replies to- addresses of welcome.
On the morning the delegation
headed by DR.. Burchard called on
Blaine, Devine was obliged to 20 to
Brooklyn to attend the funeral of his
Wife's father. After the funeral, on
returning to New York to join Blaine
at the Fifth Avenue hotel, Devine saw
an account in the afternoon newspa-
pers of DR.. Burchard's Rum, Roman
ism and Rebellion" speech and
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

NO decision ever reached by the cabi-
~ net of president created greater
excitement than this pronunciamento
issued by President Taft a few days
ago:
The president wants the cook to
stop sending up to him every day at
one o'clock red apple and shred
ded wheat biscuit for his luncheon. He
wants substituted for it a meal worthy
OF a grown up man. There must in
future be cup Of soup, a bit of roast
or fish, vegetable or two, season
able desert or fruit, and a glass Of
iced tea or buttermilk."
The members of MIR. Taft's cabinet
who have been conforming to the
simple lunch habit set by their boss
manifested their exultation by a
chorus of joyful thanksgiving. They
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

<tQ1B BILL" Taft went to the mat
ID with Dan Cupid in the White
House the other day and in 13 min
utes had the little love god beaten to
a pulp. For IL minutes Dan gave the
big fellow fair tussle, but then the
weight began to tell; and when the
bigger man got a toe hold in bunch
Of red tape it was easy to pin the kids
shoulders to the door.:
Ole Maid, who refereed the bout,
slapped Taft on the shoulder and
called him a winner: There was little
cheering. A fine big stork which
acted as second for Dan flew from the
arena. The last heard of her she was
loudly screaming for "Bwana Tumbo, -
or some other seaport.
Dan may get well, but he'll never
look the same: 1t is feared that he is
injured somewhere near the ambition
to shoot at soldier and sailor but
tons. This has long been his favorite
cunning and the blow given him by
President Taft may ruin what was
otherwise likely looking boys fu-
ture. Taft weighed in at 80 seaside
and Dan tipped the beam at 26A. The
big fellow looked fit and Dan was
slightly nervous when it began.
In other words, President Taft for
mally signed the new naval regula-
ton which forbids midshipmen to
marry within the six years of their
cadet course. Heretofore the mid.
dies were kept away from matrimony
during their four years at Annapolis
The two years sea service which
undoing of many of the "middies" and
many became rmarried men before
they had learned to use q safety rasor'
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
USE PUNCTUATION MARKS To
EXPRESS, MEANING.

In school we are given a complicated
series Of rules on punctuation which
OF course we cannot hope to remem-
Der long. and which therefore are of
no value to us in letter writing. So
most Of US stick in q punctuation mark
here and there where we think per
haps one would be required by some
vague rule vaguely remembered.
\; Punctuation might be a very simple
matter. hoMeyer. If we used it in a
eommonsense way to help US express
our meaning: My great rule is,
NEVER PUT IN A PUNCTUATION
MARK UNLESS IT HELPS TO MAX.
ING THE MEANING CLEARER. Fine
shades of meaning are often expressed
by punctuation marks, il we know
how to do it. If we. don't, those
shades of meaning escape us. l will
speak of few common errors that
should be avoided.
Many run two sentences together
with only a comma between when the
second sentence begins with then,
therefore," however" or some such
word. These are not relative words
like "when." "since," etc., and while
they indicate sequence of thought,
they convey no grammatical relation.
ship, and should Introduce new sen.
tences with capital letters following
periods. Some stenographers always
set however of by commas, unmind.
full of the fact that it has two different
meanings and is a relative adverb in
such q clause as however much in.
sist."
The comma is used to separate
words or groups of words which would
be likely to be run together in a con.
fused way il there were no comma
between them. Any word or phrase
thrown in by way of explanation is al
ways set of by commas, but some in
sist on setting off by comma all rela'
tive clauses beginning with "who,
"when." or the like, largely because
they do not understand the rule that
Restrictive clauses are not set on
by commas. The better way is to
forget all about where commas are
NOT to be put, and and insert them
only when you feel that two distinct
phrases or clauses are in danger ot
being confused II commas are not
used. Common sense is a much bet
ter thing to tie to than a bunch o1
mechanical rules.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
4eQ0jno Letters,

'The last kind of correspondence to
yield to the seductions of typewrit.
ing machine is begging letters" said q
private secretary. mot long ago q
typewriter letter from an individual
who needed aid was q rarity. With
institutions, of course, it was differ
ent; typewriter in their case was
supposed to be legitimate asset. But
the general writer, even If he had &C.
cess to a typewriter, was afraid to
use it. Apparently he reasoned that q
typewriter letter would give the i'm
preston that he couldn't be so very
hard up after all, else he couldn't af-
ford a typewriter, so he stuck to pen
and ink. Now three-fourths of the
begging letters we receive are type
written. The petitioners benefit in
stead Of lose by that evidence of pros.
perity, for we are so grateful for the
tightening of our own labors that We
give them something out Of gratitude" {"
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
German Theater 10 Rearotted.

German Theater 10 Reoratted.
The Berliner Tageblatt contains this
notice in a recent letter from New
York: "Died-the New German the
ater. We bespeak sympathy for X.
Blitz, business manager, and Dr..
Baumbeld and Eugene Burg, artistic
leaders. The theater has already been
leased to Americans, who will ais
pense there, in keeping with the fash
ions, dramatic lemonade for misses
and mammas. A sad ending to 4
propitious beginning. remember the
festive opening night, with Widen
bruch's Rabensteinerin.' Supersti-
tious theater people saw in the play
which dealt with ravens bad omen,
and when a black cat 1tn across the
stage before the curtain went up, that
finished it."
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

information as to how to get It in the
easiest way. j. : T.. = -
If the letter has gained the interest
OF the reader, he then wants to know
all about the proposition. A printed
circular should, therefore, be at hand
to tell the story. all over again in log
1cal order, with complete details, in
order to confirm the good impression
and produce complete conviction. Out
OF 1000 printed circulars inclosed in a
batch of circular letters, $50 may never
be looked at, but they have to be sent
out In order that the so who are inter-
ested by the letter may have the full
story at hand to complete their con-
viction and secure the so orders.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

future duty on these and found she
was in about two dollars more. Stiu
chasing the economy bug, she an.
nexed three yards of silk and calcu-
lated on a net custom house saving Of
Is cents. BY that time decided there
were limits even to economy. So I
told her she really shouldn't be 50
scrimping. With my income, I said,
such frugality was unnecessary
was. And so persuaded her to 60
out and squander that last Is cents
on pound of chocolates that weren't
going up to dollar in the near future
and tell you l thought was get
ting out of it easy"
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
POINTS ON LETTERhEADs.

We often hear that good stationery
and printing pay, yet we continually
see extremely poor letterheads, and
very few that are not commonplace.
A MISUNDERSTANDING lett6fhead
that costs little money is what the
average business man wants if he
can get it, but usually he doesn't
know how to get it.
First, the paper. The country is
flooded with cheap bond papers, and
they are good If they can be had in
htgh-class color or finish. I have used
a ten-cent bond with cloth-like or
linen finish which looks like a Is or
20-cent paper in 20-pound weight.
Too often only the lighter weights are
obtainable in cheap bonds. On an
other occasion I used a manila paper
that had color and finish that really
resembled parchment, the cost six
cents a pound. A friend of mine
thought the idea a good one, but got
another make of paper at the same
price which somehow suggested wrap
ping paper rather than parchment, and
his letterheads looked so bad he had
to throw them away. For a long time
tried to get letterhead in French
gray, but that color was to be had
only in the very expensive bonds. At
last book paper costing seven cents
pound was put on the market and
the French gray color made the cheap
letterheads look distinguished.
Large circularizing on a low-price
proposition requires cheap letterheads
to permit a reasonable profit, and an
extra effort has to be made to get
something that looks rich but costs
little.
Second, the type. The days of
large and expensive autographed heads
are passing, though lithography pro-
duces the simpler modern heads with
far greater delicacy and artistic effect
when they can be afforded. The aver
age business man has to use type.
and too commonly leaves the selec-
tion of the type to the printer,
whose taste is generally poor. Moth
ing is more Objectionable than a type
with an old-fashioned cut, especially
II it has curlycues, is too narrow (lean,
or condensed), or too thin in line The
best modern type is round, rather
thick, with the edges not too even but
resembling fine hand lettering. Only
one face should be used (printers seem
always to be working in a number of
different and unharmonious styles),
and the proportionate size of the diff.
ferent items on the head is very i'm.
portant. A letterhead should be read
at a glance as far as the important
parts are concerned, and even when
some text is inserted for reference
only, the effect of the whole at the
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
HOW TO GET A LONG ARGUMENT
READ.

Very short letters may be read quite
question is whether they will produce
conviction and bring orders. In most
lines of business it takes long story
to produce conviction, and so it has
been found profitable in some cases to
mail out very long and solid-looking
letters, only a very small percentage
of which will be read, because the pro-
portion of orders from the few that
are read is so high.
There are two methods of. combin-
ing the advantages of the long and
the short. The first is to run an ad-
vertisement or send out a circular let
ter merely to pique curiosity and get
an inquiry; then to deluge inquirers
with printed matter and long letters.
This method is most largely worked
by the dictionary and cyclopedia ad-
vertisers, whose preliminary advertise
ments are rather long, but whose com
plete argument could not possibly be
condensed into even a very long let.
ter. The other, largely used when the
argument is of medium length, con-
sists in Turing the reader from point
to point. A prospective customer re.
ceives circular letter with printed
matter inclosed. He is sure to look
at the corner of the envelope first, and
even If there is a one-cent stamp on
the letter he may be interested by the
advertising catchline in the corner
card. The same or some other ad-
vertising catchline gets his attention
in his first glance at the letter itself,
and he looks down the page at the
underscored or capitalized phrases,
and the short, easy paragraphs. Ii
these lead him on to read the whole
letter he should get complete outline
of the argument, including a brief ex.
planation of how the thing works or
what it really is, proof of it's value, and
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
LEGAL STATUS OF The SCREAM.

In obtaining legal determination
of the value of scream, Miss Grace
Reals of Chicago has performed a dis
tinguished service for her sex. Miss
Reals, who '1s AM actress, sued a drug
gist for injury tp her vocal chords, al
legged to have BEEN caused through a
mistake in fiiiing a=preserfptlsa, and
has been awarded $4,000; says the
Pittsburg Gazette-Times. The jury
was told that in emotional roles,
when the villain became per4Mlbpsly
active, Miss Reals had to engage AN
other woman to do the screaming &fot
her. The jury agreedsthat a. scream
less actress is sadly Handicapped in
her art, but its verdict, should sanord
protection to women, other than those
who follow the profession of the
stage. No woman can 60 safely and
happily through life without q scream.
From mice to burglars. +. there is a
broad variety Of emergencies, each re-
4uAAAA6 40 o"Ao eeASonA ~ PeSuAA9A
intensity: There. are married men Of
long experience who claim to be able
to tell from the tone of a scream
whether there is a mouse in the re-
frigerator or little Johnny has tumbled
into the we'll. The occupants OF a
Kansas City fiat building were saved
from horrible death by the scream
of woman, which summoned the fire
department. Therefore, an impairment
OF her vocal chords which interferes
with her natural screaming powers is
easily worth $1,000. In fact, the Chi
cago druggist who is to pay that sum
to Miss Reals may congratulate him.
self on getting of so lightly.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
A LETTER TO SELL A SPECIAL
SIZE OF DICTIONARY.

Unless you bring the customer step
by step to the exact point where lies
the advantage of what you have to Of
fer, you cannot hope to make a sale.
ASK man il he wants to buy a
good dictionary, and he at once says
No." since he already has one at
home he never uses.
But you can lead him point by point
from certain deficiency he inevitably
feels to an interested consideration of
special dictionary which you have to
offer, as follows:
wouldn't your letters be far more
correct If you had DICTIONARY so
HANDY you could keep it on your
desk, and feel you had time to refer to
it every day?
"A pocket dictionary is so small it
is worthless.
AN unabridged dictionary is so
large you cannot carry it, and it takes
you twice as much time to find any
thing as you can afford.
"A cheap dictionary is not worth
; buying, because you never know
when it will mislead you with it's er.
rors.
For the average busy man the
BEST DICTIONARY ON EARTH is
the new Condensed National"
You have prepared the reader for a
medium-sized dictionary at reason
ably high cost, and can plunge in and
tell him all about the Condensed Ma
tional, clinching your arguments in ia
vor of 1t by Offering one or two quo
tat1ons from business men who have
actually used it in their offices. BEST
Dictionary on Earth" is emphasis with
would be repelled by such a sweeping
claim; but if you really believe the
Condensed National is the best die
tionary on earth for the particular
man you are writing to, he will appie-
ciate it If you tell him SO right out,
without beating about the bush. There
is certain amount of daring in such
emphasis, but it is sign of the en-
thusiasm that carries men with it.,
IF 1T is BACKED UP BY CONV1C-
T1ON. If it is not so backed up, it
ought not to be used. I am a strong
believer in sincerity and personal con-
viction of the truth of what is said
1t is not practical to use the under
score in type, but in typewriter let
ters I should substitute the under
score as often as possible for capitals.
as shown above, since small letters
are more easily read than canitala
and I consider the underscore moro
emphatic and stronger than capital.
izing.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

The Young Turks want the moral
support of the United States. Turkey
is certainly progressing when the
country, or any part of it, comes to
recognize the value of moral support
and the inadequacy of periodical mas.
sacre and summary executions to
bring about peace and harmony with
popular support of the government.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
Feminine Finance

"Some time I'm going to write a
book on Feminine Finance that will
just knock the spots of the frenzied
variety" said an Unkind Masculine
Individual the other day. "You see, I
have an economical wife," continued
the U. M. I. Last week she invested
in 80 pairs Of silk stockings. By that
transaction she decided she'd saved
five dollars. She argued that each pair
could have cost 1T least ten cents
more II she hadn't bought before the
new tariff bill passed. SO with the
five spot she got two new pairs Of
gloves. She reckoned up the probable
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

Of the California Fig Syrup Co. and tho
scientific attachments Of its chemists have
rendered possible the production of Syrup
Of Figs and Elixir of SIENNA, IN all Of it.
excellence, by obtaining the~p pure medic
inal prineip@esof plants known to act most
bene6cially and combining them most
skillfully; in the right proportions, with
its wholesome and refreshing Syrup of
! California Fies. 10; ) III Il
As there is only one genuine Syrup Of
Fig and Elixir Of Senna and a. the gen-
uine is manufactured by an original
method known to the California Fig S Syrup
Co. only, it is always, necessary to buy the
genuine to get its beneficial effects.
A knowledge Of the above facts enables
one to decline limitations Or to return them
Il, upon viewing the package, the full name
Of the California Fig Syrup Go. is not found
printed ON the front thereof.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02

A big automobile manufacturing
concern has just closed deal which
involves a contract for disposing of
$50,000,000 worth of the machines.
Who says that the American automo.
bile industry Is not becoming big
thing?
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
A Friendly Pointer.

What" asked Arizona AL, when tho
new editor had taken charge of The
Daily Rattlesnake, us goin' to be your
policy?''
my policy, my friend, is going to
be to tell the truth according to my
lights, and let the chips fall where
they may"
stranger, that's good policy, but
be sure before you 60 to press that
you've got your lights adjusted to suit
all parties. This is bad place for
people that gifts the wrong focus"
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
PRESSED HARE
cotfee's Weight on Old Age.

When prominent men realize the in
furious effects of coffee and the change
in health that Postum can bring. they
are glad to lend their Testimony for
the benefit Of others. . .>,->,,.
A superintendent Of public schools
In one of the southern states says:
my mother, since her early child
hood, was on inveterate coffee drinker,
had been troubled with her heart for .
number Of years and complained Of
that weak all over feeling and sick
stomach.
"some time ago I was making an on
cial visit to distant part of the coun-
try and took dinner with one of the
merchants of the place. I noticed .
somewhat peculiar favour Of the cof-
fee, and asked him concerning it. He
replied that it was Postum.
Il was 30 pleased with 1t, that after
the meal was over, I bought a package
to carry home with me, and had wife
prepare some for the next meal. The
whole family were 80 well pleased
with it, that we discontinued coffee
and used Postum entirely.
Il had really been at times very
anxious concerning my mothers con.
dition, but we noticed that after using
Postum for a short time, she felt 10
much better than she did prior to its
use, and had little trouble with her
heart and no sick stomach: that tho
headaches were not so frequent, and
her general condition much improved.
This continued until she was a. wen
and hearty as the rest of us.
II know Postum has benefited my.
self and the other members Of tho
family, but not In so marked ! do.
gree as in the case of my mother. a
she was victim of long standing"
Read, 1.-THE Road to Wellville," in
pkgs. there's Reason" ~
Even read the above letter1 A nav
!ooe; a1Dee1e< iron tinet to klnA. l. T6a1
are geanaas, t1Des and t1ll 6 h1na1
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
Sea Fighters Must Wait For Brides

The new regulation came up during
the Roosevelt administration. The
fearless one sidestepped and passed it
to President Taft. He was game and
walloped Cupid in spite of the suf-
fragette vote.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
WHY GRAMMAR Is WORTH DOL
LARS TO THE BUSINESS MAN.

Some business houses dealing with
educated customers have always been
very careful of the grammar of their
letters so as not to offend their. fas.
tidious patrons with vulgar errors.
But when customers were themselves
ignorant of what was dramatically
right or wrong, the hard-headed Amer
ican business man (Who did not have
the advantage OF college education)
has been inclined to say: What do /
care for the grammar Of a letter so
long as it gets the 'business?"
In the last five years the average
American has learned that grammatic.
al accuracy is something quite different
from mere elegance, and even when
customers are SO ignorant they don't
know the difference, the grammatical
letter gets more business than the
ungrammatical.
Grammar is merely the science of
the logical relationships Of words in
sentences. When the meaning is ex,
pressed with absolute clearness and
accuracy, the rules of grammar have
been obeyed whether the writer knows
it or not. Errors of grammar mean
inaccuracy, confusion of thought, q
little cloud between the mind of the
writer and the mind of the customer
The customer may be quite unable to
say what rule of grammar has been
violated, or that any mistake has
been made, but none the less he feels
the cloud, the words have not ex.
pressed the meaning with easy and
logical clearness. Multiply these lit.
tie clouds by 100, 1000, or 10000, and
the actual money cost of a few errors
of grammar frequently repeated will
run to hundreds and thousands Of dol
lars in the case of an extensive bust
ness done by letter.
The way to write dramatically is
not through the study Of the science
of grammar, but through effort to Sc
cure simple. clear, straightforward
expression.
We need simplified grammar, not
the vast body of mechanical rules and
definitions we are taught in school
where we spend all our time trying tt
master the machine without ever be
ing able to use it in practical way.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
MaYhA.

Maybe.
Bac0n-See that woman with all the
diamonds?
Egbert- perhaps she's heard
Of the scheme to try. to signal the
planet Mars.-Yonkers Statesman.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
The 0rone-

Lucinda-Yo, husband doan' take
much interest in baseball, do he, Mrs.
Persimmon? Now, my husband am
always talking about de home plate.
Lucy-Huh! De only plate NAH hus-
band talks about am de -dinneh plate.
The Virginia enterprise., 1909-07-02
ou Lamps Brighter Than Electric
liQht.

lt9nt.
Probably one of the most wonderful
as well as useful Of modern inven-
tions is that Of a New York scientist
who has Just secured from the Gov
ernment protection on a lamp burner,
which by converting the oil into hy-
drocarbon gas, burning on a mantle,
gives an eighty candle power light
with less oil consumption and with
out carbonizing the mantle or over
heating the lamp. It can be fitted to
any lamp and the wick lasts a life
time. There is absolutely no danger,
no odor and no smoke. The Union
Light Co., of New York City, have &C.
quired the selling rights of this burn
er, which is called the "Herzog," after
the inventor, and, we understand, are
making a special discount to introduce
it into each township with a view Of
securing local representative.
Help for the Artists.
The comic supplements are filled
these days with pictures representing
some of the foolish questions that
people ask. Here is a suggestion for
one:
A man was walking hastily through
the rain yesterday afternoon, his um.
brella raised and his head bent. An
acquaintance, standing in q doorway,
hailed him:
Say" he shouted, "are you going
to use that umbrella? II you're not,
lend it to met"
Doesn't that capture tho icing1