davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Romances Of Progress
ELI WHITNEY-The Magician Who Made Nation Rich

young New Highlander went down
to Georgia in 1892 to teach school
He was a raw-boned Massachusetts,
youth, Eli Whitney by name, who had
just worked his way through Yale by
doing carpentry jobs and tutoring his
less clever classmates.
Young Whitney had no money; nc
prospects. The part of Georgia to
which he went could support a school.
master only at starvation wages. 1t
was a farming section Cotton was
the principal crop. There was not
much money in this product, for the
time and labor involved in picking
and cleaning it for market were too
great to allow large margin. Hence
the planters were poor and many of
them talked of emigrating.
Whitney lived on the plantation of
Gen. Nathaniel Greene's widow, a
thrifty soul, who took motherly in
terest in the poor New Highlander. He
Is also said to have been deeply in
love with pretty Georgia girl whom
mutual lack of funds prevented his
marrying.
The chief topic Of conversation in
the neighborhood was cotton, and the
chief complaint the difficulty of sep
arating the lint from the seed in the
cotton boil. This work was all done
by hand. One man, working hard
could only separate a single pound of
cotton in a day.
Mrs. Greene had noticed how handy
her young boarder was with carpen-
try tools and in improving and patch
ing up farm utensils. She told some
Inv.,.. of her neighbors
the Cotton Gin. she was certain
he could devise
some sort of apparatus for helping
them out Of their difficulty. To please
the old lady, Whitney set to work
thinking out the desired invention.
Soon he became intensely interested
m 1t on his own account He utilized
an clubhouse for his workshop and
drew up rough plan for what was
later to be known as "the cotton gin"
At last the first cotton gin was COM
plete. 1t was mechanism of revolv-
ing brushes and saws, fitted up with
an automatic fan to throw aside the
lint as the machinery moved. BY
means of this invention, which a sim
gle man or woman could operate, 1000
pounds Of cotton could be separated
from the seeds in day. In other
words, 1t would enable one man to
accomplish just thousand times as
much work in day as before. 1t was
equal to cotton-separating force of
l 900 workers.
News OF the miraculous continuance
spread through all the south. People
hundreds of miles to view
the invention and to watch it at work.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
DANGER NOT CLOSE AT HAND
Men Will Run Things a Few Years
Yet Is the Prophecy Of the OBJ
servant Drummer.

A group Of men were discussing the
possibilities and dangers of woman
suffrage. All but one expressed the
fear that the movement was gaining
such momentum that in a compare
lively short time this fair land would
be transformed and man no longer
would be master. The exception, a
commercial traveller, with years of
experience in studying human nature,
scoffed at their alarm.
Don't worry" he said. We'll be
safe for good many years yet. In all
my trips about the country find that
two-thirds of the women travellers,
even those who are self-reliant enough
% gallivant about alone, can't go to
Sed even in a sleeping car without
first looking under the berth to see
IL there is a man there. So long as
that primitive feminine instinct sur
wives our institutions are SAFE"
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

taking Lydia E. Pinkhan's Vegetable
Compound to see what it would do,
and | am restored to my natural
health. MRS. ETA DONOVAN, Box
200, Willimantic, Conn.
The success of Lydia E. Pinkham's
Vegetable Compound, made from roots
and herbs, is unparalleled. 1t may be
used with perfect confidence by women
who suffer from displacements, inflam-
nation, liberation, fibroid tumors, IL
regularities, periodic pains, backache,
bearing-down feeling, fiatulency, indi-
gestion, dizziness, or nervous prostra-
ton.
For thirty years Lydia E. Pinkham's
Vegetable Compound has been the
standard remedy for female ills, and
suffering women owe it to themselves
to at least give this medicine q trial
Proof is abundant that it has cured
thousands of Others, and why should it
not cure your
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
OBJECTED TO BEING SHOCKED
Partisan Purveyor of Snails Went Too
Far In His Efforts to Prevent
Petty Larceny.

Electrifying shop wares to prevent
larceny is an ingenious practice in
Paris. A man who sells snails near
the Bourse found that gourmets in
passing frequently "pinched" hand
full of them and disappeared. He had
q brilliant idea, and connected the
wire baskets in which the snails are
offered for sale with an electric bat
terry in his shop. When a genuine
customer came along he cut off the
current. The snails themselves were
permanently electrified without appar-
ent harm. Anyhow, they did not OBJ
5ect audibly, and they seemed just as
good to eat after the treatment as be-
fore, when boiled and seasoned. But
a party Of schoolboys passed the shop
and "pinched" some of them They
had no sooner done so than they set
up bowls which brought a crowd. In
curing bystanders touched the snails,
also. and similarly yelled. The cur
rent was not strong enough to kill
the snails, but transmitted a shock
which made the shocked persons
dance. Having recovered, they rushed
into the shop and went for the shop
man. Some of them were dancing
upon him and others were wrecking
his establishment when the police
came and rescued him.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Four Men Who We're Punished for
Helping Mankind

A factory was on fire. The anger
:razed mob who had set it ablaze
lanced about the flames and clam
bred for the factory-owner's life. Not
content with impoverishing him and
burning his life-work, they now
searched for him far and near in or.
der to complete their atrocities by
tearing him to pieces or throwing him
into the fire. The man they sought
was James Hargreaves. The only
crime he had committed was to revo.
lutionize the cotton industry by in
venting machine which should some
day make cotton many times cheaper
and give employment to countless
thousands of poor people
Cotton is a commonplace sort of
fabric.
Cotton had been introduced into Eng
land before the seventeenth century.
but the labor and slowness of weay-
ing had made it's manufacture ex-
pensive and of doubtful general use.
Each thread was spun separately by
Wheel The looms were also awkward
affairs worked by hand; each cottage
In many districts contained both
loom and wheel. Hundreds of peo-
pie picked up scanty living by spin
ming and weaving
Hargreaves, an ignorant, illiterate
fellow, who nevertheless had a latent
inventive genius. one day in 1867 saw
a spinning wheel accidentally Knocked
How Accident over. he noticed
Cav. u.r,re,v.s that the wheel
u,s a.. kept on turning
MS 'oea' in spite of it's
overturned condition. This gave him
an idea. Using the new position of
the wheel as basis, he set to work
on what he called spinning engine"
and what the dialect of his country
later changed in name to a spinning
jenny (''jenny" and gin" are both
corruptions of the word "engine'D.
This machine contained at first eight
and later so spindles, turned by
common wheel or cylinder, which was
worked by hand. 1t was capable of
spinning from 20 to 30 threads at
time. instead Of one. as formerly.
The natural result of course would be
to lower the price of spun cotton,
popularize its use and thus in time
not only cut down the expenses of the
poor, but give employment to thou
sands where only hundreds had before
found work. But the weavers and
spinners were too short-sighted to ap-
preciate this. All they could see was
that their old-fashioned hand work
was no longer in demand So they
burned Hargreaves' mill and wrecked
all his property they could lay hands
on Other and luckier men took ND
Hargreaves' idea Of the spinning jen-
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Devices for a Sore Foot.

The sufferer from enlarged joints
better known as bunion, usually is
IN great discomfort in hot weather
There is a device that will give relief
by protecting the bunion from rub
bling OF shoe.
This is a simple piece of leather Gu,
and bent in such a way that it fits
smoothly over the portion of foot
where the bunion is. The casing is
lined with soft felt and an opening is
provided for the enlarged joint, while
the surrounding leather holds off the
shoe. The protector is so shaped that
there can be no rubbing from a bad
at.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

Whitneys name was on all lips. Then,
as he was arranging to patent his cot.
ton gin, thieves broke into his work
shop one night and stole the model,
hoping to copy it and make similar
gins of their own before the patent
could be secured. Thus at the very
threshold of success, Whitney re-
ceived his first terrible setback. Furi-
Gus at such ingratitude from inhabi-
tants of the very section that was to
profit most by his invention, Whit
ney left the south and moved to Con-
necticut, where he began a systematic
manufacture of cotton gins. In this
he was aided by the state of South
Carolina, which showed its thanks to
him in the very practical form of .
gift of 100000.
But his rights were assailed and he
became involved in a series of costly
lawsuits, nearly all of which he lost.
Thus his invention of the cotton gin
proved merely barren honor.
But the gin itself had by that time
revolutionized American commerce.
In 1871 only 1S9,500 pounds of cotton
had been exported to Europe The
next year Whitney's apparatus was
made, and in 1903 the annual amount
of export cotton had been increased
to 100000 pounds. Cotton growing
became a splendidly paying industry.
Thousands of miles of southern terri
~ tory were opened
$780, up to cultivation
and trade, and
employment was secured for mil
lions of workers. The price of
cotton fell and it became well within
the means of the poor. America for
the first time was recognized the
world over as great trading center.
United States products became abso-
lutely necessary to Europe. What
Washington had done for freedom
Whitney had done for trade. His cot
ton gin trebled the value of southern
land, changed barren wastes to rich
estates, built up capital and created
a new valuation and distribution of
property.
He was, however, more fortunate in
later ventures. For, in 1898, he in
vented a process for making firearms
In detached parts (the first time it
had ever been done) with a separate
set OF workers on each part, the diff
ferent pieces to be later fitted ac-
curately together. He started a fac
tory for this industry in Whitneyville,
Conn, and grew rich.
But it is because of his cotton gin
that Eli Whitney deserves his niche
in the Hall of Fame. He laid the cor.
nerstone of our. country's commercial
greatness. And the empty gratitude
of the nation he enriched is the only
payment he ever received.
(Copyrighted.)
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Like Weeds In a Niaht.

"Of course children outgrow most
youthful vocations," said the observer
Little girls grow too tall for cash
girls, little boys spring up out of the
size of bell hops in night or two, it
looks like, but the most pathetic
specimen Of sudden and untimely out
growing Is the flower boy who sells
roses in the downtown Italian cafes.
who one season stands hardly higher
than the table, looking at you SO visit
FULLY out of big, sad Italian eyes that
the money comes out of your pocket
OF itself. and the next season towers
over you like football player, all the
sympathy you felt for the infant
flower seller crushed by his gigantic
size"
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

Pictures In the Alexander Museum
In the afternoon we went to the
Alexander museum, very beautiful
building between two gardens, which
was once the palace of the Grand
Duke Michael Palovitch, and made by
Alexander III. into a national museum
of arts.
The pictures are all of the modern
Russian school, some of them very
fine, and among them many by We're
schagin-scenes of the war of 1912
with Napoleon and a number of his
small oriental paintings.
After looking at them we walked to
the Alexander Memorial church, built
over the spot where he fell, which is
preserved under a canopy of bronze,
the rough paving stones upon which
his blood was spilled looking very
pathetic among so much gold and
mosaic.
The church. which cost 100000
rubles, is most gorgeous in color, the
interior being entirely of mosaic, and
IN the sanctuary, into which l was al.
lowed only to look. the silver candle
labra and the icons are most costly
st. Petersburg Letter to Vogue.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Poor Relations.

1T the people who are perfectly
well able would take care of their poor
relatives" said the curate at Trinity,
the church wouldn't have so much
care on its shoulders. Did you see
that woman who just went out? She
Is enthusiastically starving. The
doctor told her that the partial loss of
her eyesight is due to the lack of
food. Well. her husband is wealthy
Englishman. so wealthy that / am GO
ing to see lawyer about writing him
letter that will bring him to his
senses, hope. He Is a member of a
prominent family that would hate
such exposure as / shall threaten it
with unless they take care of this
wife o. his. And did you see the poor
wretch who is waiting outside in the
anteroom for me to give him money
for a bite to eat? His brother is a
wealthy broker at No. 81 Wall street"
New York Press.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Feeding EnaIIsh school children,

For year or more the nottingham
school authorities have provided
meals for pupils whose parents were
too poor to feed them sufficiently.
About 500 children, representing some
200 families, are now being fed. Ar.
rangements are made with several
restaurants to supply breakfasts. din.
ners, or both, to children showing
proper vouchers. Each month approx.
imateiy $1,000 meals about equally
divided between breakfasts and din.
ners are supplied, costing roundly
$65o-about four cents a meal
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Adjustable.

Aunt Anne, an old family darby.
was sitting with knees crossed in the
kitchen, when the young daughter of
the house entered and, impressed with
the hugeness of the old womans feet.
asked what size shoe she wore.
well, honey" replied Aunt Anne.
Il kin wear Fights; l ginerally wear
mines; but desc yer Use got on am
twelves, an de good Lawd knows dey
hu'ts me!"-Everybody's Magazine.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

cubic yards of cubic inch of dynamite when vaed given
shock suh from decorating cap) transformed into
mendous volume of Dynamite placed slab rock and
then exploded will blast the rock gunpowder similarly placed namp
will have little effect the
In time effect the change from the solid q form
the The elements gunpowder hose combination the
change of state from solid gseous different molecules
the mass and therefore require comparatively long time the
explosion In dynamite Tor ntrogyn) the combining elements
carbon and hognae the moecu the suddnne
and violence of the explosion
The the slab shattered dynamite and not by gunpowder
that the slab offers less resistance the sudden explosive than
does the above the slab When stop the weight
atmosphere ordinary attitudes exploding dynamite
must do of two thnher lift with almost
denness the whole the above break the slab It
does the latter With unpowder the comparative combustion
makes easier task pu the atmosphere away than
break the rock The principle involved illustrated attempting
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

Recent dispatches from Paris told of
the arrest of quartet of American card
sharps who were accused of swindling rich
tourists from their own country at Euro
pean watering places. 1t is sad day for
the Yankee crook who gets caught fleeing
people by means of cheating at cards on
the other side of the Atlantic. 1 was in
Italy some three or four years ago when
the police of Naples bagged couple of
American gamblers who had robbed we'll
to-do and unsuspecting countrymen Of
theirs of large sums of money. One of
these men waa forrrorlv ~ A. Tr-:4l
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

walk upstairs
without stopping
on the way. /
tried three differ
ent doctors and
each told me some
thing different. I
received no benefit
from any of them,
but seemed to suf-
fer more. The last
doctor said MOTH
ing would restore
~
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

to lift very suddenly pamleaf fan in direction at
right angles to the plane of the leaf, e. lift it at
wise" The handle of the fan will snap, due to the
resistance offered by the air. The same fan can be
lifted more slowly, however, without injuring it.
This explains why the force of dynamite is eek
erted downward" In scientific parance, the iner-
tia of the atmosphere is greater than the cohesveness
of the rock.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
AFTER
DOCTORS
FAILED
LydiaE. Pinkham's Vegeta-
bic Compound Cured Her.

Willimantic, Conn.-"For five years
l suffered untold agony from female
troubles, causing backache, irregulari-
ties, dizziness and nervous prostra-
ton. 1t was impossible for me to
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Brooklyn FIao Factory.

One Of the biggest official flag fac
tories in the world is in the Brooklyn
navy yard. Between eighty and one
hundred women work there all the
year round making flags for the use
of Uncle Sans fighting ships. They
use up 100000 yards OF bunting a year
and fashion Alb different kinds of off,
cial flags. The flags cost $4,000 q
year.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

Although the United States govern
ment has force of shrewd agents con-
stantly on the watch for opium smugglers
at oriental ports as well as in American
cities, the willy Chinks are forever bringing
the drug into the United States without
paying cent of the tremendous duty
about 100 per cent-imposed on it by our
tariff law.
A pair of Chinese sailors were caught
in my town the other day who had several
hundred dollars worth Of struggled opium
which they had brought over in freight
steamer from Canton. As this boat had
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Exploding
Dynamite
Carries with
Equal Force in
All Directions
By G. WELLESLEY BRABBIr

YNAMITE explodes with equal force in all directions This
is in response to query by E. Barnard That force how
direction of least resistance As Mr. Barnard says he pop
ular belief is that expode with greater force downward
Like most popular beliefs it is founded experience wrongly
interpreted By explosion mea speaking physically
the rapid transformation of comparatively small Of
liquid solid into enormous mass of gas cubic
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Language Of Eden.

He docking at the catalogue of
women's styles)-They still use the
language of the first fashion plate.
don't they?
His Wife-What do you mean?
He-Fig. 1, Fig. 2. and so on.
Judge.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02
Opium
Smuggling
Never
Ceases
By Capt. A. H. cHENNEyILLE

making regular trips to New Orleans for months
thousands of dollars had up by the p If t
game Chinese sailor gets low wages hide few
tins of the poppy product and dispose first American town
h. reaches he will After the stuff GETS no the
hands of local dealer he finds ready sale it.
The buy the that contain enough for one
smoke at cost of rs cents Opium ends will five of
these cards day when they have the price, they commit any
Stunning passion
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-10-02

W. N. w. Little Rock. 10. s7-isos.
The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-02-06

nent with small regard to the
political boundary lines with
seperate them. Indeed, it is
said that he considered invit-
ing Canada and Mexico to the
first Conservation Conference
at the White House but that
he refrained from doing so
because he was unwilling to
run the remotest risk of ask
ing these two Nations to asso.
ciate themselves with the
conservation movement b.
lore it was certain that it was
going to succeed. Now that
success is assured he feels
that since The two Nations
have indentical interests and
indentical aspirations they
can work together along con-
serEation .hpea just as thel
repreeentati ves at the. StateI
work together without regard |
"a State boundaries.
The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-02-06
Mr.. Broussard Will Aid
Board.
Proposition for Canal From New
Orleans to Rouma,

In letter received by tn. board OF
trade from Congressman Broussard
the Congressman from the Third Dis
trict promised his help to secure the
appropriation that it has asked for in
order TO prov d for surveyor of the
proposed canal from New Orleans to
Houma by way Of Morgan City. The
board of trade has beeu actively in
terested 10 this project. and last
spring members Of that organization,
accom- panied By Major Behrman and
other officials made q Tip along the
course of the proposed waterway
Congressman Broussam expressed
himself as being in sympathy with
the movement, and assured the hoard
of trade that he would appear before
the committee ON rivers and harbxs
to urge the appropriation.
The proposed canal is intended as
part of the contemplated inter-coast-
a: canal. The operation of such
waterway would result, 50 those inter-
ested in the project believe, 10 mater
ial benefit both to New Orleans and
to the section of the country through
which the canal would run.-States.
The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-02-06

The committee appointed to inves-
tlgate the conduct of the Alexandria
police force relative to disorderly
houses and saloons fled report of
so sensational nature it was not al
lowed to be read aloud, but was order
ed filed in the city clerks office, where
those interested could 60 and read it
for themselves.
The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-02-06

A city visitor this week was Mr..
I. b. Roger, the extensive Lafourche
Planter, he having recently returned
from the coming sugar country, as
he calls Mexico, He went to Mexico
to look after affairs at the Rascon es
tate, In which firm he is one of the
officers, aud tells us the Racou 60. is
progressing we'll with the installation
OF Improvements at the factory and
that things are generally booming a.
round Racon way.-The Sugar Plan
ters' journal.
The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-02-06
- . . -

Mr.. E. K. Marquette has requested
US to extend, through these columns.
his most sincere thanks to bis neigh
hors and friends, and the fire depart
ment for their promptness in extin-
gushing the fire at his residence
Sunday, and especially to Messrs U.
j. Toups. II. G. Chol, Pierre Bou-
dreaux, Philip Braud and Prot. Louis
Trone.
The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-02-06

st. Francisville has practical pro-
h1bition for the whites, and unexpect-
ed, amazing and amusing turn of at.
fairs that the new law has made
The practical effects of prohibition
may now be observed whether the
jug trade will be increased, and gene.
raj drinking be increased or dimin-
lshsd. The new law gives partial pro-
hibition without l,ss of revenue to
the town. The course of events will
be watched with considerable inter-
est.-St. Francisville True Democrat