davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-03-15

How can any person risk taking some
unknown cough remedy when Foley's
Honey and Tar costs them no more ?
It Is a safe remedy. contains no harm
full drugs, and cures the most obsti-
nate coughs and colds. Why expert
mcnt with your health? Insist upon
having the genuine Foley's Honey and
Tar. J. II. O'Riclly.
Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-03-15

Contracts wore let by the United
states government q few days ago for
the construction at Washington Of
what is expected to be the most
powerful wireless station In the world.
The station viii be able to communi-
cate with naval vessels 5000 miles
away The work. which viii be done
by q Pittsburg concern. viii cost
ttSe.G coo. This win include the crcc-
ton OF a 600-foot tower and the
cQuippins Of one or two naval vcs-
soils with apparatus strong enough to
the powerful currents flung
the air. So powerful are
these instruments specified hat when
they are searching out the vessels
with which they are attuned, no com
mercial wireless stations will be able
TO Interfere.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

ell record for scholastic precOcity i'll
rluGes such feats as reading and spelling
at two and half years old: operating
the typewriter expertly at four: studying
French and Latin. writing book and
qualifying as an accountant all before
five: entering Brookline High School at
eight and inventing a new system of
loGarithms at ten.
Oddly parallel with this interesting
Is that of young Wiener. He is another
Boston lad who also entered college at
tie age of eleven, but his original alma
mater was Tufts COlleSe.W hen he matric-
ulatei there in the fall OF 1901, he was
founG to be the farther advanced i'll phi
losophy and chemistry than the ordinary
senior. lie was graduated last June,
when, at the age of fourteen, he re-
ceiVed the decree OF bachelor of arts
with honor and this autumn he has en-
tered the graduate department of Har-
ward. where he will take an advanced
course in biology and chemistry.
The strange similarity in these cases is
not one Of age alone, but the fathers
of the precocious youths were both born
in Russia, are both men of science. and
have both been connected with Harvard,
tie as d student. the other as a
professor DR.. Boris Sidis, the father of
the new Harvard prodigy, is a psyche
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

steel works at Han Yang are making
rails to be used in the construction.
The road is being handled by Chinese
engineers, and the Samshui branch is
worked by a Chinese staff presided over
by two Americans. l understand that
some difficulty has arisen as to securing
Chinese capital to finish the road and
that money may be borrowed from Ger
many.
One of the most remarkable features of
railway construction in this empire is a
new road now being built southwest of
Canton with Chinese capital, Chinese
muscle and Chinese brains. 1t is known
as the Stunning railroad. and thirty-six
miles of it are already in Cperat on. 1t
is now taking in about $500 a day. and
more than half of that is clear profit.
The road has a capital of less than
81 100000, divided into shares OF $3.50
each, all owned by Chinese.
This railway originated in the mind of
Mr. Chin Gee Hee. its president. He was
in the United States when he thought Of
it. and he persuaded some of the other
Chinese residents of our country to start
the subscriptions for the stock He then
came back here and raised the balance
in these shares of two dollars and half
each. He imported 100 Chinese laborers
who had worked on the railroads of the
United States to help him. He used them
as overseers, and so constructed the line.
AS far as / can learn, he had neither
mechanical nor civil engineers. He did
most of the railroad planning himself.
having worked in our country for some
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
JOSEF HoFNANN

she delighted to stand upon a table and
sing by heart the words and music OF
most of the airs she had heard her
mother sing. At seven, when the ac-
companying picture was taken, she made
her New York debut at Niblo's Garden.
and two years later she was regularly
singing between the acts at the old l-y-
ceum. She was then known as La Petite
Adeline." And she was only sixteen when
she made her New York debut as an
adult. at the Academy of Music. Such
precocity was no more fatal to her career
than it was to those of the great mas
tiers, Mozart, Meyerbeer and List.
Mozart at three composed simple cho-
rails at the harpsichord and at four could
play number of mnuets. while at 1--we
he had composed and written several
trif1ing compositions. When he was six he
played at court, and the we'll known
painting by Borckmann shows him. at
this age. playing a duet with his little
sister, Marianne, before the Empress
Maria Theresa. Before he was eight he
had published six sonatas and when
twelve he wrote a mass. which he con-
Quoted in the presence of the entire court
And Meyerbeer played at a concert when
six and was recognized as the master
pianist of Berlin when only nine, while
List made his concert debut at nine and
at twelve made the great triumph at
Vienna which ended in Beethoven's kiss
ing him when he finished playing
Infant prodigies have grown to be sue
cesSful artists In the drama. also, as I'm
the case OF Maude Adams, who had
speaking part on the stage as early as
five. when, in 1877, she played Little
Schneider. in one of J. *. Emmets
Fritz plays. But this was not Miss
Adams stage debut, by any means. for
that important event had occurred at
the age of nine months, when she played
the title role in THE Lost Child Julia
Marlowe made her debut as Josephine in
"Pinafore'' at twelve, and Ada Rehan
first bowed to the footlishts when at
thirteen she played Clara in Across the
Continent Otis Skinner played a negro
part at Woods Museum Philadelphia
when twelve. and Henry f. DiEey was
only ten when he began as Peanuts I'm
Under the Gaslight. But of all Amer
lean artists on the stage today Elsie
Leslie made the greatest success as a
child actress. When five she played
with Jefferson as Little Meenie in Rip
Van Winkle," aid when only six she so
pleased Mrs. Burnett by her acting the
title role in .Editha's Burglar that she
was selected to originate the title part
in Little Lord Fauntleroy," in which
she became famous as the seyen-year- old
star. After starring also in Mark Twain's
THE Prince and the Pauper,' she left
eighteen.
Such careers as the most of these tend
to explode the old notion that unusual
precocity augurs premature death or a
long life membership in the Great Medioc.
rity. JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

now being made here at HankoW. and the
track will be of Chinese steel. AS to the
management, the probabilit is it Will be
consolidated when the system Is com
pleted. The different divisions will be
Joined and there may be one great gov
eminent road from Picking to Canton
"How about the new railroad move
ment? Is it to continue
Nothing can stop it. We Chinese are
slow to begin, but when we really start
we keep going. No one now questions
the value of railroads Both the govern
ment and the people realize that they are
an absolute necessity to our existence
and progress. We shall keep on building
lust as fast as we can raise the money.
We would like to construct our rail-
ways as far as possible with our own
funds In our present condition we DO
not wish to mortgage our country to other
nations, and this We do when we make
heavy foreign leans. The road from
Wuchang to Canton is now to be mace
with Chinese money and by Chinese
workmen It will be a Chinese railroad
throughout.
asked Mr. Tsou to tell me the inside
story of the concession for this road to
the Americans, and what they made out
of it, He was chary in speaking of the
matter. but said that China had not
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
MOZART ANp SISTER BEFORE EMPRESS Maria THERESA

trouble of calculating eciipses. But he had
a range of genius wider than mathemat-
les and including chemistry. botany. phi
losophy, geography and history. He took
his degree at Harvard in 1854, when only
eighteen. and was engaged until twenty-six
in a series of computations of orbits or
planets and comets, commenced when ne
was only fourteen. Afterward he became
director of the observatory at Harvard.
professor of astronomy at the chicago
University and at Williams College, az
which latter institution he remained until
his death, eight years ago. His all-round
precocity, so rare in thezusual stage cal.
crlator,' was similar TO that OF Andre
Marie Ampere and Carl Friedrich CAUSE
who had gone before him. Ampere N4s
born at Lyons in ITS and learned tg
count when three or four by means q
pebbles. Soon he became noted Tor such
mental calculations as those Of Sanord
and Ike him followed a sctenffhe career,
in which he became celebrated through his
investigations in electro dynamlcsr Ana
Gauss. the son of poor German family.
first displayed his marvellous aptitude at
three when he followed mentally a calcu-
la ton of his fathers relative to the wages
of some workingmen, and detected an
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

chief trunk line of interior China. con-
meeting the capital with Canton, and run
ming from there TO the port of kowloon.
opposite Hongkong. According to the
estimates of MIR. Barclay Parsons. the
average of the population numbers two
hundred to the square mile. but | ven
ture 1t is more than this. The country
is devoted to tea. silk and other indus
tries. 1t is agriculturally rich. and we
believe that 1t contains extensive deposits
of iron, copper and lead. There is no
doubt but that the road will pay.
But can you manage it Well in four
divisions with four sets % officials di-
rected by four different governments? ~
Yes replied Mr.. Tsou. The imperial
COVE rn,nent has required that the same
gauge must be made throughout. that
the rolling stock must be standardized,
and that the rails be of a certain pattern
and weight. Most OF the iron work is
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
OTTO HEGNER

concert when only six. PLAYED at a public
concert at Berlin when eight, and when
ten came to New York, where at once
he drew enormous crowds and became
the subject of more attention and public
ity than any musical child who had ever
lived. But his career was interrupted In
New York by an appeal to the mayor by
Elbridge T Gerry, the head of the So
ciety for the Prevention OF Cruelty to
Children, and the child was examined by
DR.. Allen McLane Hamilton and others.
He was found to be sound. and the con-
certS We're permitted to continue upon the
agreement of the father not to allow
the child to play more than four times a
week. About this time an unnamed New
Yorker, through Mr.. Gerry, offered
fund of $4,000 for Josef's education and
support provided he were not 10 play in
public until he attained manhood, but his
father was quoted as stating that he
would not consent to this for less
than 100000. Soon afterward Jo-
sef was suddenly taken from the stage
and commenced course OF study under
the best masters, including Rubnstein
himself. of whom he was the only STU
dent outside the Imperial Conservatory
st. Petersburg. After much success in
Europe, he returned to the United States
for concert tour in 1898, when he was
twenty-one, and two years ago he con-
tributed series of articles on musical
topics to a well known woman's period
zeal. Two years after his first debut
infant pianist" Otto Hegner, German
lad of only twelve, who also was mar
velous in his execution.
And those who saw the BLACK Crook
in New York in 1873 remember most
of all a diminutive violinist, who, in
court suit of blue satin, a powdered wig
and silken hose. played marvelousIy
upon a violin nearly as big as himself.
This was the Infant violinist," James G.
Speaight, who had been born in London
and who was now performing in
the United States at the age of four.
New York went wild over him, and
after his engagement with the BLACK
Creek he went to Boston, where he
played in the "Naiad Queen" and led the
orchestra of the Boston Theater until
January H. 1874, when at a matinee per-
Torrance he retired from the stage. COM
planning of a pain in his heart. His en-
gagement was Cancelled for that night
and he retired early. but about midnight
make room for another little child in
heaven?" His father, on receiving no an
swer after speaking to him later, arose
and found the boy dead. His death
brought from Thomas Bailey Aldrich a
written appeal which resulted in the
founding of the Boston Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
OF all musical prodigies Of our day, the
one who arose to the greatest distinc-
ton in mature years was Adelina Patti.
She was born in 1913. in Madrid, whence
her father a musician. and her mother,
an opera singer, brought her to America,
when she was baby, and soon afterward
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

matters, forgetting that our conditions are
different. In your country most of the
big roads have been pioneer lines They
have been laid out through the Wilds,
and the traffic has grown up to >-em.
China is already developed. We have
many large cities. and the road should
he built to join these together. Your
engineers planned the road without re-
gard TO these cities. making it more or
less straight We are building the road
for the people and the traffic, and are di-
verging a little here and there to con-
meet the great centers. The moment the
road is completed we shall have an enor-
nous business.
Can you give me some idea of the
population the road will tap?'
Not in actual figures replied Mr..
Tsou we are backward in statistics.
and | can only estimate the possibilities.
The three p.ov noes through which the
road runs have population Of about
1CoGOO,o00 There are many large cities.
Here at Hankow we have between one
and two millions. Canton is as big as
Chicago and there are other large towns
all along the way The road Will he the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
TWO THIRD-CLASS PASSENGERS

been fairly treated. From other sources
| learn that the Americans played some
what the part of the Yankee who sold
wooden nutmegs. They gave China a
gold brick and carried away millions.
doubt not that our capitalists acted in
good faith in the beginning, and that had
Calvin Brice lived their contracts would
have been carried out. The conces-
sion was granted by the imperial gov
eminent to Brice and others. through
Marquis Sheng and WI Ting-fang. on
the ground that they would raise $50
OG0.OOO to build and equip the line The
Chinese government was 10 secure the
loan by a mortgage on the road and an
imperial guarantee; and also by the Is
suing of gold bonds. TO be sold at 30
per cent, and TO bear > per cent i'll
terest Calvin Brce had no trouble III
getting men to go in with him. Among
these who offered TO join In raising the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

farm in ne county. he could mentally
calculate the number of barleycOrns con-
tanned. and one of his mental calculations
at this age was that there were 617.76O
barleycorns in 1,O4O rods. When seven he
was studying books on algebra and geom-
etry. and soon afterward higher math-
ematics and astronomy. Wanting some
logarithms, he found them himself by
the formulas, and in his tenth year he
published an almanac OF his own computa-
ton That year d skilled mathematician
who examined him produced sum of
eighteen figures which he asked the boy
to square, and the correct answer was
given within a minute. He could at the
same time multiply four figures by four
figures as rapidly as could be done upon
paper.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
copyright, 1909. 10y Frank Il. Carpcnter.)
WUCHANG

HAVE just had a
talk with a di-
rector of the great
railway which is to
be built from here
to Canton. 1t will
form the southern
half of the great
Contemplating syS-
TEN, which has
been rightly called
the iron backbone
of the empire. The
division from Han
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

\ RN ARD is all
aSog over its two
new infant prodi-
gieS. William
James SidiS and
Norbert Wiener.
SidiS is the eleven
year-old wonder
who has just en-
tered the uniyer-
sity with the high
est honorS and
" J! OSe unSurpaSS-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

Canton Hankow system they have. as
Mr. Tsou says, made new surveys. They
have extended the little strip built by
the Americans, SO that it is now about
fifty miles long and they are running
cars over that section. They are build
ing on the other divisions, and the great
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

Our Observation-Disclosures marveled at an
American prodigy who, like Stafford. was
Q Vermont farm boy. This was Zerah
Colburn. born in 1904. He was regarded
as a backward child until the end of his
sixth year when, after he had been at
school but six weeks, his father asked him
the product of 13x97 and Immediately got
the answer "1,261," the result of mental
calculation. The father at once started
with Zerah upon an exhibition tour about
the country. and at the age OF eight, JUST
when our second war with Great Britain
was breaking out. he was taken to Lon
dom where he astounded an audience by
mentally determining the square root OF
1O6929 and the cube root of 26S.''36 10 as
quickly as these numbers could be written
down. 1t was not until arriving in Lon
don that he commenced to learn reading
and writing, and after eight months at
Paris school he returned to London
where the Earl of Bristol took an interest
in him and sent him to Westminster
School. but in three years his father TOOK
him out of school and started him upon
an unsuccessful career as an actor ana
playwright. This was when he was M
teen after which he taught school. be-
came a computer, and returned to Amer
lea where he was employed as Methodist
preacher and finally as language teacher
in a seminary: He died at the age OF
thirty-six While making his earliest
childhood calculations he underwent con,
tortions, like those of st. Vitus' dance: and
he also had six fingers on each hand be-
sides six toes on each foot.
The last great mathematical prodigy seen
here was Jacques Inaudi an Italian, VINO
exhibited himself in our theaters in 1901
and 1902 He was horn in 1867, passed
his early boyhood minding sheep. ana
began his career as a calculator by doing
peasants accounts for them at lightning
speed At seven he could mentally null
tiply any five figures by five figures.
When thirteen he begged his way to
Paris, where he was taken in hand by a
caricaturist who started him in the music
halls. He did not learn to read and write
T until he was twenty, and outside of men
taa calculation, had poor memory and
! Oily fair mental ability.
M i -.
; But the most famous boy prodigy of
this generation was Josef Hoffman,, the
ten-year-old pianist. This lad was born
in Gracow Poland. in 1877, his mother
being an opera singer and his father a
music teacher. Joseph had piano of
his own before he was Ave. and in six
months had written an original mazourka.
He made his first appearance at charity
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
IRON HWAY FROM PENG TO CANTON

the night. Outside America it is The
largest of its kind in the world. II
measures almost two miles from end 10
end and is constructed entirely of ste a.
There is no stream which shifts its bed
more than the Yellow river. 1t is called
China's Sorrow. and is said to have
changed its course no less than nine
times within the past twenty centuries.
each time choosing a different mouth
by which it enters the sea. At the last
great flood, when the waters forsook
their bed. many millions were drowned.
The bed Of the Yellow river is of quick
sand, so deep that it was impossible to
use any masonry in constructing this
bridge. Steel tubes We're sunk in place
of the ordinary concrete pillars and these
We're Joined together by steel bands. There
are eight of these steel tubes, each OF
which goes ffty-nine feet down into the
bed of the river. Other steel tubes ex-
tend down from thirty-three to forty-1ve
feet The arches Of the bridge have
span Of sixty-five feet, where the current
is strongest. and of ninety-eight feet i'm
other places. The steel piles, or tubes,
have been filled with cement to give them
strength and rock and stones have been
sunk around their bases to solidify their
foundations The stones were first drop
ped down into the river, without any sup
port, and were carried away by the
quickSand. Later. mats made OF the
branches Of trees. bound together with
wire, were let down around the piles, and
the stones dropped upon them. In this
way tons of stone have been n,nored
such RATS about each pile. and they have
mad. the bridge as firm as though the
piles We're bedded in concrete. This
bridge was put up in a year and half,
a nd tla a
one car carriages passed over it without
causing perceptible vibration
The steel for the Yellow river bridge
came from Belgium and France. and the
cost of its construction was 100000, which
Is low considering its character and
length. The whole road has been eco
nomically built. It's cost has been about
So, OOC mile the funds having been pro-
SD 100000 on it. Most of the rails were
made al the Hankow Iron Works, and
they weigh approximately eighty-five
pounds to the yard. The railway is we'll
equipped with shops at Hankow and at
the Yellow river. and altogether 1t is a
trunk line to which China can point with
pride.
Since its completion branches have been
built to Tai Yuen-Fu, the capital of the
province of Shansi: and also to Kaifeng-
Flu. the capital of Honan. It has connec-
tions with the road running from Tientsin
to Mukden, and thereby with the Trans
Sherman road, SO that one can now go
from Hankow to Hamburg by rail. Lines
have also been projected which will con-
meet this road with another great trunk
railway now being built through eastern
China, from Tientsin to the Yangtse,
and road is projected which will go
westward through the Chinese empire
to the mountains of Thibet and eventual
ly reach Lhassa. A third road is to be
built. connecting Pukow, on the Yangtse,
opposite Marking, with the Hankow sys-
tenn So that eventually this line will be
about the most important of all eastern
Asia.
FRANK G. CARPENTER
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

ZACH Entered College at
- Eleven - Recall Everett
and Stafford, Two Other Har-
ward Phenomena-New Sys-
tenn of Logarithms Discov-
cred at Ten and Astronomi-
cal Rule at Eleven Two
Vermont Boy Wonders "A
Ten-Year-Old Paderewski-
Infant Violinist Who Toured
America at Four-Precocious
Musical Infants Who Became
Great Masters-Child Prodi-
gies of the American Stage.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

When eleven he turned out five alma
macs. one of which, compiled for Cincin-
natl, reached a sale of 24.ooo copies. me
same year by systems of his own inven-
ton he reduced by one-fourth the LABOR
of calculating the rising and setting OIL
the moon and lessened by one-thlrd the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

Indeed, Harvard seems to have mo-
nopolv on our chief phenomena of this
category 1t used to be Edward Everett
who was its prize prodigy, he having en-
tered when but thirteen. and having been
graduated with the highest honors at sew
enteen. He was indeed marvel of pre-
cocity. gaining the reputation of an ac-
complished scholar and eloquent divine
when but nineteen, while at twenty -one
he was appointed professor of Greek at
his alma mater.
And when our fathers were young Cam
bridge was excited over the arrival at
Harvard OF the then boy wonder. Truman
Henry Stafford This lad. born on a Yer
mont farm in 1896. had commenced TO
show mathematical genius as early as the
age of three, when his parents com
menced to amuse themselves by testing
his strange ability. When he was six, If
given the number of rods around any