davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30

press II, gwen some wears ago by Professor
Boss Of the observatory at Albany. The board
of visitors at the observatory doubted the value
of some work in course of preparation by the
director, which was desk work, and not done
with a telescope They inquired if it would not
add to the reputation of the observatory II
some discovery such as that of comet could be
made. They were promptly informed that
nothing was easier If they would award sum
of money for the purpose salary toward
defra wing the expenses for a person of average
intelligence while making the necessary search.
The challenge was accepted on the spot. the
money subscribed. and searcher selected for
the work. Within the allotted time a fine
comet was found, but undoubtedly Professor
Boss had taken risk in undertaking to catch
a comet within definite time. The probabili-
ties uncertain in the of man
who undertakes to catch fish in half an hour.
Zaccheus Daniels Work
zACCHEUS DANIEL went to Princeton from
- Buckne University IN time to be graduated
from old Nassau in 1908. At Bucknel he had
taken up astronomy as fad, and later as a real
vocation in life To this end he made strenu-
Gus efforts to win the Thaw fellowship in
tronomy, the annual income of gift of ten
thousand dollars by Mrs. William Thaw of
Pittsburgh, and was successful. Since then he
has devoted all his energies to this pursuit, al
though it has been his favorite study ever since
he was boy. In fact long before he came to
the university he possessed a four-1nch tele-
scope mounted on tripod Every fine even
ing, winter and summer, he scans the skies with
a five and three-quarter- inch telescope and
once more his efforts met with success, in
the capture of the comet of last month.
He estimated that the comet was probably
about three times as large the earth, or some
twenty-five thousand miles in diameter, and
was travelling through space at distance of
fifty-six million miles from the earth. 1t
was apparently composed of such flirnsy ma
terial as to be literally transparent, as Daniel
saw bright star through the comet, some
what as might perceive the CLEAN of
diamond through the flmy gauze of veil.
The comet was seen the day after its nearest
approach to the sun, and therefore start
ing on its return journey to the region whence
it emerged before it came within our ken
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30

TAN an ice Yacht travel more rapidly than
~ the wind that drives it?
Even the careful thinker will probably
ply at once to this question with decided
negative and classify it with such evidently
futile queries as, Can the cart go faster than
the hand that pushes it," or Will the car
rage away from the horse that draws it,
But we must be careful here; for analogles
are frequently as dangerous as they are seduC-
tive and this happens to be particularly un-
fortunate one Let us consider the question
for moment from the viewpoint of the facts,
and concern ourselves with the explanation
later. Ask the weather man, and he will tell
YOU that it is an Ill wind that blows more than
forty miles an hour,-that IS, Ill for the one who
happens to be out in boat IN lt,-and the
man who would venture out in a greater wind
than this with any sort of craft carrying sail
would be foolhardy indeed.
Now think over your own experiences IN ice
boating. Remember your sensations on the
first fast trip when the boat got well under way.
sailing nearly across and little with the wind,
the windward runner lifting couple of feet in
the air,-for hours at time as 1t seemed to
YOU in those anxious moments,-with every
stiff puff You had probably tobogganed be-
fore this, and had perhaps ridden on the En-
pire State Express; but l will wager that as
you lay there with your face scant foot from
that blurring sheet of ice you felt you were
really going for the first time in your life.
Nor is this comparison of the speed of an ice
boat with that of an express tram an exaggera-
ton Speeds of fifty and sixty miles an hour
are not uncommon, and these in moderate
winds whose velocities are by no means so
great as this Indeed, read of races on the
Hudson between iceboats and the fastest ex-
press trains when the speeds reported
high as seventy or even eighty miles an hour.
1t will probably be admitted without question
that no craft carrying sail could keep upright
for an instant if the wind itself had such hurri-
cane dimensions.
We must confess then, that however para
doxical it may seem, the ice yacht can and does
at times go faster than the wind. In seeking
to explain this puzzle the first thing to be noted
is that when making the greatest speeds the
boat is not sailing directly before, in the
direction of the wind, but rather across it. per
haps going little with it also The sail too is
hauled in until it makes only a small angle
with the median line of the boat direction of
motion.
Now, dropping for the time the idea of sail
and wind, consider what happens when force
-e.g., the pressure of the foot-is applied to
smooth. slippery. wedge shaped stone piece
of wood. The chances that it will fly out
with considerable velocity along the sidewalk;
that IS in direction at right angles to the APP
piled force A somewhat similar case is that
of the toboggan on a moderate slope. The
pull of gravity downward results in a force that
causes the motion nearlp at right angles to this.
While presenting slightly more complicated
case than either of these the sail on the iceboat
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30

cred wandering along the out
skirts OF creation, and the prize money went to
meet the payments. And this continued after
we had gone to other scenes. The faithful
comet, like the goose that laid the golden eggs,
conveniently timed its appearance to coincide
with the advent OF those dreadful notes. And
thus it finally came about that the house was
built entirely of comets
This fact goes to prove further the great
error of those scientific men who figure out that
a comet is but f1imsv affair after all, infinitely
more than the breath of the morning !;
for here was strong, compact house, albeit
small one, built entirely out of them. True, It
took several good sized comets to do it but it
was accomplished nevertheless"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30
Many Rival Hunters


nURING the last thirty years four astrono-
- mers have outdistanced all their rivals in
the world in their discovery of comets, even to
the exclusion of the Germans, who have done
a great deal in connection with this work. Be-
tween 1877 and 1908 no fewer than twenty dis
coveries stand to the credit of Professor Brooks
nineteen to Professor Barnard thirteen to Pro-
fessor Perrine, and eleven to Dr. Swift. These
figures compare very favorably with the thir-
teen comets discovered by Messier between
176O and 1898, and the twentyseven discov-
cred by Pons between 1903 and 1927. The
most successful European hunter of comets
seems to have been Giacobini of Nice, who has
twelve to his credit.
The Warner prize has been discontinued for
sometime; but the idea revived again by a
wealthy American. j. A. Donohoe, in 1890, and
a bronze medal is now regularly presented to
the discovcrer of any unexpected comet, on the
report of committee of the Astronomical So
ciety of the Pacific In 1900 German named
A. F. Lindemann, living at Sidmouth places at
the disposal of the German Astronomische Ge-
sellschaft fund to encourage the computations
necessary for determining the path of a comet.
twenty-five dollars is paid for each path accu-
rately determined.
An interesting example of the way in which
comets can be found to order, if one may 50 cx-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30
COMET HUNTING AS A PROFESSION

WHILE perchcd on the roof
p" of the Princeton Observa-
.ory Sypeepipu the heavens Wit n
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30

However, when the first ont
came, a faint comet was d;scov,
cred Wandering along the out.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30
A House Built by Comets

and Canada. This was an incentive for renewed
zeal in this direction, and gave rise to the fol-
lowing story related by Professor F. f. Bar
nard of the Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay,
Wisconsin:
Times were hard in the last of the 7Os and
the first of the SOS and money was scarce. 1t
had taken all that could save to buy my small
telescope | had been searching for comets for
upward OF a wear with no success, when prize
Of two hundred dollars for the discovery of each
new comet was offered by the founder of the
Warner Observatory, through the agency of its
director DR. Lewis Swift
Soon after this it happened that found
new comet and was awarded the prize. Then
came the question to what should be done
with the money After due deiberatlon ii
decided that we would try to get home of our
own with it had always longed for such a
home where one could plant trees and watch
them grow up and feel we owned them. SO we
bought a lot with part of the money. This
small lot was on beautiful rising ground which
| had selected partly because 1t gave me a clear
view of the horizon with my telescope. After
some saving and some borrowing, and mainly
mortgage on the lot, we built little frame cot
tage where went to live with my mother and
wife. Those were happy days, though the
struggle for maintenance was hard one. 1t
meant working from early till late for the means
OF a bare existence and the hope of paying off
the mortgage, and sitting up all the rest OF the
tuenty-four hours hunting for comets.
I'VE could look forward only with dread to
the meeting of the notes that must come due.
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
SECULAR SHOTS AT PULPIT.

Philadelphia Ledger: Possibly the per-
petual complaint about the scarcity of min
listers would die down measurably II min
listers received adequate pay and some sort
Of assurance that old age would not have
poverty as a concomltant
Chicago Record Herald: A speaker at the
Rock River conference said that It was a
scandal for any minister to have an easy
time. With ministerial salaries at the
present average the danger Of an easy time
IL negligible as long as the cost OF living
continues to mount.
Baltimore American: At a church con-
vention IN Cincinnati It was complained
that college girls do not devote themselves
20 missionary work because marriage
draws them off But then, marriage is a
big field Of missionary work IN itself and
has the advantage Of the charity which
begins az home.
Boston Herald BrOckton clergyman
who supplied editorials Tor a local paper
last week wrote after this fashion The
knights Of toll In Brockton have all the zip
OF the Yankee hustler" And Religion IL
Of the proof ariety 1 don't know Of
clear green bigot among the clergymen. "
Even the pulpit must relax at times.
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
A Relic of Barbarism.

At a recent meeting of passenger
agents representing the big railroads
of the country a set Of uniform rules
and regulations we're adopted defining
and governing the baggage privileges
of the travelling public. The number
of pounds of luggage, the limit of size,
the accommodations for dogs, guns,
bicycles and canary birds, the system
of through checking, the requirements
for Identifying baggage when checks
are lost, are all minutely stipulated.
But in addition to these rational and
salutary regulations is a reannounce-
ment of the old rule requiring two
full-fare, frst-Class passenger tickets
for every corpse, one for the remains
carried in the baggage car, with a
right to $50 pounds of baggage free
for the deceased and the other for an
accompanying passenger in the coach.
If there is one thing which our rail
roads are more backward than in an
other it is in this obsolete method of
transporting dead bodies. Why
should the fiction be preserved that
the corpse should-travel by rail on the
same basis as a live person. when the
fiction is maintained in no other public
conveyance? Why should the rail-
roads in this twentieth century go
through the motions of carrying $50
pounds of baggage free for someone
who has no use for baggage at all?
Why should a corpse have to go into
the baggage car, anyway, along with
the trunks, sample cases, dogs, guns,
bicycles and canary birds? Why
should the railroads insist on having
full-fare passenger IN the coach to
accompany the corpse in cases where
there is no need for it whatever? Why
should not the railroads shake off this
tradition, provide proper accommoda-
ton for carrying oorpses and make a
charge for the service on the same
basis that it makes charges for other
services?
To thoughtful people our funeral
customs are little better than barbar-
Gus, and the way the dead bodies of
loved ones are transported by rail does
not lessen the asperity.
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
Stamping Out Smuggling.

Emboldened by its success in the
Sugar trust fraud and other large
smuggling cases, the government has
undertaken another immense task in
the matter of collecting absorbed i'm
port duties and bringing to justice
men, who, il is said, have systematic
ally cheated the revenue laws for
years. The alleged offenders operate
one of the largest art and iewelry es-
Establishments on the continent and the
government has seized the entire
place.
The day OF the wholesale smuggler
is rapidly passing in this country.
Large and small importers are being
brought to rigid compliance with the
law and the present administration is
showing itself to be no respector OF
persons in this regard. Men, and even
women, high up in social and finan-
cial distinction have been humbled in
this laudable undertaking and the gov
eminent deserves all ne praise II gets
for this determined effort
The trouble was that smuggling had
became almost habit People who
have been cheating the revenue Off
GERS were not generally people who
under other circumstances would defy
the law often they we're the victims
OF system and the system had to be
destroyed. That however, offers no
reason for eondoning or palliating the
offense. So long as the smugglers were
permitted 20 find immunity in their
respectability or wealth, or so long as
they could argue the unpublished guilt
Of others in eXtenuation OF their Of
lenses, the practice could not be sue
cessfully attacked and stopped II was
only when thS men charged with the
administration OF Law became 80 blind
to justice as the statue emblematic OF
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
SERMONS BOILED DOWN.

It is always a sad thing to have pleasures
without toll
often tide Of sorrow carries us over a
shoal OF self
Secondhand piety cannot make even a
second rate saint
ono little deed is worth reams OF en-
dorsements Of big deeds.
Life Is too short to miss a kindness too
long to cherish hate.
Take care OF your living and your dying
will take care Of itself
It's finer being a small hunk OF sunshine
than big bank Of fog
Some meetings are arranged on the
theory that misery loves company.
It's no use being poor in spirit annually
at the time OF tax assessments.
The heart lie bankrupt already when It
counts on the profits Of love,
No man is ever good enough to dictate
the terms OF real goodness to another,
Some hymns must be designed TO prepare
for eternal harmony by present poetic pur-
gatory.
Some people treat the sermon as a table
d'hote dinner, picking out that things that
will not agree with them.-ChicaEo Tribune.
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
WI and the Hair Market.

Now some hypercritical fault-finders
are ascribing Interior motives to WI
Ting-fang's crusade against the Chi
nese queue, suggesting that it pos
sesses a commercial aspect. Some
evil-minded critics are mean enough
to hint that the willy WI is getting a
drag" or "rake-off" on every pig-tail
discarded; that the whole scheme
originated in the fertile brain of for
eign hairdressers-Paris, perhaps
and that the former Chinese minister
to the United States was chosen as the
best agent for carrying out the plan.
OF course, this entire story is a pure
fabrication Minister WI would not
have anything to do with such trans
action. In the first place, he is above
it, and in the next place, he does not
need the money. But that does not
entirely eliminate the commercial as
pect Of this queue-killing crusade, over
and aside from any motive Mr.. WI
may have. False hair, we know, is in
demand these days, in America as we'll
as Europe. Dealers are finding 1t ex-
tremely hard to supply the demand.
They are urging women to save their
combings and have them made up into
rats and other head animals, so that
they will no doubt be quick to pick up
the Chink's queue when he has cut it
on.
And women need not blink at the
idea, either, for they have been wear
ing hair from China long time. 1t
may not have been queue hair, but it
was of Chinamen's heads-the real
thing, whether anputated before or
after death One wonders how far
this foolish fashion will take women
before they awake to the realization
that their own natural adornment
might, in most cases, be used to much
better and more slightly advantage
than these huge bundles OF imported
wares
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16

In the trial Of defaulting State
Treasurer BARLEY a cigar box contain
ing notes. certificates Of deposit, secur-
tiles, l. o. us and other cats and
dogs, said to represent the current
and school funds entrusted to the
great embezzler when he turned over
from his hrst term to his second term,
figured prominently in the evidence
1t became common belief that IL the
lid could be pried of that Cigar box
its contents would disclose the iden-
tity of a large number of accessories
or benefciaries Of the crime to shield
whom BARLEY went to the peniten-
tiary with his lips sealed.
Once the cigar box lid lifted enough
to let the public know that BARLEY
had tried to fix the candidate nomi-
mated to succeed him in ONCE and to
drive this candidate after his defeat
in ignominy from the state.
The lid tilted again few years
later sufficiently to blszen forth the
loan of small sum of stolen money
to a candidate for reelection for uni
versity regent, who, though he had
repaid the amount to BARLEY in the
pen, quickly gave his resignation to
the republican state committee and
made way for another on the ticket.
Now the cigar box lid has lifted
again and verified what had been pre-
viously generally understood upon in
formation and belief that Congress-
man Hitchcock, now aspiring to be
United States senator, editor of the
democratic World-Herald, which al
ways palliated his offense and de-
Tended his pardon, was cheek by jowl
with BARLEY while he was plundering
the treasury and was a borrower Of
stolen public money which has not to
this day been repaid to the state. The
proof is positive in spite of Mr.. Hitch
cocks shifty denials that any docu-
ments bearing his autograph helped
bulge the cigar box.
Will Hitchcock get OF the ticket as
he forced another BARLEY beneficiary
of the ticket?
Will Hitchcock put it back as he has
often called on other public freeboot-
ers to do?
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
The Curfsw's Muffled Clapper.

The curfew shall not ring tonight. "
Somebody is making good on that
poetic declaration. Somebody is hang
ing ON the clapper. Since the death
of the venerable Alexander Hogeland,
the father of this curfew movement,
the old bell does not sound as fire.
Quently as before. The ominous hour
of 80" seems to have lost most of it's
terrors for young America. Did the
crusade die with the crusader?
For years Mr.. Hogeland, whose
home was once in Nebraska, went up
and down the land preaching the COS
pei of his curfew and seeing that it
was kept alive, talking to boys and
those charged with their control. He
was a familiar figure in almost every
American city. But in the last year
and more not only is he missed in
many cities, it seems, but also the
work he founded and did so much for
is missed.
Is there not enough OF practical
good in this custom to warrant what
effort is required to keep it alive?
Boys who are on the streets after
o'clock at night need to be told that
it is time to get home. 1t is not only
good for them, 1t is good for older peo-
pie, who, weary with the days work,
are trying to get some rest and quiet
within, and they cannot get it very
easily with bowling voices outside.
Some of our resident sections might
even be improved of nights II the cur
few law went into operation at
! O'Clock instead of 9.
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16
PERSONAL AND OTHERWISE

The late King Manuel is said to be very
fond OF music. But there are exceptions
republican music, for instance
Forty-one pairs Of twins were born in
Oklahoma during the month Of September.
No wonder the state of Haskell Is noted
for It's squalls.
A republican victory in Portugal offsets
the democratic victory in Maine and puts
copious doses Of ginger in the patriots on
rival firing lines.
The ST. Louis girl who, on an hours &C
quaintance, married an escaped inmate OF
feeble-mindsd asylum, affords vague
answer to the question: Who's loony
now2"
The vagaries Of the science of juris-
prudence" is an unfailing source OF wonder
for the unframed multitude. A New York
judge rules that tobacco and beer are
necessaries. while appolnarls water used al
chaser is ian extravaganza"
The Chicago woman, distinguished above
the rest Of the sex In being the recipient Of
her husbands pay envelope every satur
day night, graciously admits reciprocatnl
| his loving kindness by loaning him nigh
key on lodge nights. Isn't she a dear?'
Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-16

had ever enjoyed, was welcomed and
became step toward better things.
But the conditions in more modern
countries supply better contrasts. The
lRndlordism, for instance, Of the Brit
ish Isles and continental Europe we
see in the present day have worked
serious injuries to those countries by
reducing the people to a state of COM
parative dependence and, in some
cases, penury and forcing the more
thrifty of the population to migrate to
other countries that offered opportuni-
ties to acquire and own land Here
they may be counted by the hundreds
of thousands in the United States.
happy and wholesome in their land
ownership. And this foreign blood
infused into ours has brought more
red corpuscles of citizenship than
white, has raised more than lowered
the standard of American individu-
atty.
Nearly every enterprising city
among us boasts of having more home
owners, comparatively, than any other
American city Real estate men
play up" the fact when it exists that
the people in this block own their
homes" as an inducement to a pros
pective purchaser. And homecoming
in the city or town is only one step re-
moved from land-owning in the coun-
try. In both there is the virtue of
laudable ambition, of thrift, frugality
and independence. It is to be hoped
that, instead of slsckening this move
ment to buy land" everything will
be done to give it reasonable momen-
tum. The nation needs the home
owner and the man who tills the soil.