davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1912-06-30

branch wharf of a Washington company III
Alexandria. shook the drops OF the nVer
from her bow and departed. never 10 re-
turn again-at least as an ice SNIP
She was the William c. May. brand
new forr-masted schooner, with all the
lates. improvements in saiilns Vesseis
hacked away in her trim hull Ihls. her
maiden voyage was the final voyage Oh
one of the great fleet of vessels that once
occupied the entire summer season In
bringing ice from the great storehouses
that. in the palmy days of the industry,
lined the shores of the Maine rivers.
The William c. May was built at Bath,
Me. ard is commanded by Capt j. L.
Davis. a veteran in the coastwise trade.
who brought to this new ship all the old
traditions of the sea He is a typical
"sea-dog." bluff and hale, shedding the
snirit of the sea about him, and when
the visitor steps from the wnarf 10 the
deck of the May he feels at once tnat
he is whisked from the practical, every
day shore life of the commonplace cltl-
zen to the atmosphere of one OF clark
RusselPs tales of the ocean.
The MAY brought down from the Ken
nebec a cargo of 900 tons OF Ice She
was four days making the journey from
the mouth of that river to the Virginia
canes After that, she was about the
same length of time in getting up the bay
and river to her wharf at Alexandra, Tor
the waters seemed anxious to give TINS
young apprentice foretaste OF "hat
was coming to her later Her voyage
down the coast had been a summer ex-
cursion through rippling seas, but Ola
Neptune to show her that 1t was not
all cakes and ale in his domain, sent q
head wind and a cross tide That lanoeo
the maiden vessel on the sanos at ule
mouth of the Potomac and left here there
to mediate on the mutablhty OF nautfcal
life until a Good Samaritan of hlgh uoe
came along and hoated her on. Inen.
having lost confidence in herself. IKE all
young things. she got a tug that KNOWS
every shoaI in the stream to escort her
up to town.
This young debutante of the waters is
lS6 feet long forty-two feet wide-say
..forty-two feet BEAM If you want
folks to think you're a sailor-and draws
sixteen and a half feet of water When
comfortably loaded. or laden. as the sail
ormen say. She has four masts. the
fore. the main, the mizzen and the mast
with the spanker. These all carry big.
fat sails about their middles with little
triangular sail perched perty on top that
looks to be purely ornamental. tnouSn
the sailors say it Is really useful. Stick
ing out in front Is q long beam, some
thirty feet in length, to which are fasten-
ed a whole family of three-cornered sails,
from the portly one near the foremast
TO the little baby fellow, that seems
as if hardly out Of swaddling clothes.
tied way out at the end of the beam.
This beam is the bowsprit. well known
to the reader in all nautical stories: the
writer made his first acquaintance with
it in Howard Py1es pirate story that he
borrowed from his desk mate at school,
and he remembers we'll how the pirate
chief stood out at its tip and saw the
rich Spanish merchantmen in the offing.
And here il was last week, the same
bowsprit solving itself most unromantic-
ally across the street that ran by the
Evening star., 1912-06-30

chance of this crew having to eat their
shoe soles and boot heelsi"
Up at the extreme forward end Of the
deck, by the roots Of the bowsprtt, in the
warm summer sun, sat half a dozen dar-
k1es. busy stitching and sewing away on
strips of canvas They looked for all the
world like group Of 'ole Virginny' col
ored folk engaged in patching their
clothes, but at the first words from their
lips one discovered that they were not
of the United States: the soft, foreign in
tonation told of an alien and tropical
cline. They were West Indians. de-
scended from the former slaves of those
subtropical islands. and they all spoke
English with strong Spanish accent.
They were engaged in making little chat
Ing pads to protect the ropes OF the sails
as they played back and forth through
the various holes and pulleys in the sail
ing mechanism They We're a careless,
happy lot of fellows, as we'll contented
with their life as one could wish to see.
Nearly all the common sailors on the
coastir~ vessels of the Atlantic seaboard
are VT Indian negroes. Brought up in
the little seaports that dot the shores of
the numerous islands there, they learn
to swim and sail boat about as soon
O. they learn to walk. The sea Is their
Evening star., 1912-06-30


IL ic can adequately convey to
IN the mind the engineering and
mechanical wonders wrought
by power in the Capitol. This
wonderful building is 75O feet long, $50
feet wide and over 300 feet from the es-
planade to the top Of the Statue of Free
dom which surmounts the dome. 1t COW
ers more than three and a half acres Of
ground and in it electricity is king.
By its magic the long basement halls
and corridors are wrested from darkness
and made to rival the sunlit halls above.
Electricity controls the heating and ven
tilatng system, operates the elevators.
calls the members on important occa-
sions, summons the pages, transmits the
voices Of members in conversing with
each other from hundreds OF different
points in the building, records their de-
bates and speeches, and conveys them TO
all points of the country and throughout
the world.
Down in the terrace, that white marble
addition which adds so much to the beau
ttful proportions and architectural effect
of the west front, are located twin cleo
trio light and power plants IN capacity
of engines, generators, SW1tcnDoarus ana
switchboard equipments they are 1denu-
cal Each plant is supplied with steam
from row of great boilers In adjoining
boiler rooms. The steam is conveyed in
iron mains one foot in diameter, with
yalve-controlled branches to each engine.
Since the two power plants are Identical,
even as to the relative position of the
generators and switchboards, a descrip-
ton of only one of them is necessary.
At each end Of the engine room is a
direct-connected engine and generators
of 30 horsepower. In the interval be-
tween. separated by an aisle, are located
two 100 horsepower engines and generators
At a right angle with the 25O-horsepower
dvnamo at the court end Of the engine
room is a seven-panei switchboard OF
Italian marble, perfectly equipped with all
tho necessary electrical measuring instru-
ments. switches rheostats and circuit
hraakers These instruments occupy
practically the same relation to the gen.
orators that the steam gauges. safety
valves throttle valves and branch valves
do to separate engines OF steam power
plant.
nress,1re and the ammeter the quantity
n current flowing at the pressure. The
main switches are the connecting links be-
tween the generators and the great cop
nor bus-bars on the rear of the switch
hoard: the smaller switches connect the
distributing circuits with the bus-bars
and the rheostat is the voltage regulator
The circuit breaker, which acts as an au-
tomato switch to diSconnect the genera
TOR. leads from the bus-bars when the
load becomes greater than it's capacity
otherwise the generator is liable to be.
, come overheated and seriously injured.
Copper cables Laid across the court y
Evening star., 1912-06-30
Asst Ice Ship Unloaded

T Asst Ice Ship Unloaded
Il Its Cargo at Alexandra
During Past Week-Forrner
Business in Kennebec Ice
Was a Large One, But Mod
ern Methods Have Cast It
Aside-Life on an Ice Ship
Loading and Unloading the
Cargoes-West Indian Sal
lors Supplant Americans
Latest Sailing Ship Has
Every Convenience.
Evening star., 1912-06-30

entirely new electric bell system for
the benefit of the members absent from
the floor while the House was In ses-
sion. These bells, 100 In number. were
batteries and to take current from the
power circuits. To do this a motor
generator was employed: This appara.
tus takes current at the power sent
vice voltage, and generates current at
a greatly reduced voltage, which 1t de-
livers to the bus bars OF small main
switchboard. from which the current Is
carried to five distributing boards; In.
dependent wires connect the bells OF
each division with its distributing
board.
identical in tone. SO that they are read
lily distinguishable from the many
other bells. Is to warn absent members
Of impending movements In the House.
tire control of this system and oper-
ates the bells by a small box not un--
like a messenger call box In general
appearance. There are five important
calls indicated by a dial on the box.
When the pointer is turned to the call
to be sent out and released 1t auto
matically causes every bell to SOUND
the proper number OF rings with a
FIVE calls are made by one ring. two
rings. etc. up to five. and Indicate re.
spectively. "tellers," yeas and nays"
During the last session members called
the pages by pressing a desk button
and registering their number on an
nunciators in the cloakrooms. These
were not successful. owing to the
operators failure to restore the drops
after every call. The annunciators
have now been replaced by two tele-
semes, which are located in the rear
Of tho members desks, one on each
side Of the hall. These very ingenious
pieces Of electrical apparatus are en-
tirely automatic in action. The current
for their operation is supplied from the
power circuits, and on the pressure of
a desk button the white platinum disk
in a chemical bath corresponding to the
button pushed turns deep red. which
button and cutting on the electricity. s
Each teleseme is in charge of an
operator. behind whom the pages are
seated. When the electric buzzer
sounds. he notes the number of the
red disk. and dispatches a page from
the right-hand end of the seat to
answer the call. This method insures
an instant and thoroughly reliable
service and proper rotation among
the pages.
+
Probably the most important electric
feature in the building is the electric
graphophone. These instruments make
possible the speedy printing Of the trans
actions of the Senate and the House.
The expert stenographers. working in
relays Of short intervals, take down the
proceedings verbatim. and then repair to
the graphophone rooms and dictate their
notes to the machines, which in turn re-
produce the same matter to rapid type
writer's. It is therefore q question OF
but z few moments after . -Rsaksr haa
Evening star., 1912-06-30
THE WILLIAM C. MAY AT HER DOCK,


life, and by the time they reach man
hood they are experienced sailors 1ney
are, for the most part, good natured ana
very amenable to discipline. Also. they
have no ambition higher than TO get q
berth on a f1rst-rate sailing ship. while
the white man who is worth While ne-
comes restless and unmanageaDle under
the restraint and the long PERIODS or
idleness entailed upon them by the nature
of sailors life. Hence, these west IN
dians have, within the last generation,
almost entirely supplanted the old-time
American tar Indeed, the latter may be
said to have disappeared with the oiu
New Bedford whaler.
The days Of rough and cruel treatment
to sailors have also passed, according TO
these sailormen on the May, many Oh
whom have been following the sea- Tor
more than a quarter of a century. Ine
mate who hammered his crew into obedi-
ence-and occasional insensibility-wlth a
Delaying pin is no more, and In ms place
has risen a man who treats MS sailors
with kindness, realizing that thus can
his investment In them be made to pay
best
They are most ridiculously one-sided In
their education, these coastwise sailor
fellows. Those on the May can speak
three or four languages apiece. with a
supplementary argot of polyglot words
that adds sort of verbal hash to their
linguistic attainments. And yet not one
of them can read or write. They nave
the geography Of the seacoasts at their
fingers ends, yet not one of them knows
any more about the world mile back
from high tide than a six-month baby.
They are as familiar as maritime law
yer with the laws Of the different ma
, tions regarding the rights of sailors,
especially in their colonial possessions,
yet not one Of them has enough business
sense to run delivery wagon.
Along the American coast the sailor
scorns to put his hand to the plebeian
work Of loading and unloading ship;
that is left to the humble longshoreman,
the sailor-man. meantime, doing what
odd Jobs are needful about the vessel or
strollfng about the water-side streets OF
the town where his ship is docked, lord
ing 1t in a harmless way over the lands
man, whom he looks down upon with
pity. He, never or rarely gets back into
a town from the sight Of the water,
however; if he does he speedily becomes
landsick, one may call it, and Immediate
ly betakes himself back to within eye
shot Of his beloved element.
On board the May, which is one OF the
latest things in sailing craft, the sailor
is no longer relegated for sleeping quar-
ters to a dark den in the bowels of the
forecastle with a berth hardly bigger
Evening star., 1912-06-30

tongs had been dropping their burden
when half way up about every third trip
they made, on account Of the careless
adjustment of them by the darkies in the
hold. At length one great hundred
pound block Of ice, that was insecurely
held in the grip Of the tongs. slipped
when at the top of its journey and fell
with a thud back into the hold. In
stantly there was a stir and commotion
below The mate hurried to the rim Of
the hatchway and peered down into the
Evening star., 1912-06-30
HE last Of the large

HE last OF the large
ice ships, in all
probability. that
will ever bring a
cargo to Washing
ton or its vicinity
from the great ice
fields of the north
sailed up the Poto-
mac within the
past week and, dis
charging her frozen
burden at the
Evening star., 1912-06-30

The inquisitive visitor poked his head
in the wfndow-the cook called 1t a port
and saw a savory-looktng baked ham,
1anked with brown potatoes, while
pile of golden fish balls simnnered In a
pan on the end of the stove. The COOK
was cutting generous slices of bread. The
visitor remembered what he had read
of the vllainous food served to poor
Jack at sea- The cook smiled.
The sailors get what I serve on the
captains table," he answered in reply
to query years ago they used to
feed the sailors pretty rough grub, but
today they live better on these coasting
vessels than the average American fam
lily. Now here I've got for dinner today
baked ham, Drowned potatoes, fish Dalls.
cabbage, plenty of good bread. butter
and coffee, with a slice of pie all 'round
to top off with. / guess that's good
enough dinner for most any man. The
visitor heartily agreed, especially when
he looked upon the excellent and cieanly
cookery; it beat his boarding house.
"Oh, no, this is no exception said the
cook, when doubts were expressed about
ner. This is about what we serve every
day, and all the other coasting vessels
have about the same. On special days
we have special dinners. We carry
three months provisions whenever we
put out from any port, so that, in case of
accident, we will not starve; not much
Evening star., 1912-06-30

however, watching the men, who every
few moments broke forth in hardly re-
strained expostulations with some of the
lazy fellows, who persisted in swapping
warns instead of lifting Ice Clearly there
was an explosion imminent and the visit
or hoped for 1t and watched. confident
that, once this load Of surcharged emo
ton was lifted from the bosom OF the
mate. he could unfold some valuable
tales about his ship.
And he didn't have to wait long; the
Evening star., 1912-06-30

When one looked upon the captain
comfortable family and their comfortable
surroundings he felt compelled to agree
with him.
although the supplanting of the north
ern ice by the manufactured article has
killed our business of transporting the
former remarked the captain In COM
menting on the two products, II must
admit that the manufactured product is
superior to the river ice. While as a
rule. the ice harvesters obtained blocks
of solid ice, there were frequently sea-
sons when the ice, instead of being OF
that transparent blue that denotes the
solid product, was made up Of layers OF
snow that had fallen upon the frozen
river and then melted so as to form an
inch or two of water and waterloo on
top. This, when heavy frost would
come, would freeze hard and be cut for
storage. The result would be that the
consumer would get an inferior quality
Evening star., 1912-06-30

the engine would stop and the man IN
the basket, deftly guiding the block on
to the end Of the slide, would release 1t
from the tongs and away it would go.
flying down the grade, for all the world
like real toboggan. except that In TINS
case the ice was toboggantng instead OF
being tobogganed on.
Meantime the other pair Of tongs had
dropped into the hold and, as the f1rst
pair descended for another block, came
hurrying up with a piece of Ice In its
Jaws Thus the process of unloading
went on, to the monotonous chanting OF
the negroes at work and the creak1ng
Of the cordage through the pulleys. IL
was figured by the captain that 1t takes
about three days to unload a thousand
ton cargo Of ice:
While all this was going on the cook
was busted up in little hut In the front
part of the ship-they called 1t the
'forard galley"-getting dinner for all
hands His kitchen was as clean as
new penny; not a speck Of dirt any
where, and one might use any one OF
the pots and pans for looking glass.
The odor from that kitchen was most
appetizing, too, while the cook was about
as clean a looking specimen OF young
American manhood as one could find In
a days journey.
Evening star., 1912-06-30

On board the May, which is one OF the
latest things in sailing craft, the sailor
is no longer relegated for sleeping quar-
ters to a dark den in the bowels OF the
forecastle with a berth hardly bigger
than an average coffin. He has COM
Evening star., 1912-06-30

p - AGIC-no other word than mag
N ic can adequately convey to
the mind the engineering and
mechanical wonders wrought
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
HANDS BURNING, ITCHING

sos Lowell Place, Chicago, ILL.,
"The trouble began by my hands burn
ing and itching and 1 rubbed and
scratched them till one day saw lit.
tie red sores coming out. My hands
were disfgured and swollen, and trou-
bled me so that l could not sleep.
They were cracked and when the
small sores broke white matter
would come out. I could not do any
hard work; If l did the sores would
come out worse. For two years no.
body could cure my eczema, until one
day thought would try the Cuticura
Soap and Ointment / used warm wa
ter with the Cuticura Soap and after
that I put the Cuticura Ointment on
my hands twice a day for about five
or six months when I was cured.
(Signed) Sam Marcus, Nov. %, 1911.
Cuticura Soap and Ointment sold
throughout the world. Sample Of each
free, with 32-p. Skin Book. Address
postcard "Cuticu-a, Dept. L, Boston"
Adv.
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
Usual Kind Of Office Seekers.

We'll, how's every little thing, now
that election is over?" asked the re-
Gently arrived washing machine agent.
Bout as they are every place else.
! reckon" bit pessimistically replied
the landlord OF the Turgidtown tavern.
The banker, the storekeepers. the
lumber yard man, the doctor, the stock
buyer, the blacksmith and all the rest
Of the business men who have always
peared to be capable Of managing
their various sized affairs successfully,
are going on calmly and carefully at
tending to 'em. while all the trifin' 4,
one-gallused incompetents that have
never had any affairs Of their own to
attend to and wouldn't be capable Of
conducting EN- properly If they had
any. are out hotfoot and hell-bent to
get and manage the postoffice for the
rest OF u.s."
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
Frontier Medical List.

In good old frontier days castor oil
vas the principal medical beverage
good full measure, too. Only the big.
gest person could hold whole dose
one-haf a dipperful, with half a dip
perful OF New Orleans molasses add
ed to help slick it down and make 1t
taste good, only it didn't taste good.
In those historic days every old wom-
an was doctor and gathered her own
YARDS" in the woods and knew how
to mix up medical messes that would
stir the vitals Of brass monkey or
a cast iron dog. All backwoodsmen
believed in ''yarb" doctors. Something
in YARDS" at that.
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
INCONSISTENCIES FINE WORK

The copper worm OF a moonshin-
er's still was used in evidence in the
court of Judge John Gilmore. United
States commissioner, at Montgomery
Ala. 1t was splendid piece of work
manship and was made from very
thick copper and it did not have a
seam in 1t.
Alpheus McGowen, of Coosa county
who was being tried for "moonshin-
ing" told Judge Elmore that he made
the worm" When he had beaten
and worked the copper into a long
gas pipe shape he filled it with white
sand and crooked both ends. The
tube was then carried to q tree stump
and wound about It until the proper
shape was obtained. The sand pre-
vented the copper tube from fiatten-
Ing under pressure The worm" was
captured in a raid b. Deput. Revenue
Collector +. n. Winters
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28

A big buck deer startled 5000 per-
sons homeward bound from church in
Vancouver, upset a man and horse
and escaped after being handcuffed
The deer was first seen standing in
a vacant lot. Boyd Lauder, sixteen
year-old boy. went to look at it and
was thrown to the ground. The buck
then attacked and overthrow a horse
tied in the lot and returned to tram
pie the Lauder boy, when Policeman
Samuel Grady caught it by the antler
and threw it. after twenty minutes
struggle, by twisting its neck.
From force of habit he snapped
handouts about it's legs. The deer
sprang to it's feet and the handouts
slipped to the ground. The prisoner
escaped swimming a creek.
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
FACTS ABOUT BREATHING

In each respiration an adult inhales
one pint of air.
A man respires 16 to 20 times a
minute, 10000 times a day; child %
or 35 times a minute.
While standing the adult respira-
ton is %; while lying Is.
The superficial surface Of the lungs
i. e., OF their alveolar spaces is
200 square yards.
The amount of air inspired in "a
hours is 10000 lters (about 10000
quarts).
The amount OF oxygen absorbed in
"a hours is 500 litres (744 grammes) .
and the amount of carbonic acid ex-
plred in the same time 400 lltres
OILS grammes).
Two-thirds of the oxygen absorbed
in "a hours is absorbed during the
night hours from p. m. to 6 a. m.
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
|T1ny8S Queer 4mCWiOuS
FORTUNE IN SKIRT LINING

Neighbors examining the clothing OF
Mrs. Mary Krauss of SandusEy. o.,
for whose burial at the expense of the
county arrangements were being
made, found certificates of deposit
calling for almost $1,000 sewed in the
lining of an old skirt.
Mrs. Krauss, eighty-one. dropped
dead on the street. For years she had
been living by doing washings and
scrubbing floors.
The examination was instigated by
friend to whom Mrs. Krauss had
confided that she had money enough
for a decent funeral although how
much and where 1t was hidden the re-
fused to say.
The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-11-28
STlNGS RESTORE HIS SIGHT

While changing a swarm OF bees
from one hive to another, George
Bailey. who lives near Placervllle,
Colo, and makes living selling hon
ey, but who had been almost blind for
some time because of some ailment o.!
his eyes, was stung OF the face and
eyelids by several of the bees. Bail
ey had intended TO go TO Sacramento
TO consult a specialist with view
to having his sight restored, but the
bees did the work that he intended
the specialist should try to do This
effect of the stings las been to restore
his sight.