davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-05-30

T a recent convention held
in Philadelphia, Pa, noted
educators from all parts of
the United States and Eng
land, gathered to study the
condition of rural life. A
noted educator and one who
knows the practical condi-
lions of farm life, said the
Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-05-30

One way to hold job is to do the
work.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

of the civil war the papers were still
there, but soon after that the bank was
burned down and the papers were
burned with 1t. This left as the only
group of Washington papers the one
which the government had bought. It
formed about two-thirds of the whole.
Where are the papers of John
Adams?"
'"rhey are in the hands of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society at Boston.
where are also the papers of John
Quincy Adams. They nave been depos-
tied there and will probably never
leave Boston, although they really
ought to be in our collection here. The
Adams papers are valuable. They are
in the special charge of Mr.. Worthing-
ton Ford, who was formerly chief of
this division. They are very careful
ly guarded"
"Have you many of the Jefferson pa
pers?n
Yes. Our collection is numbered by
tens of thousands. Jefferson was very
methodical, and his private papers were
almost as voluminous as those OF
Washington. He was one of. the first
Americans to use press copy, and there
are thousandy of letters in press copy
by him. Congress bought jefferson s
library, and it was carried in wagons
from Monticello to Washington The
jefferson papers were not a part of
the library. They were acquired after
Jeffersons death, and were bought of
his descendants for about $4,000
These papers contained record of the
whole career of Jefferson. Only about
one-fifth of them have ever been pub :.
lished, and 1t is out of the question for
the government ever to publish them
ALL"
Tell me. something about the papers
of James Madison"
Our Madison collection came from
two separate purchases. Madison pre-
pared certain of his papers for publi-
cation before he died and Congress
bought some of these shortly after his
death. Later on he bought the remain
der Then some of the papers fell into
the hands of his stepson, Pavne Todd,
who deposited them with James c. Nc
Guire of Washington. Mcclure was a
collector of manuscripts. He had loaned
Todd money and Todd had given him
the papers as security, and when the
debt was not paid they fell into his
hands Later on the Mcclure collection
was sold to the Chicago Historical So
ciety, and it was only year or so ago
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

Moreover to know the NEUROLOGICAL
history that clusters around the per-
sonages after whom these stars are
named Is to read volume more de-
lighting than the Iliad or the Odyssey,
the Ramayana or the Kalevala or any
OTTER of the wonderful epics of the
worlds literature.
1t is declared that strange sky agi-
tates the undaunted spirit to far great
er degree than does the extraordinary
character OF unfamiliar landscapes 1t
NJ also said that only when the stars are
unknown to us do we fully realize the
situation of being in a foreign land and
that thus journey from the northern
hemisphere to the land south of the
equator seems much longer than others
This l know to be true, for l have felt
1t and my first trip to Brazil appeared
to me to be as long as a voyage from
New York to Vladivostok.
But to return to my night in Hyen:
Only twice before had l experienced such
felcitous dream Il had not then seen
the North Cape), once when l stood
awed before the bewildering glory Of the
Southern Cross and once beneath the
lamp lighted curtains of Sicily.
1t is difficult to define my feelings and
still more difficult to pay adequate tri-
butte to the matchless sublimity of that
Incompatible piece of heavenly bijoutry
which is the pride OF the skies just across
the equator. Poet, priest and navigator
have We'd with one another In paying
homage to its beauty; Dante viewed 1t
In imagination when he wrote, IT saw
four stars ne'er seen before save by
the ken of our first parents. Heaven
of their ray seemed joyous. o, thou,
northern site, bereft indeed, and wild
owed, since of these deprived;' vespucci
declared exultantly that he had beheld
Dante's -Four Stars" Pigafetta called
it the Croce Maravigliosa marvellous
CROSSE and the early missionaries re-
garded it with religious awe. Spanish
settlers used the Southern Cross as a
clock. A reference to its similar employ
ment is made by the author of Paul and
Virginia, and it is most singular fact
that, owing to the procession of the
equinoxes this constellation was last
seen upon the horizon of Jerusalem at
the time of the crucifxion of Christus.
This stellar group consists of four bright
stars disposed as a cruciform one of
which is orapge-colored and the other
three are white. The metal currency of
Brazil has the Southern Cross emblaz-
oned upon It's diverse side This cross
and the midnight sun are the two great
est sublmities that the heavens have to
present.
Ny nocturnal experience in Sicily was
of q more diversified character and soft
er nature. Its delight was enhanced by
the knowledge that / was in that part
of the island which was once inhabited
by the Laestrygones, those cannibal
giants who dwelt just south of Aetna in
land where the nights were so short
that the shepherd driving his flocks out
meets the shepherd who is driving his
focks in" And such night; compared
to it the "Noctes Ambrosianae'' of Chris
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

associated with these seven stars. In
fact 1t has been seriously suggested that
as Taurus is represented as bull with
his body half submerged. the figure
may be symbolical of universal deluge.
II required but coup d'oeil to pass
from Taurus to Auriga, that charioteer
whose origin is lost in antiquity and who
nightly speeds his whirling quadriga
across the heavens bearing in one hand
the mighty whip with wind driven thongsY
and In the other the little kid whose
heart Is designated by the brilliant star,
Capelia. 1t is quite singular that in all
ages and among peoples remotely removed
from each other Capella has been known
as the Kid. AS such was he known among
the Greeks and the Romans and by the
ancient Peruvians, who were utterly tx.
norant OF European or Asiatic mythology.
the star was called Colca Qittle goau
and connected with the affairs Of shep.
herds.
Then turned my eyes to where =
Onward the kindred bears, with foot-
Danced round the pole. pursuing ana
pursued"
| cared not whether they were the Bier
OF Lazarus, Helice and Cynosura the
tabled fosther mother OF Zeus on Mount
Ida, or the bruins commissioned by
Elisha to devour the mocking boys they
were mye cubs with whom l had sported
In my nursery and their fraternal pres
ence had shortened for me many a
nocturnal drive at home, had compan-
ioned the languishing watch-fire of many
a hunting and fishing camp of my youth
and had illumined the lucubratons of
many lonely night. IN the grotesuue-i
ness of their polar fugue I had often
conceived them as keeping step to the
music of the sphers' and had even at
tened my ear to detect the tenor OF
Mars, the contralto of Venus and the
soprano of Mercury, parts which have
been assigned by Kepler to the celestial
choir.
l am quite sure that l was not a VIC
tim of nostalgia that night upon the
island, but almost unconsciously / found
myself seeking Regulus, the Royal Star,
one of the -Four Guardians of Heaven
who stood watch over my far-off south-
ern home.
took no little pride in the fact that in
my travels / had seen the four quarters
Of the globe and I was equally pleased
that in those peregrinations l had also
viewed the -Four Guardians of Heaven
of which Regulus stands for the south.
Fomalhaut for the north, Aldebaran for
the east and Antares for the west These
Royal Stars and as such became the
Guardians of Heaven. Thus I dreamed
until the whistle of the approaching boat
broke my revery and as / stepped from
aboard the craft on the opposite shore / !,
was half tempted to believe that l had
just returned from a journey along the
river Of the sky.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

topher North Gohn Wilson, or Strapa-
rola's "Tredeci Piacevoli Notti' sink into
insignificance. Beneath this panoply of
glittering gems 1 saw the "Golconda of
the heavens" and read the history of
the past laid bare in volume of llum-
ined pa ge- and jewel-studded clasp. Even
the FURNISHED spracle of the volcano
grew dim and it's atramental slopes van
fshed into gloom before the lustrous
sweep of the celestial pageantry. | saw
Canopus which was Mohammeds s star of
wild, blue, spirit-like brightness" said
to be 10000 times more brilliant than our
sun, sparkling in the Carina (keeD of the
boat piled by those bold adventurers who
sought the golden fleece (Toison d'Or);
l beheld the Hound of Orion bearing in
his mouth Sirius, the Sparkling to
whose speed Achilles was lisened as he
rushed across the plain of Troy to en-
gage Hector in battle at the citys gate;
Sirius, the mile Star" glowing, blazing,
fiaring, flashing, coruscating in prncely
splendor. Sirius alike the dog of Sigurd,
the hound of Actaeon, the sleuth of Di-
ana and the deerslayer of ancient India,
Sirius toward whom seven Egyptian tenn
pies were oriented and whose culmina-
tion was celebrated in the Eleusian mys-
teries. Lastly | surveyed the unparal-
leled magnifcence of Orion, that giant
whose fame is enshrined in a stupendous
piece of jewery; Orion, the superb with
Bellatrix, sometimes called Miriam and
sometimes the Amazon star. epauletting
his left shoulder and Rigel glittering upon
his foot; Orion, that hero of prodigious
spendor whose starry statue outrivals
that of Herakles: Orion for the love of
whom the chaste Diana unwittingly slew
him in her trial of skill at archery.
As 1 gazed at this trio of stellar
glories I recalled Ralph Waldo Emer-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

firmlyis this pretty legend believed In
by the children of Corea that If a mag
pie Is seen about its usual haunts on
the seventh day of the seventh moon
it is stoned for shirking its duty when
1T should be in the sky helping to form
bridge for the passage of the lovers.
There is a reflex of this legend In
Japan where from time immemorial q
woman's holiday has been celebrated
by festival known as Tanabata.
In that country the girl and her lover
in their sky home are called the
Weaver and the Herdsman and it Is
declared that upon the occasion of the
festival the two stars burn with five
colors Hence offerings of five cofors
are made by the celebrants and the
poems composed for the occasion are
written upon paper of five different
tints. However, 1t Is there believed
that If rain occurs on the seventh night
of the seventh moon the meeting, by
reason of the high water of the heav-
enly river, cannot take place. For this
reason rain on Tanabata night Is called
the Rain of Tears.
have always looked upon the Milky
Way as the architrave of heaven, its
metopes presenting in bold relief the
chair of Cassiopei, the club of Orion,
the boat of the Argonauts, the South
ern Cross, the Altar and the Shield of
Sobieskii. Nearly all nations regarded
1t as bridge or pathway leading to
brighter realms; in its stars the North
American Indian saw the camp fires
lighted along the road of the, spirits
on their journey to the happy hunting,
grounds; the Bushmen of South Africa
deemed 1T line of glowing ashes and
embers by which the benighted trav-
eler might find his way; other savage
tribes regarded 1T as the trail along
which their dead friends were hunting
the ostrich some held 1t to be cees-
tial highway trodden only by the gods;
with the Chinese 1t was a stream filled
with silvery fish who were hiding In
fright at the sight of the new moon,
evidently taking the crescent for an
anglers hook but probably the most
beautiful tribute paid to the Galaxy Is
the description of the Japanese legend
OF the spinning Maiden and her lover
so eloquently related by Lafcadio Hearn
In the words: In the silence of trans
parent nights, before the rising of the
moon, the charm of the ancient tale
sometimes descends upon me out of
the scintillant sky, to make me forget
the inonstrous facts of science and the
stupendous horror of space I see the
thrill of its shining stream, the mists
that hover along its verge and the
water grasses that bend in the winds
of autumn. White Orihime 7 see at
her starry loom and the OK that grazes
on the farther shore--and know that
the falling dew Is the spray of the
Herdsman's oar"
As my eye swept this strenth of
celestial gauze till it rested upon Cas-
siopeia, the heaven troubled queen"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26
The Madison Papers Comprise 110 volume
script Division

strongly than they would have written
for themselves, but Jackson was never
afraid to take the responsibility. Mr..
Hunt says that Jackson believed In the
duel and that he tried when possible to
be the challenged party. He usually Sc
lected pistols and chose the distance of
from six to nine PAGES. Such a distance
he said put both men on equal terms. the
good shot having no advantage over the
bad one.
The library of Congress has under way
a most important undertaking in collecting
the material for our colonial history. This
is the having copied everything In the
European archives which pertains to the
American colonies. For some years men
have been at work in the government 1r-
chives of Great Britain, France, Spain
and Mexico. They are copying govern
ment documents, letters and papers OF
all kinds relating to the story of Amer
lea and to the American colonies. The
most of the English transcripts have al
ready been made. They begin with the
discovery of America and extend to the
peace of 1888. They number more than
100000 folios and he copying has been
all done by hand on handmade paper
manufactured especially for the purpose.
The writing Is like copy-plate. and as the
papers are chronologically arranged any
period is easily accessible. These papers
are In great ledgerlike volumes, beauti-
fully bound, and so made that they will
last forever.
Mr.. Hunt tells me that the collection
from the British archives is practically
complete. Similar work is going on in
Paris, where the copyists are collecting
everything up to the time of the Louis
lana purchase, in 1903, and similar copies
will be made of the archives of Mexico
up to the year 1S47, when Texas and other
states became American. The work in
Spain will continue up to 1919, when Flor
ida was bought SO that the collection will
form complete transcript of an the inn
portant documents pertaining to the Amer
lean colonies now hidden away In the ar
chives of foreign governments. AS 1t is
now, the man who wants to write about
colonial America has to go to Europe for
a part of his material. Within a very
short time a copy of everything In Eu-
rope will be accessible In the national IL
brary.
| asked Mr.. Hunt If all this work had
to be copied by hand. He replied:
1.-THE manuscripts which have come
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

I'm a previous paper nave oescripeu
a visit to the charming suburbs or
Copenhagen, not forgetting the old
castle of Kronberg, where Hamlet met
his fathers ghost and in whose case
mates. deep down below the ground,
stir sleeps Holger Dansk, awaiting the
hour when his country shall summon
him TO her deliyerance, nor omitting
the uncomfortable seaside resort OIL
Marianlyst with it's historic mound
that marks the grave of that sweet
Prince" the mad Hamlet
But | cherish another memory asso-
ciated with the environs of Denmark S
capital; a fond recollection of delight
ing hours spent under the star1gn'
when a belated boat compelled me TO
pass a night upon the little ad1acent
island of Hven. famous for its castle
and observatory built by Tyco Brahe,
the celebrated Swedish astronomer, ana
named by him Uraienborg.
1t was not, however. in the castle
that l passed the night, but upon the
steps of the primitive little church 81.
Ibbs (James) that / sat and watched
the same bright stars which 500 years
ago fascinated and yielded up some
of their mysteries to the entranceo
Tycho.
Though alone, benighted and stran-
ger. by no means sensed a feeling OF
loneliness, for above me. Tranquil anu
steadfast, stood those well known sem
tineIs with which / had been familiar
from early childhood. Have you ever
reflected that it was the friendliness
of the stars that first led man around
the globe? Had they not companioned
Columbus across the Atlantic, he would
never have discovered America, for l
am sure that they encouraged anu
comforted him and equally sure am
that while he may not have known the
quotation and probably never heard OF
Aratus that in his lonely trip across
the dark and unknown waves he sensed
the same sentiment as the great Greek
singer of the stars when he declared
from all quarters heaven speaks TO
man"
1t is an excellent thing to be ac-
ouainted with Polaris, Sirius, Vega,
Arc,urus and the -Four Guardians of
Heaven" for they will ever befriend
you and always Danish loneliness; be-
Sides to know them is to possess a
library older than Homer, or to wan
der perpetually through gallery of
pictures sketched by The master hand
of human imagination when fancy
held full sway and thought moved un-
trammelled. To know Sirius is to cul-
tivate the acquaintance of that Won
derfuI prismatic star that awed the
ancient land OF the Nile and toward
whom some of the greatest of the
worlds temples Were criented; to know
Arcturus is to respond to the same
stellar power and beauty that inspired
Job and to know Ursa Major and Ursa
Minor is to smile forever as one
watches the pair of bruins swinging
''a1l hands around" in their perpetual
and tireless dance about the north pole.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

sons declaration: "If the stars should
how would men believe and adore and
preserve for many generations the re-
membrance of the city of God which had
been shownY'
When I gazed at the Southern Cross,
realized that I was in distant land
when 1 viewed the heavens from fair
Sicily's plain l seemed to be consort-
ing with the gods and goddesses of
Greece, but as l looked starward from
the steps of the little church of st.
Ibis l felt at home. First of all there
was the Milky Way, the river of the
sky" glowing as / had never seen it
glow before. In it's contemplation l.,
Of course, thought of the Spinning
Damsel and the Magpie Bridge The
maiden was named Orihime upon earth.
but in the sky she Is Lyra Her lover.
whose earthly cognomen is not given
is now Aquila; but he was a cowheru
and one day as he drove his OK past
the loom OF the spinning maiden he fell
In love with her. This so angered the
girls father that he banished his
daughter and her lover to the sky, but
he declared that the twain might meet
once year IL they could contrive to
cross the rfver-the Milky Way As
love always finds the means this they
managed to do with the aid of their
friends, the magpies, who still once a
year on the seventh night of the sew
enth moon, gather at the crossing point
and with their outstretched wings form
a bridge over which the lovers pass. At
the end of "a hours the bridge is
broken up, the magpies return to earth
and the lovers are obliged to wait an
other IL months ere their blissful rem
devious is repeated. 1t is said that so
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

from the British archives have all been
made In that way, and the arrangement
for the French archives Is the same. The
Mexican papers will be copied In type
writer, and great many of the other ar
chives have been photographed and sent
on In facsimile. There is considerable
doubt as to the advisabilty of using pho
Biography. Many of the documents are
bound and photography does not give COM
plete reproductions. Another danger Is
that the photographs may fade In time,
while the ink and paper we now use In
copying Will last indefinitely. Another OBJ
lection to photography is that the paper
must necessarily be thicker than writing
paper, and several hundred thousand pho
tographs would be very unwieldy."
| looked over some of the volumes
of manuscript with Mr.. Hunt The
most of them are 12x15 inches in size.
They are made of Manila rope paper
cut with the grain, and are so bound
in red Morocco that they form beau
tiful volumes. Each volume has its
own case, and the workmanship of in
serting the manuscripts is exquisitely
beautiful. Many of the papers come
catered and torn. They have to be
cleaned and covered with crepeline,
which makes them practically inde-
structible. Each letter is mounted on
al
on both sides of the page 1t is on
hinges. 1t is the finest manuscripts
preparing of the world and is better
than that of the Vatican which has
long stood at the head as to the beauty
of its manuscript preservation.
During my chat with Mr.. Hunt |
asked as to the other great manu-
script collections of the world. He re-
piled:
There are only three really great
historical collections, that of the Brit
ish Museum in London. the BibiIo-
tecque Rationale In Paris and the one
we have here. 1 do not know which
is the largest, but the British Museum
has been at the job of collecting for
more than 200 years, while the Pari-
slams have been working at it even
longer. Our collection began only 10
years ago, and at the present rate of
progress 1t will soon have a larger
and more complete collection than they
have. We shall have more documents
relating to the history OF the United
States than the British have relating
to the history of England"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26

Louisiana. Then the house was burned
down and all the papers destroyed. The
papers of William Henry Harrison were
lost In the same way at the time his house
was burned, and so there are collections
or neither Taylor nor Harrison.
I'VE have the papers of Franklin Pierce
such as they are. They are not many
and they do not amount to much. Presi-
dent Pierce was charming man, and
l do not think full justice has been done
him. BY the way, there is an interesting
story told about him in connection with
Buchanan's Inauguration. This comes
from a Mr. Gamble, who was boy at
the time. Young Gamble and his father
had gone to the Inauguration and after
the parade were walking home They had
come about half way from the capitol
when a gentleman came up behind them
and asked permission to walk along with
them. They turned around and discovered
it was Franklin Pierce, going home on
foot from the Inauguration of his success
sor to the presidency. AS to Buchanan,
his papers are in the hands of the Penn
sylvania Historical society and are now
in Philadelphia. They ought to be here"
In looking over the papers OF the Presi-
dents Mr.. Hunt showed me some inter-
esting letters. | saw papers of Andrew
jackson relating to his duels and as to
how he raced horses. There is one mem
orandum made by Andrew jackson as a
boy which gives full details of ''how to
feed a cock before you fight it." This
says that you should give the chiccen
some picked beef cut fine. three times a
day, and let him have sweet milk instead
of water to drink. Give him dry Indian
corn and little white bread soaked in
sweet milk. Feed him as much as he can
eat for eight days. and he will then be
ready to fight 1 saw also receipts signed
by Jackson showing that he was good
churchgoer while he was President. He
rented pews in three different churches
and probably took the whole family with
him. Mr.. Hunt tells me, however, that
Andrew Jackson did not stop. racing
horses when he became President. He
merely raced them under another name.
The last thing he did as President was
to make a bet about Van Buren's elec-
ton. I1e never composed a single state
paper that went out under his own name.
Such things were written for him by Ed
ward Livingston, Amos Kendall. James
K. Polk and others. They wrote more