davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Discomfort.

Success is a disease, if the reason
ing Of those who give the identical do9
milton for poverty is to be followed
An excellent preventive is idleness or
inertia; another is satisfaction Find
the man who is satisfied and Won nod
look no further for human putty. Con-
tent breeds Indias and Chinas Dis
content sends MayflOwerS across oceans
NOT the sullen discomfort that docs
nothing, but the discomfort that mani.
tests itself in striving to better con.
ditions, the discomfort that means hard
work and plenty of it. Some firms ara
so contehted with the volume Of busi-
ness they have that they do nothing 10
increase 1t. But the disconnected COM
petitOr is doing something. as the first
firm generally finds out before going
into bankruptcy. You go ahead or Won
go back In this world You cannon
stand still Satisfaction too often means
Just thathdOing nothing PHILADELPHIA
Ledger.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Juna and MatrimonN.

The first people to adopt the month
OF June as sacred to Hymen, the god Of
marriage, were the ancient Romans,
who considered June the most prOpi-
tiOus season of the year for entering
upon matrimonial relations. The RO-
mans held that June weddings were
likely to be happier than alliances Con-
tracted in any other month Of the year,
especially if the day chosen were that
Of the full moon or the conjunction Of
the sun and moon. They also held
that of all months May was to be most
avoided. as in that month newlyweds
would come under the influence Of Spir-
its adverse to happy households. These
ancient marriage superstitiOnS were re-
tanned by the Christians in the middle
ages, and even today June is conSid-
cred by many to be pre-eminently the
month of marriages. - Pittsburgh
Chronicle Telegraph.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
BENJAMIN Harrison.

"Do you think" Benjamin Harrison
once asked Louis T. Kitchener, his
campaign manager, ''that I am a cold
manT'
81 don't think So" General Kitchener
answered, emphasizing the pronoun.
because / am acquainted with you.
but persons do say that am the only
living man who hasn't been chilled by
a Harrison cold blast I understand
your habits and your moods, and when
you pass me in the street and don't
speak to me I know the reason"
well" Harrison replied, II do get
into a subject when / am thinking
about it and at such times may seem
q little blind and distant"
'But Benjamin Harrison" General
Kitchener told the writer Of this arti-
Gle, twas not a cold man. No man is
cold whom children and dogs love, and
all the children and dogs OF Indian
apolis knew Benjamin Harrison. BE
saw them always, and they saw him. "
New York Sun
The broad ax., 1915-08-07

What is the purpose Of dreamsf DR..
Isador n. Coriat answers the question
thus In 'sThe Meaning Of Dreams"
II can be shown through dream anal
ysis that dreams subserve a definite
function In our mental Life In that they
really act as protectors and not as dis
turbers Of sleep. This guardianship Of
sleep by means Of dreams Is due to the
persistent dynamic action Of the CEN
sor. In sleep the censor is exceeding
" active. and its function Is to protect
sleep from the mass Of repressed emo
lions which threaten to Overwhelm the
sleeper in the shape Of a dream. This
IS done by means Of the dream mocha
nisms, In which the dream thoughts
are fused and displayed, thus under
going such disguise and symboliZation
as to be unacceptable to the sleeper
and consequently not disturbing to
him. When the censor mods or Is evad-
ed, when the literal dream thoughts
lombard and invade consciousness IN
an undisguised form, sleep is disturbed
and insomnia results.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Delights Of Canal ss.;.

It was my first experience ~ a.,
riding and therefore interestine a. auiei
aitogether charming. The saddles : nl 40,
on this journey were formed ~ Use, aSeu
pads, one in front and one beb,nd ~ q
hump. The driver climbs into n,o .ue
In front, with a huge peaked na 20 .e
keep him from falling off when ~ ~
camel rises. Then the passenr Sas
mounts behind the hump, and the CO.
el is with difficulty persuaded - IN on
This he does hind quarters first "a
the passenger finds himself firms, -
In midair as If on a tower. The hra ~
pad offers no possible support ma as e
can scarcely overcome his desira =, .e
prevent a fall by putting his feet ~
the drivers shoulders. That wor+br
however, soon comes up to Join him
and the expedition starts. The frs,
sensation Is of being astride n t,bIa
and as the miles 60 by the table IN
creases alarmingly in width. and ~.
tyro on the back seat begins In dasnof.
Of ever getting his legs acuuaintoJ
again.-Wide World Magazine.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
To the Swift.

While the morning rush was on one
day a young woman followed a trolley
car down Broadway, running two
blocks before she caught it This she
was able TO do because of the jam Of
the traffic which retarded the car. Her
efforts attracted attention on both sides
Of the street. and hurrying shop hands
stopped to cheer her on. AT Houston
street, where she came painting up to
the side OF the car, she gasped to the
conductor that she had left her pocket
book on the seat and wanted to get It.
he obligingly held the car while she
made a search No pOcketbOok was
found, but as she stepped or into the
street again, her eyes filed with tears,
there came a shout from behind. II
was the motorman of the succeeding
car, and in his hand as he leaned over
his brake he held the pocketbook-
'Here II is, lady" he said. Don't
cry. You only caught the car ahead"
New York Post
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Poisons In Warfare.

There are many substances which
may be employed to poison or asphyx-
late an enemy, either by tempering the
wind or by use in projectiles. Hydro
cyanic acid, known as prussic acid, Is
30 poisonous that a mere breath Of 1t
means instant death. Sulphuric an
hydride when brought IN contact with
air combines rapidly with moisture alb
sorbed from the air, producing sui
phuric acid. Thrown In a bomb with
just explosive charge enough to dis
rupt the bomb and scatter the sui
phurie anhydride, the air for a large
space about the explosion would be at
once converted into dense fog Of sui
phuric acid. Liquid ammonia similar
~ employed would instantly so I'LL the
atmosphere with ammonia as to stran-
gle ali persons In the immediate vicin-
ity.-Brooklyn Eagle.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07


The verse found In Genesis u, And
the whole earth was Of one language
and Of one people," has given rise to
much speculation as to the language
spoken on the earth previous to the
confusion OF tongues" According TO
many authorities, Hebrew was the Ian
guage spoken by Adam, while others
state that Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldee
are simply dialects Of the original
tongue. The Persians assert that there
were three primitive languages. The
Arabic, being the most persuasive, was
used by the serpent In addressing Eve;
the Persian, being the most poetic, was
spoken by Adam and Eve, and the
Turkish, being the most menacing, was
employed by the angel when driving
the guilty pair from the garden OF
Eden.
Herodotus says that Psammetichus,
king Of Egypt, wishing to learn the
language that would naturally be spo-
ken by a person, caused two infants to
be carefully guarded and kept from ali
verbal intercourse When brought be
fore him the first word the children ut
tered was bekos, the Phrygian for
bread, whereupon It was at once as
serted the Phrygian was the primeYal
or oldest tongue.-Philadelphia Press
The broad ax., 1915-08-07

Many OF the physical features Of
eastern Nebraska were produced By
sheets Of ice that invaded the region
during and after the earlier stages OF
the great fee age. At the opening Of
the glacial epoch the great Keewatin
glacier spread southwark and covered
large parts Of the Dakotas. Minnesota
and Iowa and extended thence into
eastern Nebraska, where IT was prob
ably several hundred feet thick. This
first stage Of glaciation was brought
20 a close by the melting Of the ice In
a warmer interglacial time or stage
the Aftonian.
A remarkable assemblage OF animals
invaded the region after the ice had
disappeared, and the bones and teeth
Of many Of these animals have been
found In the Aftonian deposits Of
western Iowa. The late Professor
Samuel Calvin identified the remains
Of horses, camels, stays, elephants,
mastodons, mammoths and sloths.
When these animals lived In western
Iowa the climate there must have been
comparatively mild and vegetation
very Geological Survey Bull
letia
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
nhe Artlehoka.

The articboke. which originally came
from Barbary, Is not a botanical spe-
des, but variety Of the thistle. which
grows spontaneously all along the AZ
rican coast Of the Mediterranean from
Morocco to Palestine. 1t Is now cult
waited extensively In France, where
those which come from Brittany and
Algeria are the species most highly es-
teemed. Even Of these there are many
varieties, such as the Camus artichoke
OF Brittany, the bronzed artichoke OF
RoscoR, the big green artichoke Of
Laon and the violet artichoke OF Pro
vence. There are also varieties which
come from Italy, Spain, India and Can
ada, to say nothing OF the Jerusalem
artichoke, famous for the enormous
size of its leaves. In the south OF
France when the crop is abundant the
heads are carefully picked Of all their
leaves and the hearts dried In the sun,
put up In sacks and stored away for
winter use. These hearts when boiled
In water or In a rich beef broth be-
come soft and recover their form, color
and flavor. They are then taken from
the pot, the water and broth strained
away, the center is filed with force
meat, and they are then either fried or
baked.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
An Et6lstio Heart

The use of the term athletic heart
has led to more misunderstanding
than probably any other one express
sion. Laymen or parents, provided they
are not of the medical profession. get
a picture from this expression which Is
ANYTHING but correct. II they were
told that their boys thigh had increas-
al half an inch In girth under the ex-
ercise that he had been doing In the
gymnasium they would be pleased, but
when they are told that the size OF
his heart is increased they are at once
yery much alarmed. Active participa-
ton In almost any sport which causes
the heart to beat more rapidly VIII
produce an increase OF size OF that
muscle as In any other muscle, and a
certain amount Of this is unques1ona-
bly, natures normal and proper way
of taking care of her economy. Some
people. 1t Is true. believe that any en-
largement Is abnormal, but DR.. Mey-
Ian and most Of the physicians who
have followed the athlete closely would
not agree with this.-0uting.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
What IL Like to Fly.

In "Air Craft In the Great War;" by
Claude Grahame-White and Harry Har-
per, an answer to the question What
Is it like to fiy?" is brief:
The question has lost novelty, yet it
has never been answered-never, that
Is to say, in a manner wholly convinc-
ing. The reason is that the sensation
Is Observation-Disclosures nothing else on
earth" has a passenger has said II
you can imagine yourself gliding over
a smooth surface Of ice on skates you
cannot feel and which make no noise,
that may convey some faint idea per-
haps Of the feelings you experience
after leaving ground You are support
ed on something, yet you are not sup
ported. You look down, and there Is
nothing below you but an empty void
Yet the machine rides firmly and Sc
curely, as though you were in a motor
car on the smOothest road
The broad ax., 1915-08-07

There are more than dozen di1er-
ent oFenses for which soldier may
be sentenced to death while on active
service. The first on the list OF death
offenses applies to a commanding ON
Ger ana reads, "ShamefuIly delivering
ND q garrison when In command Of
troops, without due necessity-punish-
ment, death" A soldier can be shot
for throwing away his rife or sword
IN the presence Of the enemy, for cow
ardice or for leaving his commanding
ofaeer In order to plumber. If be. forces
his way past sentry on active serV-
Ice he may be sentenced to death or
for assaulting any one bringing up pro
visions for the troops. A soldier Is ex-
pressly forbidden while on active sery-
ice to commit any ofense against a
resident Of the country In which he Is
fighting under pain Of death, nor may
be break into any house In search OF
plumber or discharge his rife Intention
ally to create a false alarm on the
march. A soldier while acting as SEN
Try who is found sleeping at his post
may be shot Any man causing or
Joining In mutiny is liable to be shot
Desertion or attempt at desertion while
on active service Is naturally death
ofrense.-London Opinion.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
For the Ultra Precise.

Professor Thomas r. Lounsbury said
at Cambridge in a talk on English:
"But precision can be carried too far.
The ultra precise, even when logically
right, are really wrong.
IAN ultra precise professor went into
a hardware shop and said:
"'Show me a shears, please
"'You mean a pair OF shears, don't
you? said the dealer.
"'No,' said the professor. I mean
what / say. / mean a shears
The dealer took down a box Of
shears.
"'LOok here, professor he said.
Aren't there two blades here? And
don't two make a pairT
"TWell. you've got two legs. Does
that make you a pair Of menr And
the professor smiled at the dealer tri-
umphantly through his spectacles.
"He was logically right, but, really,
he was wrong."-Philadelphia Bulletin.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
AGATE and ONYX.

The distinction between agate and
onyx is not apparent to every one, as
is indicated by the samples Of the two
minerals received by the United States
geological survey with requests for In
formation Onyx marble, or Mexican
onyx, is composed Of calcium, carbon
ate or banded limestone. True agate
Is a variety Of silica. Onyx marble is
much softer than agate and Is rarely
used for gems, but when onyx is OBJ
tanned In pieces Of sufficient size 1t is
cut and polished for small ornamental
objects Ike inkstands and paper
weights, as well as for table tops and
soda water fountains.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Tha Lieart Of . Mouss.

A tiny mouse who lived near the
house Of a magician begged him to
save her from the cat OF whom she
lived In deadly terror. So the magi-
clan changed. the mouse into cat, and
she went away delighted In a few
days she came back again In terror.
%oh, save me, save me now from the
dog" she begged. And the magician
changed her to a dog. 4 few days
more and back she came, this time I'm
deadly fear Of a tiger. Nonsense"
said the magician. you have only the
heart Of a mouse. and afraid you WIN
always be. It Is the heart that tells"
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Erratio Record In Golf.

The worlds record for unsteadiness
probably goes to a certain California
golfer. There was a team match sched-
uIed between two clubs. each club pick
ing its five best men. When the match
started 1t was discovered that only
four men had reported for one Of the
teams. The captain OF the team that
had n missing man saw standing by a
club member with a handicap some
where around sixteen or eighteen
strokes. His average game was about
9S. As a rule he could be counted upon
TO 60 ont In 80 and come back in 4S.
That day. to his own amaZement and
to the confusion Of his opponent, he
was out In "a. eleven strokes better
than he had ever played the course be
fore for the first nine holes. This was
an upset. hut no worse than the upset
that followed. for. after being out In
"a. he was back In GO. He got his 81,
but as no 90 was ever got before
Jerome d. Travers in American Maya
zine.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
What Isa Placer2

A placer Is an unconsOlidated deposit
accumulated by mechanical processes,
carrying one or more minerals In COM
mercial quantities. All placers are
secondary depOsits-that is, the mate
rial OF which they are composed was
originally derived by erosion Of bed
rock. Although it Is undoubtedly true
that under certain conditions nuggets
Of placer gold have been enlarged
through chemical precipitation, yet this
action IS a negligible quantity In plac-
ers. Placers may be derived solely by
rock weathering without water sort
ing, but more commonly are the result
OF water transportation, sorting and
deposition. Many Of the richest plac-
ers are those formed by the erosion
OF older placers and the reconeentra-
ton OF their gold.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
colors and Heat.

In an attempt TO Illustrate graphi-
cally the relative values for summer
and winter wear Of different colors in
dress materials an interesting expert
ment was recently conducted. says
Popular Mechanics. Four strips OF
cloth made OF the same material and
weight. but Of different colOrs. were
placed on a cake Of ice and exposed 10
the sun. The fnhTi,s were white. vel
low, red and black. The result show
ed in a striking way how white re-
fleets the suns rays. while black alb
serbs them.
The fee covered by the piece Of
white cloth was not melted to any ap-
probable degree during the test. that
under the yellow strip was slightly de-
pressed, a deep cut was formed be-
meath the red cloth and q groove ap-
proximately twice as deep as that COW
cred by the latter was melted under
the black fabric.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Turtle and Earina.

Turtle and farina taken together rep
resent to those who live on the ANA
zon. be they white, negro or Indian or
one OF the numerous crOssbreeds, what
the salmon does To the Alaska Indian,
the cocoanut to the south sea islander
and rice to the Monaghan. A short
run Of salmon in the Alaska rivers. a
crop failure I'm the paddy fields OF
China, a hurricane in the south sea
islands, all reduce to the same thing
famine. On the Amazon a shortage of
turtles may be tided over by pleni-
tude Of farina. or vice versa A failure
Of both turtles and farina in the same
year brings great and widespread dis
tress. Farina Is a crude, locally made
product Of the root Of the manioc, a
further refinement Of which results In
the tapiOca OF commerce. Farina IN
der a number Of different names is
more or less Of a staple with the ma
lives In all Of tropical America from
the West Indies to Paraguay.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Americans.

A native Of any part Of North or
South America is literally an American
since he is a native OF one Of the Amer
ican continents. Usage, however, has
narrowed the term 50 that IAN Ameri-
can" is generally understood to be q
citizen or native Of the United States
Of America, while a native OF Canada,
Mexico. Central or South America Is
known as a Canadian" Mexican"
Brazilian" '-Guatemalan" or the like.
The reason for the usage does not lie
In any feeling that the United States
pre-empts. stands for or Oyershadows
the other parts Of the western hemis-
phere, but simply in the fact that, while
Canada, Mexico. Brazil. the United
States of Colombia, etc, are words
which admit OF adjective formation,
american" is the only adjective which
can be formed from the name OF our
country to denote its citizens or to ap-
ply to its interests. industries, cities,
etc.-New York Times.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Meat In Middle Aces.

Much OF the medieval meat, which
Goblet says was plentiful and cheap.
must have been poor stuff. Until the
introduction of root crops in the eight
zenith century cattle and sheep did not
become even moderately plump TIL the
end Of summer, while lack OF fodder
made 1t impossible to keep much live
stock during the winter. On St Mar
tins day (Noy. III arrangements were
usually made for slaughtering on a
large scale, and for the next six months
fresh meat worth eating was practical
" unObtainable. Until the spring grass
was again ready there was a run on
sailed beef and sailed mutton Salt
ed beef is excellent-for a change. But
have you ever tried sailed mutton?-
London Graphic.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
A Chinese cutsnberu.

There Is pretty good evidence Of q
Chinese Gutenberg, one Pi Ching. who
In 1O41 carved cubes Of porcelain paste
with Chinese characters, afterward
baked them and ''set" the porcelain
type by help Of parallel wires on q
plate Of iron In cement bed It Is
certain that the art OF printing was
known in the Celestial empire for GEN.
turtles before it came to light In Eu-
rope.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Trick Of the smuaaIer,.

Russia was once overrun with coun-
terfeit notes. The police felt certain
that the notes were imported, which
proved to be the case. One day an
accident solved the mystery. Some
packages Of lead pencils arrived there
from England, and, while examining.
one Of the pencils fell out On sharp
ening # to use the customs officer was
surprised to find the lead but short
piece, while the inner portion was hol-
low and contained a counterfeit note.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
GEORGES Father.

Augustine Washington, the father OF
George Washington, was engaged in
1872 in making pig iron at Accokeek
furnace, in Stafford county, Va, about
fifteen miles from fredericksburg,
when his famous son was born. This
furnace had been built by the Princip-
10 company, composed Of English cap
italists, as early as 1726 on land owned
by Augustine Washington, aggregating
about 1000 acres and containing iron
ore, Mr.. Washington becoming the OWL
er OF one-sixth Of the furnace property
In consideration Of the transfer Of his
land to the company.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
FutiIity of FIattery,

Nothing is ever gained by fattery.
To the serious man fiattery In the form
Of sincere praise makes him more re-
sponsible and only sadder because he
knows how much he falls below what
Il expected Of him and what he ex-
poets Of himself. Lip flattery makes
a real man feel as though his sex had
bean mistaken BE feels as though he
had been given curling tongs instead
Of razor for his morning toilet-New
York Telegram.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07

Perhaps the origin Of our slang term
''pinched," meaning arrested, Is in De
foes poem Hymn to the Pillory" I'm.
INJURED In 1908 in Newgate, Defoe con.
soled himself with the reflection that
having meant well, he suffered unjust.
ly. This is the passage:
The first intent Of laws
Was TO correct the effect and check thu
cause.
And all the ends of punishment
Were only future mischiefs to prevent
"But justice Is inverted wher
Those engines OF the law.
Instead Of plnehing vicious men,
Keep honest ones in awe"
Exchange.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Her RaplY.

A gentleman. for what he called
lark, advertised for a wife and It
quested each candidate to nclose her
carte de visite. A spirited young lauy
wrote to the advertiser in the follow
ing terms:
aSir, do not inclose my carte Ior'
though there is some authority Tor put,
ting a cart before a horse. | kno" VI
none for putting one before an ass
London Tit-Bits.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
Our Mics Mime.

Mica mining In the United States
started early In the nineteenth cen
tury In New Hampshire, which state
supplied all the domestic production
until about 1858, when mining was
started In North Carolina and subse-
Quently in other states. At present the
greater part Of the sheet mica Is used
IN the electrical industry. and most Of
the scrap mica Is ground for use IN the
decorative trade. especially In wan pa
Per.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07

The earliest known lens is one made
Of rock crystal unearthed by Layard
at Nineveh- This lens, the age of
which is to be measured by thousands
OF years, now lies In the British mu-
scum with its surface as bright as
when 1t left the makers hands BY
the side Of it are very recent speci-
mems OF lenses which have been ruined
by exposure to London's- fogs and
smoke.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
IL Didn't Work.

The crowded car was OverfoWinS.
"Get of the STEP" the conductor
cried. 1--WE got to close the door.
Don't mind me-" replied the man on
the step. Close it If you like. It's
true that l have a couple of sample
packages of dynamite in my oyercoat
pockets and the windows might be
broken and the roof blown OF, Dut
don't hesitate on my account. haven't
many friends, anyway, and l don't
think many would sorrow over my
early demise. Go ahead and close your
door,"
Then the conductor closed it.-CleVe-
land Plain Dealer.
The broad ax., 1915-08-07
FolIo,,ino pr;n.;,i..

ibid you see BIBLES disappear as
soon as he saw his wife coming with.
out even waiting to see what she want
edf"
He wasn't taking any chances on
that You see, he belongs to a safety
6rsts sodety."'-Baltimore American.