davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
SeIhshness.

We are practical beings, each Of us
with limited functions and duties to
perform. Each is bound to feel in
tensely the importance of his own
duties and the significance of the stu-
ations that call these forth, But this
feeling is in each Of us vital secret,
for sympathy with which we vainly
look to others. The others are too
much absorbed in their own vital Sc
crets to take an interest in ours. Hence
the stupidity and injustice of our Opin-
ions, as far as they deal with the sig
nificance of alien lives. Hence the
falsity Of our judgments, so far as
they presume to decide in an absolute
way on the value of other persons con-
ditions or ideals.-William James.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29

"HE Greek islands, many OF
which have taken a prominent
part in the Venezelist move
u ment, are full of interest to the
student of classical mythology, the
artist, and the geologist. The follow
Ing >ocount in the Sphere describes
visit to one particular group-the Cy-
clades. We were warned that we must
know Greek and that Athens would
interest us very much, but the Cy-
clades not at all! | was not, however
to be put off; we started one evening
from Piraeus-two ladies alone-and
after two nights and day anchored
in the pretty little harbor of Santorin;
and there, 900 feet above US, perched
on the top of the cliff, lies the modern
town of Thera, or Phera.
A collection of boys with their dom
keys were waiting to take up the pas
sengers and their luggage, as there are
no carriages and 20 minutes ride
along a zigzag path brought us to the
summit. The less said about the ho-
tells the better, but with the assistance
of some kind friends, charming ride
was arranged for the following day.
We went to the top of Mount Elias,
the highest point of the island, and
down below at our feet was Messa-
vouna, the ancient town Of Thera, full
of interesting old remains. In Greek
legend, the island of Thera was cor.
nected with the story of the Argo-
nauts, and was represented as sprung
from a clod of earth which was pre-
sented to those heroes by Triton. After
the fourth Crusade it received the
name of Santorin, |. e., st. Irene, the
patron saint of the place.
Standing on Volcano.
From earliest times it has been
center of volcanic agency; we were
reminded of this on the kaumene
islands, where the heat of the water,
the smell of the sulphur, and the
smoke that Oozed out under our feet
made it very evident that we were
standing on the crater, and ! was
thankful when we got safely off to the
harbor, where we had to wait for our
boat. which was to take US to NaXos-
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
WILL NEED METRIC SYSTEM
United States Will Find Adoption ct
| New Measurements More lmpor-
tant After War. Is Claim.

When the war is ended we shall
have greater need than ever before
of an international standard of
weights and measures, says the Amer
lean Penman, Tho continent Of Eu-
rope and South America use the meter,
the gram and the liter. 1t is absurd
for us to use the metric system for our
money and yet cling to the archaic
yard" 'pound' and gallon" These
terms are AnglO-SaXon traditions,
childish in these days.
The growth of our large cities has
almost destroyed the old-time exact
appreciation of weights and measures
by our people The latest generation
in the cities does not know what
"bushcl," peek" or quart actually is,
nor do they know correctly what a
gallon" quart" or pint" is. Per-
haps only automoblists can visualize
"galon." "rint" in big city means
Il queer, varying quantity of liquid
held in bottle or pail. This quantity
is rarely an exact pint.
The city population buys its vege-
tables and fruit supplies mostly by
"baSket" or bag" without any regard
to the old "dry measure of the arith.
metics. One of the queerest habits
that has grown up in cities is the buy
ing of such things as sugar and flour
in packages of "3B pounds" each.
We have clung to the pound" with
some telligence-becaus it is vital
necessity in the absence of the more
scientific "gram," and the "mle"-in
sheer necessity because we have not
yet the International "kilometer.'
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
His-loW- Down Joke.

The sun was setting in Il blaze OF
glory and the man and woman were
playing the chief parts in life'S eternal
drama. The evening before the man
had claimed the woman as his own,
and the world was new and beautiful
to them. A whole day had passed
since they had seen one another, and
now that they had met again the woIn"
an could have swooned for joy.
1T has been the longest day of the
year today" said the man softly, in an
unemployed interval.
She thrilled at the words. He had
missed her, then. 1t had been long
day for her, too.
dearest" she murmurcd coyly,
longing to hear from his dear lips
why the day had dragged, "why has
the day been long?"
"Oh, you surely know, my own" he
whispered. ITS the 2lst of June!"
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29

There we sat on a terrace listening to
the soothing sound of the water
against the fishing boats and watching
the approaching night coming on,
family lit up by beautiful new moon.
About nine o'clock our Greek steamer
appeared through the darkness, bril-
liantly lit up, and slowly glided into
the harbor; 1t was like scene in
fairyland.
Early next morning we reached
Naxos the town stretches picturesque
ly up the slopes of rock hill rising
from the sandy beach and dominated
by the ruined castle Of the Frankish
dukes.
Two nights were all we could spend
here as we were anxious to get on to
Delos. On inquiry we heard that no
steamers went there; that two Eng.
lishmen had once crossed in a little
open boat, but that it was dangerous
undertaking. Being fine day, de-
termined to risk it and to start at
once. A little sailing boat, the Evan
gelista, was got ready, and at o'clock
we were under way, with our crew
of four Greek sailors, and myself at
the helm.
What pleasure was that sail across
the Egean sea, "spell-bound within
the clustering Cyclades" A feeling
of mystery and awe came over US as
the night began to fall and we entered
the sacred harbor of Delos.
Sacred Isle of DeIos.
There are no hotels on this island
in fact, it is absolutely without per-
manent inhabitant- but we had met
the director of the French excavations
frutted in the conservatory or in the
open ground, where there Is three
months warm summer weather, there
has been great demand for the
quick-bearing varieties by people anx-
ious to grow fresh figs. These vari-
eties begin to fruit by the time the
young shoots are inches long and
form a fig at every leaf. Unlike ap-
pies, peaches and other fruits of the
kind, the fig Is more like the raspberry
or blackberry in the respect that the
fruit does not ripen all at one time.
Figs continue to develop and ripen
fruit until checked by cold weather.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29

<,r pot culture the 1lg requires about
the same treatment as rubber plant,
and if supplied with plenty of water
the fruit will ripen. Vigorous plants
will have fruit in all stages of devel-
opment, from the smallest green fruit
to the ripe figs ready for picking and
eating.
Celeste bears rather small fruit of
high quality. but is not very produc-
tive. Ischia has II green exterior, the
inside of the fruit being blood red.
IIirtu Japan is an abundant bearer and
Magnolia bears large pear-shaped
fruit.
One fig enthusiast writes that his
figs stood zero weather last year,
though when first set out freezing
weather would kill them. AS they be-
come acclimated the plants stand cold
er weather. A gardener in Pennsyl,
vania says her fig tree has withstood
20 winters with protection. The tree
Is bent over to the ground In winter
and covered with straw and earth.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Island of Santorin.

in Piraeus, and he had very kindly Of
fered to put us up. However, as the
wire we had sent never reached him,
our arrival caused him no little sur
prise; he had seen our boat, and
thought we We're Greeks carrying con-
traband goods.
DelOs is the smallest but the most
famous of the Cyclades, and the BIRTH
place of Diana and Apollo, to whom it
has been forever sacred. In 426
b. c., to ensure the sanctity of the
island, the Athenians passed a law
that anyone whose condition seemed
to threaten it's pollution by either
birth or death should be ut once re-
moved, and finally they expelled all
secular inhabitants.
The following morning Monsieur
Replat took us all over the ruins,
which are very extensive; he had
good deal to do with the excavations
at Delphi, and considers these even
more interesting. We saw the site of
the ancient city where, under the
Roman empire, Il thousand slaves were
often put up for sale in single day.
Further on was the porticO erected by
Philip of Macedon, and the base of the
colossal statue dedicated to the Delian
Apollo by the people of NaXos
Climbing to the rocky peak of Mount
Cynthus, we came upon theater of
6noutiful porion marble and a little
further on the remains of Il very early
temple of Isis. But our time was near
ly up; below in the harbor we could
see the EvangeliSta with our crew
ready impatient to start, and after
a hurried lunch we took leave of our
kind host and sailed for Syra, and so
to tho pirapuS
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29

Self-cOntIdrnce IL really based pri.
murily upon ones Consciousness of his
own powers or of his Deficiencies. A
clear understanding of this fact will
help to simplify the. problem. 1t Is
perfectly clear, for instance, that the
man who is poorly educated, who has
neglected his opportunities who is un'
disciplined who lacks self-restraint
who is truly incompetent in practically
all directions, and who is at the same
time conscious of his deficiencies, can
not expect to enjoy any degree of self
confidence.-Physical Culture.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Woman School Director In Pekinu.

Peking has its first woman school
director in the person of Mrs. Chu
Ping-hsia, who has just been appointed
director of the Peking Girls Normal
school by the minister of education.
Mrs. Chu is young Wellesley gradu-
ate, who left brilliant record behind
her in America. Since her return to
China she has been editor in chief of
the Women's Magazine, published in
Shanghai.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Campaigning for Safety.

A safety first campaign to minimize
accidents in navy yards, arsenals and
other government establishments has
been launched by the federal EN-.
ployees' compensation commission,
working in cooperation with the ma
tonal safety council of engineers.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Business Came First.

Some time ago two Chinese generals
had planned battle in the Chengtu
Christian Herald. 1t was within few
days of the rice harvest. The people
petitoned the generals to call off their
battle until the rice was harvested,
and they did so, Then they went on
with the fighting. But the days of such
common sense are passing Militarism
Is coming to demand more re-
spect than that.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
The CIeanIy Eel.

Fresh water eels are very clean feed
ers they are sometimes seen cropping
the leaves of watercresses and other
aquatic plants as they float about in
the water; but they are immense de-
vourers of spawn of all kinds of fish,
There are certain well-knOwn spawn.
ing grounds in the Norfolk Broads
where the roach and Dream collect In
vast numbers to spawn in the spring,
To those grounds the eels follow in
hundreds.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Prod It's Of Genius.

There is net bit of routine, how.
ever cheap our uuthinking mind may
count it. that was not started by
genius. The Fundamental facilities of
life, the thin!N we use as cnrelessly
as we tread die ement--the very
fire we light, The tools we handle at
our work, the food we eat--each rep
resents some early triumph of mans
spirit.-EXchange
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Mo Excentions.

He (scornfully)-A woman can't
keep secret.
She (bitterly)-Not with the mean
military census taker making her tell
her real age.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
Full Measure.

Pat-I hear Kelly lost foot in that
railroad accident.
Mike-He lost q yard-one Of his
own feet and two Of his wife's !--Town
Topics.
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
GROW FIGS IN FLOWER POTS
Fruit Will Ripen II Given the Same
Treatment That Is Accorded the
Rubber Plant.

The fig is one of the oldest fruits
known, and since it has become known
that figs can be grown in pots and
Catoctin clarion., 1917-11-29
. ABINDRANATH TAGORE, the
. Hindu-English poet. recently

and every insult has been gathered
In thy great silence,
And the morrow Is theirs.
o Sum- rise upon the bleeding hearts
blossoming in flowers of the morning
and the torchlght revelry Of pride
hiding in its own aises
There is, of course, nothing new in
dissent from that snug piety that re-
turns thanks because its possessor is
mot as other men are" be it in world
ly possessions, in bodily health, in
mental equipment or even in moral
Inheritance. Robert Burns long ago
satriZed one aspect of such Self-com-
placence in 1.-THE Selkirk Grace:
Some hae meat and Gamma eat,
And some wad eat that want 1t;
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sac the Lord be thankit.
William Blake, in one of those
quantity phrased little poems of his
that have almost the flavor Of esoteric
wisdom, declares:
Since all the riches Of this world
May be gifts from the devil and earthly
kings,
I should suspect that worshiped the
devil
If thanked my God for worldly things.
The countless gold of a merry heart,
The rubes and pearls Of a loving eye,
The ideal man never can bring to the
mart,
Nor the cunning hoard up in his treas
ury.
And in recent years Edmund Vance
Cooke, poet Of whom Cleveland, the
sixth city," should be proud, has
sung:
We thank thee. Yea, in the even tone
OF those who are glad of the goods they
own.
We thank thee. Yea, that thou hast pre-
ferred
And blessed us more than the common
herd.
We thank thee. part with the hearts in
But most, let us own, with the lips con-
vention.
I'VE thank thee" Lord! What selfish
prayer!
Thanhs-while beggars breast is bare!
Thanks that our own full feast is spread
While another creature is lacking bread!
Thanks that our full fed blood runs warm.
While a starveling baby breasts the
storm
There is certainly no taint of Tar
NLffe or Pecksniff in the reason that
William Ernest Henley gives for
thankfulness in his "Invictus," but it
has something of pharisaical arro-
gance Notwithstanding
Out of the night that covers me.
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
. ! thank whatever gods may be
For my unconQuerable soul.
Algernon Charles Swinburne. In
'"The Garden Of Proserpine" (frOm
which, by the way, Henley seems to
have borrowed his "whatever gods
may be'), expresses sentiment that
in certain moods has an appeal to
many men:
From too much love Of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives forever,
That dead men rise up never,
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
But, after all, there is healthier
appeal than Swinburnes, and an ap-
peal to greater number of normal
men and women, in such fine odes as
that which the late Hezekiah Butter
worth wrote in celebration of the first
Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor":
The Arabela leads the song
The Mayfiower sings below,
That erst the Pilgrims bore along
The Plymouth reefs of snow,
Oh, never be that psalm forgot
That rose DER Boston Bay,
When Winthrop sang, and Endicott
And Satonstall that day:
Praise ye the Lord with fervent lipsi
Praise ye the Lord today!
And praise arose from all the ships
Like prayers In Yarmouth Bay.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28
Anything Old and Everything New

w VAR horrors have become axioms
w to a nation fed for three years on
headlines of blood and battle. And
we have come to take them, like axioms, for
granted. We'd give a good deal to organize
a league for peace. but the minor details of
alternating the sufferings Of those in the pres
ent war we have come to throw entirely on
the shoulders Of relief committees and pro-
fessionals.
Meanwhile, some of the most urgent neces-
sites for the actual fighting forces have been
so much taken for granted that they have
been sadly overlooked. This is true not only
Of the comforts of the men in the trenches
where lack of comforts has come to be ac-
cepted as in some degree inevitable but it is
painfully true of the wounded. One might
have thought that in modern scientific war
fare there would be adequate provision for
the waste and wreckage. the manned and
wounded But the burden has proved too
heavy.
Miss Carta Spencer, young American, has
recently returned from extended tour
through France, Belgium and Italy. She has
seen much besides wounded men; countless
little heroisms and the long patient sacrifices
of life in the trenches But she has returned
TO America convinced that if there is any one
thing needful to alleviate the terrible suffer
ngs of those who have come back from the
front wrecks it is the simplest surgical ne
cessities AS chairman of the National Surgi-
cal Dressings Committee, she has made it her
single purpose to bring this form of relief
work before the American people 1t is
very specialized form of salvation, providing
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28

surgical dressings for the wounded, but, as
Miss Spencer's little book C'Wdr Scenes I
Shall Ncrer Forgery shows, one Of the most
pitifully essential
Miss Spencer's book is a brief account of
her observations in France, Belgium and Italy,
especially with regard TO the care and trans
portation Of the wounded. She found the sim
plest surgical necessaries lacking, bandages
and gauze and antiseptics. Nor there
anywhere near enough clean linen. And COM
forts rare enough for the healthy men at the
front, are no more abundant for the manned
in the ambulances and the pain freighted
trains. crawling back from the battles to the
makeshift hospitals that thickly dot the bellig-
erent countries.
The book was published through the gen
erosity of an American printing firm, and is
offered for the sole purpose of bringing this
imperative cause before the American people.
Its function will only have been filled, how
ever, if it brings before the American public
the work of the National Surgical Dressings
Committee. This organization, of which Miss
Spencer is national chairman, is setting about
providing the necessities for the care and COM
fort of the wounded. Almost any contribu-
ton will be Of use. Not money alone, but
anything old, and everything new to quote
from the announcement
The headquarters are at 299 Fifth Avenue,
and anything of any sort sent TO this address
will make life easier and more secure for the
thousands and thousands pouring into the
tents and barracks, churches and asylums that
serve as hospitals in the countries now at war.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28
What Is a Don? Could
You Tell Ofhand?

To turn from "men" to dons, remark
in the first place that the outside world
has less knowledge of dons than of
dodos. Everybody knows that the dodo
is an extinct bird, while few people
know that the don they have read about
in skits and novels is an extinct man.
NAL. remember the last of them. He
knew everything about Lesbia's spar
row except, | incline to believe, that
Catullus wrote poem on it which anti
cipated the finest note in Wordsworth
by nineteen centuries. The modern don
is everything that the don of Victoria
fiction isn't SO far as | have read he
has not got into more recent literature
The Professor of Greek, for example, in
Mr.. Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara is
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28
Lloyd George Is Always
Doing Strange Things

Mr.. Lloyd George has done strange,
brave thing in plucking an Oxford don
by the gown out of his academical work
to share in the government of the nation
during the gravest period of its history.
True, DR.. Fisher has passed through
middle, purgatorial state, but the smoke
of Sheffield has not destroyed the aroma
of Oxford, and we shall steadily decline
to allow the northern university to
claim more than a tiny fraction of the
credit for the success he, being the man
he is, will achieve.
Though all ''those noblest of their
species called emphatically'men' do not
become dons, all dons have been "men."
Hence a word about the imam" and poll
tics. The Oxford man is debater
by deliberate choice. In his college de
batting society he will debate anything
with ardor, skill and an engaging zeal
that is unforgettable. No topic appalls
him and no topic merely amuses him. 1t
is debating he is, not joking. He will
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28

argue round, about and concerning sub
iects on which Sir Frederick Banbury,
fertile as he is, could not string together
three consecutive sentences, such as
THAT this House deplores the existence
of the Woodstock Road" or "Should
Junior Deans" admittedly a bugbear
race-"Be Decapitated ?" He is keen as
mustard on the politics of his own little
world, and fragrantly catholic about the
politics of the big world beyond Magda-
len Bridge. I remember a imam" who
was deputed to rope other "men" into
the Oxford University Free Trade
League. Day after day | saw him busy
in the garden quad of Balliol, and ne
turned up at the next executive with
decent check and many sheets Of fools
cap covered with names. He was over
whelmed with congratulations until the
learned professor in the chair remarked:
Il observe, Mr. B., that many of the
names are marked with an asterisk.
What does that indicator" at means,
sir" was the ingenious reply, chat
they are also members of the Tariff
Reform League"
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28

business, requiring shrewdness, apti-
tude and judgment. He plays every
playable game and does not confine him.
self to golf till he is obliged, but he will
golf as long as he has crawl left in
him, and needs the energetic flores" OF
the impatient men behind him no
more than the murmuring of bees.
When ! went up to Oxford | was half
as old again as the average imam" and
had an immense knowledge of dons gar
nered from obsolete works of fiction.
The first don / saw was as unlike the
notional don of my imagining as row
of beans, and, naturally enough, | was
trapped. I discovered my mistake when,
in the course of fifteen minutes inclsive
questioning, he took my brains out and
busted them for me. He spent four
years, ungrudgingly and with serene
patience, in alternately flaying me and
nursing me, and is one of the choicest
men in every sense of the word on this
planet to-day.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28
DOnS Lecture Not Wisely,
But Too Well

The don is regarded of all men as q
mere theorist. He can vivify the dry
bones of Aristotle's Politics and inter-
pref the heavenly dreams of Plato's Re-
public. He knows the ms and outs of
the constitution of medieval Venice and
is pungent in his criticisms of the ancien
regime in France. All of them are ex-
cellent things for sharpening the wits
of undergraduates and none of them
scrap Of use in fighting three-cornered
by-election, where the best literature"
wins and the best man may be as indif-
ferent a candidate as a rabbit. Occa-
sionally don gets into the House of
Commons, where he is always dismal
failure. He lectures an assembly that
would not be lectured by an archangel.
He wears an air of implacable wisdom
in place where one of the most desira-
BILE contributions to debate is to sit on
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28

your own hat. have frequently seen
one of these dons stalking the lobbies'
as much out of the piece as revivallst
preacher in lingerie review. Except
on comparatively rare occasions the
House of Commons is one of the dullest
haunts of the sons of men. Hence, 1t
values above all things vim, snap, cut
and thrust, the ready retort, the search.
ing question, the paralyzing supplement
tary-in all of which the don is pretty
sure to be sadly to seek.