davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1917-01-12

that he lives on this floor A Cop
thorne of Copthorne Hall. If there
were danger, he would help me-"
Truth and fancy in this ran to-
gether. On the same floor with Miss
d'Almy lived Richard Copthorne. He
was the same age, for a man as she
was for a woman. That is, he was,
by the calendar, about five years OIL
der.
He lived in a great room chock-a-
block with secondhand books, law
books, doctors books, library books
until the air was heavy with the
GURUS odor of calfskin stepped in
dust. Unlike Miss d'Almy, he did
not lock his door. The latch indeed
was broken, SO that it stood ajar day
and night, at the mercy of anybody.
But the denizens of the hotel did not
care for his stock in trade. He went
to auction sales, and was supposed
to buy and sell books, but his sales
and purchases were few He dress
ed like a tramp, cooked his own
meals, and lived solitary life, like
hermit. His life passed away in
succession of splendid dreams,
stimulated by an occasional two-fin-
ers from the black jug, quoting Omar
as he drank, and further assisted by
wreaths of smoke blown from very
unsanitary meerschaum pipe. At
such times a small and fluffy tor
toise-shcll kitten used to sit on his
chest, loudly purring its approval.
If you had demonstrated with him
for wasting his life, he would have
very promptly replied that he was
spending it to please himself, and
would have asked you who in the
world cared for what he did, or was
the worse for it. He was a good
natured fellow, and whenever he
found himself with q quarter or a
dime in excess of his immediate ne
cessities he gave it away.
The Copthorne family had long ago
marked Richard for > ne'cr-do-wcll.
He had fooled away his inheritance.
Entering the counting-house of his
The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1917-01-12

little blue teapot from the ten cent
store.
When she had hung a chintz cur
tain over her few dresses upon the
wall, lined up her books on the high
mantelshef, and hung her pictures
and sketches upon the ill-favored
walls, the room assumed q certain
homclike air that was vaguely COM
forting. She put a pot of basil and
en- apple geranium on the clean win
dow sill, and set her little pine rock
err close by where she could watch
the birds uron the church and the
children playing around the hydrant
She but aforementioned her par
onts-it was so long since they had
died, ard she had been so young
then, that tender sentiment took
the place Of grief for them. Her life
had been strangely uneventful. On
w a few things had happened to her.
Size recollnd when the bank failed.
end har money was all gone. Then
she had tried to do things: to paint
pictures and sell them, but no one
would buy: to write verses. but they
were alw~vs declined by tic maga-
zines. Always. it had seemed, she
h"d fallcn short of the REQUIRED STAN
dard. For time she had taught in
school. once rhe hHd been paid
comranion. Now she made dolls
for the Woman's Exchange the kind
thnt children detest, but that tourists
The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1917-01-12

&C t. week, and no negroes allowed.
That makes it respectable.
Here let my yarn be spun. 1t was
here that two lives, barren and cold
and gray, converged at last, and we're
crowned with the glow and the glory
Of romance.
In the summer of 10 Miss DIAL
my "old Miss d'Almy"-came to
look for a room, and gave a penny
apiece to the sections twins, as she
went into the churchyard and stood
looking down at great, weather.
beaten granite slab, on which the
storms of two centuries had half
effaced a deaths head, scythe and
hour-glass, and the armorial bearings
of one Jean Marie Francois danny
and had made havoc with the long
catalogue of his virtues that follow
ed. She stayed long time look
ing down at the tomb of her ances-
tor before she found courage to go
and look for a room in the Planters
Hotel And after looking, she drew
back in fear of the evil-smelling cor
ridors and of the strange, dark faces
that peered out at her. But the next
day she came again, chose room
and moved into it. Where else could
one find room for twenty-five cents
week? And was not this the same
Planters Hotel at which the heirs of
Jean Marie Francois had held high
carnival "before the war;? Besides,
she had it from good authority that
a Copthorne was living there-a
Copthorne of Copthorne Hall.
Therefore it could not be so very
bad.
Miss d'Almy was not really old,
only lonely and poor and impressed
with the finality of her doom to
solitary life. She was surprisingly
sweet to look at in her cheap, neat.
grey skirt, her spotless white waist
(washed out over night, and her
trim, well-polished shoes. Behind
the little veil she wore, her eyes
were deeply violet, and her hair but
softly powdered with grey. No one
knew, nor did she realize, that 1T
tie happiness, a "good adventure"
would easily have restored her heart
of yolth-as it did, at last. But to
that l am coming, in good time.
She chose a room opposite the
church, and one (there were only
few such) with a lock on the door.
She set about cleaning the walls, the
windows, the fireplace, the floor. 1t
was hard work-she could only do a
little at a time. resting between.
The ceiling was the worst of tit
was so hard to wave back and forth
a long-handled mop, dripping with
SOAP and water. But at last it was
done, and she began to arrange her
belongings, which were few and
poor.
Her leather trunk still bore the age
vellowed labels of her mothers we'd
ding pournev. Her old mahogany
bureau had been sorely butfeted and
lacked several knobs. Her bed was
IA box couch, narrow and hard. but
the sheets and Counterpart, elabo-
rately mended, had been of fine fa-
brio. The little blue-fame oil stove
and two saucepans testified to the ex-
trcm lightness of her housekeeping.
Beside tea-caddy of 1912 stood
The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1917-01-12

Z NATHALIE JENKINS In

i should happen to visit the
N city Justly famous for its
its okra soup, and its unap-
bible aristocracy, look up
Street the old part where
bfs are falling in, the grass
3 between the cobble stones
children playing in all stages
ligee on the sidewalks. Stop
quaint French Church, built
rose Sandstone, and bristling
ornamental spires, and Gothic
where the wrens make their
h the stone roses and trefoil,
hemmed in by a graveyard,
tombstones are shrouded in
kIe and poison IVY.
wis to this shrine of the HUI
j, its two hundred sightless
shutterless windows staring
out, stands the big building
bis once the Planters Hotel
/ Of wealth and fashion, where
ing bucks fiourished their
pistols and the, ladies of
rustled their satins and silks.
rs the block with its length
es five stories to a roof gar
| tn jutting dormers, servants
s in the old days. 1t still dis
he beautiful iron trellis-work,
t with infinite labor in flow
leaf and twining tendril, of
Sny, now fioorless, and hang
Sc, to the imminent peril of
by. The entrance, fianked
BIT iron pillars, leads into a
Eh a blue and white tesselated
mt and a marble bar beneath
gany archway. This you may
m the Street, for the sagging
doors have lost their fasten-
nd stand open by night and
You can, if you please, go in
the lofty proportions of this
nd its graceful winding stair,
are not afraid of the spiders
ropes Of cobweb festoon the
md the crickets and beetles
scuttling away at your APP
You may go into the court
the back, where peach trees,
and crepe myrtles grow, and
IS is green in patches. You
| d unsavory clothes boiling in
pots on stick fires, chickens
ing about, goats browsing,
most motley crowd of little
eyed children at play, foreign
mostly, chattering away in
ge medley of tongues.
quondam Planters Hotel has
come the cheapest conceivable
p lodging houses, where Greek,
an, Syrian, Turk and mongrel
congregate. They come and
come again, bringing poor
of furniture with them. and
e which they please of its
desolate, empty irooms-such
as do not let in floods of
when It rains, or have holes
floor big enough for the chill
fall through. These rooms
acious, accommodating whole
!, and have fireplaces. AS
airs, none will he made. In
lie the hotel will be scrapped
ted away. In the meantime
nge guests swarm THROUGH
k and dirty corridors and
| lily inhabit the spacious
which are only twenty-five
The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1917-01-12

With many people taking cold is
habit, but fortunately one that is cas-
ly broken. Take a cold sponge bath
every morning when you first get out
Of bed-not ice cold, but a tempera-
ture of about 80 degrees F. Also
sleep with your window up. Do this
and you will seldom take cold. When
you do take cold take Chamberlain'5
Cough Remedy and get rid of it as
quickly as possible. Obtainable ev-
erywhere.
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
Open Confession.

! think Bill Shakespeare dry as dust:
his BOOKS. untouched. stand on the
shelf; and ! could take my pen, i trust,
and write much better junk myself.
Long DER his pages ] p%erspired, and
sickened meath the grievous strain, his
noisy bombast makes me tired, his style
obscure gives me Il pain. But when I'm
in the social swim, | do not dare to talk
ike this. The Avon bard. I worship
him. To read him fills my soul with
bliss, | hate the dismal, horrid daubs
old masters painted long ago: they look
to me like missft jobs, the pigments
spread with broom or hoe. AT these Old
works ! gaZoZ and stare. and fail to find
a pleasing thing-fat cherubs loafing
here andthere, and cornfed angels on
the wing. ! tell the truth here in my den
where no rebuke can make be smart:
but when I'm With my fellow men. l
whoop it up for ancient art. I'd like to
meet a mar so bold that he would say
just what he thinks. hand " the truth,
severe and cold. about the haloed, wor-
SHIPPED sinks. Alas. the man has not
been born. who dares to boot the gold
brick sage. who has the nerve to laugh
to scorn the chromos OF a byeone age
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
The Case of the Housatonic.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

from tls view NlstIu I an D'hiNi.
why the commander of the German
li-boat which sank the American Housa-
tonic practiced the humanity with which
the news dispatches credit him remains
explanation, it is pleasing to record one
instance where an undersea terror piled
its trade with complete regard for the
rights of ncutra,s and noncombatants.
This particular u-boat commander dld
not loose his torpedo against an unsus-
pecting neutral. He came alongside, after
the fashion of an earlier day, aScertalned
that the Housatonic carried wheat con-
signed to the British government, and
gave the crew time to get into the boats.
Then. with n courtesy no longer to be eN-
pected. he lowed these boats for an hour
and a half toward land. %signaled a Brit
ish patrol boat which was looking for
such as he. and dove. The patrol boat
safety.
Were all submarine commanders as con-
siderate of neutral rights, as careful to
observe the law of nations and to safe
would be no broken relations with Ber-
lin. The commander of the U-boat which
sank the Housatonic was q better serv-
ant of his government. a greater credit
Lusitania in cold blood, or he who drew a
picture of the Sussex before he wrecked
a armles passenger boat.
The commander of the UOuSatonic'S de-
| with which we have no quarrel. a Ger
! many which plays the game according to
the rules. which fights fairly though hard.
! which recognizes the rights of neutrals,
and discharges its obligations to man
| kind. There must be millions like him.
i'm his fatherland, who can view the new
national policy only with repugnance.
who abhor ruthless brutality, and who
regret keenly the wave OF passion which
has led their government to put itself be-
| wand tho ,a(c
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
TORPEDOES NOW CAN BE
LAUNCHED BYAIRpLANE
Torpedoplane Inventor Rear Admiral Fiske Tells of Success Of
His Machine.
Monitor from Its Eastern Bureau.
His M aChlne.

Monitor from Its Eastern Bureau.
this can be fired successfully fran a dis.
tance of five sea miles or more. For
carrying torpcdoes like this, we now
have in this country a number of air
planes large enough for the task; and
this. / think, gives the most ready and
practical means of defense that We can
put up at the present minute.
But the battleships would be accom-
panied by a vast array OF other vessels
which are very important. These are
lightly built and have thin sides: so that
lisht torpedoes would be thoroughly eff
fectiNe.
I'm our present state of unpreparedness.
it would be a great thing if we could
bring out something as revolutionary and
effective as the old Monitor and that
could be got ready in the limited time
that may be- granted us. We cannot hope
To catch mp To any of the leading powers
in ship or submarine building. We are
far behind. but | believe that our ma
ticnal security could be brought up to
quite a hopeful! condition by establishing
say % torpedo planes AT each of the 10
| important naval districts. and on air
plane mother ships. which would go with
The fleet. Such AN act would give us =
quickly made and inexpensive weapon for
defense.
Two days ago | was advised that the
Nero Cluh of America and the National
.\erial Coas, Patrol commission are max
ing plans for developing the torpedoplane
in a practical way. feel confident that
We will have fleets of torpedoplanes ready
for the defense of our coasts i'm the near
future
Rear Admiral Fiske is the inventor or
the Stadimeter, the telescope sight, the
telescope mount for handling large. tele-
scopes on shipboard. the turret range
finder, the system of director firing under
which all guns are fired by one man look
ing through a director telescope. wireless
control of torpedoes. patented i'm 1880 but
only recently developed by John Hays
Hammond, jr. At the battle OF Manila
Rear Admiral l'iske ~inaugnrated the sys-
tenn of correcting the range by observ-
ing the fall of projectiies from a station
aloft in the Petrol. This system, now
used i'm all navicS. is called spotting. In
1909 lie brought about the use of turbine
engines for driving Whitehead tOrpedoes:
in 1908. the use of the system of plotting
the speed and direction of the target In
battle: and a quiet room below the water
line; and i'm 1915 and 1916 he induced con-
gress to establish the office of chief OF
naval operations for handling the navy
according to the laws of strategy.
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
Special to the Christian Science

SRGSIaI " VIC Stt
New York-The "t~orpedoplane,' winch,
under favorable conditions would, he be
lieves, make a $40 go alrplane a worthy
explained by its inventor. Rear Admiral
Bradley \. Fiske, at the Pan-Amcrican
Aeronau,ic Exposition Monday night.
This is a scheme he said, by which
the regular Whitehead torpedo may be
launched from an airplane as effectively
as it is launched from Il destroyer. y
destroyer goes toward her enemy at 4
speed which can rarely be as high as
80 knots, and launches a torpedo from her
deck into the water. and by that act
throws back a lever on the torpedo. called
the starting lever. which causes the pro
polling mechanism of the torpedo TO so
ahead fun speed.
by my scheme the aviator approaches
his target from a great distance and hiSh
up: and when SAY seven miles away, he
volplancS toward the water, runs above
the surface a short distance toward his
target, and when ready simply pulls a
lever. This releases the torpedo from
under the airplane. and at the same time
he throws back the starting lever. with
the result that the torpedo falls into the
water in exactly the same way as II il
had been dropped from a DESTROYER.
Captain Alessandro Guidon. of the
Italian navN. tried out the scheme two
OF tllet wears ago. anu mt Tue NuIStl
nine times out of 10 at 5000 yards. re
ceived private nformation from Europe
about a wear ago that a lieutenant i'm the
British nav made four lights over lanC
into the Sea of Marmora in an airplan'
under which a Whitehead torpedo wa
secured and sank four Turkish vessels
using l4-inch torpedoes weighing %
pounds each. For this service he was
given the distinguished service order.
have also received further Information
of absolute reliability that one of thu
belligerents is taking means TO use thi'
plane on a large scale.
II would be very difficult indeed TO
the guns of a ship to hit a torpedo-planc
because accurate liring from a rollln:
ship at an airplane which is neither over
head nor on the waters surface is almos
impossible. If the ship is struck below
the water she is disabled. if not destroyed
while the t~orpedoplane can be shot ful
of holes without much damage. unles
hit in a vital place. The aviators tell m
they see no practical difficulties whateve
in doing their part of the work.
For an attack ON battleships such a
might approach our coast the tOrped
Weighing about a ton would be best: an
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
Exchange Rates If We Go to War.
From the New York Evening Post.

'
In spite of the darker aspect which our
relations witt, Germany took on this
week. foreign exchange rates i'm New
York went through none of the nervous
movements that are usually the prelude
to an outbreak of war. Italian exchange,
which had rapidly been growing more and
moxe adverse to Rome since late IN Ian
uary. continued that tendency, being
quoted at IA lire to the 81 last Thursday
"a depreciation of more than % per cent
from gold parity. The decline since early
in the year of about &c i'm demand sterl-
ing uhe rate on bills of exchange for
wardcd to London for collection may
probably be explained by the present un-
certainties of the ocean service. The
cable rate has been practically UNI
changed. Rates have moved gradually
against the money markets of other bel
l.gerents: that movement having been
neither FASTENED nor checked during the
present week.
This composure on tie exchange mar
ket-not unlike the seeming Indifference
of the stock mark.t-was in complete con-
trast with what happened, both here and
in London. when war broke out in 1914.
The violence Of the movement gains
New York at that time carried the ster-
ling rate up to 81, as against a parity of
Sl.S65s: the rato for French renittances,
to 3 francs in the ST. par being 5.1S:
while German exchange was temporarily
quoted 81 10 for four marks: par, 45c. In
London. the rate on Paris f%luctuatel be-
tween q and % francs to the pound ster-
ling (parity, % 22iA). Sellers We're offer
ing drafts on Berlin no lower than q
marks to the pound. where as normally
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
CHART SHOWS NATIONAL
STRENGTH AND NEEDS

The conference committee OH national
preparedness has issued a large chart
containing statistics intended to show the
need OF national preparedness. Detailed
tables of ships under construction, or
battleships of the ~dreadnought type, four
battle cruisers, 2S destroyers. four scout
cruisers. s. coast submarines, two fuel
one hospital ship. one sunboat. and one
ammunition ship This program MAY be
seriously delayed by difficulties with con-
tractors.
Another table shows the strength of the
existing navy. There are pa ships in full
dreadnoughts. three armored Cruisers,
two second-class cruisers, eight third
class cruisers. IS destroyers, four mont
five converted yachts, AZ tugs. five tend
trs and II miscellaneous craft. The u!
ships NOT in fun commission are divide
into three classes-thosc in reserve held
ready for service on short notice, those
in good condition but lacking men, and
those entirely out of commission. OF the
ships in reserve there are 10 battleshlps,
seven airnored cruisers, four iirst-ciass
third class cruisers. II destroyers and one
torpedo boat. two monitors, two gun
boats, two special types and three ,reG;eiv-
ing and station ships. or those lacking
,nen there are: one third-class cruiser,
two destroyers. one monitor, three sub
marines. II. torpedo boats. 10 destroycrs.
ana O(IeT craft. oIiipS clitiely out Wy
commission are three battleships. one
tirst-class cruiser. one second-class cruis-
er. two third-class cruisers, one destroy
er, four torpedo boats. two submarines.
seven g%unboatS. one transport. one fuel
ship and other small vessels.
Another table shows there are 2,lll of
fcers in the navy against an authorized
strength of about 200. The present
three-sear program will require about
| 4.ls7 officers and men. There are 5,445
| enlisted men in the navy. whereas the
| authorized strength is Sl,322 and %, 500 will
| addition to a reserve Of $3.50 men.
The committee recommends an emer-
navy. the speeding up of work i'm the
shipyards, beginning of an air navy. an
I! increase in the size of the naval academy,
| the introduction of universal military
| training. the recruiting of the national
guard TO full strength. the calling of 800.
coo volunteers and an emergency appro-
~priation of $3.50, 900. coo for the army.
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30

"A rate of 20. % Is sufficient to draw gold
to London.
Should war be the result of the exist
ing situation. transactions with German
ccnters. by wireless or otherwise. would
probably be at once cut off; SO that any
balances which residents of one country
might have in the other could not be
awaited of. But long ere this, bankers
and others must have adjusted the great
err part of their affairss. Debts have
been paid; German holders OF American
securities must long ago have sold most
of them. so that the course OF the Ger
man exchange can scarcely be influenced
by amy hasty and wholesale reimbursement
of financial affairs on the outbreak or
Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-30
Great eritain,s PAPER Money.

I|-o.n the New York Post.
The prelominance of the Bank OF Eng
Ian note i'm Great Britain's paper currency
has usually obscured the issues ot the
joint stock and private banks of the Unit
ed Kingdom. Before the war, such IEis-
%ane issues totaiel $50, 0C0,GN: on De-
cember 81. 1916, they had risen to st10, o00,900
only s.5.OO 600 less than the Bank -
England issve.
The Washington herald., 1917-07-01
COLONIAL DRAMA
FOR WAR RELIEF

The Continental Congress-" a play
representing Colonial times. will he
presented July at s p. m. in Memo
rial Continental Hall by members of
the Department of the Interior. under
the auspices of the National Society of
the Daughters of the American Revo-
luton, for the benefit of the war re-
lief fund.
The characters will be costumed as
in revolutionary days and will portray
the Spirit OF 70"
From the boxes, pretty DANES from
the ranks of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, in powdered
wigs. puffs and attractive costumes,
which characterized the days of the
revolution. will look down upon the
presentation of the history making
scenes of their ancestors.
The election of John Hancock as
President, the drafting of the DeClara-
tion OF Independence by Thomas JEFF
fCrson, the arrival OF Caesar Rodney,
after a dashing ride of eighty miles.
just in time to vote to save Delaware
TO independence. and Gen. George
Washington resigning his commission.
are among the many interesting events
enacted.
The last scene will be one of the
most interesting of the whole play,
and. in part, a tableau representing
the spirit OF 1917" This will include
soldiers. sailors. marines. Red Cross
nurses and living Columbia as stand
ard-bearer of the flag without a stain.
Music will be furnished by the
United States Marine Band.
This dramatization is another effort
of the Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution to raise war re-
lief funds.
This play has been given to more
than 25.0o0 in the City of Washington
during the last year. Its first perform
ance was before an audience OF more
than 1000 and over 5000 were turned
away for want of room. Its tenth
performance was the second presenta-
tion of the drama at the historical
Sylvan Theater. when more than 10. 900
witnessed it. which was during the
recent Confederate reunion.