davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

which the house stands he bought from
a preacher whose name was Proctor
and who lies buried in the little ceme-
terry. but at whose grave there is no
inscribed marker. William Nelson's
first wife was Henrietta Kirby, a
daughter Of Joshua Kirby. and some
of these kIrbys are living about two
miles south of Chesterbrook. in a scat
tered settlement called "Kirbyville." 1t
is after this family that the Kirby
road takes its name. The children of
the miller were. William. James A,
Thomas Henry and John e. William
is dead. He moved to Washington and
married Mary. daughter of Henry
Slicer of Washington. Their daughter
Jennie married Benjamin Ogle of Wash
ington. James A. Nelson married Sarah
A. Sewen, a daughter of Joseph a.
Sewell of Fairfax county. James A.
is not at rest in the little family burial
ground, but sleeps in the cemetery at
Townsville. Thomas Henry Nelson
went to Kentucky and died there.
James A. Nelson, son of the miller,
and who married Sarah A. Sewell. had
a large family. The first of the chill
dren was Catherine who married Henry
Jenkins. When the war came on and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
The Canals and inhabitants of Mars

carry water from the poles throughout
the entire planet He announced that
all these lines were arcs OF the great
circle of the planet, with meeting
points, where there We're apparently
great lakes. The telescope clearly
shows that at the junction or crossing
of these lines there are dark spots of
about the size of pinhead.
The surface of Mars is shown by the
observing instruments to be very near
ly fiat, there being no mountains on the
planet comparable to the mountains OF
the earth. 1t has been suggested that
the dark areas which Schiaparelli call
ed oceans may be depressions or old
sea bottoms, but astronomers are not
convinced that these dark areas really
are depressions, believing that they may
only appear to be because of their
shadowy celebration. Lowell, with strong
reasoning and what to many persons
appeared ample data, commended that it
was Impossible under the law of acct
dents that the regular arrangement of
the canals should appear only when
the snow melted and disappear at other
seasons, and that this design. spread
over the whole surface of the planet,
must be the work of the inhabitants.
The climate of Mars has come in for
exhaustive study. An astronomer, j. II.
Poynting. who laboriously studied the
planets of the solar system, reached the
conclusion that the mean temperature
of Mars was below the point at which
water freezes on the earth, but Lowell
determined to his satisfaction, as well
as the satisfaction of various scientists,
that the mean temperature of the
planet was about forty-eight degrees,
that in the regions Of the planet ex-
posed to the vertical rays of the sun at
noon the temperature was very high,
and that because of the rarity of the
atmosphere there must be wide and
are various astronomers who have re-
corded the observation of clouds on
Mars Some of these clouds have APP
peared as of a tawny color, and the
theory has been advanced that they are
dust clouds raised from the desert
regions of the planet.
DR.. Lowell wrote: 1.-THE lines them.
selves are thousands Of miles long and
perfectly straight. Between expert OBJ
servers representing the planet at the
same epoch the accordance is striking;
differences in drawings are differences
secular changes in the planet itself.
These seasonal changes have been
carefully followed at Flagstaff and the
law governing them detected. They are
found to depend upon the melting of
the polar caps. After the melting is I'M
der way the canals next the cap pro-
coed to darken, and the darkening
thence proceeds regularly down the
ATTITUDES. Twice this happens every
Marian year. first from one cap and
other. The action reminds one Of the
quickening of the Nile valley after
melting of the SHOWS in Abyssinia,
eaV with planet-wide rhythm"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

applicable to public lands as laid
down by Congress, as well as familiar
ity with the rulings of the Department
of the Interior in land law cases, and
over and above all knowledge of
the rules of practice and technicalities
of the law. In this work practically
every case appealed to the Department
of the Interior from divisions of this
office in private contest cases has
passed through Mrs. Munroe's hands
for final action.
This has at times necessitated the
rendering of new decisions, examining
and passing upon final proof and APP
proving entire for patent, the cancel
ing, amending and reinstating of en-
tries. In closing out departmental
cases Mrs. Munroe has been brought in
touch with the law examiners in the
office of the assistant attorney general
for the Department of the Interior,
and these gentlemen accord her the
credit of work so well done that few, if
any, errors have been made, and none
which has caused loss to parties or
embarrassment to the Office.
Mrs. Munroe has been in the federal
service for nearly forty years and
bears the distinction of having been
the first woman appointed to the con-
test division of the land Office, and
she was for long the only woman in
that division. Entering it as a clerk
whose work was to copy the decisions
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

violently combated by many astronomi-
cal authorities. but he remained UNI
shaken in his beliefs and made many
converts among scientists who examined
his data and followed his course of rea-
sonng with an open mind 1t is said
that he had the best equipped observa-
tory in the best possible position in the
world for studying Mars.
The canals on Mars are not canals
in the sense in which that word is I'M
derstood on the earth. The modern
studies of Mars were begun about 1877
by Schiaparelli. The large dark area of
that planet he designated as oceans He
had various reasons for assuming them
to be immense bodies of water. He OBJ
served that they were connected by mar
row streaks and these streaks he called
"canale." an Italian word which trans
lated into English would be channel or
perhaps channels"
Translators of the works CT the italian
astronomer translated "canale" as
canal or canals" thus originating the
idea that as long as they were assumed
to be canals they must therefore be the
work of creatures in some way like our
selves and that thus, of course, there
were inhabitants on Mars. AS the planet
ca me into better position for obssva-
tons as the power of telescopes was
increased and as men devoted more time
to the study of the planet. more and
more of these canals" or thin streaks
were obse, >ed many o: them be1nS
much finer than those at frs observed.
large number. perhaps majority
of the canals were observed at the
Lowell Observatory, at Flagstaff, Ariz
1t is said that the observatory at Flag
staff, being the most favorably stu
ated for this work, the canals are
seen as narrow and sharp lines. as
clearly defined as though drawn with
a pencil. Though the lines are of diff
ferent widths. each maintains its own
width throughout it's entire length OBJ
servers at places less favorably stu
ated than those at Flagstaff see many
but not all these lines. but to them
they appear to be of varying degrees
of width and diffuseness.
According to the observations made
and recorded by Lowell. the lines form
a network covering the whole planet.
the light regions of the planet as well
as those dark regions which the Italian
astronomer denominated as oceans.
These lines merge in the polar caps of
the planet. 1t is observed that either
of the polar regions of the planet. after
having been turned away from the sun
for year. comes into view as white
mass or a white field AS the sun
shines upon this mass it grows smaller
and during some of the seasons very
nearly disappears.
Dr. Lowell reasoned that the lines on
the planet were not canals, but really
wide strips of land, covered with vege-
tation, irrigated by canals that were
supplied with water released by the
ice caps. He has written that the So
called canals are strips at least twenty
miles in width, which represent vege-
tation along artificial bitches which
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
BOOKS RECEIVED.

APPLETON'S RAILWAY SERIES
PRINCIPLES OF RAILROAD
TRANSPORTATION. BY Emory r.
man W. Van Metre. A. NJ. Phi. II.
illustrated with half-tones, maps
and diagrams. New York: u. Apple
ton az Co.
NANNY; A Drama. By Mrs. Bernie
Babcock. author of AN Uncrowned
Queen etc. New York: The Neale
Publishing Company.
SALADS. SANDWICHES AND CHAT
ING DISH RECIPES. BY Marion
Harris Neil, NJ. G. A, former cook
cry editor. the Ladies' Home Journal.
author of How to Cook in Cas-
serole Dishes" etc. Philadelphia:
David Mckay. publisher.
WILSON AND THE ISSUES. By George
Creel. New York: The Century
Company.
WHERE TO SELL YOUR MANI
SCRIPTS. Compiled by f. +. Barker.
New York: Frye Publishing Com
pany.
THE SEXES IN SCIENCE AND HIS
TORY; An Inquiry into the Dogma
of WOman's InferiOrity to Man. BY
Eliza Burt Gamble. A revised edi-
ton of THE Evolution of Woman"
New York: C. p. Putnam's Sons.
THE MYRTLE REED COOK BOOK.
New York: G. J.. Putnam's Sons.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
HOUSE OF NELSON. THE MILLER.

life became difficult in that neighbor-
hood they moved to the neighborhood
of Charlottesville, and Catherine died
there. The second son was James w.
Nelson, who joined Col. NJ. NJ. Balls
Confederate cavalry and was killed in
action near Charlottesville. The third
son was Joseph H Nelson. who also
went out in Balls cavalry and died in
the Confederate service. The fourth
son was Henry H. Nelson, who lived
near Langley, died about fifteen years
ago and is buried at Lewinsville. The
fifth son was John E. Nelson, who mar
ried Helen Walters, a daughter Of
Thomas and Virginia Walters of Fair
fax county. This John E. Nelson lives
in the old Nelson house off the Kirby
road. The sixth child of the miller was
Annie l. Nelson. who became the wife
of Albert RouZee of Fairfax county.
With a glass it would be easy to stand
at most points between the American
University and the Tenleytown water
tower along the western ridge Of
Washington and pick out the home
of the historic miller. The jewellers
there see at night the lights of the Ten
leytown section and the lights in sub
urbs along the Rockville road. They
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

- oNCLE SAM has been good
III s::; N: !: :. ii: ::s':
~ strikingly than in granting
his great lands in the west to make
homes for his citizens. There was
time when he sold his immense &C
CURED tracts, but when internal war
fare saw the destruction of homes that
had already been built he considered
free homes better for the welfare of
the nation than speculative purchases;
and dreams of a populous west over
came the fear of an empty exchequer.
The critical period of this countrys
history saw the passage of the free
homestead act. and the full acceptance
of the theory of development
The bureau having Jurisdiction over
all matters pertaining TO the survey
and disposition OF the public lands of
the United States. exclusive of lands in
the insular possessions, is the general
land Office. This is the oldest and in
many respects one of the most i'm
portant divisions of the Department of
the Interior. 1t is the bureau which
has won the great west. Transforming
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

bridge. That stream is Little Pimmit
run.
Here is an old mill site Every yes
tige of the mill has vanished. but near
a cold and vacant house on the far side
of the bridge and on the right of the
road you may glimpse the trace of the
mill race. Here stood Nelson's mill,
and one of the points of interest about
this mill is that the State Department
records. hurriedly removed from Wash
ington on the approach of the British
from the direction of Bladensburg on
that fateful afternoon of August IS,
1914. were secreted in this mill.
That. at least, is the story. and it was
story that was accepted when the
oldest man who reads these lines was
a boy. 1t is not an easy task to estab-
lish the facts. The current chroniclers
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

Indicated that the records We're stored
for a short time in mill at about this
point, but at that time there were
other mills on Pimmit run not far from
Nelson's mill. Off the left of the road
and above where the mill stood is now
the new cottage of Tom Wagner. Nell
sons mill was torn down by Union
troops in the early part Of the war and
it's stone and timber were used in the
construction of soldiers huts.
From the mill site the road leads
across low, wet land, with Little PIN
nit run on the left. The stream has
gray rock sides and bed of big gneiss
powders, very much after the fashion
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

- q ALE A MILE west of Fort Marcy,
I'LL ruins of which are heaped
It'll across the backbone of
q q ridge three-quarters of mile
beyond the Chain bridge on the Vir-
ginia side of the Potomac and a scant
half mile beyond the line which di-
vides Alexandria county and Fairfax
county, stands long abandoned and
weather-riven blacksmith shop which
on more than one occasion the Ram
bier has used as datum point or a
registration mark in his Journeys. On
the front of this ancient smithy is
rust-pitted iron sign which years ago
was tin. There was once painted on
this sign the name of the smith and
what he did. but many Of the letters
have been eHaced by time and the
weather. though here and there a letter
barely decipherable remains.
Remembering the sign when 1t was
Young and bold. the Rambler could
retrace or reconstruct in his MIND
eye the letters. They spelled that II
smith and Horse Shoer.'' That sign
tells the name of the last smith there
Fer many years-the Rambler believes
half century-before Collins came TO
Faulkner's blacksmith shop.
On n knoll above the blacksmith shop
Is A pleasant cottage that was not
new house when the civil war broke
and when that section of the environs
of Washington was an armed camp
Locust trees wave their bare branches
around the cottage. At the blacksmith
shop is a rural letter box. on when IL
painted the name "Cordelia Faulkner
1t is she who lives in the cottage on
the knoll.
The great highway from the CHAIN
bridge to the Blue Ridge leads by the
front of the shop, while at its west siae
is dirt road which strikes on crook
edly to the southwest and leads TO
Chesterbrook, a mile and hair away
but farther as one follows the con
volutions and the steep hills OF the
road. The Rambler believes that me
official name of this road is the Kirby
road and it connects with two main
roads leading from the northwest TO
East Falls Church and Falls Church III
one has to travel tins ROAD Whiie inc
land is muddy it can be done, but it is
not TO be recommended as primrose
way.
Leaving behind the blacksmith shop,
ones course is level, but probably wet
Yards or so. Then the road begins a
steep descent. describing the form OF
the letter So more than once as 1t
passes between high banks heavily
screened with honeysuckle whose TO-
liage has been turned from green to
bronze by winter A tangled gulch
soon yawns on the left. AT the foot
of the hill you come to branch and
bridge. This branch is Big Pimmit run,
and close by this point another stream
Joins that which rushes beneath the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
ambler Writes of Historic Mill in Virginia

of Rock creek Above the rocks are
laurel brakes. and in the clefts and
crevices of the rocks are patches of
fern. Soon the road climbs a hill, and
a few PAGES bring into view across a
field small cluster of tombstones and
an old frame house. That was the home
of Nelson, the miller. one of the big
landed proprietors of the region of
Washington. His bones and the bones
of his two wives rest under one of the
tombstones. His grandson occupies the
place today. The great tract which
Nelson owned has dwindled to small
farm. but the shrinking of great es-
states is no new story.
On the right of the road stand two
gaunt locust trees. A man understands
that gate was there, but it and It's
rough-hewn oak posts have passed from
earth. Nelson, the miller planted those
trees.
The little cemetery in the middle of a
field is grit by wire fence. Within.
four five spruce trees, a cedar and
an arbor vitae are growing. The brush
that Will ruthlessly overgrow an ola
graveyard has been cut away with a
scythe There are many graves in this
little plot marked by rude stones picked
up from the fields, or probably brought
from Big Pimmit run. There are Few
conventional tombstones. At one grave
is a monument inscribed on four sides.
On the front is this: william Nelson,
face of the monument Is this: Hen.
rietta Nelson, Died 1880. aged 80 Years"
On the third face is this: "Valinda Nell
son. Died 1852, aged &c years" On the
fourth side is this: John E.. Son Of
William and Henrietta Nelson, Died
1851, aged 10 years" John f. was the
son of the miller and his second wife.
and while playing by bankside, as
boys do today, the earth slid and buried
him, injurying him SO that he died soon
after.
The other tombs in this little grave
yard have the following inscriptions:
In Memory Of Joseph W. seweli. husband Of
Catherine 4. sewell. Born March %. 1917;
Died September Is. 1882:
be r's ss' ISL 7' Died October . = 10. 1874
William N sewell. Born October "a, 1917;
pied November 10, 1901. 49,, ~ 1910.
Mary c.. daughter of T. J. and 81. v Wal
tiers. Died January IS. 1909. aged 90 years year
Laura ", Born February %. leo-' oien June
.. 1865.
When the Rambler knocked on the
kitchen door of the old farmhouse
tall man opened the door. He had been
eating his dinner. 1t was colo DAY
without and genial wood hre was
burning in the kitchen stove. He was
a kind-hearted man, for mother cat
was on the wide-board floor clawing
the mans trousers and lnsisti.S that
another piece of meat be handed
down Four half-grown kittens were
as insistent on sharing the mans din
ner as was the mother cat He showed
no impatience with the little animals,
but shared his frugal meal with them
And the Rambler sat up to the kitchen
table, too
The farm which William Nelson, the
miller owned contained considerably
,.,aro +b,n , Thousand acres of land.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

the million of acres of desert waste
into prosperous homesteads. and the
arid lands into developed farms.
To carry on its work in Washington
and in the field this bureau has in it's
service about 1000 people. who are
variously employed in the home offices
in Washington, the local United States
land offices. the Offices of surveyors
general and in field work. The ma
jority of these men and women must
of necessity be legal experts in their
work, for there are in round numbers
some 200 live land laws still in ex-
istence which have to be properly
administered and observed
With an area of more than 10. 900 900
acres to be distributed among those
applying for patents in a single year
as was the case during the last fiscal
year. there occurs, in the nature of
things, continuous series of tangles
which must of necessity be unraveled
as they arise by lawyers versed in the
legal lore governing the public lands
of the nation. There are innumera BILE
instances of rival claimants for the
same tract of land and contestants
seeking preference right of entry.
Again, charges are sent TO the Wash
inRton office by the field service in
volving failure of land patentees to
comply with the law. cases in which
homesteaders are guilty of Illegal
practices in connection with their land
grants.
These legal tangles are handled by
a corps of experts in what is known
as the contest division of the general
land office This division is, in fact a
general clearing house for all diff
culties arising between rival appli-
cants for public lands and claimants
of public lands as against the govern
ment, and the men and women COM
prising this legal forum are well versed
in the law.
one of these guardians of the rights
OF the government and of the people
in the disposal of the public lands
is Mrs. Jennie l.. Munroe. who for more
than twenty years has been straighten-
ing out one after another of the trou-
bles between claimants for land or
setting right misunderstanding of
houesteaders who have misconstrued
their relation TO the government
The handling OF these cases requires
trained ability in constituting the laws
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

AUTOGRAPH LETTERS OF FAMOUS
PEOPLE BOUGHT FOR CASH.
LETTERS OF CELEBRATED POETS.
STATESMEN. GENERALS AND PRES
IDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
ESPECIALLY WANTED. i. T.. MAD
lGAN, SCI FIFTH AVE-. NEW YORK.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

Less than a mile south of the Nelson
place is the village of Chesterbrook. 1t
is now on the electric line to Great
Falls, but 1t was there many years be-
fore the railway. Families living there
have been long settled in the neighbor-
hood. One of the old cottages is that of
Wilfred Z. Faulkner. His father was
George W. Faulkner, who was a son of
William Faulkner and Nancy Simpson
of Fairfax county. George w. Faux
ner's wife was Sarah Ball. daughter of
Roads. which later became Ballston. and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
Ell SUPREME, A Romance of the
Great Dictator of Paraguay. BY
Edward Lucas White. New York:
f. P button < Co.


f. p. Dutton K Co.
This romance is built around the
career of Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de
Francia, dictator of Paraguay from
1913 to 1870 A group of historic per-
sons and another group of wholly nc
titious ones are brought together here
for the purposes of this invention The
book is an orgy of conspiracy OF COM
binations and diSSolutionS ana recon-
binations all in the interests OF one
or another of those who in secret care
to set themselves against the great
dictator The book is too long, TOO
crowded TOO packed with incident 100
riotous in local color. Human lhVeh-
ton even of the best, is, after al, nm
tied in whatever field it may exercise
itself If goaded too far, the inVention
is forced to double back upon Itself
thinning it's incidents and dullins their
freshness thereby. Plans ana move
ments many of them new and exciting.
but too many of them mere reflections
of those already produced. follow one
another here so swiftly and Emporium
ately that the reader is continually IN
arrears trying to bring some sort OF
order out of his crowded impressions
before taking on the new ones that are
yapping so urgently around nm me
beginning of this story works discour-
agement, thing fatal to subsequent
appearance of the central person nm
self, so many minor people. all looking
more or less alike, are brought forward
for the Datter of mere meetings, that
by the time the real man comes TO the
front one has slackened down MS IN
terest even in so compelling a ngure
as Francia undoubtedly is. one mas the
impression that these draWn-out pre-
liminaries are in the interest OF settlhs
and atmosphere, but why SO long "A
stretch of setting without FOCUS ana
center, why such quantities OF atfno-
sphere with nothing to sustain:
shorter, closer-knit adventure would
have interested readers more than this
oyer-sustained one is likely to. One
with more meat and less fat would nave
made a strikingly fine romance
A WOMAN AND THE WAR BY the
Countess of Warwick, author of
warwick Castle and It's Earls,
etc. New York: George IL Doran
Company.
Women should read this book of es-
says, for it is a notable one. Its
source. it's substance and the spirit
that animates it make 1t notable. The
Countess of Warwick here writes about
the war from many points of view. but
chiefly from the standpoint of the wom-
en- who are being so powerfully af-
fected in many ways by the event Of
war. While the book deals freely with