davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-12-14
Don't Really Mean It.

"Wishing your friends and neigh
bors q Merry Christmas Is pleas
Ing custom"
"True, but I have conscientious scruy
pies against doing so," answered the
thoughtful man.
"What do you mean?"
II fear a great many people say
Merry Christmasr in much the same
spirit that they ask, How do you dor
They don't care q hang how you do."-
Exchange.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-12-14
Ye chrystmass lynne.

Maye everie kyndnesse ye have wroughte
Uponne you're fellowe menne,
Uponne thys blessed chrystmasse daye
Returne to you aga!ne,
And maye eche logge whyche blazeth
highe
Uponne you're yule-tyde tyre
Reflect in tongues Of living flame
You're dearest hearts desyre.
Marion V. HigHnA
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-12-14
Tho BOYS Idea.

"Gee whizz, Bill Green's in luck"
"What's the matter?"
His folks use twin BEDS"
II don't see anything lucky about !
that for Bill"
"You don't. They've got two beds
to hide his Christmas presents under
Instead Of one."
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-12-14
Community Christmas Trees.

Many towns and villages get much
satisfaction and advertising out Of
community Christmas trees. The COM
munity tree brings the people together
into the open and If we'll managed is
worth while in any community.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-12-14
openina the Fat Purse.

Too many fat purses respond only
to the magic formula: Not to be
opened dill Christmas.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
MIR. HERsHEY's SUGGESTION

HE s. HERSHEY'S gift of two
MI secondhand, but still very
valuable. automobiles to the
Red Cross ought to be an example.
Doubtless many of us have in stor-
age articles of value we no longer
use. Turning these over to the Red
Cross would be to turn them into
money for very good cause.
Here is a form of giving that in
many cases might not seriously en-
barrass the giver, but If generally
practiced would net large sums for
the Red Cross and supply those
who buy with their needs at figures
far below the market price.
The practical business mind of
Mr.. Hershey-who, by the way, has
given more than generously in cash
to every form of war activity-has
suggested a means of vastly increas-
ing the Red Cross funds at a min
imum of sacrifice and effort. He
has started "rummage sale" on a
vast scale.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
THE RETORT COURTEOUS

Natalie Sumner Lincoln, author of
"The Nameless Man." just published
by ID. Appleton and Company, was
Adjutant at the. National Service
School at Washington, d. c., this
during the time the Confederate re-
union was being held there. The
old veterans came in such unexpec-
ted numbers that Washington was
not prepared for them and the Red
Cross Branch, connected with the
National Service School, found it
necessary to provide for the men
who could not obtain accommoda-
tions elsewhere. One morning Miss
Lincoln was serving coffee and rolls
to a number of the men at the I'm
ion Station when she noticed a par
ticularly feeble old soldier leave a
car, and in a rather dazed way at
tempt to cross the street. Fearing
that he would meet with an accident
she stepped over to him and helped
him across. On the way over she
asked him If he had had a good time
during the reunion. He looked at
her q minute with a twinkle in his
eye and then said in his quaint
Southern accent: Indeed ah have,
Missy. All started to come to Wash
in'ton way back in 81 and All didn't
arrive It'll jes dis week"
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
PENNSYLVANIA EGGS"

TOR years and years people from
this State who have been vis-
iting New York and Atlantic
City have been making their break
fasts on Pennsylvania eggs, but they
didn't know it. They were proud
to talk about Pennsylvania coal and
iron and steel and oil, and even lum-
Der and potatoes, but such thing
as the old Keystone having a repu-
tation for eggs never entered their
heads. And although for a long,
long time folks in the provision
trade displayed an avidity in snap
ping up Pennsylvania eggs and the
produce, market always contains
prices for Pennsylvania Fresh" it
does not seem to have occurred to
anyone to advertise the old State just
bit as a provider of the great
American breakfast. Hog and hom-
my have been claimed by a dozen
States and helped make them FAM
Gus.
The officers of the State Bureau of
Markets, who have been having a
rather hard time of it hacansa of the
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10

impossibility of satisfying everyone
in day when food is the burning
topic and because of the singular
mental processes of some critics, are
entitled to the credit of putting
Pennsylvania eggs on the map. And
they did it by means of black and
red label that was the target of wits
and the butt of punsters. Now the
label is to be seen in every eastern
provision warehouse that amounts to
anything and the buyer finds that
the coal and iron State sets a stand
ard in eggs. Pennsylvania is getting
a lot of advertising out of it and
the standard, it may be said, is a
high one.
One of these days the Pennsyl-
vania pippin and the Pennsylvania
peach will be labeled as are the
Oregon apple, the Georgia water
melon and the Colorado cantaloupe.
We are producing some fine eating
in our sixty-seven counties, but we
have been forgetting to blow our
horn.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10

that he mustn't expect every shell to
hit him!
and when he has been in the
trenches a short while the American
soldier will begin to feel indignant!
He'll figure out that everything
about this war has had lot of cam
outage in it right along, and that
it isn't so bad as it is cracked up to
be. And it isn't!
"And it's up to him to write home
often, long letters, and tell the peo-
pie there how it really is! He
mustn't forget that his mother, and
his wife or his sweetheart, and his
sisters still have the impression that
he started out with-that it is Just
one horror after another. He's got to
tell 'em how it isl"
Another piece of advice for the
American soldier is concerned with
his own Government.
when the American goes into the
army, and when he gets to France"
Mr.. Empey said, "he wants to for
get that the Governments rich He
doesn't want to waste single thing,
food equipment, anything. The
people at home are paying for those
things, and he is paying for them
himself. And everything he wastes
the war"
Gunner Empey is a sturdy. rather
stocky young man with bright eyes
and quick movements and gestures.
He gesticulates good deal, and
walks about when he talks. There
is a jagged red scar on his cheek,
but it is not very noticeable; one
thinks of 1t far less as a disf1gure-
ment than as evidence of some Won
derful surgery. Tt is not long since
Gunner Empey's cheek was crushed
to pulp, and it was thought that his
face could never look like mans
face again-until young American
surgeon, q Harvard unit man, prom
ised to "see what he could do" Now
Gunner Empey simply has slight
scar on one cheek. He talks with
great deal of Vjgor, of enthusiasm,
a contagious zest of soldering. And
his word of encouragement is not
confined to the reminder of respites
in the actual fighting, or, indeed, to
the fighting side of war at all.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
KEEP THE ROADS OPEN

THARLES w. BURTNETTS call
I to motorists to help keep the
main highways open shows how
thoroughly the State Committee of
Safety has organized it's work and
also how it relies upon the patriotic
citizenship of the Commonwealth to
assist it in periods of stress.
Time was when helping keep the
roads open in winter would have
seemed a huge joke to city folks.
1t was the railroads business to get
them where they wanted to go. and
as for the farmer-well, if he
wanted to get out, why let him dig
himself out. The picture Whittier
paints in "Snowbound" was as true
of Pennsylvania as of New England.
But the automobile has changed
all this, and the war has added
necessity to the desirability of unin-
terrupted highway communication
between big centers of manufacture
and trade. All unnoted, vast
stream of vehicular traffic is pour
ing across the eState-carrying freight
the congested railroads cannot car
ry. Good roads are a growing fac
tor in our war preparations and
snow blacked highways are the al
lies of the Kaiser.
Fortunately Saturdays storm in
this section was not very heavy, but
1t is a warning of what may come
any day. Chairman BURNETT ought
not to call in vain. Those of us who
cannot go to war must volunteer for
home service in whatsoever way we
can be of most use.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1917
KBoto hoto sublime q thing it Is
To suffer and be strong.
-LoNGFELLow.
TIME TO BEGIN

r T will not be long before the
season for outdoor work rolls
around again and everyone in
Harrisburg will be glad to learn that
members of the State Board of Pub
lie Grounds and Buildings and of the
Harrisburg City Council have de-
cided to go right ahead with the
preliminary work on the beautifica-
ton of Capitol park. The plans for
this monumental State and munich
pal enterprise, in which every Penn
sylvanian is interested, have been
outlined and the details have been
advanced to such a stage that about
all that is needed is the formal
stamp of official approval. This will
probably be given by the State Board
tomorrow and the next step will be
the letting of contracts for the filling
in of the streets and the leveling
of the ground preparatory to the
covering for the gardening.
1t seems to be the concensus of
opinion among visitors from various
parts of the State that the work
should not be interrupted by the war
and that thanks to the liberality of
the legislature it can be undertaken
without curtailment of any other
activity of the Commonwealth. The
people of Harrisburg. are ready to
vote the money for their share.
The time has come when there
should be a settlement of the prob
lens attending boundaries and
bridges and such matters and they
should be worked out so that when
spring appears operations may be
started. In other words. the time to
begin is here
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
THE "HARDsCRABBLE" CASES

MYTH the trial of the Hard
w scrabble cases tO-day-appeals
of property owners from the
findings of the board of viewers
the final steps are being taken for
the requirement of the last piece of
privately owned property along the
river front from one end of the city
to the other. Nobody has any desire
to take the properties or the pro-
testants for less than they are
worth. They ought, on the other
hand, to be generously recompensed.
But they should not be unreason-
able and the decision of the lower
courts should be binding on both
sides.
TO go further would be to admit
the proceedings to be merely in the
way of delaying the inevitable day
of dispossession. The purchase has
been delayed already beyond all
reason.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
GERMANY'S FUTURE

"The past month has been full of
events of great Importance in the
war and in our relations to the war.
The first casualty list was received
from American troops in the
trenches, bringing home the reality
of war as nothing else can. Condi-
tions in Russia have become moro
chaotic, with the Kerensky govern
ment overthrown and the country
apparently facing civil war. The dis
aster to the italian armies is q SER
ious disappointment to those who
were hoping for an early peace. 1t
will not alter the general purposes
of the western Allies, but it may
strengthen the position of the mill
tary party in Germany and thus pro-
long the war. The overwhelming at
tack upon Italy was made possible
by the cessation of operations on
the Russian front. On the west
ern front the events of the month
were favorable to the British and
French troops, and the general sit
uation was improved by a formal
declaration of wan against Germany
on the part of Brazil. Notwithstand-
ing the confidence that the German
people may have in their military
strength, there is much evidence that
the commercial classes are graVely
apprenenSlVe tnaJ the ntaBOliSIls
arising from the war will seriously
affect the trade relations of the
country when peace is restored. The
longer the war is continued and the
more belligerents are drawn actively
into it, the more serious these after
effects will be. The interest of Ger
many in the recovery of its foreign
trade is shown by the recent action
of the Reichstag in passing an i'm
mense grant of aid to the German
steamship companies to enable them
to buy and build ships rapidly as
soon as peace is established. Ships
alone cannot command foreign trade.
Every year that the war continues
will make it more difficult for Ger
many to recover the trade position
she formerly held. She cannot re-
cover it by force. Her shipping
grant will be useless unless she in
tends to make peace upon terms that
will convince the world that her mill
itary ambitions are abandoned. and
that the spread of German influence
is not a menace to all other nations
Bulletin of National City Bank,
New York.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
Observation-Disclosures -No.3
Machine Gunner Empey Gives Good Advice to Am
erican Soldiers WAR Not Nearly So Bad
as It's Cracked Up to Be"

r N the communication trenches
the soldier hears the sharp
Il crack of bullet over his head
and ducks-that sound is like being
stung by a bee; it unnerves a man
more than shellire. Then perhaps
a bullet hits the front wall of the
trench and ricochets to the rear
with n whining, singsong SOUND.
But the young soldiers first rear
only lasts a moment" says Gunner
Empev, who recalls in over the
Ton" the sane word that an old SOL
dier gave him in his first hghtlng
days, You never hear the pullet
that hits you" -, -,
at first strangely lonely" he contin-
ued, THAT ditch is like one OF those
mystic mazes.' He only sees the
sky. Then he feels a sense of Sc
curity-the Germans can't get at
him down here Then he has an
other feeling-They can't see me-
but / can't see them, either! They
might be coming in here any MN,
ute! What are they doing?' Ana
he has an irresistible desire TO sllch
his head over the top!
"You know" commented the SOL
dier. "the American is going over
wouldn't be an American II ne
weren't. And he'll get some of 1T,
too. IL an officer tells an English
man what he sees outside the trench
through the periscope, the English
man will take it for granted ana be
contented. But the American VIII
want to stick his head up and see 1t
all for himself! He's got to learn
not tot After looking through the
periscope. don't stick your head over
the top to see what you saw!
when he first gets into the 'front.'
line trenches the individual soldier
will feel that every gun, rifle, ana
machine gun in the German Army is
aimed directly at him! AS a matter
of fact, the Germans don't know he's
enlisted. And If he stops to think
that the whole City of Paris only oc-
cupies a pinpoint on the map and
that the Germans have thousands of
miles TO shoot their shells at, while
he occupies an infinitesimal point
that you couldn't find without a
strong magnifying glass, he'll see
(To Be c
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
Over tie lob
tn Pexna.

DR.. H. H. Hefner of Pennsylvania
State College, says that the draft
horse will not go out of business for
many year. One reason is that the
war has vastly encouraged horse
breeding. Prior to January 1, 9117,
more than a million head of horses
and mules were shipped to Europe.
They are Indispensable. But the
United States gains by this for it gets
rid of n brand of horses that can be
easily spared. Taking their place is
the heavier draft horse still so neces-
sary to the farm.
"Good-by, boys; me for a warm bed
tonight" 1t was the voice of Ser
geant Schmidt, at the Allentown
barracks, wild with trembling joy,
for he was starting on a days leave
of absence. Sergeant Schmidt" 1t
was the peremptory voice of the cap
tain. You will distribute the under
wear this afternoon and bring over
the, stores which arrived at the bar
racks this morning"
The Lebanon Chamber of Com
merce has started movement to Sc
king the old Berks and Dauphin pike
one of the greatest highways in the
country. This road connects directly
between Gettysburg and eastern
points and is in line to be constituted
one of the national post or military
roads. The government will provide
$4,000 a mile toward the construc-
ton of these roads.
A certain editorial writer in the
western part of our state is allowing
himself to be unduly agitated over
the German suggestion that after the
war soldiers may be permitted TO
have plural wives. We opine that
what those fierce Hun warriors will
want is peace.
. If you think you are unfortunate OF
suffering, mediate on the case of
lila Obric, who was sentenced to
death in Lebanon county by Judge
Henry the other day for committing
murder when saloonkeepers had
given him bad whisky until he was
blindly intoxicated. On his knees,
tears streaming down his cheeks he
received the sentence and as he-rose
to go to his cell he was told that his
wife had eloped with another man,
taking their four children along with
her.
A Pennsylvania girl 1 know
Who much attracted me;
So witty, pretty, responsive,
So smart at repartee.
But now she barely mods to me,
Though with her usual grace;
I've just found out what aileth her
She has the knitting face"
A straw shows which way the
wind blows. In Altoona the High
School officials ordered Kaiser Will
helms picture, posed in military
style, to be torn as a frontispiece
from district class books No Ger
man songs are permitted and there
will be no German play this year.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
CHoPPING OFF YEARS

It's price is fearful to contemplate.
1t steals your energy, your enthu-
siasm. 1t makes life a dull, monot-
onous, joyless existence.
So much for the cost of irrational
eating while you live.
But it steals years ofs your life.
Some sacrifice to unscientific eat
ing, ten years of life, others twenty,
thirty, forty, and in some extreme
cases more than double this num-
ber of years.
A man of twenty may lose his life
through overeating, while a scientific
selection of foods, in quantity and
quality, might have prolonged his
years to a hundred and twenty.
Man is indeed what food makes
of him.
The worlds greatest food scientist
was born in the fifteenth century.
He lived far into the sixteenth CEN
tury. He was one hundred and
three years OF age when he died.
He practiced what he preached,
and was truly marvellous example
of the value of his theories.
In his fortieth year he had been
given up to die by his physicians.
He had led q life of dissipation, his
vitality was depleted, his body a
wreck.
Fortunately, his mentality was still
keen. The verdict of his physicians
came to him as a shock. He awak-
ened to the dangers before him and
began to study life's deepest and
most mysterious problem-that OF
living scientifically.
Luigi Cornaro was the name of
this man, q native of Italy. He con-
trolled his fate. He heightened his
life, by more than sixty years. If
proper credit were given to him, he
would be considered one of the
worlds greatest men. There Is no
problem in all human life that is
more weighed with Importance than
that of adding to the health and life
of the body.
From Years of Life the Cost of
OVereating," by Bernard MacFad-
den in December Physical Culture"
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
LABOR NOTES

Labor standards of the warning Eu-
ropean countries, which were relaxed
at the beginning OF hostilities when
mobilization made necessary the re-
cruiting of women and children for
work usually performed by men. are
being restored in most countries and
strengthened in others.
Arthur e. Holder, of Washington,
member of the Federal Board of Vo-
cational Education and member of
the law committee of the Interna-
tional Association of Machinists for
many years, Is in the Dominion of
Canada to investigate the methods
adopted by Canada for the training
of the returned soldiers.
Membership in the A. +. of l.. en-
braces Ill national and international
unions and S45 local trade and Fed
eral labor unions, and Is also affiili-
ated with five A. Il. of L. departments
(metal, building, railway employees,
mining and union label trades), and
with forty-five state federations, 762
city central bodies and AL local de-
partment councils.
Discomfort in English and Scott
workshops during the early months
of the war reached alarming propor-
tions. Then came Investigations by
commissions, resulting In o better un-
derstandlng, and since then the Brit
ish government has felt the necessity
of stepping In to restrain the speed
ing-up process permitted by organ
lied labor, to win the war.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
BETTER HOUSING

FRED ROwE'S interview in
~. Saturdays issue of the Te1e-
graph relating to the house
problem here and how Williams
port has gone about to correct a
similar condition strikes a vital note
If this city is to go forward as il
should in the next few years we
must have more houses and cheap
er rents. Talking of lower rentals
at a time when all other items of
living are on the increase may have
the sound of impossibility, but Will
Transport is making the miracle
come true and adding an attractive
section to the city as well. And
Harrisburg must do it, too, if it is to
properly serve it's people.
The time has gone when anything
with a roof over it was considered
good enough for the family of small
means. The crowded. squalid, close
ly built up sections must give way
to such well designed attractive de-
velopments as that of williamsport.
But we can't accomplish this in the
haphazard, hit or miss manner in
which we have been building. The
policies of the
small house builder must give way
to the wider vision of men who will
build along big and modern lines.
We must have in our minds some
thing more than per centages of
profit.
There is sunshine and pure air
in the world for everybody, and both
are free. They are the heritage of
the poor as we'll as the rich. and the
city that fails to provide them in the
way of clean. well-lighted dwellings
is assessing against itself a woeful
taxation of poverty, crime, disease
and death. What does Harrisburg
mean to do? Go along as it has
been, with districts the very photo
graphs of which would disgrace us
IL exhibited abroad, or begin now to
provide clean, attractive houses for
those folks whose incomes are not
sufficient to bear the $40 to $50
a month rental that is now de-
manded for even second-rate dwell
ings in this city? Has anybody an
idea how the need here can be met?
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
EDITORIAL COMMENT
By Briggs

A place ought to be found on
Americas coat of arms for the knit
ting needle.-Providenc Journal.
The only safe conduct" for an
enemy alien in future is to be good
conduct.-New York World.
IT looks as if an unusually large
number of French and British tour
lists will spend the winter in Italy
Dallas News.
Some newspapers are born patriot
ic and some have patriotism thrust
upon them and pretend to it lest
they be pressed.-Columbia State.
Evidently Germany is doing its
laughing at the United States Army
while the laughing is good.-Empor-
la Gazette.
Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-10
WELL KNOWN PEOPLE

Judge j. n. Langham, of the
Indiana courts, was here on his way
to New York to attend the State
Society dinner.
-EX-Governor James b. Sneak
ley, of Alaska, is seriously i'll at his
home in Mercer county.
John Philip Sousa has shaved
off his beard say Harrisburg friends
who saw him recently.
Thomas Kennedy, head of the
Hazleton miners, claims to be the
youngest labor leader. He Is twen-
ty-eight.
DIR. L. c. Thomas, former recor-
der of Westmoreland. is home from
camp, after being turned down on
physical examination.