davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
He Knew All
About the Subject

About the Subject
felt quite upset. In order to be
able to tell my friends as much
travelled man should what the best
coffee is and where it is grown, |
called up friendly chef at one of
the big hotels, and asked him what lie
knew about coffee. He intimated that
he was a complete master of this i'm
portant subject asked him about the
coffees of the delectablc islands l had
visited, and he said they were all good.
| asked him about the blend of Mocha
and Java my mother has been buying
for the last forty years, and he told me
that none had been imported for ten
years, and that she had been drinking
Santos and Rio. We were both nearing
the end of our patience, but put 4
final question: "Where does the best
coffee come FROM" From NADIA
gascar."
"Weren't you saying something
about tea?" asked my wife, returning
from the kitchen, and interruptine my
meditations, as usual. "Now that
have three and half pounds of sugar
I think I'll make a lemon meringue
pie for your dinner"
"0o ooyA'6, lcpllcuy Ln3t II
the English are going to have another
row over tea it won't necessarily in
terest you. Everybody knows that your
people were in Salem-not Boston
and that they were Tories, anyhow
But, speaking of tea, if we are lucky
enough to get to France in time to
be of some use, you'd better get out
of that habit. The French colonials
drink it with mint, not knowing how
to make julep, but otherwise it isn't
popular, although you may hear IS
o'clock the mentioned in connection
with high lif.' You'll get coffee, and
it will be Haytan coffee, roasted until
every berry is as black as a Haytian
peasant"
But wouldn't you really like cur
of tea now? | have some more of that
orange pekoe and English breakfast
blend that you like SO much" Really
you know, tea famine would have a
perfectly frightful effect on the polite
literature of Great Britain. To an
English novelist a tea table is indis.
rensable, and no open air setting is
complete without hamper and a spirit
lamp.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
The New Language
OF Electrical Science

And now Japan is trying to talk an
other language to the Western world
It's own language of science and art.
In October last year the Department
OF Communication of Japan announced
a discovery of international impor-
tance. Two electrical experts of the
department, Drs. 'rorigata and Tone
gawa, perfected the means Of con-
Aectlng wireless system with an
ordinary telephone.
:. AS to the complete success OF the
discovery there ia no question. Repre-
sentatives of Toxic newspapers. who
reported the achievement, had oppor-
tunitles to test the practical workings
of the thing with their own cars. They
heard through the receivers at their
cars-and very distinctly" AS the
Jill" reporter adds-the wireless mes
sagcs sent from a ship at sea.
From now on, there fore, it is quite
possible for any wandercr over almost
any portion of the wide sea to call IN
his mother in Toxic and talk to her
by simply going to the wireless oper-
ator aboard.
Something along the line Of this dis
covcry was experimental upon by Mr..
John J. Carty, of the American Iele-
phone g. Telegraph Company. two or
three years ago, with the cooperation
Of the American navy. Whether it has
proved success or not has never been
publshed-it has been kept a state Sc
cret if it were found practical.
Here, then, is the very first Japanese
achievement in the wide realm of cleo
trical science which the people of the
United States can understand and ap-
preciate quite az well US the Japanese.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17

have little treat for you" said he
with the pleased air Cuban always
wears when he is doing something nice
for you; "you shall have some real
coffee | brought with me from Havana.
You know how good it is" 1t was
good. "Where did you get it?'' asked.
'From Porto Rico"
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Damned-Last of the Turkish Despots

revolution has accomplished much !,
.nvugh not AL tnat was .e bouso :. -
Abdul Hamid did his best to ntiI;;;r ~ q
His plotting finally caused the mr,;l y
Of 1909 and the effort to restors as.ay y
Sheriat, or Sacred Law, and his nosa sus
of Caliph Of Islam. s0"e'
Those were dark days for u, ~
the newly arisen Turkey seemed sh.nsel h.nel
again. But the Young Turks sath..s th..sl ],
themselves together, and this t;.'ea t;m.' !,
was Abdul Hamid who fell. Wbs""s y
saw that he could not save himsslae e z
resolved that Turkey should crash ~: e
him and ordered massacres aIi ~
the land. Some we're executaa 'yes
other cases the governors ref,. = =
Scutari. where our college ,.as loesseece lssec
was to have been attacked and .sso y
eral massacre of foreigners and Gee iea-
tans was set for Friday at o's,.as, .s'
in the morning. The terrifying ',ves ~.
pense of those hours can never b. ss' ~
gotten. At 5 o'clock the armv ~ ivI IN
Grafton entered the city and We VIC .0
saved by two hours. "sss
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
He Kept His
World in ear

Constantnoplc was a place of fear
when ! lived there, from 1900 to 1909.
We were afraid Of Abdul IIamid aud
his spies; he was in constant dread of
losing his power and his life. lie real
lied that progress for Turkey meant
his downfall, and he was in perpetual
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17

pelf and tho saving Of his skin. One
night. being suddenly awakened by a
favoritc daughter, in his terror he
killed her with the pistol he kept al
NnvS with him
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
He Died as He
Lived, a Mystery

Then, indeed, Abdul Hamid's -.
bad struck. Some of his soldiers wa wa
loyal and fought for hina, but wers ' 8
feated. Others deserted. He COW,
alone in his palace of Yldiz. abandsssss,
even by most of his women. Will.
the Bosporus below men-of-war ~ m.n "a
aced him. He made no sign. HON. IL. 4.
superstitious, fcar-ridden souI ~ m'
dured those days of suspense do -. ~.
know. All Constantinople held its brsa.S' Nv
Then, one day, the spell wv W..
broken, the cannon began to boom H.
rushed to our roof. where we could wy "s
the Bosporus below, and the city h. h.
ycnd, with the palace of Yildiz ~ ~.
right. More than twenty-one sbo,s s.s
were fired. and We knew then that Jss 40
Sultan had been deposed. We held an. ~.
flag rope in readiness and when w. ~.
first ship in the harbor dressed nm ae.
our flag. By this time the roof Of .i n.
college was filled with teachers anS .nS
students. All classes were DISMISSED
for the day and all were ready ~
shout, "Hurrah. Abdul Hamid ba, !"
fallcn."
The old fox. who had never appesr.a
without a procession and banners mo.
ushered out of the city ignominiousJr
with no one to speed him on his way
accompanied only by a few women and
attendants and even mourning the loss
of his favorite cigarettes, which had
been forgotten.
Abdul Hamid is still mystery. H.
possessed cleverness without greatness
skill without success. He was intel
lectual, yet childish and superstitious.
and until his death recently the fear
of his plottings had never quite l.f,
Turkey.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
By Hester Donaldson Jenkins, Ph. D.

Professor Of History Constantine College from
period preceding aud includimg the Young
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
The Rare Chance of
Seeing the Crew

| limited at my interest in the men
not without diffidence, because to
ask the captain of a man-of-war if
you can go and look at his ships
company as matter of curiosity is
tantamount to demanding leave of a
stranger to go and smoke pipe in
his nursery while his children are
being bathed. A mess deck is an in
innate place.
Want to see the men," he echoed.
and thrust on his cap. "I'll show
'em to you." He was a mighty man,
possessing volcanic energy and a
voice designed to carry orders
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

ensuing hour. The American mid
shipman is the senior Of his British
opposite number" by perhaps a
couple of years-but there the diff
ference begins and ends. The half
shy warmth Of my welcome; the
rather oppressive decorum of the
assembly as we took our places
round the tea-table, was not other
wise than it would have been in a
British gunroom under similar con-
ditions; the quick thaw that syn
chronized with the rapid disappear
ance Of buttered toast and jam was
Youth asserting itself over interna-
tional courtesies.
The meal (they explained that
they had picked up the habit of
"seven bells" tea from us, and the
lesson had not been i'll learned) was
nearing its close when a sudden
shout of laughter obliterated the
hum of chaff and conversation
Every eye turned on a midshipman
at the end of the table whose face
was slowly turning carmine to the
roots OF his curly hair The presi-
dent extended his closed fist, thumb
pointing downward. One after an
other the remainder followed suit
until every member sat thus. with
the exception of the blushing victim.
He looked the length of the lonc
table twice, gathered his cup and
plate together, and, without further
ado' vanished beneath the table to
'he accompaniment of unbridled
mirth.
! II nothing else had been needed
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
The Question No
Sailor Can Answer

1t was my turn, and l asked him
the question no sailor has ever been
able to answer. "Why did you come
to sea-" He grinned, showing two
rows of perfect teeth. Him. he
said, and jerked his head over his
shoulder at the other ordinary sea-
man wincing beneath the whispered
exhortations of his instructor. "Him
an me-" adding, "He's my chum."
Strong men have tried to write
books on all that was contained in
these two sentences; most have died
with the task unfinished.
We had concluded luncll-a meal
that commenced with iced grape
fruit grapefruit at the North Base.
harkee! !)-when the captain beckon-
ed me to accompany him on another
tour. 1t was of a more official
nature this time, including a routine
inspection of the storerooms and
magazines, and 1 joined the little
group of officers who hurried in the
wake of that tall, striding figure
with gold lace around the peak of his
cap, who knew his ship as l know
the inside of my pocket.
We were band of strenuous ad-
venturers in search of the unfind
able. Never did red-shirted miners
ply pick and shovel in the first days
of the Klondyke rush as that cap
tain labored through the long after
noon in search of dust. Up and
down the shafts leading to speckless
storerooms, hand over hand by
FURNISHED steel rungs into the utter
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

most bowels Of the ship we went,
and, as we passed, the captains
hand was forever going out to run
along a transverse frame or search
the interior of cofferdam in the
same fruitless quest. Perspiration
ran down our faces, but the break
neck pace never slackened Light
barkcd the captain, and the breath
less first lieutenant obediently
flashed an electric torch into some
crannyhole; the hunt checked while
the captain craned and peered, and
then moved on. The first lieuten-
ants sigh of relief was always
audible above the ring Of our foot
steps. Once, as the procession sped
along some labyrinth among the
shell-rooms, the captains finger shot
out accusingly to indicate a junction
box on the white enamelled bulk
head Gan infinitesimal detail in the
vast complexity of battleship). 1t
was an affair of brass secured by
small screws, but one of the screws
was missing.
"Spoke about that last week"
raped out the captain, already a
dozen yards ahead. The first lieu
tenant looked at the junction box as
we hurried on. and wiped his face.
"Geew he said. Then eyed me
with mingled desperation and pride.
"Some captain!" he said.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

through gale. "Comc right along
We plunged straightway into the
scething life CT the mess deck and
living spaces Of the great ship, the
captain leading, and as we thread
ed a path forward. men stepped
aside, stood quietly at attention un-
til we passed and resumed their
tasks or leisure. Workshops, kit
chens. laundry, bakeries, dental sur
gerry, sick bay, messrooms, round we
went in swift, slightly bewilder-
ing rush while the "owner" jerked
explanations over his shoulder. He
. displayed q familiarity with the de-
tails of it all that was, to say the
least, interesting to one of an
other navy, whose captains claim to
be not Indifferent "ships' husbands"
Our whirlwind tour carried US
into a speckless electric bakery
piled high with fragrant loaves. The
captain had flung open and closed
the door of an oven secured by an
ingenious but rather complicated
latch. AS we emerged l commented
on his evident familiarity with the
internal fitting of his ships bakery
Built her." he explained, and
plunged, dofing his cap, into the
sick bay. There were over thou
sand men en- board, and about half a
dozen of them had found their way
here.
"Well, t." said the captain,
addressing by name an able seaman
of a stature wellnigh equalling his
own, "how's that hand getting on?"
The man stood up and met his
captains eyes without embarrass-
ment; just, in fact, as one citizen
regards another.
Nicely, thank you, sir" he re-
Piled
Hit your man in a softer place
next time," said the captain, and the
seaman laughed, nursing his ban
daged hand.
81 will, surely" he said. A chuckle
ran around the sick bay. l had the
sensation of stranger left trying
to fathom family joke.
"Want to talk to 'em?" asked the
captain minute later, as We
stopped to watch a veteran superin-
tending the splicing OF fve-inch
wire by two ordinary seamen. Here,
B." he called one of the young
sters, again by name. The boy
dropped his marling spike and re-
sponded smartly. "Where were you
raised?" asked the captain.
Kentucky, sir" came the reply in
the soft Southern drawl. The lad
stood before us without trace of
sheepishness or apparently aware
of any distinction in being thus sim
gled out by his captain by name
from among thousand other men.
The captain nodded. "Tradew "a
farmland, sir"
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

familiar surroundings, trying to
draw comparisons between them and
his accustomed environment. finds
his impressions at the end of it
like a jigsaw puzzle that has been
upset
looked at him as he stood taking
me in, and in the quizzical, humorous
smile lowering about his eyes, in the
set of his very imperturbable mouth,
/. in his wholly comfortable attitude
before the radiator, read my an
swer. 1t was something that had
been struggling for expression at the
back of my brain all day.
Well. sir,' said (and then wished
l could have embarked on my expla-
nation as our sailors do with, cts
like this 'ere, sir'), "to all intents
and purposes you've dropped out of
the skies plop into the middle of the
Grand Fleet. It's a feet that has
been three and one-half years at
war. 1t belongs to the oldest and
most conservative-if not the proud
est-navy in the world. It's got the
Armada and the Nile and Copen-
hagen and Trafalgar and Jutland to
its credit, and, | fancy, it takes
largish size in hats on the strength
of it. 1t certainly had a standard
by which to judge strangers"
Sure" said the admiral, softly,
with his eyes on the far-off snowy
hills. I'm not used to making stump
speeches to admirals.
l took long breath. well, from
the moment your ships rounded that
headland the British fleet has been
sizing you up. Every boat that is
manned and leaves your ship, every
officer or man who moves about your
decks, is being watched and criti-
cised and studied by several thou
sand pairs of eyes. You live in the
limelight"
Sure" said the admiral so softlv
that it was hardly more than a gen
tie expiration between his teeth. He
may have been wondering when l
WAS coming to the point.
"Well, sir" l continued, call that
is apt to make a very good man in
deed self-conscious. l came over on
the lookout for self-consciousness.
like lady visitor looks out for wet
paint on board. I've been ten hours
in your flagship, and I've talked to
samples of every rank and rating.
I've only seen one person self-con-
scious under friendly scrutiny"
"Ah!" said the admiral. His eve
brows lifted a shade.
II caught sight of myself in a
looking glass" explained.
Six Thousand Men
Welcomed Ashore
Not that this absence of self-con-
sclousness is the outcome of indif-
terence. The American squadron is
keenly alive to the intense observa-
tion it is undergoing. Its method Of
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
We Refought the
Battle of Jutland

1t was when we had lit our pipes
(the exile had been suffered to re-
turn to cur midst) and sprawled in
comfort, elbows on the table, that
the real inner meaning of this great
alliance dawned fully upon me. To-
gether we refought Jutland as 4
has been refought in scores and
scores of gunrooms amid tobacco
smoke and the shifting of spoons
and matches across a tablecloth; at.
ter that, it was baseball, instead Of
tagoy; Annapolis instead of Dart
mouth training college; but it sl
amounted to common ideal, voiced,
not by politicians or diplomats, but
by nations youth in commoa
speech with ours.
visited the compact double
cabins-once they called them state
rooms-each with its intimate links
with home suggested by the backs
of familiar books on a shelf and
photographs pinned to the heads Of
bunks. IN fancy / made dozen
obeisances to the smiling American
glrlhood that has good cause to n
proud of its knights; and so back %
the gunroom, where one of the gay
company had just sat down to tN
piano.
We perched round on the table
and the backs of chairs and sang
They were the latest patriotic sone'
from the United States, tunefut
emotional jingles whereby every NJ
tlon going to the wars shameless9
strives to voice its inner feeling
And when the players repertolr
was ended we started afresh, wnS
the more energetic fox-trotted grsev
fully to and fro across the narrO"
deck space.
Tune and words have since q
capped me, but the refrain Of the 20
song fingers still by reason OF y
significance in these sombre ds!s
I'VE are coming, we are comlns
roared the young voices, and ! sws
glance at the lean faces, at =.
laughing, confident eyes all s0'v
me-"And we shan't keep CONF"
very long,"
came nearer to feeling sorry =
the Hun than I had since the =
started.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

lent cabinets passed into the windy
parrot house of the North Sea.
Here power, as they understood the
term, was negligible. The greatest
distance required of their Hertzian
waves was preposterous 400 miles
or so. But not only had they to
thread way unbroken through
this aerial Babel, but, what was
even more difficult, the operator was
required to detect and read mes
sages on one tune in vast discord
of diverse and unfamiliar notes. It
is even said that an Englshman's
touch on sending key differs from
that Of an American as radically as
the spoken accent differs. Yet af-
ter month of assiduous practice,
the former are in a fair way to
present as few difficulties to COM
munication as the latter.
And Still Identity
Is Preserved
So much for the technical aspect
of the affair. But there is another
to consider. Each nation having
evolved, perfected and adopted a
system, considers it, ipso tocto, the
| best system in the world. To ask
; segment of that nation to dump
the cherished thing overheard and
adopt the theory and practice of
another nation likely not so good"
is demanding much. That the or
der was obeyed instantly goes with
out saying. But let it be noted that
it was obeyed in spirit of uncriti-
cal loyalty and whole-souled en-
thusiasm by every man concerned.
from admiral to signal boy To
this the British commander in chief
has testified
But, after all, these matters are
merely eXternals. In adopting Brit
lsh methods Of communication and
staff work for the smooth working
of the whole, the American ships
have not lost jot Of their identity.
Their customs remain, with their
traditions, American; indeed, they
are but thrown into stronger relief,
and the British fleet around them
is noting, drawing comparisons with
intense interest, as two scions of the
same family might meet and study
gesture or physiognomy, searching
eagerly for kindred traits. And
daily the bonds are tightening.
The admiral commanding the
force of American battleships which
constitutes the ---th Battle Squadron
of the Grand Fleet stood and
thawed before the FURNISHED radi
ator in his cabin.
"Now," he said, you've spent a
day on board this ship. What
struck you most? What remains
your most vivid impression?"
had been waiting for the ques-
ton, and wondering what the deuce
| was going to say. A man who
spends ten crowded hours in un-
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

Slgnlllcance or HagS, the arrange
ment- of codes and ciphers are pc
culiarly and completely theirs. The
meanings of the flags had nothing
IN common with the British. Their
system has been evolved through
generations; is, so to speak, their
navy's mother tongue. The signal
men of the -th Battle Squadron,
blowing on their numbed fingers
amid the SHOWS of Ultima Thule,
had to forget in twenty-four hours
what had been laboriously taught
them for years. They had to mas
ter different colored alphabet as
1T is glimpsed two miles away,
tangled up in halliards or half OBJ
secured by funnel >and mayhap
battle smoke. Maneuvres on a
scale they had hitherto regarded as
exceptional, fleet exercises and
squadron competition, intership
signalling (whereby the movement
of semaphore arm through fifteen
degrees of the arc meant things un-
dreamed of in their philosophy
tricks which northern visibility
plays with daylight signalling
these things were their daily and
nightly portion.
They Tackled 1t
Like Tigers
In the words of one of them, at
was tough proposition" and they
tackled it like tigers. In a fort
night they were through with it. In
a month the British signal boat
swains rubbed their telescope lenses
and said they were damned.
But the communication problem
didn't end there. Wireless plays an
even more important part than
visual signalling in naval warfare.
1t is important enough in peace, and
the American fleet had by no means
neglected the subject. But aerial
conditions in the region of Manila
differ considerably from those in
the North Sea. Speaking radio
graphically, the North Sea is the
most crowded thoroughfare in the
world. All through the twenty-four
hours ships and submarines and
shore wireless stations are talking
talking, talking. British warnings
to shipping on its lawful occasions
streams of lies from Berlin (brand-
ed at the outset German press mes
sageD, cipher cryptograms from
three admiralties, destroyers bleat-
ing in a fog, appeals from a hunted
merchantmen, all these interspersed
with the cracking Telefunken OF
the German submarine.
Now, the American wireless ex.
perts have been concerned >princi-
pally with covering long distances
The development Of spark and
power in comparatively undis-
turbed ether was the main preoc-
capation of the operators. From
this serene condition ships and ST.
New-York tribune., 1918-06-09
The Habit of the
Seven Bells Tea

I dropped out of the running
about o'clock because we were in
the neighborhood of the gunroom
(steerage, they called it,, where
had been invited to tea. l took
with me an uneasy recollection of
the first lieutenant's reproachful
eyes as l sheered out of the process
sion, but it was speedily obliterated
by the interest and charm of the