davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
a Coon Hunt in a Fency Coun-
try.

Really It's astonishin' what mon
sirous sight of mischief there is in
pint Of rum II one of 'em was to
be submitted to analyzaIion, us the
great doctors call il, il would be found
10 contain all manner of devllment
that ever entered the head of man ;
from cussin' and slealin' up to muir
der and whippin' his own mother,
aud nonsense cnun TO turn all the
men in the world out of their sens
es. If mans got badness in him,
ii will bring it out, Just as sassa(ras
tea does the measels-and if he's a
good-lor-noihin' sort of ieller,
without no bad traits in perlickler,
it'll bring out his greatness. 1t affects
different people in different ways
some il maketh rich and happy, and
some poor and miscrablo-and it has
a different effect on different peoples
eyes-some il makes see double, and
some II makes SO blind that they
can't tell themselves from a side of
bacon. One of the worst cases of
rum loolery that I've heard for a long
time, took place in Plneville last
fall.
Bill Sweeney and Tom Culpepper
is the two greatest coveys in our set
Element for coon hunlin. The fact
is, they don't do much of anything
else, and when they can't keich
nothin' you may depend coons are
scarce. Well, one night they had
everything ready for regular hunt,
but owing TO some extra good forlin'
Tom had got Eocket pistol as he
called it, Of regular old Jimmakey,
to keep of the rumatics. After ia
kin a good starlin' horn, they went
out on their hunt, with their light
wood torch a blazin' and the dogs a
barkIn' and yelpln' like forty thou
sand. Every now and then stoppin'
to wait for The dogs, they would drink
one anoiher's health, ill they began
10 feel very comfortable, and chatter
away about one thing and another,
without minding much which way
they Was gwIne. Bimeby they cum
to fence. Well, over they got,
without much difficulty.
who's fence is this, said Bill.
'Taint no natter SEE Tom, let's
take something to drink
After taking a drink they went on,
wondering what on yearth had cum
Of The dogs. Next thing they cum
10 was terrible muddy branch. Az
ter pulling through the briars and
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
NATURAL HISTORY.
THE RELATION OF FROGS TO BIRD

TIE RELATION OF FROGS TO BIRDS.
For dinner we had roast turkey,
and the doctor carved. As he com
pleted the operation by raising the
breast bone and revealing the cavity
that contained the dressing, | thought
he was about 10 remark the imperfect
nature Of The midrif, but his polite
ness restrained him, and he drew a
parallel between the frog we had dis
secled, and the bird We were eating.
The knife did its work steadily
and inevitably until it finally passed
through the small heshy lungs that lie
just within the back of the fowl, and
divided the consolidated backbone.
After dinner, as we were enjoying
our arm chairs on the back piazza, |
renewed the conversation by remark
ing, that as the habits of birds were
so different from frogs,-as their nat
ural heat was much more active. their
breathing apparatus must, ] presume,
be constructed on an entirely differ
ent plan.
Far from it,, said my friend
They are wonderfully alike in the
| matter Of respiration. AS little a va
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20

Persecution Of Russian Dissent
erS.-There is large sect in Rus.
STA, called the Russians " of the old
faith" (Stiro-virtee, } who are to be
found chiefly la Courland and Life
land. The late Emperor had at diff
terent times ordered very severe
measures to be taken against this
sect, which he considered prejudi-
clal to the State they must either
become Russo-Greeks, or they must
be rendered incapable of filling any
public Offices, or OF carrying on any
trade or calling, or possessing landed
property they were not TO be com
petent to the enjoyment of anything
higher than the rights Of peasants.
The intentions Of the late Emperor
IN this respect were, however, never
fully carried out. The present one
seems DESTROYS of attaining {" bad
pre-eminence" over his neyer-to-
beforgotten" parent, and is striving
to work out these measures to their
fullest extent. The ukases on the
subject have been brought to the rec
objection Of various Dissenters of
this denomination in Riga 10 con-
sequence the shops and the counting
houses of number of them have
been closed, and the Staro-virtse are
in despair. Some have been admit
ted to the full enjoyment of their
civil and civic rights by being bap-
tised into the Orthodox Church T;
but the heads OF two considerable
houses of business, rather than re-
nounce their " old faith" have Civ
en- up their business, and reduced
their standard of living to that of
peasants +; they have, however, had
their children baptised into the State
Church.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20

Broiled Nackerel.-The follow
ing good story is told of n member
of Congress from Ohio The VEN
cradle Gen. II. was for several con-
secutiye years returned TO Congress
and us the hotels and boarding houses
in Washington city, in those days,
were all on par, or rather below
par, the members were in the habit
Of occupying year after year, tho
same rooms. The table of Gen. HIS
boarding house (Which was kept by
a widow lady and her two daughiers)
was regularly furnished with siereo-
typed dinners, and at one end Of
the table always appeared hroilcd
mackcrel. Gen. H., whose seat was
near the fish, had gazed so frequent
Iy upon it, (for it never was touched
except by the cook that he knew it
all by heart" Now if the dis,ing-
uished representative had any one
peculiar virtue, it was an aifeciionaie
desire TO make every person and ev-
cry creature around him happy. In
the course Of time, Congress adj
journed, and Gen. IL. paid his bill to
the widow, and got ready to start
for home. The stage stood at the
door and the old gentleman, show
ing the goodness of his -ireart, took
the widow by The hand, and pressing
it, babe her farewell, then kissing
The daughters, said he would like TO
see them in Ohio, and furnish them
with good husbands, &c. but even
this was not all. The black boys,
who stood along the walls, were not
forgotten, and grinned as he handed
each a silver dollar. As he passed
around the breakfast table, which
was not cleared Off, he saw his old
friend the mackcrel. The tears came
into his eyes, and raising il by the
tail With his thumb and finger, part
ed with it, saying: Well, good
bye, good bye, my old boy you and
| have served long campaign to-
gether; but (wiping his eyes) I
suppose we shall meet again next
winter. Good bye The old gen.
ileman rapidly left the house, and
jumping into the stage, ratified off,
and fortunately for his ears, the
widow never saw him again.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
LOVE THINKETH NO EVIL.

This divine virtue delights TO
speak well Of others ; she TALKS well
of their good actions, and says little
or nothing, except when necessity
compels her, Of their bad ones. She
does not look around for evidence to
prove an evil design, but hopes that
what is doubtful will, by further light,
appear to be correct. She imputes
no evil as long as good is probable !;
she leans on the side Of candor, ra-
iher than Of severity she makes ev-
cry allowance that truth will permit !;
she looks to all the circumstances
which can be pleaded in mitigation !;
suffers not her opinions to be formed
till she has had opportunity to escape
from the midst Of passion, and to
cool from the wrath of contention.
Love desires the happines of others,
and how can she be in haste 10 think
evil Of them
We would commend this para
graph to editors, reviewers. reform
ers, public speakers, and to all who
accept the 18th chapter of Paul's
episile TO the Corinthians as part Of
the word of God. Among the bless
ed sistcrhood of graces, 'thc great
est is love- Amidst the excitcments
and agitalions Of our day there Is
extreme danger this gentle and beau
tiful daughter of the skies will be
trampled under the feet Of angry
d.sputants. Sec,arian wranglers give
but-a rude welcome to the heavenly
vistant; and sectional uninosites
almost sille her in the dust and
smoke OF fralricidal strife. II any
cause can live and prosper without
her genial presence, it only proves its
carlhborn source, and it can only look
for temporary victory now abidefh
faith, hope, charity, these three but
the greatest of these is Charity
The cause that is prosecuted in faith,
inspired with hope, and inbued with
love, will abide while uncharitabe-
ness in thought and word and action,
will perish with the cause that needs
or employs its unhallowed aid
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
ARE THE COMMON
SCHOOLS OF VERMONT A
FAILURE

1t is contemplated by the Law that
Spelling, Reading, Writing, Arilh-
meIic, Geography, History of the
United States, English Grammar and
Good Behavior shall be taught in
these schools.
For fourteen years, from four I'LL
eighteen) moro or less, the scholar
semi-daily, during term, attends to
Spelling O, yet not one in ten can
spell tolerably well. The majority
speh "re'eisdiy.
For fourteen years he attends,
semi-daily, to Reading, yet not one
in a hundred is a good intellectual
reader But few can give tolerable
definitions Of the words pronounced.
Not one in two hundred have a Die
iionary Of any kind to consult.
No, one IN fifty becomes a res
pectable Writer in the Common
Schools. In many schools il is en-
tirely neglected.
More time is spent on Arithmetic
than upon any other branch of study,
and yet, generally, the scholar goes
over about half of common Arilh-
metic annually Tor ten or fifteen years
or more. Not one in twenty of the
teachers can make out the tax bill'
for the collection OF their wages.
Geography is very badly taught.
More than once has the writer been
told by intermediate classes that they
never had seen any part Of the
9 Sphere or Globe they had been
reciilng about for years.
Scarcely a scholar can be found
who can give a synopsis of tho lis
tory Of the United States. The
majority know nothing about it.
English Grammar might, in gen.
eral, be thrown aside more harm
than good is the result.
Teaching Good Behavior is a mis-
nomer-a thing Of the past.
To what end are the 100000
scholars in Vermont, attending
schools What is the return for the
quarter Of a million of dollars OK
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
A Hail Storm.

We find the following description
OF remarkable bail storm in the
Southern Christian Advocate
Mr.. EDlroR Il send you an ac-
count OF severe hail storm that pas
sed through our neighborhood, about
two O'Clock, on May 9th. The
storm lasted for fifteen minutes as
thick as ever rain fell. Some of the
hail stones were as large as my haiti
the most Of them were the size of
fowls eggs. Myiwhole place was as
white as ! ever saw ii after snow
storm. The level ground was COW
cred six inches thick, and OH one
side Of the palings and in the corn
ers OF the fence the hail was over a
foot deep. 1t beat holes through the
shingles Of the houses. thought it
was the last day for everything that
was out Of doors. AS soon as it stop
ped FASTENED TO my pasture, expec-
ting to find every living thing had
in the world dead but to my aston
ishmcnt only found one calf and six
hogs killed. One had its skull broke.
We have lost all the poultry that
was ont, and dog was killed squir-
rels were knocked dead out Of the
tree tops, and dead birds can be found
all over the fields. My whole crop
is beat to pieces the very bark of
the trees was Knocked off in patches
the size Of dollar. The whole for
est was trimmed wherever the hail
struck.
My neighbors north and south of
me Jared as badly as myself; but
those east aud west did not fare
quite so bad. Such a storm, think,
was never seen before. Some Of
your readers may think this tough
tale but it is out of the power Of
pen, ink and paper to paint the storm
half as bad as ii really was nothing
but experience OF il can convey tho
true idea. am compelled to plant
my corn over; my oats are lost, and
rice may come.
The storm happened in the vicin-
ity of Purysburgh, lower part of ST.
Peters Parish, 5. @.
joins p. RAYsoND.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
A LANDSCAPE.

Sweet was the scsnel spart the cedar, ,tood,
A sunny i,lsi opend in tho wood
Win vernal tiats the Wild brier ihicksi slew',
For here tho desert nourish'd A. the fosoi
From sopiing trees with lucid foliage ofo~n'd,
Cay lights aud shadows iwinkle.l on the ground
Up the tall stems luturiant cfoePeis run
To hang their silver blossoms ia the suns
Deep velvet 'ot5afe clad The turf beneath,
Where tfoideu ho~o,s th,,f richest odors breathe
O'er al, the beos ~ i'm murmurng music flew
From bell to bell, to sip the treasured dew
Whl,t insect nyiisds, in THEN solar gleam,,
Glanced to and 10, iite n,erminghns beams
TO flesh, pare, u'c woods, the sly ibo air,
II ssem'd place whcfo angels nigh, lcpaif,
And tune Their harF- beneath those tranquil .hedas
To mofnns songs OF moonlight soreuades.
lanes Montgomery
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20

Courage, Mothers. Newton sin
ned away his early advantages, aud
became an abandoned prohIga,e;
but the texts and hymns his mother
had fixed in his mind in his infancy
ami childhood were never efl'aced,
and finally fastened him to the Cross.
Cecil tells US that in The days of his
vanity, though he withsiood SO many
pious endeavors, he never could re-
sist his mothers tears. Wilson, late
Bishop of Calcutta, in his narrative
of intercourse with Bellingham the
assassin, says he could make him feel
nothing ill he mentioned his mother,
and then he broke into a flood Of
tears. In the morning sow thy
seed, and in the evening withhold not
the hand
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
AligrrIlanEnug.
fof she Natchman Journal
OLDEN TIMES.---No. IL.

OLDEN Tim ES.---No. IL.
"SEvENTY YEARS IN THE WIN
OOSKI VALLEY"
Thomas CHTTENDEN.-I have
before mentioned, Mr.. Editor, this
distinguished pioneer Of the Green
Mountains and first Chief Mag istrate
of Vermont. lie was among the
master spirits Of his day, and took
an active and influential part in all
the measures which the early set
tiers Of the State found it neceSsa-
ry to adopt, in maufully contending
for the tight against New Hampshire
on the east, New York on the west,
Canada on the north, and the Con-
tinontal Congress at the south
Surrounded, thus, on all sides by
dangers and difficulties, no marvel,
that Chiitenden and his compeers
felt themselves compelled, for the
sake of self-preservailon and Sccur-
ing the independence Of Vermont,
to accomplish, in part, by straiagem,
what the most untirlng persever-
ance and heroic courage could
not otherwise achieve. The cor
reSpondence of Chittendcn and Al
len with the British authorities in
Canada and with Washington and
Congress at the same time, was a
master-Stroke Of state policy, which
few men would have had the fore
thought TO have originated, and a
less number the courage and ability
TO carry out to the final and COM
plete attainment of their noble pur-
pose that of conquering their enc
mics on all sides, with little or no
blood shed, and securing the sover-
eighty and Independence of this
state. In looking over the state
papers Of those days, | find many
of the inhabitants Of the Valley Of
the Winooski among the active, in
nuential and successful statesmen
AID politicians Of the primitive
times in our political history.
The pioneer men of the Green
Mountains, or the first settlers of the
A" New Hampshire Grants" as Yer
mont was then called, "were a brave,
hardy, but uncutivated race of
men. They knew little of the ETH
quette of refined society, were bleS-
sed with few Of the advantages of
education, and were destitute of the
elegancies, and in most instances of
the common conyeniences of life
They were sensible that they must
rely upon the labor of their own
hands for their daily subsistence,
and upon the energy, tact and Elf
cheney Of their own minds, in de-
vislng ways and means for frustrat-
ing the designs of their foes, upon
all sides, and eventually securing
the sovereignty and Independence
of the little territory over which
they had determined, at all hazards,
to exercise jurisdiction. They pos
sessed minds which we've natural
ly strong and active, and they were
aroused to the exercise of their high
est energies by the difficulties they
were compelled to encounter. The
controversy in which they were en-
gagged involved their dearest rights
On its issue depended not only thei
Titles to their possessions, but in ma
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20
The Recording Angels.

Two Angels dear on every soul auead,
Ani watch with patient waiting, on each hand
ooe win loit eye of tope, aod Que Of ieari
And both. with love intense a golden record beaf.
And when that pr eoous soul with love doth glow,
Those loving eyes with holy lasuc shine
Then doth the right. hand Angsl whisper los,
" lis our. for 80 and with seal divine
Confirm tho cool Tor Coed can ne'ef decay,
Bat, III immortal wing. to heaven u way.
bet Il suspicion daft Of fearful Wrath,
Trouble the lustrc II those .iniess eyes,
The len hand Angel Of Mas dsftened path
10 wseping .tleoeo whites, and sad surprise
But holds unseaied It'll the golden lin-,
hhd on his hopeful bfothsi loae' asi'e
For Qhsi soul regeai the hoaveu. shall smile,
And .~in that record fade in light divine
And onlJ souOv weep to leave 80 fair shine.
M.Cs
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20

getting on tother side, they took an
mother drink, and after gwinc little
ways, they cum to another fence, a
monsirous high one this time.
Whar upon yearth is we got to,
Culpepper ? seq Bill, 4 never seed
such heap Of branches and fences
IN these parts
Why seq Tom, it's all old Stur-
lids dongs know he is always
bllding fences and making Internal
improvements ms he calls them. Blu,
never mind, VIC is through them now
Guess we is not sez Bill, there
is the allfredcst fence yet
Sure cnuil thar they were right a
gin another fence. BY this time they
begun 10 be considerable tired and
Timber in the iints, and it was such a
terrible high fence. Tom dropped
the last piece Of the torch, and they
were in the dark.
Now you is done it, sez Bill.
Tom knowed he had, and he
thought II was no use to grieye over
spilled milk, SO says he, never mind,
old boss, cum ahead, and III take
you out, and The next mint kerslash
he went into the water.
Bill hung on the fence with both
hands like as though he was Slowing
round to throw him off.
Hello, Tom 2 sez lie, 'whar in
the world is you got TO ?
Here | is, seq Tom, spouiing the
water out Of his mouth, and colling
as if he had swallowed something
look out, there is another branch
here
Name Of sense, whar is we > sez
Bill. If this is not lency country,
dad fetch my buttons"
Yes, and branchy one, too SEE
Tom-'and the highest and deepest
and thickest that ever seed ia all
my born days
Which way is you, SCI Bill.
Here, right over the branch
The next mint in went Bill up to
his middle in the branch.
Cum ahead, scz Tom, let's 90
home
Cum thunder, and in such
place as this. whar man haint got
his coat tail unhitched from a fence,
before he is over his head and ears
in water
After getting out and feeling a.
bont in the dark, they got together
again. After taking another drink,
they cut for home, dcnouncing the
fences and branches, and helping
each other up now and then-but
they had not gone more Than twenty
yards fore they were brung TO halt
by another fence.
Dad blame my peter SEE Bill,
'ii | don't think we is bewitched.-
Who upon year,h would build fences
all over creation this way ?
|, was about an hours job to get
over this fence-but after they got
on top they found the ground on the
other side without much trouble
This time the bottle was broke, and
they come monstrous near having
a fight about the catastrophe. But
IT was very good thing, it was
for after crossing two or three bran
chcs, and climbing as many more
fences, II got TO be daylight, and they
found that they had been climbing
the same fence ull night, not more
than hundred yards from whar they
first cum to il.
Bill Sweeny seq he can't account
for II any other way but that the lick
or sort ofturned their hcads-and he
says he really believes, if it hadn't gin
out, they had been climbin' the same
fence and walden the same branch I'LL
yet.
Bill promised his wife TO inc the
Temperance Society, if she wouldn',
never tell no more about that coon
hunt
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-07-20

has protected the spinal cord in that
way IN fishes from the beginning
The next step in consolidation is
to unite a number of these bones to-
gether where little or no motion is
needed, as is done in sdcruDt Of the
higher animals, and as is the condi-
ton of a great part of the back bone
OF birds, while the last step in the
progress is TO enlarge the cavity Of
these consolidated vertebra until they
become a SkuH 1t is in the posses
sion OF back that the great first class
of the animal kingdom claim prece-
dence over insects ana oysters, and
the emblem lately introduced irto 20
ology 10 represent them, is a ssction
of the yeriebra. They possess it in
every stage Of their existence, no mat
ter how imperfect they may be, and
no animal in the lower orders, how
ever various its metamorphoscs may
be, ever attains 10 it, Ii is the true
badge of animal nobility
| suggested that a skull was a.
mazlngly unlike the back bone of a
lamprey cell
From the detached hind legs Of the
frog, my friend now stripped the in
yesting skin, leaving the exlremitics
connected with each other, while
from the upper portion Of them there
hung loop Of nerves, joined at the
two ends by a bit Of vertebra. From
the recess of his pocket he drew a
piece of copper wire and shaving
of stove zinc that had been twisted
together at the ends so as to resemble
sugar tongs. Alter moisienng them
he hung tho hind legs by the loop Of
nerves on one extremity of the tongs
and carefully brought the other OK
rremily to touch the calf of one of the
legs. The legs kicked, and on
touching them again and again the
same resul, occurred.
All, see how it IT, said +; the
electricity of the body that runs along
the nerves, makes the muscles con-
tract. Electricity, or galvanism, or
something else, is generated in the
nervous system, and is conducted by
the nerves to the muscles, and this
fluid is the instrument of the will
Precisely said my friend, 'only
the nervous fluid, whatever it may
be, is certainly the something else
| tied thread tightly around each
nerve, and he repeated the expert
ment, and again the legs kicked -
If he continued, the nerve of a
living animal be tied, the muscle it
runs 10 is Immediately palsIcd. You
see that tying does not prevent a
nerve from conducting galvanism.'
True enough, said |, live nerves
must conduct something else. The
twitching Of dead frogs leg can
teach lessons after all. | believe il
taught something to one Galvani.'
ledch lessons !. exclaimed the
Doctor. Why, il has done more
for the progress Of man, more to
hasten the advent of the good time
coming than any other experiment
since Fulton ratified a tea-kctlls lid
by the power OF steam. While the
spirits Of meu alter death, as some
would fam believe, amuse themselves
by idle table lippings and rappings,
of benefit to no one, the body Of q
frog has contriyed to indicate u truth
that in the magnetic telegraph has
almost annihllated Tine
1t is wonderful | said boys
ought not to stone them. Country
GcRHemen.