davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22
The NnecinI Session Of 1se1

At the outbreak of the war the leading
Democrat in the Vermont House Of Rep
resentatives was Judge Stephen Thom Of
West Fairlee. The fall before he had in
troduced a bill and vainly urged ITS pas-
sage for the repeal Of the " Personal
Liberty Law, which had been construed
by the South as hostlIe.mcasure aud am
attempted notification Of the Fugitive
Slave Act. At the Special Session in the
Spring Of 1861 it was expected by all Re
publicans that he would again urge the re-
peal Of the obnoxious law, and many were
prepared TO vote for 1t as measure TO
pacify the South. On the eventfu day
when the attitude Of Vermont in the war
was to be determined, two other leading
Democrats were waking with him from
the hotel to the State House, when one of
them was heard to say to him that If the
House would not vote to repeal the law he
would not vote one man nor one dollar for
the suppression Of the Bebelion,-to which
Judge Thomas made no reply.
When the Committee of WAYS and
Means, Of which Mr. Thomas was a mem
Der, held their meeting to determine what
sum to recommend the House to appropri-
ate to aid in suppressing the Rebellion, il
so happened that his seat was partially
behind the door and another member Of
the Committee 50 that his presence was not
noticed until they had agreed all around
that half a million would be amply suffi-
cient. CHANGING then TO discover Judge
Thomas, the Chairman called for his opin-
ion. He stepped forward to the table and
gravely recommended that the sum be
doubled. At first the others thought he
meant to kill the bill, by overlooking it,
but he went on with a brief but powerful
speech, in which he told them that he was
satisfied We had got great work on our
hands and had best arouse ourselves in the
first to an idea Of its magnitude that if it
should happily turn that all the money
would rot be required, it need not be used.
that they had a Governor of their own
cloice, not his. but that if he had conf.
dence enough in him to trust him with all
this money, they certainly ought to have.
The argument prevailed, and the commit
tee voted unanimously TO recommend the
appropriation OF ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
That afternoon, when the question
came up in the House, on the committees
report, every nook and corner of the
spacious hall was crowded with au aux.ous
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

A.
- -
..o,5 - -.
.....,.;- - -. ...,.,-N.,.;',.. ::
The +-.,,. ~ l,..-s. -, -Es..L th..f.l.
,o,,.,., notes .,,,,- he ,Jlsj a., .s..,sr
Tt. ..-..r... H.. ,.....,.. ..Ir,,l, III.
t.saI ,r... nst ,r.,b cbioq,. r. tbs ~ -
i-..r-..t-...t F,,l.nl and S.otrsn5 ,ybars
f..,........... ,.'. 7bs ,,,l. NH Ill -.
.7....,... In .',,,,, 80. - 10.
rar. =. ...,-.srt s,..s1 ,,,s-t;or ,-,r. .-r,,.-,
m rs..rt - ,,r,et;ee- thar would now
/ Ji..,r,,. tho .,p.,,ops.t an,ct ~
Tbso3or. i, NT,,anca ,r,- rb,.,c;,n -
Jams Cherries and Charles II
/ Vet b. prescribed adders bats wbeIns
carthuo-m~. hogs grease. stag marrow
I and thigl bones off oxen. also nulvcrized
/ human bones. His celebrated rout powder
contained ra,pines of an unburied human
|skuU.
\ hook publi.bed in 1-I4 called !. 4
collection of above three hundred receipts
in cookery, physic and surgery, and
purport.nr 10 be written by persons of
,,re5f kuoyledge ana Iapg. experiepce. has
the following prescriptions. among others
equally pueriie and disgusting An
almost infalIible drink for weak children. .
Pat am ounce of rhubarb and three
hundred live wcoibugs into SIX quarts of
small ale. and drink Sprino and fall. no
other drink Here is a powder tor
con>umption. Take twelve dozen of the
smallest crigs leels YOU can ret. vine
them very clean and bake them in a well
glazed pan all night" sc. Also an
excellent snail water in consumption:
Take peek of large she'll snails, lay them
on a hot hearth before the FIRE. let them lie
till they have done kissing and splitting
then wipe them from the froth and break
them in a mortar add quart of earth
worms, slit and secured clean, &c.
The cruelty practised in the preparing
Of these revolving prescriptions is another
sickening feature Of these superstitions In
1850 one William Ellis published a book
in which is fourd the following cure for
the kings evil \ Girl at Gaddesden hav-
ing the evil in her feet in her infancy, at
II wears old lost one of her toes bv it, and
was 50 bad sac could hardly walk. \
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

The LINE STORM HUMBUG.-
Among the popular superstitions Is one
that we are to have heavy storms about
the time OF the vernal aud autumnal eqUi-
nOxes. When a storm does come at that
time it Is noted, and when 1t IS dropped
from the programme no one thinks of the
omission. aud so the notion continues to
prevail \ gentleman of this city who
has kept a record of the weather. the tenn
perature and the force and direction of the
wind for many years, has taken the pains
to look back for the five DAYS preceding
and five DAYS following the list of each
month as far back a. 1912, thirty years,
aud he finds that there have been no more
violent storms during that part of March
and September in all those years than
there have been in any other months. One
OF the most violent storms occurred in
August, and the storms in the winter
months have averaged a great deal more
violent tuan those which have come at or
near the equinox. In such a matter as
this a record Is much more to be depended
on than ones memory or .eneral impress
Herald
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

/ Roman ToONBs-No one could have
/ been at the kmbau House for the past
/ few days without noticing that among the
guests there was marked character.
Every night stout. thick. heavy man
would appear IN the rotundl of the hotel ;
+ long uncombed locks borne down by his
s.oueh hat to his very eyes biz mouth, a
sma. patch of Ion. thin whiskers,
/ hair well -priukied with gray, and face
/ that IIt up with "a wealth of intelligence
| whenever animated in conversation This
man was Gcuere Robert Toombs, one of
/ the first iutelIectS of the South, say what
you w;u. He Is vastly popular with his
personal aclua5nrances. and his friends by
the thousands The moment he leaves his
room he Is surrounded by a crowd. all
eager TO be in his presence and hear every
word that falls from his lips. He may
begin talking with a friend, aud in five
minutes he viii have a dozen listeners. and
the crowd Will increase until. it he does
not break away, he Will soon find himself
addressing "a respectfully sized audience
lie talks in fluent flow otworls and ideas,
possessing something of the graphic CON
ver>at.onal powers attributed to DR.. San
uei johnson. Indeed, the grutf old lexi-
cographer Is brought TO my mind whenever
| see Toomb>
The General Is now here in attendance
upon the federal court. tie has as exten-
sive law practice as any lawyer III the
State Indeed, he says he has rot more
than he can attend to. and more than he
wants. His speeches at the bar are fine
specimens of forensic eloluence. Yet tits
said that he is not a close student, spending
little time among his law-0ooks, and giving
over the preparations of his cases 10 other
hands. Ii Is in the courthouse that his
talent shines out c0nspieuously, and there
be literally overrlles all opposition and
carries the day by adroit mana cement and
vehement eloquence.
| called on hmm, aud found HIM in MS
room tumbling over a great pile OF political
speeches and legal papers. He received
me in u frank, opcn-hearted manner, and
Immediately entered into conversation,
talking in a solid s'uicc about law
suits, fairs, fires and whatever topic was
suggested. \ clientof his in a two thou
sand dollar case came In. and in less than
two seconds the General was rattling away
at him giving him enough advice in five
minutes to last week. General Toombs
is a natural talker, and his gift of speech
is backed by head full Of ideas. Great
a.kers are apt to be commonplace, but he
Is not. lie does not talk without saying
something every sentence contains an
idea, and he seems to have the power to
keep up an uninterrupted flow for hours at
q time.-Fropi tie Itlqafz Correspondence
Of tie Cincinnati Commercials
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

STEAM CARRIAGES FOR HIGuwAYs. As
the great fat and rolling prairies of the
West have been the places where the lux
ury of farming has been demonstrated ;
where lordly agriculturists pow their corn
and reap their grain lolling in an easy car
riage seat and shielded from the sun by a
broad canopy, so it seems probable that
there the luxury Of travelling will be the
next great step in the march of improve
ment by the adoption Of steam carriages
to common roads. Not that the expert
ment has been tried there, but it has been
very successfully over a very much worse
road from Edinburg, Scotland, to Ipswich,
distance of 400 miles, which was made
in II hours. The locomotive which did
the work was nominally of / horsepower,
but capable of working, when taxed to the
extreme, with 50 horse power. Attached
was an omnibus with seats inside and out
for % persons. The objection which in-
ventors have deemed insuperable, that tue
wheels OF 50 heavy a machine would sink
into the ground 50 as to destroy progress,
was entirely overcome by the use of india
rubber tire, which generated no more fric-
tion than common vehicle. One of the
teats of the steamer In this trial was to
draw dead weight of 10 tons up an
incline Of one foot in L, a severer test
than it would be often subjected to on a
western road. A second objection to their
introduction has been the alleged difficulty
in directing them, but a hard bitted horse
is very much worse animal to drive than
this was found to be, and by this much
nj Ger dodges aud deviations can be made.
The peasant portion of the population who
witnessed the trial trip, decided the steam
er to be magical machine of some sort for
the parposl Of keeping III eieetrlc.ty tue
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

A LIVELY CHRIsTENING.-SOme of the
inhabitants of Paterson, \ J., have views
of their own as TO the proper method of
christening an infant, and are apt to use
cerain ceremonies on such an occasion war
ranted neither by the Protestant nor Cath
olic religion. \ night or two ago a youth
ful scion of the house of ODonnell was to
be initiated into the church So all the
relatives were assembled, and keg of
whisky and a barrel of beer were provided
for their benefit As might be expected
soon the fun grew fast and furious. and
the hilarity of the parties became a posi-
tive nuisance to all in the vicinity. So 4
valiant knight Of the locust ascended to the
scene Of the revels and began his remon-
strances. This did not have the desired
effect, for some one locked the door and
held the officer a prisoner. Another off,
Ger came to his assistance and four of the
most I rbulent were arrested. But the
rest kept the ball rolling. and the house
agent was Appealed TO. So he mounted
the staircase, aud told the revelers to be
quiet or leave the premises, when he was
seized by the hair OF his head, knocked
down and nearly killed By this time
another officer arrived, and by knocking
senseless the chief actor in the boisterous
scenes, su .ceeded in getting him to the
Recorders office, from which place ne wa 5
sent to the IAN. On his way TO the latter
locality he managed, by promises of good
behavior, TO have the handouts removed
from his wrists. but no sooner was this
done than he tripped up his custodian and
took to his heels, and was only recaptured
when knocked senseIess again. After all
this fuss it would be gratifying to know
whether that child was baptised or not.
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

! whole be done without detection, the warts
will disappear as the meat decays" To
cure a sty ON the eyelid get the tail of a
black cat, on the first night of the new
moon. and, after pulling from it one hair,
rub the tip nine times over the pustule. :"
But the cures for whOoping cough are per-
haps the most singular In Cheshire a
ride upon a bear was considered an infalli-
bic remedy for it. Most persons, even in
the present day, will believe this, espe-
cially in the neighborhood Of the Rocky
Mountains. The remedy would probably
cure not only the whooping cough, but ey-
cry other disease the person trying it might
be afflicted with. In the counties of Nor
folk, Leicester aud Northampton, the Gus
tom was to give fried mice 20 the patient
in the morning fasting; three the first
morning, then wait three mornings, and
then give the patient three more; as soon
as he had swallowed the nine the cure was
worked, and the cough would leave him.
The right fore foot of hare, worn con-
stantly in the pocket, was considered an
effectual charm against rheumatism. An
other one against cramp consisted in wear
lu1 ABOUT OuG person the DOut OF Il SuScp,
popularity known as the cramp bone or
patella it was to be worn as near the
skin as possible during the day, and at
night it was to BE placed under the pillow.
In the 3. Gospelle Of Diseases" printed by
Wynkyn de Worde, 1t Is stated that '' if u
woman have the small poX it behoveth that
her husband buy her black lamb of the
same year, aud afterwards bind her in the
skin, and then let him make his pilgrimage
and offering to St. AldeIonde, and for a
truth she shall heal \ story is told Of
Yorkshire nurse, who cured a child of
the thrush by holding frog IN its mouth
that the creature might imbjbe the disease
and leave its own health in exchange. This
same ingenious person had occasional at
tacks OF cramp, which she cured by swal-
loving spiders; sac Kept supply OF these
insects in pin box and swallowed cne
whenever she felt an attack coming on.
She cured the whoopiug cough by obtain
ing a piebaId horse. carrying the child to
it wrapped in a blanket, and passing it
thrice under the animals body 1t this
failed, she made the patient wear a hairy
caterpila ar in "a bag round its neck, These
are u few OF the >uper>t,tiou- Of the e Old
country, but the ist Is 10y no means ex-
hausted.-PbHzdaghia Lelger
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

\ charming actress who plays light
parts in one of our theaters, who is also
an excellent wife and mother, had been
annoyed by the overwhelming attentions
of a young down town jeweller. At last
his notes and boquets becoming too fire.
quent, She mentioned the fact TO her hus-
band, who Immediately fired up and
threatened TO punish the infatuated youth
\ powerful athlete, he armed himself with
a cane Of the genus bludgeOn and left
his hotel the next morning with the
avowed intention of giving his rival few
blows and teach him to mind his own
business. Entering the shop where he
was employed, he strobe hastily through
and enquired if there was young man
there named H. " There is, said the
owner of the establishment " he is at the
window tinkering watches. Mr.. H,
you are wanted" As the little male fiirt
arose and confronted the large man, he
trembled and turned pale. "a Did you
send my wife these notes ? +" said he,
producing some of the offending 6l2et-dour.
- I--I-yes-I did" stammered the cul-
prit, trembling in every limb. He saw
the weapon, and he thought his time had
come. i" Well, WE'LL" said the broad
shouldered, big hearted actor, reaching
over the counter and patting the poor,
frightened fellow gently on the top of the
head, " look here, hubby, you must not do
so any more" And he left poor H-to
the tender mercies of his fellow clerks.
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

i Sacramento lady found herself under
the suspicion of larceny the other day un-
der rather peculiar circumstances. She was
riding in crowded railway car and occu-
pied seat with another lady passenger.
Like great many other women of the
present day, she wore curls-her own hair,
of course, but it wasn't fastened on strictly
according to natures programme. By
and-by, as the train jolted along, she felt
something falling about her face and neck,
and in second it flashed across her brain
that her curls had become detached The
predicament was a shocking one, but she
endeavored to save herself as much as
possible b. quietly passing the capillary
ornaments into her pocket, thanking her
stars that she was almost to her destina-
ton. At the station she hastened to the
dressing-room to repair damages to her
toilet, when behold the mirror reflected
hack the fact that her curls were in their
proper position, and an examination of
those in her pocket showed that they were
not hers, but of different color, and be-
longing to the lady who sat by her side IN
the caHs
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

SOMETHING ABOUT ECHoEs.-A good ear
cannot distinguish one sound from another
unless there Is an interval Of one ninth Of
a second between the arrival of the two
sounds. Sounds must, therefore, succeed
each other at an interval of one-ninth of a
second in order to be heard distinctly.
Now, the velocity Of sound being neven
hundred and twenty feet a second, iel one
ninth of a second the sound would travel
one hundred and twenty-four feet
Repeated echoes happen when two OBJ
stacIes are placed opposite to one another,
as parallel walls. for example. which re
feet the sound successively.
At Ademach, in Bohemia, there Is an
echo which repeats seven syllables three
times,at Woodstock, in England, there is one
which repeats a sound seventeen times du-
ring the day and twenty during the night
An echo in the villa Smonetta, near Mi
Ian, Is said to repeat sharp sound thirty
times audibly. The most celebrated echo
among the ancients was that of the Metel-
Ii, at Rome, which, according to tradition,
was capable of repeating the first line of
the Htueid, containing fifteen syllables,
eight times distinctly.
Dr. Birch describes an echo at Rosen-
heath, Argyleshire, which it is said does
not now exist. When eight or ten notes
were played upon a trumpet, they were
returned by this echo upon KEY third
lower than the original notes, and shortly
after a key still lower. DR. Page de-
scribes an echo in Fairfax county, Vir-
ginia, which possesses a similar curious
property. This echo gives three distinct
reflections, the second much the most dis
tinct. Twenty notes played upon a flute
are returned with perfect clearncss. But
the most singular property of this echo is,
that some notes of the scale are not re-
turned in their places, but are supplied
with notes which are either thirds, fifths,
or octaves.
There is a surprising echo between two
barns, in Belvidere, Allegheny county, n.
Y. The echo repeats eleven times a word
of one, two or three syllables; it has been
heard to repeat thirteen times. By pla-
cling ones self in the centre, between the
two barns, there viii be double echo, one
in the direction of each barn, and mono
syllable will be repeated twenty-five times.
A striking an1 beautiful # ct of echo
Is produced ID certain localities by the
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

roadside telegraphs. A more startling con
clusion however, was once reached by q
toll-gate keeper, who witnessed the debut
OF a brilliant inventor who had been more
successful with the power than the helm
As he steamed down the road under full
head without any previous warning, smash
ing fences and colliding with barn doors, he
fually drove plumb into the toll house and
coolly asked what was to pay The fright
ened keeper, who had in a moment imbibed
the settled conviction that Satan was driv-
ing out to look over his possessions, said,
There's nothing to pay, Mr.. Deli, there 5
nothing to pay, gae your ain gait We
have got far beyond that now and may soon
find these same steam carriages an indis-
pensable adjunct of civilization.
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

ANEcDoTE OF GEN. lea rebel officer
tells the following story
When the two armies were on the oppO-
site banks of the Rappabannock in the win
ter of '63-'64. meat was sometimes very
scarce in ours. Even the usual halEpound
per-diem ration could not always be issued
During one Of these periods of scarcity,
on a very stormy day, several corps and
division generals were at headquarters, and
were waiting for the rain to abate before
riding to their camps, when Gen. Lee :
negro cook announced DINER. The Gen
eral invited his visitors TO dine with him.
On repairing TO the table, a tray of hot
corn bread, boiled head Of cabbage sea-
soned with q very small piece Of bacon.
and a bucket of water constituted the re-
past. The piece OF meat was 50 small that
all politely declined taking any. expressing
Themselves aS very fond of boiled cab
bage and corn bread, on which they
dinei. OF course the general was too po-
lite TO eat meat in the presence Of guests
who had declined it. But later in the af-
ternoon. when they had all gone. feeling
very hungry, he called his servant and
e4~NN'4 -ltAA 10 tl4t-- 4tL- a }tSIC u bA tlA
and meat. The darkey looked perplexed
and embarrassed. and after scratching his
head some time. said in deprecating tone,
'' Lord, Mas Robert, dat meat what sot
before you at dinner warn't ours. had
jest borrowed that piece of middlin' from
one of the couriers to season de cabbage
in De pot. and seein' as you was gwine to
have company at dinner, [ put it on de
dish wid de cabbage Tor looks. But when
I seed you an none of the genelmen took
it, 'cluded you all knowed it was bor-
rowed, aud so after dinner l sent it back
TO de boy whar it belonged to. Is mighty
sorry. Mas Robert, [ didn't, know you
wanted some, for den [ would a tuck
piece off'n it anyhow fore l sent it home
So the general got no meat that day. An
ecdotes like these, founded on actual fact,
would spread through the army, and often
reconciled a hungry, ragged confederate to
his hardships
Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-11-22

his way II Was very ldLc. ilCdl ~ uAAlii4-i4t'
30 he resolved TO stop at the first house where
he saw light, and ask shelter or further
direction, Soon after he came upon large
! building and in a small one close by was a
pale light Tying his horse, be hurried tow
ard it.. and, seeing the door slightly aiar,
was about to enter, when he saw the figure
of a woman with long golden hair, seated
before a table with her back to him. At
/ first he thought she was praying; but with
his usual love Of adventure, he determined
to see her face. So he stepped noiselessly
behind her and saw that she was before a
mirror That moment she raised her eyes
such heareniy eyes he said-and looked at
his face in the glass peering from behind the
golden veil OF her beautiful hair and as
she looked not sound came from her, but
every trace of color died out Of her face,
| leaving it like marble; and fearing to fright
en- her more, he gave a reassurlng smile, and
quietly withdrew he came. Until he
was fairly in the saddle again aud some dis
tance on, he did not once think Of his er-
rand, so enraptured was he with the beauti-
| full vision but he rode on until he came to
village, and, finding a hotel stopped long
enough for few hours rest, and WAS off at
dawn. Since that time those eyes have fol-
lowed him in dreams, and come between him
and all duty"
80 Kitty, don't " pleaded Chaistabcl as
she hid her face in my lap.
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Il was an true after 'I, Aunt Jean and
NIFTY paused, quite Guy "i breath For am