davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
The Cruel Laws of England.

The London Week in an article show ing how the poor are at the mercy of the law in England, says |: The most relent- less appliances of the law are put in force against the poor, and if instant compliance is not made with the claim of a landlord or other creditor, broker is put into possession, and the whole of the helpless debtors furniture is seized and sold. The returns made of the amount produced by the sale are "doc- tored, to suit the broker and his con- federates. The victim cannot help him. self he is too poor to employ solicitor, too much afraid of the law to appeal to it for protection. The sale itself is a hole-and-a-corner proceeding, huddled up among the broker and his confede- rates. Furniture worth $50 may be sold for e5. No doubt this is an offence liable to punishment but the poor men or in debt is utterly broken down; it would be difficult to find more dis pirited or helpless creature in the world. The other day one of the brokers who carry on the distress warrant business came by some accident to grief. But for one case of this wrongdoing and oppres- sion which is brought to light, scores pass every day undetected. For debt of but three or four pounds the friend less debtor may have his entire home broken up and his children's beds sold from under them. In many an instance a dying wife has been trundled by the brokers man from the bed to the floor, and not vestige of furniture has been left in the house. These are the things that make people dangerous in time of national trouble. They cannot always trace their sufferings to the right causes, but they resolve instead ot enduring these sufferings any longer to revenge them.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
A Collectors Stratagem,

While collecting, not long since, MT. Johnson had the following experience at fine mansion in Cleveland
 A little girl responded to the ringing of the door bell, and in reply to MT. Johnson's inquiry as to whether her mother was at home, said, " Mamma says for me to tell you she ain't in to- day. She's gone out"
 "Ah p remarked the imperturbed col lector, without moving a muscle of his countenance, "please go and ask her to tell you where she has gone."
 The insufficiently trained little girl ran through the hall toward rear room shouting, Mamma, he wants to know where you have gone to-"
 A smothered exclamation and blow, followed immediately by child's shriek of terror, was heard, a door was after ward loudly slammed, and finally very red faced woman, bearing 50 cents due the Post for one quarter, appeared on the scene and deposited the money in the collectors hands as peace-offering.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
QyeFFeached Herself.

The Ellenyillle (N. Y.) Journal tells this story: "A lady depositor stepped into the savings bank one day last week and inquired of the Treasurer If he would exchange $30 of paper for an equal amount in silver? The Treasurer replied that he did not care to make the ex- change, as he had already as much silver on hand as was convenient. But the lady was not to be foiled, and asked If he did not accept silver on deposit. Be ing answered that he did, she said she wished to withdraw $50 from her &C., count. The usual receiptfor the amount was drawn up and signed, and the lady received her $50 in currency, when she retired. Soon after she returned and said she wished to make deposit of $3O, and immediately counted out her 30 pieces of silver. This was, of course, accepted, when she left, evidently think ing that she had accomplished, by little fnesse, what she was unable to do di- rectly. But the Treasurer d1d not feel especially overcome, as she had, with out thinking of it, forfeited the accrued interest on the amount of her draft, which was just about 40 cents. Hence she had paid II per cent. exchange for the paper over the silver"
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
The Dearest Woman to Love.

Some one has written beautifully to the boys in the following manner. Here is whole sermon in few sentences |: "Of all the love affairs in the world, nothing can surpass the true love of the big boy for his mother. It is pure love and noble honorable in the highest degree to both. I do not mean merely a dutiful affection. I mean love which makes boy gallant and courteous to his mother, saying to everybody plainly that he is in love with her. Next to the love of husband, nothing so crowns 8 woman's life with honor as this second love, this devotion of son to her. And I never yet knew boy to turn out bad who began by falling in love with his mother. Any man may fall in love with 8 fresh-faced girl, and the man who is gallant with the girl may cruelty neglect the worn and weary wife. But the boy who is lover of his mother in her mid dle age is a true knight, who will love his wife as much in the sere-leaved Au- tumn as he did in the daised Springtime.
 Where there's 8 wlll there's plea of insanity.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
An April Fool Joke.

The Scotch have not outgrown the custom of making "gowks" of one an- other on All Fools Day. On the last Saturday in March the following adver- tisement appeared in newspaper " A gentleman having lately come into for. tune will distribute to the people of Airdric, on Monday, 1st, at 12 o'clock, at the Old Town Cross, 1000 loaves of bread, and 3 cwt of cheese. Come in time All are welcome" This invitation at time when, owing to the depressed state of trade in the district and to the fact of there bemg strike among the miners, numbers of persons have been reduced to state bordering on destitu- ton, was most gratefully accepted by the poor people, who, long before the hour mentioned, hocked to the place, anxiously awaiting the promised distri- button. Patiently they tarried for some time, but when hour after hour rolled by, and the gentleman who "had lately come into fortune," failed to appear, it at last dawned upon them that they had been made ''April gowks." Not un- naturally exasperated, they gave vent to theirindignation in the evening by mob- ping the house of the supposed author of the trick, and by subsequently, smash ing the windows of the hotel in which it was rumored that he had taken refuge.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
Rural OuthOuseS.

Those who have the means to place their residences in perfect order with drainage for r-slops. earth closets and artesian wells, says pr. Foote's Health Monthly, will undoubtedly do so in view of what science IS revealing of the causes of many diseases which have in the past been somewhat mysterious as to their origin. But there is a large class who have not the money to carry out inter- nal improvements such as those referred to. To such we would give few hints |: Place the privy good distance from the house and the well let the vault be shallow, with a ventilator running from 1t to several feet above the roof have this vault cleaned out twice during the Summer and at least once during the Winter plant double TOW of trees, which send out large spreading roots, (such for instance as the locust) closely around the building, for these trees will take up any quantity of material and gases which are deadly to the animal organism plenty of shrubbery planted closely around and between the trees will add additional aids to this end, and both shrubbery and trees should be kept well trimmed, for by so doing the growth of the new branches will draw still more upon the waste material of the vault place & shelf in the privy and on it keep plate we'll sprinkled with the chloride of lime, which is a cheap disinfectant; clean out the well once year, and If there are cisterns have them thoroughly cleaned every Spring and Autumn; if swill be col lected in barrels place those barrels a good distance from the house; If the wastes of the kitchen are thrown out. dig pits in the garden into which they may be emptied, and cover the earth over these pits, opening new ones every day or two; where there are bad smells in or immediately around the house search for their sources as you would for the hiding place of burglar, for worse than house-b breaker turks about your premises. Plant creeping vines about your doors and windows for they will arrest and take into their growth many invisible enemies which feed plant life and destroy an1mal life, but do not so trail them as to exclude from your apartments the glorious and life-giving sunlight.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
Taxation i'm the East.

A correspondent writing for the Eng fish magazine Truth, says: The first time I went to Malta, had an opportu- nity of observing the effects of fatalism. I was in Alexandria, and saw the mail steamer leave, whilst I was rowing to- ward it, so I asked captain in steamer close by, that appeared about to start, whether he would give me passage to Malta, if he was going there. Ger tainly," he replied, eff you don't mind my cabins being filed with merchandise and my decks being covered with pill grims, on their way back to Tunis from Mecca" The second day that we were at sea, 8 number of these pilgrims died of fever, and were 1ncontinently thrown overheard. Many more then slammed death, in order to share the fate of their friends. They too, went overheard, with a smile of beautitude on their countenances. I demonstrated with the captain, being then young and tender hearted. He replied that it was an dAd1I OCbWtOu GuS1I DuO1h duSA that he had nothing to do with the mat, ter, beyond general wish that, on oul arrival at Malta, we should not be put into quarantine. I then had it out with the Sheik, who could speak Q little French. He explained to me that any one dying during the pilgrimage wen direct to Paradise, and that it was { friendly act to throw over pilgrims witl the fever, without looking too closely whether they were dead, more particu larly when they themselves encouraged the pious fraud. The result of all thi was, that more than two-thirds of thu pilgrims were cast into the sea, and thu captain, on our arrival, obtained 2oratiqh without our being put into quarantine "The system, he dryly observed, "suit them, and it suits me- This occurred fve-and-twenty years ago, and I hop that Sheiks and captains are no longe allowed to indulge in these eccentricitie during voyages between Alexandria an' | Malta.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
Hard Times for Miners.

The condition of the great majority of the coal miners in this section, says Scranton, Pa., letter, is indeed distress ing. They went on strike last summer, at time when the most of them did not know where the next days menls were coming from. They held out for nearly three months, and then had to go into the mines without having accomplished anything. There were too many to do the work required. Hundreds had left for the farming lands of the West and the South, but as many more could not ob- tain money to get away. They had to stay and gain living as best they could. Through the first two months after the strike work was comparatively good, and about three-quarters time was made. Ill January the mines were worked only about half the time, and at decreased production. Many men were thrown out of employment, and have remained so ever since. Through February and up to the present time work has been very uncertain. Some miners have made only week in month some may have approached two weeks, some have not worked at all. The wages made are not sufficient to procure the plainest neces- saries of life. Hundreds of people in this city and the adjoining villages who depend on the mines for livelihood are on the verge of starvation.
 "I do not know how half the people in this section get enough to eat,' said c miner who in better times had secured 6 competence. Month after month they walk the streets with their hands in theil pockets, hoping against hope that the cloud will break. I know of men who have not done tap of work in twelve months, and who have large families Those who have work are not much bet | ter off. Last month there were miners who did not average over $7. Others get from that to SIP, after having paid { laborer. The most that any laborel made last month was $9."
 The mines that have not been closed are now worked, on an average, weel in the month. None of the miners ex pect any more. The crowd of the un employed is never reduced except as mel leave the placo. Fathers and sons throns the streets in tattered clothing they cal | buy nothing better
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
Improving Worn Farms.

The laws of Nature are all favorable to the intelligent far ner who understands them and bring his operations into har- mony with them. The method of en- riohing farms is precisely the same as that employed by individuals to enrich themselves in the mercantile world The man who is successful in acquiring wealth earns every dollar that he can, and when eyer he gets dollar he sets it to work also, either by employing it in h1s busi- ness or putting it out upon interest. Just so the farmer who understands hIs business saves every ounce of vegetable matter and returns it to the soil, and there employs it in making, or rather in catching, other material of the same na- ture. That great scavenger of the uni verse, oxygen, is constantly going about seeking what it may devour. Wherever the vital forces cease, be it in a leaf in the remotest forest, or in an animal in the crowded city, oxygen immediately begins the work of destruction, tears down the solid tissue, and returns it in a gaseous form to the common stock in the great laboratory of Nature. In word, wherever decomposition, combustion or respiration is going on, the forces of Nature are at work restoring what has already been used in the vegetable king dom back to the great manure pile of the world. And all that the farmer has to do is simply to employ what vegetable matter he already has on his farm in as similating matter from this common storehouse.
 If he does this, if he carefully bus. bands and returns to the soil all the waste material in the shape of manure and markets his products in 8 concrete form, in wool, in cheese, live stock, etc. and couples this with judicious system of rotation and cultivation, such as if best adapted to his soil and climate why, his farm must grow richer iron year to year, and all you would have te do in order to learn how fertile farm was, would be to inquire how long Ii had been titled, for this accretion from the worlds common stock is more thar sufficient to make up for what is take1 away in the shape of market products In practice, however, an old farm is toe often synonym for poor enc. Man, farmers will not only use up all the veg etable matter originally stored up in thu soil, but they will even let their land la, without any crop upon it, thus deprivins it of the opportunity of drawing from thu common storehouse, while it is being washed into the nearest brook, and bein, overrun with weeds. Thus they actual ly starve their land to death without an, computations of conscience, or thei otherwise sensitive pocket nerve discov ering from whence it's sensations of pov erty originally come. A good crop il the hands of good farmer is better fo the soil than poor one, as it sets fre more matter that is locked up in the soil and assimilates greater quantity iron the atmosphere. One reason why clove enriches land faster than any other crop is because it assimilates more matte from the atmosphere than any other crop " f. SteaOort irs Tribune.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
The Chinese Solomon.

A version of the real Solomonaic story is to be found in China. As in the Hebrew tale, two women had each of them an infant, one of which died by misadventure, the bereaved mother claiming the surviving child. The official before whom they came did not suggest so cruel measure as the division of the infant, but simply ordered that it should be handed to domestic in his yamen, to be brought up for official life. He rightly surmised that the real mother would gladly accept so good a chance for her offspring, while the pretended mother, who only wanted the child in order to dispose of it, would demur. Judgment was accordingly given in favor of the fearful aoceptor of the proposi' tion, and the story, which is alleged to be historical, is widely believed.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
How to Get It.

The loss falls so seriously upon those who can lily afford it, that it is to be re- gretted that some Life Insurance com. panies are so captious about paying poll cies in case of death. A case is question has just occurred. A poor woman whose husband was laborer on Texas rail- road, and while so employed, met his death, has been at work four years to satisfy the companies and they refuse to be satisfied, although the evidence in the case was sufficient to satisfy the Texas courts that there was no doubt about the matter. As the companies offered to pay small portion of the sum it would seem that they were governed more by technicalities than the justice of the case. The poor woman had spent all the pol1. cies would amount to during her fou1 years of trial
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
A Terrible Fate.


 In India, lepers are occasio onally buried alive. When leper is past all hope of living more than few days or weeks, his nearest relations arrange, with his approval, for his immediate interment. Self-destruction by burial is called samaah, and is regarded as so highly meritorious that the disease is sure to die out in the family of the victim. So lately as 1875 leper named Oomah, living and lingering at Serohi, entreated his wife to put an end to his misery. A bunnia, or tradesman, was accordingly engaged to make the necessary arrange ments, which simply consisted in hiring couple of laborers to dig 8 hole, into which they thrust Oomah, he consenting to his own death. The durbar, coerced by the British Government, at last took cognizance of this incident, and fined the widow one hundred rupees. The bunnia was sentenced to three years' i'm. prisonment, and the gravediggers each to two years; but it is very unlikely that they will undergo half that punish napt
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
A Cat Story.

A gentleman in Paris had fine cat which. when it got old, fell martyr to rheumatism, and moved its limbs so painfully and slowly that it could no longer catch mouse. What did this intelligent pussy do? Simply this Finding his old game played out, he got 8 nice piece of tallow candle and crouch ed down with it in his mouth near a mouse hole. So far, so good, and this was intelligent enough. But he beat his own best On record. As the mice, attracted by the smell came out, he didn't drop the candle to grab them, and so perhaps frighten them away. Not he. He just let them nibble away till their heads got right into his mouth, and then he snapped and settled them. -Boston Courier.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25

EXPERIMENTAL. - Some experiments have been made at Brussels in breaking Tn horses by means of an electric bridle. The apparatus, called the Engstrom bridle, after its inventor, consists simply in couple of reins, along which run electric wires. At the end of the reins small electric battery is attached, which is entirely ill the power of the ex- perimenter. By pressing a little knob the electric current acts on the corners of the horses mouth, and after few consecutive or intermitting shocks the animal becomes perfectly docile. A very intractable mare was broken in after one experiment. with the bridle. The inventor asserts that runaway horses can immediately be brought to stand still by this operation.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
Promise and Performance,

The proprietors of Hostetter's Stomach Bit. ters promise nothing in behalf of this famous tonic and regulating elixir which it will not perform. No pretensions irreconcilable with common sense are made in reference to it, but evidence of the most positive nature has been accommodating for over quarter of @ century in its behalf which proves it to be a reliable preventive and curative of malarial diseases an efficient and genial tonic and general cor rective, and specially valuable in cases where the bowels, liver stomach or urinary organs are affected. Debility, the source from whence so many bodily evils spring, is entirely reme died by the invigorative action of the Bitters which arrests premature decay and repair losses of nervous and muscular power while easy.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
CHEW The Celebrated
 Matchless" Wood Tag Plug Tobacco. THE PIONEER TOBACCO COMPANY, UT New York Boston and ChicaRo
MARKET NOTES,
NEW YORK MARKET

NEW YORK MARKET.
 The wholesale New York market quotations show:
 Beans.-Prime $1.55a1.6o; fair to good 1.40a1. 50 per bushel. ....4
 Butter.-N. Y. sold at 26c. for choice in pails, and 15d1Sc. common to good. Western sold at 34d36c. and the common Western at 7aSc.
 Cheese.-Factory fancy 12a13c. do. fair 9d11c.; farm dairy, prime 1od1112c.; and do. fail 9d1Oc.
 Eggs-Quotations ranged from 9c. for or. dinary to lie. for New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
 Wouw.-Superfine New York and Western, $4. 4.40a4.85; extra New York $5.O0d$5.15.
 Hay.-Shipping 60c.; clover 40d45c. salt 4Oa45c.; straw 40d45c. .s. Hops-Ncw York 5a10c Eastern 5dsc. 7, yearlings 2d3c., olds 1d2c.
 Petroleun-Refned 1214c. crude 6S4c. In bulk, in barrels 91sc. Naptha 611ac. !n ship ping order, and 15d16 in cases and 12 in barrels.
 Pork-New mess $1Oa1I.5O. Family mess 11.25 extra prime $50, dressed hogs 415G5c. Rye.-State 75d78c.
 Wool.-Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia xxx 44d46c.; XIX 41a43c.; 40a42c; No. 1, 41d43c.; No ?, 35d3Sc.; common, 33d35; New York and Western XIX 34a36c.; and No. 1, 34a36a36a40c.
 PHILADELPHIA MARKET.
 F1ow.-state family $6.25; rye four s.5C Wheat. State 1.34. Amber 1.37. Corn, yel low, 5315c.; mixed State 54c.
 Petroleum--Reined 11Sc.; crude, S%c. Wool.-State and Western xxx 41d42c.; 41d 4219c.; medium 41a4215; coarse 3Sd34c.
 CATTLE MARKETS.
 BUFFALo.-Cattle, good quality, $.4.90 Hogs, fair to good 3.60a3.65 best 3.90.
 EAST LIBERTY, PENN.-Best cattle 4.70 medium to good 4.25a4.50; common to fail 3.00a3.50. Hogs, Yorkers, 3.70d3.S0; rhila. delphias 4.10a4.20. Sheep, 3.5Od5. 40.
 WATERFOWL, MAss.-Catte, choice 7.5C extra 7.OOa7.25; first quality 6.00d6.5O second quality 5.00a5.5O; third quality 4.5oo 4.75 Sheep and lambs--wool sheep 3.45G5. 50 extra 4.50d5.50; sheared 3Ad5Lc.; spring lambs 4d5hc.; veal calves 415d51Sc.
Connecticut western news., 1878-04-25
Children's Eyesight Destroyed.

Officer Chiardi, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ap- peared before Justice Duffy, in New York, with an Italian, who called him. self Lugi Carigini, of IA Baxter street. The man, who had been begging, was accompanied by girl of eight summers, who was totally blind, and carried a tamborine, which she used as 8 recep- tacle for the aims offered to her. The girls eyes looked as though they had been destroyed by white heat. Officer Chiardi says that the process is one of burning or destroying the sight of chil- dren by the means of a red-hot poker, moved up and down many times while the children are young. This effectually destroys the sight, and fits them for be- coming "blind beggars.