davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Fear to be Frivolous.

Frivolousness will ruin any life. No frivo-
lousness succeeds in any great enterprise.
No frivolous man succeeds in business of
commercial kind. Business is not trick in
amusement, it is hard work, hard study,
daily consideration, incessant planning,
wakefulness and ought never to sleep. If
so for corruptible crown, what for an in
corruptible? The danger is that we make
light of the gospel because OF our disregard
for the manner in which it is spoken. Were
we anxious about the vital matter weshould
not care how it was uttered. All mere
study of manner and way of putting famil-
lar truth is an accommodation to the frivolity
of the age. When we are told to make our
services more interesting, our music more
lively, our preaching more animated, we are
but told to stoop to the frivolity of the time,
that we may entrap truant attention and
arrest wandering mind. Given, an anx-
ious people, hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, knocking at the church door,
saying "Open to me the gates of righteous
ness, | will enter in and be glad this is the
day the Lord hath made" we need not study
any mechanical arrangements or urge our
selves to any unusual animation OF manner |;
the urgency of our desire, the purity and
nobleness Of our sympathy, would supply all
the conditions required by the God OF the
feast, for the pouring out of heavens best
wine and the preparation of all the fatlings
of the heavens for the satisfaction of our
hunger. God makes all the universe con-
tribute to the souls growth. "My oxen
and my fathers are killed and ready, there
fore come to the marriage" He keeps back
nothing from the soul, he plucks the highest
grapes in the vineyards OF heaven for the
soul, he seeks out the godliest and choicest
of his possessions and treasures that the
soul may be satisfied; he has kept back
nothing last of all he sent his Son, saying,
see the symbol of all that can be crowded
into the suggestion that God withholds no
| good thing that can minister to the souls
development, and the souls growth in truth
and love and grace.-Dr. Joseph Parker.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
The New England Agricultural Society.

AT recent meeting of the trustees of this
society the question of continuing the fair
at Worcester was discussed. There was
practical unanimity for that location, though
Mr.. Benjamin p. Ware of Marblehead spoke
on the other side, saying;
"This society was organized as the New Eng
land Agricultural Society, as | suppose, for the
purpose of promoting the educational interests
and all other interests Of agriculture, and with the
view of holding its fairs at various times In the
different states of New England, That custom
has been pursued all along until the last four
years, believe, and it rather looks If this New
England Society was losing its individuality as a
New England organization, and seems to be merg-
ing very fast, and almost completely, into the
Worcester County Agricultural Society; it seems
to be almost losing its identity"
Mr.. Ware is good honest man, but he is
green. The New England Agricultural So
ciety was organized to show off the hand
some DIR. George B. Loring, bring him be-
fore the public, get him into office, and 9th
erwise contribute to his honor and glory. II
has accomplished its purpose. Dr. Lorine
got into the Legislature, into congress, ant
into the commissionership of agriculture
His faithful Sancho, Mr.. Needham, through
his help got bank commissionership. They
have run the society " for all it was worth,
and are about done with it, 1t will die anC
be buried at Worcester, and there will be Mt
tears shed over its grave.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
A Savage Still.

There is capital story in Frdser's Mag
dzine illustrative of the almost irresistible
tendency of the civilized savage to revert to
the customs of his ancestors. The Basuto
chief, Rantzani, a nephew of Mosheth, had
been converted to civilization, education,
breeches, coats and collars. He was pro-
fessed Christian, and dressed as kaffr or
London dandy accustomed to good society
might be expected to dress. This had been
his mode of life for years. But one day an
event happened. He was discoursing flu
emily and eloquently to meeting on the i'm
portance and happiness of peace, and of a
regular life of labor, and of school and
church attendance. He was fashionably
dressed aud as he spoke his paper collar ir-
ritated his neck. He tried to put it right,
but the buttonhole broke. Then suddenly
the long repressed savage broke forth,
Tearing off the collar, he changed altogether
the current of his speech. 81 am tired Of
this imposture. A something arises within
me it springs upon me now it tells me l
am talking nonsense. Away with this spu-
rious civilization !" He tore off coat, vest
and breeches until he stood forth the totally
unadorned savage, Then he set fire to the
school in which he had been lecturing, and
departed aud has since lived his old life.
If Rantzani's collar had been but little
stronger, he might at this moment be
model Of civilized respectability.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Adjustment to Death.

For my own part, have long striven to
adjust my mind, if | may so express myself,
to this great event of death. | do not say
that | have succeeded. But this is what I
am disposed to say, as the result of my
present thinking. Let us see each death,
more than we do, as coming under the gen.
eral ordinance. Should it seem strange
or shocking thing that one dieth :? Why,
all men are dying. 1t is the tale of ages |;
1T is the experience of thousands this hour !;
even while have been speaking, thousands
have departed from this life; it is what shall
soon be your lot and mine; it shall in few
years sweep away the whole living genera
ton. That great course of nature, that
transition which is passing upon the whole
living universe, should it be shock, cat
astrophe as it were, to rend the world
Ought it to be so, that distraction and
agony should wait around this great, all
comprehending ordinance of divine wisdom2
Would the good God have appointed it, if
it had been for anything but good If it
be good, should we reject it And, if it
were evil, can we resist it ? Even then
would / welcome the Stoic's frmness or the
skeptic's apathy. If | could say nothing
better when the hour came, | would say
with Mirabeau to his surrounding friends
To-day, shall die; nothing remains but
to be enveloped with perfumes, to be
crowned with flowers, to be surrounded
with music, and so to enter peaceably into
the eternal sleep" But-thanks to God
for us, believers, there is better hope
In that better hope, shame were it for us, il
we have not better calmness, better cour
age. When others die, then, let us moi
mourn as those who have no hope; but lei
us still feel that we may hold them dear
and hold them for our own, in the grea
faith of God and of immortality. Aud
when our time is come, let us calmly wraI
the mantle of death about US, and say, il
the words of our great Master and Forerun
ner: Father, the hour is come and We
come to thee. To thee, all-goodness, al
wisdom, to thee, o thou infinite of life and
love, we come; and in peace, in prayer, anc
in faith, yield ourselves to thy will.'-Or
| uMe DeWey.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Silent Influence.

The most powerful influence which one
man can exert on another is that of good
ness,-the recognition Of the eye and voice
set in motion by the throbbing heart,-that
influence which emanates from the very
presence and look of good man, which all
feel, but cannot describe. To do good,
therefore, the simplest rule is to be good.
Take heed of MySeU Place the whole man
under discipline. School your temper and
your pride and self-denial, till every spot is
removed from the purity Of your soul. Rest
not in a mere negative virtue, but by the
same detailed and persevering method, try
to build up character of greater energy as
well as purity, than can be produced by
men of selfish motives. A mind so purified
and so exalted can no more help exerting an
influence for good than powerful mag
net can help attracting particles of iron.
The inspiration of better world is upon it,
and men see it, and know it is not of earth.
1t is always doing good, by the heavenly at
mosphere which it throws around it. Even
in dying, it looks religion when it can no
longer speak. This is the strongest in
huence which a Christian can bring to
uphold and extend Christianity. The most
effective missionary agency-the true Chris
tian propagandsm-is Let your light
hill In the coming wars of religion,
what but this is to give Christianity the
victory? The wave which is to cover the
earth must receive its first impulse from
within the church. Exemplify religion,
and straightway it becomes universal. If
every Christian had enough Christianity to
convince his neighbor that there was some
thing in it, the church would rapidly swell
out beyond her borders till she embraced
the world. There is, therefore, sublimity
attached to the self-discipline and patience,
and humility, and faith, and kind acts OF
the obscurest Christian from their tendency
to this mighty result. As the coral reef
rises up out of the waves and dilates into a
continent, through the toll of millions of in
sects, SO it is by the countless agencies of all
the good who have lived and that shall live
to the end of time, that new heavens and
a new earth are to rise up out of this dark
and troubled universe.-Presbyterian.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Hannah Williams, the Oyerjoyed Slave

During "Nat Turner's insurrection in
Virginia in 1882, certain Shareholders in
North Carolina, in order to prevent the re-
bellion from spreading into their borders,
shot four slaves, and actually hung by the
neck six other victims on triangular gal
lows, two on each arm of the gallows. Fix
ing the dismembered head OF each of their
dead victims on pole, they erected these
poles on different roads leading into Will
mington, North Carolina, not more than a
mile and half apart, one on Federal Point
road, another on Newbern road, third on
Cape Fear road, and the remaining one on
Little Bridge road. Often has Thomas IL.
Jones, once southern slave, but now living
in New Bedford, and a preacher of the gos-
pei, seen these bleaohed skulls peering down
from their eyeless sockets on the passers-by.
Such scenes as these made liberty, when it
came, shine forth like the glory of the
morning after night of weeping. Long
had she prayed for deliverance from slavery,
and now aboat the year 1851 were SEEN
"On the horizons verge,
Some fair faint sfeaks az II the light would surge"
Hannah Williams lived in Wilmington,
North Carolina. Many a time had she, with
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19

rus, and rejoice together in the glad anniver-
saries. Their wide-brimmed Spanish hats
are decorated with punches Of flowers 4;
crowds of children follow them, and, when
night comes on, bear lighted torches Of the
pine-wood, which cast grotesque shadows
over the whole landscape. Although many
foolish observances have vanished with the
lapse Of years, Easter is now observed, with
more or less rejoicing, all over the world.
How often was the question put by man, in
the most advanced stages Of civilization or
in the twilight of revelation, I" If a man die,
shall he live again :" No positive answer
was ever given to that question until he
came who proclaimed himself TO be 4" the
Resurrection and the Life" al am the Res
direction and the Life; he that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me-,
shall never die."-New York Observer.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
How 1t Works.

Very great efforts have been put forth in
the Vermont legislature, at different times,
to repeal the usury laws of the state. These
have been defeated by decisive votes, which
have discouraged repetition of the attempt.
But the speakers retained in behalf of the
money lending interest, Zone prominent
member told us that he was offered $500
to advocate that side, but refused), insisted
that the effect of repeal of the usury laws
would be to reduce the rate of interest. This
same argument was put forward in the Mas.
sachusetts legislature, and was successful,
though probably few who voted against the
usury laws believed their own arguments
No doubt the pecuniary logic used at Mont
| peier was more successful in Boston. And
now that they have "free trade in money .
in the Bay State, have these promises beer
fulfilled Read the following statement
recently made public in the Boston papers
and Judge.
1t has recently been discovered that there ha,
| long been practice at City Hail. in Boston, o.
| borrowing money of those who always had it u
lend at extortonate rates Of interest, and that
less than six hundred of the employees of thu
city government are to-day under pledges to thu
class known ~ usurers TO the extent of their en-
tire monthly salaries. In another words, tina
number of men do not themselves receive the pay
they regularly earn, but have assigned 1t t
others Clerks and other employees OF the cit!
are at the mercy of men who are exacting from
them as high as eight, and even twelve per cen
per month for borrowed money. Some time ago
a case was discovered in connection with the Eas
Boston Ferry Department, that an engineer wa
paying twelve per cent month on loan of 500
thus paying S36 per MONTH and Si32 per annun
for an advance Of $500 This amount was NOR
than one-thrd OF his entire salary, eaten out !
this manner by the usurers. lie was not able
make any payment on the principal at all An
there are numbers Of others who are LITERAL
chained like slaves TO debts thus incurred, whic
the lenders are no wise deslrous OF liquidatinl
80 long as they get the full face of the debt an
more every year. This is by no means the onl
illustration of custom that prevails everywhere
especially in our large cities Debt itself Is ba
enough, but 1t is infinitely worse when 1t Is renf
cred hopeless by usury,
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
More About Ensllage.

Mr.. Editor; So far as | am capable am
ready to learn, at least intend to be. In the
matter of farming | know little, but am
ready TO know more In reading the articles
on ensilage and the like which appear from
time to time in your columns and those of
other papers, cannot but be amazed at the
difference there is between the observation
and experience of others and of myself,
The Irishman said when they asked him
why he did not buy trunk to put his
clothes in, "What an go naked ?" and the
same answer applies TO nine out of ten
farmers. | am very certain that scarcely q
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
MuraI and Religions.
DEATHS ANGEL.

The angel Of death stood close by the side
OF "A sleeping infants bed,
And casting loving look at It's face
"'rwere pity to take IT," he said.
And again the angel drew near a child
That merry sang glee;
"what void there would be In this cheerful home,
Should take this child with me-"
In after years noble lad,
With laures upon his brow,
The angel looked down, but again he said,
"'rwere pity to take him now."
We see him again in his manhood fair,
A he Ia about 10 wed
"'rwould be cruel to take him now, know,
So III spare his life," he said,
Years come, years go, and around his board
Are children who stroke his brow
And matron looks on with happy smile;
T" It were sad to take him now."
SO he spared his life to good old age,
Till the summer of life was past;
TIL the harvest time, when the ripened ear
Is plucked from the husk at last.
Then the angel Of death came back once more,
And kissed the old mans brow,
As he said, with look Of quiet calm.
"'ris a kindness TO take him now"
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
VOL. 77.--394O. NO. %.

Thomas ii. Jones and others of her down
trodden race, in log-cabin, prayed the
Lord in sentences vague TO human ear but
well understood by him, whom in the full
ness OF their hearts they addressed not
openly did they dare to pay for freedom
that would not have been allowed-but
May thy will be done !" Oh Lord, grant
our requests" !" "Lord, let the time speedily
come = and such like petitions carried their
desires upward to the all-pitying Father.
And now the soldiers from the north had
come-the north, that blessed country
whence they always thought relief would
come--they were near at hand, coming
from Fort Fisher at Federal Point right into
Wilmington. The white men told their
slaves that the troops were coming, that
they would shoot their negroes, kill them,
and that the best thing they could do was
to flee with their owners to the woods So
the mules were harnessed and wagon loads
of them started for the woods, but not to go
far, for soon off they jumped and ran back
to meet the coming soldiers, leaving their
owners to ride on and away, calling in vain
for them to follow. When the troops reached
Wilmington what reception awaited them,
hungry and parched after their long march.
The negroes had, instead of gun and musket
shot to meet them, banquet Of pies, hoe
cakes, water and tobacco welcome sort Of
grape-shot that. George Price, preacher,
and William Cutler, brother in the church,
went up into the steeple of the Presbyterian
Westinghouse, and as they saw the shining
bayonets and muskets of the Union soldiers
coming from Fort Fisher on the straight
road to Wilmington, they shouted "The
Yankees are comingl" Hannah Williams
heard the joyful tidings, and the house
could not contain her. She went out into
the yard, and, like the lame man healed,
she "was walking and leaping and praising
God y she shouted and jumped, and, with
the words of thanksgiving and rejoicing on
her lips, sank down to the ground, com.
pletely overcome with the fulness Of her Joy
They took her up, supposing she was only
exhausted with the tumut of her feelings al
the realization of her hopes-but life had
fled Like the prophet of old, she had gone
up to heaven-she, in chariot of praise
What bound into that liberty she had
sighed and prayed for 50 long on earth
"NIine eyes have seen thy salvation" Hal
| leluiah bress de Lord |"
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Thf Nome Girrle.
THE CHERUB's PRAYER.

Silence filled the courts Of heaven,
flushed were seraph's harp and tone,
When little newborn seraph
Knelt before the eternal throne,
While lis soft, white hands were lifted,
Clasped as II in earnest prayer,
And It's voice in dove-llke murmurs,
Rose like music on the air.
Light from the full fount Of glory,
On his robes Of whlteness gllstened,
And the brigbt-winged seraphs near him
Bowed their radiant heads and listened.
Lord, from thy throne Of glory here,
Ny heart turns fondly TO another,
o, Lord, our God, the Comforter,
Comfort comfort my sweet motherl
Many sorrows hast thou sent her
Meekly has she drained the cup,
And the Jewels thou hast lent her
Unrepining yielded up,
Comfort, comfort my sweet mother.
Earth ia growing lonely round her,
Friend and lover hast thou taken.
Let her not, though woes surround her,
Feel herself by thee forsaken,
Let her think ,vbap faint and ,vaarv
We are waiting for her here.
Let each loss that makes earth drearv.
Make the hone Of heaven more dear.
Comfort. comfort nv aweet mother.
Ihou VINO once In nature human,
Dwet on earth little child,
.,. A.. a..a.at - ...a...a.,
fliiowed on the breast OF woman
blessed MARY undenied'
Ihou VINO from the cross OF suffering
Marked thy mothers fearful face
Ana pequeathed her to my loved one
bidding MN TO NIL thy place.
Comfort comfort my sweet mother
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Iarirnlfnal Deparfirenf.
t. II. HosKINs. Agricultural Editor.


Here from the brow Of the hill look
Through a lattice Of boughs and leaves
On the old gray mill with Ia gabled roof,
And the moss on ts rotting caves.
hear the clatter that Jars its walls,
And the rushing waters sound,
And see the black floats rise and fall
As the wheel goes slowly round.
rode there often when | was young,
with my grist on the horse before,
And talked with Nelly. the miller's girl,
As I waited my turn at the door
And while she tossed her ringlets brown,
And flrted and chatted 20 free,
The wheel might stop, or the wheel might go,
II was all the same to me.
'ris twenty years since last stood
On the spot where stand to-day,
And Nelly is wed, and the miller is dead,
And the mill and are gray.
But both, till we fall into ruin and wreck,
To our fortunes of toll are bound;
And the man goes and the stream flows,
And the wheel moves slowly round.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19

LIFE has its moments of strength and
bloom; its bright moments OF inspiration |;
in which the human artist, the painter of
human life, seizss on and utters what is
purest, most beautiful, and divine. If, in
our human life, we acted only then, if then
all sacrifices were made, all victories won,
there would be but little difficulty in life.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19

The grass of the field is better than the
cedars of Lebanon. 1t feeds more, and 1t
rests the eye better-that thymy, daisy-eyed
carpet, making earth fair and sweet and
homelike. Kindness is the turf of the spir-
itual world, whereon the sheep OF Christ
feed quietly beneath the Shepherds eye.-
Eaber.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19
Christianity not a Failure.

Christianity a failure Then man is a
failure. Then the race is failure. Then
the government of God is failure. The
man whose face is scanned and ridged all
over with the fruits of vice says virtue is a
failure. The bloated, besotted, dwelling
inebriate says temperance is failure. The
highwayman and the murderer say the law
is failure. The reckless violators of the
laws of health say the science of medicine
is failure. Pope Plus IN said the civil
ization of the nineteenth century is failure.
The owl says light is failure. Is it any won
der that men may be heard to say that Chris
tianity is a failureY It's an old cry every sim
gle century since Christ it has been sounded
out. But somehow this thing we call Chris
tianity does not fail. And the charge of
Christianity's failure never seemed quite
so absurd as in the high noon of this nine
teenth century, He only can make the
charge who shuts his eyes to some tremen-
dous facts, and who is smitten with the no
tion that his own little world of doubt and
cavil is the whole wide world of thought and
feeling OF today.-RerricL Johnson, DID,
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19

AN ILLUsTRATIoN.-When Moscow was
burning, there was party dancing in the
palace right over gunpowder magazine
They did not know the lame was approach
ing, so the leader of the festivity shouted
"One dance more' and the voice was
taken up through the palace and the cry was
One dance more - and the music played
and the feet bounded, and the laughter rang
out; but suddenly through the fire and the
smoke and the thunder of the explosion
eternity broke. Alas that some will dance
on in their sins, and their frivolities, and
their worldliness, until in an hour that
they know not eternity breaks in and they
are destroyed, and that without remedy
SpurgeOn.
Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-04-19

IT is a great deal better to lead holy life
than TO talk about it. We are told to let
our light shine, and II II does, we shall not
need to tell anybody IT does. The light will
be its own witness.-D, l.. Moody.