smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1867




Engaged to be married." And is this
the end of all trials and tribulations on
this side the grand event of matrimony?
Are there no more troubles to be con-
quered, no more obstacles to be eneoun-
tered2 Do people cease to be human, and
begin to partake of the millennial ma
ture, when they become engaged? Alas!
an engagement is but the first step in that
long hand-in- hand journey where the
strongest feet become weary, and the bra
vest heartis too apt to become disheart-
ened. H#


And what comes next2 Why,yoa have
given yourself, body and soul, into the
pessessienof half hundred busy gossips
who immediately set themselves at work
to discover your faults and her de6cien-
eies, and triumphantly adduce reasons
innumerable why you and she are the
last persons in the world to make each
other happy. If you ever, in the whole
course of your life, committed fault. no
matter how trivial or how long age, now
is the time it will be exhumed from its
resting place of years and held up as a
witness against you! If you ever said a
rash or a foolish thing in an 1nguarded
moment, it viii start out before you like
the invisible writing when exposed to the
action of heat In short, you will be
compelled TO run a 6gurative gauntlet,
day by day and week by week. Do you
| ask Why? That is just the question that
viii have to remain Insolved until you
can tell us,shy people do not confne their
attention to their own special affairs, and
sohy an engaged couple are supposed to be
every bodyis business but their ewD! We
only know that such is the fact.ia 8


From this tender interest of the good
natured world in everybody's confidential
arrangements springs the very common
mistake of keeping engagements secre,
up TO the very last moment. OF all err
rors this is the most short.sighted and
absurd. If you are ashamed of your en-.
gagement, break it off; if you are afraid
to take the consequences, own up frankly
and look at yourself in your true light
/ that of a moral coward. Be honest-bt
Straightforward and open, both in justic,
to yourself and to the other party con
eerned. Nobody ever yet gained any
thing by hiding the engagement ring un
der shallow tissue of deceit and lies
Nor is our language too strong, for liz
told BY fair lips lust for fun, Isl as mucl
lie as the network of treachery tina
covers the darkest crime ever committed
We have no patience with the counterfeit
modesty that shrinks from "having peo
pie know of an engagement" A mai
has no business at all with the bogus ar
ticle; and for girl, it is simply ridicu
lous. She can whirl through crowdee
ballroom, literally supported in bis arms
she can go with him to thenter, opera, ,ant
Year: 1867

\
hranchsh went with bis axe and chopped
off one end of this tree, dropping it into
the stream, SO that the doctor failed to
reach the house until the next day, Hhen
the old man was found dead. -


There are still other rumors afoat, ap-
parently we'll founded, of throwing ens
Of his sons on the fire and burning Linn
to death, of cruel mistreatment of little
girl that lived in his family until finally
taken away by order of the court, Of an
unsuccessful attempt to poison his third
wife but short time ago. But only
allude to these latter items to assist in
giving your readers and the public gene
rally some idea of 'what manner of man"
be must have been.
Year: 1867

There is profound wisdom in the say
ing of an English farmer, that he fed
his land before it was hungry, rested it
before it was weary aud weeded il before
it was foul. Seldom has SO much agri-
cultural knowledge been condensed in a
single sentence. 81 st
Year: 1867

A young lady, newly married, being
obliged to show to her husband all the let
ters she wrote, sent the following to an in
ltlmate friend.


z" cannot be satisfied my dearest friend,
best as ! am in the matrimonial state,
unless l pour into your friendly bosom,
which has ever been in unison with mine,
The VARIOUS sensations which swell
with the liyeliest emotions Of pleasure,
my almost bursting heart. Itell youmy dear
husband is the most amiable of men,
have now been married seven weeks, and
have never found the least reason TO
repent the daythatj joined US. My husbands
in person and manners far from resembling
ugi, (, cross, old. disagree able, and jealous Of
monsters, who think by confning to secure
his wife it is his maxim to treat as a
bosom friend and confdant, and not as .
plaything or merial slave, the woman
chosen to be his companion. Neither party,
he says, should always obey implicitly;
but each yield to the other by turns.---
An ancient maiden aunt, near seventy,
cheerful, venerable,and pleasant oldlady,
lives in the house with Us. She is the de-
light Of both young and old; she is ci-
vii to all the neighborhood around.
generous and charitable to the poor
believe my husband loves nothing more
than he does me he fatters me more
than the glass, and his intoxication
for SO must call the excesses of his love)
often makes me blush for the unworthiness
of its object, and wish to be more deserving
of the man whose name / bear. To
say all in one word, my dear, and to
crown the whole, my former gallant lover
is now my indulgent husband my fondness
is returned, and might have had
a Prince without the felicity find in
him. Adieu,may youbeas blest as | am un-
able to wish that could be more
happy. a


-E The Key to the above letter read the nrsand
every alternate line only.
Year: 1867

If respectable and worthy parents
would exercise more care, and bestow
more thought and attention, in the home
training Of their children, they would be
spared Il great deal Of anxiety and anguish
on account of their grown up sons And
in no respect is this more true than with
reference to the temperance training Of
the young. Two facts Which we viii
mention here, we think will not be ques-
tioned. First, that there are very many
drunken sons who have been brought up
by respectable, temperate and worthy pa
rents; and second, that a boy who has inn
bibed strong temperance principles 10 his


childhood, and has maintained those prin-
ciples until he has come to be sixteen or
eighteen years Of ase,is very rarely found
to be a tippler. If these are facts, II
would seem that many worthy parents
do no: DO their duty ii the JEMPSfadee
training of their childFen, Of else We might
look to see temperate young men come
only from those families where the parents
are themselves tipplers, or such as see no
harm in tippling. Boys and young men
are led into ilie habits which make them
drunkards when they are "young and
foolish" and wien they have false and


weak ideas concerning those indulgences


which bring only injury and loss in body,


mind, pocket and morals. They drink the


first glars, or smoke the first cigar, when


they havn't moral courage enough tore


fuse, or sound well-founded principle


enough TO see how weak and injurious i


VIII te 10 yiciss ~ tlss aanRtazia Roxx.
who have been .iudiciously trained, know
what these indulgences are, and the Temp
tation to participate in them has lost near
ly all its force. Start your boys right,
| il you wish them to become temperate,
virtuous and honorable men. As the
twig is bent, the tree is inclined" and
little judicious training of the flexible
young stem will save the pain of fruitless
attempts TO straighten the misshapen
1


trunk of the sturdy tree. We fear that
very many parents who are themselves
teetotalers and wish to see their sons be-
come so, do not exercise enough Of thought
and car e in the temperance education Of
their children. We hope that all parents
who chance TO read these lines will inquire
whether the case be so with themselves.
Parents, watch your children, talk with
them; see that they become teetotalers.
not simply because temptation is mot
placed in their way, but rather from prin-
ciple. Teach them to understand the
merits of the temperance question, 10
comprehend the reasons for advocating
and pledging themselves to total absti-
nencc. Let them be SO educated that
they may never be in doubt as to the
character of any wrong indulgence
towards which they may be tempted, and


that they may be always quick to do right,


not because it is right, but because they


know, also, that what i right is pleasant
est. safest and most manly.
Year: 1867

KIND WORDS FOR Z" MoTHER"-
Despisc not a mother when she is old.
Age may waste mothers beauty.
strength, limbs and estate: but her rela-
tons as a mother is as the sun when it
goes forth in its might--for it is always
the meridian and llnoweth no evening.
The person may b. gray-headed, but her
motherly relation is ever in flourish. 1t
may be autumn, yen, winter with wo-
man, but with the mother it is always
spring. Alas, how little do we appreciate
a mothers tenderness while living. How
needless are we Of all her anxieties and
kindness But when she is dead and gone
when the cares and coIdness Of the
world come wi'hering TO our heart when
we experience how hard it Is to find true
sympathy, how few will befriend us in
misfortune--then it i, that we think Of
the mother we have lost.
Year: 1867

DuBuouE, Aug. &c.


On Sunday morning young man named
Benjamin Terry, while watering horses in
the Mississippi river, rode one of them be-
youd its depth and was thrown off and
drowned, being unable to swim. Two or
three others who could not swim were on the
shore but could no. help him. A man wes
fishing on fat boat within a rod of where
lie sunk, but did not stop his fishing to shove
board, of which there were plenty at hand
to his assistance.
Year: 1867

By Suppose man and a girl we're mar
ried-the man thirty five years old, tic
girl five; this makes the man seven times
as old as the girl they live together until
the girl is ten years old-this makes him
forty years.old, and four times as old as
the girl they still live until she is fifteen,
the man being forty Gyc-this n.akes the
nan three times as old they still live IN
til she is thirty years old-this makes the
man sixty, only twice as old, and SO on.
Now, how long would they have to live to
make the girl as old as the man?
Year: 1867

We owe an apology to Governor Wells,
of Louisiana, for our neglect Of him in his
present distressed condition. But we fear
that we can afford him no comfort, We
are candid enough to say that we laugh at
his calamity and mock at his fear. He is
a Radical He favored the revolutionary
convention that got up the riot in New Or
leans, that elected the Fortieth Congress,
that passed the military bills, that placed
Sheridan over Louisiana, that removed
Governor Wells. Let him mourn. Let
him appeal to the despised Andrew John
son for revenge. Let him declaim of the
enOrmity of military despotism. It is his
own chicken come home to roost. We are
too happy to interfere. The fowl shall sit
there, but when, perched upon his shoul-
der blades, it mods through the long night
and finally crows for day, may we be there.
Memphis Ledger.
Year: 1867

A correspondent of the Journal Of Hor-
ticalture recommends salt to destroy weeds
on walks. Of course care must be taken
in applying it that none be thrown on the
edging, otherwise it will kill it; but lit
tie practice will enable any one to do this
without danger of such a result. The
quantity to apply must depend on circum-
stances If the walk is one passing through
a meadow whore grass seeds abound, and
where it is but little used, weeds will grow
rapidly, and salt may be more literally ap-
piled but where there is only a little moss
to destroy very small busting will suf-
fee. The best plan for the inexperienced
to adopt is to use very little salt at first, to
be careful not to scatter any over the roots
or box if such is grown as edging. remov-
ing the weeds from that part by other
means, and if the quantity used do not ef-
feet the object to repeat the application af-
ter a time, taking care not to salt too much.
If the keping down of weeds were the on.
ly advantage Of using salt, it adoption
might be open to many objections but it
likewise keeps worms away, and destroys
the weeds without loosening the gravel or
other materials composing the walk This
advantage is of the greatest importance
where the number of persons who traverse
the walks daily is small, for however care
fully weeds are picked up by hand, or
forced up by the hoe, some disturbance of
the surface must be caused, and before
that can fairly be remedied the operation
has to be repeated. and loose unpleasant
surface is the result, or constant rolling be-
comes necessary. Now with salt nothing
is disturbed, the weeds wither and disap-
pear in few days, and even if they are
deep rooted ones, such as dandelions and
docks, an extra pinch over the crown will
generally kill them.
Year: 1867

How TO BREAK CATTLE 70 LEAD.--Take
two animals of about the same size and
strength, and tie them together with
strong rope by placing one end around the
horns of one animal end the other end
around the horns Of the other and make
them fast, as for leading or tying up, leav-
ing three or four feet of rope between the
inner horns. and turn them into a field
free from trees. Let them run, and pull,
and haul till they are tired of it, and viii
walk side by side and feed together. Take
off the rope, and they will ever after lead
with the docility Of child. even though
the first occasion may be years afterwards.
It is much easier than for man to be
jerked around all day by Wild heifer or
steer, and more efeotual.
Year: 1867




Every farmer should select his seed from
his own crop, when he is gathering the
corn, and not depend on any other portion
of the country for supply. Corn that
has been acclimated will yield much the
Target crop. a practical farmer gives his
experience in raising corn as follows:


"SOme ten years ago planted an ear
of corn to test the difference between the
product of the kernels of both ends and
the middle of the same ear, and will give
you the result. The soil was just alike,
the cultivation the same, and the crop very
different. Iplanted the first two rows from
the large end of the ear. and the last two
rows from the tip or small end and plant
ed all the same morning. The large end
produced falr sized ears, with irregular
rows, much as you viii find them at the
end Of the ears. The middle kernels pro-
duced large ears, mostly straight rowed
and fair. the tips brought forth nubbius
only. There was not fair ear on the two
rows OF corn. I have raised corn, more or
less for forty years; and now plant only
about half, or at most two thirds of the
kernels on each ear of corn and generals
ly raise good crops. Save your seed corn
and hang up in the fall
Year: 1867

We copy the subjoined communication
from the Monroe AdUertiser, published at
Forsyth. Ga. The suggestion it makes is
we'll worth consideration, whether the ber-
ries arc wanted for domestic use or for
the Northern markets


FoRsrTH, GA. May 18th, I857-Desir
ing to do all we can to make every resource
of our country available to its citizens, we
wish to call the attention of our people to
q resource in their reach, which though ap-
parontly Insignificant, promises handsome
returns to those who avail themselves of it.
Wa allude to the blackberry crop, which
has been long neglected in the South, and
in regard TO which we have recently been
IN correspondence with our New York
friends. The result of our investigation
has been that the best plan to render this
crop profitable is to dry the berries for
shipment North


This, we are informed by Our friends in
New York, is done both by artificial heat
and by that of the sun, but those dried by
exposure to the heat Of the sun are most
esteemed and command tho highes. price
I They may be dried IN the game mode used
I In drying peaches, or they may be exposed
70 the sun on wire CLOTH coarse sheeting,
or any other material that will allow the
free circulation Of air. Dealers here can
afford to pey fifteen 20 seventeen cents per
pound for them, for shipment to Northern
cities, and as they are very abundant and
much less trouble to dry than peaches, we
think the subject deserves the attention Of
the people. PoHDER d BEAN.
Year: 1867

The Printer is the adjutant of thought,
and this explains the mystery of the won
derful word that can warm the heart as no
hope can ; that word ''we" with hand-in-
hand hath warmth in it--for the author
and the Printer are engineers together.
Engineers, indeed When the little Cor
scian bombarded Cadiz, at the distance of
FIVE miles, it was deemed the very triumph
of engineering but what is the range of
this, whereby they lombard the ages yet
to be


There at the cease he stands and mar
shals into line the forces armed for the
truth, clothed in Immortality and Eng
lish. And what can be nobler than that
equipment of thought in sterling Saxon
Saxon with the ring of spear or shield
therein. and that commissioning it when
we are dead, to move grandly on to "the
latest syllables of recorded time" This
is to win victory from death, for this has
no dying in it.


The Printer is called laborer, and the





work but a sublime rite he is performing,
when he thus sights the engine, that is to
fling a worded truth in grander curve than
missile e'er before decribed; fling it into
the bosom of an age unborn.


He throws off his coat indeed we but
wonder the rather, that he does not put his
shoes from his feet, for the place whereon
he stands is holy ground


A little song was uttered somewhere
long ago it wandered through the twi-
light feebler than star it died upon the
ear. But the Printer takes it up where
it was lying there in silence like dying
bird, and he sends it forth from the ark,
that had preserved it, and it flies on into
the future with the olive branch of peace,
and around the world with melody, like
the daWning Of a Spring morning.
Year: 1867

TERRIBLE WEAPoN.-The Paris pa
pers say that the story about the new
French gun which shoots people without
powder or smoke is quite true. The
weapon is really sling, improved up to
the nineteenth century standard. Bullets
are placed in a circular groove on a disc of
steel, which. driven by wheel of much
greater diameter, revolves at a prOdigious
pace, and hur!s out the bullet at the rate of
three hundred per minute. TheySstrike
as hard as rifle balls.
Year: 1867

An old farmer while in town one day re-
Gently, was asked the best time to put in
rye, "It's about the best time now" said
the old fellow. looking at bis watch. and if
you have got any postal currency about
you. I'll 90 and show you how it's done"
Year: 1867

The LITTLE BLUE BELL comes to US again
from Mr.. Weston's excellent school at Little
Blue, in Pennington. This number has the
genuine ring of a school bell, being composed
in large part of the contributions of the Little
Blue boys, who in the matter of blowing their
horns quite surpass the "Little boy blue of
the nursery rhyme. Two engravings, repre-
senting the school house and the school home
at Little Blue, add to the value of the number.
Year: 1867

We trust no conservative" citizen, who
thinks perhaps that the voted railroad loan
will impoverish the city, will be disturbed by
the caption We have placed over this article.
Pare water, and enough of it, will iniure no
one; but the lack of it is, and long has been
telling fearfully upon the city's prosperity. To
say nothing of the necessity of pure water ON
sanitary grounds,-for purposes of beverage,
OF washing and of personal ablution-there
are many uses for which it is needed to
promote the material prosperity of
the city. A thousand forms of manufacturing
can be carried on SO as to compete with other
places, only by the use of cheap steam power.
To secure this plenty of fresh water must be
had Such water rs is readily obtained in
Portland, for such purposes, is SO impregnated
with saline and alkaline properties, that it is
very destructive to steam boilers, and thus its
constant use becomes expensive. Tho pur-
er the water used in boilers the less incrusta-
ton is found within the fles, the less the iron
is corroded upon the inside, and the less tn o
flues are coated with foreign matter the more
readily the water within them becomes heated,
thus saving materially not only in the wear
of the boiler itself but in the amount OF fuel re-
quired to produce steam. ....,s l,itJ %


The principal objection heretofore urged
againstprocuring supply of fresh water for the
city, from Sebago Lake. has been the great X
pense of its introduction to and distribution
over the town, but we are informed that there
is possible way of getting around TINS opIec-
ton and of securing the water at the same
time. The charter which has been obtained
from the legislature under which water may
be brought to the city from the Lake, provides
for a supply for city purposes free of charge. 1t
has been suggested to us by those who ought to
know all about the matter, that if the city will
waive this advantage for a series of years-say
five or ten so far as to pay one-half the rates
fixed upon for private customers, there are
parties in New York who stand ready to COM
mence the work at once and in earnest, and to
prosecute it with vigor till Portland has pure
Sabago Lake water distributed all through it,
from the Western Promenade to Munjoy.


We are not authorized to say more; we will
not vouch for the correctness of this report
but ifit is correct or substantially so we hope
to hear more from it, and that the city Govern
ment will not allow any such proposition to
fail through lack of ofconcession or Of reasonable
iberality on its part Give US pure flesh wat
er, and plenty fit. This is what the people


want. This is literally what they thirst for,
and for which every pore of the skin is crying
out. Shall we have it? Our columns are at the
service of those who wish to discuss. OF
thcow light upon the subject Now that the
railroad fever has turned" let us have fever
treated on hydropathic principles.
Year: 1867

r AccIDENT.-Mrs. Noyes was severely iniurrr. II.


ed Saturday forenoon in attempting to pass
into one OF the entrances of Brown & Han
sons block on Middle street. She, with
another lady, was passing over the plank.
when it tipped, precipitating her into the
opening between the building and the side
walk, which had just been uncovered by the
workmen for the purpose of fitting the grating
over it. She was taken to her residence in a
Year: 1867

g SELECT READNG.-Miss Isabel j. Prince
will appear before the Portland public on
Wednesday evening at the Chapel of the State
Street Church, and entertain them with a
choice selection of Poems, &c. 1t will be re-
membered that this talented young lady gave
a reading at the Office of Drs Kimball and
Prince, few weeks since, and those who were
present at that time, were highly gratified with
the entertainSent at the above named place
The number of tickets are limited and those
VINO are fortunate enough to secure one will
enjoy rich, intellectual treat. as .41ag