smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1869

P. B. Shillaber, Esq, ("Mrs. Parting
tom of Boston, has written letter to
President johnson, Of which the follow
ing is copy:


BosTos, January 8, 1869.
ANDnEw JOHNSON, President Of the United States


SIR:-I am an humble citizen, whose
name may have, or not have reached you,
with no favor to ask beyond the wish to
be credited with sincerity, and am de-
sirous of expressing to you the admira-
ton feel at the course you have pursued
since you assumed the reins Of govern
meDt / am difident about doing it, lest
you should interpret it as patronage, but
feel that none of us are praised for our
bad ones. And for all you have done,
the measure has been running over with
abuse and vituperation form malignant
foes and the faint praise of lukewarm
friends, and, therefore, decide to give
one word of praise from an honest conyic-
ton that it is deserved. It was my for
time to oppose your election from a wrong
impression regarding your position, and
| was gratiied to find how true you were
10 the old landmarks of the Constitution,
and have long wished to tell you So
| have marked your course with profound
interest, almost dreading lest you should
waver, but found you infexibly constant.
Such fidelity Is you have shown, amid
inducements to change such as no man
ever met with before, denotes character
strong as adamant, and your place in the
history OF our times will be an illustrations
one. Your enemies, and the enemies of
our institutions, must admit your fidelity
to your obligations. Good men however
blinded, must see this, however far politi-
cal demagogues, whose hatred for you
extends just 80 far as they themselves
have proved false and dishonest, denounce
you. People are sloW to think, but the
right thought comes at last, 10 spite of
prejudice, and those who have viliied
you through dogmatic devotion to party
will grant you honesty and accord you
justice. Your forebearance under abuse
should assure you niche as high as that
of JOB for patience, thank you heart
| lily for myself, and thousands would do
the same for themselves, were they as
am. It Is not often that men address a
waning power thus, but the one who takes
of the armor in tried service is more to
be praised than he who at FIRST assumes
it you will pardon my presumption in ad-
dressing you, but | could not help IT,
but | presume also upon tie that makes
Us brothers, that may serve somewhat as
a voucher for my sincerity. With the
profoundest respect, / am, dear sir, yours
very truly. ?. B. SHILLABER.
Year: 1869

Coop HIT AT PULPIT PROFANITY
Some years ago, at the conclusion of q
sermon. the preacher asked some one tc
pass the hat around and take up n collec


ton, young man, a stranger in the place


Immediately jumped up and commenced
to circulate the hat in such a manner as
to wind up at the door and passout with
the proceeds. The preacher, cycling him
as he went out. observed, "if that young
man runs off with that money, he'll be
damned" A deacon seated by one oi
the windows, seeing him make off down
tho street responded, "and if he hasn't
run off with that money. I'll be d-d.'
Year: 1869

A new series of postage stamps is in
course of preparation by the Post Office
Department. They will be smaller than
those now in use, but of handsomer fin
ish and design. On tho two cent stamps
is an engraving of post boy on horse
back, and on the three cent locomotive
under full head of steam. The five cent
stamp contains head of Washington.
The ten cent stamp is said to be very
finely designed, and contains picture Of
the Declaration of Independence. This
engraving is very finely and delicately
executed. On the twelve cent stamp an
engraving of an ocean steamship is seen,
and the thirty cent stamp is decorated
with the surrender of Burgoyne.
Year: 1869

When the lessons and tasks are all ended.
And the school for the day Is dismissed,
And the little ones gather around me,
To bid mo good night and bo kissed;
Oh the little white arms that encirco


My neck in tender embrace
oh the smiles that are halos Of Heaven,


Shedding sunshine of loyo on my fnco.
And when they arc gone sit dreaming


or my childhood too lovely TO last;
or love that my heart will remember,


While 1t wakes to the pulse of tho past.
Ere the world aud its wiekodneSs made mo


A partner of sorrow aud sin;
When the glory of God was about inc,


And the glory Of gladness within.
oh my heart grows weak as n woman's,


And the fountains of feeling will aow,
When l think Of tho paths steep aud stony,


Where the feet OF tho dear ones go;
or the mountains of sin hanging ocr them,


OF the tempest Of Fate blowing Wild
Oh there's nothing earth half SO koly


As the innocent heart Of . child
They arc idols Of hearts and Of households,


They are angels Of God in disguise
His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses,


His glory still CLEANS in their eyes.
Oh those tyrants from home and from Heaven


They have made me moro manly and mild
Aud know how Jesus could liken
The Kingdom of God to o child.
ask not a life for the dear ones.
All radiant, others have done
But life may have just enough shadow
To temper the glare Of the sun;
would pray God TO guard them from evil;
But my prayer would bound back to myself;
An a seraph may pray for sinner.
But a sinner must pray for himself
The twig is so easily benied,
have banishcd the rule and the rod
l have taught them the goodness Of knowledge
They have taught ne the goodness Of dod.
Ny heart Is a dungeon Of darkness,
Where shut them from breaking q rule
| Ny frown is sufficient correction
Ny love is the Law OF the school
/ shalt leave the old house Ia the autumn,
To traverse It's threshold no more;


All! how shall Sigh for the dear ones,
! That meet me each morn At tho door


/ shall miss the good nights" aud the kissss,
And the gush Of their innocent gles,
The group on the green. and the dowers
| That arc brought every morning 70 me.


l shall misE them at morn and at eve
Their song In the school and the street;


/ shall miss the low hum OF their voices,
| And the tramp OF their delicate feet.
| When the lessons and tasks arc all ended,
And death says. The school is dismissed"
May the little ones gather around the,
| To bid me good night and be kissed.
Year: 1869

Mr.. Will Cumback has got himself
elected United States Senator from Indi-
ana by species CT swindling and corrup-
ton that would disgrace the lowest pot
house politician in the business, aud
through an exposure of transactions in
compatible with honor or decency of any
sort. His election follows immediately
upon the exposure Of his baseness and
unfitncss, and seems rather to have COM
mended him to his party friends. Han
nibal Hamlin is elected to the Senate
from Maine under circumstances that In.
dicate the same sort of party religion as
that of Cumback; while the loyal of the
New York Legislature are wrangling
over carpet.sacks full of bribes, brought
to Albany to buy the members as q man
would buy mules at lively auction. 1t
may seem singular that men will or can
afford to pay such fabulous sums in mon
ey or such moostrous prices in basencss
to get to Congress, position, if honestly
filled, full Of labor and Of inferior honor
but the explanation is at hand. The
Washington machine has got to that level
that corruption is its only strength if not
its onl virtue. 1t is simply moustrous
combination Of rings TO cheat the people,
which it does at the rate Of five hundred
millions OF dollars per annum. TO get
into one of these rings through vote in
Congress is to be provided for for life.
4 man has but to vote himself duke
dom out of the public domain; a palace
out Of revenue frauds pension all bis
relatives on the Treasury, and retire at
the end Of his term with millions; OF
buy himself back to his scat by division
Of his plunder with other rings. This is
an explanation Of the immense sums ex-
pended TO purchase positions under the
Government, and one of the prolific
sources Of the wide spread decentralization
Of the people. Instances need not be adj
duced to prove these assertions; they
will suggest themselves TO all who read
and understand. Indeed, the facts are
admitted by the ruling party, and are
sometimes boasted of by the perpetrators
themselves. Legislation and administra
ton running through such channels
must necessarily partake of the faint


and We have tyranny, despotism, Darbar
ity, crime everywhere rampant, while
the victimized people suffer and sweat
aud die in the desperate, but unavailine
struggle with their heartless oppressors
Columbus Crisis.
Year: 1869

An attempt to poison miller in Saint
Jonesburry, Vermont, was made recently
by leaving a plug of tobacco in his mill,
with strychnine enough to kill twenty
men concealed in one end of it.
Year: 1869

While the people of both continents are
reading and commenting upon the recent
speech of the Emperor of France on the
opening of the French "Corps Legislatif, 1"
a writer over the signature of ''Dr. X, ;" in
the Independence Beige, after lengthy
disquisition on the probable pathological
condition of his Majesty, prophesies that
possibly within month, probably within
three months, certainly within six months
at most, the Imperial lamp will go out Tor
want of oil, even if it be not sooner extln~
guished suddenly by one of those unex-
pected accidents which may ut any time
occur to interrupt the placid course of
Year: 1869

cannot perish. Man himself, this strange


connecting link between dust and Deity,
totters YEARLY, wearily onward under the
WelSht or years and pain, toward the tomb,
put how briefly his life fingers around the
dismal spot. It is filled with tears and
grief, and the willow and cypress gather
around it with their loving but mournfuI
embrace. And is this all ? Not so! If
man die, shall he not live again Beyond
the grave in the distant Aidenn, Hope
PROVIDES al elysium of the soul where the
mortal assumes Immortality, and life be-
comes an endless splendor. But where,
sir' sIfaI IN an al the dreary regions Of the past
nlied with convulsions, wars and crimes,
can you point your finger to the tomb of
q Tree commonwealth on which the angels
OF resurrection !have ever descended, or
from whose sepulcher the stone of deepot-
ISM has been rolled away Where, in
"n"t age, and in what cline, have the
VeloS OF constitutional freedom renewed
their youth and regained their lost estate?
by whose strong grip has the dead corpse
Oh the republic once fallen, ever been
raised? The merciful Maker who walked
upon the waters and bade the winds be
SIlll' lett no ordained apostle with power
to wrench apart the Jaws of national death.
ana release the victim of despotism. The
wall OF the heart-broken over the dead Ia
not SO sad to me as the realization of this
tact. But all history, with loud, unbro-
Ken voice, proclaims it; and the evidence
OF what tho past has been, is conclusive to
my mind of what the future will be.


Wherever in the domain of human con-
Guct people once possessed of liberty
have surrendered these great gifts of God
at the command of the usurper, they have
never afterward proven themselves worthy
to regain their forfeited treasure
Year: 1869

WEDNESDAY, Lee. L, 1903.


Mr, Robbins asked and obtained leave
to vote on the resolution concerning the
State Debt He said he should vote
against them for the reason that they
were paper resolutions, not worth the
trouble of passing them; and further, there
were great judicial questions involved in
this subject, which it is not our province
to decide The circumstances under
which the new debt was created, and the
uncertainty as to what is being done with
the bonds, throws haze and a fog over
the validity of this debt; and he was not
prepared to endorse its binding obliga-
tions by this vote The old debts binding
and we must pay it as we get able. But
he did not regard the new debt as stand
ing in the same relation to US, either in
law or honor, and he should, therefore,
vote no


Bill to provide for the funding of the
Public Debt.


MIR. Graham offered the following sub
stitute for the first section of the bill; to
wit:


Sec. 1. That in order to provide for the
payment of the interest now due and
which may become due on or before the
1st of October, 1870, on bonds issued by
the State of North Carolina under the au-
thority of Acts of the General Assembly
ratified prior to the Goth day of May 1861,
and also on bonds issued under the au-
tbority of acts of the General Assembly Cf
1S65-'66 and of 1866-'67, and under Or
dinances of the Constitutional Convention
of 1868, the public Treasurer is hereby au-
thorized and directed to cause to Ue pre-
pared coupon bonds of the State of North
Carolina bearing six per cent. interest and
mad, payable thirty years after te and
TO exchange said bonds at par for the in
terest upo on the bonds aforesaid.


Sec. . That the public Treasurer is
hereby authorized and directed, upon the
surrender to him of any of the bonds of
the State of North Carolina issued under
Year: 1869


I saw, beyond the years to be,
An old man bending low
Above n book-a history
Of glory and of woe;
His pale lips moved without sound,
He neither sighed nor smiled.
And one thin arm was twined around
A sunny, silent child.
Page after page he read and turned,
And many pause made he,
As if the meaning was Injured
In some dim memory;
For though the deeds he read were wrought
By help of his right hand,
They came as slowly to his thought
AS from the spirit land.
Ny boy" he said, at length, 8. this pags
Must have been writ for me:
just remember it an age
Ago it seems to be.
"A sergeant took the flag aud ran
A rod before his men;
My boy / was that very man;
1 see it all again.
=" And here The horses all were killed,
And every man but one;
The grape-shot failed he quickly filed
A gun with pebble-stone
And fired point blank below the smoke
Into the rebel line,
And thinned it SO it turned and broke
My boy, that shot was mine.
"Again They rushed through mist and
rain


Up to the clear blue sky;
The wounded hushed their groans Of pain
As 'twere a JOY to die.
So near to Cody lay that night
Beneath the stars that stood
High over Lookout's silent height,
Reflected in my blood.
" And here, and here I never thought
My deeds would find pen,
only for my country fought
Along with other men.
1t must have been because I took
No thought Of History;
The generous man who wrote this book
Has put down much for me.
''Tho hills, my boy, white with snow;
feel the creeping cold;
| hear another bugle blow
Than that l heard of old.
1t calls me L must go-good-byel
The book has paid for all -
And then he bowed without asigh
And answered to the call.
Year: 1869

CURE For SORE THRoAT.-0ne of our ex-
changes says: Refined saltpeter is one of
the best remedies for sore throat or gums
Take bit as large as a pea. and from time
to time repeat this, and great relief will be
experienced. We have known severely in
famed throats-with tendencyito to ulcera.
ton entirely cured by this simple remedy
Year: 1869

Another wonderful ingredient, of Spanish origin
imparting beauty to the complexion and brilliancy
to the mind, is yet unknown to the commerce of
the world and we Withhold its name for the pres
ent.


With this receipt before the community, and
evidences of effects meeting them all sides, the
success of DR.. DRAKE stands founded upon the
rock of truth. Almost every family has some
case of suffering which the PLANTATION BIrTERs
will alleviate and cure
Year: 1869

There was an ACTIVE demand Tor cash gold 70 cover
speculative sales loans ranging from to 11S per
cent for carrying, with exceptional transactions at
fiat for borrowing before Clearing House. Later in
the day loans were at and per cent for


carrying. The business at the Gold Exchange Bank
Year: 1869

Whatever Congress may see fit to do with
regard to GeOrgia-and we have foTborne to
urge any particular cOuTse-the vital fact must
not be ignored that her present difficulties are
wholly the work of the upholders of a White
Mans Government" The State tcas recon
structed-she had a Governor and Legislature
of her own choice with Representatives in
Congress.-the disabilities of her ex-Rebels had
been practically remOved-when the "Whte
Mans party" reopened the war, by ejecting all
the COlOred members from either branch of the
Legislature This was done under the impulse
given by the Democratic National Convention
which met in this City last Summer and nomi-
mated Seymour and Blair-it was, in fact, the
first significant response to that imposing
demOnstration-a virtual echo of Frank Blairs
famous letter. The Colored members had
united in according seats to all the Democrats
elected, though more than half of them were
ineligible as fighting Rebels under the Recon
structiOn acts of Congress-; now these very
ineligible Rebels combined to expel those very
COlOred members, who might have objected
successfully to their taking seats at all. 1t is
quite safe to say that this would not have been
had the Rebels foreseen the election of Grant
and COlfaX.


The wrong is persisted in. The Colored mem
bers are still excluded from the seats to which
they were overwhelmingly chosen. Their ex
clusiOn they being all Republcans) gives the
Democrats majority in either House. Enough
of those Democrats were willing to vote with
the Republicans to enable them to ratify
the XVIII Amendment But that would have
kept in power those who excluded and
still exclude the Colored members, and
who carried the State for Seymour and Blair
at the point Of the Bowie-knife; and this
some of the Republicans refused to connive at
They voted against ratfying the XVIII Amend
ment-not that they were by any means opposed
to it, but that they did not see fit to surrender
their State to the despotic control of Toombs,
Miller and the old clique of Pro-Slavery poll
ticians who have once already rushed her to
ruin. They think that enough.


These facts are not generally Understood,
because too many have a palpable interest IN
perverting them. Every false hearted trimmer,
who calls himself Republican-Or, at least, a
Grant man-is busy in misrepresentng them
to prejudice the case of the steadfast Repub-
licans of Georgia But "Time at last sets all
"things even," and the truth will at length be
made manifest and understood.
Year: 1869

The general impression produced on the mind
of an impartial person who reads the testimony
of both sides in the pending Pacific Railroad
litigation, is that the people connected with the
business all around are a pretty bad lot. Mr..
Fisk goes far toward proving that the financial
management of the Union Pacific has been
nearly as remarkable as that of the Erie; and
the Union Pacific gentlemen charge with a
show of reason that the present suit is prose-
cuted mainly to extend the fnanciering ar
rangements of Erie to a broader field. Our
respect for both the parties is so complete that
we readily accept the statements of each. Their
case was tried in two courts yesterday, and
from the wel-knOwn skill of some of them in
such matters we feel warranted in expecting soon
to find it running at once in half dozen, with
full array of lawyers, witnesses, injunctions,
answers, pleas. rebutters and surrebutters in
every one. No wonder the Union Pacific gen
tlemen, who want nothing in the world so
much as to "be let alone" are anxious to
migrate beyond the reach of our New-York
courts.
Year: 1869

When John Howard, in I'M, published an
account of the prisons of England and Wales,
the public stood aghast at the relation of the
cruelties and of the consequent degradation to
which prisoners were subject for it seemed
to take for grantedl that tho object of
Imprisonment was to crafty the spirit of re-
venge. To such an extent has the name of
Howard been associated with the spirit of hu-
manity, that people generally suppose his la
bors to have resulted in securing for prisoners
both in America and Europe n treatment wor-
thy Of our advanced age, and it is customary
TO point to the separate ayStona of PonnAylv"-
MA and TO the congregate industrial system
of Auburn, as the perfected outgrowth of
many experiments. Now, so far from this
being the case we allege that the progress
made since the days of Howard has been so in
significant as to be unworthy of any encomlum, Mt
least in the United States, and that the only
claim to which it is entitled is that it comedies
the impropriety of corporeal punishment except
in rare cases. The reason for this is the want
of n correct definition of what the object of inn
prisonment should be. We are told, it is true,
that a criminal is sentenced to prevent the
commission of cripe-frst, as regards himself,
ana, bcCODu, US ItBdiub othSlb WIN dlo w
take warning by his fate. But this definition
is both faulty and uDscientifc, because in
assuming q result it takes no note Of the means.
What, then, it will be asked, should be the
| object of imprisonment We answer that the
criminal may be reformed and as this includes
the prevention of crime, it is the correct defni-
tion ana one which should be accepted as en-
bracing work worthy of our advancement in
many things-worthy of the generation and of
the day.


Many think that in giving to our prisoners
employment we have made progress but pris-
oners have engaged in labor at least from tho
time when Samson ground corn in his prison.
house while others think that as the cells of
our penitentaries are above ground, we have
reason for congratulatiOn. Let us look at these
cells Sing Sing is fair specimen of our
American prisons. There is a solid block, on
two sides of which are 1000 cells tier above
tier, like kingfshers holes in the sandy bluff
of river. Each cell is six and one-half feet
long, not over six feet high and less than
are about 400 prisoners, 200 cells contain each
two convicts but this results from the crowded
condition, for it was not intended that more
than one should occupy a cell. On an average
IA hours out of "A are spent in these cells, and
so weary do the prisoners become that they
prefer working Over-hours. BY standing quite
| close to the dsor 1t is possible TO read
Year: 1869

The Sing Sing Prison may be admirably
managed We do not know that it is not; but
we must confess that for a wellmanaged in
stitution it suffers from singular variety OF
mishaps. We cannot be mistaken in reckon
ing among these the employment of prison.
guard who could commit so gross and revolt
ing an act of murder as is detailed in the evi-
dence which we print elsewhere concerning the
shooting of the convict 0'Neill or of prison
officers who could consider the death OF the
convict under such circumstances as requiring
no investigation, nor even CorOner's Inquest.
We trust that the examination now begun may
be vigorously pressed, and that the ollcihs IN
question may be enabled to learn that the PRIV
ilege of murder is not one of their special per-
ouisites
Year: 1869

AS was anticipated, the Senate has again re-
fused, by decided vote, to concur with the
House in the repeal of the Tenure f-Ollice
act. The Committee of Conference, to whom
the question now goes, does not promise
much more in the way of solution for the
difficulty. OF the three Senate members of it,
two are Iperemptorily opposed to repeal,
Messrs. Trumbull and EdmundS, and one, Mr..
Grimes, is equally peremptory in its favor
The House Committee will be the eX-
ect complement of this, having Butler and
some Democrat to match Edmunds and Trum-
bull, and Bingham to offset Grimes. 1t cannot
be said that either side is made Of yielding
stuff; and it is highly improbable that this
Committee can report anything more than
failure to agree.