smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1863

How PoNTooN BRIDGES ARE MADE.
-Pontoon boats are fiat bottomed, thirty
feet long, two and half feet wide at the
bow, and five feet wide at the stern, swell
ing out at the sides to the width of six
feet. Each fits on running gear of four
wheels, and is used as baggage wagon
by the pontoniers, carrying its proportion
of string pieces of plank On reaching a
river, the boats are unloaded foated
across by cables made fast up the stream,
then the string pieces are laid across from
one boat to another, and on these are
placed the planks, each twenty-one feet
long, which form the gangway of that
width. 1t is fine sight to see regiment
come to river bank, with pontoon
train, unload and launch their boats, moor
them in line, and in less than Eve min
utes from the time when the word "halt''
was given, have bridge, say six hundred
feet in length, over which an army can
spfely pass with artillery and baggage
Year: 1863

HONESTY IN BUYING AND SELLING
Some are not honest in buying or selling.
Their rule is, at all times, to buy as cheap
as they can, and sell as dear as they can.
This is wicked rule. We often trade
with those who do not know the worth of
the thing bought or sold. 1t is cheating
them to make the best bargain we can
Sometimes we trade with those who are
in great want, and we fix our own prices,
and make them much too high if we sell,
or too low if we buy. There is fair
price for everything. Let that be paid or
taken for everything. He who is just
and true, and who loves his neighbor as
himself, will soon find out what. fair
price is. Almost all men use too many
words in buying and selling, and there is
almost always lie somewhere.
Year: 1863

The Lay OF the Hen-Pecked.
Oh, her hair is dark as the midnight wave,
And her eyes like the kindling fire.
o.. And her voice is us sweet as the spirits voice,
That chords with the seraph's Tyre!
But her nails are as sharp as toasting fork,
And her arms are as strong as 4 BEARS;
She pulled my hair and she gouged my eye,
And she kicked me down the stairs
Pve got me an eye that's made of glass,
And I've got wig that's new !,
The wig is frizzled in corkscrew curls,


And my eye is clouded blue.
She may shake her knuckles full in my face,
And put the lamp to my beard
And hold the brooms.ick over my head
But Pm'not at all afeer'd.
For I've bound her over to keep the peace
And I've bought me q crab-trce cane;
The policeman will come, and the Justice too,
If she NEEDLES with me again.
My head was week in q linen cap,


And my eyes month in patch;
| never thought the torch of love


Would light such birthstone match.
Year: 1863

TELL YOUR WIFE ALL YOUR SECRETS
Especially as to money matters. Not
to do so (says "Woman's Thoughts
"tends to lessen her dignity of character
and does not increase her esteem for you.
If she is a sensible woman, she should be
acquainted with your business and know
your income, that she may regulate her
household expenses accordingly. Do not
withhold this knowledge, in order to cover
your extravaganza. Women have keen
perception-be sure she will discover your
selishness, and though no word be spoken,
from that moment her respect is lessened,
and her confidence diminished, pride
wounded, and thousand, perhaps unjust,
suspicious created From that moment is
your domestic comfort on the wane.--
There can be no oneness where there is
not full confidence.
Year: 1863

Elsewhere we give the leading portions
Of Mayor Opdyke's veto message to the
New York Board Of Aldermen, embodying
Ills objections to the exemption appropria-
ton ordinance. The Mayor objects to the
bill on the ground that its provisions are
exceedingly vague, that it does not specify
what portion Of the drafted men are to re-
ce1re the $500; that under the ordinance
the rich as well as the poor can claim, and
the unmarried having no one dependent
upon them for support, as well as the mar
1ied. Besides believing it violation OF
the Charter, he refers to a decision made
by the highest Court in Maine against ap-
propriations to exempt citizens on the
ground that such appropriations nullify the
Law Of Congress which was designed to
raise men and not money. He holds that it
was prompted only by the mob, as the
Common Council have had since March
last to remedy the inequality which they
consider the act embodies. TIC argues the
question at length and concludes by show
ing that the opposition to the draft is the
expiring effort Of the Northern traitors,
1t is an admirable document and deserves
everywhere careful reading among loyal
men. especially in our own city, where the
joint labors Of the timorous and traitorous
are embodied in q similar measure, the
Comisky ordinance, whose fate is to be de-
cided on Friday night. Unfortunately
Hoye-in Sherman Is not George Opdyke.
Year: 1863

the civil law, for The punishment Of the
rebels, and for the ,oerpetuation Of the
Union, that patriotism will be borne to the
ground, and ayowed and wicked treason
Will reign triumphant Will dot the pco-
PIE see to what an infnitude of crime.
Copperheadism Is the eateVayi
Year: 1863

pray for the forgiveness Of the dcluded iiias:
ses who have been cheated or driven into
this wholesale murder, to minister to the un-
holy ambition Of some Of the most fendish
monsters who have ever desecrated earth -
As for the mole eyed politicians amongst us
whose poverty Of intellect has hot enabled
them to comprehend the magnitude Of the
crisis, when they shall cease TO encourage
the lnurderers Of oir sons and brothers, let
us endure their exhibitions aud the ebuli-
tons Of their spite without murmur, and in
sheer pity meastre out to them, as an anti
dote for their Intellectual virus, that scorn
which is made most emphatic by expressive
silence"
Year: 1863

DsINElEG.-Oonsidering the state Of the
country, to say nothing of The price of whis-
key, the vice Of drunkenness is quite too
common and conspicuous on our streets. 1t
is q thing OF every day and nightly OCCUR
renco to meet men staggering along the side
walks with bodies and souls supplied with
excess Of bad liquor. Too many Of them
wear the livery of their country, and others
the sarb of citiLsns. If decent man could
once Fee himself drunk see himsolf as
others sce him"-one would suppose it
would mako radical cure. To get drunk is
simply to cesse 10 be man and become 8
beast, and it can only bo after long and deep
drinking has permanently brutaliLsd the
msr, that he could reconcile himself to such
. metauarphosis. Besides being the most
disgusting of beasts, the drunkard ia the
biggest Of fools. He drinks for pleasure,
YET the habit is as thoroughly the murdere. of
mental AID bodily comfort, without which
there is no such thing as pleasure, as Msc-
beth g conscience was murderer Of sleep.-
But this ia question for the h.rd soaker to
settle With his own character, his own con-
science and his own happiDcse. The public
have another interes. in it, AID that is that
the vice should not bs permitted to expose
its brszsn ftce to the public view, to the
shock of dsceucy and tie evil example Of
youth. We SEQ not why abandoned men
should not be driven to secret and obscure
places, beyond the public g,z,, for the indul-
gence Of their vices, as vol as abandoned
women. Eyory man drunk on the streets
violates The ordinances Of liw and order
and should be arrested, no matter whether
be wear the uniform of an officer, the broad
cloth Of a gentleman or the blouse and shirt
sleeves of the laborer. A conscientious po
licsmsn who knows bis duty will not fail TO
arrest all ich. The two frat class ought to
be arrested hrst-4obile Adc.
Year: 1863

THE GERMANS OF OHIO DESERVING VALLAS-
DIGHAX. - The German Democratic organ at
Cleveland has taken the name of Vallandigham
from its columns and raised that of John Brough
for Governor. The editor say, in explanation
of his course:


As will be noticed by our readers, We put
to-day at the head OF our paper the name of Mr..
Brough for Governor


This is no hasty step; but we have conclu
ded, after mature consideration and consultation
with many OF our Democratic friends, TO lay
aside for the present party differences, and by
the utmost Of our influence TO aid to victory the
party that advocates the suppression Of the Re-
bellion.


"The digraceful scenes which few days age
occurred in New York city proves that it re
quires the united efforts Of all good citizens
without regard 70 party, TO sustain the public
peace and order, and il is more certainly the
duty of every one who cares for the welfare o.
our country TO put aside party considerations
and to support our constitutional government
Year: 1863

REMARKABLE RAILROAD ACCIDENT.-An
employee of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
mentions the following remarkable accident
and escape: As a train was going east over
the above road, and was moving along at q
pretty rapid rate near Harper's Ferry, the en-
gineer observed twohorse ambulance crossing
the track short distance ahead. The engine
had just turned curve, and was so close upon
the vehicle that the train could not be stopped
The horses had crossed the track, but the am
bulance was just fairly upon it, when the pilot
struck the vehicle between the front and hind
most wheels. As strange as it may seem, the
horses were instantly separated from the ambu.
lance, and vehicle was lifted up and squarely
seated upon the bumpers of the engine, where
it remained until the train was stopped. The
ambulance contained a sick soldier and four or
FIVE officers, none of whom were injured in the
least degree. The horses also escaped unhurt.
1t was regarded as one Of the most remarkable
escapes on record.
Year: 1863

There is many holy and rapturous strain,
( Floating over the River Of Death,
/ To the weary who wait, ike the ripened grain.
1 For the touch of the Reapers breath.
There are flashes of light on each lifted wave.
! As il glides from the further shore,
; To the shadow borders our tear-drops lave.
1 In the lull OF the waters roar.
There are harpstrings stirred by the perfumed air


And gushing with melody sweet,
Like the whispered note of a child at prayer,
In the hush of the twilight deep.
They hear the low music so solemn and grand,
And heed not the eddying tide,
For they catch CLEAN of the forms that stand
By the stream on the other side.
And We see light on the calm white brow,
! Like the glow of the crimson morn;
But We see not the lips on the lids of snow,


All the night we deem so long,
And we only know when we hear no more,
As We watch for the passing breath.
That an angel is swiftly bearing them down
The banks of the River of Death
Only know that their footsteps pressingthe sands
OF the shore that their brightness laves;
And over their bosoms fresh garlands we lay,
And a lily we twine in their hair
Fit emblems CT beauty, now blighted they say,
Those garlands and lily buds are.
l call it not blighted-I deem them not dead


Who thus pass away in their bloom;
For they rest in their beauty where tears are not


shed,


Der the darkness and blight of the tomb.
And Oft as sit at the easement alone,
list if perchance | NAV hear
Through the stately pines as they sway and moan


Like a child at the shrouded bier,
The futter of sails and the rushing of waves,


And the fash of gilded oar,
As the reaper starts from his emerald cave


To carry me down to the shore;
And wait for the swoop of an angel wing.


And the clasp of an angel hand,
For the sound of harp and the chant of hymn,


And the light of the glory land
But alas listen and wait in vain;


Yet know that my weary feet
Shall wander ere long from the valley OF pain,


To the river solemn and sweet.
shall go with the Reaper, changelcss and pale,


And each woe that my heart has known,
Each agonized cry, each desoate wall,


Each fearful and piteous moan.
Shall be washed away by the numerous waves,


From my spirit so joyous and free,
When l see the smile of the lovely who wait


On the beautiful shore for me.
Year: 1863

To AvoID LAScING BoIL--A correspon-
dent Of the Prairie Farmer gives the following
receipt to those suffering from one of Jobs
curses. 1t is intended for finishing of - the
boils, after they have attained their headening:
q Take a glass bottle, fill with water as hot as
the skin can bear to have near it. empty the
same out, and apply the nose of the bottle to
the wound hot. In q second or two such q
rushing out Of the cause of all this trouble will
maze short work of Mr. Boil OF course the
boil should be ripe for discharge"
Year: 1863

A MINISTER having walked through village
church yard, and observed the indiscriminate
praises bestowd upon the dead, wrote on the
gate post the following line: Here lie the
dead and here the living he ~
Year: 1863

THE New York Tribune denounces the ar
rest OF Vallandigham as not only az impolitic
act, but as wrongful attack upon the sacred
freedom of speech which will seriously react
against the cause Of the Union" 1t will hard
iy be alleged, We presume, that the Tribune is
necessarily copperhead sheet for the above
utterance.
Year: 1863

TALENT and worth a:e the only external
grounds Of distinction. To these the Almighty
has fixed his everlasting patient of nobility,
and these it is which make the bright immor-
tai names to which we may all aspire.
Year: 1863

The LIBERTY OF THE ,PREss.-" Give me"
said Mr.. Sheridan, but the liberty Of the
press, and will give the minister a venal
House of Peers-1 will give him corrupt and
servile House of Commons-I will give him
the full swing Of the patronage Of ofice-I will
give him all the power that place can confer
upon him TO purchase submission; and yet,
armed with the liberty Of the press, l will go
forth to meet him uDdismayed, l will attack
the mighty fabric he has reared, with that
mightier engine. l will strike down from its
height corruption, and lay it beneath the ruins
of the abuse it was meant to shelter"
Year: 1863

ABOUT RALRoADs.-The modus operandi
Of building railroa Is, most people are familiar
with but how TO destroy them is as yet fortu-
nately a branch of instruction not introduced
into California. May we never be made wiser
by practical illustration in this respect. A
soldier in General Grants army thus describes
the way 10 which the troops deal with rail
roads in an enemy's country:


"Our operations on the railroad were OF q
novel character The regiment would be
formed in line on one side of the road, and at
the command every man would take hold of
the end of a tie or rail, and, Strengthening up,
would literally lift the track from its bed, com
pletely capsizing it. Then, piling the ties to-
gether and setting them on fire, we laid the
rails across the top, rendering them unfit for
future use"
Year: 1863

POISONED BULLETS. to the
Troy Whig, the United States Government
is engaged in manufacturing poisoned bul.
lets. This is what the Whig says: e


We have before US some specimens of the
minnie bullet now produced at the United
States arsenals. One of them is made ia.
tally poisonous by the washing ofthe inden-
tai portion with a solution of copper. An.
other is the minnie ball in three sections
The heavy part is the pointed or forward
end-thls evidently intended to penetrate
farthest. Next to this is washer Of zino
Behind this comes thesbutt,' With the cylin-
der, on which are joined<the three sections
of the bullet. Suppose man to be struck
by one of these bullets-the surgeon on
probing the wound, would be apt to get at
the light butt and cylinder. The zinc wash
er would still remain, causing Inflammation
and death. Should the victim survive the
extraction of the cylinder and washer, a
third operation would still remain for the
heavy part of the bullet.


Chicago Times, 22nd aA.
Year: 1863

Jefferson was the great advocate of State
Rights. He looked upon the States as the
great conservators Of the rights and liberties
of the citizen. He depended not on the
President or Congress. He would reposs
in no single body this sacred trust. State
sovereignty and independence was his favor.
ite theme. Ever jealous Of those in power. .
he looked with an unfavorable eve upon the
least encroachment on the reserved RIGHTS of
the people. Federal usurpation found in
him determined enemy, and the monarchist
doctrine of a consolidated government, he
fought with all the power Of his gian.
intellect until the day of his death. The
contest on this latter question betwee,
Jefferson anc Hamilton was bitter and
violent in the extreme. In letter to bis
preceptor, Mr.. Wythe, when Ambassador to
France in 1887, he thus speaks OF the
Federal Convention, in answer to that gen,
tleman's inquiry about bis views:


my own general idea was, that the States
should generally preserve their sovereignty
in whatever concerns them alone; and that
whatever may concern another State, or any
foreign nation, should be made portion Of
the Federal sovereignty. That the exercise
of the Federal sovereignty should be divided
among the several bodies legislative, ex.
ecutive and judiciary, as the State sovereign
ties and that some PEACEABLE means should
be contrived for the Federal head to force
compliance on the part of the States"


This was Jetferson's idea. The States
should be sovereign in all their Internal
atfans-in everything that concerned them.
selves alone. In their intercourse with other
States OF nations they must act through the
agency Of the Federal Government. This
is the doctrine of the Democratic party To-
day, as it has been in the past. 1, is the
principle upon which the government WAS
formed and on it alone can the Union be
restored, maintained and pcrpetuated.


Union Democrat,
Year: 1863

CALIFORNIA WINE.-California bids fair
to rival the world in the cultivation Of the
grape and the manufacture of wine. In the
Sonoma valley alone there is said to be
1000 grape vines in bearing condition
and 10000 which have not yet come into
bearing. Already the wines Of California,
undoubtedly the purest and best coming to
us by ship are offered extensively through.
out the Eastern States. Objection is made
to California brandy that it lacks the color
and strength peculiar to French brandy
But those who know how, and where and
of what the French brandies offered in this,
vicinity are concocted, give very decided
preference to the California article. A little
reading on familiar subjects would cure a


large majority of our people of their prefer.
ences for any description Of European liquors,
fourf fiflhs of which never crossed the
Atlantic ocean, and large proportion OF
the remaining fraction we may be sure are
manufactured Of anything but grapes 10
Eng land, where the grape is seldom perfected
In the open air. Scientific american.
Year: 1863

American women have a strange mania
for dark rooms but hear what FIoronce
Nightengale, in her notes of nursing, says on
the subject: "A dark house is almost al
ways an unhealthy house, always an illIaired
house, always dirty house. Want Of light
stops growth, and promotes scrofula, ricketts,,
etc, among the children. People loose
their health in dark house, and if they get
Ill, they cannot get well again in it. Three
out of many 'neg!igences and gnorances' in
managing the health Of houses generally,
will here mention as specimen: First, that
the female head in charge Of any building
does not think it necessary to visit every
hole and corner Of it every day. How can
she expect those who are under her TO be
more careful to maintain her house in a
healthy condition than she who is in charge
of itl Second, that it is not considered es.
sential to air, to sun, and to clean rooms
while uninhabi,ed; which is simply ignoring
the first elementary notion Of sanitary things
and laying the ground ready for all kinds of
diseases. Third, that the window, and one
window, is considered enough to air room.
Don't imagine that if you who are in charge
and don't look to all these things yourself,
those under you will be more careful than
you are. 1t appears as if the part of the
mistresses was TO complain of her servants
and TO accept their excuse-not to show
them how there need be neither complaints
nor excuses made"
Year: 1863

AN EsQIMAUx RIFLEMAN.-As we were in
the open country, and there was no tangible
object to shoot a., he made circle in the
snow of about two feet in diameter, then
stepping in raised his gun perpendicular from
the shoulder, and fired in the air. After fir
ing he stepped out of the ring, and in few
seconds, to my astonshment the bullet came
down within the circle he had made. He
coolly remarked I'VE want no targets to
fire at" and if a man can hold his musket
with that precision as to cause the ball to
return just where he stands, what need has
he ofa butt? But the principal reason why
they thus test their shooting is an economic
one. Not always being able to get bullets,
they are chary Of firing them away, and
have no doubt it is for the same reason that
somany savage people have the boomerang"
or return missile.
Year: 1863




VARIABLE BRtuHrSEss OF STARS We
ascertain that the sun revolves around an
axis by noticing the spots on its surface.
When there are many spots towards US, the
light Of the sun must be enfeebled some
times, even sensiby so. There are variable
stars that periodically become dim, and then
again assume their former brightness The
natural solution Of this fact is that these
stars are like the sun, not merely in their
light, but also in the way that light is pro-
duced. Perhaps there are spots upon their
cause their light to become dim. There are
stars also which may he called temporary,
for after appearing in the heavens brief
period, they seemingly become very small
or they disappear together, fact which can
hardly be accounted for, except there has
been a real physical change in the body
itself. In undergoing these changes, there
have been manifest changes in their color,
and these have been so great as to lead to
the conclusion that there has been com.
bustion of the body in question. The star
seen by Anshelm, in 1910, was of the third
magnitude; it passed through great iluctual
tions of light for two years and then became
invisible. There are, moreover, lost stars,
whose places are now vacant, though some
of them have been rgcently observed. When
we look at these strange fluctuations, we
may suppose that something like combustion
has taken place, or that the power Of giving
light by these stars has been suspended In
reviewing these facts, it appears difficult not
to conclude that there was world whose
destiny was, for the time being, completed,
and the fitful glare of whose funeral pile
shooting across the vast distance which sep
arates us, came with undiminished velocity
TO tell us the tale that it once WAS.
Year: 1863

"We are never too old to learn" and, this
being true, we will quote for our readers
what DIR. Macgowan, the Eastern traveller,
tells of the Japanese and their offerings
from us: "Onegreat peculiarly of the people
is their mania for squatting; they seem to
do everything in this position, and even
when a'man is ploughing in the field he
looks as if he wanted to squat. Their habits
in many things seem to be so often exactly
the opposite Of ours, that it almost resolves
itself into rule that everything goes by
con:raries When they cook goose instead
Of putting the goose on the fire, they put
the fire in the goose. thus making great
saving of fuel. In planning or saving board
they plane or saw toward themselves, instead
Of from themselves. When you 90 into
house, instead Of taking off your hat you
take off your shoes. Instead of saying John
Smith, they would say Smith John, and
instead of Mr.. Brown, Brown Mr.. The
country is rich in flowers and in vegetable
productions. They have carried the art of
making paper to great perfection. DR..
Mcgowan showed an ovelcoat made of
paper, perfectly strong and serviceabe. In
this country we have paper collars. but in
Japan they 60 further, and have paper
handkerchiefs, which are very beautiful and
soft, and Of very fine texture. But they are
more delicate than we, in one respect


After they have used a handkerchief they
throw it away, and are thus saved the
trouble Of washerwomen. They even weave
their paper, and make what may be called
paper cloth OF it,"