smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1869

Some people, calling themselves


Christians, or even Christian min


listers, have no scruples in violating


engagements for their ownperson-


al convenience. 1t is a bad habit
wicked we should say-for eve


ry one ought to hold bis word sa.


cred. The following incident is
instructive: ~


Sir William Napier was one day


taking q long walk near Freshford


when he met little girl about
FIVE years old scbbing over a bro


ken bowl. She had dropped and


broken it in bringing it from the
field to which she had taken her
fathers dinner in it, and she said
she would be beaten on herreturn
for having broken it then with
sudden CLEAN of hope, she imme-
diately looked into his face aDd
said


'sBdt We can mend it can't YEP"


Sir Williams explained that he
could not mend the bowl; but the
trouble he could mend by the gift
OF a sixpence to buy another
However. on opening his purse it
was empty of silver and be had to
make amends by promising to
meet his little friend in the same
spot, at the same hour next day,
and to bring the sixpence with
him, bidding her, meanwhile, to
tell her mother that she had seen
a gentleman who would bring her
for the bowl next day
The child, entirely trusting him,
went on her way entirely COM
forted.


On his return home he found an
invitation awaiting him to dine
n Bath the following evening, to
meet some one whom he especial
y wished to see. He hesitated
Sor some little time, trying to cal
;ulate the possibility of giving the
meeting to his little friend of the
broken bowl, and Of still being in
ime for the dinner party in Bath;
,ut finding that this could not
,e, he wrote to decline accepting
he invitation on the plea of
Encouragement" saying to one
# his family, as be did SO, 'Ican-
lot disappoint her, she trusted me.
% implicitly"
Year: 1869




A Nut TO CRACK.-A merchant
had in his store three pairs of shoes.
Two pairs cost one dollar each
and the other three dollars. The
former was priced at two dollars
each, and the latter being damaged
were priced at cost. The merchant
sold one pair and the purchaser
thereafter returned to make ex-
change. The exchange was made
by the clerk, who took the shoes
and charged them to himself at
cost (this privilege being allowed
the clerk.) The merchant with
quick wit suggested to the clerk
to take the damaged shoes at cost
and make a further exchange with
the customer. This was done,
the purchaser paying the difference
in price, one dollar. The clerk
was credited with this difference
and the first charge cancelled by
placing the shoes in store. Did
the clerkget his shoes at cost, and
if not, why not? e3nu 9
Year: 1869

Besides the fact that ice is lighter
than water, there is another curious
thing about j! which many persons
do not know perhaps-namely, It's
purity. A lump OF ice melted will
become pure distilled water. Water
in freezing turns out of it all that is
not water-salt, air, .coloring mat
tiers, and all impurities. Frozen
sea water makes fresh water ice. If
you freeze basin of indigo water it
will make ice as clear and as white
as that made of pure rain water =
When the cold is very sudden these
foreign matters have no time to es.
cape, either by rising or sinking, and
are thus entaDg!ed With the ice, but
do not make any part OF it.
Year: 1869

Let each one strive with all his might
To be decent man,
And love his brother as himself


Upon the golden plan
And if his neighbor chance to be


A pretty female woman,
Why, love her all the more-you see


That's only acting human.
Year: 1869

The whole Of eastern Kentucky
is reported to be overrun with
horse thieves, whose operations
are on such a bold and extended
scale chat hardly any citizen dares
attempt to own or keep a horse.
Year: 1869

Drinkersof champagne who would
like to know all about the sparkle
and the liquid light, and SO on,
should note thati a recent seizure
of a champagne making establish.
ment, the articles found on hand
were four barrels of common white
wine, one barrel of mOlasses and
one barrel Of vitrioll
Year: 1869

The telegraph reports that the
smallpox has broken out among
the Indians in the far Vest
They are to be pitted. Should
the disease spread much it will be
a sad epoch in their career.
Year: 1869

The proprietor of Cincinna-
ii hotel recently engaged a gorge
Gus specimen of hotel clerk. The
young man stayed behind the coun-
ter four hours and then left with
four hundred dollars from the
safe.
Year: 1869

place, as the dim light of thu
coach lamp would have rendered
the process somewhat difficult be
fore.


1t was now necessary, however
that it should be attended to al
once, as our jovial companion had
previously announced his intention
Of leaving us at this point. He
proposed postponement till after
supper, which he offered to go and
order.


Nay" urged the Quaker, with
an approach to abruptness, and
laying his hand on the others
arm, " business before pleasure,
and for business there is no time
like the present"


"Will thee be good enough to
search the prisoner 2" he said to
me, still keeping his hands, in a
friendly way, on the passengers
arm.


Ibid so, but not one Of the sto-
len articles could be found.


Gle must have got rid of them
in the COACH" the gay gentleman
suggested and Immediately offered
to go and search.


"Stop !" thundered the Quaker,
tightening his grasp.


The man turned pale, and strug-
gled to release his arm. In an in
stant one of the derringers was
levelled at his heart.


"Stir a hand or foot, and you
are dead man =


The Quaker must have been
awfully excited SO completely to.
forget both the language and the
principles of his persuasion.


Placing the other pistol in my
hand, with directions to fire on the
first of the two men that made a
suspicious movement, he went to
work on Lothario, from whose
pockets in less time than [ take
to tell it, he produced every item
of the missing property, to the
utter amazement of the two ladies,
who had begun, in no measured
terms, to demonstrate against the
shameful treatment the gentle
man was receiving.


The Quaker, l need scarcely
add, was no Quaker at all, but a
shrewd detective, who had been
set on the track of band of des-
peradoes, of whom our middlel
aged friend-who didn't look near
so middle-aged when his wig was
off-was the chief. The robbery
had been adroitly planned. The
leader of the gang had taken pas
sage in the coach, and after learn
ing, as he supposed, our defence
less condition, had given the sig
nal to his companions by throwing
out the scraps Of paper already
mentioned. After the unexpec-
ted capture of the first robber, it
was attempted to save the booty
by secretly passing it to the ac-
complices still believed to be un-
who counted on being,
able to make off with it at the
next stopping place.


The result was that both, for a
season, "did the. State some ser
vice."
Year: 1869

In the published report of the
proceedings of the Grand Lodges
Of the United States of the Order
of Free and Accepted Masons, we
find the following table, showing
the membership of the Order in
the different States and Territories:
Year: 1869

Basing their demand upon the cession of the
principally of Hesse to the North German
Confederation, they ask by what right Prussia
occupies the fortress of Mayence Should this
question be enforced we may anticipate that
stronger arguments than diplomacy will be
brought forward by Bismarck, which may tend
to kindle the firebrand of war now evidently
pending in Europe. Such is the dread Of an
early struggle that merchants in Europe re-
fuse to close forward contracts for the purchase
and delivery of goods, which must necessarily
be very detrimental to the general interests,
causing prejudical effect, both to the labor
ing classes and to the capitalists. Couut
Bismarck has proved himself an able states
man and has doubtless given the matter due
consideration before entering upon his pro-
gramme; but in his endeavors to aggrandize
his fatherland he must not forget the difference
existing between the kingdom of Prussia and
the North German Confederation.
Year: 1869

a DAsoTucc ~ INC City anu COumtTys


The rotten, dirty, spasmodic- looking build
ing called the Barge Once" situated at the
junction of East and North rivers, is a shame
and disgrace both to the city and nation. It
belongs to the general government, is used
for the customs service, and we believe an
appropriation has been made by Congress to
pull it down and erect a more suitable structure
in it's stead. But it seems that either red tape
or some jobbing ring has control of the matter,
and the Improvement so much demanded has
been from time to time neglected, if it be not
entirely abandoned. The site is the most con-
spicuous in the harbor from vessels COM
ing up the bay, and it must give our foreign
visitors a strange idea of the Importance of the
city and country to behold such an unsightly
fgurehead to the metropolis as this dismal and
gingerly pagoda; and the interior is great
deal worse than the exterior. Our new Col
lector could not inaugurate better reform
than by promptly blotting out this nuisance,
and, if there be an appropriation for the pur-
pose, having respectable edifice at once
erected in its place.
Year: 1869

THE PACIFIC RAILROAD AND THE News
PAPERs.-Mayor Hall did no more than justice
to the newspapers when he said in his reply
on Monday to President Ames' telegram an
nouncing the completion of the Pacific Railroad
that the newspapers of this metropolis shave
largely contributed to this days result" The
grand idea of commercially welding together
two extremities and coasts of an immense con-
tnent had been agitated by the newspapers
for many years before they succeeded in max
ing it popular and practicable. They will con-
tinue to uphold the enterprise, and at the same
time they will vigilantly guard the interests of
the public against all possible abuses on the
part of those directly or indirectly charged
with the management Of the road which con-
meets New York, on the Atlantic, with San
Francisco, on the Pacific.
Year: 1869

Judge Benedicrs Charge to the Grand


Judge Benedict admirably accomplished on
Monday his task of defining the powers and
the duties of the Grand Jury. He demon
strated the special Importance at the present
time of a full and vigorous exercise of those
powers and careful, conscientious discharge
of those duties. He directed attention to GER
tain provisions of law and certain questions OF
fact which the Grand Jury will be required
particularly to consider. After stating that the
war, which decided the question whether
government framed like ours had the ability to
quell by force Of arms great rebellion, raised
another question, which is now in process of
solution-namely, whether such government
can surely provide for the payment of the in
terest upon great debt-Judge Benedict
exposed the fraudulent evasions of legal taxes
on the part of those willing thus to grow rich
at the expense of their fellow citizens. This
latter class-numerous and powerful both
socially and politically-has, he said, from the
beginning confronted the government in its
effort to collect the revenue. He especially
exposed among these various fraudulent eva
sions what have been designated as the customs
drawback cases. The total amount of these
frauds within space of six months time pro-
badly exceeds seven hundred thousand dollars.
Similar frauds have been committed in other
departments. In the warehouse department,
for instance dutiable goods have been with
drawn without payment Of any duty, until the
loss from single warehouse has equalled four
hundred thousand dollars, according to the
estimate of an official. The Judge denounced
in unmeasured terms the official corruption
which such facts disclose, and eloquently urged
upon the Grand Jury their duty diligently to
inquire and presentment make of every offence
arising under the laws of the United States
which shall be made to appear by reasonable
prima facie proof. Let US hope that the
action of the Grand Jury may be such as to
check the rising tide of official corruption and
general Generalization. In that case Judge
Benedict's charge will have sounded the knell
of the whiskey rings.
Year: 1869

ALL RArL.-In sending goods TO New York
from Western city the sender contracted with
his Western road that the transportation should
be ''all rail-" and In a suit that subsequently
arose on the destruction of the goods he
claimed that this stipulation had not been kept,
as the goods were brought into this city by the
boats of the Camden and Amboy road. The
Court decided against him on the ground that
the ''all rail" clause did not exclude necessary
ferries. Certainly the North river cannot be
crossed by rail. But is there not another point
In the case' Did not the contract with the
Western road require the sending Of the goods
by some other route7 Thera are rortas into
this city that are all rail-"
Year: 1869

BAGoAGE.-It has just been decided in the
Supreme Court that travellers must withdraw
their baggage from the keeping Of railroad
companies upon arrival; that the companies
are under no obligation to store the baggage,
and are not liable for its loss If mot removed
within reasonable time" As this is very
different from the system in Europe European
travellers should especially take notice Of 1t.
Our railroads, Of course, are run on too hifa-
lutin scale for the managers to think of such
tri6e as accommo dating the public on the
trunk question
Year: 1869

ANOTHER LITTLE BELL IN WASHINGTON -
On Monday the tinkling of a little bell was
heard at the national capital, but how different
from Stewards little bell It's notes sounded
no danger to any mans freedom or rights, an
nounced no arbitrary will to trample out oppo-
sition to political programmes but pealed q
little lyric Of the progress, growth and glory
of the American people and Of free thought,
and hymned such q triumph Of intellect over
matter as must be conceived before thirty
million minds can be concentrated on a single
point.
Year: 1869

THE DRAMATIC FUND ASSOCIATE oN.-The
reports Of the secretary and trustees of the
American Dramatic Fund Association, pre-
sented at the annual meeting on Monday, en-
courage us to believe that after a long struggle
for existence this association has fairly en- =
tered upon hopeful career. Since its incor-
poration in 1s4S it has divided among claim
ants sixty thousand five hundred and thirty
seven dollars. The project Of raising the too
limited fund which it now has under invest
ment to the full sum of one hundred and
twenty-f thousand dollars their charter
allows it to hold might easily be accomplished
by concerted action on the part of managers
and actors. Our theatre-going population is
too large and appreciates too gratefully the
claims Of profession that ministers so directly
and constantly and powerfully to their amuse-
ment not to cooperate gladly in carrying out
this project
Year: 1869

In taking care of the sanitary interests of
the city the Board Of Health finds that there
is trouble in the Quarantine management.
''The trouble is that we do not seem to have
a Health Officer who will inform the Board, or
who has the capacity to inform it, whether
vessel coming up to this city has ship fever on
board or not" This succinct statement of the
trouble is by DR.. Stone, one of the Health
Commissioners, an able physician and re-
spectacle gentleman. His declaration that the
Quarantine doctor ''has not the capacity" to
perform the duties of his station, or fails to
perform them perhaps for some worse reason,
is sustained by the facts, Notwithstanding the
Health Officers success in browbeating those
members of the commission whose motto seems
to be Anything for quiet life." That the
Health Officer does not know what ship fever
is Is shown by a statement he made in the same
discussion from which we have quoted the
above sentence. He said in regard to infected
ships that he had passed, ''There has never
been an instance where case developed itself
afterwards" Now the James Foster, Jr., that
he sent up to the city, is an instance which
exposes at once the impudence or ignorance
of this statement Her captain died of ship
fever in Brooklyn. The mate also died Of
ship fever in Brooklyn, and several other cases
are reported from the same infection. Justly
alarmed by these facts the Board of Health
sought to supplement this inefficient Quaran-
tine officer by establishing regulation to com
pei him to notify the city health authorities Of
the coming up of any ship that he had found il
necessary to disinfect. AS it does not suit
him to have any supervision of his acts the
Health Officer flew in great rage at this, bull
lied the whole Board of Health, and proposed
an amendment that leaves things just where
they were before-that is, in his discretion
and this amendment was carried by the votes
of the non-medical members, all the doctors
voting against the Health Officer.
Year: 1869

GREAT Loss TO THE HEALTH OFFICER
The steamship The Queen, of the National
line, from Liverpool and Queenstown, arrived


off Staten Island on Monday evening, with
one thousand two hundred and eighty seven
steerage passengers, all in good health
except two cases of measles. The surgeons
belonging to the ship, having had charge of
the cases from the FIRST symptoms, pronounced
them measles. The Health Officers man did his
level best to make the sick have the smallpox.
Could he have possibly called 1t smallpox the
entire ships company, from the captain to the
cook, would have had to undergo course of
sprouts similar to that inflicted on the passen-
gers by the Ariel last week, and at the same
reasonable charge ''per capita" Unfortu-
nately for the quarantine fees the case was SO
clear that there was no good pretext for vacci-
mating these twelve hundred and eighty seven.
Year: 1869

tween the ship and the railway train will still
divert this traffic around Capes Horn and Good
Hope. An American isthmus ship canal is
needed for this business. Give us this canal
and the mass of the trade of Eastern Asia and
the neighboring islands will find its way to
New York through the Gulf of Mexico, the
gulf which manifest destiny" says is soon
to become the great naval and commercial
salt water basin of the United States. In this
view Columbus was correct in his original idea
of western sailing route to Asia from Europe;
for a ship from Spain direct for the ship canal
suggested, at any isthmus passage, will sail
the original western course of the great
captain.


In regard to our Southern States we had
expected that with the settlement of this
troublesome matter of reconstruction they
would have sufficient attractions in their cheap
and fertile soil, genial climate and profitable
products to divert the great gulf stream Of
emigration from the West to the South. But
this Pacific Railroad spoils this calculation
and the people of the Southern States must
proceed more earnestly and systematically
than they are now doing in presenting their
superior inducements to Northern and Euro
pean men in search of fortune, or the great
tide, but little broken, will still drift to the
fabulous gold and silver mountains of our new
States and Territories in the West. To the
emigrant, with family, Virginia, for instance,
is thousand times more desirable than those
wild Western Asiatic regions; and it is to
emigrants with families that the South must
look for the rebuilding Of her waste places.
Unencumbered young men will drift to the
gold and silver mines, and two-thirds of those
who make their pile out there will return to the
old States to marry, settle down and enjoy the
reward of their exile to the diggings. So the
whole country will share in the golden and
silver harvest from the Pacific Railroad, and
still greater things will be seen by the present
generation. The building of this road removes
mountains of doubt in regard to other enter
prises, and shows that a ship canal at Darien,
Panama or Nicaragua may be commenced and
finished in the short interval of two or three
years. 1t is simply the concentration of capi-
tai and labor by millions where only thousands
heretofore could be commanded.
Year: 1869

GLOWING REPORTS continue to come to us
from the West and South in regard to the
coming crops. In Wisconsin there is some
talk about grasshoppers, but the editors out
there are getting up rivalry about the size of
the young ladies' feet in their respective local-
ties, the championship to be given to the one
who can "crush out the greatest number of
grasshoppers within specified time.
Year: 1869

Two LITTLE GIRLS were arrested, locked
up all night and taken before justice in the
morning on charge of robbery-not that
they had robbed any one, but merely because
they were "fooling around Fulton Market"
gambling case of the two babies pitching
huttOns
Year: 1869

STILL THEY CoME.-One ship that reached
here on Monday last had fourteen hundred i'm
migrants. All the German steamers to sail
between this and September will have full
complement, and the lines from Liverpool and
Queenstown have stopped booking for one
month. Already the number of arrivals this
year is greater than for the same period of any
preceding year. Plenty of farms for the
taking on the line of the Pacific Railroad.
Year: 1869

BRoADwAY.-It is one year since they began
to lay the present pavement on our great city
thoroughfare, and they are only up to Tenth
street and have skipped half mile below
Canal street. Citizens who want to take a
Broadway stage up or down find 1t an aston
ishing puzzle in these days to know what street
IN wait in
Year: 1869

HIRING RooMs.-An interesting decision to
those who hire two rooms and pay by the
month was given in the Marine Court on Mon
day. Plaintiff had hired the rooms in May
and expected to keep them till May, but as the
landlord wanted the place in March he pro-
ceeded to force the tenant out. 1t twas decided
that the tenant had right to hold on till May,
aud the landlord had to pay damages.
Year: 1869

IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. The last rail-
road for the city, through the whole length of
Twenty-third street, is to belong to whoever
will pay most for 1t to the Commissioners Of
the Sinking Fund
Year: 1869

THAT SPIKE spoke a golden word on the
completion of the Pacific road. But it was
nothing unusual, after all for persons travel
ling that way frequently have occasion to see
pike'a Peak
Year: 1869

A BosToN paper states that Jubilee Gilmore
has thoroughly scraped the country for catgut
for his mammoth peace festival, and that he
aspired to secure the lunar bow, but found it
too ''high strung"