smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

The elders of the gossipy critics have
only to tax their memories trifle to
go backto the hilarious days of Mile.
Sontag and Baron Rossi. Theirs was a
love match provoking acres of broad
German grins and lots of scandal
1t was feast which the gossips of
1880 fully enjoyed and have never
forgotten. Henrietta Sontag was then
in the flower of her beauty of youth
and charm Of song. She had
long declared herself invulnerable
to the arrows Of Cupid, but size was hu-
man after all. Wherever she went it
was noted that Baron Rossi was at her
heels. If she arrived in Berlin by one
diligence the devoted Baron was sure to
arrive in the next. The same thing at
Hamburg, the same at Paris, the same
at st. Petersburg-until the Berlinese
made fun of poor Sontag by calling
her persistent follower Baron 'Montag.'
When loves secret began to leak out In
spite of fall precautions, and scandal took
the place of harmless jest, they linked
Lady Sunday and Baron Monday to-
gether, but 1t turned out that the parson
had Joined them in advance, SO that
all the calumniators and jokers on Sontag
were figuratively "knocked into the
middle of next week." Although nearly
half century has passed one will occa-
sionally encounter an old beau in the
Thiergarten or the lobby of the opera,
who will smile almost thoughtfully, as
he taps his snuff box and says, almost
sadly, "Nobody sings like Sontag, and
no one ever WillN
Year: 1877

A certain class of people confOnnd
culture of manner with insincerity,
and blunt rudeness with noble frank
ness. They admire frankness SO much
that they would lay no check upon 1t,
and even look upon efforts at self-cOn-
troll with suspicious eye. This, like
all extremes, has, with much error, a
kernel of truth. Manners are SO often
assumed to hide the real character, and
are 80 often at utter varience with the
heart that lies beneath them. that 1t is
not strange that blunt, out-spOken hon
esty should denounce them as channels
of hypocrisy and deceit. But though
this culture is often allied with dupli-
city, there is no necessary connection
between the two. On the contrary, it
may be an important element in the
motive. Many people really desire to
be what others only wish to seem. The
sincere man or woman who scorns to
cultivate manners will never reach the
full growth of which he or she is capa-
BILE. 1t is one of the laws of our being
that every inward disposition Is
strengthened by the outward express
sion which represents it. For example
an earnest person truly desires to cul-
tivate a generous and kindly spirit.
Insensibly he becomes more humane
and benignant in character. On the
other hand, we have known men whose
hearts were originally true and tender,
but who adopted gruff. cold, and re-
pellant manner, thus not only causing
pain and alienation in others, and also
bunting. their own susceptibilitles,
crushing out their sympathies, and
cooling their affections. Thus the
character is ever sensibly affected by
the manner. and no one whe desires to
elevate himself can afford to neglect
it. .-a--
Year: 1877

COLUMBIA, Feb. 6.-The condition Of the
suseueha ma at this point still remains
about the same. The channel IL still open
and is running full OF broken Ice. There Is
a large body of ice still here north Of the
bridge water is not rising. No damage as
yet reported.
Year: 1877

electro-magnetic machines, and some of it is
ouite recent Among others invented in this cOun-
try are the Wallace and the Brush machines,
of which perhaps the least that can be sald Is
that they are fully equal to the Gramme
machine, which was itself vast improve
mcnt on its predecessors. a series OF expert
ments, for lighthouse purposes, has just been
made by Professor Tynda, to decide between
the merits of different machines; and the
Holmes, Alliance, Gramme, and large and small
Siemcns were thoroughly tested. The Holmes
machine is the one that has been used at
Dungeness it and the Alliance are old con-
trvances; doubtless the adverse verdict of our
Lighthouse Board was based on the working
of those machines; they were certainly clumsy.
The horsepower of the engine for driving the
Gramme machine had to be about fifty per
cent more than that of the rest but the weight
of the machine was only half that Of the
Holmes. The large Semens machine was, how
ever only half the weight of the Gramme. But
the great reduction is in cost the price of the
Siemens machine being only 1915, which is
about one e-tenth of the price Of the earlier in
vcntiOns


The enormous amount of light that IS placed
at disposal by these new cOntrivances, should
settle the question of their usefulness, even II
their cost had not been so greatly reduced.
The Gramme and the small Siemens machine
each gave four times as much hght as the
older one in use at Dungeness, and the large
Siemens gave nine times as much, equallng
in technical terms the light Of over l4,OOO
candles. Consequently two of the Siemen5
machines have been ordered for the Lizard
lighthouse. When these are in play they will
give the most brilliant light in the world. IL
does not appear, however, that the most re-
cent improvements in electric burners are
to be adopted. When we try these things
here. let MS have the best. both OF ma
chimes and burners. The probability is
that they will cost us less than oil; but
whether less or more would make little differ
ence in view OF the immensely greater service
to our shipping. Perhaps, too. this would be
il good time for te sting what seems capital
invention of Sir William Thomson: TO make
each lighthouse fash, with long and short
pauses, a light which would spell out part
OF the distinctive name Of the light
house itself III letters of the Morse
alphabet. Chief among the causes Of ship
wreck, is mstakIng the lights. This new de-
vice should certainly prove more distinctive
than the present system, and its practical use
In signalling Is already well known in our
army. We want the light of our lighthouses
to be in every respect fully up to the standard
of the most recent advances in science and
invention.
Year: 1877

In the game of Force, the Republican party
prevailed long, but can prevail no longer.
Let the Presidents motives be fully ap-
precated but it is still true that his course
toward the Southern States was mere recOg-
milton of the fact that he had no power to
take different course. What the Republican
party ought to have done in the plcntitude of
umdisputed power in 1872, it does in 1877,
not merely because the President has wisdom
and patriotism, but because it could not eff
fectually do anything else If it tried. Does
anybody imagine that the Republican suprem-
acy in the Senate could have been maintained
by a different course1 Mr.. Patterson Is under
Indictment, and Mr.. COnOver Is reported to
have knowledge that leading Democrats pos
sess very strong evidence against him.
Could the Republican party have prevented
the prosecutions of these persons for alleged
oiicnses We do not ask if ii was possible by
such means TO maintain a majority in the SEN
ate without increasing the disgust which had
already cost many Northern States to that
party; we ask whether it was possible at any
cost. The House was Democratic. 1t would
have been impossible to pay the army if it
had been employed to uphold in South Caro-
ma anu IioIlud INC BoN'IhhicHts vi WHICH
COnOyer and Patterson are representatives..
Without that force, those governments could
not have been maintained at all. At an early
day, a struggle exceedingly disgusting to right
thinking citizens at the North must have
ended in defeat Messrs. Patterson and COnover
must have been brought within the range of
State tribunals not organized to acquit and
the power which is now held, or supposed TO
be held, over their action would inevitably
have been exercised.


"Take away the sword" said Richelieu
Year: 1877

Thought il might be well to try the experiment
of keeping gold and silver in circulation to-
gether In all the conversations on TINS SUD
iect mt the White House, we do not bclleye
however, that he has ever said word that
could be properly construed into an encour-
agement of any project for making less than
n dollars worth of silver legal tender for a
dollar. On the contrary, he has always in
sisted that if silver ia to be remonctzed,
new dollar must he coined. containing enough
silver to make it of equal value with the gold
dollar The two kinds of money, he has MAIN
tanned, must be started on a par. Otherwise
there could be no b-metallic experiment, for
n cheap silver dollar would inevitably drive
all the gold out of the country.


We have no reason for thinking that Presi-
dent Hayes has changed his opinions OF late.
The additional study he has given to the
question since the discussion began In Con-
eress. whatever effect it may have had upon
his views on the dcsirability of double
standard, cannot fail to have strengthened his
previous conviction that there is great peril to
the honor and interests Of the Government and
the country in the project for making 4l2i2
grains of silver a legal-tender for a dollar
There is not a repudating hair on Mr. Hayes's
head, or a drop of dishonest blood III his
veins His whole life has been that of an up
right, conscientious, right-thnklng man. we
await without apprehension his action upon
the Bland bill, in case the measure ever
reaches him. We have still good deal OF
faith that the Senate will kill the bill but if
il does not, we have entire confidence that
tbe President will.
Year: 1877

The approach of Winter and the recent re-
ports of shipwrecll cali attention once more
to the dangers Of our Atlantic coast. In
many respects, our lighthouse system is
admirably managed, and will bear comparison,
in its results, with any other III the world.
The United States Lighthouse Board has lent
its facilities to a long series of careful eX-
periments, which have she'd lulstre on the name
of the venerable Professor Henry, and have
provided our coast with the most efficient fog
signals in the world. Equally careful expert
mcnts have been made to determine the cheap
est and best means of illumination and up to Il
certain point in recent time the conclusions
reached and the methods adopted were quite
satisfactory. Among the conclusions was an
adverse verdict as to the electric light. Its
liability to arrangement was regarded as too
serious danger to compensate Tor It's adVal-
tages. The power of that light IN penctrat-
ing fog was made the pivotal point in discuss
ing the question of its use, but the expense
and uncertainty of managing it entered into
the calculation. At the time, such cOnclu-
sion was justlcd; mt present, 1t is behind the
age. Other nations are going ahead of us in
this matter France is successful with the





has tested It's means of illumination in at least
one locality-Dungeness, a hcadland on the
southeast extremity of the island, facing the
Channel. After trying it for fifteen years, the
electric light is found there to give little
trouble, and its cost has been less than ST.
900 per annum.


The whole question as to the use of the cleo
trc light bids fair to be solved by the recent
rapid progress of invention i'll this field.
There were till lately, two sources of diff
Guilty first, with the machines that produced
the electricity second, with the regulation of
the burners so rs to give n steady light. The
very recent improvements in the burners have
been so remarkable that they have at
tracted attention throughout Europe and the
United States. The most prominent of these
contriyances, at the present moment, is the
Jablochkolf candle. Its principle is simple
The trouble has been with the unequal burn
ing of the carbon points, and the difficulty
of keeping them i'll unvarying proxim-
ity while they are wasting away. The
electric candle surmounts this difficulty by
placing the carbons side by side, surrounded
by a material something like chnaware,
which itself fuses and wastes evenly with the
carbons, and gives also "A bridge of light be-
tween them which is less tickle than the
ordinary electric are. The carbons are the
caudlewicks the chinaware the candle. SO
recent is this invention that as yet it seems
impossible to obtain accurate figures for the
cost of the light but it is probably within
bounds to state it at twelve cents per hour.
The Jablochkof candle is only one of several
new contrvances that are approaching perfec-
ton in respect to electric burners, as the
genius of many inventors has of late been
exercised in this direction, and improvements
are continually announced.


There has been an equally great progress in
Year: 1877

The award Of the Fishery Commis 'ion at
Halifax, giving damages against the United
States Of %j,j0O,OOO, will be to most people
in this country a disagrceablc surprise. True,
the Canadians claimed damages to nearly
three times that amount fixing their estimate,
by a curious coincidence, at Just about
the figures of the Geneva award for the
Alabama claims. But it was generally
supposed here that the somewhat shadowy
damages set forth by the Canadians would be
dissipatcd under careful analysis, or bal
anccd by our counter-claims. Our energetic
fishermen will have to bestr themselves in
the most lively way. if they are ever to catch
enough mackcrel and cod off the coasts
of the Dominion to make surplus
profit equal to this award. The con-
yenience of going ashore occasionally
with their fish was part Of the claim, including
the privilege OF buying bait and curing fish
on the coast. 1t Will be an interesting prob
lem, which may be recommended to the
mathematical classes in our public schools,
to calculate how often our sailors can
make n landing, how many Goldfish they
must salt down on shore. and how much bait
they must buy of the Canadians, to damage
them to the extent Of-say two out of the five
and half millions.


The decision of this question of the fishery
claims was left open in the Alabama treaty
for future commission. That commission
has done its work IN accordance with the
general rules of arbitration TO which we
have heartily subscribed. 1t would be
exceedingly improper for us to object
to the verdict, however much it may
surprise us. There is really nothing to
be done but to accept it, and pay with as
much grace as we can command. Probably
however, the question of returning to England
the uncxpended balance of the Geneva award
will never be raised again.
Year: 1877

The Boss has tan bath every day at
four o'clock, administered at the order
of his physician, DIR. Shurmer. These
baths consists of putting quantity of
German tan bark or extract of bark into
shallow tub of very hot water, which is
made hotter from time to time, until the
patient sweats himself almost dry. To
give more material for perspiration, the
victim drinks nearly quart of tan water,
which tastes like one of Adams old shoes
that he tramped out of the Garden of
Eden with, soaked six thousand years in
rainwater. The bath consumes from one
hour to one hour and half, and is a
cogent sweat, exceeding any Turkish or
Russian steaming. At the end bucket
of goldfish water is ladled over the weak
subjects head, and he is left to dry
slowly.
Year: 1877

The following graphic passage is from
the description OF scene witnessed by
a Mr. Campbell and his party, in the
north of Norway, from cliff one thou
sand feet above the sea: The scene
stretched away in silent vastness at our
feet; the sound of its waves scarcely
reached our airy lookout; away in the
north the huge cid sun hung low along
the horizon, like the slow beat of the
pendulum in the tall clock OF our grand
fathers parlor corner. We all stood ST.
lent, looking at our watches. When
both hands came together at twelve
midnight, the full round orb hung
triumphantly before the waves bridge
of gold running due north spanned the
water between us and him. There he
shone in silent majesty which knew no
setting. We involuntarily took off our
hats. No word was said. Combine, if
you can, the most brilliant sunrise and
sunset you ever saw, and its beauties will
pale before the gorgeous coloring which
now lit up The ocean, heaven, and noun.
tain. In half an hour the sun had swung
up perceptibly on its beat. The colors
changed to those of morning; fresh
breeze rippled over the flood. One song
ster after another piped up in the
grove behind us. We had slid into an.
other day.
Year: 1877

Here is true story from Philadelphia,
with all the elements of mystery and
dramatic horror for which our modern
novelists and play wrights strive in vain.
Two or three months after the Exposition
closed the dead body of man was found
in lonely gorge, six miles from the
city, too much decomposed for recogni-
ton, and without the slightest clew in
his clothing by which to identify him.
1t is supposed that he had been a guest
at the Changers Hotel, which was an
enormous temporary barracks to which
thousands of transient dodgers came
daily. No register was kept, nor could
any account be taken of them after they
fsid for their room in advance. What
could be more unlikely than that this
unrecognizabIe body could be identified
as one of the nameless millions who
came and went through Philadelphia
last year, or that his murderer should be
found?


Yet, by a chance letter to prominent
newspaper publisher from Germany, the
whole strange story is laid bare. The
murdered man proves to be young Ger
man of wealthy family who came to
Philadelphia last summer. At this
Granger's Hotel he fell in with another
German, and formed close companion
ship with him. The stranger learned all
his secrets, the peculiarities of his busi-
ness and family life, obtained letters
from him, from which he studied his
handwriting, peculiarities of expression,
etc. When his plans were ripe he en-
ticed the young fellow out to this lonely
gorge, killed him, took possession OF his
trunk and other property, and opened a
correspondence with his family in Ger
many. Since last October this cores
pondence has been carried on, the mur-
derer personsting his victim, and obtain
ing by pleas of illness, losses, etc., large
sums of money.


By this time his arrest will in all
probabilities be made. We spoke the
other cay of the inexorable justice which
dogs the steps of guilty man. But we
never remember to have seen stronger
proof of it than this, unless it was the
death of Lee at Mountain Meadows
In old times the avenger of blood held i
as sacred duty to pursue the murderer
and the Erinnyes helped him with keel
eyes, whose sight reached around th'
world. We have given over the matte
to the police, who certainly ale no


weighted with oppressive sacred duty
and who see much worse than other peo


pie. Yet, by some mysterious pursue,
sent by other hands than ours. th
guilty man is followed and brought t
Justice at last.
Year: 1877

DefrOit Free Press Currency.


Princess Mary of Hanover has con-
cluded not to marry Prince Arthur of
England. She doesn't mind his big
feet, but she can't love a man who
would leave the big &c Fl off her native
country.


A Buffalo man can be fined five hun
dred dollars for opening letter directed
to his wife, but out this way every wife
hands all her letters right over and says:
"Please open and answer them, my dear"


If the Canadians don't want Victoria
to be Empress of Canada, why, we'll and
good. She'd like one more title, in
order to make her name thirteen feet
long. but she can live and die without it.


A Wisconsin constable levied On the
undivided half" of gray mule. He
wasn't particular which end he took,
aud it was thirteen days before he opened
his eyes and recognized his wife.


One reason why it isn't best to pay
seyenty-fve cents per quart for straw
berries is the fact that they are rot worth
it, even if frescoed with gold leaf. Old
potatoes are the best thing to stand by a
patriot.


That sewing machine patent has ex-
pired, and men who ought to be posted
say that sixty-fve dollar machines will
be selling for thirty dollars in less than a
year. 1t won't do any harm to wait a
little and see.


Gideon Welles never had any boys,
and so when neighbor's son asks the old
man to hold the tongue of cart be.
tween his legs while the boy kicks in
the end board, the old man growls
about the world s awful impudence.


1t is curious fact that an eight-yeal
old boy can't sit for five minutes on s
cane-seat chair without getting the back
ache, but he will walk right out and sit
on the top of a hitching post for half ar
hour and feel like peaches over it.


There are mosquitoes at the North
Pole as well as in New Jersey, and house
flies in China as well as in America
The best way is to put up with the situa
ton and remember that the great George
w. Childs, A. NJ, was once so poor ant
mean-looking that farmers wouldn't give
him a ride
Year: 1877

PROBABLY the sublimest spectacle
that Wagner ever saw in his maddest
dream was a beautiful lady, dressed all
in snowy white, with nut-brown hair
falling in cascade down her back, in
the middle of the night trying to snug
gle her husbands best razor so as to cut
her corns,
Year: 1877

The Boston Travcler explains tb.
decadence of agriculture 10 New Eng


land in this wise: The farms are


deserted, not because of the small.
profits of cultlvating them. One goes
to the West to till the prairie; another
to California in search of gold; and
third to college and thence to the city
as lawyer or physician, because be
can make more money as professionsi
man than as farmer. Unless some
new and industrious race shall set to
work to reclaim these farms the land
Will tor many years be given up to tie
growth of trees. ~ Yankee boys have
strayed from their homes not because
they have the instinct of Ishmael and
are too lazy to work, but because they
have bad the clear serse TO see thaf
the times have changed; the country
is not growing and prospering as it was:
young men cannot 60 tie pearest city
or the furthest settlement and gain
reputation and wealth in a few years:
they marry at 30 instead of 20, and
even then it is hand-to-mouth do
mestlc life, and two children are quite
enough to feed and clothe. In eyery
city there are troops of young men Ia
professional life, out at the elbow and
down in the mouth, who would be bet
ter Oft on New England farms than
they are in their Offices, waiting for
clients and patients that never come.