smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

The following suggests that many
studies dreaded by the young, and com
monty supposed to be hard and uninter-
esting, may be made as easy as fun:


told the boys to go over and mea-
sure the height of the flagstaff OF
Georges Hill, in Fairmount park, and
they looked at me in sstonishment,
asking at the same time how they could
do it-fOr both they and / knew they
could not climb to the top. So I ex-
planned to them how they might do it.
without going to the top-and they
made the instrument themselves with
which to do it.


They got a square rail, about four
feet long; then, at one end, they nailed
to it, at right angles, straight stick
three feet high exactly one foot dis
tar t, they pailed another straight stick
four feet fsgh, then another, one foot
distant, five feet high.


The instrument was complete, and
they all started over to the hag-pole
with it. When they got as near 70 the
pole as they thought the pole was high,
they pIumbed it, by holding a string,
with q stone tied to it, at the top of one
of the sticks the stick was made to
stand just as straight up and down as
the string.


Then they sighted, or looked along
the tops of the upright sticks, at the
hag-p0le. By moving the instrument
Just to the right place, they made the
sticks Grange" with the top of the
pole that is, while looking over the
top of the three sticks, their eyes, see
ing the end of the sticks all the while,
saw also the very top of the flag pole.


BY measuring them, from that spot
TO the fag-pole, along the ground, they
were able to tell me that the flag staff
was one hundred and twelve feet dis
tant from them, and 50 the flag staff vas
one hundred and twelve feet high.


Now, this was q simple application Of
geometry. lesson that looks lawful :"
hard to boys at school, but was only
fun learned in this way.
Year: 1874

~ANA- WV SSiohtllC AAncAAldu


There are some curiosities about ma
chimes which seem to be unacconntable.
Every user of sewing-machine knows
that from someunknown reason the ma
chine which yesterday performed its
work so well, so almost enthusiastically,
to-day refuses to do more than half its
task and does that half in surly, In
different manner. So with many other
machines. Even the steam engine is
subject to these fits. Is there some
occult bond Of sympathy between the
operator and his machine, by which the
latter is influenced by the mental condi-
ton of the former; for it is certain that
these differences cannot be attributed to
the atmospheric or other external in
fuences? This matter is quite humor-
ously and truthfully treated in the sub
Joined extract, to which we referred in
the beginning of the articles:


1t is perfectly well known to expe-
rienced engineers that if dozen diff
ferent locomotive engines we're made
at the same time, OF the same power,
for the same purpose, of like materials,
in the same factory, each of those loco.
motive engines would come out with
ito own peculiar whims and ways, only
ascertainable by experience. One en-
gine will take great meal Of coal and
water at once; another will not hear to
such thing, but will insist on being
coaxed by spsdefuls and bucketfuls.
One is disposed to start off when re
quired at the top of his speed; another
must have little time to warm at his
work and to get we'll into it. These pc
cuharities are so accurately mastered by
skillful drivers that only particular men
can persuade engines to do their best.
1t would seem as if some of these excel.
lent monsters declared on being brought
out of the stable, If it's Smith who is
to drive, / won't go. If it's my friend
Stokes, | am agreeable to anythingP


"All locomotive engines are low-spir-
tied in damp and foggy weather They
have a great satisfaction in their work
when the air is crisp and frosty. At
such time they are very cheerful and
brisk, but they strongly Lbiect to haze
and mists. These are points of charac-
ter on which they are united. 1t is in
their peculiarites and varieties Of char
acter that they are most remarkable.


"The railway company who should
cossign all their locomotives to one uni
form standard of treatment without any
allowance for varying shades of charac-
ter and opinion, would soon fall as much
behindhand in the world as those greater
governments are, and ever will be, who
pursue the same course with the finer
piece of work called man"
Year: 1874

white silk trousers, band Of purple
around her jet black hair, and earrings,
bracelets and spangles of gold Each


girl rises and dances in turn, then two
or more repeat the dance with variations.
The dark skin Of the ankles is relieved
by gold bracelets. Their feet are bare,
and at first glide softly over the floor
without seeming to leave the surface.
The body is swayed from the hips, aud
pieces of red silk are waved by the dan
GERS. The contortions become more
complex and the movement more rapid


as the time of the music increases.


From the account one would judge that
the dance is Of rather a voluptuous ra-
ture. 1t is termed the Oriental can-can


The girls now in Paris are said to be
remarkably fond of champagne, siu-
gular taste for followers of the Prophet.
Year: 1874

1t is proposed to prevent the nuisance
TO railroad travellers arising from the
smoke and fine ashes from the loeomo-
tive BY attaching a pipe to the smoke
stack to carry the smoke to the end of
the train.
Year: 1874

THE JAPANEsE.-Thed dress of the
Japanese, sayS-a writer, is plain, but
quite neat and comfortable, and, be
it said to their praise, far surpasses
our own in point of physiological
fitness. The men and women both
wear garment very much resemb-
ling the old Roman toga, which is
fastened about the waist with a
broad girdle. The women wear
their hair in very nice way, some-
thing after the waterfall style, minus
the false material. The men wear
theirs pretty much as the Europeans
do. 1t is the custom for the ladies,
as soon as they marry, to blacken
their teeth and shave their eyebrows,
IN order, | presume, to prove their
affection for their husbands; and l
should think it ought, for it renders
them horribly ugly. The young
misses are usually very cookbook
ing, and some of them beautiful,
but none of them can compare with
our young girls at home. They are
accepting the modern improvements
with wonderful celebrity, and are
making great strides on the road of
civilization, rapidly distancing their
neighbors.
Year: 1874

One cannot fail to admire the 6ne
sense of Propriety of the proprietor
to the Wisconsin - who in a re-
cent number said, sowing 70 the
death of the editor there wont be
any leader on Tuesday, but look out
for an old ripper on Wednesday"
Year: 1874

II you are gaining little by little,
every day, be content Are your ex-
penses less than your income, so that,
little by little, you are yet constantly
accommodating and growing richer and
richer every day? Be content; so far
as concerns money, you are doing
very well.


Are you gaining knowledge every
day? Though it be little by little, the
aggregate Of the accumulation, where
no day is permitted to pass without
adding something to the stock, will
be surprising to yourself. Solomon
did not become the wisest man in
the world in q minute. Little by lit
tle-never emitting to learn some
thing, even for q single day-always
studying a little between the time oi
rising up in the morning anc lying
down at night; this is the way to ac-
cumulate full stOrehouse Of knowl.
edge.


Finally, are you daily improving
in character? Be not discouraged
because it is little by little. The best
OF men fall far short of what they
themselves would wish to be. Ii II
something, It is much, IL you keeI
your good resolutions better to-day
than you did yesterday; better thiI
week than you did last; better thii
year than you did last year. Strive
70 be perfect, but do not become dis
heartened so long as you are approach
ing nearer and nearer to the higf
standard st which you aim.


Little by little fortunes are aceu
mulated; little by little character and
reputation are achieved.
Year: 1874

Ladies of q certain age will hail
with delight the advent of a new pet.


This discovery is destined to do away
with cats and dogs, parrots and cana
ries. The coming favorite is the


American alligator. His open coun-


tenance will inspire confidence at first


sight, and he always rejoices in the
possession of q tail, pathetic or other
wise. Alligators are also very sensi-
tive and sympathetic, and "crOco-
die tears" has become q converse
tional phrase. The affection of the
alligator tribe is notorious they have
been known to attach themselves to q
child SO closely that death alone could
destroy the bond, and it is a circum-
stance worthy of observation that it is
the child that has generally died. In
the family of a lawyer they would
prove most agreeable pets, for, besides
the pleasure of watching their gam
bols, it would be extremel y convent
ent to have an alligator always on


hand. Another recommendation is
that they do not require the care that
other pets demand. A meal of old
boots, and now and then q stray cal
or dog, is all that they require. The
native grace, dazzling beauty, and ex-
ceeding gracefulness of the juvenile
alligator render him an indispensable
adjunct TO drawing-rooms. What
eouldbe pleasanter than to be met in
the hall, on your return from the Of
flee, by the Florida pet, his tail wag'
ging a welcome, and his smiling jaws
testifying his pleasure; or what more
charming picture can be drawn than
the cosy fireside, the good wife sitting
on one side of the table, the husband
with his newspapers on the other, and
in front of them. basking in the ge'
nial freight, the family alligator
with blue ribbon around its neck


"Thrice the brindle cat hath mewed." !"
Let her NEW no longer; rather let the
musical roar of the alligator be Oul
mathis, its gentle grunt our curfew.
Year: 1874

Some time since, Mr.. Monroe, from
Ohio, introduced into the House a
bill which, while it was intended for
the District of Columbia, contains an
important principle in regard to the
liquor question. Heretofore il has
been almost impossible to convict
any person of selling liquor on ac-
count of the impossibility of proving
actual sale. If the prosecutor did not
witness the sale or did not taste OF
what was sold, dismissal of the case
was sure TO follow. The bill OF Mr..
Monroe makes the finding Of the i'm
plements and furniture of bar-room
prima facie evidence of liquor selling
just the same as finding appurtenan-
ces upon any premises will convict OF
keeping q gambling house. The bill
also declares that whenever the board
of police shall become satisfied that g
person to whom q license has been
granted for the sale of liquor is an
unfit person to continue such sale
the license shall be revoked.
Year: 1874

In order to q proper understanding
of the Associated Press dispatches
from Little Rock, the following
special to the st. Louis Democrat
may prove serviceable:


The dispatches of the Associated
Press have grossly misreFresented
AFFAIR." from the commencement The
agent here is q Bourbon Democrat,
associate editor OF the GdzStte, the
Democratic organ of the insurgents,
and exConfederate Lieutenant, and
an active supporter of Mr.. Baxter
He has used his position to bolster up
the waning strength and meagerr
equivocal popularity of Mr.. Baxter
The dispatches have been partisan in
the extreme, and in the sole interes
of the mob who hold Baxter to thei
advice and dictum.
Year: 1874

A young lady was caught smoking
q cigar one evening recently, and she
excused herself therefor by saying
that she ''liked to smoke sometimes,
because it smelled as il there was 8
man around.n
Year: 1874

Like Stephen, we may carry brightness on
our face. There is something In the world
which we may learn; there is something from
God which we may have, that will change all
to brightness. Not, indeed, TO brightness such
as the angels above live in, and continually be-
hold. There are some things to weep over;
there are many things TO fear. This q world OF
cloud and shadow. But the heaven in which
the cloud floats, is larger than the cloud, and
oil full Of light. Shadows are melting things,
and even while they continue, the very TACT that
they are seen to be shadows argues the presence
and prevalence Of q superior light. The true
philosophy oflife is this-to get the light.
Year: 1874

To see how eagerly human being will catch
at Il straw, It is not necessary 10 witness a
drowning. The phenomenon is now manifest
chiefly W WitEln saloons, where one end OF the
straw is immersed In a tumbler.
Year: 1874

A Salt Lake City correspondent of


the Chicago Inter Ocean says "There


seems to be general impression among


strangers that the city of Salt Lake is


located on the margin of the great Salt


lake, and the tourist on his arrival here


is surprised and disappointed to find
that it is not. The popular visiting
place on the lake is what is called Black
Rock, lying directly west twenty miles
distant from this city, on the old over
land mail road going towards California.
It is a most interesting spot to visit, and
it is very strange that out of the many
who travel across the continent, desirous
of seeing everything of interest, there
are SO few who will take the time and
trouble to see this most wonderful and
beautiful sheet of water. The size of
the lake is about eighty miles from east
to west, and about one hundred miles
from north to south. It is the great
reservoir for all the waters that empty
into the surrounding valleys, without
any known outlet, except what the gen.
tie rays of the summer sun draws up to
the cloudy strata of the heavens. The
any body of water in the world, and its
C4OS amy 40 AOA4y AOO pS4 SCAIs 1uOAS
than that of the ocean. In the crudest
manner the Mormons make pail of salt
from three pals of water, and the buoy
ancy is very perceptible in bathing,
when the ordinary swimmer finds he
can float as easily and securely as walk
ing on the sure and firm-set earth
Sinking is impossible. The water in
the lake is gradually rising, and some
estimates have put it at ten inches each
year; but no means have been taken to
measure it until about two months
since, when a granite monument was
erected at Black Rock. short distance
fro - the shore. The lake as thing of
beauty is almost unsurpassed. The
water at times is of the deepest green;
at others of the purest blue and, vary
ing from the shallow to the deep water,
from the lightest to the darkest shades,
and ate all times like the grand old
ocean. The seagull and the pelican
scale just overhead, riding gracefully
the waves upon its smooth or rolling
surface"
Year: 1874

The soul knows no prison.


Rage is mental imbecility.


To revenge is no valor, but to bear.


Remorse is the echo of lost mother.


Mans the circled oak; woman the
ivy.


Incidence and stupidity are first
cousins.


There is music in all things if men
had ears.


Magnificent promises are always to be
suspected.


Virtue is the beauty, and vice the de-
formity of the soul.


An acre of performance is worth
whole world of promise.


There is frightful interval between
the seed and the timber.


There is not string attuned to mirth
but has its chord of melancholy.


If man empties his purse into his
head, no one can take it away from him.


Purposes, like eggs, unless they are
hatched into action, will run into rot
tenness.


Measure not men by Sundays, with
out regarding what they do all the week
after.


All the rarest hues of human life take
raQ1aQC6 anu are I8lubOWou OuG III tCdISs


The worth of state, in the long run,
is the worth of the individuals compos'
ing it.


/ am sorry to see how small a piece of
religion will make a cloak Sir. Wa
liam Waller.


The chains of habit are generally too
small to be felt till they are too strong
to be broken.


While the world lasts, the sun will
gild the mountain-tops before it shines
upon the plain.


Pitch lucky man into the Nile, says
the Arabian proverb, and be will come
up with fish in his mouth.


As riches and favor forsake man, we
discover him to be fool but nobody
could find it out in his prosperity.


True religion is the poetry of the
heart it has enchantments useful to
our manner it gives us both happi-
ness and virtue.


If man is not rising upwards TO be
an angel, depend upon it he is sinking
downward to the devil. He cannot stop
at the beast.


The habit of virtue cannot be formed
in closet. Habits are formed by acts
of reason in a persevering struggle
through temptation.


I hate in ratitude in man more than
lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
or taint of vice whose strong corrup-
ton inhabits our frail blood.-Mak-
s31enrP
Year: 1874

Major Butler, in his "Wild North
Land" gives the following picture of
sunset in the north land "He who
rides for months through the vast sol
itudes sees during the hours of his
daily travel an unbroken panorama Of
distance. The seasons come and go /;
grass grows and flowers die the fire
leaps with tiger bounds along the earth;
the snow lies still and quiet over hill
and lake; the rivers rise and fall but
the rigid features of the wilderness rest
unchanged. Lonely, silent and impas-
sive ; needless of man, season or time,
the might of the Infinite seems to brood
over it, and only in the hours of day
and night a moment comes when this
impressive veil is drawn from its feat
ures, and the eye of the wanderer catch
es 8 glimpse of the sunken soul of the
wilderness it is the moment which fol-
lows the sunset. Then a deep stiffness
steals over the earth cOlors of wond-
rous hue rise and spread along the west
ern horizon. In a deep sea of emerald
and q range of fifty shades, mingled
and interviewer together, rose-cOiOrFd
isles float, anchored to great golden
threads, while far away, seemingly
above and beyond all. one broad flash
of crimson light, the parting suns last
gift, reddens upwards to the zenith


A story is tJld of a San Francisco
woman who was in the habit of receiv-
ing frequent castigations at the hands
of her husband, and who one day read
the bible story of Samson and Delilah.
When next her consort was prone in
sleep she sheared him SO comnIeteIv
that every spear of hair disappeared
from his face and head. Rousing from
his slumber like a giant refreshed, he
Year: 1874

An interesting discovery Of a life.size
female bust in pure silver has lat ly
teen made at Herculaneur1. The work,
according 10 an account given in the
Patrie, is in a state of excellent preser'
walton, and is the only sp cimen Of its
kind which has been found during the
course of the excavations. At FIRST tho
material was thought 20 be only bronze,
the action of the sulphur having some
what altered the appearance Of the sur
face, and the sulphate of silver which
has formed upon the metal yielding a
black color like that found in the COM
monest sort of material. The bust was
removed 10 the museum, when one OF
the keepers, struck with the unusual
tone of the bronze, scraped away n part
of the surface, and Rt once came upon
the silver beneath. A discuss on has
arisen whether the work was originally
cast or chiselled, but there seems now
little doubt that the former hypothesis
is correct. Tho head is that OF young
and beautiful woman, but as yet the
features have not been identified with
those Of any other e1tant head,
Year: 1874

The sperm whale is an habitue of the
deep water, seldom found on sound
ings, and feeding on creatures of great


size in the profoundest depths of the
ocean. The right while frequents the


bays and shoal waters of the coasts. It
feeds on minute shrimps and mollusks


which float upon the surface of the sea
or at moderate depths. In the sperm
whale the male is much larger than the
female; in the right whale the female
attains the greatest bulk. In the sperm
whale the upper jaw, case and junk
form the great portion of the head, the
under jaw being furnished with ivory
teeth. In the right whale the lower
Jaw, with its great lips and tongue, is
greatly -disproportioned to the slender
upper Jaw, which is furnished with the
elastic slabs of whalebone. In the
sperm whale the great respiratory canal
is elongated, and terminates in single
spout-hole little to one side on the
extreme end of the head. In the right
whale this canal branches into two
channels, which terminate in two spout
holes about eighteen feet back from the
nose.


The sperm whale is dangerous at
either end, but the motions of its hukes
are limited as compared with the right
whale. Its blows are delivered verti-
cally, and when it strikes right or left
the blow is performed by rolling of
the body. To compensate for this
rigidity of the fukes, it is possessed of
admirable skill in fencing with the jaw.
The most fatal accidents in boats arise
from this weapon. The motion of the
jaw is quick, and its sweep tremendous.
In large whale rolling, with the jaw
distended, the sweep may include
circle of forty feet, aud woe be to the
boat whose bottom receives the upward
cut, while certain death follows the re-
ception of the downward blow Thus
it is possible for two boats placed forty
feet apart to be broken by the same
blow from the jaw of a rolling sperm
whale. The right whale, on the con
trary, is comparatively harmless with
the head; but is possessed of great lat
eral reach with the hukes, sweeping, as
whalemen express it, from eye to eye.
To Judge from external evidence, the
sperm whale is much the more COM
bative of thetwo. No large bull whale of
this species is taken whose great square
head is not SCARED and furrowed with
marks of the teeth of rival bulls, and
often the shattered teeth and broken
or distorted jaws attest the fierceness of
their combats. The right whale, how
ever, is incapable of more than severely
padding its enemy with its tail. The
sperm whale, of the two, is more
regular and much longer in it's periods
of spouting and of remaining under
water. 1t will spout sixty or seventy
times and remain under water an hour
or more, even when not pursued. The
right whale spouts twelve or fifteen
times, perhaps, and then descends for
& short period. Both turn fukes, or
lift the tail perpendicularly in the air,
when they go down. The oil of the
one is rich in spermaceti; the other
furnishes the lower priced train oil.
Year: 1874

To succeed is not so much to do many
things well as to do nothing i'll. One
ridiculous failure will cast suspicion
on all we claim to be able to accomplish.
The very calm still waiting and watch
ing, and ever refusing to display ones
self at disadvantage, is itself not the
least impressive of qualities. The op-
ponent who cannot be tempted to lunge,
until by careful and progressive expert
ment he has felt that his grounds sure,
that arm, sword, and volition go well
together, has inspired dread by the
very deliberation and method of his at
tack that goes far to make it successful.
Not at all that enterprise is to be con-
temned-let US go forward but going,
try step by step, cast aside every weight,
ware every stumbling-blcck. It is so
easy to stumble, so easy to disappear in
the mud of some ditch-which, not to
speak of the danger, is so very ridicu-
lous thiDg-that it pays to look out.


We shall find that, even doing our
best, we shall have but little to boast
of in the shape of success while care
lessness or rashness is almost certain
ruin. To know "no such word as fail !"
is to fail. Let us know it, never lose
sight of it it is tireless foe; it has
slain it's thousands-men greater and
prouder than we it is a Brutus who
has stabbed many Caesars on the very
throne-foot of their triumph. Beware
the ides of March! And as we all
have our ides, though we know not
when they come, let us so live as if
they were always present.--OUerta2ad
HTo3fbiu