smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1879

One day the Emperor was riding by
a window, Through it he SAW a tailor at
work. Being inclined to have some
sport, the Emperor stopped opposite
the window which was open, and cried
out


"What is your employment, my fine
fellow ?"


"I am a tailor, SIR" said the man.


The reply was so appropriate that
the Emperor took the Cross of the Le-
gion of Honor from his own breast, and
made him a Typographical Engineer
on the spot.


In the earlier part of spring, Napo-
leon was in the habit of rising early and
walking in plain dress by the side of
the Seine. One morning in the course
Of his perambulations, he encountered
Jne of the fraternity of washerwomeL
commonly known as laundresses. See
ing her drinking something, the En-
perOr said:


"What is that you are drinking,
madame?"


Water" said she.


"Water?" said the Emperor.


Eyes; one must needs drink water
when one can get nothing else."


The Emperor said nothing at the mo-
nlent, but the next day the old woman
was surprised upon being informed
that his Majesty had been so pleased
with her exhibition of contentment,
that he had assigned her a pension of
hundred thousand francs per year.


A farm laborer was walking with his
shoes in his hand along the road, when
1t happened that the Emperor was
passing.


''Why do you not put your shoes
upon your feet, my good fcllow?" he
said.


"Ah! may injure them on the peb-
bles of the road" said the peasant.


"Why, then, by avoiding that, you
may injure your toes," said the EN-
peror.


"True, sir, but they will get well of
their own accord again, while a shoe
out OF repair, Will cost something TO
mend"


Napoleon admired his economical
philosophy so much, that he immedi-
appointed him Minister of Finance to
the Empire, with the title of the Due
de Sabot.


Immediately after the battle of Aus
terlitz, Napoleon was riding over the
field of battle, giving directions as TO
the wounded and dead. In his pro-
gress he saw a camp follower. who
appeared to have been -WOnndedi in thA-


"You appear to having been doing
soldiers duty" said Napoleon.


sob! pitch plaster will make it all
well in a day or two"


The Emperor. struck with the intre-
pidity of the man and the originality of
the reply, made him a Marshal of the
Empire on the field, and ever after held
him in the highest respect.
Year: 1879

length cried Justify, calling the wolves
to renewed pursuit. In vain the poor
mother tried to soothe her infant, but
another fish was followed by a fresh
flight and precious delay of the pack.


Again and again the action was re-
peated, until at length the barking of
two huge dogs alarmed the wolves,
while the almost exhausted mother ran
past the friendly brutes to the door of
the farmhouse, thrown open to receive
her.


The great dogs are trained to their
duty, and no sooner was the fugitive in
the house than they also retired in good
order TO the same safe stronghold, leav-
ing the foiled wolves to rage outside,
and fall before the guns that were
speedily brought to bear upon them.


The weary mother found safety and
rest, but whether she saved any of her
fish tradition does not relate.
Year: 1879

Thirty three years ago, an Egyptian
desert snail was received at the British
Museum. The animal was known to be
alive, as it had withdrawn into its shell,
and the specimen was accordingly gummed,
mouth downward, on to tablet, duly Ia
beled and dated, and left to its fate. In
stead of starving, this contented gastropod
simply went to sleep, in quiet way, and
never woke up again for four years, The
tablet was then placed in tepid water, and
the shell loosened, when the dormant snail
suddenly resuscitated himself, began walk
ing about the basin, and finally sat for his
portrait. Now, during these four years,
the snail had never eaten mouthtul OF
any food, yet he was quite as well anc
fiourishing at the end of the period as he
had been at its beginning.
Year: 1879

Learn to darn stockings neatly, and
then always see that your own are in
order. Do not let button be off your
shoes minute longer than needful.
1t takes just about a minute to sew one
on, and oh, how much better a foot
looks in trinity button boot than it
does in lopsided affair with all the
buttons off. Every girl should learn TO
make simple articles of clothing


We know little Miss of seven who
the whole of blue calico dress for her
self, and pieced large bed quilt. She
was not an Over-taXed child, either,
but merry, rOmping, INDUCED, only
daughter. But she was "smart," and
she did not die young, either. Indeed
we have seldom known children "too
smart to live" Very few die of that
complaint, whatever their grandmOth-
ers may think. So never be afraid Il
bit OF OVERRIDING the business. Help
all you can and study over the business
daily. Once get into the habit of look
ing over your things, and you will like
it wonderfully. You will have the in
dependent feeling that you need not
wait for any ones convenience in re-
pairing and making, but that you can
be beforehand with all such matters.
The relief to your weary mother will
be more than you can ever estimate.
Year: 1879

The n. Y. Tribune takes a very rosy
view Of the business situation. And So
also does the New York Commercial Lia.
says the latter: "The condition Of trade
and industry is better than it has been in
decade; and the steady decrease OF bus
mess disasters, and the handsome returns
derived from all industrial pursuits, both
corporate and private, give great promise
Of a continuance OF satisfactory results
The encouragement of the present springs
very largely from the surprising gains that
have been made during the year now draw
ing to close. Our principal crops have
been larger than ever before, and a larger
acreage Of virgin soil has been brought
under cultivation; our railroad system
has extended to remote sections; most Of
our manufacturing establishments that
were prostrated during the revulsion have
been rehabilitAted, and new ones added i;
the circle Of our exports has been widen
ed by the addition of new articles sent
abroad, while the quantity of many of the
old ones has increased; we have added
materially to our realized wealth by the
accession OF money and muscle from the
Old World. These are all great and indis-
putable as we'll as cheering facts. They
make no draft upon theory or speculation,
but simply show what has been done and


indicate future capability."
Year: 1879

MILWAUKEE, Dec. l6-At a meeting,
this evening, of the Executive Committee
otthe Honest Money League, Of Milwau-
kee, twas unanimously resolved to pre-.
pare and circulate for signatures for two
memorials to Congress, one in favor OF
withdrawing the legal tender character
from greenbacks; the other that the further
issue of silver coin be suspended until an
international Congress shall agree upon
the relative value ofsilver and gold. or in
case Congress declines to so act, then that
in the future coinage OF silver it shall be
made by weight, equal in value to gold.
Year: 1879

WASHINGTON. December 16.-Among
the members Of the committee who have
arrived there is a very decided Grant
feeling, Grant seems to be the fist choice
Of the majority who are here, and his
Year: 1879

The Zulus have a few legends, all un- written, but handed down from one generation to another, as nursery stories are told by the mother to the children. Their account of the introduction of death into the world is as follows: They say that when the earth began to be peo- pied, death was not known. The Greek king made condition which was to decide whether or not death should come. He placed lizard and a chameleon side by side to start on lace. If the chame- leon came to the goal first, life was to remain on the earth. But if the lizard came out first, death would enter into the world. The lizard being a swift run ner, and the chameleon a slow walker, the question was soon decided in favor of the lizard, who brought death into the world and all our woe. The reptiles are very common in Natal, but are not wor- shipped by the natives, nor are they looked upon with any superstitious re gard. They have no idea of worship, and, consequently. no idea of sin, except ing that which is committed against s fellow-being. They have the second tabls of law, but not the first. The converted Zulu does not trace his sin so far back a: the lizard, but only to his own heart When he sees anything wonderful per formed by the white man, he exclaims

 sAhalunga Ina blulua ukufa kodma!' "The white man is surpassed by deatl only" Death has come into the world and that cannot be stopped. The grea and important thing is to have our worl done, and be prepared to meet it.
Year: 1879

An "OId CoIonist" contributes to an English paper the following description of theIking of the Zulus: His eyes were ex- ceptionally large and brilliant, but lis fore head, though broad for a Caffre, was very receding, while the lower part of his face denoted determined and brutal nature. He was very elaborately dressed. Over his shoulders was fastened leopard skin keeros or cloak, reaching down to the back of his knees; round his loins he wore handsome moochy-that is, band of tiger-cat skins, with deep fringe of strips of the same skin hanging downward His wrists and ankles were decorated with rings of red, white and black beads, and his hair with several ostrich feathers In the slit in his right ear the distinguished mark of the Zulus who are all so cut in the lobe of both ears in infancy) he carried a very ornamental snuff-box, made from a piece of bamboo cane, carved and decorated with beads, and in the slit in his left ear he carried comb The Zulu comb is about six inches long, and is made of bone or ivory. The top of the handle is of the shape of the bowl of a spoon, and with it they measure out snuff The lower part is elaborately carved. The teeth, of which there. are only three, are fully four inches long, and resembles the prongs of a fork. In his right hand Cete wayo carried hunting assegai, and on hi' left arm his shield. The hunting shield Ii much smaller than the war shield, and ii made in this way: A ballock's skin is dried and out of the center piece is cut of th' required size and shape, only one shielt being obtained from one skin. The cente is supported by slips of tough green hide and from top to bottom on the inside stou stick is fixed, by which the shield is held

 and mostly, as was the case with Cetewayo's the top of the stick is surmounted by tn tail of the tiger-cat.
Year: 1879

Crime often apparently assumes the form of an epidemic. One suicide is almost certain to te followed by an- other. A railroad accident is sure to be the forerunner of an indefinite series, and bank robbery in one city sets all the burglars at work in others. Dr. Hammond says that a man in Paris, having hung himself on certain beam in an out-house, two or three other per sons went successively to the same place and hung themselves in the same manner. until the government finally had the beam removed in order to pre- vent any further imitation of the original suicide. The attempts upon the life of King William, of Germany, were fol lowed by like attempts of assassination on the King of Italy, the King of Spdn and the Car of Russia.
Year: 1879

At meeting of scientists in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, MT. Burnett read paper on color blindness. He began by defining the defect com monly known as color blindness as the effect either of congenital incapacity for appreciating one of the three classes of colors, or as incapacity from want of cultivation; the one being beyond remedy, while the other could be en- tirely overcome by constant exercise. He stated that in his experiments he em- ployed, as was done in Europe, skeins of Berlin wool of all colors and shades. The experiments were made by placing the colors side by side, and noting to what extent the patient was able to distinguish them. Mir. Burnett then mentioned thathis investigations showed | the percentage of color blindness i'll women to be smaller by two-thirds than in men. which he attributed to the greater amount of cultivation in them of the faculty of approaching color than | in men. That from more than 5000 cases of colored people examined by him | in the District of Columbia, the per centage of color blindness had been found much below that of the whites, in dicating that possibly this might be oi value ethnologically as furnishing an additional race characteristic. He threw out as a suggestion whether this in creased capacity for color was moi coupled with the well-known negro ap

 preciation for harmony in sound.
Year: 1879

THE contest for the Speakership of the
next House has already begun. Speaker
Randall is candidate for reelection and his
friends claim that he has already enough
votes pledged to him to assure his success.
positions in the Senate and House and an
active canvass is in progress by host of as
pirants. The Dem ocrats do not appear to
attach much Importance TO the Greenback
element in the next House, and do not ap-
prehend any trouble from that quarter in or
ganizing the next House two weeks hence.
Year: 1879

THE danger of knowing girls is well Illus
trated by the Lynn trunk mystery. Since
the body of the unknown woman was found
some half dozen men have been arrested and
in some cases committed on suspicion, be-
cause they have known girls in the past
whose whereabouts at present they have no
knowledge of. If young man finds it nee
essary for his safety tn keep himself posted on
the movements of his female acquaintance,
so as to be able to tell at moments notice
exactly where they may be found, he will be
likely to reduce their number to zero.
Year: 1879

We DO DOT reao anonymous letters and commune
cstions The name and address Of the writer are in
si cases Indispensable, necessariy for publication
but as 8 guaranty of good faith,


We cannot undertake to return or preserve COM
municstions chat are cot used.
Year: 1879

The Springfield CMass) Republican
calls attention to trait of farmers in
which, it thinks, they differ, as regards
each other, from the members of any
other guild. "Each man is eager to
show his neighbor any new discovery or
acquisition which he has possessed him
self of that is likely to help on the busi-
ness of farming. If he thinks he has a
good thing he wants others to know
about it, whether it be the result of some
successful experiment in raising crop,
an improved breed of cattle or variety of
vegetable or a package Of superior seed
which has come from q distance Ap-
parently he does not for moment enter
tain the idea that it would be to his profit
to keep such knowledge OF specimens to
himself. And if another farmer comes
to see him, he is pleased to show all his
possessions, and there is no corners Of
the place by which the visitor is hurried
because some experiment is going on
there which the owner does not care to
have seen, as is often the case when visi-
tor makes the grand rounds of factory.
Contrast this habit of the farmers with
the way that neighboring merchants and
manufacturers do their business. Why,
when it was first proposed to connect the
paper mills in Holyoke with their Offices
IN this city by telephone, objection was at
once raised that the paper makers might
possibly learn each others secrets as q
consequence"
Year: 1879

To Keep Beds from Haoing Bugs.-A
hotel keeper says: Ny plan is at this
season, to have all my beds taken to
pieces, to scrub all the joints and ends
with water and soap, and then to use any
hard varnish for the ends, Stats, etc. I
know of no other method as easy or as
thorough. have used this in Georgia
and Florida.


HAIR Brushes. "A few drops of harts-
horn put in little water will clean a
hair brush better than anything else,
and does the brush no harm. IF very
dirty rub little soap on the brush. At
ter cleaning, rinse in clear water, and
hang the brush up by the window to dry,
Do not let the bristles on any hard sub
stance while wet. It is better to tie a
string rouud the handle and hang up.


A Good; !" Greaser."- baking buck
wheat and other griddle cakes, piece of
fat bacon as ''greaser" is by many
thought to be almost indispensable.
Those who are of this opinion will, on
trial, soon learn that turnip, divided in
two, answers the same or a better purpose,
as the odor-the most unpleasant part of
cake baking comes from the greaser in
contact with the hot iron whereas with the
turnip very little Of this is perceptible.
Year: 1879

4aAn old farmer once said he would not
have hired man on his farm who did
not habitually whistle. He always hired
whistlers. He never knew a whistling
laborer to find fault with his food, his bed,
or complain Of any extra work he was
asked to perform. Such man was gen.
orally kind to children and animals in his
care. He would whistle chilled lamb
into warmth and life, and would bring
in his hat full Of eggs from the barn with
out breaking one Of them. He found
such a man more careful about closing
gates, putting up bars, and seeing that the
nuts on his plow were all properly tight
ened before he took it out into the field.
He never knew whistling hired man to
beat or kick COW or drive her on run
into the stable. He had noticed that the
sheep that he fed in the iyard or shed
gathered around him as he whistled
without fear, He had never employed q
whistler who was not thoughtful and
economical.
Year: 1879

aOf all the men that served under the
Stars and Stripes during the war of the
Rebellion, none were more thoroughly in
earnest or more truly loyal to the Union
than those recruited in Western Virginia.
The war was terribly real to them. Not
one but had a brother, friend or neigh
Dor on the other side, with whom he had
fought out the question in words long be-
fore arms were taken up. They felt that
it was personal quarrel. They were
terrible fellows to fight, although fright
fully lax in discipline. Their officers
those that were wise-teok them for
what they we're, appreciated their fight
ing qualities, and soon ceased to worry
about their lack Of discipline. What
mattered it if they were not exact in mat
tiers OF salutes to their superiors? They
were prompt to obey when duty called,as
brave as lions in the face of the enemy,
and kindness itself to those who under
stood and appreciated them. One day, a
command made up mainly of rough
but manly fellows of this sort had a fight
with the enemy, and captured
large number of prisoners.
That night captives and captors biv-
ouacked on the battlefield, and the next
day began their march to the rear, where
the prisoners were to be handed over for
shipment North. Towards mood rebel
officer beckoned to his side the ma jor
commanding the escort. "Last night he
said "while I was asleep, my haversack
was stolen. / know what war is, and I
accept its fortune, good or bad. That
haversack contained several things that I
value one that prize as l do my lite
the portrait of lady" And then,
glancing back at the rough cavalrymen,
he added, sorrowfully, 81 suppose there is
small chance of getting it again ..Ill
see," said the major. The command was
marching "by fours'' In four lines word
was passed from front to rear, each man
communicating with the comrade next
behind him. Within ten minutes a ser
gernt rode up to the major and handed
him package. The major took it to the
prisoner. "Open this he said. There
was the portrait, uninjured, and with it a
bundle of letters, upon which the owner
had written request that it should be
destroyed unopened in the event of his
death. The seal was unbrpken
Year: 1879

We extract the following from a story
by Thomas Hughes (author of Tom
Browns :'Schooldays at Rugby'O, print
ed In St. Nicholas. The story describes
the curious English ceremony called
Beating the Parish Bounds" both in
London and in the country.


Peter, Plump and Pip, the authors
three boy-charactcrs, were three as active
young scamps as ever trod shoe-leather
One day, they were having the liveliest
kind of fun hunting rabbits with ter
rier, when, in dense copse, they came
upon curiously marked stone bedded in
the earth. Meeting on the road an old
fellow named CATER Giles, who was seat
ed on a heap Of stones, his legs wide
apart, engaged IN breaking the bigger
ones with a long hammer, the boys
learned from him that their stone marked
the parish bounds. The old man was
easily persuaded to tell what he knew
about it, which, as Mr.. Hughes relates
it, was much as follows:


When he was little chap at the parish
school, they had holiday every year on
"Gang Monday He didn't just mind
when it came round, but somewhere
about Whitsuntide. Well, on Gang Mon
day morning, all the boys went to the
churchyard, and there was the lords
steward with a map, and the parish con-
stable, and smart few men and women,
too, who had mind to beat the bounds
."possessioning" processioning) they
called it, or some such name. He was
no scholar, but minded the name for all
that.


So the "possessioners" started with the
steward in front and the constable rlng-
ing bell, and the rest following in row.
They marched all around the parish, and
now and again the steward would stop,
and sometimes they drove stake or set
up a stone like that one in the copse.
That was in places where there was dis
pute about the parish line. Then they'd
use to catch boy Or two, and take him
by the arms and legs and bump him up
against the stone or tree, so as he should
remember the place afterward.


At the brook, too, along that part Of it
where the parish line struck it, and ran
down it for, might be, two or three fur
longs, there was scramble to see who
should be pushed in to wade down. II
wasn't more than knee deep for any one
as knew which side to keep and where
to cross. But now and again some young
chap as didn't know would be in, and
they as knew called him wrong SO as he
should go plump into the holes above his
middle, for all the folks to laugh at; and
J sometimes they caught boy and chucked
Year: 1879

him in. But the boys mostly were too
knowing, and kept away from the men
when they got near the brook.


There was deal of waste land too,
there, and the steward, he had an eye to
it all sure enough, as they went along, to
see that no poor man had run up bit Of
place for his jackass or pig, or fenced
round a rood Of tatcrs or cabbages. He
minded one time when they came across
q bit of sty as Israel Willis, the char
coal burner, had put up. and how at the
stewards bidding they had pulled it
down and chased Israel's sow and her
litter on the common. No, he knew
better now. Israel had gone to the bad,
and ended in thacounty Jail all along of
that business. Twas no business of
their'n to help clear the lords waste, and
now twas all took in and fenced off these
forty year, and no man the better but the
lord, and no place left for psor folk to
cut bit of furze, or turn out goose or a
pig, or pick few bits of stick for fire.


Then on Gang Mondays when they got
back, there was bread and cheese and ale
for all, and buns and a glass of ale for the
boys, and the bells ringing all the after.
noon, and two shillings apiece for the
ringers. He had heard tell of a piece o1
land called Gang Mondays land, as was
left in old times to pay for beating tho
| parish bounds. What had come of thai
now? there was no holiday, nor bread an6
cheese and ale, nor buns nor bell-ringing
So old Giles crooned on, breaking
stone now and then with whack Of hi
whip to ease hisfeelings, and glad Of sucl
attentive listeners to his budget of olt
stories and grievances, as the boys wer
proving themselves to be.


They sat about him all ears, till tn
church-clock in the distance struck fv
and warned them of teatime at the vicar
age. Then they jumped up and hurrie'
of, leaving old Giles sitting on the stone
heap and thwacking away with more tina
usual diligence, as the thoughts of var
ished holidays and the wrongs of tn
poor came thronging back once nor
across his awakened memory.


As they trotted along toward the "
Garage, the boys banded their chaff a
usual backward and forward, agreeing
nothing but this one thing, that it woul
be great fun-or s'real swagger," 8
Plump would call ito have a .'Gan
Monday next year in Moreton parish.