smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

First AS to sewing. club; the work should
be carefully restricted to such embroidery,
etc., as cannot be done.by women who earn
their living by their needle. The justice
of this ought to be at once apparent; but
it is, as a rule, overlooked. We have
known the plain sewing taken from the
sempstresses of a village, and given to
church clubs, for winter; the consequence
of which was, hungry women asking parish
help, and o stained-glass window back of
the pulpit.


Secondly In reading-clubs, let the time
for each reader be limited by infexible
rule. If this is not done, there will be
found in every such club, at least one dog
matte, selfish reader who will force his
author and his voice upou the club, until
in disgust and weariness the members fall
off and the experiment fails.


Thirdly: If we may trench upon a most
delicate topic, we would suggest that in
merely social combinations, for the purpose
of music, dancing or conversation, the old
castle lines of the town be disregarded.
There is no despotism more narrow or
cruel than the aristocracy of a village
New blood and new ideas would generally
revivify it; outside of the so-called "good
society" of such place which has been
| fenced in for two or three generations, is
frequently found the larger proportion of
intelligence, culture, and breadth ofthought.
Fourthly: The great want experienced
by cultured men and women in a small
town is of books, periodicals, ETC., which,
individually, they are not able to buy.
There are very few circulating Libraries in
American towns of population less than
ten thousand. This want can be obviated
in measure, by a friendly combination
between certain families or individuals, in
which each contributes a given number of
books to a common stock; these books are
loaned to the members in turn.


A more formal and much better way is
the formation of a book club. such as were
common in England before the establish.
ment of Nude, in which each member pays
at the beginning a certain sum, with which
as many books are purchased as there are
members, each one choosing book these
pass in regular rotation from hand to hand
remaining fortnight with each reader
twenty books may be thus read for the cos
of one. When the books have passed
around the circle, they are sold to mem
bers for the benefit of the club. Fines for
detention and abuse of books also kept VI
the funds. No officer is required in thi
association but treasurer. Another ad
vantage in the plan is that books can b,
bought by the quantity at lower rates thar
singly. The same rule applies to subscrip
tions for magazines, newspapers, ETC.
Scribner for Dec.
Year: 1877

In ICELAND.-Men and women, masters
and servants all inhabit the same room,
while cleanliness is not much attended to ;
but poor as they are they are an example
of contentment. The beauty of the young
girls is remarkable; their fair hair falls in
long plaits, partially covered by black
Golf, daintily worn on one side of the head,
and finished at the top with tassel OF
colored silk run through q silver steel
buckle, which floats on the shoulder. 1t
reminds the traveller Of the Greek head
dress; but the blue eyes with their sweet
benevolent expression soon recall to his
mind their Danish origin. The dress is
made of the cloth woven in the country,
and on festival days the bodice is gaily
adorned with silver braid and velvet, while
the belt and sleeves are ornamented with
silver devices, beautifully chased and often
of great value. On wet and cold days the
shawl becomes a useful mantilla, completely
enveloping the head, and defending the
wearer from the effects of the frquent
storms.-C Chambers Journal
Year: 1877

COFFINs TO RENT.-The poor people of
New York are said TO have an uncountable
mania for funeral pomps and ceremonies !;
consequently when member of family
dies all available funds are expended in
laying the body in state, and in an impress
sve cortege. The matter of carriages is
not vexatiOus to the purse of the mourners,
as their occupants are expected to con-
tribute their quota to the expense of con.
veyances, privilege eagerly embraced by
hundreds who regard funeral procession
in the light of a gatla parade. But the
lying in state, to be imposing, is a costly
luxury, particularly with the impecunious
consequently as a corpse is an object of
curious inspection by admiring friends the
beauty Of the exhibition can be secured at
smaller expense through the hire of a
casket than through its purchase outright.
In an undertakers window can be seen a
coffin of the most costly fabrication, with a
uper-abundance of silver ornamentaton,
lined with rich satin, and otherwise
adorned is munifcently. A face simile of
the $500 casket can be hired of its exhibitor,
who supplies an exquisite lining in accord
ance with the rules of the trade, pink for
a brunette, light blue for a clone and so on
and into the loaned receptacle places the
corpse until the hour of burial arrives
when the inside frame of the coffin, is slip.
ped out and the deceased transferred to q
cheap stained wood imitation of the costly
outer casket, and planted without the
imposture being detected. At present a
handsome external case demands rental
Of five dollars a day and as the body is
generally "laid out" for three days, this
with incidentals, constitutes good source
of revenue.
Year: 1877

The RESULT OF THE CENTENNIAL.-It is
stated that Belgian gentleman, who was
the commissioner from that country to the
centennial exhibition, is organizing q
company of European capitalists for the
purpose of making plate glass in America,
and he proposes to return to this country
in a short time to select a location. The
company's works are to be situated in the
neighborhood of Pittsburg, where the firm
also contemplate the purchase Of coal
Hnlda
Year: 1877

OATMEAL BIsCUIr.-The following recipe
is offered for the use of those who find oat-
meal an agreeable diet, but who tire Of it
in the form of mush Soak one pound of
oatmeal all night in quart of sour butter.
milk. The next day mix one quarter
ounce of carbonate of soda and little salt
into one pound of white flour, and mix
with the oatmeal. Roll out any thickness
you please, cut with biscuit cutter or a
tumbler and bake in q moderate oven.
They are delicious and healthy
Year: 1877

Too SHARP BY HALF.-An enterprising
business man runs two branches of trade,
to wit


A grocery and fish market. The
grocery he runs himself, and the fish
market by a duputy, and every night the
latter makes returns of the proceeds of the
days business to the proprietor.


day or two since the grocer found in
his fish market returns a counterfeit five
dollar bill. He took the chance of trying
to pass it off again. So he called an old
darkey who was hanging about the premises
and said to him:


"Sam, here's a five dollar bill that's
little doubtful. If you will take it and
pass it, I'll give you a dollar out of the
change"


every WE'LL" said Sam, and he took the
bill and went off.


Later in the day he returned, having ac-
complished the feat, and handed over four
dollars to the grocer.


That night the grocer, in counting over
the cash returns from his fish market, was
more surprised than delighted to find the
identical five in the pile.


Look here" said he sharply to his
market clerk, "here's a counterfeit bill.
Who did you take it Of? Didn't you know
it was bad ?''


The clerk took it and looked at it for a
few moments.


"Oh, yes" said he, " l remember now,"
81 took it of Sam, the darkey. thought
it was little doubtful, and wasn't going to
take it, but he said he got it of you, so |
thought it was all right"
Year: 1877

General orders have been issued by Gen.
Sherman, at the instance of the President,
announcing that no further clemency need
be expected by officers of the army who
violate the article Of war in regard to in.
temperance. The President holds that q
person who cannot be trusted had better
not be continued in Office, and rigorous
execution Of the sentence imposed in such
cases may be looked for.
Year: 1877

Politeness costs nothing, but it is not
expected that you will wake man up at
midnight to ask permission to go through
his hen-house. 1t is more courteous to let
him enjoy his needed repose."
Year: 1877

Moral force is never lost. A good
deed may seem to have been wrought In
vain, AID to have fallen ont of memory,
but it has left an impress upon some
human soul, and that impress will give
vitality to generous motive, and that
motive will lead to another coed deed.
For instance: A Boston gentleman re-
Gently turned to poor shop-girl, who
handed him a roll of greenbaeks amount
ing to $500, that had slipped out Of his
pocket, and impulsively offered her 20
cents as a reward for her honesty. HIS
generosity was the theme of thoughtful
paragraph ID a newspaper, and that
seemed to be the end of 1t. The world
seemed to have forgotten him and his
20 cents. But virtue had not gone for
nothing. A man in Gardiner, Me-, had
read the thoughtful paragraph, and when
he, L turn, lost in the street pocket
book containing 81, 500, and an humble
neighDor found it and returned it to him
he knew just what to do. He took from
that pocket-book dollar bill and gave
it to that poor but honest son of toll.
Year: 1877

Three Kings riding from far away,


Melchoir and 6aspar and BaltaZar;
Three Wise out of the East were they
And they travelled by night and they slept by day,


For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.
The star was so beautiful, large and clear,


That all the other stars of the sky
Became white mist in the atmosphere,
And the wise men knew that the coming was near


Of the Prince foretoid in the prophecy.
Three caskeis they bore on their saddle.bows,


Three caskets of gold with golden keys,
Their robes were of crimson silk, with rows
Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,


Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.
And SO the three Kings rode into the West,


Through the dusk of night over hills and dells,
And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast
And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,


With the people they met at the way-side wells.
Of the Child that is born" said Baltasar,
:" Good People, pray yot, tell US the news,
For We in the East have seen His star,
And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,


To find and worship the King of the jews"


We know of no King but Herod the Greatl"
They thought the wise men were men insane,
AS they spurred their horses across the plain
Like riders in haste who cannot wait.
And when they came to Jerusalem,


Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,
Sent for the wise men and questioned them;
And said " Go down into Bethlehem,


And bring me tidings of this new King"
So they rode away; and the star stood still,


The only one in the gray of morn
Yes it stopped, it stood still of its free will
Right over Bethlehem on the hill,


The city of David where Christ was born.
And the three Kings rode through the gate and the


guard,


Through the silent street. till their horses turned
And neighed as they entered the great inn-y.r5;
But the windows were closed, and the doors were


barred,


And only a light in the stable burned
And Graded there in the scented hay,


In the air made sweet by the breath of kline,
The little Child in the manger lay
The Child that would be King one day


Of kingdom not human but divine.
His mother, Mary of Nazareth,


Sat watching beside His place of rest,
Watching the even how of His breath,
For the JOY of life and the terror of death


Were mingled together in her breast.
They laid their offerings at His feet;


The gold was their tribute to King;
The frankincense, with its odor sweet
Was for the priest, the Paraclete,


The myrrh for the body's burying.
And the mother wondered and bowed her head,
And sat as still as statue of stone;
Her heart was troubled, yet comforted,
Remembering what the angel had said


Of an endless reign and of David's throne.
Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,


With the clatter of hoofs ir proud array;
But they went not back to Herod the Great
For they knew his malice and feared his hate
And returned to their homes by another way
st. Nicholas fer December.
Year: 1877

William Dawson was on trial in New
York, for cruelty to animals in driving a
decrepit horse, when Charles E. Forest
in a friendly way took the stand and
swore that the horse was his, and that
Dawson was temporarily employed by
him. The court discharged Dawson,
and Forest grinned at the success of mis-
friendly act. The smile, however, grad
ually crawled around to the other side
of his mouth and settled there, when he
was told that, being the guilty one, he
could go from the witness stand to the
prisoners box and stand trial; which
cost him 80
Year: 1877

TIE astronomer royal, of the Royal
Observatory of Scotland, has mapped
out very cold winter for Great Britain,
and presumably for this part OF the
world as well. He has studied waves of
heat and cold for period OF over thirty
nine years, and finds that the next cold
wave is due at the end of the present
year, when very frigid weather may be
looked for.
Year: 1877

The Russian Generals in Bulgaria are
mainly very old men, who studied the
art of war forty or even fifty years ago.
They are described by correspondent
of the Daily NeaUs as men who never
look in book and who rarely read q
newspaper, and appear to be utterly OBJ
hvious to the march of progress, and of
science especially, in the military art.
Their whole lives may be said to have
been passed in but one occupation; their
whole minds, whatever they ever had,
concentrated on one object, and that the
most trivial to which the human mind
can descend-card playing. They have
done nothing else, thought of nothing
else, for years. Their minds have rusted
until they are as dull, as keavy, and as
incapable of receiving new impressions
as the veriest clodhopper's. Called from
their card tables by the trumpet of war,
they rise, rub their eyes, look round
them completely bewildered, and as
thoroughly out of the current of modern
war as if they had been asleep for forty
years. Not even Rip Van Winkle, with
his rusty gun dropping to pieces after
h1s long sleep, was more bewildered and
lost than the ma jority of these poor old
Generals suddenly thrown into the cam
paign at the head of their brigades, di-
visions, and corps. 1t may be asked
why the Emperor does not send these
old dotards back to their card-tables. and
replace them by younger men, and men
of talent, of which, after all, the Rus
sian army is not destitute. The soft
heart of the Emperor has much to do in
retaining these old incapables in their
positions. He cannot bear the idea of
depriving an old public servant of his
position and thus disgraeing him, and
so unconsciously prefers to sacrifice the
lives of thousands of brave fellows to
this misplaced feeling of kindness.
Year: 1877

Almost year has passed since Gen.
Custer and his heroic band fell victims
to the savage hatred of Sitting Bull and
his brutal followers, at the Little Big
Horn, and the bones of the majority of
Those brave fellows. who died in the
service of theft dotihtt5, haYe never
been accorded a decent burial, and to-
day some of them have no covering save
that which the elements have sent them,
perhaps snowy coverlet, but little
tshitsr than the bleeched remains of hui
manity which it obsc1ires.


1t was known that the "white chief !"
and his staff officers had been taken from
the bloody plain and borne far away,
and it was at least presumed that the
gallant men VINO had assisted Custer to
his fame would not be left to rot upon
the field, prey for the coyote. But
this was merely fancy, 1t would seem.


On yesterday gentleman whose na1lie
is withheld appeared at the Times Office
at the request of many comrades and re-
should not reflect upon Gen. Buell., or
which certainly will not add anything to
that gentleman's reputation as humani-
tartan. The gentleman was one of a
COuIp Ipduy Vi ulAcby-GnO civil oluplOySS VI
the Government, who have, during the
season, been engaged in building the
post to be known as the Big Horn.
While at work at the post it came to
their knowledge that the remains Of
nearly all of Clusters men were lying on
the battlefield exposed to the heat and
cold, the sunshine and rain, and, feel
ing that it was due to their mem
cry that their bones be hidden
from sight, they applied to Gen.
Buell. for permission to go and
bury them. The application was re-
fused, as was also the use of tools to per-
form the work. After they had con-
cluded their labors at the post, the COM
pany started for Medicine Bow, station
on the Union Pacific railroad. On the
29th of October they came upon the
Custer battlefield, where a horrible
sight was presented to view. The ground
was literally strewn with the whitened
bones of the "white braves" nearly all
of which were entirely uncovered. AL
though their time was limited. the hu-
name company set to work with tho few
implements in their possession, and sue
ceeded in burying a portion of the re-
mains. Fearing that they would be
showed in in canon in the Black Hills
if they tarried longer. they departed
from the scene after tarrying three hours.
Chicago Times.
Year: 1877

Three Kings came riding from far away,


Melchoir and Gaspar and Batazar;
Three wise men out of the East they,
And they travelled by night and they slept by day,


For their guide was beautiful, wonderful star.
Year: 1877

The jackson railroad, the Morgan road,
the steamboat interests and the Property
Holders Union combined the skilltul use
of money and men to produce this result.
The railroad managers, relying upon the
justice of their cause and having the best
of the argument, let the matter go by de-
fault
Year: 1877

"A writer. in the Forest and Streups
bf May the Sd, gives the. following
.caution, with reference 10 catching
ana eating the Potomac Bass before
the istof Julys He says: But the
great trouble with. whiehswe haveto
contend on the Potomac is this, that
the fish are ksken In imnden8 num-
bers early III the spring, when out
|bf ueason, and altogether unfit SeE
sport or f0r, the. table. Tie dweIlers
sonsthe Potomac are generally.ciyiIiz-
ed, and pretend to have laws for the
preservation of fish, but they have so
much tn do with Washington city
they are careless about keeping the
laws. All through April and May,
of each year, foolish boys and more
foolish men GO forth to slaughter the
black bass when passing through
their spring sickness, and thereby
commit an objectionable outrage
against the laws of nature. In My
limited sphere 1 have fought against
this custom for several years, and
now recall only two men who have
been converted to my way of think
ing. One of them took me to favor
ite locality in the month of May, and
while allowed him to do all fishing
L amused myself with the pencil. At
ter he had secured a basket full of bas
and we were about to return home, [
took one of the fish in my hand and
directed his attention to the worms
hidden away at the roots of the
fins. He was disgusted, and then and
there swore that he would never eat
one of those fish again. That was
not sensible on his part, but his fell
ings could not be controlled, for from
July to November there is no better
fish for the table than the black blss.
The other conversion alluded to was
that of farmer on the Potomac who
had very dear friend, with whom
he had been fishing in the month of
May, and who lost his life from eat
ing a black bass out of season and
when it was a poison"
Year: 1877

The Chicago Times publishes consid-
cradle data in regard to the crops
to be gathered during the coming
harvest in those regions tributary to
Chicago. In Southern, Central and
Eastern Illinois it is expected that
the wheat crop will be very large this
year-fully 40 per cent, beyond what
it was in 1876 and equal to the great
yield of 1S74--but the cold weather
and the rains have retarded corn
planting, and portion of the South
west of the State is almost literally
under water. AS a natural conse-
quence the corn crop outside of North
ern Illinois is estimated at 30 per cent
below the average. In Northern In
diana the prospect of good harvest
are pronounced very encouraging.
In Wisconsin the farmers are in good
spirits, and expect crop that may
restore them to the prosperity that
they enjoyed before the panic of 1873.
From Minnesota comes the same
pleasant story, and the best agricul-
tural authority in that State estima-
tes the wheat crop at 10000, 900 BUSH
els. In Iowa there is decrease in
wheat production. and the State is
abandoning that cereal for corn.
Nebraska and Kansas are in dread of
the grasshopper, but vigorous efforts
are being made to head them off, and
in Kansas from 10 to 20 per cent.
more wheat than usual has been plan
ted. On the whole the crop prospect
in the Northwest may be considered
quite promising.
Year: 1877

Miss Chisholm, who displayed so
much heroism in the defense of her
father when attacked by the mob in
the Kemper county, Mississippi,
Jail, has died of the wounds received
on that occasion. The utter heart
lessness and lack of human feeling
shown by these lawless wretches
pursued the young lady to such ex-
tremes that it was impossible for her
friends TO procure proper surgical at
tention, and render this murder one
of the most fiendish in the annals of
crime. She will take her place in
history as true heroine, and the
community which approved of the
murder, and deprived the poor
wounded girl of the medical assis.
tance that would have saved her life,
will never recover from the horrid
disgrace Of her cruel death and that
of her youngest brother'- Chicago
TRIBUNE.
Year: 1877

A Russian commissariat officer at
Odessa was detected adulterating
flour about to be sent to the army
with lime and other substances. He
was Immediately tried, and shot
within twenty four hours after the
discovery took place. The Russian
Government trust that this summary
execution will put stop to these
practices, which caused so much
suffering to the Russian soldiers In
the Criinean war.
Year: 1877

Fletcher Harper, the yougest and
last surviving member of the original
firm of Harper q Brothers, is lying
at the point Of death from gastric
fever. There is no hope of his recov-
cry, his health having been poor for
some time past, necessitating his re-
tirement form active connection with
the firm.