smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

The arrest of the proprietor OF the Duane
st. building which feh upon st. Andrews
Church is a fair illustration of the spasmodic
and irrational way in which we now and
then attempt to protect the lives OF the pub
lie. A house topples down. and after ciamor-
ing during a few days for some new and
preposterous building law, we forget all
about the accident and do nothing. A steam
boat explodes or a railway train punSes into
the river, and we fuss and fume until an
engineer is arrested and bailed or hagman
runs away, when we straightway dismiss the
whole subject from our minds. We shall not
prejudge the action of the cOrOner's inquest
which is to investigate this newest calamity
but it will be contrary to all precedent ID 1t
do not neglect the greater wrong and vent It's


energy upon some lesser abuse of ignorance
or want of care. 1t may not be out OF place
considering how little coroners jurles have
accomplished hitherto, if we suggest few
points that deserve particular attention.


The fire in Shaws crockery warehouse oc-
Cured on the 12th of January, forty-fOur days
ago. We have officials whose duty it ia to
know when wall is unsafe, and to cause II
to be Immediately strengthened or taken
down. Yet the shell of this burned
out building was allowed to TOT
ter above the heads of the crowds
Of worshipers in the church for more than
six weeks. 1t seems that orders were given
to repair it. The duty of the civil function
aries however was not merely to give com
mands but to enforce them They have
abundant power to carry ont their own orders.
The coroner's jury will do well to inquire,
therefore, not merely whether MIR. Shaw was
at fault, but what public officers were respon-
sible for this objectionable six weeks delay.


But after all, the immediate cause of most
of the injuries to persons was not the falling
bricks, but the panic. And the church was so
constructed that in case of panic among the
CONGREGATION q calamity of this sort was una
voidable. Narrow doors, stiff bolts, steep and
winding stairways, contracted vestibules, -
these were the contrivances by which the arch
itect had managed to obstruct the egress OF a
crowd. And st. Andrews Church is no worse
than scores of others. The law makes elabO-
rate provision for the safety OF audiences In
tbeaters: but churches are left pretty much
to the caprice of their builders, as if panlcs
could never occur in house OF prayer. II
does not need falling wall to bring on such
catastrophe. The cracking oil bench
has been known to produce scene OF
terror and confusion hardly less awful than
that of Thursday night. During this season
many Of the denominations have special SER
vices, and the Catholic churches are packed to
their utmost capacity several times every week
for they all have evening sermons in Lent be-
sides the regular offices of Sunday. May it
not be well to inquire how many of these edi-
fees are traps from which in case of confusion
there would be great difficulty in escaplngf
Year: 1875

which it is surrounded and pervaded. II this
evil can be removed by the measures now
proposed the whole world will have reason to
be grateful. 1t is, indeed. intimated that the
Government is more anxious to have the hero
of Sicily engaged upon something which will
keep him out of politics than to improve the
Tiber or reclaim the Campagna. But it Is not
likely that the engineers and capitalists in
terested in the matter are all accomplices in
this derisory plan. They have no such fear
of this magnanimous spirit that they should
join in the work of setting him to twisting
ropes of sand, as the wizard Michael Scott
employed potent familiar whom he had in
cautiously raised 1t is, in all probability
serious enterprise, and deserves practical con-
sideratiOn.
Year: 1875

The plumber is still ravagng the finest streets Of
New-York, and avenues are obstructed BY his blaz-
ing fires and the chaotic piles Of earth and paving
stones which he has thrown up on sidewalk and
roadway. Meanwhile every householder who is
fortunate enough to have any Croton water.
has been trying for weeks past, to keep his
supply by letting it run all night, and the
consequence is such a sinking in the reservoir
that the whole city is reduced to half an allowance
On Murray Hill, water can hardly be obtained
above the basement first foor and very few
houses anywhere can get drop on the third
floor. All this is the result of cheap build
ing. The supply pipes laid too near the surface.
and it is q significant fact that wherever, owing
either to the position of the mains the nature of
the SOIL it has been usual for builders and plumbers
to go rather DEEPER there has been very little an
noyance On Thrd-ave.. for instance-at least the
lower mile and half Of it-few supply pipes have
been frozen, although on all the streets near
that avenue the trouble has been severe and lnces-
sant Tenants about renewing their leases viii do
we'll to require their landlords to sink tho water
pipes beyond the reach Of any possible frost We
have never had such Winter as this, to be suce:
but how do we know that we shall not have another
next year
Year: 1875

that there Is not more delicate work in the
world than the examination. either direct or
cross, of witness. A single thoughtess in.
terrOgatOry may bring ruinous answer. In
moment careless question may do for the
other side what the judge and the law would
not do for it, and may get fact to the jury
which the jury should know nothing about.
After this exceptions are useless No judge
can rule out completely what is al
ready in. Again, it may be curi-
Ous to notice how crOss-examinatiOa
may be pushed too far and We once heard an
old and eminent lawyer admit that in tho
course of his long practice he had probably
lost more than he bad gained by cross-ques-
tioniDg. In reading the report Of q trial 1t Is
a capital study to watch the ways of counsel.
to mark the slips, to observe the efforts made
to retrieve mistakes, and to see with what
alacrity and presence of mind the other side
may take advantage of them. Often this is
more interesting than a battle of chess played
by two masters of that noble game.


The careless reader Of judicial report soes
often that questions are objected to, and are
sometimes admitted and sometimes ruled out.
Without any knowledge of the law, he will
", III
dorstand the nature of the objection and Of
the decision. If he continues to read thought
fully, he will soon comprehend the general
drift of the law governing evidence. and viii
see why this is allowed and that rejected. He
will see what facts are germanc to the case.
either so originally or made so by the act OF
either party, and what is the best evidence Of
such facts, and what is really no evidence at
all. He will mark the Court determining
whether this fact is Of itself OF Importance,
and whether, if so, it is of such Importance,
or of such nature, or so susceptible OF thor
ough proof that it may be admitted without
wrong to the other party. But we do not
propose to 90 particularly into the subject OF
evidence 1t is sufficient for us here to
suggest the ease with which our minds
may be misled; the facility with whlob
we may consider that proven which
is not proven at all, or only half 80;
the obliquity of prejudiced witnesses, the
untrustworthiness of the swift, the blum
dering, though not necessarily wicked testi-
mony of the stupid. and the aggravating heal
fancy of the overcatious. All this is repeated
in the ordinary, everyday course of our lives.
| All about us men are lying, prevaricating,
garbling, misrepresenting, putting us OF with
half the truth, or trying the most impudent
| experiments upon our credulity. Weary OF
this, some men grow preternaturally sharp
and believe nothing. Others become so diff
cult to convince that no wise one attempts to
convince them. Then there are the good, easy
going creatures who accept every story Hntll
another is told them; and finally there are the
hopelessly muddled who beg you to help them
| to a conclusion, which they keep until some
body else is good enough to reverse it for
them. We should be very sorry to think that
many of our readers have read considerable
| portion of our recent columns to so little pur-
pose.
Year: 1875

We congratulate the President on the good
sense shown in his decision not to summon an
extra session of Congress. From his point of
view the reasons for his course are plain
enough. This Congress has given him very
little comfort, in the way of Force bills, Re-
construction acts. or anything else, and the
next is sure to give him less. From the point
of view of the public the reasons for APPROX
ing his course are equally plain. The next Con-
gress is made up of an Administration Senate
and an Opposition House The country needs an
enormous reduction of expenditures, stop
page of untimely public improvements, and
some practical measures for return to specie
payments. A Congress of discordant bOuses


if called in the midst of the excitement
aroused by the recklessness of the majority IN
the present one, is reasonably certain to
agree upon nothing practical in the direction
of either of these ends. Anything else it would
do, the country is probably better off without.
Additions to its plethorie Statute Book are
not what we mostly need. There will
be Investigations enough when the House
comes together at the regular time
the only serious danger in delay lying proba-
bly, in the possibility of further performances
like the recent incendiary fires in the Navy
Department. But great deal of the evidence
of the monstrous cOrruptions which have dis
graced us during the past six years is luckily
not in a form to be burned up by anybody
On the whole, then, whether we consider the
Presidents reasons or the publics reasons, we
see only occasion for cOngratulating Gen.
Grant upon his excellent decision. When we
are fairly rid of this Congress, we can afford
to wait till the regular time for the next.
Year: 1875

The letter from Gen. Garibald to The
TRIBUNE which we publish this morning makes
an appeal somewhat different from any to
which the world has yet listened from that
great soldier and patriot. Believing with
Milton that "peace hath her victories not less
renowned than war; the liberatOr of Italy
calls for financial aid for colossal engineer
ing enterprise into which he has thrown all
the energy and enthusiasm of his nature. He
proposes no less an object than to change the
course and improve the navigation of the
Tiber, and to redeem the Roman Campagna,
which has been for centuries the terror and
the delight of tourists, the favorite haunt of
painters and fevers. A letter from cOrre-
spondent in Rome gives full details of this
enormous undertaking, from which our read
crs may form some idea OF its feasibility, and
of the desrability of the bonds which are to
be issued to defray the expenses of the work.
If, as is now anticipated, the Italian Govern
ment guarantees the payment of the interest
upon them, those who subscribe for them may
have the double qualification Of getting their
money back and of assisting in work Of
worldwide interest and utility.


forever be one OF the most cherished homes
Of Die human intelligence. Its population
will always be cosmopolitan as long as learn
ing and art have any power over the minds of
men. The one chief drawback to the pleasure
and profit Of pilgrimage to this shrine of
hiatnvv haa hifl,orfo baar Tho ,,aIo 20 ..:tl.
Year: 1875

Eighteen thousand dollars worth Of indem-
nifty ought not to go very far toward assuaging
the grief of the relatives of all the Americans
who were murdered by Gen. Burriel. How
ever, this concession is likely to be made, and
it is substantial enough to form basis of
settlement between our Government and that
of Spain. If the money is ever paid-the
Spanish Government has not the reputation of
being very punctilious in this respective may
congratulate ourselves upon our not coming
OF any worse.
Year: 1875

The continuation yesterday of Mr.. Tracy's
opening for the defense in the Beecher trial
followed the same line of policy which has
already been indicated. 1t is to be an attack
all along the line, an effort to establish con-
spiracy between Tilton and MOultOn. an utter
defiance of Bowen, and an explanation of
Mr.. Beecher's extraordinary relations to the
case, so ingeniously put that those who de-
pended on this speech only for their knowl'
edge of the case would wonder how anybody
could have ever attached the least Importance
to the charges. Professional men will read
with especial interest Mr.. Tracy's vindication
of himself from the charge of having been
engaged on both sides Of the case, and the
whole speech will provoke even wider atten-
ton than any previous part Of the great
trial.
Year: 1875

The report of the Committee of Ways and
Means in the matter of the Pacific Mail
Subsidy goes about as far as their
investigation of the subject went
The recommendations made are judicious,
but perhaps the one most likely to be
productive of good results is that which
provides that the Clerk of the House
shall certify the facts so far elected to the
next Congress, in order that the investigation
may be further pursued.
Year: 1875

If the adoption of the Wheeler compromise
ia followed by the election of Collector Casey,
one of the brothers, -in-law Of the President,
to the United States Senate, as is indicated
in Washington dispatches, the President will
find it hard to give any satisfactory reasons
for his sudden conversion to the support OF
that compromise. But if his conversion Is
followed also by the removal of Marshal Pack
ard we shall have fresh illustration OF the
truth of the familiar saying that there is no
evil unmixed with good. Nothing would ex-
cuse the Presidents share in political trick
to make his brother-in-law Senator; but the
transfer of Casey to new field of the public
service and the retirement of Packard to the
shades of private life would remove two OF
the most mischievous elements from the vexa-
tious Louisiana case.
Year: 1875

oallards before John Reed leaning the rail OF
fence, thus soloquizes:-
Ihere's something comes with spring, lghtness or


else a weight
There's something comes with the spring, and II
It's the hankering after life that you never learned


TO know
It's the discomfort with life that Is always thus


and SO;
It's the wondering what we are and whore we ara


going to.
Ny life is lucky enough fancy 20 most mems ewes:
For the family grows the oftener some one dies
And it's 30 long that 1t couldn't be other.


wise
And sister Jane and myself, we have learned to claim


and yield.
she rules in the house at will and in the barn and


field.
So nigh upon thirty years, II written and signed and


sealed


couldn't change if would; I've lost tho how and thu


when
one day my time win Be up and Jane be the mistress


then,
For single tough, and live down single men


There is a tone or melancholy running through each
Of these ballads that is moro in accord with the
fall OF the year than with the spring While Mr. Tay-
lor's poems do not SPARKLE they shine with steady
and beautiful light that is all their own.
Year: 1875

skip page 100 this is what the poet says about
misunderstood souls


The test OF worth


Is not the hold you have on-earth.


Sol there be gentles souls sea-hlown,


That know not any harbor known


Now II may be the reason Is


They touch on farer shores than this
Taken a whole, 'Tho Ship in the Desert" even
though It does add greatly its authors repua-
tion is poem worth reading. You get impatient
dozen times while reading 1t and throw down the book,
saying, "Words, words words" but you just as surely
PICK IL up again and read At TO the end If you ask
"nat 1t is all about only reply in tho authors
own language-


Ny task is but to toll a tale


10 give a wide sail to the gale


To paint the boundless plain the sky


10 rhyme, nor give reason why.
OF course there is poetry in the book but there is
great deal Of bad rhyme and great deal that is good
and graceful
Year: 1875

Beside
The grim old sea king sits his bride.
why the daughter should be the fathers bride is, to
say the least, singular il rot careless This s old Nor,
gan, the father:-


grand old Neptune in the Prov
Gray haired and white with touch Of Time,
Yet streng In his middle prime;
a grizzcd King, | see him now,
With beard as blown by wind Of seas
And Wild and white white sea storm,
Stand up. turn suddenly, look back
Along the Low boats wrinked track,
Then fold his mantle round form
Broad built as any Hercules,
And so sit silently.
In the description Of Ina tho heroine, Mr. Miller has
laid himself out 50 TO speak =
o you had loved her sitting thero,
Hall hidden la her lOoson'd hair
Why, you had loved her Tor her eyes,
Their large and melancholy look
Oftendcrness, and well mstook
Their love for light OF Paradise
YEA loved her for her large dark eyes;
Yea loved her for hcr brows soft brown;
Her hand as light as heavens bars
Yea loved her Tor her mouth. Her mouth
Was roses gathered from the SOUTH
The south side Of Paradise
And breathed upon and handed down
by angels on a stair of stars.
Her mouth twas Egyprs mouth Of old,
Push'd q out ana pouting full and bold
With simple beauty where she sat;
Why you had said on seeing her,
This creature comes far out the dim
Far centuries, beyond the rim
OF times remotest reach or stir.
And he who wrought ScmiTam5
And shaped tho Sibys, seeing this,
Had how'd and made shrine thereat
And all his lie had worshipped her
Deyout as north Nile worshpper
The idea OF her mouth being roses gathered from
the warm south side Of Paradise &C. is extravagant
for poet though the poet DO JOAQUIN Mlor. To
Year: 1875

1t is better for you to pass an eve-
ming once or twice a week
in lady's drawing-room, even
though the conversation is slow, and
you know the girls song by heart,
than in club, q tavern, or pit of a
theater. All amusements of youth
to which virtuous women are not ad-
mitted, rely on it, are deleterious In
their nature. All men who avoid fe-
male society have dull perceptions
and are stupid, or have gross tastes
and revolt against what is pure.
your club swaggers, who are sucking
the butts of billiard cues all night,
call female society insiped. Poetry
is uninspiring to q Jockey; beauty has
no charms for blind man; music does
not please poor beast who does not
know one tune from another; but as q
pure epicure is hardly tired of water
sauces and brown bread and butter,
1 protest L can sit for a whole night
talking with q well-regulated, kindly
woman, about her girl Fanny or her
boy Frank, and like the evenings en-
tertainment. One of the great bene-
fits that q man may derive from a
woman's society is that he is bound
to be respectful to her. The habit is
Of great good to your moral man, de-
pend upon it. Our education makes
us sthe most eminently selfish men in
the world. .-Ih0cker0y.
Year: 1875

The Radical politicians have always
endeavored to make the people believe
their party was one of "high moral
IDEAS. and all the while they were
stealing from the public treasury, and
robbing the government. This is a
known and admitted fact.


But the recent conduct OF this party
SHOWS want of morals that is truly
amazing, and really ought to make any
fair, conscientious man, sblush with
shame. We fear it will cause many to
EEL disgust for the ballot or regard
cur elective system mockery.


For the last ten years the Radical
press and politicians Of New York, and
N most of the States, have time and
again ccnsurcd the Democrats party
n that city because it elected John
Morrisscy, as they termed him, "Thc
Prince of Gamblers, to Congress; and
because of Morrisseys influence in
Tammany Hall, and the Democratic
AOihlHdtiOhs, Allc l'eiuhCIdls OF y eW
ork felt keenly these reproaches, and
showing they were true-that Morris
sey was the keeper of a gambling
nouse-made an effort to curtail his
influence in the party, and refused to
pat him on their ticket for State Sena-
tor. But instead of the Republican

party of New York encouraging this
effort to purify the politics of their
city, they turned right about and voted
solidly for Morrissey and the whole
;icket which he and his faction had
nominated. Perhaps John Morrissey
IS as good as many of the men the
Republicans send to Congress. We
Go not know that he was ever accused
of stealing frsm the government, as
many Of the Radicals Member. have
been, by their own organs, too; but
their disreputabls conduct IN electing
man to the State Senate, whom they
knew to be, and declare is, the owner
and keeper of gambling hell" in
lefiance of the laws of their city and
State, shows want of morals in the
Republican party that is painful to
contemplate.
Year: 1875

As it is necessary for the ends of
justice and the safety of the communi-
ty at large that we should have a new
jail, instead of the present dilapidated
and insecure disgrace to the county,
and as it is probable the proposition OF
Mr.. Bennett, the contractor who has
just finished the Jail at Calhoon, will
be favorably considered, we append
the following paragraphs clipped from
an article in the Mclean County
Progress:


Mclean county can now boast OF
having as good a Courthouse and jail
as any of her neighboring sister coun
ties, and at Il cost far below most OF
them. The original cost of those
buildings We're about $4,000 while
those of Union county for instance, ARE
said to have cost s125,090, over four
times as much.


The new Jail ordered built by the
Mclean County Court last Spring, the
construction of which was let to Mr.
Edgar Bennett, of Breckenridge coun
ty, has been completed for some time
past and on Monday last was accepted
by said Court. Mr.. Bennett, the
builder, has fulfilled his contract in thu
very spirit and letter of its meaning
and all who have seen the Jail unite i:
saying that it is at once one of tht
most conveniently arranged and secure
structures of the kind they have eve
seen.
Year: 1875

Our efficient Sheriff, ThOs. J. Smith,
will have an Office open at the Fair
Grounds this week, where he will be
pleased to have those who owe taxes
to call and settle. The 1st of October
is past, and he has not collected
enough to pay the county debts. He
will be compelled to levy on the prop
erty of all those who do not pay at
Oncp
Year: 1875

We invite your attention to the new
advertisement Of John p. Tracy &
Son. They have employed us to blow
for them, and we are good hands at
the business, and they have found out
that our Blowing pays them well. The
cut Is an exact representation of our
self, except that itmakes us appear too
corpulent. The only objection we have
to the advertisement being in the pa
per Is that we are an unmarried man,
and as we present such a handsome
appearance iii the cut, we fear that the
hearts of many fair ones will futteI
and go pit-a-pat when they see it, and
keep annoying us with love sonnets and
little biEet doug.
Year: 1875

The lock and dam across Rough
Greek, between here and the mouth Of
the creek, has been abandoned for
some time, and amounts now to an al
most entire obstruction to navigation.
Last winter drift formed there that
took hundred men about two weeks
to tear out. If that dam is not torn
out now, while the creek is low, a
drift will form there as soon Us the
water rises, and it will cost more to
cut it out and keep it open, than all
the saw>logS, hoop,poles, slaves and
lumber to be run out this winter will
be worth, and next summer it will be
so sickly around, that it will be almost
impossible to live within five miles OF
it. Now We suggest that day be sal
and every man in the whole country
donate one days labor towards tearing
it out. 1t can be done i'll one day Il
the men will go carly and work when
they get there. We suggest Monday
the 18th day of October, 1919, as the
day, and nominate j. l.. Collins as the
man to head the undertaking. We vii
be there, or send Il hand. We hope t,
heara favorable response to this cal
or suggestion.
Year: 1875

We this week add another CORES
pondent TO our list. He writes about
Kentucky and the WAYS and style of
Of her people very graphically.


We have now also a regular Louis
vile correspondent, who spices up the
news from our metropolis very nicely.
1t is our intention to keep adding tc
the list until We have a good CORES.
pondent from every point Of interest
in this section of the country.