smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

It is the easiest thing in the world to
be happy, if men and women could on>
ly think so. Happiness is only anoth-
er name for love, for where love exists
in a household there happiness must
also exist, even if it has poverty forIits
close companion; where love exists not,
even though it be in palace, happiness
can never come. He was a cold and
selfish being who originated the say
ing that "when poverty comes in at the
door, love flies out at the window"
and his assertion proves conclusively
That he had no knowledge of love, for
unquestionably the reverse of the
axiom quoted is nearer the truth.
When poverty comes in at the door,
love-true love-js more than ever in.
clined to tarry, and do battle with the
enemy. Let those who imagine them.
selves miserable, before they find fault
with their surroundings. search il
their hearts for the cause. A few kind
words, little forbearance, or kiss,
will often open the way to food Of
sunshine in house darkened by the
clouds OF disccrd and ufamiabiliiy.
Year: 1877

A lady correspondent, writing us
from Arkansas gives us the following
excellent recipe to increase the flow of
milk in COW, and We oan heartily en-
dorse it, for we have seen it tried. She
says: "Tepid water slightly salted
given twice day will increase the aow
of milk one third; if the COW will not
drink it at first trial scatter O handful
of bran or meal over the top of IL.
They soon become very fond Of it, and
will drink all you give them. I tried
this plan three years ago with perfect
success. l had only one COW, and she
was of the common scrub stock Of the
country, and after she began to drink
the water, prepared as above, she fur
nished me twice a day two ordinary
water buckets full of milk, and by feed
ing little corn boiled with cotton seed
the milk yielded butter enough to sup
ply my table bountifully and have q
few pounds to sell every week. gave
her three gallons of water twice a day. "
--Er,
Year: 1877

A fat horse is proportionately weak
horse. Fat is an oily matter, itself IN
endowed with life or sensibility, contain
ed in cells. as honey is within the
honey comb, which are vital, and SO en-
dowed that they lose the power either
of adding to. or taking from the quantity
of oily matter at any time existing.
The use of fat is to fill up crevices in
the body, facilitate the movements Of
parts one upon another, and serve as
sort of internal nutrimert, in case the
animal should be in situation where
he can not obtain food; but, when it
accumulates, instead of facilitating the
motions of parts it clogs and impedes
them, and becomes, from its collected
amount of freight, burden TO the
body. A fat horse is not only unfit TO
go, but really has weight within
himself to carry which the horse in con-
dition for work has been disencumber-
ed of. A fat horse will not bear the
loss of blood the same as horse in a
working state of body; the one will
faint from the abstraction of quantity
which the other will stand without
being affected. Plumpness, which
arises from fatness, is too apt to con-
vey to the eyes of the inexperienced
the impression of strength and ability
to go to work, whereas it ought, we re-
peat, be taken as proof to tie contra
ry. When buyer enters a dealers
yard to buy horse, every horse shown
him most likely-certainly every horse
four or five years old-is fat. and,
therefore, not in condition for work.
Dealers-by quantities of grain and
sometimes by means of poisonous nos
trums and by giving their horses only
suoh little walking exercise as serves to
keep their legs from swelling make
the horses they have for sale as fat as
they can, and for two reasons. First.


fat fills up the crevices and coDceals
any imperfections there may lie Of out


ward form. 1t is the horse dealers
putty; by it, like the coach-maker or
the furniture maker, he makes his ar
ticle for sale appear more perfect or
freer from defect than it really is. Se-
condly. by it be gives an appearance Of
size and bulk to the article which pass
es for sign of strength and ability but
which, as we said before, is in reality
condition of weakness.
Year: 1877

slight alteration in the position of the
carbon and. its covering-viz.: by turn
ing it toward the direction of the object
required to be lighted. 1t was found
that this light was sufficiently powerful
to render objects visible at nigh at a
distance Of over three thousand yards.
These results show that the improve
ments now being made in the system of
electric light, or the lime light, as it
was originally called, are likely to have
an important bearing on the condition


of modern warfare. To garrison pro-
vided with two or three such sentinels
night surprises would have no fears;


and in the arts of peace the vivid and
easily controlled light thus produced
will have still more valuable results
London Globe. l.4s -l @ y e.
Year: 1877

THE beautiful gold casket presented
to General Grant by the City Of London
has ON the diverse central panel a view
of the Capitol at-~W Washington, and on
the right, and left are the monogram and
arms Of the Lord Mayor. On the reverse
side is aYiew of the entrance to the
Guildhall and an appropriate inscription.
At the end are two figures, also i'm gold,
modelled and chased, representing the
CITY of London and the United States,
and bearing their respective shields, the
latter executed in rich enamel. At the
corners are double columns, laurel
wreathed with corn and cotton, and on
the cover a cornucopia emblematical of
the fertility and prosperity of the United
States.
Year: 1877




This is one of the most beautiful and
highly fragrant Of the early wild flowers
of our hills. 1t is sought after every
spring, by the young folks of our town,
and, If transplanted to our gardens, would
make one Of the most desirable acouisi-
tions to any collection. Many attempts
have been made to transplant the arbutus,
but we have heard of no one who has
been successful. We therefore clip from
the New York Herald the following d.
rections for transplanting it, and hope
some of our lady friends will preserve the
same until spring, give it fair trial, and
report the result


"A writer whose name was not furnished
says 81 prepared border Of ground on
the north side of my woodhouse, one foot
in depth and composed Of one third leaf
mould from the woods. 1t is so placed as
to receive at the bottom portion of the
drip from the caves of the shed. | then
procured from two of my friends, in diff.
ferent parts of the country, boxes Of plants
taken up with good supply of Garth ad-
herring to the roots and carefully packed
in moss. Along with these packages of
plants | also procured boxes of the earth
in which these plants originally grew,
This soil was spread over the surface Of
the border and the roots of the new plants
were carefully imbeded in it. The border
was well watered, and afterward mulched
with leaves and moss. A few Of these
plants died in the course of summer, but
the most of them lived and fiourished, as
though they had not been transplanted.
The following spring found them in good
condition, and during the first half of
May they furnished fine display Of
blossoms. The arbutus requires partial
shade, degree of moisture at the roots, a
soil free from clay and composed largely
of sand and leaf mould. To make the
matter doubly sure the plants should have
a fair start in the soil to which they are
indigenous. In the winter they should
have light covering of leaves and ever
green bOughs."
Year: 1877

A popular minister had just finished an
exhortation, strongly recommending the
support Of very meritorious institution.
The congregation was numerous and the
chapel was crowded to excess. The dis
course being finished, the plate was about
being handed around to the respective pews,
when the preacher made this short address
to the awaiting congregation: "From
the sympathy | have witnessed in your
countenances, and from the strict attention
you have honored me with, there is one
thing that l am afraid of---that some Of
you may be inclined to give too much.
Now, it is my duty to inform you, that
justice though not so pleasant, should
always be prior virtue to generosity
Therefore, as you will all be immediately
waited upon in your respective pews,
wish to have it thoroughly understood
that no person shah think Of putting any
thing into the plate who cannot pay hi,
debts" We need not add that this pro
duced an Oyeraowing collection.
Year: 1877




The use Of the snow writes Souther-
laud) when persons are thirsty does not by
any means allay the Unsuitable desire for
water on the contrary, it appears to be
increased in proportion to the quantity
used; and the frequency with which it is
put into the mouth For example, per-
son walking along feels intensely thirsty,
and he looks to his feet with coveting eyes;
but his good sense and firm resolutions are
not to be overcome so easily, and he with
draws the open hand that was to grasp the
delicious morsel and convey it into his
parching mouth; he has seven miles of a
journey to accomplish, and his thirst is every
moment increasing; he is perspiring pro-
fusely, and feels quite hot aud oppressed;
at length his good resolutions stagger, and
he partakes of the smallest particle, which
produces a most exhilaating effect. In
less than ten minutes he tastes, again and
again, always increasing the quantity, and
in half an hour he has a gumstick of con-
densed snow, which he masticates with
avidity, and replaces with assiduity the
moment it has melted away, but his thirst
is not allayed in the slightest degree; he is
as hot as ever, and still perspires his mouth
is in flames, and he is driven to the me-
cessity of quenching them with snow,
which adds fuel to the fire, The melting
snow ceases to please the palate, and it
feels like red-hot Goals, which, like a fire.
eater, he shifts about with his tongue, and
swallows without the addition of saliva;
he is in despair, but habit has taken the
place of his reasoning facilities, and he
moves on with languid steps, lamenting
the severe fate which forces him to persist
in practice which in an unguarded mo
ment he allowed to begin. | believe the
true cause Of such intense thirst is the
extreme dryness of the air when the tenn
perature is low. In this state il abstracts
a large amount Of moisture from the hui
man body. The soft and extensive surface
which the lungs expose twenty-five times
or ofteaer every minute to nearly two
hundred cubic inches Of dry air, must yield
quantity of vapor which one can hardly
spare with impunity. The human skin
throughout its whole extent, even where
it is brought to the hardness of horn, as
well as the softest aud most delicate parts,
is continually exhaling vapor, and this ex-
halation creates in due proportion de-
mand for water. Let person but exam
ine the inside of his boots after walk in
the open air at low temperature, aud
the accumulation Of condensed vapor
which he finds there viii convince him of
the active state of the skin. often found
my stockings adhering to the soles Of my
Kilbys boots after walk Of few hours.
The hOar frost and snow which they con-
tanned could not have been there by any
other means except exhalation from the
skin
Year: 1877

Great was the amazement of England,
when, at the close of the last century,
William Murdoch discovered the use Of
cOmbustible air or gas. So little was the
invention understood and believed in BY
those who had not seen it in use, that even
great aud wise men laughed at the idea
''How could there be light without wick?"
said member Of Parliament, when the
subject was brought up before the House.
Even Sir Humphry Davy ridiculed the
idea of lighting towns by gas, and asked
one Of the proprietors if they meant to
take the dome of St. Pauls for gas
metre. Sir Walter Scott, too, made him
self merry over the idea of Illuminating
London by smoke, though he was glad
enough, not so long after, to make his own
house at Abbotsford light and CHEEKY on
wintry nights by the use of that very
smoke. When the House of Commons
was lighted by gas, the architect imagin-
ed that the gas ran on fire through
the pipes, and he therefore insisted on
there being placed several inches from
the wall, for fear of the building taking
fire; and members might have been seen
touching the pipes with their gloved hands,
and wondering they did not feel warm.
The first shop lighted in London by the
new method was Mr.. Ackermann's, in the
Strand, in 1910; and one lady of rank
was so delighted with the brilliancy of
the gas-lamp on the counter that she asked
to be allowed to take it home in her car
riage. Mr.. Murdoch was, however, too
busy with other pursuits to continue to
study the use Of gas, and, though he was
undoubtedly the first to apply it to public
purposes, many others laid claim to the
honor, and other people quickly reaped
the benefit of his cleverness and ingenuity.
In this he shared the general fate Of
inventors.
Year: 1877

LIdHTNINa STRoKEs.-An old physi-
clan says If a man is stricken by lightning,
lay him fat on his back, open his clothing
at the pit of his stomach, and dash on it a
pail of the coldest water you can get. In
nine cases out OF ten ii will restore con-
sciousness, aud save life if done within
fifteen or twenty minutes after the stroke.
Year: 1877

The distinguished astronomer, Prof. Wat
son. of the Ann Arbor Observatory, recently
expressed the opinion to an interviewer that
as the planet Mars has been known for some
time to be surrounded with "a sort OF nebu-
losity or halo-blur," like the zodiacal light
about the earth, the moons lately discovered
may be new, condensed from that nebu!osity.
The ingenious reporter then asked it the
zodiacal light, in case it revolved round the
earth, and not, as many supposed, round the
sun, might not also give US the benent OF an
other moon or two. The Professor said that
when he was in the Indian Ocean, in 1874, he
distinctly saw the zodiacal light extending
from horizon to horizon, and thus he Is sure
that it encircles the earth, at distance, he
thought, of from 5000 to 10000 miles; He
added: IF my view should prove to he the
correct one, our moon not improbably may
have company"
Year: 1877

There is said to bc young man in the
Missouri penitentiary whose parents at their
death, left him fortune of ESQ. .OO0. There
Is where his parents made . fatal mistake. II
they had taken the precaution to invest that
sum in small dog, and shot him, and then
had simply left the young man jack-plane
or wood saw, with printed instructions how
to use it, the chances are that, instead OF
being in the penitentiary he would today
have been gradually but surely working his
honorable old age. But ever since the days
Of Adam and Eve, parents have made 1t :
point to toll and struggle all their lives In
order to realize sufficient sum OF money to
purchase. when they are dead and gone. their
sons each . frst.class through ticket to the
devil. and it is not much to be wondered at
that Is many of their sons, reared In vice and
idleness, q too many of them often are. have
no higher ambition thai to invest their inner
itance In Just that sort Of transportation.
Year: 1877

O. mine is free and careless heart,
And mine is a tongue of song,
And try to hear with cheerful mlnd
Whatever may come along,
And | find that life is a goodly thing,
And living jOy-nOt pain
With lots Of sunshine to light my road,
CThough sometimes little raln.)
And have motto all the way


would give it to every man
'Tis this: Whatever may come along,
Be rs happy as you can.
Though Heaven is such a glorious place,
TITS best, while on earth we stay,
To grasp all we can OF It's pleasures rare
Before we are called away.
Besides, in my mind there is often douot
Which road after death I'll take;
Perhaps, instead of an upward course,
I'll 90 down to the fiery lake.
But / do the best that my weak soul knows.
And wrong not any man,
But try, whatever may come along,


To be happy as can.
Yes. men will lie and money will fly,
But fretting is no use.
Not even if the bank did "bust'


And the president did "vamose;"
We cannot get our money back,


Nor soundly wollop him
We might as well serenely smile,


And own we're ''taken in
No use to storm, and rave, and swear,


Nor murderous projects plan
So we'll clutch our bank books firm and last,
And be happy as We can.
Year: 1877

wioter in fine order. 1t will pay any
farmer TO buy young cattle, and let them
feed upon this straw through the winter,
He can't invest his money 30 well in
scarcely anything else. Much manure
is thus made and saved. The fertility
OF the soil is thus kept up. The cattle
can be sold 10 the spring at large ad.
vance, or kept over another winter in
the same way, with little additional
feed, and then turned off in the spring
for beef.
Year: 1877

In The mornings edition in the report relative
to the claim of The Csrrolton Railroad Company
TO the square plot in front Of Poydras Market, II
was inadvertently stated that il was this piece ef
ground that was donated by the company TO the
city.


1t should have read. "The small plot abont
forty feet square. near that sbout which the
hucksters nd Administrators are now divided,
and now constituting the continuation of Penn
street into Poydras. was donated to the city by
the comFany
Year: 1877

The question is often asked us from
the country: what effect does the use
OF sorghum syrup produce upon the sys-
tent" We confess that we know moth
ing about It's effect upon the human
system except by hearsay. But this we
do know. that no other crop exhausts
the land so rapidly and 80 effectually as
the sorghum cane. We have heard it
stated that hog cholera prevails disas-
trously in those sections in which the
sorghum cane is fed to hogs, and that
the habltual use OF the syrup among
young children results in chronic dysen-
teries and exhaustive diarrheas. This is
about all we know or have heard on the
subject. We presume that 1t will not
prove O. paying crop any longer, as Lou
fsiana moiasses will probably be sold
next season at something like its old
figures before the war-say 30 cents per
gallon for the best grade.
Year: 1877

At twenty minutes past nine o'clock last night
an unknown white m. n boarded the Canal street
ferry boat on the Aleiers eide, and took sea. on
bench IN her stern. When the boat reached
the middle OF the stream he walked to The gang
way in the bow and deliberately leaped over.
board and was drowned.
Year: 1877

New York correspondence OF the Boston


Journal


One of our heaviest real estate
men has been under the harrow for
some months. To-day he has aban
doned the fight, and given up every
thing to his creditors. He was 4
very successful cotton broker. All
the money he made he put into real
estate. His revenues were very
large. His income was eight hun
dred thousand dollars year. One
building, near Trinity Church,
yielded him rental of ninety
thousand dollars per annum. Ev-
erything he touched turned to gold.
He was loaded down with cotton.
One day a merchant handed him
check of three hundred thousand
dollars to cancel a contract. He
took it. Within ten days cotton
surged and he made a fortune
He owned an elegant house on
Fifth Avenue. He crowded it with
paintings, statuary, and works of
art. Not content with this, he was
induced by speculator to take
hold of a railroad. He bought
bonds at sixty. Soon after they
went down to forty, and the gentle
man bought all he could lay his
hands on. He took the road. He
proposed to run it. He found it
unfinished. He equipped it; spent
three hundred thousand dollars in
locomotives and rolling stock.
Ruin came to HIM as it comes to ev-
cry one who dabbles in outside mat
ters. The panic completed his de-
moralization. His fine New York
property was mortgaged for more
than it was worth. To-day he has
ceased to struggle. Few men will
be warned and few men will be
the wiser for all this. Here is a
man who a few months ago had a
royal income of eight hundred
thousand dollars a year. He want
ed to make it a million. To day he
is hoUelessly bankrupt.
Year: 1877

Charles Dudley Warner writes to
the San Francisco Chronicle:


Drifting cautiously down to the
mouth OF the Golden Horn, picking
our way among the shipping that
is anchored in mid stream, we
turned away from the point of the
Seraglio, head due north and find
ourselves entering a river. This
the Bosphorus; it might be the
Hudson, or any other winding
stream that has green walls and is
lovely to look upon. Just think Of
it a moment. On our right the
eastern shore is Asia; on our left, to
the west is Europe; at our back is
the Sea of Marmora, and in two
hours we shall have come to the
waters of the Black Sea. The
channel turns so abruptly at times
times that seven handbook lakes
are formed, each more charming
than the last. Palaces, village line
the delicious shores; the hills brood
over the waters like hanging gar
dens of delight. ] believe that the
remarkable beauty of the BosPho
rus is positively unequalled in the
world, for nature has here made a
bed for art tc dream in. Behold
two continents, face to face, like ri
val queens, CHASING themselves be
tween two classic seas. We are
cruising between the Pontus and
Propontus, the Euxine and the
Marmora. We swing from shore to
shore; pause for a few moments at
each landing; exchange passengers,
and have ever about us a landscape
that is renewed at every tura. and a
surprise that il as fresh when we
steam up the Golden Horn at sun
set as at the hour when we came
out OF Ii with our hearts full of ex-
! pectation."
Year: 1877

From Henry Watterson's Deco


ration Address: Fellow-soldiers of


the onion! l can not close without


thanking you for the opportunity
your generosity has given me to
speak in this place, and on my na


tive soil, for your country and my
country, for your flag and my flag.
The Union is indeed restored, when
the hands that pulled that flag
down come willingly, and with full
hearts, to put it up again. / come
with full heart and steady hand to
salute the flag that floats above me
my flag and your flag-the star
spangled banner of our fathers-the
flag that, uplifted triumphantly over
a few brave men, has never been oh
scured, destined by God and Nature
to watt on Its ample folds the eter
nal song of manhood freedom to all
the world, the emblem of the power
on earth which is TO exceed that on
which it is said the sun never went
down. had it in my mind to say
that it is for us, the living, TO de-
eide whether the hundreds of thou
sands who fell on both sides during
the battle were blessed martyrs to
an end, shaped by wisdom greater
than ours, or whether they died IN
vain. l shall not admit the thought.
They did not die 10 vain. The
power, the divine power, which fur
rowcd the land with battle-felds,
sowing it deep and broadcast with
sorrow, will reap thence for us, and
for the ages, a Nation truly divine;
a Nation of freedom and of free
men; where tolerance shall walk
hand in hand with religion, whilst
civilization points out to patriotism
the many open highways to human
right and glory.