smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1879

IT appears to be confirmed blythe latest
investigation that the fly from which
the cotton worm comes is a native of
the West Indies, and that it moves from
there annually with the south winds.
1t is also stated that the expense OF kills
ing the fly is not warranted unless it
appears on the young plant, as it can
not do great harm to the plant, in the
later stages of its growth.
Year: 1879

THE French armies no longer march
beneath the imperial eagle. That noble
bird has been deposed from his lofty
perch on the standards of Napoleon, and
the soldiers of the republic are TO be led
to victory by laurel wreath encircIing
a dart of gold.
Year: 1879

PRESIDENT BARTLETT selects one in
Cident from the massacre, the killing
OF an aged Indian woman, as especially
disgraceful. "This is a piece of army
gallantry," he says, Z" that would be
greatly relieved by some adequate expla.
nation. The seven hits on one person
prove the victim to have been a good
mark near at hand. No doubt her sixty
years made her slow of foot. Her
'squaw's' attire would have indicated
the attack to be perfectly SAFE" The
{ act that she received seven bullets makes
President Bartlett ask: "a Did the same
soldier bring down his victim at the
first fire, and then empty seven other
chambers upon her PROSTATE frame as
he would crush a snake Or did six
comrades finish the manly work. Or
did the whole seven overtake her as she
halted along or hid herself behind some
place of shelter, and jointly slay her il
cold blood pa
Year: 1879

THE Black hills are not alone valuable
for the precious metals which they con-
tain, but for the granite. A large amount
of the latter recently arrived in San
Francisco for the erection of monument
there, and it is said to be of very fine
quality, fully equal in appearance and
durability TO the celebrated Scotch
granite.
Year: 1879

AN ingenious Nevada lawyer has
raised novel point of law in behalf of
man who is under sentence of death.
During the trial the prisoner was comy
PEELED to expose his arm and show GER
tain marks that a witness asserted were
there, thus proving his identity. His
counsel objected on the ground that this
was compelling a witness in effect to tes-
tify against himself-s thing prisoner
cannot be forced to do in a criminal
prose cution, and on this ground new
trial is demanded.
Year: 1879

Two silver bills have introduced in the senate this session--one to make subsidiary silver coin and legal tenders interconvertible, and the other for retiring and recoinage of the trade dollar.
Year: 1879

and wrote me the result by the hand Of
Stevens


my only love: I have nothing to
offer you now but my life-my undi-
vided heart. We can be happy in each
others love, for you must and shall be
mine HUGH.


This letter I wore on my heart. My
aunt's solicitor came that night. We oil
knew the will was being changed. Hugh
had offended. the hard, cold woman by
loving an Aubrey.


That night my aunt died suddenly OF
paralysis. T cannot tell how it shocked
me. Stevens and I dressed her in a
white satin bridal dress which had been
folded away for thirty years. This
stroke was a retribution for assuming to
be what she was not, as she had never
been paralytic ! She was to be mar.
ried in fortnight to man she loved
passionately. he forbade her dancing.
She went to a hustings ball, and while
waltzing received the intelligence that
he had shot himself. She took VOW
never to stand on her feet again. and
she never had. Stevens told me this.
She had made me her heir, and I mar
ried Hugh and gave it back to him.
Year: 1879

The palace of the native queen of tie
Marquesas group of islands in the Pa
ci6c has lately been visited by corres-
pondent of the Louisville Courier-Jour-
nal, who writes of the place Altogether
it is charming retreat. Sauntering up
the street, the queens house was point
ed out to me, and I concluded to call on
her majesty. The house is built of
sawed timber, and is large and airy, set
upon the usual pai.pai, an elevated
piece of stone work, about three feet
high, and solid as stone can make it,
with rough-hewn stone steps leading to
the doorway. The queen was not in;
but was informed that she could be
found at the kings grave, which was
pointed out to me, situated on knoll,
with stone steps leading up to the top,
to the left of the house, and almost be-
side it, as it were. Ascending the steps,
I found her majesty seated by grave
or tomb, experimenting some workmen
who were building large tomb of ma
sonry. The queen was very gracious
and good-looking, having remnants Of
beauty in her person, and seemed to
have been very pretty in her younger
days. She has a grave, benevolent e1-
preston of countenance, and her de.
meanor bespeaks her rank. The king
has been dead about twelve years, and
ever since his death she has kept watch
over his grave; the most of the time she
herself keeps her silent vigil over the
resting place of her love. A light is
always kept burning beside the tomb;
never allowed to go out under any cir
cumstances, and attended to by the
queens retinue, who live in native
built house adjoining. She is now hav
ing larger tomb built, and intends
having the remains put in it, together
with her child, when finished. She also
is leaving a place for herself and son,
now living. She was the second wife OF
the king. What more touching and
tender spectacle than this quiet devotion
to the memory of her love, by this grave
and sad-looking lady? Generally the
savages of the South Sea islands are not
credited with having much sentiment or
feeling, or even affection; but think the
impression has arisen from the want of
knowledge of their domestic life. I
have witnessed many instances when
maternal affection has been exhibited
and wifely devotion has shown itself to
an extraordinary degree. There was
once native woman, who swan twelve
miles with her white husband on her
back to save his life from his enemies,
and instances are not wanting where the
wife hes remained true to her dead love
during her life, refusing to be comforted
by another affection.
Year: 1879

"We are none OF US perfect, thank
goodness, said Caroline, my eldest sis
ter, with an aggravating laugh. 81 do
not claim to be paragon, by any means,
and it would take qualities little short
of saints to poke down in the country
and hobble through life at the beck of
fractions old woman. I shall not go, for
onel"


"Caroline p said mother, in mild
tone of rebuke.


Poor little soul She rarely ever
asserted her authority before the elder
girls. They were all Rushtons, every
inch, and poor little nanny had learned
all about the Rushton blood years
before I was born. They we're stern,
proud, arrogant set, and, in her meek
eyes, were more like queens and ogres,
than her husbands relatives. How Ger
aid Rushton came to marry a poor
country curate's daughter remained
mystery to his family to the day of his
death, and with a woman's instinct
freehened by the memory of my moth
er's sad face and fearful eyes, I think
she had puzzled over the enigma
through many lonely hours, only the
question might have been put to her
consciousness little differently. As,
how was it that she had been brought to
hold in idolatry man Of my fathers
temperament.


he was very unlike her imagined
hero, quite unlike the lover she had ex-
pected would come up the rose walk at
Aubrey rectory to ask her to marry him.
My mother rarely ever spoke of her
later years as wife, but often with
even enthusiasm of their first meeting,
AMI TIE childish fondness with which
she regarded him.


It had been made matter OF reproach
to her always by his relatives, and my
father, I think, never entirely forgave
her for her share in his alienation from
his family. He died with that antago-
nism in his heart, and my mother had
suffered silently, rearing her three girls
as well AS she could on the slender pat
rimony left her, with just enough of
the old curate's dignity of character to
restrain her from appealing to the great
people doWn in Kent.


Caroline, now in her twenty-third
year, had been waiting some years,
rather impatiently, for a duke or Wis.
count to come down into the country
and marry her for her peachy cheeks
and sloe- black eyes. But nowadays
dukes prefer a bad complexion and
100000 a year to captivating young
person whose sole dover is in mere per-
sonal attraction.


Edith was already twenty-one and
felt aggrieved at her sister for not hav-
ing made match, leaving the field to
her.


Not strong like Oaro, Edith was, how.
ever, a pretty girl, with fine, ladylike
hands, and carriage princess might
have envied.


I believe I was seldom thought of by
any one until it was discovered I was
too much grown to utilize the cast-oh
frocks of the other girls, and was now 8
tall, awkward girl Of eighteen, with
large elbows and sandy complexion,
like the Aubreys. It was also disoov'
ared about this time that I had made
much Of my musical chance, and, what
with a few lessons from the village or
Year: 1879

Andrew Jackson's old iron clock that
used to mark time for the White house
was discovered the other day in heap
of rubbish and sold to a patriotic Wash
ingtonian for twenty-nine dollars.
Year: 1879

An immense grave or vault is being
made in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise,
in Paris, in which to place the remains
of all the forgotten combatants of the
war of 1870. It embraces an area of
400 square feet, and will be surmounted
by a monument, the design of which
has not been chosen.
Year: 1879

A girl working in paper mill at
Delphi, Ohio, found $1O0 among the
waste she was sorting. The proprietor
of the establishment took them from
her, but she sued him for them, and the
supreme court has finally decided the
case in her favor, holding that the pur-
chase of waste paper does not give the
purchaser right to unknown valuables
found in it as against the finder.
Year: 1879

The observatory of Prof. PALMER,
the courageous savant, who has devoted
his life to the study of Mount Vesuvius,
is situated on long and narrow ridge
of rock on Mount Contaroni, almost at
the foot of the actual cone Of the volcano,
and about half mile from the hermit
age of San Salvatore-the extreme point
to which carriages can ascend the noun
tain. In spite of the risks the professor
has remained at his post and chronicled
features OF the eruptions Of the last six
years.
Year: 1879

We give to-day the happily framed and
clearly written report transmitted to the
American Geographical Society by DR.. w. Z.
Johnston, the delegate of the society at the
Interoceanic Canal Congress which re-
Gently sat in Paris. DR.. Johnston tells
plainly the story of the origin and true in
wardness of the Congress from the point of
view of those who regard it merely as bub-
BILE, as fraudulent scheme to float
worthless enterprise and palm upon q
credulous public for value shares that
could never return a cent upon the
investment This view is not new one; but
Dr. Johnston tells the story we'll, and
happy faculty at narration and o spice of
scandal will make the fortune of any story.
By his persistent advocacy of a scheme that
capable experts showed to be ridiculously
impractical M. de Lesseps gave ground for
definite allegations to the prejudice of his
perceptions and judgment, but we doubt
if that mistake will be insisted upon so
much to his discredit as this report seems
to infer.
Year: 1879

What is wanted in the Office of the Super
intendent of Public Schools is a man with
"a level head"-a man with precisely that
balance Of faculties, that union Of common
sense, good judgment and satisfactory
knowledge which the people mean to say
man possesses when in their happy
phrase they say "Hs head is level" But
if man believes that he is a direct me-
dium of divine revelations" for the guild
ance of his fellow creatures his head is not
level. 1t is not level with the knowledge,
nor with the opinions, nor even with the
faith of the present generation. 1t may be
level with the period in which all intelli-
gence was popularized by tho mouths of
prophets but then we do not want
man of that sort just now, and
if we did Kiddle would be a very poor
Elijah for us. Perhaps Kiddle would do
for prophet even now in some OF the East
ern countries, where fellow is conceded to
possess that sacred character if he only
howls arrant nonsense in the public ear
with sufficient pertinacity. But then this
is not an Eastern country. Yet oven
if 1t could be conceded that a man who
supposed himself prophet had head
sufficiently level for practical purposes,
what can be thought of the head that sup
poses the stale drivel, the troubled dish
water of Riddles revelations, to come from
the divine intelligences? Simply that it is
as eccentric As a pile of oyster shells--that
municipal dumping ground where every
CARLOAD of rubbish makes a separate heap
is as level by comparison as the top of q
billiard table.
Year: 1879

has very plainly spoken its mind on the
situation. Tammany prefers republican
Governor to another term of Governor Rob-
inson. 'Ihe interests of the democrats of
this city and those of their municipality
would suffer less from republican Cover
nor than from Robinson" are the precise
words of the Express, and we do not doubt
that they have the approval of the greater
part of Tammany's political following.


On the whole it looks good deal as
though the democratic brethren would not
be able to attain that degree of union and
harmony which is indispensable to their
success in November. We advise the demo-
cratic managers at large to form some
other combination for next year than that
tolerably stale one which looks to electing
President by the votes of the solid South
and New York. They may get neither;
and at this time it certainly does not look
as though they could prudently count on
this State.
Year: 1879

This is not good neighborhood for show
men who propose to exhibit to the public
any form OF juvenile precocity for before
they get fairly at the public they must deal
with the Society for the Prevention of Cru
city to Children. That society is organized
on a good idea, has q good purpose in
view, and has ample authority under the
law to give effect to that purpose. That it
always acts with good sense and discretion
we are not SO ready to say. Its main
idea of the application of the law is in q
general way to prevent people. 1t likes to
interfere. 1t watches for somebody who
wants to do something and pounces on him
to stop him. Its directing minds form
opinions, generally form them in the other
way, and try to force other people to accept
that way. So long as it prevents real evil,
a real cruelty, or whatever an audience of
ordinary people could fairly regard as
hardship to little ones, it certainly does
we'll; only We believe that it often
strains point in order to assert its exist
ence and make its power known. Just now
it stands in the way of musical perform
ance because some OF the performers are
little minstrels of eight, nine and eleven.
Wofgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed
his little minuets at the mature age of five,
might have been astonished at this /; but
then his history is not one of the
things of which the Court is bound
to take notice. There is no neces-
sary cruelty to a little fellow in
training him to the exercise of blowing on
q whistle or tin horn or beating o big
drum, and we are convinced that il all that
portion of this community which is be-
tween the ages of five and twelve could be
fairly polled on this issue they would de-
clare by large majority that that sort of
exercise is simply the tallest kind of fun.
Cruelty2 Why presently these people will
hold that 1t is cruelty to children to let
them snap whips, or swap jackknives,
or throw torpedoes, or break windows, or
tear their trousers sliding down hill. But
though there is no necessary cruelty in
such an exercise 1t Is certain that it may
be made cruel by the conditions of show,
even as Mozart's genius was made the
ground of much torture to him. Doubtless
the society IL it chooses could compromise
with the Snowman on this basis of the
proper regulation OF the times and seasons
of his show.
Year: 1879




After many delays, until it began to look
doubtful if they would ever meet again on
the water, Hanlan and Courtney are said to
have at last adjusted their differences, and
it seems now about certain that they will
come together within few weeks. The
great stride forward in public esteem by
Hanlan since the Lachine race his British
victories marking him, in the opinion of
many, as the first sculler in the world to-
day the worry fast time he made with
Riley recently at Barrie, the threatened
retirement of Courtney from racing and
his sudden excellent work lately with
Riley, have combined to keep the
public keenly alive to everything which
looked at all like another meeting of this
famous pair, and the present prospect is
hailed with wide and intense satisfaction.
Should Hanlan win this time it would
rightly be claimed that his twice winning
proves conclusively that he can outrow
Courtney. On the other hand, should
Courtney now win the marvellously close
race he gave Hanlan at Lachine, when
taken with the present result, especially
when the disadvantages he is said to have
then labored under are borne in mind,
would be viewed by very many as showing
that he has always been the superior
sculler.


Rochester, having the location of the
struggle, will doubtless place it near home,
and lying, as it does, near Hanlans home,
and indeed much of the Canadian border,
a large railroad centre easy of access to
Ohio, Pennsylvania. New York and even q
good portion of the Eastern States, there is
every prospect. especially when the time Of
year SO favors travelling, of an immense
throng of spectators. It would be we'll to
select a course skirted throughout by q
railroad. so that the entire contest could be
seen, not merely the ends Of it The referee
should have absolute control Of the course
and allow no steamers on or near it which
could disturb the rowers; in short, no pains
should be spared to make this race settle
for all time which Of these two scullers is
the better man.
Year: 1879




What picture of confusion and incom-
potency the government of this great city
presents at this moment! The Park Com
missioners are calling each other set of
rascals; the Police Commissioners refuse,
for partisan reasons, to perform On impor-
tant duty; the courts are engaged in trying
to decide who are and who are not Commits
sioners; the Dock Commissioners, charged
with allowing the harbor to be filled with
the waste stuff Of the city, avoid an in
quiry; the dumping of garbage in the
outer bay threatens to block up the port
and the Mayor sits in his office and looks
on.


Suppose we had a proper charter, all
this confusion would be avoided. The
Mayor, responsible for the conduct of his
subordinates, would have turned out
the Park Com missioners long ago,
and put in their places men who would at
least not disgrace the city by publicly
charging each other with bribery and cor
ruption. Ho would not have allowed the
criminal dumping OF garbage in the Bay.
He would have forced the Dock Commis-
sioners to do their duty and prevent the
filling up of the harbor and as to the
Police Commissioners IL he had
made such muddle of them as ho
has done, he and his party both would
have been turned out of Office in disgrace
at the first city election and he would have
sunk into general contempt.


The way to get a thoroughly incompetent
and useless city government is TO tie every
body's hands and make nobody responsible.
Is 1t not time TO make change2
Year: 1879




Mr. Conklings victory at Saratoga on
Wednesday, and not only his success but
the manner in which he secured 1T, un-
doubtedly place him at the head OF the
New York republicans, and if he carries the
State this fall his claim to the Presidential
nomination next year will be irresisti-
bic. A political party is like an army-it
wants q general who can lead it to
victory; aud if New York goes repub-
lican in November Mr.. Conkling's friends
may effectively say to the Republican Ma
tional Convention, eve present to you
leader who carried the State in 1878. and,
in spite of factious opponents within the
party, was reelected to the Senate by
unanimous vote of the republicans in the
Legislatures; who planned the campaign of
1879, selected the ticket, made the
platform, and again carried the State;
and whom you can nominate with the
assurance that he brings you in his hands
the electoral vote of the Empire State"
The Convention would be foolhardy indeed
if it hesitated to accept such an offer, with
such guarantees behind it.


Mr.. Conkling has been fortunate in hav-
ing the opposition of a number OF news
papers in his party. There is nothing
like newspaper abuse to make man
popular, and nothing like newspaper
coddling to break q man down. jack
son was always at loggerheads with the
newspapers; Grant was never favorite
of the reporters during the war; but
Mcclellan and other newspaper generals
very quickly broke down and sunk to the
bottom. Mr. Conkling has also shown the
advantage of courage and combativeness us
a public man. He has never tried to win
by conciliating his opponents; he accepts
their opposition and beats them down, as
he did at Saratoga. He sees, probably,
what the mass of republicans in the
State see, that the opposition to him
is merely personal; that the so-called
reformers who have SO long and
so vainly tried to beat him down
have no public motives and always
stand on the same platform with him, and
that when he has beaten them they must
perforce march with him. He deals with
them as bold captain deals with mutt
nous faction among his crew. and the event
has always shown that he Judges rightly.


The HERALD's Saratoga correspondent
reports that Mr.. Conkling is confident
of carrying the State this fall. When
he reads the republican organs which
attacked him and were opposed to
his course before the Convention he
will feel more confident STILL They all
cordially submit to the inevitable and
promise hearty co-operation-as the Senator
doubtless knew they would. 1t is the
fashion to speak of Mr.. Tilden as great
party manager, but he ought to take a leaf
out of Mr.. Conkling's book. Mr.. Tilden,
with all his astute manipulation, has
brought his party into tricable con-
fusion in this State; Mr.. Conkling, with
more stubborn disaffection to deal
with, has forced it into harmony, has
Obliged it to accept his leadership, and On
the very day after the Convention sees it
swing into line and depending on his skill
and ability to carry it to success.


The democrats would be lucky if they
could borrow Mr. Conkling from now until
next Wednesday.
Year: 1879

REPORTS of the proceedings of the British
Association follow hard upon those of our own
Science Association. Our London letter devotes
special attention to the deliberations of the geo.
graphical section, in which some noted explorers
took prominent part
Year: 1879

THIRTY-FIvE OF THE FORTY-TwO MEMBERS Of
that innocent New York Chowder Club that
didn't do anything at Gravesend concluded
yesterday to plead guilty to the charge of assault
and battery. That is about the average of the
New York rowdy's innocence.
Year: 1879

The EXAMINATION of the torpedo class is
closed and the examiners have gone home salts
fed from which it is to be assumed that any
enemy who may hereafter encounter members
of the class will retire-if he gets the chance
in diametrically contrary frame of mind
Year: 1879

THE GREATEST EXCITEMENT caused by the
Saratoga Convention seems to be manifested by
the conflicting democratic factions in this city.
It's of no use, gentlemen-you will have to do
as the republicans did; one or the other of you
will have to eat crow in order to beat Cornell.
Year: 1879

THE FAILURE of another prominent Fall River
man-although nothing dishonorable is sus-
pected-calls attention again to the peculiar
financial condition of what until lately has been
supposed to be one of the soundest business Gen.
tres in the land.
Year: 1879

The Dock COMMISSIONERS have again sue
ceeded in being merciful to the Union Dredging
Company, whose violations of the laws govern
ing the dumping of garbage have been freely
confessed. What noble occupation for so
prominent and costly body us our Dock Com
mission