smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

DA~"A>e


Gen. Sheridan was right about ex-Gov.
J. Madison Wells, and yet not more than
halfright after all. He did not give Gov.
Wells half go bad a character as that
worthy has just given himself His testi-
mony given before the House Committee
was such as could only have beer given by
q rogue who feared that he might feel the
halter draw if he told too much. He was
asked by the members if he could state the
total number of votes cast in Louisiana,
and he said that he had not charged his
memory with it On other points he was
just as marvelously ignorant. He did not
know whether the action of the Returning
Board in Louisiana chad changed the re-
suit of the election" or not he did not
know whether the Returning Board "threw
out 10000 votes or not; he did not know
whether they threw out "a hundred or a
thousand votes" He, the Chairman Of
the Louisiana Returning Board, testifyinx
under oath, declares that he does not know
things which are perfectly well-known to
every intelligent newspaper reader in this
country. He presided over the throwing
out Of votes, and yet does not know how
many were thrown out. He counted out
Tilden and counted in Hayes with his own
hands,, and yet he does not know whether
'the result of the election was changed
This is bald perjury, and it is this accom-
complished rascal, who assumed to rob the
people of'the United States of the right tc
choose their own President!
Year: 1877

POLITICAL POWER OF THE SOUTH
INCREAsED.-No doubt Wendell Phillips
and Jim Blaine will express their dis
pleasure, and evince horrid dread of the
South when they read Wade Hampton's
speech, made in Chaleston last night.
Although this speech contains many noble
sentiments, and is eminently patriotic
the following extract from it is sufficient
to awaken direful fears, and call forth the
severest denunciations from these fanat-
les: On the increased political power Of
the Governor, Hampton said:


81 want to tell you an incident which
has happened since my election. When l
was in Washington recently five or six or
more prominent republicans, men high
in position, actually consulted me as to
how the vote of the colored man could
best be restricted. l tell you what is
true. My answer was:-


"We don't want the vote of the colored
man taken away or restricted, for, aside
from the friendship we bear this race,
their right to vote gives us thirty more
votes in Congress, and when peace comes
we are satisfied that the best men in both
races and parties will vote together for
the Commonwealth. We don't want to
take that right away" (Great applause. }
1 stand precisely in the position that l
took twelve years ago."
Year: 1877

Every one is sorry for the discharged
employees of the Printing Bureau OF the
Treasury Department; but there is no
sense in the suggestion that the governs
ment should, in order to keep these men
and women busy, resume the work now
being done by the bank note companies.
The engravers and printers now engaged
upon the work have as good right to en-
ployment as their fellow craftsmen at
Washington, and the merits of the case
hang finally upon the question of cheap
ness-a question which has already been
decided in favor of private enterprise
Year: 1877

PEACE will spread her wings over a
very happy people when she settles down
in Louisiana. The trials of the Palmetto
State were sore, indeed, and previously
protracted, but they have been slight in
comparison with those which have made
up the burden of the Pelican State, and
when the load rolls forever from hel
shoulders great will be the rejoicing.
Year: 1877




The following pen portrait of the
new Secretary of State is not particu
larly fattering, but is said TO be true
TO the letter:


ssEvarts is a little fellow; thin as n
shad, wi, h as narrow a head as ever
topped full grown pair of shoulders,
and hatchety, Indian sort of face.
He suggests hothing SO strongly as
an animated tomahawk. A great
sharp nose ovcrshadows all the face
except the mouth, which is too wide
to be overshadowed. It's corners
(the mouths not the nose's) are
pulled down uLti the face is given
an unpleasant, vinegar expression,
which is not lessened by the black
ness of the cavernous depths out
of which the little steel-gray eyes
peer always with keen and watch
ful look. The chin is. as sharp as
the corner of a tomahawk. and in
shape is very like it. Custom
arily the chin is sunk npon the
chest, as though the thin neck
was too weak TO sustain erect the
weight of brain. He. generally
sits with his arms folded and has
the appearance os being always in
fit of deep medi' alton.
Year: 1877

HOMELY MAxIMs FOR HARD TIMEs.-The
art is not in making money, but in keeping
it. Little expenses, like mice in barn.
when they are many, make great waste.
Hair by hair the head gets bald :;
straw by straw the thatch goes off the
cottage, and drop by drop the rain comes
into the chamber. A barrel is soon empty.
if the tap leaks but a drop a minute.
When you mean to save, begin with your
mouth; many thieves pass down the red
lane. The ale jug is great waste. Never
stretch your legs farther than your blanket
will reach, or you will soon be cold. A fool
may make money, but it takes wise man
to spend it. Remember, it is easier to
make two chimneys than to keep one
going. Ifyou give all to back and stomach,
there is nothing left for the savings bank.
Year: 1877

The news informs us that Scott and Huntington have effected compromise and that they will now press the con stTuctiOn of the Southern Pacific from both ends. This means that within probably three years the road will be completed It means, further, that mighty country is to be opened up to settlement Young men with a very little money and plenty of muscle should take a hint from this. If any one will glance at map of Southern Arizona, he will see that the country is magnificently wateTed. He may ind further, upon little inquiry, that thero are many millions of acres of land Tn Arizona which, when irrigated, will raise anything which any part of Cali fornia will. People who have been in Arizona inform us that around the San Francisco mountains and along the Saline river is some of the lOveliest country imaginable. A homestead as good as any on Truckee Meadows can be obtained there for nothing. Two or three years will swiftly pass away, and then such home will be but two days travel from either Galveston or San Francisco. There are plenty of men Tn this city who would gladly contract to work for five years for such home. They can get it in three or four If they will % and take it. They can get land which will raise cotton, wheat, all tho grasses, and grapes and fruits as fine as grow in California In thIs we have spoken of Arizona only as an agricui- tural State. The chances are even that as a mining country she will rival Nevada within five years, SO soon ss communication can be well established with some great mines already known to exist there. IL promises to be the best country for poor man which can be found during the next two ysars.- Virginia (Ney.) Enterprise.
Year: 1877

Mr. Spurgeon, writing under his sigma
ture Of John Ploughman, expresses the
following terse and homely views on the
subject Of human perfection


"He who boasts Of being perfect is per
feet in folly. / have been a good deal up
aud down in the world, and | never did
see either a perfect horse or perfect man,
and | never shall until two Sundays come
together. You cannot get white -four out
of coal sack nor perfection out of human
nature; he who looks for it had better look
for sugar In the sea. The old saying is,
"Lifeless, faultless" OF dead men we
should say nothing but good, but as for
the living, they are all tarred, more or
less, with the black brush, and half an eye
can see it. Every head has a soft place
in it, and every heart has its black drop.
Every rose has its prickles, and every day
its night. Even the sun shows spots, and
the skies are darkened with clouds. No
body is so wise but he has folly enough to
stock stall at Vanity Fair. Where
could not see the fool's-cap l have, never
theless, heard the bells jingle. As there
is no sunshine without some shadow, so is
all human good mixed up with more or
less evil; even poor law guardians have
their little failiugs, and parish beadles are
not wholly Of heavenly nature. The best
wine has its lees An mems faults are not
written on their foreheads, and its quite
as well they are not, or hats would need
wide brims; yet as sure as eggs are eggs,
faults Of some sort nestle in every mans
bosom. There is no telling when mans
sins may show themselves, for hares pop
out Of ditch just when you are not look
ing for them. A horse that is weak in
the legs may net stumble for mile or two,
but it's in him. and the rider had better
hold him up well. The tabby cat is not
tapping milk just now, but leave the dairy
door open, and we will see if she is not as
bad thief as the kitten. There's FIRE in
the flint, cool as it looks; wait till the steel
gets a knock at it, and you will see.
Everybody can read that riddle, but it is
not everybody that will remember to keep
his gunpowder out of the way Of the can
de-
Year: 1877

A dispatch from Oil City, Pa, says
A singular phenomenon can now be seen
in Clarion county, Pa, on a small stream
known as Catfish run. For long time
the inhabitants of that locality have no
ticed commotion on the surface of the
water, like that made by gas bubbling to
the surface. These bubbles have been
seen for many years, but no particular
notice was taken of them until recently,
when the quantity of escaping gas increas-
ed, and the surface Of the stream for sew
eral rods was covered with bubbles. A
strong smell Of gas also impreguated the
air in the vicinity.


Last month the place was visited by
several gentlemen who had heard of the
phenomenon. They became convinced
that it was gas, and determined to test its
burning qualities. A bunch Of rags was
obtained at a farm house aud thoroughly
saturated with kerosene. To this a match
was applied, and the burning ball thrown
into the stream. Before it reached the
surface of the water the gas iguited and
slight explosion followed. In a few
moments the body of the gas burned
steadily, aud in every portion of the stream
small flames sprang up where the gas es.
capped in moderate quantities. Since that
day the gas has continued to burn, and
the area Of the stream covered by it has
increased, until now the fires extend
quarter Of mile up and down the run.


Catfish run is sluggish stream bound
ed on either side by steep, wooded bluffs.
At night the scene along the burning
stream is magnificent. The fires light up
the dark forests, and sparkle on the
waters, making spectacle rarely witness
ed. This stream is contiguous to oil ter
ritory, and the only satisfactory theory
Of the source of the gas is that it arises
from petroleum deposits beneath the water,
as the same phenomenon, although the gas
was iu less quantity has been noticed on
Oil Creek.
Year: 1877

Let us take the airiest, choicest. and
sunniest room in the house for our living
room-the workshop where brain and
body are built up and renewed. And let
us have a bay window, no matter how
plain in structure, through which good
twin-angels Of nature--suniight and pure
air--can freely enter


This window shall be the poem Of the
house. Il shall give freedom aud scope
for eye and mind We shall hang no
picture on our walls that can compare
with the living and everlasting pictures
which God shall paint for us through our
window. Rosy dawns, golden hearted sun
sets, the tender green and changing tints
Of spring, the glow of summer, the pomp
Of autumn, the white Of winter, storm and
shine, glimmer and gloom--all these we
can enjoy while we sit in our sheltered
room as the changing years roll on.


Dark rooms bring depression Of spirits,
imparting sense Of confinement, of isola-
ton, Of powerlessness, which is chilling to
energy and vigOr !; but in light is good
cheer.


Even in a gloomy house where walls and
furniture are dingy and brown, you have
but to take down the heavy curtains, open
wide the window, hang brackets on either
side, set flower pots on the brackets and
ivies in the pots, and let the warm sun
stream freely in.
Year: 1877

How TO TAKE CARE OF FURs.--La-
dies, it has been remarked, as general
rule, imagine that care in putting away
furs is all that is required they think
they can wear them when and how they
please, provided they expend few pence
for camphor when they lay them aside.
This idea should be corrected. More
harm is done to furs BY wearing them for
aweek after the weather has become warm,
than during whole cold season. When
they are put aside they should be brushed
the right way with soft brush, an old
linen handkerchief folded smoothly over
them, and a pice of gum camphor kept in
the box all the time, to scare intruders in
the shape Of moths.
Year: 1877

MILK FOR WASHING DISHES.
washing dishes gil the dishpan half full Of
very hot water, and put to that quantity
a half cup Of milk. It softens the hardest
water, gives the dishes a clear bright look, /,
and preserves the hands from rough skin
or "chapping" which comes from the use
of soap. 1t cleans the greasiest dishes
without leaving the water covered with
greasy scum. Iron pots, sauce pans, and
dishes Of any kind in which food is cooked
should be filed in part with hot water
and set on the range as soon as the food
is removed, to be kept hot till ready to
wash them. This sends most of the
grease from the pan into the hot water.
As soon as ready to wash these pots and
kettles, pour out the hot, greasy water
and wash in very hot milk and water, as
above directed.
Year: 1877

PIGEONS VS.. GLAss.--The cruel sport
of shooting pigeons for the pleasure Of
seeing who is the most skilled in that
"pastime," is about to be supplanted by
shooting at thin blown glass balIs. The
new mode is to have three traps, in which
is placed glass balls about 6 to 8 inches in
circumference. A person attends all three
traps. The sportsman stands with his gun
in his hand, and at the word the man at
the traps pulls the string Of any trap he
pleases, the sportsman not knowing which
trap is to be sprung. As the ball springs
into the air he fires II requires more
dexterity to shoot glass ball than it does
a pigeon. Sportsmen who discard the
cruel killing of pigeons for shooting at
glass balls are to be commended for their
humanity.
Year: 1877

APPLE CHARLoTTE.-Butter deep
dish very thickly; cut thin slices of white
bread, and line the sides and bottom. Fill
with sliced tart apples, sprinkle each layer
with sugar and nutmeg, and little butter.
Cover the top with slices Of bread, soaked
in mils. Lay over this plate that will
it closely, and upon that weight. Bake
three hours in moderate oven.
Year: 1877

If thou wilt succeed in thy race for the
goal, in thy contest for the crown, pray,
watch, deny thyself, and thou wilt find ID
God eternal life, thy prize and thy crown
Il NJ SAILOR.
Year: 1877

For land grab stories and frau1u-
lent land transactions we refer to the
Galveston Meas. 1t has been attacked
with these matters on the brain, and
needs little doctoring to prevent soft
ening of its tolcrably we'll organized
organ. The General Land Office, from
its inception, has been fruitful source
of Irregularities, but this is no reason
why every body, in and out of Texas,
should he led 10 believe that it is i'm
possible to obtain any genuine right to
the public domain. People in the old
States are too ready to believe that life
and property are never safe in Texas,
and if they oaos take q scare on land
certificates, which have lately been in
good demand, all classes of certificates
will become a drug upon the market.
Let people not be led to believe that
the very air is filled with bogus certifi-
Gates, and that It Is dangerous to in
vest a dollar in State land obligations.
Year: 1877

The st. Louis Times knows what it
is talking about when it says "there
are millions of acres of the best land in
the world in Texas to be had at low
prices and on easy terms. The man who
owns farm is sure of living, and is
not dependent upon any person or
corporation. The farmer never strikes,
nor does he think of demanding an
eight hour law for himself or his
hired help"
Year: 1877

JuDGE WEST, of Ohio, the Republi
can Candidate Cor Governor, is making
some absurd expressions on the money
question. Sometimes he is and then
again he isn't, and his friends are after
finding some way to contine his tongue
at one end at least.
Year: 1877

solid food is cooked-whether, e


case of animal food. tse :


ural jaices OF the flesh are e


tanned in it or not; much, too, will ae,


pend on those atmospheric and other


conditions which determine the amount


of fluid lost by evaporation from the
surface OF the body. The sensation Of
thirst is the natural warning that the
blood wants water. may here re-
mark, incidentally, that it is not wise
custom to take excessive quantities Of
any fluid, even simple wster, with our
food, for by so doing we dilute too
much the digestive Juices, and so re-
tard their solvent action on the solid
food we have consumed. A draught
Of fluid, however, toward the end Of di-
gestion is often useful in promoting
the solution and absorption Of the resi- !
dunn of this process, or in aiding its
along the digestive, tube.
Hence the custom of taking tea few
hours after dinner, or seltzer or soda
water little before bedtime.
Year: 1877

THE question is beiBg raised in
Pennsylvsa:s whether the State shall
or shall not assist in paying the debt
imposed upon Allegheny county. Its
collection would bankrupt lts people,
and hence the press Of Pittsburgh is
appealing 70 the people of the State to
assist in paying the losses; and it is
nothing more than right that this
should be done, for bad State legisla-
ton and neglect Of p1bhc duty on
the part Of the States executive has
broagkt or al this trouble.
Year: 1877

one Of the handsomest, IL not the hand
soonest, man in the United States"


"Ah," rejoined the newspaper man.
I have often read In the Sun that
Deacon Richard Smith was very hand
some, and that his personal beauty was
OF the most exalted type. because 1t was
In the nature OF a triumph Of moral
perfection over bodily defects. Now I
realize for the first time the strength OF
the Suns position"


assured my friend that he was
quite right, and left him meditating
upon the unrivaled


BEAUTY OF TRUE GOODNESS.


I have already written of the philos-
ophy and the comedy Of the situation
1t was reserved for Judge Black to give
to this sickening picture Of fraud and
OF rapine on the one side. and Of pusiI-
lanlmity and surrender on the other,
which has just been framed In the
White House, those finishing touches
OF pathos which alone rescue it from
utter responsiveness. Maybe / am too
sentimental for practical politics.
Maybe the average, caucus thimble-
the words Of the old Judge fitfuI
glimpses Of the fitting ghost Of pa
trtotism that was dead, and could not
hear breathed through his passionate
elocution the soft requiem of hopes that
had He'd; but could. One of these
days our great-grandchildre will find
that little speech in history. Maybe
they will learn, amid new institutions
and under other political skies, that
JUDGE BLACK


was an hereto; for 1t is not so certain
that the doctrines Of our great-grand-
fathers will not have become heresy in
the eyes OF our great-grandchildren
But you know the sublimest eloquehce
which has come down to US in the Latin
tongue dill not come from the lips OF
the conquering Roman. That last echo
of despair; that final wall of fruitless
pluck and bootless courage on which
Tacitus has conferred the imm ortality
Of his matchless fancy, came from d
victim Of Roman rapine: "Ubique 0,1ns
solitudinem faci,lnt, pacena appellant"
Maybe, one or these days, the subjects
Of an empire will read Judge Blacks
speech as the Romans used to read the
speech Of Galgacus to that remnant OF
his Britons who had escaped the sword
Of Caesar and the rapine OF Agricola.
A. @. B.
Year: 1877

The Pope has lately given the clerical
electors, in Italy permission to vote,


provided they protest in open day be-
fore men that they will remain faithful
to the. law Of God and of the Church."
This Is an important concession, as
hitherto voting has always been for
permitted by the Office Of the inouisi-
tion to apply for the recognition Of their
authority by the government. The
Vatican forbade their doing SO, but it
has faund the struggle SO inconvenient
that it has concluded to tolerate an evil
which 1t cannot avoid.
Year: 1877



 It is more than likely that when the next Congress assemblies there will be a vigorous attempt made by spectators and commission mer- chants to have the cotton tax refund Ing bill passed. The question is discussed by the Memphis Ava lanche as follows:

 It is the duty of the Southern Press to oppose the agitation of the well worn scheme to refund what is known as the cotton tax, levied and collected by the government for sev- eral years after the war. It is their duty to oppose it because q wheth- CT the tax was constitutional or un- constitutional, the scheme is utterly impossible, and CD because press ing it upon Congress will weaken the chances of securing government aid for needed internal improvements in the South.

 If the tax, amounting to between $70, 0,000,000 and $l00,000,000, were to be refunded, the money should be paid to those from whom the tax was exacted. As it came off every bale of cotton sent to market during those years, it was paid, first, by the planter, and second, by the consum- CT, the manufacturer adding the tax to the price of his goods. The com mission merchant paid the tax di- rectly to the government, but it did not come out of hls pocket. The cotton was sold with "sax on'' or "tax off," The planter, as we before remarked, submitted to the loss first, and the consumers of manufactured goods (including the cotton growers, by the way,) sustaining it after ward.

 Of course nobody will pretend to argue that, should this vast sum be refunded, any considerable portion of it would ever reach the parties to whom it belongs. This would be as impracticable as an effort to extract sunbeams from cucumbers, even if such restoration were seriously con templated.

 But it is not contemplated at all. For the most part these claims are controlled by few men who have taken hold of the matter on specula- tion, and who Tn the event of success are to absorb the lions share.

 The argument that by the restora- ton of the cotton tax long deferred justice will be done the people of the cotton states who paid it, falls to the ground before these plain facts. There is absolutely nothing in the scheme for the benefit of the people. No Congress is likely ever to assem- ble that will for so impracticable a measure, nor IS any president likely to ever occupy the White House who will sign the bill if passed. It may as we'll be abandoned, without refer ence to the original merits of the proposition.

 The South has something more practical in hand, whose justice the whole country is beginning to recog- nize. We need government assist ance, in the way of inducements, to build the Texas Pacific Railroad and branches. And vast, fertile empire on the banks of the Missis- sippi is to be reclaimed from over flow. These projects are practical eminently go. Shall we endanger them by forcing them to carry the deadweight of the visionary cotton tax refunding scheme2 If so, we may as well abandon all hopes of retaining the Mississippi bottom lands and pushing a great national highway through Southern territory to the Pacific.