smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1878

The steady increase Of mendicity in this
city during the past few years is at last at
tracing the attention Of our philanthropists
fact that as a whole the work Of the charit-
able organizations in this city has tended
rather to foster than to check pauperism. II
is disease that threatens to develop ints
alarming dimensions unless subjected ai
once to intelligent and comprehensive treat.
ment. Sufficient funds are annually sub
scribed by the charitable to do great deal
of good if judciously applied, but see tered
as they are by some one hundred and fifty
different societies the mere doles distributed
serve rather to pauperize the beneficiaries
than to help them out of their miserabl.
condition. The successful results recently
arrived at in London by the "Charty Or.
ganization Society" have induced the
friends of the poor in the cities o.
Chicago and Buffalo to adopt somewhat
similar system, in the hope of achieving
some lasting benefits. There is also, we
learn movement on foot in this city with
q similar object in view. The main prin-
ciples of the proposed organization appear
to be harmonious co. Operation of all citi.
zens and the complete severance Of char.
liable relief from all considerations Of re.
ligion, politics or nationality They also
propose to assist the deserving poor by
means of loans, without interest, as an in
centive to industry and independence OF
course to carry out these views complete
organization will be necessary, covering
the entire city. A correspondent whose
letter appears elsewhere, lays down the out
lines of such benefcent scheme.
Year: 1878

Dr. Lambert, the convicted president of
the Popular Life Insurance Company, yes
terday secured Il bill OF exceptions from
Judge Brady, which carries his appeal to
the General Term and secures stay of the
execution of the sentence pending its deci-
sion. 1t is not encouraging to find that
criminals who have amassed wealth by their
crimes are always able TO fight off justice for
long periods and too often to defeat it alto
gether, while poorer rogues can be "rail-
roaded" to Sing Sing for much less grave
offences The insurance company to which
this Dr. Lambert devoted his pecu-
liar talents was one of the boldest
and most rascally swindles ever at
tempted in that prolific line Balances
were made year after year by entries wholly
false to the amount of oyer two hundred
and seventy thousand dollars. and the books
were full Of fraudulent representations of
the purchase of stock for the same purpose
whenever u report was to be issued. In
fact, the management was network OF
false and fictitious entries, repeated per-
juries and bold plunder from first to last.
The victims of the swindling company are
numbered by the thousand. II by any
trick Of the law the principal actor in these
Year: 1878

A very sad story indeed, is that of the
poor woman who attempted to desert her
infant child on Water street last Friday
moving along apparently in deep distress,
with bundle in her arms, and seeing she was
in trouble asked her what was the matter


The poor creatures reply was an agonized
moan, as she hurried past the officer. ap-
parently anxious to escape his notice. The
man, suspecting something wrong kept
her in sight until she disappeared in a
passageway on Water street, from which
she soon again emerged, with female in
fant three or four weeks old in her arms


Then removing her shawl she spread it
hastily on n stoop, laid her baby tenderly
down, gave the little one passionate kiss
and rushed away. OF course the police
man followed and arrested her, and brought
her back to where she had lett the
child. When taken to the police court
on charge of abandonment she held
the infant clasped convulsively to her
breast, as if, deeply repentant of the de-
serton, she now dreaded lest some person
might force her baby from her arms. Her
answer to the Judge was simple and
touching and told her whole bitter his
tory--"O my God what could l do? 1
love it, but had no place to take it to-"


God help the poor mother who is COM
PEELED to utter such a cry-who, in the
midst of Christian community and of
charitable institutions maintained at the
expense of millions, is driven to tear her
own heart by the fearful crime of desertion
rather than to wander the streets and see
her child perish in her arms of
want and exposure. Surely there
ought to be some public charity
at which this unhappy woman and her
child could have been promptly received
and kindly cared for There is too often q
sort of red-tapism about the dispensation
of charities which is apt to withhold relief
from immediat suffering until the less
scrupulous agencies of death or crime step
in and dispose of the case in their own
wnv. The unfortunate ought to be made to
Year: 1878

While the millions of Catholics through
out the world are draping their churches in
mourning, while the priests, clad in the
vestments of sorrow, are chanting their
reauiems for the soul Of the Pope lying
dead in Rome, the preliminaries for choos-
ing another occupant of ST. Peters chair are
being rapidly arranged. The good old
priest whose body now lies beneath the
lofty dome of the greatest structure ever
reared by human hands to the God
of Calvary has passed into niche of his
tory, and the funeral dirge floating in
solemn tones along the pillared ases of st.
Peters will be but an echo from the crypt of
Time. For years indeed Pope Plus had
lived with his face to the past. OF all the
temporal posses sions which had for GEN.
turies belonged to the Papal See nothing
but the Vatican remained. Natural enough
then that the Pope, with eighty years Of life
upon his shoulders, should have retreated
thither, and there taken his stand, to wait for
death amid the symbols of his perished
earthly might, amid the priceless treasures
of art and learning which the genius and
the wealth of the world hal laid ut the feet
of the popes when popes were kings and
kings of kings. Twenty years before the
soldiers of Victor Emmanuel marched into
the castle of San Angelo Pope Plus had
renounced all ideas of com promise with
ssthe revolution" When Rome acknowl-
edged an Italian king there was nothing
lot hut tp or In foil hoc II.
citadel of another authority-that of the
spiritual power. 1t makes a sentimental
picture the aged Pope, who had ruled as
a real king, sitting like second Marius
amid the ruins of the Temporal Power,
but it is picture that will not
appeal even to fervid Catholics with another
figure in the Papal robes The old era of
the Kipg-Pope closed eight years ago, but it
is only now that the older era of Bishop and
Father can be said to recommence lhe
Papacy is relegated to its purely spiritual
career, and, for all their denunciatons of
the change, there is not zealot in the
Roman Church who would admit that the
loss of an earthly throne has impaired the
religious usefulness of the Holy See. In
deed, it is no secret that things spiritual
have been better managed since the Papal
authorities had the care of their petty king
dom taken off their hands.


Who is to be the Pope of the new rfyimeY
The worldly prophets have taken up the
question ; the interested ecclesiastics are
busy trying to be forehanded with the
answer; the diviners of omens and dreams
are puzzling over it. Will he be 'mod-
crate p ask Protestant Germany and ultra
Catholic Portugal. Will he be an Italian /?
man, an Englishman or an American ask
the Catholics who see no reason now Why
Year: 1878

Under the old law, in operation until
1875, when the majority of the property
owners along the line of street desired to
have the street repaved they petitioned the
Common Council, and the work was done
1t was found, however, that some property
owners were willing to suffer street to re-
main in wretched, dilapidated condition,
dangerous to those who were compelled to
drive over it and injurious to the commerce
of the city, rather than to put their hands
in their pockets to pay for the repaving
In 1875 law was passed to provide q uni
form system for the requirement. of streets,
avenues and public places in the city of New
York. 1t provides that whenever the Com
missioner Of Public Works shall certify and
report to the Board of Aldermen that the
safety, health or convenience Of the public
requires the repaving of any streets, the
Aldermen shall have the power to direct the
work to be done under the direction and in
the manner specified by the Commissioner.
But the amount to be expended for such
requirements is limited to five hundred
thousand dollars in any one year.





tinct 1t was designed to insure the repay
ing of the wretched business streets in the
lower part of the city. whose horrible condi-
tion has been for years the cause of the OBJ
struction of travel and of the delay and ex-
pense of carting goods from river to river,
and from vessels and railroads to the stores
and warehouses of the merchants. If half
million dollars had been appropriated
yearly since 1875 to this purpose the busi-
ness streets would almost all be in good
condition. But the Public Works Depart
ment, under Mr.. Campbells management,
labor and to buy such materials and employ
such laborers as the Aldermen and other
politicians sought to force upon him,
and has done the work by contract,
after open competition. In consequence
of this policy the Aldermen have refused
to order such repavng as he recommends
and the Board of Apportionment has cut
down the appropriation to two hundred
thousand dollars-an entirely inadequate
amount. There is no doubt that if Mr..
Campbell would consent to make the street
pavements a political job the Aldermen
would promptly authorize all the work he
suggests and the Board of Apportionment
would give him the full half million to spend !;
only in that case the people would not
obtain in work more than half the value of
the amount expended.


A bill to facilitate the requirement. Of our
wretched downtown streets and of such i'm
portant pleasure thoroughfares as Fifth av-
enue is now before the Legislature. 1t is
said that q clause reviving or legalizing
some old contracts is in it, and if so it
should be stricken out instantly. But the
bill itself or one of similar character
should become a law. and the fact that it is
opposed by the same political influence that
opposes the Department OF Public Works,
because il refuses to make the repaving Of
the streets source of profit to Aldermen
and their friends, should only serve to
make its passage the more certain.
Year: 1878

Stanley was welcomed to England last
night by the Royal Geographical Society,
which has hitherto noticed his recent i'm
portant African discoveries only by the
charge that he was pirate because he de-
Tended his life from the savage natives of
Bumbireh. Having accomplished great feats
in African discovery this explorer returns
to England, which is q sort OF central point
in the world for militant civilization and
tea table humanity. He returns to the
country from which has gone out into all
the corners of the earth more bold
and resolute explorers than from all
other countries together, some with
Bibles, some with rum and Birmingham
samples, and some with artillery but all
inspired with the great purpose of submit
ting the heather everywhere to British COM
merce and the British missionary lie re-
turns to the land of Give and Sir Garnet
Wnlseley, who represent, in widely separated
times, the common English purpose, not SO
much to make war upon barbarous enemy
in some interest of civilization, as to make
safe routes for British traffic by the sys-
tematc slaughter of all savages disposed to
impede that traffic He comes to the land
whose people and government have sus-
tanned the enterprise of the British East
India Company by the slaughter and
starvation of many millions Of the
people of Hindostan, and who have made
war on China, bombarding its towns
oyI t,t;v &c 49, ,,ct
the wise policy of it's own government to
purchase opium in order that by his trade
in that deleterious substance the British
merchant may turn many "an honest
penny" To that country whose subjects
never permitted respect for human life
or human rights in any form to
stand in the way of even their
meanest purposes in remote or heather
lands he returns, not rs one who has
been inspired by similar ideas, but reso-
Lutte explorer who has asserted, against the
lives of handful Of savages, not the lofty
right Of traffic in cotton pocket thandkerchieis
and Brummagem trinkets, but the claims of
geographical science; and what is his re-
ception His welcome was at first a
cry from the cultivators of tea table
humanity that drowned all other voices and
all other sounds. England had to say to
him only that on such day he killed so
many Africans and that her heart is lacerated
with pity tor the savages He has slain all
those dear creatures with an elephant
rifle, and she would rather he would
have left the secrets of Africa undis-
covered at least until England could have
discovered them herself But at the meet
ing last night we note with pleasure
that that voice was smothered-Stan-
lev defended himself from the as
sault and Lord Houghton and Major
Grant practically apologized for the
untimely assertion that had been made of
so-called humanity. All that is pleasant.
1t was hardly to be expected, however, that
an unpleasant scene would have been made
on this occasion. and the fact that the as
sailants did not appear last night does not
prove that they are silenced altogether.
Year: 1878

DAVIS A PRIVATE SOLDIER in the Signal Scr
vice corps, rendered such important service ut
the wreck of the Metropolis that, if he had been
OF high rank, the country would in all proba-
bility be ringing with his name and fame.
But the government is not ungratcful; it has
made linn corporal.
Year: 1878

understand that they can obtain assistance
and rescue from pressing misery for the
mere asking, and then we should have
fewer cases like the one to which we allude.
Judge Bixby "held the woman in $500 to
answer" but we think the kind and loving
hand of Christian charity is better adapted
to this wretched mothers case than the
stern enforcement of the law against deser-
ton
Year: 1878

IT Is To BE HOPED the report from WASH
higton that Senator Conkling has determined
not to speak the Silver bill will prove to be uIl-
founded and that he will feel it to be his duty To
unscal his lips on this important question. Mr..
Conkling's silence Is an act of injustice to his
State and his constituents.
Year: 1878

outrageous frauds and perjuries should
escape the State Prison. the people might
well despair of ever furnishing a criminal
who might have the good sense to steal
enough to make himself wealthy felon.
Year: 1878

THE COUNSEL of the elevated railroad com
panes ctfectually answers the latest complaint
Of the Third avenue monppoly in opposition to
rapid transit. The assertion that their horses
will run away is exceedingly ludicrous.
Year: 1878

Henceforth We will give Q column daily
TO correspondents upon any proper subject
for discussion. It fs expected that commu-
nications will be written on one side only
of the paper, and accompanied with the
name of the writer. The HERALD is not to
be considered as endorsing or being in any
way responsible for the opinion Of CORES
pondents in this column. -.
Year: 1878

Beneath the quaint old bridge you hear
The waves make music as they pass;
And, winding 90 the elm tree near
You see the pathway through the grass,
Where we were won't to walk, alas
The river wanders as of old,


Beneath the shade of willow trees;
The sunlit waters gleam like gold,


And nipple to the gentle breeze;


But l am far from thee and thesel
The sky bends over, broad and blue,


And in the soft and mellow light,
You tread the lane our footsteps knew
In f,,rmer days, when days were bright;
Do these days bring such sweet delight
And still that lane with grass is green.
With fragrant fieweIs the banks are fair
In golden gloss and silver sheen,


he bees still haunt the balmy air
But you will f4iI to find me there.
Again, peTcbanee, May not see


The rustliRg rows of willow trees,
Which lent leafy canopy


When we strolled underneath at ease;
For am far from thee and these.
Our joys forsake US. Soon does spring
Pass by and for the summer call;
Soon do the birds lose heart to sing,


When fading leaves ia autumn fall;
And winter is the end of all.
Year: 1878

THUS sighs the Burlington Hawkeye:
Gone by one all the comforts of this life
are taken gay from the toiling millions.
II used to Be a great consolation for us to
think in our poverty that none OF our
rich neighbors could ever get to heaven.
Now. alas! we are assured that there Is
no Mace else for them to go. Oh, woe
fuI times! Oh, wretched, harsh and
inconsiderate world Oh, dog gone II
Ill
Year: 1878

one, and is introduced to show that even
at that early day there was strong feeling
between the sections. On one occasion


Cumming was interrupted Extensively
during a speech at the bar, by an oppos-
ing counsel, whose character he was
scraping off. He turned without saying
a word and, planting his fist in the fel-
lows forehead, knocked him down.


Perfectly unruffled he turned to the
Judge and said: Having thus sum-
mariIy disposed of the gentleman will
proceed to treat his argument in like
manner" Colonel Cumming was offered
the command of the army by Mr.. Polk
when the war with Mexico began, but
declined it because of his advanced age.
Year: 1878

she would never give the particulars OF
that nights work, and it must remain forever
a secret. The imagination can fill out pic
ture of horror from the scant material given /:
The still. quiet hunt for each other; the senses
sight; the dry eFackle of twig; the sudden
burst Of flame; the repeated gun-shOts, and
then the unsheathing Of knives, and deadly
rencOntre, breast to breast. These seem to
belong to fiction rather than to history.
Year: 1878

Theodore Parker never received diplo-
ma. though he pursued the full college
course at Harvard. Nor did he ever recite
a single line to professor. His father
was poor, and could not afford to pay the
college expenses but Theodore was
bound to have liberal education. One
evening lie said:


Father, | have entered Harvard Col
lege.''


How did you prepare p asked the as
tonished parent.


Il studied by myself evenings after the
days work was done. and mornings before
work. lie was then assisting his father
on the flriti.


'But cannot pay your expenses in col
lege."


IL know that; mean to stay at home
and keep up with my Glass;


And he did more thah keep up with the
class; part of the tine he worked for his
father ut home, and part of the time he
taught school, paying his father eleven
dollars month to hire another hand in
his place. He passed the examination sue
cessfully, but was not given degree, be-
cause he had been a nonresident. and had
paid no fees. Subsequently degree was
offered him, on condition Of paying the
customary fees; but money was scarce,
though energy and scholarship were am-
pie, and he was obliged to decline it.


What a reproach is this example to those
who, having everything to help them in a
college course, waste time and advantages!
Companion.
Year: 1878

Take sheet Of stiff writing paper and
fold it into tube an inch i'm diameter. Ap-
ply it to the right eye and look steadfastly
through it, focusing the eye on any con-
ven-nt object; keep the left eye open.


Now place the left hard, held palm up
ward, edgeways against the side of the
tube, and about an inch or two above its
lower end. The astonishing effect will be
produced of a hole, apparently the size OF
the cross section of the tube, made thro
the left hand. This is the hole in which
we propose to materirliZe another and
smaller hole. AS we need a genuine aper1
ture. and it would be incOnvenient to make
one in the LETT hand, let sheet of white
paper be substituted therefor and similarly
held. Just at the part of the paper where
the hole equaling in diameter the orifice of
the tube appears to make an opening a
quarter of an inch in diameter. Now stare
intently into the tube; and the second
hole. defined by its Indifference of illumin-
alton, will be seen floating in the first hole,
and yet both will be transparent. The
illusion-for Of course it is one Of those
odd pranks our binocular vision plays up
on us-is certainly one of tile most curl
Gus ever devised. Besides, here is the ac-
t,lal hole clearly visible, and yet there is no
solid body to be seen to define its edges.
1t is not mere sport of light, because if a
page of print be regarded, the lines within
the boundaries of the little hole will not
coincide at all with those surrounding it
and extending to the edges of the large
apparent aperture. Each eye obviously
transmits an entirely different impression
them, lands us in the palpable abb
surdity Of materialized hole.
Year: 1878

Il believe woman is the equal of man


and has all the rights OF man, and one


more, that of protection. | believe the in


stitution Of marriage to be the holicst and


most sacred institution among men. Yet


it took thousands of years to advance


from slavery up to the marriage institu-


ton. L hate man who says he is the


head of the family. Go. Idespise him.


| hate one of those t!iynitied galoots. !


never saw dignitieG man who was not


Ounce. Solemnitv is breastwork which


mediocrity throws up to defend itself from
the eyes of the world. hate Il nlan who


is an aristocrat in his family. and whose


wife is bcg:ar. She says. 4 want dol
lar, and asks tor it us if she were bomb
shell, and he replies. What did You do
with the fifty cents | gave you:' How
many women are obliged to be continual
be"gars. How ta.i you raise children in
such an atmosphere? It's terrible thing:
it's wretched and infamous. l believe in
the democracy of the family. Every home
should be little republic in itself. Love
is the only thing that will pay ten per cent.
to both borrower and lender. Love is the
only thing where the least possible eXtray-
agancc is the height of economy. What
right has man to be the head of the talni-
iy? \ man should be cheerful and plea
SAINT on coming into the house. When
you cnslave anybody you make him dis
honest. \ hut with love is palace fit for
a king. A little while ago l stood at the
tomb of the dead Napoleon, and when |
thought of his past life, thought would
rather have been French peasant and
worn wooden shoes. living in hut with a
little wife loved, with children upon my
knee, and their arms about my neck, and
died unnoticed and unknown. loved by
those who knew me, than to have been
that great king. 1t is not necessary to be
great or rich or powerful to be happy
Bob. hagersoU.
Year: 1878

There arrived at Rcsebrrg from Ports
mouth, Ohio, few days since, the aged
mother of enc, William. Skelton, who is
confined in Jail in the former place await
ing his trial for murder. The Plaindea,er
tells that the prisoner was taken from the
jail to the court house to see his mother,


and that the interview was extremely af-
fecting. Sympathy can scarcely reach
such case as this, and even gentle pity
must stand abashed before such a sorrow.
not daring to protfer her assistance in the
attempt to assague it. What imagination
is vivid enough to conceive, or what pen
strong enough to portray, a woe, where
an aged mother meets wayward son after
perhaps years of separation, with an awful
gulf of crime between them. and the dread
shadow of the gallows or the State prison
hanging darkly over them? In recording
such a sorrow,


''Ths historian, though divine, might weep"
Year: 1878

4 young lady acquaintance of ours was
visited by a fortune-teller the other day.
and submitted to having the veil OF the
future uplilted and her horoscope cast.
She was much pleased with the prospects.
especially the promised rich, dark-haired
man who was TO become her husband. but
when the dame told progeny OF eleven
children, she said that was more than she
could bear. and dismissed the female augur
without further ceremony.