smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1878

The first Of October is the best ttm6
for making an Asparagus bed. Very
little cutting should be done the first
summer. An Asparagus bed will last
for a lifetime, 50 it will pay for a little
'abor and patience.
Year: 1878

It may be interesting at this moment
to compare the mercantile navies Of,
the leading maratime nations. At the
close Of last year the vessels and ton
mage Of the merchant ships Of eleven
Of the leading nations were as follows:
Year: 1878

A Taris correspondent writes about
the dismembered portion Of human
bodies that are constantly being picked
up in the Seine. For that matter, n
this season of the year, any number Of
big tows cen be seen coming down tie
Hud5On
Year: 1878

Mrs. Strasbergher, of Reading, las
recently found a cluster diamond ring
in a package Of coffee. II she'd only
let the public know what brand Of
coffee that was, there are grounds for
believing it would be in demand.
Year: 1878

Rice powder hich is much used by
ladies' upon their faces. is sad to often
contain lead, which renders it very IN
furious. If little iodide of potash is
dropped upon the powder, the presence
Of lead will be revealed by its turning
yellow.
Year: 1878

A Troy policeman swOre as follows
against a prisoner: The prisoner set
on me, calling me an ass, a precious
dolt, a scarecrow, a ragamufin and an
idiot-aI of which I certify to lie true.
Year: 1878

The DanviLle Advertiser says: Mr..
Smith was in town on Saturday with
his hired man. and the two tell a sin
gUlar story about lightning stroke.
Mr.. Smith was on a grain drill in
field, and his hired man was about y
rods from him, dragging. Su denly
Smith heard the noise of thunder, and
became unconscious. The man also
heard the noise, but neither Of them
saw any flash of lightning. The man
went to Smith and in about twenty
minutes he was restored to conscious
ness. Then attention was given " the
horses. One of them WIS standing er-
rect, with one foot lifted a little way


from the earth, and the other was
kneeling with his nose in the earth,
and beth were stone dead. and retained
their positions until they were pushed
over. The suppOsitinn is that in u6s
case the electricity went FROM the earth
to the Sky.
Year: 1878

Hold the Fort, " is a grand song, but
is not appropriate for all occasions. AT
least so some people thought when a
worthy deacon, on some anniversary
occasion, formed his Sunday-schOOl in
line and marched them along the aisles,
himself in front. and all vigorously
singing Hold the Fort" The con
sternation which seized all parties at
the second
Year: 1878

WHILE Adam and Eve were yet IN
Eden, when our fair young grandmother
knew there wasn't another living soul III
all the wide, wide world, bat herself and
her snoring husband, We don't suppose
she ever went 10 sleep without first look
ing under the couch Of moss and leaves
for man, and rousing Adam from his
first sweet nap 10 ask him if he WAS sure
he had locked the front door!
Year: 1878

HER EVERY PRAYER. A little five-year-
old daughter OF one Of our prominent
business men, in Offering up her evening
prayer, recently, uttered the following
God bless mamma; bless papa, and make
him buy ME a dog-a great biz one, that Il
whip the devil out of all II en-"
Year: 1878

The Universal Exposition held at Paris
during the past summer has been attended
BY large numbers of our citizens. The
brief period allowed for the preparation
and arrangement Of the contributions OF
our citizens to this Exposition was well
employed in energetic and judicious efforts
to overcome this disadvantage. These ef-
torts, led and directed by the Commission
er, were remarkably successful, and the
exhibition OF the products of American In
dustry was creslitable and gratifying in
scope and character. The report Of the
Year: 1878

WoMAN's HEAD-GEAR.-Joseph Ad-
Olson says of wonan's head-gcar: 1"
would desire the fair sex to consider how
impossible it is for them to add anything
that can be ornamental to what is already
the masterpiece of nature. The head has
the most beautiful appearance, as well as
the highest station in the human figure
Nature has laid out all her art in 5eauti-
| flying the face she has touched it with
vermlion, planted in it double row OF
ivory, made it the seat of smiles and
bushes, lightened it up and enivened it
with the brightness of the eyes, hung it
on each side with curious organs ofsonse,
given it airs and graces that cannot be
described, and surrounded it with such a
flowing shade of hair as sets all its beau
ties in the most agreeable light. In short,
she seemed to have designed the head as
the cupola TO the most glorious of her
works, and when we load it with pile Of
supernumerary ornaments we destroy the
symmetry Of the human figure, and fool
ishly contrive to call off the eye from
great and real beauties to childish gew-
gaws, ribbons and bone lace"
Year: 1878

A CLOCK THAT STRIKES THIRTEEN
The Duke Of Bridewater was very fond OF
watching his men at work, especially
when any enterprise was on foot. When
they were boring for coal at Worsley, the
Duke came every morning, and looked
on for long time. The men did not
like TO leave off work while he remained
there and they became dissatisfied with
having to work so long beyond the hour
at which the bell rang that Brlndley had
difficulty in getting a sufficient number o {
hands 10 continue the boring, On inquiry
he found out the cause and communicated
it to the Duke, who from that time made
it point ofimmediately walking off when
the bell rang returning when the men
had resumed work, and remaining with
them usually until six o'clock. lie OBJ.
served, however, that though the men
dropped work promptly as the bell rang
when he was not by, they were not nearly
struggling in many minutes after time
He asked to know tho reason and the
mems excuse was that, though they could
always hear the clock when it strucl;
twelve, they could not so readily hear it
when it struck only one. On hearing this,
the Duke had the mechanism of the clock
altered 50 as to make it strike thirteen at
one o'clock-which it continues to do to
this day.
Year: 1878

A LAKE county paper tells this about
farmer Of that region A few evenings
ago, hearing hog squeaing, and think
ing a dog was killing it, he took candle
in one hand and revolver in the other,
and hurried to the scene of trouble
When his little dog that had followed had
demanded satisfaction as to the cause of
the hog noise, the cracking of the brush
mingled with huge snortng, sent the
rancher up treo-not for safety, of
course, but to get an elevated position to
call to his wife for help. Ho remained
elevated about an hour, when help arriv-
ed, and to the surprise Of all, found the
rancher and huge bear up same tree
The bear was shot, and the man rescued
1t is thought that lac will survive if his
nerves ever get quiet again but he will
never climb another tree in the night
when pigs have been squealing.
Year: 1878

THE country school teacher is a person
who occupies position favorable for large
and healthy influence. He is teacher ol
"reading, writing and arithmetic" )" but OF
much more. In school he has many
classes in various branches of study such
as an advanced education requires, to all
of which it is expected he can give intel
lgent attention. But the whole school is
II class to which he is giving instruction in
department and general good conduct
No matter how much textbook training
he may have given them, his scholars will
not be gamers If he fails to teach them
courte;E refinement. trGthfulness and ali
the moral qualities that are necessary to
the formation Of good characters.
Year: 1878

EATING PHlLoPENA.-Our young folks
do not understand how to conduct "phil
openical" operations. The customs orig
mated from the Germans, and. the follow
ing explains the m0duS operandi in that
country : When the couple meet after
eating philopena no advantage is taken of
the other until one of them pronounces the
word ''philopena." This Is the warning
that now the sport is to begin. Let us
suppose that gentleman calls upon la
dy. She invites him to walk in and at
the same time speaks the talismanic word.
If he accepts to walk in he is lost until
she removes the ban by telling him to go
away. Ii she asks him TO take off his
hat, he must resolutely keep it on if to
be seated, he must stand, or if Mt the TIA
Bile she should hand him any article which
he accepts, she wins the forfeit. During
all this time he endeavors to take her by
surprise, for the acceptance of an offer
from the other wins the game. Both are
constantly exercising their wits to pre-,
vent being caught, and the sport often
goes on all evening. Perhaps the gentle
man brings little present and says,
knowing that | shall lose my phiopena,
| have brought it along-here it is" II
she is caught off her guard by the smooth
speech, she loses, for he Immediately
claims the forfeit. Ii neither wins at the
first meeting, the sport Is continued to the
second, and it may happen that half a
dozen parties meet all at the same time,
all anxious to win of their phiopena
partners, so that the scene often becomes
ludicrously amusing. 1t is diamond cut
diamond" in very truth.
Year: 1878

BLANKS for people who want to swear
off the FIRST Of January can be found at
this office. A regular justice of the peace
connected with the establishment.-CIn
cinnati Satulddy Night.
Year: 1878

The robbery of the Manhattan Savings
Bank yesterday was nominally the greatest
burglary on record, the value of the stolen
bonds registered, and consequently useless
to the thieves, being nearly three millions
OF dollars. But the most astonishing
feature of the transaction is the fact
that the janitor, who is described
as u very stupid person. should have been
intrusted with the combination key of the
vault. This key, an implement dangerous
enough in any hands. was doubly
hazardous to the interests of deposit
tors and stockholders when in possession
Of person living in the bank building
That the key of the Manhattan Bank was
SO intrusted shows degree of stupidity
almost inconceivable in bank officials had
not experience often shown that business
men have strange idea that the less intelli-
gence man has the safer he is. Depositors
in other concerns will be taking only ordi-
nary precautions if they at once ask some
pointed questions, for the strength of q
bank, like that of chain, is only that Of
it's weakest part.
Year: 1878

A smoonshiner" is man who makes
whiskey without leave or license from the
federal government and sells what he makes
without paying the federal tax. The noun
tains of North and South Carolina and
Georgia are full OF moonshiners, and ma
jority of them vote the republican ticket,
or did SO until the passage of the Civil
Rights act, which they resented under the
erroneous impression that it was q law COM
pelling their daughters to marry col
ored men. There is general belief
in the North that the moonshiners
are all democrats, which arises from
the fact that democratic Senators and
Governors have been conspicuous in
trying to get the Treasury Department to
forgive past moonshining. But this demo-
cratic solicitude arises, like the cynic's grat-
itude, out of lively sense of favors to
come out of hope that tho moonshino
vote may bo turned into the democratic
camp. We advise Governor Hampton, Sem
ator Ransom and the rest of the democratic
missionaries to let the federal government
deal direct with the moonshiners, and
to turn their attention to putting the
currency on specie basis and restoring
the country to prosperity. When that is
accomplished the revenues will be big
enough to allow Congress to repeal the
whole system of internal revenue taxation,
which arose out of the necessities Of the war.
and which, while it has brought and yet
brings good deal of revenue to the Treas
rry, has been the cause of q great deal OF
of1ice-holding and the means Of good deal
Of speculation and peculation.
Year: 1878

If the City Fathers are as indignant rs
they profess 10 be about the murderous as
sault upon Alderman Morris they cannot
express their sentiment in any other way
SO creditable to themselves and gratifying
to the injured man as by taking the action
which tor years he has urged in the matter
of street lighting. If lights in the streets
are necessary at all they are SO during the
whole period Of darkness. There are more
pedestrians and vehicles in the streets be-
tween five A. NJ. and daylight than there
ore in the four preceding hours; thou
sands of grocers, butchers, milkmen and
others whose business begins early are then
abroad. It is also the hour in which most
successful burglars escape with their
plunder SO why should there then be
darkness where in the silent ''wee sma'
hours" there was light? The hours in
which the street lamps are to be alight
should extend from sunset to sunrise, for
in cloudy weather, such as prevails morn
ing or evening in half the days of the year,
these hours are practically the beginning
and end Of the night. The present Gus
tom seems to bo to light at dark and extin-
guish at daylight, the lamplighters deciding
for themselves what these hours are; but
with due respect for this useful body of
public servants we claim that an important
feature of the safety of great city ought to
be in hands more responsible under the
law. Should IN energetic lamplighter ex-
tnguish his lights an hour or two before
daylight, to get through in time for an early
breakfast and days work of some other
kind beginning at seven o'clock, the Wild
est imagination cannot conceive of gas
company reprimanding him. Besides, no
stockholder or officer Of such company
ever has occasion to be awake at such
plebeian hours, and know how it is him
self
Year: 1878

The second loan exhibition gotten up by
the ladies OF the Society Of Decorative Art is
great success. The attendance each day will
tial sum will be added to the fund of the
admirable society in whose aid the exhibi-
tion is held. It will be patent to every one
who visited the first exhibition that
the present one is far ahead of it.
It has been arranged under the super
vision of we'll known amateurs, artists and
experts, and the articles are grouped artis-
tically and as far as possible in syste-
matte manner. Facility for the study Of
tho objects as examples Of class in nate
rial and style is afforded, as well as for the
admiration of them separately as works of
art or objects of curiosity. The exceedingly
valuable collection Of pictures forms an at
tractive feature, and hours may be spent in
their examination. Japanese and Chinese
decorative art is illustrated by fine display
of objects from the valuable collections Of
amateurs. The antique room is filed with
treasures from every cline, and the modern
pottery and porcelain are of great value.
The entire display is worry creditable to the
ladies and gentlemen who have the matter
in charge. The bringing together of the
articles for. and the arrangement of, such
an exhibition is no easy task. People who
are not Immediately interested are often at
first chary Of lending their art treasures,
but when once o start is made contribu.
tions pour in. The display is also credit
able to the art taste of the city, and for
eigners will find it revelation. Until they
are collected together in manner like this
no one has any idea of the number of valu-
able objects which have their usual resting
places in the homes Of our wealthy and cul-
tured citizens. As this is the last loan ex-
hibition which the society will hold We ad-
wise all to see it who can.
Year: 1878

At jefferson Market Police Court scene
was enacted the other day that 1t would be
we'll to consider with some care. Two sis
ters and their brother were charged with
begging in the public streets. In the back
ground skulked an Italian, who was alleged
to be their stepiather. Their mother
another boggar-was in Bellevue Hospital,
having given birth to son two hours
after her arrival there. They made
up family of professional beg
gars. The burly ruffian in vclveteen
was the organizer and the treasurer of the
family. Tho girls were sent to reformatory
institutions, the boy to the Juvenile
Asylum and the mother will go to tho
Island on her recovery, but the Italian Is
left to organize another family of beggars.


When Mr.. Dugdalc made that deeply sig
nificant inquiry into the pauper and crimi-
nal family Of "the Jukes" he found upon
computation that in seventy-fivc years the
twelve hundred members thereof had
Year: 1878

preyed upon the community to the extent


of one million and a quarter dollars.


The philanthropy of the age has done


much to provide reformatory institutions


for the classes to which the "Jukes" and


the Noahs belong and the law enables
magistrates to commit vagrants to be dealt
with in them; but while the organizers OF
beggary can proceed without tear of pun
ishment society is wronging itself The
cries of the unfortunate children in Jeffer-
son Market as they were separated to 60 to
the various institutions must have touched
the springs of pity in many human
breast. There was enough humanity in
them to make them weep at exchanging
the vice, squalcr and beggary which had
guaranteed them the CHASTITY semblance OF
family relations for the cold if orderly insti-
tutions which offered them food and shelter
and held out hope. But the sullen Italian
that skulkcd in the background, cursing
the law that took these poor hounds that
hunted for him in the filthy kennels of the
great city, is his profession to find no road
leading to State Prison? With the fate
of poor Pasquale Pisani fresh in the public
memory, and hundreds like him and the
family of the Noahs adding to the want the
disease and the crime of the city, it is time
to see that the law reaches the lazy and
cowardly brokers in pauperism. America
may have developed the tramp, but Italy
is the parent of organized beggary.
Year: 1878




Our special cable dispatches from Glas-
gov will attract general attention. The
threatened strikes have come. The failure
of the Glasgow bank, which was a great
calamity in itself, crushing calamity to
the mercantile firms which went down with
it, an appalling calamity to the victimized
shareholders who have ruin and beggary
staring them in the face in consequence of
their unlimited liability for the enormous
debts Of the broken bank, is likely to prove
almost as calamitous to all the great
branches of Scotch industry. The i'm
portant shipbuilding industries, the i'm
portant coal and iron industries, with the
vast associated industries which gave en-
ployment to hosts of machinists. boiler
makers. millwrights. pattern makers, en-
gineers and other skilled laborers, have
tumbled into arrangement, mutiny and con-
fusion. These establishments had long been
staggering under burdens which they could
not stand under when they were struck
with the sudden disaster which has for the
last three weeks occupied the attention OF
the financial and commercial world. The
protracted stagnation of business which
for several years has borne SO heavily
on British trade had already weakened
this debilitated condition a shock which
could easily have been withstood in pros
porous times has o shattering and damag-
ing effect. 1t compels all the great indus
trial establishments to haul in their sails
and curtail expenses in desperate attempt
to save themselves from utter wreck. But
the laborcrs resist every attempt to reduce
their wages, and have now madly plunged
into an extensive and concerted system of
strikes. So far as we can judge at this
distance no movement of this kind was
ever SO mistimed and suicidal. Low
prices, contracted markets and the high rates
of interest consequent on the recent blow
to confidence render it impossible for the
establishments to 60 on without retrench-
ment of expenses, and the prospect is that
the strikers, after exhausting the funds of
their societies, will find themselves in O
condition of utter helplessness and distress
Bad as the immediate situation is the out
look lOr Inc IuCuFe IS even more gloomy auu
depressing. The prosperity of Great
Britain, which has been so brilliant and
wonderful, seems to have eliminated sew
eral years ago and to be now on a
declivity which slopes toward extinc
ton. There was never nation
whose prosperity was SO artificial as
that of Great Britain. It was not self
subsistent it rested entirely on her COM
mand of foreign markets. Rivals are grow
ing up which threaten to take these mar
kets from her. and the loss Of her markets
will bring inevitable financial ruin. In a
desperate effort to retain them by mere
cheapness her products have deteriorated
in quality, and the perpetual strikes of her
laborers are more and more crippling her
ability to undersell the rivals who. are
crowding her in tho markets of which she
used to have a monopoly. Her decline will,
Of course, be long and o slow process, but
she is already on the descent toward the
condition in which she will find herself in
the early part of the next, if not before the
close of the present century.
Year: 1878




Professor Goldwin Smith having beeh
twitted by the Montreal Herald with voting
at the late Canadian elections for Sir John
Macdonald, the protectionist leader, while
prominent as free trader and as member
of the Golden Club, has written to that
paper in reply. Disposing briefly Of the
question Of principle in voting for Sir John
by saying that he voted for ''good govern
ment at home" and not on Sir Johns vague
views on external relations, fiscal or other
wise, he devotes himself to the examination
OF what is good or possible for Canada in
States He admits frankly what the result
Of the elections confesses tacitly-namely,
that commercial depression still reigns in
the Dominion; that the end is not yet; that
in Quebec, for instance, ''trade is about as
bad and the outlook about as gloomy
as possible" and that famine riots
are feared. Belief, then, must be sought,
but how? IL it to be ''by retaliatory tariff
against the United States), which would
be the commencement of tariff war, or by
o Measure Of reciprocity, partial or entire2"
In a tariff war he sees no hope for Canada !;
she is the weaker combatant, and the
weaker generally suffers. They could not
afford to guard their long frontier line
against smuggling. 1t is desperate expert
ment, in which failure would have
deplorable consequences. Against partial
reciprocity he urges that it would be par
tial in more senses than one; we should
have the best OF it that it is difficult to
work in the matter of manufactures and
liable to complications because of the like
lihood Of Canada becoming an entrepot for
European contraband it would not rid
Canada Of the costly customs line ; it would
be liable to upsettal by a recurrence of bad
feeling between England and the United
States. He has another objection, which
recalls the fourteenth reason Of the Mayor
of Southampton for not firing q salute
to William III.-namely, that he had
no powder it is that partial reciprocity
sshas been positively refused by the Ameri-
cans, for reasons which appear likely 10 re-
main in force" He concludes that COM
mercial union of Canada with the rest of
the continent is essential, and being essen
tial is sure to come. This is an important
admission by one SO strongly devoted to
Canadian interests. He believes in the
feasibility Of q zollverein made up of the
States on one side and the Provinces on the
other. That it would open up many ques-
tions difficult of solution, such as the
American tariff with MS and the i'm
perial prerogative with England. he
admits, but insists that the first is not
insuperable because tariff does not affect
On almost self-sufficing continent as it does
nation with limited territory and produc-
tions. AS to the second, it cannot be set
tied by conjecture, but must be made dis
tinct question with the English govern
ment. Professor Smith puts the matter
logically and courageously to the Canadians
The answer we well know will come with
time. AS for us, we can afford to wait. The
Canadians in electing Sir John Macdonald
have shown that the question presses them
pretty hard
Year: 1878

SOME OF THE STUFF of which a "royal good
fellow" Of the old Tweed Ring was made is
suggested in our Poughkeepsie letter. There
are SO many other good fellows who prepare
the way for troubles like those narrated in the
letter alluded to that one cannot help wonder
ing how bad fellows can do worse.