smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1879

The survivors of several thousand
colored people who recently left their Southern
homes and are shivering aud starving in Kan
sas, are bitterly bewailing their sad condition,
aud are not only appealing for subsistence, but
for assistance TO enable them to get back 10
the more genial climate from which they have
been most cruelty betrayed into one unfrendly
aud among people who do not want them in
their midst They find that they have been
the dupcs Of bitter partiSans who, in their de-
sire to punish the white people Of the South
and TO make money. hestated not TO cruelty
wrong those whom they so loudly proicssed TO
befriend. The Danes, the Chambers, &c +,
have made for themselves dark record 10 this
business, and all who have encouraged this
exodus are denounced by the people Of Kansas
as really the worst enemies the colored people
have. In an address to the people Of the
United Statee by the Mayor and other proin-
nent citizens Of Wtandottc, Kansas, the con-
di,iou Of these people is set forth. We have
only space for Paragraph;


within the post two veeks cver tbous-
sand negroes, direct from the South. have been
landed at Wyandotte. None Of them have
money to carry them further West, or 10 pur-
chase the wherewihal to supply their most
urgent necessities for food or SHELTER
Bnt few of them are sufiiciently protected from
the nclemency Of the weather, and on account
Of exposure. want Of proper food, care aud
medicine, they suffer severely. aud terrible
mortality affects them. Large numbers have
died and at least five per cent. Of The whole
number arc sick with pneumonia aud kindred
complaints. 10 a word. over thousand pau
peas have within brief space OF time been
thrown into town Of about five thousand
people, who are unable to provide properly for
their wants"
Year: 1879

met a man some time ago who used to trav-


ell in business, and almost passed his life upon


the rail- He came home one evening, and,


walking across his dining-room, he staggered
like a drunken man. Uncharitable people, who
did not know his habits, might have thought


him intoxicated. He sank on his chair, and
he was prisoner in his chair all the rest OF
his life He was completely paralyzed Ill ms
lower lirlbs. The incessant travelling on the
rail had at last proved too much Tor his ner-


yous system Hence the collapse; and nave


/, strong impression that other collapses might
be traced to a similar source. L knew OF a
LAWYER who was in great rush OF Dusihess,
He liked his fees; but like all me n VINO succeed
he liked business thoroughly for its own sake.


He was unable to refuse business, and, indeed,


to refuse business is the hardest trial when


can happen to any professional man. his MS


take was that he did not provide hlmseli WIN
adequate assistance. The iii-ifeatea praan .ln
took to softenng, and then all business came


to an end. I knew of man who was enormous
ly wealthy. In addition to the constant employ


nent which his own vast property gave MIN, ne


was trustee for ever so many WIDOWS, or


nhans and charities He worked hard at ac-
counts till the small hours in the morning. A


boy clerk at l5s. week, might nave Done IL
ali for him. But he preferred doing ms own


work HIMSELF and accordingly he had to quit
this inferior existence, where such coNditlon
of things is not always possible one OF .ne
best-known men in the country once told me
That he was going to take six weeks holiday


AZ the seaside! was reioiced to hear it. No 70 man


better deserved or more required such a holiday
Then he told me that he was going 10 take
mis- new book with him to the seaside, and
hopeJ to have it ready for publication by the
time his holiday was over. l expostulated
with him. l explained that he was only eX
changing one kind of hard work for a still
harder kind of hard work. But he took tht
Idyice of what is often mans worst counsel
op-himself His book was successful; but h'
never knew of the success.-London Society.
Year: 1879

Why don't some bold adventurer take a
cipher and interview the great Reformer
Say get his opinion of John Kelly. If the
oracle could be induced to speak no doub
the language would be sufficiently forciblt
to repay the interviewer for his trouble.
Year: 1879

We do not read anonymous letters and communi-
cations. he name and address of the writer are in
all cases indispensable, not necessarily for publica-
ton but guaranty Of good faith.


y e cannot undertake to return or preserve COM
rlunlcatlons that are not used
Year: 1879

EVERY regular attache of the PRESS is furnished
with Card certificate signed by Stanley L. Pullen
Editor. All railway steamboat and hoie managers
will confer favor upon by demanding credentials
of every person claiming to represent our journal
Year: 1879

When great calamity such as the preva-
ience OF epidemic disease IN community oc-
clrs, the exigency calls for vigilance and ac-


Ivity on part Of thnse entrusted. for the time
being, with the sanitary regulations of the To-
cality visited. al such times it is expected
that every suggestion made for the ameliora-
tiOn Of the condition of the people should be
h edei and adopted, if for no other purpose
than 10 pruve the vigilance and trustworthi-
ness Of public guardians Of the health Of the
citizens. Two weeks ago we made simple
suggestion, based upon tie experience of the
past IN the city of New Orleans, which was to
procure few barrels Of tar to be burned at
night throughout the city for the purpose of
fumigating the atmosphere and driving the
deadly miAsma away, or at least neatralizing
lis deadly effects.


To that suggestion not the slightest siten-
iiOn las been paid, although the remedy is
within tie reach of the health authorities.
Notwithstanding the sullen supineness mani
Tested by the Board Of Health, and the indiffer-
ence with which every suggestion is treated
BY them, We will discharge our duty in the
premises by making another suggestion. If
tn BJard OF Health will not try the fumiga-
ting process as previously suggested, let that
body cause each householder to procure at
least half bushel of Stacked lime and sprin
lie that amount in each eesspoOl in the city.
Then cause some Stacked lime 10 be distributed
wherever there is damp spot on the premi-
ses Of any householder. The lime process
hereof spoken should not be left to the disere-
lion Of the householder, but should be at
tended 10 under the direction of an efficient,
intelligent officer, who should be compelled to
report to the Board of Health the names of
all persons who have complied with the regu-
latiOn- The foregoing suggestion is pracii
cal one, and should not be neglected. In
making ii we have discharged what we con-
slider duty We owe TO this afflicted commu-
nitY, and if the authorities, referred to, disre-
gard such practical as well as essential pre-
cautions, they should be made to answer not
only al the bar of public opinion. but at the
bar Of the proper legal tribunal for a gross
and criminal neglect of duty at a time when
the health and lives of the citizens are in the
greatest jeopardy.


We are aware that We use on the present
occasion strong and incisive language, but We
are borne out in view of the fact, that the pes
nlence that has stalked abroad in this commu-
nifty for months, has had immunity from the
neglect Of the health authorities of this city,
and therefore, mild language is out of the
question. The fact is, that the time has ar
nvei, when ''forbe4rance ceases te be viz
tue, and liberation crime"
Year: 1879

It has been represented to us by several
persons, residents Of this city, that there are
ST present from fifty 70 sixty cases of the ma
larial fever among the Chinese residents, and
that there are no licensed Chinese physicians
to attend TO their countrymen. We have put
ourselves to the trouble to procure the truth
upon this subject, and find the above state
menis are incorrect. The real facts as de-
tailed 10 Us by competent authority, upon
whom We can rely, are, that there has been, all
told, since the fever made its appearance,
about sixty cases among the Chinese residents,
and but two deaths. and that the number at
this present writing Monday the 18th inst }
is nine We also learn that there are three, if
not four, regularly licensed Chinese physi-
clans in full practice in tlsis city.


II is painful to contemplate the fact, that
there are men in this community who prefer TO
prOmulgsie lie to the truth, merely for the
purpose Of finding fault, or to crafty their
malignity against their neighbOrs. Such peo-
pie are breeders of mischief, and malignants
worse than a pestilence itself. Surely it is
enough that disease is in our midst, without
adding to its horrors tissue OF untruihs to
alarm the people whose Affections are to be
deplOred. The man or woman who by living
tongue seeks 10 increase public alarm at such
time as this, is worse than demon who
gloais on human woe
Year: 1879

ize in opposition. They founded their great
conspiracy on the negro. And even after the
war had opened, with the same blind faulty
that had led them always to thrust up their
deformity and weakness, they pushed hlm 10
the front in the crazy demand tor the return
Of their escaping slaves within our lines.
They were always Juggling him into the midst
of controversy, and always lamentlng that ne
should be recognized as a factor III poll
tics And, not to dwell upon familiar details
they have been making constant outcry ever
since the war closed against negro voting, negro
representation, and negro rule have detrauded
and bulldozed him into absolute insigDlicance,
so that he counts for nothing politically; and
now that they have driven out the poor
despised and oppressed creature, and deprived
themselves of their only dependence for labor,
they pretend to say that the movement they
have caused should not be treated as political
question or used for political effect.


And they have the sympathies of class OF
people at the North who have the honest but
mistaken notion that all the wounds Ola
war growing out of the condition OF the ne
gro can be healed without regard to what be-
comes of the negro himself. They say we
must be careful in speaking OF this exodus 10
make no allusiOn to the causes which led to 1t,
or at least to the political cause.-the intimi-
dation and terrorism, the deprivation OF politl~
cal rights and practical disfranchlsement which
are generally believed to have been most inliu-
entail in driving these poor creatures away
from their homes. We may treat it as an un-
accountable delusiOn, or as the work OF mis-
chief makers bent on setting the labOrers at
variance with their employers. but not
az being in any sense the result OF
anything political, or as a continuance
of the old dispute. To refer to such matters
would be only to reanimate to no good purpose
the old sectional and partisan spirit, and
hinder the progress of reconciliation. And
these gentlemen are anxious above all things
to bury the past. Well, so we hope are all
of us. But there are some consequences en-
tailed by the past that it would be silly to
attempt to ignore. The irrepressible conflict
is not yet at an end. The Southern Demo-
Gratis as yet only half recognize the results
attained. They see that slavery is gone,
but do not admit that the right to
punish and keep down the black race
has gone with it. They admit that the
negro has in theory the right to vote,
but deny in practice his right to have it
counted The Negro Exodus stirs up the sed-
iment of by-gono politics. 1t will all come
clear and pure by-and-by, but only when the
negro's rights are assured. The mistake of
our namby-pamby friends at the North is in
supposing that the late war was an unpleas-
antness only. 1t was fight between two
civilizations, and ga fight for funeral.'
Year: 1879




Rumblebees sometimes buzz in the most unlikely
bonnets, confusing the heads thus inverted with
the March madness of h8res OF tho midsummer
madness Of matters. Faculties of unqucstionabls
vigor and general soundness arc not always proof
against the invasion of Illusions. johnson had no
doubt OF the Cock Lane Ghost, and Luther would
not have wasted an ink horn on the devil unles he
had deemed him real and imminent There was in
fact no ghOst in Cock Lane, and the demon which
darkcncd the vigil of the R-former rose out Of the
vapors OF fasting and the spiritual gloom of his
IN prisonment in the Wartburg but even 10 the
bust and rugged Understandings Of the lexicOg-
rapher and tho apostle the spectre and tho arch
enemy seemed real and visible. An occa-
sionsl hallncination may not, perhaps impeach
the general soundness Of tho intellect which it is
cast, but frequent or persistent vEitatOns Of the
sort are not usually considered tho signs of Lowell
understanding. Belief in witches. second sight, the
philosophers stone, and other the like more or
less popular and time e-hoDorsd delusions may per
hsps exist separately sltogether in certain minds
without! disqualifyiug shom for every useful fune-
ton but such loose and liberal faith s not tie orna-
ment Of the soundesI faculties person Nigh make
ato!srably harmless alderman perhaps not nelll-
cent notary public or attorney. who did seriously
believe In the authenticity of messages from
the spirit land softly banged forth in hesitatIng
tattoo on the neither side OF dinngroom tables but
ws should not like to truss him as chancellor or
bishop. lie would be aps to fal in serious judicial
or theological crises. and import mystical coufu-
sons into the sentences OF his decree the solenni-
ties Of his ritual Nor is il precisely gratifying to
encounter psdagogus whose head is added wish
such vsgrsnt bsliois. His duties are bumbler than
those OF ths eXpouRder Of The law sac Gospel but
there are non. connected with the organization of
society which of Inors intrinsic consequences.


Thoss OF the arch director Of a system of p.da-
goeues are mAnifestly Of superlatiys Importance.
and there is conceivable bonns, IN which humble
bees are out Of place than in his Yet the head
gear OF Mr.. Henry Riddle now and for many years
past Superintendent Of the Public Schools seems
oopiously infested with thoso monotonous and mad
denng insccts IIe has written book which pur-
ports to record from the spirit land trans
mited through tho medium of his son and daug ghter
Year: 1879

If is feared by several well-meanlng persons
of the class who think the public is a sick wO-
man that must be fed on whey and not agi-
tated with disturbing controversies, that the
Negro Exodus will be treated as a political
question, and that designing and mischevous
politicians will use it for political effect. The
possibility of such a thing shocks Them They
say it will reopen the wounds of the war, re-
vive old animOsities and renew sectional agi-
tation And there does seem to be danger Of
it. 1t is, perhaps, not too much to say that it
has already happened. 1t would be difficult,
indeed to lay hold Of any social ques-
ton of such general public interest
as this, which is not made use Of in
greater or less degree by the designing
politicians for political effect. The tendency
in that direction in this particular instance is
the most natural in the world. There Is not
o single feature in the whole business which
is not essentially political in character. In
the first place it relates TO the condition of
the negro race, and that is the point around
which all our politics have revolved for the
past thirty years at least it touches the Ques-
tion of the political rights of the blacks involves
the relations OF capital and labor, concerns very





and the related questions concerning the de-
velopment Of material resources, lines of i'm
migration, character of productions, sources
of revenue. centres of population, and so on.
That the exodus should he discussed in tho
light of its political significance, and with tho
exception OF its phianthropic aspects, exclu
siyely so, is simply unavoidable. Our Soothing
Syrup friends might stand at tho door with
clubs day and night without being able TO
change tho natural drift of the debate or pre-
vent the result which they so greatly depre-
cate, of renewing sectional agitation and re-
viving the animositcs Of the war


The negro is in our politics and apparently
TO stay certainly to stay until he IS in the
full enjoyment of his rights a. citizen, and
in his person the veracity Of the Declaration
upon which the Government started into
existence il fully established. We may az
well meet that fact squarely and make up our
minds that all the mush and gush OF recon
ciliation and peace which leave him out of
view are waste Of word, and time.
For this is problem in which he is.
as he has been through all these years
of controversy, q most important factor. Our
differences have had their root in the black
man, and be cannot bo ignored In any efyort
to reconcils them. Aud if We may be permit
ted to go back u little in tho history Of the
dispute over him, We can add truly thai he has
been thrust into politics and kept there by the
very men and tho party who are now depre-
eating his continuance as q disturbing element
There was no Abolition party in Congress till
these men began TO crowd tho negro into every
question Of public policy and make him the
essence of platforms and test of candidates.
They pushed their fugitive slave laws
and their Kansas-Nebraska bills 10 the
point where the North was compelled. in de-
fence of ito own system of free labor, to organ
Year: 1879

The planters represented in the Labor Con-
vention at Vicksburg passed long series OF
resolutions to the effect that the colored race
had been placed by Federal and State Con-
stitutions on an equality with whites, and was
entitled to all the political rights of Amerl-
can citizenship. They pledged themselves, 1t
the negroes would remain at their work ana
abandon the deplorable march TO Kansas. to
use all their power and influence to secure
free and fair elections and to put STOP 10
bulldozing. We dare say the gentlemen VINO
voted for these resolutions were sincere III
their promises. Mississippi was the ilrst Stlte
to adopt the shotgun policy on large and Ell
fectiye scale, and has been the severest sui
ferer from what is known as 1.-THE Mississippi
"plan of carving elections against the wishes
of the majority of voters. Thousands of
labOrers have abandoned the fields, gathered
up their possessions, and removed TO the
North, where negroes are treated gust Ike
"white folks" The emigration movement
has become sort of popular mania. Inc
crops are going to waste. he State Is threat
ened with industrial disaster The planters
knew that they could reduce the colored peo-
ple TO political subjection; they never real
lied how great store these poor men set by
the privileges Of which the bulldozer deprived
them; because the blacks would not fight for
the right to vote as they pleased, their mas
ters supposed that they would acquiescej 1t
never occurred to them that these peaceable
and humble people would suddenly rise up
and march away. Undoubtedly they are
alarmed at the consequences OF their conduct,
and they are ready to reform. Indeed, they
have no choice except between reform and
ruin.


But the proceedings at Washington are de-
stroying the effect of the resolutions adopted
at Yicksburg. The Southern Democrats ought
to have learned by this time that 1t is not
safe to assume that the ignorant field
hands do not understand the Democratic pol
icy. These people know much more about
public affairs at distance than their white
nelghbors suppose and it will be idle for the
planters of Mississippi TO meet In convention
and "pledge to the cOlOred race a practical
"exercise of all the rights guaranteed to the
"colored man under the law" while the rep
1esentatives of the planters are fighting in
Congress for the notification of the only laws
under which those rights can be protected
The meaning of the present contest over the
Army bill is comprchended in Mississippi
cotton-felds as well as in New-YOrk. II the
Democrats wish to persuade the negroes that
they will enjoy in the South all the rights
guaranteed to them under the laws, they must
first stop trying to destroy those laws


Perhaps the exodus to Kansas may have
good effects which none of us have antlcl-
pated. 1t may result in important reforms II
it demonstrates to the alarmed planters that
the black man is not willing to live in
country where he is not allowed to vote as he
Year: 1879

requires him to "take care that the laws be
faithfully executed" it looks to them as II
there were danger of history repeating itself.
Not with their consent will the stage
be set for q repetition of the tragedy OF 1861.
They will permit no confederate system OF
government to be established at Washington.
They believe the United States to be Nation
clothed with full powers to enforce Its laws
and they protest against those powers beng
diminished one iota. They hold that the Ma
ton is the creation of the people, and the
highest expression of their will, and the only
sovereignty within its bordersj and they VIII
seize every opportunity, whether it be at
Township, State or National elections, to re-
buke the party that has the effrontery TO
haunt again in the face of the country the
political heresy which led us into bloody
Year: 1879

On Monday the Senate took up the question
of the prevention of contagious disease. No
definite plan of action is specified as yet be-
yond the experiment of n disnfecting, re-
frigerating shp-a costly affair, and one
whose utility has yet to be proved. Probably
the most effective means of help proposed for
this threatened emergency is the repeal Of the
duty on quinine which is now beng urged by
the Southern members. This drug is regarded
by most physicians as absolutely necessary not
only to health but life in the prevalence of certain
fevers, and in the British army and navy its
daily use is enforced as matter OF discipline,
within certain degrees Of latitude.


Quinine has always been one OF the most
costly drugs in the American market. 1t has
been made so because its manufacture in this
country is mOnopOlized by single Philadel-
phia firm, through whose influence the duty
has been maintained at an unDrecedentedly
high rate. The monopoly has been maintained
for many years, enough TO enable the manu-
facturers to amass princely fortunes. 1t
would really seem as if these gentlemen oughtto
be satisfied with their share of the cOnsidera-
tion and tender care of Government; and
that the people, especially the poor and sick.
and the pague-threatcned thousands, should
have their turn. If large bodies of manufac-
turers and wOrlingmen were to be injured
bv the repeal of this duty there would be
some ground for argument against it, but the
loss will be borne by one or two men already
enriched by it, and the gain will be for the
whole people.


Or course there will be fierce opposition to
the repeal of the duty, but the matter is
pretty clearly understood in Congress. Every
Southern and Western member knows the
price that he and his poor neighbOr pay for
their box of pills. He knows too, that while
the good effects of refrigerating ships, disin-
fectants, and even quarantine are doubtful in
view of the threatened horrors Of disease dur
ing the coming Summer, there is no doubt
about quinine. That is very certain guam
tity.