smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

A report reaches us at the last moment
that the town OF Plevna has actually fallen.
From the strength of the attack it is but
natural to expect such result. Bonn
barded in front, assailed by infantry on
the left, and with his reinforcements in
tercepted, Osman Pacha is likely to find
his position prove trap. On Saturday
the Russians were already, in great de-
gree, successful at this point. The works
referred to in the despatch as actually car
ried are apparently those which were
stormed by General Schakoskoy on July
81 and retaken by the Turks the
same night. That is the feeblest
part of the line in all likelihood. If
the whole position is only covered
by series of field works the capture of
that part of the line must necessarily render
the other part untenable. II the rout Of
Osman Pacha's army is complete the canl-
paign will be simplifed for the Russians
Time is now the important element in the
case. The Russians have abandoned ground
east of the Jantra and drawn their lines close
about Biela in order that they may hold their
ground there with the smallest possible
force, and the purpose was to rein
force the army on the other wing
But the troops thus moved to assist
the operations against Plevna must be back
in the line at Biela before Mehemet Ali gets
there. 1t is possible that the Russians have
fortified Biela in the two months they have
been there so that that post will resist Me-
hemet Ali until the troops drafted to Plevna
can return.
Year: 1877

speaks of the remedies for these evils he
approaches difficult ground. He objects to
the proposal to place all the Indians under
the control of the War Department. because
army officers would be then called upon ia
perform civil duties for which they were
not intended. This argument appears to
us to be overweighed by the fact that the
Indians are now only controlled by
the army, and that if it had more
authority in times OF peace there
would be less occasion for its services in
war. The army, in tact, is continually EN-
ployed to punish Indians for outrages which,
but for red tape and rascality at Washington,
it would have prevented. The plan sug-
gested by Mr.. Welsh is the establishment Of
an independent Indian Bureau, having NO
connection with the Interior Department.
There is no doubt that this would be an i'm.
provement on the present system, ii only on
the principle that any change must be fol
good but still we believe that no radical
reform in Indian affairs can be effected with.
out giving to the army more direct powers
than it possesses now.
Year: 1877

If the present efforts being made to drive
away from our courts those predatory law
yers known as shysters are successful one
Of the worst disgraces of the city will be
removed. What are supposed to be the
temples of justice are daily profaned by
men who, while pretending to be her cham
pions, are really her foes. The shyster
lawyer prowls about between the court and
the prison, and is only fit to be sent from
the first to the second; his principal occu-
patton is to plunder the unfortunate in
mates of the Jail who are awaiting trial,
and this he does by methods which ought
to make him their companion.


When first class burglar, for instance, is
arrested the shyster offers to defend him for
q share of his booty, and after obtaining his
fees does nothing for his client 1t is fre-
quently the case that all of the money
of the shysters, the thief being no more than
the instrument of its transfer Even crimi-
nails have their rights and should be pro-
tocted from such rapacty. The offender
who is willing to confess his crime is often
persuaded by his treacherous lawyer to
plead not guilty though conviction is GER
tain, and thus instead of obtaining the
mercy Of the Court gets the full penalty OF
the law. Another method Of oxtortion is to
advise the client to plead guilty Oh the as
surance Of tho shyster that he will use
his influence with the District Attorney
and the Judge to secure him a light sem
tence-a promise which. of course lie is I'M
able to keep. The innocent prisoner is
also frequently victim, for the bad reputa-
ton of the shyster lawyer is always sure to
damage the cause he cspouses II is a
known fact, which needs but little investi-
CATION to prove, that nine-tcnths of the
shysters who haunt the Tombs would be I'M
able to pass an examination in any branch
of the law. Most of them have crept into
the profession by its alleyways, and were
really never examined at all. 1t is one of
the discredits of the legal profession in this
country that admission to its privileges is
SO easy, and that lawyers who decide upon
the merits Of an applicant have often so
little sense of their responsibility The
immediate duty of the courts, however, is
to Danish the shyster from their precincts,
and further all reform which tends to make
his existence impossible.
Year: 1877

General Howards long pursuit Of the In
dian has the merit Of allowing ample time
to discuss what shall bc done with him
when he is caught. Mr.. William Welsh i'm
proves the opportunity by addressing let
ter to the members of committee appointed
by the Protestant Episcopal Church to take
into consideration the whole subject of In
dian abuses and the methods of their re-
form. Every disinterested person who
understands the question will heartily
support Mr.. Welsh in the asser-
ton that the attempt to manage the
Indians through the Interior Department
has been failure from the first. 1t is need
less to go over that long, weary story, in
which the Indian sometimes appears as the
victor, but more frequently as the victim.


The Indian Ring is notoriously one Of the
worst that exists in this country, and it will
never be destroyed SO long as the
politicians can obtain agencies and
contracts through their influence with
the Interior Department. The whole sys-
tenn is bad one, and Mr.. Welsh shows
how it works disastrously for the govern
ment as well as the Indians. When he
Year: 1877




In the annual election which takes place
to-day in Maine the republican candidates
will walk over the course. There was no
possibility of the democrats carrying Maine
this year in any event. and Mr.. Williams,
their candidate for Governor, knowing that
he had no chance of an election, and that
he hazarded nothing either for himself or
his party by plain speaking, took occasion
in accepting the nomination to signify his
contempt of the obstreperous cry OF fraud
which has been raised about President
Hayes title to his Office. His manly declara-
ton that he considered Mr.. Hayes titla
unimpeachable excited an angry howl
among the democrats of that State, but they
were too wary to set Mr.. Williams aside and
nominate another candidate. Destined ia
be beaten any way, they preferred to ascribe
their defeat to betrayal Of the party by ita
candidate rather than to its own weakness.
Had they nominated another candidate for
Governor he would have needed affidavts to
prove that he had ever run for the Office.
This Maine election has no interest for any.
body either in the State or out of it, having
been as good as decided ever since the pub
lication of Mr.. Williams refreshing letter Of
acceptance.
Year: 1877

The object Of great library is to be USE
full, not only to scholars, but to the public,
and it has been advanced in this country by
the fact that most OF our libraries are free.
1t has been, however, partly defeated by
the want of freproof buildings, which has
limited the hours in which libraries are
opened because OF the supposed danger from
gaslight. The Astor Library in this city, for
this or other reasons, IS never open in the
evening, and the rules of the Philadelphia
Library require its doors to be shut at sun
down. Thus these institutions are virtually
closed to those classes whose time is occu-
pied by business during the day and who
most need their assistance. The Phiadel-
phia Library is placed just now in most
singular position. The late DR.. Rush
erected superb freproof building in an
out-of-the-way part of the city for the use of
this library, and bequeathed total fund Of
about half a million Of dollars for it's benefit.
This liberal gift was crippled by odious
provisions, such as the exclusion of news
papers and works OF fiction, and other re-
ssrictions which the public cannot approve.
Newspapers, according to the will of DR..
Rush, are steachers of disiointed think
ing Novels he evidently abhorred and,
as his body is to be buried in the
building, the library seems to be in
tended principally as magnificent tomb.
The directors of the Philadelphia Library
have had the offer made in his will under
consideration for some time, and though
the splendid structure and the large fund
are temptations they do not like either the
site or the conditions. The probabilities
arc that the terms OF the will will not be ac-
cepted, and this should teach rich men not to
fetter generous bequests with narrow views.
A contrast to this unfortunate dilemma will
be found in the management of the Red
wood Library of Newport X. l., OF the ori-
gin OF which Mr.. Joseph Watson's letter i'll
another column furnishes an account This
is one OF the oldest libraries in the United
States and is known to scholars everywhere
for its collection of rare books and historical
portraits. 1t is now in debt, and the small
sum needed TO make it independent ought
Year: 1877

The republican politicians who are striv-
ing to keep alive the Southern question and
make what they call an issue of it in the
next Congress, or at some period in the re-
mote future, are simply wasting their time
When Governor Hampton was installed in
South Carolina and Governor Nichols in
Louisiana the Southern question was buried
without the hope of resurrection.
There were, undoubtedly, timid people
then who looked upon the Presidents plan
with coldness and distrust who called it a
surrender and trucking to the slave power
and all that sort of thing. They were
afraid of what they termed the experiment
Of putting the leaders of the rebellion in
power, forgetting that some of those
leaders had been in power a long
time before Mr.. Hayes was even
thought of for the Presidency Mr..
Akerman had been in the rebellion, and
he was one of General Grants Cabinet off,
GERS. General Longstreet had been in the
rebellion, and he held an important federal
Office in New Orleans Mr.. Settle, of North
Carolina and Florida, had been in the rebel
lion, and he was made a minister and O
Judge and the president of the Grant re-
nominating convention. the most enthusi-
astic meeting of the party that was ever
held. Mr.. Orr, of South Carolina, had been
in the rebellion, and he was sent to Russia
as our representative. Nearly score Of
gentlemen similarly honored might be men,
toned, but these are sufficient. But the
fact is, the President did not place either
Governor Hampton or Governor Nichols in
office. He simply allowed the people of
those States to govern themselves in their
own way without the interference of the
federal army.


The result entirely justifes the wisdom
of his course. All over the South to-day
there is peace. The laws are respected and
obeyed There are no political murders,
no calls for troops to regulate every petty
election from constable up to governor, no
talk of rebellion or treason or the lost cause.
The Southern States have not been so quiet
within the memory Of the present genera
ton as they are to-day No cause for COM
plant against the former slaveowners can
be found by the most exacting of Massachu-
sets radicals. What, then, do the oppo-
nents of the present Southern policy want
The return Of Packard to power? The res
toration to Office Of the indicted thieves of
South Carolina for whom the penitentiary
is about to open? DO they want to try the
experiment of reconstruction over again
to fall back upon Thaddeus Stevens Crom-
wellian policy and give every negro forty
acres and mule? Surely they cannot
mean this. and, if they do not what do they
mean? No; the whole Southern question
has been settled Tor good or for evil, and the
party or the politician that attempts to re-
open it will be ground to powder. There is
no use in attempting to materialize the
ghost o.. the rebellion, and that is all there
is in the opposition to the Southern policy.
Year: 1877

The SUGAR RING in this city seems to have
been quite as big if not bigger thing in its
way than the Whiskey Ring in the West Im-
mense fortunes have been made by cheating the
government, and the combination has been
strong enough to even influence legislation in its
interest. Its exposure and defeat are among the
good works Of the JAY Commission
Year: 1877

The RUINS OF TIE LATE FIRE are beginning
TO tell their sickening story. Human remains,
burned and broken beyond all recognition, were
rescued yesterday from the debris Of the confla-
grafton, telling terrible tale of suffering. How
many lives have been lost is this way it is, of
course, impossible at this time to tell.
Year: 1877

VARIOUS QUESTIONS Of financial and CONNER
calinterest will be discussed at the Convention of
Bankers which meets here this week. The re-
sumption of specie payments, the remonetization
Of silver. the issuance of State, county ard
municipal bonds, are among some Of the most i'm
portant topics of the hour, and upon all of these
the effort will be made to throw some Tight.
Bankers are, or ought to be- practical men, and
their deliberations upon these interesting sub
jccts will possibly help to dispel some of the
confusion in the public mind in regard to them
Year: 1877

For some REASON OR ANOTHER the temper
ancc meetings at the Cooper Institute are not as
largely attended formerly. The managers
seem to think that it is entirely owing to the
small entrance fee which is ch arged 1t does
not appear to have occurred 20 them that the
empty tiers of seats may be owing entirely to
themselves. They should endeavor to make
their gatherings attractive. Let them provide
good speakers, throw some life and earnestness
into their work and they VII have no reason to
complain of slim atsendanc.
Year: 1877

n Electro-Galvanic Battery, combined with the
~ celebrated Medicated Porous Plaster forming
the grandest curative agent in the world of medi-
cine and utterly surprising all other Pasters here
tofore in use. They accomplish more in one week
than the old Plasters in q whole year. They do not
palliate, they CURE.
Year: 1877

THE GRANGE MEETING TONIGHT. .-Blan-
ton Grange, of Richmond city, holds meet
ings every Friday night at the hall Of the
State Grange, 1909 east Main street (up
stairs). They invite all Patrons who may
be in the city to unite with them in those
meetings, and especially members OF the
Legislature who belong to the order !;
and they have questions selected for discus
sion which bear upon the interests of the
order. Tonight the question is the bill in
troduced into the Senate by General Brad
ley T. johnson looking to the control Of
transportation companies by legislation.
General johnson will appear and explain
the provisions Of the bill and it is desired
that, in addition to the Patrons, as many
members of the Legislature will attend as
will find it agreeable.


The Grange will meet promptly and or
ganize at 1880 P. M. General johnson is
expected to explain his bill at s, at which
hour non-grangers will be admitted.
Year: 1877

A SHOCKING AFFAR-A CHILD EATEN
BY HoG.-Last week hog eat up child
of Ananias Green (colored), OF Belltown,
Charles City county. He was ont at work,
and left his wife and child, nine months
old, in the cabin. His wife got cold and
went off after wood, leaving the child in
the house with piece OF bread in its hand
to keep it from fretting. An old sow which
had free access to the cabin went in, and
when the old woman returned she found
that the SOW had eaten all the child but the
head and left arm. 1t is supposed that the
animal first ate the bread from the child's
hand, and in doing SO bit the hand, bring
ing blood, and the taste Of the blood made
the hog eat the flesh
Year: 1877

A Coon COUNTERFEIT A. Hyslope,
charged with passing counterfeit $40 note
on the Bank OF Poughkeepsie, NY, upon
Martin Archer, was before United States
Commissioner Atkins yesterday. The eX-
to secure the attendance OF an important
witness for the defence. The counterfeit is
very good one. Nine out of ten men
would have taken the note without ques-
ton before its questionable character had
been decided by the bank officers and the
brand "counterfeit" put upon it.
Year: 1877

APRopos-The chain-gang might render
good service just now in clearing away the
snow and slush that has accumulated on the
corner of Twelfth and Bank streets, near
the entrance to the Capitol Square. 1t
would be greatly beneficial to the many Pc
destrians whose business calls them in that
direction.
Year: 1877

About quarter OF mile from the
depot at Schodack, on the Boston and
Albany RtilrOad, through the farm OF
Peter Timeson runs u creek which sup
plies the paper mills OF Horton Harbor
and Van Bcnthuysen & Sons. OF Albany.
short distance from the creek on the
farm there was until last Tuesday an im


mense hill, or mound OF earth. Early on
Tuesday morning this hill began sliding
and filling up the bed of the creek, and
has completely damned it. turning the
course OF the stream over another farm
a large lake has been formed where
before were thrifty fields of corn ard
meadow. lIundfeds OF persons have vis-
tied the spot, aud careful engineers say
that fully n million tons Of earth have
been displaced. A spring was directly
underneath the centre of the hill, and q
stream of pure, cool water now runs
from i, having already made channel
for itself through the debris. TLe cause
OF this singular change in The topography
Year: 1877

root of tho plant. the green root is por-
haps preferable. but the dried will an.
swer, and may be found in our drug
stores, and was used by me. slice or
bruise. put into pint OF fresh milk. boil
down 10 half pint. strain. and when
cold, drink it, fasting at least six hours
aiterward. The next morning repeat The
dose, fasting, nse two ounces of the root
On the Third morning take another dose
prepared as The last, and this will he
sufficient. IL is recommended that after
each dose nothing be eaten for ut least
six hours.


have son who was bitten hy mad
dog eighteen years ago, and four other
children in the neighhorhood were also
bitten; they took the above dose, and are
alive to this day. And | have known q
number OF others who were bitten and
applied the same remedy.


|. is supposed that the root contains a
principle which being taken up by the
blood in circulation, counteracls OF neu-
traIizes the deadly effects OF tho virus oil
hydrophobia.
Year: 1877

franklin Dyer, a highly respectable
and intelligent farmer, OF Ga'ena. Kent
County. Maryland, gives the following
as a sure cure for the bite of mad dog
AS will be seen, he bas tested it, with the
most gratifying results:


f ecampane is plant well known to
most persons, and is to be found in many
of our gardens. Immediately after being
bitten take one and a half ounces OF the
Year: 1877

NEw YuEk Posi- OFFICE


|, was always a drop letter" one OF
the mauy thousands that fou. d their way
through the Httle crevice in the wall
daily. and no one ever knew who brought
il; although, when the regularity OF her
visits began to attract attention, the IN
Known correspondent was carefully
watched Tor about the first Friday OF
every month. Bl. il was never known
who brought that strange, yellow en-
velope, nor did any one ever get Il
glimpse ot It's contents, although ITS out
side was examined with curiosity a
great many times. And the mysterious
letter passed along like the thousands OF
daily messages OF love and hate. OF NOR
,ihcation and pleasure, OF good cheer and
evil bIding-the duns and remlttances
and promises 10 pay.


Years passed. The delivery clerks
were changed. one after another; some
of them died; others were promoted ;
and some went TO other employment )
but as each left he told the story OF the
strange woman 10 his successor as a part
of the instructions of the Cfiice, and the
new clerks became familiar with her
visits as the months went by.


She was often questioned; inquisitive
glances were often cast into her iace, and
several times she was followed by curious
fellows; but no one ever discovered
whence she came or whittier she went.


One day a new clerk who had conceived
q scheme to discover her identity told heI
he was not sure the letter belonged tc
her. as he knew other ladies in the city ol
the same name, and asked her If there
was not some one in the neighborhooc
whom she could call to identify her.


81 am q stranger in this part OF the
CITY. sir" was her quiet dignifed reply
but have been here good many
times and never was asked to prove my
identity. Ii it will be OF any satisfaction
10 YOU will describe the appearance o
the letter | expect-but wait; am quite
sure it will correspond with this ONE
and she took from reticule she always
carried the one she had received month
| before.


A whole generation had passed away
Men and women had been born anc
buried, but still the queer letters came
end were called for by the queer woman
The clerks in the post Office had heard o
her from those who had preceded them
and her mysterious appearance hat
gained romance with age, and strange
Year: 1877

those who emigrate to any new or distant
country must expect to find many things
that are hard and unpleasant.


For depth and fertility of soil, Kansas
and many of the Western States far ex-
ceed any other section of the continent,
and the time will come, ere long, when
they will not only be the garden spot of
the continent, but wealth and luxury
will abound within them.


From my present observations and ex-
periences, am inclined to believe that
for the people born and bred under the
shadows of the Green Mountains, there
is no place where they can be happier,
and find more that benefits, pleases and
ennobles, than in the good old State of
Vermont. Happy is the man whose
pleasant home nestles among her pleas
ant hills, and who is Herewith content.


Il. S. BrcKRoRD.
Year: 1877

LITTLE BY LITTLE.-If vnu are gain
ing little every day be content. Are
your expenses less than your
income, so that though it be
little. you are constantly accumu-
lating and growing richer every day ?
Be content; SO far as concerns money,
you are doing well. Are you gaining
knowledge every day Though it be
little by little, the aggregate of the
accumulation, where no day is allowed
to pass without adding something to the
stock, will be surprising to yourself.
Solomon did not become the wlsest man
in the world in a minute. Little by
little-never emitting to learn some
thing. even for single day-always
reading, always studying little be-
tween the time of rising up in the
morning and lying down at night-this
is the way to accumulate full store
house of knowledge. Finally, are you
daily improving in character Be not
discouraged because it is little by little.
The best men fall short of what they
themselves would like to be. 1t IS
something, it is much if you keep good
resolutions better to-day than you did
yesterday. better this week than you
did last, better this year than you did
last year.
Year: 1877

PRoFAN1TY.-We are emphatically in


the age of profanity, and it seems to us
that we are on the topmost current. One
cannot go on the street anywhere with
out having his ears offended with the
vilest words, and his reverence shocked


by the most profane use Of sacred
names. Nor does it come from the old
or middle-aged alone, for it is fact
that the younger portion of the commun.
ity are most proficient in degrading Ian
guage. Boys have an idea that it is
smart to swear; that it makes them