smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

From examination day to examination day
Tweed, under the influence OF his careful
examiners, manages to remember some act
of alleged corruption, in which the names
of new parties which were singularly for
gotten by him when he made the elaborate
confession" on which he based his hopes
of getting out OF Jail, come to the sur
face. When he wrote his contrite let
ter to Mr.. Charles O'Conor, in which he
expressed himself so earnestly desirous of
pouring out his whole heart in the
way Of atonement for his felonies. and when
subsequently he devoted many weeks to re-
calling his rascalities and the names Of his
associates, he singularly forgot all the little
events he now, under the gentle pressure of
the Tammany Aldermanic Committee, re-
members. 1t would be little more assur-
ing if his memory did not lead him alto
gether to persons unfriendly to the party
whose hands are now manipulating him and
if he was not SO wholly oblivious Of the
past history of his regular Tammany chums
and creatures. His recollection yesterday
referred to transactions connected with the
State Capitol building in Albany. He is
fatty contradicted in all he says by Senator
Harris. 1t is simply q question OF veracity
between reputable citizen and q convicted
thief, and the people can take their choice
which to believe.
Year: 1877

idols of brass and wood and rearing the
cross instead. loo much praise cannot be
given to those consecrated men and women
who have been willing to leave everything
behind and to face death at every step In
order to bring the benighted to the truths
OF the Gospel. The Church will therefore
wait impatiently to hear moro Of that vast
section in East Central Africa which
may be Immediately benefited and
ultimately brought within the magic
circle of Christendom. Three large en-
pires-Uganda, Ruanda and Urundi-num-
bering altogether about fifteen million
souls are ready to open their gates to the
missionaries Of the Christian religion Un-
like the people Of Western Africa they are
consolidated into immense communities,
with their organized commerce and their
idolatries. There is certain amount OF
progress among them, a restlessness under
existing forms Of thought and worship, and
the day is not far distant when they will
gladly welcome and patiently listen to the
teachers of new and better faith. We
dare to express the hope that this OPP
portunity will be made use of at once.
We have little fear that the gold fields which
Stanley has discovered will be at once colo
nized. The attraction is too great to be re-
sisted. Why should not the Church be as
expeditions ms gold seekers Let commerce
take possession Of Western Africa and let
Christianity with the same fervor and ear
nestness lay hold on the East While our
missionary societies are zealously working
in the good cause let some means be de-
vised and some recruits enrolled to follow
the trail Of Stanley and begin the arduous
but glorious task Of sowing the first seeds Of
Christianity amid the despotism and bar
barism of Eastern Central Africa.
Year: 1877

New York. These are the Hudson. the
Housatonic, the Passaic in New Jersey. and
the water stratum OF Long Island. With
regard 20 the latter source we have good
evidence Of its richness I'm the tapping OF
the springs that supply Long Island City.
The Hudson certainly will not fail us IL we
draw on It, The Housatonic can be adopted
as our source. and we cannot exhaust tho
Passaic River. The cost Of drawing water
supply from all forr would not exceed the
value Of ten ordinary blocks of buildings in
this city IL destroyed by fire. Indeed. as
before remarked in the HxnaLp. the more
sources We draw from the more reliable
must be our water supply.


Now. let the engineers Of the Department
of Public Works set 10 work inteliigcntiy
and without prejudice and prepare for sub
mission 10 the public plans and estimates
OF cost for the introduction Of an abundant
supply Of water 10 New York We are per-
fcctly willing TO record In tho HEEaLp the
fame and great deeds of our engineers, 80
that they can spare themselves tho trouble
and the city the expense a building mighty
monuments in the shape OF aqueducts and
reservoirs which future New Workers will
come to regard as picturesque but ss use
less as the Egyptians Of to-day do the Great
Pyramid. Professional vanity must be
sacrificed TO the public welfare. wonout
plans must give way to new ideas Of en-
gineerng. Old and deep ruts in tho path
of progress must be filled up and all made
smooth. SO that generations hence viii bless
US for looking before we leaped.
Year: 1877

We have had small instalment Of street
repairing this year, and some of the down.
town streets have been put into admirable
condition. 1t has been only an instalment
however, and the explanation OF its insuffi-
cheney is, we fear, to be found in the fact
that the Aldermen are loath to pass the
necessary ordinances unless they are
allowed to realize in some shape
or another percentage out of the
work There are some repairs which are so
urgently demanded that if they were ener-
getically pushed no Alderman, however
selfish or corrupt, could venture to vote
against them. Foremost among these
is the repaving Of Fifth avenue This
great and important thoroughfare of
the city is in disgraceful and dam
oerous condition, and has been SO for
three years past. 1t is, in fact, a link in
our Central Park drives, and should be
macadamized from South Fifth avenue to
Fifty-ninth street 1t is the only avenue
through the city for pleasure travel, and it
is scandalous that it should remain in its
present wretchod condition.


There is not little complaint of neglect
in the repair OF the roads in the Central
Park. In some parts they are in worn and
rutty condition, and do not seem to have
had any care bestowed upon them for some
time 1t will be indeed unfortunate if they
should be allowed to go to decay. Let us
hope that the Importance of repairing Fifth
avenue will be vigorously pushed on the
Year: 1877

THE HUNT OK LONG ISLAND yesterday was in
every respect exceedingly successful, being the
longest the fastest and the most difficult run
with the hounds that has yet come off on
Hampstead Plains. That it was no easy matter
for the huntsmen is shown by the number of
falls, which fortunately were not serious. The
only drawback was the absence of the ladies,
who were doubtless deferred by the weather.
Year: 1877

ATTACHMENTS HAVE BEEN ISSUED by the
Criminal Court of Pittsburg against Governor
Hariranft and other State officers to show cause
why they failed to obey the summons of the
Grand jury to testify in regard to the railroad
riots in that city. They base their failure to ap-
pear the ground that whatever information
they received was privileged and cannot be
made a subject of inquiry.
Year: 1877

A ROUGH STATEMENT Of the condition of the
Clairmont Savings Bank shows deficiency Of
about ninety thousand dollars; but the books Of
the institution have been SO outrageously falsi-
lied that it is difficult to make out an accurate
rpnort
Year: 1877

Tnk editor OF the Charlton (lowa)
Lsadsr offers to send bis photograph
to any female teacher who will send him
the news from her township" and An
other Iowa editor advises the teachers
to take up the offer. as the picture will
do to scare bad school.boys with.
Year: 1877

AS to the color sf this room, and the
color of the rooms and decorations gem
orally, find myself utterly at fault. /
could tell you the color like myself;
could perhaps, even go further, and say,
with little fear of contradiction, that
green and crimson and gold form a
beautiful form of color, or that black
and amber or that blue and grayish
green go well together, and still l
should tell you nothing, or 1T least
nothing worth the telling. For the
fact is that every really fine combina-
zion of color is dependent upon subtle
graGations of tint and arrangement,
which can only be felt, not expressed
in words, and the only way have ever
discovered of gaining notion of good
color is to seek it in lands where it is
understood. 1t will perhaps seem a
strange thing to many Of my readers
that should talk about color being un-
derstood, as if it were some branch of
knowledge, and they would perhaps
answer me with, ''Have we not good
artists, as good as any in the world at
present? And can they not tell US all
about color, and show US how to man
age it?" Well, this is exactly what
they can't do.


tits with eolorasitiswith anyotherform
of art that it can only be produced by
people who delight in it. Now, for
some years we have taken most of our.
combinations of color from France, and
slavishly followed whatever was the
prevailing fashion there, and the result
has been that the majority of dresses
and fashions have been made In neutral
hues, and people have cried out "what
an improvement, No more nasty
emerald green or sky blue, but soft
shades Of gray and brown and dull
green" But as a matter of fact, we
are really further off good color than
we were before, and we shall have to
retrace our steps before there is chance
of our obtaining it. Formerly, England
had, at all events, firmly grasped one
idea about colors, aud that was that
bright colors were the prettiest, and
best, somehow, and so it tried to have
as many OF these as possible. After all,
in the main, this was true idea-the
error was only in the deduction made
from it. Bright, pure eolors are the
best, really, and all real magnificence
of hue must be based upon them. L
could show, had | time, that the French
have really no idea of the true beauty
of color; what they understand is the
relative arrangement of tint, and all
Year: 1877




There was once sceptical Inca of
Peru who permitted himself to dissent
from the faith that former Incas had
received without questioning or doubt.
His point of difficulty was the doctrine
of the omnipotence of his national sun
god. 1t was beyond his comprehension
to understood why the deity, if his will
were irresistible, should patiently en-
dure the toll and trouble of perpetual
locomotion. Modern mythologists, how
ever, impute to the sun functions that
were never expected of him before.
The story of his brief life, and of his
weary pilgrimage from the east to the
west till he sinks down, tired, to die, is
made TO supply the place of history, and
to cheat us of much that our childhood
had been taught to believe as truth.
Now, traditions, however venerable,
find no safeguard in their age and re-
spectability; while personages whom
our foolish fancy once invested with
substance and form are improved away
III an tIudiiN
The comparative mythoIogist is. indeed,
no respecter of persons. When the
pruning-knife is applied to such airy
nothings as the members of the Pam
theon of Greek or Roman Paganism,
we are obliged, however reluctantly, TO
cquiesce-though we cannot help con-
Tossing secret sympathy with the am
billions and the disappOtntments, with
the rivalries and the partialities, and,
above all, with the frail humanity of
these august beings-so much so that
sometimes, carried away by poetic
license, we are even inclined to condone
the haif-veiled improprieties of Olym-
plan Jove. But when we have yielded
so far, we think we have done enough.
When the spoiler comes nearer home
when he asks us to give up such familiar
favorites as Robin Rood or William Tell:
to believe that the fair Rosamond and
her lover, just as much as Cupid and
Psyche, Theseus and Ariadne, are only
beautiful expressions and different
phases of the evervarying phenomena
of nature-we are inclined to rebel at
being deprived of characters whom we
imagined really lived and loved and
died not so very long ago, and to fear
that at last we shall be required to dis
own the existence in the flesh of our
own ancestors and progenitors.


If Poetry in some cases throws too
ample fancy round the songs and
fables of the past, there are some tradi-
tons so universally accepted that We
cannot reject them if we would. For
instance, large part of the human race
cling obstinately and tenaciously to a
common idea on the origin of Mankind.
We have everywhere the same story,
made up of the same component parts,
varying only in some particulars. In
the tales of the Morse and on the seuln-
Year: 1877

Mary wishes me TO tell her If like
music, and what know about it.


OF course l like music. | supposed
that everything that had ears, except a
cornfield, likes music. / like it, even
though It is not very good. | am par
ticular about butter, and prefer the best
there is, but can put up with an in
feriOr quality of music. l can lean
against post and listen TO hand organ
grind out few tunes, and occasionally
help encourage the artist by giving the
monkey penny. ! can follow band
round town and listens to its music,
and wish all the time that my ears were
as large as the Bibles that fond parents
give their children for wedding pres
ents. | can swallow a concert, digest
an opera, and bolt a good choir; but i
am free to confess that when put my
time against congregational singing in
church that always fear that my frame
will 20 to pieces before the services are
over. With all due respect and with


lo hiSNcltiil itciihS. hust sdl tndt
my fountain of pity just boils over on
Sunday, when think of what the Lord
has to endure. The human mind can
scarcely grasp the subject, but let us
try to get a vague idea of what it must
be to listen to all the dull sermons, and
second hand prayers, and broken
winded, used-up congregational sing
ing that must be listened to on Oh Sun
day, and then multiply that by fifty-two
and see where you and /, my friend,
would be at the end of one year. 1t
gives US about the best idea of the diff
erence between the finite and infinite
power of endurance of anything that |
know of.


What | know about music would not
fill two gallon jug. Music l consider
to be the science of tongues and sounds.
1t dates clear back to the creation. In
strumental music goes back TO the
fourth chapter of Gensis, where we
learn that Jubal was the father of harps
and organs. Some of his descendants
are now going around concerning,
under the name of Jubal-ee singers.
and they have sung so much that they
have turned black in the face.
Year: 1877

car did not stop, and though the con-
ductor looked out that way, his hand
was not ON the strap, and no smile on
his face.


Don't you wait for that little girl
now?' l asked, feeling disappointed at
not seeing my little friend again.


81 wish could, ma'am," answered
the man, understanding at once though
of course, he did not remember me.


New rules, perhaps" l added, as
he did not explain, but stood lingering
his punch, and never minding an old
lady wildly waving her bag at him
from the sidewalk.


mo, ma am; but its no use waiting
for little missy any more, because
here he leaned in, and said very low
.'she is dead;" then turned sharply
round, rung the bell, put the old lady
in, and shut the door.


How grieved l was to have that
pleasant friendship end so sadly, for l
had planned many pleasant surprises
for my little girl, and now / could do
no more, could never know all about
her, never see the sunny face again, or
win another word from lips that seemed
made for smiling.


Only little school girl, yet how
many friends she seemed to have, max
ing them unconsciousiy happy by her
gentle manners, generous actions and
innocent light-heartedness. l could
not bear to think what home must be
without her. for am sure l was right
in believing her good, sweet child,
because real character shows itself in
little things, and the heart that keeps
in time makes its music heard every
where.


The busy man of the horse ear found
time to miss her, the sehOomates evil
IDENTIFY mourned their queen, for when
/ met them walked quietly, talked low,
and several wore black bows upon the
sleeve; while l, although l never knew
her name, or learned single fact about
her, felt the sweetness of her happy
nature, and have not yet forgotten my
little school girl.-Niss Alcoh.
Year: 1877

l.. Page and son. cutting wood near
San Jose, noticed for several days that
number of birds remained constantly
upon tree near to them. some gong
and coming from time to time. Upon
cutting down the tree they discovered
a limb with a hollow cavity some two
feet in length and three or four inches
in diameter, in which were two full
grown birds of some gOOdly- sized
species. There was a small aperture
through which the birds were supplied
with food from their mates. The limb
was cut and the birds liberated. They
were neither of them able to fly, having
evidently never been out of their i'm
prisOnment. How they came inside is
a question. 1t is probable that the
mother bird was small, and though
able to make her nest in the hollow of
the tree and rear her young. could not
extricate them, and they did not gain
strength enough to help themselves
until the hollow had 50 closed that
escape was impossible. Those who
examined the birds think they are
about two years old. They had been
fed from their birth by their bird-fel-
lows through the aperture in the limb
of the tree. A Dobler instance of devo-
ton even the human family never ex-
hibited.-Sdn Jose Mercury.
Year: 1877

that can be done by such arrangement


their exquisite taste enables them to dc


easily. But taste FOR fine color could


not spring from a people as light and


artificial as are the French at heart, and


consequently, In spite of their many re-


nowned artists, they have produced


hardly one colorist. Color, in its ut


most height, can only spring from the


deepest feeling, and it can be general in


no nation till it has entered into the


hearts of its people, and they have


''basked in it, as if il were sunshine ;


danced in delight of it, quarreled for it,


fought for it, served for it = done, in


fact, precisely the opposite of what we


want to do with it-made it TO keep and


not to SELL" But it is possible to learn


to know good color when you see it,


though scarcely in England, for here
there are few days in the year when we
really see the sun as the Italians, for
instance. see it. Never, until 1 saw
dark cypress against an Italian sky, did


L gain an idea of the exquisite harmony
of green and blue, nor did | know what
crimson and gold really were until


saw them blazing under an Italian sun
in the bazaars of Bombay. Before then
/ had never understood In the least the
difference between French prettiness
of color and real nobility, and l think
unless each of my readers mas passed
through one such experience he will
hardly understand what | mean. To
see good color in dress. as l understand
it, you must go at least as far as Italy,
and look not at the imported French
robes which you will see trailing by the
Amos side, or lettering in the COrso,
but at the scarf of the Venetian Condo
lier, and the handkerchief on the conta-
dina's head. And if you turn your
eyes from those to the mountain sides,
dark with cypress or hoary with olive,
to the white houses amid the orange
groves and the blue sky, you will un-
derstand how, in such a country, the
love OF color springs up in the hearts of
the people, by daily, hourly association,
till it becomes part of their lives. And
so, after ell, L can tell no more about
color than to show the conditions under
which alone We can hope TO obtain it,
and these are constant sight and fervent
love. How, then, in this gray England
of ours, can we hope TO reproduce the
hue of an Italian summer! But it will
be no mean victory if we can bring
home to ourselves this truth-that far
beyond all neutral shades of gray and
brown and green, beyond all beautiful
things in this world, rises superemi-
nently the beauty of true color; and if
this truth once gladdens our hearts,
once makes us rejoice in the emerald
fields and the sunset sky, we may be
very sure that whatever color we spread
upon our floor, or paint our walls with,
will be right, for 1t will spring, not
from the elaborateness of mems rules,
but from the beauty of Gods creation.
Year: 1877

Some few months ago paragraph
appeared in these columns containinga
a short description of an aerolite which


was then and is still in the possession
of the Rev. DIR. Wood of this city. Lit
tie was known at the time about the


history OF this curiosity further than
that it had been from time immeInorial
in the possession of the Indians fire.
quenting the Saskatchewan Valley. 1t
is doubtful whether it will ever be
known the exact time this mysterious
visitor reached the earth, as the event
is too long past to be preserved in the
memory of any one now living. The
following particulars, however, taken


from letter addressed by the Rev.
John Macleod, of Morleyville, to the
Rev. DIR. Woods can be relied on; Gas
TO the meteoric stone, | have not met
with any one who saw it fall, and my
impression is that this occurred pre-
vious to the memory of those now liv-
ing. The locality in which it was
found and from whence it was taken is
about one hundred and thirty miles
southeast of Victoria, Saskatchewan,
and near Battle River. The native
Indians looked upon the Pe-wah-bish,
or iron as they termed it, al something
supernatural, and as such reyereneed
it. Parents made offerings at its shrine
for the life and prosperity of their little
ones; travellers for the success of their
journey; war parties TO ensure Of pos
sibie) victory over their enemies and to
aid in stealing horses They also laid
their tobacco and other stuff upon its
altar. Great attractive power was at
tributed to il for the bringing of the
buffalo and the animals to It's vicinity;
and as an evidence of this the more
now say that on account
of its removal the buffalo have entirely
left that part of the country"
Year: 1877

The Trustees of the British Museum
are in treaty for the purchase OF the
copy of the largest book in the world.
Toward the close of the seventeenth
century the reigning Emperor of China
appointed an Imperial Commission to
reprint in one vast collection all native
works of interest and importance in
every branch of literature. In the be-
ginning of the following century the
Commissioners completed their labors.
and were able to lay before the Empe-
ror 4 very palpable proof of their dill
gence in the shape of a acOmpilation con-
sisting of g, 100 volumes, entitled Kin
ting koo kin too shoe tselh ching" or
"An illustrated Imperial Collection of
Ancient and Modern Literature.


Only a small edition was printed off
in the first instance. and before long
the greater part of the copper types
which had been cast for the undertak-
ing were purloined by untrustwOrthy
officials, and the remainder were melted
down and coined into cash. Accidents
by fire and by violence have considera-
bly, reduced the number of copies of
the imperial edition originally printed,
and it is believed that only a compara-
lively few now remain eXtant. The
Trustees of the British Museum having
become aware that one such copy has
lately been offered for sale at Pekin.
have entered into negotiations for its
purchase, and il i much to be hoped
that they may succeed in adding this
rare and interesting collection to the
national library London AtksnGam.