smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1866

The tide is deep and the waves run swift,


With a ceaseless ebb and flowing
Our guide stars lost and our bark's adrift,


And ruthless gale is blowing,
We strive to pierce with troubled gaze


Ths dusk of the heaying ocean
The sea is rough and its trackless waves


Are lost in the wild commotion,
Our hearts are filled with thousand fears,


AS we onward move in sadness
Our eyes are dim with the mist of tears,


For we see no CLEAN of gladness.
Yet somewhere still, on the farther shore,


We know that light is shining,
And somewhere hovers, the waters DER,


The cloud with a silver lining.
When the waves run high, and the storm comes


To toy with the crested billow [dowr
When the masts are bent at its dreadful frown,


Like the boughs of the ithesome willow;
Then we gaze afar through the mist and spray,


With hearts that are sad and fearing,
To catch glean through the darkness grey,


OF the farther shore appearing.
To that farther shore we are drifting fast


Each day we are drawing nearer
We hope to enter its port al last


And to see its light shine clearer.
We know that an unseen hand will guide


That an eye is watching ever,
And we feel in our hearts, let what will betide.


We have help that shall fail us never.
Year: 1866

A would-be prophet down South late ly
said, in of his sermons that ''he was sent to
redeem the world and all things" Whereupon one
of his audience pulled ou.a confederate shinplas-
ter, and asked him to fork over the specie for it.


THE last case of Incidence is reported in
one of our exchanges it is that of a man named
John Hole, who was so lazy that in writing his
name he simply used the letter J.. and then punch
ed a hole through the paper.


A HUNGRY man is manageable To be
docie, he must, like horse, have first had a bit
in his mouth.


"A stethescope," says young medical
student, lis a spy-glass for looking into people s
chests with your own ears"


LET your dress be modest, and consult
your condition. Play not the peacock by looking
vainly at yourself.


FAsmoNABLE.-Theb best style of bonnet
has turned up. 1t is described as consisting Of
two straws, tied together with blue ribbon on the
top of the head and red tassels suspended at each
of the four ends of the straws.
Year: 1866

A FABLE.-Two neighbors, whose names
were Self and VIII, attempted to cross a
stream from opposite sides, upon foot
bridge 50 narrow as to allow Of but sin
gle footman at the same time They met
about midway of the stream, where each
insisted that the other must turn back and
give the right Of the way. Each claimed
to be first on tae bridge, and maintained
his ground as prior Each contended for
this right as a matter Of principle, which
would allow of no concession Each plead
ed urgent and important business VIII
feH himself morally bound to maintain his
rights. Self could not in conscience make
concession without sacrificing his honest con-
ctctiOnS. Argament resulted il hard words,
and from hard words they soon came to
blows, and in the struggle to maintain each
his own rights, both fell together in the
stream. Each with much difficulty gained
the shore, exhausted and shivering from
cold bath Each consoled himself with the
idea Of personal suffering for righteous
ness sake y and both became bitter ene-
mics for life


While they were muttering revenge up
on each other, two other neighbors, named
Love and Kindness met in like circum-
stances upon the same bridge. 1t was a
meeting Of glad surprise They exchanged
cheerful and happy greetings and each in
sisted on yielding the right of way to his
brother. Each desired to be first in the
concession and to carry out each others
principles, both twice crossed the bridge
together After friendly chat, they part
ed company, finding in their experience
practical reason for the injunction " Let
each esteem the other better than himself"
Year: 1866

When Day BEGINs---Most nations begin
to count the hours from midnight but this
plan was not adopted by men in early ages
of the world, and is now used by three
fourths of the nations Of the earth Some
of the most ancient nations of the world as
the Babylonians, Pcrsians and Hindoos be-
gan the day with the rising of the sun, as
do the Greeks of the present day The
Jews and the ancient Greeks looked upon
sunset as the commencement Of the day
The Egyptian day begins at noon. This
mode of reckoning is still observed by as
tronomers, because the particular instant
called noon, can be ascertained more nicely
than any other part of the day. The Mo-
hommedans begin their day at twilight
Year: 1866

Social IMPORTANCE OF THE FIREsIDE.-T The
freside is a seminary Of infinite Importance
1t is important because it is universal and
because the education it bestows, beiug
woven in with the wool Of childhood, gives
form and color to the whole texture Of life
There are few who can receive the houors
of a college, but all are graduates of the
hearth. The learning Of the university
may fade from the recollection, its classic
lore may moulder in the hills of memory
but the simple lessons of home, enamelled
upon the heart Of childhood, defy the rust
of year and outlive the more mature but
less vivid picture of after-years So deep,
so lasting, indeed, are the impressions of
early life that you often see a man in the
imbecility Of age holding fresh in his re-
collection the events Of childhood, while all
the wide space between that and the pres
ent hour is a blasted and forgotten waste
You have perchance seen an old and half
obliterated portrait, and in the attempt to
have it cleaned and Re stored you may have
seen it fade away, while brighter and
more pure perfect picture, paintedEbeneath,
is revealed to view. This portrait, first
drawn upon the canvass, is no inapt illus
tration Of youth and though it may be
concealed by some after-design, still the
original traits will shine through the out
ward picture, giving it tone while fresh,
and surviving it in decay. Such is the fire
side,--the great institution Of Providence
for the education of man.
Year: 1866

One DROP AT A TME.--Have you ever
watched an icicle as it formed You no,
ticed how it froze one drop at time until
it was foot long Or more. If the water
was clean, the ieicle remained clean, and
sparkled brightly in the sun ; but if the
water was but slightly muddy, the icicle
looked foul, and its beauty was spoiled
Just so our characters are forming. One
little thought of feeling at a time adds its
influence. If every thought be pure and
right, the soul will be lovely,a and will spar
kle with happiness but if impure and
wrong, there will be final deformity and
wretchedness.
Year: 1866

USELESS YOUNG LADIEs.--It scarcely ad-
mits of doubt that the number of young
ladies is constantly increasing who think
happiness dependent of freedom from re-
sponsibility and labor, and wish to have
nothing to do but to read novels or give
themselves to pleasure. A contemporary
says "The lnumber of idle, useless girls,
in all our large cities seems to be steadily
increasing. They lounge or sleep through
their mornings, and parade the streets du-
ring the afternoon, and assemble in frivo-
lous companies of their own and other sex
to pass away their evenings. What store
of happiness for themselves and others they
are laying up for the coming time, when
real duties and high responsibilities shall
be thoughtlessly assumed They are skill
led in no domestic duties-nay they despise
them, have no habits of industry nor taste
for the useful What will they be as wives
and mothers Alas, for the husbands and
children and alas for themselves. Who
can wonder if domestic ruin follow"
Year: 1866

The GREAT MYSTERY. The body is to die A;
so much is certain What lies beyond ?
No one who passes the charmed boundary
comes back to tell The imagination visits
the realm of shadows--sent out from some
window in the soul over life's restless wa
ters, but wings its way wearily back, with
IN olive leaf in its beak as ID token of emer-
ging life beyond the closely bending hori-
zon. The great sun comes and goes in the
heaven, yet breathes no secret Of the ethe-
real wilderness the crescent moon cleaves
the nightly passage across the upper deep,
but tosses overheard no message and dis
plays no signals. The sentinel stars chal-
lenge each other as they walk their night
ly rounds, but we catch no syllable of their
countersign which gives passage to the
heavenly camp. Between this and the 9TH
er life is a great gulf fixed, across which
neither eye nor foot can travel The gen
tie friend, whose eyes we closed in their
last sleep long years ago, died with rap
ture in her wonder-stricken eyes, smile of
ineffable joy upon her lips, and hands fold
ed over triumphant heart, but her lips
were past speech, and intimated nothing Of
the vision that enthralled her
Year: 1866

none could have been found equal 70 the
Tennessee Governor. If there seems to
be dissatisfaction among the Southern
people of Tennessee, it arises from the
unjust and tyrannical conduct of Mr..
Brownlow, and not from a disloyal feel
inc towards the Federal Government
| No southern man Of reflection and good
sense desires a war, between the United
States and France or England Our tax
es are now, sufficiently heavy and no
man has the consummate crrdulity to
believe for moment that war would
result in separate gov eminent 49,


The resolution in regard to Tennessee,
reported by the Committee of Fifteen,
which you will receive tonight, seems to
have been framed expressly to provoke a
veto. 1t enbodies nearly every
doctrine which the President has express
! ly repudiated, and puts the question in
precisely the worst shape possible so far
as uniting the Union Party is concerned,
1t is generally regarded as a renewed dec
laration Of war against the President ON
| the part Of the Committee of Fifteen and
the Radicals, by whom that Committee is
is supported.


may as well add here that the Radi-
Gals have apparently entered upon a cru
SADIE Of falsehood and defamation against
/ the President, with the deliberate purpose
of breaking down his private character
and reputation with the country. could
give you a great variety of facts in sup
port Of this statement. | will content
myself at present with one. Radical
Member Of Congress from W. ern New
York, yesterday stated freely in conyer-
sation that President Johnson said that
three mistrcsses run the machine of gov
ernment, and that he was generally so
much under the influence of whisky at
night as to be unfit for business in the
morning. | mention this, because it is
quite time that somebody should be held
responsible for these infamous calumnies
which are circulated broadest in conver-
sation and through letters by members
Of Congress, rs part of the system by
which the radicals intend to break down
! the administration.
Year: 1866

Special Dispatch from the RcpuDNcan.


WASHINGTON, March s.


The delegation appointed by the Leg
islature of Maryland, to wait upon the
President and present the resolutions ex-
pressive of their confidence in him and
his policy, passed by the same Lcgisla-
ture on the 9th day of February last, OBJ
tanned IN interview with the President at
II o'clock to-day. The resolutions were
presented by John NJ. Frazier, the Spea-
ker of the House of Delegates of Mary
land, who. on presenting them SCI, .h't
he would take upon himself that the in
dorsement Of the Presidents course
since the passage of the resolutions is
universal in Maryland. In reply the
President said


Gentlemen, have no reply to make,
but simply to thank you for the encour-
agement YOU have given me on this occa-
sion by the expression of your confidence
in me and my public acts. All ! can say
in this connection, is that hope that my
future acts will show that this confidence
has not been misplaced, and the passers
of this resolution are not mistaken IL
their approval. Ttake it is not necessa-
ry for me TO state the principles have
adopted as my guidance. They are IN
derstood, and there can be no mistake as
to the position occupy Persons who
act upon principle, and understand the
principles they act upon, cannot disagree
They must act together, and whatever
their starting point, in acting upon such
principles, they however, involuntarily
will sometimes approach each other And
the converse of this proposition is also
true, that whenever they disagree upon
principle they commence a divergent
course, The most gratifying thought to
me is that | have acted upon principle
ever since my earliest entrance into pub
lie life There has always been with me
some fundamental idea regarding the ma
ture of this Union, and ! have never de
parted from it. AS regards myself, ] can
only say that my past life must afford the
guarantee Of the sincerity Of my motives
and my security for the future. There,
if anywhere, it must be found. If my
past career is not sufficient to do this,
nothing that could say now would be.
The Constitution has been my guide, the
public good my aim-and sink or swim,
live or die the Constitution shall continue
be my guide All thatI ask is that an hon
est and confGng public test, in the future,
whether am sincere in what | profess,
and whether the principles upon which |
rely with them are founded in right and
are true in themselves. Acting on great
and true principles, we cannot reach a
wrong conclusion, pursuing principles
right in themselves. There may be gloom
gathering upon our pathway; but though
we may not see our way entirely clear,
yet | feel that if we follow true princi-
pie it will guide us triumphantly through
but we must follow it without looking to
the right hanl or to the left / have
reached the goal of my ambition, and if |
can only see the Union restored, and the
country entering upon its glorious ca
reer anew, will exclaim, {" / have seen
the glory Of thy salvation; let thy ser
want depart in peace"
Year: 1866

FIRED with emulation, l carefully
watched a common gardenspider EEpeira
diadenaa.) which found as entertaining
as wonderful. I commenced by destroy
ing the web of fue fat spider, and the
owner appeared excessively astsnished
as her web collapsed around her. At
length she took refuge in an inverted
flower pot; where I found her two hours.
[ am inclined to think that during this
period she was preparing materials for a
new web. 1 found in every case where
a web is destroyed, that the spider goes
away to some quiet spot, and, drawing
his legs close round him, remains quiet
for two or three hours. During this
period of ofrepose. the spider is stupid and
dufl-iust gives an impatient shuttle
when touched, but does not run off as
spiders generally do when disturbed. I
watched again, then left, and when re-
turned in half an hour I found the spider
as active as spider could be, in build
ing a new web, the old one, which at my
first visit was still hanging, had now
vanished. Had the spider eaten it =
that's therub." By lucky chance
another spider came along the piece Of
wood, from the end of which my spider
had fastened one of her foundation lines


They met" and in an instant the claws
of each was shot -out with a dexteTity
that pugilist might envy; the blows
were given in exactly the same manner
as cat strikes her antagonist The
trespassing spider was soon convinced
that-it would be the height of folly to
stop where he was, so, fastening line
from where he stood, he let himself
down on to a eonvolVulus leaf My
friend rushed to the spot where spider
No. 2 had fastened his line, and seizing
on it, the other end of which, be it re-


membered, was in communication with
spider No 2's body, began to wind hin
off; that is to say she drew the line il
towards. herself, in the same manner tha


sailor hauls in rope, but with a rapid


ity that was truly wonderful, the from
legs were moved so quickly that my eye
could scarcely follow them. Spider No
2 having decided objection to his vital
being wouudfaway in this sort of manner
put an end to my friends little pastimr
bv cutting the fine. Spider No / hac
now collected web that amounted to tn
Year: 1866

THE LAUGH OF WoMAN.-A woman
has no natural gift more bewitching than
a sweet laugh-it is like the sound of
flutes on the water It flows in clear
and sparkling rill.; and the heart that
hears it feels as if bathed in the cool,
exhilerating spring. Have you ever
pursued an unseen fugitive through trees,
led on by a fairy laugh, now here, now
there, now lost and now found We
have. And we are pursuing that wan
dering voice to this day. Sometimes it
comes to us in the midst of care or sor-
row. or irksome business and then we
may turn away and hear it ringing
through the room like a silver belllwith
power enough to scare away the evil
spirits of the mind. How much we owe
to that sweet laugh 1t turns prose into
poetry; it filings showers of sunshine
over the darkness Of the wood in which
we are travelling; it touches with light
even our sleep, which is no moro the
image Of death, but is consumed with
dreams that are the shadows of immor-
taiity. o.
Year: 1866

We may go through the world but it will be slow,
If we listen to all that is said as we go;
Well be worried and fretted, and kept in stew,
For meddlesome tongues must have something to do


For people will talk, you know, people will talk;


o, yes, they must talk, you know.
If quiet and modest, you'n have it presumed
That your humble position is only assumed;
You're a wolf IN Sleeps clothing, or else you're


fool;


But don't get exoited-keep perfectly cool.


For people will talk, etc.
If generous and noble, they'll vent out their spleen
YouH hear some loud hints that you're selfish and


mean;


If upright and honest and fair as the day,
They'll call you a rogue in a sly, sneaking way.


For people will talk etc.
And then if you show the least boldness of heart,
Or slight inclination to take your own part,
They'll call you an upstart, conceited and vain
But keep straight ahead and don't stop to explain


For people will talk, etc.
Some one, of course, will take notice of that,
And hint rather strong that you can't pay your way;
But don't get excited whatever they say.


For people will talk, etc
If you dress in the fashion, don't think TO escape
For they criticise then in a different shape;
You're ahead of your means, or your tsors unpaid
But mind your own business, there's nought to be
made.
For people will talk etc.
They'll talk fine before you, but then, at your back,
OF venom and sland0r there's never a lack;
How kind and polite in all that they say,
But bitter gall when you're out of the way.
| Fer people will talk, etc.


The best way to do is do you please
For your mind, if you have one will then be at ease;
| Of course you will meet all sorts of abuse,
| But don't think to stop them isn't any use.
For people will talk, you know, people will talk;
o. yes, they must talk, you know.
Year: 1866

An editor out West indulges in the
following talk to his delinquent SUBJ
scribers and patrons. The famous
speech of Brutus, on the death of
Caesar, as rendered by Shakespeare, is
made to do new service in this anus
ing travesty:


Hear US for our debts, and get ready
that ssyou may pay; trust US; we are in
need and have regard for our need, as
YOU have been long trusted; acknowl-
edge your Indebtedness, and dive into
your pockets that you may promptly
fork over If there be any among you
-one single patron-that don't owe
us something, then to him we say, step
aside; consider yourself gentleman.
If the rest wish TO know why we dun
them, this is our answer: not that we
Year: 1866




General Sherman, General Logan
and Governor Oglesby addressed a
large meeting of their former comrades
in arms at Salem, Illinois, on the 4th
inst. General Logan's address is too
lengthy to publish entire in our col
umns, but we extract some portions
relating to matters of current interest
Our readers are aware that General
Logan was always Democrat, and an
ardent supporter of Stephen A. Doug
las when that lamented statesman was
a candidate for President During the
speech from which we quote Gen. Lo
gan said:


Would you have believed two years
ago, when certain great man of this
land said that treason must be made
odious and traitors must be punished,
and not only that, but that they must
be impoverished, and that their prop
erty must be distributed among the
loyal people, that he would declare that
they were entitled to representation
in the United States? mol If he did,
he had "A very strange way Of express,
ing himself That is all | can say on
that subject. Laughter. No, sir, the
| work Of restoration in this country be.
longs to loyal men and not to traitors,
and while loyal men are engaged in
performing this work and restoring
this country they must say to these
traitors: Gentlemen, we intend to
confer these rights upon you whenever
we are minded to. 1t is not for you to
say the time when it shall be done,
but it is for Us to say. 1t is in our
hands, in our power; we have the
right, and you have no privileges in
this country" ["Good, good, that's
so."1


But it is said that inasmuch as these
States have been recognized, and Ger
| tam OF them have acted on certain sub
Jects, that they are fully restored. -
why, my countrymen, that is a great
mistake. They are restored so far as
the act that they perform is recogniz-
ed by our Government as lawful 4;
whether it was lawful at the start and
at the inception or not, by the recog-
milton we made it lawful Hence, the
onl y acts that they can perform are
such acts as we recognize as being law
ful by our recognition. The acts that
we say to them they shall not perform,
they cannot perform until we say they
shall.


Let US, then, examine the question
a little further. Oh, but some of the
opposite say, why if you do not allow
these people to be represented thero is
one half of the Union unrepresentcd
and the laws that you pass in Congress
are unconstitutional because a portion
of the country is unrepresented.-
Laughter


Well, | presume upon the same hy-
pothesis all the laws that we passed
during the war are unconstitutional
because Jeff Davis part of the country
was not represented. Laughtcr.] Sc
1t might be in reference to this repre-
sentation if the doctrine now enuncia.
ted by the opposition to the Union
people in this land is correct; that is
! that these people, the very moment
Year: 1866

Cure for Nearagia.-A New Hamp-
shire gentleman says: Take two large
tablespoons Of cologne and two tea
spoonfuls of fine salt; mix them to-
gether in a small bottle; every time
you have any acute affection of the
facial nerves, or neuralgia, simply
breathe the fumes in your nose from
the bottle, and you will be immediate.
ly relieved