smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

In regard to my article of May 22d, l
would say that did not wish it to be I'M
derstood that 1 thought sail" farmers
daughters were taught that labor was de-
grading, or that they all choose a life of
idlencss. On the contrary, think many Of
them have the best training and education
they possibly could have to fit them for
useful future, and If l failed to modify my
expressions to that effect it was an oversight
for which beg pardon yet [ cannot for
bear the remark that there is great def
cheney in the education of our daughters,
and many false ideas allowed to grow in re-
gard to the propriety Of work.


A farm was my home in childhood, there
fore l am strongly attached to the farm, and
since have had a homo and cares of my
own, l have lived In several of our best Ter
mont villages, where "women have recrea-
tious," and some we're Of the highest charac-
ter and very enjoyable still on returning to
the farm have found plenty of time both
for pleasure and profit. While l know that
many farmers wives are closely confined at
home, yet with good management their
chances would be much better.


As for taking the fresh air farmers wives
have many chances if they improve them,
and if there is place in the world where
one can get plenty of G DDS pure air. it is on
the farm. The farmers wife rises early,
throws open the windows to let in the fresh
morning air, and as she steps out on fair
morning in June, what more glorious vision
could meet the eye? All 81! these are glori-
GUS mornings; even if we have to commence
the duties Of the day, the effects are felt
through the entire day.


About farmers sons being educated, there
are but few farmers of any means at all but
that give their sons chance for a good, fair
education. How many of them are sent
yearly to the best shools in the state, and
how many of these same farmers sons arc
the smartest men in the land, and to-day
who are we to look to to save our country
from ruin, protect the poor laborer and bring
the iaboring classes Of both sexes TO an
equality with other people, and earnestly
wish we might have an honest, intellectual
farmer to gil the gubernatorial chair of our
state. l admit that immortality and vice are
too frequent among our farmers sons, and il
going away from home or into society put.
on the polishing touch to their manners, il
very often is no Improvement to their NOR
ais. l hope the time is not far distant when
farmers wife, son, or daughter, instead oi
being reproach will be honored for their
calling. A.


Cabot, June Is.
Year: 1874

A writer in French horticultural jour
nal relates this suggestive experience Af-
ter sunset place in tho center Of my or
chard IN old barrel the inside of which l
have previously well tarred. At the bottom
of the barrel l place a lighted lamp. In-
sects of many kinds, attracted by the light,
make for the lamp, and while circling
around it strike against the sides Of the bar
rel, where, meeting with the tar, their
wings and legs become so clogged that they
fall helpless to tho bottom. In the morning
l examine the barrel and frequently take
out of it ton or twelve gallons of cockroaches,
which l at once distroy. A few pence
worth of tar employed in this way will,
without any further trouble, be the means of
destroying innumerable numbers Of these in-
sects, whose larvae arc among the most de.
structive pests the gardener or farmer has to
contend against.
Year: 1874

Near the track Of a railway newly laid,
A farmer leaned on his earth-worn spade;
While his taxes were high and his crops but slim,
The charge for freight played the deuce with hin
SO he growled growl at the trains sharp din
"Ill gather you in I'll gather you NJ"
az have borne you long, and hero / swow
You railroads to beat, some way, or howi
will get up n law, by the great horned owl
To cut down your profits and make you howl;
And but little, or nothing, I'll ship from bin
Of bearded corn, till I've gathered you in!
1--WE will rise In our Oranges, bold and froc,
And Down with freishtsr Shall our war-cry be
Not partisan crew nor party hack
Shall help us TO gain our birthright back
For the battle is ours, to oso or win
Wen gather them I'M well gather them in"
Now gaunt politician who came that way,
Overheard tho old mans angry say
And he gave 10 his head knowing screw,
And he cried to tho Granger, "Count me, too"
with thought to himself, replote with grin,
"nl gather you in III gather you in !"
Then a twist Of his eye, to seem acute;
''Tho farmers tongue has too long been mute
! am just your man, IL ii suits your mood,
80 place mo where | can do most goods
II an office At you will help me win,


Wen gather them IN we'll gather them in "
Touching hand to hand, in a warm exchange,
They take walk TO the farmers Grange,
Where tho stranger speaks with rural air,
And sprinkles hay seed in his hair;


"Let railroads quail when our blows begin,
Wen gather them in wen gather them in"
30 they vote for him at tho coming polls.
Those simple, rural, honest souls


Never dreaming that they Of the iron horse
Are voting too, for the man, Of courses
As on him alone their faith they pin,


70 gather them mi to gather them in
When election Is over the railroads run
A score OF trains where they once had one;
While ditch by the track is found to hold
A poor old Granger, stark and cold
= For the chap he's helped TO Office win


Had gathered him in had gathered him In!
Year: 1874

A Cornwall farmer told MS that his cattla
were so gentle and kind that they followed
him all over the farm, and in passing n hay
stack they would often call HIM, upon which
he obligingly gave each one II lock of hay
Tho traits referred to are not uncommon
among domestcated animals. We were
visiting family last week in the vicinity Of
Goshen, and, having occasion TO cross field
where II male COW was grazing, no fol-
sion, and, lifting tho gate off its hinges, he
took after us ut full speed. NJ doubt no
would have called when we passed hay
stack, but the folks We're waiting dinner for
us and we couldn't stop. SO we left our
coat tail and II portion of our pants on the
gentle creatures horns, and went into tho
house.
Year: 1874




1t is fact to be regretted that farmers
sons have great inclination to leave the
farm. Now we believe it to be of the great
est benefit to the man in after years, if he
may have acquired practical agricultural
education, during his minority, 1t is no
exaggeration 10 say that health Is a large
ingredient in what the world calls talent,
A man without it may be giant in nintellect,
but his deeds will be the deeds Of dwarf.
The first requisite, therefore, to success in
this life is to be the possessor Of vigorous
constitution. With it Judgment, imagina-
ton, eloquence, all the qualities of the mind,
attain force aud splendor to which they
would never approach without it. A me-
chanic may have tools Of the sharpest edge
and highest polish, but what are these with
out vigorous hands and arms2 OF what
use is it that your mind has become a vast
granary Of knowledge if you have not
strength TO turn the key2 In nine cases
out Of ten no mans life will become a sue
cess if he does not bear burdens in his child
hood. But the question naturally arises,
Year: 1874

A. B. Allen, of New York says: 81
would sooner pay double the price for
steel plows than accept as. gift the
best set of cast-iron plows to be found in
the United States. Though ever SO hard
chilled or smoothly polished, cast-iron
will foul, more or less, on the mold
board, in every kind of soil from sandy
or gravelly up to heavy clay loan.
The dirt thus gathered on the mold
board adds greatly to its draft and pre-
vents good work.


Another objection to cast-iron is, in or
der to get equal strength, the weight
must be considerably greater than with
steel, and this is hard drag all day,
and requires a much stronger team. OF
this any one may quickly convince him
self without resort to thermometers or
any other means of testing the drafts.
He has only to hitch light team TO a
steel pillow, and a stronger one to the
cast iron, and work them side by side.
In this way have found that pair OF
fourteen handed ponies would do about
the same work, and with as much ease
to themselves as pair of sixteen hand
horses. The same observations about
material will also apply to cultivators.
In thus candidly advising my brother
farmers in regard to the superior merit
of steel plows, l am speaking directly
against my own individual interest, for
have been manufacturer and dealer
in cast iron plows for upward of thirty
year past"
Year: 1874

eff had leisure would repair that
weak place in my fence" said farmer
He had none, however, and while
drinking cider, with a neighbor, the
COWS broke in and injured prime piece
of corn. He had leisure then to repair
his fence, but it did not bring back his
corn.


"If l had leisure" said a wheel
wright last winter, 81 would alter my
stovepipe, for 1 know it is not safe -
But he did not find time, and when the
shop caught fire and burned down he
found leisure to build another.


off l had leisure" said mechanic,
"I should have my work done in season" Z"
The man thinks his time has been
all occupied, but he was not at work till
after sunrise he quit work at five o'clock
smoked a cigar after dinner, and spent
two hours on the street talking nonsense
with an idler.


aft / had leisure" said a merchant, az
would pay more attention to my accounts
and try to collect my bills more prompt
ly." The chance is, my friend, if you
had leisure you would probably pay less
attention to the matter than you do now.
The thing lacking with hundreds OF
farmers who till the soil is not more
leisure but more resolution-the spirit
to do il now. If the farmer who sees
his fence in poor condition would only
act at once, how much might be saved
1t would prevent breechy cattle from
creating quarrels among neighbors that
in many cases terminate in lawsuits
which take nearly all they are both
worth to pay the lawyers.


The fact is, farmers and mechanics
have more leisure than they are aware
of for study and improvement of theil
minds. They have the long evenings o.
winter in which they can post themsel
yes upon all Improvements Of the day
if they will only take ably conducted
journals and read them with care. Tn,
farmer who fails TO study his business
and then gets shaved, has nobody bu
| himself to blame.
Year: 1874

The question may be asked why so
much pains should be taken to measure
the distance of the sun, and whether it
makes any difference to mankind what
orbit Venus describes. Scientific inves-
tigators never inquire of what use knowl-
edge is; they leave its practical applica-
tion to others. But very little consid-
Grafton will show that astronomy has,
in a merely utilitarian way, paid the
world manifold for all the labor spent
in learning it. Did it never occur to
the reader that it is to Kepler, Newton,
and their successors that we owe the
means of navigating the ocean in safety?
When a ship is out of sight of land
there is no way Of determining her pos
itiOn except by observations of the
heavenly bodies. But observations
could not be used for this purpose un-
less the laws of motion of these bodies
had been discovered and taught by
mathematicians and astronomers. A
striking example of this is fresh in the
memory of all. A year and half ago
the splendid steamer City Of Washington
sailed on her usual voyage across the
ocean, but constant cloudy weather pre-
vented observations to determine her
position. In consequence, she was
wrecked on the cost of Nova Scotia, and
the loss of more property than would
pay for all the expense of observing the
transit of Venus paid the forfeit for fail
ure to make the necessary observations.
A large portion of the labor of astrono-
mers is devoted TO fixing the positions
and motions of the stars and planets
with continually increasing accuracy,
and the observations we have been de-
scribing are one step in this work.
Prof Simon Newcomb, in Harper's
Magazine for December.
Year: 1874

To make perfect brick" the first
thing to be done, after it is ascertained
that the material out Of which the brick
is to be made is of the right quality, is
to dig and cast up loose in the fall Of
the year, as much stuff as il is intended
to make into bricks the following sea-
son, in order that the rain, snow, frost,
thaw and atmospheric air may decom-
pose and mature every particle possible,
and prepare it, ready for the tempering
machine in the coming spring.


Bricks, whether of clay or clay loan,
prepared in this manner and burnt with
petroleum, are vastly superior, as to
quality, beauty and durability, TO bricks
made of immature, raw material. There
being neither smoke, dust nor SCOT en-
tering the kiln, during the process Of
burning, the bricks when taken from
the kiln, have the appearance of newly
planed small blocks of wood.


This method of burning bricks and 9th
er clay articles is most certainly destin.
ed to revolutionize the whole system Of
burning clay, throughout the whole OF
the United States.-[ Scientific Ameri-
can.
Year: 1874

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Ga
zette, referring to the death of an inmate
Of the Bloomingdale Asylum, says:


He was man of slender build, but
mental disease had reduced him to ex-
treme emaciation. He had not lived
much more than forty years, and yet he
was the image of idiotic old age. Such
was the last scene in the life of one who
was once highly gifted and eminently
successful. When irst knew him he
was fine built young man, with bril-.
liant countenance and easy manner. He
hired a loft in a warehouse and began
trade on capital which could not ex.
coed $500. But from that beginning
sprang one Of the greatest houses in thii
Year: 1874

Last week we wrote an item about two
pears and noted their weight as Ii
pounds 1t got into the paper 13t
pounds.


His name was Hunter who set the
item, and he would have been an orna-
ment to the profession in due time. He
possessed all the noble qualities of mind
and heart that tend to make the COM
positor of the day beloved and esteemed
by good penmen. He could, when at
his best, take the pathos out of an obit-
uary, the point off joke, the sentiment
out of matrimonial puff, or the piety
out of Sunday school convention re-
port, with the ease and grace that would
have set old Job on the ragged edge.
He was, too, promoter of the cause of
religion. In that line he had no equal.
No man could be around him fifteen
minutes without realizing the necessity
of some plan of salvation, some refuge
far away from this sinful world, where
all was purity and the inhabitants wash
ed their feet. And he was no monopo-
list either. He set his face squarely
against anything having the appearance
of monopoly. The sacrifice of comfort
that he underwent to keep the other
hands from monopolizing their lunch
stamped him as resister of the iron
heel of oppression worthy of imitation.


But his greatest attribute was patience.
We cannot do him justice in that re-
spect. When We contemplate that vir-
tue we almost regret that we killed him.
He would listen to the invectives of the
chief, the profane remonstrances of the
reporters, the indignant protests of out
ragged contributors, the maledictions OF
proof-readers, and the bloodthirsty
threats of poets unmoved, beg their last
chew of tobacco, and comment on the
quality thereof. In his last moments,
after he had been hit with a mallet, a
newspaper form pitched into his abb
domen, and run twice through the cyl
inder press, his only complaint was that
we might have waited until after dinner


His situation is vacant. Although
we despair of every completely filling
his place, ambitious young men should
not feel discouraged. We can't all be
perfect. Apply at this Office, inclosing
paid up accident policy. Our feet are
nearly kicked off now.-[Canton (Ill.)
Register.
Year: 1874

Taken in moderation, there is no
doubt that vinegar is beneficial, but in
excess it impa;rs the digestive organs.
Experiments on artificial digestion
show that if the quantity of acid be di-
minished, digestion is retarded if in
creased beyond a certain point digestion
is arrested. There is reason therefore,
in the vulgar notion-unhappily too Of
ten relied on-that vinegar helps to
keep down any alarming adiposity, and
that ladies who dread the disappearance
of their graceful Outlines in curves of
plumpness expanding into "fat' may
arrest so dreadful result by liberal po-
tations of vinegar, but they can only ar
rest it at the far more dreadful expense
of their health. The amount of acid
which will keep them thin will destroy
their digestive powers. Portal gives a
case which should be warning "a few
years ago a young lady in easy circum-
stances enjoyed good health she was
very plump, had a good appetite
and complexion blooming with roses
and lilies. She began to look upon her
plumpness with suspicion, for her moth
er was very fat, and she was afraid Of be-
coming like her. Accordingly, she con-
suited woman who advised her to
drink glass of vinegar daily. The
young lady followed the advice, and
her plumpness diminished. She was
delighted with the success of the exper-
iment, and continued it for more than a
month. She began to have cough il
was dry at its commencement, and was
considered as a slight cold, which would
go off. Meantime, from dry it became
moist slow fever came on, and diff
guilty of breathing; her body became
lean and wasted away, night sweats
swelling of the feet and legs succeeded


and diarrhea terminated her life


Therefore, young ladies, be boldly fat
Never pine for graceful slimness and


romantic pallor but if Nature means


you to be ruddy ard rotund, accept il


with laughing grace. which will cap
| tivate more hearts thanssa ssall the palenesi
of circulating library.
Year: 1874

city. His course was one Of wonderful
success; but it taxed his system beyond
his strength. He was 50 excited that he
could not sleep. He became delirious
on the subject OF making money. 1t
was the whole theme of his conversation,
and at last it was feared that his talk
was but form OF insanity. He would
call on his friends to show them chow to
make money" And this, with other va
garies, compelled his friends to place
him in the asylum. Here he became a
lunatIc money maker. He would spend
the day IN calculation, and at night tell
how many millions he had made. At
last his brain wore out, and he sank into
idiocy, which only terminated with his
life. The concern which he built up is
one of great wealth, and he left his fam
lily half million, but it was a small
price for which to sell his reason.


An Ohio woman worked at odd times
for nine years to piece bed quilt con-
tanning even 50 many thousand pieces,
and then her husband seized it to blank
it his mule, and said it saved him pay
ing six shillings for an army blanket.
Year: 1874

A popular belief exists that the pyro-
technic art is due to the ingenuity of the
Chinese, but unfortunately, this theory
will not bear examination, for although
the Chinese have gone on popping
trumpery little crackers and aquatic fire
works for thousands of years they have
never improved upon these primitive
contrivances, of which they explode al
home and export to America a vast
quantity. The East doubtless produced
wise men in its time, but that time is
long since over, and the youth of Asia
are at this day the pupils of Western
philosophers. Indian Brahmins, learn
chess out of the famous Handbuch, and
the Chinese, when they want really good
fireworks send to London for them
All the Year Round.
Year: 1874

half an hour later, having in view the
necessity of bringing him Unexpectedly
upon his wife at the very moment when
she should be sewing away at the top of
her ability.


Once upon time kept an extraord-
mary bug that had captured, under q
glass tumbler, for days, to see the change
by which it would become something
else. 1t effected the change one night
when l could not see it, and was left
very little wiser than before. And I
know not much more about the meeting
between Harry Lee and his wife, over
the sewing that evening before
Christmas; as (confound it y I felt my
self obliged to leave them alone together
just at the interesting moment, and they
had made it all, up before thought it
proper to return


However, had my revenge. Mr.. Lee
II wish to be understood and believed
on this point never ffirted any more
with me, however mildly-"never no
more" He went to Europe, but a little
later, and took his wife, leaving his lit
tie son with his notable New England
of him though she might not permit
him to romp too hilariously. They were
kind enough to believe that had been
of service to them and was the recipi-
ent of certain rings, one of which Harry
| Lee gave me with what thought was
rather conscious look, and the other of
which Oracle Lee gave me with no
shamefacedness and a hearty kiss.
l saw them together, and at home
again, in pretty new home over which
taught by some mistakes in the past, the
wife was sole mistress, apparently very
happy, the next Christmas and think
that Mrs. Lee, under some sort of idea
that she owed the recovery of her hus-
band to her sewing looked up-
on that useful article as a species of good
fairy, d her at it as place of refuge,
and always was to be found sewing when
things went at all crooked in the house
/ hold.


My after-acquaintanee with them, at
all events showed that the indolent, use
less, and self-willed wife had become the
busy, useful, and gentle one, and that
the husband, who had begun by misun-
derstanding her. had come fully back to
his sense, and grown much wiser as to
the quality of the woman with whom he
had been intrusted. And something Of
this, if not all of it, was the result of a
little Irritation nipped in the bud, and of
My Christmas Revenge.-[F From The
Aldine for December.
Year: 1874

Eagles are subject to diseases-he flesh,
bone and blood-just like the veriest
poultry that die Of Group and consump-
tion on the dunghill before the barn door.
Sickness blinds the eye that God made
to pierce the sun, and weakens the wing
that dailies with the tempest. The eagle
feels how vain is the divine right Of
kings. He is hawked at by the mouaing
owl, whose instinct instructs him that
these talons have lost their grasp and
their pinions their death blow. The ca
gle lies for weeks, famishing in the eyrie
and hunger-drIven over the ledge, leaves
it to ascend no more. lie is dethroned
and wasted 10 mere bones-a bunch Of
feathers. His flight is now slower than
that of the buzzard. He floats himself
along now with difficulty from knoll 10
knoll, pursued by the striking magpiea
bufeted by the corbie, and laying on his
back, like recreant, before the beak Of
a raven, who, a month ago, was terrified
to hop around the carcass till the king
Of the air was satiated and gave bis per-
mission TO croakIng sooty to dig into
the bowels he himself had scorned. Yet
he is a noble aim to the fowler still you
break a wing or leg, and fear to touch
him with your hand your dog feels the
iron clutch of his talons, CONSTRUCTED in
the death pang, and holding him up,
you wonder that such anatomy-for his
weight is not more than three pounds
could drive his claws through that
shaggy hide till blood sprung to the
biow
Year: 1874

How TO PULL TEETH.-A peculiar
dental operation has just come under


our observation. A certain citizen had
an upper tooth which was loose and


troublesome, so he resolved to extract it
by fastening a string to it; but after a
trial, finding the operation painful, be
hadn't the grit to grin and bear it. He
thought if the tooth could be extracted
by some sudden mode, the pain would
be but transient; and after mature delib-
Grafton he hit upon an ingenious plan
to jerk it out in jiffy. Procuring a
heavy fatiron he tied it to the other
end of the cord attached to his tooth,
then shutting both eyes he let the iron
drop, which descended plump center on
his pet corn. After hopping about the
room, wildly on one foot, groaning for
very anguish of spirit, and reciting
choice passages from profane history,
he finally calmed down sufficiently &c
hurl the fiatiron over the fence, and
swathe his sore toe in camphor and cot.
ton. But he pulled the tooth, and with
il n piece of gum. And the man lived