smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

The best way to find nests is to watch
bird while building; in that way,
moreover, you are sure to see them in
their best condition, and to know when
the eggs are fresh. It requires patience;
but you see the workers return again
and again to the same spot, and little
closer inspection usually completes your
knowledge, though you may sometimes
be deceived or nonplused by the caution
and cunning of the architects. You
will facilitate your work by scattering
cottonwood, horse-hairs, straws, string,
worsted, and cloth where they will at
tract the attention of the birds about
you. Put them on your lawn or on the
piazza vines, and watch them. A robin
comes to carry off the string, and hav-
ing used up what you have provided,
and liking the material, attacks long
piece wound round stake, and sup
porting a gladiOlus. By persistent ef-
fort he frees part of it, but the harder
that he pulls at the rest. the tighter he
ties the knot around the stake, and the
string is becoming entangled with his
legs; he fights twenty minutes, and
then gives it up. Sparrows pick up
hairs and straws from the lawn, and
warblers come to the vines for cotton
wool, passing fearlessly within three
feet of your chair then they come back
to break off little twigs and to peel off
shreds of dry bark from the honeysuckle
A pair of golden robins-the male with
black and orange, the female with yell
low and duller backbone for string,
worsted, and thread; but beware of them,
for they are thieves. Leave your knit
ting under the tree there for five min
utes, and it is gone; you will find it
week later, part irrevocably woven
into the hanging nest, and part
dangling with the needle in it. The
weaving is so cleverly done that you
wonder whether the orioles haven't used
your needles. Not at. all, madam; |
defy you to produce with your imple-
ments such piece of work as these
birds have produced with their bills.
Successful experiments have been made
by supplying the orioles, in the tree
where they are occupied, with bright
silks and worsteds, which they employ
altogether, if literally provided, SO that
very gay and party-colored nest may
swing in your orchard where you can
see it from the house Wilson says
that an old lady, to whom he showed an
orioles nest in which piece of dry
grass, thirteen inches loug, was passed
through thirty four times, asked him,
half in earnest, If the birds couldn't
be taught to darn stockings.-H. d.
Manot IN Harper's Magazine.
Year: 1877




A few months ago Russian peasant
and his wife and four children, while
travelling in sleigh along the banks
of the Pruth, were pursued by pack
of wolves. The peasant urged on the
horses, but soon saw that the wolves
were fast gaining upon him. At the
moment when the sleigh was surround
ed by the rayening beasts, the man
seized one of the children, threw it in
the midst of them, and while the wolves
were struggling over their prey he hast
ened on his horses and gained ground.
Four times the wolves came up with the
fugitives, and four times the horrible
sacrifice was repeated. At last the
peasant and his wife arrived at the
nearest village. leaving behind them
the bones of their four children. In
the bitterness of her despair the mother
informed against her husband, but the
Judges considering that if the peasant
had not resigned himself to the horrible
sacrifice he would not only have lost his
children, but also his wife, acquitted
the prisoner.
Year: 1877

Anc Odu S1duOlSSV ]A~ts eoyS' "
the young man with his hair parted in
the middle who Is about to put his col
lege education and his sole-leather trunk
on California bound train, we say
stop! To the clever artisan and the
honest mechanic, who thinks he will fly
from the hard times in the East to i'm
aginary well-paid employment in the
Golden City" we also say, stopl To
the adventurous rustic, who wishes to
leave hoeing the turnips of some New
York farm to delve for gold in the
mountains of this land of the pioneers,
we emphatically repeat-stay where
you are gaA


We should he glad to think that there
was plenty and prosperity for every
one who seeks to settle among us--but..
all the same, there isn't We do pos
sess something of an approach to the
eternal summer and the gigantic straw
berries the East is so tired of hearing
us brag about, but that is about all.
Sooth to say, double-eaglcs don't grow
upon trees in Frisco; all the new ar
rivals to the contrary notwithstanding.
In plain English, the paper that speaks
of the magnificent opportunities this
State presents to the new conner. lies,
and lies in very gratuitously criminal
way indeed. The unvarnished truth is
that our labor market is stocked to
overhowing, and every fresh arriving
train but adds to the miserable multi
tude in our midst, that awaits, suffers.
starves, and finally fights its desperate
way back East again. Before the door
of every employment Office in this city
to-day, stands hollow-eyed swarm that
would sadden the heart of a satyr.
Men of brains and culture, good clerks,
excellent accountants, business men of
undeniable energy, mechanics of ability,
walk the streets in dumb despair, and
finally take those that lead to the bay
and the morgue. 1t is truly said that
San Francisco is California, and here all
the misery and suffering of those who
have journcyed from afar to grasp in
monotonous repetition the glittering
mirage of fortune are. The writer of
this cannot remember one evening for
very many that he has not been asked
for coin to buy meal or bed, by men
who would have sooner died on the
rack than have asked aims in the light
of day. And some Of them do die on
the rack-the rack of continual disap-
pointment and bitter misery. Every
train that leaves Oakland is crowded
with East-going immigrants, who several
times repeat their unhappy story to the
Westcoming daily addition to the army
of real martyrs they have left behind
them here. Yet still the Alta and its
like calmly sing the same old siren song,
and still this over-crowded, over-traded
and financially prostrated community is
held up with fatal persistence as the
proper Mecca of the American youth.
Year: 1877

EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS
Observations made during the Arctic
Expedition have brought to light one or
two curious facts in connection with the
powers of growth possessed by different
plants under varying conditions of cli-
mate. American research has proved
that the seeds of certain plants, if gath
cred in one climate and sown in another,
will germinate earlier or later, and with
more or less vigor, according as the new
climate is warmer or colder than the old.


And even pc rceptible change of climate
is not required to show these results, a
difference of few degrees only in lati-
tude is sufficient to do so. According to
the Country, Capt. Young, of the Pando-
ra, has on board of his yacht a curiosity
in the shape of rose-tree, grown in
England, which has been on board ever
since he left England for the Arctic Re-
gions. When in the Polar cold the tree
dropped, and to all appearance died !;
but as soon as the vessel reached a
warmer climate it revived, and is now in
perfectly healthy condition. The func-
tiOns of life had been suspended while
the tree remained in cold latitudes, but
they were not destroyed. This fact is
curious, as tending to prove that tree
which will stand frost at all will bear
almost any amount Of cold; and also
that, if its natural growth and develop
ment be retarded at the proper season.
the plant cannot defer the revival of its
Year: 1877

development till the next normal period,
but will continue its development at the
first opportunity, which, in this case,
after the intense cold of the Arctic Re-
gions, occurred in the more moderate
cold-the comparative warmth-of an
English November. 1t will be interest
ing to see if this plant will bloom natur-
ally at the proper season next year
The English Garden.
Year: 1877




How CONSUMPTION BEGAN.-Theo-
dore Parker was descended from a
family of sturdy farmers. They were
healthy and strong and long-lived. On
the mothers side, also, the ancestral
health had been equally vigorous. Many
of the ancestors on both sides lived to
be eighty or ninety years. But of his
own family, nine of the brothers and
sisters, including himself, died of con-
sumption, and that fatal disease pre-
vailed in other branches of the family
Of the same genera ton. He ascribed the
origin of the disease to the location of
the family homestead. 1t was built on
hillside, and the ground above, below
and around it was wet and spongy from
heavy frosts on the hill. Below the
house was meadow Of spongy peat,
from two to fifteen feet in depth. This
meadow was wet all through the year,
its neighborhood damp and chilly, and
even in the daytime fogs would often
rise from it and reach to the house.
Mr. Parker thought that the dampness
from the meadow sowed the seed of
consumption in the family, and that
even those that moved to healthy loca-





tions carried the disease with them.
Year: 1877

THE MYSTERY OF DREAMs.-A man
fell asleep as the clock tolled the first
stroke of twelve. He awakened ere the
echo of the twelfth stroke had died
away having in the interval dreamed
that he had committed crime, was
detected after five years, tried and con-
demnded. The shock of finding a halter
around his neck aroused him to con-
sciousness, when he discovered that all
these events had happened in an in
initesimal fragment of time. Mohammed
wishing to illustrate the wonders of
sleep, told how certain man, being
sheik, found himself for his pride made
a poor fisherman, how he lived as one
for sixty years. bringing up family
and working hard, and how, on waking
from his long dream, so short time
had he been asleep that the narrow
necked gourd bottle, filled with water,
which ne knew he overturned as he fell
asleep, had not had time to empty itself.
How fast the soul travels when the body
is asleep Often when we awake we
shrink from going back into the dull
routine cf a sordid existence, regretting
the pleasanter life of dreamland.
is it that some times when In a strange
place we fancy we have seen it before
Is it possible that when we have been
asleep the soul has foated away, seen
the place, and has that memory of it
which SO surprised us 2 In word.
how far dual is the life of man, how far
not ?-Londo1 Times. sisfi1 RI
Year: 1877

The BRAIN.-Our brains are seventy
year clocks. The Angel of Life winds
them up once for all, then closes the
case, and gives the key to the Angel Of
the Resurrection. Tic-tac, tic-tac 60 the
wheels of thought; our wills cannot
stop them; they cannot stop themselves ;
sleep cannot stop them madness only
makes them 60 faster death alone can
break into the case, and seizing the ever
swinging pendulum, which we call the
heart, can silence at last the ticking Of
the terrible escapement we have carried
SO long beneath our wrinkled foreheads.
Year: 1877




Coon ADyIoE.--If your seat is hard
to sit upon, stand up. If rock rises
up before you, roll it away. or climb
over it. It takes longer to skin an ele-
phant than a mouse, but the skin is
worth something. If you want conf
dence, prove yourself worthy Of it. Do
not be content with doing what another
has done--surpass it. Deserve success
and it will come. The boy was not born
man. The sun does not rise like a
rocket. or. go down like bullet fred
from gun ; slowly and surely it makes
its round. and never tires. It is as easy
to be leader as q wheel horse. If the
job be long the pay will be the greater
If the task be hard, more competent you
must be to do it.
Year: 1877

The Ondawa Fish and Game club of
Factory Point. will put a lot of wild
deer upon the mountain to-day. The
State association and other clubs in diff
ferent parts of the State are also NOV
ing 10 the matter Of restocking the
mountain lands of Vermont with deer.
The law in regard to their protection is
very stringent and as the clubs are at
considerable expense in the matter, it is
safe to say that they will prosecute all
violations of law with the greatest vig-
or. We quote from the law:


1t shall not be lawful to pursue, take,
kill OF destroy any wild deer in this
State, from and after the passage of this
act, until the first day of September.
1880. And if any person, during said
period, shall pursue, take, kill or de-
stroy within this State, any wild deer,
or shall have in his possession any wild
deer or part thereof SO taken to be killed,
he shall be liable to fine of fifty dol
lars for each and every deer SO killed,
taken, destroyed, or had in possession.
And the possession of the meat or hide
or any part thereof of any wild deer, by
any person in this state, charged with
any of the offences mentioned In this
section, shall be presumptive evidence
that the person so in possession of said
meat, hide or part thereof is guilty of
said offense. aIs


It shall be lawful for any person to
kill any dog found pursuing any wild
deer in this state, during the period
named in the third section of this act,
provided such dog be killed while in the
actual pursuit of deer. la


If we can only have our mountain
lands again stocked with the beautiful
deer and our streams with the speckled
trout, Vermont will indeed be summer
paradise. It can be done with proper
legislation and forbearance ON the part
of the people of the state.-Mmchester
Journal, Nay 10. a
Year: 1877

The frequent rains and warm weather
are bringing forward the corn wonder.
fully fast in this vicinity. The crops Of
all kinds for Fifty miles around Wheeling
are reported az decidedly above an aver.
age.


From the Valley of Virginia we learn
Through the Valley EGrginiau) that the
harvest now being cut there is more than
satisfactory. The area Of wheat was un.
usually large this year.


From Kentucky we learn, through the
Louisville Commercial, that the farmers of
that State have harvested the finest wheat
crop ever produced on its soil. The
crop will not be less than seven million
bushels, and the surplus will bring four
or fve.million dollars into the State-u
very snug little sum in hard times.
Year: 1877

EDISBURG, July Sat a meeting Of the
Lord Provost Commission Of this city
the Town Council was resolved to rec.
ommend Council to grant General Grant
freedom Of the city on the occasion OF
his visit in August or September next.
Year: 1877

club given us by them to break their
own heads with. We do not think our
respected contemporary represents the
sentiment OF the people Of Rapides on
this subject.


A friend suggests that perhaps the
necessary turning out Of all the present
oftice-holders might be urged as an OBJ
lection to the proposed convention. On
the contrary we think it q strong argu-
ment in its favor. At the recent elec-
tiOn nearly half the candidates elected
were Radicals of the same type as those
who had disgraced the State SO long.
These incompetent men-many Of them
judges of high grade cannot be re-
moved by address because of the want
OF q sufficient majority in the Senate.
The people do not want them to be sad
died on them for three years. A con-
vention would clean them out effectu-
ally. Those who deserve to be re-
elected would, of course, be returned.


We hope there will b5 full and fair
discussion OF this question before the
fident that twill end in the adoption OF
the view we have taken Of the subject


Our Mails.


tRapides Gazette


"There is something rotten In Dem
IN
it is, but the smell is getting very dis
tinct. There is something extremely
wrong with the mails. We have sent
money through the mails, which never
arrived at its destination. We have re-
eeived notices Of goods mailed to us by
Eastern and Western firms, which never
came to hand. There is rumor afloat
TO the effect that we are to have but one
mail per week, to be carried by steam
boat. We have written the Postal Depart
ment { 1r official information on this sub
ject. When it arrives we will lay it be-
fore our readers. We would thank every
person who reads this to notify us If he
has lost any property in the mails. 1t
may become necessary for this commu-
nifty to memorialize the Postmaster
General, or even the President and
Congress.


The Bayou Lafeurcise Bridge.
Assum ,tion Pioneer.]


The bridge of the railroad on the La
fourche, near Donaldsonville, is a costly
nuisance to all those who navigate the
bayou, to say nothing Of its annoyance
to captains and danger to fat and
steam boats. The dealers in coal charge
two cents per barrel on all coal which
passes the bridge for tug hire, which
operates as direct tax on the con-
sumers of that indispensable article.
And as we consume annually at least
three hundred thousand barrels, we pay
each year six thousand dollars addi-
tional on account of the bridge. The
location Of the pier seems to have been
made with malice aforethought, to close
the navigation Of our beautiful stream.
Whenever the public ascertains by
the decision OF the courts to whom the
hrIHOp hpIOn nrornn1inoa al he
ing but good pilots aud great good luck
have prevented the loss Of fatboats
passing when the bayou is full and the
wind high. It is somewhat surprising
that our people should have remained
quiet so long under this af1iiction, for il
applies with greater force to the coa
consumers Of Lafourche, who buy
more of it than we do.
Year: 1877

Among the many changes to take place soon
on the grand boulevard none will be more strk-
ing and more indicative of the good time to come
than the swaying to the breeze the banners of the
grand "Palais Royal" Our enterprising friend
Levy, who has for so many years been the popu-
lar proprietor of the dollar store, No. 1877 Canal
street, seems to have had his faith shaken in re-
publican institutions and ideas, and is deter
mined, with one fell swoop, to obliterate the
name OF dollar store forever. He is making prep
arations for the opening of this elegant and gor-
geous establishment, and nothing will be spared
in making it the most attractive place in the
Southern country. Levy's dollar store is known
throughout the whole South and as it has been
known for its promptness in filing orders and
the polite attention Of the clerks and the place to
get everything, 80 will the Palsis Royal grow
into popular favor, for we will see in the large
and gilded signs that are to adorn the building
evidences OF new era, a prosperity which We
have longed for but never expected until the
present time.
Year: 1877

The errors Of defective constitution
may be remedied by amendment, sub
mitted through the Legislature to the
voters at the next general election, with
greater economy. Here is an eminently
practical suggestion at this time. The
people want rest from q condition of
almost ceaseless political agitation.
They were led to expect it under the
present administration. The calling Of
a convention would be simply putting all
the office seekers to work, and not few
bulldozers besides, to the detriment Of
planting interests.
Year: 1877

Cameron being a little world off by
itself, news comes slowly, and may not
always be reliable; but from what has
already transpired there we are pre-
pared to believe any report OF violence
that comes from it, The best thing fol
the Legislature to do at it's next session
is'to abolish that parish and return its
component parts to the parishes from
which they were taken.
Year: 1877

WE met friend the other day with
speculation in his eye, who enquired,
what were tbe supplies most needed at
present in the country east Of the noun
tains." We told him we thought that
good Sharps' and Henry rifles, with
plenty OF powder and lead, in the hands
Of men with good stiff back bone, the
kind of supplies most needed in that
country just now. He, lowed that
wasn't in his line OF business"
Year: 1877

scenery WAS 50 beautiful, and hest OF all,
the people wrre all so very kind and
friendly, and did so much TO make "ur
trip pleasant, that feel as il had not
half told the story. Let us again thank
all whom We had the pleasure of visiting
and who did all in their power IL make
our short stay with them ngrecahle-
especially Of Messrs. Taylor, stearns,
JpnncIe and Morris, where wo were
most acquainted. We would advise all
wishing to spend week protit0bly and
pleasantly It's to 90 and do as we have
done ard If they don't say We are right,
we give up our title MS


PLEASURE SEEKERS.
Year: 1877

Mr.. A. NJ. McGee, who has lived about
four years in Eastern Oregon, was in
town few days ago. He has travelled
aver great extent of the country in
Washington Territory and Oregon, East
of the Cascades, and appears to be posted
on the country and familiar with the In
dians.


He herded stock, which he took with
him out of the Willamette valley, the
first few years he WAS there. He then
cold his band and has since been trap
ping, hunting and prospecting the coun-
try. He has been among many OF the
tribes, and was there at the time of the
late outbreak. His opinion is that near
ly all the Indians east Of the mountains
mean fight, and that nothing will pre-
vent them from joining the present
hostile bands, but for the people
there to be prepared tor them. He says
they have been making preparations for
long time, that some Of the chiefs
told their tribe last spring, "that they
need not plant anything ior they would
have all they needed from the whites"
They have been procuring ammunition
and arms, and OF late has been unusually
insOlent. Most of their women, children
and old men have been sent away. The
settlers in the Yakima and Kittitas val.
leys are more or less alarmed; some hav-
ing confidence in the Indians while
Others expect an outbreak. Nothing
will, in his opinion prevent general
outbreak but timely preparation on the
part of the settlers Moses and his band
are the most to be dreaded. He regards
n general outbreak as imminent unless
Joseph and his band are speedily whip
ped. Any more Indian successes will be
a signal for general uprising.


He regards the country as better
adapted to grazing than farming as a
whole. That in time, as the country
settles, it will be sell sustaining and have
plenty for export. Below the Yakima
valley stock requires little or no feed.
On the Columbia above Priests Rapids,
for over two hundred miles, stock can
ne wintered without any feeding at all.
The Indians have plenty Of stock and
they never feed it winters.


On the Methow river, one fork Of which
heads opposite Frazier river, is valley.
nnoccupied by whites, which he regards
as the finest he has seen east OF the
mountains for stock or gram. mNs
river ascends to the summit, from the
south east, by an easy grade, the eleva-
tion at the summit is much less than by
the Snoquslmic route, and if the decent
to the north west, is as gradual ss on
the east, it would form the best pass in
the Cascade range for wagon or rail-
road. He is sure. almost, that this pass
is unknown to the whites, is not the
Skagit or the Cheian pass; and he was
informed by the Indians no white men
had ever been through it. He went to
the summit nearly in the month of Janu
ary last, and found no snow except on
north hill side. Was told by the Indians
that the decent TO the Frazier was as
easy MS it was to the south easr. In this
valley, timber, water and grass are
abundant; but it is so tax north he
thinks stock would have To he fed part
of the time jh the winter, though it
could have wintered without last winter.
The Indians are scattered all through the
North Eastern par, of Washington Ter
Iitory, though in no very large baEds,
Year: 1877

"A biaSt EXCAteEnehts
National Associated Press to the Star.


NEW YORK. May 19.-Yesterday after
noon considerable excitement was,
caused in the vicinity OF the Equitable
Building, corner oil Broadway aud Pine
street, from an explosion, the nature of
which could not for some time b. de-
termined. 1t was discovered that work
men were engaged at the Equitable in
the task Of boring an artesian we'll, to
be sunk in the center of the block. In
the progress Of their work they came
across rock which it was necessary to
blast. AS the explosion was fifty teet
below the surface OF the cellar, the effect
was felt by persons who occupied the
buildings on the block and those passing
on the street. Those some little dis
tance off were not aware of an explo-
plosiOn,