smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1879




The lap is unquestionably most use-


ful and admirable organ. When expend-
ed, the lap will admirably hold fifteen


quarts of chestnuts, peaches, apples or
other desirable fruit, and there have been


women whose laps would hold the entire
supply Of hair-pins required for their
black hair, though, of course, laps of
these enormous dimensions are somewhat
rare. 1t is, however, at picnics and tea
parties that the splendid capabilities of
the female lap are especially displayed
gagged on picnic, to hold a plate of
salad, another of picEled oysters, third
Of ice cream and a fourth of cake, to-
gether with a cup of coffee, on her lap at
one and the same time. In feats CT this
Kind the female lap is unique. The young
man who undertakes to hold to food on
his knees invariably comes to grief. The
utmost he can hope to do is TO balance,
for brief period, plate of salad on the
ridge Of one of his legs, from which il

sooner or later slips, with the most pam.
ful consequences. As for holding a tea,
cup or coffee cup on his knees, he rec
ognizes the utter impossibil!y Of the
thing. His only resource is TO deposit
it on the floor, or on the grass close by
his side, after which he usually steps on
it, or at least kicks it over. This in.
dicates in the clearest possible manner
that man is not by nature a picknick


ing animal. Without laps, picnics are
dangerous to the integrity Of trousers
and legs and there is no way in which
art can remedy the masculine deficiency
OF lap. Let women go 10 plcncs il
they choose. They can do so without
doing violence to their clothing; but man
is flying in the face Of nature when be
undertakes to sit on the grass and tc
manage six different kinds of food. II


is true that pichics consisting Of women
alone would not be popular. Young
men are needed both to eat the legs o


chickens and to go mile and half in
the sun to bring water for the lemonade
Year: 1879

WHERE THE FUN COMES IN.-There
Is lots of fun to be had at little private
picnics when the party goes up a stream
in large boat to a pleasant woodland
All you have to do is TO lug three baskets
OF provisions box of croquet to the beat
and then help to row it and get four bis-
ters en- each hand, and then climb tree
covered with briars, to adjust swing,
and work yourself almost to death SWING.
ing the girl who never seems to get
enough of it, and then reverse the order
of things until you get home. There is
loads Of fun in it. Fun! Why it is just
reeking with it.
Year: 1879

A RURAL bride Of considerable beauty
went to indianapolis on a honeymoon
tour. Her husband was manifestly proud
of ner good looks. While they were GO
ing about the city she was struck in the
face by falling signboard, and her nose
broken. The attending surgeon said that
she was badly disfgured for life. Just
my darned luck" the husband exclaim-
ed, property always goes to ruin in my
hands,
Year: 1879

THE honest man who is out Of debt,
and has enough to eat and drink and
wear, and place to sleep beneath a
tight roof, belongs to the aristocracy.
With the smile of God and place to
labor, he has nothing to desire save the
crown that awaits the promoted.
Year: 1879

A MARRIED man evidently, says of a
woman who combs her back into two
ropes, holds one in her mouth until she
winds the other upon her tuck comb, and
then finds that she has lost her last hair
mouths-one to hold the hair in and the
other to make remarks with.
Year: 1879

WHEN n man is sitting on sofa on n
fine evening with "A pretty girl, and the
conversation is beginning to get decided
ly interesting to both, it is terrible to
them to have a nail work out of the pas- =
ter and let chrome Of Washington
crossing the Delaware down on their
heads.
Year: 1879

A NOVEL DUEL.-A challenge re-
Gently passed between two mechanics IN
Madrid. A piece of money was cast up
and the loser was to place himself on
the Mediodia Railway, and let himself
be crushed by the locomotive. 1t was
carried into effect, and the tailor, who
lost, was cut to pieces by the mail train
from Toledo.
Year: 1879

THE Agricultural Society of South Car
olina affirms in its report that State can
make more money in wheat, hay and oats
than in cotton, and produce as much
grain to an acre as in the West.
Year: 1879

He was good man. His voice was
ever lifted up in behalf of the right, and
his very last breath was used in-bIow-
ing down the barrel of his shot gun TO see
if it was loaded. 1t was.
Year: 1879

The recall of a country girl to life by
a sisters shrek is one of the local topics
of the journal, of Evansville, Ind.
The young lady had been quiet i'll for
weeks, and was thought to be dying of
consumption. She had grown so weak
and emaciated that her strength was no
more than a child's. One afternoon,
while lying upon her couch, her sister
came in from walk and sat by the bed
side. A conversation began, and the
invalid began to speak. AS she uttered
the first word, she felt bewildering
weakness, aud sinking flutter of her
breath. Her eyes became fixed, the
lower jaw dropped as in death, and the
body became motionless, while con-
sciousness disappeared. The sister
leaped from her seat, and ran to the
door shrieking to her mother that her
sister was dead. The sound of the
shrek penetrated through the veil of
death, and reused the sinking faculties.
The blood, which had congested in the
lungs, was sent back by the nervous
shock, and gathering her strength by a
strong effort of will, the invalid opened
her eyes and awoke to life again, breath
less and amazed at the thrilling peril
she had escaped.
Year: 1879

suggestions by the NATIONAL board OF


Health.


The Executive Committee of the National
Board of Health invites the attention of all
State and municipal authorities and santa
~ organizations to the fact that they should
without delay endeavor to secure the best
sanitary condition Of places and people un-
der their charge. Whatever opinions may
be held as to the causes Of yellow fever
and of the recent appearance Of that
disease In Tennessee and Missis-
pippi, 1t is wise to act as If
It were disease due to . specific particular
production, transportable, and may be de-
stroyed by exposure to temperture above
$50 deg. Fahrenheit, or by chemical disin-
fectants Of sufficient strength, IL brought
into immediate contact. 1t Is also prudent
to assume that the growth and reproduc-
tions of this cause are connected with the
presence of filth, in the sanitary sense of that
word, including decaying organic matter
and defective ventilation, as well as OF high
temperature. The cases of yellow fever re-
Gently observed should be considered as due
to causes surviving from last years cpl
demic, and not to recent importation from
other countries. 1t follows that there Is q
liability to appearance of other cases in
places visited by the epidemic of last year,
and that there Is danger Of the spread Of the
disease to the North and East. The object
of the present circular Is to advise
that all cities, towns and villages be
at once made clean in sanitary point
Of view. The first step towards securing
cleanliness is to obtain reliable information
as to what parts of the place are clean and
what foul. The results of careful sanitary
inspection in almost any city or town will
show the existence of collections of decay
ing and offensive matters, previously un-
known, and which every one will admit
should be promptly removed and destroyed.
Such inspection, to be of value, must be
thorough and made by pesrons COM
petent to recognize foul soils, water
and air, as well as the grosser and more
palpable forms of nuisance. They should
also be made by persons who would report
fully and frankly the results of their OBJ
servations without reference to the wishes
OF persons or corporations. When the
whereabouts and extent of the evil is known
the remedy is usually almost self-evident,
The National Board Of Health will furnish,
on request, blank forms as a guide for such
Inspections.
Year: 1879

The prodigies of good we should ac-
complish under certain circumstances
are somewhat marvellous. If we pos
sessed the money of this one, the leisure
of another, the strength and talent of a
third, the firm health of our neighbor,
the education of our first cousin, the ex-
perience of this friend or the happy
temperament of that, mankind would be
largely benefited by our example, we
fondly believe. We build castles with
materials belonging to others, which
would be perpetual rebuke if they could
only descry the towers thereof against
their mental horizon. 1t is a kind OF
amelioration of our own infelicities and
imbecilities to perceive how little the su-
availed them. We are not glad that
they have wrapped their talent in nap


kin instead of putting it out at interest,
but we fancy 1t excuses our own short
comings in degree: if they failed, with
such odds in their favor, what could be
expected of us, already overweighted
for the contest by poverty or infirmity,
or by want of proper trainingp If we
were as rich, for instance, as our great
uncle Cresus, how differently we should
employ our surplus income! We should
send anonymous bank bills to genteel
and INDECENT families we wot of; we
should increase the welfare of certain
good clergymen sub r0sa; we
should replenish the coal bins
of widowed washer-women; we
should order no end of water-color
drawings from the young wom-
en- who are trying to keep their heads
above water, we should even do violence
to our own aesthetic taste, and purchase
some of the crude work of artists not
born to fame; we should plan pleasant
surprises for poor shop.girls and teach
ers; we should pay seamstresses little
more than they demand, and remember
the birthdays of poor relations. The
value of our gifts should be great in
proportion to the slender means of the
the recipient; we should not only edu-
cate certain youths who show signs OF
talent, but lend a helping hand to those
who gave no sign, as being in the great
er need OF development, it may be; we
should, moreover, have no picked-up
dinners and wear no patched garments,
while the naked and hungry are always
with us. What languages we should
master, what sciences should we not
make our own, if we possessed the leis-
ure of certain acquaintances! Does any
flower blossom whose times and seasons
we should not knowp or any bird fly
whose habits and notes we should not
recognizep What acquaintance we
might cultivate with the literatures of
the wide werld, and what time might
we not lend to the teaching of othersp
But the chief danger in thus considering
the mote in our neighbours eye lies in
the fact that we are apt to become so
engrossed in the analysis as to ignore
the responsibilities of our own position,
and leave room for others, even less IA
vored of fortune than ourselves, to find
similar causes of dissatisfaction in our
use of our own advantages .-Harper's
Bazaar.
Year: 1879

MY WIFE.
held her, laughing in my arms,


A blue-eyed child with curls of gold;
She stroked my b0yish cheek :and said:
:" III marry you when I'm DID,
We met again. Those pretty locks


Were combed and bound about her head
A little schoolgirl, staid and shy;


He must not romp with me-" she said
A few years more, and then found


A blooming maiden, sweet seventeen:
Few were her words and coy her looks;
Aud yet she loved me we'll, ween.
Long did WOO mid hope and fear:


My lady was not lightly won;
She hid her love and thought it shame;
At last my welcome task was DONE
l held her blushing in my arms;


And then my bashful prize told
How she had promised long ago


She'd marry me when she " as ord.
The blissful days sped quickly on,


And had pledged her with O ring,
But all SO much too large it proved!


My love was such tiny thing.
But yet she would not have it changed.
Though from her hand it oft would slip
An evil omen, would say


While she but laughed with joyous lip.
l left my darling for space


As nearer drew the wedding day:
"One little week" said, !" and then
never more need go away
l left her healthy, blooming bright,
The rosy color in her cheek
came to find her wan and white
Alas that fatal " little week"
y, fell disease, now stay thy hand,
And leave me all lovo in life!"
In vain cried, the touch Of death


Was on her, Q! my promised wife,
held her, dying, in my arms;


The ring fell from her fingcr cold:
Weeping, took it; and she breathed
"lll marry you when I'm old"
She knew not what she said, poor child;
Gone from her was bright reasons ray
But still keep that ring, and wait
For."n eternal wedding day.
Year: 1879

it took immense trouble on the part of the
most prominent citizens to keep the mob
from hanging Eichbaum. He was finally
taken before Squire David Garrett.


Two of his sons and the injured girl were
called on to testify. The former two stated
that their father had often slept with their
sister, and the latter stated positively that
the accused was the father of her babe.


The Justice would fix no bail, and had
the prisoner conveyed to our Jail.


TO-DAY wn in the Go~nty Ja refused
to say word as to his guilt or.to talk in the
least about the charge against him.
Year: 1879

An agreement was entered into between
the Board and Patrick McKeone for the
macadamzing of Grand avenue from Price
avenue to Warsaw Pike, and of Price eavenue
from the Mount Hope Road to Hawthorne
Place, at a cost of 60 cents per cubic yard.
Year: 1879

In view of the act that new subscrip-
tions to the fund for new arm' r. for
the Seventh (New York; Regiment are OF
late moderate in amount and inadequate
to the proper prosecution Of the work,
the general comini tee has unanimously
decided that he regiment should borrow
the amount required to complete and
furn sh the new armory without delay
and that application should be made to
the Legislature to authorize the regiment
as body corporate, to make loan and
secure its payment. The proposed ar
mory is to cost about $4,000.
Year: 1879

GooD ADVICE TO READERS. you
measure the value of study by the in,
sight you get into subjects, not by the
power of saying you have read many books
YOU will perceive :hat no time is so badly
saved, as that which is saved in getting
through book in hurry. For if to The
time you have given you had added n lit
tie more, the subject would have been fixed
on your mind, and the whole time profit
ably employed whereas, upon your pre-
sent arrangement, because you would not
give little more you have lost all. Be
sides, this is overlooked by rnpid and
superficial readers that the best way Of
reading books with rapidity is to acquire
that habit of severe attention to what
they contain, that perpetually confines the
mind to the sing le object it has in view.
When you have read enough to have nc
auired the habit Of reading without suf-
fering your mind to wander, and when
YOU can bring to bear upon your subject n
share of previous knowledge, you may
then read with rapidity; before thn:, as
Won have taken tho wrong rond the lhster
you proceed, the more you Will be sure to
err.-SydHey Smith.
Year: 1879

Roll up piece of paper, a pamphlet,
to make tube about nine to twelve
inches long and an inch or SO across.
Put this tube to your right eye, and look
through at some object, attentively keep
ing both eyes open. Now hold up your
left hand, with its back towards you,
and bring it near the lower end of the
tube, looking at your hand with the left
while your right eye is fixed on some
thing through the tube. If you hit the
right position, which you can do, put
ting the edge of the hand against, not
over, the lower end of the tube, you will
be surprised to see very clearly the things
beyond. 1t is a very easy, but most
surprising little experiment, and will
please old as well as young people.
You will, of course, wish to know why
this is 80, why there seems to be hole
where there is none. The scientific
Journals are talking about this, but their
explanations would hardly suit young
sters. We usually look at the same
thing with two eyes, land the two images
make one in the mind. Here
we separate the two eyes in an unusual
manner, and the mind brings together
the circle made by the tube for one eye
and the hand seen by the other, and
makes one of them. You can vary this
in several ways. If, when looking
through the hole in the hand, you
stretch out the left thumb, so that it will
be seen by the right eye through the
tube, the thumb will appear to be di-
rectly across the hole in your hand.
Instead of looking at your hand, use a
card; make black spot on the card as
big as a half-dime, and look at it as be-
fore; the black spot will appear to be
floating in the center of the hole, with
nothing to hold it there. Another va
riatton is 10 make a round hole in the
card of the size of the half-dime; look
at this hole with the left eye, 30 that
the real hole will be within the imag-
mary hole; the hole will appear ex-
ceedingly bright, and surrounded by a
ring Of shadow.-Anserican Young
Folks
Year: 1879

Miss Julia Lamar, q young lady living
at No. 1929 Chestnut Street, is anxious
ly awaiting the return OF a certain fe-
male fortune teller who called upon her
a few days ago and told her fortune.
The woman charged dollar for reveal
ing the hidden future, but as Miss La
mar hadn't the ready cash, she was in
duced to give the fortune teller an al
paca dress, two pairs of gold earrings,
a breastpin and gold buckle as secu-
rity until the money could be paid, the
fortune teller promising to return and
exchange the articles for the money
The fortune teller gave Miss Lamar a
red bag and told her to put it in the left
side of her trunk and not to remove it
until after she was married, then to
throw it into the fire and burn it up.
This would destroy all chances of mari.
tai misery. The woman said she lived
at the corner of Twenty-frst and Day
ton Streets, but investigation has proven
the statement to be false.-St. Lous'
TinaeS-JouTnal.
Year: 1879

Bats live their active lives in the
night; when sunlight comes they fly
away to their holes, there to sleep until
twilight comes again, when they resume
their occupation of insect killing. The
female bat has hard time of it; she is
the nest and has to procure the food for
her young until they are themselves able
to fly. Often have / seen female bat
with her young clinging to her breast,
flying about in search of food, and the
little ones were not so small either.
How else could they get along? The
oldlones make no nest; if they wanted
to ever so much they could not, and the
chances are that from their wandering
habits they spend the day in one place
and the next in another two or three
miles distant, just as they happen to be
when day overtakes them, and if they
left their young behind them the exact
locality might be forgotten: When the
young ones are able to shift for them
selves their mothers life is easier, and
until winter cones to kill their insect
food she lives luxuriously. Then, when
all nature is preparing to put on the
livery of winter, bats, instead OF leaV-,
ing the scenes where they have passed
the summer, repair to their haunts in
the caves and walls, and hanging by
their hind feet in little groups of five or
six together, pass the dreary season IN
one unbroken sleep.-London Natural
SSt.
Year: 1879

A story comes from st. Petersburg
which is pretty enough to bear repeat
ing. Not long since Government
functionary died in utter destitutlon,
leaving without friends or relatives two
small children, one of whom was boy
about seven years old. Alone, money
less, foodless, with his little sister cry
ing for bread, he wrote on a piece OF
paper as a last resort the petition:
"Please, God, send me three copacks to
buy my little sister a roll" This he
carried to the nearest church to drop it
into an alms-box and start it on its way
to heaven. A passing priest seeing him
trying to put the paper in the box took
it and read it, whereupon he carried the
children to his house, fed them and
clothed them. The next Sunday he
preached sermon on charity in which
he alluded to the incident. The collec-
ton that followed amounted to nearly
81, ,OO0.-Loui8viUe COurierJ0urnaI.
Year: 1879

The King of Spain recently met
King Louis II. of Braganza of Portugal
in Eiva, on the frontier, on the occasion
of the opening of a new railroad from
one kingdom to the other, and it is said
that their meeting, ostensibly to honor
the opening of the railroad, was really
to treat upon the marriage OF Louis's
eldest son to the Princess Maria Pla,
second sister of Alfonso.
Year: 1879

Wooden Bowis In buying a new
wooden bowl, it is well to remember
that if you grease it well on the inside,
and stand it near the fire, where it will
soak in, it will save it from cracking.
Year: 1879

washington Ielegram.J


A young lady who gavethe name of Emline
Noble, and her residence ''Indiana," called
upon President Hayes yesterday, and informed


him that she had arrived in accordance with
her promise to marry him. The president said
that he would have to consult some of his
friends about the marriage, and managed to
get out of the room. She was then taken in
charge by an officer and conducted to police
headquarters. She was rather finely dressed,
had just arrived in the city, and seemed bent
on being married. Senator VOORHEES,, upon
being informed of the case, and happening
to know her parents, requested that she be
sent to the government asylum for treatment.
She was sent there to-day, in the meantime
being provided with quarters at hotel. She
had with her $217, which she parted with re-
luctantly, although she was told it would be
kept safe for her at police headquarters. She
appeared very indignant because the presi-
dent did not marry her, as she had imagined
he would, and said if he had not consented
in his silence in declining the offer she had
sent him in letters, she would have married
young man in Indianapolis. Miss Noble is
about twenty seven years of age, and is not
at all bad looking, and besides is we'll educa.
ted