smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

Gay" writing from Saratoga TO the
Louisville Courier Journal, says
g Yonder is a maiden lady whose hair
Is almost snow-white. She looks very
gentle, refined, and delicate. A light
shawl covers her shoulders, and even on
this bright morning she has TO avoid
the draugbt. The gentleman, who
seems to regard her with the tenderest
care, moves her chair and otherwise
seems sOlicitOus about her health and
comfort. Some are puzzled TO under
stand the relationship that exists be
tween the two, for they do not bear the
same name, and, besides, there is a
nameless something which tells that he
Is neither husband, lover, or brother.


These relationships are common and


easily defined, but IN these days Of de-
generated honor It is rare TO find q man


devoting himself to q woman past her
youth, and who is nothing more 70 him
than a friend, but Is the sister Of the
Girl who years ago was TO have been his
wife. and would have been but that death
interposed and the bridal robe became her
yziuding-sheet. No other love has since
entered his heart, but he preserves his
LOYALTY TO her memory by a brothers
love and protection to her only sister,
and she; IN spite Of ill-health, has per-
formed her mission In life by support
ing and educating orphan nephews, so
that as she declines IN years she has
those about her who think an old
maid the dearest and best Of women. "
Year: 1874

BoUuCAULT says American theatres
are infinitely superior to those Of Lon
don or Paris. They are better con-
strueted, better ventilated, and much
mere cheerful IN their inner surround
ings. Besides" be said to a New
York reporter, "your audiences seem
TO treat actors better than ours. You
are quick to see q good point, either IN
the acting or IN the play, and you are
generous enough TO reward the man
Who has pleased you with enthusiastic
applause. There is no doubt about 1t.
the American theaters are the finest IN
the world AS for your scenery, 1 ne
yer saw a play put on the stage IN Eng
land Is so magnificent a manner as I
have seen It In New York.
Year: 1874

TIE latest thing In legerdemain Is
q the magic rope trick, which vas suc-
eessfully performed at Riyerhead, Long
Island, the other night. It consisted IN
leaving the audience gaping at each
other in the hall, while the performers
slid down a rope from the back window.
and left town.
Year: 1874

TO TEST WATERFALL English technical
periodical points out an easy way of testing
whether water is good and fit for general use.
1t says: "Good water should be free from
color, unpleasant odor and taste, and should
quickly afford lather with small portion
Of soap. If half pint Of the water be placed
in a perfectly clean, colorless, glass.stoppered
bottle, a few grains of the best white'lumped
sugar added, and the bottle freely exposed to
the daylight in the window Of a warm room,
the LIQUID should not become turbid, even
after exposure for a week or ten days. If the
water becomes turbid it is open to the grave
suspicion of sewage contamination, but II 1t
remain clear it is almost certainly safe we
owe to Heisch this simple, valuable, but hith-
erto strangely neglected test"
Year: 1874

MAhhlAUE CUSIVMo In VAD D'AA-


When the Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain,
the patriarchal system was in full force. The
father was absolute master in his own family;
he sold his daughter in marriage, his son in
slavery. When St. Augustine landed in the
island, the maiden was a simple article of
property, her price fixed at 50 many head of
cattle. The primitive mode Of procuring a
wife was this: When youth had fixed MS
choice on maiden, he went with band of
friends and carried her of, probably with her
secret conniyance. The relatives followed in
hot pursuit, a feud between the families en-
sued, and was only appeased by the lover
agreeing to pay the value fixed upon by the
father for retaining possession Of the maid, he
giving "wed," or security for his perform
ance Of the icontract-hence the word we'd
ding. This custom of stealing the bride is as
ancient as the Spartans, and is still kept pin
Brittany, where it forms one OF the ceremo-
MES of the marriage festivities. The bargain
made, the amount of the morning gift" SET
tied upon, The contracting parties took each
other by the hand and proclaimed themselves
man and wife the ring was placed on the
left hand and the father having received the
purchase money, delivered bis daughter over
to her husband. The transfer of authority
was made by symbolical gift; the father
delivered the brides shoe to the bridegroom,
and the latter touched her over the head with
it-a ceremony which took its origin in the
custom of placing the foot on the neck Of
slave, and was typical of the wife's, subjec-
tion to her husband ceremony still pre-
served in the popular custom Of "throwing
the SHOE" The day after the wedding, the
bridegroom gave the morning gift"-sup-
posed to be voluntary, but according to the
value stipulated. 1t was general among the
Teuton race, and often estates Of some value
were thug bestowed. When Athelstans sister
Eadgirth, married tEe Emperor Otho. his
morning gift" was the City Of Madeburg.
Year: 1874

1t is said that Appleton Journal
will be discontinued at the end of tho
year. 1t is said that it has never be-
gun to reach the paying point, that in
five years of existence it has lost over
800, 900 and that the firm would have
given it up before had they not had a
pride in its existence. This has been
very hard year on newspapers and
periodicals. 1t is asserted that only
four Of all the city dailies have made
money, aud not one OF the magazines
have proved profitable. 1t is estima-
ted that full;- $1,000 coo have been
lost in the last twelve months in the
publication business.


We find the above floating around
among the exchanges. and We have no
doubt of the truth of the statement.
Whenever financial depression over
takes the country the publishing bust
ness suffers. perhaps more than any
branch of industry; aud if the facts
set forth above are correct, as regards
city papers with the vast amount of
capital, and the facilities they possess,
what may not be said Of the country
issues. where the field is limited; the
capital small, and the facilities to
prosecute their business none of the
best at any time? We hope everybody
will see these facts in the proper light,
and extend to their HOME paper the


heartiest support
Year: 1874

We believe in civil and religious
liberty; the right to vote for whom we
please without interference from our
ne ghbors; the right TO travel or re-
side in any State without danger to
life, limb, or property; the right to
enjoy every public advantage that
tends to the improvement OF mankind;
the right to make ourselves all that
self-deportment can secure; the right
to enjoy free opinion, free speech, free
schools, and free ballot. Iu a word,
we believe that all men, rich or poor,
great or small, strong or weak, should
have equal protection under the laws
of the land, aud an equal right to
grow in their individuality to the
highest stature of manhood that is
possible for them to attain. This is
our political creed, and for this rea
son We favor the Republican party as
the only one that can permit us to
enjoy it.-Republic.
Year: 1874

As for the tariff, revenue. and
finance. the Democratic party has
always been as wrongheaded upon
these as upon questions of a sent;


mental character, while the Repub,
licsn party has been right and in
accord with intelligent public SEN
timent. Those questions cannot
be kept out Of future Legislation.
They can neither be ignored nor
shirked. They will confront the
Democratic party in its first stun
bling efforts at Congressional. leg
islatior. And the party will be
| unable for any length of time to
conceal or dissemble its real senti-
ments. Free trade will be one of
the first and most clamorous de-


mands npon it And there il no
question which is so important to
material welfare of this country as
this OF a protective tariff Politi.
cal equality and protection to home
industry are the two great ques


tions which above all others concern
the political and material well
being of this country. They will
inevitably engage more of public
attention for many years to come
than all others. And upon these
the whole training and sympathies
of the Democratic party are antac


onistic to the wishes and interests
of the people.-Trenton 0azettA
Year: 1874

A remarkable unanimity of opin
ion seems to prevail in the large
English cities as to the propriety
of introducing the lash as q pun
ishment for crimes of violence.
The English law, always ready to
step in where property is concern
ed. allows the "cat'' to fall On
the back of the man who robs
another with personal maltreat


ment; but in other cases of assault,
no matter how brutal or violent,
the. criminal is at present shielded
from this wholesome instrument of
punishment. OF late, however,
public sentiment demands that the
ruffian who beats and kicks his
wife or companion without reason,
| should be logged as well as the
man who knocks another down for
his purse or watch. The press is
almost unanimously in favor of bhe
proposition. The state Of things
now existing in England, it is
confessed makes it necessary shat
the use Of the lash should be ex
tended to all cases of bratal vio =.
lence. whether committed for rob


berry or not, and whether committed
on man, woman, or child. Should
it be agreed to extend the use of
corporal punishment for the pur
pose of suppressing this particular
class OF crime, care will, however,
have to be taken into whose hands
this power is entrusted. Perhaps
it would be best if Parliament were
to settle what tribunal or tribunals
are to order summary punishment
In certain cases Inter Ocean.
Year: 1874

Archbishop Bayley, Of Baltimore,
has Just written q short letter on
the statement made by Mr.. Glad
stone, in his late pamphlet, that
since the Vatican council have
defined the dogma OF the infali
bility of the Pope, every Catholic
is called upon to renounee his
mental and moral freedom, and
place his civil loyalty and duty at
the mercy of another. The arch
bishop says:


"Whcn o person tells me that
my religion requires me to be
disloyal to my country, the old
Adam comes up in me and I feel
more disposed TO pull his nose
than to answer him politely. The
only thing / have to say against
Gladstone's . declaration is that it is
false "a shameful ealanny; and I
| would appeal with perfect conf
dence to the truth of my asser-
tion as to the conscience Of every
Catholic over the face of the earth.
It has no foundation, either in the
words of the decree, nor in any
possible logical deduction from
those words. The thought even
that it would have any such bearing,
l am certain, never entered into
the minds Of any member Of the
council. The Vatican canon did
not change, in one iota, the re
lations of Catholics to civil power
any more than it changed those of
Protestants. 1t left that important
matter rs connected with the order
of civil society where the New
Testament leaves it, where our
blessed Lord left it when he told
MS to render unto Cesar the things
that are Cesar's. and unto God the
things that areSGOd's. Ever since
Gladstone committed a political
harikari by dissolving Parliament.
he has been a soured and disapoint
ed man, and there is no being on
this earth more mischievous and
dangerous than an old politician
turned out to grass. Everything
he has done and said and written
since shows that he is as anxious
to get back into his cage as a polar
bear is anxious to get out Of hie,
and SO he has taken to what an old
English divine used to call His
Cheshire Cheese, the No Popery'
cry which Little Johnny and
many others have tried before him,
and is endeavoring to raise the
whirlwind in the Tope. that it may
blow him back on the treasure
benches. It will be more likely te
blow him out to sea. By this pub
lication Gladstone las paid bat
poor compliment to tl,e good sense
and intelligence of the Easlisf
people, and I have nay doubts
whether they will dance 10 his
music. If he was situated like
Bismarc and could pus soldier
along side Of every honest either
to make him dance will he, nil
he, then there would be some
sense in the thing"
Year: 1874

The time has come again when the
serious and the benevolent heart con-
trives to wcrk for the poor In every
quarter you feel disposition to or
game something for the relief of the
suffering of the poor. Those invita-
tiens to do good will especially be ad-
dressed to the ladies. who are always
so prompt to respond to the cry of
distress, who have SO much charity
and kindness toward the forsakcn, and
who know SO well how to beg for the
necessitous.


Winter is upon us-so sweet for the
rich. so bitter for the poor. That
season, ladies', is for you the time of
pleasure, and for the poor the time of
sufferings. Winter is warm room,
where friends visit you; where you
read so comfortably to each other,
either serious or light literature.
Winter is the theater, the ball, the
velvet-cusioned carriage. l see you
hidden in your furs and laces, as
violet in the moss; around you the
rolling of your aristocracic maruuise
buggies or Misunderstanding dresses
smiling salutations, joyful couversa-
tions, happiness all around. For YOU.
snow is an agreeable atmospherical
surrrise-a galanterie of Heaven; it
is the swan-neck sleigh. the joyous
belt of bells on your horses. The
cold-it is the skate which you SO
gracefully put ON, and with which you
trace thousands of arabasques on the
icy crystal, to your hearts content.
| For you, winter is an astronomical
plaything-a challenge to nature-a
triumph over the elements. You give
the lie to the barometer; you laugh at
the calender. In your salons the
summer flower; on your tables the
early green's of spring. You do not
know if we are in December or May.
You have the silk worm temperature
around you. During the coldest
night some will dance, costumed in
nemephar or in orientales.


1t is for You that winter multipliea
its fashions its pleasures; the cash


meres arrive from India, the flowers
Year: 1874

The Chicago Times suggested that
its proof-reader would be suitable
person upon whom the experiment of
curing hydrophobia by the poison of
rattlesnakes might be tried. The
proof-reader took it very quietly. but
we observe that the Times literature
reads very oddly.-Mil. Sent.
Year: 1874

The moment that Dickens felt his in
vention failing in the least degree, the
prospect of retaining the public by
reading the older stories, and tasting by
nearer and personal contact the pungen-
cy of popular applause, was fascinating
and overpowering. His pleasure in it,
as one of the English critics says, is a
little humiliating in man of his great
genius. 1t is the more so when he listen
ed intently for the chink of the guinea
as well as for the murmur of delight.
Yet no man needed money more, nor
might more rightfully earn it. His
family was very large, his estate was
costly and his manner Of living profuse.
But the reader presently sees with sor-
row that, as with his great predecessor,
Scott, the chief question gradually came
to be how much money he could make
out of his genius. And as with Scott,
although in smaller degree, the sum
was enormous. By his readings alone
Dickens made nearly quarter of a
million of dollars, one hundred thousand
of them between the 1st of December
and the 1st of May in the United States


The physical labor and exposure of
travelling, and the nervous exhaustion of
the readings, with the tremendous pace,
as he would have called it in another, of
the rest of his life, were enough to des-
troy any man. During all his travels,
both in the earlier and the later day,
when he ran over to the Continent or
coursed about England to find inspira-
tion or seclusion or excitement, he con-
stantly wrote the most copious letters,
full of fun and shrewdness and fine fancy,
and walked miles and miles, and de-
vised entertainments, and acted plays,
and presided at meetings and feasts, and
made delightful speeches and seemed to
have all the occupation of very active
and busy man before considering the
real business in hand at the time. Such
animals spirits as in his earlier years
were certainly never known. They bub-
bled about him and overfowed all who
came in contact with him. They af-
fected his style of writing, and despite
the sagacious Taine they gave his descrip-
tions much of their singular vitality and
power.--Hdrper's Monthly.
Year: 1874

Most of the lighthouses in the United
States are on barren, desolate, and exposed
points of the coast. In some of them
the keepers can not communicate at all
with the shore during the winter months,
and in such cases supplies of all kinds for
the lights and the keepers must be accu-
mulated beforehand. In many, fresh
water for the keeper and his family has to
be caught in cisterns; there is an official
circular to light-keepers, telling them
how to avoid the poisonous effects of the
water dripping from the leads of the
lighthouses by putting powdered chalk
into the cistern, and occasionally stirring
it. In many places it has been found that
cattle, attracted to the light at night,
destroyed the strong-rooted grass which
holds down sand dunes, and thus exposed
the lighthouse itself to destruction; and
in such cases considerable area of land
must be fenced in to exclude these beasts.
On stormy nights sea-fowl are apt to dash
themselves against the lantern glasses,
blinded probably by the glare of the
lights, and all light-keepers are specially
warned in their printed instructions to
be on the watch for such an accident, and
extra panes of glass, fixed in frames, are
always in readiness i'm every lighthouse,
to substitute for those which may thus
be broken.
Year: 1874

GOldbeaters, by hammering, can reduce
gold to leaves so thin, that $4,000 must
be laid upon each other to produce the
thickness of an inch; yet those leaves are
perfect, or without holes, so that one of
them laid upon any surface, as in gliding,
gives the appearance of solid gold. They
are so thin, that if formed into a book,
800 would only occupy the space of a
single leaf of common paper; and an
octave volume of an inch thick would
have as many pages as the books of a
well-stocked ordinary library, of 1900
volumes, with four hundred pages in each


Still thinner than this is the coating of
gold on the silver wire of what is called
gold lace; and we are not sure that such
coating is of only one atom thick. Plat
mum and silver can be drawn into wire
much finer than human hair. A grain
of blue vitrof, or carmine, will tinge a
gallon of water, so that in every drop the
color may be perceived. In the milt of
Goldfish, or in water in which certain
vegetables have been infused, the micro
scope discovers animalcules, of which
many thousands together do not equal in
bulk grain of sand; and yet nature,
with singular prodigality, has supplied
many of these with organs as complex as
those of whale or elephant; and their
bodies consist Of the same substances, or
ultimate atoms, as that of a man himself.
In a single pound of such matter there
are more living creatures than of human
beings on the face of this globe.


What a scene has the microscope opened
to the admiration of the philosophic in
quirerl Water, mercury, sulphur, or, in
general, and substance when sufficiently
heated, rises as vapor or gas; that is, it is
reduced to the eriform state.


Great heat, therefore, would cause the
whole of the material universe to disap-
pear, and the most solid bodies to become
as invisible and impalpable as the air we
breathe. Few have contemplated an an
initiation of the world more complete
than this.
Year: 1874

A story is related of jolly sugar planter
who in the days of specie and slavery
found himself in New Orleans with the
proceeds of his crop in his pockets, anx.
ious to invest them in the pursuit Of
happiness. Having duly primed himself
at the st. Charles, he was wandering
along the streets in search of faro bank
when his attention was attracted by ar
Italian who was turning the crank of his
hand-organ, on the top Of which moved
and danced number of puppets, one Of
which had a plate for contributions
Taking this for novel game of chance
the planter wholly unsophisticated and
more than half inebriated, resolved to
buck the tiger, and placed five-dollal
piece on the plate. The Italian ground
on, the figure dexterously tilted the
money into a basket, and the Italian
solemly placed it in his pocket.


"Here goes to get even," said the
planter, as he planked ten, which
shared the same fate. Fifteen out
here's twenty"


The imperturbable Italian pocketet
the twenty and still turned the crank
The disguised planter departed with the
remark:


"Well, / never was lucky, but blamed
If ever / seen game before where al
the percentage was in. favor of thu
dealer !"
Year: 1874

Not long ago country store, in close
proximity to New Orleans, had one or
two boxes of torpedoes, that are about
the size of wren's egg, left over from
the holiday stock. In rearranging the
shelves one of the little boxes was opened
and all its contents given away except
one torpedo, which, resemblinga a "bird's-
egg" candy, as the colored folks call
them, was left on the counter. A wise
looking old negro rode up to the store
on a Misunderstanding horse about nine
o'clock at night. He hitched his "cri-
ter" and came into the store to get a
dram. While the clerk was pouring this
out, old grizzly head, thinking that
where even the smallest things are
available opportunities should not be
lost, slid his horny hand over that
"bird's-egg" candy and hauled it in.
Then he made out like he was putting a
chew of tobacco in his mouth. He
rolled his apparent quid with his tongue
back to his jaw teeth, and then he must
have shut down upon it tight, for the
explosion of yells, and shrieks, and
howls, and sulphur smoke commingled
that ensued was perfectly awful. The
old negro tore out to his nag bowling,
and, under the impression that he had
got conjured," fled as fast as sorry
bones could fly.
Year: 1874

Awriter says: "Southern towns there
are in existence that are as untouched by
the hand of to-day as though they were
buried deeper than Pompeii of old. They
are buried to all modern interests and
purposes. Not breath of air breathed
BY live, active men and momen ever
reaches them; not ripple of the great
wave called progress ever touched their
shores; they have few books, and any.
thing they see in the newspapers beyond
the market, the crops and their side in
politics has no meaning for them. Yet
they have gentlemen and gentlewome,n
in their midst, full of a quaint, old
fashioned dignity, and surrounded by an
aroma of good breeding not unlike In
quality to the odor of dried rose leaves;
they have few young men and girls
growing up i'm their mothers footsteps,
Young people lacking the full measure of
what society to-day reckon as thorough
bred, assured beau or belle; but often
their youths are honest and simple heart
ed even at twenty-five, and the girls,
why, they grow up, and bud and blossom
into a modest, sweet beauty, have their
day of triumph and conquest, and settle
down to be the wife of some country
squire, and mother of children, whom
they will train to grow exactly as tney
were trained.
Year: 1874

A correspondent writing from the City
of Mexico says: / can not pretend to
give description of the Cathedral.
never saw SO much gold and silver used
as ornaments in the interior of a building
in all my life--solid silver columns ten
or twelve feet high, supporting golden
candlesticks, surround every altar; bronze
ratings protect the precious decorations
from the curiosity of the devout worship
ers. In every recess was an altar, at some
of which, during my visit, ladies, gor-
geously attired, were kneeling on the bare
floor beside the filthy Indian saying mass,
and each alike dropped their fee--much
or little, as the case may be---into the
golden box which the attendant held out
Paintings on the walls, gold wrappings
around the sacred alcoves and FURNISHED
gold and silver in great masses behind
the principal altar, make the interior one
scene of splendor.