smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

Touching this enmity between the
swans and the geese, it is curious to see
how the long feud varies. In the spring
the swans are victorious. The male
plunges through the water at the geese
directly they appear, and, single-hand


ed, sends them allfying off with screams.
Moreover, it will follow them far
ashore, hunting them some 200 yards
up the common, which pasture retains
the name it had before inclosure. Some
two years ago I had not been home for
twelve months. Before I left, there
had been great contests between the
swan and the gander out on the grass,
and on driving in by the gate at the top
of the common, on my return after q
years absence, there they were in the
same place, pounding and Tapping at
one another, as if they had not stopped
since 1 saw them last. Nor do sup
pose that there had been more than q
short truce, which generally arrives in
the severe part of the winter. Then
all, friends and foes, come up to the
house to be fed. In the autumn the
war does not cease, though the tables
are turned. Then the gander gets o
temporary pre-. eminence. For time
the efforts of the swan to drive off the
geese grow fainter. He will come
plunging up to the feet of geese, which
scares him, and swim further out.
Presently they all set up war scream,
and the old gander, with his neck as
str light as ruler, sallies out, chal-
longing the swan to single combat.
That is accepted. The other day.
think in September-I saw such duel.
The birds laid hold of each other by the
throat, and there was o tremendous
splashing and pother. The gander
drew of, after some three or four
minutes of this intimate wrestle. But
as he follows the precedent of former
years, he will soon win victory, as
thus he will get on the swans back,
between his wings, and peg away at the
nape of his neck, the swan swimming
away furiously all the time, until at
last Mr.. Gander gets off, returns to his
flock, which set up monstrous chorus
of rejoicing, and congratulates himself
on the first victory of the period in
which he remains the master.
Year: 1874

We stood on the brink of a river,
And that rivers name was Life,
And on its dark waters foated


Grim vessels Of war and strife.
We stood on the brink Of the river,
And my darling whispered to me,
"Hark to the wall of the river


As it hastens on to the sea"
We walked by the side of that river,
And 1 laughed at the waters moan,
For my darling was beside me,


And in his heart my home.
The river grew wider and stronger
AS it flowed with its ceaseless moan,
And my love crossed over the water,
And left me-forlorn-alone.
l will follow that river sadly


Through the chain Of weary years,
Till gain the far-off ocean,


With bitter binding tears.
For know that when the river


Is hushed on the seas blue tide,
shall see my lost love waiting


For me by the oceans side.
And so 1 hasten onward


With feeble failing breath,
Longing to meet the ocean,


Fer the oceans name is Death !
Year: 1874

A Dust. T.-Asocial and rather officious
fly, alighting on the rim of a coach
wheel going at a lively gait remarked /:
"Well. I reckon we are rising some
thing of dust You don't know how
much you are indebted to me for it.
Here I've been biting that off horse for
half an hour to make him get up his
speed, and now we're making it warm
for him." But the wheel didn't see it
in that light, but just rolled over and
crushed the fly to death. This fable
teaches how ungrateful are successful
politicians to their humble "strikers. y
Year: 1874

Octave Feuillet has trained his lap
dog to keep his place for him in any
book he may be reading, by holding
his paw between the leaves. This is
obviously a better way of marking
whore you paws than the ordinary plan
Of doing it with dogs ear.
Year: 1874

To PREVENT FIRES. When the first
indication of flaw in stove or furnace
is manifested, have the same repaired
Immediately. When evidently worn
out, instantly replace with new ones.
See yourself that every fire is in safe
condition before leaving the shop.
More than half the fires in town and
country are caused by the carelessness
of subordinates.
Year: 1874

The. a.Hebrews Of Chicago belonging to
the Independent Order of Bnai BIRTH
are busy preparing for national con
vOntion of their brethren in that city.
The various committee have already
been appointed, and are now in active
preparation for the coming meeting at
Kingsbury Hall on the 25th instant
About twenty members of the order from
other cities, including many noted person,
age will be present.
Year: 1874

A Norrissown doctor recently asked an
old lady patient if she experienced any
relief during the night. She said she did.
First the relief was in one shoulder and
then to other, and then pearec to settle
in her back. but she put a mustard plas>
ter between her shoulders, and the relief
left her, and now she felt bettor. b, I
Year: 1874

Swiss churches are very peculiar.
In them the men are separated from
the women, and all sit on wooden
benches without backs. People
never cough during the services,
though they cough in one grand
chorus when church is over.
Year: 1874

A new invention has Just been tried
in Paris which is pronounced to render
drowning thing of the past. 1t con-
sists in the employment of pneumatic
India-rubber tube, rol ed around the
body with a sufficient numbar of folds
to contain the necessary smount of air.
This tube is placed concealed in double
, envelope forming shirt. 1t terminates
by mouthpiece which shuts with the
aid of a simple cop er button. The
operation is simple in the extreme, and
the swimmer or immersed person has
enough air for a whole day. When the
apparatus comes to diminish in volume,
it is easy to expand it again by the prin-
cipal tube in deep water without any
difficulty. The trial was witnessed the
other day at the Henry the Fourth
Baths, when the inventor, M. Gosselin,
showed its properties. He stood up
right, the hands raised above the head,
when the water did not come above the
shoulders he then hoated on his back
with arms crossed. The apparatus can
be worn under the clothes like flannel
waist coat. It extends from the neck
to the knees, fastened in front by a row
of buttons. It is composed of double
flannel, in the midst of which an India
rubber tube circulates, starting from
the top of the chest, ascending the left
side of the neck. and following the Gen.
trail line of the back there it divides
in two branches, encircling the thighs
as far as the knees. From the central
part of the principal tube twelve to fif-
teen lesser tubes diverge to make the
round of the body, and meet in front
where the row of buttons is. This i'm
provement Of the life belt is said to be
certain to supersede all existing appli-
ances in teaching swimming or saving
life from shipwreck.
Year: 1874

A traveller in Assam, Mr.. T. T. Coop
er. describes as follows the land leeches
which abound in the forests of that
country: SIN length they are about
an inch, while their thickness does not
exceed that of an ordinary sewing nee
die. Their mode of prog ess on is very
curious. Fixing one extremity, by
means of its bell-shaped sucker, firmly
on leaf or on the ground, the leech
curves itself into an arch, and the other
end is then advanced till the creature
rese mbles loop, again to expand into
an arch, but the movement is quicker
than words can describe; the rapidity
with which they get over the ground is
quite startling. As they occasionally
rear themselves perpendicularly and
sway about from side to side, taking a
survey round them in quest of prey,
the observer cannot fail to conceive a
dread of the bloodthirsty little Great
ures. I could never resist watching
them whenever took a seat. At first
they would hold themselves erect, then
suddenly as though they had Just discov-
cred my whereabouts, ..they..would throw
themselves forward, and with quick,
eager strides, make toward me. Another
kind of leech found in Assam is the hair
leech, so called from its great length
and extreme tenuity. 1t lies in wait in
the grass, and as animals feed enters
their nostrils and fixes itself firmly in
the interior, where it takes up perma-
nent quarters, causing the poor beasts
great irritation. It does not appear to
attack human beings"


The Assam land leech is not so for
midable a pest, however, as the horse
Ieech of Ceylon. According to Sir EN-
erson Tennent, the Ceylon land leech is
about an inch in length, and as fine as a
common knitting needle, but capable of
distention to the thickness of a quill,
and length of nearly two inches. 1t
can insinuate itself through the meshes
of the finest stocking. It is always
Year: 1874

Although farmers are sometimes dub
bed with the cognomen of grumblers,
yet methinks that as a class they accept
of their situation with as much sang
froid as those engaged in other pur-
suits. The Patrons of Husbandry, if /
am rightly informed, are laboring zeal
ously to educate the farming communi-
ty, and elevate their calling to an hon
orable and profitable position as COM
pared with other pursuits of the conntry.
They aim, as all honest, intelligent
farmers do, to break up, or put check
upon moneye1 monopolies, cheaper
transportation, and regulate the manu-
featuring interests of the nation. In
short, to regulate the laws of trade, that
the farmer can receive as fair a percent
age upon his productions as that of any
other calling or pursuit. Is it grum-
bling to make this modest request
Does Justice demand that the farmer
shall give two bushels of wheat to sell
the third ? Does common sense teach
us that it is right and just for a farmer
to pay $125 for a mowing-machine that
costs only $50 to manufacture? We are
told that IL costs round sum of money
to advertise and get agricultural imple-
ments into the market. If manufac-
turer has a good tool which the farmers
need and must have, it takes but little
time to introduce it, if sold at reason
able percentage above cost. But should
the farmers be called grumblers because
they ask manufacturers of agricultural
implements TO sell at profit of twenty
five to thirty per cent, when farmers,
as a mass, do not realize over three or
five per cent. on the ca ital and labor
invested in producing the necessaries of
life for man and beast2


Who, we ask, are better entitled to
fair remuneration for their labors than
those who labor, both mentally and
physically, to produce the life-sustain-
ing elements for countless millions II
these are grumblers, thank God that
they exist, and may they increase and
multiply till they reach from the Allan
tic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to
the gulf, or from Maine TO the Rio
Grande.
Year: 1874

ready to assail a passing traveller or
quadruped. The coffee planters are
obliged to wear leech CATERS" of close
ly woven cloth for protection. son
every twig and grass blade, " says Wood,
the land leeches sit, stretching out
their long bodies toward the coming
prey, and fastening after the traveller
with direful speed. Instinctively they
make for the unprotected parts. They
crawl rapidly up his clothes, they insin-
uate themselves into his neck, his coat
sleeves, and his boots; and wherever a
patch of bare skin can be found, there
a small colony of leeches is sure to
hang"
Year: 1874

A Florida correspondent says " One


lively feature of st. Johns river is the


Establishing, which begins about the LIST


OF December and is over by the LIST OF


April or May. TIE shads are caught In


nets, drifting with the tide. Some of


these nets are of very great length,


spanning the river from shore to shore


and if these fish are on their way up the


river, some of them are pretty sure of


having their gills entangled in the


meshes and it must be understood that


shad are caught only on one side of the


net-the lower side-as the fish ascend


the river; rarely that q straggler hap


pens to take whirl round and is caught


in the upper side of the net. The two


great fishing centres on the st. Johns


are Mayport, near the mouth, and Yel-


low Bluff, about nine miles up the river,


Yellow Bluff has by far the larger


amount of business, shipping annually


about fifteen or twenty thousand dol
lars worth of shad to Savannah, and
thence to northern ports. Let it not.
however, be supposed that it is an easy
matter to engage in this business, which
is profitable enough TO the principals,
who hire men to catch the fish, and
pocket the biggest profits. At Yellow
Springs there are two of these shad-
kings, having their platforms, their
boats, their ice-houses, and their agents
In Savannah. Nevertheless, an expert
enced fisherman can some days make a
hundred or even two hundred dollars
but the worst of all weather is precisely
the best for shad-fishiI q. When the
wind howls furiously and Che rain heats
down piteously is the time tho shad are
taken in large numbers. Comes fair
weather, the nets will be seen on the
large reels or strung upon the racks,
and repairing goes on quietly and in
dustriously, il the midst OF hosts of
sand flies, even though the month be
January or February. A net costs about
q hundred dollars, and a good Connec-
ticut built boat about as much more. IL
requires two men in a boat for shad-
to pay out or haul in the
net, and the other to manage the boat.
would say to him who in imagination
might be captivated with this occupa-
tion-'Don't engage in it. IL is when
the piercing cold northwest wind drives
over the drenching waters, be
t night or day, that the rugged fisher
nan must be on duty-all night, all
lay. 1t is when the thunder and light
ling, and pouring rain render all nature
earfHl; it is when the storm is dread
'ul it is when the gale sweeps every
hing from the river but the shad-boats
hat the shads are ascending the stream
n great schools, that the fisherman
must be out in his oiled suit, that the |
yame must be caught, or caught not at
IL"
Year: 1874

lessen the proportion OF belladonna and
perhaps, add small dose of nux vom.
lea The cure is said to be almost GER
tain, but too much caro- can not be ex.
ercised as to the quality cf the bella
donna, which is deadly poison in any
thing over cautiously small doses.
Year: 1874

The B'nai Birth Journal hss dis
covered that the present fashion in Ia
dies costume is almost exactly what il
was in the days OF Solomon. III SO.
with the extensive domestic arrange
ments of that potentate his dry goods
bills must have been a curiosity, with
1900 ladies' TO provide for and seventy
yards to the dress pattern, and trim
mings worth more than the material.
Now we begin to understand why the
old man groaned out in the bitterness
of his soul "Vanity Of vanities--ail
is vanity r
Year: 1874

"A Frenchnan roasts coffee, grin9s
it to -four, moistens it slightly, mixes ii
in twice its weight of powdered white
sugar, and then presses it into tablets.


One of these tablets can be dissolved at
any time in hot or cold water, making
at once the very perfection of coffee
and it is claimed that pound of the
berry will go much further by this than
by any other preparation of the beverage.
Year: 1874

At the coming of our Lord the Phari.
sees were the most prominent and in
fuential sect or party of the Jewish peo-
pie. Respecting their origin we have
no certain knowledge. They are re-
! ferred to by Josepuus in connection
with the priesthood of Jonathan about
$50 years before Christ, and it is not
improbable that they may have taken
their rise soon after the Babylonish
captivity.


The word Phalisees signifies 8epGra-
fists, and seems to have been either
chosen by themselves or applied to
them by others as a designation of their
austere and ascetic manner of life. They
affected great purity and sanctity of
morals, and held themselves quite aloof
from the mass of the people. Their
real character, however, was vain and
hypocritical in the last degree. While
they made an osten atious display of
their piety, at heart they were grossly
corrupt. They were ambitious of ex-
erting a controlling influence both in
church and state, and they appear to
have been regarded by the mass of their
countrymen with great Difference. The
carefulness with which they observed
the forms of their religion gave them a
reputation for piety.


So far as related to the teachings of
the Old Testament Scriptures their doc
trinal views were In the main correct
They have been represented as holding
that all things were controlled by fate,
but they recognized the freedom of the
will, and it is probable that what has
been understood as fate was simply the
Scripture doctrine of the divive
sovereignty. 1t appears from the
New Testament that their views
of the resurrection and the future
life was essentially othordox. Their
views of the plan of salvation, or on the
question, How shall man be just with
God? were altogether erroneous and
grossly pernicious. 1t was on account
of their false notions on this subject,
not less than the corruption of their
moral character, that they were led to
reject Christ.


But in addition to the law of Moses
they held to a multitude of precepts,
which they maintained had come from
him by tradition. They regarded them
as no less sacred than the written law.
This was one great cause of their erro-
neous views and of the corruption of
their character.


The Scribes were the official or pro-
fessional leaders of the sect of the
Pharisees, not a distinct body, They
were doctors or teachers of the law.
They transcribed and expounded the
Scriptures, and Taught the doctrines of
the Jewish religion. In addition to
these duties they conducted the schools
for the instruction of youth. Their
profession of course gave them great
influence with the people-an influence
which they exerted to the utmost, es-
pecially during the latter part of his
ministry. against Christ and his gospel.
Year: 1874

East Tuesday the Assembly passed the
Freeman bill, reducing Fares and Freights,
to engrossment by vote Of 6S to 0. We
have already expressed our views on this
bill, and now say that we rejoice at its pas
sage. The vote on this bill gives double
assurance that the sentiment of the Legis-
lature, for once in the history of California,
at last, is in unison with the people. There
are many pretending anti-monoply journals
that have opposed this bill, declaring that it
was crude and undigested, and would work
more harm than good. We favored the
bill, not because we thought it perfect, but
because we thought it the best bill on the
subject that had been presented, and are
willing to take our share of the responsible
ty of its passage, which we realize will be
large in proportion as the bill may prove de-
iective. Our individual opinion of the bill
is, that the better it becomes understood
the better satisfaction it will give in its
main features. There may be some minor
points in which it will prove defective, such
as we never would detect without a trial.
But in it's main features it embodies what
the people have fought for, viz; A reduc-
ton of fares and freights and barrier
against discrimination. And hence we say
again it is victory for the people, and they
shOuld hail If os such We bava oIraodv
given synopsis of the bill, but will publish
it entire as soon as we get correct copy as
amended before its passage. 1t now re-
mains to see what the Senate will do with
the bill. Rhe Post says thoy ought to pas.
1t to the Governor without amendment, and
lot its evil effects rest entirely on the shoul-
ders of the Independents. We hope they
will do. that We can stand it.
Year: 1874

1t will be remembered that last February
the Central Pacific Railroad Company in
stituted suit in the United States Circuit
Court against the Tax Collectors of Santa
Clara, Alameda, San Joaquin, Sacramento,
Nevada, and the First and Second Districts
of T LAGER to restrain the Tax Collectors from
collecting the assessment levied on the Cen
tral Pacific Railroad. A temporary injunc-
ton was granted during the trial of the
cause. The case was ably argued, and has
at last been decided Judge Sawyer holds
in his decision that the property was illegally
assessed. He holds that railroads are defined
as real estate by the statute for the purpose
of taxation, and there is no other method of
taxing them. He claims that their land
should have been assessed as lands are usu-
ally assessed, and the s,railroad and buildings
should be assessed as improvements on the
land. and each equalized oy itself. The al
legations of the bill show that the road, land
and rolling stock were assessed in lump, and
therefore Illegal, and according to these views
the Judge continued the injunction in force.


This is the decision, but it should not
frighten or surprise US. Judge Sawyer is
regarded by the railroad company as their
best friend, and of course he had to find
some technical point on which to base his
decision in the: favor. Let our District
Attorney and Supervisors, and Others inter
ested have backbone to stand up and pros
ecute the case TO the bitter end, and we will
beat them yet.
Year: 1874

We notice in the Nebraska Reporter let
ter dated Rocklin, CAL, Dec. Goth, 1878,


in which the writer makes assertions about
as far from the truth as would be possible
to get. The writer had, it seems from the
letter, been here only about month, and
assumes to tell all about the country with
as much assurance as though he knew
whereof he spoke. He says thinning is still
carried on to some extent" lntimatng
that there was very little work in that line /;
when the fact is that the mining interests in