smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1879

That grim spectre, Death, was expected
in cOnsumptive's chamber in Philadelphia
on Wednesday night, but troop of
burglars came skylarking in his place.
Day and night his family had watched by
his bedside lest the invalid should be
smOthered in one of the terrible spasms of
coughing to which he was subject On
that night he had Il most exhausting hour
of coughing, and as soon rs he fell asleep
his faithful wife, worn out with fatigue,
stole into an adjoining room and threw
herself upon the bed to snatch a few
moments OF rest. 1t was during her alb.
sence from his side that the sick man saw
the burly forms of two men on a shed out
side the window. Sickness had rendered
him completely helpless and his voice could
not be raised above a whisper. Presently
he saw the window raised, the two men
stealthily entered his room. Then they
crept to his bedside, and one of them
dealt heavy blow upon his forehead.
They bound his feet with cords, and shackled
his bony arms with ropes that cut deep into
his skin. Fearing that he might cry out,
they covered his head with towel. Then
they began their work of plumber. Selling
one of the pillows they ripped open the
ticking and emptied the feathers upon the
floor. Having thus secured sack, they
searched the house and collected large
piece of satin. roll of black cashmere
and a piece Of silk. These articles they
placed in the pillowcase and then made
their escape. The invalid's wife rushed in
to find the sick man stretched upon the
floor, speechess and helpless, half en-


veloped in his bed-clothing among the
scattered feathers and the pIunder of the
thieves. To render the effect still more
ghastly, the invalid was an undertaken, anC


his wife was carrying on the business at tn,
old stand and the silk, satin and cash


mere which the thieves had collected ii


the sick-rOom were materials for coffin


Innings and trimmings.
Year: 1879

TRIALS OF PASSENGER CONDUcToRs.-Fe
people have an idea of the almost constant
annoyance to which the wde-awake,
oblging conductor of passenger train is
subjected by fussy and inconsiderate people
while he is faithfully attending to his
duties. The other day one of the most
popular train Captains" in the employ of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, while going
westward, was accosted at Lancaster with :
"Ts this Tyrone?' "No Sir, Lancaster"
was the courteous reply. The same ques-
ton was asked by the same passenger at
Harrisburg and at several stations west of
that point. At last the conductor informed
the troublesome passenger that he would
inform him when the train reached Tyrone,
and the passenger composed himself to
sleep. At Tyrone the conductor. reused
him and told him to hurry up and get of
the train. He coolly kept his seat and
swallowed homeopathic powder that he
carried in his pocket, saying that he had
no watch and was to take the medicine at
6 o'clock, which was the hour the train was
due at Tyrone. "Blast your powder! ~ wa:
the exclamation Of the conductor.
Year: 1879

gardcd the lawful fee list and that improper and ic-
gal charges had been made for work done in the
offices. The opposition to the resolution surprise him.
he did not see. why anybody could object to finding
out what the facts Ifthcre is nothing wrong why
should they object toan investigation? Lctit be seen
what the facts are and then if nothing is wrong the
county officers will be vindicacd.


Mr. Ware was opposed to special legislation, and
said that the resolution should include Sussex and
vote for the resolution.


Mr.. Cochran said that he did not think it would be
rghto investigate of officers without nvestiga-
ton into the others The work of setting on foot
many investigations would cost good deal of money
probably more than the saving in regulating the
present emoluments Of the officers.


Mr.. Houston said that he thought the law fixed the
fees and that every officer was bound to give bill of
costs and there could be 10 Overcharge without the
knowledge Of the public He would oppose the
bringing of slch investigation intO Sussex on the
ground that there was no necessity nor any reason
Tor such action in regard to the Sussex officers He
thought that the law suicientto protect the pub
lie from ovcrcharges, and he doubted the wisdom of
the investigations


Mr.. Dean said that he knew that the men who get
those Offices received by a very large per cent
IN public office than they made in private bust
ness. If they are not overpaid why should they op-
pose an investigation? If l was in their place and |
knew that everything right. would court an in
vestgation; would say, Come on am ready for
all the light that can be thrown upon the matter No
Sirs, think that these officers are getting more money
than is an adequate and fair compensation"


After much discussion the resolution was finally
laid on the table by vote of IA to l. This vote indi
Gates it will fail The New Castle county members
are opposed to an investigation unless it applies tu
Kent and sussex as well and the members from the
lower counties do not favor it.


STATE TREASURER's REPORT.
The Joint committee appointed To examine the ac
counts of the State Treasurer and Trustees of the
man, that they had examined the accounts and found
them correct showing Sl33lIG3 general fund, S19.
46242 oyster fund.- SlI ISL 2l school fund Balance in
hand, S47, ,IJ3.2G.


DIVORCE case
Last Thursday considerable talk was created among
the members by the appearance in the Senate chamber
OF an old man of u Years who seeking after a
divorce. He said his name Isaac Jester and thai
he lived in Harrington. Gladly and sadly he unfold
ed his tale. He had been married twice and had
lived with his present wife-who is 60 years old-fol
% years Lately She had deserted him and he desire(
the divorce to prevent all possibility of her reurnin,
to him and claiming his property at his DEATH Th
Old man IS still hale and hearty and worked US q full
! hand in the bayfield, all last harvest


For additional County and State Items. see sccon
] maze.
Year: 1879

CoYNEss ON THE QUESTION OF AGE.--The
limits between which coyness on the ques-
tion of age prevails, have at length been
nearly established. They generally begin
the twenty-first birthday and end with life
This coyness has generally been supposed
to end on the wedding day, or, failing to
reach that haven, that its vitality would be
exhausted at three-scorea eand-ten or there
about Not so, however; as the case of
Mrs. Elizabeth Rider, who died in Balti-
more last week at the well authenticated
age of ll3 years, fully attests. This maiden
had become a matron, had long passed
MISREPRESENTATION, and had for thirty-two
years remained a widow, but up to the last
she retained the shyness of twenty-five on
the subject of her age, and among her
latest requests was one that no mention
of it should be made on her tomb.
Year: 1879

Rev. Mr. Milby, of Harrington, last week hitched
two couples i'll double harness at the same time the
same ceremony answering for both couple, each OF
the parties responding at the moment. This is
an improvement upon the matrimonial slow coach
system Of the past While this an age of progress
We propose that the hymenal altar shall be erected
i'll some public position day in the year be set
apart for the marriage ceremony, and that men and
maidens assemble, and while the man of God per-
forms the sacred rite let all the Cupid smten ones
give one rOuSing respOnSe-"I will '-DeiltOn LRiOa
Year: 1879

There has been sudden outbreak of
smallpox in Deptford, England, and the
authorities were puzzled at first how to ac-
count for it. An investigation was set on
foot, and it was finally discovered that all
the mischief was attributed to wake held
by an Irish family over the body of a child
which had died of that terrible disease.
Year: 1879

KISSED AND PAETED.-The wedding guests
departed. the lights were put out and the
brides father locked the front door. and at
break of day the bridegroom left the
house, meeting on the piazza q servant, to
whom he muttcred: TELL your master
am gone forever The fatherin-law. upon
receiving the message hurried to his daugh-
ter's room, where, to his amazement. he
found her still in her wedding robes, with
hair disheve!ed and vail torn off, and in a
state OF great excitement. A severe fever
followed, but never in her widest deirium
did she betray the cause of her agony
TO friend in Louisville the other day She
told the cause. On the wedding night she
found out that a former suiter was in love
with her and that she thought more of
him than she did of her husband. When
her husband entered the bridal chamber
he asked her if his rival had ever made
love to her, whereupOn she told him the
truth. Then, with coldness and calmness.
he said: "Addic, you love him he shall
marry yOu; we shall never meet again"
They sat down on the sofa and talked until
dawn, and when it was light he kissed her
goodb and with a "God bless YOU" pas.
sed out of the house. 1t was two years
afterward when he died on the frontier,
and then the other man stepped forward
and claimed the widow. The second we'd
ding took place last Thursday, and the
bridegroom stayed to breakfast, the bride
| not having discovered on the previous
night a third lover whom she loved best of
! ALL"
Year: 1879

A trip to Tombstone by stage is not

 a very great hardship now, excepting

 that one does not get there until mid

 night, when, unless the traveller has

 secured his apartments at the hotel, by telegraph, in advance, he is very likely to have to take to the cold ground or

 soft board without cover But a stateroom on the floor between the long tables of dining room is very convenient when breakfast is consid- cred; and the landlords are very gen erous in that respect.

 Kinnear's new cutoff road over which the stage runs is the best road of all for light travel. It carries one close up to the Whetstones, through miles of timber and along a surpris-

 ingly even track. At the highest point, where the station is, one seems to be in the center of a vast meadow, and the Arizona plains stand redeemed. Getting down to the San Pedro is still a hard matter. At the river q good bridge is a necessity, and both the bridges are now very poor.

 At Tombstone the newest thing is the progress making on the Grand Central. A double shaft, twin brother to the working shaft of the Contention, is down twenty feet on vein five feet wide and quite to the satisfaction of all concerned. Superintendent Reign olds, calmly contented with the pros pect, expresses his mind that s" this is something like" The ore piles are already assuming large proportions, but as yet no regular assays have been made. In a few days a system will be adopted, probably, with A. J. Mitchell as assayer. Mir. Gage is in command of the business and will soon take up his residence at the mine. It is prob able that the policy in opening the property will be about the same as that followed at the Contention, viz: to demonstrate fully its wealth by shafts. drifts and cross-cuts before erecting a mill. It is likely that a small hoisting apparatus, now in the Territory, will be put up very soon for temporary use.

 Tombstone is suffering for the want of two things-lumber and water. The Mormon community have their saw mill in the Huachucas about com pleted and all hands will move upl there as soon as houses can be put up But they are about concluding a con- tract with Superintendent White for materials for the Western Company's mill, and the general public will, therefore, still be left out Every other man in the town has a water project on hls mind, but still the precious fluid is dollar a barrel. A telegraph i line is also getting to be a sine qua non.

 They tell a joke on an army ser geant. He stopped at Drew's a few nights since, being in charge of two deserters, under irons, and having one man as a guard. MT. Sergeant takes his siesta, leaving the guard to watch the prisoners; but the guard is also tired of the servce, so he knocks off the irons of his fellow soldiers and all three make of, taking with them the officers horse. The sergeant, reduced 1 from the cavalry to the infantry, made a sad march of thirty miles back toI camp.
Year: 1879

The San Francisco Rural Press terms dealing in stocks an infamous business" and devotes a column there on. It starts of thus:

 May the curse of God rest upon an impious traffic which is robbing our State of its manhood; turning the feet of our sons away from the paths of industry, and transforming our sober and industrious fathers into con demned criminals.

 The Press goes on to refer to men who have lived twenty years blame less and useful life, reared families and earned the respect and confidence of the community in which they live, and yet who suddenly appear confessed criminals, and in a day are trans formed from apparent promoters of public virtue to enemies of society, who have liberty only at the price of pledges from friends.

 The Press takes a general survey of the business and says:

 Not satisfied with the gambling in railway and other securities at the East, they have introduced the Cali fornia system, and already victims are falling just as men fall when plague settles down upon city. Thus. East and West, the evil spreads. and distrust rises as virtue sinks. What can save the people? Nothing, unless each one works to save himself and to spread a truer idea of the danger.

 The Press in this instance discusses the subject from the worst phases of the business, Stock dealing is not bad Tn itself, nor is it without benefits to the public at large Many of the magnificent achievements of men achievements which greatly benefit all mankind, are the result of corporate capital procured by sales of stock. and which would not have been accom- plished by any other means. This stock IS properly enough an article of trafic-in fact, could it not be sold it. would not be bought in the first in stance. The men who are ruIned in the handling of stocks, either in char acter or purse or both, are generally ruined because they take risks their circumstances will not justify. in the hope of making money without labor or other equivalent. The Press isl right in saying nothing can save such people but the works of themselves. It' IS just as honorable and legitimate toI deal in stocks as in corn and wheat. Dealing in either may be done dishon- orably
Year: 1879

THE south extension of the Grand Central mine is to be surveyed this week for patent on the application of Dr. J. B. W. Gardiner and B. Frank Hall. The original Grand Central is also to be surveyed this week for the same purpose It is a settled fact that these properties are to be largely developed and the work either has been or soon will he begun. under the suPerintendence of MT. Gage
Year: 1879

People mostly yearn for that which
they cannot get, but when it is Within
their reach they do not want it nearly
so much as they did when they could
not get it. A man who thought he
would like to have twenty or thirty
wives, more or less, joined the Nor
mons; but when he got to Utah and
found he could have wives enough to
organize mass meeting of his own
he found he didn't care for them So
it is with those who have been crying
for gold Now that they can get il
for grcenbacks, they don't seem tc
banker for it.
Year: 1879

"Sleep," says the poet, "knits up the
ravelIed sleeve Of care.n It is won
derful how many men and women
there are in this busy world who arc
never at rest save when asleep, and
scarcely then. Their dreams are I'M
easy, and their rest is unrest Their
daily transactions seem to be in loose
threads, which it is either beyond
their power or their inclination to "knit
up There are, consequently, always
haunting them matters undone, half
done or merely projected; and vet, in
infancy, these intentions are nearly
completed sure to be SO. The
daily pause comes with The hours
which nature claims and must have.
Sleep presses down The eyclids, and
the man must stop. In time to all
men come the sleep that knows no
waking, the unbroken rest, the night
that knows no morrow. It is no re-
proach that The close OF life is to most
men ''deceasen-a final cessation from
their incomplete work and labor. A
heritage of unfinished plans is left to
their representatives The most Of
these are sadly abandoned IF
them are buried with the dead There
are many conceptions and ideals which
never take such definite shape as to
be grasped by others. OF such unma-
tured thoughts and plans tbiiograpbers
find hints, and while they write of the
dead conjeeture-for the thought is
scarcely more-what would have been
accomplished if the subject of their
memoirs had lived longer. II only
time had been permitted him to exc
cue or even to formulate and reduce
to order his thoughts and conceptions,
what might not the world have gained.
But the ''nebular hypothesis" may well
be applied to the work of mind, wheth-
er of pure intellect or of political, bus
mess or social enterprise. The clouds
float in the mental cosmos. Night
falls and the glorious vision is forgot
ten. No man can take up another's


thoughts precisely as the first thinker
evolved them.
Year: 1879

The volumes Of the Magazine begin
with the Numbers for June and December
of each year. When no time is specified,
it will be understood that the subscriber
wishes to begin with the current Number.
Year: 1879

Only two metals are now used in large bells, tin ard copper. The Belgians use 23 to 30 per cent. of tin ; the Eng fish lean to more tin, 25 to 3l per cent. Tin makes the bell sound bright, but it also makes it brittle, and the reason why the English can afford to put in more of this brittle element is because they make their bells thicker, as a rule. Bells vary from 1.15 to 1-12 of the diam eter at the thickest part of the sound bow, and the height is commonly about 12 times the thickness. English tells are, roughly, as broad as they are loog, if you measure diameter from outside rim to rim, and length from rim to top of canon. But in truth, the thickness of the bell at different levels is all-im- portant. The thickness near the top is as important as that of the sound-bow, and the diameter of the crown as critical dimension as that of the rim. The deep, rich tone Gin proportion to size) of the smaller Belgian bells is probably largely due to the wide top-diameter, combined with the thinness in certain portions of the sides halfway down. The way in which altering the thickness affects the tone, and even the pitch of Q bell, is shown by the fact that sha, p bell can be Aattened by shaving off the metal inside above the sound bow.
Year: 1879

A prudent wife picks up the pieces and stores them in her apron pocket when her lord and master tears up his last will and testament. A gentleman of means died in London on April in a state of madness, the result of frequent and violent attacks of delirium tremens. In one of these attacks, while destroying his furniture, articles of vertu, and some valuable documents, in 8 moment, and before his hand could be arrested, he tore his will into small pieces and scattered them on the floor of his room. His wife who was present at the time, carefully collected the scraps, preserved them, and produced them for probate after his death, pasted in proper order upon back ground of paper. A medical certificate to the effect that at the time when this act was done the testator was suffering from delirium was read, and the court decided to admit the will to probate.
Year: 1879

Every well-regulated family should have boy about fourteen years old, 8 lawn-mower, and grass enough to set a boy to work for half an hour after school. It is an interesting study to see boy showing a lawn-mower around. Off comes coat, vest and hat as he goes out, and he wildly realizes that Presl- dent Hayes got his first start by cutting half an acre of grass before breakfast and it was cut mighty poorly at that. No boy can strike 8 bee-line with 8 mower. He starts out to do it, but he sees boy on stilts up the street and he stops to rest. He has just started off again when he sees boy with ball down the street, and it is also time to oil the mower. He has just braced him. self for & new effort when stray dog comes trotting along, and it is that boys duty to watch that dog out of sight. He turns and shoves the mower along for about ten feet and then he must have a drink of water. If the old gent is at home boy can drink gallon of water and get back to his work in about twenty minutes, but all depends on circum- stances. If he gets back he stands and wonders whether it is right or left handed mower, and why it wasn't rigged to run itself.

 If rap on the window admonishes the boy that procrastination is the thief of time, he buckles right down to busi- ness and rushes the mower over four brick bats, hoop and several coal clinkers, and then comes an examina- tion of the knives. Let boy get in the shade with good brace for his back, and he can examine 8 lawn-mower from basement to garrett in about half an hour. At the end of the second cut across the sward it is boys duty to scan the heavens and see if any kites are up.

 A good boy can do this in about fifteen minutes, and he can put in ten more looking across the street at a whitewashed fence and a cat. By this time he feels hungry, and when he has hunted the house over for cake it is high time to go around the corner and see if that Smith boy has got that bird-rrap finished.-Detroit Free Press.
Year: 1879

How is it possible that any one should live to be seventy years old? Man at his birth has to go through all the dis eases incident to childhood. He is for tunate if he is not born monster, or dwarf capable of being hidden in hat. If he is brought into the world with a sound mind, in sound body, happy is he. If he does not imbibe gall and bit terness with his mothers milk, verify he hath wise mother-yes, and self governed one. Then he has got 10 run the gauntlet of all the vices and tempta- tions that beset a youth. If finally he mar1ies, the marriage is as likely as not to prove disastrous, and he runs the risk of becoming the parent of children who will grow up into curses instead of blessings. If he enters into business there are ninety nine chances in one hundred against his permanent success. He will probably prove 0 failure. Add to this the danger of an epidemic, an earthquake, cyclone. Have we done ? By no means. Statistics show that men and women, high and low, rich and poor. live on bad food and adulteratiors. The cattle upon which they feed are diseased, the vegetables rotten, the tea and coffee adulterated and the liquors rank poi son. Such are the statements set be- fore us by the sifters of the events of the hour.

 Take the single fact-if it be fact - that civilized man is compelled to live on adulteration 1n tea, coffee and grain; that the meat he devours is often dis eased, and that the liquors are often polsons of the most deletelious descrip- tion, and never entirely genuine. These things alone, it would be thought, are quite sufficient to ruin his stomach, cre- ate cureless digestion and compel him to end his days early and in gloom. That would be the rightful deduction from such terrible premises. On the contrary, we find millions of people liv- ing to ripe maturity-say fifty or sixty and millions more coaxing themselves along, ailing, it is true, but not without fair share of enjoyment. We are, therefore, pushed on to the il evitable deduction that food and drink are not adulterated to the frightful extent claim ed for them, or that the adulterations do not produce that forlorn effect upon the human constitution which chemists and physioiang state they ought to dos
Year: 1879

A young artist mas painted the pie ture of dog under tree, and the work is so artistioally done that none but the best connoisseurs can tell the bark of the tree from that og the dog, N