smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

Mr.. G.. b. Odell, at his hotel on Front
street, is the happy owner of a fly-exter-
minator, which for thorough work is I'M
surpassed by anything we have ever
seen. In one of the windows fronting
on Front street, where samples of his
wares are occasionally shown, rat began
several weeks since to make sly visits,
and secure a good meal as often as he
came, by catching the many flies which
are on the panes of glass. He grew very
expert at it, and though at first quite
shy, soon became emboldened when he
found he was ngt disturbed i'll his forag.
ing expeditions, and would pursue his
business not in the least intimidated by
spectators. who were only separated from
him by q pane of glass. He obtained
entrance to this window by gnawing a
hole through the wooden base, coming
from below. For weeks he has pursued
his fy-hunting business undisturbed.
One Sunday one of the walters discov-
cred him in the act of introducing a
friend or member of his family to his
foraging ground. The newcomer was
very shy, and only put his head through
while the old habitue tried TO coax him
in the window. He would catch fly,
gravely hand it to his friend, who would
rs gravely eat it, and look for more. By
degrees he lost a little of his fear, walked
out, and soon became an expert in the
new business. Either one or both may
be seen almost any day by any one who
may be patient enough to wait for their
appearance short time.-NeUburg
IN " Telegraph.
Year: 1875

their numbers in the next Chamber, but
in spite of their fuss and activity they
cannot seize on the government, nor
tamper with the spirit of discipline
which prevails in the army. The army
and navy are the best elements of France,
and no idea can be formed of the moral
enthusiasm produced by the war; they
are pattern of honor and duty, and sub
mission to the public interests. Speak
ing favorably of Marshal MacMahon, M.
Gambetta says it is well that he is not
politician properly 50 called, whom party
interests might perhaps draw into griev-
Gus acts. His loyalty he has never for
an instant doubted.
Year: 1875

Some time since Providence OR. I.)
policeman saw turtle dig a hole and
deposit her eggs therein, at Roger
Williams Park, and when he went to his
home that night disinterred the eggs,
thirty-fve in number, and took them
with him. Digging hole in his yard,
similar to the one made by the turtle,
and as near to it in shape and size as
possible, he again buried the eggs, and
after 1l2 days they commenced to hatch
out, and in short time thirty-four little
turtles no larger than old-fashioned cop
per cents came to the surface, only one
of the eggs failing to hatch. They were
put in pond.
Year: 1875

BISHOP HARE, of Nebraska, is about
to marry Miss Wolfe, said to be one of
the wealthiest young ladies in America.
OF course it was proper that he should
get an heiress but is it not unusual and
unlawful to furnish Wolfe with Hare9
OF course this Wolfe did not take this
Hare without being asked.
Year: 1875

The Santa Klaus Klan say they
will have a finer display Christmas
week than they have ever had before,
and that they will welcome visitors
from all parts of the country, who
may wish to witness the parade. with
open arms. Last December the city
was filed with strangers who came to
see the procession, and they all went
away delighted with the tableaux and
ball which followed. We do not
pretend to rival the Memphis and New
Orleans Mardi Gras carnivals, but the
Vicksburg people throw as much
enthusiasm in their S. X. \. revel as
was ever excited by any street carni4al
in any town or city. and the pttes.
sion, as far as it goes is as good as
can be seen VicksbdrJ
Herald.


That will lie a splendid time for oul
friends TO visit the "Hill City" Il
was grand affair before, and W.
know it will be worth seeing this
/ time.
Year: 1875

To the unskilled eye OF ordinary humanity
the professional tramp is but vulgar fellow.
unlOvey of look and unclean of person. lie is
stupid in appearance, st0d in behavior, and
besolted in face, and the people who have
learned of late years to look for him as n
daily caller at basement doors and to regard
him as perennial poachcr upon the spare
loaf and the cold joint hold him in 10 very
high esteem


Without doubt there is reason enough for
all this. The business of the tramp is of
kind which makes him unwelcOme, and in
common with lightning-rod men and other
peripatetic seekers after livelihood, he must
endure his share of odium, and can succeed in
his business only by dint of diligence and-nOt
To put too fine point upon it-"cheek.' Am artist
might discover something picturesque in the
tramp IA he lies under waysde trees in the
country, OF suns himself in our city parks;
poet, with cold in the head, might make
something out of him, perhaps, while every
political economist of the rag-money school
must needs admire the skill with which the
tramp applies inilationist philanthropy to the
life problem, and secures all the results of
labor without suffering Its pains and its wcar-
ness In brief. thero are admirable points
about the tramp and his business, but to or
dinary folk he Ia a nuisance, nevertheless,
which sadly needs abating. wherefore the ex-
pertinent recently begun in jersey City, with
view to his suppression, is likely to be
watched with uncommon interest by dwellers
in other places as well as by those Immediately
concerned.


The plan adopted there is very SIMPLE one,
involving no new legislation and giving hardly
any trouble u any b1dv.. II consists simply in
Year: 1875

the enforcement of existing laws against
varancy and the laws thus enforced do not
differ essentially from those on our own
statute books. The results, thus far, according
to the police authorities. are reduction OF
about % per cent in the number OF appllca-
tons for lodging, and the well-nigh complete
disappearance of tramps and beggars from the
streets. Some have been committed Tor
vagrancy, but the majority have folded their
tents and silently stolen away, which Is to say
that, having no stomach for work upon
the roadways or elsewhere, they have
left Jersey City to ply their trade
in other places-chief of which, IN
all probability, is New-YOrk-so that TO the
unofficial mind the present would seem to be
a particularly good time to try the effect OF
the jersey City plan here at home. The reSuit
thus indicates a disposition on the part OF
tramps as a class to endure very little of what
they doubtless call persecution, and encour-
ages the hope that their abhOrrence OF every
thing like labor will prompt them to shake
from their feet the dust of New-Iork, as they
have that of our neghboring city, the moment
they learn that here, as there, they are in daily
and hourly danger of getting something 10 40
The experiment il worth trying at any rate.
Year: 1875

for paving streets. 1t was decided at Special
Term of the Court that under an act thirty
five years old which has been once repealed
the repeating act being afterward itself re-
peaed-the churches were exempt from assess
mcnt as they were free from city tax. The
prominence given to this case may stimulate
the general discussion, which has not been IN
frequent of late years. concerning the exemp-
ton of church property from taxation.
Year: 1875

Being much the weaker power, Venezuela is
probably using the only means of redress at
her command by refusing to reopen her ports
10 Dutch shipping until her claims on Holland
are satisfied Instead, however, of breaking
off diplomatic relations, Venezuela would have
strengthened her position by inviting the
mediation Of other powers and showing her
willingness to submit the question at issue to
arbitration.
Year: 1875

Another of the enormous frauds perpetrated
by the Canal Ring is fully exposed to-day in
the report of the Governors Commission on
the work and contracts of Henry j. DensOn on
the Billiards. Bend improvement By what
appears as the connivance of the Canal Board
and the engineers, he was enabled to obtain
sixteen times the sum for which he contracted to
do the work. False estimates were prepared
during its progress, and $50, 500 was paid the
contractor for work that never was done
and materials that never were furnished.
But even that which was actually
constructed was of the most wretched
character: so had, indeed that much of 1t
will have soon to he entirely replaced and
already it is a source Of constant expense for
patching and repair. The report contains evl-
dencc that may bear fruit in new crop OF
indictments, since mere negligence will scarcely
explain the action of the State and Division
Engineers, by means OF swhOse ceftlfi-
Gates the frauds were accomplished 1t
requires something more than a kindly charity
to believe that these men merely made mis-
take in approving claims for $146,30O, for
strengthening a half mile of canal through
an open farming country where there were no
distractions or engineering difficulties; espe-
cially after their early estimate that the cost
of the work would be less than $4,000.
Year: 1875

There are some frauds Of which the life seems to
he eternal Once find travelling through
the newspapers what purpors TO be letter written
by Publius Lentuus to the Roman Senate giving an
account of the personal appearance of the Savior.
This letter is tho work Of one John Iuarte. a
Year: 1875

The reorganization of the Police Board, which
has long been probable, now seems imminent.
1t is well understood that Commissioners Noor-
his and Smith have placed their designations
in the hands of the Mayor and we have the
assurance of Commissioners Matscll and
Disbccker that, for their part, they have
done aud will do no such thing The str1k-
ing feature of this situation is the fact that
the gentlemen who decline to go out unless
compelled to do 50 are those who are generally
believed to he the most amenable to the
Mayors charge of forfeiture of public con-
fidence. Comment upon the motives OF the
Mayor and of the Commissioners may well he
withheld until the correspondence on the sub
jcct shall see the light.
Year: 1875

The French papers speak of method
of rendering paper extremely hard and
tenacious, by subjecting the pulp to the
action of chloride of zinc. After it has
been treated with the chloride it is sub
mitted to strong pressure, thereafter
Becoming as hard as wood and as tough
as leather. The hardness varies accord
ing to the strength of the metallic solu-
tion. The material thus roduced can
be easily colored. 1t may be employed
in covering floors with advantage, and
may be made to replace leather in the
manufacture of coarse shoes, and is a
good material for whip handles, the
mounting Of saws, for buttons, combs,
and other articles of various description.
An excellent use of it is in large sheets
for roofing. Paper already manufac-
tured acquires the same consistency
when plunged, unsized, into solution OF
the chloride.
Year: 1875

Worth begets in base minds envy; In
great souls, emulation.


The mind cOnceives with pain, but it
brings forth with delight.


The only fence against the world is a
thorough knowledge of it..


Trust not the world, for it never
payeth that it promiseth.


Girls we love for what they are !;
Young men for what they promise to be.


Youth ever thinks that good whose
goodness or evil she sees not.


1t is a truth too well known, that
rashness attends youth, as prudence does
old age.


When a man seems to be wise, 1t is
merely his follies are proportionate to
his age.


The morning oflife is like the dawn of
day, full of purity, of imagery, and har-
mony.


We ought not to Judge mems merits
by their qualifications, but by the use
they make of them.


There are men who are witty when
when they are sad.


Young men are apt to think themselves
wise enough, as drunken men are to
think themselves sober enough.


Time will bring to light whatever is
hidden; it will conceal and cover up
what is now shining with the greatest
splendor.


Man has here two and half minutes
one to smile, one to sigh, and half an
one to love; for in the midst of this
minute he dies.


There is a tide in the affairs of men,
which taken at the food leads on to
fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their
lives is bound in shadows and mysteries.


Different minds incline to different OBJ
iects; one pursues the vast alone, the
wonderful, the wild; another sighs for
harmony and grace and gentlest beauty.


Thinkers are scarce as gold; but he
whose thoughts embrace all his subject,
pursues it uninterruptedly and fearless
of consequences, is diamond of enor-
nous size.


Many do with opportunities as children
do at the seashore, fill their little hands
with sand, and then let the grains fall
through, one by one, till all are gone.


Make not bosom friend of melan-
choly, sad soul. He will be sure to
aggravate thy adversely and lessen thy
prosperity. He goes always heavily
| loaded, and thou must bear hall.
Year: 1875

The many freaks of physical infrmity
show nothing stranger than instanta-
neous blindness or deafness, or their i'm
mediate cure. But cases of the kind are
we'll authenticated. The following is
told in Nashville paper: We recently
heard remarkable and touching story
of a little boy, the son of gentleman in
an adjoining county. His age is twelve
or thirteen. He is an interesting and
promising lad. One day during the past
winter he failed TO rise in the morning
as early rs usual. At length his father
went into the room where he lay, and
asked him why he did not get up. He
said il seemed dark yet, and he was wait
ing for daylight. His father retired, but
the boy not making his appearance for
some time, he returned, and said sec
ond time


"My son. why don't you get up%


Father, is it daylight ," he asked.


Yes, long ago"


"Then, father" the little fellow said,
am blind"


And so it was. His sight was gone


In short time his father took him to
Nashville, to get the benefit of the med
ical profession there, but none of the
physicians could do anything for him,
and happily made no experiments on his
ewes. Some ladies in family of his
fathers acquaintance sought TO cheer
him in his atlliction, and one night pro-
posed to take him to the opera, that he
might hear the music and singing. lie
went and was delighted.


In the course of the performance, all
at once he leaped up, threw his arms
around his fathers neck, and screamed
with ecstacy:


80 father / can sec.'


His sight had instantly returned.
And since then he has retained it in full
vigor, except that under excitement
there is sometimes a dimneSs of vision.
The case is one of remarkable and sin
gular character.
Year: 1875




Mark Twain, in late issue of the At
laatic Monthly, speaking of steamboat
racing on the Mississippi in former times,
says:


Racing was royal fun. The public al
ways had an idea that racing was dan
gerous, whereas the very opposite was
the case-that is, after the laws were
passed which restricted each boat to just
so many pounds of steam to the square
inch. No engineer was ever sleepy or
careless when his heart was in a race.
He was constantly on the alert, trying
gauge-cocks and watching things. The
dangerous place was on slow, popular
boats, where the engineers drowsed
around and allowed chips to get into the
"doctor" and shut off the water suddly
from the boilers.


In the "fush times of steambOating,
a race between two notoriously fleet
steamers was an event of vast import
ance. The date was set for it several
weeks in advance, and from that time
forward the whole Mississippi valley was
in a state of consuming excitement.
Politics and the weather were dropped,
and the people talked only of the COM
ing race. As the time approached, the
two steamers stripped" F" and got ready.
Every incumbrance that added weight,
or exposed Il resisting surface to wind or
water, was removed, if the boat could
possibly do without it. The spars, and
sometimes even supporting derricks,
were sent ashore, and no means left to
set the boat afloat, in case she got
aground. When the Eclipse and the A.
l.. Shotwell ran their great race, twenty
two years ago, it was said that pains
were taken to scrape the gliding off the
fanciful device which hung between the
Eclipse's chimneys, and that for that one
trip the captain left off his kid glovesand
had his head shaved. But | always
doubted these things. If the boat was
known to make her best speed when
drawing five and a half feet forward and
five feet aft, she was carefully loaded to
the exact figure-she wouldn't enter a
dose cf homeopathic pills on her mani
fest after that Hardly any passengers
were taken, because they not on y added
weight, but they never will trim
boat" They always run to the side
when there is anything to see, whereas a
conscientious and experienced steam
boatman would stick to the. center OF the
boat and part his hair in the middle with
spirit level
Year: 1875

1t has been reported that the measles
have broken out in the FIJI Islands, and
have ragged with such awful severity that
no less than fifty thousand of the ma
tives have died of the disease. There
has never been a trustworthy census of
Fiji. but the number of deaths from this
disease are said to have been much more
than one in ten of the whole population;
probably more than one in six. such a
mortality in the United States would
take away seven millien people.


1t will doubtless seem strange 10 many
persons that disease so common, and
so little dreaded among Us, should have
proved so fatal among the FIJI Islanders.
To be sure, there are many deaths from
measles in America, but they are mostly
among class of people who either will
not or can not take caro- of themselves.
There is reason, however, for Its
severity among savages.


Every boy who has had the measles
knows that he is not likely to have the
disease second time. But it may not
be so we'll known that all maladies of
this kind become milder in their effects
in passing through successive generations.
Thus a whole race will in time become
so accustomed to a disease that 1t be-
comes almost harmless. In well-to- do
families the treatment formeasles is ow
quite simple, and where proper care Is
taken there is little danger of fatal
result.


The Fiians have not this gradually
acquired power of resistance. The Eu-
ropcans have carried the mild type OF
the measles to the islands, and 1t has
taken its most violent and fatal form at
once. The people do not know how to
treat it. and their habits almost render
ordinary treatment Intellectual. 80 the
epidemic has had clean sweep, and It's
effect has been terrible. This, however,
is only a sort of repetition of history.
Savage men are swept away by the dis
eases of civilization when civilized men
appear among them. The Indians of our
own country were destroyed by the
thousand by that product of civilization,
smallpox. Consumption was unknown
to the Sandwich Islands when Captain
Cook visited them. 1t is now the scourge
of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and scarcely
one-tenth the population the first Euro
peans found there remains.


1t is unfortunate for Great Britain,
which has but just annexed FIJI, that
this terrible epidemic has occurred.
Some of the chiefs, upon whom the Eng
lish relied to reconcile the Fijians to the
change of rulers, have fallen victims to
it. The common people will see in the
plague result of the political move
ment, and it will be more difficult to
persuade them that it was a wise change.
Year: 1875

That birds, however, apparently safely
hung in cages, are unsafe from the skill
and cunning of the cat, may be gathered
from many instances Of the extraordinary
leaps they are capable of making to OBJ
tain their prey. We are told by re-
liable authority that when his cat was a
wear old, he was seen several days IN
succession to take bis position on a show
case four feet high, licking his chops,
while watching canary in cage, sus-
pended from the ceiling eight feet from
the case. The ceiling was eleven feet
high from the floor, and the cage an or
dinary cylindrical one. While thus OBJ
serving the cat, and thinking how remote
was his chance Of plunder, the animal
suddenly sprang at the cage and caught
his claws in it. His weight sprung the
cage up against the ceiling, spilling seed
and water, and terrifying the canary.
After swinging 10 and fro several times,
the cat dropped to the floor uninnJured.
Our informant measured the distance
from the top of the cage, and found 1t To
be ten feet; 20 the cat made an ascent OF
six feet in height, or upon an incline oi
Eearly thirty-three degrees. The sur
prise here is that the bird escaped for it
i during it, terror, and while beating
itself from side 10 side Of the cage, that
the hooked claws Of the cat are prepared
to receive it, and if any portion Of the
bird is caught, it is rapidly pulled
through the wire, and the cat and bird
disappear before the spectator can recover
his astOnishment.
Year: 1875

THEY have been figuring in the de-
partment Of agriculture at Washington
on the crop prospects, and find that in
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri and
the Eastern Slater there is every prospect
Of far better yield Of wheat than here
tOfore, and the production will be
far in excess Of the consumption
The product in these States is
represented as being much superior in
quality than that Of former years. Oats
will be a MAGNIFICENT crop, and rye ard
barley promise well. This Is cheering II
true, and we are very hopeful that IT j.
not greatly exaggerated
Year: 1875

A H0TTENTOT Fable
The moon, in pity TO the race
OF man in his despair,
Sent TO them from her SHINING place
Her messenger, the hare.
"Go. nimble one. and say to men
That as fade and die,
Then rise and brighter shine again
Above them in the sky;
So they must fail and fade away,
But only die to rise
Where resurrection paves the way
To fairer, friendlier skies"
But out Of dullness, trick, or feud,
The message which was sent
The reckless little hare construed
With most malign intent.
40 race Of men, the moon hath said
That as she lives and dies,
So unto death shall you be led,
And nevermore shall rise"
Now when the moon had heard the case,
Her AK, with force and grip,
She struck into the meek hare's face,
Which caused the split hare lip.
The hare, incensed, with claws upborne,
Scratched back with right good grace,
And since that day the neon has worn
y rough and ragged face.


The GdldyU
Year: 1875

And then we rose up and made sortie
for that young man, en- mdSse. We
twined our brawny hands in his golden
locks and dragged him down to the press
room, and had the boys run him through
the double-cylinder press till they had
worked off an edition of 5000 of him,
and then we dashed his CORY carcass, a
fattened, chaotic aggregation of rags
and ruin, out on the sidewalk, where the
needless feet of busy men would trample
it into the dust of the earth. Send us
another original vocalist and composer.
Year: 1875

for every two blocks, and over the north


branch like provision should be mada when
the occasion demands it.


There is demand now made for bridge
at Washington street, Immediately over the
tunnel One objection to this is the posi-
bility that it will necessitate the destruction
of the tunnel. Another is, that there is not
room there to permit vessels and steamers to
lie at the docks, or to wait in the stream for
the bridges to open That difficulty already
exists in the small space between Lake and
Randolph street bridges. But another reason,
and pressing one, is that bridges are wanted
at other points, especially one at Harrison
street In time, there will have to be some-
thing done at Fourteenth street. A tunnel is
talked about; but when the railroads have
built yiaducts over the streets On both sides
of the river, q bridge adapted to these via
ducts may be found better than tunnel


The half million Of dollars that will have
to be expended in building tunnel will
build ten bridges, and will afford oonveniences
to the public in the proportion Of ten thou
sand to one. As part OF tho system Of COM
between the several parts Of the
city, tunnels have proved to be failures, and
bridges are essential.