smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

We observe that the democratic members
of the Assembly from New York city have
held caucus and have resolved to support
certain nominations for the United States
Senate and for the organization Of the House.


We can understand why the members of
party should assemble before the meeting of
Legislature and agree in caucus upon GER
tain line of action. This, however, may be-
come an abuse, and the power Of caucus
should be limited. The caucus is proper
enough to indicate nominations for offices, but
we hardly think it proper in the discussion of
a financial measure like the bill before the
Senate, which, we are told, was determined
upon by the republicans before it came before
that body. Even worse form Of this caucus
system exists in New York city. 1t seems i'm
proper for the delegates from any one DISTRICT
Year: 1874

TO meet in advance and 60 to Albany bound
by resolution limiting their Independence.
There are many reasons that may occur to Q
representative in albany that will not be ap-
parent to him in New York. These may lead
to different course Of action on important
questions Why, therefore, should the repre-
sentative have his judgment fettered by the
decree of home caucus2


The practical effect of home caucus like
the one held the other day is to put our whole
delegation at Albany in o condition Of dr.u
and to make it as subservient to the leaders of
Tammany Hall as primary convention.
This is mistake. The application Of the
caucus system is blunder. 1t it is to be ap-
piled to all legislation in Albany then the
true function of legislation-to debate and
consider and mature-will be at an end In
stead of obeyins the will of the people and
their own best judgment our Assemblymen
will simply go to Albany to obey the wishes Of
premature and badly informed caucus, obey
ing the orders of Tammany Hall.
Year: 1874

Two prominent democratic officers of the
State government, Mr.. Willers, Secretary of
State, and Mr.. Pratt, Attorney General, have
taken pains to notify in an indirect manner,
all persons elected in November that they NAV
evade the new oath of Office by presenting
themselves to be sworn in previous to the 1st
Of January. This is exceedingly kind of
Messrs. Willers and Pratt, The form of the
notification is as ingenious as it's motive is
considerate. The Secretary of State writes an
official letter asking the opinion of the Attor-
ney General, and the Attorney General re-
plies in an argument showing that the old oath
will suffice il taken before the close of the year
but that officers sworn in on or after January
! must take the new one. This correspond
ence is published in the newspapers week in
advance of the new year. SO that all concerned
may avail themselves Of the opportunity to
hold their offices and yet escape perjury If
they are unable to swear truthfully that they
have not resorted to bribery or other improper
means to influence votes they can take the
old oath before the 1st OF January.


Honest men will be apt to inquire why this
more than official tenderness has been prac-
tised toward the men who were elected In
November. New State officers, the scene of
whose duties is at Albany, have heretofore
been sworn in on the 1st of January, and
members of the Legislature ON the day that
body assemblies. The only reason that can
be given for departing from that practice now
is the supposed inability Of the members to
take the new oath without perjury. But as it
is the obvious intent Of the amendments to
exclude all such persons from Office Messrs
Willers and Pratt seem to have gone out of
their way to show them how they can circum-
vent the constitution.
Year: 1874

While London is superior to New York in
many Of its public works, its docks, sewers
and the Thames embankment its ancient
forms OF local government are inadequate to
its present needs. The city of London, over
which the Lord Mayor rules, includes but
seven hundred and twenty-three acres, while
the rest of the metropolis occupies over
seventy thousand. The municipality is thus
but small part of the capital, the remainder
being divided into ten boroughs. The want
of one great city government has been an
obstacle to the improvement of the capital !;
but, as will be seen by our letter from Lon
don, an effort will be made by Parlia-
That 80 much has been done by
the Londoners amid so many diff
culties of conflicting authority ought to
make New Workers ashamed of the condition
of their city. London has wretched methods
of government and great metropolitan i'm
provements, while New York has an excellent
theoretical municipal rule and no improve
ments at all. We have docks which repel in
stead Of inviting commerce, and system of
travel which is forcing our citizens to seek
homes in Long Island and New Jersey. It
is impossible for this apathy to the improve
ment of the city to continue much longer
without doing vast injury to it's interests.
The new administration of our municipal
affairs stands or falls according to the ability
with which it deals with this question.
Year: 1874

The DYING STATEMENT of Thomas Corr,
who was shot in Brooklyn on Saturday night,
on the presumption that he was q chicken
thief, and his conversation with the Coroner,
suggest the doubt whether the man was really
guilty. The inquest will be held tomorrow
and the other side be heard.
Year: 1874

Our WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENTS suggests
that between the issuing Of the synopsis Of
the Presidents Message and that Of the Mes
sage itself the President may have changed
his mind in regard to Cuba. There is some
mystery involved in the discrepancy of the
two recommendations.
Year: 1874

RAPID TRANs1r.-The question Of rapid
transit is really question Of life or death to
the city of New York. All the channels of
growth naturally tend into the upper part of
the island. 1t was upon this island that New
York was intended to grow. The fairest
and most inviting of our suburbs are those
that lie around the Harlem and Hudson and
beyond in the valleys and hills of Westches-
ter. Here hundreds OF thousands of our citi-
zens could find homes but they go else
where-to New Jersey and Long Island aud
Staten crossing forbidding and un-
comfortable ferries, because they find it
almost impossible to live in Westchester or in
the upper part of the island and do business
in the city. Great honor has been given to
the men who opened the Erie Canal, who in
introduced Croton water and who created
Central Park. But still greater honor will be
given to the enterprise and the craftsmanship
that give US rapid transit. Let Mayor Wick
ham and Governor Tilden especially remem-
Der this
Year: 1874

THE BELIEF OF CAPTAIN GENERAL CoNCHA
that strong effort is being made in Washing
ton to obtain recognition of the Cubans as
belligerents is sustained by the facts reported
in our Washington dispatches.
Year: 1874

Vy1sEcr1oN.-An attempt has been made in
the English courts to enforce the law for the
prevention Of cruelty to animals against the
operators of vivisections made in the interest
of science. Any thoughtful person, not
blinded by fanatical zeal, can comprehend
that the delegation OF authority to prevent
this cruelty, wherever made, is made always
to suppress the fragrant exhibitions of brutal
impulses that are horrifying to ordinary sensi-
bilities, and that lawmakers never intended
to embarrass the legitimate pursuits of science
by this sort of law; least OF all could they ever
have intended to prevent the sacrifice of
few of the lower animals in the interests of
humanity generally. But the English society
has the same blind bigotry on this point that
has been manifested by our own society, and
takes the same morbid view of the relations
of man to the brute creation. 1t endeavored
to punish vivisection made in the presence
OF learned society, and its complaint was
dismissed. If this act cannot be punished in
England it cannot here, where there is far
less professional philanthropy and we hope
the society will take note OF the decision on
the other side.
Year: 1874

"hog-killing" season, and the whole country
Is aoounding at present in fresh spare-ribs,
pack bones and sausage meat, and every one
IS tempted % indulge too much in the ami
NAL delcacies and TO overload his stomach
with them. Bat it is hardly probable that,
should this be the cause OF the disease, Ii
would result so fatally, and would. mora
over not confine itself TO that exclusive To-
cailty. The eating of pork is general az this
time OF the year, and yet in no other section
has similar disease manifested itself. Phv-
sicians state that in Tennessee at present
diseases OF all kinds require unusually
grave treatment, not that there il so much
sickness in the greater portion of the state.
Dut that the various diseases are of a more
virulent type than usual
Year: 1874

Immediately upon our arrival here, some
of the Vicksburg editorial fraternity were
kind enough to take us over the two terri
bic bsttlefelds of the late war, and give us
the geographical aud moral points. We
hrst went 10 the Grove street battlefield,
a mile from the city limits. Here about one
Year: 1874

gard to army reduction ia represented as
having very injurious effect on officers,
who, from the feeling of uncertainty as to
retaining their commissions, are losing that
regard for their profession and that esprit
du corps which is so necessary in the army.


Secretary Belknap says that although he
asstnted to the reduction OF the estimates,
the army at its present strength can not be
maintained for the amount of the reduced
appropriation, and that in order to keep
within the amount recommended recruiting
will have to be stopped, either entirely or
partially. A remarkable fact in connection
with the army is that the average annual
reduction. based on the experience OF the
last three years. through deaths, desertion
and expiration Of service. is over 5000, and
of these figures over 1000 are under the
head of deserters.


Secretary Belknap does not entirely coin
eide with General Sherman as to the use
lessness of our sea coast Notifications, gen
orally, but on the contrary, thinks they
ought to be completed and rendered more
effective. particularly in New York, Boston.
Portland, New Orleans and on the Florida
coaae
Year: 1874

CARPETS. Oh ULoTHs AND MATTrsGs.-
A better place to buy the above named
goods can not be found in this city than
street. Their stock comprises all the latest
patterns and kinds Of material, while in
the matter of prices they are liberality
itself. We advise our readers to give them
n call
Year: 1874

PREsUMpTION-Hew who takes his boys
to the beer-shop, and trusts that they will
grow up sober, puts his coffee-pot on the
fire and expects it to look bright as new
tin. Men cannot be in their senses when
they brew with bad malt and look for good
beer, or set a wicked example and reckon
upon raising a respectable family. You
may hope and hope till your heart grows
sick but when you send your boy up the
chimney. he'll come down black for all
your hoping. Teach child to lie, and
then hepe that he will grow up honest /;
better put wasp in a tar-barrel and wait
till he makes honey. As to the next world,
it is a great pity that men do not take a
little more care when they talk of it. II
a man dies drunk, somebody or other is
sure to say, " / hope he is gone to heav-
en-" 1t is all very we'll to wish it, but to
hope it is another thing. Men turn their
faces to hell and hope to get to heaven !:
why don't they walk in the horse pond
and hope to be dry? Hopes of heaven are
solemn things, and should be tried by the
word of God. A man might as well hope,
as our Lord says, to gather grapes OF
therns or figs of thistles, as look for a
happy hereafter at the end of a bad life.
There is only one rock to build hopes on,
and that is not Peter, as the Pope says.
neither is it sacran,ents. but the merits Of
the Lord Jesus. There John Ploughman
rests. and he is not afraid, for this is a
firm footing. which neither life nor deatl
can shake: but must not turn preacher


so please remember that presumption is .
ladder which will break the mounter'.


neck, and don't try it as you love you
eoul.-John Ploughndn's Talk.
Year: 1874

WHEN MEN ARE AT THEIR BEsT.-Dr.
Beard states that from an analysis of the
lives of a thousand representative men in
all the great bl anches of human effort, he
had made the discovery that the golden de-
cade was between 80 and 40, the silver
between 40 and 80. the brazen between 90
and 80, the iron between so and 60. The
superiority of youth and middle life over
old age in original work appears all the
greater, when we consider the fact that


nearly all the positions of honor and profit
and prestige-professorships and public
stations-are in the hands of the old.
Reputation. like money and position, Is
mainly confined to the old. Men are not
widely known until long after they have
done the work that gives them their fame.
Portraits of great men are delusion
statues are lies. They are taken when
men have become famous, which, on
the average, is at least tw enty-five years
after they did the work which gave them
their fame Original work requires en-
thusiasm. If all the original work done by
men under 45 were annihilated, the world
would be reduced to barbarism. Men are
at their best at that time when enthusiasm
and experience are most evenly balanced f;
this period on the average is from 38 to 40.
After this the law is that experience
increases but enthusiasm declines. In the
life of almost every old man there comes a
point, sooner OF latter, when experience
ceases to have any educating power.
Year: 1874

The Ohio ladies who have resolved to
confine themselves to home manufacture,
in their new dresses, have done sensible
and patriotic thing. 1t might be initiated
with advantage in places nearer to the
seats of production of textile fabric. How
many men in this region are engaged IN
these kinds of manufacture? How many
of their wives and daughters ever wore an
American print? And yet, tried by the
law of taste, a printed calico is handsomer
article than an India shawl. The combi-
nation and arrangement of color. the figg-
ures the shades, show more science and
skill. The only thing against them is their
marvellous cheapness. Ifprints were two
dollars yard, no woman would rest quiet
till she had dress of them. 1t would be
easy to name "A hundred women. of social
position and fashionable leadership, who,
by resolving to dress, for a year. in Amer
lean fabrics, might give an impulse to in
dustry and production. that would be felt
all over the country. We would not do
so absurd a thing us to suggest to any lady
/ to wear an unbecoming dress, to make a
| fright of herself" OH any consideration
But domestic calicoes are elegant, tasteful,
becoming, everything that is to be desired,
except that they are not foreign and net
expensive. They admit of the most beau.
tifuI makes and of an indefinite variety o


trimming, and capabilities of adaptation
to different styles of figure and complexion
that more costly fabrics do not possess.
And the ladies who would wear them ant
make the most of them would look SC
charmingly that their very husbands would


fall in love with them; or. if the inappre


ciative wretches should fail to do, othel


women's husbands would; and then th'
large class of unfortunates who are no


body's husbands would quite adore them
-Pr0ridence JOuqdl.
Year: 1874

Ice BREAKING UP.-The warm weather
started the ice in the Hudson, and to such
IN extent that work ut fully One-half of the
ice-houses was suspended, Saturday,
throwing over 5000 men out of work. At
Troy the breakup began, early Sa urday
morning, the water rising ten feet in as
many minutes and carrying away u ting,
stone boat coal boat, floating derrick, and
pile-driver, all of which, except the tug
will probably be destroyed Seven men,
who were ut work on one of the piers of
the Congress street bridge, took refuge on
two b4rges, which were forced by the ice
and current down the river to point near
Albany, where the ice became iammed.
During the afternoon the men succeeded
in crossing on cakes of ice to the east
shore.


AT Alb my the ice as fur up as the nail
factory remains firm, notwithstanding the
pressure from above owing to the break
up ut row The water has risen until it
is level with the Quty street dock in some
places. Some of the ice bridges have
already been removed in anticipation o1
such ;tn event


At Rhinebeck. the steamer Norwich sue
ceeded, in forcing her way across the
river.


The people of Fulton, N. Y, who were
recently driven from their dwellings by
the freshet of the Oswego river, have fol
II week been suffering rom an ice block
ade, resulting from the sudden fall of tenn
pertture before the waters had time tC
subside, and nothing but II thorough spring
thaw can release the people from their un-
pleasant predicament; and even then
should another sudden rise in the rivel
occur, the entire destruction of many homes
| is inevitable Several manufactures are
compelled TO remain idle from the came
cause, the 70 MS and machinery being
| thoroughly coated with ice.
Year: 1874

In a Vermont town merchant detected
"A customer in the act of secretly loading
his pockets with eggs from one of the bar
rels in his store. The grocer said nothing
until his customer rose to leave the store
At this point the grocer inquired. " What
makes your pockets stick out so?" at the
same time Familiarity slapping the garment
Of the visitor. An unctuous stream of egg
iuice was Immediately visible. and the dis
concerted thief rushed from the store.
Year: 1874

A Puzzled PIKE.-In the great aqua
rum at Brighton. Eng. pike was intro
luced among the trout and other fish. At
first its behavior was quiet and commend
,ble, but after while the discovery
was made that it had great fondness
for the trout; such a liking. indeed. that
it did not hesitate to chase, and eat them.
Various plans were tried to stop the havoc
it made. all of which failing, plate-glass
partition wa. inserted in the aquarium be-
tween it and the trout. The pike watched
its former companions swimming around
on the other side of the glass, and, darting
toward them with great velocity. succeeded
in humping its nose violently against the
thick plate Evidently wondering what
was the matter. it req sated the experiment
several times, until. convinced that there
must be something wrong. it reluctantly
ceased its efforts. The glass was then re-
moved. and the pike finding it could swim
by and around the trout, frequently shot
after them. but always Slapped abruptly
when within a few inches of its intended
prey. AS if a sudden recollection of former
failures had returned.
Year: 1874

A young Lady advertises in the
Cleveland Plaindealer for young gentle
man to act rs an amanuensis- lie must
be able to write in cil hers, and when not
,hus engaged he will be expected to read
poetry with feeiing' converse
with ease, and be able to play cribbage
md backgammon. He must expect to be
kissed when she is pleased and cuffed when
she is not; but as her temper is ;scknowl-
edged to be good, there will probably be
more kissing than cutting. Tqere's
good chance for somebody.
Year: 1874

CONVENIENT REGULATIONs.-I re-
markable efficacy of red tape is well rep
resented in the case Of a lady in Halifax,
N. S., who desired the removal of her
dead cat, and was informed that she must
go to the senior alderman of the ward; he
would then tell the mayor. the mayor
would tell the health inspector, the health
inspector would tell the police. the police
would tell the dead-cat man. and he would
tell her when she could bury the cat her.
SELF
Year: 1874

The CoMMITTEE-ROoM VERSUS THE
FLOOR "A score of years ago and less, it
was enough for II man to declaim his glow
ing tribute for the country; after that he
sat down satisfied. His ambition seldom
went beyond this, and he would work
weeks and months on a speech to perfect
it to the standard of his time Doing this
once or twice a year. he thought he was
fulfilling all his obligations to his constit-
uency. To talk eloquently was the chief
business, and all had the time to listen
Some of the contests which agitated the
soul of the old orator. appear to US like
tempests in a teapot in tt ese latter days.
so full of big events. Now, the man who
occupies his place does his earnest talking
with his colleagues in the committee-room.
He who speaks in the old way is regarded
as superannuated or weak in mind. Now.
men are expected to make their points
quickly and in a business-like way. The
business which was formerly conducted on
the floor of the chamber. is rapidly passing
into the committee-room, and the tcnden-
cy to strangle extended debate is growing
stronger every session. Theraw member,
living in the old traditions, who wishes to
save the country in a speech modelled
after Clay or Webster, is numerically
knocked down with the gavel, or is sure oi
hard fall or two at the hands of expert
enced athletes who devote themselves to
tripping up new men and bringing them
under discipline. The utilitarian has kill
ed the orator, and the glory of grand SEN
tences has departed. d.-Scri6taer's
Year: 1874

A writer in the Cincinnati Gazette enters
into an interesting and apparently fair
comparison of real wages now and in 1851.
from which the conclusion is deduced that
the wages of day laborers are 25 per cent
higher, wheat 80 per cent higher and
pork 30 per cent cheaper than in Decem


ber, 1855 AS the reduction in the meat
staple balances the increase in the flour
staple wages have risen % per cent. This
would be reduced somewhat by the adj
vance in other groceries and also in rents
Year: 1874

The Commander of the British
man of war Niobe-Lambton Lor-
raine- arrived in New York to day.
It will be remembered that it was
the Commander of the Niobe who
volunteered to so from Kingston
to Santiago de Cuba to put stop
to the butcheries OF the Virginius
prisoners. He arrived there on the
morning OF the 9TH of November,
an hour before the time set for the
execution of fifty more of the crew
and passengers OF that i'll fated
vessel. He Immediately called on
the Governor and declared that
in the absence OF an American
man of war he would take the re
sponsibility of protecting American
citizens and guarding the honor of
the American flag" The Ameri
can people owe debt of gratitude
to this brave Lamb
ton Lorraine-whicli should be re-
paid by every possible act of cour
tesy to the justly distinguished
sailor.-Inter Ocean, April H.
Year: 1874

We have the truest sympathy
with and respect for those whose
active benevolence leads them to
engage in enterp prises for feeding
the hungry, clothing the naked, and
visiting the sick and impl isoned;
for such distressing exigencies lie
In our Immediate pathway. aud
must not be overlooked And vet
we can not help wishing that more
attention might be paid to the cause
of poverty and crime, and some
wise measures be invented for re-
moving those causes.