smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

If all the vice i'm the world were confined to
bachelors, the verdict just given in the Brinck-
ley case would be subject of general con-
graduation. No severer warning against what
is sometimes regarded as venial fault among
our gilded youth could be imagined than this
verdict which marries q man of fortune and
social position to licentlOus companion, upon
her own testimony. Judge Van Brunt ex-
pressly told the jury that unless they believed
that the parties went through solemn form
of agreement to marry on the 14th of June,
1864, the plaintiff had no case. The woman
swore they did, the man swOre they did not
AS the Judge and jury were men they nat
urally took the wOmans side. The other facts
in the case were disregarded; the witnesses
who swOre to the vicious life Of the plaintiff
from personal knowledge and fIOm common re-
pute, were looked upon by the Court with an
evil eye. The evidence that she was transferred
from one man to another like piece of
merchandise, that she had visited improper
houses with Brinckley before the pretended
date of marriage, were held to weigh nothing.
Little stress was placed upon what would seem
to most people the most important point of
the case-that Brinckley had introduced the
woman as ulS WIG III HOttlb anu In Otner
places. The case was decided by the jury on
the charge of the Judge relative to the secret
marriage Of Brinckley and the plaintiff-solus
cum sold-of which there was not the slightest
evidence except her oath, contradicted by his.
The Judge said that if Brinckley intended to
make the woman believe this agreement was
marriage, it was one, even If he had no
intention to marry her.


1t may be said that this case is full of edi-
fication for young men Of more money than
brains OF conscience. If they would all read
it and lay it to heart it might keep them out
of ways where there is nothing, and ought to
be nothing, but misery and degradation. There
will be no sympathy felt for those who suffer
by such an application of law. The good of
society is directly involved in making the ret
ribution which lights upon men who trans
gress the laws of morality as severe and as
certain as possible. If a man lives with o
woman, imposing her upon decent people as
his wife when she is not 1t is not too great
a punishment for his fault to give her
his tarnished name and the money which
he puts to so bad q use. So far, there
is q sort of equity in the treatment which O
sympathetic jury has measured out in this
case. If all pen bsd gsasQp. aud ~ Wa4ss
Year: 1874

vere perfect, nothing but good could result
from such laws. and such interpretations OK
them. .Itr... +..f-.T .T.-N


But unfortunately there is another side TO
the case which is also worthy of consideration.
There are many young men who are weak
vain, and rich; and some women who are
immoral avariciOus, and cunning. The foolish
young men will not learn the lesson taught
by this case; there is sone reason to fear the
female adventurers will. BY carefully combin-
ing few points of evidence. it is placed In
the power of one of these women to get ono
of these simpletons completely In her clutches,
and to 90 before gallant and chivalrous jury
and get his name and his money. 1t will serve
the young mau just right, we may say: no
one should be an immoral simpletOn. But 1t
may be doubted whether it is good thing
for these women, inclined to live without
work and without honor, to make the
way of vice SO easy and 80 profitable. Inc
question is full of thorns however 1T Is de-
cided. Every ono who is interested In the
troublesome subject of social morals Will Dc
clad to know that this particular decision Is
to he appealed, and to receive the mature con-
sideratiOn of higher court. 1t is matter
which is greatly in need of all the attention
which our courts can give it. Society rests
upon the institution of marriage, and anything
which impairs its binding force and sanctity
ia disastrous. 1t is too sacred to be made either
a means of proHigacy or a legal punishment.
Year: 1874




There seems to be vague and mysterious
connection in certain minds between states
manship and shOe-latchets Precisely what it
is or how to trace it we are unable to declare,
but that the two things have occult relation
with each other no one can deny who has at
all kept the run of the Investigations of the
past two years and of their effect upon the
minds of leading statesmen. A number of
leading statesmen of the most sanity antece-
dents and the most encouraging prospects
have had the misfortune during the past
two years to be attacked by what
Mr.. Secretary Sawyer describes as a
barking pack, and Mr. Butler less elegantly
calls orty-jackass mud-throwing power.
Some of them have disappeared from public
life, some are just lingering on the horizon,
and some are apparently as high as ever in the
confidence, if not of the public, at least of
their own party, which answers just as well.
The singular fact about all these statesmen is
that. as soon as the breath Of suspicion touched
them from any quarter, they almost invaria-
bly, began to talk about hOelatchets. In
deed, that seemed the only thing that gave
them dOwncast expression. They at once
began contemplating the beauty of their shoe
iatchets, and to consider how utterly unworthy
any of the bowling pack were to unlOose
| them.


Possibly it may be remembered that during
the Fall of 1872 the bowling pack INDUCED in
what tue sable South Carolina legislator calls
Year: 1874

The Board of Aldermen, by q decisive vote,
requested the Mayor yesterday TO suspend and
remove the Police Commissioners for NAL
feasance in the administration of two of the
most important departments of their office.
The evidence on which the charges are based
was furnished by standing Legislative Com
mittee and one of the branches of the Su-
preme Court, and cannot be cast aside as
political truck. Yet the Police Commissioners
complacently assert that the assault upon
them is the merest chIlds play, inasmuch as
the Mayor is their sworn ally.
Year: 1874

A notable instance of unwise economy has been
given by the Board of Commissioners of the Central
Park in the summary dismissal OF Mr. Jacob Wrey
Mould from the place he has so long filled as Archi-
tect of the Central Park. Mr.. Mould came to this
country in 1852 a thoroughly educated architect,
leaving behind him IN England well-earned pro-
fessiona reputation yet for the first ten years OF
his employment by this city, he was paid only
draughtsman's wages, and kept in entirely subor
dinate positiOil--hs name scarcely mentioned in the
Reports and as little credit possible given him
for the architectural and ornamental designs used in
the Park which came entirely from his brain and
were almost entirely drawn by his own hand. The
whole Terrace as an artistic design and all its de-
tails the Dairy; the Casino; the ornamental work
of all the bridges; the designs for the as yet unexe-
cuted gates as well as those for the Metropolitan
Museum, all are due entirely to Mr.. Mould. If he is
now thrown out in spirit of mistaken economy he
will at least have the double satisfaction of know
ing that every penny of his meager pay for
thanked services has been earned by faithful work.
and that he has left enduring monument TO his
own taste and skill in all that portion OF the archi
lecture and ornamentaton of the Park which he has
been permitted to control.


The National Academy of Design in Twenty third
ST. closes its Spring Exhibition the 9th Of June.





merits of the collection of paintings exhibited have
received full justice in the columns of this paper,
and we take pleasure in saying once more that the
artists and officers of the Academy have done them
selves great credit and have given much encourage
ment to their friends and the friends of art IN this
country. The show this Spring has not only been
the best for many years past but it has been marked
by such positive merit to to look forward
to the future with new and liveyt hope. Mr..
Ward has been most laboriOus and successful
President and he has an able successor in Mr. Whit.
redge and the best interests of the Academy will
receive full justice in the competent hands of the
new board of officers. Meanwhile, those who have
the present exhibition will regret il if they
do not go before the 9th Of June.


The London correspondent of The Cincinnati
Commercial says he heard eminept OF science"
In that city, intimate friend Of Huxley remark that
Harvard College could MT find any living except
Huxley capable Of carving the work from the point
where Agassz had left 1t. when asked II he thought
Huxley would refuse the ofer, the gentleman
much difference with such that from what spot
on the earth he spoaks-the world will hear him. They
would have TO make t worth his .while-I mean In
money; for 70 him money means the furthernnce OF
knowledge and the Increase VI opportunity. IL would
be very dihouit for tho Americans 70 supply him
with larger f0r the accomplishment Of his aims
than Epgland dQss. and u 70 bSiieye hs would go"
Year: 1874

II Is undoubtedly true that when men
have reached certain stage in the down
hill of life, it becomes them to walk with
cautious steps, for stumble then will be
a very different thing from what 1t would
have been when they were full of youth
and strength. Yet, strangely enough, old
men, notwithstanding all the wisdom which
comes from experience, do not like to ad-
NIT that their physical faculties have been
decayed, but often they say that they feel
as ever they did. Tho late Mayor Have
meyer, Of New York, although past his
three score aud ten, kept up the battle Of
ME with marvellous self.reliance, and after
walking two miles to the city hail, facing
a strong wind, with no other purpose than
to sign a payroll, congratulated himself
that he never felt better nor brayer Wind
and weather were nothing to him, and yet,
in the flush Of his triumphant boast, he
fell suddenly dead.


The Newark On. j. Adpertiser makes
some reflections on the incident, which
those spirited old gentlemen who persist
in imagining that they are able to endure
as much as they ever did DO well to lay to
heart: " However robust the outside ap-
pearance, the years have always done their
work, and the sure-coming severance Of
soul and heart is steadfastly approaching,
liable to happen at slight causes which the
youthful constitution would laugh aside.
As the years grow on the doom not only
approaches, but is positively happening.
One by one the chords are imperceptibly
severed and the physical frame subjected
to poverty Of nervous force which must
end in death. Old men die from frost us
young men do from sun-stroke. The
young man falls because the brain Is over
powered by heat and cannot act in CON
cert with the body, and the old man dies
from cold because the body has been steal
ing slowly away from brain control and be-
coming vegitative and automatic in its
action 1t was the frost that killed Mayor
Hayemeyer, just as il will kill other self
willed old gentlemen within the next few
months who will insist on proving to the
rising generation that an old boiler is bet
ter than new one, and that age has moth
ing to do with endurance"
Year: 1874

Quite stir has been created in the
scientific world by the invention of ma
chine for the application of a new motor
a new principle Of motive power as far
superior to steam as steam is superior to
wind and water Mr.. John w. Kelley,
Of Philadelphia, is the inventor He has
worked fourteen years at Il, and is said to
have the favorable opinion Of leading
scientific men who have examined the
machine and seen ii in operation. A
patent has been applied for, but the public
is not yet to know much about it. Mr..
Keeley asserts that with only two gallons
of water he would be able to draw q train
of ears from Philadelphia to San Francisco
and back. The water would be utilized
over and over, much as in condensing
engine Incredible as the claim is, the
inventor declares that he obtains this vast
power without the use of fuel, without the
use Of chemicals Of any kind, and without
the use of electricity or magnetic currents;
and that in the machinenow at his residence
he has developed the enormous pressure
Of seven thousand pounds to the square
inch When it is remembered that steam
boilers are only subjected to strain of
from thirty to perhaps two hundred pounds
per square inch, according to the purposes
for which they are constructed, proper
sense of this leap to seven thousand pounds
may be realized, An immense change
this will prove--if all said Of the machine
be true.
Year: 1874

Italian opera is the most arbitrary, con-


yentional, and extravagant form, which art


has taken for the pleasure Of those whose


pleasures must be refined luxuries. And


this is the most refined and yet one Of the


most earthly of luxuries which is


partly sensual, partly emotional, and not


at all intellectual, and Of which the height


Of the enjoyment is in direct proportion


only to cultivated sensuous refinement and


emotional susceptibility. Regarded in the


light Of reason, Italian opera is monstrous


and even ridiculous. At best ii exists at


the very periphery Of rational conference,
a hairs breadth beyond which sends us


whirling in fragmentary fashion into the


abyss Of unfathomablc nonsense.


A reasonable creature, taken in stark
unpreparation and set down In an opera
house while the business Of high strung
scene was going on--a tenor stabbed to
death, and dying with such effusion of
musical noise as would tax the capacity Of
an organ bellows; loye-lorn prima donna
raying about the stage in the very ecstasy
Of melodious Mysteries; dozen or two Of
lockers on, who offer the man no aid and
the lady no hartshorn, but who simply
stand aronnd and sing, while before them
two or three score musicians give them
selves up to fddling, and footing, and
blowing, and humping, among whom,
perched high, man beats the air with
little stick; and yet, more wonderful, most
wonderful of all, vast assemblage, dressed
on purpose in their best clothes, look down
upon the scene with breathless interest,"
and when the noise stops--for noise it
simply is, not one distinguishable word
being heard by any creature present
break forth into such extravagant and
tumultuous expressions Of delight as he
never can have heard before (for il il re-
that no such outbursting and
manifestly soul-relieving applause as greets
the most admired passages in a favorite
opera is elected by any other act done
in earnest or performed in make-belisve
by any human creature on any other
occasion or in any other place what
ever)-the reasonable being, having this
spectacle set before his unprepared, untu-
tored eyes-would he not say that these
people, prima donna, tenor, chorus, I'D
dlcrs, and fiddleers, were mad--all lunatics
p The Gala1y for November.
Year: 1874

The other night we observed young
man reeling along the street as Indifferent
as if he were doing something highly res
pectable and honorable. He was drunk
and a young man too. Tell that young
man he is not gentleman, and he would
feel indignant Tell linn he is unworthy
Of public confidence, and that he is build
ing up black and degrading reputation,
and he will point you to instances in which
society wiuks at drunkenness aud pets and
fawns upon the favored votary Of the cup
False and fatal excuse young mani


You win find it 80 and when the world
turns q cold shoulder on you, and you
find yourself poor, ffiendless vagabond /,
you viii find out when you stand upon the
verge Of dishonore d grave and behold
the fancied orgies Of thousand demons
in the cursed cupi Young man, be care-
ful how you tamper with liquor; you have
name and character to form you have
destiny TO ell; determine at ouoe how
these all important matters are to be met.
Year: 1874

very easy construction, and may be made
as durable as the house itself. A gentle
man whose house Is situated at about the
forty-second degree Of North Latitude,
where the rainfall, snow included, is pro-
baby about forty inches during the year,
receives more water from his roof than he
can use. The running water that comes
to his house from natural spring is al
lowed to go to waste, so much is his cist-
ern-water preferred to the other. He is a
druggist, and he finds this water sufficient
ly pure for chemical purposes.


The advantages of cistern water from
the roofs over that which is now usually
supplied from other sources, are several.
First, with proper fltering apparatus at
taehed to the cistern, the water can be
rendered nearly as pure as If it were dis
TILED. Second, the use ofleaden pipes, now
source Of disease to many, may be entirely
dispensed with. Third, no trouble need be
apprehended from freezing up" which is
now in many localities the cause of great
trouble and expense; while the water is
always of delightful temperature, both
Winter and Summer, rendering ice un-
necessary at any season. A fourth advan-
tage derived from the use Of roof-water,
and which is by no means ineonsiderable,
is that it enables one to select for the site
of his house high and airy point favora-
bic to health, where no other kind Of water
could well be procured. The location Of
our dwelling may make wide difference
In our enjoyment Of life. A house that il
situated at low point, towards which the
drainage flows, where the air is damp and
chill, the evening shadows come soon, and
the electrical condition Of the atmosphere
may be unfayorable, is not SO pleasant and
agreeable as il would be If itwere on some
breezy upland, from which the drainage
flows away, and the prospect is bright
sunny and cheerful.


We cannot close this article more fit.
tingly than by quoting passage from an
able paper recently read at the late Health
Congress held in Philadelphia, on the sub.
ject Of Building Ground in its relation tc
Health, by DIR. Ezra NJ. Hunt Of New
Jersey. The Doctor says awe mnsl
get the homes of the people on better
foundation than damp, water-sOaked, air
polluted, filth-burdened ground. We must
see that its soil particles are not overladen
with vegetable or animal decay, that its
fountains of moisture are not impeded in
their flow or saturated with impurities
that air has free circulation through all
its spaces and that its regulative ability as
to temperature is not unduly complicated. u
Year: 1874

had been found to tally in the minutest
details with the facts, it would continue
consistent throughout. II was therefore
with renewed zest and with the burning
impatience which torturcs the soul when
one is confident Of the result and sees the
desired object almost in his grasp, that the
doctor seized a pick-axe and ordering his
men to follow suit, broke ground in the
last stage Of the quest after a treasure
which his feyered fancy pictured as more
and more colossal as the rapturous mo
ment approached when il would be opened
to view. Such was his impatience that
he was the first to make discovery. The
point Of the pick, after turning up the
soft soil almost noiselessly for some anxious
minutes, at last struck something hard
with a most decided click. The next
stroke the sound was repeated, and at the
same time a bit of red pottery was thrown
up. The doctor perspiring with excite
ment, flung aside the pick-axe and, falling
on his knees, began to draw out the earth
with his hands, while every one stopped
his work and looked on with breathless
expectation. 1t took but a minute to
bring to light an carthen jar, but on try
ing to raise it they found it was cracked
in several pieces, and that the bottom had
fallen out. What was more important
the jar was empty Here was disap-
pointment, to be sure but they would not
yet give up heart there were still many
jars, and perhaps this one was only
"blind.' But jar after jar was turned up
and all were found more or less broken,
and not dollar did one Of them contain.
Last of all the searchers cut down the
central tree and unearthed the last jar
over which il stood. This also, crowning
disappointment of all, was in the same
condition and contained only earth worms.
Bafiied, but not quite disheartened the
treasure seekers, as last resort, dug
several feet below where the central jar
had been. They did not find the treasure
they ought, but they ascertained where ii
had gone.


They came to water, and thus discover
ed the solution of the mystery, and what
had robbed them of the gold They stood
on mere alluvial crust of oozy soil, under
which the water percolated at some depth
below. The moisture of the earth had
softened the jars, and the weight of the
treasure had carried away the bottom and
caused it gradually to sink lower and low
er, as in quicksand, until it had dropped
into the water, and Of course out of sight.


There was nothing more to be done but
to abandon further operations for the time,
as such result had not been foreseen and
the means for raising the money were not
at hand. But the following year the doc
tor returned to the bayou with pumping
machine and ample apparatus for his pur-
pose, and after much labor was partially
rewarded for his trouble.


Doubloons and guiueas, vases and cask-
cts Of precious metals elaborately chased,
the handiwork Of skilled artisans Of various
races and ages, gems of price, which had
long lain concealed in the slime of the
forest again flashed in the sunbeams. But
all the lost treasure was not regained;
some of it eluded the closest scrutiny of
avarce and enterprise, and still lies buried
forever under the waters and the sod of
Florida.
Year: 1874

December winds are whispering chill
To barren oaks that crown the hill,


And to the dead leaves there
A strange, sad song, 80 full Of pain,
The sharp winds sing to bill and plain;--
A doleful dirge--for all the slain


That once bloomed swectly fair.
The pines and cedars wear their green,
But make more desolate the scene


OF darkness and decay;
Sole mourners on the hillside, there,-
They moan their tones Of wild despair
That swell upon the wintry air,


Then sadly ebb away.
And many human tree, tonight,
Stands leaaess in the waning light


OF Hopes expiring beam;
Beneath them all their dead leaves lie
Above them hangs wintry sky;
Around them chill winds wall and sigh


That JOY is but dream.
Pale lovers, whose young loves are dead
Sad bards, whose glorious dreams have fed


Stand on Life's windy hill
And with them stands the ruined maid,
Whose leaves Of joy have all decayed,
While unrelenting, undismayed


Life's wintry winds sing chill.
God pity all these human trees
That sway in Lfe's wild wintry breeze


This lone and dreary night,
And grant that an Eternal Spring
To each new robes of green may bring,
And joy-birds once more sweetly sing,


In Summers Land Of Light.
Year: 1874

When the long bright hours are numbered
And the daylight beauty dies
When the stars their nightly wateh.fres
Kindle in tho nightly skies
What is that which, gently stealing


Dream-like DER the musing mind,
Gains each wayward thought and feeling
With magic underlined 2
Hark the dash of distant waters,


Murm'ring in their ceaseless play,
Comes upon the breath Of evening,


Blending with the night. birds lay,
Whence the power that strangely sways us
As we list that mystic tune,
Bringing back sweet faded mem'ries


With the glances of the moon
Now the evening star arises,


Brightly Ger the wooded hill,
Gliding with her mellow radiance,


Field and forest, fount and rill.
Know'st thou whence this strong emotion,
Stirring cen the fount of tears
Why the glance so quick aud searching


Backward flies to childhood's yearsY
Is it memories of the wildwood,


Where in early life we strayedY
Or the moonlit haunts Of childhood,


Where we innocently played9
Is IL name Of friend or brother,


Hoarded long in memory's cell,
Or the mild glance Of our mother,


That awakes the mystic spell2
Deep within that cell is conferred


Yet what tongue can speak the whole2
Who reveal the hidden power


OF the strange, mysterious soul
Ever unexplained, yet present


With our spirit, dwells the power,
Potent thus to move or sway us,


In the pensiye evening hour