smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

When man is put into the grave and
mankind leave him, hc hears the noise
they make in walking away. Then two
angels come to the dead man, black in
color, but having blue eyes. The name
of one is Monkir, and ofthe other Nakir.
They cause the dead man to sit up in
his grave, and say to him, "What was
your opinion about Mohammed" Then
the person, if he be Moslem, will say,
81 bore witness that he was the servant
of God, and His Prophet" Then the
grave will be expanded seven thousand
yards in length and seven thousanin
breadth, and light will be put into it,
and the dead man will be told to sleep.
But if the inmate of the grave be
hypocrite, on the angelic inquiry being
put to him, he will answer, "I know
him not" The angels will then say to
him, "Did not thy understanding and
reading inform thee?' Then will he
be struck with an iron hammer: and he
will roar ont so us 10 be heard by all
animals, except man and genii. Then
the ground will be ordered TO close upon
him and break his sides, and turn his
right side TO his left, and his left to his
right. Also for the grave of each unbeli-
ever, there are appointed ninety serpcnts
to bite him to the day of resurrection, any
one of which breathing upon the earth
would blast il. The day of resurrec-
ton is preceded by the coming of Anti
christ. Anlichrist is blind of one eye,
and has a great deal ofhair falling about
his face; and he brings with him the
resemblanccs of paradise and hell.
But that which seems like paradise is,
in truth, he'll fire; and that which nc
shall say is hell, Is, in fact, paradise.
lie will come out of a road between Syria
and Irak, and will move over the earth
swiftly ''likc rain followed by wind"
For such tribes as believe on him Anti
christ will order the sky, and rain will
fall; and he will order the earth, and
il will produce vordure; and in the
evening their cattle will como TO them,
with higher humps upon their backs
then they went out with in the morn
ing; and their udders will be full. But
as for those tribes who do not believe
in Antichrist, their lands will be strick-
ell with dcsolation, and they will be
afflicted with drought and famine Com
temporary Review.
Year: 1877

LADIES AT SARAToGA.-Thc growing
independence and self-reliance of Am
erican woman-kind at Saratoga are
noted by a lady correspondent. Time
was, she says, when reputable woman
was shy of travelling by herself to or
from or about Saratoga. She would
come with n male escort, would leave
with male escort, and would be ac-
companied in all her little pleasure
trips by The same inevitable male es-
cort. But now ladies often come to
Saratoga by themselves; they remain
by themselves during their stay at the
springs, and when the time arrives they
pay their own bills, see to their own
baggage and depart. They saunter
around the various springs by thcmsel-
YES, they attend the hotel hops often in
groups, and all hours of the day ladies
can be seen riding out unaccompanied
by gentlemen, driving themselves, and
being therefore well driven. as q lady
expressed il.
Year: 1877

We make the following extract from
the Southern Cultivator for February:


Any one, who expects to farm sue
cessfully the present year, must be
ready to push work vigorously now.
The blacksmi,h's motto is, strike
when the iron is hot-the farmer 5
should be, plough whenever the
ground is dry-aad only then. If
land has not been broken heretofore,
lay off rows and bed up now, with q
view to reversing beds before planting
time. Ii this professional bedding IT,
advance was universally adopted, it
would prevent tie formation Of many
a gully. Defects in laying off rows
could readily he discovered and
remedied whilst rcbedding But if
rows are permanently laid off at first,
aud manure put in, defects are never
corrected again that year, and, by the
end OF the season, permanent wash
is established. The proper time for
rebeddins is determined by nature of
soil-if very light and sandy. it is
best to do the work some time in
advance of planting, to allow a "se,-
tling" and compacting Of the soil
otherwise the surface dries of so
rapidly, it becomes very difficult to
obtain stand" particularly Of cot
ton. If the land is "sliff," it is better
TO delay the operation longer.
Year: 1877

The style adopted by Mace, the pugi-
list, of ducking the head to avoid blows,
has always been considered one of his
strongest points. Some years ago a
heavy English hitter remarked in Mace's
presence that his face was not hard
enough for long fight, and one good
blow on the nose would demolish it.
Mace was standing against wall at the
time, and replied that he would hold
his hands by his side and let the other
hit him square on the nose if he wanted
to, and he would guarantee that his nose
would stand it. The Englishman lei
fly terrific blow, which Mace lodged,
allowing the misguided man to smash
his hand against the wall.
Year: 1877

"Brown, I don't see how it is that
your girls all marry off as soon as they
get old enough, while none of mine can
marry"


"Ohl that's simple enough l marry
my girls off on the buckwheat straw
principle"


But what is that principle? ] never
heard of it before"


"Well, ] used to raise. good deal of
buckwheat, and 1t puzzled ME to know
how to get rid of the straw. Nothing
would eat it, and it was great bother to
me. AT last thought of plan. /
stacked my buckwheat nicely and built,
a high rail fence around it. My cattle,
of course, concluded it was something
good, and at once tore down the fence
and at once began to eat the straw. / dog
ged them away and put up the fence q
few times, but the more / drove them
away the more anxious they became to
eat the straw. After this had been re-
peated few times the cattle determined
to eat the straw, and eat it they did, ev-
cry bit of it. AS I said I marry nv
girls off on the same principle. When
young man that l don't like begins
calling on my girls / encourage him in
every way | can. / tell him to come
often and stay as late as he pleases, and
| take pains to hint to the girls that ]
think they'd set their caps for him. 1t
works first rate. He don't make many
calls, for the girls treat him as coolly as
they can. But when young fellow that
like comes around, man that think
would suit me for SON. in-law, don t
let him make many calls before / give
him to understand that he isn't wanted
around my house. tell the girls, too,
that they shall not have anything to do
with him, and give them orders never to
speak to him again. The plan always
works first rate. The young folks begin
to pity each other, and the next thing ]
know they are engaged to be married.
When see that they are determined to
marry ! always give in and pretend to
make the best of it. That's the way ]
manage it.-[Dubuque Telegraph.
Year: 1877

So we heard great strapping young
man exclaim the other day in an office.
We did want 10 give him piece of our
mind so bad; and we'll just write to
him. You want capital, do you? And
suppose you had what you call capital,
what would you do with it?" You want
capital? Haven't you hands and feet,
and muscle, and bone, and brains, and
don't you call them capital? What
more capital did God give anybody?
"Oh, but they are not money" say you.
But they are more than money, and mo-
body can take them from you. Don't
you know how to use them? If you
don't it's time you were learning
Take hold of the first plow or hoe, or
jack-plane, or board-ax you can find,
and go to work. Your capital will
soon yield you a large interest. Aye,
but there's money on credit, that you
may play gentleman and speculate, and
end by playing the vagabond. Or you
want plantation with plenty of hire
lings upon 1t to do the work, while you
run over the country and dissipate; or
you want to marry some rich girl who
may be foolish enough to take you for
your good looks, that she may support
you. Shame on you, young man. Go
to work with the capital you have, and
you will soon make interest enough up
on it to give as much money as you
want, and make you feel like man.
If you can't make money on what mon
ey you have, you could not make it if
you had million of dollars in money.
If you don't know how to use bone and
muscle and brains, you would not know
how TO use gold. II you let what capi-
tai you have lie idle and waste and rust
out, it would be the same thing with
you if you had goldl you would only
know how to waste it. Then don't
stand about idle, great helpless child,
waiting for some one to come and feed
you, but go TO work. Take the first


work you can find, no matter what it is,
so long as you do it we'll. Yes, what
ever you undertake, do it we'll; always
do your best. If you manage the capi-
tai you already have, you will soon


have plenty more to manage but if


you can't or won't manage the capital


God has given you, you will never have


any other to manage. Do you hear,


young man?
Year: 1877

The noctograph is a simple invention
by means of which any one may write in
the dark with ease, and is consequently
blessing to those whose eyes are over
worked. 1t may be made by child. A
board of smooth black walnut, eleven
inches in length by ten inches in width,
has upon it walnut frame like slate
frame, somewhat smaller than the board
Board and frame are fastened together
by small hinges From side to side of
the frame are stretched sixteen small
brass wires, and one can write between
them, the wires serving not to guide the
hand exactly, but to prevent the running
together of the lines. 1t is best to use
ordinary soft paper and a lead pencil
The paper is held in place by the frame
which shuts down upon the boards as
one side of double slate shuts upon the
other. True, one may acquire the habit
of writing in the dark without any such
aid, but this noctograph simpli6es mat
tiers. There are many who, from var


ious causes, find it impossible to write
by bright light, and to them we rec
ommend the use of the noctograph.
Year: 1877

A man on ninth street, whose appe-
tite for sleeping is improved by glass
of ale before retiring, got his ale bottle
out the. other night and began to look
for the corkscrew. He looked on the
mantlepiece, on the stand, in the drawer,
all over the dinning room, in the kitch-
en-, up stairs, down in the collar, in the
bath room and on the front steps.


After consuming an hour in hunting
he concluded to open the bottle with his
knife. He dug half the cork out, broke
his knife blade, and then punched the
balance of the cork down the bottle
with his finger, which finger went down
into the bottle below the first joint, and
he couldn't get it out. He went around
the room with the bottle hanging to his
hand and the ale squirting up his sleeve
Finally all the ale gave out and he was
preparing to 60 to bed with the bottle
on his finger when the bottle broke ant
he was released. He said his prayer
and went to bed, and in the morning
found the corkscrew in his pocket. HI
never swore to exceed one hundred
times during the whole of the perform
ance.-[L La Crosse Sun.
Year: 1877

If some celestial railway could be
imagined, the journey to the sun, even
if our trains ran sixty miles an hour,
day and night, and without a stop,
stop, would require over one hundred
and aeventyfve years. Sensation, even,
would not travel, so far in human life
time. To borrow the curious iIlustra-
tion of Professor Mendenhall, if we
could imagine an infant with an arm
long enough to enable him to touch the
sun and burn himself, he would die of
old age before the pain could reach him,
sipce, according to the experiments of
Helmholtz and others, nervous shock
is communicated only at the rate OF
about 100 feet per second, or ], 1,637 miles
day, and would need more than $50
years to make the journey. Sound
would do it in about IA years if it could
be transmitted through celestial space,
and cannon ball IN about 9, if it were
to move uniformly with the same speed
as when it left the muzzle of the gun. If
the earth could be suddenly stopped in
her orbit, and allowed to fall unobstruct-
ed toward the sun under the accelerating
influence of his attraction, she would
reach the central fire in about four
months. I have said if she could be
stopped, but such is the compass of her
orbit that, to make its circuit in a year,
she has to move nearly nineteen miles a
second, or more than fifty times faster
than the swiftest rife ball; and in NOV
ing twenty miles her path deviates from
perfect straightness by less than one
eighth of an inch. And yet, over all the
circumference of this tremendous orbit


the sun exercises his dominion, and ev.
cry pulsation of his surface receives its


response from the subject earth.-[ Pro


fessor G. A. Young. in Popular Science


Monthly for February.
Year: 1877

New York Graphic: The epidemic
of panic spreads to the church as we'll as
theater. In Astoria, quite recently, the
galleries of the Dutch Reformed Church,
being crowded, showed signs of giving
way, and the usual frenzied rush occur


red. We al e waking up to the existence
of ecclesiastical man-traps over the
whole country. AS every denomina-
ton and shade of denomination must
have its own church, and as division
and subdivision cut up the community
into numerous small bodies, and there
being a consequent division and subdi-
vision of cash, the result is that churches
must be built as cheaply as possible. So
they go up, weak in the knees, weak in
floor supports, weak in gallery pillars,
and weak in steeples, which are now
capsizing in every heavy gale. These
devotional houses of shingle exist by
the ten thousand, and on every special
occasion are liable to be smashed, and
the future will prove it. The climax of
this theological, architectural stupidity
eliminates when people tear down, as
often they do, the stout old oak framed
church built by their grandfathers and
supplant it by the present shingle trap.
Year: 1877

A letter written by Lord Macaulay in
1857, and now published for the first
time in Harper's Monthly, contains the
following passage: at is quite plain
that your Government will never be able
to restrain asdistressed and discoptented
majority. For with you the majority is
the Government, and has the rich, who
are always minority, absolutely at its
mercy The day will come when in the
State of New York a multitude of peo-
pie, none of whom has had more than
half breakfast, or expects to have more
than half dinner, will choose Legis-
lature. Is it possible TO doubt what sort
of a Legislature will be chosen? y


l seriously apprehend that you will, in
some such season of adversely, do things
which will prevent prosperity from re-
turning. There will be, fear, spolia-
tion. The spoliation will increase the
distress. The distress will produce fresh
spoliation. There is nothing to stop
you. Your Constitution is all sail and
no anchor. AS / said before, when a
society has entered upon this downward
progress, either civilization or liberty
must perish. Either some Cesar OF
Napoleon will seize the reins of govern


ment, or your republic will be as fear


fully plundered and laid waste by bar


barians in the twentieth century as tn.


Roman Empire was in the fifth.
Year: 1877

If smallpox can be cured by cream
of tartar, it is time everybody knew the
fact. A correspondent of the Liverpool
Mercury says that it is not only never
failing remedy in the worst cases, but is
also preventive. The directions are
to dissolve one ounce of cream of tartar
in pint of boiling water, and to drink,
when cold, at short intervals. Not q
very exact prescription, to be sure, but
the remedy is so simple that it may be
we'll worth trying. 1t is said that
thousands have thus been cured and
that no marks of the disease remain.
Year: 1877

It Is curious how the instincts of an
animal anticipate convulsions of nature
before the reason of man foresees il.
Audubon relates a striking case of this
sort when riding at the West:


In the month of November the natur-
alist was riding along on,horseback, when
he heard what he imagined to be the
distant rumbling of violent tornado.
""On which," he says, 81 spurred my
steed, with wish to gallop as far as
possible to place of shelter; BIT tut would
not do; the animal knew better than /
what was forthcoming, and instead of
going faster, so nearly stopped that ]
remarked that he placed one foot after
another on the ground with as much
precaution as if riding on a sheet of ice.


81 thought that he had suddenly been
foundered, and speaking to him, was on
the point of dIsmounting and leading
him. when he all at once fell groaning
piteously, hung his head, spread out his
forelegs as if to save himself from fall
ing and stood stock still, continuing to
groan. / thought my horse was about
to die, and would, if 1 had the time,
have sprung from his back had minute
more elapsed, but at that instant all the
shrubs and trees began to move from
their very roots, the ground rose and fell
in successive burrows, like the ruffied
waters of lake, and became bewild-
cred in my ideas, as l too plainly dis
covered that this awful commotion in
nature was the result OF an earthquake.
The fearful convulsion, however, contin-
ued only few minutes, and the heavens
again frightened up as quickly as they
became obscured, my horse brought his
feet to their natural position, and raised
his head and galloped off as if loose and
frolicking without a rider"
Year: 1877

The Emperor of Brazil, who is at
present travelling in Egypt, met with
disagreeabls adventure the other day in
Cairo. His Majesty is very fond of
donkey riding, and one morning, hav-
ing descend.d into the street in a jacket
and small cap, with light switch under
his arm, mounted one of these little ami
mails and trotted off on an expedition
through labyrinth of back streets. On
returning from his ride, not wishing to
alight from the dondey in front of his
hotel, he pulled it up a few hundred
yards from the building, and not having
any "small change" in his pocket, gave
the donkey driver guinea instead of a
piastre. The donkey driver, however,
had never before seen a coin of this ma
ture, and looking first at the guinea and
then at the Emperor, came to the con-
clusion that the guinea was merely a
worthless counter, and that an attempt
was being made to "chisel" him. The
row he made was terrific; rushing after
the Emperor, who had walked off at a
| rapid pace toward the hotel where his
suite were anxiously awaiting him, the
donkey driver assailed his Majesty with
all the most horrible oaths in the Arat
vocabulary. The Emperor, who does
not understand single word of Arabic
but saw that the man was laboring un
der misapprehension, endeavored il
vain to explain to him that the coin wal
gold and not copper. In the mean tim'
other donkey drivers hurried to tn,
spot, and taking the part of their mate
followed the Emperor with storm o
imprecations. Thus surrounded by
mob of donkeys and their drivers, tn


hapless Dom Pedro at last reached hi
hotel, where the whole affair was ex


planned, and the donkey drivers, discov


ering the true state of the case, miracu
, lously disappeared in the twinkling c


an eye.
Year: 1877

versation. Every one seemed to be un-
der the feeling which impressed US re-
garding her, and the general wish was to
avoid making her and her mysterious
condition the subject Of conversation.


The years went by, and every summer
found us at grandiather's. And summer
after summer found Cousin Leonore very
much the same as she was when we knew
her first She grew old after certain
fashion. The brown hair got streaked
with gray, and the mouth which had
sometime been sweet with youth lost its
curve, and the cheeks their rose-tints.-
But for all we saw these indications OF
growing old, Cousin Leonore remained
the same mystery she had been at first.
In that sense she could never be old.


As we gained years. and better
knowledge Of the world and the men and
women in it, we gradually accepted the
opinion of our elders that Leonore was
daft" and gave up trying to under
stand her. Her life was one Of those
human problems which we could not
solve, and there was no use in trying to
do it.


But one summer brought an end to
our visits to grandfather's, and in sud
den and unlocked for way. We woke
up in the night with sense of suffoca-
ton. The room was full of smoke, l
got up and ran to the door. The hall
was full Of great billows of fame in the
front part of the house. There was no
escape in that direction. ! could hear
men shouting hoarsely below, and !
knew they were trying to rouse US. For
a moment thought we must die. Then
I remembered that there was stout
trellis running all over the back part Of
the house, npon which grapevine had


been trained. We could reach this trellis
from the window in the rear end of the
hall. / hurried Willie and Robbie on


before me, for they were so frightened


that the only way to do anything with


them was to drive them like sheep. !


dashed out the window, and told them


they must Chamber down. Hardly COM


pretending what they were doing, but


acting more from force of instinct than


anything else, | suppose. they obeyed


me.


don't know what prompted me to dc


il, but when saw that Robbie was safe


on the ground, and Willie was almost


down, / turned and back 10 Cousin


Leonore's room, opened the door, and


looked in. She sat there, motionless and


still, with the lurid glare of the flames
lighting up her face, her eyes looking
! away into infnity with dumb patienc'
. in them that made me think Of tn,
Sphinx.


, "Cousin Leonore!" cried. "The hous'
) is all on fire. You'll be burnt up, if yol
= don't come with me-"


; But she never stirred, never spoke
3 possibly she did not hear me.
/, There was crash of falling timberf
, Vast waves of fire whirled down the hall
{ and warned me that was risking life b.
e delaying second.


{ gave one last look at Cousin Leonore
: Calm as the dead can be, she sat there
e staring before her. Then l turned an
ran to the window, choked and blinded


by the smoke. swung myself over tn
| sill, caught the trellis bars, and clambe,
ed down, just as the roof fell in with
It mighty crash, sending up grand mas
a. of flame and smoke into the still blu
Z. arch of night. We had paid our la'
If visit to grandfather's house.
Year: 1877

One of the crying evils of the times is
the tendency and disposition of girls to
get through girlhood hurriedly and get
into womanhood, or rather into young
ladyhood without waiting to enjoy the
beautiful season of girlhood. Speak
ing on this point, Bishop Morris says:
"Wait patiently, my children, through
the whole limit of your girlhhood. Go
not after womanhood; let it come to you.
Keep out Of public view. Cultivate re-
tirement and modesty. The cares and
responsibilities of life will come soon
enough. When they come you will
meet them, trust, as true women
should. But oh! be not SO unwise as to
throw away your girlhood. Rob not
| yourself of this beautiful season, which,
wisely spent, will brighten all your fu'
ture life."
Year: 1877

Mansfield Island, in Lake Erie. has
been bought by man who intends to
stock it with black cats, and kill their
progeny for their fur. He will feed
them at first on fish caught off the shore
by men who will live on the island; but
after the enterprise is well started he
will utilize the meat of the slaughtered
cats as food for the living cats. We al
SO read that Georgian is making an
extensive business of raising dogs tan
ming their hides, and selling the leather
for glove making aad other purposes.