smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1878

Venus holds the place of honor
among the planetary brotherhood for
the month of December. On the 9TH
she is in superior conjunction with the
sun, and her whole enlightened disc is
turned towards US. She then rises and
sets with the sun, as the word "conjunc-
ton" indicates, but is invisible, her
lesser light being hidden by the bright
ness of the solar rays. After the 9TH
she commences her role Of evening star,
seemingly passing from the western to
the eastern side of the sun, and setting
later each succeeding evening, until at
the end of the month she fingers above
the horizon about twenty minutes after
sunset. Bright-eyed observers may pos
sibly catch glimpse of her, beaming
amid the glow of the western twilight a
week or two after the ushering in of the
new year. A week or two later, ordina-
ry Observers will be rewarded with one
Year: 1878

The following eloquent passage is
from the pen of Albert Barnes: A whole
family in Heaven! Who can picture
or describe the everlasting joy? No one
absent. Nor father, nor mother, nor
son, nor daughter, away. In the world
they were united in faith, and love, and
peace, and joy. In the morning
of the resurrection they ascended to-
gether. Before the throne they bow to-
gether in united alteration. On the
banks of the river Of life they walk
hand in hand, and as a family they
have commenced a career of glory
which shall be everlasting. Their here
after is to be no separation in that
family. No one is to lie down on
bed of pain; no one to sink into the arm
Of death. Never, in Heaven, is that
family to move along in the slow pro-
cession, clad in the habiliments of woe,
to consign one of its members to the
tomb. God grant that in his intimate
mercy every family may be thus
united.
Year: 1878

UNDER the system of improving the
Mississippi which has been adopted by
the war department two dams are to be
built near Hannibal, Missouri. One is
to be an eight hundred feet wing dam,
and the ether sixteen hundred feet
dam across the head Of Gilbert Chute.
The work. therefore, is of no little mag
nitude, and will require some months
in its completion.
Year: 1878

Some of the indurated customs and
practices III the Russian service, the
origin of which has been forgotten, are
very curious. Bismark is reported in
Dr.. Bush's book as telling about sem
tinel continually stationed in the mid
die Of a lawn in the summer Garden at
Petersburg, without any one knowing
why. Strict inquiry revealed that 100
years ago the Empress Catherine had
given orders for the protection of a
snow-drop at that particular spot, and
sentinel was sent to perform the duty.
The order never having been counter
manded, he and his successors kept on
guarding the spot for century, and
long after the original occasion for it
was forgotten. A correspondent of the
London Times matches this story with
another. Toward the end of her reign
the Empress Catherine discovered that
the civil list other son Paul was charged
with some thousands of bottles of bran
dy, though it was a liquor he never
touched. The charges were traced
back to the day of his birth, when the
nurse had sent for some brandy to
make lotion for him. From that
time bottle of brandy was sent, or at
least charged, to to him every day
Ne,g York Times.
Year: 1878

The sun shines every day Of the year
in Denver. The Colorado Bulletin
states that IN old resident, who has
kept record Of the days when the sun
was visible or invisible, vouches for the
fact that there has been unobscured
sunshine on 365 consecutive days.
Year: 1878

SOME negro boys organized mock
court in Baldwin, Ga, condemned a
playfellow to death, and hanged him
from beam. They supposed he would
tell when to let him down, bat he only
kicked, and they took that for sport.
He was choked to death.
Year: 1878

IT is said that the Missouri river
above the great iron bridge at Leaven-
worth, Kan, is rapidly cutting new
channel through eastward of the bridge,
and that unless arrested, in a shorttime
the bridge, which cost nearly million
dollars, will be completely isolated and
rendered useless.
Year: 1878

LADY JANE GREY SWISSHELM thinks
there is no way to ciyilize the Indians
but the old way by which white men
were civilized; and that is by severe
tuition Of the Lords schoolmasters-
cold and hunger. An Indian will work
rather than freeze or starve; and when
he begins to work, he begins 10 civilize.
Year: 1878

A QUEER case springs from the failure
of the City of Glasgow Bank. A lady
died recently having no heirs and leav-
ing no will, and her property went to
the Crown. Among Der possessions
was some of the stock, and as such
shareholder is individually liable for all
the debts it is proposed to hold the
Queen responsible.
Year: 1878

By the recent storm on the Atlantic
the Toronto Cam export firms lost
5000 head of cattle. 1t is estimated
that cattle to the value of 100000
have been exported from that city this
year
Year: 1878

One of the best possible foundations is


sea sand; at least so long as it is not inter


fered with. The man who built his house


upon the sand was not quite the Iunatic


that many worthy people suppose. Under


ordinary circumstances, his abode was
just about as secure as his neighbor's upon


the rock. Unfortunately, however, one
stormy night an unexpected flood came,
and next morning his want of forethought


was made apparent. So long, therefore, as
sand is uninfiuenced by running water it
is safe. Sink, however, well near, and
you at once undermine its security. Moth.
ing is more treacherous than sand when
allied with water. In harbor works heavy
piles (driven many feet into the sandy lift
ed and thrown up high and dry on the ad-
joining beach by single nights gale.
Sand has many curious properties. It's in.
compressibility is well known. A paper
cylinder filled with sand will sustain sur
prising load One of the London Polv-
technic experiments, a few years ago, was
to bury an egg in sand within sort of
enlarged cupel mold, and then to pound
the die vigorously; on afterwards empty
ing the sand, the egg was found uniniured.
The ancient Egyptian engineers, it is sur
missed must have Csed sand eytonSivaI,y
for some purposes for which we employ
timber. Mr.. Dixon supposes Cleopatra's
Needle, and the various monoliths of SINH
lar character, to have been raised into
vertical position by means of hillocks of
sand.
Year: 1878

mittee may meet and send the result OF its ballot 70 te
National Committee. When all the Statos shaIl nave
sent i'm their votes the National Committee snalI cOun
the same and announce the result Immediately 10 each
state Convention IL there snail be election on the
shail he made Bargaining manipulation Of delegations
or carrying nominations by hurrahs, would pe done
away with. The result would be the COOL deliberate
work OF each State Convention expressing the party
will and choice OF the State.
Year: 1878

Let the National Committee meet at Balt-
more say on the day hxed for nominating candda tes
Tor President and Vice President each STATE
meet IN It's own State, at place In telegraphic coinm-
heation with Baltimore or wherever the National Com
Year: 1878

The old italian proverb says, "The buyer
has need of an hundred eyes, the seller of
but oDe." The one eye needed by the seller
is to see the money, doubtless; and, assuredly
in these latter days, the buyer has need to
look about him. To get the highest price
for the least value is the object Of every
one who sells to hide flaws, to impose upon
those who are ignorant of the goods they
are purchasing, to tell any falsehood that
will make a sale, appears to be the rule OF
trade. Misrepresentation and misstate.
ments drop from the lips of men and women
who consider themselves eminently genteel,
and belong TO congregations of various sects
"This is all silk, lady" bursts spontaneously
from the lips of a saleswoman who exhibits
black, cotton lace scarf; and Every
thread linen," is the description which the
house-keeper receives Of towels into whose
composition not thread of linen enters.
The fbs told in secondclass dry goods stores
are so enormous that they argue love Of
lying on the part of the statesmen, and utter
idiocy on the part of the buyers. Why
should any one desire to make the state
ment that all the goods in his establishment
are sold at cost price, or expect any one to
believe that he entered into trade for the
purpose of clothing the community A
fair profit is the right of all who sells 1t
is the motive of his selling. "Upon my
word am giving this away" imposes upon
nobody. Why IL is so often uttered is a
mighty mystery, and must remain So Then,
too, If one desires a certain style of collar,
OF scarf, of veil, of shoe, quite in the mode,
and well known to be So and inquiries for
the article at a store where they do not hap
pen to keep it, the negative to the question,
Have you so and so ?" is always followed
by the remark, Nobody wears those now /;
they are entirely out of fashion," We will
say nothing about the bad taste of the com
ment but the utter want of truth is gen
orally displayed is surely astonishing.
doubt whether the sales made by these fibs
are large enough TO pay for them for most
women are obstinate, and when they want a
certain thing nothing else will content them.
But even if they do "pay," in the mercenary
sense they must give the person uttering
them habit of Acknowledgement make
him less trustworthy employe, and so less
valuable to the employer at whose desire he
transforms the honorable act of sale and
barter into trickery performance, in which
one party is swindled and the other is a
swindler.
Year: 1878




The Chief of Police of New York says
that three-fourths of the abandoned girls in
that city were ruined by dancing. Young


ladies allow gentlemen privileges in dancing
which, if taken under any other circum-
stances, these gentleman would be reported
as improper persons. | have a sister who
has passed away. On marble block it is
written, "Willing to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord" |
had rather go there with my sighs, tears,
flowers and prayers, and visit that little
grave as shrine, than have her present in
the body and see her one night in the dizzy
and promscuous ballroom. 1t requires
neither brains, good morals nor religion to
be good dancer. 1t leads to bad society.
never saw such vicious crowd of young
men at our college as on night when there
was to be ball. 1t won't mix with re-
ligion any more than oil and water will
mix. As the love of one increases, the love
Of the other decreases. How many eminent
Christians are distinguished dancers As
certain as the atmosphere around the ther-
mometer at zero will freeze things, as GER
tain as the wind that is bellying the sail will
drive the boat, so certain will dancing freeze
the religious sentiment out of the soul; 1t
will drive its devotees away from the church
it is wind that blows in that direction


No dancing is spoken of in the Bible that
was done by divine authority. In ancient
times the sexes danced separately. Alcohol
is the esprit of beverages. Take it out


and the young men of the land would as
soon seek beverage in the swill-tub as In
the saloon. So sex is the spirit of the dance
Take it away and let the sexes dance sepa
| rately and dancing would shortly be out OF
fashion. Parlor dancing is dangerous. Tip
pling leads to drunkenness, and parlor dan
cling leads to ungodly balls. Tipping ant
parlor dancing SOW to the wind and botf
reap the whirlwind. Put dancing in thu
crucible, apply the acids, weigh it, and thu
verdict of reason, morality and religion is


Weighed in the balance and found want
ing."-Rev. s. j. Tomiinson, Indianapolis.
Year: 1878

There is no human being strong enough
TO stand alone. We must have sympathy,
and in our Joys and sorrows alike we turn TO
those who understand us, and therefore can
give us help. 1t is a mistake TO suppose
that the worst and hardest ills of life are
those which affect material interests. Long
ago the wisest of men said, Better is a
dinner of herbs where love is than stalled
OK and hatred Herewith" To spend ones
days amid uncongenial associates, to have
ones motives misunderstood, and ones acts
regarded as foolish and mistaken-this
would be misery indeed. Because to many
man and woman there comes some meas
ure of such an experience, it is necessity
of happiness that the person who desires to
surmount adversity shall have at least one
sympathizing friend. There is Just one in
the universe of whom we can be always sure.
Our Saviour is touched with feeling of
our infirmities." Go TO him when we will
carrying what burden we may, telling what
secret heartache soever that presses us down,
we shall receive comfort and encourage
ment. The hymn says;


Earthly friends may fail and leave us,


One day soothe, the next day grieve us,


But this Friend will ne er deceive us,


o how he lovesl


hciC hiC tiioSc Wuo htcu W Dc icuuluutu
of the strength that can be obtained by this
drawing on the sympathy of Jesus. Lean
ing on the Beloved, we come up out of the
desert lands of life. 1t may be that the
solid ground seems almost stricken from be-
meath our feet. 1t may be that those around
whom our affections were most tenderly en-
twined have proved unworthy. Dear voices
which were melody in our ears are hused.
Hopes droop. Faith falters. Peace is borne
down by the tempest. We do not compre
hend mems methods. We are desolate and
forsaken, and we are ready to yield to de-
spair. Thrice blessed are they who have
never, even remotely, felt the pangs of such
soulbitterness as this. They are few Most
people go now and then through deep
waters. When the time comes for us to
taste draughts against which the lips rebel,
let us recall the Master and his precious
words, "The cup which My Father hath
given Me, shall not drink it ?" Let us rest
with trust unshaken on the certainty that
his love lasts always, that he never loses
sight of us for moment and that to the
very end we may be sure of his presence and
his sympathy.
Year: 1878

IMPORTANT TO PERSONS VISITING New
YoRK.-One of the best kept and most
convenient Hotels for Merchants and others
to stop at when in New York is the Grand
Union Hotel, nearly opposite the Grand
Central Depot, kept on the European plan
you therefore only pay for what you get.
Everything is first class, and prices mod
crate. adapted to the stringency of the
times You save the expense of carriage
hire, and by leaving your baggage check
on the counter of the Hotel, your baggage
will be delivered in your rooms, fifteen
minutes after the arrival Of the cars, free
of expense. We advise you to give the
Grand Union trial
Year: 1878

Thus looked Bismarck during his re-
cent speech on socialism: Gas he raised
his eyes for the first time, and contract
ing his bushy brows into frown, looked
round the house rapidly, as though
taking stock of his foes, his face wore an
angry look, that boded evil to those
who should cross HIM during the DAYS,
proceedings. Judging from his appear
ance as he subsequently stood up whilst
speaking, it seemed that he had added
a stone to his weight since last June,
and that his health is still far from what
his friends must wish it to be- His de-
livery is more broken and spasmodic
than ever; he struggles obviously with
some difficulty of breathing, and is
obliged to pause from time to time
(even in the middle of a sentencel ap-
parently to gather strength or to con-
troll his temper. His hands are hardly
at rest for a moment-either they are
twisting huge lead pencil, brushing at
his cuffs, or clutching at the shining
breast-buttons of MS dark cuirassier
tunic. But his gray eyes are as dark
and fierce as of yore, and his voice, at
moments of paramount excitement,
rings out as defiantly and menacingly
as ever. Altogether he is the most re
markable incorporation imaginable of
conscious power and restrained passion,
and it is not to be wondered at that
weaker natures positively cover before
him when he is in one of his reckless
and desperate moods"
Year: 1878

rled. Nearly every train now brings


several couples. A hotel clerk off


guard the other day condescended to
! lmpart the information that nearly one


half of their guests from now on to the
first of November We're newly fedged
] married people. Hotel-keepers like to


have them come. They are extrava-
CANT In their tastes, and so Internally


happy that they never presume to dis
pute bills. Last Sunday in the dining
room of a public hotel here I counted
ten newly welded couples. There is an
air of prosperity about these travelling
people that speaks well for the pros
perlty of the country. [ am yet to see
the bride who is not stocked up with


the regulation diamond ring and the
conventional amount of jewelry that
is supposed to be requisite for a genteel
start. The women all look better and
more at ease than the men, who show
plainly their country training. Nobody
but fool of country bridegroom goes
about on the highway of life in white
tie and a shiny black broadcloth suit
for travelling. For weeks these couples
have been coming and going, and


you can hardly tell one set from the


other. They are all so moulded by the
one look of serene satisfaction that COW
ers all of their faces, thas their indi-
viduaity is lost. l heard a grave, cyni-
cal old army officer the other day re-
buke some friends who were laughing
at the peculiar actions of some newly
married doves near him. "Stop that"
said he. Hats off to the only class of
truly happy mortals in the world. Let
them alone. God knows it will be short
enough with them at best"
Year: 1878

The Virginia City New Enterprise
! says: : About four years ago a farmer
of Surprise valley found in the crop of
q wild goose a small quantity of grain,
the like Of which he had never before
seen. He planted this, and it grew.
! producing more than q hundred fold.
The straw and beardless head are said
to resemble wheat, while the grain looks
like rye, but it is twice as large. The
farmer has now many bushels of this
cereal, and has sent samples oft to be
planted in various places in California.
An old sailor of Virginia City, after
reading an item which has been going
the rounds of the papers in regard to
the new cereal, finds his memory re-
freshed. 1t brings to his recollection a
circumstance he had almost forgotten.
ii e has thought it out, and Is now firmly
of the opinion that there is an inhabit-
able land at the North Pole. The old
man says he was one Of the crew of the
Investigator, Captain Mcclure, which
sailed from England in 1850, in comm
pany with the Enterprise, Commander
CollinsOn, in search of Sir John Frank
lin, and he certainly has in his posses





the English Admiralty to all persons
engaged in these Polar expeditions
from 1918 to1855. In September of
that year the Investigator reached
land which Captain Mcclure named
Baring's Land, and three days after
other land, which he named after Prince
Albert, where about the last of the
month they were frozen in.


While III the last land named the ex-
plorers observed many wild geese and
other water fowl flying southwark.
Some of the geese stopped at the place
where the ship lay, and several were
killed by members OF the crew. In he
crops of some of these geese he recol-
lects to have seen a considerable guam
tity of a grain such as the new cereal of
Surprise valley is said to be. AS no
such grain is known in the temperate
zone, and as we have no account of a
grain of the kind being found in any
known region of the world, he is of
opinion that these geese obtained it in
region lying about the open polar sea.
He says no man has yet gone so far
north, but he has found wild geese and
other water fowl flying still farther to
the northward. All the geese are un-
doubtedly vending their way to we'll
known stopping place far to the north,
there must be something for them to
feed upon at the point where they stop.
AS wild geese live no more on fish than
do tame ones, there must be in the
country which they go grass and other
vegetation similar to that found in
temperate regions. The wild geese that
halt on the Pacific coast make the grain
fields feeding places, and it is not likely
that in the land about the pole their
nature is SO changed that they feed upon
MOSES or fish.
Year: 1878

Nowhere ON the face of the earth is
there such q c0ngeries Of islands as that
which is strung along the coast of the
United States from Key West to Charles
ton. The archipelago of the China Sea
or of the Bahamas possibly includes as
large q number, but they are scattered
over a much larger space. These Sea
Islands are all flat, never over ninety
feet high, and are composed of a sandy
alluyium in some cases, in others of a
soil formed of coral BRAIDED to dust,
while others, again, combine both for
nations. They are often divided from
each other or from the adjoining main
land only by winding but deep creeks
through which the tide flows. These
channels are sometimes SO narrow and
overgrown with long signing sedge that
one IS hardly conscious that the banks
represent distinct islands separated by
the waters Of the ocean. But although
tneir formation would seem adapted to
render these islands monotonOus and
uninteresting, they are really full Of at
fractions, for they are often overgrOwn
in the most enchanting manner by oak
forests. groves of palm, and lianas, while
the delicious sea-breezes of semi-trOp-
ical cline and the historic legends and
associations of the past invest them
with a wonderful poetic haze, ike the
golden vapor which sunset weaves over
the roofs and spires of distant town.
IS. G. w. BENJAMIN, in Harper slIdga-
zine for NOUenabeT.
Year: 1878

A correspondent writes as follow:
about the flower of well-known plants
[ have discovered a remedy for con-
sumption. 1t has cured q number of
cases after they had commenced bleed
ing at the lungs, and the hectic flush
was already on the cheek. After trying
this remedy to my own satisfaction, L
have thought philanthropy required
that should let it be known to the
world. 1t is common mullen stepped
strongly and sweetened with coffee sugar,
and drank freely. Young or old plants
are good dried in the shade and kept
in clean bags. The medicine must be
continued from. three to six months,
according to the disease. 1t is very
good for the blood vessels also. 1t
strengthens and builds up the system
instead of taking away the strength.
1t makes good blood, and takes infam-
nation away from the lungs. It is the
wish of the writer that every periodical
in the United States, Canada and Eu-
rope should publish this recipe for the
benefit Of the human family. Lay this
by and keep it in the house ready for
use.-Rurat Neag Yorker.
Year: 1878

TIE great bridge over the Mississippi
river the pride and boast Of the people
of st. Louis, is advertised to be sold, on
the Goth of December next. The sale
is in the interest of the foreign bond
holders, and the amount involved Is
SG,5o0,000. Fortunately the purchaser
will not be able to carry away the bridge
I'LL at once.
Year: 1878

Washington Letter to the Chicago Times.


The national capital is the great resort
for the newly married. There is no city
in the country that witnesses SO much
ameteur turtle-dove business. The fall
is the great season for the newly mar