smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

artistic merit great charm Of Tae Portfolio Is ifs
freshness and originality The purchaser feels as nc
had been taken into the confidence OF the artists ad
mtted to their studios and shown the sketches thrown
of in moments OF their inspiration. and designed 10
be some time elaborated more serious ana enduring
work Often it happens that there is found In these
reproductons of hasty pencngs more evidences OF
genius than in finished paintings by the same artists
The first number Of The Portfolio was issued last jan
uary Its success has am told, exceeded the expecta
tions of its projectors although 1t is as yet but little
known outside OF this city.
Year: 1874

So complete are the reforms lately
effected that the metropolis of Utopia
is now the one city in the universe
where the sun shines without depressing
summer jewellers /; where the wintry
rains fall to clean, not to soil, the
streets where mud is never formed,
because the materials to make it are
not permitted to collect where the
smoke of chimneys, instead of polluting
the homes of the rich, helps to comfort
those of the poor-since the consequent
economy of its methodical consumption
has reduced the price of coal; where
there is government to rule localities,
not a wrongly constituted local board
to misgovern where the vestrymen are
the only occupants of the warehouses
they once helped to fill; where the
poor-rates aid the poor, for there are
many poor, though only the deformed
IN body or mind are paupers. Sanitary
legislation, which once only consisted
in providing comfortable sinecures for
an army of inspectors, now penetrates
the homes of the multitude nearly four
million souls, who once dwelt in ignor-
ant security over a volcano of sewer gas
and boiler steam, now court the breath
of life instead of battling with the poison
of death ; the most extensive system of
town drainage in the world has been
Systematically ventilated, yet not before
the disadvantages of non-ventilatIon
were successfully proved by the death
of many innocent persons, because,
although ventilation was theoretically
known to be necessity, nothing used
to be accepted or discarded by Utopian
society until it had been practically
tested. To be one of dinner party
now is an agreeable treat, since the
guests no longer sit on each others laps,
nor, in the absence of other air, inhale
the contents of each others lungs; the
clubs are now places for the social en-
ioyment of the members, not for the
exclusive profit of speculative proprie-
tors the courts of law still disinfect
the land from moral plague, but they
are no longer plague spots themselves.
In the church the worshippers can see
and hear, and understand both "storied
pane and animated bust ;" and since
people have gone there exclusively to
obtain spiritual consolation they have
ceased to take interest in the dissensions
stoles and chasubles. cha
Ices and candles, tables and baldac-
Builder.
Year: 1874

Some few miles east of East Hampton,
Mass, is a large and lonesome tract of
land covering over an area of eight or
ten hundred acres, and is familiarly
known as the Perkins woods. On the
east side of these woods runs a large
stream; near this stream two persons
recently discovered lynx in the top of
a large hickory. One, lad who has
not seen sixteen summers, bold and
daring, never known to finch in any
emergency, and with the courage of a
Putnam, volunteered to climb the tree.
Both being destitute of guns, it was
bold undertaking to venture to capture
this large beast of the forest. Young
Dan, buoyed up with the hope of killing
this beast with club, quickly assembled
the tree; the density of the limbs al
most placed the beast out of his sight,
but by the help of his knife he succeeded
in looping a few of the branches, which
placed the animal in full view of him.
Its back was arched up, the froth drip
ping from its mouth, its tail though
short was elevated, its eyes flashed,
paving with its fore feet, one after
another, bark and splinters flew. On
the side hill Dams companion managed
to make desperate pass with his club
at the beast; at the same time the ami
NAL made spring, landing on the
ground in his stunned condition. Hoad-
ley grappled with the maddened animal,
and they struggled together down a
declivity. Both plunged into the water.
The eagerness of the lynx to press
through the water and the young mans
unsuccessful attempt to drown it created
such splashing noise as fairly echoed
through the ravine. At length the man
and animal reach the opposite shore in
an exhausted condition. Our young
hero was already there, and had the
satisfaction of completing the destruc-
tion of the savage beast.
Year: 1874

This week has been one of great eX-
citement in Weimar, on account of the
wedding of the son of the Grand Duke.
All sorts of things have been going on,
and the Emperor and Empress came on
from Berlin. There have been great
mauy rehearsals at the theatre, of diff
ferent things that were played, and of
course List took a prominent part in
the arrangement of the music. He di-
rected the Ninth symphony and played
twice himself with orchestral accompa-
niment. One of the pieces he played
was Weber's Polonaise in f major, and
the other was one of his own Rhapso-
dies HongrOises. OF these | was at the
rehearsal. When he came out on the
stage the applause was tremendous, ahd
enough in itself to excite and electrify
one. was enchanted to have an op-
portunity of hearing List as a concert
PLAYER. The director of the orchestra
here is beautiful pianist and composer
himself. as well as splendid conduc-
tor. but it was easy to see that he had
to get all his wits together to follow
List, who gave full rein to his lmagl-
nation, and let the tempo fluctuate as he
felt inclined. As for List, he scarcely
looked at the keys, and it was astound-
ing to see his hands go rushing down
the piano and perform passages OF the
utmost rapidity and difficulty, while his
head was turned all the while towards
the orchestra, and he kept up a running
fire of remarks with them continually.
"You violins strike in sharp here"
"You trumpets. not too loud there"
etc. He did everything with the most
immense dpI0D,b, and without seeming
to paw any attention to his hands, which
moved of themselves. He never did
the same thing twice alike. If it was a
scale the first time he would make it in
double or broken thirds the second, and
SO on. constantly surprising you with
some new turn. While you were ad-
miring the long roll of the wave, a sud-
den spray would he dashed over you,
and make you catch your breath. No,
never was there such a player! The
nervous intensity of his touch takes
right hold of you. When he had fin
ished everybody shouted and clapped
their hands like mad, and the orchestra
kept up such fanfare of applause that
the din was overpowering. List
smiled and bowed, and walked OFF the
stage indifferently, not giving himself
the trouble to come back, and presently
he quietly sat down in the parquette,
and the rehearsal proceeded.-Atldntic
Monthly.
Year: 1874

bucket of water would have saved Crisfeld
could it have been applied when the fire WAS
first discovered But like most country towns it
had no fire apparatus-not evenIa la1der,-and
the conhagration was inevitable.
Year: 1874

The author of "Sinbad the Sailor S
Adventures must resign his laurels
One W. H. Stokes has been exploring
a recently-discOvered cave near Pine
Grove, Amador county, Cal, and
writes to the Sutter Creek Indepen-
dent an account of his Investigations.
Mr.. Stokes vouches for the exact
truth of his narrative in every par
ticular, and perhaps the reader will
readily credit it from the following
specimen description Of one of the
chambers the party entered. After
journeying for a mile and quarter
through the underground passages
Stokes and his party found them
selves in ''long but rather narrow
chamber, the walls of which are not
limestone, but a yellOwish brown and
black iron ore" This chamber beats
Sinbad's magnetic mountain, which
drew all the magnetic nails from his
ship, and thus caused it to fall to
pieces, all hollow. Listen to Mr..
Stokes: upon entering this cham
ber we noticed a most peculiar dis
turbance of the magnet, the needle
constantly vibrating from side to side,
and frequently whirling around for a
minute at a time with velocity
which rendered it invisible. We also
experienced a singular sensational
sort of chill appearing to commence
at the back of the neck and extend
ing to the very tips of our fingers
and toes. AS we advanced in this
chamber we found these singular sen
sations to increase in intensity until
it became almost unbearable. We
ventured on still further however,
though it became evident that we
could not long remain in this mys-
terious place. l omitted to mention
that the walls and floors of this
chamber, especially particular rocks
therein contained, were highly mag
netic, and became more so the farther
we advanced toward the north. One
of the party who carried hatchet
had it suddenly wrested from him by
a magnetic rock near which he
passed, and the combined strength of
four of us was insufficient to detach
it. A pocket-knife, which accidental
ly dropped to the floor, had to remain
there, none of the party having suf-
ficient strength in his fingers to pick
it up. Mason, who had put on for
the occasion a pair of miners boots,
the soles of which were filed with
nails, could walk with difficulty, and
happening to step upon a portion of
the floor unusually magnetic found
himself suddenly affixed thereto and
unable to move. He was compelled
to withdraw his feet from his boots
and leave them there, tearing up his
coat and wrapping the pieces around
his feet to protect them from being
cut by the rocks. We had remained
in this chamber about ten minutes
when suddenly the chilling sensation
began to increase, the feeling being
as if a cold and piercing wind was
blowing upon us, and becoming each
moment more intensely cold. We
hastily retreated and soon reached,
feeling more dead than alive, the large
chamber containing the hot spring.
We then retraced our steps along the
twine, and in a couple of hours
emerged from the cave
Year: 1874

From the New York Tribune, 20th.l


A remarkable case of lunacy has
Just been made known in Green Viii
lage, n. j., by the death of Charles
Crowell, at the age of 40, who had
been a raving maniac for over 40
years. He was kept chained to the
floor of his home, and would never
allow clothing to be put on him. He
was confined in a small apartment
made for his use. No furniture was
IN the room, the only thing in it be-
ing straw. His mother took care of
him for the first Is years, and during
that time he tore to pieces over 100
bedquilts which she made for him.
At times he would be perfectly harm
less, and would allow his mother and
sister to stay in his room and feed
him. But for months he would pace
his small room and no one dared ven
ture near him. In his room was a
very small window, through which
food and water were given him.
Sometimes he would not eat for a
week; at other times enough food
could not be given him to satisfy his
vOracity. His mother died from the
great burden, and his sister took care
of him. She, too, died after some
years, from the constant care and
anxiety with which she watched him.
Lately his neice, Mrs. Burt, has cared
for him. The most remarkable fact
in connection with the case was that
just before he died his mind was
clear and he called an attendant by
name.
Year: 1874

A SAN FRANCISCO woman, who
stepped upon treacherous pea-pOd
which some one had thrown ON the
sidewalk, is thus described: "She
kicked with both feet as high as
ballet star, gave the peculiar shrill
feminine scream, sat down, said, oh
N.Y. smOOthed down her disOrdered
attire, looked around wildly, rose
quickly, shook herself to see if any
thing was loose, gave a whitening
glance at the place where she had
fallen, and with all the spare blood
she had in her face, went on with her
shopping"
Year: 1874

A DANBURIAN who was in New
York Saturday, came up with the
wild statement that he had seen ho-
tel clerk with side whiskers. That is
more of lie than one man should
undertake to tell Hair growing on
the cheek of hotel clerk. Seat!
Year: 1874

A MISERABLE looking wretch got
on the cars this noon to go to Nor
walk. He sat by himself as every
body appeared to shun him. He
was the man who paints signs on the
rocks and fences.
Year: 1874

their reasoning powers be worse than
the brute creation. whose Instincts
teach them 10 leave those things un-
touched that are not for their good?
One Of the strangest things in sll
this world is the fact that pnblic SEN
timent is usually wrong Mankind is
prone to evil Let no young woman
now hesitate to Gil their spheres.
There never was a more prOpitiouS
opening for them to do good Oh!
what noble work they are engaged
in. If all that could. would only fall
into line. and do all within their DOW.
er to make the work short and ieeis-
i've, the war would soon be over.
Our boys would be saved as "brands
from the burning" and grow up to
he sober and useful men 1t would
then be possible for man to arrive at
the full status of his manhood.


Our temperance people have
plsyed good hand in this whisky
game, and o fearful responsibility
rests upon us, for the evils from
which We are suffering. liquor ven
ders have done only what we have
permitted them to do. but this does
not atone for their sin at all The
people can overthrow this evil as
easily as any other. if they will ,oake
ap and avail themselves of proper
precautionary measures. The rea
son that We have not long ago had
prohihitory laws in place of our nox-
ious license enactmentS, is because
our people have been snoozing, while
old Cloveu Foot was working his
representatives into office. When we
shall arouse from our indifference to
these things, and deputize only God
fearing men to make our laws; thoss
that are not watching TO see which
way the wind blows beforesvoting,
snd intriguing for office and the
almighty dollar; when it shall be
considered, and demaRdea as if not
the most important. yet an absolute
ly Indispensable qualification, that
the candidate for any place OF trust
whatever. shall be radically tenn
peTGnce man, then the liquor business,
like African slavery, will be q thing
OF the past.


That good time is coming bye and
bye. In the meantime, the ladies
will continue the work they have be
gun. W. S. ii.


March 10, 1874.


LATER.
All of the saloons of Xenia, 46,
have surrendered Daily Paper.


Didn't ! tell you so?''


w. S H.


March 26, 1874.
Year: 1874

~ There is always something
great in that man against whom the
world exclaims, at whom every one
throws q stone, and whose character
all attempt to fix thousand crimes
without being able to prove one.
Year: 1874

At q recent meeting of the Law
renee (Kansas) Academy of Science q
paper entitled "Speculations on the
Nature of Comets Tails" was read by
Professor Fredrick w. Bardwell, who
took the ground that q comets tail
is no more part of the comet than
is shadow a part of the object which
gives it form. He supposes that the
resisting medium. surrounding the
sun for great distance is itself self
luminous in degree, as indicated by
the zodiacal light; that the nucleus
OF comet is merely large meteor
ite; that, in its radid motion through
the resisting medium near the sun,
great heat is thereby developed, in
creased by the heat Of the sun causing
some of the elements of the nucleus
to become volatilized, and thus to pre-
sent the phenomena of the coma with
its glowing gas; and, finally, that the
bright train called the tail is merely
an effect of an increased luminosity of
the rising medium behind the comet
caused by the action of the sunlight
passing through the glowing gas of the
coma, and projected beyond in form
usually approaching that of conical
surface. He predicts that, on the ap-
pearance of comet with bright train
the tests of spectrum analysis will
show that this train is not nebulous, as
Bessel and others have supposed, and
not a meteoric character, like that of
the nucleus, as Schiaparelli and LIE
Verrier supposed, but chiefly of a 20
diacial nature, and probably, in a
slight degree, rejecting sunlight
scientific American.
Year: 1874

A night or two since, while on his
beat through B street, Officer Shirts
found an inebriated individual repos-
ing on bench in front of Wilson &
Browns undertaking establishment.
The officer shook the fellow until he
awoke from his drunken slumber and
then explained to him that he would
be obliged to escort him to the station
house unless he hunted other quarters.
The man told the officer that he was q
stranger in the town, that he had but
four bits, and the night being warm
he had concluded it would be good
economy to. sleep out of doors and save
his four bits to buy his breakfast in
the morning. Not being hard
hearted man, the officer told the fell
low that he might finish his snooze,
provided he would get up and move
out of sight before the people were
astir on the streets. Passing that way
again in the course Of an hour or two,
Shirts found that his "snoozer" mad
rolled off the bench and was lying in
the empty case of a coffin which was
sitting at the edge of the sidewalk.
Rousing his man again, the officer
told him he "must get out of there"


"Out o. what ?" grumbled the fell
low.


"Why, out of that cof1inv said
Shirts-though it was but one of those
large coffin-shaped cases in which cof-
fins are shipped.


"Who's in coffin 2" said the
fellow, rubbing his eyes.


"Why, you are" said Shirts.


"If lam don't know it,"


"Well, know it, and if you don't
get out of that it will be the end of
you. Don't you know that if the un-
dertakers get up in the morning and
find you snoozing in there they'll clap
a lid on the coffin, nail you up and
bury you, and then send in a bill and
make the county pay your funeral ex-
penses?n


Crawling out of his narrow quarters,
the fellow stood and gazed upon the
coffin-shaped case for time, then
said:


"What sort o. id undertakers you
got here in this country, that go and
set collins 'longside the sidewalks fur
to ketch men ?" and without waiting
for an answer, he shuffled away to find
safer quarters. Virginia Enterprise,
July 18th.
Year: 1874

The New York Times says: We have
succeeded in greatly reducing the
number of cut-worms by enticing a
flock of poultry into the field while it
was being plowed. The fowls followed
the plow closely, picking up every
cut-worm exposed, and searching
every furrow for more. There is no
other way of ridding the fields of these
vermin but by encouraging their nat
ural enemies. These are the crows and
blackbirds, which devour the grubs,
and skunks and moles, which devour
both the grubs and beetles, of which
they are the larvae. While these crea-
lures are killed or driven off, we
shall suffer from the depredations Of
the insects, which are their natural
prey. To prevent the destruction OF
the young corn by the cut-worms to
some extent, the seed should be rolled
In common pine tar and then dried in
plaster before it is sown.
Year: 1874

Those who have commenced the cul-
tivation of tobacco this year are just
in time to reap the advantages that
very poor crop in nearly all the East
ern States is likely to bring them. In
Kentucky, Missouri and others of the
principal tobacco producing States, the
late Spring and cold wet weather have
very much injured the crop there and
as a consequence the prices of tobacco
have very much appreciated. Since
last January they have advanced
nearly SO per cent.
Year: 1874

FuRTHER P0STPONEMENT PRODADI.E.


These restrictions retard the progress of the
preparation Of the defence, and it may be
found necessary to postpone the trial again
from the month of January until the spring
of next year.
Year: 1874




In some places where local option pre-
walls, they sell Il under the name of laud-
anum, From one of those places the fol-
lowing story comes


GA sort of simple fellow from Woodford
was sitting in the drug store the other day,
when man came in and said he did not
feel well, and would like some prepared
laudanum. The apothecary went into the
back room and prepared good sized glass,
and the man drank it, Woodford remark
ed that the fellow wouldn't live long after
taking so much laudanum. Presently
another man came in and got drink of
laudanum. The Woodford chap followed
him to the door and watched him for a
long time as he went down the street, and
remarked as he came in and sat down,
"That fellow stands it we'll he must be-
used to taking it," BY and by third.
man came in and took large dose Of
laudanum and went out. This rubbed up
the dull intellect of the Woodford man,
and, stepping up to tho counter, be said !:
"see here, boss, I'll take a dose Of that
laudanum it don't seem to kill anybody,
and folks seem to like it."
Year: 1874

achronism, which association has hal
lowed and when bell has to be rung


O announce meal in a private house,
it ought to be barely loud enough TO at
tract attention. No row or uproar OF
any kind should precede modern meal;
il we are TO herald it by artificial noise,
it ought to be music. Moreover, no SER
want coming to announce dinner ought
to halleo to the mistress Of the house, or
speak louder than is absolutely required,
or speak at all, if any other signal will
suffice. Nothing, in short, should as a
general rule be allowed to interfere with
conversation before or after repast.
And this will apply, mutstis mutandis,
to all excessive or odd ornamentation of
the table or its surroundings, which is
calculated to distract the mind of the
guests, or interrupt their view of each
other, or in any manner exalt the mate
rial side OF the occasion unduly, at the
expense of the moral and intellectual
side. All this may be called the philos'
ophy of the table service. About the
details, as the china, the glass, the linen,
the cutlery, the order OF courses, any
more than about the cookery, we have
no message to deliver. The reader will
find all that is known or thought Of on
these subjects in the voluminous litera.
ture of gastronomy and household
art