smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1877

The doors of the church stood wide


open; the house was crowded, and the


sinners must have felt considerably


worked up, who were seated in the pews,


broke out in a sweat all over, and, listen
ing to the minister telling how hot hell
was. Just about the time they felt
their clothes scorching, and they smelled
birthstone, a man showing a little cart
came along, stopped in front, and, after
giving several blasts through an old horn,
yelled, "ice cream a" and the sinners
breathed free as they wiped the perspira-
ton from their anxious brOws. The
minister switched off" and took the
side-track on a cooler subject, and LETT
the impression among the fretful that
old Gabriel had started cut in the ice
cream business, and was going about
through the streets Sunday morning,
yelling "ice-cream !" to encourage 'em.
Year: 1877

Not long since while a party Of men
were boring for coal at Coe. Ia. When
they had penetrated seventy feet they
heard a heavy rumbling noise, which
was Immediately followed by rush Of
water, filling the six-inch tube, which
raised the drilling-machine, weighing
some seven hundred pounds, many feet
On moving the drilling apparatus a
voIumn of water was thrown into the
air twenty feet, and still continued TO
raise seven or eight feet, when it spread
out into jets, like an artificial fountain.
1t is estimated that it discharges a bar
rel a minute. The water Is pure and
cold. A stone thrown into the tube is
hurled back into the air, as Is, also, a
rail. when forced down into it.
Year: 1877

1t may interest some to know just how
a late law enacted by the Virginia legis-
Iature regulating the sale of liquor in
bar-roOms operates. What is called a
registering apparatus was provided for in
the act, and is described as follows by the
Lynchburg Virginian: " On one side is a
crank, and on another dials like those of
a gas meter. The bar-keeper turns the
crank round at every sale of a drink, a
bell strikes, and the dial registers ore.
The object of the device is to determine
the amount of tax to be collected, at the
rate of one cent on every drink. AL
though a heavy fine may be imposed for
neglect to use these machines properly,
or for tampering with them in any way
and there are officers whose duty it is
to detect such Offenses-the belief is that
they will not answer the purpose, because
drinkers will generally cOnnive at viola
tiOns of the law.
Year: 1877

BLUEglass is on the wane. A Brooklyn
man, with weak eyes, tried blue glass
spectacles as a remedy. The result was
that his eyes, already too weak TO be
used in ordinary circumstances, were
exposed TO a terrible glare and heat,
which in less than a week destroyed the
eyesight Of the sufferer. He is now
totally blind.
Year: 1877

Andrew Champion, a young me-
chanic living at Skinner's Eddy,
Wyoming county, on Monday of
last week shot and killed his wife
and then blew his own brains out.
He had been out of work for a con-
sideral time and could find no en-
ployment. His wife censured him
for being idle and threatened that if
he did not go to work she would not
live with him. Champion said he
would not allow her to live with any
one else and drawing pistol shot her
dead.
Year: 1877

STRAW FOR THE FIELDs.-If [
could have my entire farm covered
with boards lying fiat upon the
ground the whole year, says a cor.
respondent, | would expect more
benefit than from twenty five loads
of barn yard manure to the acre.
Now so far as the straw goes it has a
similar effect. l believe the very
best use of straw, except as litter for
the stables or barnyards, is to spread
1t on the fields. | put straw on my
wheat last season with manifest in-
provement to the clover, but in that
l was disappointed. l noticed small
spots where the straw had been in
punches, the clover was out, having
been smothered apparently. I took
up boards from space about twenty
feet square, after they had laid two
years, and planted potatoes, the sur
rounding ground being also planted.
Where the boards had laid | had
three times as many bushels as on q
like plot adjoining.
Year: 1877

have a house not made with hands.


eternal in the heavens. The speaker
said: Ever since the decree had gone
forth. Dust thou art and unto dust
shalt thou return" man of every race


and condition had been repeatin, and


repeating the question. what is Death ?
There is terror and awful sublimity
about the last moments of every por-
tai and no matter how somber the
cloud which. envelopes us here. we
shrink from trying the realities of the
hereafter. After the fiat went forth.


Thou shalt surely die" our first pa
rents and all since have found all Ia
ture with its beauty marred and sadly
defaced. Still the devastation in Ma
ture and natural death is nothing COM
pared with the destruction wrought in
the spiritual world. or the effects of
spiritual death. Some have stood on
the border and told us what they saw
but none have returned from that long
why. Philosophers try to answer this
question hut miserably fail. The re-
li2ion of Christ makes answer that it is
only falling asleep to awake in that
home which Christ bas gone to prepare.
The time when the last tears shall be
shed. the last sigh heard. the last pain
suffered, before reaching everlasting
rest for the weary soni. 1t is only
passing through the river mp to the
great white throne above and whose
ever will may cone. Are we willing
Year: 1877

There are various ways of
getting. out of this troublesome
world, and some Of those who
shuttle off this mortal coil and
making their exit from this
sphere the work of their own
hands, adopt novel expedients.


Take the case Of the San Fran
cisco washerwoman for instance


who, while rejecting on the ills


that she bore in this world and


the grievous burdens Of the daily


struggle for existence, stuck her
head IN the suds and held it
there >until she was defunct,
passing over the border damp
and soapy. A Eureka woman,
who had brooded over her tolls
and tribulations until she was in


that unhappy state Of mind
when suicide seemed to offer her
the only relief, made a miserable
fasco, and now lives to still en-
dure, withstanding her at
tempt at self-murder. Her hus-
band would stay out all night,
play pedro, and otherwise con


duct himself in a very undutiful
manner, and to cap the climax
of his cruelties, refused to pur-
chase her one of those sweet
hats Just imported by Myers u
Franklin. When he left the
residence to 60 down town and
see a man, she determined on
death, and took for that purpose
a bottle Of corrosive sublimate
from the closet where the family
drugs were kept. Composing
herself carefully on the bed and
as gracefully as if she had been
a California Theatre actress, she
drained at one gulp huge COB
let full, dropped the glass to the
floor, folded her hands on her
breast and calmly awaited death.
She had anticipated the most ex-
cruciating pain, as the terrible
corrosive substance should act
en- her in'ards, and marveled
greatly to find instead a sensa-
tion of delicious bliss stealing
Year: 1877

The New York Herald thus
sensibly hits off the swindling
silver bill the passage of which
is now pending in Congress:
The dollar Of our dads is a
nice, bright, large silver coin.
The worlingman will be obliged
to receive it in payment for a
dollars worth of hard work, be-
cause he can't refuse legal mon
ey. When he carries it to the
butchers, the bakers or the
grocer's he will be able to buy
n1nety-two cents worth Of meat
or bread or groceries with it and
no more.


1t is just to "pay every man
in his own coin" But it is a
swindle to pay our creditors in
our daddies' coin and so cheat
them out of eight cents on every
dollar we honestly owe them.


The contractors want the "dol-
lar of our dads" It's good
enough for them, they say. Be-
sides it will enable them to swim
die their laborers out of eight
cents on every dollar they earn.


"Give us the dollar of our
dads!" " cry the western farmers,
"it's good enough for us-and
then we can pay off our debts at
ninety-two cents on the dollar.
Year: 1877

Voltaire says the worst use to
which society can put man is to
hang him. The worst use to which
a man can put himself is to send a
bullet crashing through his brain,
to cut his throat or tu take his own
life by some other violent means


When man is hanged it is gener-
ally for some offence against the laws
of heinous character, and while it
is true society after the operation
has no further use for the carcass,
the punishment is usually deserved
and the example is likely to be ben
eficial. When a man kills himself
it is for what he no doubt regards as
a good reason. sHis health is bad !;
his business does not prosper; his
wife leads him an unhappy life; he
has been drinking too freely; he has
lost all his money; his sweetheart
has Tilted him; or. if Frenchman,
the weather has been unpleasant and
depressing for a week or ten days.
A man with a dissipated wife kills
himself after murderings his three
children. A young lady with dis
sipated husband poisons herself. A
simpleton, whose sweetheart has de-
serted him, jumps into the river
from ferryboat and is drowned; !;
and so on through the list.


Now, the world is world full of
ups and downs: of sickness and re-
covery; of success and failure; OF
wealth and poverty; of backsliding
and reform. The man who is de-
pressed by sickness. probably
through a faulty digestion, may be-
fore long hit upon a remedy and be
restored TO health. The bankrupt
of this year may. with good courage
and industry. be the thriving bust
ness man Of next year. Money has
wings, and flies from full pockets to
empty ones in mysterious manner.
Dissipation may be overcome and
infidelity compensated. 1t is better
to wait for these changes than to
rake Improvement impossible by
swapping off the thread of life pre-
maturely. A sick man can take no
worse medicine than cold lead,
poor man can never be rich after he
commits suicide. A Tilted lover if
he dies is certain never to find a new
sweetheart more constant than the
old one. The poor husband who
killed his babies and, himself had
better have sent his wife to an ine-
briate asylum. The old sayings, "It
is long lane that has 30 turning"
and daylight always comes after
darkness" oughtto be fatal enemies
to the suicide mania. Brave men
believe that "while there's life
there's hope" Cowards only seek
forgetfulness in self-deftruction.
There can be no real necessity for
suicide, except in the case of the
Partisan during spell of bad wea-
ther, and in this broad country,
where there is elbow room for every
body and where no man of courage
and energy need despair of living,
the crime ought to be unknown.
Year: 1877

The discussion IN Congress as to the
expediency of Increasing or decreasing
the army. consequent upon the intro
duction of the Army Appropriation
bill, shows that even in the Sonth there
is quite diversity of opinion on that
subject. The following are the views
of an ex-Confederate general, who at
present is very prominently connected
with the Military Department of Vir-
ginia. He says 1t is wrong to increase
the army. 1t ought to be cut down. :
Relieve it from guard duty a: the forts
and arsenals of the United States, and
put every man in the field in active ser
vice. and it is more than ample. The
experience of the last ten years in the
South shows that the federal central
power cannot be trusted with large
military force. and the events of last
summer demonstrated that the State
militia have been allowed to fall into
such weakness aud contempt that it is
useless in emergency. Now as standing
armies are dangerous to liberty, SO the
right 10 use and skill in use of arms is
Its surest protection. Increase this ar>
my to so, 900 men and it will be but the
beginning of Jsn increase to 100000
Then the government will be changed.
the revolution will have occurred before
the people know it. Property will be
safe and society will be orderly aud
peaeeable: but liberty. the right of peo>
pie to govern themselves, will be gone.
The government will govern; the party
in power will perpetuate itself by the
array; moral or physical changes will
only take place after armed conflicts.
You will see great pressure brought
to bear on Congress to increase the ar
nag by the great property interests. rails
roads. mining interests and manufac-
lures. They will demand protection for
property, no matter at what cost. 1t is
the form in which the struggle between
labor and capital will appear in Con-
gfess. Capital is afraid Of labor and
seeks an increase of the army to Tro>
ect it. We cannOt allow this"
Year: 1877

The Catholic Rerieao speaks in
somewhat boastful terms of the re-
cent conversion to the true faith OF
three persons, two of whom were
Episcopal ritualists. This is all
very we'll; but it seems not quite ne
cessary to add the hope 'that many
others will be happily removed from
the terrible darkness and bleakness
of the Protestant night" It does
not help us any to call others hard
names. The world belongs to the
Church which works hardest. and
neither Protestant nor Catholic has
"a right to complain, except when it
blames itself for the success of
the other. Men have somehow
come to feel that the true orthodoxy
and the one that is most needed Just
now, is the orthodoxy, Catholic or
Protestant, that enables one to keep
his books straight and restrains him
from raising a check whenever he
wants to raise money.
Year: 1877

A Vermont judge has given wife
murderer time for repentance by
postponing his execution two years,
three-fourths of which are to be
spent at hard labor and the balance
in solitary confinement.
Year: 1877

What shall l teach my child?
Teach him that it is better to die
than to lie; that it is better to starve
than to steal; that it is better to be
a scavenger or woodchopper than to
he an idler or dead beat; that it is
just as criminal and reprehensible to
waste Monday as to desecrate Sun.
day; that labor is the price of all


honest possessions; that no one is
exempt from the obligation to labor
with head, or hands, or heart; that
an honest man is the noblest work of
God; that knowledge is power; that
labor is worship, and idleness is sin;
that 1t is better to eat the crust of
independent poverty than to luxuri-
ate amidst the richest viands as a de-
pendent. Teach him these facts un-
til they are woven into his being and
regulate his life, and we will insure
his success though the heavens fall.
Year: 1877

A REMARKABLE CLoCK.--A re
markable clock or time globe, has
been invented, which according tc
the description given in the "Jewel
ler," exhibits the time, longitude and
latitude of any place in the world, as
well as the difference of the same
between the two or more places.
The device consists Of globe, on
which is complete map of the
the world. A large dial enciroles
the globe at its equator, at which the
time of the various meridians is indi,
Gated. At the north is a smaller dial
which shows the mean time at the
place where the globe is located.
The remarkable feature of this de
vice, however, is the fact that, by the
mechanism inside of it, this minia-
turs globe actually revolves as the
earth, once in every twenty four
hours. The actual time of any part
of the world can be easily and quick.
ly ascertained by reference to the
large dial encircling the globe at the
equator. 1t has a sliling vernier
divided into 500 degrees, by means
of which the latitude of localities can
he ascertained, or the proper degree
of inclination of our own or any
other heavenly body illustrated. BY
setting the globe at the proper angle
of inclination, giving the poles the
proper direction north and south, and
letting light, properly applied, fall
upon it, 1t will give not only the
amount of light and darkness each
country has, but the very time at
which it has it. The time, logitude,
and latitude of any place in the
world, as also the difference of the
same between two or moro places are
thus given.
Year: 1877

The shortest and surest way to
live with honor in the world, is to be
in reality what you would appear to
be; and if we observe, we shall find
that all human virtues increase and
strengthen by the practice and ex-
perience Of them.
Year: 1877

All the same, no man, though ne dote
upon buckwheat cakes ever so much
at the breakfast table, can defend the
habit of setting the batter in big crock
at the end of the sitting room stove
over night. All women do this, and
the custom is fraught with danger.
Now, only the other night, Mr.. Hook
enberry, of South Hill, went home very
late. He pulled off his boots and sat
down to warm his feet before going to
bed, and what should Mrs. Hocken-
berry see the next morning the first
thing when she got up but sinuous
procession of human foot prints, neatly
outlined in buckwheat batter, making
q zigzag line across the sitting room
carpet, through the hall and half way
up stairs, the last fading tracks point
ing unmistakably in the direction Of
her sleeping husband. And when Mr..
tfookonbcrry, rudoiy awakened from
his slumber to show cause why sentence
should not be pronounced against him,
feebly insisted that the tracks might
have been, and probably were made by
the Cat, there wasn't a dry eye in the
wigwam, and he fell, then and there,
another victim to circumstantial evi-
dence,-H0UkeVe.
Year: 1877

From the Osceola (Mo) Democrat.


A girl but eighteen years of age,
whose name we withhold, owing to a
desire on the part of the actors TO keep
the affair secret, was sitting in the dark
ened kitchen with her betrothed, in the
wee hours of the night, when, starting
for the fireplace in order to replenish
the fuel, her foot struck what she sup
posed was piece of rope, and, stoop-
ing to pick it up, she received the ven
omous fangs of large rattlesnake in
her thumb. To ordinary individuals
this would be the signal for a fainting
fit, but not 80 in the present case. The
girl simply turned the light up, and
asked her young man" to kill the rep
tile. and seizing large case-knife, she
severed the bitten thumb from the
hand, thus preventing the deadly poi
son from getting into her system, and
probably causing her death.
Year: 1877

SIR ANTHONY CooPER's remedy for
chilblains was a liniment made by
mixing an ounce of camphorated spirits
with half an ounce of the liquor of
subacetate of lead. Apply three or
four times day.
Year: 1877

FELTON,, March 16.


The hotel proprietors of FELTON, are busily
engaged in getting signers for license, In
which believe they will fail, for the very
reason FELTON, is temperate and quiet
town. The people of this town would
rather send to the city and get their liquor
by the keg and drink behind the door, it
comes cheaper and the public knows but
little about it. t..
We have two gentlemen here that have
gone into the manufacturing business. They
are doing very good business at present
and expect to do better when warm weather
comes. Their names are Hambleton and
Blackhawk.


We have about 80 snuff-rubbers in this
town. Two-thirds of them are males, their
ages ranging from 10 to 40 years. Three
of the literary and leading men of this town
are engaged in 1t. Now If you can say
anything through your columns that will
make them ashamed, SO they will abandon
that filthy practice you will oblige John W.
Reynolds very much.
Year: 1877




Il is much to be regretted that our
Fire Department allows a perniciOus
custom 10 exist that Il cannot or will
not correct. We allude 10 the practice
of delay in giving the alarm TO all the
engines. The hrst company that hears
of g FIRE, delays giving warning by the
bell TO the other engines until It is on
ils way to the lre. This spirit Of ri.
vAlry is carried little too far. AT the
FIRE Saturday night, good judges say
the Hicks property would not have
been injured In the least If the alarm
had been promptly given 10 sill the en-
gines. Our city pays the Department q
large sum for annual expenses, aud our
citizens take pride in 1t as well man.
aged, efficient organization, but Its best
friends condemn this injurious custom.
We call upon Chief French to take
sure means of putting a stop to IT. The
Department owes tito the citizens and
to itself TO see that this criminal prac-
tice shall no longer be permitted. Sup
pose that human lives should be lost,
as valuable property has already been
lost by this selfish piece Of business
those who refused to give The alarm
would almost feel that they were guilt!
of murder. Let our worthy Chief at
tend to tnis mAtler al once.
Year: 1877

Some gentlemen, representing thou.
sands Of acres Of sharkey county lands,
assure US that that county will enter
into the plan proposed By us, for the
building OF this road, on Sunday morn
ing. They cay there is not the least
doubt that sharkey county will agree
to do the liberal thing on the compile.
ton of the road. In this light VickS-
burgers look st the enterprise also.


Both Vicksburg aud Sharkey county
are willing to help pay for q vast BEN
eft when they knoW that benefit 10 q
certainty. The gentlemen from Shar-
key cay that county will give fifty
thousand dollars or its equivalent In
bonds to any company when they COM
plete the road TO Rolling Fork. VicEs'
burg will surely do aS much. No risk
is to be taken. The money is 10 be paid
only when the trains begin running.
Let our people discuss the matter aud
see If they are willing to guarantee
thi., and then we think the details can
soon be arranged. II this road was
finished, It would give Vicksburg the
control of fifty thousand bales of cot
ton more than she now receives, the
fret year. Think oft. After the fret
year, no one can estimate how tho bus
mess would increase, for the lands tap.
ped are absolutely unsurpassed.
Year: 1877

TIE individual at the are on Sslur-
day night, who threw q ane mirror
from q sOcOnd.story window, and then
rushed down stairs With 9 feather bed
In his arms, deserves leather medal
aud thirty stripes where they will do
I he most good.
Year: 1877

SENATOR DAVIS has Democratic
days, Republican days, aud of days.
he is so small you never know where
to find him, but as We had no right TO
expect It, We are always rejOiced when
We tind him In the Democratic camp.
Year: 1877

IT was this attempt to dictate to peo'
pie how they should vote that kept
Mississippi In hot water for ten years.
IA. q. Brown.


We thought II was Radical rascaliIy'
We feel very sure that niue-tenthS OF
the people OF Mississippi agree with
ma
Year: 1877

Under advice OF his physician, Archbishop BAyiey
Yesterday took advantage OF the delightful weather
and took two hours drive In an open carriage. His
general condition Is the same as u has been since hs
arrival In Newark from Europe
Year: 1877

[From the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 1s.


The fact that throughout the called
and regular sessions very little useful
legislation h IS been perfected confirms
the impression that Congress is a costly
government appendage. 1t is doing the
damage to the national finances that the
Legislatures have done for the various
States until the people fairly groan un-
der the burdens they have to bear, but
when they murmur they are silenced by
the remark that they are enjoying the
blessings of free representative governs
ment, aud the lack OF wisdom in the
management of affairs continues to go
hand in hand with corruption and inf
deity to patriotic and official pledges.
Year: 1877

DENVER, Col. Oct. 2.-Much excitement is
manifested in this State in regard to the
county elections and the voting on woman
suffrage, which takes place to-day. At the
polls In this city the unusual spectacle of
ladies peddlng tickets presented itself. At
this hour, o'clock ii Is difficult to determine
the result Of the vote on female suffrage,
though the indications are that the State will
vote against It.


As far as can be estimated the city will have
"A Democratic Mayor with the Council about
equally divided. The sheriff of ,the county,
Republican is undoubtedly reelected. SO
many scratched tickets were voted that tho
result of tho election cannot be known before
mounting.