smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

THERE were not many less than
ten thousand people in the
streets of Los Angeles on the Fourth


of July. The thoroughfares We're
filled with wagons, hacks, buggies,
farm vehicles and horsemen, yet we
have not heard of a single collision or
accident of any kind during the day.
A few thousand dollars worth of
bombs and crackers and rockets were
set off and sent up, but no ones hand
was blown off and not skull was
penetrated with rocket-stick. A few
hundred gallons of whisky were
drank and few hundred men were
brim-full of patriotism, yet no fighting
or other disorder disturbed the day or
evening. This speaks well for the
moral character of the people of Los
Angeles Valley, and is an evidence of
their order-lo wing disposition which
we take pleasure in placing on record.
Year: 1874

The revenue question is to-day the one of
paramount Importance before our Legislature.
What is required more than anything else is an
effective revenue system.


We believe it may safely be asserted that
taxes to the amount of not less than one mil
lion of dollars are now due to our State treas
ury. A large proportion of the taxes due, re-
main uncollected in many counties. We have
nothing approaching thorough system of col
lecting taxes This is the true reason why
we have an empty treasury at present, and
why the warrants of the State are being hawked
about the streets and sold at ruinously low
rates. Spectators in government paper have
always fiourished in times of financial distress.
Nothing can be more important to the State
than to maintain its credit, and its reputation
for good faith untarnished. Texas is amply
able to pay one hundred cents on the dollar
on the whole of its floating and unfunded
debt within comparatively short period of
time.


We take the liberty of suggesting to our
Legislature, the appointment of joint COM
mittee from both houses selected from among
those most familiar with financial questions,
whose duty it shall be to prepare and report
at an early day the best possible revenue bill
for the State. Let our tax system be simplifed;
and let everything bearing thereupon be en-
braced in one act, and all others be repealed.
Nothing is so essential to efficacy as simplci-
ty. Should such committee as that sug-
gested, be appointed, we doubt not but that
they could readily bring to their assistance in
the solution of the diffienlt problems before
them, the best financial talent in the State.
The subject of taxation is always the most
difficult and delicate one that comes before a
legislative body. In some of the older States
men who have made finance the subject
of lifelong study, have been appointed under
authority of the Legislatures, commissioners to
propose reports upon the best system Of taxa
ton and the one that would be least oppressive
upon all branches of industry.


The report of Hon. D. A. Wells, commits
sioner for the State OF New York, is very ex-
haustive and instructive. Mr.. Wells was for
merly commissioner in the same capacity for
the United States government, and he has long
been recognized as one of the ablest writers
upon the subject Of taxation We believe
that the object sought may be accomplished
by the appointment of the joint COMMITTEES as
suggested above.


We have an able and honest Comptroller,
but he must be armed with the means for see
ing that the taxes arc fairly and promptly as
sessed, and honestly collected and promptly
paid into the treasury Of the State. We be
lieve that the true way to raise the credit Of
our State and relieve US from our present un
fortunate situation, is TO create a simple and
effective revenue system.
Year: 1874

The cases of Impeachment and addressing
out Of district judges, from present appear
ances, bids fair 10 become matter of gigantic
proportions Il is universally acknowledged
that many Of the judges are men of utter in
competency, that some Of them are very cor
Tupt and that the safety and dignity Of the
State depends upon other men filing their
places All this is true, and the popular
expression is to this effect. We repeat, that
the matter of removing these judges is becom-
ing ponderous. a host of witnesses are being
summoned, and their mileage and per diem
will have to be paid out of the State treasury.
Not only this, but the time consumed by the
Legislature in disposing of these cases VIII be
considerable, and to each day so consumed
there will be added to the above named expense
twelve hundred dollars. To these heavy ex-
penditures add the bills for printing and other
costs consequent upon the investigations, and
the expense of a constitutional convention will
be surpassed in the one item of renewing six
or eight Judges. A constitutional convention
would cover this entire ground, and at the
same time give the people that which they
expected, and for which they now clamor.
We overheard one of the Senators opposed to
the convention remark, in conversation on the
floor of the Senate during the discussion of
the subject of allowance to the above named
witnesses, eve had just as well have con-
vention." In that remark he struck the popu-
lar string, and it is to be hoped that the re-
sponse Of the majority of the Legislature will
accord with it. Let US have the conven-
ton. 1t viii at once raise the stand
ard of our judiciary; it will give us a
basis for sound legislation, one not laid down
under military dictation and indorsed by q
power at the time prone to oppress, but one
coming up from the hearts of Texans, broth
ers who are free, and who in their next sacred
compact, if it be permitted, will build up a
standard of citizenship, which viii exalt so
ciety and add character aud solidity to ouI
State which would not be easily shaken. In
the light of advancement convention becomes
necessary; in the light of justice it appears to be
due; while in the item of expense consequent
alone upon the legislative adjustment of judi
cial incumbents, "we had just as well have a
convention, which would correct everything
as to otherwise cover only one-tenth of the
ground at the same expense, or most probably
a greater one, than that consequent upon the
holding of a convention. This is serious
question for consideration, and after all the
expense the full ends, in all probability, would
not be reached.
Year: 1874

SOME party sends us communication upon
immigration in General and German Immi-
grafton in Particular" which he might have
gotten published had he not attempted to puff
publication which he says is about to make
its appearance in a few days in this city under
the title of Immigrants Guide through
Texas, published by Douglas E. Jerold &
Co" For our part, we feel like doing anything
for the cause of immigration, but we feel very
little like doing anything to assist Mr.. Douglas
E. Jerold, the gutter artist who made vulgar
pictures for the Sue journal in the late can
vass. The writer of the article wants the
Legislature to circulate several thousand of
this publication, but we desire to let it be
known in advance who Mr. Douglas f.
Jerold is.
Year: 1874

WHILE we give hearty Amen" to all that
is said of the ability and integrity of the pres
ent bench, we do not believe that Texas wants
a man to work for less than his work is worth
When we get days labor for less than its
value, somebody is wrong and somebody does
wrong. We are strong believers in the Apos-
tolic maxim, ''the laborer is worthy of his
hire. "-G GGlUestoH Cjciian.


This is all true, but the remarks of our Co
temporary doubtless unintended to go so far
as to cast a reflection upon the Supreme
Court This was the injustice we criticised
We think the enlightened lawyers of the State
viii agree with us, that it constitutes IN able
bench. And while we say this, we repeat that
we regret that Mr.. Ballinger does not grace it.
The salaries are too low, and we agree with
the CSriysan, they ought to he increased.
Year: 1874

we know not, but we do know that If the
voice Of the intelligent and virtuous men Of
his district could exercise a potential infu-
enee, he would not remain in his present po-
sition an hour The country needs and de-
mands pure judiciary, and the first step is
to repove those who are ignorant and un-
faithful.
Year: 1874

THE Iron Age says s'that Marshall chal-
lenges the State for fcr.ale beauty" The
ladies of Marshall are not only beautiful,
but marked by loveliness and intellect.
But does our cotemporary anticipate by
this challenge to congregate all the pretty
ladies in the State at Marshalll
Year: 1874

LET rs crCss over the river and rest ia the ,hss
ere The dying words Of steneWall jackson
in the dark and shadowy valley,


On the brink of the swelling stream,
The wounded hero spreads his tent.
And secs from over the river a CLEAN
OF the beautiful shades beyond the stream
Before the patriots vision rise,


Legiors OF comrades, brave and true,
The smoke Of battle the heavy Trad
OF armies passing in review


OF cOmrade old, and comrade new.
lie hears the thundering cannons roar.
Aud marks the progress OF the strife,
The shout OF victory echoing DER


The Land TO him more dear than life,
The land for which he gave his life
The conflict lulls; the cannons cease;
No more he sees their lightning fast,
Nor hears the musket's deadly peal
Nor heeds the sabres clang and clash,
Nor feels the conflicts awful crash!
Over the river his eye is turned


To the land of the pure and ble-t
See, over the river, the peaceful shade,
Let us cross over the river and rest
In the shade. Let US cross and rest. F"
No more is that voice in conflict heard;
This was the heros last command.
'' Over the river we see him pass.


We see him enter the beautiful land.
Borne by the FATHERS secret hand.
Let him rest IN the beautiful shade
Where no Souud of the conflict comes
Let him rest in the beautiful shade
UnmOved by The reNelOf drum;
Weary with strife, weasy with war.
Parting for rest aud the fATHEE care
in the land of peace and love,


The beautiful End above,
Let MIN rest in the beautiful shade.
Year: 1874

THE ladies of the West have naugurated a
war against intemperance, that viii spread all
over the Union. Unquestionably the evil
they are endeavoring 10 combat is one Of
great magnitude and which neither legislation
nor human philanthropy has been able to
control
Year: 1874

THE contested election case IN the Senate has
resulted in the seating Of Burton by vote Of
fourteen to eleven. There was division Of
the question, and upon the previous vote to
seat Hunt, the vote stood nine TO sixteen.
Year: 1874

How BristOw Put Snufler ON Nudge.
Washington Correspondence Of the Chicago Times.


Bristow allows that he is Secretary
of the Treasury. Under the Richard
son regime, anybody about the building
was liable to promulgate financial
opinions and to indicate what they
considered correctgovernmental policy.
Bristow means to do most Of this him
self, and is introducing adiscipline that
is almost martial. On yesterday, MI.
Nudge, heretofore, q pretentious
and noisy subaltern, came into: !:Bristow's
room and threw himself across sofa
in the familiar style of Richardson
days. At the moment Bristow was
explaining a new financial idea to an
official visitor. As he finished, Nudge
broke in patronizingly, observing :
Excellent, Mr.. Secretary; I am glad
to be able to agree with you in what
you say" Bristow turned upon him
chil1ingly. ''Your chief is the com
missioner Of Customs, - he said
REPORT to him at once. When you
have any future business with me,
transact it through him. If I have
any special use for you, I'll send for
you" Nudge edged out. Bristow
has already made a marked change in
the morals of the department. He
contemplatcs further reduction Of the
force, and wholesale increase in its
efficiency. He has made brave start
in his work of improvement, and the
country is crying him grateful God
speed.
Year: 1874

| to detail. 1t was spectacle to challenge


the wonder and amazement of the most


cultured and best travelled men and wo-


men amongst us, costing, perhaps,


twenty-five thousand dollars, every


dress, and all the access ories being i'm


portations from Paris; the whole gotten


up under the direction of members of


the organization whose names,


were they known, would be


guarantee. at once, of all


we say. The spectacle they furnished
st the Theater was equally beyond words
to tell of, so sumptuous and gorgeous
was it. The tableaux, even in the days
of Cleopatra, would be difficult to sur
pass, so realistic were the costumes and
belongings Of the nearly two hundred
persons who illustrated Egypt from her
tabled days to those of the Saracens
and the Mamelukes. We feel a just
pride in the magnificent display of the
Memphi, composed OF leading gentle
men, whose wives and daughters,
most of them in evening costume,
were present at the ball, which
was so crowded by our very best
people as to leave scarcely room for
the qusdrilles and round dances. No
city In the country could make a more
resplendant display of Ioveliness
and refinement than that to have been
seen at the Memphi ball on Tuesday
night, and every word to the contrary
by this correspondent is falsehood out
Of whole cloth unwarranted by any,
thing that occurred. But it is false
from beginning to end, this infamous
dispatch, false in special and particular,
false in conception and wording, and an
outrageous slander of people, who, for
public spirit, for energy, for education,
refinement, culture, and the preserva-
ton of all the courtesies and amenities
and civilizing influences of life, are equal
to any other. We brand it SO, knowing
it to be so; and we ask our confreres
throughout the Union to publish the
fact and vindicate the fair fame of city
that has been by-word too long. This
is but justice. Let us have it.
Year: 1874

iGail Ham toni


Wiidness is thing which girls can
not afford. Delicacy is thing which
restore to the grape its bloom. Familiar
ity without love, without confidence,
without regard, is destructive of all that
makes woman exalting and ennobling:


nThe world is wide, these things are small;


They may be nothing, but they are al"


Nothing? 1t is the first duty of
woman to be lady. Good breeding is
good sense Bad manners in women is
immortality. Awkwardness may be in
eradicable. Bashfulness is constitution
al. Ignorance of etiquette Is the result
OF circumstances. All can be condoned,
and do not Danish man or woman from
the amenities of their kind. But self
possession, unshrinking and aggressive
coarseness of demeanor may be reckon
ed as a State prison offense, and certain
" merits the mild form of restraint
called Imprisonment for life. 1t is
shame for women to be lectured on their
manners. 1t is bitter shame that they
need it, Women are the umpires of So
ciety. 1t is they to whom all mooted
points should be referred. To be lady
is more than to be prince. A lady is
always in her right inalienably worthy
of respect. To lady, prince and peas
ant alike bow. Do not be restrained.
Do not have the impulses that need re-
straint. Do not wish to dance with the
prince unsought Feel differently. Be
such that you confer honor. Carry
yourself so lofty that men will look up
to you for reward, not at you in rebuke.
| The natural sentiment of man toward
woman is reverence. He loses large
means of grace when he is Obliged to
account her being to be trained into
propriety. A mans ideal is not wound
/ ed when woman fails in worldly Wis
dom, but if in grace, in sentiment, in
delicacy, i'll kindness, she should be
found wanting, he receives an inward
/ bnr+
Year: 1874

Everybody in Paraguay smokes, and
every female above the age of thirteen
chews. am wrong. They do not chew,
but put tobacco in their mouths, keep it
there constantly, except when eating,
and instead Of chewing it, roll it about
and suck it. Only imagine yourself
about to salute the red lips Of q magnif-
cent little Hebe, arrayed with satin and
flashing with diamonds, as she puts you
back with one delicate hand, while with
the other she draws forth from her
mouth brownish black roll Of tobacco
quite two inches long, looking like &
monster grub, and then depositing the
savory lozenge on the brim of her SOM
brers, puts up her face and is ready Tor
a salute. / have sometimes seen an oy-
er-delicate foreigner turn away with a
shudder of loathing under such circum-
stances, and get the epithet Of the savage
applied to him by the offended beauty
for his sensitive sqneamishness. How
ever, one soon gets used to this in Para
quay, where you are, perforce Of custom,
obliged to kiss every lady you are intro
duced to, and one half you meet sre real
ly tempting enough to render you re-
gardless of the consequences, and you
would sip the dew of the proffered lip in
the face of a tobacco factory-even in the
double-distilled honey dew Of old Vir
ginia.
Year: 1874

Chief of Police Savage, Of Boston, who
has kept a record Of the cases of drunk
enness and the crimes attributed to in
Temperance in that city for several years
says that during those years the Hub has
had at one time free rum, at another "A
license law, and yet again for time n
prohibitory law vigorously enforced; and
yet there is no variation in his statistics
furnishing the least indication of when
one policy prevailed and when another.
Year: 1874

correspondent in this city writes to the Mid
dlstown Transcript to approve the good old rule
that "to the vctors belong the spoi's," aud to
urge that it be well lived up to- in the Democra-
tic organization of Delaware. We should pre-
sume this urgency was not needed Did the
Democracy in this State ever forget that doc
Year: 1874




Caleb ard Ruth.
Uncle Caleb and Ruth his wife,
Caring little for outside weather,
Fifty years of there welded life
Spent in this tiny house together.
Messy the roof and gray the wall,
Narrow the window, low the door;
But loves own sunlight hallowed it all,
From RATED ceiling to sanded floor.
Stint the day but silver sweet
Voices Of children long ago.
Keeping time TO their restless feet,
Following the mother to and fro.
Scattered afar from East to West.
Seeking their fortune far and wide,
No one stays in the olden nest
Where such beautiful memories hide.
Stranger feet on the time worn stair
Wake the echoes of other days
Stranger voices are lifted where
Caleb once "turned the tune" Of praise.
Caring naueht for the desolate PLATA,
OF the wind in the pine tree tops.
Caring naught for the grieving rain
That so sadly over them drops;
Needing as little the sunbeam's kiss,
Falling sweet from the summer sky,
In narrower house than this


Caleb and Ruth together lie
Up where the many mansions wait


Is there, / wonder, cottage small
Not too stately its pearly gate,


Not too shining its golden walls
Where these two may in peace abide
Heaven where none if those must part
Caleb away from her gentle side,


Ruth afar from his faithful heart
Hand in hand from morning to night
Travelled these two the long earth-day,
Surely they walk through the fields Of light
Hand in hand on the shining way.
Blessed love OF man and wife,


Love that lasted through cares and fears,
Filling this place with the ehrism of life,
Peace unclouded for fifty years.
Year: 1874

A young gentleman dropped into


an Indiana newspaper Office recent


ly, and feeling a little weak, took
seat on the distributing stone and
got up with no less than half a
pound of ink on his pants near the
lower extremity of his spine. The
last seen of him he was hunting
some druggist to prescribe ere
moving remedy" Moral: Never
sit down in a printing Office.
Year: 1874

The ietter we published yesterday from DR..
Bacon to Mr.. VIM. Walter Phelps was signif-
can't OF the close alliance between the men
of morals and the men of business in re-
gard to this question. The suggestion the
Doctor of Divinity makes to the Congressman
of forming n new organization upon this
issue is as practical as it is earnest. Well,
President Grant stands again in the attitude
of free choice between the right and wrong.
He can, by a single word put himself at the
head of either of these camps, and fight this
fight through under either flag. 1t is not
without q sense of the grotesque irony OF cir
cumstances that we are forced to reflect that
the President, who has been the center and
origin OF much of the decentralization which
has given the party over at last into the con-
genial hands of his friends Butler and
Logan, and their like, has it now in his
mower to take position at the head of the
new organization about to be formed by the
union of the men of conscience and intelli-
pence upon the basis of honesty and reason
in finance. This his luck has done for him.
II remains to be seen whether he has sufficient


independence to break away from those coarse,
ignorant, but strong-willed men who have
thus far drawn him along with them. Ii he
has, it will become serious question for the
honest people whether his opposition or his


leadership would be the more injurious to the
rause of reform ...H
Year: 1874

The following is from private letter ad-
dressed to the Editor of THE TRIBUNE by a
prominent ex-COngressman. Its public IN
terest warrants this use OF it, but as it was
evidently written with no thought of publica-
ton, the names of other prominent Congress
men which were used in the freedom OF pri-
yate correspondence are suppressed:


notice with satisfaction your efforts TO get at the
facts in the Pacific Mail Corruption Bill" IL was al
yocated by the best Judgment we were capable
Of and In fact. largely instrumental IN 1864 ana
1865 In getting II passed, that have no apology To
duo to the cause OF justice that 1t should be known ana
the dcbauchees of legislators exposed. There seems 10
he no doubt from wnat - told me that money was
used and trust you Will not relax effort TO expose
the fraud be said that the motives OF those Who
were upright should be sufficient for them but 1t Is NOT
as the atmosphere thick with daily revelations hat
The public do not discriminate with Judgment, 10 say
nothing of the national disgrace 1t Involves. hold
myself ready to cooperate IN any plan ny wnich Tue
facts can be ascertaiued Yours faithfully,


6ep- York, April Is, 1874.


There is no sort of doubt that our CORE
spondent is right as to the heavy expendi-
lures made from the Pacific Mail funds at
Washington, and ostensibly among Congress
men, in the interest of the subsidy. Neither
is there any sort of doubt that abundant evil
dcnce of the facts is accessible. We shall
soon see whether the Committee means to try
to get it.
Year: 1874

The story of Louisa Germs as now told in
our columns is one of the most singular OF
the various narratives of attempts to defraud
life insurance companies. Uhling, Uling
Uhler, or whatever his name may be, seems
to have been a sort of theatrical manager
He induced Louisa to chew soap in order to
simulate convulsive frOthing at the mouth,
aud finally to personate dead body. With
her face whitened and her form wrapped in a
winding sheet, she suffered herself to be cof-
fined, though her nerve gave way when the
undertaken came to put her into the casket.
Ii would seem that this admirable actress,
who was playing brief engagement as a
cadaver, actually went to her own funeral and
saw the solemn rites performed over her
brick weighted coffin. The whole perform
ance is a model of craft and ingenuity; it
shows how hard men will labor to gain few
thousand dollars which do not belong to them,
forgetting that the people who are to lose the
thousands will be equally ingenious in their
attempts to discover conspiracy against
Them