smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

There are times when our double
quick march to the tomb is broken by
halts. They may not be long; they
may last only few minutes, or hours
but they are full Of refreshmept and
peace, and should be improved by Civ
ing up ourselves to the reflection which
we cannot indulge while the march
goes on. The Saturday night halts
are the chief of these seasons OF re.
pose. Then, we break ranks and 90
home on furlough till Monday morning
and the Sunday with its sacred calm
ana JOY comes to refresh our bodies.
rest our minds, and unstring the facul.
Ties SO painfully distendcd by the
weeks labor. There are other shorter
halts, too; it may be at the breakfast
table when being Few minutes ahead
OF time, we linger over the morning
meal to ask and To answer pleasant
little questions it may be at midday,
at moment when all have left the
countlng'room, and we find ourselves
alone In the midst of strange and


iSHScs ~ may De At the close
OF day when we wander slowly home
ward after the tolls of business, with
the still twilight shadows closing round
us 1t may be at night before slumber
seals our eyelids as we rest on the oil.
low; 1t may be on a journey when we
find ourselves sitting alone in the
midst OF strangers at hotel, or in n
railway car. All these are halts in the
march OF life; we cease for the time,
TO feel the goad of business or necess-
lty urging us onward, and yield our.
selves up to the repose of the moment.
Our bodies rest, our minds become un-
strung, the imminence of some nee
essity to he met on the moment van.
lshes, and we have time to look at and
think of things that have no connec.
ton with our daily cares. These mo-
mcnts of stiffness should not be re-
Sarded rs irksome they should be
gwen to reflection, for we think too
little amid the clash and clangor of
the struggle of our daily vocation.
Life, indeed, demands action of us, but
we need to reflect calmly at times to
know how to act.
Year: 1874

age; no nan has true liberty until he Is 30 SUBJ
and makes IL his own and ceases to be able to dis
criminate between his VIII and the law that Is ex-
terror to him. | thiuk there Will be no doubt
and see how men do develop. Consider how men
become, in their material and physical relations,
large strOng facile, successful When the child Is
born and begins to learn the qualities OF matter
and the use OF itself, OF its ieet Its hands, its
eyes and its ears, what Is the process by which he
Is developed out OF weakness and INTO strength ?
We 'teacn HIM the knowledge OF matter,
what its laws are and how strictly to Oh.
the difference between cutting edges and blunt
edges, but he learns, and he learns how to
accommodate himself to these things he does not
know the difference between fire and ice; he does
not know the difference between matter to be
PLUNGED into and tae ar TO be sA breatned; He
law. No child has learned to 90 alone, TO use his
hand, or to have any comfort Of his eye, his ear or
TO which these various organs must conform the M
selves. No, learning on the part oil the child Is
ooeying ana obeyng and coming 10 move OF MN;
be never to walk never to use his hands, never TO
look, never to hear, never 10 taste, never to do
anyt,hlng sc,,,1 except to have his own way which


AN EVERLASTING CIPHER OR ZERO.


every step oy which every child comes TO De less
anu less Ol q child and more and more Of man
are steps by which he finds out more laws; on
every side, In the air above on the earth beneath
human lie. person learns to be pianist not by
sitting down and saying 81 am going to have my
exactly what IS required by the law OF sound and
the law OF Instrumentation and compelling his
hands to conform TO these laws. How does man
learn TO play billiards BY doing what the billiard
table requires, and BY submitting himself 10 the
nature OF the game. SO 1t is in regard to fencing
dancing, rolling tenpns, ploughing cutting wood
and every other physical requirement The first
step in each OF those departments Is obedience
TO law. having Obeyed the law per-
fectly the performance becomes unconscious
and automatic, and the man arrives at a power In
himself OF perfect liberty. And that whlcn is true
In respect to the body is true In respect to the
social conditions OF lie; tnat which is true In re-
spect y sie soclal con4luops af Ats y trns "
Year: 1874

Tue meeting of the Peninsular Press Associa-
ton, in this city on the 3Oth iuGt, continues to
receive friendly notice from the newspapers,
generally, throughout the Peninsula, and we
hope to see large gathering at the time fixed
Year: 1874

Do we notice how much more rapidly
each succeeding year seems to pass
away? Cannot we remember how, in
our childhood, the term of a year ap-
peared interminable, and We thought we
could compress into that great space al
most any amount of work and play :?
But as we get older, low is it, with all
our industry time seems too short for
the work we take in hand ? We become
so engrossed that holy days and holidays
are alike invaded and, after all is done,
how much is left unfinished, how many
schemes remain untried "It is the SOL
emn thought connected with life, says
the late eloquent f. w. Robertson, "that
life's last business is begun in earnest !;
and it is when midway between the era.
die and the grave that a man begins to
marvel that he let the days of youth 60
by so half enjoyed 1t Is the pensive
autumn feeling, it is the sensation Of
half-sadness that we experience when
the longest day of the year is past, and
every day that follows is shorter, and
the light fainter. and the feebler shad-
ows tell that nature is Fastening with
gigantic footsteps to her winter grave.
So does man look back upon his youth.
When the first gray hairs become visible,
when the unwelcome truth fastens itseh
upon the mind that man is no longer
going up hill, and the noon is always
westering, he looks on things behind
When we were children, we thought as
children. But now there lies before ui
manhood, with its earnest work, and
then old age, and then the grave, and
then home. There is second home foi
man better and holier than the first, il
he will look ON and not look back"
Year: 1874

One night, recently, young man of
this city (who we will call Smith, for
accommodation sake), who feared that
the lady he loved (she wasn't Miss by
any mcans) was entertaining an admirer,


determined to climb tree in the yard
from which he could see into the sitting
room in the second story. where the
young woman was supposed to be. Just
as he got himself seated in a comforta-
bic position commanding the window,
some one on the inside rolled the cur
tain down. Then Smith made up his
mind to come down. 1t was very dark,
but just as he began to slide down the
trunk, Smith heard dog barking furi-
ously beneath, and looking down he saw
huge animal capering about, apparent
ly very eager to nip his legs. Then
Smith suddenly climbed up the tree
again, and endeavored to drive off the
dog but the more he spoke to the brute
the more it danced around and barked.
Then Smith came down as low as he
dared and tried to coax the animal, but
this only made him hop around and
howl more furiously than ever. So it
became apparent that Smith would have
to spend the night in the tree. He fixed
himself as comfortably as he could in a
crotch of the limbs, and kicked his legs
and moved his arms, to keep himself
from freezing to death. Several times,
when Smith thought the dog was asleep,
he tried to descend, but each time the
brute awoke and began to caper about.
By the time daylight arrived Smith was
SO benumbed that he could hardly use
his hands, but as the sky grew brighter
he leaned over to examine his prosecutor
and to his amazement he found it was
his own dog, which, unknown to him,
had followed him to the tree, and had
barked and capered only to express his
delight at the prospect of Smith coming
down and going home. The suddenness
with which Smith reached the ground is
said to have been remarkable, and lam
guage used by him bad. He has some
of the rheumatism which he got on that
night in his bones yet Carson Tribune.
Year: 1874

Here is true story of low-life in
England, which is not without its pa
thos as we'll as its horror. William
Parker enlisted in the English army
when he was twenty-one; he served for
ten years in India and elsewhere he
was good soldier, and remarkably
kind, patient, and pleasant man. He
was married when in the service and
two children were born to him. He was
discharged at the end of his service his
health was broken down; his wife soon
died, and he was left with his two chill
dren. He was devotedly attached to
them, and there never was kinder or
better father. Times grew hard with
him his bad health prevented him from
getting work; and last November he
found himself owing f2 los. for rent
and not a penny in the world. His land
lady, herself very poor woman, was
very kind to his children, and fed them
out of her own scanty means; but her
husband at last said that he could not
allow her to keep them any longer. She
told Parker this sad news with heavy
heart He received it quietly he went
to the room where the two children were
in bed he took them into his arms, one
at time, cut their throats, allowed the
blood to drain into a bucket, replaced
them in bed, and walked to the police
station, where he gave himself up for
the murder of his two children. He ap-
peared to be very i'll, but was perfectly
calm and collected, although he seemed
to be in very distressed state of mind.
There was not particle of food in the
room, and there was every indication of
extreme poverty. Parker was tried for
the murder of his two children. A fee


bic attempt was made to show that he
was insane, but it failed. He was SEN
fenced to death, and there is no hope
that Mr.. Lowe will let him off-LOndon
Year: 1874

HINTS ON SLEEP.-To literary men,


teachers, lawyers, doctors, journalists,
and brain workers in general, the follow
ing hints are exceedingly worth atten-


ton: The fact is, that as life becomes
concentrated, and its pursuits more ca
ger, short sleep and early rising become
impossible. We take more sleep than
our ancestors, and we take more sleep
because we want more. Six hours sleep
viii do very well for plowman or brick
layer or any other man who has no ex-
haustion but that produced by manual
labor, and the sooner he takes it after
his labor the better. But for the man
whose labor is mental, the stress is on
his brain and nervous system, and fol
him who is tired in the evening with .
day of mental application, neither early
to bed or early TO rise is wholesome. He
needs letting down to the level ofrepose


The longer interval between the active
use Of the brain and the retirement tC
bed, the better his chance Of sleep and
refreshment. To him an hour after mid.
night is probably as good as two before
it, and even then his sleep will not q
completely restore him as it win hi
neighbOr who is physically tired Hi
best sleep is in the early morning hours
when all the nervous excitement ha


passed away and be is perfectly at rest
Year: 1874

All the realms of poesy furnish few rarer gems thai
these lines from the pen of Mrs. Mary A Townshend
of New Orleans They breathe the purest and tender
est soul of passion glow and tnge in every syllable
with the celestial fire of genius and love:
believe, if 1 should die,
And you should kiss my eyelids when lie,


Cold dead and dumb to all the world contains,
The folded orbs would open at thy breath,
And from its exile in the Isle of Death


Life would come gladly back along my veins
believe if were dead,
And YOU upon my lifeless heart should tread,


Not knowing what the poor elod CHANGED to be,
1t would find sudden pulse beneath the touch
OF him ever loved in life so mueh


And throb again warm, tender, true TO thee.
believe if on my grave,
Hidden in woody deeps, or by the wave,


Your eyes should drop some warm tears OF regret,
From every salty seed of your dear grief,
Some fair sweet blossoms would leap into leaf,


To prove death could not make my love forget.
I believe if should fade,
Into those mystic realms where light is made.


And YOU should long once more my face to see,
would come forth upon the hills of night,
And gather stars like fagots, till thy sight,


Led by their beacon blaze fell full on me
believe my faith in thee,
Strong my life. nobly placed to be,


would soon expect to see the sun
Fall like q dead king from his height sublime,
His glory stricken from the throne of Time,


AS thee unworth the worship thou hast won.
l believe who has not loved
Hath half the treasure of his life unimproved:


Like one who with the grape within his grasp,
Drops it, with all its crimson juice impressed,
And all its luscious sweetness left unguessed,


Ont from his careless and unheeding clasp.
1 believe love- pure and true,
Is to the soul sweet, immortal dew,


That gems life's petals in the hour of dusk;
The waiting angels see and recognize
The rich crown jewel, Love, of Paradise


When life falls from us like a withered husk.
Year: 1874

There are set of imbeciles in this
world who know just enough to croak,
and are nearly equal to the toad in con-
sequence. They live because they have
not sufficient courage to favor the world
and the newspapers with case of sui
eide If they can find doad rnan's
shoes, they step into them, and wonder
why it is that anybody has sufficient en-
terprise to get new pair. If somebody,
or event, shoVes such creatures into for
tune they become respectable and veal
thy, and the community is saved from
supporting them in the poor house or a
worse place. Such people cannot under
stand why anybody should have brains
or energy enough to live upon their own
individual exertions. Enjoying the for
tunes which others have made, strutting
upon the success which dead men have
achieved, living upon the bones of the
skeleton past, they cannot conceive how
any one should be SO presumptuous as
to conceive anything new, or to DO diff
ferently than Adam did. It was this
class of men that murdered the Saviour !;
it was this class of men who prosecuted
our forefathers and drove them from
their English homes it was this class
of men who murdered our kindred in the
late rebellion. and it is this class of men
who invariably get worsted in the bat
tie of life. and die unregretted.
Year: 1874

Ekn HE application of water in this Wheel is


II thing new in Hydraulics. The whole stream is


presented to the Wheel in one sluiee gate, and


= operates as perfectly each and every bucket
at once as though each bucket fed through a
gate suiee of its thus avoiding large
OF friction and leakage attendant small apertures
and Fly Trap gates The power, by avoiding frie-
ton, results in giving force to the water and
consequently more power to the Wheel. The last five
yearS hard trials successfully encountered has practi
cay set at rest the credit and ability of the Wheel to
perform all that has been claimed for it, The ease and
slight expense with which it is set in place. the relia-
BILE and permanent character of the power delivers
the slight loss experienced by back water, together
anchor ice can be removed and the readiness with
which the amount of water used can be ascertained
makes the Wheel agreeable to all who have in care
the running of the power; while the actually
tanned fact that portion of the water gives its full
effective forge just in proportion to the amount used


from the hrt to the last inch makes it desirable
economy of water or variable amounts, while the
price of the Wheel is so low for the amount of power
furnished that any who wants power can Just as
well have first as second class Parties who
have been and are using this Wheel to drive all
kinds of machinery under all amounts of head and
with ever varying quantities of water ready and
willing TO give practical reasons for the preference
they manifest in the of this Wheel over any and
all others they have used. Five years ago it
launched entirely on its merits by the maker who
well aware of all means credtable and dscredit
able which are used to puff new machines and new
Improvements. 1t was felt that if the Wheel was
better than those that had preceded it, the community
would be able to find out the TACT and candid enough
to appreciate it. Experience demonstrated the above
principle TO be correct.
Year: 1874

A traveller Describes The weather
station on Pixies Peak as q building
Of stone, walls two feet thick, thirty
teet by fifteen, and nine in height.


Three men are spending the winter
there taking observations They are
used to the lichtness Of tie air, and
do not experience serious incgnveni-
ence. Water boils az 50 low q tenn
perature that it takes about three
times as long 10 cook food as at the
ordinary level The air Is so clear
that the eye can sweep a distance Of
two hundred miles in every direction.
Year: 1874

The London Spectator tells an amusing
story which has very perceptible point to
it. A materialistic lecturer and q city mis-
sionary met before very intelligent audi
ence to discuss tile question Of personal
responsibility, point to which modern the
orists of the advanced school incline mega
lively. To illustrate his theory, the mate
rialist pointed out to his hearers the fact,
now pretty generally admitted, that in
seven years the atoms of the body have un-
dergone complete change, and punish
ment awarded to one body for deeds done
by the other was manifest injustice. The
city missionary, in reply, expressed his sor-
row that he should be engaged in discus
sing with man living with woman
to whom he was not
married. The materialist rose angrily to
his feet to repudiate the assault upon his
wife. The missionary retorted that accord
ing to his own showing the materialist was
by no means the same who vowed eternal
constaney at the altar twenty years ago,
nor was his so-called wife the same woman.
rs the two existing persons had never been
married, they were living in state which
he could not countenance. The retort was
ingenious as Illustrating in the absurd con-
clusiOn to which the arguments of the sheer
materialists must bring them.
Year: 1874

The Ga1dry, i'll commenting on the
commented upon by the press, that the
attitude of some of the most important
newspapers in regard to the Beecber-Tilton
affair "seems to have been determined by
considerations of policy. The editors of at
least two of those who have from the
beginning given the accused party more
or less cordial and unquestioning support
are known to their personal friends as hay
ing themselves come to a conclusion direct
ly adverse to that advocated in the columns
which they are supposed to control" The
writer in the Galaxy says that this incon-
sistency is quite comprehensive and does
not imply personal OF professional dishonor,
adding, GA great newspaper is not an
utterance Of mere individual opinion. It
speaks for q party, a school, class; and
upon some political and even some social
questions its policy may require the adyo-
cacy of views not held by more than one
of its conductors, including the editor-in-
chief" One of these editors excused his
journalistic falsity BY the remark that
Plymouth Church is an institution whose
people could not be forced to believe the
accusation against Mr.. Beecher though the
archangel Gabriel should declare it. AS tc


the next question. the GALAXY says: Il
Moulton and Tilton had lied, Mr.. Beechel
if the victim of deeply long concerted


conspiracy for his destruction, which fact
will have to be conelusively established b,
the pastors thorough-going partisans, il
| they would have others think with them
The motives which could have induced
| Moulton to enter into such a conspiracy


must be elerly proven to make out thi.
case. In conclusion the GALAXY says: Ply


mouth Church may be a great institution


strong. enough not only to stand by itself
but To influence tile course of newspapers


but there is something greater and stronger
than Plymouth Church and that is mora
truth, the demands of which must be me


i'll this case, at least as far as the outsid,
/ world is concerned
Year: 1874

4 man dressed in sailor-costume was mn
in bur criminal court the other day upon !
charge of stealing a pair of boots. AS he
had no counsel, the Court appointed a
yotsng lawyer to take charge of his defense.
me lawyer opened the case with a speech
in which he alluded to his client as 81
child OF the sad sea-wayes, nursing of
the storm, whom the pitiless pillows had
cast, a.forlorn and friendless waif upon
the shores of time, after a life spent in
fierce and heroic contestHwith raging ele-
ments." Then the defendant was put upon
the stand and the fact was revealed that
he was cook upon Snyder county canal
boat, previous to which he had peddled
CLAIMS in Wilmington. The nursling of the
storm is now in Jail for sixty days.


The weather reports in the daily papers
are very creditable, but they are too prosy.
1t seems to me that they would be very
much more interesting if they were offered
to the public in a poetic form. I am aware
that the material is not as susceptible of
poetic treatment as some other things are,
but with the exercise of a little ingenuity
it might be successfully handled. Let me
illustrate my method. Take this, for in
stance:


For Middle States, cold northeast winds


With heavy frosts, as well as
Bad weather in New England, that


Will call for umber-ellas
Along the upper lakes, slight rains,


Succeeded by a clearing
Wind, north to northwest first, and then


To west and southwest veering.


Or we might have something like the
following:


A storm is slowly sailing up the Mississippi


valley,


So wear your rubbers and old hats when


out from home you sally.
And in New England will be frosts, with


falling baro-nleter,
With cold so great thai you will want more


fuel in your heater.


Perhaps we even might have verse like
this:


The l. Eer lake region is threatened with


rain, a---....
And New England with scattering


showers.


There will probably be high winds on the


coast,


With storm in a very few hours.


Of course know that some Of this is
sickly. When a poet, for instance. is COM
PEELED to use umber-ellas for the sake of
rhythm and barometer for the sake of
rhyme, he is usually simply an object of
compassion. But I offer these merely as
examples. If the Weather Bureau accepts
the suggestion it ought to engage Mr..
LongfeIlow and Mr.. Tennyson to stay in
the Office and take watch and watch, work
ing the reports into verse as they come in.
Mr.. Tennyson could make a weather con-
lecture as musical as a nightingale or an
ACCORDION if he chose to try. l don't pro-
fess to do that kind of thing.