smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1874

The Pittsfeld Mass Eagle says that
children placed with the Shakers at Le
banon are indentured to Benjamin Gates,
or some authority, until they ''beeome of
age" he agreeing in the papers to provide
them food, clothing Sc. They are then
placed III the "chiidren's order" under the
charge Of sister designated to care for
them, and she commences at once to instill
into their minds the giOTies Of the creed.
In their management never blow IS struck.
Refractory ones are punished by being laid
flat upon the floor, face down. When they
have been kept thus PROSTATE for length
of time, they are taken up and talked to"
the enormity of their offences pointed out,
and are cxhorted to behave better in the
future Those from eight to a dozen years
Of age ego to confession every Saturday,
and Gown up" Cor are supposed to- the lit
tie sins Of the week that have escaped the
notice of their guardians And as they
receive special approval for an apparently
very full confession, they early learn to con-
jurc up enormous stories, knowing that
they gull their confessors into a deeper
belief of their renitence. "Now don't you
feel better after confessing all that ? asks
the ancient virgin who has heard the story
Yea, yea" saps the little miss, and tipping
wink to her companions she walks out as
sedately as spinster Of seventy. Another
method of punishment is to put the young
ster into large sack, tying it lightly round
the neck. Should the child refuse to get
into the bag it is drawn over the refractory
one, and then, head, feet, and all enyeloPcd,
he or che is left to repent of the offensive
disobedience The children are sent to
school four months each year-the boys in
the Winter and the girls in the Summer.
Co-education has not the slightest support
there The girls and boys must not con-
verse together. If they happen to meet,
and if roguish youngster is bold enough
to break the silence with some pretty maid
en-, the maiden must be deaf and dumb TO
him. 'Isn't there some boy here that you
are Just a little fonder of than others ?" is
a standing question in the confessional.
The reply already is may" and the blind
old goodies believe it
Year: 1874

fishing was precarious, and there were in
tervals of famine for fortune does not al
ways smile ON the hunter, and the beasts
Of the forest are net always equally numer
Gus. The food, too, was uniform, and not
altogether adapted for man, for the flesh
of the wild animal lacks fat The man of
those times had not enough of the heat
producers in his food and that he felt this
want we learn from his taste for the mar
row of bones. All the long bones of ami
mails that are found in caye-dwellings are
cracked open lengthvisc, in order to get
out the marrow. Now this insufficient,
uniform food has its counterpart in the low
grade Of culture which then prevailed, as
evidenced by the mode of life, the weapons
and the tools. Man then lived isolated,
without social organization he dwelt in
caverns, and his only protection against the
cold was the skins Of animals and the FIRE
on the hearth His tools were of stone,
unpublished, unadorned SO rudely fashioned
that only the eye of the connoisseur can
recognize in them mans handiwork.-
Popular Science Monthly.
Year: 1874

A few days ago, the first announcement
Of the probability of frost, was made by the
weather telegrams, and now we are having
a general invasion of the Frost King So
severely has he laid his hands upon mother
earth, that at one time it looked as though
he would have to give way to his foster
brother, Winter. Farmers are most in
terested in the first appearance Of frost,
and they look eagerly for his first foot
prints, but with timely notice, they have
not so much to apprehcnd from his vista
ton.


1t is important to agriculturists general
", to know that the gateway Of American
autumn and winter, lies in that deep, broad
furrow of the Continent, less than 500 feet
above the sea, and stretch from Minnesota,
northwestwardly, to the shores of the Are
tic Ocean Through this long channel,
several hundred miles wide, the winter
winds and boreal conditions of the frozen
North seem to advance southwark at this
season with the steadiness of a tidal swell,
until they exercise controlling influence
on the weather of the United States. This
fact, which has been frequently overlooked
affords an insight into the meteorology OF
this country, the value of Which cannot be
overcstimated by those whose rural labor
is dependent upon weather provisions. AT
ter the passage eastward Of the last storm
of Friday last the area of its low barometer
appears to have been quickly filed up by
indraught from the frosty regions of British
America, and the indrawn masses Of freez-
ing air to have inundated the Northwest
and the country around the upper lakes.


The farmers in these sections have, OF
course, less premonition Of severe trosts
than those in the Central and Middle
States, but enough for wariness and energy
to avert the destructive effects on outstand,
ing haryests The present frost wave, il
it does not close the growing season for to
bacco and some Of the vegetable crops
ought, at any rate, TO warn growers III the
| Middle and Eastern States not to delay
harvesting everything that may be killed
by frost There is an old saying that the
weather repeats itself, which has, perhaps
some foundation in fact. At any rate the
present irruption of the Frost King vii
not improbably be repeated more vigorous
! ly and extensively within the next week OF
ten DAYS. Let our rural population, there
fore. be well forewarned, and employ the
interval in carefully harvesting and hus
banding whatever Is exposed in the field.
Year: 1874

There are no bones and tough pieces that
have TO be laid aside. A good egg is made
up Of ten parts shell, sixty parts white and
thirty parts yolk The white Of an egg
contains eighty-six per cent. water the
yolk fifty-t~o per cent. The average weight
Of an egg Is about two ounces, prastically
an egg Is animal food, and vet there is none
Of the disagreeable work Of the butcher ne
eessary to obtain it. The veterans of Eng


land uee eggs freely, and many of these
men are eighty and ninety years old, and
have been remarkably free from illness. \
good egg is alive The shell is porous and
the oxygen of the air goes through the shell
and keeps up a kind Of respiration. An
egg soon becomes stale in bad air, or in dry
air charged with carbonic acid. Eggs may
be dried and made TO retain their goodness
for long time, or the shell may be warm
ished, which excludes the air, when, ifkept
IN a moderate temperature they may be
kept good for years. The French people
ship millions Of them to England annually.
Fresh eggs are more transparent at the
centre, old ones on the top. Very old
ones are not transparent in either place.
In water in which one tenth Of salt has
been dissolved good eggs sink aud indifer-
ent ones swim. Bad eggs float in pure
water. The best eggs are laid by young
healthy hens. If they are properly fed the
eggs are better than if they are allowed to
eat all sorts of food. Eggs are best when
cooked four minutes. This takes away the
animal taste that is offensive to some, but
does not harden the white or yolk as to
make them hard to digest. An egg il
cooked very hard is difficult of digestion,
except 10y those with stout stomachs, such
eggs should be eaten with bread and masti-
Gated very finely An excellent sandwich
can be made with eggs and brown bread


An egg spread on toast is food fit for I
king, if kings deserve any better food than
anybody else, which is doubtful. Fried
eggs are less wholesome than boiled ones


An egg cropped into hot water is not only
a clean and handsome but delicious NOR


sell Most people spoil the taste of theii
eggs by adding pepper and salt. y little
sweet butter is the best dressing. Egg:
contain much phosphorus, which is sup
posed to be useful to those who use then
brains much-P0Uitry Rcrie1C, Eng.
Year: 1874

The search for the missing Ross cLild
seems to be finally at an end, as detectives,
parents and the public have at last been
compelled to acknowledge their inability to
find the child The miseries of that house
hold can better be imagined than described,
bat we read in the daily papers that Mrs,
Ross is completely broken down and
threatened with insanity, while the condi-
ton Of the father is but little better. The
following report Is from their attending
physician published in the Philadelphia pa
pers: Il know Mr. c. X Ross, and am
his physician. He is in very PROSTATE
condition. | saw him this morning. He
is not able to leave his house or bed He
has been in that condition since Sunday.
He is in a condition Of prostration in which
he is unable to concentrate his thoughts or
TO express his meaning. His brain is af-
fected to that extent He has no disease that
| can recognize at preseut. He is very
thin, and is falling away daily He does
not take his natural sleep. He is certainly
seriously indisposed, and it viii be long
time before he will begin to react from his
present condition. | cannot speak of the
ultimate result"


In commenting upon the above the New
York World says: There is an intensity
and yet a vaguencss- inability ''to con
centrate thought and express meaning
in this that is terrible to think of 1t looks
very much as if, before long, we may have
to read of two more deaths IN that desola-
ted vicinage"
Year: 1874

The Virginia (Ncvada) Enterprise de-
main shaft Of the Virginia City Coal Com
pany, III Dorado canon, Lyon county, has
been encountered the trunk of large tree
four feet in diameter-a lone relic Of an an
cient and extinct forest Where cut
through by the shaft this old tree is found
TO be perfectly carbonized, turned into coal.
Outside the old log is completely crusted
over with iron pyritcs, many of which are
so bright that the crystals shine like
diamonds. These crystals also extend into
the body of the log, filing what were once
cracks or windshakes, and even forming
clusters about what once was the heart OF
the tree This relic Of an old time forest
lies far below the two veins of coal the
company are about to open. The finding
OF this old trunk is evidence that the coun-
try was at some time, ages ago, covered by
forest Of large trees though the native
timber growth, when the country was first
visited by the whites, and as far back as
the traditions Of the Indians extend, was
but a scrubby species Of nut pine 4 few
miles from the shaft in which this
carbonized tree was found, are to be seen
on the surface the petrified remains of
many large trees. The water, lines on the
hills show that the whole country was flied
with lakes, and the petriied trees lying
here and there or the surface Of the ground
probably fioated out on the extinct lakes,
| and finally sank TO the bottom in the places
! where they are now found.
Year: 1874

The famine in the East Indies, or rather
iu the province of Bengal, has so far aba
ted that the British government has to
feed only 100000 unfortunates daily. The
latest report from Calcutta is that heavy
rain continued to fall, that the rainfall in
September was equal to that of ordinary
years, that in the most doubtful Bengal
districts there was no longer any apprehen-
sion either of second famine or of serious
distress, and that the fever which had ragged
fearfully had further abated, though it pos
slbly might reaper during the autumn,
and had been extremely devastating.
Year: 1874

Tho fight against the payment OF taxes on
shoiE capital stock Is being carried vigorously
through the courts By soma of the corporations
Of this State. The Treasurer Of Rock Island
County WAS forbidden on Monday by tempo
tary injunction to collect any taxes from tho
Rockford, Rock Island l. st. Louis Railroad on
tho assessments made by the Board Of Equaliza~
ton. Tho case will be taken to tho Supreme
Court where 1t iB hoped 1t may be settled this
torn. Sixteen other corporations Of Rock
Island and Moline have applied for similar in
uuctiouBx
Year: 1874

A little elbow leans upon your knee,


Your tired knee that has so much 70 bear;
child's dear eyes are looking lovingly
From underneath tha teh of tangled hair.
Perhaps you do not heed the velvet touch
Of warm, moist fingers holding yours so tghti
You do not prize this blessing overmuehi
You almost too tired to pray To night.
But II is blessedness? i? A year ago


i did not see it as L do to day
We are all so dull and than kless, and too slow
To catch the sunshine till it slips away,
And now IL seems surprising strange TO me
That, while l wore the badge of motherhood,
did not kiss more oft and tenderly


The little child that brought me only good
And il. some night when you sit down to rest
You miss this elbow from your tired knee
This restless. curly head from off your breast.
This lisping tongue that ehatters constantly;
If from your own the dimpled hands had slipped
And neer would nestle in your palm again.
l could not blame you for your heart ache then.
/ wonder so that mothers ever fret
At little children cinging to their gown;
Or that the foot prints. when the days are wet,
Are ever black enough to make them frown.
If / could find a little muddy boot


Or cap or jacket on my chamber floor;
Ii could kiss a rosy, restless foot.


And hear it patter in my home once more;
If could mend broken cart to-day.
Tomorrow make a kite to reach the sky
There is no woman in Gods world could say
She was more blissfully content than L.
But. ah the dainty pillow next my own
Is never rumpled by a shining head:
My singing bir Hing from its nest has flown;
The little boy used to kiss is dead


- From The Aldiae.
Year: 1874

AN ELOQUENT EXTRACT" Genera.
ton after generation" says fine writer,
have felt as we now feel, aud their
lives were as active as our own. They
passed like vapor, while Nature wore the
same aspect of beauty as when her Gre
ator commanded her to be. The heav-
ems shall be as bright over our graves as
they are now around our paths. The
world has the same attractions for our
offspring yet unborn as she had once for
our children. Yet little while all will
have happened. The throbbing heart
will be stilled, and all will be at rest.
Our funeral will find its way and pray
ers will be said, and then we shall be
left alone in silence and in darkness for
the worms. And, it may be, for short
time we shall be spoken Of, but the things
of life will creep in, aud our names will
be forgotten. Days will continue to
move on, and laughter and songs will be
heard in the room in which we died ;
and the eyes that mourned for us will be
dried, and glisten again with Joy and
even our children will cease to think of
US, and will not remember to lisp our
names"
Year: 1874

little in German-that / was British
officer, and had been plundered already.
He did not desist, however, and pulled
me about roughly before he left me.
About an hour before midnight I saw
soldier in an English uoiform coming
toward me. He was, l suspected, on
the same errand. He cane and looked
in my face. l spoke instantly, telling
him whom | was and assuring him re-
ward if he would remain by me. He
said that he belonged to the Fourth reg


iment, but had missed it. He released
me from thedying man being unarmed,
he took up sword from the ground and
stood over me, pacing backward and for
ward. At eight o'clock in the morning
some English were seen in the distance
he ran to them, AMI messenger was
sent off to Herry. A cart came for me.
| wac placed in it and carried to farm
house about mile and half distant,
and laid in the bed from which poor
Gordon Gas | understood afterward) had
been Just carried out. The jolting of
the cart and the difficulty OF breathing
we're very painful. l bad received seven
wounds; surgeon slept in my room,
and vas saved by the continual bleed
ings, 120 ounces 10 two days, besides
the great loss of blood on the field"
Year: 1874

The nature of the good angels is an
humble, loving and kindly nature. An
angels is fine, tender, kind heart. As
if we could find man who had a heart
sweet all through, and gentle will f;
without subtlety, yet of sound reason
at once wise and simple. He who has
seen such heart has colors wherewith
he may picture to himself what an angel
is.
Year: 1874

A man who was seen coming out of a
Texas newspaper Office with his nose
split open, one eye gouged out, and an
ear chewed of, explained to policeman
that he was not a subscriber to the pa
per-he had simply entered the Office to
ascertain if the editor was 10. And he
was in, he mournfully added.
Year: 1874

STYLE IN WRITING.-The best writer
is he who can convey the clearest
thoughts in the shortest space. Some
writers SO hide their thoughts in useless
words that it becomes task after you
have read a column to com prehend its
meaning. Ornament in style is good
when it beauties the thoughts advanc-
ed it is inexcusable when it covers them
from sight. A writer, before he touches
a pen, should first get clear idea of the
subject he is to handle; this we'll under
stood, his next effort should be to say
what he has to say in the fewest words
possible. We would not have single
thought dwarfed by stingy use of Ian
guage; but even this would be better
than to see it choked out of existence
by superabundance of words. Write
to the point, and when you have reached
1t, stop. 1t requires severe mental train
ing to acquire that simplicity of express
sion which conveys to US the grandest
thoughts in the fewest words, yet it is
within the province of all to approach if
not equal it. 1t has been said that it is
more difficult to abridge an article or to
write short article we'll than to present
the same thoughts in double the space.
When Queen Anne told DIR. Smith that
his sermon had only one fault that of
being too short-he replied that he should
have made it shorter if be had had more
time. Let our writers-especially those
OF the press-boil down their efforts be-
fore they present them to the public. In
this fast age the man who can say the
best things in the shortest space is not
far removed from public benefactor.
Year: 1874

A Brighton letter to the Cincinnati
Commercial says:


There is hardly a more dismal sight to
be witnessed than the English woman
taking her seaside bath. Enshrouded
in heavy, ragged and ugly blue gown,
she goes into the surf only to be the
sport both of the waves and the multi
tude of men gathered on shore to binocle
the performance. No man is permitted
to 90 into the water at the ladies' beach,
not even witt his wife. The sexes are,
however, only theoretically kept apart.
Fifty yards OFF the men are bathing with
about as much raimeut as Adam had
when in full dress; they are just far
enough away to be fully visible to the
ladies, without being of the slightest use
in case of an accident, and accidents
are frequent. On the day of the bank
holiday more than score of women
fell down in the waves, and were pre-
vented from rising again by their
long skirts. Some of them would have
been drowned but that men rushed
into the water from the shore and
saved them. Let it not be supposed
there are no lifeboats; there are several
very fine ones, and while bathing goes
on they are kept locked up in perfect
houses one hundred yards up on the
beach One finds at an English bathing
shore how dull and stupid the nation is
in some things. Every gentleman and
lady you meet with will Individually ex
press an opinion in favor of the Ameri-
can and Continental plan of allowing
Al.
corous costumes. ANY one with eyes in
his or her head can see that the prudery
which separates them on the English
beach really results in every conceivable
indecorum attendant on bathing. But
Just as England STAYED off tramways
until the cities of every other great
country were enjoying them; just as it
has been without sleeping car uHtil
this year, SO Il has held on to its semi
barbarous fashion of having men and
women theoretically bathe in separate
spots, the practical result, as | have
said, being that they are close together
and neither decently costumed.


According to the police arrangements
of Brighton, men and boys are permit
ted to uudress on the shore, without
using bathing machines, and take swim
before eight O. clock in the morning and
after eight in the evening. 1t is still
broad daylight at eight in the evening
and it is one of the odd sights of Brigh-
ton to see the public bathing Hun.
dreds of men and women assemble on
the esplanade, and as the hour Of eight
is toled from the steeples there is a rush
of thousands into the sea 1t never APP
pears to occur to any one that there is
the slightest indecorum in this scene,
which takes place almost beneath the
windows of the most fashionable street
in the city. The railing of the esplan-
ade, Just oger this rude multitude, is
fringed with persons of both sexes; and,
indeed, down beneath, in the same water
where the men and boys are bathing,
there are hundreds of women and girls,
with skirts high tucked, waaing and
gazing wistfully out in envy of their lux
uriating brothers And all this in a
country where it is thought indecent for
men aud women, however carefully
dressed, to enter the water together.
Year: 1874

Grant is man every way who would
please the South. He never hated the
South, and he fought his battles because
it was his avocation to fight battles.
The South respects him for winning
them. Nothing goes further in the
South than a good fighter, unless it be a
good horse. The very faults ascribed to
Grant by his critics would be considered
virtues by leading Southern politicians.
His cigar.smoke would be a social in
cense. His appreciation Of blue. grass
whiskey would be no offense to people
who talk over their political dreams on
the porch Of wayside inns. His lack Of
that fruitless quality which leads men Of
the North sometimes to talk much about
progress, would endear him to the South.
ern heart. Some of his social habits
might be compared by them with those
of Old Hickory.


We think that Grant affects the South.
His compliment to "the immortal Jack
son" may have been sentimental and
honest, but it was also polite. He ap'
preciates people who dream and spec
ulate; and he has reason for knowing
that, when reused up from social slum'
ber and hurried into the field, they
fought well. Then, he knows that the
dream of the South is dream of politi-
cal despair; and he has respect for a
fallen foe. He adds to this quality that
other one, of being the only man who
can retain. the black vote and at the
same time win the white; and while men
like John Forsyth will never coalesee
with negroes, either socially or political.
ly, there need be no wonder if they will
permit the negroes to vote for a white
candidate of their choosing = Frank
Leslie.
Year: 1874

Very few American families, says the
Saturday Review, retain for any length
of time a high political position. II we
were to seek the representatives OF those
who bore a chief part in the Revolution


we might find them, no doubt, despite the
breaking up of estates sRd the rapid dis
sipation even of the largest fortunes,
among the so,ial aristocracy of the
older States; but, except in the South,
the very fact of their hereditary reputa-
ton tends to bar rather than to smooth
their way to public career. OF the great
names belonging to the first generation
of Federal statesmen and soldiers in the
Northern States, there is but one that
has been constantly represented in the
public life of America, or whose bearers
are at this moment known beyond their
own country, o. known there as public
men. Randolph or Randall Is still an hon-
ored name in Virginia, and the family Of
Washington, as well as that Of one Of
his most distinguished lieutenants, was
in the second struggle for
independence by the foremost Of the