smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

The elevation of Premier Disraeli to the
peerage, with the title of Earl OF Beacons-
field, has been briefly announced by cable.
In 1869 the Queen offered to make him
a viscount, but he declined the honor.
A coronet, however, was given to his
wife. and she is now known to history
as the first and only Countess OF Beacons-
field. The place from which the name
of the new Earldom is to be taken is
small town in the County of Bucks,
which Disraeli has represented in Parlia-
ment since 1876. The elevation of
Disraeli has an interest all its own,
derived from the antecedents of the man
and the nature of the contest he has so
successfully waged through life. He
entered life with an excellent education,
an acute mind, and courage that feared
nothing. But he was not merely with
out social influence and without great
wealth, but he was opposed by q pre-
judice as old as Christianity. His grand
father was Spanish Jew, who accumu.
lated q competency in trade and died,
leaving his name and his money, but
nothing more, to his children. Isaac
Disraeii, the Earls father, added nothing
to the fortune which had been be-
queathed to him, and, although making
for himself an honorable place in the
literary annals of England, did nothing
toadvance his son among the politicians
of the period. Without the aid OF
wealth or family prestige, and by his sole
unaided genius and energy Benjaman
Disraeli has made himself leader OF the
House of Commons, Minister of Finance,
and twice Prime Minister of the British
Empire and now, in his seventy. first
year, retires from the leadership Of the
House of Commons to an aristocratic
dignity which he is we'll calculated to
adorn.
Year: 1876

A prominent manufacturer of dyna-
mite was asked by the reporter of the
New York Herald whether he were not
constantly in dread of his life. The gen.
tleman laughed as he replied in the
negative. 81 have never once" said he,
"been so much afraid of dynamite as l
have been of gunpowder on dozen oc-
casions. Why, l have had dozen hair
breadth escapes from gunpowder in the
old days before nitro-glycerine and its
compounds were thought of. / was in
those days Superintendent of copper
mine in North Carolina. An explosive
material was stored in magazine built
of rock. The structure was intended 10
be fire-proof and, to insure that qualifi-
cation, its iron doors were made to close
down upon solid rock, which was not un-
frequently covered with scattered grains
of powder. The miners used to come
there with orders from the foreman for
powder, and when man presented his
order he was permitted to knock out the
head of the keg-if there was not one
already open-and fill his can without
ceremony. The floor was covered with
rough, dry boards, and was almost con-
stantly covered with powder spilled by
careless miners. In fact, the crevices
were so filled up with it that we could
not have swept it up if we tried. One
bitter cold winter morning a stranger
entered and presented an order for two
kegs of powder. AS there were two
thousand five hundred kegs stored in the
magazine at the time he had no diff
Guilty in getting his order filled, and he
started of with one keg under each arm.
He had not gone but few yards when
an employee seized my arm and cried
out, Good God! Look therep / fol-
lowed the direction of his glance, and
saw that our departing miner had
deposited his two kegs Of powder upon
the ground and was at that instant fixing
an old clay pipe with one hand, while
with the other he had just ignited a
friction match by drawing it across his
trowsers. Dazed for second with fear,
l looked at him, in silence, while he ap-
piled the blazing match to his pipe and
began to puff. 1 dared not cry out to
him for fear he would be startled and
throw the fire upon the powder strewn
floor, and my only hope was to catch his
arm before he could drop the match.
Starting forward with my hand out
stretched toward him, as if requeIting
him to save the light until should
ignite my cigar, my heart almost ceased
to beat, while the thought of the twenty
FIVE hundred kegs ran through my brain
like lightning. Just as l reached the
fellows side he very deliberately ex-
tinguished the match between his thumb
and finger, and then dropped the charred
remains on the floor as he emitted a puff
of smoke, and, turning, picked up his
burden: Need / tell you he never re-
ceived any more powder from that
stOreW
Year: 1876

Persons not used to making addresses
should emulate President Grants silence
rather than risk the inevitable embar-
rassment and probably break down. A
California paper says:


A young gentleman of more than Or
dinary intelligence, but who is an ex-
ceedingly bashful young fellow, con-
cluded to pay visit to a public school
not more than a hundred miles from
Colusa. He was particularly partial to
the intermediate department of the in
stitution, over which an accomplished
and bewitching young lady presided.
After the usual afternoon exercises, the
prepossessing preceptress asked her
pupils if they would not like to hear a
few remarks from Mr.. -, and the
unanimity with which the little folks
answered "yesp made it equally as en-
barrassing for our hero to attempt to
decline as to attempt a speech, and he
arose and opened with the following
exordium:


81 love to note such an advancement
as you are making. And l know you
love your teacher, do you not? l do!
And-thati is, mean loved my teacher
when 1 was little boy"


After this declaration laughter pre-.
vailed among the students, while the
speaker was nervously handling an ink
bottle on the desk by which he was
standing. After the cheering subsided,
he again pre- ceeded, still fumbling with
the iDk-bottle:


81 have often seen boys and girls act
the fool. hut"


At this juncture he tipped the ink
over, which went streaming down the
desk, and he Immediately hauled out his
snow-white handkerchief, wiped it up,
and then placed it back in the pocket
from which he took it. In the mean
time the scholars were giggling, while
the schOOlma' am shook her head at them
-as much as to say that she would settle
with them in the morning for their bad
demeanor. He then continued:


As was about to remark, when /
was young, I-I-weil-"


He became confused. The perspira-
tion began running down his burning
cheeks, and, while he was endeavoring
to think of something more to say, he
drew forth his handkerchief with which
he had rid the desk of the split ink, gave
it wipe across his brow, and then down
each cheek. Happening to discover
what he had done, and coming to
realizing sense of his situation, he grab
bed his hat and went out of the school
room like q shot out of gun, without
even bidding the charming young school
fond farewell
Year: 1876

INeW 1Ork Graphlc.J


The statue by M. Bartholdi which is
to stand on Bedloe's Island and rear its
colossal head Two hundred feet above the
waters of the harbor will be the largest
ever constructed, as well as one of the
most artistic in conception and execution
that the world has ever seen. There is
no instance except this of one nation
rearing statue on the ground and for
the honor of another such scheme was
reserved for the gallant and generous
French, who assisted us in our earliest
struggle for liberty and have always been
our warmest friends. When the PROPOSE
ton was made in 1871 in Paris to present
the United States with statue of
Liberty Enlightening the World" it
was at once received with acclamation
and promptly acted upon. The munich
pality of Paris headed the list of sub
scriptions with 10000 francs, and the
remainder of the estimated cost of
SOC, 900 francs was raised at once by the
private subscriptions of at least 10000
Frenchmen in amounts of from two sous
upward. M. Bartholdi volunteered his
services as sculptor, and entered upon
his work without hope of reward be-
yond that which would accrue to him
from the artistic excellence of the work
he should accomplish. 1t was then
found that, in order to be sufficiently con-
spicuous, the statue itself must be made
OF still more gigantic frame, and stands
one hundred and fifteen feet high on a
pedestal eighty.five feet high. The
subscriptionsdid not meet this previously
uncontemplated exigency, and more
money is now needed to complete the
whole. We can do nothing less than raise
the required amount at once a commit
tee for the purpose should be appointed
and set about its work with the zeal
shown in France. 1t would be an in
effaceable stain upon us If we should fail
to do this, to which we are bound by
every sentiment of honor and friendship.
Year: 1876

The Reese River Reveile tells of an
Austin man who was reading story to
his wife the other night, and came to a
piece of fine writing" in which the ear
of the heroine was compared to :" some
creamy-white, pink-tinted shell of
ocean,"


"By.the-way," said the husband, cut
ting short his reading, "that description
of the ear reminds me of your ear-you
have an ear like she'll"


1t was the first compliment she had re-
ceived from him since the early days of
their marriage, and blush of pride suf-
fused her face as she asked:


"What kind of shell, darlingW


can abalone shell, !" he replied.


She had never before heard of or seen
an abalone shell, but she did not want to
display her ignorance, so she made up
her mind to hunt it up in the "Con.
densed Conchology" that ornamented
the center-table. Next morning the first
thing she did after her husband left the
house was to hunt up the description of
an abalone shell. She found it. 1t was
described as shell about the size of an
ordinary wagon wheel. She nursed her
wrath during that day, and when her
husband came home that night she met
him at the door with the towel roller,
and now his ear is as big as an abalone
shell, but it looks like piece OF pounded
beef.
Year: 1876

The New York Times publishes an
original and characteristic account of the
grasshopper plague, given in a private let
ter from a Kansas farmer to a gentleman
in New York city:


About ten o'clock the other morning,
| noticed heavy smoke rising in the
west. / said to myself, "That is strange
locking smoke. What causes it2" Isat
on my wheat drill and watched it.
Rapidly it rose-smoke rising to the
south, to the north, to the northeast
In few minutes the column of smoke
extended from the south around by the
west to the nOrtheast-tO the extreme
limit of vision. While l was saying to
myself Yes, [ understand you now,"
my heart slowly sank. Unhitching my
team. l put my full wheat sacks in the
wagon, hitched to it, drove to the gran
ary, unloaded, drove to the house, got my
gun, and went prairie-chicken shooting.
My wife looked at me in mild surprise.
Quitting work on beautiful day to 60
shooting was queer thing, she thought.
did not have the heart to tell her that in
less than four hours her nice garden would
be cleaned out, and that all our wheat
would be gone. Soon the low hum, as of
distant threshing machine, filed the
air-the advance of the lOcusts. Louder,
ever louder the hum, till in roar the
countless billions of devourers were OH
us, all around us. The air was stiff with
them. They settled constantly. The
earth was covered with them, yet not
one in thousand stopped. To the east
they went in vast cloud. A west wind,
a gale, blew them. For six hours they
few, solid cloud; and tonight there is
not wheat plant left in any of the
counties about here. sat on hill and
watched them, and smiled as saw some
hundreds tackle asunfower, and laughed
as saw that sunfiower vanish. How
thick they were! How harmless they
looked; but, great Jove, how they ate
All! what appetites they have. 1t
would make dyspeptic turn green with
envy to see the way they fasten to any
thing and everything edible. The char
acteristic of a grasshopper's appetite is,
that all he eats runs to appetite. Sixty
acres of my wheat was up. Now it is
down-the gullets of the locusts. sup
pose they will take the residue as it
comes through the ground. Well, | shall
have to reseed, that is all. But the loss
of seed and labor is pretty sore on me
this year. have joy in saying that
have eighty acres of corn that will try
their teeth somewhat 1t is as hard as corn
can be. / walked down the other after |
noon to see how they were making out |
with it. They had the stalks all stripped
of leaves, and were saving at the corn.
But could see that twas no go. Their
teeth slipped over the bright yellow sur-
face. have gone to haying again, AMI
will hay until the locusts leave. | still
keep three plOws running, and will re-
seed as soon soon as possible. Our gar
den is perfectly cleared; beans, cabbages,
tomatoes, melons, everything utterly
gonc. The vines to thepotatoes are gone,
and am expecting a boss hopper up
here at any minute 20 request the loan
of spade to dig up my potatoes with. 1
shall refuse his request with scorn.
Year: 1876

According to Cuvier, the celebrated
French naturalist, parrots may best be
taught to talk by covering the cage at
night, or rather in the evening, and then
repeating to them, slowly and distinctly,
the words they are desired to learn.
They should be kept away from places
where they would be likely to hear dis
agreeable noises, such as street cries and
the whistling and shouts OF boys at play,
or they will initiate them, and become
too noisy to be tolerated. Parrots may
be fed upon soaked bread and biscuits,
mashed potatoes, and rape seed. They
are fond of nuts. Cayenne pepper,
sprinkled upon a bone, and given to
them occasionally, is said to be very
beneficial. They should be kept very
clean, and allowed bath frequently. 1t
would be difficult to point out modes of
treatment of the diseases of parrots, but
when they become affected 1t is best to
keep them warm, change their food for a
time, and give them lukewarm water to
bath in.
Year: 1876

Work OF THE CITY YAMBULANcE.--The;cl city
ambulance was called yesterday to woman
who was taken with fit at Bakers factory.
She was conveyed to the almshouse, and
after a brief course Of treatment was able
to walk home .t
Year: 1876




THE OPPONENTS OF PROGRESS AT WORE


THEIR HOPES OF SUCCESS MAR.


ROWING DOWN.


The opponents to the paving of Wal
nut street are still working for grounds
on which an injunction can be obtain-
ed, but thus far have met with very
little success. They are looking Gag.
erly for the slightest flaw in the action
OF Council in relation to the subject
but can find nothing new on which to
base their argument for the Injunction
They hope to induce more of the Pc
titioners to withdraw their names
from the petition or failing in this, to
lprovc that SONS of them are not pro-
Iperty owners and thus reduce the
number of petitioners to less than the
Required number-ten. In case their
efforts are fruitless the work of paving
will be closely watched and the slights
est change in the grade of the street
will be used as an argument for the
granting of an injunction.


Those favorable to the work are
making no effort to procure an express
sion of opinion among the property
owners in their favor; but netwith-
standing this it is asserted that a
number who signed the remonstrance
are desirous of Withdrawing their
names and signing a petition for the
work. The advantages to be derived
by the paving of the street are becom-
ing more apparent, and property
lowncrs are beginning to acknowledge
the benefit they would derive from
the work,
Year: 1876

Regular Correspondence OF the Gazette.


NEW CASTLE, August Is 1876.


For ways that are dark and tricks
that vain "Tbe Commercial man" is
peculiar. When he left yesterday
morning with that smile of his, 30
child like and bland, who would have
thought he would hit us such blow
We can only accou Mt for 1t, by think
ing that the ink and mucilage he
mixed so nicely on Saturday had not
yet left his brain. Had he pitched
into the E. E. we would have been
satisfied, but having struck his best
friend We must come to the conclusion
that it was a case of mental abbera'
tion.


A school of porpoises were said tc
have been seen here yesterday. Il
may have been true, but in any case,
Z. Els man will NO doubt hang out
very heavily on this unusual circum'
stance. as he is very easily sold on
such things and never stops TO consider
whether the tale Is likely or not.
Pearl street was on the rampage yes
terday. Both white and black tried
to settle their disputes as the day was
fine and being carly in the week black
| eyes would be healed up for Sunday.
The police should have been around
I His Honor returns to night. Mr.
VIM. F. Lane will also make his ap
pearance but we understand that hi
physician will send him to the SCI
shore, for the rest of the week aftel
which he will resume his duties in
the bank.


| The Ariel stopped here yesterday
and took on board picnic party o
our citizens. They returned well
pleased with their trip down the bay
Year: 1876

r HEREBY NOTIFY ALL PERSONS IN
ate settlement Of their Indebtedness, otherwise
will be compelled to place the said accounts
In the proper legal hands for collection, and
will do no in . very short time.


CHAS. STEIN,
o Lower Main street.
Year: 1876

A MAN COMPELLED TO REMAIN STAND


ING FOR FIVE DAYS AND FIVE


NIGHTS.


From the Toronto Times.


John O'Shaughnessy was convict oi
about twenty-five years of age, who hail.
ed from Kingston. On the 27th of April


1875, he was confined in the ssdark cell
for some trivial act of insubordination,
forced from him by the exasperatine
Stedman, who tantalized the fellow into
making some offensive retort to the
taunts of the deputy. For this trifling
ofiense this unfortunate man was chained
up in standing posture for five days and
five nights, his feet and hands painfully
shackled to rings in the wall, only to be
relieved for short intervals to enable him
to partake of the meagre allowance Of
bread and water allotted to him three
times in each twenty-four hours. His
toes had been rendered powerless by
frost before his entrance into the prison,
and the result of this was that his tor
ture was rendered more intense, owing
to the fact that he had, for the greater
part Of the time, to support himself by
his wrists, as encircled in the cruel rings
in the wall. All the power was gone
from his toes, and as he had to stand on
them In order to relieve the torturing
strain on his wrists, it may be imagined
what crucial anguish the poor victim en-
dured during these one hundred and
twenty hours of chatting night and day.
A moro CALLING or fretting process Of
racking torture, it is hardly possible to
imagine. The writings of the pitiful
convict, as he vainly endeayored to moli-
fly his anguish by shifting about as well
as his manacles would permit, have been
described as heart-rending. Each new
change Of position only brought a keener
agony and there was an indiscribable
depth of suffering expressed in his oft
expression, as the hours drag
ged their slow length along. "ThaDk
God, there's another hour gone" When
finally he was released from his torture
his wrists and ankles were terribly
swollen, and he was wholly unable to
walk. Had he not been a man of
splendid constitution he could not have
so exhausting an ordeal. 4
more brutal or inhuman device for in
ilicting agony on human flesh and blood
it is impossible to conceive. When an
appeal was made to Stedman to put
to the sufierings of this man.
md it was represented to him that the
convict was in danger of dying from
his extreme suffering, the unrelenting.
official replied, ''Let die
Year: 1876

Sift in tin pan four pounds of -four,
bank ii up against the sides, pour in one
quart Of milk and water, and mix it into
enough flour to form thin batter; then
quickly and lightly add one pint of milk,
in which is dissolved one ounce of salt
and one and three quarters ounces of Gaff
and Fleischman's compressed yeast; leave
the remainder ofthe -four against the
sides of the pan: cover the pan with a
cloth and set in a place free from draught
Tor three-quarters Of an hour; then mix
in the rest Of the flour until the dough
will leave the bottom and sides of the
)an, and let ii stand two and half hours
finally divide the mass into one pound
neees to be cut into twelve parts each.
Ihls gives square pieces, about three and
. half inches thick, each corner of which
; taken up and folded over to the centre


md then the cakes turned over on a
iough-board to rise for an hour. when
hey are put into hot oven that bakes
aem NJ ten minutes.


WEIGHING THE MAILs.-The work of
weighing the mails in order to make an
average of the weights, upon which a
contract Will be issued next wear, was
commenced by the government on We'd
hesday last. Every package put on the
tralns or taken oil at terminal or way
stations has to be weighed and an ac-
count kept Of each. In each car pair
OF scales, is carried and accounts kent.
The weighing process will be kept up for
thirty days, and if at the end of that
time the results are not satisfactory it
will be continued another month.
Year: 1876

TIE True POLICl or THE SOTTH.


Where are the leaders of the South What
has become of its genius in state,manshipl
Once 50 powerful the South lies crushed I'M
der burdens. bound hand and foot, here by
thicvng adventures, there by the most turbu
lent and brutal of It's people, incompetent TO
apply any remedy for knaycry except mas
sacrc. Is there in all the South no man to
show its people that the alliance with Dcmoc-
lacy is fatal as the tabled shirt Of NcSsus
Er, for the Uitiful tOadyism of Northern
Democrats, the South would not have been
ht;Tied into a disastrous rebellion. Even after
Gettysburg and Vicksburg had made the end
certain, lying hopes fed by Northern
Democrats beglilcd the South to prolong
the war, and to give thousands of precious
lives bOctless sacrifice. As soon rs the war
was over, common sense would have accepted
free labor and impartial suffrage as inevitable
results, and aimed by kindness and justice to
divide the colorcd vote. But Democracy
promised TO defeat reconstruction and negro
suffrage, and so the blind South spent five
years in sowing dragons teeth by consolidat
ing the colOrcd vote. Has not the South men
who can see the folly of being thus dragged





and rcactonary paItyl 1t is high time for
the best and most intelligent men of the South
to break away from this fatal alliance, and to
initiate no longer the shpwrecked lrishman
who lashed himself for safety to the anchor


The Democratic party is hated by the coll
ored men for its british hostility to their
rights. 1t is profoundly dstrused by the
Union men of the North, because it was the
party of dsaffcctiOn during the war. Fastened
to that party, the best men at the South are
powerless with the cOlored voters at home. If
they suffer the lawlcss white element to over
power the colorcd vote the shot-guns make
! ten Republican votes in Maine for every onc
! they kill III Alabama. The instant a solid
| South appears behind the Democratic party
! Union men of the North come together by in
stnct, as they did when Sumter fell. They
| are not ready, they never will be ready, until
| the dead are forgotten, to deliver the Union
! over to tins alliance of those who hisscd the
flag with those who fought it. SO both 20
down together, and will, again and again.
Memory Of rebellion and distrust of Democracy
intensity each other. How much longer will
the better class at the South be thus dragged
by Democracy iii the ditch of defeat


The clear policy of the best and most intel
ligent men of the South is now, as 1t has been


ever since the war, to unite in some way,
by party reOrganizations or through party al
liances, with the dominant classes at the North
the classes that carried the country through
the war, and were sure to govern it after
ward. Such all alliance The TRIBUNE has con-
stantly sought to promote. 1t strove for it
under the white banner of Greeley In 1872.
When that went down it hoped that the
South, having failed to draw out to itself the