smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1872

CEDAR TREE.-At the last commufi-
cation Ofmy Lodge a gentleman present
ed himself for initiation, to which he had
been elected some six or eight months
previous. Our Master refused to pro-
ceed with the ceremony on the ground
that the bylaws provide that eandi-
date failing to come forward within thir-
teen weeks after being notified of his
acceptance, thereby fOrfeits all title to
such election, and cannot be initiated
without being re-prOposed and again
ballOted for as at first. On being ques-
toned, the Secretary acknowledged that
he had failed to notify the candidate,
but the prOpOser admitted that he had
informed his friend of his election. Was
the Master justified, under the circum-
stances, III refusing the initiation?


. ANstCer.-He clearly was for several
reasons. First, that the bylaws con-
template new ballot, when more than
three months have elapsed after accept
anoe, before the candidate presents him
self, and it was his duty to enforce the
regulation secondly, that so long time
having elapsed, it was but fair for the
Lodge to pause and ascertain whether
all the surroundings still continue as al
the date of the original acceptance
third, and most important, that If in the
discretion of the Master it was proper to
refuse initiation, he but exercised the
right common to every member of put
ting on q VetO.-[ Masonic Tidings.
Year: 1872

A good story is told of two prominent
candidates for county positions. One of
them, Mr.. W, owns some corn fields
i'll q certain valley, and having occasion
to visit them, he invited well-knOwn
politician of the locality to ride with
him. On arriving at the spot, it is said
that W drove up on u hill overlook
ing a splendid field of growing wheat
which belonged to him. After Dragging
about it for some time, he turned to his
political companion and said, lyon see
what a splendid field of wheat this is.
my behalf, will give you the best acre
of it." His political companion turned
abruptly around, and viewed him for Il
few seconds with mute astonshment,
He then warmly exclaimed, "You must
be a stupid! P has agreed to give
me the -four in the sack!n
Year: 1872

The sweetest songs are those
That few men ever hear,
And no men ever sing;
The clearest skies are those
That farthest off appear
To birds Of strongest wing;
The dearest loves are those
That no man can come near
With his best following.
Year: 1872

The Next Thing-A deacon who keeps
a, grocery store having instructed his
clerk, when ont of desired article, to
call the attention of the customer to the
next nearest thing, was little astonish-
ed when his pastor called and enquired
for new mOlasses, to hear the clerk say,
" We have no new mOlaSSes, but we
have some nice new lrlm.n
Year: 1872

A young lady, at an evening party
some time ago, found it aprop0s to use
the expression "Jordan is hard road
to travel but, thinking it too vulgar,
substituted the following: Perambulat-
ing progression in pedestrian excursion
along the far-famed thoroughfare of
fortune cast up by banks of the spark
heterogeneous cOnglOmeration of m-
fOreSeGn difficulties"
Year: 1872

Five grains of the sulphate of iron, ten
of magnesia, eleven drachms of pepper
mint water and one drachm of spirit Of
nutmeg, taken twice day, cured old
Captain Hall, of the Great Eastern, of
chronic drunkenness.
Year: 1872

THINK.-~When you would do an act,
no matter how unimportant in its bear
ings, first ascertain whether or no it will
receive the glad smiles of an approving
conscience; and, if not, leave it undOne.
IN this way alone can we divcst our
hearts Of the vicious superfuities of life
and cultivate that state of morality
which shall fit our minds as living stones
for the Temple Of our GOd.-[Masonic
TidiDgs,
Year: 1872

1t is time that the Democracy in every
county Of the State should see TO the prep
faration and distribution of tickets for the
November election. Wherever it is possi-
bic to have them published in local office
it is best and safest to do so. But if the
facilities for publishing these tickets are
not convenient nor satisfactory, then any
orders which may be sent to the State Ex-
ecutive Committee wiz be promptly at
tended to.
Year: 1872

SHALL We MEET AGAIN THE fol.
lowing is said TO be one of the most
brilliant articles ever written by the
lamented George d. Prentice;


But the fiat OF nature is incxorable
There is no appeal for relief from the
great law which dooms us to DUST
We flourish and fade as the leaves Of
tue forest, and the flowers that bloom
and wither for day have no frazier
hold upon life than the mighticst mon
arch that ever shook the earth with
his footsteps Generations Of men
will appear and disappear rs the grass
and countless multitudes that throng
the world to day, will disappear as the
footsteps on the shore.


Men seldom think of the great event
of death until the shadow falls acros.
their own path hiding from their eyes
the traces of loved ones, whose loving
smile was the sunlight Of their exis
toncc. Death is the great antagonist
of life and the cold thought of the
tomb is the skeleton of all feasts. VIZ
do not 60 through the dark valley
although its passage may lead to Par
adise; and with Charles Lamb, we dc
not want TO lie down in the grave ever
with princes for bed fellows.
Year: 1872

A clerical gent, sent out to hunt up
ku Klux outrages to make political
capital in the North, travelling through
the country in buggy, overlook =
handsome young woman, walking and
carrying babe in her arms, which
was closely veiled. lie entered into
conversation with her, found she was
going some distance on his road, and
being very charitable, offered her
seat in the buggy, which she accepted.
As he drove on he found that sho
would not reach her destination that
night, so be, with his broad charity,
kindly proposed that if she would 90
to hotel with him that night, ho
would introduce her as his wife, and
foot the bill in the morning. Green.
backs being scarce with her, to this
she consented. The parson drove up
to---tavern and called for lodging
for himself, lady aud child, (the child
being all the time veiled.) Supper
being over the parson complained of
wearinoss, and desired to be shown to
their room, which was done. He re-
tired to rest, the lady prepared her
child, and laid it in bed by the parson,
saying she wished to step out a mo.
ment. The child soon commenced
iretting and crying most furiously,
aud all his lulabys and caresses would
not quiet it. The good old landlady
hearing the screams of the little fel-
low, concluded to go up and see il any
thing was needed. On entering sbe
inquired what was the matter. The
parson said its mother had stepped
out and the child was fretting. The
old lady took the child up and went
to the light with it, and on beholding
its face Immediately turned to the
preacher and said, as this your child%
Ho said Eyes" "Well bless God "
said the old lady, OTIS a niger" The
parson swooned, and the mother never
returned Ia.
Year: 1872

ALL LoYAL.--No less than three
Treasurcrs of Philadelphia have boon
defaulters in Office, and not one Of
them was Democrat This is q fact
that somo of our Republican friends
would do woll to ponder over. Tho
party claims to be moral and upright,
and to have an especial horror of dis.
honesty in Office. And yet hero
stands this ugly fact Thus says
the Germantown Telegraph, u Radical
organ, and we can add nothing to
point the evident moral of the fact
Year: 1872

Col. FIsK's FIRST CoMPosITIoN.-
One of his copy books, used when he was
about twelve years old, is still preserved
by his stepmother at her home in Brat
tleboro, and to say that it is literary
curiosity is to do meager justice to one
of the most original of all the written
results of school boy labor ever examined
by the critic Hardly page but shows
the antipathy Of the boy to everything
like set forms, and hardly a line but bears
evidence of his natural contempt for uni
formity. The little book contains three
or four compositions. one of which, enti-
tied ga Piece about the dog is as
unique as anything ever penned by Ar
temus Ward. The young author says in
his 'piece" (Which had evidently been
originally written ''peace''):


A Dog is an animal with fore legs be-
cause he is quadrooped. | like large
dogs best because they can run further
and fight better than little dogs and they
can also cetch rabits. A big dog aint
worth much without hes get good breed
into him. Then | had drather hev lit
tier one. They can also drag sleds some
has been learned to cary sticks and bas-
kets and seterer. The bulldog is the
best fighting dog because most likely he
was made for that purpus. A terrier
goes mostly for rats but they can also
fight. | think the newfoundland is the
noblest dog he saves children from drown
ding, and they are sagasious. This is
all for the present.
Year: 1872

AN AWFUL MYsTERY.-Onec cold night
about New Years, a cry of fire was raised
in Mount Bethel, little town about sew
Ell miles from Plainfeld over the Spring
field Mountains in Somerset county, \.
j. A building over hundred years old
was in flames 1t was occupied by a
German farmer named Beust. He rush
ed from the burning building. suppos-
ing his family were safe. He missed
one of his daughters and ran back into
the house to save her. He had caught
her in his arms and was making his way
to the door when the floor gave way and
both were burned to DEATH Since then
the ruins of the house have been remov-
ed. The mansion was built in the old
fashioned style, with huge freplaces in
two of the rooms, the chimneys sloping
towards each other, and joining before
reaching the roof Walled in the cavi
ty between the two freplaces a human
skeleton in perfect preservation was dis
covered. An old fint-lock musket stood
by his side, and two rusty knives lay at
his feet The musket is of the old Brit
tish pattern. is supposed that the re-
mains are those of a Troy soldier who
met his death at the hands of the Colo
nists during the revolution. The Oldest
inhabitants are unable to explain this
horrible mystery. The remains of the
father and daughter were also found in
the ruins, = Weekly Examiner
Year: 1872

How GIRLS MAY BE HEALTHY.-Let
girl, during the years from II to Is,
spend but one hour daily in mental la
Dor, taking up one study at time, walk
another hour labor at some agreeable
employment three or four hours. read an
hour sleep all she wants during the
night, but never take daytime maps"
eat plain, nourishing food, mostly bread
or boiled beef, and every day indulge in
all the fun and frolic which her youth
full spirits can devise, and she will be-
come healthy, happy and intelligent
Then, from Is to 81 she may attend
college, and will find herself better able
to carry off prizes than girls who have
been always at school. But she will
not have developed wiry, muscular
strength equal to the young men of her
own age, because nature has forbidden
it. A girl is provided from birth with
more adipose tissue than a boy, not as
some suppose, to keep her warm, but to
render her muscles more juicy, soft and
yielding than his. The investigations
of some antomists have also proved that
her body contains much greater num-
Der of nerves and that her arterial system
on approaching womanhood becomes more
largely developed than his. |, therefore,
cannot at all agree with the writer who
says, 1--WE see no way out of this diff
Guilty but to commence with the cradle,
and educate girls as nearly like boys as
possible"
Year: 1872

SLEEP. FAINTING, ApoPLExY.-When
a man is asleep, his pulse beat and his
lungs play, but he is without sense, and
you can easily wake him up.


If a person faints, he too is without
sense, but he has no pulse and does not
breathe


Apoplexy is between the two; the
heart beats as in sleep, and there is no
sense as in fainting, but you can't shake
the man back to life.


In sleep the face is natural.


In fainting fit it has the palor of
death.


In apoplexy it is swollen, turgid and
fairly livid.


If man is asleep. let him alone ; ma.
ture will wake him up when he has got
sleep enough.


When person faints. all that is need
ed is to lay him down fiat on the floor
and he will ''come to, in double quick
time. If. then, man is asleep, let him
alone, for the face is natural.


If man has tainted, lay him fiat on
his back, for his face is deadly pale.


If man is apoplectic, set him in a
chair, because his face is turgid, swollen
and livid with its excess of blood.
Year: 1872

A MIRACULOUS STORY.-There has
always been some speculation on the
question whether mans soul ever actual
" leaves his body during sleep Or at any
other time before death, but evidence to
solve this mysterious question is rare.
There is story told in Louisville, how.
ever. of merchant of that city, who,
while travelling on sleeping car in
Mississippi, had vivid experience IS
of visiting his home and seeing his wife
and children asleep, and noticing that
the eight day family clock had run down,
he wound it up and set it going He
then returned to his berth, in the sleep
ing car, which was rafting along at the
rate of forty miles an hour, saw his own
body distinctly, and resumed his place
within its well-ftting encasement. On
writing to his wife about it, he learned
that the clock had been mysteriously
wound up on the night of his spiritual
imagination.
Year: 1872

Not more than twenty years ago l at
tended the literary and theological school
at -. One day as l was returning
from the Institution to my room, my
eyes on the sidewalk and my brains, if
any | had, in my books, my ears, thank-
full that I had pair of them), caught
the sound of approaching footsteps, al
most like those of fairy tripping upon
carpet of velvet | elevated my or
gan of vision. Down upon thy knees,
vile humanity, and uncover thy head |!
What did | see? In my surprise l
dared think | had met simply lady ac-
quaintance. Could it be so or had an
ETHEREAL spirit, either by mistake or kind
condescension. come down to pay visit
to this mundane sphere? Amazed,
spell bound with wonder and admiration,
there / stood like town pump. unable
to move, only as | was moved upon by
the fairy-like creature that was now
passing me. | could but turn me about
and stare. Mercy the spirit know
not what else to call it's stopping; IT
is turning around; it is looking at me.
Be silent within me, o my soul. the lips
are parting and she is about to speak.
Dear, sympathetic reader, what think
you were the words she said ? Simply
these-"Well, don't know who you
are = The voice truly was that of a
human being, to my great astonishment
but it had to ME seraphic sweetness
Another moment and the little-some.
thing had vanished. My poor frame
passed on, but I-well never minc
where | went to. But one thing is sure


from that time forward / have been re,y
careful about staring at strangers.


w. X. A.
Year: 1872

1t is an indisputable fact that there
are men who have lost an arm or a leg
in their countrys service who are now
obliged to call in requisition all their re-
sources, both physical and mental, in
order to keep the wolf from their doors.


When I look about me and see many
of the wives of my former comrades in
arms, who one day enjoyed all the luxu-
ries and comforts of life, now brought
down to the level of common paupers,
| am 10th to believe my vision real To
the shame of those whose duty it is to
look after the widows orphans, and mu-
tilated heroes of the late war; such is
positive fact.


There is no class of persons in the Uni
ted States so deserving of consideration
as the pensioners of the Government, and
yet there is no class of persons in the
country who are treated so unfairly, and
whose interests are regarded so indiffer-
emily as the men who suffered their limbs
chopped off in order to save the country


Raising monuments to commemorate
the heroic dead is of course proper and
right, but | appeal to Congress and 9TH
ers in the name of our common country
to care for the living FIRST. Was it a
usual thing on the field of battle to care
for the dead and leave the wounded to
lie suffering and uncared for?


Come folks be consistent be just.
be liberal, be brotherly, be charitable, and
give your attention more particularly to
the living monuments.


And not to increase the pensions on
account Of increasing the expense of the
Government is preposterous. Suppose
(and it is merely suppositionl the m
necessary Incidental expenses of the Sen
ate and House were Topped off, and the
much abused franking privilege was
abolished, these alone would nearly. if
not quite. counterbalance an increase of
pensions 20 per cent.-Correspoade'ace
Grand Army Journal.
Year: 1872

A SAD ROMANCE years ago
wealthy young Englishman came to this
country on tour of observation, and at
the hotel where he stopped, when MAX
ing Boston his headquarters, it was
known that he was of an aristocratic FAM
lily He was always in funds. and conse-
quently had plenty of friends, but the
down-stair attractions of the Parker
House-the bar and the billiards got
the better of him, and soon his habits
became very intemperate. More than
once he was kept out Of the station
house by friends. His conduct finally
became such that the young Englishman
had to change his boarding place, and
he went into Howard street, notorious
locality. In the mean time the drafts
ceased to come to him, and poverty star
ed him in the face until he was turned
into the street From post to pillar
he knocked around, and had grown SO
neglected that even his most intimate
friends could not recognize him. All
this time he craved liquor, and became
an inmate of one of the lowest dens in
North street, associating with thieves
and prostitutes of that locality. A few
months ago body was found floating in
dock not far from the scenes of his de-
bauchery. and rested at the dead house
for Identification. An inquest was held
and the usual coroners verdict in such
cases given. A few weeks ago an agent
from England was in town searching for
the young Englishman. 1t appeared
that his parents had died about year
ago, and he was the sole heir to the for
tune, amounting to 9229.0OO. Through
the agency of the police it was satisfac-
torily shown that the young Englishman
had fallen overheard from the effects of
whiskey and that his body had been
buried at the expense of the city.
Year: 1872

A NEW SwINDLE-One of the most
extraordinary swindles in these days of
lodges has been brought to light. A
man in Madison Mass sent great num-
bers of circulars to various people
throughout the country, Offering to for
ward to them by mail ''a handsomely
bound book with a rich and peculiarly
interesting picture for frontispiece exc
cuted in the highest of French art, in
several colors.' Every bachelor" the
circular said, should read it-every
married couple, and unmarried ladies,
if they like Every one should keep it
in the trunk or the pocket. Sent by
mail, on the receipt of eighty cents. "
The bait took; great many people sent
the money and what does the reader
suppose they received in return? The
New Testament. with a cromolithograph
of the Virgin and Child +, The state
constable who went to Madison to seize
the obnoxious literature was met by the
man who said he had violated no law
but promised to do so no more.
Year: 1872

\ BEAUTIFUL PAssAGE.-Robert Coll
yer is the author of the following beauti-
full passage: 1t was noticed that when
the hapless Marie Antoinette stood before
the judges to receive her sentence of death,
as her hands rested on the wooden bar
before her, her fingers wandered as if
they were touching the keys of an organ.
| think it must have been that, III her ex-
tremity, when heart and flesh failed, she
found refuge in some great melody that


heard by nc soul save her own-poor
lady lifted her up above her enemies,
and helped her to keep that brave look
at which they could not but wonder and
so, through music, God was the strength
of her heart. So may souls still find sue
cor in their dire need, in the trial of and
for their life [ can think of no soul
quite forlorn and helpless that can not
call up and feel the power of a great
psalm in its trouble. God answers as
surely true singing as true prayer; and
| believe that, half the time, if we would
sing when We pray, instead Of praying,
our burden would not lie nearly so heavy
upon us, nor the world be so dark about US.
Year: 1872




There is nothing more fortunate
for modern genius than to be born
poor. The silver spoon class are O
very comfortable people no doubt.
but the great trouble with them is,
their education is mainly of this or
der, if they don't become very great
they are extremely likely to become
the very opposite. There is no mid
die ground for them, for they we're
not taught to regard any, and con-
sequently, they are, as a general
thing, unfit for it. Poverty has
helped men to solve some of the
greatest problems of life. Half its
brave deeds have been a necessity,
and the most of its noble sayings
have been born of a determined OPP
position. 1t does a man good to
put him at his wits ends. Emer-
gencies make men. Any man can
be a pilot or a general in calm; but
storms show the mental. Reputa-
tion is made more by boldness and
will, than by ability and patience
Life is too short TO wait for the tide
whose ebb leads on to fortune. Wd
must make the most of present op1
portunities but we shall hardly do ID
unless present opportunities are id
the main present necessities. Tho
man who works out these to tbd
fullest extent is the most successful
man.