smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

For many years this academy has stood
foremost in the rank of educational institu-
tions in our State. We are free to say, that
none have enjoyed greater patronage or
the advantage Of more efficient, experienced
and careful teachers than this. Parents
who have sons and daughters whom they
wish to be thoroughly educated for the
realities of life, cannot do better than place
them under the care of Prof. Hardness.
He with his able assistants are peculiarly
adapted to the systematic training of the
minds of young men and young ladies.


The Professor is at his rooms In his new
building, at Tenth and Market streets, every
day, where he can be seen or written to by
parents who wish to confer on educational
matters. Fall term opens next Monday
morning.
Year: 1876

A STARTLING commentary on the truth of
the assertion that the South is reconciled to
Its defeat and longs for the restoration of
friendly feeling is furnished by the Grafton
made at Charlotte, North Carolina, on the
Southern Memorial Day of this year by S.
Taylor Martin, who styles himself minister
of the gospel. Among other things Martin
said:


Slavery was a divine institution, and we
must have that institution or the South will
ever be bankrupt. They speak of our cause as
the lost cause. If so should it be lost forever?
No! A new generation has sprung up and at
not far distant day there will be stars and bars
floating over our Sunny South. In the next
political campaign we must, even if in the
minority, support a Southern man who will
build up our interests and hurl the Yankee
pickpockets from our midst We are to-day
united to the puritanical host by an artificiul
tie; but we are distinct people, and God and
the right will enable us to show the world the
truth, and the equity of our claims. Our states
men now in Congress are the cream of that
body, and are the only element that reflects
credit on the United States. Is it not better
to hang on to the lost cause than to stay in a
government of corruption?'
Year: 1876

The charge that Secretary Bristow was
black-balled by certain members of the Un-
ion League Club for political reasons has
completely fallen through. The opposition
was made by men who do not like their Re-
publicanism straight but take little sugar in
their'n.
Year: 1876

We do not read anonymous letters and communi-
cations The name and address of the writer are In
sill cases Indispensable not necessarily for publication
but as a guaranty Cf good faith.


We cannot undertake to return or reserve commu-
nications that are not used.
Year: 1876

Reason should teach us that blotchy. rough or
pmped skin depends entirely upon an inter nal cause
and no outward application ever cure the defect
VEGETINE is the great blood purifier
Year: 1876

Senate waiting for the House. holding that that
body originated the proposition 1t should be the first to
create its branch Of the quasi joint commttee but the
Democrats in the House holding back to have the
Senate show its hand first They want to see what kind
OF men win be selected to represent the Senate II Re-
publican partsans chosen they will probably send
Democratic partlsans from tho House to meet them.
There is, however, probability that any except fair
minded men will be selected by the Senate 1t will be
manifestly improper to put men upon the committee
who opposed TO the object for which 1t created
namely, the discovery II possible OF some method OF
which both houses agree The delay in creating the
committee illustrates well the attitude OF the parties
the whole question Presidency Each hesitatcs
take any decisive STEP and procrastnates day after day
purposes.
Year: 1876

THE LApY's soSNET-TwIL1eHT.
I know not why I chose to seem 80 cold
At parting from you-for since you are gone
See you still; lear each word, each tone,
And what hid from you wish were told.
I who was proud and shy seem now too bold
To write these lines-and yet must write, to
would unsay my words, now I'm alone.
From my dark window out upon the world
look. Twas through yon pathway to the


west


watched you slowly going, while the light
Went with you-and q shadow seemed to fall
Upon nv heart. And now I cannot rest
Til, T have written-for said "To-night
III send your answer" Now I've told you all.


THE LOVERS soNNET-M1DN1aHT.
I waited through the night, while summer
The breath OF roses through my darkened
room.


The whispering breeze just stirred the leafy


gloom


Beyond the window. On the lawn the dew
Lay g,istening in the starlight. No one knew
did not sleep but waited here my doom
Or victory. saw the lighthouse loom
Across the bay. The silence grew and grew,
And hour by hour kept pace with my suspense.
Each rustling noise, each passing footstep


seemed


The coming messenger hoped, yet feared.
At last knock-a throb-a pause intense;
Your letter came. read as if dreamed,
Almost too great to bear my bliss appeared.


-GdLdIy.
Year: 1876

The latest sensation at a Cincinnati
theater, is q blood and-thunder melo-
drama, which includes trontiersman's
fights for his life with United States
military, with Indians on the war-trail,
with border desperadoes in gambling
saloon, with rival for the affections OF
an unattractive maiden. and finally with
a "grizzly bar" This frontiersis man
called Wild Bill, and the announcement
that Wild Bill would have o real fight
with q real "bar" drew q pretty fair
house. The bear comes in during the
second aud last acts of Wild Bill. Bill,
in the play, is simultaneously assaulted
by q whole nation of Indians and q
"bar." The ''bar" is fat little black
bear, which is certainly well trained. At
the proper moment it 1ushes from be-.
hind the scenes, over mimic rocks and
cascades, and attacks Bill with tremen-
dous fury. For about five minutes Wild
Bill and the bear hug each other very
fercely, until Bill manages to stab the
animal with remarkably bright bowie
knife. Then the bear rolls Bill on the
stage, and both continue to roll over and
over until at last the frontiersman is
seen lying uppermost, but still in the
bears terrible hug, when the curtain
falls amid frenzied applause. So far as
we could observe, says a reporter de-
scribing the scene, the bear was not
muzzled, neither were his claws cut.


He is doubtless an intelligent and good
natured animal; but some night it might
come to pass that Bruin would lose his
temper, and that Wild Bill might sud-
denly find himself seriously in need of n
more formidable weapon than tin
bowie knife, while the audience would
veil and cheer and smoke their cigars,
and wonder show they can make that
seem like real blood"
Year: 1876

A New Jersey agriculturist is expert
menting upon forcing the growth of po-
tatoes by means of steam pipes under
the ground, and has succeeded in fore,
ing growth of fifteen inches high in
two weeks from date of planting. The
potatoes, however, have always turned
out small in comparison to the vine.
This is new idea, but the practicabihty
of forcing vegetables by electricity dates
back as far as 1S41, when MIR. Pell, OF
Hyde Park. on the Hudson river, forced
the growth of tomatoes so that in week
from the date of planting the plants
bore small ripe tomatoes an inch In
diameter. The following was the way
it was done: A row of tomato plants,
forty feet long, were set out; at one end
sheet of copper an eighth of an inch
thick, fourteen inches wide and four
feet long was placed perpendicularly
two feet in the ground, leaving two feet
in the air; at the other end zinc plate
of same size was similarly placed; wire
carried over poles. was fastened to each
of these plates, the earth completing the
circuit; an abundance of manure was
used, and in one week the result was as
above stated. This crop was also fol-
lowed by three other weekly crops OF
the same size within month. OF course
it is not necessary to limit the length Of
the row to forty feet, and as it is sim.
pie and easy thing to do, perhaps some
of our readers will make the expert
ment
Year: 1876

Speaking of the mustang race in New
York and the sympathy felt for the sani-
mails, a late California paper says: The
man who undertakes to ride thirty five
California mustangs, jumping from sad
die to saddle, must be either profes-
sional vaquero or a petrified post boy OF
the olden time. But when We contem-
plate the mustang as an object Of COM
passion and humanity, it is impossible
to repress sardonic grin. The army
mule is perfect Chesterfield of an ami
NAL in comparison with the native Cali
fornia mustang. It was the mustang
that invented the noble art of bucking.
We are aware that the army mule has
experimental in that direction, but no
other animal but the California mustang
ever caused his rider to describe para
boic curve of the same extent. Nor
can the man who has not been bucked
by a California mustang at all conceive
the process. The victim, while under
going it, would infinitely prefer being
delivered to a Hyrcanian tiger or a
Lernean hydra, or Numidian lion for
immediate masticstion, and when the
operation is completed, and by merci-
ful dispensation of fate he is landed
upon the crown OF his head in the near
est pile of road metal, with dislocated
spinal column and a pang in every
nerve, muscle, sinew and bone, he re-
CARDS the author Of his woes with hor'
ror d a detestation far surprising the
emotion that would he evoked by con-
temptation of the most forbidding ante
diluvian Saurian Prof. Owen ever re-
vived for the satisfaction of the curious.
If MIR. Bergh had taken it into his be-
nevolent head to espouse the cause of
the prosecuted grizzly or the friendless
rattlesnake, we could have deserted some
CLEAN of reason in his conduct; but the
humanitarian who goes ont of his way to
protect the California mustang is throw
ing sympathy away.
Year: 1876

In 1872, says Chas. Barnard, in Scri6-
ner's Monthly, large manufacturing
firm in New York called it's workmen
together, and announced that after q
certain date every man would receive
over and above his wages share in the
profits of the business, be they more or
less, according TO the sales. The men
received the statement with incredulity
and returned to their work. Six months
passed, and the firm announced that it
had 81, 900 to divide among the men in
proportion to their wages. The imme'
date result of the actual division OF the
money was gratifying to all concerned.
The men resumed work with remarkable
animation and industry. Every one be-
came Jealous of his neighbor's work,
every one became his fellows overseer.
No idleness now, no one-handed
work." no shirking and dilatory pipe
lighting, no guards to watch for the
foreman, no waste of material and time.
Never before had 80 much work been
performed in a day; never had such
skill, economy, aptitude and intelligence
been shown at the benches, and never
had better goods been made. The men
were apparently satisfied, and the firm
was more than compensated for the IN
creased outlay by the improved quality
of the goods. Several months passed,
and the house announced that in a few
weeks it would have surplus OF ten
thousand dollars to divide among the
workmen. Suddenly led away by some
epidemic of unreason. the men struck
for a reduction of time to eight hours.
The proprietors would not consent to
this, and as a consequence fortwo weeks
che shops were closed. In vain were
the men shown the money coming to
them; in vain was it demonstrated that
they we're madngmore money than men
in the same line in other shops. They
persisted in the strike till they could
hold out no longer, and then resumed
work as before. The firm declined to
proceed further with the cooperative
experiment, and what had been fair with
promise was thus brought to a disas-
trous end.
Year: 1876

NJ. De Lesseps has returned from his
five months trip TO Egypt. He has as
certained that Port Said is not likely to
be filled in with sand, as predicted, the
work done by the dredging machines
last year being still open. In winter,
when the Bitter lakes are full, a tide sets
into the canal, which turns the current
toward the Mediterranean. In summer,
when the level of the lakes has been
lowered by evaporation, the current
turns in the opposite direction. For
merly rain was unknown on this part of
the Red sea, but since the building of
the canal showers have fallen regularly
about once fortnight The result has
been to start vegetation up, even on the
Asiatic side, in the most wonderful mar
ner. Civilization, therefore, changes
the climate as well as the face OF the
country, and if things 60 on as they
have begun, the sands of the isthmus
will be covered with forests in another
fifty years.
Year: 1876

A curious story is going the rounds Of
the Western press to the effect that
Marshal Ney was not shot, rs history
tells us, but that he came to the United
States and lived for many years in the
South, where he was known as Peter
Stewart Ney. The story is not a new
one. Some time about the year 1880, a
French gentleman, known as Peter
Ney, resided in Darlington or Marlboro
district, South Carolina, and pursued
the profession of teaching. Many old
citizens are still living who were his
pupils. Some curious facts are related
concerning this gentleman which tend
to corroborate the suspicion that he may
have been the Marshal Ney of the first
empire. At the time referred to he is
said to have been exceedingly reticent
as to his personal and private history.
In conversation, however, he showed
O remarkable familiarity with all the
events and battles of the Napoleonic
wars, and very frequently com mented
upon them, admitting freely that he had
taken an active part in them. His mar
tial bearing, style of dress, and the
saber scars upon his head, showed that
he had known military service. He is
said to have been generally reserved and
quiet in his demeanor, but fond Of 80
cial chat with men Of his age. At
times he reIapsed into fits of profound
melancholy, which occasionally ended in
a spell of intemperate drinking. He
seemed disposed to court retirement,
but on one occasion, when on a visit to
Columbia, he attended q military re-
view on horseback, when his distin-
guished and soldierly bearing attracted
much attention. The story goes that
some French travellers, who were in the
town at the time, declared most posi-
lively that it could be no other than
Marshal Ney. This gentleman, more
over, always betrayed marked interest
in every item of news connected with
Napoleon in his exile, and one day, sit
ting in his quiet schoolroom reading a
newspaper which he had just obtained,
he suddenly dropped from his chair in
a swoon. The paper on being examined
was found to contain the news of Bona
parties death.
Year: 1876

The Main hall continues to be the
center of attraction for the general
public, and it is daily becoming more
worthy of attention. In it visitors OF
every turn of mind can find instruction
and amusement. The ladies and chill
dren appear to be particularly interested
in the truly wonderful groups of what
are called wax composition figures,
which are displayed by Norway and
Sweden. One of these groups repre-
sents party of Swedish peasants gath
cred around a dying reindeer. The ami
NAL, beautiful preserved natural speci-
men, has sunk upon the moss with a
deadly wound in it's side and terrible
cash across the neck. It almost human
eyes look appealingly into the faces Of
the hunters, who appear resting on their
guns after the chase. A peasant woman,
who stands little behind the men, has
one arm thrown protectingly around o
little child dressed in the old fashioned
costume of the country, and with the
other points to the dying reindeer. The
whole group is strikingly true to nature,
and Justly excites universal admiration.
The same may be said of a group rep
resenting a peasant wedding in Nor
way. The bride appears with the great
gold crown, which is part of the mar
riage paraphernalia, and the groom
leans lightly upon the heavy steel-point-
ed staff which indicates his power and
authority. In addition to these and
other groups representing various scenes
from peasant life, Sweden has sent q
number of really admirable figures
which show the different styles of uni
form which are worn by Swedish officers
of the present day, and which were
worn in the fifteenth and sixteenth CEN
turies. One of these figures, represent
ing major of cavalry, is so natural and
lifelike as to deceive even those who
make q close inspection of it. A few
days ago T noticed an old lady who
would not believe until she had touched
the cold wax hand that the figure was
not alive. This morning smart young
lady, passing by the Swedish depart
ment, pointed to the figure and said in
an undertone toAR companion Lab,
Mary, just look at that; he thinks he's
awful rice, don't he9" Shortly after
she had passed out of sight one Of those
overdressed women who imagine they
know everything, exclaimed to her es-
cort, after closely examining the figure:
II declare, I never did see such Life
like sculpature."
Year: 1876

A report of the New York State board
of charities has the following Tits be-
lieved that the gloomy and prison-ike
character with which some of these In
stitutions are invested should be set
aside. The grated windows of the
prison seen from afar, as the boy ap-
proaches the reformatory, the high walls
of gray stone that surmount it, the
formidable gateway at the entrance,
through which, as he passes, he hears
behind him the clash of bar and bolt,
falling upon his ears like the sentence
of an irrevocable doom, the passage on
ward through massive doors that swing
heavily close behind him, till he finds
himself at length in his little room,
closed with q grated door and fastened
with O massive bar and lock, In what
seems to him felon's cell, must power
fully affect the vivid imagination of the
young, no matter how hardened he may
be, and tend to break down pride OF
character and self-respect. The boy un-
der such circumstances must feel that
the world has turned its back upon him;
that he has lost all that every man 8
hand is against him, and that hence
forth his hand must be against every
man. The shock once over, and the
mind of the boy accustomed to the terri
BILE ordeal, what dread has Auburn or
Sing Sing for him2 It is believed that
large proportion of the boys commit
ted to reformatories do no. require these
forbidding restraints, and that some
different and milder treatment combining
in some way the family system should tie
adopted for large class of Juvenile de-
linquents now being sent to the houses
of refuge. If under this method they
be still found incorrigible, they might
then be transferred to more secure
place and be put under stricter disci.
pline. 1t is thought, however, that If
the experiment was once tried very few
would need to be so transferred.
Year: 1876

A reporter visiting shipyard lookup
a piece of wood to critically examine it..
It could be compared to nothing more
fitting in general appearance than a
wasp's or hornets nest, 80 thoroughly
was it perforated, and, like the nests in
dicated, it was of ashen color.


Some of the insects still remained in
the cells. They seemed to be OF a
whitish color and were encased in she'll
like substance an inch in length; their
heads wore shaped like pod auger, as
if intended by nature to be great bores.
In the case of q vessel in the dock they
had completely perforated the outer
sheathing or planking of the hull, the
place of the entrance being small and
needle-like, until they reached the
framework of heavy trees, when they
tnrned back and continued their work of
destruction. The holes they make in
crease in size from that of pins point
to an aperturethat mans thumb would
not fill. ;.


While the reporter was examining the
wood a venerable carpenter with adze
in hand joined him and said: 81 will
give you a bit of information about
these worms that notmany people know.
You see this wood is punctured right up
to hairs width Of the place it joins an
other plank. Now the worms never
CROSS a crack, and you see they have
gone right through the outer planking,
but they have not touched the frame or
the ceiling of the bark; if they had, you
never would have seen her on the dry
dock here"


A we'll known spar manufacturer and
shipwright joined the group and added
his valuable information. He said In
effect: "Aspinwan is considered by
shipmasters and owners to be q very
wormy port; I have heard of vessels that
have only laid there for the space of six
weeks to sink at their anchorage. There
is marine copper paint that sometimes
acts we'll as defense against these de-
stroyers, but about the only sure refuge
is metal sheathing. I have sent vessels
before now on ten months voyage to
Rio Janeiro and they have come back
with their hulls sound and clean, and
have sent others down to Texas and
their bottoms have been fairly eaten out
by the worms"


Coal tar and other coverings for bulls
have been tried, but the only sure de-
fense seems to be metal. There is q
composition now very generally used in
stead of exclusive copper; it is mainly
composed of spelt, tin and copper. The
worms are even found in New York har-
Dor, but they do not usually do as much
damage. They will bore until they
reach a crack or seam which is made by
the joining of planks, and will not cross
Year: 1876

Samuel J. Frost was executed at the
county jail in Worcester, Mass, for the
murder of his wife's brother, Franklin
P. Towne. The murder was committed
on Sunday, July 4, 1875, in the barn or
the farm owned by Towne. After com


hitting the daed Frost went to the
house and assisted his wife to get the
children, four in number, ready to1
church. After they had left the house
he returned and buried the body undel
the barn. Several times after this he
removed the body, cutting it into pieces
At the execution, as soon as Frost was
seated upon the fatal platform, Rev. Mr.
Lamson offered a short prayer. Inn


mediately at it's close the sheriff read the
death warrant, and when he had uttered
the closing words pressed firmly upon
the spring, releasing the drop. Frost
had risen from bis chair when the read.
ing of the warrant was begun, and the
deputy sheriff behind him had fastened
the straps around his legs and arms, and
before the reading was finished had
shut out the Light from him forever by
drawing the black cap over his head.
There was not an instant's delay, and
less time than five minutes had passed
between the time the doomed man TOOK
his first step upon the gallows stairs and
that in which bis body was thrown down
ward by the release Of the drop. The
drop fell with hardly an audible sound,
and the light body of the murderer
brought the rops to a strong tension.
The first thrill OF a shudder had not run
through the more sensitive of the spec,
tators when the body was seen spinning
at the end of the rope, almost headless,
fearful tear extending over the front
of the throat, and the blood gushing out
in streams. Every eye was riveted on
the startling and unexpected spectacle
as the body turned round, first disclos-
ing and then concealing this cash. The
blood, forced upward by the arterial
movements, ,spurted fountain-like upward
from one to two feet, the stream falling
to the floor in circle round the hang
ing body. This circle extended even to
the framework of the gallows, which was
in many places sprinkled with the blood.
The yelling life-blood poured from the
wound down the front of the body and
trickled from the feet, forming pool
directly beneath the body. This recital
doubtless seems full of horrors, but it
falls far short of the realities of the
scene. For some two minutes the
arterial gushings of blood continued,
and the slow dripping of the blood from
the body continued a little longer.
Physicians then stepped under the gal
lows and made their examination of the
body. The knot Of the rope had been
placed behind Frost's left ear, almost at
the center of the neck. Frost was man
of no especial muscular development,
and though he weighed but one hun
dred and twenty pounds, the drop was
enough not only to break his neck, but
to sever the spinal column entirely,
leaving the body hanging by the in
teguments of the rear portion only. The
body was allowed to hang few minutes
after the examination by the doctors,
when it was lowered and carried from
beneath tho gallows. In twelve minutes
from the appearance of the execution
party the eyes of the murderer were
closed forever. About one hundred and
fifty persons were present.