smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

Human nature is indeed a
curious study. A boy may sing
'Hold the Fort" so sweetly on
Sunday that the very walls of
Zion tingle with the sacred mel
ody, and yet you wouldn't rec
ognize him on week days when
he comes out from swimming
and finds that some other boy
had hopelessly knotted up his
shirt sleeves and trouser-legs.
Year: 1876

One Ohio editor says Of a
contemporary who had assumed
the part of a mummy in a dra-
matte performance: ole was
obliged to put q little anima-
ton into himself to come up
with. the character, and to wear
more recent linen; but that was
about all. Nature had admira-
bly, qualified him to act the
part" i
Year: 1876

1t is,said they live longest who
have moderate ambition. The
man who quits work and com-
mences to white in front of a
grocery store at the age Of thirty
is likely tc Nhittle and be bless.
ing to his family for fifty years,
Year: 1876

There is a truly model husband
in sGlasgrow, Ky lie never al
lows his wife TO do more than half
the work. She puts up all the
canned fruit in the summer and
be puts it down in the winter.
Year: 1876

A resolution has been before the Sem
ate to require the reporters and printers
of the Congressional Record to permit
no revisions to be made of speeches but
to print the remarks of the members en-
tirely verbatim.


This might suit few gentlemen very
well, especially such as speak very sell
dom, and then, like the late Senator
Sumner, have their speeches printed in
pamphlet form, and read them from the
printed pages. This is very good
way; we would like to see it more fully
adopted. But it can only be done in the
advocacy of stated questions.


We hope the resolution offered will
not be adopted. Some of the finest ora
tors and most correct and able speakers
occasionally in a hasty moment let drop
word they would not utter upon more
mature reflection; and the opportunity
to erase such utterance ought not to be
deprived them. Very often the gentle
men who suffer themselves to be carried
a little too far are the most congenial,
unseltish and purest men They regret
an unparliamentary word as soon as it
is uttered.


There are others who have not the
time, or cannot endure the labor of
writing out all they wish to say. And
in the discussion of the great majority
OF questions for legislation, there is no
time or opportunity for writing.


1t must be remembered that the audi
ence of the Senate is not of so much con-
sequence. Senators speak to their con-
stltuents and to the country through
the Record, and the members Of Congress
should send forth their speeche. as per-
tectly as they can be made.


There is now great reason why lnem-
oers should be careful of what they
would say, and say nothing they are
ashamed or afraid to have printed. If
they do they are sure to be told Of it in
day or two. \ Senator ought not to be
required TO notice a remark that wau
made and not suffered 10 be printed. 1t
would be better if the utterer's prompt
effort to keep it out of the Record were
considered equivalent to an acknow.
Judgement of error. Again, there are a
number of gentlemen who are not speak
ers and make no pretcntion to be ora.
tors, we do not think they should there
fore be excluded from printing theil
speeches. Their constituents are en-
titled to the same consideration that tho
people of other districts are. We car
see no great evil arising from the present
mode Of publishing the Record, and hope
the resolution will not be passed.
Year: 1876

OUR MEAT MAEKET.-It is currently
reported that the regular butchers are
sendlng poor, tough meat to the curb
stone market, in order to produce a pre-
Judlce against the SINNERS" and benefit
themselves. This may be So We do moi
Hnown whether it is or not but some Of
The butchers in the curbstone market de-
clare that they are there because they
were compelled to pay sic doilars Il peeE
rent for stall in the market house.
which they say was very heavy tax.
and they are glad 10 be rid Of it, aud find
the free curb stone quite as pleasant.


1t appears that the stalls in the mark
ct house are bought up by butchers and
rented out III speculative way to 9TH
ers. Some OF these stalls we're leased
from the city at about $l00 a year and
atterward sold for as much as n 81 900.
and IN two cases We have heard from.
they brought as much as $4,000. There
Certainly must be money in the business
when stalls sell for such sums. Our peo.
PIE want good meat and are willing To
pay fair price for it and we hope the
Butchers are not guilty of the charge OF
combining to keep the price too high.
Year: 1876

A few weeks ago Jacob Klinck, a
farmer near Fox Chase, Pa, was saving
down a large chestnut tree when the
teeth of the saw came in contact with
some metallic substance. Fearing the
presence of something explosive, he di-
rected the workmen to saw ON the other
side of the tree. They did so. After
the tree had been felled gold watch,
two gold pencil cases and gold chain
were found imbedded in the wood,
eighteen inches from the surface. They
were wrapped i'll soiled sock. The tree
was sawn off close to the ground, and
they had evidently been hidden at the
junction of two roots and the wood had
grown over and inclosed them. The
watch was old fashioned, having a case
which could be detached, and was in
scribed with the date 1740. One of the
pencil cases was provided with a pen.
The other had only pencil and was
minus the seal. The chain was long and
was intended to pass around the neck of
the wearer. There was also gold watch
key, which, however, did not fit the
watch. The tree had attained great
oge. being about six feet in diameter.
An old mansion onoo stood near by, and
it is supposed that the articles in ques-
tion were buried during the war of the
Revolution. The watch was uninjured,
except that the hands were rusted off.
Year: 1876

Slack in tub, just enough to cause it
to crumble perfectly, six pounds of fresh
quicklime, and add to this solution of
six pounds of common washing soda
dissolved in four gallons of warm water,
and while stirring these two thoroughly
together, pour in four gallons of boiling
water. Let this settle, anu then pour
off the clear lye into clean iron kettle,
and add twelve pounds of clarified
grease, dusting in, a little at the time,
four ounces of finely powered borax.
Let this boil gently for ten or fifteen
minutes, until it thickens and becomes
ropy; then have in readiness tight
box, lined with piece of muslin large
enough to hang well over the sides
to allow of the contents being afterward
conveniently lifted out; pour the mix
ture from the kettle into the box, and
let it stand for few days to harden.
When sufficiently firm, turn it out on a
table and cut into bars with thin wire.
Soap thus made and left to harden in o
dry room, will be fit to use in about q
month and half.
Year: 1876

The American girl is left wholly tv
her own guardianship. She has half a
dozen intimates among the young fell
lows of her set; she corresponds with
them, accompanies them to concerts and
the opera unchaperoned, and sometimes
winds up the evening by supper at a
restaurant which ends in the small
hours. They are not ostensibly lovers


they are friends, bonS can1arades.
She finds the half-friendly, half-pas-
sionate intercourse more Intoxicating
than love-making. She opens the
depths of her innocent heart to the vul-
gar prying eyes; the favored intimate
becomes an habitate of the house. In a
few months, perhaps weeks, he knows
more of the secret feelings, desires,
aims of the girl, than her sister or broth
er, or the mother who bore her. He
treats her personally with a liberty
which is graduated by her individual
character. But it is inevitably liberty.
The girl as inevitably ends by loving
him; the more unworldly, the more pure
she is, the more likely is she to mistake
his course as honorable. In the mean
while, the man has not the slightestidea
of marrying her; very small minority
of young men are in marrying mood in
these hard times; he has Just as little
idea of dishonoring or even iniuring her
in public esteem, but he accepts the in-
timacy or friendship of a young girl as
one of the good things which society
offers him; he would be dull fool if
when lovely That's is left to sit beside
him he did not take the goods the gods
provide him. Meanwhile American So
ciety rules that the father and mother of
the girl shall remain perfectly passive.
The man may be the most desirable or
unsuitable husband for their daughter,
but they have no right to interfere until
he formally proposes. If they should
"ask bis intentions" according to the
rational custom of our forefathers, the
girl herself would be the first to rebel
on the ground that she was made ri lieu
lous, and that her "friend" was mis-
taken for her lover. When the friend
betakes himself to fresh fields, the woman
controls ber disappointment as she can,
and marries somebody for an establish
ment or home; or finds her pain too
sharp to bear, and there is murder or
a suicide, and the usual chatter of in
sanity.
Year: 1876

In an assault and battery case tried
before a Detroit justice of the peace, o
witness for the prosecution swore that
he saw the assault. He was standing
two blocks off, he admitted, when he
saw the defendant throw crowbar clear
across the street and hit plaintiff.


"Wasn't that a big throw9" asked the
lawyer. Wasn't it gigantic feat for
q small man to throw q bar of iron weigh
ing twenty pounds across the street and
hit another man 2"


"But he was mad"


"Well."


"But he was mighty mad"


swell"


"And I believe" continued the wit
ness, "that if he had been q little mad.
der that crowbar would have missed the
plaintiff and gone over the house and
killed horse |"


The jury didn't take that mans evil
dencs into consideration when rakiSg
up their verdict
Year: 1876

The latest amusement is termed the
"Printer's Delight" and is performed
in the following manner: Take sheet
of note paper, fold it up carefully and
inclose a bank note sufficiently large to
pay up all arrears and year in advance.
And what adds immensely to the feat
is to send along the name of q new sub
scriber, with cash to balance, Keep
your eye on the printer, and If you de-
tect enils ths trick ia success, Try
u.
Year: 1876

WAsHINcTON, April S.-Gen. NJ. c. Neigs,
QuartermaSter General, was examined to-day
by the House Military Committee in regard to
contracts for headstones for the national GEM
eterics, and concerning the late change of the
Quartermaster Generals office from the build
ing at Fifteenth and G streets to the one now
occupied at Pennsylvania avenue and Fifteenth
street. Gen. Meigs did not hesitate to con-
denn in the broadest terms the headstone
swindle, as well as the job of removing his
Office from a building well adapted for the
purpose TO one that is not suitable. He said
the law was violated in the letting Of the head
stone contract, and that the late Secretary Of
War was responsible therefor. The matter
was entirelS taken from his control aud
jobbed out 10 the Secretary's friend, Bridges.
Ia regard to the removal of the Quartermaster
Generals Office, he said that it was plain
violation of law, and ono he never would have
sanctioned had he been here. He had always
found it for the best interest of the Govern
ment 70 obey the law, even if by so doing
money was lost. He is not OF the opinion,
however, that the transfer will be a money
saving transaction.


The above is made out of whole cloth,
and is fair illustration of the guesses of
the Snn. Gen. Meigs has never been be-
fore the Military Committee of the House


Benjamin Franklin, in substance, said
that the freedom Of the press, subject to
the conservative influence of a dogwood
club. was powerful instrument to advance
civilization and perpetuate public liberty.
The free use of the cluJ at this juucture
seems to be the only remedy.


Lying communications without number
have been floating through the press by
the San instrumentality for the last three
months Private and public character has
never been considered, if the SANDER guz-
zlers could be satisfied, and the ''shent per
sheRt" could be pocketed by Dana. What
booted it to him and his employees and
satellites that his sheet was without justifi-
cation in bringing misery around many a
fireside, where contentment had been
earned by lifetime of uprightness


In the name OF decency and justice, how
long is this to be tolerated? That Gen.
Banning desires to subserve the ends of JUS
tice we do not doubt; thathe can be juggled
by smart scoundrels as Clymer has been, we
do not believe. Imitation, by wind or
otherwise, is our aversion; and as de-
moDstratien OF the correctness Of our philos-
OpGY On inc EF'tn uue, We OlIeE INC sug-
gestive name of>Hiester Clymer. Puncture
this inflated carcass with the fine point of a
cambric needle, and whistle and collapse
represent the entity. Would in not be well
TO summon the Sun slanderer before the
War Committee of the House, and let him
state under oath, with the fear of the pains
andpenalties sfperjury impending, whether
his lies were coined by him, under gene
raj policy of the paper he represents, or
whether some other common slanderer
was the middle hireling between him and
danpeFS
Year: 1876

signatures land in the waste basket without
examination.


In 1860 we had no internal revenue system.
1t now yields one hundred million year, and
yet the Confederate Democrats think 1t can
be collected without additional expense.


Mr.. Hamlin is engaged in most laudable
efforts to arrange mail freight rates so that the
Department shall sustain no loss in carrying
it. All the profits Of the business are now de-
rived from the letter and postal mails. The
printed and freight matter yield a loss. While
there may be some sense in eIpending money
for the cheap diffusion Of intelligence into re-
mote and sparsely settled portions of the coun-
try, there can be none for carrying ordinary
merchandise as freight at loss.


The Belknap Impeachment court was organ
lied yesterday by the swearing in of the mem
bers. The oath was administered by the Chief
Justice of tie Supreme Court. The managers
on the part of the House made the usual mo-
ton for the citation Of the accused, and the
court adjourned to the 18th instant, having
made order for General Belknap to appear on
that day. The proceedings of the Senate as
d SOOAt VA AlpSdSHulCHt NlulIt lLupOb-
ing and impressive.


In another place will be found q letter
from ''Citizen" on a subject that should
command the attention of the proper author
tiles. In no other place save Washington
are vast magazines of fuel permitted in the
heart of the city. Here coal and wood yards,
containing hundreds of cords of wood and
thousands of tons of coal, are permitted on
the busiest thoroughfares. The pretense is
that cheapness and convenience for con-
sumers is attained in this way, but it is only
pretense. An Office with one days supply,
or simply an Office, with a magazine in the
suburbs, would attain these ends as we'll, and
a dangerous and unsightly evil be remedied


The Confederate House design to abolish
one half the revenue officers, chiefly at those
points where no revenue is collected. This
reminds US of the Snowman who abolished his
tent because he took in no money except at
the opening. When, however, his show was
surrounded Ly an opening he took in no
money. Mr.Randall will find THAI the aboli-
ton Of watchmen and revenue officers will
encourage smuggling and Illicit distilling and
other evasions of the revenue laws to the
detriment of the Treasury. ''While he is
saving al the spgot he will be wasting at the
bung."


Mrs. Sara J. Spencer, having demolished
"Oliyia," is now in pursuit of Colonel
Lubey, the superintendent of the aims
house, because he wants a reformatory
institution for those poor girls who are sent to
the workhouse for vagrancy. Mrs. Sara
should not be so "touchy" on this subject of
''reform for girls, unless, indeed, she has OBJ
tanned patent for her process. Her readi-
ness to imputc evil and selfish designs to
others suggests no very high degree OF purity
for her own. Between the protest of the man
ayers of the Industrial Home on the one
side, and Mrs. Sara's appeal to the Commis-
sioners to reform the men and utilize their
time and labor on the other, we fear Colonel
Lubey is in bad way.
Year: 1876

the House conferees acquicscing in the Senate amend
ment striking out the clause by which tho House pro-
posed to repeal the National Registration law. Tho
port is now signed, but may not be presented for ac-
ton until to morrow
Year: 1876

An extended barometric depression is
advancing from the westward, and we
may expect decided increase of tenn
perature by Saturday morning, with
cloudiness and local rains. The isobare of
thirty inches OF pressure was almost mer-
idianal yesterday morning from the lakes to
the Gulf, the prevailing winds along the line
being easterly and southerly. 1t is proba-
BILE, therefore, that when the low barometer
is detected to the northeastward by the
Allegheny mountains we shall experience q
repetition for some time of the condi-
tions that produced the recent heated term,
but these cannot be of long duration. The
region which is ut present the scene Of the
Indian campaign has been swept by high
winds during the past three days, which
will favor the destruction of dry grass should
the Sioux attempt to burn our troops out of
their encampments. By this time the hot
weather in England will begin to abate and
rains will probably accompany the decrease
Of temperature. In the Gulf of Mexico vio-
lent thunder storms may be expected to
prevail, which will extend to the Gulf and
South Atlantic States. The weather on the
Pacific coast has been fair and COOL The
temperature at San Francisco yesterday was
only fifty-seven degrees, with strong
westerly wind blowing toward the heated
interior
Year: 1876

RoUMAN1A GROWING REsTIvE.-It looks as
though it would require very little to fling
the Moldo-Wallachians into the fray which
is at present threatening the peace of all
Europe, as well as furnishing fighting for
the Turks, Serbs and Montenegrins. Rou-
mania is pawn of Germany in the great
Eastern game of chess, as Montenegro and
Servia are pawns of Russia. That Russia
has, so far, left the latter principalities to
the risk of capture does not assure anybody
that she has lost interest in their fate, and
although Germany might for time act SIM
ilarly with regard to Roumania if Prince
Karl declared war, the iron hand of Bis
marck would be felt before the fight was
over
Year: 1876

The INDIAN WAR.-Our latest advices from
General Crooks camp indicate that the In
dians have determined on giving the troops
battle in force once more. They have with
drawn from before the camp and are be-
lieved to be hiding their families in the fast
nesses of the mountains, and in every way
providing for stubborn fight, with the pos
sibility of getting away in case retreat becomes
necessary. This is one of the reasons why
. stronger force should be sent against them
than has been prepared. We shall hope for
the best from the movements soon to be
made. particularly as Terry will cooperate,
md there may be fresh body of troops to
pursue when the main body has broken up
the enemy.
Year: 1876

The conduct of General Partridge, the
United States Consul to Siam. as it is re-
ported in letter which we print this morn
ing is of a character to reflect great dis
credit upon the country and our consular
service. Partridge seems to have been sort
of consular tyrant, who not only lorded it
with high hand over the American citizens
who came within his jurisdiction, but even
treated the King to whose dominions he was
accredited with disdain. Wishing to come
to Philadelphia as the Commissioner of Siam
he threw the Commissioner whom the King
had chosen into Jail in order to embarrass
his departure, and otherwise behaved in a
way to prevent the articles intended for the
Centennial Exhibition from being sent at
all. Other acts of tyranny, including the
imprisonment of a number of mis-
sionaries, for so-called contempt of
his authority, followed, and his son,
who is vice consul under him, is said
to have behaved in g way equally discredit-
able and disgraceful. 1t seems almost in
credible that the representative of the
United States in q foreign country should
behave rs General Partridge is said to have
behaved but our correspondent informs us
that the ConsuIs conduct has been nvesti-
gated by Commander Mathews of the
Ashuelot, and so we may assume that the
State Department is in possession of all the
facts. If these are as represented Secretary
Fish's duty is plain. Partridge must be dis
missed at once and brought home to answer
for offences which it is hard to believe any
American official could commit. In this
case a consul seems to have set up as a petty
satrap in a foreign country, and the spec
tacle which his actions present is one that
could come, it would seem, only from a
madman or from one singularly unscru-
pulous.
Year: 1876

GENERAL GoRpoN's REVENUE BILL is civil
service reform in nutshell. 1t does not
contemplate the complicated and cumber
some machinery which was part of General
Grants attempt, but it provides against the
use of the patronage of the government as a
reward for partisan services, and makes in
.egrity and worth the important qualifica-
ions Of office-holders and office-seekers. In
.he past the civil service rcformers ap-
preached the question of reform as if it was
something very like an offence to hold Office
No such ideas enter into General Gordon S
dill. but its purpose rather is to make both
,fice-holders and oflice-holding worthy of
respect The measure is one which ought
20 pass, and no filter tribute to the sincerity
,f the professions of both parties on this
subject can be afforded than for republi-
van Senate and democratic House to adopt
this measure without delay.