smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

We congratulate the democratic party, and
especially the Committee on Civil Service
Reform, presided over by that distinguished,
fair-minded man and thoroughly reformed
statesman, Mr. Whitehouse, that it has so i'm
portant a field before it. If civil service
means anything at al it is that honest men
should be kept in the positions they fill
creditably, that old and faithful public
servants should be recognized, and that in
the clerical department of q body like the
House honorable officers should not be re-
moved for political reasons. This certainly
was what we learned from the democratic
party on the stump during the last cam
paign. If there is any truth in
these declarations it is their duty to inquire
at once into the appointments that have re-
Gently taken place in the House. From what
we can learn of these appointments men
who have served the House for years, men of
capacity and integrity, have been suddenly
turned out of their clerkships to make room
for squad of ex-Congressmen and political
adventurers.


We do not now see how the democrats can
refuse to look into these charges. The coun-
try will watch jealously the action of the
majority in every way, and when its speakers
talk of civil service reform after this exhibition
we are afraid they will be listened to with
impatience and incredulity. BY all means
let the Civil Service Committee take up this
question of the House appointments. Let il
find out how many men have been removed
from Office and how long those who have
been removed were in the service of the gov
ernment, and the causes of their removal and
the names of the Congressman who urged
their SUCCESSORS.
Year: 1875

the Congress they have just sent to Wash
ington to treat them, in an annual
Message, to a lot Of riddles, to play
upon their apprehensions and to put
of their inquiries as impertinences.
We trust the House Of Representatives
will, as soon as il meets, demand of the
President the information which he ought to
have given it in the annual Message ; the
nature Of his demands upon Spain the rea-
sons for the sudden outfit and assembling of
our fleet at 50 great supposed expense and
the present condition of the Spanish nego-
tiations. What the country loses in stag
nation and the inevitable interruption
to commerce. consequent upon several
months of such silly mystery as the
President has hidden the Spanish nego-
tiations in, would make a sum so large that
it would buy Cuba outright. War is not the
costliest thing for a nation. The stagnation
caused by prolonged apprehensions of hos
tilities may cost people more than war /;
and such mystery as we complain OF may,
after all preliminary losses, plunge us into
war from which frankness toward the peo-
pie would save us.
Year: 1875

wire OF his wife's brother, whom he coveted
In another case we see man Of immense
wealth, who was poor strolling actor in his
youth, riot in his passions, discard wife after
wife and take up mistress after mistress. till
his money is fought over by his victims with
all the revolving details of a debauched
life shamelessly paraded. They are sad
dening as well as disgusting pictures, and
they should be pondered by the thoughtful.
No generation can afford to pass its social
problems by, for the occasional sins Of one
may become the rooted vices Of the next
The memory Of q pure and united household
is one Of the best bequests man can leave to
those who follow him. What Dead Sea fruit
of domesticity is the heritage of those born Of
the marriages and unions" we have de-
scribed
Year: 1875

WEST PoINr.-A story has been in circula-
ton that the great Prussian soldier Won
Moltke had severely criticised our national
Military Academy, and had said, among
other things that the exclusive selection OF
officers from such school was more un.
likely to produce great war captains than il
the shoulder straps were within reach of the
entire male population. 1t is now stated
from Berlin that Count Moltke never uttered
the observations attributed to him; that he
would not agree with many of them, while in
others he thought exactly the opposite. We
wish the exposition was little clearer.
Year: 1875




When we see the novelist or the dramatist
who has got all his characters into an mex
plicable tangle suddenly produce a will or a
codicil to set things right, we are apt to com
plain that he lacks inventiveness in resorting
to such hackneyed expedient. Forged
wills and wills found after great search are
commoner in the play and the novel than in
the probate courts. Generally the testa-
mentary drama opens when the we'll attested
and carefully deposited will is sought to be
admitted to probate. Then the widow and
children begin to learn things which they
had not dreamed of; then claims ignored for
half a lifetime struggle for hearing; then
the secrets which have been guarded by q
small circle are laid bare to the world In
America a peculiar social phase of our rapid
progress in wealth is being brought to light
through the Surrogate's Court. America
boasts more than any other nation OF its self
made men. Those who began life poor and
reached well into the years of manhood
before fortune smiled on them, but who then
almost at bound reached the heights
Of wealth, are more numerous here than in
any other country. While their successes
in making money have been literally
chronicled, their domestic careers have been
let alone, yet, one by one, the Surrogate's
Court displays how we'll or how i'll their life
1t the hearth has supplemented their life in
the world Often it shows how the wife who
shared the early privations has been cher
ished 10 the end, but too often, also, it tells
that the cold tide of gold has drowned heart
and conscience. The wife is plain in person
and palmer in manner, and the courageous
speculator becomes a skulking coward at the
thought of presenting the newborn friends
Of his newborn money to her. She is
isolated. He doles out a pittance to her !;
he buys her silence he never mentions her,
and, his weak head carried away by some
new beauty in the now world of fashion, he
marries again. Such was the story in one
recent case. and we fear it is a type Our
ashoddy" women have been ridiculed here
and abroad but, better a thousand times
to bring the plain old wife with one through
the world, no matter how absurdly she
carries her new plumage of wealth, than to
strut with lady welded to lie, bearing a
brand that will stamp the man in his grave
as coward and perjurer, that will
leave mistress and not widow, and
will taint the children of the second
"wife" as illegitimatc. Then we have cases
where the divorce court has stepped in to rid
n man of q woman he could not tolerate in
the glare of wealth, but whose features were
sweet to him in the shadows Of poverty. A
so-called mutual separation" brought
about perhaps by his own cruelty, has given
man an opportunity to take to him as a
wife in name. but not in law. the divorced
Year: 1875

ONE OF THOSE HORRIBLE CRIMES which de-
face civilization occurred in this city yester-
day. A man having shot his wife and two
children then shot himself No cause has
been assigned for the act. The man was
ianitor of the Society for the Prevention Of
Cruelty to Children, but he killed his own.
The mans name would indicate that he is
q German, and it must be noted with regret
that this large and generally peaceful class
of our fellow citizens furnish lately great
nnmhar Of tho crimas which end in suicide.
Year: 1875

The MERCHANTS OF New YORK are not
quite satisfied with the freight rates west,
allows the railroads to contract with individu-
ais at excessively low rates while excessively
high rates are charged to the general body
of traders. They are right in saying that
this does not protect New York commerce,
and their advocacy of a fair, paying rate for
everybody, without favor to any, has the
proper commercial ring about it, To dis
criminate between parties in New York is
ms bad MS to discriminate between New York
md Baltimore.
Year: 1875

WALL STREET YESTERDAY. Stocks were
without feature and the market was gener-
ally stagnant. Money on call loaned up to
seven per cent and 1882 commission, and
closed at four per cent Gold opened at
113 1-S and closed at 113. Foreign exchange
was quiet
Year: 1875

THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY dies hard. The


proposition Of the Committee on Dissolution


that the Chamber should dissolve to-day was
rejected yesterday, and the agony will be
prolonged, possibly, into January. The Left
is naturally dissatisfied with this prospect,
as il may keep the Chamber sitting up 70 the
eve ofthe Senatorial elections, thus giving the
government time to perfect its machinery for
carrying the elections in the conservative in
terest. The best thing for the Left to do is
20 expedite business and thus force the ma
jority to 60 home. great many members
OF the sections Of the Right know that It Is
their last appearance in the role Of Deputy,
and hence they are in no hurry TO dissolve.
Year: 1875

THE ENGLISH RFLEMES have accepted the
challenge of the New York rihemen for a
match in America during the Centennial
celebration. Sir Henry Halford will be the
Captain Of the English team. We under
stand that the endeavor to secure a range
near Philadelphia has not been successful,
and hence it is highly probable the match
will be shot at Creedmoor, which, with a
little better accommodation furnished by the
railroads, could be more successfully used
for that purpose than any range hastily
extemporized. We are now anxious to learn
If this team will be an Imperial one, or
whether we are to expect q team each from
Ireland and Scotland.
Year: 1875

SECRETARY BnIsTow AND THE PRESIDENT
If President Grants suspicious should
bring him into open collision with the Sec
rotary of the Treasury the latter has a
strong precedent to support him in a refusal
to relinquish his Office. General Grant him
self was once a Cabinet officer who incurred
the displcasure Of his official chief, but he
did not feel called upon to resign any more
than his predecessor, Secretary Stanton, who
followed Senator Summers advice TO "sticls =
President Grant can suspend Cabinet
officers, but cannot remove them. and he will
be wary Of sending Mr.. Bristow's case to the
Senate for decision, when his only offence is
too much zeal in pursuing the Whiskey
Ring and too little consideration for the i'm
plicated private secretary Of the President
If there should be a quarrel between Gen
eral Grant and Mr. Bristow it will be quite
safe for the Secretary to defy the President
and 'stick"
Year: 1875

TwEED's BoNDsMEN in the criminal cases
are fighting hard to prove that they are not
responsible The case goes to the General
Term, and when it is passed on there we
shall see how far their plea Will carry them.
Year: 1875

ANOTHER HEAVY DEFALcATIoN is reported,
this time from Buffalo City Treasurer Bor1
has fed, leaving a deficit of over three
hundred thousand dollars. Like many others
who have gone his road he was open
handed, and apparently open-hearted
He was president Of thirteen
societies, and foremost in all phil
anthropic works. Doubtless he thus
managed to divert suspicion from his dark
doings; for who could question the man who
kept his balances straight on paper, who
had the reputation Of great wealth,
who gave homes to the working
classes for song and was foremost in
all benevolent projects? These cases are
hard to Judge without all the evidence; but
whether he lent the city money to others or
used it in other ways, he was stepping him
self in dishonesty at every STEP and it is
proverbial how difficult it is to retrace these
downward steps.
Year: 1875

NOTICE Is HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE
IN city of Los Angeles intends making the
following improvement on Temple street,
from its junction with Spring and Main streets
to and including its intersection with Fort
street:


Said Temple street shall be graded in the
following manner: The roadbed shall be
prepared by cutting down or filling up to q
sub grade eight inches below the established
grade along the center line of the street and
In such manner as to give it q slope of one foot
in 80 towards the cutters. The roadbed haV-
ing been prepared along the whole of one
block and having been accepted by the City
Surveyor, the contractor shall surface the
same with cement gravel to the depth of
inches.


The cutters shall be feet wide and paved
with granite cobble stones in. long; the CEN
ter of the gutter shall be 10 inches and the
sides shall be inches below the top of the
sidewalk, thus giving it q concave shape; the
whole to be thoroughly set in sand and to be
well rammed.


The curb shall be of Sxl2 redwood, spiked to
posts of redwood 4x4 and three feet long, set
In the ground feet and the inside of the curb:
said posts to be feet apart: the top of the
curb to be placed inches below the estab-
lished grade.


The sidewalks shall be Sfeet wide and filed
in or cut down to within two inches of the es--
tablshed grade, as may be necessary, and
shall then be covered with planking inches
thick spiked to longitudinal seepers 3x4 dis
tant and feet from outer edge of curb and
to the curb. Or the sidewalk may be made of
the property-holder should SO prefer.


The cutters shall be continued along the
junction of Buena Vista and Temple and
along the intersections of New High and Tenn
pie and of Temple and Fort streets.


The work to commence at the lower end OF
Temple street and to be prosecuted only upon
one block at time. M. KREMER,,


mrl0 lot Clerk OF Com. council.
Year: 1875

Free from serious objections. yet palatable even
inviting to the sensitive palate, which will create
no morbid app tite for itself, and operate an as
sistant to digestion, as well perform the func-
tions OF stmulant. Such we confidently believe
is to be iOnnd in
Year: 1875

Elatulency, Sluggish Digestion want of Tone and
Activity in the stomach and Bowels, Oppression
after Eating, are sure TO be relieved by single
dose taken after each meal. great want exists
for II
Year: 1875

hc would probably have got well long
before the expiration of the seven days
il he set TO work to make his medicine
only when the tooth began TO ache. the
genius Of the physician and the efficacy
of his recipe are alike secure from at
tack. In the second ease, the very eN-
istence Of one of the drugs mentioned Is.
to say the least, apocryPhal; and al
though such can be purchased at the
shops of native druggists. any complaint
on the part of n duped patient would he
met by the simple answer that the white
dragons bones he bought could not pos
Sibly have been genuine-Csls,tiai En-
piyf.
Year: 1875

The Santa Rosa Democrat tells Of a
curious snake fight: "Last August, as
Mr. Woodbridge, who lives just above
Gloverdale, was going to his work in the
early morning, he saw strange sight,
something which he could not at first
define whirling, writhing and turning
on the ground. On nearer approach
what was his astonishment to discover
two immense rattlesnakes engaged in
deadly strife. They were wrapped
around each other from tail to within six
or eight inches Of the head, and never
for moment did they take their eyes
from each other. Now and then they
would slowly unwind to within one or
two coils OF the tail, and with an instan-
taneous movement they would again be-
come involved to the neck, and with
jaws distended and fangs exposed, one
would strike at the other, his antagonist
invariably dodging the blow, when in
turn he would strike in the same man.
ner and in turn would be foiled. After
repeating their maneuyePS for time
they would lie painting in each others's
coils, and then slowly and cautiously
and striking again. So fiercely did they
embrace each other that one would
think surely the life would be crushed
out. Strike alter strike was made on
both sides, but never once was an ad.
versary so far caught Oft his guard as to
receive blow. They had been fighting
over space of fifteen or twenty feet as
evidenced by their tracks in the dust.


10 ali appearances they had been fight
| ing all night, every inch of ground bear


ing marks OF the conflict. After looking
rat them for some time, Mr.. Woodbridge
cut a pole eight or ten feet long, and
just then a MIR. Murphy came up. liz
took the pole and approaching thu


snakes they simultaneously discovered


HIM, when loosening their hold of eaci


other with marvellous rapidity the larger


one rushed at him perfectly furious; i
Required the second blow to stop him. Ii


a moment alter, the other started fol


Mr. M, as his now dead antagonist hat
done, when he toe was slain by welL-di
}rected blow. One had sixteen and th'
IQther fifteen rattles
Year: 1875

nFA revolution is about taking
place in the manufacture of flour. The
inventors claim that n they can make
from fourteen to sixteen pounds more
-four from the usual amount of grain re.
quired to make barrel Of -four by the
old process. This new -four viii be Of
a better quality and and will mako more
Year: 1875

The all night and all day session Of the
House, beginning on Wednesday and ending
Thursday night, accomplished nothing more
than to bring the Force bill up as unfinished
business at the opening of the session to-day.
1t was part of the programme of the Admin
istration managers which was initiated in the
adoption of the new rule cutting off dlatory
motions and putting the minority at the mercy
of the majority in rushing through without
opportunity for discussion whatever measures
they may deem necessary for the promotion of
their partisan designs. The matter was sprung
upon the House by one of Mr.. Buffers clever
tricks, in defiance of the understanding which
was had at the time of the afternoon adjourn
ment that the Appropriation bills should have
the precedence in the order of business


But Mr.. Butler is sometimes too clever


His sharpness is liable to Overreach
the mark and defeat his object In this case
he found, too :ate, that the new rule was not
sufficient, even with the aid of his trickery, to
answer the purpose intended. The lack of a
quorum of Administration members left the
business of the House at the viii OF the OPP
position, who refused to vote, and con-
sequently had all proceedings at a deadlock
whenever they were disposed. Mr.. Butler
lost his temper of course, and got angry and
excited because Speaker Blaine would not at
his dictation override Parliamentary law and
precedent. The Speaker, however, was cool
and self-contained during the whole session,
and the manifest fairness and impartiality of
his rulings are commended on all sides.


The result of the matter can hardly be pre-
@o1 q hot
of the House can be obtained for a bill of so
outrageous character. There are many Ad-
ministration members who will not vote for it
as it stands. Whether there are enough of
these to defeat it is still an open question, but
it seems certain that some of its most odious
features will be stricken out before IL can pass
the House. Even then we do not believe it
possible to be passed. That there is deter
mined purpose on the part of the desperate
men who feel power slipping from their grasp
to press this bill at all hazards is apparent
enough. They have already shown readiness
to sacrifice everything else, even the appr0-
priation bills and to incur the necessity
of an extra session for this purpose. But
it is in the power of the minority
in the Senate to interpose delays and stave il
off until the time for final adjournment
shall arrive, and this, we presume, will be
done if it becomes necessary. Meantime the
spectacle is presented to the country of a
party which has just been repudiated in the
Congressional elections resorting to the most
questionable and desperate measures, not only
to continue in tho hands OF the President
powers such as were never before exercised
or dreamed of by any Executive, but to en-
large them to such an extent as to give him
absolute control in all the States of the Union.
The proposition in this bill to suspend the
.habeas corpus at the sole and absolute discre-
ton of the President is in the words of Mr..
Blaine. unlimited as to territory and un.
Year: 1875

With the first geam of February sunshine
on the thawing pavements you find on every
quiet corner certain familiar picturesque
group, to be reduplicated countless times in
warmer weather. There is fairy. shell like
COACH glittering in blue and silver if its CO.
cupant be a blonde, or crimson and gold if
she be brunette; there is the baby reclining
in it, like a miniature Cleopatra, with the sun
garing into her blinking eyes; and there is
the French nurse with her white apron, Nor
mandy cap, lace lappets, and black eyes
glancing furtvely at every passer-by. Baby's
mother, meanwhile, reclining in larger coach
with just as fine artistic effect, is bowling
away to the Park or on her daily round of
wOrk-receptions, calls, matinees, ETC., ETC.


She complains q good deal at each place of
the weight of these social duties, especially if
she add to them charitable or devout labor,
such as that of a cOmmittee-wOman on q
charity ball or church fair She does not, as
she steps into her luxurious coach, leave
her family or household cares behind her, for
she has none to leave. With regard to her
child she certainly has the full approval of
her conscience. When she certainly found
she had committed that blunder in the fash
ionabie world and was indeed the mother of
a child she resolved, however inconvenient it
might be, to fulfill all her duties as mother


She therefore sbSred no expense as to a
layette or a wet nurse, discussing the qualities
of this last with the physician before the
creature precisely as if she were of Alderney
breed; nurse and baby were als6>eent to the
seashore last Summer at the proper time for
teething. Now that tho child's mini and
morals require training, she has procured o
bonne, warranted to be from Paris direct


whose appearance, as we have seen, Is a credit
to her employer. Nurse and baby are brought
into the dining room frequently with the
dessert, and form picturesque back ground
for few moments to fruit and flowers:
Year: 1875

"limited % to time.s What that means is
plain enough to the most ordinary understand
ing. No dictator could desire. nor could a
people surrender more. The provisions of the
bill are 80 monstrous, and the circumstances
under which its enactment is demanded are
80 significant of the ulterior purposes of its
authors, that the bare possibility of its passage
is utterly startling. The party that suffers
itself to be led by such repudiated
leaders as Butler into the support Of such
an outrage upon liberty and justice must be
irredeemably besotted and blind. If there is
any manliness left in its representatives in Con-
gress, this desperate scheme will fail. Let US
hope for the sake of the party as well as OF
the country that the action of to-day will be
final. and the death blow be given to the
whole bad business.
Year: 1875

The people mean to arrest the tendency or
extrava and corruption, and they call 10 account
the men who have proved unworthy stewards IL is
not merely change OF party they want, but change
OF mnisration from extravaganza aud corruption 70
honesty and economy.-t Boston Herald QndD


Let the Southern people leave the Admins
traton and tho Republican party ~ the angry NORTH.
with nothing 70 divert or distract t IN the reckoning
let them remain silent and passive while the reckoning
goes onand the next Presidential election will DC 70
the Republican party simply u day OF Judgment-to@
Louis Republican undD


The people engaged in legislation at WASH
ington seem 10 have very small idea OF the suspicion
with which their acts are regarded by the MAJORITY OF
the people outside who have gradually como In these
latter days. rightly wrongly, to regard the average
Congressman I'm the absence OF proof OF nn0cence) A
sort OF " habitual criminal."-lrhe Nation und)


We are all getting used to the notion OF o
third term At the outset IL repeed u.s. VIII 10 ever
become so pleasing that we will not only endure bus
embrace tt VIII people become so infatuated as 70
lose sight OF their perii We think not There is too
much patriotism and intelligence In the land to permt
the slightest toward the endangerng Of liberty to
succeed The third project too early unvaed
" ever come into e9eeI-lTroy Press peml