smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1872

Said a young husband whose busi-
ness speculations were unsuccessful
My wife's silver tea-set, the bridal
gift of rich uncle, doomed me to f.
nancial ruin. 1t involved a hundred
unexpected expenses, which, in trying
to meet, have made me the bankrupt !
am His experience is the experience
of many others, who, less wise, do not
know what is the goblin of the house
working its destruction. 4 sagacious
father, of great wealth, exceedingly
mortified his daughter by ordering il
to be printed on her wedding cards
NO presents, except those adapted to
an income of 81 600" Said he, You
must not expect to begin life in the
style | am able, by many years of la
Dor, to indulge; and | know of moth
ing which will tempt you to try more
than the well-intentioned but pernic-
ious gifts of rich friends Such ad-
vice is timely. If other parents
would follow the same plan, many
young men would be spared years of
incessant toll and anxiety; they would
not find themselves on the downward
road, because their wives had worn all
of their salary, or expended it on the
appointments of the house. The fate
of the poor man who found a linchpin,
and felt himself obliged to make a
carriage TO fit it, is the fate of the hus-
band who finds his bride in possession
of gold and silver valuables, aud no
large income to support the owner $
gold and silver style.
Year: 1872

A writer in the September Scribnor
gives a curious instance of history Cor
iiction) repeating itself. She tells a
story of an old colored minister, who,
in sermon on hell, pictured it as a
region of ice and snow, whore the
damned frozc through eternity


When privately asked his purpose in
representing Gehenna in this way, he
said l don't dare to tell them peo-
pie nothing else. Why, if | were to
say that hell was warm, some of them
old rheumatic nigers would be want
ing to start down there the very first
frost" Washington Irving uses sub
stantially the same idea OF changing
the future to suit different tastes in his
description of the Dutch town of
Brock, famous for its cleanliness. He
says that the most fervent exhortations
were of no avail in converting the ma
irons there, until the dominic pictured
the Heavenly City as one of purity
that surpassed even that of Brock it.
self. That sermon converted the town
Year: 1872

GONE Our OF BUSINESS An old
lady, on entering store the other day,
said " Why, it can't be possible that
you keep this store yeti 1 thought
you had gone out of business. amt
seen your name or anythingabout your
store in the paper for over year. and
everybody in our neighborhood thinks
you have gone out of business"
Year: 1872

A Mobile young man got up the
other night to obtain drink Of wa
ter. and, mistaking Babcock fire cx-
tinguishcr for the water cooler, tiDk-
cred with it until he received heavy
charge of acid on his shirt bosom.
He didn't wait for second dose, nor
to explain his action to the boss.
Year: 1872

When DR.. johnson asked the widow
Porter to be his wife, he told her can
didly that he was of mean extraction,
that he had no money, and that he had
an uncle hanged The widow replied
that she cared nothing for his parent,
age, thatshe had no money herse,f, and
though she had not had relative
hanged, she had fifty who deserved
hanging, SO they made match of it
Year: 1872

SECOND Police STATIoS.-The Council
Committee on Public Grounds and Build
ingS visited and inspected the Second Police
Station yesterday afternoon, and agreed that
to the buildings were very
Necessary. The committee will in all proba-
bility report to the Council at the next meet
ing recommending that the changes and inn
proycmcnts bc made at once. About an hour
was consumed in the inspection.
Year: 1872

SEVEN WISE MEN.--A lodge of the Order
of HcptaSophs, or Seven Wise Men, IS
shortly to be instituted in this city under
very favorable auspices. 1t is said to be a
social and charitable organization of remark
able elements of popularity, and it is spread
iny over the country with great rapidity.
Norfolk is the headquarters-of the Order in
Year: 1872

FAY YouR TAXES or BE TAXED for day
neglect. The "Ten Governors" have saddied onl
people with an unequal, Illegal and unnecessarily
heavy tax but there is nothing to do but to walk
up to the captains Office and pay up. There Is nc
redress, and now no appeal. For the appeal II
made is made to the very body that increases your
assessment. Ard when complaint is made al
appeal is also made to the "Ien Governors ""'
usually constitute more than halt OF the members
of Council present, and as they work together IN
very many cases there is no escape from the uh
equal and unjust assessment under which the peo-
pie are laboringto to sustain an extravagant Council
whose chief business seems to have been, during
the greater part Of the last year. to add to the eh
penses Of the city.
Year: 1872

From the Little Rock Journal Of Monday


All Argenta was in a state Of excite
ment yesterday, on learning that MUIR
der had been committed not far from
there, on thetrack Of the Memphis road,
the night before.


The body was found about two miles
down the road at place known as Two
Mile Station. The skull was cut open
in one or two places, by some sharp
weapon, and the entire head was bruised
and battered as if by 8 stick or club.


Our reporter, who visited Argenta to-
day, could not learn his name nor any
particulars of the bloody deed. The
murdered man was q stranger in
these parts, and, from some letters
found on his person, appears to have
come from New York State. 1t
is believed that he was starting OFF in
search of work, and that he had no
money in his possession. The cause for
numbering him cannot be determined,
and there is, as yet, no clue to the muir
derer. When the body was found it was
lying across the track-prObably placed
there 10 be run over by the cars and to
give rise to the suppOsitiOn that his
death was caused in that manner.


Early in the afternoon the excitement
was increased by desperate stsbbing
sfffsy, in which one Of the notorious
Masseys-Bill by name-got severely
cut in the left side by a knife in the
hands Of man named Head, who was
shortly after arrested, but has since
then, we understand, escaped. Massey's
wound is not regarded as dangerous
The cause Of the quarrel was a drunken
discussion
Year: 1872

Not long ago a Mr.. White was ex-
cavating for a well In Washington coun-
ty, Tennessee. He bad gone down
through earth, shale-slate rock to a
depth Of eighty feet, and got into a
cavity Of a rock from which he hauled
forth live frog as white as snow
Whether he turned white in single
night, from sudden fear, does not plainly
appear, but the frog was white, was
alive and kicking, and showed all the
symptoms Of being jolly frog that had
regained the light after fifteen or twenty
thousand years of darkness. His JOY
was evidently too intense to last. He
gasped spasmOdically for three minutes
aud died. The well-digger having dug
down six feet deeper, discovered a
stream Of running water fun of fishes.
The water rushed 70 the surface with
such force that the good farmer felt en-
powered to irrigate five hundred acres OF
sotton which was suffering from
drouth. 1t Is plain that there were
great Quantities Of pluvial blessings
locked up in the earth with that frog.


This was wonderful enough, but now
comes q yarn from Mississippi, every bit
a refreshing: A workman, while dig
giuV well for Mr. Emmett Ross, at a
deptb Of forty-two feet below the sur
face, struck his spade against hard
substance, which proved 70 be the skele-
ton Of a huge animal, supposed to be q
member Of the mastodOn tribe We
saw fragment Of this skeleton, which
appeared TO be that portion which
worked In the socket Of the hip. We
understand that Mr.. Ross is having the
skeleton carefully exhumed, and the
curious can soon have an opportunity o.
examining tins relic Of the Aud Lang
Syne.D
Year: 1872

The river opposite the city is falling
slowly, and By the gauge Is twenty-six
inches above low water mark. But six
feet Is reported TO Cairo, and six and a
half feet over the shoal crossings below.
Five feet is the depth above Cairo, but
rains that have fallen during the last
forty-eight hours may cause a slight rise
and improve the channel. The Ohio is
in some better condition from the recent
rise than it has been for two months,
bat its tributaries, and those Of the lower
Mississippi, are exceedingly low and
navigable only TO very light-dranght
boats. Red river IS down to TWENTY
three inches, 0uachita twenty inches,
the Arkansas nineteen, and White river
thirty-two, which is about the depth in
the Yazoo. The weather yesterday was
cloudy and disagree6ble; once only did
Old Sol show his face during the day.
and then it was for but moment. The
night previous a heavy fog raised. and
did not clear away until nearly noon.
Business at the landing was fair, the
Year: 1872

Somebody having applied to an editor
for a method by which he might cure
his daughter Of her partiality for young
gentlemen, Is kindly informed that
there are several methods Of reform. The
best are to put her In a well and drop a
few loads Of gravel on her head, or to
bind her ankles TO an anvil and upset
her out ofa boat.
Year: 1872

An account OF wonderful ice cave
comes to us rom Tennessee. If We
could only have read description of
it a week or two ago it would have been
very consoling. The cave was discov-
cred upon farm in Perry county, and
tAe gentlemen who explored it became
numb with cold after penetrating = dis
lance of seventy five feet underground.
The sight which greeted them on en-
terine the ice room il said to have been
Que Of great beauty. The wallis and
ceilings hung with icy drops, which
their torches illuminated until the cave
blaze.l with brilliant light. Finding
it too cold for comfort they broke Of
pieces of the ice and carried them into
the open air. Here they proved to be
Of rocky hardness. After exposing It
to the heat for half an hour, and find
ing it still retained its original hardt
ness, they put it into water, which If
chilled instantly. 1t is wonderful j.
true, and, by the list of names attach
ed as vouchers, it can hardly be other
wiRe
Year: 1872

They have . new arrangement. in
France. They call it rattle popier. 1t
is like fox hunting, only lacking the
fox element. The company goes
careering aver the country in chase of a
horseman who is given ten minutes
start, and whose track is marked out
by bits of cut paper which his motion
scatters out of a couple of huge bags
with which he is laden. The ''bush "
or trophy of victory is white satin
rosette which he wears ON hls left
shoulder, and which becomes the spoil
of whoever is lucky enough to overtake
and snatch it from him.
Year: 1872

The ex-Empress of the French, the
Prince Imperial, and q few ladies and
gentlemen of their family, have been
for few days guests of the Royal Ho-
tel in Edinburgh, coming and gong,
as far rs was their power, in the most
quiet way, shopping and sightseeing
like other tourists the recipients, how
ever, as soon as their presence was
known in the streets, of no little star
ing and a good many cheers. As they
are travelling in the strlctest incognito,
no demonstrations are made in their
honor, except the impromptu demon
strations of the somewhat enthusiastic
crowds who gather in front of the ho-
tel to watch for their outgoings and
lncomings. They seem to be highly
popular with the masseA to whose oc-
oasionally uproarious greetings they
respond in the most graciou" and
smiling way. We notice one particu-
lar enthusiast, uncouth in appearance,
uncombed and unwashed, who seized
the hand of the Empress as she passed
out into her carriage one morning, and
not only shook it warmly, but clapped
the young Napoleon most heartily and
encouragingly on the back, to the hor.
ror of accompanying attendants and
the great amusement CT the Royal
party themselves. The young Prince
is slight and delicate in appearance,
looking also younger than his years,
now some II. His face and his moth
er's are too we'll known to need de-
scription, were any such description
possible on my part. The Empress
seems to preserve her marvellous beau.
ty most wonderfully, and appears less
care worn and more contented than
when I last saw her in Paris, three
years ago, in the height of all her
glory and with al the uncertainty of
her position. She is certainly the most
graceful and most queenly woman of
the day-saia by her attendants to be
as affable and amiable in her disposi-
tion "a she is lovely in person. She
certainly carried from Paris the respect
and personal goodwill of all classes of
people and Of all colors of politics.
When We met her by chance IN the
passage-ways or on the stair-ways of
the hotel she invariably acknowledged,
and gracefully, our hat.l;ftings. I


would mention that these salutes were
offered ON our part because they SEEM
ed to be looked for and expected on
that were extended


by all the guests Oi the hotcl.-Edi,-
buyYh Letter to Ncv York Evening


M0ik.
Year: 1872

An old lawyer says that the three most
troublesome clients he ever had were a
young woman who wanted to be married,
married woman who wanted to be un.
married, and an old mud who didn't know
what ahc wanted,
Year: 1872

flour country and its government, if the
United States and President Grants ad-
ministration were at all identical in our
own opinion, or that Of the world, we
should feel overwhelmed with shame and
modification at the signal triumph England
has achieved in the contest about indirect
damages growing out Of the Alabama
Claims. We had thought that if President
Grant knew anything at all it was how to
fight that if he had any one trait Of char
acter more prominent than another, it was
a brute bulldog pertinacity that rendered
him constitutiOnally unable to loose his
grip that when he had once taken posi-
ton he would never back down from it
1t seems, however, that we were mistaken.
At the first groWl of the British Lion, he
has grown as nervous and harmless as
raw recruit, for the first time under fire !;
indeed, his conduct has been cOWardly III a
disgraceful degree. He sought. for the plIr
pose OF making political capital at home, to
"bully" government with which his own
was at peace, and in insolent language de-
manded a fabulous sum of money for
alleged consequential results of alleged viO-
lations Of alleged duties that had no exist
ence under any law or custom prevailing
among either nations or individuals.


Having done this, and having been told
by the British government, with the scant
courtesy Lis inso,ence deserved, thai the
clai could not be entertained, President
Grant withdaws it in a manner at once
puerile, absurd, cowardly and ludicrous.


General Grant claimed that an immense
sum of money was due to the United
States for consequential damages. The
British Government responded that by no
principle of any law prevailing among
nations could any such claim be made.
Thereupon, after the usual diplomatic de-
lays, President Grant submits TO the
United States Senate the draft of an addi-
tional article or supplemental treaty to the
famous Washington Treaty, in which he
gravely proposes to Queen VICTORIA that
if She will never claim indirect damages
from America, that he, Grant, will with
draw his present claim for such DANA
ces and agree that America will never
again make one.


Now, as the English Government has
contended all along that no nation could,
under any circumstances, make such
claim against another nation, it is quite
probable the Alabama difficulty is at an
end.


Why there should be all this pomp and
parade and formality in the preparation Of
a supplemental treaty in order to &C
complish the back down, it is difficult to
see. The whole thing is square & back
out" shameful and disgraceful.


The President and his administration
stand convicted before the world of ig-
norance, imbecility and cowardice, but the
peace Of the country is preserved.


The country would think its peace
dearly purchased at the expense of its
honor, but considers it cheaply paid for by
the loss of Grants reputation.
Year: 1872

in future will lie in the same direction
The following extract from the Christian
Union-Henry Ward Beecher's paper
presents the condition of the South under
Radical domination, pointedly and peril
nently, with more sober truth and hard
common sense than usually comes from
the organ of one whom Southern people
esteem fanatic, and with far more states
manship than Grant and his Cabinet and
Morton and his adherent, have ever dis
played either in administration or in legis-
lation. Beecher says


"a proud and higl-spirited population
have seen their places of trust and honor
filled by foreign adventurers and unedu-
Gated freedmen. The old political leaders,
in whom the people had confidence, and
who alone had experience in the conduct
of affairs, have been excluded from office
by Congress. The course of politics has
tended to deepen the antagonism between
the former masters and the blacks and to
still further ALLEVIATE the former from the
national authority. This is a gloomy pic



Into this weakened and distracted COM
munity there has been no infusion of new,
healthy blood. 1t was hoped that immi-
grafton would renOvate the South. But
there has been no immigration, or very
little. The old elements are left to work
out their way unassisted. OF the present
duty of the nation al large toward the
South we shall here say but word. The
best service that can be rendered to the
Southern people politically is to let them
alone. Disabilities should be swept away
at blow. There should be no more Fed
eral interference with local affairs. Politi-
cal salvation for the South can only come
through her own people,


To this we add but a single lin: : the
political salvation Of the South is essential
to the financial salvation of the North.
What would be the financial condition of
the North if there were no Southern pro-
ducts to furnish exchange and foster inn
ports for the revenue Of the Government ?
Suppose the whole South to be in the con-
ditiOn which Grant has placed South Caro-
hna, withlabor demoralized, citizens arrest
ed or fleeing, martial law dominant, troops
quartered here and moving there; what
would be the revenue from the Southern
products to the Government ? Could Mr..
Boutwell, show large gold balances in the
| Treasury ?
Year: 1872

Nothing has weighed more heavily upon
the South since the war than the Govern
ment interference, by and under the Re-
construction and Ku-KluX Acts passed by
the Radicals in Congress, and enforced by
President General Grant mercilessly. The
South, but for the plunder and oppression
of the Radical bummers, who cried loyalty
while they robbed and baWled for protec-
ton TO Union men while they plundered
the South, would have made progress be-
yond conception in recuperating from the
terrible prostration of unsuccessful war,
and, we may add, in establishing her own
prosperity have contributed immensely to
the strength and prosperity of the whole


country, from her great and fertile resour-
ces. The sagacious men Of the North of
all parties and shades of political faith see


and know this, and the politicians are be-


ginning to feel that their political interests
Year: 1872

emanated from his bosom-and his spirit
fled forever.


Suddenly conscious of the horrid crime
of which he had been guilty, Hamet tore
his hair, beat his breast, and raved like a
maniac. And in the midst of his rawlings
he lifted up his voice against the majesty
of Heaven, and cursed the Deity whom he
has SO long and fervently worshipped.


AT that instant terrible din echoed
round about-the thunder rolled, the tall
trees shook with an earthquake-and,
amidst the roar Of conflicting elements,
were heard shouts of Internal laughter.
All hell seemed to rejoice at the fall of a
good man, whom no other vice had ever
tempted away from the paths Of virtue un
till drunkenness presented itself The
rage of the storm increased-the trees were
torn up by their roots-and fragments of
the rocky parts of Olympus rolled down
the hill with the fury Of an Alpine ava
lanche. Suddenly the Genie appeared
before the wretched Hamet and exclaimed:
" Fool by choosing to commit the crime
which seemed to thee least, thou hast com
mitted the other two likewise! for there is
more danger in the wine cup than i'll any
other means of temptation presented by
Satan TO mankind"


And the last words Of the Genie mingled
with the redoubled bowling Of the storm,
as Hamet was borne down the slope of the
mountain by the falling masses, and
dashed to pieces at the bottom.
Year: 1872

A young couple who had been holding
cozy tete q tete in retired alcove at
party in Nashville, were somewhat abash-
ed. on emerging into the party, to find that
around the young mans neck there was
the print of two arms in chalk and dia-
mond dust, on his shoulder a quantity of
gold powder, and other equally unaccount-
able phenomena observable elsewhere.
Year: 1872

dear Ma wright to tell you am very
retehed and my chillyblains is ,gorser again
nave not made any progress and don't
thInk shall. / am sorry to be Off so much
expense, but do not think schuie is of any
good. One Offthe fellows has taken the
crown hout off my new hat for a target.
said you would not like it. lie has also
borrowed my watch TO make water wheel
with the works, but it won't act. Ne az,
him have tried to put the works back, b.
we think there is some wheels missing as
it won't TT. L hope Matilda's cold is bet
ter. l am glad she is not at schule. |
think L have got the consumsion. The
boys at this place are not gentlemen, but |
suppose you did not know that when you
sent me. | will not try to get bad habits.
The trowSerS have wore out at the nees.-
L think the tailor must have cheated you.
the buttons have also come off and
they are tore in the back. l don't think
the food is good, but should not mind If
was stronger, the piece send YOU is of the
beef we had sunday but on other days il is
more stringgy. there are black beedles ia
the kitchen and sometimes they cook them
in the dinner which can't be wholesome
when you are rot strong. l of the
boys has tanned one not cooked a raw one
and it will dance when you whistle .'down
in a coal mine" which makes him think of
his happy home. Dear Ma | hope you and
my dear papa aud sisters are enjoying Of
yourselves and do not mind being SO un-
comfortable because | do not think shall
asst long.


| am Yoms Anectionate


JOHNNY.


T. S.--Please send me some money as
owe pence. II you can not spare it i
think can borrow of boy who is going
to leave at the half quarter and then he
won't ask for it back praps you would not
like me to be under a oblgashion as his
parents is trades people and think
you deal at their shop, he lent me some last
half and think he told them at the shop
did not mention it as dersay they have
put it in yUr bill.-,Judg