smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

In the whole range of sacred and profane
literature, perhaps there is nothing recorded
which has such staying properties as a good
healthy mortgage.


A mortgage can be depended on to stick
| closer than brother 1t has a mission to
perform which never lets up. Day after
day it is right there nor does the slightest
tendency to slumber impair its vigor in the
least Night and day, and at holiday times,
without moments rest for sickness or re-
creation, the biting offspring of its existence
goes on.


The seasons may change, days run into
weeks, weeks inw months. and months be
swallowed up into the gray man of advan-
cling years, but that mortgage stands up in
sleepless vigilance, with the interest, a per
ennial stream, ceaselessly running on.


Like huge nightmare eating out the
sleepof some restless slumbefer, the un.
paid mortgage rears up its gaunt front in
perpetual torment to the miserable wight
who is held within its miserable clutch. r.
holds the poor victim with the relentless
grasp of giant; not one hour of recroa.
ton; not moments evasion of its
hideous presence. A genial savage of mol
lifying aspect while the interest is paid; a
very devil of hopeless destruction when the
payments fail.


Other liabilities may be sevaged or
smoothed aside; but mortgage hangs ON
with the pertinaey of bull dog or the grin
of a blacksmith's vice. II the interest is
paid it is added to swell its grim parent.
the principal, and holds up its horrible
front with harder seeming than before.
It will have the pound of flesh which is
nominated in the bond; and more terrible
than the fearful witches in Macbeth. the
threatening fiend, Foreclosure, rears up its
dreaded menace with the crushing weight
of hopeless despair.


Pity for the poor man who has the grim
fiend in his household. Every hour of his
life is fraught with one intact endurance of
misery and dead, embittered with eriev.
ous load he is powerless to shake away
Industrial Age
Year: 1876

When a vessel of the Cunard line is


ready to sail, but before the passengers are


received on board, a complete inspection is


made by her commanding officer, and the


marine superintendent. The crew are


drawn up for inspection in two lines, on the


starboard and port sides of the deck, each


man wearing the badge of his boat. and


ready to answer to his name. The muster.


roll having been called, orders are giyen to


prepare for boat service; and the men


break up into the necessary number of


crews, each at his own station. When this


IS done the order boats out" is oivep


When the boats are down, and proof has


oeen gwen that everything connected with


them IS ready for service, the order to haul


them IN IS given, and in few more minutes
they are restored to their customary RESTING
places. The same organization of crews is
applied to fire duty; and as soon as the


boat inspection is completed a fre-drill
takes its place. In this some men have
charge Of buckets, with ropes attached to
them, SO that they can be filled over the
side and hauled in. Others have to fetch
and join the hose, to connect it with pumns
worked by the engines, or to take CHARGE Of
the jets. Others are prepared with blankets
TO be wetted and thrown over the flames.
but the essential matter is that every man
has his place and his duty, and everv man
Is acquainted with them both. The san,e
division into crews, as for the boats, is also
used Tor naming the pumps, and as soon as
the tlre-drill is over, the pumps receive the
next attention. Each crew is expected to
be IN its place; each pump is tested andex.
amlned, and it is shown that there is no
water in the bilge. This done, the crews
are dismissed, but the inspecting party pro-
ceeds to make complete tour of the vessel.
Inc storerooms are visited, and the steward
Is cautioned with regard to his duties in re.
spect OF them, and is especially told that no
other light than that of closed and locked
lamp must ever be taken to them. Every
water-tlght door is shut and tested to see
that 1t moves freely OH its hinges, and that
none OF its lever fastenings are rusted or
out OF order. The supply of rockets and |
other signals is examined, the steering and |
signaling apparatus tried; and only after
everything has been found to be in order is
the word given for the ship to embark her |
passengers and to proceed upon her course.
In addition to all this care, every officer
IS responsible for the condition of things in
lls own department, and the captain for
'li' SO that the smallest imperfection would
&c reported as soon as it was discovered,
IND rectltied as soon as rectifcation was
possible. The Cunard company does insure.
'ut yet takes its own risks to certain ex.
ent, and no known risks are ever incurred.
i the smallest defect is discovered in anv
part OF ship, no question is raised whether
VIII bear one voyage or two VOYAGES
more, but the order "out with it is oiven
It once.
Year: 1876

A thief Is contemplate being. of
course; but in many cases hard want for.


ces men to sin. Poverty is fearful strain
on mans honesty. The poor man who
lives an honest life is entitled to more
credit than the man of wealth. The one is
forced to fight against temptation, which
comes to him under the guise of want and
necessity; other has no motive excent
greed or ambition to tempt him from the
path OF rectidude. Yet when a moor man
sins against the laws of the land, how few
sympathlze with him, or seek to shield him
from the penalty incurred. He has no
friends and the heaviest penalty that can
De inflicted is considered light enough for
him. When the prison doors close behind
him, hope is shut out forever, for he knows
the pardoning power will never be asked TO
interfere in his behalf But the rich Grim.
mai Is looked upon as simply unfortunate:
he is lionized; Justice bows in his pre-
sence, and seems to ask his pardon for the
relations which it bears toward
him. If he is convicted, it is an excen.
tlonal case; his sentence is made as light
as possible; his prison life is enlivened bv
pleasant enjoyment, and cheerful assurance
that his confinement will be short; and he
soon walks forth, the recipient of executive
elemency.
Year: 1876

A great many foreign counts have visited
Chicago, and the Chicago Journal has met
them, and its opinion is given in two lines
and a hall, viz; Many man who would
fail as a car conductor could take hold and
make afirst-class foreign COUNT
Year: 1876

A MANS FR1ENDs.-It is very certain that
mans intimate friends are often the las+
TO suspect his possession of unusual abiE.
ties. This is a trite observation, but one IS
constantly being surprised at some new
proof OF Its truth 1t was not long ago that
gentleman told us that he did not bel;,,o
certain celebrated poet had any real
genius, because he once lived in the same
town with him, and knew that his family
where no better than they should be. He
had never read any of his books however
II was the old story over again. "Hea
great man Nonsensel 1 knew him W.,
ne was only that high r'-Scri5ner
Year: 1876

TELEGRAPH STATIONS IN Mrp-oorAN-
Several naval powers are directing their
attention to the practicability of establish.
ing telegraph stations in mid.ocean. bv
which messages can be sent from anv mart
OF the sea along the line of the cable to the
terminal points on shore, and vice versa, so
that communication with iron-clads. mail
steamers and other vessels when out at sea.
may be established. The invention con.
sists of hollow sectional column, with a
base plate attached by ball and socket
joint, which column is lowered into the
water, and anchored rigidly to the ground
The branch cable is coupled to the main
cable and carried along the column to the
surface of the water, to be there connected
with instruments on board the vessels Bv
this invention it is proposed to control
naval and strategical movements, while
ship in distress could communicate her
exact position, the nature Of her disasters
and thus procure assistance.
Year: 1876

On Saturday afternoon young girl from
IS to 20 years Of age, was put off tho second
section of the 2 P. M. train south, because
she had no ticket. Upon Interrogation by
gentlemen at the depot, she said she was
from Wheeling, West Virginia; that she had
been visiting the Centennial in company
with her father ard party of friends. At
the depot in Philadelphia she became sepa-
rated from her company; she got on the
train expecting to find them there, but
after going all through 1t her search ended
in disappointment. In the meantime the
train had moved out and was under rapid
headway. Her father, she had no doubt,
was In section No. l, which was ahead. She
had just money enough to pay her way to
this station, where she was put off, as
stated. A ticket was provided her; and she
went to Baltimore in the next train. Some
persons, who had their eyes upon this fair
one, rather discredit her story and put her
down for fraud, as they affirm that she
begged and received money from. several
ladies in the depot. If she is fraud, she
is pretty clever one.
Year: 1876

About Is butchers. who formerly stood at
what was known as the curbstone marke',
have rented the old Western Market House,
on Front near Madison street, and will open
1t In very few days, for the sale of meats,
and If arrangements can be made with
farmers and hucksters, of which they have
no doubt, 1t will supply want long do
sired in the South western portion of our
city.
Year: 1876

ing upon the public has became u
part of his nature, aud he will
never be content elsewhere than
IN Washington. The type of this
class Of men il that ex.member
Of Congress who solicited Of one
of the early Presidents the ap.
pointment of minister to England.
On being refused that and sever
al other requests, each more
modest than its predecessor, he
at last went away moderately sat
isfied with the gift Of an old pair
Of breeches.
Year: 1876

shown are remarkable for their origi-
nality and for the ingenuity and pa
thence lavished upon them. There are
numerous indications here of a higher
artistic quality than the japanese are
generally credited with. The most
curious specimens of ingenuity is the
carving of the interior of a diminutive
ivory skull,


The japanese were long ago famed
for their skill in the combination and
alloy of metals. The bronze material
of this display is therefore of the first
quality. 1t is in the modelling and the
preliminaries to the casting of the
brOnzes that the peculiar genius and
perseverance of the people is disclosed.
The models are done in wax. In that
material everything down to the small
lest feather of bird 8 wing or the
hair of o spider is elaborated with
scrupulous care. Afterwards the mould
Is prepared thus A man sits down
and proceeds to paint wax model all
over with coating of finest sand,
held toghter by fire-proof muciIage.
The first coat is laid on with exceeding
care, so as to fill every tiny interstice.
So with the next and the next, and
the next coat. So on with hundreds
of coats of this fine sand, until some-
times half year is consumed in the
work of painting n cumulative mould
three or four inches thick around the
wax model. When the mould is thick
and strong the model inside is melted
away, the bronze is poured in and the
whole vase, or statue or whatever it
may be, is wrought in a single casting
The mould now the she'll is subse-
quently removed with care and pains,
only second to those employed in its
construction, leaving the bronze with
out crease or flaw.


From such a process emerged the
magnificent bronze Incense Burner
which stands at the entrance to the
japanese Exhibition, vessel elevated
upon worn sea-rocks inhabited by a
dragon, and surmounted by an eagle
and flanked by flOcks of birds. The
design and the work manship display
ed on these principal features of it are
so characteristic that there was a con
test for its possession. An agent of
the Pennsylvania University was anx-
ious to get it, but the price, 81 800, was
too high for his allowance. Professor
Archer, of the British Commission,
has bought it to take back to the South
Kensington Museum.


The pair Of HiZen vases, priced at
$1,000, which are exposed at the front
of the japanese Pavilion, are little
less admirable than the bronzes 1t is
not the forms and cOlors only, but the
value of these things as calandars of
national art and skill, which makes
them interesting.
Year: 1876

Send the children to bed with a kiss and a SMILE
Sweet childhood will tarTy at best but while
And soon they will pass from the portals OF home
The Wilderness ways Of their life-work to roam.
Yes, tuck them IN bed with gentle "good might ui
The mantle of shadows is yelling the light
And may be-God knows-on this sweet little face
May fall deeper shadows in life's weary race.
Yes, say it-"God bless my dear children pray l''
II may be the last you will say It for aye
The night may be long ere you see them again
And mOtherless children may call you In vain.--
Drop sweet benedietions on each little head,
And fold them in prayer as they nestle in bed
guard Of bright angels around them invite,
The spirit may slip from the mooring tonight.


-LiUin0 Epistl,
Year: 1876

A want of sympathy on the part of o
nurse is like a perpetual cold bath to q
patient. This is not very common
blunder. But the opposite is so COM
mon, that it may sometimes become Q
question in the patients mind whether
he would not prefer absolute coldness.
To be continually lodging around the
bed, and pouncing upon every object
that is not at right angles, smoothing
out the sheet, and dabbing at the pill
lows, and saying dozen times an hour:
"How do you feel nowa" Don't you
want something to eat7" "Can do
anything for you2" "Let me bathe
your head l"-is enough to drive sick
man wild. He feels that he would like
to ask you to go away and hold your
tongue; but he knows thatall this fidget'
ing is prompted by affection, so ne
holds his tongue instead, and bears it
all with what measure of patience ma
ture has bestowed upon him. In point
of fact, the sick person is generally very
ready to tell his wants. His food and
drink and physic are the momentous
matters of the day to him, and will not
be forgotten. He is likely to tell you
when he feels better. He is suro to tell
You when he feels worss.


Worse than all these things is the
solemn face in sick room. 1t is hard
for troubled heart to put on cheerful
countenance, and it is no wonder that
nurses so often fail in this. But we
have known persons who thought that a
cheerful face and bright smile in a
sick room were indications of hard
heart.
Year: 1876

Four innocent men have just been
pardoned out of the Oregon State
prison after spending three years there
on life sentences. In 1872 stage was
stopped in lonely placeby four masked
men, who took from it gold dust worth
$4,000. The nearest house was the resi-
dence of the four men, who were after
ward wrongfully convicted. Footprints
were found leading from the place of
the robbery to that house, and it was
also ascertained that the men had been
out late on the night of the crime. There
was no other indication of their guilt
but the public sentiment was very
strong against robbers, and no more
convincing facts were demanded. A
mob visited the house, caught one OF
the men, and scared him with threats OF
hanging into saying that he and the
others were guilty. The false confession
would not have saved his life, but the ar
rival of an officer did, and then he de.
clared the untruthfulness of his state
mont. The four were tried and hurried.
ly convicted, and sentenced for life, al
though the driver of the stage swore to
an opinion that they were not the rob.
bers, for which testimony he narrowly
escaped being lynched as an accompice.
Recently the real criminals were de-
tected,
Year: 1876

In Southey's " History Of Brazil" he
tells how Cabeza deVaca was in great
ship going to South America with 4OO
men and thirty horses and after they
had crossed the equator, the commander
discovered there were only three casks
of water left. he gave orders to make
the nearest land, and for three days they
sailed for the coast. Apoor sick soldier
who had left Cadiz with them, brought
a grillo, or ground cricket, with him,
thinking it's cheerful voice would amuse
him on the long, dreary voyage. But
to his great disappointment, the little
insect was perfectly quiet the whole way:
The fourth morning after the ship had
changed her course, the cricket, which
knew what she was about, set up her
shrillest note. The soldier at once gave
warning to the oficers.n charge OF the
vessel, and they soon saw high, jagged
rocks Just ahead of them. The watch
had been careless, and the great ship in
q few moments would have been dashed
to pieces on the lodges, if this puny
creature had not scented the land, and
told them of their danger. Then they
cruised along for some days; and the
cricket sang for them every night, Just
as cheeriIy as if she bad been in far OH
Spain, till they got to their destined
port, the island of Catalina.
Year: 1876

An Arizona wife begged the court not
to punish her husband for the crime OF
bigamy, Of which he had been convicted;


"He loved me once and WAS kind, u
she said, with tears running in streams
down her face, "and when I go away to
my lonely home, it would be my only
earthly comfort to know that he was
free to seek for happiness, if he can find
il anywhere in the world"


When sentence was pronounced, the
stricken woman fell upon her knees be-
fore her husband, and placing her hands
upon his arms, asked him to forgive hel
if she had ever done anything to chill
his love for her, and to kiss her just IS
he would dead wife whom he loved.
The wretched man seemed entirely over
come by these pitiful appeals and his
own fate, and, grasping her in his arms.
kissed her over and over again, and
when the officers drew him away, she
sank fainting to the floor.
Year: 1876

An elderly man fell at the corner Of
Washington and Warrenton streets,
Boston, while Intoxicated, and hurt him
self badly. A crowd Immediately gath
cred, but though the man laid there un,
able to move, no one essayed to assist
him up, till a young fellow forced nus
way through the crowd and made him,
self very officious in his efforts to get
the old man home. Meanwhile another
man in the crowd had seen this young
man counting some money in neigh
boring doorway and suspected that he
might have knocked the old man down
aud robbed him. Officer Maynard was
summoned and both men were taken to
the police station, and on searching the
Young man, who gave his name as
Michael Taylor, 1920 were found on bus
person, which he said belonged to bis
aunt, Mrs. Catherine Mahoney, at No.
II Newton place. An officer went to
the house, and on investigation Mrs.
Mahoney found that $40 had been taken
from under certain carpet and young
Taylor is held for taking it. Thus an
attempt to do an act of kindness result
cd in his being detected in a crime.'
Year: 1876

the hovel. He stabbed her in the breast
and in other places. She ran bleeding
into the woods. Her father found her
afterward lying at the foot OF a tree,
dead. He carried her body long dis
tance into the woods and buried it.


Parke continued to live in the hut,
but was frequently compelled to leave it
to escape the fury of his son. Finally,
early in 1873, he made the complaint
against him, and has at last had his
british child safely disposed OF.


Parke is thin, wiry man, ragged and
slovenly. His head is covered with
long, white, unkempt hair, and he bag a
flowing white beard. he attributes the
lamentable condition Of his children to
the incapacity of his wife to oversee and
train them, saying that he was too much
absorbed in his scientific and literary
pursuits to notice their wants. .


Shortly after the death Of Melvina he
published card asking for information
as to the whereabouts OF his wife, and
begging her to come and look after the
needs Of her remaining child. He is by
many considered insane. r.:: .~:..,
Year: 1876




y was released. The disposition of the
girl was gentler, and she was quite do
.cile. ,


When they returned from their short
tour with the Snowman it was in the
midst of the severe winter OF 1872.
Parke had left home at the time he
usually gathered his crop of potatoes
and turnips, all he raised on his land,
and when he came back there was moth
ing for him to subsist on. His children
betook themselves at once to the woods.
The snow was very deep, and they
could find but little to eat. It had been
their custom previously to make out
their winters subsistence by sharing
their fathers potatoes, which he cooked
in hole dug in the ground in his hut.
The stock having been exhausted, they
suffered terribly from hunger. Parke
obtained occasional relief from the sur
rounding villages, but it seems, singu-
larly enough, that no move was made to
deal permanently with this wretched
family. The mutes stripped the bark
from trees, and even ate the straw which
formed their fathers bed in one corner
of the hut. They fought each other
like wild beasts, and their father lived
in mortal terror for nearly three months.
Near his hut is swamp, which is the
home of myriads of the smaller rep
tiles. When spring opened, the wild
and almost famished children secured
this swamp, and caught and devoured
with the ravenous appetites OF half
starved wolves the creeping occupants
of the mire. This is not only testified
to BY their father, but by others, who
declare that they saw the boy catch and
cat q water snake.


Parke says that this horrid diet In
creased the ferocity of his children: One
day the brother and sister came into the
hut and fight ensued between them.
Parke was compelled to fly. Bill, as the
boy WAS called, attacked his sister with
an old case knife he had picked up in
Year: 1876

When Judge Barrett resentenced John Dolan.
at tho request Of his counsel he deferred the date OF ex
cuton March a. TO enable the appeal IN his case to bs
argued at the Court Of Appeals before the time such
execution Mr. Howe. Doan's counsel Saturday sent
request to DistricAttorney Phelps to sign stipula
tion that the indictment and judgment record have
returned to tho Court OF Oyer and Teminer the
clerk OF that court may at the proper cost and expense
OF said John Dola furnish, in the Supreme Court an.
other certified transcript Of the Indictment Judgment
and record which in said court prior TO the arma-


ou aforesaid ami bill OF exceptions In The criminal ac-
ton of The People ag John DOlan aforesaid, To the end
that they may tben being filed in said supreme Court,
may be removed by said VIII OF error INTO the Court VI
Appeals for review"


MIR Phelps being absent in Washington, unable 10
return the stipulation with his signature II he signs IT,
It il expected that Dolan will be argued this week
at the Court Of Appeals.
Year: 1876

somewhere less than two bushels o.
wild flowers, which die the momen
they are put in the ground and never
revive again.


In this month a tree-peddlar comes
around and talks you to death and
sells you a plum tree that bears
fruit so bitter that it poisons every
curculio that tastes it, and some
cherry trees that send up $50 sprouts
to the square inch and will lift the
house off its foundations in two years
growth, and some apple trees that
neither sprout, blossom, nor bear
fruit, and some blackberry bushes
that spread all over a ten acre lot the
first season, and some gooseberry
bushes that have thorns foot long,
and never have anything else, and
some peach trees that break out in
bloom from the ground to the tip of
the topmost branch five days after
they are put in the ground and die as
dead as flint the sixth day, and a
climbing rose tree that turns out to
be wild ivy, and poisons every soul
about the house before the summer is
over. Wherefore we call this the
mary month of May.