smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

The telegraphic statement from St.
Louis, to the effect that District Attorney
Dyer intends to force Gen. Babcock to a
new trial, is pretty good indication of an
attempt at farce. The ground is that in
transferring the case from the District to
the Circuit Court only copies of the papers,
instead of the originals, were transferred.
If such motion is made, it will put Mr.
Dyer and the Government in the awk-
ward position of trying an acquitted man
the second time, because Of the legal in
capacity in the District Attorney or his
neglect in other words, it would put the
Government in the attitude of party TAX
ing advantage of its own mistake. 1t is
customary to grant new trials to convicted
parties in such cases, but no case is known
where the Government took advantage of
an acquitted man by ordering new trial
on technicality. Recently case oc-
CURED in the Supreme Court OF the Dis
trict, where man was acquitted, and an
attempt was made TO have a new trial,
because it was proven that one of hejurors
had been in thepenitentiary nineteen years
before. The judge overruled the demand,
on the ground that it was not proper for
the Government to undertake such method
nF 7-nserl1tion
Year: 1876

Come what may of it, the Democrats
propose to 60 upon the stump this fall and


rest their case upon the great saving they
have instituted in Government expenses.
They pretend to be the party of economy.


They will exhibit figures which in the
gross look formidable, and as the greater
part of the people have no disposition to
GO further into the question than is shown
by an arithmetical comparison, the argu-
ment will carry great force. We have
heretofore reminded Republicans of what
their duty is In this respect. Since the
people encourage economy, let the Repre-
sentatives practice it. The House Of
Commons secures the highest talent of
England without personal compensation,
and the House of Representatives OF this
country should do the same 1t may be &
sacrifice to be Representative under stich
conditions, but in the ratio of the sacrifice
the honor viii also increase. The sessions
may be shortened, and the endless discus.
sions which are for the most part the
result Of an overcoming desire to create an
tmfression at home may we'll be cut short.
Tbs actual work Of the session could thus
be narrowed down 90 that two or three
months IN the year would suffice to do ell
tias & 3 desirable that Congress should do,
and The individual cost would be light.


This matter Of making the meetings of
Congress political gatherings, where busi-
nssscsn only press forward under the clog
of thousand clinging political impede
Year: 1876




ments. has gone so far rs TO threaten the
entire destruction of the usefulness OF us
sessions. Congress, as well as society,
needs to return to simpler methods. There
is only one way to rcturn-to cut OH at
one blow all incentive to serve the coun-
try, except as patriots and statesmen. We
hone these words are not obsolete, not
ridiculous, and we trust that there are men
in the front ranks Of Republicauism who
dare sustain them by their acts


The great mistake of our time and age
is that, instead of having devoted public
servants, we have system which encour-
ages public plumbers. As consequence,
We have Congress that cares nothing
for the welfare of the country, but every
thing for the welfare of itself, and its
sessions, instead Of being an example Of
self-sacriice and devotion to the public
good, are coming to sustain the same atti-
tude that primary meetings do to town
election. The motive to securing place
in the House of Representatives undoubt-
edly partakes more of profit than of honor,
and when this condition is found, the only
safety lies in reversing it. These positions
should not be profitable. Human expe-
rience shows that they even require as
necessary ingredient to their pure admins
tration the quality of sacrifice. Large pay
and emoluments and all the power and
patronage that make them intrinsically
valuable are so many temptations to use
them to forward personal ambitions. The
average member Of Congress, it is believed
by many, now spends his time in efforts to
secure his re election, and comes to be an
intriguer, relying on his position for sup
port, rather than a representative chosen
for his integrity. and giving the time out
of his ordinary svocations to the great and
honorable work of serving the highest in
teresis of his country. The opportunity
now offers for Republican members to re-
turn to solid basis of patriotism. Let the
Democracy go before the people as 'honest
economists, willing to sacrifice all their
wifes relations-as many were during the
war-but also willing to retain the bulk of
the ''swag" themselves. But let Republi-
can statesmen inaugurate new thought.
Let them abolish salaries entirely. Let
them offer to come to Congress as repre-
sentatIVes. not as politicians-as poor men,
if need be, yet still as pure men. The
country needs such an example, and it
would be the highest form of patriotism,
as it would be of self interest to exhibit It..
The test Of such question as this will put
away Democratic simplicity and economy
where they belong-among the rest of the
articles of humbuggery with which they
have from time to time sought to deceive
the people. Let us have o home-spun
Congress next time, if need be, but an
honest one at all events
Year: 1876

THE DEATH of A. T. Stewart, the great
merchant of New York, is great surprise,
but calls forth no strong popular lament.
Mr. Stewards life was unostentatious, aud
little seems to have been known about him.
During his later years he has cast about for
some means to dispose of his great wealth,
and has been led to advance several impor-
tant and valuable charities. These will live
after him, and be the greatest monuments
to his character. Otherwise people look
upon him as remarkable production, hav-
ing little in sympathy with their ordinary
experience. His extreme prudence has left
his business in such shape that it can still
be carried on, and the 10000 employees
will not feel his death as a misfortune
This is business integrity carried to the
point of public charity, and reflects credit
alike on Mr. Stewards sense and humanity.
His biographer will, no doubt, find him a
greater character than is generally sup
posed. One of the singular idiosyncrasies
of Mr.. Stewart was his refusal to be pic
tured in any way, and hence, in an age
when photographs Of public men are to be
found in every Rews-store, he forms the
solitary exception to the rule.
Year: 1876

under the power OF o defective law, which
has since been repealed, could bid on q
route for the mere purpose of selling out to
real contractors having means and stock to
carry the mails, and with no intention to
perform the service themselves. Hence,
the contractors put in straw bids to affect
the bids of spectators, and the result was
that they counteracted each other in effect,
and the route was finally let on an equits-
BILE basis. The wide margin between the
lowest and highest bids represents at the
worst nothing but the difficulty Of framing
law which shall be equitable in all its
proportions. IF it can be shown that any
route was finally let for more than fair
price for doing the service, then the attack
on the Post Office Department has good
foundation, and the startling assumption
that frauds have been discovered and ey-
posed is well taken; but as 1t stands, the
attack falls on the law alone, which, per-
haps, designed to allow all bidders an
equal chance, opened the doors to Chi
canery and abuse. This fact is well
known by all who have made even cur
sorry examination into the matter. Instead
of putting up this kind of q job to deceive
the ignorant, if Mr.. Stone will show that
any route was finally let out at an amount
disproportionate to the expense and risk Of
carrying it,, he may prove something
having greater significance than mere
partisan delusion. The present Post
master General pointed out the ineficiency
of the law as it formerly existed and took
means to obviate the chances for abuse,
and the Republican Congress for two
sessions past have made amendments, so
that the system is now made imperative.
The statement that some speculator Of
fered to carry the mails over long route
for one hundred dollars per snnum, as in
dicated by Mr.. Stone, while the service was
in fact well worth ten thousand dollars, only
shows that the speculator has a design to
secure the right to run the route in order
that he might sell out his privilege to some
one else. This abuse was possible under
the law as it existed, and herein is the
whole ground for any honest attack on
the Post Office Department, which, after
dil, uuuei tue opcIatlOu vi the laws paSseu
by Democratic Congress years ago, was
helpless to prevent the abuse. 1t reverts
back, therefore, as do most of the "irregu-
larities and abuses" complained of, to the
want of sense or to the completely in fraud
of Democratic Congress of the past.
which passed the law. Let Mr.. Stone look
up the provision that forced these abuses
on the Post Office Department, and tell US
how it happens that it sprung from a
Democratic source.
Year: 1876

longs for rthat glorious old Wing party"
and yet consorts with its lifetime enemy.
Strange consistency in one SO capable of
better things.


: Ifthere was no similarity between the
present Republican organization and the
former Wing party there might be
shadow, and only a shadow. of an excuse
for the Tirginian's course but no one
knows better than the conductor of that
paper that the leading principles of the old
Wing party have been incorporated in and
constitute the characteristic features Of the
present Republican organization. All of
the theories of government, as illustrated
by Clay and Webster, have been reduced
to practical demonstration by the Repub-
hcans in the Inauguration Of a system of
internal improvements by the General Gov
eminent, a protective tariff, a system Of
national banks and wise and judicious
administration of the Government in the
interest of all its citizens. These were the
cardinal maxims of the old Wings, and yet
we find the Tirginian. and too many, alasl
Of the party of which it was an exponent
in Virginia, consorting with the Democracy,
who were always inimical to them. 1t is,
perhaps, not strange that it should be so
under the circumstances of the case, for so
long as the Wigs of Virginia and of the
South permit the Locofocos to mold pub
lie opinion in their own interest and for
their own base purposes just SO long will it
exist and no longer. 1t is passing strange,
however, that people formerly so intelli-
gent as were the Wings of the
South will lend an ear, willing or unwilling,
to these deliberate and willful misrepre-
sentations of the Republican party by the
Democrats. All this nonsense about "con-
solidated despotisms" and 'tradicalism" are
but the emanations of the natural oppo-
nents of the Wing party, made to keep
them in leading strings. Eeven years
have now passed since the end of the war,
and we have yet to hear of the Southern
Wing who has been hurt by Republican
administration. Is it not time, therefore,
for the Wings to assert their manhood and
redeem their party and themselves from
this disgraceful thraldom to Democracy.
by thinking and acting of their own voli-
tion, regardless of the howlings of party
with which they never had anything in
common We think SO, and would fain
see the Tirginian engage in such q work,
which would be worthy its best energies.


"Who would be free, himself must
strike the blow" The FirqiHian may
make the application.
Year: 1876

The system once in vogue of letting
postal routes under the operations of the
peculiar devise of contractors known as
straw bids is not generally understood.
Not being understood, and having a bad
name, it is at once supposed that it was. p
complicated swindle of some kind by which
the Government is an enormous loser. The
demagogues of this time are not slow to
increase the popular suspicion about this
matter; and in pursuance of the policy of
the present House to use every fair or
unfair means to make political capital, it is
observed that the oft-repeated charge of
terrible dishonesty in the letting of con-
tracts under the straw-bid system is re-
vamped. The speech of Hon. W. II.
Stone, delivered in the House on the 7th
inst. printed in the Record of Sunday, is,
by its peculiar arrangement and the en-
phssis which Is given to the samples shown,
made to serve the purpose of an election
eering document, with the hope to deceive
the credulous and ignorant. But it is q
mere piece of demagogery, as Mr.. Stone
knew it was when he compiled it.


Under the caption, "The following proof
of abuses and irregularities will be found
in Executive document 3s2, Forty-sec-
" ond Congress, is printed q long list
showing that routes were frequently let
for ten times the amount for which offers
had been made to carry them, and fire.
quen.ly let to contractors whose names do
not appear as bidders at all.


This APPEARS bad on the surface. just as
the compiler of the document intended it
should, but when the fact is known that
the bidder who makes the highest bid and
the one who makes the lowest are ons and
the sams person or firm, either bidding
through the agency of employed agents or
in their own names, the case takes on
quite different light. The system, in
fact springs out of the efforts of contractors
to protect themselves from SPECTATORS who,
Year: 1876

JONES of Kentucky is the champion
investigator. He wants TO know why the
water of the Potomac is muddy. This
question should not be pressed, as it might
lead to unpleasant consequences, as in the
Pend,eton case. The facts are that some
Democratic Congressman have been bath
ing in the river above the head of the


aqueduct. Hence this mud and these
Year: 1876

THERE are so many reasons why Penn
,syivania avenue should be repaved at once
that we have not space to ennmerate them.
One ought to suffice: 1t is the main street
OF the city, the one most Travelled in going
to the Capitol building, and its present
6oadition is disgrace to the city and the
Year: 1876

SENATOR OGLEsBY said yesterday he had
been in the habit of walking on dirt roads,
and did not see why Pennsylvania avenue
should be paved. We might get along
With Z good dirt road; If would be prefera-
bic to the present pavement.
Year: 1876

HuNT1NGToN and his Central Pacific
ring 'tgot busted Monday in the Senate
committee on their attempted steal of the
lands of the Texas and Pacific. They will
have another scheme up before the week is
Year: 1876

Coz. CHAMBERLAIN met with a defeat
ia the South Carolina convention yester-
day IS deserved and overwhelming as it
must have been humiliating. So much
for the BETRAYAL of party trusts.
Year: 1876

Too MUCH SoRIPTURE.-AS SLAB for Sls.-
The building committee OF q church recently
over the door with the name OF the church
and scriptural motto. 1t occurred to them
that nothing could be better than "My house
shall be called the house OF prayer" So
one Of the committeeman, who was I'm a
great hurry; told the stoue-cutter to chIseI
the thirteenth verse OF the twenty-drst
chapter of Mathew. He thought the verse
ended with The words he wanted TO use. The
stone cutter took the whole verse from the
Bible and faithfully copied II te the end
Imagine the horror OF the committeeman
house shall be called the house OF prayer,
but ye have made IL Q den of thieves" The
stone cutter insisted that he had obeyed
orders. But the committeeman insisted
that the motto he inscribed was not wantet,
and IL would be of no particular use to them
The slab is now 1t the stone cutters ward,
and anyb body who wants IL for q tombstons
Journal.
Year: 1876

An INTRUsIvE HoUsKKKEPER.-A SER
want girl was arrested In New YORK Satur-
day on a charge of assaulting her mistress
She stated In her defense that her mistress
"came poking around the Kitchen" which
she considered as her exclusive dom iuion.
There Ia nothing Like q well reg ulated house.
hold.
Year: 1876

The Municipal Reform Club has kindly
!. taken upon itself the trouble Of selecting
candidate for Mayor for ratification by tho
Republican City Convention. After Tho
Club shall l.ayo determined this mattor TO It's
entire satisfaction, it would DO tie extreme
Of tngratituas for tho Republican Conyou.
ton to arrogate to itself tho wisdom and
patriotism necessary for tho nomination Of =
candidate for Mayor, and yet it ia to bc
feared that this is exactly what the Repub.
l:can Convention will do, Tie feeling has
somehow GOT abroad that this would DO a
gcoa tune TO have straight Republican
nomination for Mayor ia Chicago. aud
stranger things have happened than that tho
C1nyerton's choice should prove acceptable
tetho Municipal Reform Club.
Year: 1876

The National Doart1 Of Trade yesterday
adopted resolution declaring not only TINT
tho business aud industrial interests Of the
country demand resumption Of specie pay
ments, but that they demand 1t moo.
Year: 1876

There is something about deep sor-
row that tends to take up the child
feeling in all of us. A man Of giant
intellect becomes like little child
when great grief smites him or
when a grave opens beneath his bed
room or his fresidc, l have seen a
stout sailor-who laughed at the
tempest-come home when he was
sick, and let his old mother nurse
him as if he were n baby. He was
willing to lean on the arms that
never failed him. So a Christian in
the time of trouble, is brought to his
child,feeling. He wants to lean
somewhere, to talk to somebody, to-
have somebody love him and hold
him up His extremity becomes
Gods opportunity.
Year: 1876

The sunshine of life is made up Of
very little beams, that are bright all
the time. In the nursery, on the
playground, and in the school-room,
there is room all the time for little
acts of kindness that cost nothing,
but that are worth more than gold or
silver. To giveup something, where
giving up will prevent unhappincss;
when persisting will chafe and fret
others; to go little around, rather
than come against another; to take
an i'll word, or a cross look, quietly,
rather than to resent or return it,
these are the ways in which clouds
and storms are kept of, and pleasant
sunshine secured even in the humble
home, among very poor people, as in
in families in higher stations,
Year: 1876

1t is said that the order ofOdd Eel
lows, which is one Of the most bene-
fcicnt of secret organizations in this
country, had rather and unsavory or
igin. There was once in Europe a
certain powerful prince who who was
refused admission into Free. Masonry
because of his known immortality
In revenge he melted the formation
of an order which was to rival and
eventually destroy the ancient fra
tcrnity. It's want of success is every
where apparent, and its only success
of any kind is seen in the grand or
ganization which has been SO bril-
liantly represented at Philadelphia.
The order in this country originated
with Thamys Wildey, of Manchester,
England, some fifty years ago. He
inaugurated it Baltimore, but was
told by his American associates that
it must be made strictly beneficial
and moral in its character The re-
suit was an order SO essential differ
ent from the original that it received
therefor the now well-known title,
the Independent Order of Odd Eel
lows
Year: 1876

Girls, don't devote all your thoughts
to fashion; exchange your silks and
satins for lawns and calicoes; shut
up the piano and dive into wash
tub; throw away your fancy needle
work and tackle a red hot stove in
the kitchen. Instead of receiving
Brown, the bankers son, in the paf-
lor, look out for Bill Burns, the
blacksmith's son, as he goes home
from work; kiss his dirty face
through a broken pane of glass in
the kitchen window, and after awhile,
whom he learns his trade and you
know your business, get married, go
to housekeeping by yourselves, help
each other, live happy, raise a family
that win be an honor to your names
and credit to themselves, die happy,
and the angels will not turn their
backs upon you up there.
Year: 1876

Every one must remark that fa-
vorite article of winter clothing for
children is n comforter swarthed
round the neck. This is n great err
ror; the feet and wrists proper mem
bers to keep warm; the nose and
throat will harden into healthy in
difference to cold; but that mfier,
exchanged for an extra pair of thick
socks and knitted gloves, would pre-
serve a boy or girl really warm and
well. Bronchitis and sore throat
have declined fifty per cent, since
the absurd use Of high collars and
twice.round ncckerchiefs went out of
fashion; and if the poor would take
more care of their children's feet half
the infantile morality would disap.
pear. 1t only cost two pence to put
a piece Of thick felt or cork into the
bottom of the boot or shoe, and the
difference is often between that and
a doctors bill, with perhaps, the un-
dcrtakor's beside.
Year: 1876

as there an opening here for an
intellectual writer?' said u very red
faced youth, with the cork of bottle
sticking out of his brcast-pockct.-
The editor, with much dignity, took
the mans intellect in, and said: can
opening? yes, sir a kind and con-
siderato carpenter foresceing your
visit, left an opening for you Turn
the knob to the right
Year: 1876

Town ORDINANCE. In our adver-
tising columns will be found the full
text Of the ordinances for the govern
ment Of the town, recently adopted by
the Board Of Town Commissioners.
That the disorderly conduct Of the
tramps, ''peach-plucks" and other like
nuisances, who infested Middletown
last summer, greatly to the annoyance
of the citizens, may not be repeated,
the present Board declare their inten-
ton to enforce these ordinances to the
letter. There is nothing hard or diff
cult to be obeysd in them, and no re-
quirements to which any good citizen
cannot readily submit. Especially is it
desired BY the people Of the town that
the Commissioners shall rigidly enforce
the ordinance which prohibits fast driv-
ing through the streets. People regard
the lives and limbs of their little
children, little too precious to be
willing to run the risk of injury to
them from being run over by rapidly
driven teams to crafty the young
sports" who wish to show off them
selves and their horses to people who
only regard such displays with the con-
tempt they merit. There is not SO much
Of this done as in former years, and a
few arrests and heavy fines will have a
tendency to break it up altogether.
Young men and boys who have no
regard far others, merit none for them
selves and foolish sympathy for their
youth should not be allowed to permit
them to escape the punishment they
deserve.
Year: 1876

"Griselda," the bright Centennial
correspondent of the Hartford Times,
writes to that journal: "The true way
to enjoy this wonderful exhibition is to
leave home without any limit to your
leave Of absence Do not try to write
or do any work. Take holiday 10 all
that the term implies IF you are not
hurried you will enjoy thorough in
spection of the contents of each build
ing, and at the termination of your visit
feel that you have obtained information
and knowledge that will be of service
during life"
Year: 1876

The QUIoKsTEPs.-The remaining
members of the Quickstep base ball
club have returned TO Wilmington
they propose to remain here next win
ter, if they can procure employment,
and next year organize home club OF
unusual excellence.