smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1873

just little story, not quite long


enough for a Sunday School book,


but it will point moral neverthe-


less. An Iowian, Mr.. Jasper VIOLA


lovely name, suggestive of chrystal


bottle-was a wicked man, swore,


drank and fought chickens. He


went to Washington to get an In


dian agency. A friend told him his


first step was to join the Quakers or


the Methodists-didn't make any
difference which-and thus qualify


himself to carry out the Presidents
peace policy. Jasper Violl was


struck with the force of the advice,


and pondered which of the two great


churches he should join. Jasper's


early education had not been of
such nature as to give him a bias
towards either Quakerism or Meth
odism, and to his unprejudiced mind
the two systems were so much alike
that he could not make a choice. In
fact, Jasper might have died in his
sins, out Of the pale of the visible
church, and gone to the Hot Sui
phur Springs, had not the good Rev.
DIR. Newman, chaplain to the Senate
and spiritual adviser of the Pres
ident, come along just at that juno
ture and told him to 'aoin our
church, namely, the Methodists.
Jasper did so, was duly baptized,
got his appointment, and went out to
the Indian Territory. lie had a sal
ary of $4,000, amassed considerable
wealth by strict attention to honesty
and other practices, and finally had
to be turned out of Office for various
things not authorized by Indian Gus
toms, civilized law, or Methodist
discipline. 1t is a matter of regret
that Jasper Immediately relapsed
into his old fendness for gamecoeks,
and has recently bought 8 lighting
chicken for professional purposes at
a cost of one hundred dollars We
grieve to say that Jasper Violl is
not regarded by his church as vial
of wrath, and that his chances for
passing the Jasper walls are diminish
ing. Let us hope that the hundred
dollar game cock lie has bought will
prove to be a lineal descendant of
the one which admenished the Apos-
tie Peter so successfully, and that
when it blows its shrill clarion
Jasper will also 'go out and weep
bitterly We fear Jasper Is o fair
sample Of the AVERAGE Indian agent.
Year: 1873

At the meeting of the American


Public Health Association at Cincin-


natl, DR.. Jarvis, of Massachusetts,, is


reported as having made the follow


ing remarks, which are as compre-


hensive, practical and vital as any


tract for the times needs be: az


''Dr. Jarvis said that much of the
! ill-health of families Was the result
Of the culpable foolishness of bring
ing up girls with no idea Of house
hold work A girl is married when


she knows how to talk and sing and


play indiferently on the piano. She


is full of poetry, joyousness, aesthetic


tastes, but she knows literally moth
ing about the details of the house


work. But there she is. She may


not know the difference between u
raw and boiled potato, between -four
in the barrel and in the loaf on the


table. A serving woman has to be


hired, and very few of them know
really how to cook. A dressmaker
has a regular course of training to fit
her for her work, but it is supposed
that any one can cook. She says to-
day: We are lucky; our bread is
light and sweet Would any woman
tolerate a dressmaker who should
say: We are lucky to-day; the
dress fits we'll Tomorrow the cook
says: We are unlucky to-day the
bread is sour and heavy fla dress
maker should cut her dresses by
luck rather than by system, she
would quickly get her discharge. But
no; husband must sit down to the
sour bread and ill-cooked meat. lie
will not say anything. and the guests
will overlook defects and sit down in
sorrow and eat their bread in bitter
ness. We are more sure of being
we'll dressed than of being we'll fed.
The outer man is tolerably sure Of
comfort, but the inner man must sit
down to the table with fear and
trembling. The Irish girl in the
kitchen is very often the cause of
damage and loss in the counting
room, which makes bad blood and
weak brain. The merchant goes
down to the counting-roem weak,
head aching and enervated. He
does not know what is the matter,
but a Mephistophcles. could he look
into his stomach, would see the sour
bread there. lie believed that pow
erty ran through the whole man. 1t
became part of his moral and intel
lectual elements. Poor food made a
poor man, and the poor elements
went down to his posterity. He be
lieved strongly in hereditary trans
missions, but even if they did not Oc-
cur, there was fact to be noticed,
that if man had nothing to
transmit, the child would have moth.
ing. This would apply to the moral
and intellectual elements as well as
to the physical condition"
Year: 1873

Mica is q purely transparent and
elastic stone, that can be split to
any degree of thinness and of late
is becoming an object of great use
in the arts. The finest mica in the


world is found in the Allegheny
mountains, on the Eastern border of
Tennessee; and mining and quar-
rving it is being carried on upon an
extensive scale and with great prof
its to this species of industry, for
the supply falls far short of the de-
mand. Such is the interest mani
tested in the production of mica as
an article of commerce, that these
mountains have recently been thor
oughly explored for the finest spec
linens of this mineral; and the in
vestigation has led to the discovery
of old excavations that have been
worked by people of prehistoric
possibly by the mound build
ers of the stone age. The hunters
and settlers of the mountains have
always regarded these old mines as
remarkable sink holes; and now
they are much sought for as the
source of the most profitable quar-
ries. Oftentimes. in clearing away
the debris, blocks Of mica have been
discovered partially dressed, with
chisel marks plainly to be seen, and
other indubitable evidences of hav-
ing been blocked out by hand
Probably the finest quarry in this
country and one furnishing the most
astonishing evidence that it has been
worked by people whereof we
know nothing, is the old mine re-
opened and now worked so profita-
bly, by Messrs. Heap & Clapp. near
Webster, n. G.. Aside from the ma
terial advantages to our industrial
resources. this discovery of ancient
mines of the early aborigines is very
interesting as a new link in the his
tory of tire habits and civilization of
a people that even the traditions of
the natives four hundred years ago
give no account whatever.
Year: 1873

l hav finally cum to the conclusion
that lager beer as beverage is not
Intoxicating.


have been told so by German
who said he drunk 1t all mite long just
to try the experiment, and was
obliged to go home entirely sober
in the morning. have seen this
same man drink eighteen glasses,
and if he was drunk he was drunk in
German and nobody could under
stand it. 1t is proper enuff to state
that this man kept lager saloon,
and could have no object in stating
what was not strictly thus.


believe him to the full extent of
my ability. Inever drank but three
glasses of lager in my life, and that
made my he'd outwist as tho it vas
hung on the end of string, but |
was told that it was owing to my
bile bein out of place; and | guess
that it was so, for | never billed over
wus than did when got hum that
mite. My wife thot | was goin to
die, and was afraid that l shouldn't,
for it seemed as tho every thing l
had ever eaten in my life was cum
min to the surface; and | believe
that if my wife hadn' pulled off my
boots just as she did. they would
have cum laundering up too.


Oh, how sick l wuz ! IA years ago
and l can taste it now


never had so muck experience in
so short time.


If any man shud tell me lager
beer wuz not Intoxicating, / shud be-
lieve him but if he shud tell me that
l wuzen't drunk that mite but that my
stumick was out of order, l shud
ask him to state over q few words,
Just how a man felt and acted when
he was set up.


If | warnt drunk that mite, had
sum ov the most natural simtums
that man ever had and kept sober.


In the first place it was about 80
rods from where | drank the lager
beer to mi house, and 1 wuz jest over
two hours on the road, and had a
hole bursted through each one of my
pantheon neez, and didn't hav any
hat, and tried to open the door by
the bell-pull and hiccupped awfully
and saw every thing in the room try
ing to get round on the back side ov
me, and in sitting down on a chair.
| did not wait long enough for it to
get exactly under me when it wuz
going n round, and l set down a little
too soon and missed the chair about
II inches, and couldn't get up soon
enough to take the next one that
come along; and that amt awl my
wife sed l wuz drunk as beest, and,
as 1 sed before. began to spin up
things freely.


Iflager beer is not Intoxicating it
used me most almighty mean, that
know.


Still hardly think that lager beer
is Intoxicating, for | have been told
so and am probably the only man
living who ever drunk emmy when his
liver was not plumb.


1 don't want to say ennything
against harmless temperance beve-
rage, but if ever / drink emmy more,
it will be with mi hands tied behind |
me and mi mouth pried open.


| don't think lager beer is intox
icating, but if l remember rite, 1
think it tastes to me like a glass of
soap suds, that a pickle had been put
tew soak in.
Year: 1873

1, LADIES MEMORIAL FAIR.-The ladies of
the First Baptist church will open their
Memorial Fair in the spacious aud airy
room No. l0l5 Main street, nearly opposite
the posl-otlice, this evening. Everything
that can please the fancy or tempt the palate
Will lie found on their tables. For many
weeks busy fingers have been at work max
Ing preparations for this festival.
Year: 1873

A RECIPE-How TO KEEP CooL.-Tfe weather
Is getting very warp, and we don't know OF any
better way TO keep at an even temperature than by
going to PIzzINI's and eating some of his finely
favored icc-crp1Dls
Year: 1873

SOTICE.-You can purchase frame at the Rich
mond Frame Store for seventy-6ve cents which will
cost one dollar In any other plac In The city Don't
forget the place, next to the Dollar Store corner
Ninth and Main streets. @3tra-
Year: 1873

That is exactly what most of us are
doing. We are not ready to be happy
to-day, this week, this year tomorrow
next month, another year, our cup of
Joy will be full. When the promised
time comes, and the acme of our hopes
in certain direction is reached, health
may be wanting, friends dead, and life,
however full of all we thought would
make it rich and worth the having, be
empty and dreary. But he who stakes
the best now and here" enjoys it, puts
himself into possession of that which
cannot be taken away. Certainly it is
right to provide for the rainy day-in
health to prepare for sickness-in youth
to lay up for old age; but there is much
more time than many of us think while
doing this to be happy in the present,
and there are thousand paths to hap
piness if we but have the skill and the
desire to find them.


We are too eager in the pursuit Of
some far-off result to take time to be
happy to-day. How often do we look
back on years that have fed, and see
many elements of truest enjoyment,
which at the time we took no notice of,
and which, could we count them in now,
would fill our cup Of Joy to overfowingl
Shall we learn o lesson from this?
Year: 1873

The report of Mr.. Scudamore, the Di-
rector of Postal Telegraphs in Great
Britain, contains romance of the most
original description, After saying how
successful he found the system of employ
ing male and female clerks together, and
how much the tone of the men had been
raised by the association, and how well
the women perform the checking or
!ault-fnding branches of the work, he
goes on to speak of friendships formed
between clerks at either end of the tele-
graph wire. They begin by chatting in
the intervals of their work, and very soon
become fast friends. s'It is fact, y
continued Mr.. Scudamore, that tele-
graph clerk in London, who was en-
gagged. On a wire to Berlin, formed an
acquaintance with, and an attachment
for'-mark the official style of language
-''a female clerk who worked on the
same wire in Berlin that he made a
proposal of marriage to her, and that
she accepted him, without ever having
seen him. They were married, and the
marriage, which resulted from the elec.
trio atfinities, is supposed to have turned
out as well as those in which the senses
are more apparently concerned" MOI
must the prudent reader run away with
the idea that these young persons were
very rash, or that they married without
due acquaintance. For it is fact that
a clerk at one end of a wire can readily
tell by the way in which the clerk at the
other end does his work. whether he is
passionate or sulky, cheerful or dull,
sanguine or phlegmatic, ill-natured OF
good-natured.
Year: 1873

If anybody has seen black-and-tan
dog answering to the name of "Pedro, u
rowing about in Eastern North Caro-
lima in company with hard-shell turtle,
that won't answer to anything, and
certainly won't answer to tackle, as the
dog can tell you if you can get him to
stop long enough, please halt the elop-
ing pair, as they are the property of
the editor of this paper. We are fondly
attached to the dog on account of his
vagabondish Bohemian habits. He
knows every dog in Craven county
by name, and is on speaking terms
with nine-tenths of the granger dogs
that come in under the wagons and in
market boats, and he knows more of
the inhabitants of this city than the
tax collectors do. The turtle sent up
by DIR. Barker, from his plantation in
Carteret county, is more recent acqui-
sition. 1t was placed in the back yard,
and the dog spent an hour and half
trying to entice it to come out of its
shell and be sociable. The old IRON
clad maintained his reserve, however,
until the deg crammed his nose against
the forward part and began to snuff.
The pair seemed to come to some sort
of understanding at once, for the dog
made an impetuous remark on very
high key, and they both started on a
trip. When the dog jumped over Dick
Berry's cook-house we thought he had
struck the Eastern current and would
get right through, but we learn since
that he changed his course and landed
in Hyde county, and was seen saunter-
ing along like q whirlwind, the turtle
staying by him. We should be very
sorry to lose that dog now, as he has
acquired a very important and manly
quality. He knows more about turtles
than any other dog in Newberne, and
it's mighty hard to find real good
turtle dog.
Year: 1873

When are we growing old ? y sound
Judgment and strict honesty are neces
sary to answer the question fairly to
ones self. Here is what the Country
Parson" says of it:


"By growing old 1 now understand
reaching point midway between 40 and
80, not without a tendency to get nearer
the latter age, once hardly imaginable
as personal reality. And when one has
in this grave sense grown old, Is there
any fact which is more pressed upon one
than this: that there is such long look
back now? The prospect stretches far.
Memory is still keen and retentive; the
distant prospect has not faded into mist
iness; and as you go on, and now and
then turn to look back, there is just so
much added to the view, Once it was
wonderful to hear man talk of what
he had done twenty years ago; still more.
what had happened thirty years ago; it
seemed vast stretch of time, possible
indeed in the experience of others, but
inconceivable in ones own. For every
human being is like Sidney's shepherd
boy in this, that he fails to take in that
he will ever grow old. 1t seems yester-
day since the writer reading for the bar
(hOw much English law lost in him y
diligently frequented Westminster Hall
and the Guildhall and seeing vigorous
barristers roaring away to common ju-
rieS, or going on with croSS-eXamlna-
ton IN which every question began
with the sharp and minaciOus Now, sir.
listened with wonder to the assurance
thIt the vigorous barrister had worn a
wig and gown for five-and-twenty years
or five-and-thirty. Surely he ought to be
dead long ago. That was the reflection
then. 1t is different now. 1t has been
discovered that time passes away to the
amount of twenty years or more; but
that it is really very short while; and
it leaves the human being not SO much
changed; still with the old likings, hopes,
and wishes: still with the old weaknesses
and faults; still the same man. Further
more, as years accumulate behind one, so
does work You have done such a deal.
1t mounts up into something awful to
think of. And this though very much
of the work done leaves 10 permanent
trace, but Just suffices to do what is re-
quired by the day, and to keep the ma
chinery going. You have written four
teen letters this morning; yeu have visit
ed eighteen sick folk this afternoon. 1t
had all to be done. Had you not done
it, you would have been miserable in the
sense of duty neglected. But there is
nothing to show for it. 1t is not like
the abiding pages of inestimable theo-
logy or mild morality, which, being
written, you lay up in box-the abiding
memorial of past labor. 1t frightened
one, in the old days, to hear men in
advanced life speak of the work they had
done. remember the sense of awe with
which 1 heard clergyman of about 60
years mention with no air of recording
an exploit) that he had at one period of
his life, written one hundred and fifty
lectures on st. Luke's Gospel. l gazed
upon him with the feeling ''And are you
there living to tell it ?''
Year: 1873

The Capitol with all its defects, is th.
greatest architectural triumph thi:
country has produced, and which car


lack worldwide reputation only be
cause Americans themselves have no,
known enough to give such to it. Like
all the most famous structures, it was
not built in day, but has grown gra.
dually into its present development


and even unfinished as it is, hugely de-
fective as it is, and with unlimited ca.
pacity for additions and improvements,
it crowns the city and the landscape
with a glory unsurpassed by any secular
building in existence. 1t is not all OF
white marble, dear reader, but at first
you take it to be and its extent, its
strength, its evident costliness, together
with its singular external beauty, quite
initiate one with joyous patriotism and
pride, and in looking at it one feels that
our money-loving and money-getting
Brother Jonathan has the divine spark
of genius hidden somewhere within him,
after all


The first surprise and e1ultation over,
however, a succession of mortifying
discoveries dawns upon the visitor, of
which the most crushing to me was,
that, though splendidly situated upon
the ridge commanding the city, the
Capitol faces the trrOn0 t0ay! The front
is to the EAST, and those magnificent
porticos, with their crowds of Corin-
THAN pillars, their sculptured pedi-
ments, bronze doors, and countless
sweeping marble steps, the bronze God
dess of Liberty herself, f,-everything,-
turns its back upon the city, the river,
and the West, and the whole facade ex-
lists for the benefit of the trees that
were idiotically planted In the East
Capitol grounds just across the street
from it, and which have now grown so
great that they make q full or three
quarter view of the building impossible,
and so beautiful that the threatened
cutting of them down is ''enough to kill
one."


Washington expected and intended
that his namesake city should grow up
in state and splendor ON the hill, in
stead of down in the marshy, malarial
plain. But unfortunately he placed the
Presidents house down there, and of
course all society inevitably clustered
about it; beside which, the original
property owners held the land about
the Capitol at such e1orbitant rates
that for years people were actually
forced to purchase elsewhere.


So for a long time the hill was COM
paratively abandoned, while the plain
was peopled. But the marvel of mar
vels is, why, when the Capitol E1ten-
sion was planned twenty-five years ago,
and men had seen plainly where, con-
trary to the original expectation, the
city had built itself. that occasion was
not seized for making the grand facade
on the west instead of on the east front,
and of placing the statue on the dome
facing in the came direction; for now
the Goddess of Liberty looks as if,
Struggling her shoulders at the hap
hazard city behind her,-nay, at the
''great sloven continent" itself,-she
we're gazing regretfully toward the
ocean across which she had foated
hither, and were vainly wishing herself
safe back in the eight little island" of
responsibilities and proprieties that
gave her birth.-Atldntic Monthly.
Year: 1873

There is, perhaps, no land where one
has a better opportunity to observe old
customs than in Germany. We wonder
sometimes how she has contrived TO
whirl through the giddy mazes of time
with her sister lands and yet get no more
shaken up than she has. One of these
old customs is the observance of the eve
ming before wedding. 1t is called POL
terabend.'' The verb ito potter" means
10 make a great noise, and the evening
rightly takes its name from the word. 1t
IS a proverb here that 1.-The more pots
herds. the more luck; therefore the
friends Of the bride collect all the old
earthenware which is horS dc combat for
household warfare, and bring 1t and
dash il against the house where the bride
lives Old cracked plates, saucers, earth
en- pots, handielesS cups, and noseless
pitchers close their crippled earthly ca
reer by the frantic plunge at the foot of
the altar of Hymen. 1t takes but a
short time for the news OF the potter
abend'; to reach the ears of the street
boys, and then the work goes on merrily;
for when could boy nature ever resist so
glorious an opportunity to smash some
thing? One living IN the house, or even
in the vicinity, feels as if Joshua with
his armed band were comprising the pre-
misses for the seventh time, and rs If the
walls might fall at any moment, or as If
that mythical bear had at last really
got into the ''chira shop" so continuous
is the crash. The family are obliged to
have these tokens of good luck removed
as soon as it is light on the following
morning. or be fined, as they obStruct
the sidewalk. 1t often requires a horse
and cart to do it. While this strange
ceremony is taking place outside the
house, the friends of the lady have gath
cred within. No invitations are given,
but the house is thrown open, and all
the acquaintance are expected to come.
Each guest brings some gift, and the
presents are placed ON a table as they ac-
cumulate for the admiration of the as
sembled company. 1t is customary to
have some short dramatic piece or pieces
acted. These are usually prepared for
the occasion, and weave in many sly
hit at the habits or tastes of the devoted
pair, or hints at the peculiar incidents
of the courtship.
Year: 1873

a sheriffs officer was sent to execute
a writ against Quaker. On arriving
at the house he saw the Quaker's wife,
who, in reply to the inquiry whether
her husband was at home, answered in
the affirmative, at the same time re
questing him to be seated, and her hus-
band would speedily see him. The Off
Ger waited patiently some time, but the
fair Quakeress coming into the room.
he reminded her of her promise that he
should see her husband. 'Nay. friend,
promised that he should see thee. He
has seen thee. He did not like thy
looks; therefore hath he avoided thee,
and left the house by another path.
Year: 1873

hear.
The heart repeats it over day by day,
And fancies how and when the words will


fall
What answering smile upon the face will


play,


What tender light viii rnger over all.
But eager eyes that watch for one alone
May grow reluctant; for the open gate
Lets in, with him, perchance a guest IN


known,
On whom SLOW words of courtesy must


wait
Or when the presence waited for has come,
1t may be dull or cold, too sad or light:
4 look that shows the heart away from home
Can often put the dearest words to fight
Perhaps the time of meeting, or the form,
May chill or wither what we've lOnged to


say:
What fits the sunshine viii not fit the storm
What blends with twilight, jars with noon


of day.
Again, when all things seem our wish to


serve,


Full opportunity may strike US dumb
May sink our precious thoughts in deep re-


serve,


And TO the surface bid the lightest come.
And often ere our friend is out of sight,
We start: the thing can scarce be cred


tied
We have been silent, or our words been trite,
And here's the dearest thing of all unsGid


-LiDDiacoffs Magazine.