smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1873

The following is the experience of a
mechanic concerning the benefit of a
newspaper: .-ra ~ 7.. .. :e


Ten years ago lived in a town in In-
diana. On returning home one night,
for | am a carpenter by trade, | saw a
little girl leave my door, and | asked
my wife who she was. She said, Mrs.
Harris had sent her after their newspa-
per, which my wife had borrowed. AS
we sat down to tea MY wife said to me,
by name: ..


81 wish you would subscribe for the
newspaper; it is so much comfort to me
when you are away from home"


81 would like to do So" said !, "but
you know l owe a payment on the
house and lot. 1t will be all l can do to
meet it."


She. replied: 'If you will take this
paper, l will sew for the tailor to pay
for it.


subscribed for the paper; it came in
due time to the shop. While resting one
noon, and looking over it, | saw an adj
yertisement of the County Commission
ers to let bridge that was to be built.
| put in a bid for the bridge, and the
job was awarded to me, on which /
cleared $500, which enabled me to paw
for my house and lot easily, and for the
newspaper. If | had notsubscribed for
the newspaper i should not have known
anything about the contract, and could
not have met my payment on my house
and lot. A mechanic never loses any
thing by taking newspaper. aa.
Year: 1873

-. ~ -


SET HIM AGAIN.-Penn Van is cele-
brated by the. Detroit Free Press as a
highly original town. The last event
that occurred there would have been ex-
traordinary in any other town. Mrs.
Morse and her little boy Of seven Years;
were on Lake Cayuga fishing in skiff:
Suddenly the mother was startled by a
scream from the lad, and turning about
found him with the blood streaming
from lacerated nose, and an eight
pound trout lying in the bottom of the
boat. The force with which the trout
had made the rush for the boy as the
little fellow drew back landed the fish
in the boat Photographs were taken
of the boy and fish, one of which was
sent to former Penn Yanite, of this
city; with the laconic invitation: 'sGet a
small boy with a big nose and come out
and try your luck" ezs larr.s
Year: 1873

1t is related of Captain Hall, that af-
ter infinite toll and hazard in his great
sledge journey in search of relics Of Sir
John Franklin, and after unparalleled
success in tracing the lost explorer, he
returned to his home and kept locke |
from human eyes the saddest record Of
the lost, intending it should never see
the light until after the death of Frank
Inns aged and mourning widow He
kept his resolution well, taking the pa
pers with him on the Polaris so they
might be always near him. Fortunate
ly, the difference, which had become
himself and other members of the Po-
laris expidition before they left the
Greenland settlement, induced him to
entrust the precious records of his
sledge journey, and other important
documents to Mr.. Smith, of TesslIiak,
before proceeding to the north. These
records have been recovered by the
United States expedition in search of
the Polaris. From them it has beeh as
certained that Capt. Hall made the sad
discovery while searching into the. fate
of Franklin, that his party were reduced
to the q, dire. extremity of eating ehch
other. This fact, haiit been published,
would have given Capt. Hall greater
fame than all his remaining discoveries,
but his tenderness of heart forbade his
giving to the public what would have
caused Lady Franklin any greater an.
giish than she already endured. p Now
that this tender and heroic explorer, rests
under the same dreary skies with the
lost Franklin, curious hands tear open
the secret and find what manner of man
he was Ino '.5 lo-a
Year: 1873

MAKE MONEY BY "LrT'rLEs. ."-One
great catse Of the poverty of the present
day is the failure of many people to ap4
preciate small things They say-that' if
they caHnot save large Sums, they will
not save anything. They do not realize
how a daily addition, be il ever so small,
will soon make a large pile. If the
young men and women of to-day will
only begin, and begin now to save lit
tie from their earnings, and invest it in


some savings bank, and weekly or month
ly add TO their mite, they will wear a
happy smile of contentand independence
when they reach middle life. Not only
the pile itself will increase, but the de-
sire and ability to increase it will soon
grow. Let the. clerk aud tradesman, la
borer and artisan make now and at once
a beginning. Store up some of your
youthful force and vigor for future com
tingency. Let parents teach their chil-
dren to begin early to save. Begin, at
the fountain head to control the stream
of fextravagance,an and then the work will be
easy to choose between poverty and rich
es. Let our youth go on in the habits of
extravaganza indulged in for, fifteen
years past, and we shall have a nation of
beggars with a moneyed aristocracy..
Let a generation of such as save in small
sums be reared, and we shall be free
from want. DO not be ambitions for ex-
travagant fortunes, but seek that which
is the duty of every man to obtain--in-
dependence aud comfortable home.
Wealth in sufficient quantities is within
the reach of US all 1t can be had by
only one nrncnss ga rintr ~ - -
Year: 1873

EXPRESS MATTERs.--A suit is now
pending in New York city, in which the
old Adams express company is made to
figure prominently. Some three years ago
the Adams express company was reorgan-
lied, and in the settlement of the affairs of
the old company some of the stockholders
claimed that the trustees had not properly
accounted for the stock of the Southern
express company. These stockholders
claimed that when the civil war broke out
the southern property of the old company
was transferred to avoid confiscation to III.
B. Plant to form the Southern express
company, but with a secret trust that
two-thlrds Of its stock ($2 900, ,000) should
belong to the old company, and that the
trustees had not accounted for it. q :


The case is still pending. &
Year: 1873

A letter from the sheriff of Lafourche
parish informs the Governor that W. II.
Esohries and Sanders Evans broke Jail on
the fifteenth instant and made thei. escape.
Eoohries had been tried IN the parish of
Terrebonne and convicted of mansiaughter;
and the jail of that parish being thought
insecure was sent to Lafourche parish for
safe keeping. He killed Soloman Et.en.
stein and brother. and had appealed to the
Supreme Court for reversal of the ver-
dict in the district court. He had been
sentenced to twenty years hard labor in the
Penitentiary. Evans had been committed
for the murder of man by the name of
Welsh in the parish of Terrebonne. with
prospect of trial at the coming fall term of
the district court of that parish.
Year: 1873

OUR Washington correspondent was too
unwell, as we learn by private note, to write
the usual letter for this weeks HERALD.
We hope The holidays had nothing to do
Will causing lis sickness
Year: 1873

am sorry We are not represented in
telegraphic apparatus, as we have sew
eral things in America that would be
worth seeing. The French telexraphic
department is the best in the Exlibi-
tion, aud some of the inventions are
exceedingly interesting. There is a
machine that prints an photographic
dispatch, not chemically, like the other
autOgraphic instruments, but ON white
paper with printers ink. It. cannot be
described in writing, and so I will not
attempt to say how it is. made, except
that there is synchronous action of two
rollers; ono may be in New York and
the other in San Francisco, or in any
other: two places connected by: a
telegraph: wire. A written mes
sage, q sheet of music, the portrait
Of = burglar. anything that can
be drawn with q pcn,-not with pen
Gil may be te1egraphcl from one end
of the worll to the. other, and: repro
duced wit printers ink on white
paper like that whereon the patron of
the Mail reads this letter. Then they
have machine by which four opera
tors can work over. single wire at
once in one direction, just as one op.
orator does with us, and by putting on
four operators the other way, you can
make the capacity of one wire equal te
that of eight by the old system. We
are now using in America system by
which a wire may be operated both
ways simultaneously. The French
machine is exactly four times ahead
of us. TREY have, also, an
electromagnetic. that works over
= hundred miles of wire, and they
have a machine that will tell within
half yard or SO exactly where a pneu-
matte tube has become obstructed.
Suppose you have u tube between New
York and Harlem, and wad of paper,
Il rat: or something of that sort, gets
into it, you don't know exactly where
to look for the obstruction. aud it is q
serious matter to 60 and dig up from
one end until you find it, possibly not
Il hundred yards from the other. This
machine tells You just where to go,
though it will not tell yo,, whether it
is Il rat or wad of paper that stops
the tube.-NCtO York Mail.
Year: 1873

The New Orleans Times tells sim
gular story of the danger incurred by a
boy who was attacked by q huge gar
fish while bathing with some compan.
ions in the Old Basin Canal near that
city. 1t is rs follows:


"They had been in the water but a
few minutes when one of the boys, a
lad about elevenyears old, was attack ed
by very large gar-fish and came very
near losing his life, first from drown
ing, and then from the effusion of
blood, resulting from the wound ill.,
tlictcd by the teeth of the gar.


The fish is described by tho lad as
having been large indeed, and, Judging
from tho boldness Of the attack and
the power manifested in the struggle,
there can be no doubt but that it must
have been all the boy described it to
bc. The first lntimation he had of the
presence of the fish was seeing it dash
ut him. In IN instant it caught him
by the arm, and twice he was dragged
underneath the water. Each time as
he came to the surface he called to his
companions to save him. The lacerated
arm blcd freely and the water for a
considerable distance around the
scene of the struggle was crimsoned.
Horritied ut the sight, and alarmed
almost to stnpefaction, it was some
moments before any of the boys could
make up their minds to go to his
rescue. At last an elder brother
of the lad went to his relief,
and We are informed that it was
with no little difficulty that ht
succeeded in wrestling him from the
jaws Of the fish. The fish had bitten
him on the left arm near the wrist, aud
the blood continued to flow with such
force and rapidity that it was feared
he would bleed to death before assist
ance could be had. An old lady, how.
ever, happened to be passing at thai
instant, and to stanch the flow OF bloc,
she tore strips from her dress, and will
them bound up the bleeding arm. Th'
question has been raised whether or no
it was an alligator, aud not IL gar-tisl
that attacked the boy. The lad asserts i
was gar, but recently alligators o
considerable size have been seen in tin
Old Canal, near the place where thcs
boys were fislIing."
Year: 1873

From the Detroit Free Press.


A man who was formerly in business
on Michigan avenue, went West about
three months ago, having no fear that
he should strike pleasant town and
grow up with it, and having no fear
that lie could not pull through any sort
OF society, from heather Chinee to =
Colorado minister. He returned to
Detroit the other day, looking as if he
had been cutting brush all summer,
and he relates some rather queer ex.
pe1ieDces which he had out West.
Society was peaceable enough
until he was beyond Omaha, when
people began to call him q liar
at every possible opportunity, and
some of them went so far as to draw
knives on him for trying to get elbow
room at the depot dinner tables. He
fell in with o former deacon of an Ohio
church. who advised him to purchase u
revolver and to commence practice,
which advice was followed. He stop
ped off at Cheyenne and began inquir-
ing for work. One man asked him if
he had ever "yanked lager" another
wanted him to take care of q suit of
gambling rooms, and another offered
to teach him the latest trick in ''stock-
ing" cards. Not accepting any of
these offers he was wandering about
after dark, when a strange gentleman,
who seemed to he afflicted with insan-
ity, caught him by the throat, backed
him against wall, and was going
through him when help arrived. The
Detroiter concluded to go on to Denver
where he was charged e for riding
forty rods in an omnibus. When he
refused to pay he was arrested and
fined $50, the justice adding that
strangers couldn't come there and bully
that town. Walking around town to
look for employment he hired out to
drive mule, and thought 500 per
month big pay until he found that he
was to drive eight span of mules at
once and furnish his own provisions,
with coffee at 20 cents per pound and
flour at $35 per barrel. When he came
to break his contract the owner of the
mules called him few choice names
and drew revolver to shoot him. but
the Detroiter saved his head by a race
around the town.


Reaching Los Angeles County, Cali
fornia, he paid five dollars for nights
lodging in a Gro ~ded hotel, ard when
he awoke he found that some one had
robbed him of all his. money. He
raised an alarm, and the other guests
called him an imposter, and the land
lord pretended to recognize him as an
old thief and highway robber. He was
kicked out and when it was found that
he had no money he was arrested and
jailed as a vagrant, remaining in the
Jug until his friends sent him money
He didn't buy any corner lots out
West, didn't take stock in mines, and
le declares that a man who doesn't
know how to carve with bowie knife
has no business further West than
Omaha.
Year: 1873

lady Of Burlington, who knew that the
object Of his frenzied search was under
watch in a miserable tenenenthOuse,
and believed that she could help her TO
elude her kidnappers and get out Of the
city, IL allowed TO attempt the achieve
ment alone. Listening 10 the counsel Of
this good and shsewd woman, the father
and son took the train for home, as
though relinquishing their mission; and
within twenty-four hours thereafter, the
wise feminine Samaritan had brought
the almost despairing girl safely out Of
her virtual prison, an / sent her rejoicing
back to her friends by rail.


The first effect Of this bold triumph
was wrathful demonstration by the
French Canadian party at the house Of
the Burlington lady; but by that time
the story was in circulation through the
town, and the kidnappers were presently
in lively flight before a company Of citi.
zens very anxious TO adorn them with
tar and feathers. This intimation Of the
possible risk Of their scheme seems TO
have discouraged the Canadian claim
ants. At any rate, they abstained from
further hostility. and are said, by a cor
respondent OF the Pattsburg IN. "
Republican, who tells the tale, TO be liv-
ing now in Clinton county, New York.


For long time, however, the adopted
daughter and her friends were in daily
expectation of another summary vista
tion, or at least some action at law;
and while the young lady continued in
her minority she was guarded by every
precaution FOR safety that vigilant aifec-
ton could invent. When six or seven
years of immunity from any such calam-
ity had comparatively established the
security of the maiden in her fortunate
lot, and she had reached a maturity Of
womanly beauty and age making her
legally mistress Of herself, that son in the
family, who has been already mentioned,
still had apprehension that she was in
danger of abduction unless she gave him
the right to defend her as his own
against any and all possible comers.
How, then, could the romance of her
history have eliminated more poetical-
ly and practically than the recent mar
riage, which brings it down TO the pres
ent day2


With such wedding closes pleasantly
the adopted daughters story; though
there is still unsolved that mystery of
her parentage which her infant lips re.
fused to have explained by factitisus
appearances. Possibly there is another
romance behind the Fairfax poor house,
to be revealed some day in one of those
dramatic surprises and genealogical
notifications by which reality, no less
then fiction, delights to adjust the man.
ifold complexities of adventurous and
erratic human lives.
Year: 1873

The Whitehall IN. Y. Times relates


the following story Of affection in a rat
There is in Whitehall village a family


who have little daughter two and half
years Old who has formed singular at
tachment for rat. Every day this lit.
tie one goes into the woodshed djoin-
ing the house, where large, venerable
looking rat makes its appearance, when
the innocent-looking child proceeds to
feed it from her chubby hand. The
parants have caught their little one feed.
ing its protege Seyersl times Of late, yet,
on the approach of any other than the
little girl, the rat scampers off to its


hole. Several efforts have been made
by the child's parents to dispatch the


singular companion of their darling, for
it gas feared that the child may get bit
ten BY It. I4apt Sunday the rat showed
its affection and guardian eaTe Of the
little ones comfort, as the following will
show: The child's mother put it TO sleep
in its cradle il the kitchen, going to an.
other room in the hogse, laaYlng the
sleeping child alone. She was gone some
time. On her return she cast her eye at the
child, when she was surprised to observe
the rat stpnding perched upon the top of
the cradle, moving It's tall oyer the little
sleeper. The mother, wishing to see
what the "varmint was up to, stood and
wstched its movements, peeping
through the door, which was only partly
opened. She observed q number of
aies above the ehild's face, when two lit
on the little one, yhereat the kind rat
whisked them off with his tail. Wish
ing to make sure, the lady quietly called
her husband and the two stood watch
ing the proceedings for at least ten min
utes. Every time that fly dared to
alight on the little ones face that old
rats friendly tail would brush it away,
like the guardian angel lowering about
ae, who, we believe, is constantly brush
ing away dangers that threaten us poor
mortals. 1t was thought safe by the
child's parents to leave the child IN
charge of its singular nurse and for one
hour the little one slept When 1t
awoke its mother went TO take 1t up, and
the rat jumped from the cradle ana sped
away through the 'halfopened door to
the wood she'd Since that time the
child has been put to sleep in the kitchen
to ascertain If the experiment would be
Each time, when left alone,
with the shed door partially open, the
old rat would enter and take up its posi-
ticp oyer the top Of the cradle, watching
the little sleeper and brushing away the
flies who dared to trouble its precious
charge.
Year: 1873

Desirable residences are scarce in
Alaska, according 10 q correspondent
from that distant territory, who says:
THE Aleut houses are all half cellars
dug down to 4 depth Of four or Eve feet
then walled up with mud about AS much


more above the surface Of the ground
and covered with sticks, mud, or any
other sort Of roof which is most easily
attainable There are no windows, and
but one door, four feet high, TO each
house. Imagine, il you eau, the rich
perfume Of such a subterranean den,
when fully occupied by the score Of peo-
pie who never bathed in their lives. A
Chinese lodging'house in San Francisco
is a'palace Of odorous delights in com.
parison with it. They used to burn
whale oil in great open lamps, but now
American stsyes are quite common
among them. Fuelis scarce, however.
Their bill Of fare is about as meagre as
their choice Of fuel, They eat all they
can get hold Of which there is any hope
OF digesting, but that isn't much. The
great staple with them is the whale.
They will eat his blubber and drink his
oil with quite as much gusto AS we would
eat bread and drink wine"
Year: 1873




An account comes from India that the
British physician in charge Of the penal
settlement at Port Blair, Madras, has
been very successful in curing leprosy
by the oil Of the gurjun tree. The CUR
jun tree, dipterocarpus Lewis, is a resin
producing tree, common throughout the
Indian peninsula and the islands of the
Indian archipelago, closely resembling
the hard camphor tree of Sumatra.
The oil Of the gurjun balsam, or wood
oil, is said to have long been used by
the natives all over India for skin dis
eases and sores. II its virtues are as
potent in curing leprosy as is represent
ed, it is to be hoped that its cultivation
will be tried in the Sandwich Islands,
where the natives are gradually becom-
ing exterminated by the ravages of the
loathsome disease.
Year: 1873

This is an old favorite comparison,
and it seems cruel to rob it of its poe
try. But a free use of the file or
grindstoneis is as rough on the compar-
ison as the keen hoe is on the weeds.
Certainly it is poor economy to save
the wear of the hoe, of necessity only
half killing the weeds and making
heavy toll of otherwise light work
A file even IN old one cleaned with
diluted scid, will answer every purpose
or a grindstene, If one has no file
Never mind if stone or gravel do dull
a sharp hoe carefully used will accom-
plish more than the noisy grubbing of
a dull one. 1t is pleasure to see the
hoe daily narrow up and the corners
gradually round of, tor honorable age
and constant service benefit the hoe
making the blade thinner and smaller.
Sharpen the hoe then-frst, to save
the hard labor second, to do neater
work; third, to keep it bright: final
ly, to have the pleasure of seeing it
grow old in service.
Year: 1873

There are few more grateful lllu-
sions, the London Daily Ne,os says,
than that which attributes the result
of too much eating and drinking to
excessive mental labor; and it is one
of those fctions the author of which
invariably comes to believe himself
We have among US hosts of hypochon-
driacs who are continuity calculating
the effect of a certain amount of work
on their system, and who base these
calculations on headaches, and fits OF
nervous prostrsuon, and symptoms of
lassitude that have no more to do with
intellectual exertion than they have to
do with the Gull Stream. They are
for the most part, the natural result Of
too many invitations to dinner, of in
cautious and Incorporate consumption
of food and drink at unreasonable
hours, and of a curtailment of sleep
occasioned by getting home early in
the morning.