smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

An absconding clerk in the Sault Ste.
Marie canal Office adopted a clever
though perilous plan to escape arrest.
He took passage on propeller and,
rightly Judging that the law officers
would be in readiness to receive him
with open arms the moment the steamer
made her first landing, he donned life
preserver and quietly jumped overheard
when about mile from shore. He lett
behind him afew words written on pa
per collar, politely apologizing to the
captain for having made free with the
lie preserver, and promising to remit
it's valne if it proved to be worth any
thing. No proposition could be fairer,
but as nothing has been heard OF the
desperate navigator it is feared that he
will never remit.
Year: 1876

The wife makes the home, and the
home makes the man.


Hope never spreads her golden wings
but on unfathomable seas.


The most laudable ambition is to be
wise, and the greatest wisdom is to be
good.


To think kindly of each other is good;
but to act kindly toward one another is
best of all.


Difference is the most complicate, the
most indirect, the most elegant and ef-
fective of compliments.


Few things are impracticable in them
selves, and it is for want of application
rather than means that men fail of sue
cess.


Many a life, that might have been
most efficient if rightly directed, has
been lost to the world, and doomed to
mortifying failure, becauSe men have
not been sufficiently developed to know
their own peculiar endowments, or to
make intelligent chance of vocation.


Irresolution loosens all the joints Of
State: like an ague it shakes not this or
that limb, but all the body is at once III
a tit. The irresolute man is lifted from
one place to another, and hath no place
left to rest on. He fecks from one egg
to another, SO matches nothing, but
adde's all his action.


Not enjoyment, but rectitude, is the
chief GOOD. both in this life and tie life
which is TO come. Enjoyment flows
from rectitude; but the fountain is high
er and purer than the stream. Enjoy
ment is often an end unworthy to be
sought. Rectitude is always to be sought.
Rectitude is always to be desired above
all things.


Friendship is vase which when it is
flawed by heat, or violence, or accident,
NAV as well be broken at once-lt never
can be trusted after. The more grace
full and ornamental it was, the more
clearly do we discern the hopelessness
of re storing it to its former state. Coarse
stones if they are fractured may be ce-
mented again, precious ones never.


1t is not you who, on your deathbed,
quit Sln; IL Is sln tuat qulIs Jo", ~ 10
not you who detatch yourself from the
world, it is the world that detaches it
self from you. 1t is not you who break
your bouds, tits your bonds which break
Of themselves through the fragility COM
mon to our nature. 1t is easy to see
that he who condemns the irregularity
of his own life only at the moment when
he is obliged, in spite of himself, to re-
sign it, does not condemn them from
conviction, but necessity.
Year: 1876

TU6 SUuIB IIVP0s
Behold We know not anything;
can but trust that good shall fal
At last-far off-at last, to all
And every winter change to spring.
So runs my dream but what am II
An infant crying in the night
An infant crying for the light
And with no language but q cry.
Year: 1876

-. Louis Republican.


The Republican leaders asd the ad-
ministration are in aquandary about Mis-
sissipp. They want to make out a case
Of insurreciion in that State, too, and
send troops to suppress it but the pre-
text is wanting. A dispatch from
Washington says: "No demand for
troops has come from Mississippi yet
but it is expected that delegation from
that State, now in this city, will prepare
a written statement of the situation in
that State for presentation at the Cabinet
meeting"


The officially Is that there ia no carpet
bag governor in Mississippi TO call for troops.
/ The government in that State is Demo
cratic, aud the condition there is perfect.
" peaceful. There is no insurrection,
and no domestic violence. In short,
there is no pretext whatever for doing
what the Republican leaders want to do.
The Constitution authorizes the President
to send aid to assist in subduing rebel
lion in State only when called on,
either by the Legislature or the governor
thereof But this call will not be made.
Not only is there no occasion for it,
but neither the governor nor the Legis-
loture of Mississippi wants the Federal
aid. If the President undertakes TO send
troops into the State, to disturb It's peace
at the call of committee Of Republi-
cans, it would be high handed usurpa-
ton for which the country would hold
him 10 account
Year: 1876

President Grant refused to attend
the Centennial celebration at Phila-
delphia on the Fourth, notwithstand-
ing the most urgent solicitation on
the part of the managers and the ten
der of a Palace car to take him there.
Whether he was drunk or mad be-
cause he was not nominated for Il
third term, or Indifferent to official
propriety and the respect due to the
nation which elevated him TO the po-
sition he occupied, we have no means
of knowing, This refusal to meet
the representatives of foreign coun-
tries, and of the states of the Union
and the sovereign people on such an
occasion was little less than an insult
TO forty four million of people
and a disgrace to the nation. 1t
was an exhibition of Grantism and
ADDS tethe- disgust felt Ivy every true
American. for an administration
which disgraces us in the eyes of the
world by its corruptions and rascali-
ty. The nation will owe II debt Of
gratitude to the Democratic House,
which by its investigations made a
third term impossible.
Year: 1876

FELLow-CIrIzENs: / come. here this
evening to join the Democracy Of
Fairfield in ratifyipg denominations
of Tiiden and Hendricks, and especi-
ally to discuss the position mud ten-
denotes of the two great parties in
the Presidential canvass on what !
regard as the paramount question Of
the day-the currency question.


/ address myself specially to those
Democrats and Republicans who
seek currency reform in the interest
of the many, not the few; who wish
the General Government to issue all
the currency, whether paper or me-
tallic; who are hostile to al schemes
for increasing the burden Of the debt,
and who prefer to walk through the
paths Of prosperity toresumptiea in,
stead Of Being dragged throug he
Year: 1876

A little boys father gave him two
ccnts-onc 10 spend for candy, the
other to give to the hcathen. He
presently lost one Of the cents, but
consoled himself with the thought
that the one which was lost was the
one which was to be given to the
heathcn. Hence the falling off Of
the contribution for the heathen.
Year: 1876

An intelligent foreigner, passing
through the streets of Philadelphia,
took out his notebook at the end of
long walk and made little mem
orandum to the effect that "eighty
per centum of the population ofPhil-
adclphia are members Of the power
family Of Roomstolet"
Year: 1876

A female witness in d California
court, the other day, asked permis.
sion to return to the stand for a mo-
mcnt; and this was her additional
testimony; "Well, what l wanted to
say is that the comp1ainants wife
had the reputation of wearing false
teeth and doing her hair up in paper
to make it curl. forgot to swear to
it when l was up here before"
Year: 1876

Now is the time when the college
graduate comes into the newspaper
Office to Know if he can't get job as
u dramatic critic, correspondent at
the Centennial or in Europe, city ed
itor, managing editor, or, if nothing
else is vacant, he would take the pro-
prictorship.
Year: 1876

Though Iceland was thus settled by
the Vikings, and although these sea ro-
vers still followed their wave wandering
Life, we must believe that they were no
longer the "pyrates" Of the mainland.
One of these sailors was Gunnbiorn,
who, driven westward by storm, soon
after the settlement of Iceland, fell upon
the shores of Greenland, to which region
he gave the name of Gunnbiorn's rocks.
He made his way home again, for the
strait between Greenland and Iceland Is
not so wide but one may see the shores
of each, when midway between them,
of clear day. He gave, like all dis
coverers, very glowing account OF his
new land, but none went thither until
the next century.


In 985, Eric the Red, who, like In
golf, had been obliged to quit his own
country on account Of his violence and
crimes, went to the new land in the
west. he established home for him.
self, and three years later, he was back
in Iceland with a wonderful tale. In
the quaint language of the chronicle !:
"Ip order to entice people to go to his
new country, he called it Greenland,
and painted it as such an excellent place
tor pasture, wood and fish, that the next
wear he was followed thither by twenty
five ships full of colonists, who had fur
nished themselves richly with household
goods and cattle of all sorts but only
fourteen of these ships arrived. The
other eleven, we are left to surmise,
were wrecked on the wsy.-St. Nicholas
for .Jttly.
Year: 1876

The London Court Circular says:
They are not very lively people in Suf.
folk, but it appears that when one OF
the natives contemplates suicide the
resolution is carried out ina very thor
ough manner. / read that at small
village the other day o tradesman's wife
got up in the night, and, having pro-
ceeded some distance from her house,
placed half pound of gunpowder in q
circle around heEc and set fire to it, but
it did not injure her. She then proceed
ed to her shop, obtained pound canis-
ter of gunpowder, placed it in bucket,
and held her head over it and set fire to
it. The result was that the clubhouse
was blown to pieces, and the woman
frightfully burned about the face. She
next procured shoemaker's knife, and
stabbed herself in the throat. Strange
to say this energetic female is still iv-
ing; but, as she is under medical care,
she need not give up all hopes OF e1-
tinction, for the doctor will probably
finish the work for her which she seems
to have commenced so vigorously.
Year: 1876

The country never possessed 80 many
beautiful manageable young women
as it does at the present time. And why
do we not have more marriages? We
answer, says the Albany Argus, because
marriage for love is the exception and
not the rule. The young people OF this
age have gone fashion and money mad.


If the dandy bank clerk who pays one
half of his income for board and the
other half for clothes cannot improve
his condition he will not marry. The
shop girl who earns good wages and
cannot be distinguished by her dress
from the bankers daughter certainly
will not plunge into matrih-ony unless
she can better her condition in life. If
a man is fortunate enough to possess
money, it matters not how old or ugly
he may be, hundreds of intelligent,
handsome young women can be found
only too willing to become his wife.
Love is an after consideration. They
marry to be supported aud dressed ex-
travagantly. How often do we hear the
remark "Better to be an old mans
darling than poor man g slave. Alas
too many Of them are not satisfied to be
darlings. They will persist in loving
other men after they are married. 1t
cannot be denied that great number OF
unmarried men are adventures looking
for wives who can keep them without
working for q living. The peace and
contentment of happy home are not
taken into consideration. They are
willing to suffer hell upon earth if they
can be kept in idleness. If our young
people do not abandon this extravaganza
of dress and greed for money our coun.
try will be filed with old bachelors and
old maids. We must have more genuine
courtships and marriages to have pros
perity and happiness in this world. Too
many marry for money, only to be disap-
pointed and unhappy the rest OF their
lives.
Year: 1876

Soap is so universally used at the pres
ent day that it seems almost impossible
to do without it. Tt may appear sur
prising to lealn that soap is not an Ut.
mixed good. and that some of the worst
diseases have originated in, or at least
been carried about by, the too frequent
use of some kinds of the article. Man.
ufacturers care but little what ingre
dients they employ so long as the article
they bring forth has the proper amount
of perfume or the requisite capability
of producing suds with little rubbing.
In this manner a vast amount of diseased
animal matter, taken from beasts which
have died of putrescent maladies, is en-
ployed.


Soap fat is we'll known in the manu-.
facture of the soap, and owing to its
condition and the imperfect way in
which it is refined, it sometimes con-
tains most deadly poisons, which, by
friction upon the skin, are introduced
into the pores, gradually soak into the
blood and develop into some local affec-
ton for which no cause can be assigned.
Typhoid fever has been often produced
in this manner, it is ascertained posi-
lively, but the most common form in
which this soap poison has made itself
felt is in the production of diphtheria.
It has hitherto been an inexplicable fact
that while doctors have been urging
great cleanliness to avoid this disease, it
is precisely whero this has been most
shown that the disease has made most
ravages. Boards of health have been
constant in their efforts to prevent diph-
liberia by urging cleanliness, with a re-
suit that is already known by the con-
slant increase of death.


It has also been found that a large
proportion of the soaps now used are
made from putrid and filthy grease OBJ
tanned from tenement houses, jails, hos
pitals and public institutions, and which
no possible process can remove of their
impurities and render fit for human use.
The medical faculty of Paris and London
have already sounded the keynote OF
warning in this matter. Alarmed at the
increase of disease transmitted from i'm
pure soaps, they have impressed on the
people the necessity of only using soaps
of tested purity. The annual mortality
of children, which is now SO great, is
also attributed in large part to this in
discriminate use of soap. The sensitive
and tender skins of the little ones more
readily absorb the poison and disease
transmitted by the soaps referred to.
Wise legislation is needed on this mat
fer
Year: 1876

The flowers We lost will oil return;
Though dead snd buried long ago,
Beneath the winters ice and snow,
They greet again the sums bright face,
Eseh 10 its own appointed place,


And through the summer bloom and burr


The dead and lost will surely rise;
Though buried deep beneath the clay,
Through years and years they waste away,
Yet in brighter, better land,
We hope to take them by the hand,


And find them glorious in our eyes.


The flowers will come again, We know,
For touch, and taste, and sight, and smell,
The truth of resurrection tell.
Last season brought them back again,
And other seasons will, and then


We do not grieve because they 90.


We do not knew the dead will live.
They never greet our mortal sight,
Beyond the dark We see no light,
And we have naught to check our grief,
Except shadow called belief,


And such sense as hops can give.
Year: 1876

The Sonoma Democrat Is responsible
for the following story: A special dance
was in progress at Brunsen's ranch,
Green Springs, in the lower end of the
county, and after the dancing had got
well under way two young men, named
Tom Adams and Joe Russian, stepped
out, intending to visit a neighboring
house for the purpose of procuring
cigars for a social smoke together. The
night was unusually dark-absolute]y
nothing being discernible foot distant.
Consequently the two men proceeded
slowly, trusting to their knowledge OF
the locality to carry them to the direc'
tion they wished to take.


Suddenly, and without the least warn
ing whatever, their feet slipped from
under them, and the next instant they
felt themselves plunged downward, neck
deep in slum and water. They had fall
en- into an old shaft, dropping at least
forty feet from the edge. Fortunately
both fell on their feet, and the mud in
the bottom prevented their being bruised
in the fall. A new danger, however, i'm
mediately presented itself, namely: in
the auicksand. Both made desperate
efforts to keep their heads above the
water, but in doing so nearly spffocated
from immersion.


Adams at last caught hold of projec-
tion on the side OF the shaft, and al
though possessing but one arm, sue
ceeded in holding on until Russian
climbed over him and reached the mouth
of the shaft. Russian then called for
help, and the party at Brunsen's was
soon on the spot. No ropes were pro,
curable, and something had to be done
Immediately to save Adams from death
in the bottom of the pit.


Men think very rapidly in cases OF i'm
mediate danger, and one OF the crowd
around the top of the shaft proposed
that the most muscular form them into
a chain, and drop into the shaft. This
was acted upon at once. The heaviest
man was held by one arm by several
men at the mouth of the shaft, and a
second man sliding into the shaft, cling
ing to his waist. A third man did like
wise, grasping the second mans waist,
and each successive link in the human
chain did likewise until the bottom was
reached, and Adams dragged from bis
awful predicament. Through the mu'
tual assistance of Adams himself and his
friends he managed to reach the top
completely exhausted, as were his brave
rescuers.


It was indeed narrow escape for both
young men from horrible death, and q
ere litab.e action on the part OF those
who undertook in this novel and danger
GUS manner to rescue Adams.
Year: 1876

A CHLD's MORNING PRAYER.-Some
one asks why there is not q morning
prayer for children corresponding to the
evening petition, "Now / lay me down
to Sleep" The New York World replies
that there is such q petition, and this
is it:


"Now I wake and see the light.


'Tis God has kept me all the night.


To Him lift my voice and pray


That He will keep me all the day."
Year: 1876

A clergyman was turned down " alta
fashionable spelling bee for spelling
drunkenness with one n. Shortly after.
ward he returned to his parish, and
found himself very coldly received by
his parishioners. He sent for the parish
clerk and asked him what was the cause.
"Well, sir" replied the man, ga re-
port has come down here that you was
turned out of great lady's house in Lon
don for drunkenness.
Year: 1876

When you reflect that at picnics one
hundred years ago it was the custom ior
the girls to stand up in row and let the
men kiss them all goodbye, all this en-
thusiasm about national progress seems
to be grave mistake.
Year: 1876

To the above number of twenty4one
contested seats may possibly be added
others of which we have no. present
knowledge. Some of the above, also,
may not be brought before the house at all.
Year: 1876

The influence of the Imagination ID
the similation of disease has often been
proved, 1T WAS in France, we believe,
that an experiment was made upon q
soldier who, being condemned to die tor
some infraotion Of military discir Line,
was handed over to the scientists as a
living subject. he was placed In hos
pital and told that all around him were
patients suffering from smallpox. Al
though this was not true the man was
soon taken violently sick and displayed
every symptom of the disease. Instan-
ces tending to establish this re-,
markable domination Of the mental
faculties over the body are not rare, and
a story is going the round OF the news
papers which may be cited IN this con-
nection


a young man in Indianapolis went
into q drug store and asked for ffty
cents worth of strychnine. The drug
gist gave him harmless powder and ne
swallowed it. He then explained that
his affections had been blighted and he
had taken the poison to get even. The
druggist told him that there was not
fifteen minutes Life in him, and that ne
was beginning to fade about the eyes al.
ready The youth sunk to the floor and


the sweat streamed from his brow. He


was becoming very sick, mentally as


well as bodily, and appeared to be dy;
ing. The medicine man became alarmed


at the effect of the dose, and examined
the jar from which he had taken the
powder. 1t was cougar of milk" sure
enough-perfectly harmless, and yet il il
the young man was informed that no
had taken no poison, but, instead, very
harmless powder, q bushel OF which
would not kill. The information put q
stop to the dying business. He revived,
cot up and walked out Of the store dis.
eusted, promising, however, to give tho
coroner an early job. It was tho opinion
of all the bystanders that tho mere i'm
agination of poison in his system was
really killing the youth. .jr -...', 81.
Year: 1876

A Scientific Analysis OF Supposed Flesh


"A scfentisr Declares IL to be d ad FROG


Spawn.


DR.. J. Lawrence Smith, scientist, to
whom was given the specimens OF flesh
which it was claimed fell In Bath coun-
ty, Ky., has furnished the following re-
port Of his analysis:


I have examined the specimens OF
matter that were sent to me from Bath
county as having fallen from clear sky,
in a limited space, in the neighborhood
of Mudlick Springs. The pieces received
BY me had been placed in alcohol, and
they had evidently shrunk considerably
from their original bulk. =.


The four pieces furnished me by
Captain Brent, of Mount Sterling, and
Mr.. Madden, of the Courier Journal,
were from one-half to one inch in size;
they had the appearance of dried gela--
tinous matter OF irregular shape and
were more or less colored. FLaments
were attached to the exterior. Under q
feeble magnifying power the edges were
translucent; when heated in water the
pieces became enlarged and more trans
lucent. The dried pieces when cut
across showed on the exterior o soft
gelatiuous substance without any hbrous
structure.


Under the microscope the parts that
had dried showed an irregular flamen-
tous structure. The dried pieces, when
placed in flame, burned readily with
the strong and we'll known smell OF ami
NAL matter. The pieces we're examined
carefully under the microscope. but
there was not the slightest indication OF
any muscular fiber or other structure
belonging to what is commonly known
as animal tissue. In my mind this mat
ter gives every Indication OF being the
dead spawn Of the batrachian reptiles,
doubtless that of the frog. They have
been transported from the ponds and
swampy grounds by currents OF wind,
and have ultimately fallen on the spot
where they were found.


This is no isolated occurrence OF the
kind, I having come across tho mention
of several previous instances in the
course of my reading. The only one I
can now fix the date Of is recorded by
Muschubroeck and occurred in Ireland
in 1875. The matter is described by him
as very glutinous and fatty and softened
when held in the hand, or emitted an
unpleasant odor when exposed to the
action Of the fire.


The ovum or egg of the batrachian
reptiles is o round mass of transparent
jelly, in the center OF which appears q
small black globule. In the present
case the passage through air would have
dried up, more or less, this gelatinous
mass, 80 that the exterior would have
become hard and the interior, as I found
it, still soft and gelatinous. As regards
the quantity supposed to have fallen
there is doubtless exaggeration, for the
singularity Of this phenomenon would
doubtless have such startling effect on
the minds of the witnesses as to cause
them to magnify the number. I have
desired more of the matter to be sent to
me, when, if there is any modification
of these views, I will make them
known.


Considerable excitement exists among
the people generally concerning this
affair, and it viii be hard to c. nvince
the country people who witnessed this
phenomenon of Professor Smiths
theory.