smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1873

vAC"s Va NAEs he 4huEUcTs


HERALD reporter called on Mr.. Francis b.
Thurber, OF the firm Of II. X. Thurber & Co., i'm.
porters and general dealers in all kinds Of gro-
ceries, to ask his views on the transportation agi-
tation. The merchant sat In his salesroom sur.
rounded by customers and clerks discussing goods
and prices while he perused o telegraphic
despatch involving close computation OF figures.
As he talked with the reporter, his subordnates
frequently came to him with trade propositions,
which he settled promptly with the air OF one
thoroughly conversant with the details OF bust.
ness embracing wide range Of commodities and
covering great extent OF territory He required
solicitation or prompting to elicit for the benefit
OF the public his ideas on this important topic,
which substantially are that the entire country is
monstrously oppressed by the onerous freight
exactions Of railway combinations for the benefit
of o few sharp managers


CANALS TOO SLOW.


For many classes Of freight water routes between
the great interior agricultural districts and the
seaboard, though they are OF great service in
moving cheap and coarse articles, are too slow.
Live stock, dairy products and various other arti
cles OF country production must be brought to
market quickly. All goods in our line are for
warded to the country merchants by rail. Most
manufactured goods, especially those where the
value is great in proportion to bulk and weight are
sent by railway. Interest on the value OF such
goods saved by rapid transit Is lar more than the
saving OF freight by water as compared with the
more speedy delivery by railroad.


RRpoRrER-How do You propose to remedy the
evils OF which you complain


Mr.. THURBER-By great nationaI double track
freight railroad. 1t should nave Its eastern ter
mint at Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and
Boston; should extend as far west certainly as the
Mississippi and be built on the best lines, without
particular reference to touching any great number
OF the interior towns. Places within certain dis
tances would, OF course, build feeder lines to this


GRAND TRUNK AVENUE OF TRADE


and new business centres would spring up along
its route. II should, In my opinion, be built by the
general government, by contract In such manner
as to preclude any corrupt handling oil the public
money, and 80 as to secure Its construction In the
most perfect manner and at the smallest cost
Were a private corporation to undertake so vast
an enterprise IT would be very doubtful II the ne
cessary financial resources could be secured to noa
II. We have examples of this difficulty In mos
important works OF similar kind under tha guid
Year: 1873

"A writer in the Country Gentle
man says "Of the medicinal vir-
tues of the apple have not the least
doubt. Constipation of the bowels
can be entirely avoided by ajudicious
use of them. Eating too many is not
the way, however, as many seem to
think. Too much of a good thing
you know. When many are eaten,
their medicinal virtue is, in measure,
destroyed. They should be eaten
regularly, and in place of other food.
l favor the raw state for we'll person.
When to be given to convalescent |
should prick them all over with pin,
then heat them hot in the oven, enough
to soften, not reduce them to a pulp.
Apples baked in sugar or eaten with
sugar are much more apt to cause
acidity of the stomach"
Year: 1873

Mr.. Beecher makes the following
witty remarks about the crow:


"Aside from the special question of
profit and loss, we have warm side
toward the crow, he is so much like
ourselves. He is lazy, and that is hu-
man. He takes advantage of those
weaker than himself, and that is so
man-like ! He is sly, and hides for to
morrow what he can't eat to-day,
showing a real humon providence, -
He learns tricks much faster than he
does useful things, showing true boy
nature. He thinks his own color the
best, and loves to hear his own voice,
which are eminently human traits
He will never work when he can get
another to work for him-a genuine
human trait. He eats whatever he
can lay his claws upon, and is less
mischieyous with a full stomach than
when hungry, and that is like man,
lie is at war with all living things ex-
ceot his own kind, and with them
when he has nothing else to do. No
wonder men despise crows. They are
too much like men. Take off their
wings, and put them in breeches, and
crows would make fair average men.
Give men wings, and reduce their
smartness little, and many of them
would be almost good enough to be
crows"
Year: 1873

Thomas Briggs, asserts the Detroit
Free Press, has boy-baby about ten
months old, who is admitted at the be-
ginning of this article to look jest like
his father, and to be the smartest boy
baby of his age in Detroit. The otter
morning the child was sitting on the
floor, playing with five or six big coat
buttons on n string. and taking an occa
sional nibble at an apple to bring out
his first crop of teeth. Mrs. Briggs and
a neighbor were talking away as only
women can gossip, when the baby hid
the buttons under mat and started to
finish the apple. A bit OF the skin got
in his throat and he gave cough and a
whOOp and paved the air and rolled
over on his head. go them buttons
he has swallowed them buttons :" criel
the mother, as she yanked him up and
shook him. Pound him on the back y
yelled the other woman, trying to hold
the baby's legs STILL "Run for the
neighbors I" cried Mrs. Briggs. go
he'll die, he'll die ~ screamed the
other, as she ran ont. And the neigh
bors came in and made him lie on his
stomach and cough, and then turned
him on his back and rubbed his stom-
ach, and ioggled him about all sorts of
ways, until he got mad and he went to
howling. Then boy ran for Briggs,
and Briggs ran for a doctor. and the
doctor came and choked the baby, and
ordered sweet oil and mustard plaster,
and told them to hold him on his back.
Everybody knew that those six big but
tons were lodged in the baby's throat,
because he was red in the face, and be-
cause he stranglel as he hoHled and
wept. They poured down sweet oil,
and put mustard across him and wept
over him, and the mother said sh" never
could forgive herself. BOYS drove by,
calling ont "Slab wood for sale y
and the scissors man went by shouting,
"Sharp! sharp but that distressed
crowd held the baby down and shed
their tears over his whole length. The
doctor was looking serious an Briggs
was thinking that he hadn't done any
thing to deserve such blow, when one
of the women pushed the mat and dis
covered the buttons. Then everybody
laughed and danced, and they kicked
the sweet oil bottle under the bed,
threw the mustard plaster at the doctor.
and Mrs. Briggs hugged the bowling
angel to her bosom and called him her
"wopsy topsy hopsy dropsy poppy little
cherub."
Year: 1873

We always think of great men rs III
the act of performing the deeds which
give them renOwn, or else in stately re-
pose, grand, gloomy, and majestic. And
yet this is hardly fair, because even the
most gorgeous and magnificent of hn-
man beings have to bother themselves
with the little things of life which en-
gage the attention of us smaller people.
No doubt Moses snUffed and got angry
when he had severe cold in his head
and if a fly bit his leg willie he was sit
ting in the desert, why should we sup
pose he did not Jump and use violent
language and rub the sore place? And
Cesar, isn't it tolerably certain that he
used to become furious when he went
upstairs to get his slippers in the dark
and found that Calphurnia had showed
them back under the bed so that he had
to sweep around wildly Cor them with
the brOom-handle And when Solomon
cracked his crazy bone, is it unrcason-
able to suppose that he hoped around
the room and looked mad and felt as if
ne wanted to cry? Imagine George
Washington sitting on the edge of the
bed putting on clean shirt, and growl-
ing at Martha because the buttons were
off; or st. Augustine with an apron
around his neck having his hair cut; or
Joan of Arc holding her front hair in her
mouth. as women do, while she fixed mp
heY back hair; or Napoleon jumping
out of bed in frenzy to chase a mosqui-
70 around the room with pillow; or
Martin Luther in his night-shirt irving
to put the baby TO sleep at . o clock in
the morning; or Alexandria the Great
with the hic-cups or Thomas Jefferson
getting suddenly over fence to avoid a
dog; or the duke of Wellington lying
in bed with the mumps; or Daniel
Webster abusing his wife because she
hadn't tucked the covers in at the foot
of the bed or Benjamin Franklin par
ing his corn with a razor or Jonathan
Edwards at the dinner-table wanting to
sneeze Just as he gets his mouth full OF
hot beef; or Noah standing at his win
dow at night throwing bricks at cat
.udr Adeicr.
Year: 1873

quarrel with really "good Shots" and
Captain Ross, it is interesting to know,
has stated it as his opinion that people
are now much more guarded in heir
language than when staggering and
Offering TO fight went long way toward
whitewashing a scoundrel, and therefoSe
excited him to pick quarrel. OF his
skill in that particular line of shooting
which has just gained this veteran his
parting cheer at Wimbledon, we may
mention that in his time the gallant
captain has won all the three great cups
there-the Association, the Wimbledon,
and the duke of Cambridge's-while no
one else has won more than one.
Year: 1873

We know perfectly well that some
persons lace themselves too tight, al
though il is not at present fashionable
to do SO. We know, too, that many
women have riously injured their
health, while some have sacrificed life
itself on the shrine of a slender waist.
But the wearing of the corset does not
necessarily, and. in fact, does not COM
monty, end in tight lacing; while lacing,
and that, too, of very hurtful sorr,
may be, and fire guently is, accomplished,
without the use of corset at all. We
have seen mems clothes worn as tightly
as any corset ever was. The condemna-
tiOn of tight lacing is perfectly Just, OF
course, as everybody having the small
est knowledg of anatomy knows. But
many women who never lace wear cor
sets and derive great benefit from their
use. 1t is certainly very absurd to de-
mand that these people shall forego a
comfort-giving article of apparel merely
because they could turn it into an in
strument of torture if they were fools
They find that to put the entire weight
of their clothing upon their shoulders
is to give themselves pain, and in order
TO divide it they let part of their appa-
rel depend upon the hips for support.
To do this without a corset it would be
Necessary to wear the garments altogeth-
er tighter about the waist than they
should be worn, and to bind then,
around a single narrow zone, which
would be both uncomfortable and uu.
wise. The corset, however, distributes
both the weight and the pressure over
the strong muscles of the hips, and as
it is less yielding than the flesh, it OBJ


viates the necessity of tight Wristbands
altogether. Tue corset, properly used


in other words, furnishes the very best
remedy for tight lacing, particularly


now that taper waists have gone on. %
fashion,-HeorM and Home.
Year: 1873

A Yonkers IN. " negro brought
suit for $500 under the civil rights law
against the keeper of an ic cream sa-
loon for refusing to serve him, bnt the
case was dismissed ON the ground that
an ice-cream saloon III no way came
within the scope of the bill. being
neither ga vehicle of common carriage,
licensed theater or public place of
amusement, a common school or insti-
tuition of learning, place for the inter
ment of dead bodies, or a hotel or
tavern"
Year: 1873

People may talk and write as they
please against the habit of early rising,
but in the bracing atmosphere of tins
season, we know of nothing more invig-
Grating than getting up at o'clock in
the morning, and going forth with Ian
tern in hand to meet the rising sun.
Year: 1873

THE FAME AND WATER WITCH


3 TO The Editor of he Commercial:


As it is evident from the reports published in
the papers, that the Fame Hose and Water Witch
Fire Cos, fail to come to any definite agreement


n relation to the challenge, and = spirit of ILL
feeling and prejudice seemed to permeate the
meeting held recently, would it not be infinitely
to their credit to calmly and judiciously consider
the whole matter, and nip the thing in the
bud, before it eliminates in a settled bad feel
| ings or results in disbanding the old volunteer
| system and substituting the paid department
We have seven steamers, all of them equal to
| any emergency and constructed in the best man
ner possible for fire service, and as there is no
building in our city that will require an engine
| to get up the highest amount of steam on their
gauges to force stream three hundred feet, il
IL simply nonsense to inaugurate anything that
will, in the end, bring discredit upon the depart
ment and be Of no use after all. Engine trials.
like workmens strikes, are never productive of
any good, but serve only to engender feelings OF
hatred and ill-feelng. Fireman,


THE CANAL BOAT TRoUBLEs-A CORRECTION.


To lie Editor Of The Commercial:


The Phila. "Press, OF yesterday contained
letter from its Wilmington correspondent in ref
erence to the canal boat difficulties, In which
their appeared several erroneous statements cal
culated to reflect unjustly on the Custom House
officials at thus port


The first was to the effect that the canal boat
Erln, which was seized on the 18th was unlaw-
fully detained here several days previous to the
seizure. This is an error. The boat at the time
OF Seizure, was not get unloaded hence there
was no delay. The demand for the penalty in
Cured was made on the 18th. and time given
until the boat was about unloaded to pay it in,
falling in which the seizure was made as above
when the agent OF ..the Lehigh Coal and Naviga
to1 Company gave bond on behalf OF the own
ers, and the boat was released on the goth.


The second erroneous statement was to the
effect that the canal boat owners can neither
obtain license here or in Philadelphia which
tends to keep said boats away from this city, in
consequence of which the price OF coal will be
increased


The facts are that at the present time there
are over ten thousand canal boats regularly IL
oensed, as required by law, and authorized to
engage in the coasting trade, while there are
about one in twenty-five arriving at this port
not licensed and hence liable to the penalty,
amounting to about sixty dollars
These unlicensed boats are either now or
have formerly been owned by the Lehigh Coal
and Navigation Company, whi'h company re-
fuses to take out tho required license for its
boats and by the direct interference of its agents
prevents the captains OF those owned by private
parties doing 30.


Temporary papers Qhis not being their home
distrlc) can be obtained at this port for any Of
these boats after they have paid or secured to
be paid the penalty already incurred by being
engaged III the coasting trade without said pa
pers. FRANK NOLEN


Inspector OF Customs.
Year: 1873

PROFANITY I'VE are living emplatically in
the age Of profanity, and it seems to us that
we are on the toptost current. One cannot
go through the streets anywhere without hav-
ing his ears offended by the vcst of words, and
his reverence shocked by the most profane use
of sacred names. Nor does it come from tile
old or middle-aged alone, for it is a fact as
alarming as it is true, that the youngest pol-
tion of the community are the most proficient
in the disgusting and degrading habit. Boys
have an idea that it is smart to swear, that it
makes them manly There never was greater
mistake in the world. Men, even those who
swear themselves, are disgusted with profani-
ty In a young man, because they know how,
Of all bad habits, this clings the most closely
and increases with years. il is the most in,
sidious of habits, growing on one so oinsensbly
that almost before he is aware he becomes an
accomplished cursor.
Year: 1873

IIAsry MEAI-TAKINo.A-The lawyer who
back in ten minutes, might as well have adj
ded, ~ am killing myself by boiling my food,
and then trying to digest it over my papers ;
at forty five shall probably be either broken
down invalid or n lunatic, but in the meantime
am very much at your service" There is
also ghastly hulnor about that other story Of
the host in New England city, who asked his
guest at midday dinner if che would mind
eating his pie on the street as they walked
along" Bolting down food, anaconda fashion
may give little more present time for bust
ness, but IL win take away from life about as
many years as the number Of days saved by
the rushing policy ofneal-taking.
Year: 1873

An Act to regulate tile commission Of brokers


and real estate agents in the sale of land.


/. BE it enacted by the Senate rnd General
Assembly of tide State of New Jersey, That no
broker or real estate agent selling land on ac-
count of tie owner, shall be entitled to receive
any commission for the sale or exchange of
any real estate, except the authority for selling
is in writing and signed by the owner or his
authorized agent, and the rate of commission
on the dollar shall have been stated in such
authority.


2. And be it enacted, That this act shall
take effect immediately. z 98l8H8


Approved March r., 1878.
Year: 1873

ID ANSAeK the world over aud you will Elil TO find
i T. place where you can buy so cheap get such fine
work DONE and in all respects be fairly dealt with
you can by calling upon X. TALCOTT
Year: 1873

The shoemakers Of Massachusetts are many
OF them idle at present, not by reason Of strike
on their part, but on account Of what is praCti
cally strike by the leather manufacturers. The
latter on the strength of the destruction Of stock
by the Boston fire, and an increased foreign
demand since the German. French war, have
insisted on an advance in prices which the boot
and shoe manufacturers were ready to cOncede,
provided they could be assured that their Gus.
toners would submit to a corresponding rise OF
prices for boots and shoes This the dealers from
the South and West have failed to do, and many
large customers of Mass slchusetts manufacturers
from those sections of the country who had visi-
ted the State to make their purchases Tor the
spring trade, took their departure without leav.
ing their customary orders. The consequences
is that IN many of the large shoe towns the
shops are closed, or working only to a part o
their capacity, and great numbers of workmer
have been thrown out of employment.
Year: 1873

The following wise words are taken
from Lewis New Gymnastics" Let
every mother read the truth, and then see
whether the dresses of her little ones cor
respond. A distinguished physician, who
died some years ago in Paris, declared:


81 believe that during the twenty-six
years | have practiced my profession in
this city, twenty thousand children have
been carried to the cemeteries, a sacrifice
to the absurd custom of exposing their
naked arms"


have often thought, if mother were
anxious to show the soft white skin of
her baby, and would cut out hole in the
little things dress, just over the heart, and
then carry it about for observation by
the company, it would do very little harm.
But to expose the baby's arms, members
so far removed from the heart and with
such feeble circulation at best, is most
pernicious practice. Put the bulb of a
thermometer in baby's mouth the mer.
curry rises to 80 degrees. Now carry the
same bulb to its little hand the mercury
will sink 40 degrees. OF course, all the
blood which flows through these arms
and hands must fall from ten to forty de-
grees below the temperature of the heart.
Need | say that when these cold currents
of blood flow back into the chest, the
child's general vitality must be more or
less compromisedP And need 1 add that
we ought not to be surprised at its fire.
quently recurring affections Of the lungs,
throat and stomach? have seen more
than one child with habitual cough and
hoarseness, or choking with mucous en-,
tirely and permanently relieved by simply
keeping its hands and arms warm. Every
observing and progressing physician has
daily opportunities to witness the same
simple cure.
Year: 1873

A further supplement to an act entitled " lsl


act respecting the Court of Chancery, y


approved April sixteenth, one Thousand


eight hundred and forty-six


l. Be it enacted by the Senate and General
Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That
hereafter in all suits and proceedings in the
court of c!lancery. instead of the retaining fee
now allowed to counsel by statute. it shall be
lawful for the chancellor on final decree to
allow and order paid to the counsel in the
cause such sum as the chancellor may con-
slider justly warranted by the interests inyol-
we'd in the litigation and the services rendered,
which allowance shall be included in the bill
of taxed costs and collected with the other
items of said bill in the same manner that the
retaining fee has been heretofore I; and the
retaining fee now allowed to counsel by sta
tute shall not hereafter be allowed in the cases
herein provided for.


2. And he it enacted, That this act shall
take effect Immediately.


Approved April 2, 1878.
Year: 1873

Elliott Misunderstanding, who is a merchant tailor,
doing business In Canal street. alleges that, the
9Th OF this month, while somewhat under the iniu-
ence Of liquor, he was invited by the defendants to
take coach ride. He objected, stating that he
had no money with him and did not wish to en-
croach upon their hospitality; but they insisted
and forced him into the coach. They
stopped at two or three drinking places
and all became pretty drunk. Everything
was pleasant among them until something
was said about paying for the coach, when
plaintiff told them, as he had said before entering
the coach, that he had no money with him and
could not pay for It, whereuDOn Haste struck him
a violent blow on the head, and he knew nothing
Of what occurred after that


direction OF one Of the defendants, he stopped at
the hotel corner OF Broadway and Eighth street,
where the defendants got out and went into the
hotel. After waiting ten or fifteen minutes, the
defendants not appearing ne went into the hotel
and found tina. they had gone out e. another
and on opening the door found the plain
tin In an insensble condition. He then,
by the advice OF the hotel proprietor,
started for the station house. but before arriving
the driver where he lived, and he took HIM home
Beth his eyes were blackened and his Read was
bruised In several places. HASTE, one OF the de-
fendants, admitted the assault, but said the plain
tin was the nrst aggressor, and he was forced to
do II in self-defence.


The Court, in charging the jury said mo man
can get drunk or riOtous In the company OF others,
to which drunkenness he has con tributed, and
tnen say that he is not In some sense the author OF
that Injury which the liquor has caused his ffiend
the defendants. The Court adjourned for the
term.