smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

At the Lafayette Park police station
they have a weather prophet which
eclipses Tice and all the barometers
in the neighborhood. 1t is a frog of
the genus Xyla, more familiar to the
general reader as the treetoad.-
Hunt, the superintendent of the park,
was mildly abusing his barometer
ono day for misleading him, when
the officer on the beat, an old from
tiersman, said he would show him a
trick. He took glass jar and threw
into it some stones aud couple of
inches of water. Then he whitfield
out little wooden ladder and put it
in the water. After some lively
scrambling q tree-toad was caught,
chucked in, and tin top screwed on.
The weather indicator was complete.
When it is going to be fair weather
that toad roosts ON the top round of
the ladder, solemnly blinking the
hours away. From twelve to fifteen
hours before n change to bad wea-
ther, "the general" as they call him,
begins to climb down, and a couple
of hours before a storm sets in he
squats himself OIL a stone, and, with
his head just above the surface of
the water, peers aloft at the coming
storm. Let the weather be changea-
BILE and shifting" as Old Probs
says, and the toad goes up and down
that ladder like a scared MILDLY
When it is fair and the toad roosts
aloft, his skin is of a light grayish
green. When the change comes the
skin turns black as tho toad goes
down the ladder, becoming jet
shining black by the time he reaches
the bottom. The fame of the toad
has spread through the Lafayette
Park neighborhood.
Year: 1876

v. nstcu Sookos III AakoZIuc.


Henry had already received the
name Of the "Man of the People.
He sprung from what may be called
the middle class, and his personal ap'
pearance was plain, almost humble,
During his early manhood he was
noted for idleness and failure in all
that he undertook. He failed twice
as small country merchant, giving
his time and attention to hunting,
fishing and playing the violin, in
stead of his business; and, as q last
resort, read law for six weeks, barely
received license to practice, and
seemed destined to starve a little
more rapidly even in his new profess
sion than in trade. The moment was
near, however, when his wonderful
powers were to reveal themselves
The clergy of the colony-who were
not popular class-brought suit to
recover their salaries, resting their
claim on, royal order in council,
which was in direct opposition to an
act of the Burgesses, and Henry was
employed to oppose them, though the
law was completely in their favor
The result was remarkable. The
awkward youth rose to speak in the
midst OF derisivc smiles from the
clergy, who were present in great
numbers. His head hung down, and
his voice faltered. But soon an as
tonishing transformation took place
in his appearance. The head rose
erect, the voice grew vibrating and
imperious, and he denounced king,
clergy and Parliament in terms SO
violent and overwhelming that he
was interrupted by cries of 'sTrea-
sonw and the parsons left the court
house in bitter Indignation. Henry's
triumph was complete. He had play
cd upon the chords of tho popular
heart with the hand Of master.
The jury decided in his favor in open
opposition to all law; and the crowd,
yielding to passionate admiration,
caught the young orator up on their
shoulders, and bore him, in the midst
of shouts and outcries, around the
yard of the courthouse.


Henry's next public appearance
was in the debate on the Stamp Act
in the House of Burgesses. We have
seen him on that occasion rise in the
midst Of the crowd of planters, and
break down all opposition by his i'm
mense eloquence. He had thus car
ried with him the first men Of Vir-
ginia, as he had carried with him the
rustic crowd when he spoke against
the parsons. He was thencetorward
the mouth-piece and leader of the ex-
treme revolutionists, and his own
fiery spirit pervaded the whole fabric
of society, moulding public senti-
ment and stirring the people to reso.
lutte resistance.
Year: 1876

The Old Cabinet, Scribner for March.


1 was talking the other day with a
man of high character and position,
but Of a nature gentle and unassum-
ing, rather than sturdy or trenchant.
He was telling me, with great ardor,
the best news that man can com
municate with regard to his children,
namely, that he was sure that his
boys, who had grown old enough for
the test, had proved themselves thor
oughly honest. He did not use the
term in any commonplace or quib-
bling sensc-it had a full and vital
meaning. The talk turned upon this
matter OF honesty, and its extraordin-
airy scarcity. 1t has been impressed
upon my mind by the circumstance
that since our casual meeting, l was
startled one morning by the an
nouncement, in the newspapers, of
his death. remember that my friend
told me that in his young days-long
before he became a clergyman Of the
Episcopal Church-he was engaged
in mercantile business in another
city. 1t was his place to attend to
the paying of certain charges or
duties upon goods, and sometimes it
was necessary for him to correct mis-
takes that had been made in the in
terest of the firm. This he did as
incident to his officc-but he told me
that he knew at the time that if his
honesty had been discovered by the
reputable house which employed him
he would have lost his place. l can
not say that his own conscientious
ness should have carried him further
and made him face the issue with his
employers, because do not know all
the circumstances. But the story is
valuable as illustrating certain tone
which is felt by young persons in
many business houses that show an
unspotted record to the world,
Year: 1876

When a boy has been off all day, con-
trary to the expressed wish Of his mother,
and on approaching the homestead at
night, with an anxious and cautious tread,
hnds company at tea, the expression of
confidence and rectitude which suddenly
lights up his face cannot be reproduced on
canvas
Year: 1876

This subject deserves to be discussed and |
acted upon more extensively by our breeders |
than has hitherto been done. The enor- !
nous and rapidly increasing demand for |
meat which characterizes the food markets |
of these days has reacted in a remarkable
manner upon. the nature of the animals
that supply it. Formerly the animals that
furnished pork, mutton, and beef were
allowed to attain the age of three years and
upward before they were considered to be
ripe for the butcher; but now sheep and
pigs are perfectly matured at the early age
Of one year, and two-year-old oxen furnish
a large quota of our roast beef. The So
called improvement of stock Is simply the
forcing of them into an unnatural degree
Of fatness at an early age and this end Is
attained by dexterous selection and cross
ing of breeds, by avoidance of cold, diminish
ing as much as possible their muscular
activity, and lastly and chiefly, by over
feeding them with grain and concentrated
ailments.


Every one knows that man so obese as
to be unable to walk cannot be in healthy
state; vet many feeders of stock look upon
the mOnstrOusly fat bulls and cows of prize
celebrity as normal types of the bovine
tribe. 1t requires but little argument to
refute so fallacious notion. No doubt it
Is desirable to encourage the breeding of
those varieties of animals which exhibit
the greatest disposition to fatten, and to
arrive early at maturity; but the forcing of
individual animals into an unatural state of
obesity, except for purely experimental
purposes, is a practice which cannot be too
strongly deprecated. If breeders contented
themselves with handing over to the
butcher their huge living blocks of fat, the
matter would not, perhaps, be very serious
but unfortunately it is generally the prac-
tice to turn them to account as siTes and
dams. Were such a one as we judge at a
cattle show, we certainly should disqualify
every extremely fat animal entered for com
petition among the breeding stock. Unless
parents are healthy and vigorous, theii
progeny are almost certain to be unhealthy
and weakly ). and it is inconceivable that al
extremely obese bull, and an unnaturally
fat COW, could be the progenitors of healthy
offspring.


We should By all means improve our liv
stock, but we should be careful not to over
do the thing. If we must have ponderou
bulls and COWS at our fairs and exhibitions
let us condemn TO speedy immolation thOs
unhappy victims to most absurd fashion
but in the name Of common sense let u
leave the perpetuation of the species to il
dividuals in a normal state whose heart
are not hypertrophied, and whose lung


are capable of effectively performing til


function Of respiratiOn.-Proole Fofmcr.
Year: 1876

Nothing else in the world will bring that
same ghastly expression to mans face
that flits over his countenance when, in
the midst Of gay party, he suddenly re-
members that he has left his handkerchief
home on the bureau, and will have to 90
out and wipe his nose on the side of the
house.
Year: 1876

when in sufficient volume to be beyond
the reach O.! cornering robbers the safest
currency which the ingenuity OF man has
ever conceived OF. II Congress would
give the American people the Venitian
system OF finances as improved by those
people who are sneered at as .'shinplas-
ter advocates" there would soon be
work enough tor all at fair wages. II it
would give us the double standard OF
gold and silver as a full legal tender
we might be able to withstand the ruins
Gus effects Of forced resumption but to
compell people to pay gold when tn"
gold market is cornered, Congress would
simply legislate both the country and
people into national bankruptcy by per-
hitting an alien money lender to take
all kinds of property, to his full content
without let or hinderance, or limit and
with no regard to decency or equity
| Was anv gambler on the board OF trade
ever known to grant mercy to ''short''
! in his power until the last dollar had
been squeezed out Of the unfortunate
victimo


To make gold the only legal means
OF payment, when the nation, and near
! ~ every individual IN the nation. mas
sold gold short, and thereby turn the
nation over to the tender mercles OF
foreign Shylocks,is something more tlran
villainy, although it may all be done IN
The name of honesty. But III private
life there is such thing known us the
statutes OF frauds This corner on
gold has been engineered by men with
fraudulent intent. Had their operations
been known or even understood by
members of congress not a single one o.
| the fraudulent acts would have been
passed. Nota single one OF the iraudu
lent gold acts has a particle OF moral
force, because they all would fall under
the statute OF frauds had they been com'
mitted AS private acts. \ public conil-
dence game may be beyond the reach o.
| law. but this does not make it honest
! Iuttr-Ocean.


4 + FIECH
Year: 1876

1t was remarked after the execution of
three corner men" at Liverpool that
crimes of violence were reported at the
police courts in greater numbers than
usual, and that three persons appre-
hended OH a charge of peculiarly brutal
assault on an old man were overheard to
say that they would finish him off and
swing for it. The fear of violent death,
incomprehensible as it appears, seems to
act rather as an irritant than deterrent
on some natures. Last week on Holborn
Viaduct, within few yards of the prison
where Wainwright lay waiting the exc
cution of his sentence, a new mystery"
of murder was enacted to take the place
of the '' Whitechapel Mystery" Simon
Hatchwell, policeman, was shot there
in a well-frequented and welllighted
street, while walking quietly along with
his wife in plain clothes after his days
work was over His wife heard whiz-
zing sound, and looked round to see her
husband stagger and cry that he was shot
in the head. What does this say for the
deterrent effect of hanging? The excite
ment that has been kept up over the
Wainwright murder is an unhealthy
thing; but the punishment has been as
much before peoples eyes as the crime
London Examiner
Year: 1876

The latest report of the contingent
expenses of the house of representa-
tives," is not volume to be finished at
one reading 1t is not dull work. 1t
is both useful and entertaining, as it shows
how a part of the federal money goes,
and indicates the recklessness which
usually marks public disbursements. The
smallest items sometimes serve this pur-
pose as well as the larger ones. When
the report is not interesting in itself it is
so in what it recalls.


The very first item, for instance,
$4S7 so for a stenographic report of the
Busted investigation" reminds us of
an improbable judicial experiment.
Equestrianism seems to have been a
favorable practice in the legislative
department of the government. In
the page occupied by payments for
horses and carriages" the charge
for "carryalls" and teams to deliver
mails for the house of representatives
is plain enough, but what shall be said of
saddle horses ?'' OF these there are
twelve-unless indeed, the same animal is
put down a dozen times. Half dozen
whitewash brushes" does not seem to be
an extravagant charge, in view of the
whitewashing" done by congress.


Fifteen dollars worth of French black
ing and forty-eight dollars worth OF boot
black stools will not escape attention.
It may be said that it is rather petty
business to object to the government s
paving for a few " shines" The easy
answer is that it is equally small for the
legislative members of that government
Year: 1876

There is one aspect of this Centennial
wear 1876, which deserves more atten7
ton than has yet been bestowed upon AZ.


IL is of grave importance in connection
with the institution of marriage and
with the rights of women. There may
be people, perhaps, who will say that IL
Was only by mere accident that the
Declaration of American Independence
was made in q leap year. These ssmo
people will tell you that il was only by,
accident that AIaximilian RObespierre
splashed his silk stockings on the mem
orable occasion which, as great his
torian has 80 Convincingly shown, led
him on and up to the giddy heights OF
mower and of crime II was only by ac-
cident, too, we suppose, that CIomwell
and his comrades were turned ASIDE
from their purpose of cmbarking for the
new world. Why did not the congress
of the colonies act IN l115 or postpone
action till l777? There can be no doubt
in the mind Of any thoughtful student
of history, that the true answer TO these
questions is TO he found in the fact that
the year l776 was not only blssextlle
wear. but of all bissextile years the most
duardrennial year imaginable, since l776,
being divided by four, gives us as it's
result 444, or - many fours as can only
he conveniently crowded into the num-
her of anv year, which is at all likely TO
interest us or-oursdescendants TO the re
motest generation. 1t was, in short, n
four-Ieaved clover Of year, and as
everybody knows who knows anything,
and everybody believes "hc believes
ANYTHING, your four leaved clover ~ the
highest symbol of feminine good luck.
This, of course, prefgured for the United
States of America an influence oil the
most unexampled sort upon the united
state of matrimony. IL was plainly
written in the book of fate from the be-
ginning that the old and conventional
relation of the sexes should be reversed
in the Republic of 1776, and the young
women of America will be false To their
duty and to the high destiny OF their
country if they fail TO celebrate this, the
FIRST centennial leap year of our history
by formally doing away with the etete
customs of past barbarian and inau
gurating the new era, which has thus isr
been only fee5ly preached and ProPhe-
sled by such voices crying IN the wilder
uess as those Of Miss. Susan b. Anthony,
Mrs. Cady Stanton, and Mrs. Lucy
blackwell Stone. Let every unmaTried
girl in America who respects herself
and the republic, take q solemn oath,
say on a pair Of scissors or an old shoe
or anything else which may he regarded
as really binding by the female mind,
not only to refuse the lhand of any man
who offers himself to her in marriage,
but also to shoot on the spot any man
who may refuse her hand when offered
TO him by her, after mature consultation
with his parents and guardians.
Year: 1876

"A young man in Olathe, Kansas, who
is particular about his washing, the othel
day wrote a note to his washerwomar
and one to his girl, and, by strangC
fatality, put the wrong address on each
envelope and sent them off. The washer
woman Was well pleased at an invitation
to take ride the next day, but wbe1
the young lady read: IF you muss W
my shirt bosoms, and rub the buttons of
my collar any more, as you did the las
time, 1 will go somewhere else" she crieC
all the evening, and declares that she viii
never speak to him again.
Year: 1876

high principle, and exalted worth
could have arrested the shafts of
fate, she would still have remained
among us, a brightexample of every
virtue. The hand of death has
removed her to a purer and happier
state of existence, and while we la
ment her loss, let US endeavor to
emulate her virtues" The long
procession then passed away from
her former home to her grave be-
tV cen the church and the asylum.
At the gate of the asylum stood its
little inmates in line, while the pro-
cession passed through the midst
of them. After the body had been
placed in what should have been its
last abode, the orphans came TO
strew the grave with branches of
gseeping willow.


SWhat should have been its last
abodeg' The place she herself
chose between the church and the
orphanage. Here were gathered
the last remains of her husband, her
child, grandchiId, and herself. Of
all her large estate in Washington
she asked only grave: and her re-
quest has been denied. For forty
years her body lay in the place of
her own selection, but without a
friend or relative to guard that sa
cred dust. In these forty years
Washington had grown from a city
of eighteen thousand inhabitants to
one of one hundred and ten thou
sand. Land had greatly increased
in value, and could not be spared
for purposes of sepulture. The
tomb was, therefore, left in such
neglect that it's removal was de-
manded as a sanitary measure. The
bodies were exhumed by strangers,
ard carried TO Georgetown, and the
mausoleum removed with them.
The pecuniary value of that last
resting place has now returned to
strange heirs, who loved the place
of her grave better than her mem
ory or her wishes.
Year: 1876

ICaliiOrnia Spirit OF the Times.


A merchant going home elevated,
staggered against a telegraph pole


''Beg your pardon" said he Il
hope no offense. It's rather dark
and the street is very narrow, you
see."


In a few moments he came in
contact with another pole.


"Couldn't help it SIR" said he,
lifting his hat. 81 never saw such
crooked lanes as we have here in
this city"


Again he ran foul of a pole,
this time with a force that sent
him backward to the ground.


Look here, neighbor, you need
not push a fellow down because he
happens to touch you; the road is
as much mine as yours, and I have
as much right here as you have, old
stick-in- -the-mud."


Picked himself up and made an
other effo-t to reach his home, but
he soon came plump against an
other pole.


"Shan' make any more apologies, -
said he; "If you get into the middle
of the street and stand in my way,
that's your lookout, not mine"


Proceeding on his journey again
and becoming angry and dizzy, he
seemed to be entangled in an mex
tricable labyrinth of telegraph poles
which led him to made a genera
speech.


"Gentlemen, you are rot doing
the fair thing. You do n OF give :
man fair chance. You run from
one side Of the street to the othel
right IN my way"


Just then he met a friend, anC
taking him by the hand, he said.


There is a procession going
along this street, and every man il
drunk; they have been running
against me all the way from tlt
Club. I knocked one ofthe fellows
down, one Of the fellows knocked
me down, and then a lot of then
got around me, and believe they
would have licked me within an incl
of my life if you had not come t.
the rescue. Let us go out of thi.
street before the procession comes
back for they are all drunk"
Year: 1876

Reese River Cal. Reville.l


Somebody dropped some quick
silver on the sidewalk in Main
street to day, and an Indian tried
to pick it up. First he made a
grab at it with his thumb and fore
finger, and was astonished when he
couldn't pick it up. he was deter
mined to have that quIcksilyer;so be
unwound a handkerchief from his
hat, and spreading it on the ground
got chip and seraped the quick
silver into it. A look of triumph
shot from his eagle eye as he gath
cred up the four corners of the
handkerchief, but it was replaced
by one of horror and disgust when
the metal run through the fabric
like water through a sieve. Look
ing at the metal as it lay on the
ground, he launched a vicious kick
at it and uttered the ejaculation used
by keno player when some other
fellow makes a keno.
Year: 1876

Look on the bright side, the right
one. The times may be hard, but
it will make them no easier to wear
a sad and gloomy countenance. It
is the sunshine and not the cloud
that makes the flower. The sky
is blue ten times where it Is black
once. You have your troubles
SO have others. Troubles give sin
ew and tone to life-fortitud and
courage to man. That would be a
dull sea, and the sailors never get
skill, where there is nothing TO dis
turb its surface. What though things
look a little dark. the lane will
turn, and night will end in broad
day. There is more virtue in a sun
beam than in a whole hemisphere
of cloud and gloom.
Year: 1876

1t is surprising to see ladies Of
apparent extreme modesty and eul-
tivated taste attempting to follow
absurd and ridiculous fashions in
dress. a gorgeous, fashionable at
tire is not only an expression OF
vanity, but an expression Of charac
ter. Notwithstanding that the above
is our candid view Of fashions
freaks, we admire an attractive dress,
but dislike very much to see a lady
dressed in the latest agony use her
little finger when wiping her nose
ON the side of meeting house.
Year: 1876

Alone walked the ocean strand,
A pearly she'll was in my hand;
l stopped, and wrote upon the sand


Ny name, the year and day.
As onward from the spot passed,
One ligering look behind I cast
A wave came rolling high and fast,


And washed my lines away.
And So methought, twill quickly be
With every mark on earth from mel
A wave of dark oblivion's sea


viii sweep across the place
Where l have trod the sandy shore
Of time, and be to me no more;
of me, my day. the name bore,


To leave no track or trace.
And yet with him who counts the sands,
And holds the water in His hands,
| know lasting record stands


Inscribed against my name,
Of all this mortal part has wrought,
OF ali this thinking soul has thought,
And from these fleeting moments caught,


For glory or for shame.
Year: 1876

A Wisconsin editor illustrates the
prevailing extravaganza Of the peo-
pie OF the present day by calling at
tention to the costly baby carriages
in use now, while, when he was a
baby, they hauled him around by
the hair of the head.
Year: 1876

There is not as much sympathy
in the world as there should be.
Every man should commiserate the
suferings Of otherss and every true
woman should have q fellow feeling
in her bosom for the sorrows and
distresses of Brswasyilie
Free Press.
Year: 1876

Some farmers have a nice lot Of
cows and mares, but ruin their pro-
duee by an Indifferent ball OF stall
lion, when if they would use a good
sire they could not fail to breed
stock that would do better, com
mand more money and be ready
for market months before the indif-
ferent bred ones.