smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1873

1t is time 10 say something about
postal cards. 1t is said that they
have been in convenient use for sew
eral years in Germany and Great
Britain, and for a more limited peri
Od in Canada. The system IS a sim
pie one for short communications not
confidential i'm their nature through
the mails cheaply and rapidly. In
stead of note paper and envelopes,
tough and durable cards, composed Of
linen and cotton, will be used for the
messages. The cards will be tinted
and calendered on both sides for
printing and writing with ink or pen
Gil. And they are intended to betlex-
ible as well as tough.


The postal cards will have an I'M
pressed penny postage stamp and rul-
ing for the address OF one side, and
ruling for the message on the other.
They will be without envelopes, flaps
or covers. The POstmaster-General
assures US that they will be superior
in artistic execution to those in Eu-
rope or Canada, and cannot be easily
cOunterfeited. They are to be fur


nished by the Department in quanti-


ties at the price of the stamps, which


will be one cent each. It is estimat-
ed that they will cost the government
one and twn-thiryls Of mill each. and
afford a revenue Of eight mills and a
third


It is expected by the Postmaster
General that at least 100000 900 Of
them will be consumed the first year
of their use, and that the sale will be
/ geOmstrically greater afterwards. The
kind of correspondence which may be
carried on with the cards is expected
to be short inquiries and answers, in
vitatiOns and circulars. They will be
i'm shape TO be used on the instant, and
rapidly. They will be open to the in
spection Of the clerks in the POst-Of-
flee, it is true, but they will be too
busy in handling them to be likely to
care to inspect their contents. They
will not be likely % be looking for Sc
crets on the outside of anything. II
any secrets are written upon them
they will be i'm cypher which will be
Greek to them.


Private, social and important busi-
ness letters will de likely 10 go under
cover as usual. But much that re-
Iates To common business Of life may
be, and if the system goes into opera
ton. will be written on these handy
tablets. And eyphers without num-
Der will be invented, by the means Of
which prices and the state Of the mar
kets may be safely transmitted on
them. We have formed no opinion
Of the utility Of the proposition, and
content ourselves for the present with
afotintr What il ig
Year: 1873

Recently, a lady had to be convey
ed out Of a London ballroom in q
complete state Of prOstratiOn, which
turned out to have been caused by the
poisonous particles emanating from a
green robe she wore. Powerful anti
dotes had to be employed TO recover
her. The most powerful was the
whisper, by a friend, that her false
hair was coming off.
Year: 1873

During Mr. Beecher's visit to this
city, 4 young man wrote to him As
follows


"WOuld you advise me to relinquish
responsible position in a good house
TO accept a commission at the same
salary in the consular service abroad
with view of study and improve
ment ?u


To which Mr.. BeecheI replied
Irregular business will leave you
your own master. Public service is
irregular, fitful, and generally slavish.
Don't take Office till you are about to
be put in the poor house.


II. w. BEECHER."
Year: 1873

In letter to his friends at home, an
intelligent foreigner states that
"when a great man dies in the United
States, the first thing done is to pro-
pose a fine statue in his honor next
TO raise hart Of the necessary money ;
next, to forget to order any statue,
aud last wonder what become Of the
money" The remark shows close
observation and clear judgment.
Year: 1873

An Omaha man desiring TO get rid q
his mother in-Iaw at very short notice,
induced her to spread nitrO-glycerine
on her back to cure lum bagO, and then
apply q hot fiatiron. At the latest ae-
counts they had sent into an adj1in-
ing county to try to get enough o.
the woman together to hold an in-
quest over.
Year: 1873

Itis said that il. Maud Muller had


her life to live over again, and should


meet the Judge Of this year Of grace,
1873, she would sue him for breach Of
promise and obtain sufficient dam
ages to make her family happy or else


shoot him, become a lecturer, and die


rich and respected by all.
Year: 1873

DR.. Willard Parker, Of New York,
in recent address took the radical
ground that alcohol i'm all forms and
combinations is a poison. He said the
purer the spirit the more deadly It's
effect, and declared that if he were
going to use it he should prefer the
adulterated article. He declared that
nothing is harmless in which there is
alcohol.
Year: 1873

The KINGS UMBRMLA.-When
tho King Of Ashantco takes tho
fold, his presence ia denoted by
his state umbrella, which is always
carried near him or over him by
one or other of tho noblos Of his
household, tho kings umbrella
bearer being always a person of
very high rank. Tho kings UNI
brella is Of great size. 1t is con-
structed of alternate trianglos of
rcd and black velvet, and is
splondidIy oruamonted with gold.
10 give an idea Of tho value of
those umbrellas, he umbrella
of chief not Of tho first rank Of
ton costs 5000.


Tho loss Of the kings umbrella
in battle would bo considered the
greatest disgrace and defeat an
Ashantoo army could meet with ;
and in like manner for q chief
to lose his umbrella in battle is
considered q great dishonor fox
him. Tho chiefs all carry umbrcl
las varying in splondor and costli
moss, according TO tho rank OF
their ownol%E but no Ashantoo
chief may havo an umbrella as
large as tho kings, or with tho
same arrangement ofcolors, which
arc especially reserved for royalty
Year: 1873

The first duty Of the Oranges, it is
suggested, should be to cxtinguisA
every orator who begins with "I
have not the good fortune to be far
mer, but have always felt the pro-
found interest in the truly noble and
predominant pursuit of agriculture,
and never was that interest greater
than now"
Year: 1873

Glass bonncts have appeared. They
are formed of q tissue woven by fAs
glass of threads, and may be said 10
be the glass of fashion fitted to the
mould of form. Ladies who wear
them must deny themselves the pleas
ure of criticising their neighbors, on
the principle that it is dangerous for
those who live in glass houses to
throw stones.
Year: 1873

SINS OF OMISSION AND COMMISSION.
,yr DEFICIENCY IN THE TREASURY DEFINITELY


KNOWN HOW CITY FUNDS WERE HANDLED


uNpEn sPRAGUE AND RoDMAg.


The report of Public Accountant Warren IN which
the deficiency in the City Treasury is shown to
exceed $4,000, and the Illegal manner in
which large amounts of city funds were
used by somebody" as Mr.. Warren
onictly says. during the whole of
SpraSues term of Office is clearly indicated attract
ed quite rs much attention the Brtton case yes
terday. in which the evidence was brought to q
close with the understanding that arguments will
soon be- made before the Governor by the opposing
counsel
Year: 1873

RoMASTIc INCIDENT OF THE LOST At
,xrIc,-The body of an American wo-
nan, about twenty-five years of age, one
"i I tbe victims Of the Atlantic disaster,
" WAS picked up, dressed in regular sailors
garb 1t transpires that she had served
as a common sailor for several voyages,
and during that time her sex had not
been bee suspected. She was the only
American sailor on board of the Allan
tic. ann there has been no reason dis
covered for her singular conduct. She
!, said to have been a good and faithful
sailor. Some idea may be formed of the
esteem in which she was held, by the fol-
loving tribute to her memory by one Of
her brother tars who survived the cal
amity: Il did not know Bill was wo-
man. He used TO take his liquor as
regular as any of us, and was always
begging and stealing tobacco. He was a
good fellow, though, and am sorry he
was woman"
Year: 1873

Az anti i-Chinese public meeting was
held in Beaver Falls, Pa, recently, and
an anti Chinese slavery league formed.
Those present formally resolved that
they would withdraw their support from
any candidate for public Office who does
not plainly and fearlessly make known
his opposition to this worse than Afri-
can slavery. "
Year: 1873

Done ut the RECORD Office in the best style
known to the art and must be paid for on de-
livery. unless persons having the work done
have standing accounts with the Office. No de-
Walton from this rule.
Year: 1873

A negro in Kansas City named Pete
May yberry-called Hannibal Caesar for
short-with his son, Henry Clay, went
to the woods one day last week to look
after some rabbit traps they had set.
While at work the fierce barking of
their dog caused Henry Clay to east his
eyes heavenward, and he Immediately
sung out "possum, dar." Closer in
spection showed pair of glittering
eyes glaring down from the tree, which
was prima- -facie evidence of the exist


ence Of the negros delight. Henry
foot, axe in hand, ready to finish the
enemy, while Hannibal Caesar retired


a short distance and took careful
aim with an old blunderbuss.
Presently down came the hammer,
and shortly after the gun went
off. So, likewise, did Hannibal
Caesar, who for few minutes gave as
fine specimens of ground and lofty
tumbling as could be expected with a
shoulder out of joint. Meanwhile the
yarruint came down from the tree with
a yell, and proved to be wildcat, land
ing with a lunge plump on the top of
Henry Clay's devoted head In less
than minute The place where the
wool ought to grow was as bare as the
cliffs of Dover, and Henry Clay, with
his heart full Of agony and his mouth
full of fur, struck right and left with
his legs and arms like a hurricane.
The mongrel dog now joined in, and
the battle became general all along the
line. Mistaking Henry Clay's revolv


ing pedal eXtremities as the primal
cause of all the yells and commotion,
he grabbed at heel that waved over
the scene of conflict like the black flag
in a sea fight, and proceeded to


chew and tussle and pull with zeal
that in short time promised to sWal,
low Henry Clay bodily. Hannibal
Caesar, in the meantime, having got
through with his circus performance,
seeing he had barked up the wrong
tree, started off with the rapidity of
railroad train and the noise of a steam
boat whistle. This started the wild
cat, and he left the scene kissing, spit
ting and careering over the ground like
a runaway Babcock Fire Extinguisher.
When Hannibal Caesar returned he
found Henry Clay seated on a log
mending his scalp and splitting fur out
of his mouth, with some shreds of cloth
hanging on him, looking as if they had
just come out of a threshing machine.
He toted him home with the advice:
Il tell you, chile, dey's de sassiest var
mint dere is to get hold on. "-I1o-
d6o210720JiS Sentinel. ke
Year: 1873

Some one has given the following
reasons why people should dress plain
ly on Sunday. These reasons are as
valid any other day in the week:


l. It would lessen the burden of
many who find it hard to maintain
their places in society.


2. 1t would lessen the force of temp,
tations which often lead men to barter
honesty and honor for display.


8. If there was less strife in dress at
church, people in moderate circum-
stances would be more inclined to at
tend


4. Universal moderation in dress at
church would improve the worship by
the removal of many wandering
thoughts.


5. It would enable all classes to at
tend church in unfavorabIe weather.
6. 1t would lessen on the part of the
rich the temptation to vanity.


7. It would lessen on the part of the
poor the temptation to be enyious and
malicious.


s. It would save valuable time on
the Sabbath.


g. 1t would relieve our means from
a serious pressure, and thus enable us
to do more for good enterprises.


MAFIAN HARLAN's cook book is said
Year: 1873

Heroic Conduct of "a Long Island Girl
"A Sharer HI Ida Aewis' Fame.


Long Island has a heroine. and he1
name deserves to be connected with
Ida Lewis. The Sun tells of two men,
John Mason and a friend, whose b1at
capsized last Friday afternoon, near
Eaton's Neck light, opposite the resi-
dence of Mr.. Conklin, farmer When
the cries for help were heard, we learn
from the account in the Sun, Mr.. Conk-
lin was away from home, and there
were only three women and little boy
IN the house. All rushed to the beach
and saw the struggle of the drowning
man, but for moment they were
so paralyzed that neither Of them
had presence of mind enough to
make movement to aid him. Then
Miss Lucinda Conklin, without stop
ping to consult her mother or sister,
waded out into the bay, determined to
make at least one effort to save Mason


At this part of the bay the beach is
broad and shelves out very gradually,
so that the brave woman was enabled
to wade within few feet Of Mr.. Mason.
But as she moved forward, clearing
the ice from her path, the water
deepened little by little until at last,
when she was only eight or ten feet
from the man she sought to save, only
her head was above water. By this
time Mason showed positive signs Of
exhaustion. He clung to the ice for so
long a time that his hands had become
numb and almost powerless, and Miss
Conklin saw, from his efforts to relieve
his hands by placing one of his elbows
ON the cake of ice, that his chances Of
life were not worth minutes pur-
chase. With heroism seldom, if ever


paralleled, she plunged into the deep
water, and with a few vigorous strokes
reached the drowning man. Although
exhausted, he was still sensible, and
faithfully obeyed the instructions given
him by the brave woman. She had
warned him against seizing hold of her
IN such a manner as TO impede her mo.
tions; so when she reached him he
placed his hands on her shoulder, and
in few seconds, thanks to her good
swimming, both stood neck deep
in the ice cold water and be-
gan wading shoreward. A Miss
Conklin reached the shore she tainted
away, and was carried to the house by
her relatives. Mason, nearly frozen to
death, following slowly in their wake,
Miss Conklin was thoroughly exhaust
ed by her exertions, as well as by the
tremendous excitement under which
she had labored, and did not recover
for two or three days. Mason's COM
panion stuck manfully to the keel Of
the boat, and in due course of time
was hauled ashore. Miss Conklin is a
young lady of about the average size :;
but her country training has Impaired
to her much more than the average
strength of her sex. Although not
beautiful, she is spoken of as interest
ing and piqua1ate IN style, and is very
popular in the neighborhood in which
she resides. ...9.
Year: 1873

Why should we teach our boy that he is
to be mere whistling, romping, tearing and
| wearing member of the household, while his
own sister Or wOmen-servants work around
him from weary chime to chime? 1t is not
necessary to define limits, ''thus far shalt
thou 60 and no farther" Every thoughtful
mother can adopt her instructions TO the need.
or to the strength and dizziness Of her boy.
Why should he not make his own bed at
times? Harry, Miss Edgeworth $ Harry, in
Harry and Lucy used to do it, and what
was more. to the best of my recollection, his


father showed him how! A very picture of
a manly boy, he was, growing up evidently
10 be Guy Luss;.c or a Prince Rupert of
our day. Why should the boy leave his
room q bowling wilderness of boots and hats
and inky cket-handkerchiefs IT he be
made occasionally to set it to rights himself.
to get dust-Dan ard sweep up the sticks and
stuff, he will 1T least have an intelligent COM
prehenson, another time, of the cost of the
confusion. Teach him all the little convent
cnces, how to delort himself before his
elders, and the courtesy he owes to ladies,


old and young; but teach him, also. why he
is better fitted to carry home the heavy bas-
ket than Sophy, the servant-maid, and when
he should lend a helping hand to women
young or old. We hear great deal of i'm


perfect sympalhies, nowadays, as Il sort of


bitter drop in the cup of welded life. These
imperfect >ympathies are changed generally,


we believe, to the account Of the masculine


race. Tones of poetry and hecatombs of
bleeding hearts are laid to the charge Of the
new disorder. The disillusion of married
life! Shall we lay al the blame on our
grown-up boys? When the cara sposa dis


covers that the cakes and caramels of court
ship are succeeded by tough butcher bills and
sloppy servant-maids; when, after the days
fret and worry is over, her dear Charles lends
her but an Indifferent ear, and is surprised


that she is 80 very used-up and complaining
we must go back, not only to Clotilde's child
hood, but to that of Charles, rs we'll. She
may, or may not, have the cookbook by
heart; but very sure he is Ignorant as wild
Indian Of the costs Of the home. He may
foot it up, in dollars and in cents it is true;
but of the forces, the physical labor, the
executive energy, the moral balance to keep
all things even, he has not thee motest idea.
Teach him then, O mother of roaming
Charlie, before that possible daughter-in-law
comes upon the scenes, that fine sense of
fitness and order, that intelligent observance
Of the household machinery, that will make
him charitable and hopeful in season, and
sympathetic always Christian Union.
Year: 1873

We want to believe that story from a


Peoria paper about MIR. Henry Bull, but it is


ha4 very hard, to axcept it with perfect


confidence. Mr.. Bull, it is alleged, was fed


upon calomel and blue pills by the doctors


for a number of years, so that finally he be-
cane absolutely saturated with quicksilver,
The other day, while he was standing by the
side of the house, the sun suddenly came out
bright and warm, and Bull began gradually
to ascend. He stopped at the line Of the sill
of the second story and hung there, suspend
ed in space, until a thunder storm happened
to come up, which cooled the atmosphere,
and then Mr. Bull slowly descended. Now he
has graduated scale marked on the gable
end of his dwelling, and whenever Mrs. Bull
wants to know how warm it is she ties fiat
irons to Henry's leg to hold him down, and
walks him around to the gable end and cuts
him loose and lets him rise to eighty or nine
ty degrees, and when she gets the informa-
ton, she lassoes him with the clothes-line
and hauls him down. We say we aoant to
believe this anecdote, because it makes US
happier to have perfect faith, but it is harder
than believing most lies.
Year: 1873

From the Providence Journal.


The next Indian war should be fought by
the editors and newspaper correspondents.
4 good many of us could be spared, and no.
body but the immediate sufferers would be
the worse for it. And we hardly open pa
per that does not show US how much better
the war could be carried on by the writer's
than by the men to whose experience and
sagacity it has been entrusted An editor, of
course knows everything. else he would be
an unsuitable person for such a position, but
of all matters on which editorial information
and ability and skill are displayed, an Indian
war is conspicuous. The rough deposits of
lava, which are so difficult to be crossed by
man and beast, offer no impediment to the
editor, and the deadly ambush, the stealthy
attack, the treachery, the cruelty of the saw
ages, are tritles to them. Therefore they
we, for we have doubtless done our share of
it-explain how easy it is to bring an Indian
war to il successful termination, quite omit
ting to take into account the interiority Of
our Generals in ability, in experience, in
skill, and in all the qualifications for military
success. when compared with those of our
iufallible fraternity.
Year: 1873

The hopelessness Of any ones accomplish
ing anything without pluck, is illustrated by
an old East Indian fable. A mouse that
dwelt near the abode of a great magician was
kept in such constant distress by its fear of q
Cat, that the magician, taking pity on it, turn
ed it into u Cat itself. Immediately it began
to suffer from the fear of dog, so the ma
gician turned it into dog. Then it began to
suffer from. fear of tiger, and the magician
turned it into a tiger. Then it began to suf-
fer from it's fear of huntsmen, and the magi-
clan, in disgust, said: "Be mouse again
AS you.hxve only the heart of mouse, it is
impossible to help you by giving you the
body of a nobler animal" And the poor
creature again became a mouse.


1t is the same with mouse-hearted man.
He may be clothed with the powers, and
placed in the position of brave man, but he
will always act like mouse; and public
opinion is usually the great magician that
finally saws to such persen-''Go back to
your obscurity again. You have only the
heart of a mouse, and it is useless to try to
make lion out of you."
Year: 1873

The smallest sized specimens of sewing silk
manufactured measure about twenty-five
hundred yards, or over one and one-fourth
miles to the ounce. Even in the construction
of this variety, SO fine and gossamer-like that
it is used only in the most delicate branches
of needle-work, sometimes from 200 to 400
flores of the material, as originally spun by
the silk-worm, are required in order to as
sumo the requisite size. The little vermiform
artists which produce this beautiful material
do not spin threads of uniform size. Per-
haps no two spin exactly alike; therefore
there may be as many different sizes of the
worm fibre produced, and as wide q contrast
in texture and quality, rs appear in the fin
ished article of sewing silk after it has been
subjected to the manipulations of human
skill and ingenuity. The smallest fibre of
silk, as wrought by the worm into the requi-
site structure of its cocoon, is 30 infinitely
minute that every ounce of the manufactured
thread is supposed to contain nearly 1000
miles of this fOss-like strand. and the puny
animal sometime elaborates fibre of such
marvellous tenuity that less than four pounds
of the thread, avoirdupOis, would reach
around the world.
Year: 1873

In many bleak Northern regions these ami
mails are the sole support Of the people
When liberated from harness they go di-
rectly in pursuit of food-a peculiar species
of nutritious moss, which their instinct en-
abes them to find, deeply covered with
snow. Sometimes as many as one hundred
start off foraging, there being nothing pro-
vided for them by their exacting master.
Like camels under similar circumstances,
when unladened, they stroll off miles in diff
ferent directions. When they are wanted
again, their seal skin clad drivers get around
them in different directions, and by hallooing,
throwing snowballs, and making considera-
ble uproar, the deer are gradually driven into
a smaller circle. The herd is then encircled
by small cord, the men drawing in nearer,
until it strikes against their long legs. They
neither try to leap over nor break it, but
huddle as close IS possible. Finally the two
ends meet, held by one person. while the
others enter under the line and select the
animals they want, seizing them by the
horns, bringing them outside and tying them
to something strong enough to hold them
until they are harnessed to the sledge. The
remainder again scatter in pursuit of moss.
Tall, strong and fleet though the reindeer are,
able with their antlers to NOW down q score
of Northmen, they cover at the voice of
man. Their masters are rude, harsh and un-
kind toward them. Under no circumstances
of oppression or hardship do they evince the
slightest resentment They are so tirnid that
their drivers voice sets them running at such
speed that they will die before halting if the
drivers continue to urge them.