smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

The Bath (Steuben county, Courier
has the following: ga very competent
engineer has made some careful surveys
and estimates to determine the possibili-
of moving Lake Keuka about eight
miles further up the river. We are
happy to be assured by him that the
project is feasible and that the expense
will be much lowef than has been sup
posed. The plan involves the buying
of strip of farms extending from the
head of the lake up to the corporation
bounds Of the village. A trench being
then dug of sufficient depth and line
of barrels filled with nitro-glycerine
carefully laid in the bottom single
explosion it is calculated will lay open
chasm seven and half miles long and
half mile wide, into which the water
will rush in perfect deluge. Penn
Y an will then be left eight miles from
the foot of the lake, and all that space
which is now covered with useless water
will become in few years fruitful farms
occupied-by an honest and industrious
population. The expense Of this great
improvement will be but trife over
one million dollars. The 'moneyed men
of Bath have already subscribed $780,
900, and the balance will easily be made
up by small subscription. A public
meeting will shortly be held to secure
this important movement"
Year: 1876

\ Centennial correspondent writes:
"In the Government Building is much
that is most interesting, and some things
/ have not seen mentioned For exam
pie, if / tell my reader that his name,
with that of all his family, is carefully
registered in the Government Centennial
Building, he will doubtless like to know
what has entitled him to such d;stin-
gulshed consideration. Well, here are
deposited the manuscript volumes of the
census of 1870. When you know that
only two counties of Ohio make a folio
volume, you will see that there are over
900 great volumes You turn to your
State, county. and township, and there
you find your name, and those of Your
wife and children. Just think of near
100000 of people registered in this
wayi You see that such record may
be invaluable in great legal controversies.
To know that certain man lived in a
certain place, in certain year, may be
of vast importance"
Year: 1876

Day BUILDING SPoTs.-1f houses
were built on dry sites and of sufficient
area, and with proper arrangements for
ventilation, and the water supply was
pure ahd sufficient, the larger half of
the great problem of sanitary science
would be solved. The disposal of the
refuse of life and labor is simpler mat
ter. Wretched homes, impure air, and
fouled water lower the physical and
mental stamina of men and women so
much a. to make them indifferent 70
dirt, and passive almost under disease.
Arouse their energies by better homes,
and the disposal of refuse or waste sub
stances would become a work of ease, if
not of absolute pleasure. For all OF
the different modes of disposing of sew
erage or other waste there is none so
simple, direct or efficient for the rural
districts a. its immediate application
the soil and conversion into the growing
crops of the garden or allotment San
itary Science.
Year: 1876

1t seems to be necessary condition OF
human science that we should learn
many apparently useless things in order
to become acquainted with those which
are of service; and as i. is impossible,
antecedently to experience, to know the
value of our acquisitions. the only way
in which mankind can secure all the
advantages of knowledge is to prosecute
their inquiries in every possible direc-
ton. There can be no greater impedi-
ment to the progress of science than
perpetual and anxious reference a,
every step to palpable utility. Assured
that the general result Will be beneficial,
it is not wise to be too solicitous as to the
immediate value of every individual
effort. Nor is it to be forgotten that
trivial and apparently useless acquisi-
tions are often the necessary prepara-
tives to important discoveries. The la
bors of the antiquary, the verbal critic,
the collator of mouldering manuscripts,
the describer of microscopic objects
(labors which may appear to many out
of all proportion to the value of the re-
sultl may be preparing the way for the
achievements Of some splendid genius,
who may combine their minute details
into magnificent system, or evolve
from multitude of particulars collect
ed with painful tolls, some general prin.
| ciple destined to illuminate the career
of future ages. To no one, perhaps are
the labors of his predecessors, even
when they are apparently trifling or un.
successful, of more service than to the
metaphysician; and he who is we'll &C.
quainted with the science, can scarcely
fail to perceive that many of its inquir
les are gradually converging to impor
tant results. Unallied as they may ap
pear to present utility, it is not hazard
ing much to assert that The world mus
hereafter be indebted to them for th,
extirpation of many mischievous errors
and the correction of great part o
those loose and ill-founded opinions b,
which society is now pervaded.-[Ex
change.
Year: 1876

Let it be rememb bered that the best
cookery of the best viands in the world
is comparatively thrown away, in its
health-giving and nourishing qualities,
if the food be swallowed hastily and in
lumps. From the esthetical side of the
question, too, grave mistake is this
haste and imperfect mastication. If to
eat be necessity, and if the satisfaction
of this necessity be pleasant, as nature
intends it to be; if a sensitive palate be
given US to enhance our pleasure, and to
enable us to enjoy the goods the gods
provide-why, in the name of all that
is rational, should there be anything
grosser in enjoying the fine flavor of
welI-crooked dish than in enjoying the
scent of full-blown rose, particuls rly
when the former in some shape is ne
cessity, while the latter is merely a lux
ury? Therefore, phllosophically, it is
grave error and an ungrateful deed to
swallow well cooked, palatable food at
such a pace as prevents your getting the
full amount of pleasure out of the act of
eating, and which renders you indifer-
ent to your cooks skill. There are some
supremely virtuous. beings who condemn
epicurism as something horrible, and as
likely to lead to murder, petty larceny,
and other Objectionable crimes; but,
good sonls, they often confound refine
ment and discrimination in feeding with
gluttony, and, in their desire to avoid
this, and set high example of indiffer-
ence to the flesh, adopt a scornful disre.
gard of what and how they eat and
drink; and, pretending to be above such
mundane considerationsbring themselves
to chronic state of i'll health, which it
takes years of strict regimen to recover
from. No; you must linger over the
taste of your food as you would linger
over the smell of flower; nature de-
mands of you this concession to health,
and there can be nothing more sinful in
indulging the sense Of taste than the
sense of smell. Having swallowed your
dinner in Jumps, the usual custom is
to endeavor to counteract the discom-
fort produced by washing in down, and
rendering it soluble by huge draughts
of fluid. This is merely adding insult
to the injury you have done your stom-
ach, and is resented accordingly. Copi-
Gus draughts are just as injurious as
large quickly, devoured mouthfuls; and
drink should be taken as cautiously and


slowly as food. Thirst is really more
efectually assuaged by swallowing slow


ly moderate quantity than by taking


a large one at gulp, and little thus


goes further than much. The best check


upon immoderate draughts is never to


drink out of too large tumbler. TAX


ing it in moderation, the fluid assists in


dissolving the solids, instead of setting


them floating and sluicing them all be-


fore it, as is inevitably the ease when a


so-called hearty draught is taken


[Tinsley's Magazine.
Year: 1876

Farming is only gardening on more
extended scale, and the same principles,
as regards the care and culture of plants,
are applicable to both. More than this,
neatness in appearance, which is general
Iy considered indispensable in garden
ing, should be extended to the farm as
far as practicable. The good gardener
knows the importance of keeping walks
and roads free from weeds and rubbish,
and he usually begins his labors by
strict attention to these necessary but
improbable adjuncts of fine garden
or ornamental grounds. 1t is an old
saying that bad hat will overshadow
an otherwise fine suit of clothes, and the
same is true in regard to garden walks
and roads, for they are the first things
seen on entering and the last in going
out, and the general impression left up
on the mind depends much upon the
appearance. The same is true to great
extent with the public roads running
through or alongside farm; and the
traveller in passing cannot help forming
an opinion of the owners from the con-
dition in which the thoroughfares are
kept. In spring and fall he is likely to
pay most attention to mud holes and the
general condition to the road bed; but
in summer the presence or absence of
weeds and brush cannot fail to attract
his notice. Neat and tidy farmers
and perhaps We should make the term
little stronger by saying all good farm
ers-pay as much attention to the road
side weeds as they do to those coming in
their fields.


Permitting nozious weeds to ripen
their seeds in the public highway is far
too generally practiced, and is public
nuisance which should be abated speed
lily. The seeds of these "public weeds"
are often caught up by passing vehicles
and distributed over the country. This
is well known to every farmer, and still
thousands of patches of the vilest of
weeds, such as Canada thistles, clot-bur,
and toad fax are allowed to grow undis-
turbed by the roadside year after year,
adjacent to land owned by men of whom
better things are naturally to be expect
ed. 1t is worth in appearance all II
costs to NOW the road.ides and keep
them clear of weeds; but in addition the
dissemination of noxious weed seeds
makes neglect of this practice a posi-.
tive injury to the country for miles
around, and it is at least a question


worthy of discussion, if man has f


moral right to permit weeds likely tc


injure the property of his neighbors tc


ripen their seeds without making an ei


fort to prevent it.-[N. Y. Sun.
Year: 1876

The young man Murphy, who was
hung in Dayton last Friday was Shock
ingly butchered. The slender rope with
which it was attempted to hang him
broke and he fell to the ground. About
ten minutes another rope was fastened
to his neck, and he was held up half
dead, as he was by the stunning yet
conscious and suffering terribly, till the
trap door could be sprung the second
time. The man who invented hanging
should have been shot on the spot, as
that is the only decent, civilized way OF
getting shut of men who forfeit their
I;yo, TEx
Year: 1876

accord with the periodicy OF nature; by
his abstemiousness in living, he takes
just enough to live, which is precisely
the right thing to do according TO the
natural law. Thus, in almost every
particular, he goes on his way freer than
other men from the external causes of
all the induced diseases, and better pro-
tected than, most men from the worst
consequences of those diseases which
spring from the causes that are uncon-
trolable.-T Exchange.
Year: 1876

Brooks Hereford, the new Unitarian
minister in Chicago, says that after being
in this country fortnight he began to
realize what small place England is,
and could understand the feeling of the
American who said he was afraid TO 60
out on dark nights in England, for fear
he should fall over the side.
Year: 1876

OF the wonderful secrets of nature that


Florida can boast of possessing in her


limits, there is one in this county upon
which the eye of morta. has not yet been
permitted to gaze. For more than thirty
years its existence has been tantalizingly
Increasingly ascended, frequently chang
ing from light to dark shade, from
an impenetrable swamp some twenty-five
miles from Monticello, and in the direc-
ton from the guilt coast, from which
point this ''pillar of cloud" is also visible.
Learned gentlemen, after viewing 1.-The
landscape o'er" for many years and from
various points, have made frequent and
persistent efforts to solve this long stand
ing and perplexing mystery. But up to
this time nothing has been accomplished
beyond unsuccessful attempts to reach the
place, all of which endcu in disaster
within four or five miles of the spot on
which the supposed volcano is thought to
be located.


| am informed that Judge Bell, of this
place, and others are now making fresh
attempt to penetrate to this mysterious
phenomenon, and discover its true char
acter. Judge White, of Quincy, man OF
large literary culture, has led several cx-
peditions to that region, but in every in
stance failed to effect an entrance through
the closely interviewer and impenctrable
underground of the center Of the swamp,
where the volcano is situated. While
some of these attempts have been feeble
and inefficient, others have been well or
ganized and equipped, and led by men of
experience and fiXedness of purpose
Judge White had an observatory which
he could place in the tree tops to guide
him in the right course. And yet this
:. undiscovered bourne" remains untrod-
den by the foot of a modern traveller; at
least none have ever returned to report its
One thing is certain, now that
the Okefenokee Swamp has been done
up" for the reading public, that another
twelve months will not pass without wit
Messing the successful unfolding Of this
mystery.-Nonticsslo (Fla.) Cor. Sauannah
Year: 1876

ABOUT the middle of the eighteenth
century young West had ali obscure lodg-
ing in Strawberry alley, and painted por-
traits at guinea head-painted signs,
too, for a few shillings, when portraits
and guineas were not to be had" The
Cask of Beer" or "The Jolly Fiddlers."
A picture of St. Ignatius, after Murlllo,
having been captured on Spanish brig


antine by the Britannia, fell into the pos


session of Gov. Hamilton, at Bush Hill.
West copied it, and humored some of his
portly patrons by painting them in the
attitude of saint. Mad Anthony Wayne,
then handsome, gallant, showily-dressed
young fellow, was often seen on the streets
with the mild hammered, apple-cheeked
Quaker lad He brought as many of his
fashionable friends as he could persuade
to sit for their portraits to the hungry
young artist, and, it is limited, not only
made military man of him, but intro
duced him to charming Miss Betty Shew-
ell, with whom West, in his orderly,
proper way, fell in love. Miss Shewell's
brother, however, being man with an
income, had no mind that his pretty sister


should marry man who had none, and
whose occupation was held to be
not half so genteel as that of a
tailor. He therefore locked Miss
Betty up in her room just about
the time that one of the Aliens, who was
sending ship laden with grain to the
starving Italians, offered Benjamin a
passage on her to Leghorn. But love
laughed at locksmiths then as now. The
Quaker Romeo and his Juliet saw each
other, though one was in the garden and
the other in the window, and vowed
eternal faith. West promised to win fame
and money, and his sweetheart promised
to come to him to the ends of the earth as
soon as he should send her word he had
enough of the latter necessary to keep
them from starvation. The remainder OF
the story Bishop White told to DR.. Swift,
of Easton, Pennsylvania. West, as we all
know, succeeded rapidly in winning both
the fame and money, and. as soon as he was
established first favorite at Hampton
Court, sent to Miss Shewell to claim her
part Of the promise. Her brother was still
Year: 1876


ONCE on a time she came to me,
As some small star from heaven might fee
To be mortal's sole delight,
A love by day, dream by night,
The sweetest thing on land or sea,
Ny little darling crept to me;
A trembling, tender, fairy thing,
Too grave to smile, too sad to sing,
Aware of eafth with griered surprise,
An alien from her native skies,
A baby angel strange TO see,
My little darling came to me.
But love and loving taught her smiles,
And life and living baby wiIes-
The way to cling, to coax, to kiss,
To fill my soul with deepest bliss;
My heart of hearts. my life, was she,
This little love who came to me.
What words she stammered, soft and low,
No other ear but mine could know;
More gentle than a cooling dove,
More fond than any voice Of love,
So shy, so sweet, so tenderly,
My little darling spoke to me.
l know not how to tell the grace
That dwelt upon her wlstful face
The tinted skin, the lips pure bloom,
The clearest eyes that knew not gloom,
The hair as soft as moth wings be,
Ny little darling showed to me.
Alas | know that all is gone,
That here | sit and grieye alone;
That every fair and gracious thing
l loved and lost is but sting;
Another thorn thy memory,
My little darling, brings to me.
But kindly night doth pity pain;
In all my dreams she comes again;
Her precious head is on my breast;
My happy arms caress her rest;
l hear her words Of tender glee:
My little darling kisses me.
All! sweet is right-too sweet, too brief
When day recalls our bitterest grief,
The hungry heart, the longing dire
That burns the soul with fain desire,
The ancient cry of wild distress,
The Rachel ourning comfortless.
o God once more that face to see!
My little darling, come to me.


Rose Terry Cooke.
Year: 1876

THE following figures, says the New
York Herald, giving the dimensions of
the main building from measurments
taken from center to center of supporting
columns, are not easily remembered, but
they will be found useful for reference
Year: 1876

FROM A CoLoRED NAS.-We have n
long communication from a rather intel,
ligent colored man who feels called upon
to give bis brethren good deal of ad.
vice through the columns of the INTEL.
LIsESCER. We DO not publish this be-
cause there is nothing new in il, and be:
cause, as old matter, it is too diil'use to
be Of much interest TO the general public
or Of any essential benefit TO the colored
people. 1t il rather disjointed for prac-
tical purposes. We gather from it that
our colOred friend feels that his race IL
not making that progress in educa.
tion and morals that their oppor.
tunities call for, and further, that
he despairs Of much improvement until
the rising generation is freed from the
lemoralizing influence Of the older eIc.
ment. As he expresses it, the worms
have got to eat this older element before
the race can rise TO the level OF its oppor.
tunities. lie is not as explicit and salts.
factory on this point as he might be, but
from his verbal comments on the general
subject matter Of his theme at the time Of
handing in his thesis, we understand him
to mean that the older element among
the colored people have still about
them so many Of the ideas, crudities
and shortcomings belonging to their
former condition az a despi,ed and en-
slaved race, that school privileges on the
part OF the young are almost neutralizcd
by home influences. Their moral nature
il not awakened and cultivated by what
they see around them at home. They
are not inspired to despi'c vulgnrity, to
love truth, to cherish cleanliness in all
their habits Of life, but, on the contrary,
are continually rcpre%ed and bnnted in
these respects, in their home life, and
tins the inculcationS Of school life ARE
made to fail Of their proper effect.


We doub; not that there is good deal
in what our colored friend says upon this
subject, and we are of his opinion that
no very decided change Is likely to occur
in the immediate future. Thcreis much
in hi' criticism that would apply to white
as we'll a. black people. The beneficial
influences Of school, both day school and


Sunday school, great as they are, fail Of
their proper and natural effect in n vast
number Of inmiIie, for the reasons stated
above II the children Of this generation


had homes where the wholesome prccepN
taught them Il, school were continually
eIemplilied before their eyes, We should
soon have a race Of men and women
such as the world ha, never yet seen =.
Year: 1876

Washington gets itself very easily excited
in these days, and our correspondents
there report that the republicans were
in dismay last evening over the
discovery that not one but two post
masters had ignorantly and with too
great ambition crept on to electoral tick
cts. One Of these unfortunates lives in
Oregon; the other, before reported,
in Vermont. Both, on reading for
country, hastily sent in their designations,
and both, designations were promptly ac-
cepted. That ends the official life of these
persons but they will regret their haste
when they consider that, having been chosen
electors while postmasters, they were ineli-
gible to the first place, but still eligible to
the last and that, as the laws of Oregon
and Vermont provide that, in case Of the alb
sence or failure to serve Of an elector the
remainder of the body shall at once choose
a substitute, no actual harm was done or
difficulty created by the choice as electors of
these postmastcrs


Before this election is settled we shall oil,
down to the humblest postmaster in the
land, understand more about the details Of q
Presidential election than we ever did be-
fore. Tho knowledge will, we trust como
Just little too late for use, for it is not con-
ceivnble that we shall not have constitution
ally changed and simplified the manner of
choosing our Presidents before 1880. Mean
time we cannot help feeling sorry for these
two country postmasters, who will be
pointed at by their neighbors for the rest of
their lives as men of futile but overwecn-
ing ambition.