smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1875

There was melancholy occasion at
a country school-house near Columbus,
O., few days ago. The school-house
Is located near the line of the railroad,
and slight collision CHANGED to occur
between two freight trains, in which
one car. loaded with whiskey, was bad
ly wrecked and several barrels of the
liquor was tossed out beside the track
in a damaged condition. During the
incoming the pupils of the school went
down to investigate the character of the
accident and discovered the whiskey.
They were girls and boys together, and
some of the boys proposed that they taste
the liquor which was wasting, which
suggestion was taken up as good joke
and complied with. The day was cold
and the spirits produced no effect, so all
the pupils drank of it several times, just
for fun, and then returned to the school
house. In the warm school-room the
heat produced the usual effect upon
those carrying much whiskey in the
stomach, and the school became singu-
larly restless. Suddenly one boy was
taken awfully sick. The school ma'am
asked what allied him, and he said he
was i'll, which fact he made painfully ap-
parent by doing what the whale did with
Jonah, only distributed bread and but
ter and things over the floor, instead of
prophets. The school ma'am was full
of sympathy, and was doing what she
could for the afflicted youth, when an
other boy was taken even worse. He
seemed to have no object in life save
to get his boot heels up out of his mouth,
and the indications were that he would
succeed. Then two of the girls began
same thing, and the appearance of bread
and butter on the floor was enlivened by
the addition of the sweetmeats school
girls love. By this time every boy in
the house was struggling for a proud
supremacy as a producer, and the floor
was sight to behold. Only one little
fellow was in condition to tell what
the scholars did at noon, but when he
told of it a great light dawned upon the
troubled mind of the school ma'am. A
feet-footed messenger was dispatched
for aid, and wagons soon came and car
RED the limp and exhausted pupils to
their several homes. The day will long
be remembered in the neighborhood as
one when the rising generation was in
pain and disgrace.
Year: 1875

A New Orleans correspondent de-
scribes a visit to old Francois Lacrois,
the millionaire pauper, whose persistent
refusal to pay the taxes imposed upon
his immense estates has made him an
object of pity. Living in one of those
quaint hooks for which the French
quarter of New Orleans is celebrated,
he is possessed of property valued at
over million dollars. He is an old
quadroon, with sharp voice and black,
glistening eye. He was clothed in a suit
of dirty cotton cloth, the only dress in
which he ever appears. In the room
with him was his mother, woman said
to be one hundred and ten years old.
Besides the fire stood an old fashioned
desk, with pigeon-holes filled with mus
ty papers. An iron safe and few rick


ETY. chairs completed the furniture. For
ty years ago he was the fashionable tail
or of New Orleans, and made money
with surprising rapidity. The French
dandies of the city never thought of
showing themselves on the streets unless
their lean legs were encased in pair of
Lacroix's trowsers. By their patronage
he became wealthy, and investing his
money in real estate, which doubled in
value, he was soon millionaire. One
peculiarly of the old man was his aver
sion to paying taxes, and four years ago
his bill for upaid taxes amounted to up
ward of $4,000. Having finally been
persuaded TO pay a portion of them
rather than allow the property to be
sold, he intrusted $4,000 to his son for
the purpose. The young man took the
money and entering a gambling house
lost every penny of it. Lacroix cursed
his son and drove him from his house.


Then he sank into state of inaction,
and his taxes accumulated until last
spring they amounted to $S0,0OO Then
a part of his property was sold. He
made no effort to redeem it, and still he
sits and allows his property to vanish.
Year: 1875

from the Saturday heyieW-l


When the system of universal con-
scription, lately established in Russia,
has borne its full fruits, the total nom
inal strength of the Russian army is
calculated at 100000 men. This is
half million in excess of the German
force, but the vast extent of the Russian
dominions must always make it more
difficult to concentrate Russian than
German armies, and for the present Rus
sia has not enough officers to supply the
requirements Of so vast an army. The
German army is therefore, and must for
some time remain, the first army in the
world. The arming of the greater
Powers has however. made it necessary
that lesser Powers should follow in their
wake, and not only Austria and Italy,
but smaller States, like Sweden, Bel
GUM and Switzerland, are doing their
best TO make their armies efficient, Spain
exhausts itself in raising armies to fight
each other, and Turkey exhausts itself
in raising an army which it is not al
lowed TO use. Europe may therefore be
said to be in arms from one end to the
other, although there is no immediate
prospect or assIgnable cause of war.
Year: 1875

Eating is a necessity of life, but the
spectacle presented at some tables when
the family has assembled for meal
might well suggest the question. Do
these people know why they eat? To be
sure no little knowledge is requisite If
we would supply the wants of nature in
proper manner; but is there any hard
ship in informing ones self with respect
to so important matter as the preserva-
tion of a strong, healthy body?
Is health, and its accessory abiI-
ity to perform life's duties we'll, a minor
consideration, quite inferior to knowl-
edge of arithmetic, or geography, or Of
the mechanics or music? An eminent
English observer has said that "a man
must live forty years before he knows
how to eat" True enough according to
the prevalent mode of gathering the
knowledge of what is fit or unfit for our
stomachs as We 60 along in life, thus
making our system sort of experiment
tai laboratory for the analysis OF all
sorts of so-called pabulum. And how
few survive forty years of constant ex-
pertinent with their alimentary func-
ton!


The masses are yet quite ignorant of
the philosophy of nutrition, and riot in
their ignorance. The housewife may be
skilled in the preparation to toothsome
dishes, but very rarely knows what is
suitable or unsuitable among her mater
ials for the uses of the body. If the
article "tastes good" that quality is gen
orally a sufficient warrant for its appro-
priation.-[Annual of Phrenology and
Physiognomy.
Year: 1875

The impudence of the managers Of the
Uuion Pacific Railroad Company is al
most without parallel. They resist all
demands of the Government for pay
ment Of the interest due on its bonds;
until the Treasury Department is com.
PEELED to bring suit for its recovery; yet,
in the face Of this, they have the sub
lime impudence to request Of the Com
missioner Of the Land Office to construe
an act of June %, 1874, for the relief Of
settlers on railroad lands so as to permit
the Union Patifc Railroad Company to
select lands containing coal and iron in
lieu of agricultural lands proposed to be
released in favor of actual settlers. The
Commissioner very properly declined to
grant the request, and replied that tho
act Of June last provides "that nothing
herein contained shall in any manner
be so construed as to enlarge or extend
any grant to any such railroad Your
company receives all its coal and iron
lands without diminuiion on account of
the claim of any settler. To allow you
in addition to surrender lands purely
agricultural and take therefor these re-
served coal lands Of greatly increased
value, would, in my judgment, material
ly enlarge your grant, and would there
fore be in express violation Of the act
under which the claim is presented"
Year: 1875

One of the latest theories respecting
comets derives its foundation from the
we'll. known statment made by Sir John
Herschel, that the most unsubstantial
clouds, which float in the highest regions
of our atmosphere and seem at sunset to
be drenched in light and to glow
throughout their whole depth as if in
actual ignition, without any shadow or
dark side, must be looked upon as dense
and massive bodies, compared with the
filmy and all but spiritual texture of a
comet. Owing to this extreme tenuity
of matter, the rays of the suns light, as
reflected by it, are absolutely invisible
to the inhabitants of the earth, but the
other rays, penetrating into the center
the comet, are refracted by this power
full lens of twenty millions of leagues
diameter into the focus which forms the
nucleus of the comet, where there is per-
haps greater concentration of rays of
light than anywhere else, not in the body
of the sun; hence this large body of con-
centrated light streaming in a narrow
path through the remaining half of the
comet, in direction opposite the sun, is
regarded as forming that splendid appen-
dage called the tail.
Year: 1875

Under this heading the Chicago times
relates the following. NELSON Coleman,
4 farmer who resides about two and one


half miles North of Canton, Fulton
county, this State, is probably the wick
edest man in the Northwest. One day,
ten day ago, he was trying to lead a colt
into an old, rickety shed, when the ami
NAL became frightened and refused to
enter. 1t was with good deal of diff
Guilty that he at last got the colt into the
shed, and when he had succeeded he was
so enraged that he swore the colt should
never come out again alive. He kept
his oath, and the poor beast has been i'm


prisoned all these long ten years in the
place about ten feet square. Winter and
summer it has been the same. The poor
horse has stood at its crib and never
breathed breath of pure, air, nor eaten
a blade of grass. The long confinement
stunted his growth, so that at the time
Of his death, which occurred a week ago,
he was scarcely larger than yearling.
But he was sadly deformed. His hoofs
had never received the attention of
blacksmith, and had grown so long that
they cnrled over and back SO as to touch
the shins. Any one of them must have
been eighteen inches longer than the
hoofs of horses usually are. The knowl-
edge of the existence of such an object
of mans depravity coming to the llli-
nois Humane Society in this city, one of
its agents, Mr.. E. c. Hamilton, was sent
out to investigate the matter and prose-
cute the owner of the poor beast for
cruelty to animals. Coleman was arrest
ed and tried on Saturday last. That this
monstrous cruelty should have been al
lowed to go on from year to year by the
Christian people of Canton. place re-
nowned for its churches and morality, is
strange, and is only to be accounted for
on the ground that every body was afraid
of Coleman, and no one dared take the
first step towards prosecuting him."
Year: 1875

There is a place for every man; his
own proper place, where he ought to be.
God has designed him for IL, and il be-
longs to him, and to no one else, and
every man may know and find his place
If he will. 1t must be his sincere desire
to be in his place, and he must 60 to
God heartily praying, Lord, what wilt
Thou have me to do7 Where wilt Thou
have me 10 be? Let him surrender his
own will to Gods will, and God will
lead and guide him; and he shall make
no mistake.


And it is a most blessed thing to be in
ones own place. God will be with him
here. He will cheer, and strengthen,
and sustain him. He may have trials;
but he meets them in the path Of duty,
and Gods grace is sufficient for him.
The same compassionate God who was
with Daniel in the den Of lions, and
with the three Hebrews in the burning,
fiery furnace, will not leave him, nor
forsake him. Being in his own proper
place, he may go to God with confidence
and he shall be comforled and support
ed. He shall be joyful in all his tribu-
neutrality-suspicious..


There is place for every man, and
God intended each to find and to FIJI his
place. The trouble is, most men aspire
to places they cannot fill. They want TO
be presidents, commodores, or captains,
when they are only fit for the ranks.
Some want TO be poets or painters, when
they are only prosy pumpkins. He is
the happiest man who finds the place he
is fitted to ill, and fills it well, however
humble it may be. The one who knows
himself. his faults, and how to overcome
them-his virtues, and how 10 increase
them-who knows the uses and abuses
Of the organs of mind and body, and ex-
ercises them in the fear and love Of God
is the happiest man.-[Annual Of
Phrenology and Physiognomy.
Year: 1875

A DIscouRAG1NG WAY OF GETTING
MARRIED-A justice of the peace liv-
ing in another county was recently call
ed upon by two persons from Barton,
Vermont, who wished to be married.
Two weeks after performing the cere-
mony he remembered that the marriage
was illegal, as being made out of the
county where the parties resided, SO he
married them again. Some time later he
recollected that he had not been qualif-
ed for Office in their county, and taking
the oath he performed the ceremony a
third time.
Year: 1875

CALLING public attention to the little
game of certain members of the Lew Coqlrt
has been the means of thwarting it, and
the law for the protection of sheep is to be
enforced. The dogs are to be assessed. The
DsIa'0arean has surrendered. Let that be an
end to it, and let it be an end to the efforts
Of Levy Courtmen trying to smother laws
that don't suit them.
Year: 1875

The Richmond CFa.) Wing talks III this
wise tan elderly man named Beckwith,
residing in one of the Peninsula counties,
came to this city last Thursday on busi-
ness He brought with him an old-fashoncd
fint-lock rife to have stock ard lock putt
on On the cars he fell in conversation
with party of three gentlemen from this
city, when one of them, to test the reality
Of some of the extraordinary feats of the
craftsmanship he boasted of, offered him
sl0 to repeat some of them, to which the
other two added So between them. The
trial came off in an old field half mile be-
low Rockets, and was witnessed by about
a dozen persons The old fiint-locll was
fired seven times, and only once missed its
aim. The old gentleman, after making two
shots at small objects to one side, to get his
hand steady, as he said, handed his son
potato. and stationed him at fifty yards dis
tancc, holding the potato between his thumh
and finger. The rife cracked, and the po-
tato fell clovcn in three or four pieces. One
of the larger pieces was then thrown into
the air, the marksman keeping at the same
distance and again the shot told. An inch
and half auger was then produced and ID
hole bored in the fence, behind which was
fastened piece of white paper At dis
tance Of sixty yards the marksman sent
ball clear through the aperture, piercing
the paper At a fourth shot, from sixty
yards distance, the bowl Of pipe, which
the son was smoking, was crushed. At the
fifth shot copper cent was thrown into
the air and hit The sixth and seventh
shots were delivered at blackened FIVE
cent nickel piece thrown up by the SON,
standing about thirty yards Off At the
first attempt the shot missed The old
gentleman showed considerable mortifica,
ton, and laid the blame upon bystandcr
who at the critical moment sneezed loudly.
| The next attempt, however, was an entire
success. The old man declined any further
trails of his skill, and when offered sum
of money to repeat his first feat of shoot
ing potato from his sons hand, he refused,
saying he didn't care to try such expert


mcnts uhfess his weapon was freshly cleaned


The exhibition was the more remarkable
| from the fact that the marksnSn was an


old man, at least fifty. His eye, however,


is clear, bright gray. His appearance is


that of poor farmer The young man
showed not the least tremor or anxiety dur


ing the dangerous experiment upon HIM


self The old man, referring to his scst,


said, Bob can shoot just as well as |


can.
Year: 1875

\ dutchman read somewhere that mon
ey doubled itself by compound interest
every fourteen years, if it was put carefully
away and left untouched The guileless
Hollander at once dug hole in the cellar
and buried four hundred dollars in tea
kettle This was fourteen years ago last
Wednesday. On that day he rose at four
o o'clock in the morning and ,resurrected'
his cash, with the confident expectation that
it had increased to eight hundred dollars.
His disappointment was great and when
his friends interview him about mathemat-
les now, he expresses the opinion that dem
arithmeties Is all !. lie
Year: 1875

Weekly Review OF the Local


Market,
i Better Tone and Increase OF Ecgo-
liations Noticeable.
Some Recent Large Transfers Of
State Street. Property.
The General Situation Of the Loan Mar
ket Unchanged.
bow to Make Wabash AVenue q Profit


able Thoroughfare.
Year: 1875

To EASE A CouGH.-Our readers have
probably noticed that when one or two per-
sons in an audience cough, there is general
hacking, heming and coughing. This is due
to nervous sympathy, and, as it can be-, should
be resisted: The best method, according to
the London Lancet, of easing cough, is to
resist it with the force of will possible until
the amount of phlegm becomes So great that
there is something to cough against, when it
will come up with comparatively little diff
Guilty. A great deal of hacking, 5hemming
and coughing in invalids ir purely nervous,
or from the force of habit. This is shown BY
the frequency, when the thoughts are turned
to the difficulty, and the comparative rarity
when the attention is engaged in other direc-
tions. .....
Year: 1875

SLEEP FOR CH1LDREN.-There is no dan
per that children can sleep too much. The
old proverb, "who sleeps, eats" is illustrated
In those little ones who sleep most. Wake
full children are almost always peevish, irrita-
BILE and lean. Ifthey can be induced to sleep
abundantly, they are quite likely to become
good-natured and plump, Their aleeP should
be as much through the hours of darkness as
possible, and therefore it is better that they
should 90 to bed before sunset to have their
sleep out, than to lie long after sunrise in the
morning. 1t is we'll to let any healthfal
growing child or young person sleep till he
wakens himself, and then give him such va
riety and amount of outdoor exercise as shall
make him glad when bedtime comes again.
Year: 1875

1t has become 50 common fer paIty
papers to glorify their leaders, that [
hesitate to write OF this distinguisil, L
man. But feel that [ owe 8 duty to
the people of North Carolina III this
connection and shall pay If.


Senator Ransom is decidedly the
most distinguished looking nau IN the
Senate. No stranger cau ent-r the
gal cry without lnquirirg VINO Gen
eral Ransom is. Say what we may, q
man Of fine presence has decided ad-
vautagei which men OF small size do
not possess The Senator has more
influence than any member Of our par
ty III Congress His warmhearted and
sincere love of North Carolina and
North Carolinians impels him TO
make IL any ga, rificrs of self for the
good of his State and people. If the
ad administration vas democratic l have
no be station In say ng that Gen. Ran
som could do more for the people of
our State than any other man in it.
While this contest for place has been
going on he has ia lored night and day
to serve eve ry NORTH C..Solinian W 1U is
hero seeking position. Such n al is
worth more to North Carolina than
het whole cotton crop FOR one year.
I'D. OR. At6enaTje Times.
Year: 1875

the winning cause in the matter.
When such great interests are at stake
all eyes were turned to the "mother Of
States and statesmen" to assume once
more her old position under the Gov
0rpmeut
Year: 1875

Niagara Falls, on the morning of
June lst, WAS the scene of q terrible
excitement In consequences Of 3 paint
er named Mccullough, who was en-
ployed In painting the bridge leading
from Goat Island to the Three Sis
ters, having fallen from the bridge
into the rapids below. He drifted
with the torrent to q point within
foryty feet of the falls, where he found
anchorage in the middle OF the stream
that separates the islands by coming
in contact with rock, to which he
clung. In q few moments the
news of the accident spread like wild
fire through the village, and an im-
mense crowd Of spectators gathered to
look at the unfortunate mans perilous
situation, from which it seemed i'm
possible to rescue him. Mccullough
had given up all hopes of being aided !;
his arms and body was fast becoming
benumbed and losing their hold on
the slippery rock when 3 shout went
up from the thrOats of the spectators
which told him aid was nigh. 1t that
vast crowd which had assem- bled on
the islands and bridges there was but
one man who was willing to risk his
own life in trying to snatch fellOg
creature from out the jaws OF death.
Tom COnrOy, a guide at the Cave
of Winds, jumped into the rapids,
and holding in his left hand the end
of a rope and swim ming down the
current, he reached MeCOIlugh in
safety. He Immediately tied the rope
around himself and the nearly ex-
hausted man, and they were both
safely landed ashore In few mo-
ments. Mccullough was badly
bruised about the head and body.
Year: 1875

a New Orleans lady had her sleep
oddly disturbed one night lately. She
was lying quietly in her bed when
she was disturbed by noise in the
vicinity of her child's cot In the
same room. She raised herself and
psered intently into the darkness,
when she discovered a black object
climb bing up the bed-post. sum-
mOning up all her courage she
sprang out of bed, when the black OBJ
ject leaped toward her, and the next
instant she felt the sharp fsngs of some
animal in her flesh. Her shrieks for
assistance seemed but to enrage the
beast, and 1t climbed up her body,
fiereely burying its sharp teeth
deeper at every move. FIN
ally assistance came and 3
light, and then the quality OF the
monster appeared-it was q huge rae
coon, one OF the largest ever seen, and
in apparently q frenzy of rage 1t
sprang forward to attack another WO-
man who entered the room, and dy-
ing only after hard fight. The in
jured lady was found to have received
twelve deep wounds, enough to indi-
cate the fact that an escape from even
death was fortunate.
Year: 1875

Under the direction of the Presi-
dent, the War and Navy depart
ments have concerted plans for ope-
rating against Mexican raiders along
the Texas border. The steamer Ply
mouth, carrying two steam launches,
with Gatling guns aud q proper force
for them, left Port Royal this morn
ing for the Rio Grande. Two more
launches are to be sent down Ia q few
days, and proper officers are now en-
gagged in looking for the largest tug
suitable for the work that can be got
over the bar at the mouth OF the river.
When found the Navy Department
will hire or buy il, arm It thoroughly,
and send It at once to the Rio Grande.
II will serve as 8 store ship and head
quarters for the launch feet. The
land forces are also to give vigorous
aid.