smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1871

THE INFLUENCE OF ELEGANT CHURCH


Es.-The age of fine building has GER


tain advantages. The house goes far to


make the congregation. People love to
look at and to sit IN nice churches. 1t
lends to them certain air of taste and
respectability, and L think good people
have an inherent love of a clean and new
place of worship where for an hour they
seem to be separated from the hard and
dirty world At least such a place will
attract people of taste and those who have
enterprise. The new house will, iu most
cases, secure the full congregation.


1t may be true that people love to sit
in fine house better than they like to
pay for it, and yet those who have pletho-
ric pockets will deplete for churches soon
er than for almost any other good thing.
You talk about soaring people away by
an obligation in the shape of church
debt, but it IS only the narrow men. Those
of courage and enterprise never 90 among
dead-heads but are sure to fnd house
with a people undertaking something
They love the bold. and hence it is often
easier to do a big thing than little in
these ecclesiastical enterprises.


4 debt often does more for a church
than anything save grace. 1t is hostage
to the future for their good behavior.
True We often groan under such burden
but it does no harm to groan little.
Patience Is tried the soul gathers muscle
and force to dare and do other great things.
If it be a source of temptation, it often
saves church from other and sorer temp
tations More of US will reach Heaven
from under burdens than any other way
the burden holds Us down SO that we are
not able to run into the fire.
Year: 1871

y BEwITCHED HERMIT.-David TOnk-
cry, better known as Old Tonkery, the


Hermit, formerly lived in a hut situated


in wild ravine, or mountain slope, near


Mt Riga. in the neighborhood of Amenia,
y. Y. Where this strange character


came from no one knew. He brought


plenty OF money, and settled on a tract of


land containing about one hundred acres.


The thoughts and conversations of this old


hermit were always about witches, and,


like most hermits, he was a woman hater,
not allowing one to enter his dwelling, as
he always kept a gun loaded with a silver


ball ready to shoot any witches that might
moiest him. At night he always placed
his gun across two chairs, the muzzle
pointing direct toward the door. He own
ed Il fue strawberry patch, and would
allow school girls to pick all they wanted
except the back-eyed ones; these he
would march off his premises instanter


lie was never known to harm but one
person; that was a poor widow woman
BY the name Of Mrs Hamblin Her COW
had wandered from home and she went up
the mountain TO the old mans farm Just
before dark, and, climbing upon = fence,
looked over his farm Tor the lost COW The
old hermit saw her. and it 50 happened
that there came "A hurricane or very
heavy wind that night and blew down
grove OF fine chestnut timber for old Toms
cry He thought at once that the poor
woman was a witch and had been up the
night before to see where she could do
him the greatest damage. y few days af-
ter he met the woman in the road. He
caught her, and with sharp stone cut
cross on her forehead between her eyes,
to kill the witches in her, he said. But
this proved a dear witch to old Tonkery,
for she sued him aud recovered damages
to the amount of 5000. and the man was
Obliged to sell ten acres of his best wood
land to pay suit and costs.
Year: 1871

How 10 MAKE A Place PRosPERoUs.-
There can hardly be better sign OF pros
perity in a community than disposition
to help one another, to lift little when n
neighbor's wheel gets set in the mud.


[ knew a place where a mans barn with
all his winters store of grain and hay,
was consumed in the night. Immediately
all the men Of the country side mustered
and hauled up timber for a new barn, and
then a big raising came off. After that
the sound Of twenty or more hammers was
heard until the whole was shingled and
shielded. But their deed of kindness was
not done yet; one and another offered to
take head or two Of his stock and winter
them for him, and thus greatly reduce his
loss, and assuring his heart of more dura-
able riches of brotherly love and neighbor-
ly good wilt No one can compute in
money the value of one such example of
noble liberality in community, especially
in its influence upon the young. Where
this spirit prevails there is sure to be prog
Year: 1871

PHoToGRAPas PRINTED oS a Power
PREss.-One Of the chief drawbacks to the
employment of the photograph in illustra-
ting books or other letter-press matter, has
been the necessary slowness Of sun printing,
and the necessity Of printing the photo
graph upon peculiar paper and pasting
upon the space lett for 1t in the printed
page. But by a process now attracting
attention, photographs can be printed in
dependently of lignt, and in permanent
style. 1t may be thus briefly described :;
The photograph is taken on u sheet OF gela-
tine; this sheet Is fastened down upon a
p ate of metal, and after little prepara-
ton, in which sponge and water play a
part, can be printed from it as if it were
an engraved block. Ordinary printing ink,
laid on with u roller, is used and the
sheet is printed in an ordinary printing
press, and with a remarkable preservation
Of the lights and half tones. OH paintings,
engravings, chalk drawings, and anything,
living or dead, that can be photographed,
may, by this process, oe reproduced and
multiplied in permanent form; and when
a sufficient number of impressions has been


taken, the sheet of gelantine can be lifted
f:Om the plate and laid aside for future


use. This is obviously very important
Year: 1871

PRovIDENTIAL CARE.-Who is it that
waters fields of corn upon the Sabbath
morning as upon the Saturday night t?
Who is it that makes the grass to grow
in Sabbath sunshine as we'll as amid Sat
urday's rains ? Who is it that hears the
cry of the raven on Sunday morning and
feeds it? Who is it that keeps up the
pulsation Of the heart, from which if God
were to withdraw his finger for moment,
each heart would be still and life would
instantly depart? In our hospital wards
and sick rooms in the broken limb where
the bone is gradually united in the sever
ed muscle, where mediatorial substance
is put forth that rejoins it; in the health
that returns to the withered frame-in all
these our Father worketh, hitherto, on
Saturday, and Sunday, and on all days
CuDqBliug.
Year: 1871

velop only the germs already present.


Can we hope it will make practical reason
ers and genial, gracious gentlemen out of


the material it mas there to work on? The
most violet of lenses did not turn his swine
into grapes. The barrow pig Offers US a
significant hint. It's greed and viciousness
increased in proportion with its muscle.


Let us be cautious The slight want of
suayity, for instance, perceptible in Gen.


Buffers character might develop. in the
space Of time needed to make butting OK
out of the calf, into a character unpleasant
for the country to deal with. Imagine.
too, Mr.. Carpenters personal graces and
powers of speech unfolded under the prism
for six months The nation may carry its
debt, but there are som" weights under
which it would totter and fall.
Year: 1871

Shallow waters are easily muddied.
After night of storm, the waters of the
bay along the beach, stirred by the winds,
are foul and black with the mire and dirt.
But look beyond. out into the deep water
how blue and clear it is The white caps
on tho surface show the violence of the
wind, but the water is too deep for the
storms that sweep its surface to stir up
the earth at the bottom. So in Christian
experience. \ shallow experience is easi-
ly disturbed the merest triEes becloud
and darken the soul whose piety is super
fcial while the most furious storm OF nfe
fails to darken or perturb the soul which
has attained deep experience of the
things of God.
Year: 1871

la repairing church in one Of our newly
acquired wards, the inscription upon the
wall behind the pulpit was covered up
Upon the first Sabbath after repairs little
. five year old . whispered to her mother
q know Why God told the paint IneH tc
cover that pretty verse UP. IL was because
the people did not love one another" The
inscription was, 4" new cOmmandment
give unto you, that you love one anothe =
-TTdCeiler
Year: 1871

A gentleman in Illinois writes the fol-
lowing to the Scientific Americon:


My observation has led me to believe
that sleep walking is q habit of the sys.
tenn.


l have noticed that children who are
allowed to go to sleep on the floor or
lounge, in the evening, and afterward, at
some regular hour, are aroused (of course
only partially awskened) and sent TO bed,
Will in time acquire the habit of sleep
walking. have no doubt that the man
mentioned in the Scientific american,
OF July %, who would get up snd 90 to
The cellar in the night for drink of wine
while asleep, had been in the habit of
trst going for it, in the night time, while
awake. presume that few have failed
to notice how soon the mind, by dreams,
viii recognize habit of waking a. par
ticular time Tor any purpose.


l think that the whole philosophy of
sleep walking has its foundation in habit,
acquired by disturbance at some regular
hour devoted to sleep.
Year: 1871

A GIRL of seventeen years located a
farm in Kansas some three years ago.


The land was perfectly wild, and she
employed no male help; but her sue
cess has been such that, on Tuesday of
last week she was offered for her farm a
sum ten times the amount she paid for it.
She refused The offer, and says that in
hVe years more she will retire TO the East
and live on the interest of her property
Year: 1871

Be faithful. Learn that all your work
is done for God Slight nothing. Have
the same evidence of your salvation that
the little servant girl had, when asked
how she knew she was converted, said !:
because / sweep under the matsin
Year: 1871

EsSDBAvoR TO take your work quietly.
Anxiety and over action are always the
cause of sickness and restlessness. We
must use our judgment to control our
excitement or our bodily strength will
break down. We must remember that
cur battle is TO be won by strength not
our own. Il is battle that does net de,
pend upon the swift and strong.
Year: 1871

MRs VICTORIA Woodruff, the female
candidate for the next Presidency, is
meeting with an obstacle that we fear
will attend all the women nominees Fl T
office. She is too young TO be eligible
under the constitution. The sex, as is
well known, never grow old.
Year: 1871

When God sppeared to Moses, it was
not in the lofty cedar, nor the sturdy oak,
nor the spreading plain; but in a bush
an humble, slender, abject shrub; as If he
would by this selection, check the con-
ceited arrogance of man.
Year: 1871

When l behold the passion Of ornamen-
tation, and the corresponding power,
feel as If women had so far shown what
they are bad for, rather than what they
are good for Julia Ward Howe.
Year: 1871

Be not diverted from your duty By any
idle reflection the silly world may make
upon you, for their csnsuFes are not IN
your power, and consequently should not
be any part Of your eoncern.-Epictetus
Year: 1871

IT is seriously declared that New Or
leans is slowly sinking. In one locality
1t is seven feet below the ordinary level,
AMI the settlement varies from three to
seven feet. The length of batture which
has thus sunk is about seven hundred and
fifty feet and the width one hundred and
twentg, and there is no telling when 1t
viii stop. The present collapse is Just
on the line of the two principal railroads,
aud seriously impairs their operations.
The city surveyor has made borings to
investigate the strata, with view to the
construction of work that will prevent
any further sinking. But at depth of
fifty feet nothing more stable was found
than sand, with very slight mixture of
clay, and just now the surveyor is in
quandary as to what is to be done.
Year: 1871

Haggerty was very nervous and excited;
he was elegantly dressed and on his shirt
bosom sparkled three elegant diamonds.


Thrown over his left arm was light fall
overcoat. He was represented by the
eminent lawyer John Graham, who how
Year: 1871

We find men in every walk in life mis-
taking passion fer prominence for a
desire for eminence. No eminence is
possible except we subject that passion
for prominence which causes us to over
look the very steps by which eminence is
gained. The passion for prominence
leaves US open to the sting of unsatisfied
vanities; the desire for eminence makes
US calm in seeming defeat. The passion
for prominence makes us more anxious
to stand well in the estimation of others;
the desire for eminence makes US chiefly
anxious to stand well in our own
Morning Star.
Year: 1871

A PERSON in high life once went to Sir
Eardly Witnot, at the time Lord Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas,
under the impression of great wrath and
Indignation, at real injury which he
had received from person high in the
political world and which he was medita-
ting how to resent in the most effectual
manner. After relating the particulars,
he asked Sir Eardly if he did not think it
would be manly to resent it. ''I es, {"
said that eminent man, SIT vii! be manly
TO resent it; but it would be God like to
forgive it." The gentleman declared that
this had such an instantaneous effect
upon him, that he came away quite :
different man, and in totally different
temper from that in which he went.
Year: 1871

The LINE STORM" HUMBUG.-
Among the popular superstitions is one
that we are to have heavy storm about
the time of the vernal and autumnal
e9uinoxes. When a storm does come
at that time it is noted, but when it is
dropped from the programme no one
thinks of the omission, and so the notion
continues to prevail. A gentleman of
this city, who has kept record of the
weather, the temperature and force and
direction of the wind for many years,
has taken the pains to look back to the
FIVE days preceding and FIVE days follow
ing the 21st of each month, as far back
as 1842-thirty years-and he finds that
there have been no more violent storms
during that part of March and Septem-
Der, in all those years, than there have
been in any other months One Of the
most violent storms occurred in August,
and the storms in the winter months have
averaged great deal more violent than
those which have come at or near the
equinox. In such a matter as this, a
record is much more to be depended on
than ones memory or general impress
sions.-Newburyport Herald.
Year: 1871

A JUsT APPRECIATION OF THE VALUE
OF THE COUNTRY PREss.-The follow
ing testimonial from j. B. Dlnsmore,
Esq, will be read with interest, as based
upon varied experience in advertising.


My opinion OF the relative value Of
city and country newspapers as adver-
tising mediums, is decidedly in favor of
the country papers, price and circula-
ton being equal.


] should prefer to have my advertise
ment inserted in country paper having
500 circulation rat er than have it in
500 copies of a city daily paper. The
country readers have fewer papers and
more leisure, and consequently read their
papers more thoroughly and take better
care of them, while a daily paper after
being glanced at is thought no more of
than last years almanac. My opinion
is based on twelve years study and ex.
perience in the business.
Year: 1871




RURAL LIFE IN GERMANY.--The Ger
mans at home don't live in farm houses
in the country, but wholly in villages.
They live so uncomfortably that they
must think 1t privilege to emigrate to
this country.


In travelling through the rural districts
of Germany one sees many interesting
sights. The first thing that strikes an
American is, that they have no farm or
issoated farm-houses, as in the United
States. For here the country people all
live in villages, from which they 60 out
in all directions to cultivate their differ
ent tracts of land.


These villages spot the whole country.
As far as the eye can reach one can see
them in all dii ections. They lie at no
great distance from each other, there be-
ing one in every two square miles. One
OF these contains ordinarily about fifty
houses, which, however, with the barns,
stables, ETC., do not occupy more space
than the outbuildings of an ordinary
farm in the United States.


The people seem to be huddIed up in
close quarters. The houses are very
small and low. They are built mostly of
brick and covered with red tiles (baked
clay,) but not unfrequently they are COW
cred with straw. On the top Of the straw
the grass is often seen to sprout, so that
the roofs of the houses look as green as
the ground.


The public buildings of every village
are windmill and beer-house, for all
the grain in Germany is ground with
windmi Is, the wind being more regular
than in the United States, and so furnish
es cheap and convenient driving-power.
One accordingly sees windmill turning
ON nearly every hill.


The beer-house is place of general
resort in the evenings, for both the men
and the women of the village get togeth-
er to chat and drink in social unreserve.
To every five or six villages there is
church, and generally tavern.


In looking over the land one sees no
fences, but the land Of one man is separ-
ated from that of another by sward Of
gras, about twelve inches wide. Those
who pasture focks must always keep
somebody to watch them, though all kinds
of stock are mostly fed in the stables.
They cultivate the land too closely to
allow of fences.
Year: 1871

How THEY FLoURIsH.-The follow.
ing anecdote is told of Father Allen, the
first pastor Of the church in Wolfebo-
rough:


One day, while writing a sermon, be
was called out ofhis study, on some bus
iness with neighbor. A young man
with large amount of fun and mischief
in his head was living with the pastor.
He went into the study and noticed a
sermon lying ON the desk, which Mr.. AL
len was writing for the coming Sabbath.
Curiosity led him to read the page not
quite finished The last sentence Mr..
Allen had left quite incomplete. 1t read
as follows " The wicked flourish like a
green bay'--The boy added horse.
When Mr.. Allen returned to the study
he did not correct the boys new inter-
probation, but from that point went on
and finished the sermon. On the next
Sabbath the congregation were startled
with something new if not true. The
good pastor, reading his sermon, said -
!" The wicked flourish like a green bay
horse" The preacher paused, and then
said with emphasis, horsel" " Yes, my
brethren, like green bay horse" The
scene which followed is described, as one
of uncomfortable merriment on the part
of the congregation.
Year: 1871

Any amount and every class Of Insurance required
can be placed at this Office in the best Companies
aud at as low rates at any agency in the country


Expiration Notices Promptly Given.
Year: 1871

An intelligent writer says: at is
not possible to over-estimate the advan-
tages which would result from men in
trades and professions allowing their
daughters some participation in the
work of. their daily lives. What girls
want is larger observation Of the
world, and deeper knowledge Of hu-
man nature. There are few Of our
merchants and manufacturers and pro.
fessional men who could not largely
avail themselves of the services of their
educated and competent daughters
and if such services could be rendered
generally available, it is not much to
say that wider and more fertile social
life would arise from mankind. Mems
occupations would in no sense be preju-
diced whilst women would at once find
that outlet for their faculties for which
so many have been so long striving. A
certain responsibility would increase
their self.reliance. A capacity for
earning would remove their sense Of
dependence. A definite occupation
would bring both health and cheerful
ness; and the larger experiences Of life
would give force and completeness to
their mental character.
Year: 1871

strength faileth. He then made some
touching remarks on human frailty,
and of dependence on God, urging ali
present to make their peace with their
Master while in. health, that they might
claim His promises when heart and
flesh failed. them. "IThen,' he said,
the eternal God shall be thy refuge,
and beneath thee shall be the everlast-
ing arms Leaning over the desk, and
gazing intently on the coffined form be-
fore him, he then said reVerently,
/ ",From a. little child l have honored the
aged; but never till gray hairs covered
my own head; did | know truly how
much love and sympathy this class have
a right toademand of their fellow crea-A
lures. Now | feel it. Our mother" he
added most tenderly, ".who now lies. in
death before us, was stranger to me,
as are all of these her descendants. All
| know of her is what her son has told
me to-day-that she was brought to this
town from afar, sixty-nine years ago, a
happy bride-that here she has passed
most of her hfe,g gtoiling, as only mothers
ever have strength to toll, until she had
reared large family of sons and
~daug ughters-that she left her home here
clad in the weeds of widowhood, to
dwell among her children and that till
health and strength left her. God for
bid that conscience should accuse any
of. you Of ingratitude or murmuring on
account Of the care she had been to you
Of late.


"When you go back to your homes,
be careful of your example before your
own children for the fruit of your own
doing you will surely reap from them
when you yourselves totter on the brink
OF the grave. Ientreat you as a friend,
as one who has himself entered the
evening Of life, that you may never say
in the presence of your families nor of
heaven: Our mother had out-lived
her usefulness-she was burden to
US Never, never; mother cannot
live SO long as that No; when she
can no longer labor for her children,
nor yet care for herself, she can fall
like a precious weight on their bosoms,
and call forth by her helplessness all
the noble, generous feelings Of their
natures"


Adieu, then, poor toil-worn mother;
there are no more days of pain for thee.
Undying vigor and everlasting useful
ness are part of the inheritance of the
redeemed.
Year: 1871

The following sentences from Arch
bishop Seekers Wedding Ring, are
worth reading twice: = 'pN arE


Hast thou a soft heart? It's of Gods
breaking. Hast thou a sweet, wife 4?
She is of Gods making. The Hebrews
have saying, lie is not man who
hath not q woman Though man
alone may be good, yet it is not good
that man. should be alone. g Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from
above" A wife, though she be not
perfect gift, is good gift, a beam darted
from the sun Of mercy. How happy are
those marriages where Christ is at the
wedding. Let none but those who have
found favor in Gods eyes find favor in
yours. Husbands should spread man
tie of charity over their wives infrmi-
ties. /. Do not put out the candle because
of the snuff. Husbands and wives
should provoke one another to love;
and they should love one another not
provocations. The tree of
love should grow up in the midst of the
family as the tree of life grew ia the gar
den of Eden. Good servants are great
blessing /; good children a greater bless
ing; but good wife is the greatest
blessing; and such help let him seek
for that lacks one let him sigh that
has lost one let him delight in that en-
Joys one.