smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

The present low prices of wheat
are a very general and serious dis
appointment to nearly everybody.
The rule has been that prices ad-
Vanced in May and continued to in
crease until the new crop came in
to market; and people had right
to expect that the causes which pro-
duced that result in past seasons
would continue to operate this year.
Even the most sagacious buyers in
the market acted upon that theory
and many of them have suffered
heavy losses in consequence.


There are several causes eperat-
ing to produce the decline which
prices have recently experienced.
First, the scarcity of labor and con-
sequent scarcity of money among
the laboring classes, both in this
country and Europe, has rendered
them incapable of purchasing and
consuming their usual supply. This
is a result Of the disturbed condition
OF our national tinances-of the
contraction and gold basis policy.
Next, the extreme and continued
heat Of the weather has made the
holding of wheat in the warehouses
unsafe. 1t would necessarily dete-
rtorate in quality and, if not thor
oughly dry, heat and spoil. Thirdly,
the gradual but constant contraction
Of values Of all kinds of property
has tended to diminish the relative
value Of this and all other commod-
tiles.


All these causes acting together
have tended to crowd down the
price of wheat, and as they could
not be foreseen and foretold last fall,
those who then ventured to predict
an advance in the spring are not so
blameworthy as some would strive
to make appear. The reports
from all quarters concerning the
coming crop indicate a shortened
supply, but even with a greatly re-
duced production it is not safe to
calculate upon any considerable ad.
vance in prices next season, for, un-
til our finances attain healthy con-
dition and business revives, we must
remember that the necessities of the
poorer classes will compel them to
materially lessen their consumption.
The Indian war has not been
marked with any occurrence worthy
Of note since the massacre of Gus
ter's command and the fight with
Reno. The young braves have all
left the agencies in Nebraska and
gone to reinforce the hostile forces.
and there are not soldiers enough
in that locality to venture another
Year: 1876

80 Since it is clear that the earth has
had and will have period without liv
ing creatures, and its period of life is a
finite between two comparatively infinite
periods, a mere RIPPLE said Mr.. Proc
tor in Steinway Hall last evening, "the
chance is small that any planet taken at
random is at this time inhabited. Mr..
Proctor gave various data, from which
his inferences were that the moon is
dead; that Mercury probably never had
life, and being now in its old age as a
planet, is cooled off completely, its own
cold, however, counterbalanced in con-
siderable measure by the heat of the
sun; that it is not certain that the plan
cts came into being at the same time;
that some of them may now be grow
ing and that we can know but little
about Mercury, as he is so near the sun
that the sun blazes in our eyes when we
try to inspect him. 1t was proved at
the late transit of Venus, that she has
an atmosphere; and although she must
have climate so warm that earthly be-
ings could not live there, possibly she
has people who can.


Mars in 1877 will be in that part of
his orbit in which he will shine the
brightest and reddest. There is reason
for believing that Mars is younger than
the earth. Its life must be shorter.
There is not feature of the history of
Jupiter and Saturn resembling the
earth. Indeed, there are two families
of planets in the solar system, the
lesser Orbs and the giant planets. These
great planets are suns, having little
system of their own. But when Jupiter
has cooled as much as our earth, he viii
be smaller than the earth and one-sixth
as bright as he is now. The satellites
of the giant planets may be advanced
in their life career. Some parts of
Saturn, said Mr.. Proctor, suffer eclipses
of the sun two years long. In the star
depths, he continued, there are prOba-
bly, millions of living beings; and as we
extend our domain of the known, we
extend our imagination of the un-
| known N Y S1Ln
Year: 1876

are given out by the clerk in charge of
the books in which they are recorded.
Other than this latter information the
White House is not good hopper for
news.


At the War Department the changes
IN the stations of army officers are first
printed and then given to the press rep
resentativeS. Sometimes a stray bit of
serylceable news is communicated by
General Vincent. The Secretary him
self is not much troubled with newspa-
per men, and for the reason that they
don't know how to take him. He is
variable in his treatment. At times
pleasant, affable, and obliging. Again
"quite the reverse


General Humphries, the Chief of En-
glneers, is occasionally visited He is
quite nervous when information in his
possession is sought after He believes
IN army regulations, and usually wants
authority from the head of the depart
ment before he will divulge.


1t does not take long to skip through
she Navy Department. What is gotten
from il is a daily budget of naval orders,
s'iiu ONNssoiOAlblil IllC VI Jul
ships in foreign waters. This class of
information is prepared by the chief
clerk, and DR.. McNairy, an old salt who
has anchored in this harbor for over
twenty years. No newspaper man
thinks of going to Secretary Robson in
person. He hates the guild, and will
pay no more attention to a card sent in
by one of them than would an Egyptian
potentate to the SaIaam of his humbleSt
subject.


Postmaster-GeneralJ Jewell wants ''the
boys" to have every thing that is worth
having in his department, and the heads
of bureaus and divisions, knowing this,
give willingly to the press all matters of
interest which are worth printing.


Secretary Chandler is also a favorite
Cabinet officer with the journalists; he
has nothing to conceal, and is willing
that the press should have every facili-
ty yextended them in their laborious hunt
for news
Year: 1876

The attention of some ladies in New
York City having been directed to the
fact that females employed as clerks in
shops were compelled to stand during
working hours, they have interested
themselves to secure 4 relaxation of the
strict discipline which is enforced, and
to obtain for the clerks the privilege of
sitting when they are not engaged in
attending upon customers or busted in
keeping their departments in order.
There are few employers who, when the
matter is brought to their attention,
will be cruel enough to insist that their
saleswomen shall be always on their
feet when at their post of duty. No
matter how persistently the pronounced
advocates of female suffrage may insist
upon woman's perfect equality with
man, it nevertheless cannot be question
ed that, physically considered, women,
generally speaking, are inferior to men.
Women are debarred from those en-
ployments which demand the constant
exertion of great physical strength.
Clerking in stores is hardly considered
a vocation in which the capability of
physical endurance is the essential; yet
it is subjecting girls to a needless, as
well as tiresome and dangerous, strain
to demand that they stand continuously
while in the store. The effort of the
New York women to secure a mOdifica-
ton of the custom is praiseworthy, and
is something practical in the interest OF
the sex. The custom in New York is
similar to that which prevails in large
cities in Great Britain, where, indeed, a
movement has also been commenced to
secure a change.
Year: 1876

The Richmond (Va.) Whig has the
following in reference to the recent
earthquake shock in that vicinity:


"There are some doubts raised as to
whether it was an earthquake after all,
though the earth did undoubtedly shake
most terribly. The Alexandria Se1:ti-
mel states that the phenomenon in that
city was Immediately followed by very
brilliant meteor, which made its appear
ance in the northeastern heavens and
shot rapidly toward the south, explod-
ing with a loud report when near the
horizon. 1t may be that the first shock
experienced here was caused by the ex-
plOsion of the Rrolite, which may have
happened near Richmond, as this city
seems to have been the focus from
which the disturbance radiated; and the
second shock may have been either the
reaction of the first, or caused by the
heavy fragments of the meteor striking
earth. The fact that a gentleman of
this city says his room was lighted up
as if by a sudden electric flash just be-
fore he felt the shock, would seem to
90 far in confirmation of this theory.
Still, there are other phenomena, such
as the surging of the waters in the river,
and the peculiar and continuous vibra-
tions and undulations of the earth, that
cannot be so readily reconciled with the
fall of meteor of any reasonable di-
mensions. The simultaneous appear
ance of this meteor and the several
shocks, however, is a confidence quite as
remarkable as any of the many that have
been noted or mentioned, and ought to be
taken into account in the investigation to
which the whole matter will be subject
ed by the scientific mind of the coun-
trv."
Year: 1876

l knew a little girl who was found
sobbing in bed, one night, unable to
close her eyes, long after her usual time
of slumber. With much reluctance and
after long crOss-eXaminatiOn, she own
ed that her sorrow related solely to the
woes of ''Long Tail" and "Blue Eyes"


two devoted rats, whose highly wrought
adventures she had Just been reading in
a child's magazine. "Blue Eyes" had


been caught in a trap, from which
"Long Tail'' had finally rescued her,
but their suferings had been so vividly
described that it was long before she
could be induced to view it as any thing
but a real tragedy. Less easy of per-
suasiOn was q child once under my
charge, boy of twelve, unusually
strong and active, spending almost his
whole time in the open air, who was yet
moved by the story of "Undine" to
such exaggerated emotion, that he lay
awake the greater part of the night, in
an agony of tears, which grew worse
and worse till | hit upon a happy
thought, and imagined for him wholly
new ending to the tale-bringing I'm
dine out Of the water and reuniting her
to Hildebrand, so that all should live
happily ever after. Being offered this
entirely ideal refuge from an equally
ideal woe, my poor little pupil dried up
his tears and was asleep in ten minutes.
Year: 1876

The Atlanta (Ga.) Herald of the 24th
ult. gives an account of the difficulty
Baggagemaster Hunt met on a trip from
Chattanooga the day previous. ltsays
Sat Chattanooga a man from some
Western State got aboard the train.
He had, chained about the neck, very
large yellow wolf. The brute appeared
to be docile enough while in charge of
his owner, although to u stranger his
fierce eye and grinning teeth were suf-
ticient to keep one at a distance. BY
considerable pulling and kicking and
jerks the man succeeded in getting him
aboard and putting him in the baggage
car, where he was chained in one cor
ner. As might be well imagined, the
baggagemaster did


compasion in his car alone. aud pro
tested against the act, but was repeat
edly assured that the wolf was harmless
and would attack no one. Thus the
baggageman's fears were allayed, and
the train started. 1t leaves ChattanOo-
ga before light, and the baggagemaster
was left alone in his car with his gaunt
companion. The train had not pro
ceeded a very great distance before it
became necessary for the baggagemas-
ter to adjust some pieces, which he pro-
ceeded to do. In moving about he
either forgot the presence of the brute,
or, depending upon what the owner said
in regard to its viciouSness, went too
near his wolfship, which, of a sudden,
made spring at Mr.. Hunt, and seized
his coat-tail. Turning to fight the ami
NAL off it seized him again, tearing his
coat half off Mr.. Hunt fought the
wolf off and made his escape into the
next car, where he informed Conductor
Bell of what had taken place. That
officer felt outraged at the danger to
which his subaltern had been subjected,
and started in to dispatch the brute, but
thought it best to inform its owner of
what had transpired before proceeding
on his revengeful errand. The proprie-
tor of the one-horse menagerie was
aroused and informed of the situation,
and told that he must make reparation
for the damage done or he would be
short of wolf very soon. He offered
to console the injured party by saying
that the wolf was playing, and that it
frequently tore his clothes off in these
little antics. But this did not restore
the rent garment or allay the anger of
the baggagemaster, who insisted upon
his making good what the beast had
made worthless. After considerable
parleying and pickering they finally
compromised on S10.50. After that the
wolf had the car pretty much to him
self the balance of the trip"
Year: 1876

The Fincastle Va.) Herald has this
story: Last week w. w. Womack and
family, who live on James River, were
aroused late in the night by the loud
barking of their dogs, and the excellent
housewife endeavored to incite her
worthy husband to investigate the cause
of it. He declined to be disturbed, how
ever, by what he thought a trivial mat
ter, and she boldly ventured out. With
the aid of a servent and the dogs she
captured a tremendous bear Consider
ing its age), to the astonisment of her
liege lord, who put in his appearance
after the fight was over.
Year: 1876

Russia seems to agree to the peace propo-
sitions, and, if the reports are accurate, pre-
pares for war. Even English correspondents
appear to be startled at the readiness with
which Russia accepts an English plan, and at
the small notifications she cares to make
in it. The significance Of this fact is, per-
haps, that Russia has her own view of the
case, but is ready to assent that anybody's
peace nostrum shall be tried if the proprie-
tors of the said nostrum believe it will be
efficient She is ready to consent to the
trial OF any and every plan. and only the
more readily because she believes they will
oil be useless. Between the fighting and
the truce and the general results of the
summer the problem of the destinies of
Servia and the Slavs and the Turks has
somewhat cleared up for Russia. 1t is
clear on the Neva and, perhaps, in
Berlin and Vienna that a settlement
of the difficulty on the status quo ante beltun
will be delusive and unsatisfactory; but
Russia assents to q settlement on that
basis in order that the facts may demonstrate
once more the worthlessness of Turkeys
promises and in order that the case may 60
over quietly this year. The settlement as pro-
posed is worthless, because it is guaranteed
only on one side. Servia is bound; but, on
the other hand, there are only the promises of
the Porte and Prince Gortschakoff recently
challenged Turkish Ambassador to cite any
case in which the Sultan's government had
ever kept promises of that nature. They
will be kept now no better than hitherto, if
accepted. But in this case On army on foot at
Alexinatz will be ready to take the field
in the spring and to reopen the war in sup
port Of the demand Of Servian, Bosnian and
Bulgarian autonomy as the only guarantee
to the people of those countries for the re-
forms which the Porte always promises but
never puts in effect. Russia perhaps re-
CARDS such an event as inevitable and may
cooperate but in the meantime she keeps
her counsel and agrees with England; for to
do otherwise would be to give the English
Ministry case on which they might escape
from their difficulty with the country over
the Bulgarian massacres Gortschakoff will
not help them out of that scrape, and if the
Ministry should be put out this winter and
the liberals come in, armed support Of the
Turks by England will be impossible, and
Russia's case will be clear
Year: 1876

Many Jeans have been praised by the
poets, especially by Burns, Scott, the Et-
trick Shepherd and other Scottish bards
but none Of these Jeans were over as pa
thetic as the blue jeans of that remarkable
old man who expects to be the next Gov
ernor of Indiana. He is more constant to
his jeans than the poets, we fear, were
to theirs. The reasons he gave to our
correspondent recently for wearing that
strange livery should melt the heart of his
obdurate enemy. Uncle Jimmy Williams
does not wear it to gain votes from grangers,
but because it is dear to him from many old
associations. "For many. many years in the
county where l was raised" the old man
said. ''they could get nothing better to
wear" He larned all he knows, though


faint much he says, in clothes made of blue
jeans. In blue jeans he went to school,
and never wanted broadcloth when he
went to apple orchards and shedding parties


His voice trembled when he said, II went q
coortin' in blue ienns. and neither she nor the
Year: 1876

has been through the st. Lawrence Valley,
causing very heavy fall of rain at Montreal.
where the pressure fell to 1855 inches
Throughout the West and Southwest the
pressure has risen decidedly, with fall in
temperature The prospect of cooler weather
along the Atlantic coast is favorable for the
abatement of the yellow fever in Georgia,
and will be welcomed as great boon to that
stricken region To-day the weather in New
York will be clear or partly cloudy and
cool, with brisk westerly winds.
Year: 1876

We print elsewhere an interesting letter
from q Philadelphia correspondent on the
vexed question of the healthfulness of the
Exhibition grounds and the peculiar causes
of disease there 1t is not worth while to
deny that typhus, typhoid and dysenteric
diseases have been very frequent among
visitors to the Exhibition during the last
two months. Whether the causes of these
diseases are removable, and what they are, are
questions which deserve the attention of the
Philadelphia Board Of Health, whose mem
bers seem, however, to have preferred to
deny that there is any but natural and in
evitable increase of disease in Philadelphia
this season. The HERALD has been criticised
because it has several times warned visitors
to the Exhibition to be careful in diet and
to guard themselves specially against mala-
rious and typhoid infection. But it is now
acknowledged that these warnings were nec-
essary. Our correspondent gives many
cases Of disease, and he shows that there
have been faults in the drainage, leading to
impure water supply.


We do not advise people to avoid the Ex-
hibition. On the contrary, we should like to
see everybody so. even if only for day or
two. But we do caution visitors to drink as
little water as may be; to avoid firing them
selves too much to dress warmly and
avoid the night air, and to eat at regular
hours and not in haste. With such COM
mon precautions we believe the greater num-
Der Of visitors may avoid attacks of disease.
But they should bear in mind that both the
uncommon labors and excitements which
they undergo and the influences of the
place are deleterious, and that care and more
than common nrudenca ara essential
Year: 1876

The sounding rod has been at work dur
ing the last two days testing the varia-
tions of depth in the water over the blasted
reef. AS the survey now in progress is
only preliminary one in order to de-
fine the danger line which encloses the
debris only an approximate estimate can be
formed Of the direct effect Of the explosion.
So far it has proved extremely satisfactory in
demonstrating the destruction of the rocky
mass, and decided increase in the depth of
water is shown at points which were very
shallow before the blast. At distance of
three hundred feet from the shore line
depth of twenty feet is now found at mean
low water level. This depth increases rap
idly outward into the channel, and will of
course, be created in shore when the dredp
ing is completed A large vessel may safely
pass within one hundred yards OF Hallett's
Point, and when the debris is removed NAV
lie alongside the rocky shore line without
danger The effect on the currents is al
ready felt The enlargement of the river
section at this point permits of an increased
flow of water, which will, as we have before
stated, strengthen the current, but shorten
the duration of its flow either way. The set
is now toward Flood Rock, which fortunately
is so surrounded with sea wall of rubbish
rs to be rendered considerably less danger
Gus to navigation than ever before. Every
thing considered the work at Hallett's Point
Reef is q grand success.
Year: 1876

The success which has attended the opera
tions for the removal of Hallett's Poin
Reef under the direction of General New
ton associates his name so intimately with
the scene of his labors that we gladly accord
to him the honor which the fame of his
achievement must bring. Some men have
for their monuments mountain peaks that
they only gazed at from distance; others
are remembered as the discoveries of rivers
and bays which they did not explore. Pixies
Peak, Baffin's Bay, Behring Strait and
Mackenzie River are instanced as examples
of this custom of naming places and objects
after the individuals who first brought them
into notice But with how much pro-
priety might we honor in this way the men
who shape and fashion, excavate and build for
the benefit of mankind more than those who
merely discover the existence of wonderful
places and things And after oil such
custom would exercise wholesome influ-
ence on the effort to attain success in every
undertaking dependent for its results on in
dividual intelligence and skill. On the one
hand would be held out to the aspirants for
fame the honor of having their names forever
associated with grand successes, while on the
other hand failure through inability 10 per-
form the task would be followed by the ridi-
cule and censure of all time to come No
man can deny the feeling of qualification
that fills him when his work is the theme of
thousands of approving tongues. The un-
measured praises of his fellow men repay
him for the tolls and anxieties that beset
him in his hours of trial. He has succeeded,
and that embraces everything.


General Newton has triumphed over diff
culties that would have defeated less expe-
rienced engineers, and the measure of his
triumph must be in proportion to that Of the
obstacles overcome. He deserves therefore
to enjoy the fame he has so well won for
himself and for American engineering So
let us mark Newton's Channel on our maps
of the East River for the future, and as the
General widens and deepens the watery
highway, winning at every blow broader
and irmer footing on the domain of the
rocks and reefs of He'll Gate, then will the
grim terrors of the famous passage give way
and disappear before the steady growth of
the commodious Newton Channel.
Year: 1876

It is announced with some authority that
on the Cd or Sd of October the little
planet Vulcan will make its first regular ap-
pearance before terrestrial public. and the
star gazing dlettani are notified to secure
for themselves advantageous points of obser-
vation. Some glimpses have been had of
this vague star on other occasions; so that
this is only debut in so far as it is q regu-
larly announced and anticipated appear
ance. Every planet between the earth and
the sun of course goes round the sun oftener
than the earth does and has a shorter year.
Mercury goes around once in three months,
and Vulcan, which is still nearer the sun,
goes around him still oftener; and on the
many trips it has made every year for so
so close an observation as to make
even its existence certain. This is due to
the blaze of the great luminary, in the pres
ence of which all lesser lights are lost. But
several astronomers have accidentally, rs it
were, caught glimpses Of small body
rushing across the face Of the sun with
tremendous velocity, and Leverrier has
reasoned from observed perturbations of
other bodies to the fact that there is an un-
known planet between Mercury and the sun.
It is possible that the united action OF
astronomers in all countries may next month
verify the existence of this STAR