11 Dec 1874
Page 1
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This newspaper page contains 12 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
The Berwick Independent
Location
Berwick, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Date
Dec 11, 1874
Page
1
A fragment from Bret Harte presents a family by the hearth hearing a mysterious melody in the chimney. The mother recalls a lost child while children fear a witch or fairy trumpet. The poet narrator muses the wind as a divine harmony uniting man woman and child.
A narrator recalls a rough Maryland farmer known as Old Biles who defends a persecuted elderly man. Through memories of Dora, his blue eyed daughter educated in Baltimore, the piece brushes themes of class, aging, love, and filial pride as past and present collide.
A Baltimore girl Dora shirks propriety after her father's oppression and a failed life in the city. She thrives on gaiety with wealthy suitors while Old Biles, ruined by poverty and grief after a shipwreck of family, clings to a cemetery grave. A fatal July 4 disaster seals Dora's fate and hastens Biles toward ruin and memory.
An examination of stove costs compares iron casting prices with beds tables and chairs. It cites John S Perry Albany figures showing iron tonnage yields 2 120 pounds of castings for seven stoves and estimates molding and iron costs per stove. It notes stove prices at dealers range from 28 to 38 and mentions anecdotal vignettes and a French dowry rule for officers.
A Detroit guest named Mr. Howard proves to be Jem Mace as Senator Zach Chandler of Michigan and Roscoe Conkling of New York stage a boxing farce in a Washington after-dinner gym session. Chandler belts Conkling once, then loses control as Mace knocks Conkling out in a humorous social ruse.
The New York Express, edited by a Constitutional Convention member, finds each amendment independently presented in the exact form from both Legislatures. Only amendments not rejected in 1874 are included, except the second amendment to article 7 regarding the Black River canal. Also notes France’s new army bill raising the force to 930,000 men.
A portrait of the Mulberry Sellers as two types: the honest dreamer ruined by grand schemes and the dishonest schemer who profits by others. The piece casts both as emblematic of American flaws, illustrated by depictions of investment fads, political lobbying, and legal tricks. It notes their pervasiveness in Washington and critiques superficial, opportunistic Americans as a whole.
A wedding guest list fiasco revealed invitations stolen from the post office to please a practical joke. A related England tale saw a grand garden party collapse when guests arrived a week late due to delayed post. The disappointed hostess later printed invites on commercial blue post. A remark mocked a deteriorating rival as if shuffling to save funeral expenses.
A report on Arctic Lapland describes geography and Ice Age geology across Sweden and Norway, with focused attention on the nomadic Laps. It highlights population, reindeer wealth, education, Lutheran literacy, and a humorous recounting of Mr Du Chailly’s arctic sleigh ride and attire.
A French girl, eighteen, hauls cord-wood on a rocky mountain road with four heavy horses nearly every day last summer. She rises early, sits upright on a spring seat, and handles the team with ease, accompanied by her father who lifts sticks and cannot drive. She wears calico dress, laced boots, palm-leaf hat, buckskin gloves, and keeps a dusty but steady demeanor as she works and passes through town.
The report details United States Signal Service operations during the prior year. It covers permanent life saving stations from Sandy Hook to Cape Hatteras and from Norfolk to Harnegat, with telegraph support, weather data, and warnings for vessels. It notes semaphore plans and wartime peacetime uses, plus Texas and Arizona telegraph lines built by enlisted men. The Chief urges formal permanent organization and promotion paths, proposing eight captain and eight lieutenant assistants.
A Mrs W S Dredford of Albert Maine died aboard a westward immigrant train near San Jose as she traveled to join her children. Her son sheltered her body as she slept, and mourners transported the remains to San Francisco for burial. The report also notes a shipment of seventeen boxes of corpses sent to China, with Chinese bodies kept in a San Francisco vault until about a hundred have accumulated for return.
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