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Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 26, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
The First National Bank has long felt the need of better safe accommodations, not that the officers apprehended any great danger from robbers, but the two safes in use were made long before the invention of modern burglar proof locks, and besides were small and inconvenient. It was finally decided to fill this want by the purchase of a new safe http://www.usgennet.org/usa/in/county/vanderburgh
ostcards/city_nat_bank_vault.jpg and the very best manufactured. A man from the establishment of Morris & Ireland of Boston, who have made safes for several of the leading banks of that city, was sent for, made some measurements in the vault, and has had constructed just such a safe as was needed for the place.
/ It is 4 1/2 ft. high, 3 1/2 wide, 28 inches deep, and weighs 5 tons. It arrived last Tues. and John Osterhout, who loaded it onto a truck at the depot, had a hard time pulling it up Clay hill. He got stuck once, and it was quite a long time before the 3 yokes of oxen and pair of horses succeeded in hauling the wheels out of the mire. The old vault door in the bank was not large enough to admit the safe, and George Day and Frank Park were employed to hew away the walls of mason work and make an aperture large enough to accommodate it and to put up the new vault doors purchased with it.
/ The latter are 6 ft. high and 30 inches wide, an outer and inner door, in a vestibule about 3 ft. deep. The doors, made of welded steel between plates of welded iron, are 2 1/2 inches thick, while the iron of the vestibule, made in a singular manner, is 1 1/2 inches thick. On the outer vault door is a Yale dial lock, and on the inner door a perfection lock. The safe, which is as burglarproof as it is possible to make them, is of welded iron and steel...and has a "strong box" inside...The cost of the safe was about $6000 and it will answer the requirements of the institution, it is hoped, for many years to come. The superintendent of Messrs. Morris & Ireland's manufactory was here to direct the setting up erection of the doors, etc. [Read more about Mr. Morris in the New York Times of Jan. 18, 1896].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 5, 1875
Ashfield
One of our merchants, who weighs many persons on his scales, says that it is a common remark with them this season that they fall short of their usual weight. Probably the severity of the winter accounts for it.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 15, 1875
The streets of Benares, India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benares [also known as Banaras or Varanasi). From the New York Observer - We took a gharry to see the town. We rode through the new part of the city, where the streets are broad and well macadamized, and smooth as a floor. Beautiful shade trees are planted all along the broad streets. There are many modern houses and shops, and some of them have large yards, beautifully ornamented with trees, shrubs, and flowers. We did not, however, drive through all the streets, for in the old part of the city http://gallery.photo.net
hoto/2643448-lg.jpg they are not over 5 or 6 ft. wide. Many of these narrow streets are lined on either side with substantial stone houses, 6 or 7 stories high.
/ These streets are so crooked and winding that one needs a guide to go most anywhere, and certainly to get out of them. The shops of the same kind of business are congregated in one street. We went through quite a long street, and every shop was devoted to workers in brass. The same holds good as to iron workers, the silver and gold workers.
/ It is a great manufacturing city, and many curious things are made here. There are shops of every kind, and every trade is represented. Every shop is open to the street. We visited them, and were particularly interested in the workers in brass. They manufacture and carve, in the most beautiful manner, the vases and all the utensils used in housekeeping. These shops are filled with all types of brass goods, and every article is as bright as gold. Every dealer will be after you to buy his wares at some price, and you will very likely get loaded with goods. We visited the tin and ironsmiths, and thought we never saw such a variety of goods before.
/ The jewelry shops and stores are filled with very rich and costly goods. We were left to wonder where such beautiful and expensive wares of silver and ornaments of gold jewels could find a market. There is quite a street where slippers are made, apparently enough to supply all India. We saw shops where saddlery hardware was made. It is all very interesting and curious, and all those shops were filled with Hindoos, and not an idle person in the number.
/ One of the most interesting places in the city is where the accoutrements and uniforms of the soldiers and others are made. We visited the shop where all kinds of Oriental fabrics are made. The looms were in motion, and human muscle furnished the power. Apparently there is nothing so cheap as man power. These nearly naked men seem to work with the regularity of a machine. These shops are in the lower story of the houses. The first story is used not only for shops, but frequently for stabling cattle.
/ Of all the curious and costly products of the looms of this city, the celebrated Brocade of Benares http://www.indianselections.net/wall-hangings.html is the most wonderful. We visited one of these establishments, but made no purchases. We have often read of this fabric - the gold cloth of the famous city. Our guide led the way up several flights of stone steps. The passageways, as well as the stairs, were all narrow as well as winding. We reached the store room, but nothing but the stone floor and naked walls were in sight, but soon a salesman appeared and unlocked some massive doors and spread out a sheet upon the floor, and upon that, piece after piece of the beautiful brocade. We saw no piece that cost less than 60 dollars a yard, and several pieces that cost twice that sum.
/ Some of these brocades seemed half gold, but the cloth was as soft and pliable as though all silk...We wondered at the skill of the weaver and admired his work, but the polite merchant was compelled to replace his beautiful fabrics in their place of safety, and we, with many thanks and bows took our leave. There is an indescribable charm about the streets and street sights of this ancient city.
/ The aristocracy, consisting of the princes and priests and wealthy merchants, are all elegantly dressed, many of them in costly silks; but the laboring classes have the merest apology for clothing, many of them wearing only the dhotee, or a piece of cotton cloth about their loins, while most of the children http://gallery.photo.net
hoto/3340407-lg.jpg are entirely naked.But we soon get used to this costume of the laboring classes, for we see it everywhere in warm climates. Half of the people of the town seem to live in the streets and transact all their business there. All kinds of goods are offered you as you walk along the streets, but the Hindoo is always polite and respectful.
/ We saw a great variety of small paintings on isinglass, illustrative of the customs and habits of the people. Those of the military represent the officers and the common soldiers, the priests and the people. The most curious of all these illustrations are those of the religious beggars. They assume costumes according to caste, and are very numerous, and many of them very degraded.
/ There are some horses and cows in the street, but I did not see a single bull at large. There are but few horses in Benares, and they are seldom used to draw heavy loads or bear burdens. They are harnessed before the most curious little cart in the world. The harness is composed of a kind of saddle, unto which the thills of the cart are fastened clear up on the back of the horse. The cart itself is a rude affair. The thills are bent so that they have to go by the horse’s side, and then crook up on to his back. It has a little top about as large as an umbrella, and often has bells hanging to it. It is only the rich that can afford one of these outfits.
/ The common people use the little bullock, but he is nimble and trots off like a horse. We visited the parks and gardens of the city, were greatly interested in the beautiful and luxuriant tress of this favored land. Most of these trees are new to us, and as we look upon them for the first time, we are amazed at the richness of the foliage. There is a boundless variety of shrubs and trailing vines and flowers in these wonderful gardens. There is no frost to stiffen the ground or to chill the air, and all these trees and shrubs are forever green.
/ The old leaf ripens and is pushed from its place by the new ones, but the stalk is never bare. There is no winter here, but there are long seasons of dry weather, but these beautiful gardens are kept fresh and verdant by irrigation. The water is raised for that purpose by immense wells by rude machines, here worked by oxen. The water is conducted all over the gardens in cement conduits. It is all very laborious, but human muscle is very cheap in India.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 4, 1875
Advice gratis
Advice gratis - don’t groan over dull times nor feel disconsolate about the future. Keep a cheerful countenance, Speak encouragingly to your neighbors, and pay your debts as fast as you can. To lock up money and refuse to pay bills when due is, to use a mild expression, a very foolish proceeding and tends more than anything else to keep up the general distrust, which is one of the great causes of the present business stagnation. Let everyone pay his debts as fast as he can, that is the only way to make money circulate and business revive.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 4, 1875
Lick your own stamps
Lick your own stamps - Remember that the P.M. simply does you a favor if he does it for you; his instructions are to send unstamped letters to the Dead Letter OFfice, regardless of the number of stamps or coppers that are found in the mailing box. It is easy enough to lick one stamp, but just think of standing behind a frame and licking stamps all day.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 16, 1874
They have just been having a nose show in Austria. 80 persons competed for the prize offered for the most extraordinary nasal prominen
They have just been having a http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/archive/17451.html nose show in Austria. 80 persons competed for the prize offered for the most extraordinary nasal prominence in form, size, and color. The jury decided that only 3 out of the whole could be admitted to compete for the prize, which was finally adjudged to a competitor from Vienna, possessor of what is stated to be a gigantic nose of a deep violent blue.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 7, 1874
Beecher
Beecher-Tilton miscellany - More than 1000 people assembled last Sun. morning to hear the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher preach. Special trains were run over the Boston, Concord and Montreal railroad from Lancaster and the Fabyan House , while hundreds came by coaches and private teams from the mountain hotels and surrounding country. At about half past 10 Mr. Beecher entered the parlor, took a seat on the platform, and assisted as usual in seating the audience, until the spacious room was filled to its utmost capacity. The Christian Union of last week had a long editorial upon the Beecher case, which is a resume mainly of his life, character and work, as pitted against what it believes to be false accusations... http://www.brown.edu...echer/beecherms.html Mrs. Theodore Tilton and daughter and her friend Mrs. Ovington, reached Norwalk Ct. Mon. morning, via http://www.shearman.com/enterprise/tilton.html Shepaug Railroad from New Preston, Litchfield county, where they have been stopping for the past week. http://www.shearman.com/enterprise/tilton.html Mrs. Tilton appeared to be in good health and spirits, and was heard to remark that her rowing exercises on http://www.bouldersinn.com/reserv.html Lake Waramaug had greatly benefited her. They went at once to New York. Capt. C.C. Duncan, president of the Sailors' Savings bank at Brooklyn, a member of Plymouth Church and formerly superintendent of the Sunday School, has writen a letter to Moulton, endorsing his course and condemning the course of the Beecher investigating committee. Moulton is reported as saying that he fully understands his position before the public and that his next statement will be a clincher. It is stated that the Brooklyn Eagle in defending the libel suit against Bowen will summon Mrs. Beecher, Victoria Woodhull, Tilton and wife, Moulton and everybody else interested in the most remote degree.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 10, 1871
(Shelburne Falls) We have been shown by Walter Gillman, of Westfield, a very elegant solid whalebone whip, with carved ivo
(Shelburne Falls) We have been shown by Walter Gillman, of Westfield, a very elegant solid http://www.geocities...08/rr01/rr01_162.htm whalebone whip , with carved ivory handle and the main part of the stock ivory studded. It was manufactured by the http://www.chronofho...es/99/whip_city.html Westfield Whip Co. , and is designed as a present for an Ohio lady. We should consider it good enough for our own use.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 1, 1870
The manufacture of pins
The manufacture of pins -In the old days the heads of pins were formed of a separate piece of wire, which was tightly wound in two coils round the blunt end of the pin. These heads, thus loosely attached, were forever coming off, and headless pins were in those days a greater nuisance than pointless and eyeless needles are now. But about 1824, an American inventor named Wright, invented a machine which took in the wire in long lengths and turned it out in the form of perfectly formed pins, the heads of which were formed by riverting or upsetting the end of the pin itself (more on this, from Manufacturer and Builder).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 19, 1871
Meridian lines
Meridian lines - Edward Preveor, state commissioner for establishing meridian lines, has established the line for Hampden County in Westfield, on land of L.T. Thayer, who offered it gratis for that purpose. The Hampshire County line has been located in Northampton; and Mr. Preveor now comes to Greenfield & then goes to http://www.sos-earthwalk.net/route_mass.htm Pittsfield to complete his work, all the counties but Franklin and Berkshire being now provided for. The statute under which this action occurs was enacted by the Legislature of 1870, and provides that it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of the several counties to erect at such place or places as the public convenience may require, a true meridian line or lines, to be perpetuated by substantial stone posts or pillars upon whose summits shall be firmly and immovably fixed brass or copper points to indicate the true range of each meridian, these to be always free of access to civil engineers or surveyors, and to be under the care of the county commissioners, the posts and land upon which they stand, being public property. Any person defacing or injuring them is liable to a fine of $200, of which 1/2 goes to the complainant. Surveyers are bound to verify their instruments by them at least once a year.
Firebrands (from http://www.memorialh...nced&transcription=0 Godey's Lady's Book ) - They are to be found in almost every community; creatures whose sole desire seems to be to make mischief all around, and breed general discontent in the witches' cauldron of false witness and tale bearing. They cannot let things be, and they cannot leave others alone. If they spy out a flaw anywhere - and their eyes are as sharp for flaws as a hawk's for hedge sparrows - they point it out to every one concerned, and make it a great deal worse than it really is. As as they're always on the lookout for their prey, and as nothing in this world is perfect, and as we for the most part find what we seek, flaws are sure to abound where the firebrand puts up; and people whom, until their advent, you had taken to be good sort of folks enough, turn out to be only Dead Sea Apples by their showing, with a clean skin and a rotten core. But finding out flaws is not the worst of the firebrand's little amusements. For, after all, it is your own fault if you let yourself be warped from an old affection, a new liking, or even a suspended judgment, because the firebrand tells you such and such a story, and you do not take the trouble of verifying it. If you are told that the man whom you have hitherto believed the very soul of honor, and as incapable of doing a mean thing as you are yourself, is nothing better than a swindler; that he cheated his ward, dealt with his client's securities, falsified his word, broke his solemn promises, or did anything else proper to a scoundrel, and impossible to a gentleman, it is your own fault if you believe what you hear...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 13, 1872
The American voice [discusses how loud our speaking voices are, and that a year or two in Europe modulates them].
The American voice [discusses how loud our speaking voices are, and that a year or two in Europe modulates them].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 26, 1871
Mr. Prevoer, who has been establishing the meridian lines hereabouts, has placed south of J.H. Hollister's house a solar transit [amazingly this is now the site of Greenfield's Energy Park], a new
Mr. Prevoer, who has been establishing the meridian lines hereabouts, has placed south of J.H. Hollister's house a solar transit [amazingly this is now the site of Greenfield's Energy Park], a new invention of his for taking the exact time. So accurate is this instrument that the time can be taken within a fraction of a second. This will be of great use to Mr. H. in his business. The difference between the time in Boston and Greenfield has been ascertained to be 6 minutes and 10 seconds - the day commencing so much earlier at the "Hub". [This state of things will continue until http://www.nmm.ac.uk...les/fact_millen.html zero meridian is set in 1884].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 3, 1872
IXL & UnXLd fireworks! Masks, flags, balloons, crackers, torpedoes, etc. We have now the largest stock in the United States. Displays, to any amount, furnished at short notice. Cutter, Hyde & Co. Fan
IXL & UnXLd fireworks! Masks, flags, balloons, crackers, torpedoes, etc. We have now the largest stock in the United States. Displays, to any amount, furnished at short notice. Cutter, Hyde & Co. Fancy goods, 52 Chauncey St. Fireworks no. 22, Boston. Sole manufacturers of Marshall’s Patent Illuminating Candlestick.
- Fri, Feb 6, 2009
