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Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
John Chinaman in New York
John Chinaman in New York - The New York Tribune describes the haunts of the Chinese in that city as follows:
In the Sixth Ward is a small district where most of the Chinese in New York live. A visitor to their opium smoking dens may go to Baxter Street, just below Franklin, where was formerly Donovan’s lane, the resort of the most desperate villains in the city, but which is now a Y-shaped court shut in on all sides by high tenement houses.
On the ground floor of one of these buildings is the establishment of "Old John", a Chinaman 74 years old, who has been in the United States 47 years, and was the first of his race to become naturalized. His quarters comprise three rooms. By the door is seated his assistant, who gives out the drug. Upon one side of the room is a low platform or dais; sometimes there are two, one above the other, like births upon which men are to be seen reclining in the different stages of opium intoxication. [How interesting - guess that’s where the word ’berths’ comes from].
The pipes consist of a bamboo stem and a porcelain bowl about 2 inches in diameter, in the centre [sic] of which is a small receptacle for the opium. A small piece of the drug is taken up on an iron rod and heated until it is dried to a proper consistency. Then it is inserted into the pipe, and the smoker slowly draws the smoke through, soon filling the whole room with a peculiar smell.
The proprietor furnishes his customers with pipes and a place to lie down. The drug is weighed out upon a rude pair of reed scales. The weight used is a silver coin. Each smoker is provided with a small horn box, which will contain about 15 cents’ worth of opium, enough to last an average smoker all night. The preparation is undoubtedly adulterated, since it costs the druggist $23.50 a pound.
A few doors below, on the same side, is another place where smoking is carried on, which does not differ materailly from Old John’s. There is, however, a temple connected with it. On the wall is hung a gayly [sic] painted picture of some Chinese god, at whose shoulder, on one side, man’s good angel is represented, and on the other, his evil angel.
The faces are very grotesque, and resemble those painted upon tea chests. Hanging upon the picture are numerous tinsel and paper flowers, with faces painted upon the petals, and a little below the picture is a shrine upon which stand two candles, to be lighted only upon festival occasions.
In the middle is a dish containing sand, in which are the burned fragments of several joss sticks. The pious Celestial lights one of these, and placing it in the sand on the altar prays to his deity. From the ceiling hangs two Chinese lanterns, and there is also a glass vessel containing some kind of vegetable oil in which floats a burning wick.
A cup of the same oil is placed in the shrine for the especial use of the god. Upon the wall are hung bulletin boards where the news which agitates the Chinese world is pasted. A curious scroll, resembling the red cover on a pack of fire crackers, attracts attention and proves to be a directory of business of the principal Chinese merchants in San Francisco.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
The first colored Senator Reverend H.R. Revels
The first colored Senator Reverend H.R. Revels [Hiram R. Revels] - A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial writes from Holly Springs, Mississippi, as follows concerning ex-Senator Revels, now a Methodist minister near there: "When we entered the door of the plain white frame meeting house, it was filled with worshipers. The Pastor is held in high esteem by his flock at home.
He is both law maker and shepard [i.e. shepherd], statesman and preacher. His party has put an "Hon." [Honorable] before his name, and a college of his church has put a "D.D." [Doctor of Divinity" behind it. He cane home from Washington City as pure as he went,which cannot be said of every white Senator [or ANY Senator these days]...
Pastor Revels is a man of about 30, rather below medium height, with wide perceptive faculties, and a face remarkably bland and winning. He is a light mulatto,with eyes tinged with blue. He is comely, graceful and dignified, and in manner as polite as Chesterfield, without the least affectation.
His voice is strong and rich of accordant tones, his modulation distinct, his sentences models of compact English. You can almost see his punctuation points as he speaks, so exactly measured and as symmetrical as his diction. His gestures are mostly with the forearm, hand and finger, as if he would paint on canvas every shade of his meaning, and touch delicately every color of flower in his rhetoric.
There is no bombast, no trick of syllable or scare of sound. He just talks to you right out in an earnest, straightforward way, and you are arrested, interested, affected and helped by what he says. All this from a farm chattel - a United States Senator, a self-made man.
But he is far in advance of his race. He is a pioneer. Well might his colored substitute in the pulpit, a preacher black as ebony, referring to Pastor Revels in his public prayer, beseech blessings upon the head of "de old, leader of the army". We "heard a white amen to that. And he has an army of a congregation!"
It is much above the average in intelligence, and the order and attention excellent. The Pastor’s influence over the people is marvelous. He can sway a thousand people by a gesture or a word. He said to us that strange as certain demonstrations might seem, it was paradise in order and sweetness to what it had been in former days.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
Bummers in San Francisco
Bummers in San Francisco ... San Francisco has a ...full ... of bummers. Nowhere else can a worthless fellow too lazy to work, too cowardly to steal, get on so well. The climate befriends him, for he can sleep out of doors 4/5 of the year, and the free lunch opens to him boundless vistas of carnal delights. He can gorge himself daily, for a nominal sum get a dinner that a king would envy for 50 cents.
There are two classes of saloons where the midday repasts are furnished - two-bit places and one-bit places. In the first he gets a drink and a meal. In the second he gets a drink and a meal of inferior quality. He pays for the drink, 25 or 15 cents, according to the grade of the place, and gets his meal for nothing.
This consists of,in the better class of establishment, soup, boiled salmon, roast beef of the best quality, bread and butter, potatoes, tomatoes, crackers, and cheese.
Many of these places are fitted up in a style of Oriental grandeur. A stragner entering one of them casually might be under the delusion that he had found his way by mistake to the salon of a San Francisco millionaire.
He would find mirrors reaching from floor to ceiling, carpets of the finest texture and most appropriate patterns, massive tables covered with papers and periodicals, the walls embellished with expensive paintings. A large picture which had adorned a famous drink bar and free lunch house was sold the other day for $12,500. Some of the keepers are men of education and culture. One is an art critic of high local repute, who has written ...very readable...San Francisco. Scribner’s.
[After struggling to read this, I found it to be an excerpt of Scribner’s Monthly, July 1875, "The city of the Golden Gate", by Samuel Williams, p. 274].
Metcalf & Luther - [Illustration of an eye, with an imp leaning on top of it with a bandage covering one eye, between the letters O and C]. O C $50,000.00 worth of house furnishing goods to be sold this Fall, regardless of cost! ...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Hawley
Hawley - J.U. Houston, our village blacksmith, has been making 3 pairs of his chain bits for Mrs. George William Curtis of Ashfield, who is quite a horsewoman. These bits are made in the highest style of art, and being plated with nickel, shine like silver, and do not tarnish. Strength and beauty are here combined, and any horse that wears them may thus far well be proud of his adornments. A woman of taste, on seeing them, remarked that they were almost good enough for a lady's adornments.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
News about home (Greenfield)
Greenfield - Register Thompson and Town Clerk Pond had rare sport fishing, down near Sherbrook, Nova Scotia, where they were guests of Newell Snow for some 3 weeks. What would some of the fishers in our local streams think of 75 pounds of trout as the result of half an hour’s piscatorial effort.
That is what THEY did down there. Mr. T. outlined one of the speckled treasures which he caught, and shows the profile to his credulous friends. The fish was about a foot and a half long, and weighed a good 3 pounds. They camped out nights, waded through swamps and bogs, fished, ate, and were happy, and came home browned and toughened, in prime condition, to resume the cares and troubles of every day life.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
Turners Falls
Turners Falls - The savings bank finds business rather dull this month. A fine portrait of the late Alvah Crocker, first President of the national bank, has been placed in the bank rooms.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
What is it?
What is it? Magic or Spirits? Mrs. Blair, the world renowned Spirit Artist, will give an exhibition of her wonderful power as a medium, on Tues. eve., Aug. 31, at Franklin Hall, Greenfield...She paints while thoroughly blindfolded, in the presence of the audience, producing the most wonderful paintings in an incredibly short time. Seance preceded by a lecture by Mr. Taylor of Boston. Admission 25 cents.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
Northfield
W.J. Beaman, an artist from Westminster, is painting fine pictures from the natural scenery, which is so largely at command of an artist's eye.
[It appears that a relation of W.J., named Gamaliel Waldo Beaman, also an artist, so loved the Northfield countryside, that he took up residence with a mountain hermit there. See http://whitemountain...graphies/bio_gwb.htm ].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Mrs. Blair, the medium who has attracted so much notice by her wonderful skill or "power" in drawing and painting at Lake Pleasant, is to hold a seance at Franklin Hall tomorrow eve.
]Read more about Lucie Marie Curtis Blair, who was able to paint flowers while blindfolded, in Google Books "Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and women's rights in nineteenth century America" by Ann Braude].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Advertisement
[Wonderful illustration of a Cohansey Jar, predecessor of the Mason Jar]. Preserving made easy! Housekeepers experiencing the superior convenience and reliability of the latest improvement in fruit jars, desire the "Cohansey" jars, with glass lid and screw clamp in one piece; or the "Protector" jars, with anti-rust lined metal tops. No separate pieces to the tops to be lost. No wrench required for opening or closing. Can be opened more readily, and are more reliable, convenient and cheaper than others. Be certain to try them. Cohansey Glass Mf'g. Co., manuf'rs. of window glass, bottles & fruit jars. Corner Third and Arch Streets, Philadelphia.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
Shelburne Falls
Miss Isadore Pratt of Shelburne Falls, who returned from Germany recently, has accepted a situation as teacher of painting and drawing in Helmouth College [actually Helmuth College], London, Ontario.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
G.D. Williams Esq. is about to erect a fine residence on his excellent lot at the west end of Main Street. E.C. Gardner of Springfield is the architect. His present cottage is being moved back on Shattuck Avenue to make room for the new dwelling.
[See Project Gutenberg's ebook of "The House that Jill Built (after Jack's had proved a failure)" by E. C. Gardner, 1896. It's subtitled "A book on home architecture with illustrations"].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 9, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Judge Conant and Register Thomas are endeavoring to collect pictures of all their predecessors in office in the county. Any one who can aid them by contributing photographs, or pictures from which photographs can be copied, will receive their grateful acknowledgement.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
Shelburne Falls
We have received from N.S. Harris of Coleraine, an old Revolutionary musket and cartridge box, which was owned and carried by James White at the battle of Bennington. Up to the day of his death not a rust spot was to be seen on the gun, nor was anyone else allowed to use it. Also a powder horn, which belonged to Henry Babbitt; it is curiously carved and embellished and bears date 1777.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 26, 1873
News about home: Greenfield items
We have been shown a hand-bill, dated 1846, which advertised the Greenfield and Northampton express, run by George Burnham. The railroad termination was then at Northampton, and Greenfield freight and passengers were taken there by express wagons and stages. The 30 years has wrought some wonderful changes. A cut on the handbill represents a locomotive and a train of cars that were of a decidedly primitive style.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
Pilgrim monument
Enough money has been subscribed to complete, this summer, the pilgrim monument at Plymouth, except the surmounting statue of Faith, the working model of which has been placed into the hands of Batterson & Co. of Hartford, Ct. [Now called National Monument to the Forefathers. Check it out at Wikipedia].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
News of the week
A man named Baker, a Providence painter about 40 years old, was arrested at Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard a few days ago, for attempting to outrage several little girls, daughters of summer residents, but as the parents did not wish to give publicity to the matter, he was allowed to go on condition of leaving the State.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
The artist Harold Fletcher, from one of the Boston studios, is spending vacation in town at Dr. Severance's. Mr. Fletcher makes a specialty of portraiture in crayon and water colors, and his work receives high encomiums from the Boston press.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
J.B. Richardson has painted some very neat signs for the office of Manager Prescott of the Hoosac Tunnel Railroad, in the Mansion House Block. The rooms used by the Manager and the engineers have been fitted up with an eye to comfort and good taste.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 19, 1875
Blatchley's
[Illustration of a free standing wooden pump]. Blatchley's improved Cucumber Wood Pump [from the Cucumbertree, a type of Magnolia] is the acknowledged standard of the market by popular verdict, the best pump for the least money...Charles G. Blatchley, Manufacturer, 506 Commerce Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 19, 1875
Centennnial circus
[Illustration of a daredevil lying atop the back of a racing horse under a bigtop tent]. A genuine, old-fashioned circus is coming! Melville, Maginley & Cooke’s Centennial Circus and Thespian Company, will give 2 of their unique and pleasing entertainments at Greenfield, Wed., July 28. Doors open at 1 and at 7. Performances 2 and 8. A galaxy of stars will appear at each entertainment, among whom will be many artists well known to the amusement loving public. For description of entertainment see posters and small bills.
At 10 a.m. the elegant Band Chariot, drawn by 10 beautiful dappled gray horses, magnificently caparisoned, and bearing thereon Joseph Wither’s Celebrated Brass Band, followed by the Ring, Trick and Manege Horses, ponys [sic] and mules, will enter the town, passing through the principle streets, and discoursing the popular airs of the day.
In the eve. will be produced the Grand Military and Historic drama of "Putnam, the Iron Son of ’76". In this great equestrian drama there will appear 100 men, women, Indians and horses. The battlefield will be a most exciting scene, and the Sword Combats on Horseback, the hand-to-hand fights, the escape of Putnam, the rescue of Kate Putnam, and Grand Tableaux, brilliantly illuminated by colored fires, will be the grandest scene ever beheld in this country.
Admission 50 cents; children under 10 years of age, 25 cents.
Remember the dates: Greenfield, July 28; Shelburne Falls, July 27; Northampton, July 29. A.M. Nathans, General Agent.
- Wed, Feb 24, 2010
