Entries from October 2005 ↓

Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry and Story woven into Eight Popular Lectures, George W. Bain (1915). Eight lectures by “The silver-tongued Kentuckian.”

A quote from the book:

Some persons seem to think lecturing a very simple occupation, requiring only a glib tongue, and a good pair of lungs.

George Washington Bain (b. 1840) was a temperance speaker and worked the Chautauqua circuit (among others). This site reports that Bain gave one of the lectures included in this book on July 15, 1905.

Thanks to Carol David and Lesley Halamek for Post-processing this book!

Our Doctor flourished in an age when the pages of Magazines, were filled with voluntary contributions from men who had never aimed at dazzling the public, but came each with his scrap of information, or his humble question, or his hard problem, or his attempt in verse–

“A was an antiquary, and wrote articles upon Altars and Abbeys and Architecture. B made a blunder which C corrected. D demonstrated that E was in error, and that F was wrong in Philology, and neither Philosopher nor Physician though he affected to be both. G was a Genealogist. H was a Herald who helped him. I was an inquisitive inquirer, who found reason for suspecting J to be a Jesuit. M was a Mathematician. N noted the weather. O observed the stars. P was a poet, who produced pastorals, and prayed Mr. Urban to print them. Q came in the corner of the page with a query. E arrogated to himself the right of reprehending every one, who differed from him. S sighed and sued in song. T told an old tale, and when he was wrong U used to set him right; V was a virtuoso. W warred against Warburton. X excelled in Algebra. Y yearned for immortality in rhyme, and Z in his zeal was always in a puzzle.”

Clement Spelman of Narburgh, recorder of Nottingham, who died in 1679, is immured upright, inclosed in a pillar in Narburgh church, so that the inscription is directly against his face. This must surely be the one solitary instance of burial in a pillar, although there are many other instances of burial in an upright position. Thomas Cook, who was governor of the Bank of England from 1737 to 1739, and who had formerly been a merchant residing in Constantinople, died at Stoke Newington, Aug. 12, 1752, and by his directions his body was carried to Morden College, Blackheath, of which he was a trustee; it was taken out of the coffin and buried in a winding sheet upright in the ground, according to the eastern custom. Ben Jonson was buried at Westminster in an upright position. Possibly this may have been on account of the large fee demanded for a full sized grave. It was for a long time supposed that the story was invented to account for the smallness of the gravestone; but on the grave being opened up some years since the dramatist’s remains were discovered in the attitude indicated by tradition.–Pearson’s Weekly.

The most curious specimens of vegetable or plant life in existence are the so-called “living stones” of the Falkland Islands. Those islands are among the most cheerless spots in the world, being consistently subjected to a strong polar wind. In such a climate it is impossible for trees to grow erect, as they do in other countries, but nature has made amends by furnishing a supply of wood in the most curious shape imaginable. The visitor to the Falklands sees, scattered here and there, singular shaped blocks of what appear to be weather-beaten and moss-covered boulders of various sizes. Attempt to turn one of these “bowlders” over and and you will meet with a surprise, because the supposed stone is anchored by roots of great strength; in fact, you will find you are fooling with one of the native trees. No other country in the world has such a peculiar “forest” growth, and it is said to be next to impossible to work the odd-shaped blocks into fuel, because it is perfectly devoid of “grain” and appears to be nothing but a twisted mass of woody fibres.

M. E. Church, proprietor of the Beddington tannery, relates a rather remarkable story, showing the wonderful instinct of his dog Don, says the Augusta News Age. Having occasion not long since to visit Bangor, he left Don at the tannery. But the dog soon became dissatisfied and returned to his home in Cherryfield, twenty miles distant. When Mr. Church returned to Beddington he called up his wife on the telephone, and in course of conversation inquired for Don. On being told that Don was home, he asked to be allowed to talk with him. Don was accordingly held up to the telephone and the receiver place to his ear. As “Hello, Don,” came from his master, the dog began to show signs of excitement, which increased as the conversation progressed. In a few minutes after being released he disappeared, and in about two hours Mr. Church called again on the telephone and announced that Don had arrived at the tannery.

Northern Indiana has become a great freak-producing section. Albert Martin, who resides near the Fulton county line, has a Plymouth Rock hen, which has not been laying for some time. Yesterday she went on the nest and the family was greatly astonished to discover, when she left it shortly afterward, that she had laid a live chick. Only a few bits of broken shell were about the head of the chick, which was still wet. The supposition is that the egg, in some manner, retarded in its progress, was held in the sack until the germ developed and proceeded to the stage of incubation. So far as known, this is the first case of the kind on record. Another remarkable lusus naturae is that of a pig, owned by Frederick Shipman of Pulaski county, which was born recently with its tail directly in the middle of its forehead and its nostrils in the side of its snout like a duck. Unfortunately, its mother lay upon it and smothered it the second night after its arrival, or it might have proved a valuable acquisition for some museum. John Wilds, a well known farmer, who lives just north of Logansport, had a lamb, born by one of his ewes recently, which weighed at birth almost twenty pounds. The extraordinary size of the animal may be appreciated from the fact that the ordinary lamb weighs at birth about five or six pounds, while nine or ten pounds is considered quite remarkable. Mr. Wild’s flock are all of a highly productive and vigorous breed, sixteen of his ewes having this year borne thirty lambs.

Iowa State Register: In Massachusetts they are talking of a Bird Day to supplement Arbor day. The father of the idea, a Mr. Babcock, has suggested the first Friday in May as the date. The suggestion comes none too soon. If we are to retain the birds with their beautiful plummage [sic] and their sweet songs, they must be protected from their many enemies. What would spring or summer be without the birds? What would sunrise be without the songs of the robins and the bluebirds and the larks in the meadows? What would evening in the country be without the twilight song of the brown thrush? And yet all these friends and companions and consolers of mankind are beset with enemies. Boys, improperly brought up, destroy their nests or rob them of their eggs, and sportsmen shoot the birds to make adornments for the hats and bonnets of foolish or unthinking women. A Bird Day would be a pretty innovation, especially in the schools. It would be one day given to the study and the admiration of bird life. Bird life is full of mysteries. It is in some respects as interesting as human life. We are going to have more trees and we ought to have more birds to sing in the leafy choir lofts of spring. Arbor day suggests a Bird Day.

Needles have never been supposed to be hereditary, but a recent case reported by a physician of eminence offers undoubted evidence to the contrary. A lady accidentally ran a needle into her foot thirty years ago, and it lay apparently dormant in her system for so many years that its existence was almost forgotten. In 1878 she was married, and a year after the birth of her infant daughter the needle made its appearance in the infant’s shoulder. There could be no doubt that it was the original needle by which the mother had been attacked in 1860, for it was of a peculiar and now obsolete pattern, and the mother distinctly remembered that needles of that pattern were in use at the time of her attack. There can be no doubt that the infant inherited the needle from her mother, and that henceforth physicians will expect to find a natural tendency to needles in the tissues. As it is asserted that people who have died from needles, although there are very few such cases on record, the insurance companies will doubtless add to the questions which they put to candidates for insurance: “Did your father or mother ever swallow needles, and, if so how many, and of what kind– sewing, [?]ing or carpet?–Pearson’s Weekly

In the course of a chat over things in general, and execution by electricity in particular, a new view of that lethal was presented by a bright, intelligent young woman who seemed to know her sex thoroughly.

She said: “I object to it because it offers too ready a way to get rid of objectionable husbands. Before very long, of course, gas will be quite superseded by electricity as a domestic illuminant, and wires will be laid on at our houses as thick as strings on a harp.

“Now, what is to prevent a woman who is tired of her spouse soothing him to sleep by clapping a damp sponge to his head and a couple to his feet, tapping a couple of wires, and giving him his quietus sweetly and peacefully? No man’s life would be safe; the neatness of the process would irresistibly commend itself to feminine taste. There would be no dirt, no noise, no disturbance of the furniture, no mess, all neat and clean, like fancy work. No, no; it really will not do.”

Dr. Pavy, perhaps the most eminent authority upon diet, says that the average man in a state of absolute rest can live on sixteen ounces of food a day; a man doing ordinary light work can live on twenty-three ounces, and a man doing laborious work needs from twenty-six and three-quarter ounces to thirty ounces.

This is food absolutely free from water, and it must be remembered that everything we eat contains more or less water, so that from forty-eight to sixty ounces of ordinary food are necessary to the work in which a man is engaged.

Sir Lyon Playfair, another great authority, gives the following as all that is necessary for a healthy man to eat in a week: Three pounds of meat with one pound of fat; two ordinary loaves of bread, one ounce of salt and five pints of milk; or for the meat, five or six pounds of oatmeal may be substituted. This sounds like starvation diet, but Sir Lyon Playfair generally knows what he’s talking about.–The Lancet.

A woman, supposed to be Mrs. Martha Williams, died suddenly at 9 o’clock last night while in Merz’s drug store in the Lakota hotel, says the Chicago Tribune. She was seen walking along Thirteenth street and appeared to be in a very exhausted condition. When she went into the drug store, she asked to be allowed to sit down as she was feeling ill. She was seated but a short time when she fell from the chair to the floor in a faint. Dr. Reyonlds, who has apartments in the Lakota hotel, was called, and after and examination he stated that she was suffering from trouble. He ordered her sent to the Mercy hospital. The ambulance from the Cottage Grove station was called, but the women died before it arrived.

Peoria, Ill., Special: Last Thursday afternoon A. R. Cline of the Chicago Board of Trade arrived in the city and registered at one of the leading hotels. Three hours later Mrs. Edna R. Cline, accompanied by her brother-in-law, A. Tallett of Edelstein, arrived and registered at the same hotel. She stated she was to meet her husband there. A few hours later they were united in marriage in the parlors of the hotel, and left the same evening for a trip of a few weeks, when they will return to their home in Chicago. They were married a few months ago in Wisconsin, but there being some doubt of the legality of the first marriage they were reunited here.

J. H. Graham, president of the Graham & Morton line, received a message from Saugutuck, stating that a bottle was picked up on the beach containing a note signed by Robert McClure, engineer of the Chicora, which read as follows:

Capt. Stines and Mr. Clark washed overboard. Engine is broken and we are all lost. Are near enough to land to see the shore if it was not snowing.

Mr. Graham thinks that it is worthy of belief. This goes far to prove the statement of a man named Plummer, of South Haven, who stated that he saw the Chicora near that port on the afternoon of Jan. 21, and it will be proved that the Chicora was only lost by the breaking of her machinery or losing the stearing [sic] gear. Her hull in that case is undoubtedly near shore, and search will begin for it at once.

Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee, (A Representative from Virginia.) Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, Fifty-Second Congress, First Session. (1892).

Well, the title says it all.

Thanks to Sigal Alon for Post-processing this book!

A flight of birds, coupled with a sailor’s superstition, robbed Columbus of the honor of discovering the continent. It is a curious but historical fact. When Columbus sailed westward over the unknown Atlantic he expected to reach Zipangu (Japan). After several days’ sail from Gomera, one of the Canary islands, he became uneasy at not discovering Zipangu, which according to his reckoning, should have been 216 nautical miles more to the east. After a long discussion he yielded to the opinion of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the commander of the Pinta, and steered to the southwest. Pinzon was guided in his opinion solely by a flight of parrots, which took wing in that direction. It was good luck to follow in the wake of a flight of birds when engage upon a voyage of discovery–a widespread superstition among Spanish seamen of that day; and this change in the great navigator’s course curiously exemplifies the influence of small and apparently trivial events in the world’s history. If Columbus had held to his course he would have entered the gulf stream, have reached Florida, and then probably have been carried to Cape Hatteras and Virginia. The result would probably have given the present United States a Roman Catholic Spanish population instead of a Protestant English one, a circumstance of immeasurable importanct. “Never,” wrote Humboldt, “had the flight of birds more important consequences.”

The Ladies’ Vase, or Polite Manual for Young Ladies, by “An American Lady” (©1847, published 1849). A small book of advice on etiquette and health. Includes topics such as “Politeness,” “Self-Possession,” “Sisterly Virtues,” and “Novel-Reading.”

I haven’t been able to find any information about “An American Lady.” She had some interesting ideas, though. In addition to calling avid novel-readers literary inebriates, she suggests sucking on charcoal to freshen the breath and outlines the argument for and against the education of female children. A rather far-ranging little tome.

Thanks to Julia Miller for Post-processing this book!

Mrs. Chas. Root, Cedar Springs, Mich., was told by physicians that they could do nothing for her. After taking two bottles of “Adironda” she was able to do her own work and ride to town to do her shopping. Sold by all druggists.