The Jumping Off Place
A collage of humorous vignettes and urban scenes, from a magnetic orator praising Caesar to churchgoers and theatergoers, plus a sequence of small mishaps and oddities. The piece references a Slater News obituary practice, tin targets, sidewalk ice, a Jekyll and Hyde outing, and a Pittsburgh preacher noting a drastic crowd drop after a baseball game.
London Chronicle Quote on Sleepy Cowards and a Dream Hero
A London Chronicle remark notes the irony of bravery only in dreams while praising one man outside a dozen sleeping cowards as a true hero in a dream.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London Chronicle
A Disappointment
Uncle Jed notes his son goes through college without costing him a cent as he earns class honors and may be offered a professorship. The neighbor quips that with his size he should be a center on the team. This Chicago Tribune anecdote contrasts expectations with academic success.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jed
Scott
Chicago Tribune
Making a Life and a Living
A concise reflection on how wealth does not guarantee a good life and how some men attain great fortunes yet hold modest or meager lives. Included is a quotation from Success Magazine about disparity between earnings and living quality.
Racing Pigeons and Their Remarkable Homing Feats
A Collier's inspired overview highlights pigeon speed and endurance from mile per minute records to 700 mile day trips and a 1000 mile homeward flight. It notes flight heights, daily limits, dangers, and a WWI era homing pigeon kept ten years before returning home.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Collier's
Paris
Prison Horror Reveals Massacre at Schlues selburg Prison
David Soskice recounts in McClue's Magazine the case of Grachevsky a prisoner in Schlues selburg Russia who burned himself alive after being deemed insane and exempt from punishment. He reportedly roused guards with rational behavior then set fire to his clothes and blanket causing fatal injuries.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
David Soskice
McClue
Schluesselburg
Russia
Grachevsky
Ludmilla Volkenstein
Stone Age Customs Persist Among Rural Romanians
Dr Emil Fischer notes traditions from the Stone Age linger in remote Romania areas. The country hosts about 64 000 cave dwellings housing roughly 250 000 peasants. Peasant life retains millet mills, old plows, coliba at funerals, wild fruit and herbs, and rural healers seen as wizards.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Roumania
Emil Fischer
Bucharest
Umschau
Romania
Central Africa
Europe
Paving Value of Asphalt Discovered by Accident
The article traces asphalt pavement origins from Val de Travers to Paris and London, noting 1721 mine discovery, 1849 road use first seen, and 1854 Rue Bergere trial. It describes natural bitumen rock, its 8 to 14 percent bitumen content, and the spread of macadam asphalt paving from Paris to Threadneedle Street and Cheapside, then worldwide.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Val de Travers
Canton Neufchatel
Switzerland
Rue Bergere
Paris
London
Threadneedle Street
Cheapside
Exchange
Die Twice Shaken By a Scrapbook Plot Twist
A mock dramatic scene from London Scraps recounts a stage confrontation where a revolver fails to kill Bertrand Maltravers. The villain strikes with the gun’s butt, the hero falls, and a late policeman’s line, Shot! He’s been shot through the back, turns the moment into comic irony.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bertrand
London
A Peculiarity of Dreams at the Club Lunch
During a club lunch a discussion on dreams highlighted that dreamers see themselves as underdogs in danger and rarely act bravely. The speaker noted most dreams place the dreamer in peril without any heroic action.
Noisy Exchange Over Pet or Husband Sparks Talk
In a Baltimore scene a speaker clarifies a biting remark, asking if the reference is to a large dog or a small pet. The reply reveals the subject is not a dog but the speaker’s husband, shaping a murky domestic moment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Baltimore
A Legal Difference The Client
A humorous quip from the Cleveland Leader about legal fees and the value of an opinion. The lawyer jokes about charging for his opinion as a modest professional.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cleveland
Brown’s Unfurnished Flat Reveals Dining Room Passageway
Snippet from the Boston Transcript shows a cramped scene with a friend surveying Brown’s empty flat. The comment identifies a hidden passageway and declares the area a dining room, capturing a moment of discovery and humor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Brown
Scott
Boston Transcript
Verdi Composes Miserere from Grief at Dying Friend
The anecdote by Carlo Ceccarelli tells how Verdi, unable to cry at the sight of a dying friend, sat at a piano in Milan and improvised the sublime Miserere from the Trovatore, expressing his deep anguish through music.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Poe
Verdi
Carlo Ceccarelli
Manrico
Milan
Trovatore
Child Learns Forbidden Language From Father
Five year old Willie overhears his father using a terrible word during a long distance call in the office. The father apologizes and hopes the boy will not repeat it, but the child quips that he learned it anyway.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Willie
Mr. S
Central
Harper’s Magazine
Punning under James I the Stuart Solomon
The London Globe notes the golden age of British punning during King James I's reign. Puns appeared with dignity in pulpit sermons and council chambers, while great authors used them in serious works, elevating wordplay to a serious, gravity-filled art.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Britain
James I
Stuart Solomon
London Globe
Mistaken Identity in Doctor’s Attack Allegation
A fragment suggests a confrontation involving a doctor and a furious man described as mad. The readable text hints at a mistaken identity scene with intense reaction and defiant phrasing.
Queer Jewelry in West Africa Telegraph Theft Fashion
A West Africa fashion note from an Italian paper describes theft of telegraph wires in German Southwest Africa and natives decorating themselves with cable rings insulators as earrings. Governors hosted birthday entertainments where chiefs displayed stolen wires as neck ornaments. Rubber heels and silk garters were worn as bold adornments by native elites and dandies.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
West Africa
Southwest
Africa
Soldier's Beginnings at Sandringham Remembered
A recollection shares Sir Evelyn Wood’s life arc from sailor to army, noting his deafness and a humorous tale of taking up music to practice scales at twenty four until his sister advised quitting. He hints at exploring the church, though unsure which denomination to pick.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sandringham
Evelyn Wood
Sir William Broadbent
The Falling Branch at Dalhousie Castle
In the grounds of Dalhousie castle Scotland a famous oak allegedly foretold family deaths by shedding a branch. The original tree fell in the early eighteenth century and a new one grew from the root. In 1874 an old forester remarked The laird's deed now as a branch fell and soon after the Earl of Dalhousie died.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dalhousie Castle
Scotland
Also Mentioned on This Page
Geo. E. Baker
Ames, Iowa
Jsegate
Ames
F. H. Waters
Bakers Jewelry Store
Morgan, Morgan & Watts
Attorneys AT Law
Ames Savings
Iowa
Earl B.bush, Ph. G
M.D
Baker’s Jewelry Store
Adams
Calla
Mutual Phone
J. F. Tilden
Odd Fellows’ Building
Mutual
A. W.crary, M
Crary’s Hardware
Story
Boone, Iowa
C. G. Tilden, M. D
McWilliam
Ames, Lowa
M. H. Kelso
Hamilton Black
G. J. Snyder
Gamble’s Drug Store
Daniel McCarthy
J. Y. Luke
McCarthy & Luke
Swory County
Miles
A. G. C. Libby
Wells
Union National Bank
W.M. Greeley
Pres
W. Stanton, W. Pres
Henry Wilson, Cash
I C.L. Liverly
Bankers National Bank
Chicago
National City Bank
New York
N. Y
Valley National Bank
Citizens’ National Bank
Des Moines
Sorenson & Sorenson
Fish and Game
Caesar
Sylvester Long
Slater
Grinnell
Hennesy
Utes
Miss Tarper
Tablets of
Paul Revere
Night Rider
the Hall OF Shame
Cambridge
Pittsburg
Queer Jewelry