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This newspaper page contains 37 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Ames Times
Location
Ames, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Jul 01, 1909
Page
6
A critic contrasts life’s worth with market value and personal effort. The world pays for what it needs, rejects what it cannot use, and rejects charity in business. The piece also touches on a theater impresario’s shift from open entertainment to crowd control via a later invention.
James L. Ford recounts a myth about Bill Valentine opening a New York city entertainment venue in the 1840s and a friend coining the term variety show to describe his varied acts. The tale centers on a Coney Island pavilion interview and the unclear early origins of the phrase.
A four year old girl at Broad Street station asks if the opulent Pullman coach with plush chairs is a parlor car and remarks that theirs must be a kitchen car. The amused crowd and mother provide the gentle exchange.
The anecdote recalls Mrs. Lincoln adding a second story to their home while Lincoln was away on extended court trips. He returned late at night, mistook the neighbor’s house for his own, and asked locals where his residence was, then laughed at the misunderstanding.
In January 1883, B. F. Keith presented the first continuous show on any stage at a leased Boston store. He paid performers twenty dollars a week for a single turn.
A strange tale from London Tit-Bits describes a grandfather clock that appears haunted each midnight. A spectral figure emerges from beneath the base, the clock grows taller, and a gray hand and ghastly head with pale blue eyes surface as the pendulum door opens. The spirit is said to be harmless and to encourage early bedtimes.
A West Coast youth meets Sir Marvel in his New England home and discusses saving. The poet plans to write magazine love stories to save money, but Marvel calls saving a mania that deprives present wishes for future needs.
A note from the Atchison Clobe explains a habit of converting francs to dollars when they appear in French stories. The practice involves dividing the franc amount by five to estimate the dollar value of annual funds attributed to a heroine.
A wry note on fame as a man wakes to public attention only to find he is forgotten by press by the afternoon. The Louisville Courier Journal frame hints at fleeting celebrity and media memory.
A light exchange from the Houston Post contrasts bachelor insecurity with a married man’s fear of many women. The quip suggests the bachelor faces a broader social risk while the married man fears only one partner.
A colored woman recounts a talk with Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee about home ownership. She describes swapping a young puppy for a pig, which grew into a small herd, acres of land, and a paid-for house, exemplifying self-help and success.
A paper by I.B. Wheeler read to a New York Society of Engineers concludes the labor and material to duplicate the Great Pyramid of Gizeh would cost considerably more than 50 million dollars.
The American Architect notes a proposed pyramid project costing 48 million dollars in materials. It would rest on rock 120 feet deep, rise 454 feet high, and cover about fifteen acres. Wheeler outlines a 10 million dollar concrete base, a 338 million dollar superstructure, 3 88 000 cubic yards backing stone and 140 000 cubic yards facing stone with 24 million labor days.
Old New England graveyards hold strange epitaphs but a Maine man who died under a falling tree is matched by an Austrian tale from W A Baillie-Grohman. A wooden slab shows a prostrate tree and a man in spread eagle pose for Johann Lemberger who died at fifty two and three quarters. Michael Gerstner’s record is even shorter and blunt: he climbed up fell down and was dead.
An Atchison Globe observation contrasts a horse’s natural health instincts with human tendencies to overindulge and act against reason. The piece laments that humans misuse reasoning, wishing for more instinct to guide better choices.
An emergency class exam prompts a student to answer how to handle a hysterical person. The student quips that he would amputate the funny bone, delivering a dark humor line amid teaching.
A London Tatler note discusses British attitudes to the American Revolution. It notes Smith saying the British rarely mention the Revolution and Jones countering they call it a conflict where colonial forces defeated Hessians.
A Detroit Free Press quip notes the subject is successful yet quick to critique his employer's methods, highlighting early signs of dissatisfaction with his boss's business practices. The remark illustrates workplace adaptation and rising scrutiny within a changed career path.
A German husband writes to a life insurance company claiming his wife Anne Maria died and requesting payout for her policy of 750 dollars. He excuses his grief and asks for prompt settlement while noting plans to insure his second wife for 1500 dollars. He signs off with family concurrence.
A Germantown man learned a New York method to summon several waiters instantly during a dinner at a top Philadelphia cafe. After a long delay a waiter finally took the order, and one guest asked for a change.
A New Yorker provokes the dining room into a rush by shattering a glass, prompting all waiters to converge. He wagers a waiter can reach the table in thirty seconds and, when it succeeds, orders a charge for the tumbler and a changed oyster order, claiming victory.
A Country Life correspondent details snakes seen while angling near Madras and a reservoir near Giha giabad. A fifteen inch snake grabbed a fish but fled as winter approached. a twenty four inch snake yielded a common Indian freshwater fish when killed. a four foot viper struck at the angler, leaving a yellow fang in the tackle.
The text describes lobsters as having mail like armor allowing movement, noting their jointed structure. It explains crabs tuck their legs under the body to stay within the protective carapace, resembling water worn pebbles that deter predators when still.
The passage notes nail trimming as the barber’s essential service in ancient Rome. Martial mocks a fop avoiding razors with plasters, while Plautus’s miser collects nail parings to perhaps save money by doing it himself.
A diner reproaches Walter for a gross error in addition. Walter apologizes and says the firm would have benefited without it, not himself, prompting the diner to declare there is no excuse. This exchange highlights a lapse in accuracy and accountability within a business setting.
An exploration of the antelope as a creature of wind and light. It describes its swift, airborne grace, its earthly form despite wings of speed, and its fitting place in the open landscape. The piece ends noting the lasting impact of its fleeting presence on lovers of the open.
The article compares definitions of seven from The Standard Dictionary Webster's and the Century. It notes seven as one more than six and cites metrology as where seven is comparatively rare. It also mentions the seven days of the week as a striking example.
Scholars note the Egyptian royal cubit for pyramid building measured about 20.64 inches based on tomb measuring sticks. The ordinary cubit equals six palms with seven likely tied to a hand behind the elbow method, while many other cubits exist in ancient and modern use.
An architect recalls designing a large wholesale house for a firm with five city stores plus New York. The firm admired the store and pleased patrons, but reused the same plans for all new houses, a move the architect calls a low down trick.
A church vote granted their pastor a vacation and he chose to visit a fellow worker in a nearby village. The visiting worker, invited to lead prayers, declined saying he was on vacation.
Five years of waiting by a woman who kept her suitor on a string until she could see his financial path clearly. The exchange includes her quip about seeing his way clear before consenting to wed.
Nell notes Mr Guzzler drank too much at the dinner last night. Belle observes he tried to blow froth off the charlotte russe, signaling intoxication. Published in the Philadelphia Record.
Bertha Binthare complains during a Chicago News interview that Europe felt overrun with foreigners on every stop including themselves. Arthur Askem-Hlow asks if she liked Europe and she answers not very well.
A Cincinnati Enquirer feature recalls French bat plucking for cuisine. A sailor explains winter bat hibernation and how cafes in the Latin Quarter used to hire workers to harvest bats for dishes that rival venison in taste.
A Spokane Spokesman-Review quip features a boy asking how big to grow to work in a bank and a father replying that cashiers are often short, reflecting financial job lore with a humorous edge.
A fashionable young man proposes himself as a birthday gift to Mildred with a hushed request on one knee. She coldly declines, replying she only accepts useful presents, the moment recounted in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
A short quotation attributed to Emerson notes that vigor spreads through thinking and feeling. It claims strong mental states expand personal power and widen one’s sphere of influence.
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