Helen Leslie’s Closet Skeleton Reveals a Morning Comfort Debacle
By Alice Perry Helen Leslie, famed for fashion, chooses a comfortable white dress over a prim gown. Her plan to evade guests ends with a hidden afternoon in a calico wrapper, a mock burial of her vanity in a broomstick effigy, and a sober confession to her mother about the cost of appearance.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Helen Leslie
Helen
Mum
Mrs. Leslie
Sleepy Hollow
Madge
Elia
Elen
Grace
James
Maude Eversleigh
White Mountains
Ella
Maige
Mr. Chester
Shen
Jen
Howells
Prince’s Duel of Ecarte Ends With Bold Card Trick
Boris Mirskow recounts a Parisian scandal where the crippled Prince de Z. challenges him to a fatal jeu. A duel of ecarte unfolds as the prince wins but confesses a past cheat. The dramatic scene climaxes with the prince promising disappearance by force if defeated.
Clever Annie Summers and Her Work in a Jewelry Store
A New York Journal feature profiles young girl detectives led by Annie Summers age fourteen who helped catch a jewelry thief using a mirror trap in a jewelry shop. It recounts cases in Boston and Chicago and praises girls like Katie Hennessey for counterfeiting hunts and other police work by minors.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
Boston
Chicago
Katie Hennessey
Annie Summers
Annies Summers
Annie
Uthav
Ren
Adam Clifford
Clifford
Cat
Kat
Police
Jennie Weinberg
Kit” Hennessey
United States
Secret Service
Est
Blue Island
Cronin
Kit
Gamin
Paris
What London Teaches Us
Edward W Bok reflects in Ladies' Home Journal on how London’s streets remain clean amid heavy traffic and how its road design protects the public. He contrasts American needs in rail safety, waterfront piers, and home beauty, noting British urban improvements as aspirational lessons for the United States.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Edward W. Bok
Ladies’ Home Journal
London
England
Thore
Harry
Moonlit Advice on Love from the Man in the Moon
Sarcastic note from Rath Ashmore in Ladies' Home Journal about moonlit courting. The man in the moon watches couples in the woods and on boats and warns that discreet, chaperoned behavior preserves reputation. It mocks flirtation under moonlight and urges caution to avoid gossip.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rath Ashmore
Ladies’ Home Journal
Black Uniforms Rule in Philadelphia Shops Sparks Debate
A Philadelphia Record piece explains store dress codes requiring shopgirls to wear subdued colors, mainly black, to maintain uniformity and prevent distraction. The cloak department allows black outfits and staff receive dress goods, while other departments ban bright colors to curb ostentation and flirtatious behavior. Two young women briefly wore heliotrope dresses but were sent home to change.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia
Pertre
Market St
Considerate Husband Reads Wife’s Contradictory Note
A Washington Post snippet tells of a devoted wife’s summer letter urging her hard-working husband, a district government official, to rest. The husband weeps, then mutters “Considerate, devilish considerate” after reading a long postscript filled with household errands and requests.
Booming Marysville in Kansas Crop Opinion
The piece praises Kansas crops with humor, claiming corn is king amid rains. It contrasts Kansas farming favorably with other states while inviting readers to settle for a good home in the area.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Marysville
Kan
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Missouri
Appreciated Its Value in a Playful Kiss Exchange
Detroit Free Press recalls a playful moment as a Detroit girl bids farewell to a boy playmate. At her mother’s prompting she kisses him but then rubs the kiss from his cheek with her handkerchief, explaining she is rubbing it in rather than off.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Detroit
Laura
Anxious Parent Doctor Exchange Sparks Head Talk
A terse dialogue frames a worried parent and a doctor over mental health. The doctor dismisses physical cause, saying the trouble is in the head, while the parent frets about the anxious child’s behavior and well being.
A Valued Roof and the Golden Mint Tale
A Philadelphia Record item describes a Broad and South Penn street church roof torn away for three thousand dollars. It claims the roof previously yielded five thousand dollars in gold from mint washings, with gold dust and washings collected from gutters and drains stored yearly for sale to the highest bidder.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia
Tabernacle
Broad St
South Pennsy
Mint
Delaware
Pavilion of the Siam king crafted by a Chinese engineer
In a Siamese palace a remarkable summer refuge sits. The pavilion uses walls floors and ceilings made from finely fitted plates, crafted by a Chinese engineer to keep the king cool during extreme heat.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Harper’s Young People
Siam
Siam King Cools Himself In Pavilion Scene
A 28 foot long pavilion is set up in March with a single door closed and cemented. Sluice gates open and water fills the basin rising to cover the pavilion, then connects to the open air at the top. Heat makes the surface water nearly boil, while the pavilion remains deliciously cool.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Siam
The Earths Interior and a Hole to Its Core
Washington Star discusses a proposed plan to bore miles into the earth to access hidden metals. Experts note the interior is likely iron with heavier metals like gold or platinum near the center. Examples from Germany and Wheeling show current boring limits, while proponents imagine cheap metal access could transform civilization.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Star
Washington
Monte Cristo
Gilbert
Geological Survey
Congress
Speling
Germany
Wheeling
W. Va
Three Butterflies Converse in a Street Car
In a Chicago Times vignette a trio of young women ride a street car and chatter about marriage, dress, cigars, a fashionable bonnet, a dog cart ride, and gossip. The light, breezy scene ends as they roll into the park with the car crowding and the warm air prompting cloak removal.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Times
Bobbins
Charlie
Smith
Greas
Cutch
Woman’s Age Comment Sparks Household Banter
Mr Bisbee reads an advance paragraph in the evening paper remarking on a woman’s age. His wife retorts that a woman’s era should not be defined by age, highlighting the banter over social expectations and manners.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Mr. Bisbee
Miss Young and Her Fiancé At The Event
A passerby notes Miss Young with her fiancé in the crowd. He points to a purple and yellow light arc in the darkness indicating the engagement ring, while she waves to attract attention.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Miss Young
Jeweller Proposes Seaside Engagement Ring Deal
A jeweller invites a customer to browse a seaside themed stock and suggests five rings will suffice for a short stay. The exchange playfully centers on engagement rings and a plan to purchase during a brief visit.
Proper facial drying motions advised
The Ladies' Home Journal warns against drying the face downward. Instead, wipe upward from chin to forehead and outward toward the ear. This method avoids dragging skin and helps maintain firmness.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ladies’ Home Journal
Bobby Questions Sunday School Graduation Time
The weather was warm and Bobby showed concern about his mind. On Sunday he spoke aloud asking if it was about time to graduate from Sunday school, prompting a conversation with his father.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bobby
Seaside Plans Turn Sour in Wet Floor Comic Twist
In a Chicago Tribune strip, Adam asks where to spend summer as Eve lacks outfits. Clara frets about stockings while others quip that the floor is too wet to sit. The dialogue plays on fashion woes and seaside longing with playful exchanges.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Tribune
Adam
Eve
Clara
Chorus on the Piazza Nods Toward Humble Self Not Staring
A Munsey's Weekly verse fragment contrasts crowd behavior with modest self restraint on a piazza and in a carriage. The lines highlight social propriety and decorum without explicit events or people.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Munsey’s
That I Came Here For You to Marry
In the Chicago Times a young man declares to Miss Mildred that he came to marry her. She resists and jokes about marrying him, but the umpire figure steps in with a demand of $25 to deter any further back talk.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Times
Mildred
Englishwoman’s calm refusal keeps her youthful at fifty
The narrator praises an Englishwoman who never worries, lives within her means, and believes health is the prime factor of life. She does not procrastinate but avoids overtaxing domestic duties, remains active, and treats regular bathing as part of her routine to maintain vigor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Edward W. Bok
Ladies’ Home Journal
Amateur Farmer's Guide Mocking Guideboard Letter
A satirical lexicon listing farm terms with humorous definitions, skewering rural life. Includes entries for APPLE AXE BARN CROP DOG FARM FAILURE FERTILE GATE IDIOT MONEZ MORTGAGE PLOUGH RECREATION WORK and more, all framed as a bygone instructional joke.
What a Bright Boy Did by Reading and Curiosity
A compact anecdote about a boy who grows from a curious reader into an authority on earthquakes and electricity. He uses the encyclopedia to answer questions, learns about natural history and phenomena, and develops practical skills from reading and inquiry before entering high school.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Charles Dudley Warner
Sassafras
Farei
Johnny's Argument at the Preserves
Detroit Free Press records a short humor piece where Johnny defends himself after his mother leaves tea time preserves unattended. She returns to find the jar diminished and he quips that the preserves shrank because she was gone twice as long as expected.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Johnny
The First Ice Cream Soda Origins
A Lycoming County druggist is credited with conceiving the ice cream soda by placing ice cream in soda water. Twenty years ago ice was scarce, so the confectioner supplied most of it. The idea spread from village to village and became widely popular.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Lycoming County
Penn
Unromantic Quip Ends With Humorous Kiss Refusal
In a playful exchange from The Mouth of the Missouri, Algie and Charlie discuss Miss Chateau, noting her blunt reply when he asked for a kiss at parting. She quips she is from St Tous and that her mouth isn’t built for such a small kiss.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Munsey’s Weekly
Algie
Miss Chateau
Charlie
St. Tous
Preparing for the Seashore headline
Seashore planning notes from the Yankee Blade feature Cholly Cholmondeley and a chat with a valet about ordering engagement rings. The pair joke about shopping at Timpany's and a dozen rings as they get ready for their trip.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Yankee Blade
Cholly Cholmondeley
Valet
Cholly C
Timpany’s
Ander
Silent dare ends with perilous ride to river
A tense exchange unfolds as a speaker urges coercion and a driver pledges to plunge into the river if commanded. The woman then pleads to stop and for release, revealing a dangerous imprint of control and fear. The scene hints at a coercive dynamic and a potential crisis moment.
Logic Confounds Hat Hunt in Quiet Room
A professor of logic muses that no one has entered the room since he arrived. He cannot find his hat and deduces with a grin that he must have sat on it, a small comic proof of logic's irresistible power.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fliegende Blaetter
Summer recollections and a knightly mail shirt joke
Charlie jokes that the summer evokes a middle ages knight who wore a mail shirt. Jack responds that the man’s large income prevents full spending. She suggests Harvard as a possible path.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Munsey’s Weekly
Charlie
Jack
Very Likely Yankee Blade Snaggs Dialogue
Snaggs and Squoggs discuss identity and change in a short exchange. The characters acknowledge personal alteration and question why they have shifted, with Snaggs noting difference from the past and Squoggs offering a speculation about change.
Last Day of Earth The Final Love Amid Ice and Stars
A speculative tale traces Earth's long ages from vast ages of development to a frozen future. Survivors voyage by air to seek women, finding small bands in Suntown and Ceylon before returning to Africa, where Eva and Omegar face extinction together. The world endures with love blooming beyond the cold.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jesus Christ
Equatorial
Afria
Suntown
Ain
Paris
London
Vienna
New York
Amazon
Africa
America
Ceylon
Asia
Equator
Adam's Peak
Eva
Pacific Ocean
Omegar
Nile Valley
Earth
Pigud
Engineers Stand Fast Under Orders In Ship's Engine Room
In Henry Pacet's tale a steamship’s engine room shows steady, unflinching duty as a gong signals danger then orders. The engineer and assistant obey instantly, stopping and restarting the vast machinery while the crew above faces a crash with ice. True heroism lies in firm, unquestioning obedience to commands.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Henry Pacet
Man Seeks Marriage License Despite Humble Appearance
A crude description of a tall homely man with sunburned skin, ill-fitting clothes, hayseed in his hair, and a straw hat seeks a marriage license at the court. He has only fifty cents in his possession and appears awkward or naive in demeanor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
The Bend of the Road Across the Silent Land
A collage of verse and vignette fragments: romantic quips, lovers, and faded images from Puck and Cosmopolitan. It sketches moods of love, youth, and nostalgia with references to Adirondack ponds and a modern naiad, closing on a speaker awaiting a vanished beloved along a road into the world.
Also Mentioned on This Page
Alice Perry
New York Recorder
Boris Mirskow
Princess de Z
Boris
Prince de Z
Ecarte
Moltke
Thiesas
von Moltke
Robert Houdin
Tzigane
Nor Hey
Monsieur
Tam
Monsigur
New York Journal
Making Love
Washington Post
Cameron
Rindge
Him
THE
Amateur Farmer's Guide
Cage Tin
Power of Logic
Harvard
Camille Flammarion
J. B
Puck
John Vance Cheney
Firs
Harry Romaine
Adirondack
Marion M. Miller
Strephon
Chloe
Robin
Mary
Lord Byron
Derry-down-derry
Meadow
Dale
Prince
al J, Dwyer
New Orleans Times-Democrat
Isabel Gorden
A. W. Bellaw
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