Masked Batteries at Fairfax Court House Ambush Story
In June 1861 near Vienna and Fairfax Court House Confederate forces under Bonham scarred Federal troops advancing on a rail line. The author, a Fairfax Home Guard volunteer, details a failed ambush of a railway train, the firepower used by Kemper’s artillery, and the retreat toward Alexandria. The piece reflects early war tactic and command misgivings amid mixed loyalty at Vienna.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Murray
Washington Republican
Eauregard
Manassas Junction
Bonbani
Fairfax Court House
Delaware Femper
Alexandria
Virginia
Fairfax Rifles
Bonham
Alfred Moss
Fairfax “Home Guard
Vienna
London & Hampshire
Home Guard
Boyd
Spawn
Polpy
Bonbam
Flint Hill
Alls Church
Burnham
Kemper
Bull Run
Fauquier County
Dus
Red
Hether
Meratanda
Cavairy
Mona
Woiwan
Rar
Schenck
del. Kemper
Selvenck
A Country Baptizing in New Orleans Colored Church Scene
A Sunday baptism among Louisiana’s colored community described with travel by Mary in a phaeton. The procession of fifteen candidates sings as the elderly minister leads readings from the Bible and baptisms in river water, followed by dry garments and celebratory remarks by attendees.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Louisiana
Mary
John
Jesus
Nazareth
Galilee
Jordan
Martin Ann
Lincoln's Youth and his Lifelong Reading Habit
In the backwoods Lincoln found few books but read the Bible Bunyan Burns and Weems widely. He borrowed from neighbors walked miles for more and even bartered three days’ labor to pay for Crawford. Reading shaped his future, with Bible allusions in many speeches.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Arnold
Lincoln
Bunyan
Weems
Washington
Robert Burns
Shakespeare
Abraham
Lear
Crawford
Weevis
Jim
Aims of a New Novel: Gregory’s Perilous Journey
A humorous fragment from a future novel satirizes literary trends, showing Gregory trudging through harsh elements. He crosses a river on ice, chops wood under an oak, cooks an oyster, and sleeps, then wakes to a rainstorm as he continues across a parched landscape.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Arkansaw Traveller
Mr. Howells
Gregory
Variations of the Female Temper
A hairdresser to a New York World reporter observes gendered temperaments during hairdressing. She notes smiles and honeyed social roles mask peevishness when hair is styled or shampooed, with temperament varying by hair color and perceived honesty about hair.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York World Reporter
Llack
True Happiness Tied to Open Fireplace Lighting
A reflective line notes that respectability and amiability surround the stove and that virtue and intelligence hover over the register, but true happiness in a family is found only when faces glow from the warmth of an open fireplace.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Emerson
Chasing Whales The Leviathan Hunt Of Days Gone By
Brooklyn Eagle recounts the sperm whaling era with old style detail. It explains ground near the tropics, chase tactics, boat handling, lash of the flukes, and the brutal process of extracting oil from blubber. The piece contrasts ancient iron lances with bomb lances and steam whalers, plus the feast that follows the hunt.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Brooklyn Eagle
Eagle
Tropics
Hemisphere
Atlantic
Europe
East Indies
Cape of Good Hope
Cape Verde Islands
de Loo
Madeira Islands
A Solitary Senate Rebel Forges Arkansas Law
In 1866 during a rebel session before Reconstruction, John R. Fellows, lone senator, led a mock Senate in General Newton's law office. He improvised roles, drank with soldiers, and moved a revenue bill. years later his measure passed as law under Reconstruction.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Opte P. Rea
Arkansas
Ord
United States
State House
Newton
John R. Fellows
New York
Senate
Fellows
John
Mr. Fellows
Fela
Senate of Arkansas
Moving mountain of sand in Nevada deserts
In Churchill county Nevada a moving sand dune mountain travels like a glacier while giving a musical rub against itself. Its symmetrical slopes form waves with a hollow peak where counter winds create a deadly cave. Legends say several Indians vanished swallowed by the shifting sands with no trace.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Churchill County
Nevada
Spainx
Speak Up Young Man A Burdette
The piece contrasts the shallows with the deeps, praising the quiet riverbanks and the music of a brook as a soothing escape from sorrow. It reflects on aging, nostalgia, and affection, ending with a foretelling of growing older and changing love.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Shallows
Spoopendyke’s Pie Fiasco Ends in Cracking Mayhem
In Drake's Travelers' Magazine style, Mr Spoopendyke bets on a legendary mince pie. His kitchen theatrics reveal flawed crusts, improvised tools, and a clash of memories vs. method as wife and husband spar over recipes and pride. The dented pie breaks open, exposing undercooked filling and a stalled experiment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Drake
Travelers’ Magazine
Mr. Spoopendyke
Mrs. Spoopendyke
Family Discipline and Parental Authority The Essay
A reflective essay at age nineteen on childrearing contrasts theory with practice. It lingers on the bent twig or father to the man idea, noting the emotional cost of spanking and the shift to gentler, more permeating discipline within the family. The piece uses humor and self-deprecation to illustrate evolving views on parenting authority and household discipline.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sam
Genesis
George
Mugwump
James
Stolim
Avalanche for One A New York Letter on Virtue and Stage Caution
A New York letter in the Cincinnati Enquirer mocks melodrama and offers a snappy recipe for defeating villains. It proposes a theatrical avalanche as punishment for unwanted suitors, urging girls to look to the heavens and cry avalanche for one as a safe, decisive move amid society’s balls and wooing.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
Cincinnati Enquirer
Union Square Theatre
Nix
Brain work and manual labor joke in classroom exchange
A classroom exchange contrasts brain work with manual labor. A teacher asks which class she belongs to, and a student replies with a quip about a strap as the focus of teaching.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Texas
His Right to the Title in Kentucky
An old Black man signs himself Colonel Henry Clay Jones. When challenged about the title he replies in dialect that he uses the rank because it means colored, and he asserts the funny yet pointed distinction between social labels and true rank.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Times
Darkey
Kentucky
Henry Clay Jones
Boss
The Scotchman Exclaims Over Train Vision
An old Scotchman, witnessing a railway train for the first time, wonders aloud what it is. He finally answers that it looks like the devil running away with a sack of horses.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Glasgow Baillie
Fall River Advance Opinion: a wary mother-in-law test
In a sharp, concise remark the paper notes there are many good men yet none so trusted as to be left with a lateh ey, suggesting skepticism about trustworthiness and drawing a pointed comparison through a mother-in-law’s advice.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fall River
Latehey
Burdette
Brooklyn Eagle
The Mystery of Dr Johnsons Dried Orange Peel in Philadelphia
A Philadelphia Bulletin essay tracks the orange crop boom in Florida and California, lacing a playful history of oranges from Eden to modern markets. It cites Dr Johnson’s dried orange peel mystery, Boswell and Johnson anecdotes, and ponders a curious use while noting edible fruits, medical superstition, and citrus lore amid a time of abundant harvests.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dr. Johnson
Philadelphia Bulletin
United States
Cotton
South
King Cole
California
Florida
Senor Ponce de Leon
Eden
Eve
Solomon
Sidney Lanier
Paradise
Boswell
Jolson
Rassel
Beauclerk
Garrick
Johnson
Johson
Remedies for annoyance from trivial causes in daily life
A Pittsburg Chronicle excerpt recounts a travel anecdote about a man tormented by a tiny pricking thread on a shirt band. He describes tugging and rubbing in vain while in Kansas, illustrating how small irritations can ruin one's mood and suggesting a common need for simple fixes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pittsburg
Kansas
Topeka
Revelation of a water tank moment in 1980
A narrator recalls observing a man seemingly annoyed by sleeve rubbing until he wets his fingers at a water tank and runs them up his shirt sleeve, returning to his seat with a look of contentment. The scene concludes with a note that years of happiness have been added by that 1980 moment.
Immorality and poetry in old magazines mix of verse
A collage of literary snippets from Drake's Traveler's Magazine, Somerville Journal, and Chicago Ledger sketches includes a vegetarian quip about mutton and veal, a trio sailing a Normandie ballad, Goethe as affliction, comic verses about a washer-lady's daughter, Nora, Mavourneen, maternal pants, rose tossing, a ministering angel piece, and a Black vernacular piece about Uncle Peter and Orlando Green.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Drake's Traveler's Magazine
A True Diplomatist And Other Womens Humors
A patchwork of short humorous vignettes and poems from old newspapers. A charity hospital matron quizzed about borrowing eight ragged children to petition a governor. Verse reflects longing and memory. A village tutor tale shows domestic mischief and wit. A traveler misdirected by a field worker ends with a sly retort.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Arkansaw
Also Mentioned on This Page
Jen. Schenck
Vienna Court House
New Orleans Picayune
Lincoln’s
Chasing Whales
King of the Seas
York Mercury
Man
Spoopendyke
Mr. Spookendyke
Mrs. Spookendyke
Kivah
Met
Bill Nye
Asia
Helicon
Paris
Venus
Mount Ina
Nel Gwynne
Drury Lane Theatre
Cavendish
Cardinal Wolsey
Cleveland
Civil Service
Pack
Flora Ellice Stevens
Maud, Friendship and I
Maud
Love
Somerville Journal
Crabb Robinson
Goethe
Rutgers Targum
Nora
B. Aldrich
Valentine
Ministering Angels
Chicago Ledger
St. Peter’s Cate
Peter
Chile
Orlando Thomas Green
Bill Jones
Orlando Green
Orlando Thomas
New Orleans Times-Democrat
Iwalt
Old Birch
Kate
Katy
Drake’s
Traveler’s Magazine
Darky
Yaas
de Truf
the Darky
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