Banks Wins After Panic Retreat At Pleasant Hill
A Civil War account recalls April 7 1864 in the Red River campaign. Franklin and Banks faced a Confederate mob under Kirby Smith near Pleasant Hill. Despite heavy losses and a chaotic retreat, Franklin and Lee held until reinforcements arrived, enabling a reformed Federal stand at Pleasant Hill and a subsequent victory that preserved Banks's army.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit
Red River
Lee
Franklin
Banks
Smith
Pine Hill
Mansfield
Shreveport
Thirteenth Corps
Pleasant Grove
Jean Beet
Federal
Army
Pleasant Hill
Wha! Ha! Hat A reflection on laughter and character
A longtime meditation on laughter catalogs how different minds express mirth from Shakespeare to Johnson and Jerrold. It ponders whether humor betrays sincerity, champions humane joy, and hints that laughter lubricates the human face and reveals our nature.
Beauty in Homespun. Confederate wardrobe ingenuity during blockade
A Richmond observer recalls how Southern women adapted during the Civil War when imports ceased. Families dyed cloth at home, repurposed old garments, spun and wove by enslaved labor, and crafted elaborate homespun outfits. Garibaldi styles, tortuous hats, and improvised shoes show resilience as supply lines failed and blockade denial loosened at war’s end.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mary W
Philadelphia Weekly Times
Kate Greenaway
Richmond
Crenshaw Mills
Scottsville
James River
Kanawha Canal
Cusack’s
Virginia
North Carolina
Schubert
Gounod
Moore
Goldsmith
Wight
Garibaldi
Confederacy
Marine Superstitions Birth of a Seafaring Imagination
A London Telegraph piece surveys sea lore from Finns and albatross myths to Composants and Davy Jones. It traces how electric sea exhalations and celestial lights fueled beliefs, while steam power and grog-era rituals push superstition toward obsolescence.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London Telegraph
Pacific
Finland
Jack
Davy Jones
Neptune
Oaine
Mother Carey
Coleridge
Marner
Cleopatra at the Beach and the Silver Bells Society
A fragmented piece portraits a social column style essay on feminine tact, manners, and allure at resort society. It mingles literary refs to Poe and Johnson with anecdotes of Claribel Coyne and Tom Dyce, arguing that good manners and tact trump mere beauty in forming desirable brides and social sway.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lilian
Claribel Coyne
Bullion
Persimmon Fitzaloes
Coyne
Claribel
Tom Dce
Tom
Mr. Poe
Catawba Green
Newport
Saratoga
Madame
New York
Mr. Lamb
Dr. Johnson
Tom Dyce
Peignoir
Voia
Tom Dyve
Greece
Solon
The Robin Redbreast in Folklore and Folklore Tales
A survey of robin legends across England Wales Scotland and France detailing long life feats mercy to poor, beliefs of cows giving bloody milk, immunity from hunters in Alpine pastures, and moral roles in poetry and ballads. It notes superstitions about butcherings and the robin’s burials with leaves, including literary mentions by Johnson Drayton Webster and others.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Robins
Salisbury
England
Devonshire
Wales
Prometheus
Bronrhuddyn
Robin
Yorkshire
Borobridge
Switzerland
John Brodie
France
Mr. Chambers
Suffolk
Cock Robin
Cock’ Robin
Iris
Cymbeline
Thomas Johnson
Drayton
Redbreast
Charitie
Webster
Robin Redbreast
Wren
Damosel
James
Charles L
Symbolic meanings of colors and roses in early art
Colors carried emblematic weight in early art. White symbolized light purity and life while red, like the ruby, signified divine love heat and creative power. Roses in white and red conveyed related virtues and ideals.
Meanings of colors as symbols in art and religion
The passage assigns symbolic meanings to colors such as red for love, blood, and punishment, blue for heaven and fidelity, yellow for the sun and marriage faith, green for spring and immortality, and violet for love and truth, noting both positive and negative connotations across contexts.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
St. Cecilia
The British Passion for the Sea and British Seafaring Image
The piece extols a sea born British spirit from youth, claiming inland youths quickly turn to sea life. It contrasts Britons with foreigners in sea-sickness, noting Britons display grace and reserve while others appear radiant or collapses into sickness before leaving harbor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Blackwood
Miner Cat Who Read His Bible in Dunkirk Mine
H H White, a Dunkirk mine worker, dropped his oak while reading the Bible under pines and found a quartz vein after it fell into a 50 foot canyon. A Bible page lay open at Matthew seven as a good omen. he located the ledge two feet wide, assays $226 per ton, and declined a $5000 offer for the claim.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
William Shakespeare
Goldsmith
Cassius
Dr. Johnson
Savage
Dean Swift
Brother Peter
Burton
Cambridge
Thomas Carlyle
Pittsburg
H. H. White
Dunkirk
A. T
Mr. White
Novel Manner of Snuff Taking in Southern Africa
The article surveys snuff usage among southern African peoples, noting that natives claim long knowledge of snuffing customs. It describes tobacco cultivation beside kraals, and how Amakosh trives smoke, others grind snuff with aloes ashes, while Amapondas make reed snuff-boxes worn through the ear, with spoons carried in the other ear.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Africa
Kraals
Amakosh
Original Shylock linked to a Christian in historic anecdote
A Jewish Chronicle correspondent notes that Shakespeare’s Shylock may have a Christian origin. He cites Gregorio Leti’s biography of Sixtus V and a tale of a Roman merchant Lechi and a Jew Ceneda over false news of San Domingo. A bond and threats of a literal “pound of flesh” lead to papal punishment and a 2000 scudi fine for ransom.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Shylock
Jewish Chronicle
Shakespeare
Gregorio Leti
Sixtus V
Lechi
Francis Blake
San Domingo
Ceneda
Paul M. Lechi
Signor
Pul M. Seehi
Guleys
Sixtine Bridge
When the Birds Wake Up
A French ornithologist investigates summer awakening times for common garden birds. The greentinch starts around 1 30 AM, blackcap about 2 30, guall near 4 AM, with the blackbird first real song at roughly 4 AM as sun rises. Robins and wrens sing just before thrushes, while house sparrow and tomtit finish the sequence, upending the lapwing’s reputation as an early riser.
Bric a Brac and Maxims in Taunton Republican
A brief column mocks pretentious moralizing with maxims about honesty in courtship and knowledge. It cites a rural Indiana church scene where a preacher prays “notwithstanding the weather,” highlighting irony between pious talk and everyday weather.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Taunton Republican
Indiana
Signs of Prosperity and a Chance Meeting of Lovers
A rambling editorial tone mixes moral signs of a thriving state with a jokey parable about prosperity. It contrasts well governed society hints with anecdotes and a courting scene where a gentleman proposes after a carriage incident, capturing a playful, period voice.
Northern Sea Lovers Theme Poem Fragment
The poem recalls a sailor set to a northern sea and a steadfast vow of love, with a lovers scene at home. It contrasts hot kisses and frozen nights, as the sailor yearns for home while the maiden’s passion fades and the world goes on.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Faust
German watering-place dude in Baltimore garden
A reader describes a man seen in a Baltimore garden in vivid theatrical detail. The subject wears black clothes with waxy trousers, a sharply cut coat, white vest, and a striking hairstyle. He sports a red boutonniere, black and white striped cuffs, a black and white handkerchief, and carries a cane, with a tiny black bat resting near his waves of hair.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hewelberg
Autumn’s dying spell ties year to memory
In fall imagery the speaker notes the season’s scent and fragmenting nature. The poem evokes dead leaves, shell fragments, pale skies, and a tearful blue horizon. Autumn links the speaker to nature through tranquil, bittersweet scenes of cattle by the sea and robin songs in lanes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Anon
The Suspender Girl at Southern Exposition
Louisville visitors flock to the Southern exposition to buy suspenders advertised by a persuasive seller. A smiling clerk entices men and informally chases repeat sales and returns while promising comfort, style, and health benefits. One elderly tourist plans to return for the agricultural show, shaking hands as he departs.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Louisville Courier-Journal
Souvenirs of the Season amid a storm of memory
A narrator reflects on keepsakes from a past romance and season, listing objects from a Watteau painting to a lock of auburn hair and a faded rose. The verse contrasts cherished keepsakes with ruined plans, unpaid bills, and a wedding card, as the speaker debates departure for a difficult breakfast.
Delights of Anticipation in a Watermelon Lesson
An elderly colored man at the market debates sharing a watermelon with a boy. He enumerates humorous anticipations of outcomes from partial sharing and seeds to rind and theft, cautioning the boy with dialect play and a final retort to leave.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
Mellyou
Also Mentioned on This Page
Dick Taylor
Green
Chicago Mercantile
Jee
Asee
Yanks
Douglas Jerrold
Earth
Olympus
Senda
Beauty
Baltimore
Philadelphia
Order of the Garter
Det Fuet
Stiedmond
Dana
Ariel
St. Elmo's
Cleopatra
Seashore Belle
Edgar Allan Poe
Hampton
Old Orchard
Cape May
Elin
United
His
Mr. Brown
Dude