Prisoners of War Scenes in a Convict Camp Anecdotes
A 1863 Federal officer John Dillingham recounts his transfer to Huntsville Texas prison after capture in Louisiana. He describes guards, solitary cells, hunger, and cockroaches, the arrival of Colonel Carothers, humane yet firm discipline, meals in a dining room, bloodhounds, and the humor and grit of General Sam Houston during visits. The piece blends survival, humor, and memory of Houston and life inside the penitentiary.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sam Houston
John Dillingham
Louisiana
General Magruder
Houston
Dillingham
Texas
Huntsville
Philadelphia Times
Carothers
Ciut
Escaphin Ng
Andersonville
B—ana
San Jacinto
Brooklyn
Newton
Rascal
Santa Anna
Florida
Houston Gennee
Harvest Heathenisms The English Kernababby and Harvest Customs
The article surveys forgotten English harvest folklore, from the Oats rhyme and blessing of fields to the Kernababby doll festival. It traces pagan rites later Christianized, notes Reformation shifts, and compares with Peruvians' Pirva, interpreting the shared belief in corn sustenance through ritual dolls kept for next harvest.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Demeter
Eocritus
Newton
Pirva
The Boiled Shirt A Satire On Fashion and Vanity
In a sharp critique, Gilhooley mocks the boiled shirt as a vain, useless ornament. He derides its shapeless form, the awkward button-hole tab, and costly extras like separate collars, cuffs, and sleeve-buttons, urging a return to plain muslin shirts with collars and cuffs.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Gilhooley
Bonuntey
Beyond the Breakers a Coast Scene of Grace and Fear
A Georgia correspondent recalls a summer coastal moment in vivid prose. A slender young woman steps into the surf in a light blue bathing suit with a broad sash. She faces rising breakers with grace, slips into the wave’s embrace, and emerges aroused by the sea’s raw power.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Atlanta Constitution
Notes From a Belle at the Beach
A witty antithesis of flirtation and social games unfolds as a young belle catalogs her summer at the shore. She teases Boston and Charleston Toms, revels in dances and bouquets, and muses on love, memory, and the lure of return seasons, ending with an ironic promise to repeat the ritual for another year.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tom Dyce
Tom
Mamma
Laura
Eustace
Mr. Dyce
Lis
Ajax
Hector
Thersites
Achilles
Bacon
Buckle
Boston
Baltimore
New York
Philadelphia
Charleston
Thomas Dyce
Thomas
Aston Tom
Charleston Tom
Belinda Mudgeon
Thomas JD
Belinda Dear
Belinda
Sheba
Belin Mudgeon
Margeret
Ehlin
The Language Of The Future Slang Gains Ground
The New York Times argues slang will become standard as words like monkey and come off the roof gain use. Slang expands language and hints at future speech, while philology studies how street slang shapes changes in written language.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Marie
Ed Tom
Tom
Mr. Dyce
Thomas Drow
Cleopatra
Boston
Tom Dyce
New York
Philadelphia
Boston State House
Beacon Street
Park Street
Mount Vernon Street
New York Times
Drummers and Diamonds in a Chicago Hotel Tale
A New York drummer visits the Grand Pacific in Chicago seeking his trunk filled with samples valued at $75,000. The hotel staff and a porter locate the baggage, revealing dangers and perks of traveling jewelry sellers. The piece recounts drummer life, lavish hotel stays, Sunday towns, and high earnings within the trade.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Charles F. Adams
The
Grand Pacific
Chicago News
New York
Drummers and Their Tales on the Road
A discussion of traveling salesmen or drummers and their exaggerated scams aboard trains. The piece notes schemes to cheat railroad fares, such as faking sleep to dodge conductors or stealing conductor cards. It characterizes drummers by origin cities and stereotypes their storytelling bravado.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mim
Tmet
Milwaukee
Chicago
Washington Boulevard
Afid Adath
Theris
Tina
New York
Boston
Philadelhia
Cincinnati
Louisville
St. Louis
The Hotel Mother and the Piazza Girl
A vivid portrait of Mrs. Fungus, a hotel social arbiter, and her children as they roam hotel corridors. The piece traces her glamour and neglect, the children’s mischief, and a forecast of social evolution from hotel culture to a new class dynamic in American resort life.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pougus
Piazza
Fungus
Oine
The Dentist as a Cold Iron Judge From The Old South
A satirical portrait contrasts nervous modern dentists with brutal old rural practitioners. The piece mocks high nerves and steel hearts, likening painless marketing smiles to predatory markets, and recalls a brutal, cannibal-like country dentist who enforced pain with theater, fear, and dramatic force.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Texas Siftings
Chicago
Olly Fellows
Nee Stocks
Arin
BRIC A BRAC AND WRY VERSE VARIETIES
A fragmentary column mixes verses and quips from Wilbye’s Madrigals and comic asides. It mentions Lins and Roses, a mock exchange about the telephone in Colorado, and notes a California joke about life preservers. Also includes stray poems and a cheeky anecdote about a Sheridan woods incident.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Colorado
The Fragile Power of Time and Memory in Verse and Verse
An assortment of quoted lines and prose pieces reflects on memory and change, from a mused question about power transforming the world to poems on May breezes and faded satin. It weaves literary fragments about love, decorum, and social scenes, including a theatre orchestra anecdote and a wedding reminiscence.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lwitiam
Theodore Peters
Bowling Green
Ingenious banter at the ball game sparks a playful exchange
A witty exchange among women at the ball park captures a joke about a batter’s swing and a “muzzle” as a chest protector. The humor hinges on mishearing and inventive phrasing as one observer explains the equipment and the game rule in lighthearted terms.
Bachelor's Hall quips and mischief in a frontier tone
A vivid, humorous fragment describes a gloomy bachelor in a bustling hall filled with comic misfits and domestic chaos. The scene shifts to a Wall Street note on fire insurance absurdities, featuring a joke about two brothers and a Nashville juk shop misadventure.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wall Street
Shazam Street
Brudder Moses
Moses
Gil Moses
Nashville
Mit
The Red Breast of the Robin Legend Poem
An Irish legend describes a brown and scarlet Robin who sings Christmas stories to children and comforts those in grief. The tale recounts how a robin’s crimson breast came to be after witnessing cruelty and sorrow in autumn and winter scenes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Robin
Bobby
The Reversed Edition of Enock Aiden Returns Home
Enock Aiden returns from a disastrous voyage to find his wife Annie, their child, and Annie’s mother settled at his old home with Philip Ray. Annie has remarried, the child calls Philip “pa,” and Enoch, dressed in his clothes, contemplates violence before fleeing. He later notes a near miss with his motor-in-law.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Enoch Aiden
Tennyson
Philip Ray
Annie
Enoch
Philip
Also Mentioned on This Page
Texan Penitentiary
Tower of London
Anne Boleyn
White Tower
Rewch
Avanti
United States
Peter
Apostle
America
Godiva
Rome
Tibullus
Bacchus
Ceres
Kuracane
Rurisque
Llike
Toper
Elizabeth
Tommy
State House
Antony
Sam
Anthony
der Drummer
the Fraternity
Pest
Frauleins
Schwell
Beloit
Wis
Caliea
Tive
Jacksonville
Lorillard
Carlyle
National Gallery
Fancuis
Lins and Roses
Wilbye
San Francisco
Aja
Ana
Sheridan
Penn
Rattway
Eulice Hopkins
Euler
Philadelphia Theaure
Ana Sen
Polly Henderson
John Finley
Placin
Patrick
Grimalkin
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!