A Home Vacation Fantasy Goes South by Condo Illusion
A husband crafts a mock tropical retreat inside their house to satisfy his wife’s longing for travel while avoiding bankruptcy. He stages a conservatory, hotel room, and loud talking machine with hired bellhops and window dummies, promising faux paradise and social spectacle. The plan collapses. the wife calls it eccentric, and the tale ends with a moral about scorching heat from a radiator.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tropics
Jacksonville
Panama
Wilgus
Wilgus Floral Company
Southland
Land of Sunshine
Pan ‘Whiteman
Jess
Porters Hats Built To Endure Heavy Loads
A London Tit-Bits piece describes Billingsgate fish porters wearing ten pound hats studded with brass nails. Hats are made to measure in a small market shop over two centuries old, crafted with three leather layers and about half a pound of nails for strength.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Billingsgate
London
Credit for Steam Calliope credited to French inventor
The history credits F. L. Calliope, a Frenchman, with creating the first steam calliope about two centuries ago. It began as a pair of steam whistles operated by two people pulling ropes. About 75 years ago Josiah C. Stoddard from New England added the piano keyboard, shaping the modern instrument.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Josiah C. Stoddar
Jest Between Financiers on the Boulevard
A well dressed man recalls losing twenty five thousand dollars four years ago while talking with Jack on a boulevard. The man admits he has since lost all his money and asks for a nickel for coffee, but Jack declines citing trust concerns over prior fortune.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jack
Detroit News
New Year Superstitions Across Ancient Lands
The article surveys New Year traditions from England to Babylon and Rome, noting beliefs that actions on January 1 predict months ahead. It highlights Druids, mistletoe rites, Janus symbolism, and customs like wearing something new and welcoming visitors to avoid bad luck. It also mentions weather omens and the wide variety of cultural observances around the world.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Old England
England
Babylon
Janus
Scotland
Head of Wales A New Year 1083
The piece reflects on 1983 as the first third of the twentieth century and draws a historical parallel to 1888 when a Democratic President, Andrew Jackson, entered the White House. It cites Frederic Austin Ogg on Jackson’s election as a pivotal frontier politics moment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wales
White House
Andrew Jackson
Frederic Austin Ogg
Yale University Press
Jackson
Benton
Ation Ot
Rgrgriel Angen
Ecinwe
John “Adams
Aden
Jackson and Roosevelt Shape an Era of Change
The piece traces Andrew Jackson as the first true Democratic president and projects Franklin D Roosevelt as his 1933 successor. It links 1833 1888 and 1988 political revolutions to rising democracy, social awareness, and industrial growth, noting the era's decisive shifts in voting rights and national policy.
Birth of Modern Industry and Immigration Boom 1820s–1840s
The text traces rapid industrial advances from 1820 to 1840 including edge tool manufacture, planing machines, platform scales, Nasmyth hammer patent, iron cook stove, and early frictions matches. It notes the rise of dams, farm machinery like McCormick’s horse reaper, steam power, and the railroad. It highlights westward expansion and immigration fueling growth, framing Uncle Sam’s early progress into a new era of improvement and mobility.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Rivera
McCormick
New World
Uncle Sam
Also Mentioned on This Page
Garden of Eden
Musband
Dun
Bradstreet
Ons
Elmo Scott Watson
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
John Quincy Adams
America
Honesdale
Chicago
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Ezekiel Webster
House of Representatives
Frankin D. Roosevelt
Ogg
Ita
United States
William Lloyd Garrigan
Legorato
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!