Saved by a Testament in Battle Turns Chaplain
A World War II era style tale recounts Chris Manley a hard drinker and swearer who enlists with others from Metamora. He carries a pocket Testament from his Christian mother and later a bullet halts at the pages saving his life a claim he reads as he recovers. Years later he returns a chaplain evangelizing to fellow soldiers.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chris Manley
Chris
Metamora
Manley
Goodby
Camp Douglas
Vicksburg
Illinois
Uni
Sergeant Morris
Morris
Omaha World-Herald
Politician Faces Long Day Before Investigating Panel
In a Washington Star excerpt a weary politician explains a tough day spent before an investigating committee. He says there was little to do, aside from answering questions from his youngest son about theology in the evening.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Star
Hen as national bird cited in Cleveland Plain Dealer
A Cleveland Plain Dealer quote argues the hen could be a national symbol, noting she can furnish her own lays and that rhymesters won’t need to write odes about her. The remark plays on the idea of a domestic fowl as a national emblem.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Holyoke
Mount Helyoke
Mary Lyon
Why Is the World So Very Queer A Child’s Rhyme
A poem fragment by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson questions why stars stay in the sky why adults miss things children seek why the sun sets when the speaker leaves and why fairies or a princess life never come to them The verse captures childlike wonder and longing for magical explanations.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nursy
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
Spring Hats Feature Velvet Ribbons and New Straw Braids
Leghorn, manilla, raffia, and new satin-finish straw braids lead spring hat styles. Sailor hats use bulrush weave edged with velvet ribbon. linen crash is employed. White and gray felt hats dominate for summer with rich ribbons, beads, and spangles. Colors include periwinkle, anemone, helio trope, champagne, and pale pink green. trimming on the left under the brim with flowers or bows remains popular.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ladies’ Home Journal
Stage luminaries and comic misfires in odd speeches
The piece notes how actors such as De Wolf Hopper and Francis Wilson generated absurd moments when in costume during oration. Jerome Sykes faced a similar dilemma on stage in Philadelphia during Prince Ananias, where a throne scene and a fake crown led to audience laughter and an awkward prompt to speak.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
de Wolf Hopper
Casey
Francis Wilson
Jerome Sykes
Bostonians
Philadelphia
Prince Ananias
Sykes
McDonald
Jerome
New York Telegram
Precautionary Snapshot Before Tooth Extraction
An actress asks the dentist what he is doing and he explains he is taking a snapshot to have an alibi if damages arise from the operation. The dentist declares he is ready to extract the tooth in Chicago.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Tribune
Birthday Gift Sparks Odd Favor in Quiet Domestic Exchange
A husband and wife discuss a fountain pen given on the wife’s birthday anniversary. He vows to write daily with the pen, then asks for one favor, requesting a suit of overalls to accompany the gift, prompting a tense but hushed exchange. The Washington Star records the domestic moment with restrained emotion.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Star
Canadian Mrs Boomer Joins London High School Board
Mrs. Boomer, a leaders of London Ontario women, becomes the first female member of the city high school board by appointment of the board of aldermen. The London Daily Free Press lauds her energy, public courage, and support for women in schooling. A New York Times anecdote about a seven year old hostess mocks ceremonial grace at a child’s dinner.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Boomer
Council of Women
London
Canada
London Daily Free Press
Mamma
Grace
New York Times
Witty Exchange In Tit-Bits Gossip Column
A London Tit-Bits snippet recalls a cheeky exchange about washing rituals and a jab about a wasp needing a shovel to sting. The brief aside captures light social banter and humorous rebuke.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Inski
Sinski
London
Fourteen Million Rubles Inheritance Tied To Servile Years
A Odessa grain merchant left 4,000,000 rubles to his three daughters on the condition they serve as servants for 18 months. The daughters, now rich, became chambermaids and a general housemaid, receiving hundreds of marriage proposals during their service but choosing to remain single. The note ends with a snippet of a Chicago Tribune joke about a letter to Daisy’s brother and a quick decision by Mr Spoonamore.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Odessa
Daisy
Miss Daisy
Chicago Tribune
Right to Lop Wood for Fuel in Bodmin Prior’s Forest
A 1525 Bodmin record grants town burgesses the right to lop crop hoop and crook wood in the prior of Bodmin’s Dunmeer wood and carry it away on their backs. The document notes fuel gathering by hook or crook for the poor of the manor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bodmin
Dunmeer
New York World
Voter Bribery Tale and Tennyson Club Incident
A cartoonish dialogue from the Atlanta Constitution shows a voter debating a bribe of ten dollars and doubting the candidate’s integrity. Separately in San Francisco a clubroom scene with Tennyson ends with a wit provoking the poet to drop his feet, then reverting to proper poise.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Atlanta Constitution
Tennyson
Lord Tennyson
Longfellow
San Francisco
Calm In Time of Emergency
A humorous exchange shows a Boston mistress ignoring a servant as a house fire erupts while she and Honoria discuss the crime of the split infinitive, illustrating newsroom wit from the Chicago Tribune.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Boston
Fire Department
Honoria
Chicago Tribune
Women Artists Gain Ground in New York Institutions
The piece notes women artists joining New York’s major institutions as illustrators and colorists, earning recognition for lighter touch. It addresses gender biases claiming lack of humor in the feminine mind and the absence of women cartoonists or caricaturists, suggesting coarse treatment as a barrier.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
Miss Lilian Lees Appointed Matron in Brazil Hospital
Miss Lilian Lees, noted for service in the Greco Turkish war and in hospital work in Greece, becomes matron of the Hospital Samaritano in Sao Paulo Brazil. She trained at the Hospital For Sick Children and will receive three years more training and certificates from King's College Hospital.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lilian’ Lees
Ormiston Chant
Greece
A.hens
Daily Chronicle
Chalcis
Pick Me Up Quote Sparks Social Moment
A fragment recalls the line Not when you've got all your friends round you. The snippet hints at a social, communal sentiment shared in casual dialogue.
Extra Inducements Fire Sale Advertising
An old Philadelphia North American ad proclaims an extraordinary fire sale inviting customers to call and examine goods described as still warm. The fragment also notes a comment about fruit, saying the stem side of the orange is not as sweet as the other half.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia
North American
Also Mentioned on This Page
Teddie Tucker
Tuscany
Tuckers
Teddie
Tommy Tinker
Thomas Tinker
Thomas
Terrafirma
Tub
Toulon
Tiber
Tarry
Sarah Fenton Hoyt
Patent Office
Chambers’ Journal
William John
Women Artists
Lilian Lees
Mary Yon
Mark ‘Twain
Robert Burns
Robbie Burns
Maynard
New York Sunday World
QUEEN
Victor Hub
Westerly
Quincy
Othe
S. Fowler
H.S. Richardson
Ee, H. Maker
Concord Mass
T.F. Sheehan
Barrett’ S Mill Road
Concord Junction
Mas
F. D. Cilmoore
Maynard‘s Block
Teremiah Sheehan
J. W. Henderson
South Acton
Mass
Hale
Maynard Sr
Acton, Mass
Ernest Hosmer
Post Office
So. Atron
H. Ss. Hapgood
Stow
Anterprise
Horace Tuttle
Walden Street
J. C. Friend
S. K. Humphrey
Exchange Building
J. F. Meade
Llores
Loring Farm
Barrett Mill Road
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!