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This newspaper page contains 8 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Defiance County Express
Location
Defiance, Ohio, United States of America
Date
Apr 29, 1886
Page
5
A dialect verse item describes a sunny day and the coming of spring. It features a speckled hen, a mockinbird, a rooster, and plow work in a row. The speaker notes the sun shining bright and the rooster’s pride, ending with a note about the Arkansas Traveler.
Aunt Teresa clings to an India shawl fantasy prompting family ridicule. A mix up with Uncle Reuben, an India shawl, and Hugh Nobles leads to an early meeting with Anna. The shawl's mistaken sender becomes a catalyst for romance as Nobles courts Anna and Teresa preserves the shawl.
A reminiscence recounts the 1860 Lincoln Douglas debates in Illinois with Robert Hitt as Lincoln's shorthand reporter. It details the Ottawa and Freeport meetings, Hitt's late arrival, and Lincoln's opening. It follows Hitt's later roles in Washington and Paris, and notes monuments and political clashes surrounding the era.
The passage recalls the collapse and rebirth of the Washington National Monument board. Congress restored the board and funded the monument after a period of public prejudice and waning contributions. Daniel Webster is described as fond of market trips for delicacies and tea from a Britannia teapot once owned by his mother, later given to Monica, the family cook.
Dr. King recounts a Memphis incident in the early 1900s where a banker and a bidder fought over a slave girl amid a sale. A bowie knife and hatchet maim and kill, then bidding resumes and a steamboat captain pays large sums to safeguard the girl. The tale, he says, became a stage story and may be true as gospel. The rest of the piece shifts to curious flower facts.
Vera Cruz is described as beautiful with plantations and villas. Decay in exterior houses contrasts with indoor comfort, gardens, palm shaded roofs, and perfume from orange groves. Evenings bring gaiety, music, picnics, and strikingly beautiful women with Castilian poise and noble bearing. The piece ends with witty quips on burglars and postal romance.
A San Francisco Chronicle writer argues the fog horn influences crime and drinking. The piece mocks the idea, joking about opium and a mythical heavenly sound, while recounting a lawyer’s view that fog enhances sound and stirs reflection.
A humorous exchange is described with Matilda Snowball cooking criticized by Col Yerger, followed by a joke about social roles and domestic order. The Teras Siftings bit cites quarrels over cooking and pay, while the Fall River Ad vance quips about men lacking hooks at home despite other advantages.
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