Harvest Labor Woes Across Western Wheat Country
A late 19th century analysis describes harvest labor shortages in heavy wheat regions from Missouri to the prairies. It details the mismatch between machinery, crop diversification, and the need for rapid, near-instant harvest. The piece notes sparse, scattered labor pools, high transport costs, and variable wages, with tensions between farm labor demand and city workers’ regular employment. It explains how header and thrashing crews struggle to align with field timing and machinery limits, leaving farmers with unreliable help and uneven earnings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Missouri
West Mississippi
Boston
Oceanal Plain
Bas
Irie
Prairies
Rmi
Rmers
Presa Andailway
Estern Lairvest
Eader
Farmers Beat Back Troubles with Local Operation
Farmers in settled communities take charge of the situation, maintaining control with minimal outside intervention as they address the ongoing difficulties. The tone suggests a self reliant rural effort to manage the problem through local action and collective effort.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ing Outfit
Left-Handedness and Left-Sidedness in Civilized Peoples
A North American Review piece surveys Prof Lombroso’s studies of 1,029 operatives and soldiers showing 4 percent left-handedness in men and 5 to 8 percent in women, and notes higher left-handedness among criminals. It discusses left-sidedness, gender and cultural differences, and how civilization shifts toward right-sidedness.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lombroso
Prof
Delaunay
North American Review
The Dog That Could Do Anything in a City Office
A city official buys a dog said to perform any task. A man brings an intelligent animal that sniffs for a lost glove and retrieves items. The dog later returns with a sash ribbon, exposing the officeholder’s indiscretion as the man pays a bill.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Times
Cigar Box Trade Sparks City Industry Rivalry
A Philadelphia Ledger excerpt notes about 75 million cigar boxes used annually in the United States, nine tenths made in the city, with the trade rivaling clothing in capital and employment. Spanish cedar from Cuba flavors top-quality boxes, often claimed to improve cigar flavor due to shared growing regions.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
United States
Cuba
Philadelphia Ledger
Elaboration on a Dying Machine and Its Flaws
A sympathizing friend says the dying machine is a failure but the scientist insists the overall function remains high. He notes one or two minor parts that won’t work and interfere with the rest of the apparatus, yet the average performance remains strong.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Star
Four wives sought by Gettysburg shopkeeper in frenzy of letters
W Hammers, a country storekeeper near Gettysburg Pennsylvania, advertised for four wives and within days received 62 responses from about 2700 women. The item notes a muscular rheumatism complaint and the distress of an ailment described as keeping a man down.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
W. Hammers
Gettysburg
House Where I Was Born Poem Remembers a Dying Home
A reflective poem recalls the house of birth, fading with decay and time. The speaker contemplates childhood dreams, the eastern window, the moon, and star, and wonders if eternity will redeem what time has worn away. Leslie's Weekly is cited as a source of early visions.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Earth
Leslie's Weekly
In the Shadow of the Hills Death of Caleb Frye at the spring
Caleb Frye, a sickly New Hampshire student seeking health in Dakota, loves Frances Darrow who loves Howard Deane. A bear trap accident wounds Frye while saving Frances from danger near a spring. As he dies he hears a hermit thrush sing in October and dreams of ascent to the mountain path and eternal song.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dakota
Caleb Frye
New Hampshire
Old John Driver
Frances Darrow
Tme
Howard Deane
John Driver
Frye
Deane
Mr. Frye
Driver
Mount Washington
Tie
Masten
Plover
Mother Driver
Frances
Bill
Chicago
Reecord- Herald
Science by Nation and Innovations of the Era
A collection of notes covers ancient durable woods including a 6,000 year old statue in Cairo, a new eucalyptus fuel in California, and timber piles resistant to teredo. It describes a New York Central telegraph and telephone line, Thorndike's sex trait study, War Department experiments in physiology, electromagnets for lifting iron, and a new Maine native mosquito species that feeds on other larvae with a curious disposal method.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Gizeh
Cairo
California
New York Central
Utica
Albany
E. L. Thorndike
William L. Underwood
Maine Woods
New England
Eucorethra Underwood
Doctor Underwood
Translation troubles slow missionary work in India
A missionary returning from India notes slow religious work due to difficulties in translating both spirit and text of the Gospel. He cites teaching a native to translate Rock of Ages into the vernacular and then back to English, which yields an odd result about a very old stone split for my benefit and hiding beneath a fragment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
India
Detroit News Tribune
Remarkable Star Photographs With Inexpensive Apparatus
Professor Schaeberle reports striking results in star photography using a short focus parabolic reflector. The 13 inch diameter mirror has a 2 inch focus, and five minute exposures yield star images brighter than the 30 inch Lick telescope could achieve, requiring only two exposures with the 34 inch Crossley. Fainter than seventeenth magnitude are included.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Schaeberle
Poorest cutter described by managers in quarrel
Two managers debate a worker, with one calling him the poorest cutter and a regular ham. The other quips that he might improve, while the first insists he is a doomed failure. Philadelphia Press quotation shows blunt sports or labor slang of the era.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia
Post office handles vast mail volume across nations
The United States postal department processes about 7.25 million letters and cards, roughly equal to the combined mail of Great Britain, Germany, and France. The editorial ponders wandering at night to remind readers there is no place like home.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
United States
Great Britain
Germany
France
Islands found off Tunis annexed by France and local officials named
A small archipelago about sixty four miles off Tunis has been discovered with one island inhabited by a former French sergeant Clement and a few natives. France has annexed the group, with Clement appointed resident inspector of fishing and harbor affairs, registrar and teacher. Ambergris seizure in Seattle valued at 48 thousand dollars highlights its rarity versus gold.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tunis
Clement
France
Fshing
Popular Science Monthly
Seattle
English Sparrows Sold as Canary Birds in Local Scam
A downtown swindler advertised English sparrows dipped in bright yellow canary dye and sold at a dollar each. Purchasers received instruction slips with bizarre care tips for the “canaries,” including a faulty rule about bathing. the ruse unraveled as complaints mounted and the man was caught with the goods.
A T Stewart Carpet War and the Gloversville Mills
A historical note on A T Stewart and the carpet industry. It recounts Stewart financing foreign carpet output, losing control to the Sloanes after a price dispute, and his retaliatory Groversville mill that doomed him to die as the first roll arrived. It also mentions Alexander Smith and Warren B as key figures in the Yonkers loom revolution and their later fortunes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
A. T. Stewart
Stewart
New York
New York Times
Alexander Smith
Halcyon Skinner
Yonkers
Alexander Smith & Sona Carpet Company
Smitha
Alexander
Warren B
Smith
Aaid
Sloanes
City Hall
Sloane
Yonkers Mills
Groversville
N. Y
Roma
Public cronyism and humbug in a posterous tale
A merchant scoffs at a tale but acknowledges its reality, noting that without dye on captives their identities would not be proven and suggesting the public desires to be humbugged. The remark ends with the claim that public appetite for deception is universal, differing only in degree.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Post
A Colonial Child’s Night and Day Whims
A short colonial era vignette describes a four summers old girl from England and her odd theories of day and night in relation to Australia. A visitor from England learns the girl’s playful cosmography as fleas bite by night and grandma is busy by day, revealing childlike imagination.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cornhill
England
Grandma
Australia
Howell Howd
Paygrounds report cites 731000 for child playgrounds
San Francisco city engineer cites a 731000 item in a report on needed playground improvements. The note compares predicting future events to historians recording past ones.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
San Franecisco
Eides
Also Mentioned on This Page
Aing
Dog
War Department
Sheffield Biological Laboratory
Yale
New Haven
Chittenden
Sheffield Scientific School
New “Rook of
Roy
Des Moines
Flurer
Governor Bailey
Kansas
Gloversville
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!