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This newspaper page contains 16 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Freeport Republican
Location
Freeport, Illinois, United States of America
Date
Feb 11, 1882
Page
6
A jumble of notices and anecdotes from Freeport Illinois touches on smallpox fears across continents and a large number of seemingly scattered topics. Reports mention a funeral, Barnum and other economic curiosities, a plan to found a town near Bismarck, medical fee figures, a trapeze safety remark, and a local wedding confusion, all reflecting late nineteenth century concerns and quirks.
A reader recalls Oscar Wille’s lecture as awkward and unengaging. The observer mocks his dress, posture, and monotone voice while noting his content reduces to familiar art talk—calling for beauty as eternal and denying moral poetry, with disdain for Northern spiritual tyranny and praise for Southern beauty.
A speaker named Bil Arn laments tariffs and praises local industry. He recalls past times when goods were made at home, rails on cheaper transport, and self sufficiency. He notes current youth know more, fears decline of home crafts, yet remains hopeful there is good seed in the basket.
In a Red Earth setting a narrator recalls overheard whispers of a woman who loves and loses, then observes women at mining work. The piece notes social attitudes, a former servant abused by a mistress, and the harsh wage reality of fourteen pence twenty eight cents a day. It describes women laboring underground and at the mill, their intelligence apparent, and mentions literary tastes among the workers.
The article praises Marguerite, famed Queen, for her pearl necklace known as colier de la Reina, seven rows of uniform gems with a large diamond clasp. It extols her beauty, blond hair, blue eyes, and warm charm, noting her age about 30 but looking 23, and recounts a legend about lovers plucking marguerites to ask in love.
A Chambers Journal report describes a strong athletic Esquimaux woman who rejects marriage, leads in hunting and trapping, builds a two-room house with narrow access, and forms a communal bond with another woman. Public sentiment wavers between disapproval and admiration as suitors plot against them.
A diminutive old woman laboring over unmilled copper ore piles is seen at Karn. She shovels ore with strong, steady vigor, wearing stained petticoats and brogans, her face marked by gravity and unspoken sorrow, responding only with Please, please.
A narrator recounts an uneasy encounter with a physician and druggist over a prescription for a mysterious liquid. The medicine tasted horrible with yellow, colorless, and green hues and a soap factory scent, costing $2.75, yet the patient endures to satisfy the doctor.
A countryman riding two mules encounters a group of African American men on a city road. He mistakenly offers to ride a mule, bets five dollars for a quarter mile, and objects as the mule balks. The scene escalates with lifted mules, pulled reins, and a tense fall ending with the rider admitting he cannot ride today.
Sir Rowland Hill, born in Kidderminster in 1795, championed uniform cheap postage. He proposed a penny rate, helped shape the 1840 reforms, and is linked to the birth of the postage stamp. A tale recalls a Poor girl and a traveling benefactor prompting Hill’s ideas.
The Gymnotus and torpedo fish exhibit powerful electric shocks used by natives to corral horses and feared by fishermen. Large torpedoes in local waters can paralyze a duck placed in an aquarium and stun humans, while parasites prey on these eels. The narrative details the biological structure of the electric organs and notes the sea-duvil arouses similar electrical effects.
A comic snippet from a ships tale describes Ile Never Smiles, an English waiter who never smiles. A wager of ten pounds on delivering a smile fails as the plan collapses before a crowd near Queenstown and Liverpool while bets on shaving whiskers go unacted.
The account describes a guest who, after being served, donned mutton chop whiskers and pocketed two Sovereigns while bowing with a grave, owl like gravity, replying Thank you, sir. The scene captures a Victorian era moment of sly politeness and concealed wealth.
The New York Letter recounts Washington visiting the Phillipse manor near Yonkers in the 18th century, where Mary Phillipse and Jane Phillipse interacted with suitors including Captain Morris who built the Morris House. The estate, confiscated after the revolution, later passed to Stephen James and then Madame Jumel, whose Parisian treasures and Burr marriage add to the manor’s storied history.
Edward Eggleston recounts Dr J G Holland’s troubled arrival in Vicksburg Mississippi where public schools did not exist beyond a girls department. He faced violent student resistance, subdued uprisings with swift discipline, and reformed the system within fifteen months. Private schools declined as graded coeducational schools opened in a single building under his oversight.
Reverend Daniel McHorton, a colored man, cut a red oak by Butler's Creek and found a clear liquid seeping from the cut. After tasting, he identified it as valuable vinegar. He collected about three gallons from a crack that may have fermented into vinegar, as noted by Au gesteChroniels.
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