The Land of Nod and Oddities from the Chicago Chronicle
A Chicago Chronicle page fragment blends a lullaby about the land of nod with curious natural history notes. It features verses on Sleep’s sea, a camel stomach lesson, an amusing ring trick, and notes on John Dory and Peter. It ends with a musical blindfold game description, Biddy the Apple Woman craft, a child’s daisies craft, and a pennies and nickels puzzle.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Land of Nod
Golden Strand
Chicago Chronicle
Quarter Test and Wordplay Puzzles on Silver Coin
The passage describes a game plan and then a sheet for players to write answers to questions based on a silver quarter. It lists wordplay clues for river mouth profile date tulips ear eagle cheeks knows liberty wings e pluribus unum and more. It ends with conundrums about breakfast bread criminals bands and a spouting politician.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
United States of America
Surprise Cut-Out Here is a jolly folding stunt
A lighthearted guide describes a quick folding prank and its easy steps. The text then shifts to a vivid depiction of a Russian bathhouse practice, detailing how wealthy families heat a brick stove, steam the room, and progressively warm a girl on shelves, ending with cooling and rubbing down.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Biddy
Montreal Herald
Revolving Serpent Toy Demonstrates Rising Heated Air
A clever cardboard toy shows heated air rises as a spiral serpent spins when placed over a candle or lamp. Craft involves drawing a spiral, cutting it, painting with bright colors, mounting on a needle and string, and suspending it to revolve with heat. Two serpents in opposite directions add extra spectacle.
Amusing Weather Vane How-To with Uncle Sam Figure
A playful guide describes crafting a funny weather vane named Uncle Sam the Weather Man. It covers shaping a pine figure, mounting arms on a brass tube bearing, balancing, painting bright colors, and lubricating the tube for smooth motion, with assembly details for a movable vane suitable for outdoor display.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Uncle Sam
Noise as mental disorganizer in modern life
A thoughtful citizen warns New Orleans Times-Democrat that noise endangers mental faculties. He cites progress as noisy, baseball crowds as trigger points, and notes a rooter can become maddened and drag others toward distraction and mental strain.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New Orleans Times-Democrat
Dog Dealer's Hard Luck Turned Blooded Terrier First Class
A Pittsburg Dispatch item tells of a deceitful dog dealer who advertised a year old Irish terrier as worth 200 and swapped it for a cheap alley cur. The buyer later praises the dog as excellent at catching rats, stating its true value and vowing not to sell for less than 800.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tam
Depot
Pittsburg
Kentucky Yarns and Railways in a Country Parlor
A Veranda gathering of Kentucky colonels shares rain fish tales and weather yarns while a profile highlights J. J. Hill as a top railway thinker. An evening with celebrities features guests portraying famous historical figures in a birthday party style event. A misread poem excerpt closes with garbled lines about money and health and honor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kentucky
Frankfort
Prize schemes lure with global money prizes and cures
A collage of prize offers from around the world includes £8000 prizes from the Nobel bequest, a £6000 Queensland eradication reward for prickly pear, and £200 for female science work. Other incentives include a £500 Ricardi & Co opera prize, £1000 Holland industry aid, and a Royal United Service prize trio. Also quoted are a Peary memory joke, growl verses, and Missouri’s minerals outlook with zinc nickel and tea from mines.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nobel Bequest
America
Queensland
Palermo
Foreign Office
Catania
Government of
Holland
Ricardi & Co
Royal Opera House
Covent Garden
M. Massenet
Women's Institute of Science
Naples
Royal United Service Institution
Iogenes Faces Off in Lantern Clash on Night Stroll
A prowler Iogenes brandished a lantern while a Grecian hoodlum taunted him. Ding answered with a smash, breaking the lantern and quelling the trouble as the scene closed. History is pointedly skeptical about how such events are recorded.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Iogenes
Old Ding
Written Appeal to Rats on West Side Dwellings Torn Down
A spring demolition of old west side houses yields a strange note from a Smith family to the rats, asking them to relocate to 127. The contractor recalls a childhood tale of ritual polite pest notes and shows the letter to his son as a bizarre mail box tale.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Smith
Santa Claus
New York
Nerves and grit of golf great Walter J Travis
An old friend hails Walter J Travis as a champion with remarkable nerve and willpower. He recalls a British amateur clash where Travis twisted through injury to win, wrapping a soaked handkerchief and continuing. Travis is self taught, not flashy, and leads a commercial life off the course.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Walter J. Travis
Golf Links
Travis
Curious cases of neck injuries by slight falls and dodges
A New Orleans Times-Democrat column recounts numerous instances where people broke or injured their necks by minor mishaps or abrupt movements. It notes police baton strikes, slips, and dodges as common causes, with a vivid anecdote of a man who carried his head tilted after a bullet dodge.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New Orleans Times-Democrat
Simple Life in Iceland Shows Unique Domestic Industry
A Pilgrim article extols Iceland for its self contained homes where each family is a small factory. Shoes are goat skin, stockings knit by women and children, and broadcloth woven at home. No liquor, slim crime, and Denmark handles criminal trials. Women lead with a 7000 member Woman's Political League and broad civil rights.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Denmark
Woman's Political League
Pilgrim
Mosquito Turns Drunk In Tale Of New Orleans Office
An observer recalls a night shift in New Orleans where a coworker, a heavy drinker named Ed, inspired a mosquito to appear repeatedly at his desk. The insect allegedly grew more intoxicated each night, finally perching on Ed and later on the narrator’s desk, prompting humor and disbelief.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New Orleans
Gamin
Lfe
Thoughtful Scully Feeds A Snowbound Stranger Bum
Rev Father Thomas J. Scully of Cambridge recalls a snowbound ride home on a stalled horse car. A kindly Boston woman grants shelter and meals, while a boy named Johnnie cries as the mother scolds him. The priest learns the boy’s identity only after the warmth and hospitality reveal him as a local child, the bum term turning to embarrassment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Thomas J. Scully
Cambridge
Father Scully
Johnnie
Bum
Johnnia
Stoston Herald
Also Mentioned on This Page
Land of
Nod
Tou Mays
Sandman
al Tk
John Dory
Mediterranean
Devon
Cornwall
Apostle
Peter
Greece
Gether
Hill
J. J. Hill
Wall Street
Mr. Hill
E. H. Harriman
United States
Queen Alexandra
Queen Victoria
Martha Washington
Mrs. Cleveland
Jenny Lind
Abraham Lincoln
Maxart
Miles Standish
Qly
American Geographical Society
Robert E. Peary
Peary
Greenland
Rcom
Melville Land
Hellprin Land
Cape Jessup
Rockefeller
Atlanta Constitution
Oliver
Mr. Lord
Lippincott's
Missouri
Iceland
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!