Diamond fields of South Africa attract many seekers
Mr J L Babe of Philadelphia describes South African diamond mining methods. About 30,000 people work the cement-like earth pockets, with diamonds found by hand at pits up to 70 feet deep. Pockets are mined into claims, native workers haul earth to tables, and observers hope for a mechanized crushing and sorting device to protect diamonds. A dry mining region, discovery linked to cement mortar walls of a farmhouse. Thackeray note ends with Queen Victoria underlining a letter.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
J. L. Babe
Sansom Street
Philadelphia
South Africa
Babe
Africa
Europe
Cape Town
Cape of Good Hope
Indian Ocean
Port Natal
Vaal River
Vaal
Orange River
Atlantic Ocean
Diggins
Scientific American
Leopard Hunt in African Jungle Ends with Trophy
The narrator and four Apingi warriors track a huge leopard along a stream, climbing a fallen tree to spot the beast. A fierce chase ends when a steel-pointed bullet and three spears strike the leopard, the hunters claiming the kill and securing a superb skin for a home gift.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ilead
Aldine reception praised for elevating pictorial art
A February 23 reception for the Aldine in New York was celebrated as a landmark event by journalists and dignitaries. Rev Talmage’s remarks praised the publication for uniting press and pulpit against polluted pictorial literature, urging continued support for pure, educated pictures.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Aldine
Messrs
James Sutton & Co
Liberty Street
New York City
The
E. A. Heintz
Walnut Street
Philadelphia
T. de Witt Talmage
Talmage
DeWitt
Pennsylvania
Gentlemen of the Aldine
The Choice of Labor and Its Guiding Questions
This essay argues young men should align self interest with usefulness to society when choosing a life work. It urges avoiding fashionable but unhelpful pursuits, and stresses two guiding questions: what am I best adapted for and what does society need. It notes a surplus of mercantile labor and a growing demand for skilled mechanical and agricultural work, urging entry into productive fields with energy and integrity.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Times
The Oyster Fields Report on Maryland Fisheries
Commissioner Hunter Davidson argues for strict dredging limits and seasonal closures to protect oyster beds. He urges culling at beds, destroying harmful organisms, and resting half the dredging grounds for about seventeen months. The piece also notes England’s shell use and Buckland’s critique of American waste in oyster shells.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hunter Davidson
Maryland
James River
Baltimore
New York Journal of Commerce
Frank Buckland
England
Wasps And Their Social Structures In Nature
Two great wasp families exist, solitary and social. Social wasps like Ves pidae form paper nests with workers, males, and queens. In winter the queens survive while workers and males die off. in spring a single queen starts a nest, lays eggs, and workers expand it. Cells are hexagonal and perpendicular, built from paper made of plant fibers and saliva. Queens and workers have stings. studying them reveals natural history value beyond profit motives.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
National Association of Beekeepers
Acekeepers’ Journal
Frost Bursting Trees In Brady Township Orchard
A Bryan Press report describes a singular freezing event on Wednesday February 14 on a Brady township farm. Sudden cold caused several grafted fruit trees, 10 to 12 inches in diameter, to split from the ground to the first limbs, with trunks broken through and audible cracks.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bryan
Williams County
Brady Township
Looker-On’s Pranks on an April Fool’s Day Tale
The Looker-On recounts a curious character whose forty years of mischief culminate in a Sunday April Fool moment. Narrator logs a 1790 day’s antics from waking early to prankster manners, including hats, wigs, snuff orders, and a shopkeeper fed a brandy misread as wine.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sally
Plume
Fitz
Dripping
Grub
Hempstead
Kent
Essex
N.B
Cheapside
Giles
Judge Dowling Pulls Offshore Practical Joke on English Traveler
JoycE Dowling, famed New York judge, returns from Europe aboard the Queen. He orchestrates a prank on a fellow passenger by staging a salt-water bath using pumps and champagne bottles. The Englishman endures a forced morning wash and misses meals, later reappearing with a distant seat at dinner.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Joyce Dowling
New York City
Europe
Justice Dowling
Bathgate
Atlantic
If Thou Be Bidden to a Wedding Garret Quip
A group of youngsters on rainy days ransacked the house especially the garret once forbidden to them. In Sunday school they learned a verse about not sitting in the highest room. The youngest boy explained it by saying it meant you should keep out of the garret.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Teere
Boy aims to be a clown, not a minister
Dr Bellows recalls a four year old visitor asked what he would like to be. The boy replies he wants to be a clown. The doctor notes there is no difficulty in blending clowning and ministry and ponders which role is more real when combined.
Odd Mistakes and Quips Echo in a Mixed-Up Tale
A Boston misaddressed letters to Yeast Bos ton and Gearmacka Planes surface. A Danbury resident forgets to draw in a window and is found asleep. A Providence officer questions a drunk Ethiope about color, using a playful exchange. The piece ends with a hint of missing comma in a Darwinian theory joke.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Boston
Gearmacka Planes
Danbury, Conn
Helen Blazes
Quotations and Oddities From a Contemporary Column
A contemporary remark praises a prominent general noting his sword was drawn only once in traffic. A correspondent challenges Horace Greeley as college educated, while a Beau’s attire is likened to a cinnamon tree bark valued more than the body. Miscellaneous aphorisms and oddities close the fragment.
Also Mentioned on This Page
Viplhaad
Eveyrine
Ann
Thackeray
Queen Victoria
Journal of A Traveler
Indianapolis
Providence
Chile
Horace Greeley
Connors Mex
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!