Quoits as a Modern English Pastime
The piece argues quoits could rise from obscurity to national pastime status. It traces origins from ancient discus myths, notes quaint rustic associations, and cites Shakespeare and Hakluyt. It praises the game’s accessibility, noting it requires little space and strengthens the arm and eye, with left-handed play as a hedging option.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Quoits
Great Britain
Strutt
Greece
Hakluyt
Queen Elizabeth
Merrie England
Shakespeare
Elizabeth
Prince Henry
Falstaff
Poins
Eastchepe
Jack Falstaff
Precious metals prove gold not always top price
A Washington Star report cites an assay expert comparing metal values from gold and platinum to rarer metals. Barium, gallium, indium, osmium, and gallium reach vastly higher per unit prices. aluminium has fallen to cheap production, while many metals exceed gold’s value by multiples.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Masanier
Washington Star
Erratic Writer Aldrich and O'Brien Comic Midnight Tale
The San Francisco Argonaut recounts a vivid episode from early literary circles. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, then a modest clerk, helps Fitz James O'Brien to bed after a drunken visit, insisting he will not abandon his friend amid hardship. O'Brien, penniless and hungry, plots a public scene by donning a placard claiming he is one of a publisher’s authors, parading the street until a $65 compromise bill ends the stunt.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
George W. Carleton
Broadway
Fitz James O’brien
Aldrich
O’brien
San Francisco Argonaut
We Have Bananas for the Texas on Board
War reminiscence recounts a stunt by newspaper men during Morro Castle bombardment in Cuba. A rival dispatch boat blocked by signals prompted a banana gift to Texas on board, easing entry to the flagship where news of the bombardment was confirmed. An unrelated housewife’s joke on monthly bills concludes the excerpt.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Morro Castle
Santiago
Cuba
Texas
Port Antonio
Philip
Quite Clever Bob How Do You Stand With Your Employer
In a terse exchange Tom admits he dines with his employer and avoids laughing at jokes while repeating another man’s stories aloud. He notes rapid promotion, claiming three raises in a single year.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bob
Tom
Siege of Paris Memoir of a Telegraph Coup
A war correspondent recounts obtaining Paris capitulation terms during the Franco German War and persuading Chancellor Bismarck to allow transmission via his private wire. The dispatch, unsigned, was published by The Daily Telegraph, described as a major journalistic coup in London.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jes Ombrages
Versailles
Paris
Count Bismarck
Rue de Provence
Bismarck
Daily Telegraph
London
Lothar Bucher
Bucher
England
Germany
Paria
Prince Bismarck
London Telegraph
Bagpipe Music and Handedness Across Cultures
A Glasgow paper analyzes bagpipe music with quirky percentage phrases such as big flies on window 72 per cent and cats on midnight tiles 114 per cent while noting infant puppy voices at 6 per cent and steam whistles 8 per cent. In Japan a teaching method stresses using both hands, making handedness uncommon.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Glasgow
Delaunay’s Death At Cherbourg Told In Atlantic Piece
Professor Simon Newcomb recalls Delaunay director of the Paris observatory as a kindly man who avoided the ocean due to a family history of drownings. In Cherbourg in 1872 he joined a boat trip despite fears, was struck by a squall, and all aboard perished a tragedy linked to past losses.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Delaunay
Cherbourg
Do Crows Speak Like People or Not
A narrator riffs on crow intelligence and possible bird language. He discusses autumn gloom, crow chatter, and a neighbor who claims to understand their vocabulary, weighing whether ornithological interpretation can ever reach truth.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lippincott’s
Forgetful Bishop Meets Duke of Connaught at Station
An English bishop with a short memory wanders a train station and confuses a young officer whose replies reveal the officer is the Duke of Connaught. The bishop asks about the officer’s father and mother, only to learn the captain’s father is long dead and his mother is presumed fine.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Renconter
Duke of Connaught
Frederick the Great and the flute gift
Frederick the Great, who favored most musicians with gifts but not flute players, listened to a flutist perform a difficult piece and promised a reward. He then returned with his own flute and played the same piece, telling the musician it was only fair that he should hear him after he had heard the visitor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Frederick the Great
Frederick
Boston of It Dialogue on Beauty and External Reality
Detroit Journal quotes a Boston exchange debating whether inner impressions prove outward beauty. The speaker denies knowing she is pretty, invoking rational doubt and subjectivity while witty discourse and casuistical subtleties flow through the collision of mind and external fact.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Boston
Detroit Journal
The Largest Diamond In the World Portraits a Royal Gem
A fragment notes a colossal diamond in the possession of Portugal's king, weighing 1,680 karats 14 ounces and the hen egg size. It traces its Brazilian 18th century origin and its valuation from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 since then.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Portugal
Brazil
Great Fourth of July Boat Race Off Honolulu
A Washington Star report recalls the Bennington naval four oared crew in an aquatic festival at Honolulu. The Bennington, with an all star racing crew, faced rival Kanaka policemen, Kanaka sugar workers, and the yacht Eleanor. The Eleanor surged from behind to win by ten lengths, leaving the Bennington and Kanaka crews trailing. Eleanor’s crew, seasoned sailors, had never been beaten in a cutter race on their world voyage.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Navy
Washington
Honolulu
Bennington
Pacific
Columbia
Mare Island Navy Yard
South Pacific
Olympia
Boston
Kanaka
Eleanor
Mr. Slater
Providence
Honolulu Harbor
Japan
Eleanor’s
San Francisco
Washington Star
Fragmented Quotation About Women and Respect
A Chicago Post quote recalls a tense exchange between a man and a woman. The man boasts there are many women who would be glad to have him, while she retorts that none would keep him once she had him. He then steps outside to speak his piece.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago Post
Love will show the way in darkest hours
A Cleveland Plain Dealer quotation by Edward Singer echoes hope that memory of a loved one can lift spirits. The message asserts that light returns from gray skies through love and friendship, offering comfort during loneliness and future gloom.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Allus
Edward Singer
Cleveland Plain Dealer
He Kept The Seat What The Other Man Paid For It
A London exchange report tells of a man who had long avoided church visits. He brings his family to a church with few attendees and claims a comfortable pew. A pompous stranger arrives, shows a card saying he pays for the pew. The intruder asks how much, the man replies ten pounds. The visitor admires the pew, notes the cushions, and writes that it is worth it, causing the pompous man to sit down in embarrassment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London Exchange
No Deadheads There Story From Northern State Town
In a northern state town a retired railroad conductor, now a Methodist church member, assists in the morning collection. While passing the basket he wakes a sleeping brother with a courteous dig and blurts out Ticket, please, a habit from his railroad days.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ohio State Journal
Dear Seats and a Pass from Sarah Bernhardt in London
In a London bookseller shop, Sarah Bernhardt bought books and, after a brief French exchange, opened a Scott set, ripped out a leaf, and handed a pass to her performance that night. The gesture astonished the proprietor, though the show came at a steep price.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sarah Bernhardt
London
Scott
Sarah
A Cuban Milkman Exposes New Doorstep Dairy Tricks
A traveler notes Cuban milkmen delivering fresh milk door to door, with a portero taking a cup. Cows milked outside, but alarms arise about a rubber bag hidden under frocks to simulate milk and water flow. Similar tricks tied to Italian and Indian vendors are mentioned by Edward Page Gaston. A separate traveler remarks on India's child prodigy labor precocity.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Italy
India
Edward Page Gaston
Woman’s Home Companion
Also Mentioned on This Page
Agen
Indianapolis Journal
Uncle Sam
Jackies
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