Digest of random notes from Washington to Boston newspapers
A Washington correspondent notes scarce tobacco use among senators while Oporto wine and Alaska liquor laws spark chatter. Items cover a Kansas man moving 800 carloads of dirt, Mrs Saxatorn Stanford’s horses valued at $20,000, a belief of vast gold under the sea, a Ohio bill barring doctors from advertising, and various curiosities from clock winders to a Colum*bus Ga razor 104 years old.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Saxatorn Stanford
Washington
Lady Cook and Curious Odds in News Clippings
A Victorian miscellany notes CLAFLIN becoming Lady Cook after an obscenity sentence, plus a fortune tale of Li Heys Por the Jay Gould of China. It also cites an unexpected Bible find at Hopetoun House, a Florida guide incident, and revised U S election tallies with party gains and state pluralities.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hopetoun House
Sotheby’s
Hopetoun
Li Heys Por
Jay Gould
China
New York
Li Hen Pei
Curious Farmhouse Heist and Education Drive Surface in Old News
A Garden City Kansas man awoke during a house moving raid, faced with thieves offering 100 cash to drop charges, and kept the loot as he rode away. The piece shifts to a call for youth scientific exploration, praising fossil plant surveys in western territories and suggesting microscopes and photos as outfits for makers of discovery. It recounts Mrs Van Duzer of Etherton California owning a 212 year old French silver spoon once owned by a patriarch who split spoons among daughters.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Garden City
Kan
America
Vas Dvern
Etherton
France
van Duzer
Butler
The Black Snake Poem by Stanluy Watenlog
An irregular verse describes a black snake moving through leaf litter and grasses, hunting quail and birds. It climbs trees, hides among limbs, and stalks prey with stealth as rooks and squirrels react, while the speaker notes danger and murder amid the branches and foliage.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Stanluy Watenlog
Philip Brings Meets Gwenny Spriges in a Country Farm Tale
Philip Brings, urged by his father to marry for money, travels to Montgomery County where he lodges with Seth Cooper and meets Gwenllian Spriges, a refined niece. A case of mistaken surnames leads to a confession of love and a shared family twist revealing Gwenny is the daughter of Pinlander Spriges and that their fathers had arranged the match.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philip
John Briggs
Seythe
Priscilla
Pinlander Spriges
New York
Phil
Spriggs
Driggs
England
Brigeses
Defege
Tam
Briggs
Montgomery County
Boudinot
Long Branch
Seth Cooper
Ife
Dame Cooper
Bee
Mr. Bee
Gwenny
Cooper
Miss Gwenny
Philip Elise
Powell
Gwenllian
Miram
Frank
Gwenny Darling
Mr. B
Philip Briggs
Suane Dohn
Philadelphia
Crwenny
Father
Cgwenllian
Birds as foretellers of fortune in old superstition
An 19th century tone surveys how birds omen luck or doom across nations. Crows portend ill in Scotland, the cuckoo signals wealth or want depending on pockets, the robin brings luck when it sings on a roof, and the white owl in France foreshadows death while salt thrown into fire counters misfortune.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
France
America
Belgium
Scotland
Shovetide
Home Journal
Preparing for the Worst in a Funeral Plot
In a Merchant Traveler anecdote Bhitkins asks undertaker Sanderson to prepare a first class funeral on short notice after hearing his companion declare she can do without an Easter bonnet. He does not expect illness but wants readiness for the worst.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Merchant Traveler
A Sermon on Sleep by Rev Baxter from Austin Tabernacle
A humorous sermon on sleep as a wartime necessity, delivered in dialect by Rev Whangdoodle Baxter of the Austin Blue Light Tabernacle. He cites a Western Texas judge on rest, mocks overzealous piety, warns against excessive napping, and recalls Brer Rabbit and the tortoise as lessons in wakefulness and poverty.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Whangdoodle Baxter
Austin Blue Light ‘Tabernacle
Poick
Yale College
Texas
Dar
Brer
Poverty
Mose
Bradder
Webster
Dangerous Claim From Detroit Minn Of Affairs
A Detroit man of affairs, returning from New York, recalls his wild outing at the Hoffman House. He describes drinking heavily, waking with a severe hangover, and unsuccessfully asking for more liquor despite being warned. The tale ends with a note about a tainted drink containing strychnine.
Keep Warm Parody Warns Women About Winter Fashion
Rose Terry Cooke quips that warmth prevents neuralgia as doctors warn of winter exposure. She mocks fashion’s craze for tight waists, noting fur cloaks cover chests while feet numb and heads ache from cold. An overheard party scene ends with a child mispronouncing a dance term.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rose Terry Cooke
Also Mentioned on This Page
the Register
New Harmony, Indiana
Washinctos
Oporto
Marve
Massachusetts
United States
Alaska
Juneau
Sovur Heern
Indian Territory
Kansas
Ohio
John W. Watsons
St. Louis
Young Walter
London Vimes
Times
Los Angeles
San Jacinto
T. N. Meade
Kerawrs
Jeffersonville
Ind
Kentucky
Francis W. Lasak
Prague
Berlin
Dobbs Ferry
Colanbus
Steaier
Georgia
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Boston Transcript
Boston
John Obert
Pennsylvania
Tur
Trondon
Robert Ingersoll
Mary Fiske
Claflin
London
Tennie C. Claflin
Cook
Florida
Cleveland
Brest
Black Snake
Nowera
Antin
Ant
Thomas Duns
Alee
Sweel
Teras Siftinzy
Detroit
Lever
Detroit News