Unique Dough Thieves and a Carib Sea Ant Nest
A young traveler describes discovering a massive ant nest near the Carib Sea and Guatemala while baking bread for a family of 100. After guardedly poking at the nest, the crew watched thousands of ants emerge from a 18 inch diameter nest with pencil width holes. A native advised burning the nest to deter ants and mosquitoes, ending with the group sleeping in peace.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Construct American
Corps Central Railway
Carib Sea
Guatemala
Waitay
Dinese
Rds
Scorned Island the Hero Excerpt on Reason and Manners
A 1732 excerpt argues natural guidance comes from Reason and proper order. It warns against affectations of gravity and implies respectable people should avoid odd attire such as spectacles in assemblies, even for young people and ladies.
Flow of Rivers Shows Slow Bottom and Fast Surface
The flow of rivers is slowest at the bottom and fastest at the top. The average velocity lies around six-tenths of the surface speed. Bottom friction slows the deepest water more in shallow rivers than in deep ones.
Nothing to Eat at Home Prompt Dinner Offer
A fragmentary exchange shows humor about hunger and lacking food at home. The speaker suggests going downtown to a cafe for solid meals while addressing an older man and quoting a quirky line about “wiatter” and a cook.
Broken With Care in a Pest Vase Exchange
Fragment from Cleveland Plain Dealer notes a maid and mistress discussing a vase mishap. The mistress laments potential damage while the maid claims she could not have broken it more carefully, highlighting a domestic dispute tone.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sarah
Ieare
Cleveland Plain
They Never Saw Rain in the Nile Valley
An Egyptian region between the Nile’s two lowest cataracts is described as the driest place on earth. Rain is said to be unknown there and locals dismiss travelers who claim water can fall from the sky.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Egypt
Nile
Race of the Reapers and the Birth of Harvest Consolidation
In early field demonstrations Bill Whiteley and rival Benjamin Warder showcased extraordinary reaper feats. Whiteley’s strength impressed peers when he yoked a second horse and pulled a reaper across a field, earning a fortune and triggering an early consolidation in the harvest machinery business.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
H. N. Casson
Liam N
Bey
Charlemagne
School of Agriculture
Bill Whiteley
Ohio
Ve O
Steed
Titor
Rey
Whiteley
Hercules
Greece
Benjamin H. Wer
Id Warder
Harvester
Wrinkles Too Long to Remove in Portrait Dispute
An irate man argues with a studio assistant over removing lines from a photograph. He insists the wrinkles took seventy years to acquire and refuses to let them be erased. The exchange highlights the clash between vanity and artistic retouching.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Justice
New York Post
Defeated Candidate at Wedding Question Sparks Gloom
A guest at a wedding reveals he is the defeated candidate, prompting a tense exchange about his relation to the bride or groom elect. The remark underscores the awkward social moment captured in the Ladies' Home Journal excerpt.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ladies’ Home Journal
Unimportant Detail in Berlin Servant’s Farewell
A Berlin servant maid tells her mistress she must marry next week. The groom is a policeman on her beat, numbered 417, though his name is unknown. The German paper recounts the brief, humorous exchange.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Berlin
Emma
Fontenelle and Coffees
A physician recalling Fontenelle notes his habit of drinking coffee. The doctor warns that coffee is a slow poison while Fontenelle muses on the situation and offers a cautious reply about his choices and health.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fontenelle
Fonte
Extravagant fool of a father remark shocks reader
A Cleveland Plain Dealer snippet shows a character retorting that a teacher warned of an extravagant fool of a father. The exchange highlights the speaker’s claim that educating such a “chump” was criminal folly and a waste of money.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Qcleveland Plain Dealer
Dante and Vergil Forges Fame Without a Frame
Eugene Velacroix, founder of the French romantic school, rose from poverty. His early grand painting Dante and Vergil, created at age twenty, lacked a frame but impressed the Paris salon judges. Baron Gros assured the artist the committee would fund a proper frame and exhibit the work.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Eugene Velacroix
Dante and
Ergil
Delacroix
Vergil
Paris
Baron Groa
Gros
Dante
Swift’s Charity Sermon and Pithy Sermon Turn
Jonathan Swift long sermon on charity drew complaints and friction. He then preached a second time on the same text with sharper emphasis. He warned parishioners that pity for the poor is a loan to the Lord.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jonathan Swift
Detroit Free Press
Widow Loses Estate Over Strange 1736 Will Demand
In 1736 England Samuel Baldwyn bequeathed his estate to his wife on one condition that she dance at his grave from time to time. He directed his remains be ferried to the Needles and cast into the sea to exact revenge for past wrongs. The widow could not fulfill the bizarre condition and lost the property.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Samuel Baldwyn
Wyn
Baldwyn
No Teare Nor Hills In Isle of Man Bishop Tale
A London Queen quip tells of Rowley Hill, a Manx bishop, in a farewell scene with a Tear named envoy. The parson notes no Tears in heaven, and quips that paradise never mentions Hills, prompting a wry bishop’s remark.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rowley Hill
Isle of Man
Gettierment
Goodby
Paradise
London
Wife’s tongue lands sting amid mock humility
A judge recalls Ellen Hatch's six month vow of faithfulness to one eyed Jim who, in calm rebuke, notes with irony that if he had two eyes he would have looked further. The remark closes the tale of pride and deformity framed as a courtroom memory.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dim
Hatch
Jim
Ellen
Haughty Reply About Pitt and Dukedoms
A clipped anecdote recalls a grand statesman being snubbed with a lofty promise to grant him nothing short of a dukedom. The tale, attributed to St. Jones, casts Pitt against a backdrop of noble mediocrity and royal ambition.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
William Pitt
St. Jones
India’s barber shops cater to European women with salons
Consular Reports notes that in India only a few barber shops meet high standards for imported supplies. Calcutta, Lucknow, Lahore and Simla host the best, with European officials and travelers boosting demand. Ladies hairdressing is the main profit, with separate rooms for men and women and pricing around 65 cents to 1.60 dollars for events.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
India
Calcutta
Lucknow
Lahore
Simla
Dasseelng
Ashnoshire
Government House
Faithful Friend as Guide and Helper
Gibbons extols a faithful friend as equal to a seer in value who defends you against injustice, stands by you in disgrace, counsels in doubts, aids without expectation, shares burdens, and multiplies joys while easing sorrows.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ius
Hhang
Gibbons
Moving Signs Create Illusion of Motion with Lamps
Moving electric signs do not actually move. A flasher device driven by a small motor rapidly lights and extinguishes sets of lamps to spell words. By switching alternating lamp sets, the sequence simulates motion on the sign face.
Humiliating Story of Gertrude Gadalot and Fortune in Soap
Grace recounts Gertrude Gadalot who married a man who struck it rich through a soap speculation. The tale ends with a scene aboard an ocean voyage where passengers are misled about life preservers as the husband first reveals his daring scheme. The judge comments on the affair.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Harry
Gertrude Gadalot
Grace
Gertrude
Patton Ayres Puzzles Butcher With Bon Vivant
In a humorous exchange Mrs Patton Ayres repeats French phrases during a talk and asks the butcher if he has any bon vivant. The butcher mishears bon vivant as boned what and clarifies the foreign term.
Three kinds of trouble haunting some people today
Quote attributed to Edward Everett about people bearing three kinds of trouble: past, present, and future. The line suggests enduring burdens carried across time.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Edward Everett
Delights of Skiing Perfection and Risk in Motion
Arnold Lunn in Cornhill extols skiing as perfect motion and a source of continual risk. He compares it with flying and racing, praising the skier’s natural poise, intimate link to the terrain, and the evolving beauty of hills and snow as essential to the craft.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Arnold Lunn
Cornhill
Duet of the Road and a Fiddler’s Fate
A fragment evokes rural amusement with a fiddler passing the hat and the speaker urging patience with country charm. It contrasts maturity and pride, hinting at social judgments and a playful exchange about excuses from a parent.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Atlanta Constitution
Tommy
Unclear Gossip Between Mrs Haber and Filegende Biatter
A brief exchange questions rumors about Mrs Haber. One speaker recalls she was once a close friend of the other, Filegende Biatter. The fragment hints at past ties and chilling tales without detailing specifics.
Also Mentioned on This Page
Dunlap’s Auto Truck
Iney-At-Law
Arende
R. Chapin
F. Hawkins
Jer
C. A. Eldriedge
First National Bank
IR. A. M. Davis
Ferguson's
C. Price Entist
U. S. Natl
E. P. Dixon
Entist
John
Rankin
Secian
National Bank Slice
Efield & Romig
Lysicians
Nat’l Bank
Hos. W. Hester
Dixon Building
Oregon
G. E. Stuart
Haynie
Vberg
Central America
Race OF the
Reapers
William N. Whiteley
Honorable
Cars
Bailard’s
James F.ballard
St-Louie
Vee, Naptaee, Hye Saxe
Barcroft’s Drag Store
Postoffice
C. W. Kienle
Call Kienle & Sons
First St
Conkey
Chehalem Valley Mills, Inc
Frank Zumwalt, Newberg
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!