New Year’s Cards in Japan Originated as Noble Art
The article recounts how Japan originated New Year’s cards, created by court draftsmen and wood engravers for nobility. Surimonos were 6 to 8 inches, color blocks required, and each card bore a poetic sentiment dictated by the noble. The noble owned the blocks and controlled further prints. New York Press notes the tradition’s charm and decline.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Japan
Kingdom
United States
Nobileman
New York Press
The Picture In the Watch Anecdote of Jerome Bonaparte
Jerome Bonaparte loses money at cards and offers up rings and a gold watch. A lady admires the timepiece and unwarily inspects the back. He stops her from viewing its interior. His wife questions what lies inside and tears up in anger. He reveals a miniature of Bets Patterson, his first wife, hidden within. He admits his enduring attachment to her after the separation.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jerome Bonaparte
Jerome
Bets Patterson
Hat Money Fiasco Triggers Conscience Fund in CT
A Connecticut legislator pockets a rolled set of greenbacks found under a hat sweatband. He declares the money a conscience fund instead of returning it, after a later mistaken hat story unfolds with a stranger’s coy exchange. The incident ends with the vow to keep the funds.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Statehouse
Connecticut
H’m
Conscience Fund
Making Up For Lost Time as a Spouse Feud Escalates
A husband mocks his second wife Alice by comparing her to his first wife Mary and her cooking and memory. Tension rises until a heavy rolling pin strikes him on the head, prompting the wife to defend herself by saying she is doing Mary’s neglected work, after which the household finds more peace.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mary
Alice
Black Bucks of India Description and Hallmarks
The black buck of India is a graceful animal weighing thirty to fifty pounds. Males have inky black backs and white bellies with horns spiraling in black and averaging eighteen inches, sometimes reaching twenty six. They live in herds and are wary on foot, tossing their heads to detect stalking.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
India
Butter and Eels Mentioned in Odd Exchange
A fragment from a Chicago News item shows a street vendor exchange where a young housekeeper asks for eels and butter while negotiating quantities. The dialogue includes a playful insistence on rolls and toast as they discuss items and amounts.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago News
Birdy Bane of Boyhood and Youth in Marwood Tales
A fragment hints at Birdy as boyhood bane and youth indulgence in Marwood, with aging adults reflecting on its pull and its impact on growing years. The terse lines evoke nostalgia and social mood in a village setting.
Reelfoot Lake Sunken Forest and Wildlife Spectacle
Describes Reelfoot Lake formed after the 1811 earthquake with a dense sunken forest of bleached tree trunks in sixty feet of water near Hickman Kentucky and Tiptonville Tennessee. Notes abundant waterfowl including ducks geese cormorants cranes and snipe and a chorus of birds voices from the submerged woods.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hickman
Tennessee
Reelfoot ‘Lake
Upper Slough Landing
Tiptonville
Tenn
Reelfoot Lake
Apprenticed For Life A Child Says He’s Apprenticed To Dad
A parent recalls a comic exchange about apprenticeship. The boy, learning the concept, asks if the parent is apprenticed to his mother, revealing a humorous misinterpretation of the term and a light domestic moment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rascal
The Bagdad Button Tale
A traveler returning from Turkey in Asia recounts a joke about a Bagdad button. He claims six months in Bagdad causes a scar the size of a half dollar, appearing on any part of the body, while children born there supposedly inherit the mark.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Turkey
Asia
Bagdad
Philadelphia Record
Whisky Speech Sparks Teetotaler Challenge in Owensboro
A Kentucky campaign stop in Owensboro featured a speaker praising whisky as a mark of greatness. An old teetotaler farmer challenged the claim, quipping that he should begin drinking to prove it, highlighting a humorous clash over temperance.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kentucky
Owensboro
Early Marriage Practices in China
The article describes widespread early marriages in China for boys aged twelve to fourteen. It argues parents regulate marriages regardless of the youths' development, citing an aphorism that life’s great work is done upon marriage and noting parents avoid delaying marriages until parental death.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
China
Didn’t Seem Funny Little Johnny Visits Family
A brief dialogue shows Little Johnny describing a visitor’s poor company and the sister asking why. He explains the young man has no sense of humor and recounts the visitor’s temper, noting the sister’s lack of reaction.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Johnny
Iknim
Marriage Surprise Noted by Brooklyn Life
A Brooklyn Life item recalls a wedding with mixed reactions among friends. The piece highlights differing expectations, noting that groomsmen and bridesmaids reacted differently to the surprise union.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Brooklyn
A Strange Funeral of an Elephant in the Wild
An account from a planter in Ceylon describes an extraordinary funeral carried out by elephants. After killing a large elephant, the herd carried the body across a rocky stream and through tall grass to the bank, removing the tail and feet, leaving no trace but the signs observed by the narrator.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ceylon
Store Detectives and a Clever Shopper
A New York Times interview with a store superintendent discusses shoplifting, noting women and detectives challenge retailers. The executive argues both male and female detectives face issues, praising a former minstrel turned detective for his effectiveness and loyalty to a $5,000 position.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
New York Times
The Ruling Passion and a Final Question
A dying wife, praised as a good mother and wife, questions the physician and nurse in her last moments. She asks if they are engaged, her final, whispered line before death. The scene centers on love, gossip, and the fading light of life.
Benefits From Running Beautifies Figures and Movement
Running is praised as the great beautifier of figure and movement. It develops muscles, strengthens the heart, and expands lung capacity. The article notes athletic posture improvements and claims Greeks and some American Indian tribes embody superior, balanced physiques through running.
A Change of Front Hat Joke From London Telegraph
A humorous exchange about fashion hats contrasts costly millinery with a homemade creation. The wife proclaims her new hat a work of art while the husband mocks high prices, praising the result as Parisian in style.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paris
London Telegraph
Dangerous Experiment in Feeding Mules Sparks Injury
In Rooks county a man was kicked and knocked unconscious while attempting a new method to feed his mules. He recalls hearing his wife remark that she would thank God when he cannot find any new experiments to try on them mules.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rooks County
Kansas City Journal
Forever at Him Newitt Funny Letter
A playful note from Philadelphia Press appears to reflect on personal memories about a wife figure. The writer recalls a specific episode and repeatedly notes how she reminds him of various traits or moments, using humorous exchange and affectionate memory.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Newitt
Henpeck
Philadelphia Press
Nations and Laughs Across Cultures
The Various peoples show mirth differently. The Chinese laugh is often a tentative note, while Europeans and Americans express more vigor. Arabs appear stolid and Persia allows free female merriment, while Turks and Egyptians show occasional humor. Mohammed is noted for a ringing laugh despite seriousness. An American traveler sums European mirth as Italian musical, German deliberate, French spasmodic, English guarded, Irish and Scotch hearty.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Persia
Europe
The Washing Stand Gift of Carlyle at Christmas 1850
The piece recalls Carlyle gifting his wife a utilitarian marble and mahogany washstand at Christmas 1850. He had endured poverty yet wrote a note about “The Prophecy of a Washstand to the nearest of all Women.” Carlyle’s hurried Christmas message ends with blessings as Jeannie receives the gift.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Carlyle
Cheyne Row
T. Carlyle
Jeannie
Christmas Declared Miegal
A historical note recalls Oliver Cromwell’s bans on Christmas under strict laws aimed at erasing the holiday. Towns were ordered not to observe the feast, markets were set for December 25, provoking resistance among country folk who refused to obey the enforcement.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Miegal
Oliver Cromwell
England
How a Buffalo Moves in the Stampede
A narrator describes the buffalo's speed and gait when separated from the herd. The animal maintains a steady, endurance pace across the prairie, faster than a lone horse and showing no fatigue from daylight to night.
Why Dead River Name Described In Century Article
The Century magazine argues the Kennebec western branch is called Dead River not from drowned soldiers in 1775 but from its slow, meandering flow through meadows. The piece rejects gloomy myths and calls the river a delectable stream rather than morose.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kennebec
Dead River
Mock Ribbon Sparks Quip on Honors and Attire
In a campus cartoonish exchange Mrs. Greene vents that the husband has been decorated by a foreign ruler while Mrs. Brown notes the ribbon clashes with her complexion. She refuses to accompany Charles, saying he will have to go without her.
Boston’s Britannia Breaks Ice Channel to Sea in 1844
In January 1844 Boston harbor froze forcing a bold plan. Merchants funded ice cutting by Frederick Tudor to carve a ten mile channel within three days using ice cutting machinery and horsepower. By Feb 3 the Britannia sailed through the open water as thousands watched from tents and booths on the ice.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Boston
Frederick Tudor
Advertiser
Britannia
M. A. DeWolfe Howe
Atlantic
Lord Holt and the Spirit Message on Not Prosecution
A Youth's Companion anecdote recalls Lord Holt, lord chief justice, who dismisses a specter's plea to plead not guilty. Holt questions belief in a divine legal instruction, noting the spirit would know the English law and should direct the attorney general.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lord Holt
England
Babbage Critiques Poem On Population Balance
In a letter to Alfred Lord Tennyson the mathematician Charles Babbage challenges the poem A Vision of Sin for asserting every moment dies a man while one is born. He proposes a corrected line using a factor of 1.167 to fit meter and argues the world’s population rises despite the claim.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tennyson
Babbage
C. Babbage
Also Mentioned on This Page
Wii
Anias
Him
Buffalo
Britain
Eureka
Eureka Harness Oil
Standard Gil CO
Onic
E. C. Dewitt &Co
Chicago
Foley
Geir
Lito
Ribas
Vitali
Weill Mae
Nie
Royal Medicine CO
Berkshivs
Rogers Bros
Internation
Milver
Bucc Castoria
Ériden
Britannia. Co
Meriden
Conn
Berkshire Fish Fork
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