Chimneys

1895

Chimneys constructed on modern principles were almost unknown to the ancients, being used only in the large baths, where great quantities of hot water were needed. Chafing dishes, braziers of glowing coals and bottles of hot water were employed by the ladies of the middle ages to keep their rooms warm, and a curious picture is extant of three Norman ladies chatting together, each with a bottle of hot water placed between her feet. Chimneys are believed to have been unknown in England until the twelfth century, but by the end of the fourteenth were generally employed in domestic architecture. For a long time there was a chimney tax all over England.


His Tip

"Here, old man," complained the cashier at the restaurant, "you are a quarter shy."
"A quarter what?" asked Uncle Reuben.
"A quarter short. Your check is 66 cents, and you have given me only 40."
"Oh, that there is all right. The waiter said it was the custom to give a quarter for what he called a tip." — Indianapolis Journal.


Trivia

Max Muller knew 18 different languages to the extent of being able to speak or write in any one, and a considerable number in addition less perfectly.

Plates for table use are among the articles dug from the soil of Rome.

Every language is said to have its own name for wheat.