Before and After

1910

The young Prince Tsai-Tao, during his visit to America, welcomed criticism of Chinese customs, and retorted politely with counter criticism of the customs of the United States.

The prince, at a fashionable luncheon in New York, sat beside a lady prominent in a rich and rather fast set.

"Prince," said this lady, "I think it's dreadful that in China a bride never sees her husband before the wedding day."

"Well," said the prince, with a grin, "here in America you never see him after it."

The Combustible Clive

1910

As long ago as the middle of the eighteenth century, a famous Georgian actress, Mrs. Kitty Clive, felt the call of the nerves commonly associated with modern women. The whole green room, according to the author of "Garrick and his Circle," feared her tantrums.

Her character stood high, but her clean, wholesome nature and honest heart scarcely offset her temper. She was the one player Garrick feared, and he did everything he could to disperse her nerve storms, or, if they broke, assuage them. It is among the legends of the English stage that he said to her:

"I have heard of tartar and brimstone, but you are the cream of one and the flower of the other!" — Youth's Companion.

Lovemaking and Practice

1910

The only way to become an expert at lovemaking is to practice. This was the information handed out to a handful of hearers by the Hindu philosopher, Sakharam Ganesh Pandit, in a lecture on "The Science of Love."

"Love is a divine discontent," said the philosopher, "and if you want to arouse love in others it can be done only by giving them love. How to develop the emotion of love in another, is the great question of today — the art of making love. It needs a great deal of study and a great deal of practice."

Little Waldo Suffers

1910

"It's disgusting," said Mrs. Waldo Beaconhill of Boston; "the makers of children's blocks never think of putting Greek letters on them; and there is my poor little Emerson simply dying of ennui for the want of a good fairy tale in words of moderately extensive syllabification."



Slap on the Wrist

Tightwad — Did you ever notice, my dear, that nearly all these misers reported in the papers are single men?
Mrs. Tightwad — Yes; but that's only natural. Married misers are too common to be worth mentioning.

Very Cooling To Think Of

1910

Artificial Ice is Purer and Can Be Sold Cheaper Than Natural Product

No longer are dealers and users of ice compelled to stand sentinel over nature, with all her vagaries, and wait for ice to be frozen for them. Only a few years ago ice was gathered from anywhere and everywhere, and none could guess what sort of refuse contaminated the waters, rivers, canals, ponds and pools where it was gathered.

No longer does the citizen in the midst of a mild winter take alarm at the prospect of no ice or ice at an almost prohibitive price on account of its scarcity. The manufactured ice is purer than that of nature, without flaw or blowhole, free from admixture of snow and therefore more lasting.

Artificial ice is one of the great discoveries of the last few years and has been reduced to such system that it can be sold at a good profit cheaper than that which was formerly sawed out, loaded in vehicles, hauled to railroad or steamer landing and shipped by rail or by sea to the vast and ugly storage houses, where it was taken from masses of sawdust as it was sold.

The Wonders About Us

1910

Let not care and humdrum deaden us to the wonders and mysteries amid which we live, nor to the splendors and glories. We need not translate ourselves in imagination to some other sphere or state of being to find the marvelous, the divine, the transcendent; we need not postpone our day of wonder and appreciation to some future time and condition. The true inwardness of this gross visible world hanging like an apple on the bough of the great cosmic tree, and swelling with all the juices and potencies of life, transcends anything we have dreamed of superterrestrial abodes. — John Burroughs.

Art of Writing Very Old

1910

New Discoveries Carry Back Existence of Written Documents Centuries Beyond Phoenician Record

The revelations made at the remains of a great prehistoric palace at Knossos, in Crete, which is believed to be the original of the fabled "Labyrinth," would seem to carry back the existence of written documents on Greek soil some eight centuries beyond the earliest known monuments of Greek writing and five centuries beyond the earliest dated Phoenician record as seen on the Moabite stone.

These discoveries, therefore, place the whole question of the origin of writing on a new basis. It is thought that the Cretan hieroglyphs exactly correspond with what, in virtue of their names, we must suppose to have been the pictorial originals of the Phoenician letters on which the alphabet is based.

Among these are Aleph, the ox's head; Beth, the house; Daleth, the door, and so forth. This contravenes the old theory of De Rouge that the Phoenician letters were derived from early Egyptian forms signifying quite different objects.

Getting a Reputation

1910

There is a desk in the senate particularly convenient as a place from which to make speeches. It is next to the aisle and almost in the center of the chamber, and affords an opportunity for the speaker to make everybody hear.

At least a dozen senators, according to the Washington correspondent of the St. Louis Star, have borrowed this desk when they had special utterances to deliver to the senate. This led, not long ago, to a mild protest from its legitimate occupant.

"I am perfectly willing to give up my desk," said he, "but I am afraid people will think that the same man is talking all the time. I don't want to get the reputation of constantly filling the senate with words." — Youth's Companion.

Only Today

1910

The future is an illusion; it never arrives; it flies before you as you advance. Always it is today — and after death and a thousand years it is today. You have great deeds to perform and you must do them now. — Charles Ferguson.

Note: Maybe if the future did exist, Mr. Ferguson could come to it and get some royalties from Eckhart Tolle.

Setting the Pace

1910

"Pacemaker at a banquet is what I should call the unique job," said the city salesman. "I met a man the other day who holds that title among the artistic eaters of the town.

"He doesn't make any money by it directly, but it pays for most of his meals. He got the job through his ability to chew at just the right tempo.

"He doesn't lag, he doesn't bolt. At all big dinners where persons of different habits are brought together some one with an even jaw movement who can set the pace in eating facilitates the progress of the meal.

"This man is not labeled pacemaker at those affairs, yet his air of knowing the polite tempo in mastication impresses the other diners and they try to imitate him. Laggards hurry, the swift delay. Waiters keep an eye on him, because they have been told to, and when he finishes a course they clear the table."

Man an Aquatic Animal

1910

Every moderately well-educated person knows that life originated in the water, but not so many are aware that we are still aquatic animals. Every cell except those of the outside skin is dependent upon a surrounding liquid to keep it alive, and if it became dry it would perish. A person who realizes this fact will always take care to drink plenty of water, and will also eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, since these contain large quantities of water, and that in a purer form than is usually available. The pickaninny shows his good sense when he feasts upon the juicy watermelon, and instead of ridiculing him we might better go and do likewise.

Was One Great Large Fool

1910

German Applicant for Citizenship Gives His Opinion of Subject of Polygamy

Herman Selferth, a wood turner from Germany, was among the first of a score of applicants seeking "papers" from a federal judge in Kansas recently. Herman had been in America seven years, and his conversation, albeit a trifle warped, was quite understandable.

So it was with no great effort that the judge and others understood Herman solemnly to assert that liberty was the capital of Missouri and that Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States.

So far, so good. The questions of law and morals proved a bit more difficult.

"What do you think of polygamy?" the assistant district attorney inquired.

"Vot iss?" parried the examinee, puzzled.

"Polygamy — polygamy," the interlocutor repeated. "Do you believe it is right, proper and lawful?"

Herman was stumped. There appeared to be no word in the lexicon of the Vaterland that sounded enough like polygamy to give Herman even a false start. The judge ventured a hint.

"What do you think of a man that would have several wives at the same time?" the court asked.

That was easy. Herman looked vastly relieved.

"Oh," he rejoined, positively. "I think such a man would be one great, large fool." And the court was so well satisfied with Herman's moral attitude and right intent that the "papers" were forthcoming despite the applicant's minor inaccuracies in history and geography.

Chrysanthemums

1910

Chrysanthemums stand fourth in commercial importance among flowers. Only the rose, the violet and the carnation surpass them, and that chiefly because the chrysanthemum season is so short, while the others can be had from the florist nearly the whole year round. Greece gave us the name. Chrysanthemum means "golden flower." But the name was invented long before the big butter yellow globes were known in the Occident. It referred to the prevailing gold in the small varieties that were known. Strangely enough, the first chrysanthemum brought into Europe was not gold, but purple. It was a small flower about two inches across, shaped, like an aster. Somebody took it to Europe from China in 1790 — and, presto, the modern history of chrysanthemums was begun. — Argonaut.

Murdered for a Cent

1910

A quarrel over a single penny led to a murder in Hoboken the other day. A man from Nebraska, who stopped at a hotel in Hoboken while awaiting the sailing of the steamer for Europe, put a penny in the slot of an automatic music box in the dining-room of the hotel, but the box refused to pour forth the expected ragtime tune. The Nebraskan became indignant and upbraided the German porter. The latter explained to him that it required a nickel and not a penny to set the mechanism of the music-box in motion, but that explanation did not satisfy the man from Nebraska. He became abusive and when the porter threatened to put him out, he pulled a revolver from his pocket and shot the porter dead.

The Flowers of the Sea

1910

Like the land, the sea has its flowers, but the most brilliant of the marine flowers bloom not upon plants, but upon animals. The living corals of tropical seas present a display of floral beauty that in richness and vividness of color and variety and grace of form rivals the splendor of a garden of flowers. The resemblance to vegetal blossoms is so complete that some persons find it difficult to believe that the brilliant display contains no element of plant life, but is wholly animal in its organization. Among the sea animals that bloom as if they were plants are included, besides corals, the sea-anemone and the sea-cucumber. It has been remarked that among the coral gardens the birds and butterflies of the upper world are replaced by fishes of curious forms and flashing colors which dart about among the animal flowers.

How to Cook a Coon

1910

In preparing to cook a coon see that the kernels have been thoroughly cut out of the arm pits, groins and from under the root of the tail after it has been skinned. Coons' kernels are similar to musk glands. The carcass should be hung up in the frost for two or three days to freeze by night and thaw by day until properly tendered and then parboiled and baked. Some use a dressing of bread, sage and onions; others use oysters and crackers; still others use sweet potatoes or persimmons. All use a basting rich in butter, red pepper and vinegar. A coon beyond all other flesh absorbs any other flavor put with him, so sweet herbs are occasionally used. Not too fat nor too lean, he makes a fine repast for a hunter's supper.

Asparagus Cultivation

1910

How to Make a Bed of the Edible Young Shoots

Asparagus is a perennial herb cultivated for its edible young shoots. It is a rugged plant and will thrive under adverse conditions, but to obtain the succulent stalks needed for culinary purposes well drained, rich soil is absolutely necessary. The soil should be well mixed with rotted manures containing much nitrogen and potash.

Prepare the bed by plowing or spading deeply, beginning the work early and looking after the drainage problem carefully. Plants at least one year old should be obtained for this bed. They can be raised from seed, which is sown outdoors in April in drills one foot apart, the seed being covered about one-half inch. Plants suitable for transplanting the following spring may be easily grown this way, or roots may be obtained from one to three years old.

Set the plants in the permanent bed in furrows eighteen inches apart, the plants being the same distance apart in each furrow. Be careful to spread the roots out naturally and set each plant on a little mound of earth in the furrow. Cover at first to a depth of a few inches, gradually filling in as the season advances. In the fall cut back all the stocks to a level with the ground for the winter.

In the second year loosen the soil by shallow spading. When the first shoots appear the rows may be hilled up somewhat. Cut sparingly until the third year, as the plants will be more productive afterward.

A Rattlesnake Story

1910

In "Life and Sport on the Pacific Coast" Horace A. Vachell relates one of his narrow escapes from a friend's bullet.

"My cousin and I had been camping and hunting for several days in a sort of paradise valley. One day during a long ride on horseback we had seen a great many rattlesnakes and killed a few, an exceptional experience. That night my cousin woke up and saw by the light of the moon a big rattler crawling across my chest. He lay for a moment fascinated, horror struck, watching the sinuous curves of the reptile. Then he quietly reached for his six shooter, but he could not see the reptile's head, and he moved nearer, noiselessly, yet quickly, dreading some movement on my part that should precipitate the very thing he dreaded, and then he saw that it was not a snake at all — only the black and yellow stripe of my blanket, which gently rose and fell as I breathed. Had he fired — well, it might have been bad for me, for he confessed that his hand shook."

And They Didn't Exercise

1910

William M. Evarts, who lived until he was nearly ninety, said he kept his health by never taking exercise. The celebrated Dr. William George Mead, who lived to the surprising age of 148 years, spent nearly all of his time in the open air and played a little golf. Dr. Mead used to drink two or three quarts of water every day, and perhaps there is a suggestion in that. Old Dubois, who lived in Canada for the better part of 119 years on the north shore of Lake Erie, never worked and never took exercise. He spent seventy-five years of his life fishing with hook and line and ate nothing but baked apples and milk and brown bread and unsalted butter. Perhaps you can live that long if you do nothing but fish and eat what old Dubois did. But take notice that these long livers never exercised. — New York Telegraph.

The Leather of the Egyptians

1910

The ancient Egyptians were skilled in the art of tanning leather and manufactured it in various ways and for various purposes besides that of furnishing covering for the feet. Indeed, it is to those builders of the pyramids that we are indebted for the first artistic forms of footwear, and, so far as can be ascertained from history and the researches of archaeologists, the Egyptians were the first shoemakers who were worthy of that name.

It is a fact, too, that tanners of today employ very much the same methods as did the ancients. About the same materials are used, and the processes are almost precisely similar to those in vogue hundreds of years ago. It is true that tanners of the present day have found a means of greatly shortening the time required to convert a hide into leather and that steam power and modern machinery have done much to expedite and improve the processes of finishing the leather; but, after all. the principals of tanning remain the same as they have been from the first. — London Globe.