1911 Ads, Local Kansas Newspaper

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Ads from 1911, the Ellis, Kansas Review-Headlight.

Frightened By Santa Claus

Article from 1911

How the Dear Old Saint Carried Consternation Into an African Mission House

An amusing story of how Santa Claus frightened the black children at a mission station when he first appeared to them a few years ago, is told by the wife of a missionary stationed at Bailundu, Africa. They had celebrated Christmas at Bailundu before, but they never had had Santa Claus, so Mr. Stover, the missionary, dressed up as good Saint Nick.

"He had been padded and powdered and packed until his own mother would not have known him," Mrs Stover afterward related. "Presently we gave the signal, the door flew open and in walked Santa Claus. But dear me! "What consternation! He was greeted with shrieks and groans and cries of 'Let me out! It is the evil one. It is the day of judgment!'

"The urchins, catching the infection of terror from the older black people, fled to their bedrooms, fell down upon their faces, crept under chairs and tables — anywhere to hide themselves. Poor old Santa Claus never had such a greeting before. As soon as he realized the panic he had caused, he tore off his tall hat and white cotton beard. Then from the bags on his back he began to throw gifts right and left and to tell who he was.

"Reassured once more, everyone was soon laughing and chatting, munching the great 'red breads' (doughnuts), tasting their fruits or nibbling at the sweets from the familiar little bags.

"It seemed as though everyone tried to talk louder than his neighbor as they examined the costume of Santa Claus, whom they now no longer feared. One man said that he thought it was John the Baptist, another that it was Elijah returned. Yet another thought it was Satan himself, 'and all my sins rose up before me;' while a fourth confessed, 'My only thought was to hide myself'."

Ornaments Supposed to Ward Off Disease and Bring Luck

1911

Guard Against Evil

London. — Perhaps the instinct to avert the evil eye is born in our natures. Civilization had lessened it to a great extent, but in every race we find an instinct exists. The wearing of nearly all personal adornment seems to have originated in an idea of pacifying evil deities.

The savage wears ornaments symbolizing the protective powers supposed to be able to keep away harm or danger. In the West Indies there is a bean or seed which the natives think possesses many valuable properties. If carried in the purse they say the owner will never want for money; if hung on a watch chain good luck will ever be with the wearer. But woe betide the man who loses his precious charm. The East Indian leaves a tiny corner of his embroidery unfinished to propitiate the gods; the dusky mother calls her baby hard names for fear her love should bring ill fortune upon him

In England superstitious country folk tie amulets around their necks to prevent disease. Some of the earliest of those were skillfully wrought by the people who inhabited this country thousands of years ago and treated flint much the same as a cameo, producing varied effects by cutting through into the different layers of color. Several examples of this practically lost art may be seen in the museum at Ipswich. They are carved to represent the heads of men and women, birds, fishes and reptiles, and are for the most part cleverly and prettily done.

The fossil belemnites found on many of our coasts embedded in the rocks were once thought to be thunderbolts and were worn as charms by fisher folk. Farmers in ancient times decorated their horses by hanging amulets and gypsy fetish charms among their trappings to insure a good harvest. These amulets were frequently associated with the worship of the sun and were of Egyptian, Moorish and Persian origin.

Although most people profess to laugh at the idea of wearing them purely for luck or from superstitious motives, yet charms are worn still with good humored toleration and, for reasons none can explain, secretly favored, just in the same way that sober minded men and women cling tenaciously to a crooked sixpence and treasure a three-penny bit with a hole in it as omens of good luck.

A pink coral band in Italy is supposed to ward off the evil eye and plays its part in ornaments. Ruby ornaments are supposed to disperse evil spirits and are considered a protection from poison and other dire evils. Emeralds banish blindness. Garnet ornaments are supposed to keep one in good health; the sardonyx insures happiness. The sapphire keeps off fever. Amethysts keep off worries. A turquoise means that you will never want a friend. A four leaved clover in a crystal locket is a favorite charm and is said to bring good fortune and long life to its wearer. Jade also has a reputation for a luck bringer.

Mr. Bryan's Position on Candidates

1911

Mr. Bryan's requirement that the Democratic presidential candidate next year must be one who supported the nominee of that party in 1896, 1900 and 1908 evokes the sarcastic wonder why he does not include 1904 or 1892, when Mr. Bryan voted for Weaver, or 1872 when Horace Greeley ran. But the answer is plain enough. Br. Bryan Was not the candidate those other years.


The Canal

All discussion of legislation respecting the Panama canal is interesting, and now is the time for it. That is one subject about which there should be no politics. All want the canal completed as soon as possible, and conducted successfully when completed: Let there be no delay about settling the question of fortifications, of tolls, of the general features of management. The president is fully informed about and alive to the situation, and congress should give prompt heed to his recommendations.


Habit Grows

"I hate to see a little country buying its first battleship."
"Why?"
"Reminds me of a boy taking his first smoke."


Many who think they mean right are right mean.

If some man were compelled to pay as they go they would stay.

Lincoln and McKinley on the Tariff

1911

The Republican party always stood for a protective tariff and still stands there. Under that policy this country has grown rich and powerful.

Without the protection to the industries it has enjoyed, New England would now be a howling waste, or pretty near it.

This is what President Lincoln said about a protective tariff:

"I do not know much about the tariff, but I know this much: When we buy manufactured goods abroad we get the goods and the foreigner gets the money. When we buy the manufactured goods at home we get both the goods and the money."

And this was President McKinley's opinion:

"Protection has vindicated itself. It cannot be helped by eulogy or hurt by defamation; it has worked its own demonstration and it presents in the sight of the world its matchless trophies." — Woburn (Mass.) Journal.

Quips on The News — Robbed While in Prison

1911

A California girl offers to sell to the government Lincoln pennies for $1 each. Next thing we know she will be asking someone to give her two tens for a five.

A man who was put in the Tombs prison for carrying concealed weapons was robbed while there of $600. Investigation might disclose the presence of thieves in the institution.

The New Jersey architect who designed a schoolhouse without any stairway evidently thought that the district should be up-to-date and bring in its upper floor scholars by airships.

Probably the woman who hid her life's savings in the cellar and awoke to find them stolen has reached the conclusion that our national banks are not the most risky things in the world.

Los Angeles has an 80-year-old citizen who says he will wed when he has reached the century mark. At any rate, it can hardly be said that he is rushing precipitately into matrimony.

A Pennsylvania justice has upheld the right of a wife to paint. The dispute had nothing to do with her earning a living by devoting herself to art, but was one involving her own facial decoration.

A savant breaks into print with the startling statement that "sowing wild oats" is harmful to youths. Let us hope the savant is not laboring under the impression that he has uttered a new thought.

Robbers broke into a jail in Pennsylvania a few nights ago and robbed the only prisoner of $20. People who go to jail in Pennsylvania should take the precaution of leaving their valuables at the desk.

New York aldermen have rejected a bill limiting the length of hat pins. Done in self-defense. No doubt every one of them had to go back home and face a woman armed with a couple of the dangerous things.

The kissing microbe has been often attacked as pernicious, but it is to be feared that people can no more be persuaded to give up the ancient practice of osculation than they can be made shy of accepting money which is suspected of conveying germs.

Actions, looks, words — steps from the alphabet by which you spell character. — Lavater.

Yesterday is certain; tomorrow, uncertain; today, half and half.

Trivia and Humor – A 16 Pound Trout

1911

A Record Trout
A trout weighing more than 16 lbs. which was captured during netting operations at Blagdon Lake, Somersetshire, is believed to be the largest trout in English waters.

Queer Superstition
There is a superstition in Cumberlands England that if an infant is not baptized before it is taken out of long clothes it will be bad tempered and ill natured all its life.

Dressing a Chicken
"So you think you can dress a chicken?"
"Oh, yes," said the ambitious bride. "I saw my uncle take a clock apart once. You just number the pieces as you take 'em out."

A Helpful Teacher
I had a teacher once Who helped me to think for myself — the first of my real teachers; and what the others gave me came through the door that he opened. — Henry Van Dyke.

Her Declaration
"Have you anything to declare," asked the customs inspector. "Yes," replied the lady who was returning from Europe. "I unhesitatingly declare that it is an outrage the way this government permits things to be mussed up in one's trunk."

Trivia and Humor — Uncle Eben's Philosophy

1911

Uncle Eben's Philosophy
"Some men hates work so bad," said Uncle Eben, "they would kick on de responsibility of keepin' an eight-day clock wound up."

Sun Injures Mirrors
A mirror should never be hung where the sun shines directly upon it. The mercury spread on the glass to form a looking-glass is soon ruined by exposure to rays of the sun.

Profit in Cattle Raising
Prices paid to Argentine cattle raisers have been rising steadily for the last twenty-five years.

Cause of Red Hair
Red hair is of that color, says a scientific journal, because it has in its composition a larger proportion Of sulphur than black hair.

His Path in Life
Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work — a life purpose; he has found it, and will follow it. — Carlyle.

Every Deed Has Weight
Every man's actions form a center of influences upon others, and every deed, however trivial, has some weight in determining the future destiny of the world.

Trivia — California's Quicksilver

1911

Quicksilver From California
California furnishes about three-fourths of the quicksilver produced in the United States.

True Greatness
He is great who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us of others.

Long Distance Spider Web
A web two and a quarter miles long has been taken from the body of a spider.

A Treasure Indeed
The woman who can both act and think for herself is a treasure indeed to the man lucky enough to possess her. — "Madame."

Life Long; Art Fleeting
The Critic—"My dear, just fancy having your portrait painted in your car! Why, a motor car goes out of fashion in a single year!"

Piano Hint
A small bag of unslacked lime hung inside, underneath the cover of the piano, will catch dampness and prevent rust of the wires.

Prolific Birds
A thrush's nest containing five eggs was discovered recently at Dane End, near Hertford, and a blackbird's nest with two eggs has been found in some ivy at Burnham-on-Crouch.

Bound and Robbed, Now Thought Insane

Kansas, 1911

Chester King, the young man was bound and robbed over in Graham county two weeks ago, has been placed in the county jail at Hill City charged with insanity. It is said he tried to purchase a gun with which he intended to hunt up the two strangers who tied and robbed him the week before.

This is the young man found tied in his own buggy at about one o'clock on the night of January 6th, near a country store known as Corrickville in Sheridan county. The fright and the cold which was intense that night was a terrible strain on the young man and his present condition may be the result of the awful experience.

He is seventeen years old and is the twin brother of Charlie King who was adjudged insane about two months ago for acting queerly on the streets of Hill City.


Got The Limit

Tuesday morning there were three cases before Police Judge Howell. One for selling intoxicating liquor and the other two were for vagrancy.

Oliver Penny was the guilty person in the case of selling "booze" and plead guilty to the charge. He was arrested Tuesday night for selling the "dope" to the soldiers that were going through here, by Marshall Davis and put in the lockup over night. He was fined $100 and thirty days in the county jail, where he was taken Wednesday.

The best thing that can be done with these unlawful people is to give them the limit every time they violate the law.

—Ellis Review-Headlight, Ellis, Kansas.

Quips on The News — "A Boston Spinster"

1911

A Boston spinster wants a five-dollar tax on bachelors. But surely she would not have any man value her so cheaply that he would marry her to save a paltry five.

Harvard astronomers have discovered a new star, but as said star is not one of the football variety, the discovery is not making much of a hit with the students.

"Chicago is a burglar's paradise," says a jurist who is in a position to know. Aside from that and a few other defects it is a good place to live in if one isn't particular.

Europe has now definitely decided that Tolstoi was insane. This may be true, but it seems as though a little more of that sort of insanity wouldn't hurt Europe any.

If the fashion of wearing tight trousers and padless coats comes into general use we know a great many supposedly brawny men who will dwindle woefully in appearance.

Many readers of newspapers have wondered at the meaning of those oft-repeated words found at the end of mysterious disappearance stories: "Detectives have been assigned to the case."

Editorial Remarks — "The Balmy Days of January"

1911

Next June we all may long for the balmy days of January.

Possibly the pet in the cat show would enjoy more keenly life in the alley.

Some people can find a typographical error who never find an idea of their own.

We have yet to discover an egg that has been improved by the cold storage treatment.

"Gaseous imbecility" has taken its place in the hall of fame beside "Innocuous desuetude."

Higher education, too, has its dangers. An Illinois girl started for college, but got married on the way.

Chicago is to have grand opera in English next season. If Chief Steward has his way it will also have it in clothing.

In the Boston high schools 3,000 girls are taking the commercial course. The boys will have to go west or south.

A Denver surgeon was stricken with appendicitis while operating on a patient for that disease. Maybe it is catching, after all.

That Jersey architect who failed to provide a stairway for a new schoolhouse must have realized that this is the age of aviation.

Three and a half billions was the value of the foreign trade of the United States last year. Pretty big country this, isn't it?

Russia affords a big market for American typewriters. To judge from the cartoons we see, Russia is not a big market for American safety razors.

Comets Composed Merely of Dust

1911

Editorial Briefs

By an astronomer it is alleged that because comets are composed merely of dust collisions with them need not be feared. Just the same they give the solar system the appearance of needing a vacuum cleaner.

A foot race has been arranged for one-legged men from Minneapolis to St. Louis. And thus the great work of the twentieth century goes on.

Sir Hiram Maxim is still singing the praises of that great American dish — pork and beans. Some of these days the humble and much-abused pie will find an authority abroad who will suddenly elevate it to the heights, and make us ashamed that familiarity and tradition have made us belittle the hidden sweetness and light we have with us.

A jilted Brooklyn man is suing the fickle fair one for the time lost in courting her. She pleads by way of defense a woman's inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness by changing her mind. In face of this constitutional right the unlucky swain has no case. All the courts appealed to on this issue have hitherto upheld this right, which, indeed, antedates everything but the creation.

A Pickerel Thought His Nose Was Bait

1911

Editorial Briefs

Winsted, Conn., has a fisherman who claims to have caught a pickerel because the latter mistook his nose for bait and jumped at it. It strikes us that said fisherman must have consumed a vast amount of bait to acquire a nose so brilliant that a pickerel would jump at it.

A New York physician promises to make bad boys good by proper breathing. It is a far cry from a strap in the woodshed to a breathing exercise.

Under the new law it costs $10 to carry a pistol in New York instead of only $2.50. But those who expect to see the difference reflected in a decrease of shooting affrays will probably be disappointed. If the fee was a million, and it was not enforced more strictly than the $2.50 one, it would be just as ineffectual.

A New York office boy made $50,000 speculating on Wall street, but they got $20,000 of it away from him the next day — and he is still fooling around in Wall street.

In New York a woman is trying to prove that she loved a man and she offers in evidence letters in which she called him her "ugly monkey" and her "curly bear." It must be splendid to be loved like that.

She Swallowed 1,446 Pieces of Hardware

1911

Editorial Quips on the News

A post-mortem examination of a Missouri lady who had a mania for heavy diet resulted in the discovery of 1,446 separate articles of hardware in her little inside. If there is any truth in theosophy the lady was either a goat or an ostrich in her previous existence. (See note below and photo here. Click the photo for bigger version.)

A New York woman says she lost her respect for her husband when she caught him with five aces in his hand. She is perfectly right. A man who allows himself to be caught that way deserves no respect.

If that Buffalo man who would not give up a counterfeit bill to an agent of the government were to get the full penalty of $100 and a year's imprisonment he might think he had committed some real crime.

We have it from a Germany economist that American women will soon be forced to labor on farms like men. Here we have an outlet for the surplus energy of those fair damsels who seek "careers" in preference to husbands.

Most of those who tell about rearing a family and saving money on $1,000 a year do not have to and hence are better able to theorize in the abstract.

A florist in New Jersey turns his hennery into a summer garden with all sorts of flowers and is getting eggs of delicate flavor and various tints, violet, rose and carnation flavors being in the lead. A hen garden of this kind might be a handsome and useful addition to the combination clubhouse for the Ananias members and the nature fakers.

Note: The item about the Missouri lady with a mania for a heavy diet recalls someone who must have been another Missouri lady with the same problem, who I heard about while touring the psychiatric museum at St. Joseph, Missouri. At this site there's a small photo of the items, said to be more than 1,400, which were taken from the patient in 1929. Since I'm pretty sure my article is from 1911, and it specifically says "post-mortem," obviously this would have to be a different Missouri lady. The photo at the top is a photo I took of all the screws and things they said she had ingested. If you're ever in the area of St. Joseph, the museum is worth going to! Just don't let them keep you, which was what I was legitimately most afraid of.

The Freaks Must Go

1915

The secretary of the Minnesota state fair is the authority for the statement that the "freak" show and the sensational side show will not have a place in the state fairs of 1915. This form of entertainment is to be replaced by educational exhibitions, the step having been decided on by the American Association of Fairs and Expositions in convention at Chicago.

It will be a great relief if the minds of children are not to be abnormally stimulated by these morbid, not to say revolting, sights. The idea that the poor monstrosities of nature should be exploited by means of their deformities is repulsive and productive of no good. The practice of allowing fakers to grow fat off proceeds from "showing" these unfortunates is a species of barbarism.

The atmosphere that pervades state fairs is as wholesome as that which surrounds any of our national institutions, and it has always been a wrong to vitiate it by the clinical features of a freak show. — Minneapolis Journal.


1911

Easy

"Does it cost much to clothe a family? asked the economical man.
"Not mine," replied Mr. Sirius Barker. "My only daughter is a barefoot dancer and my only son is a marathon runner."

No Soda Fountain on U.P. Trains

1911

Recently a story was printed in a number of newspapers to the effect that the Union Pacific would install soda fountains on its passenger trains this summer. Gerrit Fort, Passenger Traffic Manager, has sent out the following slip to all agents denying the story:

"Dear Sir: In response to your inquiry concerning the alleged arrangement to place soda fountains on our trains:

"The story in question is absolutely without foundation, and had its origin in the fertile brain of an Omaha reporter who was short of news on the day in which the story was printed. Yours truly, Gerrit Fort."


Important Things of Life

Holiness is an infinite compassion for others. Greatness is to take the common things of life and walk truly among them. Happiness is a great love and much serving. — Olive Schreiner.


Wifely Devotion

"A man must have so much on his mind," is the belief by which a wife often supports a cheerful face under rough answers and unfeeling words. — George Elliot.


A Cracker Dainty

A friend in the Walton News tells of a visit to Wilkes county, where he was treated to a new dish, "rabbit sausage," which he declared was "simply fine." — Macon Telegraph.

She Shot Him Just for Fun

1911

The Editor Muses

A St. Louis woman, asked why she shot her husband, said she did it "just for fun." And yet they say women have no sense of humor.

The agitation to make the upper berth lower continues; but no matter at what figure they fix the price it will still be high.

A St. Louis man made his wife cut his hair. Barbering, however, will never be included in any domestic science course.

There is a woman wireless operator. The old saw must be amended to read: "What man has done, a woman can and will do."

Fashionable women in the national capital climb the Washington monument to reduce their flesh. Thus does the uplift reach society.

A woman of ninety-one in Massachusetts wants to go up in a balloon. Another example of how people are as young in times as they want to be.

If a girl has a grown up brother she acquires a pretty fair knowledge of men without having to pass through the agonies of matrimony.

Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future. — Euripides.

Civilization Flying Merrily Along

1911

Editorial Winks

Siam is to have an aviation week, and so the march of up-to-date civilization goes — or rather flies — merrily on.

The United States Army wants aeroplanes. They will probably be manned by the flying divisions.

Winter may be trying to keep it up until March. It began early and it has been told throughout.

The new census of Berlin and its suburbs shows a population of 3,400,000. It is camping on New York's trail.

Over-study killed a promising youth in Baltimore, but there is no danger of this malady ever becoming an epidemic.

A German has invented a noiseless telephone booth. A noiseless telephone party line would be a greater blessing.

It is necessarily true that the worst is yet to come.

No man becomes a jailbird just for a lark.

Mrs. Humphrey's Strong Feelings About Fashion

1911

Editorial Zingers

The truth is that the love of dress is, next after drink and gambling, one of the curses of our country. -- Mrs. Humphrey.

The Boston young woman who worked eight years on her trousseau must have had unusual, though not well founded, faith in the stability of the styles.

A Montreal doctor recently contributed a pint of his own blood to save the life of a patient. Some doctors seem to be actuated by a sincere desire to cure.

The autocrats of fashion may succeed in making women wear the ugly Turkish "harem" stress, but no autocrat now living will ever succeed in shutting women up.

"I know not where I am," cried a poetess in one of the magazines. English critics of American literature will wonder why she did not say: "I know not where I am at."

An English paper announces that Americans lack the sense of humor. That sounds like the argument of the man who satisfies himself by exclaiming: "You're another!"

A Canadian highbrow tells us that the temperature seven and a half miles above the earth is 90 degrees below zero. Let this be a warning to builders of skyscrapers.