Better Than Dumbbells

1895

Dyspeptics may be interested in the experiment of a man living on Erie street. Being confined to his office most of the day and having little exercise of any kind, his system got badly out of order. For some two months past he has been spending a half hour every evening in lying on his back on the floor and tossing his lusty 2-year-old son back and forth. He says this exercise beats dumbbells, and that is only after an occasional immoderate meal time he is reminded that he has a stomach. — Chicago Tribune.


A Great Scheme

"I never talk about the club to my wife."
"I do. I speak of it in glowing terms and then stay at home occasionally. So my wife thinks there isn't a more self sacrificing husband in the world." — Kate Field's Washington.


It Was Easy to Live Then

Living was cheap in the old Roman days. A night's lodgings at an inn could be had for about 4 cents. A pound of figs could be bought for 2 cents, and a fine, long cloak was purchasable at the extremely low figure of 20 cents.


Cairo Museum

The Cairo museum has seven brooms used by ancient Egyptian women. They are made of straw and closely resemble the same articles in use today, save that the handles are not long enough for purposes of domestic discipline.

Gems of 1900 B.C. Exhibited in U.S.

1919

ARE BRIGHT AS NEW, THO 3800 YEARS OF AGE.

Were Worn by Egyptian Princess and Found in 1914 by English Scientist.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — Jewelry worn by an Egyptian princess of the twelfth dynasty, nineteen hundred years before the Christian era, was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It is declared to be the finest collection of personal adornment ever brought out of Egypt.

When marauders entered the tomb of Princess Sathathoriunut at some odd moment in the last 3,800 years they took away her mummy and even the elaborate funeral trappings, but overlooked a niche containing the wonderfully wrought ornaments she wore when attending the ancient equivalent for a first night at the opera.

Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, head of an English archaeological society, dug the collection out in 1914, and today it looks as bright as if it had just come from the makers.

It consists of a gold necklace inlaid with carnelian lapis lazuli and green feldspar and another pectoral similarly made of King Senusert II., father of the princess.

There is also a gold collar of double lion heads, a girdle of gold with rhombic jeweled heads, a necklace of amethyst with gold lion claw pendants, armlets and bracelets with gold bars and beads of gold, carnelian and turquoise; and parts of the princess' jewel box, made of ebony with gold and carved ivory panels.

The jewels are identified as belonging to the princess by her name and the name of her father in cartouches on the larger pieces. According to custom, the Cairo museum retained the choice of the collection, a diadem.

Since its purchase by the museum the collection has been in a vault in London, stipulation having been made that it should remain there until six months after hostilities closed.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 12.

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.

Where Grammar Came From

1917

Barbarous Macedonian Held Responsible for Invention

The world reached its highest known stage of intelligence before grammar was even invented, much less studied, Ernest C. Moore writes in the Yale Review.

I have had some curiosity to find out where and how so great a blight upon young life first came into being, and why it ever became a school study, and I find that the Greeks knew it not; that their triumphant literature and their matchless oratory came to flower before grammar was dreamed of; that it was not in any sense one of the great arts which they wrought out and with which they armed the human race; that after Greece had declined, a barbarous Macedonian made himself owner of all Egypt, and in order to surround himself with the most spectacular form of ostentation of which his vain mind could conceive, he set to collecting not only all the rare and precious objects and books and manuscripts there were in the world, but he capped it all by making a collection of the living men of the world who had any reputation anywhere for knowing and thinking.

Taking them from their homes where they had some relation to the daily necessities of human beings, and had really been of some use, he shut them up for life in one of his palaces at Alexandria, which the folks were in the habit of calling "the hencoop of the muses;" and out of sheer desperation, since they could do nothing better to amuse themselves, they counted the words in the books which real men had written, and prepared tables of the forms and endings which the users of words employed. The lifeless dregs of books which their distilling left we now call grammar, and study instead of books and even speech itself. In their lowest depth of indifference to the moving, pulsing life of man, not even the Alexandrians sank so low as that.

Cat Mummy Found in Ceiling

1900

Body of Inquisitive Cat Found After Many Years

Egyptian mummies are not so much of a rarity nowadays as they once were, in fact they may even at present be looked upon as an article of commerce, but the body of a mummified cat found at Germantown has claims to be regarded, as a curiosity. The mummy is now to be seen in the window of 14 Chelten avenue, Germantown. The preservation of the body is perfect, the ears and even the tail being in good condition.

The house indicated is occupied by the family of J. S. Pryor. Mrs. Pryor says that when the ceiling of the Methodist Episcopal church, on Haines street, was being torn down for repair Oct. 24, 1877, the workmen came across a hard substance embedded in the ceiling. On being dug out the substance was cast aside. Mr. Pryor, who was watching the repairs, brushed the accumulated dust and dirt from the castoff object, and the mummified body of a cat appeared.

How the quadruped got into the interior structure of the ceiling, there to die, is a mystery. The church was built in 1858. The only plausible theory so far presented is that the cat, by some means, got into the ceiling while the original plastering was in progress and tarried until sealed in. The plaster on hardening became air-tight and the cat by exhausting the air in its adopted prison cell unconsciously preserved its body intact.

The Pryors intend to give the curiosity some day to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. — Philadelphia Times.


Love

Love is one part instinct and nine parts imagination.

Art of the Etruscans

1907

Mysterious People Who Left Traces of a Remarkable Civilization

Why did the Etruscans devote their whole lives to the incessant making of pottery until it accumulated in such quantities that they were compelled to bury it in order to keep room for themselves in their streets and houses?

Then, again, there is the mystery of the Etruscan inscriptions. These inscriptions are fairly numerous, but hitherto they have proved to be utterly undecipherable. The Etruscan is the only dead language that has defied investigation. Considered as a language, nothing could seem more improbable than the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, but Egyptologists can read them with such ease that almost any given series of hieroglyphics can be read in three or four ways by an equal number of rival Egyptologists. Any language more utterly impossible at first glance than the Assyrian arrowhead language could not well be imagined, but there are many learned men who can read, write and speak arrowhead with facility. And yet no man can make the least sense of the writings left by the Etruscans, although they are written in Roman characters.

All that we know of the Etruscans seems unreasonable and preposterous. Naturally this makes them fascinating to every one who delights in mystery and the solution of puzzles. — Putnam's Magazine.

Eagle Always an Emblem

1918

From Mythological Times the Monarch of the Air Has Been Chosen as Representative of Power

In mythology the eagle usually represents the sun. The great mythical eagle of India, the Garuda, is the bearer of the god Vishnu, victorious by his brightness over all demons. In Scandinavian mythology the eagle is a gloomy figure, assumed by demons of darkness or by Odin himself, concealed in the gloomy night or in wind swept clouds. The storm giant Hrasweigr sits in the form of an eagle at the extremity of heaven and blows blasts over all people and on the great tree Yggdrasil sits an eagle observing everything that happens. When Zeus was preparing for his struggle with the Titans the eagle brought him a thunderbolt, whereupon the god took the bird for his emblem.

It naturally became the emblem of nations after its long use in mythology. Ptolemy Soter made it the emblem of the Egyptian kingdom. In the Roman story the eagle was the herald to Tarquinus of his royal power, and it was one of the most important insignia of the republic, and was also assumed by the emperors, and adopted into medieval heraldry after the time of Charlemagne.


Keeping the Faith

A man returning from Philadelphia tells of a ragged newsboy, who, after his papers were all sold, still stood near Independence hall lustily shouting the news of Germany's surrender, "I'm just a-doin' what the Liberty bell would do if it could," explained the little patriot.


There is no graduating from the school of experience.

On the Antiquity of the Saw

1916

The saw is the earliest tool that has been traced in Egyptian history. It was found first in the form of a notched bronze knife in the third dynasty, or about 5,000 years before the Christian era, and was followed in the fourth and fifth dynasties by larger toothed saws, which were used by carpenters, but there are no dated specimens until the seventh century before the Christian era, when the Assyrians used iron saws.

The first knives on record were made out of flint and were in fact saws with minute teeth. They probably were used for cutting up animals, as the teeth would break away even on soft wood. Rasps, which are but a form of saw, were first made of sheets of bronze, punched and coiled round, but the Assyrians in the seventh century used the straight rasp made of iron similar to the modern type.

In the present day the saw is probably used more than any other tool. It has taken three distinct forms for the working of both wood and metal — the straight saw, the band saw, and the circular saw.

The Romans Liked Red Hair, Nobody Else

1912

RED HAIR ALWAYS DISLIKED

With the Exception of the Romans, Ancient Peoples Had Strong Aversion to It

Red is the fashionable color of woman's hair just now, but in many periods and countries to have red hair meant to test the depths of misfortune, even of death.

Prejudice against red hair runs back even to Egyptian times, for in that land of decided opinions and strong prejudices it was the custom to burn alive some unfortunate individual cursed with red hair, so it was decidedly uncomfortable to have red hair in Egypt, as no one knew whose turn would come next.

That the Chinese shared this prejudice against red hair is proved by their epithet for the English, whom they called "red-haired barbarians" or "red-haired devils."

The great exception to this rule among ancient nations is the Romans, for since the time of Nero they have praised red hair in the highest terms. They preferred a dark red, almost brown, such as we term auburn, and modern Romans share this liking. It is said that among the patrician families of Rome and Florence there is an abnormally large number of red-haired women. Modern Greeks share this predilection with the Romans and they heighten the reddish effect of the hair by wearing dull gold ornaments.

One of the most frequent causes of the prejudice against red hair in Christian countries undoubtedly goes back to the tradition that Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, had red hair, and most of the artists paint him thus. Shakespeare refers to this in "As You Like It," when Rosalind says of Orlando, "His very hair is of the dissembling color," and Celia answers: "Something browner than Judas."

The Brahmins were forbidden to marry red-haired women and as has been said: "The populace of most countries, confounding moral with aesthetic impressions, accuse red-haired people of various shortcomings."

Besides the old tradition of Judas having been red-haired aiding to create the prejudice existing in many lands the fact of the feeling against red hair in England is set down to the red-haired Danes, who could not be regarded save as invaders and barbarians.

—The Daily Commonwealth, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, December 17, 1912, page 3.

Plan to Irrigate Basin of the Nile

1920

Egypt to Benefit From Project Costing Millions

For many years projects have been under consideration for obtaining such a complete control of the waters of the upper Nile as will enable Egypt to develop its agricultural resources to the utmost and to secure the country against the dangers of excessive floods, while permitting the Sudan also to develop to some extent its own vast resources.

The works contemplated will extend over a generation and involve the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars, affecting the entire future of irrigation throughout the Nile basin.

The commission, it is reported, will consist of three members. An irrigation engineer nominated by the government of India as president and a British physicist nominated by the University of Cambridge, while to draw on the wide experience available in America on questions of irrigation and water supply, and still further to strengthen the independence of the commission an irrigation engineer nominated by the Government of the United States will constitute the third member.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 7.

Checkers Goes Back to Ancient Egypt

1912
----------
ANCIENT GAME OF CHECKERS

Board made in 3766 B. C. Is Found In Egypt.

Manchester Guardian.

G. H. Limbrey of London, the secretary of the English draughts association, in a lecture at the rooms of the Manchester draughts club, traced the game back to ancient Egypt, and was of opinion that it was in that country that it had its origin.

He pointed out that Egyptologists had discovered many references to the game not only in old papyrus, but by actual boards and men which had been excavated from the ruins of the old Egyptian cities.

Mr. Limbrey illustrated his lecture by means of watercolor sketches and photographs of draught boards and men which are to be found in the British Museum, London, and included one which has lately been received in the collection and was found by Professor Flinders Petrie.

This board, which belonged to the fourth dynasty, 3766 B. C., is the oldest draught board extant. The lecturer also showed that the game was popular in ancient Greece and Rome and expressed the opinion that the Roman legionaries had been the means of spreading the game over the greater part of Europe, even as far north as Scandinavia and Iceland.

--Lincoln Evening News, Lincoln, Nebraska, January 20, 1912, page 11.