English Weavers, 1820

1895

I am 81 years of age and can remember hand loom weavers and weaving as far back as 1820 in East Lancashire. I have a painful recollection of the poverty and distress among hand loom weavers. Our family consisted of father and mother and eight children, all dependent upon hand looms. Breakfast in our home was oaten meal porridge sweetened with treacle, eaten with small beer; dinner, meat only on Sunday, and that chiefly bones boiled into soup; the rest of the week's dinners, potatoes and oaten cakes, seldom butter and never cheese; supper, similar to breakfast. The quantity of these was stinted, so that we often had not enough to eat.

As to wages, an ordinary man could not earn more than 10 shillings per week, and often he could not procure enough warp and weft even to earn that. The idea of "putting £1 notes between slices of bread and butter" is simply monstrous. In respect to the statement of kindness and sympathy between employers and employed, I can only recollect grinding poverty and cringing dependence, which had the effect of taking away a man's self respect. When I think of my early days — poor food, poor clothing, poor homes, no day school — I do not wish to see the "golden ago" back again. — Spectator.

"Shooting the Moon"

1895

It is curious to remark how differently men of different races comport themselves in the presence of identical emergencies.

When an Irishman, for example, finds that he cannot pay his rent, he insists on remaining in his homestead all the same, and when an organized effort is made to turn him out he climbs up on to the roof of his domicile and throws hives of bees at the invaders.

When an Englishman finds himself in a similar predicament, he breaks the law by stealth — that is to say, he moves his furniture secretly, by midnight, to another lodging and leaves no address behind him.

And, as all the world knows, "shooting the moon" is the technical term for this nefarious performance. If one were asked by a stranger how the poor live in outcast London, one would have to answer that it is largely by "shooting the moon" that a great many of them are enabled to eke out a precarious subsistence. — London Graphic.


Fish We Have Learned to Eat

It is hard for the younger people to believe that so good a fish as the halibut was considered unfit for eating not very many years ago, yet many old fishermen yet live who remember when it was first offered in the market, selling then at 4 or 6 cents a pound. It was many years since that that the swordfish first found its way to the frying pan and the table, and a Rockland fisherman recalls the time when haddock were about as highly esteemed as sculpins are now. — Lewiston Journal.


Meaning of the Precious Stones

The meanings attached to the different precious stones are as follows: The garnet is constancy; the amethyst, sincerity; the bloodstone, courage; the sapphire, innocence; the emerald, success; the agate, long life; the carnelian, content; the pearl, tears; the diamond, purity; the opal, sorrow; the turquoise, happiness; the malachite, prosperity. — Ladies' Home Journal.

Peculiar Quashie Dialect

1895

Odd Lingo That Is Spoken by the Natives of Jamaica.

A thing that fills you with amazement is the queer gibberish that is spoken here, writes Fannie B. Ward from Kingston, Jamaica. In this old English colony you expected to hear the English language, and they call it English and would feel greatly insulted if you intimated that it was not of the best.

We got a fair and easy sample of the "Quashie" dialect, as it is called, of the Jamaica negroes the moment we set foot on shore. Among the crowd clamoring to carry our things we singled out a big coal black fellow in a white linen suit, because he looked the most intelligent. In reply to the question how much he would charge to carry one trunk and two satchels to the custom house he yelled: "Hi Buckrah! I dat quick, quick fe quattie fe de lil tings an tanner fe tunk," which, as translated by our consul, who has grown familar with their murdering of the king's English, meant that he would do the job very quickly and would charge "quattie," or one quarter of an English sixpence (3 cents in our money), for each of the small packages and "tanner," a sixpence, for the trunk.

All the negro sentences appear to be constructed on the "baby talk" plan, and it rolls out in an oily stream from their thick lips, wholly unintelligible to the newcomer. The poorest of them are very polite to one another as well as to strangers, and it is amusing to hear a half naked wretch, hatless and shoeless, bowing low to another in the same condition and saying: "How do dis morn, marm? Hope um do be well, marm," and the response invariably is, "Quite well um dis morn, sar, thank um, sar." The use of "um" is not understood, but is constant, and it is always "sar" instead of "massa," as in slavery days.

English Estates

1895

You Will Save Time and Money by Letting Them Alone.

"It always amuses me when some poor deluded soul comes into my office and wants me to recover a vast English estate."

Thus spoke a well known attorney.

"And why does it amuse you?"

"Because," said the lawyer, "there is so much folly in such cases. I suppose there are not a dozen families in Cincinnati who have not some tradition or another about a great inheritance over the water. For generation after generation these chimerical hopes are nursed until finally some branch of the family with more money than judgment concludes to prosecute the claim. The result is nearly always the same. The victims come out of the experience with less money and more judgment.

"Of course there are rare instances in which Americans have recovered money from the estates of foreign ancestors, but in the great multitude of cases the rights of the claimants have been so long delayed or were so imaginary to begin with that it is only a waste of time and money to pursue them.

"I have handled many claims for foreign inheritances, and in just one case was there anything realized. After fighting for 12 years my client succeeded in proving his interest in some English property. The litigation, however, stirred up about 2,000 other heirs, and after the estate was divided and the costs were paid my client got precisely $4.20.

"Let me give you a piece of advice: If your family are heirs to untold millions in Europe, don't breathe it to a soul. Get all the satisfaction you can out of the reflection that you ought to be in the house of lords and the master of an old ancestral home, but keep your weekly wages in your pocket." — Cincinnati Tribune.

Good Word for Americans

1895

Credit Given Them as Being the Kindliest Race In the World.

Take them as a whole, the Americans are the kindliest race on the face of the earth. In spite of their eagerness, their push, their desire to be in the front rank at all times and all seasons, the true American seldom fails in kindness. He wants badly to prevent any one getting ahead of him mentally, physically and morally, but if his competitor falls in the struggle he will make untold sacrifices to help him up. The rule in American business is pure cutthroat competition carried to its logical conclusion. You are expected to press and push every point as far as it can possibly be pushed and pressed, and no one is expected to consider whether in making a commercial coup you will not ruin Brown, Jones and Robinson. The moment, however, that Brown, Jones or Robinson actually goes under he is treated with the utmost generosity and consideration.

The hand which struck him down is instantly stretched forth to help him, and as much care and trouble are used to put him on his feet once again as were originally employed to knock him off them. In social intercourse this kindness and sunniness is specially attractive. The American will take infinite pains to make the merest stranger happy. He is courteous and pleasant spoken, not, like the Frenchman, from convention, but from the sense of pleasure which his instinctive optimism teaches him to diffuse. His optimism has even proved strong enough to break down the shyness which naturally belongs to the English race. One sees no doubt survivals of it in the American, but in most cases the sense that all is for the best in the best possible of worlds has mastered it altogether. — London Spectator.

London Summary

1916

London, Sept. 25. — A great attack today by the British and French infantry crushed in the whole German front for an average depth of a mile on the 14-mile line from Martinpuich to the River Somme.

The British captured the powerfully fortified villages of Morval and Les Boeufs, virtually cutting off communication with Combles, and took with a rush several lines of German trenches all the way to Martinpuich, along a six-mile front.

Northeast of Combles the French swept forward to the edge of Fregicourt, almost meeting the English advance on this stronghold from the northwest. Gen. Foch's troops captured the village of Rancourt, a hill near that village and systems of trenches nearly a mile in depth down to the river.

The Germans suffered heavy losses, including a large number of prisoners and much war material.

Gen. Russiloff has begun a fresh offensive on a large scale, according to semiofficial advices from Petrograd, with the purpose of piercing the Austro-German defense from Pripet marshes to the Hungarian border and meeting the challenge of Field Marshal von Hindenburg, who hopes to deal a decisive blow before Winter.

A Russian success in the Rumanian province of Dobrudja is reported in a semiofficial news agency dispatch from Odessa. The dispatch says the Russians took 2000 prisoners.

On another of her numerous battle fronts, in Western Macedonia, part of Russia's countless hosts have begun a violent offensive, along with French and Serbians, against the Austro-German-Bulgar forces north of Florina, where the Allies have captured a hill and a village and are crossing the frontier into Serbia, despite fierce opposition.

French and British troops last night took a village and trenches across the Struma River.

The Italians have carried by storm Garinal Mountain on the Northern Alpine battle line.

Gen. Haig's line now stands three miles from the edge of Bapaume and the nearest curve of the railroad that parallels the German positions and supplies their fighting front on a length of about 20 miles.

Bucharest claims the Rumanian advance in the Caliman Mountains continues, and there and near Hermannstadt prisoners and machine guns were captured. Since they began the invasion of Transylvania the Rumanians have taken 6884 prisoners, it is declared.

Vienna's account asserts: "Rumanian front, between Szurduk and Vulcan Passes, Rumanian advances were repulsed.

"Transylvanian Eastern front: There was lively fighting."

The Rumanian report announces further progress has been made against von Mackensen's army near the Black sea.

It is announced officially in Paris that the number of prisoners taken by the Anglo-French forces on the Somme from July 1 to Sept. 18, aggregated more than 55,800. Of these, 34,050 fell into the hand of the French.

Berlin reports no activity on the whole of the western front.

Great Britain and The War

1916

J. L. Garvin, writing in the London Observer, of which he is editor, says that another million men are essential for the army "if Great Britain is going to win the war clean out."

Deadly Cotton

1916

It takes 400 pounds of cotton to make the powder for one shot from the Queen Elizabeth's guns, or from one of the German 17-inch guns. The same quantity of cotton would provide ammunition for 400 shots from a field gun, or 80,000 rounds from a rifle.

Some idea of the consumption of cotton in the war may be had from the fact that 1,000 tons a day are required to supply the German and Austrian armies with powder.

The British cordite consists of two-thirds guncotton. The raw material is dipped into nitric acid, washed and dried, and the material thus supplied becomes the base of the explosive.

Guncotton can only be made from raw cotton. Woven cotton is of no use, and any attempt to use it would be dangerous. — Tid Bits.

The Lady and the Cobra

1901

An English woman residing in India one evening found to her horror that a huge cobra had coiled itself about her veranda rails, near which she sat playing the violin. She was too near the snake to run with safety, so she continued playing while she gradually edged away. At first her only idea was to keep the creature thus engaged while she escaped, but when she had gained a safer distance and perhaps fascinated by the unwonted sight a strange inspiration seized her. She played air after air of different characters.

The effect was magical. That snake behaved like an ardent, hot blooded disciple of Paganini. Every variation in the music, whether of volume or of tone, produced instantly a corresponding change in the attitude of the cobra. If she played a lively dance, it swayed its body sideways in quick time and yet in graceful curves. Once she struck a number of false notes in rapid succession on purpose, The cobra winced and writhed in pain as if suddenly struck with a whip.

Thus the creature behaved like a mad musician till the lady, getting tired of the sport, gradually worked herself farther and farther and then made a sudden bolt into her room and banged the door, leaving the cobra to wander disconsolate to its lair in the fields.

Wouldn't Sell the House

1901

The house in which Joan of Arc was born is still faithfully preserved in pious veneration at Domremy, where it is looked upon almost in the light of a shrine. Passersby invariably cross themselves and utter a prayer for protection as they go by.

The story goes that a rich and eccentric Englishman tried hard to buy the place in 1837. It was at that time the property of a farmer named Girardin. The Englishmen offered to let him name his own price, but the old man held firm. "No, no, no," he cried. "I would not sell it even to a Frenchman, much less to a foreigner and especially an Englishman. People here would call me a traitor and a coward were I to part with the house from which Joan of Arc set out to serve France."

The Englishman convinced himself that further bargaining was useless and went his way.

Soon after an officer from the king's household arrived in the village and asked to speak with Girardin. Before the whole village, assembled in the street, he said: "Girardin, the king has learned that you have refused to sell your house to an Englishman. He desires to reward you, but not in coin. He knows that you no more want the money of the French than of the English, therefore has he commanded me to present you with the cross of the Legion of Honor."

Jumbled English

1919

A school patron talking with a prominent educator the other day said that with all of the effort made in North Carolina schools to give the child a fair knowledge of the English language, he did not believe there was one child in a hundred in the schools of the State who could recite a sentence of twenty words in a clear, distinct and articulate tone of voice. The pity is that there is so much truth in the statement, comments the Raleigh News Observer.

Go into a classroom and hear the children read. Is it not the exception when a child knows how to pronounce its syllables distinctly? Syllables and letters both are too often wholly ignored. Words are jumbled together too frequently in incoherent fashion. Worst of all and at the bottom of the trouble is the fact that some of the teachers are less proficient than they should be in distinctness of speech, while others who are more precise themselves, pay insufficient attention to the pronunciation of the children.

The old-fashioned elocution class in which the children were taught to utter their syllables distinctly might very well come back in place of some of the things that are more pretentious, but have less value in the school.

Have Got Beyond Feeling

1902

The people of Martinique, or those who still cling to that unfortunate island, will probably not be alarmed by the scientific report that it is likely to sink out of sight, says the Chicago Inter Ocean. They are probably beyond the reach of alarm by this time.


Lucky Old Maids

Woman insure against being old maids in Denmark, says the New York Mail and Express. If they marry before they are 40 what they have paid goes to the less fortunate, and these last are pensioned for the remainder of their lives on a scale proportioned on what they paid in.


Starving in Galicia

In Galicia the wage of the farm laborer has been so reduced that he is starving to death on a pittance of from three to 16 cents a day.


Index of Cleanliness

The average French person uses six pounds of soap in a year; the average English person uses ten pounds.


Will Follow a Swiss Model

Swiss postal officials are to be employed to assist in the reorganization of the Japanese post office. The Swiss postal system is to be taken as a model.

Stage Signals

1901

There are a number of ways of giving the signal which warns the leader of the theater orchestra that the curtain is about to rise. The most common in American theaters is the illumination by electricity of a common incandescent bulb placed in front of the conductor. Many players, however, follow the English custom of having the ring of a bell as a signal. This has the advantage of giving notice alike to the players behind the curtain and the orchestra and the audience in front.

The French players employ the system, but not the bells. A stout club rapped loudly on the stage floor does duty instead. Two raps constitute the one minute signal and three as the final notice. The reason for the cumbersome method is that of precedent, for the call is that of the Theatre Francais. — Chicago Tribune.

Prison Doors Never Locked

1910

Odd Place for "Confinement" on Sark, One of the Beautiful Channel Islands

Sark, the loveliest of the channel islands, possesses a quaint old prison of two cells, more as a matter of form than of necessity; for serious crime is almost unknown in the island, which has no paid police, but simply an elected constable. It is some years since the prison was called into requisition, and on the last occasion the bolt was found to be so rusty that it had to be broken before the door could be opened. The prisoner was then put in, left all night with the door open, and made no attempt to escape.

On another occasion a young English servant, who had stolen some clothes, was sentenced to three days' imprisonment. The prospect so terrified her that the authorities took pity on her loneliness and considerately left the cell open. The little maid sat in the doorway and was consoled by kindhearted Sark women, who came to her company.

A still more curious incident is told of a man who was convicted for neglecting his wife and children. He was ordered to betake himself to the prison and there wait for the arrival of the constable. This he did sitting outside until the door was opened to let him in.

As Dr. Johnson Said It

1910

George Augustus Sala's eloquent testimony to the superiority of English viands reminds us of Dr. Johnson's outburst after examining a French menu.

"Sir," said he to the faithful Boswell, "my brain is obfuscated with the perusal of this heterogeneous conglomeration of bastard English ill spelt and a foreign tongue. Bid the rascals bring me a dish of hog's puddings, a slice or two from the upper cut of a well roasted sirloin and two apple dumplings."


National Traits

It takes one hour to know a Frenchman, one month to know a German, almost a lifetime to know an Englishman — well.

Most Men Write Poor English

1905

An observant student of daily history as recorded in the newspapers takes now a kindlier view of errors in "newspaper English" than before the recent excitement concerning the vice crusade had arisen.

"I have heard all sorts of excuses about the occasional bad English one sees in newspapers, the hurry with which it is written, and that kind of thing," he says; "but I never gave the arguments much thought until I read the correspondence brought forth from men not hurried and of undoubted education, by the recent discussion. Some of the notes which have thus passed have been practically unintelligible in just these spots where a clear and ambiguous meaning was most vital to the point involved. These epistles must certainly have been studied by their writers — at least there must have been time for such study — but they read as though they were dashed off in a moment. In addition to actual errors, some of them fail utterly to establish their arguments because of the forceful way in which they are expressed."


Eat Meatless Meals

A prosperous physician was lunching at his club the other day at a table adjoining that at which sat one of his patients, says the Chicago Inter Ocean. He ordered English plum pudding as a finish to his meal, and remarked as he attacked it, that he would not eat it except at a noon meal, when he knew he would get no bad results from its richness.

The lady thought it a good time to secure information without the customary fee, and asked a few questions on food. "The habit of placing the heaviest meal of the day at its close is responsible for a deal of digestive trouble, with its train of disease," he said. "It may be old fashioned to dine at noon, but it is healthful, and that counts for everything. It is a practice among many physicians to have a midday dinner and a supper in which no meat figures, but stewed fruit is a feature."

Easy Company

1900

Frenchmen are born diplomatists, yet in a free and unguarded moment even one of that tactful race will sometimes speak his mind without a tinge of flattery.

Such an ungarnished speech is recorded of a young Frenchman who, during a visit in London, was taken to see Madame Tussaud's famous waxworks.

"What do you think of them?" asked the friend who was acting as guide on that occasion. "Oh," said the young man, with a slight shrug, "they seem to me very like the people at an ordinary English party, only perhaps a little stiller."


Rewards of Fame

The Chicago Tribune intimates that, even if "republics are ungrateful," our great men are not forgotten.

"Still," said the old friend who had called to converse with the venerable sage, "in your advancing age it must be a comfort to know your fame is secure."

"Yes," replied the aged scientist, "I am told there is a new disease and a five-cent cigar named for me." — Youth's Companion.

Meaning Changed in Translation

1899

It is difficult for those who understand but one language to realize that a translation of a work in an alien tongue is not equal to the original.

An odd experiment was made not long ago by an English writer, the result of which will be read with interest, and by many with surprise.

He wrote a four-line epigram, asked a friend to translate it into Latin, and sent the Latin to another friend with the request that he turn it back into English. This English version was turned by another into French. The process went on until the lines had passed through Greek, English, German, English, Persian, English. The first English version may be compared with the final translation:

I.
I heard that S. would write my "Life"
When I gave up my breath.
I felt that this indeed would add
A new delight to death. — G.S.L.

VI.
He — "Dear, in my song you still shall live,
Though under earth you lie!"
She — "Ah! had you now that grace to give
I should not need to die." — O.S.

—Youth's Companion.

Dreyfus at Rennes

1899

Justice may be done at Rennes, but Dreyfus will never be a national hero. The world will probably pity him, and Frenchmen may reluctantly admit that he has been treacherously dealt with and cruelly used; but he lacks the qualities which his own nation admires in a public man.

He has a strong but not a handsome face. His figure is bent. He has quiet dignity but lacks a commanding presence. His manner is cold and reserved. His emotions are generally under the control of a strong will. His face and bearing repel rather than excite sympathy.

The French are an excitable people who like melodrama in their public life. Dreyfus is not a man capable of striking an attitude and posing before them as the victim of conspiracy and oppression who has baffled and triumphed gloriously over his enemies. He neither appeals to their imaginations nor excites their emotions. The pathos of his lot does not touch their hearts and induce hero-worship. Even when convinced of his innocence they will look upon him as an unfortunate Jew, who has been baited and nearly hounded to death.

Americans may judge of him differently, but Frenchmen are strangely and perversely indifferent to either English or American opinion. They can never make a popular idol of a scapegoat for the crimes of military intriguers. Their heroes must be men of action, with a vainglorious faith in their own destiny, with a theatrical air and with fascinations of personality. Dreyfus as he is seen at. Rennes is merely, in their eyes, a poor dupe who has suffered until the iron has entered into his soul.

At the time of writing this article Dreyfus's trial is not completed. Should he be acquitted his resignation from the army will probably follow, and years of exile in England. Evil passions have been excited by the prolonged excitement of the Dreyfus affair. The Jews in France will not benefit by his acquittal. They will be more vehemently disliked because he has been misjudged and cruelly wronged.

In any event Dreyfus will not have suffered in vain. Militarism will never again be the blind, unreasoning force which it has been in France. Justice and mercy, those grand Hebraic virtues of the ancient Scriptures, will have a deeper meaning throughout the world in consequence of the wrongs suffered by this patient, unhappy Alsatian Jew.

Orville Wright Is Aeroplane King

Printed Aug. 1909

Dayton Aviator Sets New Record for Endurance

Washington. — Flying 50 miles, which is more than double the distance across the English channel, Orville Wright, the American "king of the air," Tuesday at Fort Myer, broke the aeroplane endurance record, with Lieut. Frank P. Lahm, as a passenger. The machine was in the air one hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

The former record was made last year by his brother Wilbur, joint inventor with him of the machine in which both achievements were performed, at Le Mans, France, with Prof. Painleve of the French institute as passenger. That flight was one hour, nine minutes and 31 seconds.

The cheering which heralded the setting of a new mark in the conquest of the air was led by President Taft in person, who was an intensely interested spectator throughout the flight, and who insisted at its conclusion upon personally congratulating the brothers upon their success. This success was all-important to the Wrights in that it completed the first of two crucial tests of their machine imposed upon them by the United States government — the so-called "endurance test," which required them to remain one hour continuously in the air with one passenger.


Attempt to Fly Across English Channel Fails

Dover, England. — Hubert Latham's second attempt to fly across the English channel ended disastrously Tuesday. Almost in the moment of victory his monoplane fluttered down into the sea two miles beyond the Admiralty pier, like a bird with a broken wing. Thousands of persons crowding the water front saw the fall and feared Latham was dead.

A flock of large and small craft raced to the scene of the disaster, and a pinnace from the British battleship Russell picked up the unlucky flyer and put him aboard the French torpedo boat destroyer Escopette. After a surgeon had attended to his injuries the destroyer brought Latham ashore and he was taken to the Lord Warden hotel. His face was bandaged and bleeding and his nose was broken. The machine, badly wrecked, was hoisted from the boat to the dock.