The Piano

1895

Next to books there is no inanimate thing in the house that can produce so much profitable pleasure as a piano. A library and a piano are symbols of high cultivation. Those two spread that nobler banquet where the soul is fed without fear of gluttony or dissipation. As books bring into our daily circle as familiar companions the noblest spirits that ever wrought on earth and permit us to rear our children under the influences of the noblest natures, so the piano, with simple incantations, brings up from their sleep the noble brotherhood of song and persuades them to dwell among us. — Philadelphia Inquirer.


Trivia

The Greek holidays and festivals were very numerous. There were 50 beginning with the letter a, and besides these special festivals there were times set apart for the Isthmean, Nemean, Pythian and Olympian games, all of which were popular holidays.

Many glass ornaments found in Etruscan tombs contain small objects or images in the interior. How the ornaments were made is still a mystery.

During the time of Christ two sparrows were sold for a farthing, or, according to another evangelist, five were sold for 2 farthings.

Saranac, the name of the New York stream, means "river that flows under rocks."

The American Woman's Curiosity

1910

"The American woman's intellectual characteristic is curiosity. One feels she would like to have ten pairs of eyes so as to see everything, ten pairs of ears so as to hear everything. . . .

"When I sit down at table beside an American woman of Paris, she immediately asks me: "Have you seen such and such a play? Have you been to such and such an art exhibition? What do you think of this novel or of that philosophical or historical book recently published?' . . . And I am forced to admit that I have not seen the latest play, that for more than ten years I have not set my foot inside the annual 'salons,' that I read slowly and carefully, and am therefore forced to read but few books. And I know my American neighbor feels great disdain for my inculture. . . .

"Still I have infinite sympathy for her charming and universal intellectual curiosity; only long experience has taught me that man's head cannot contain too many ideas at once." — Marcel Prevost in Harper's Bazar.


Teach Them to Know Home City

The Buffalo board of education is considering a proposition to introduce in the public schools a textbook on Buffalo which will give pupils some knowledge of the industries and institutions of the city in which they live.

French Copying Many Yankee Notions

1910

By Harold F. Tracey

When in Paris lately I ran across so many Yankee notions and devices that I concluded the capital of La Belle France and New York City would be very much like twins after the lapse of a few more years.

They have American dentists, American saloons, where all kinds of mixed drinks of the sort we are used to are served; skating rinks, Luna park shows, shops where one can buy shoes from the Massachusetts factories, and hundreds of other products of the States.

You can see the fair dames of France wearing the long veils which the daughters of Uncle Sam introduced after motoring became fashionable and the Parisiennes have actually adopted the big handbags that only American women formerly carried on their shopping expeditions and by which their nationality was easily proclaimed.

I also saw in many stores roll top desks, adding machines and cash registers bought in this country and in my hotel in Paris was a mammoth self-playing piano which was branded U.S.A.

Great Influence of Beauty

1914

Though Too Often Ignored, It Is as Deep and Useful a Part of Life as Utility

Beauty is as deep and as useful a part of our general life as is what we term utility. It has just such a reason for being; it has a similar force; it has a set place in the scheme of the world. Eyes not fully opened to the beautiful are not wholly alive to the influence of beauty upon our lives and our actions. Alas! sometimes we scoff at the highest expressions of beauty. That is to say, the highest human expression.

Those even greater beauties, which are divine expressions, we ignore.

Just think for a moment. Take yourself away from yourself and contemplate yourself and your living, set against the background of the universal scheme of things. Think of the myriads of infinitely petty, wasteful and useless thoughts and actions, desires and dislikes which occupy your day. At the moment you read this, take yourself back two years ago. Of course, you have not the slightest conception of what happened. But let me tell you that on that day, two years ago, were happening too, a dozen or a hundred things which seemed to you to be supreme importance. Do you understand how we fill our lives to the brim with millions of such trifling inconsequences? — Kansas City Star.

Mrs. Minnie Crippen Writes of Interesting Experiences in Rome

Iowa, 1914

She and Miss Shurtieff of Chicago Pleasantly Located, but Weather Has Been Disagreeable — Speaks of Social Life, Churches and Points of Interest

An interesting letter received by Mrs. Myrtle I. Weishaar from Mrs. Minnie M. Crippen of Waterloo, who is touring Europe, was read at the meeting of the Woman's Improvement club this week with Mrs. C. C. Lindner. The letter, written at Rome, is as follows:

"It is on my conscience that I should be writing to you. By the time this reaches Waterloo Christmas and New Year's festivities will be past and the club will be meeting again in regular session. I was told when we came here that Rome had a winter — a rainy season. It was a long time coming this year, and it seems to have arrived. It rains every day and has become damp and unpleasant for getting about — so much so that I am not now getting out. Everyone has a cold. They tell us the this season is of short duration; that by February the winter is practically over. There is no freezing and the flower stands show an abundance of roses, carnations, violets and all sorts of beautiful blossoms. The fruit vendors are everywhere with their carts of oranges, chestnuts, apples, etc.

"Sunshine is needed in Italy just now, and it is not sunny Italy, at least at the present writing.

"This is about the beginning of 'the season' here. The first of next month the hotels put up their prices and until after Easter there will be very many tourists.

"It is more wintry elsewhere than here and by comparison this climate is pleasanter.

Social Affairs

"Alice (Miss Alice Shurtleff) is full of enthusiasm and has a big party on hand for Christmas eve. Young people from the school — painters, sculptors and archaeologists — are going to be entertained at Prof. Hendrickson's, and the girls are busy with decorations and getting ready for games. Then there is to be a Christmas dinner and a tree. Our home here is most delightful and home-like. We are so well satisfied that we have changed from where we first stayed. The hostesses are Italian ladies, very competent. One is an artist, another a teacher. All but one are signorina (maiden ladies). When you want to stay awhile in Rome I will give you this address. It has a peculiar arrangement of rooms. Most of these places are old palaces, you know, and not built for the purposes for which they are now used.

"I am writing on both sides of the paper to save weight. One often has funny experiences with postage here, and you cannot understand why. Often they will attach a penalty and make the fellow at the other end of the line pay it, when there really is not any too much weight. So I try to get my paper well covered.

Sociability Among Americans

"Prof. Carter is at the head of the American school of classics here in Rome, and they live at the Villa Aurelia, a most beautiful place. Mrs. Carter entertains most sumptuously and on New Year's eve there is to be a reception and dance, to which we are invited. The ladies all have their afternoons and as Alice is fond of making friends, we go quite often. There is a great deal of sociability among the Americans residing in Rome, and their homes seem very beautifully and artistically furnished. Many of them have those lovely Italian gardens, with balconies overbanking, and if on the sunny side of the building, and there they usually build them, they are always warm, so that after lunch they will serve their coffee or tea on the balcony, and with the creeping vines and tropical trees and foliage you are reminded of things that you have read, or dreamed about.

Audience With Pope

"Alice had a letter of introduction to the man at the head of the American school of priests and he arranged for us to have an audience with his holiness, Pope Pius X. So we proceeded to the Vatican at the appointed hour. The pontifical palace of the Vatican is composed of many united in one, built at different periods and designed by the most celebrated architects. It has three stories and possesses immense halls, vast courts, innumerable suites of rooms, unrivaled museums and galleries of sculptures and paintings. On the right of the entrance is posted the Swiss guards, who present a striking appearance clad in their picturesque uniforms, first designed by Michael Angelo. We passed the inner staircase, which leads to the court of St. Damascus, then to the royal staircase, a most majestic flight of steps leading to the royal hall. We were met there by more guards in costume, and received by a very grand looking man, dressed in crimson brocade velvet, who spoke English very well and was most cordial, telling us just what to do about our wraps and veils. You understand that for a visit to the pope you must wear a black veil draped over your head and be dressed in black, the gentlemen in full dress. There were some beautiful veils there that day. Then we were shown into a large, elegantly furnished and decorated room. There were quite a number there that morning, many sisters of charity of different orders, and visitors — tourists I judge. We were seated along the wall and I began studying the lovely frescoes and beautiful ceiling. Heavy crimson draperies were hung at the end of the room and I expected to see the pope pass from one of them into this room. The light was subdued and it was very impressive, but after awhile there was a stir and we were all shown through a number of more rooms, all elegant and gorgeous, with beautiful paintings and tapestries, the finest I ever expect to see, and into a suite of lovely rooms with beautiful Persian and Oriental carpets and rugs, like silken draperies, and lovely lace curtains letting in the full sunlight and seeming home-like and inviting.

Pope Clad in White

"There the pope met us dressed all in white, in fine harmony with his white hair and cap, and his mild and benevolent face. He received us kindly and gave us his blessing. Everyone knelt. There were three rooms filled with sisters. The cardinal that we hear of so often as never leaving the pope was there, and he certainly has an unusual personality. One could not help feeling the vigilance of his eyes. They seemed to see everywhere at once and he was so supple and graceful in his movements. The personal guards of the pope are so gorgeously attired as those of the king. In the post card that I send you you will see them just as they appeared. The very last one is one of the Swiss guards; the others are the body guards. The pope is the foremost one in white. He is walking in his garden. One is admitted to the garden by getting a permit, and one lovely day I asked for one and received it, so wandered all through the garden. I am glad I saw it before it rained so much for it was such a warm, nice day and the flowers and fruit were all so perfect. We live right in the piazza of one of the oldest churches, the Santa Maria Maggiore.

Relics Displayed

"The following relics kept in the church will be shown to the public on Christmas as is usual: Some pieces of stone from the stable in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born; the swaddling bands in which the infant was wrapped; some of the hay, which was spread in the manger; and, most important of all, six pieces of wood with which the manger was lined. There are the relics of the sacred culle, or cradle, brought from Bethlehem to Rome in the seventh century, and placed in this Basilica.

"At 6:40 a. m. the chapter of the Basilica goes in procession from the papal altar to the chapel of the sacristy, where the holy relics are on exhibition. (They are placed where they can be inspected only on Christmas eve.) The relics are then borne in procession through the church to the papal altar, to remain there on exhibition until 5 p. m. The music is very good at the service and the whole service is one of the finest in Rome.

"I suppose you know the whole story of the finding of Mona Lisa. It is now in Rome and on exhibition at the museum in the Villa Borghese. A number have been out to see it from this house. They say the crowds are such that you have to get into line. It will be here until the 27th. If I don't see it here, I will likely have the opportunity in Paris. I wish you a Happy New Year.
"Very sincerely,
"MINNIE M. CRIPPEN."

—Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Jan. 17, 1914, p. 3.

Women Becoming Manly, Men Effeminate, Foppish

1910

Woman Developing Strong Arm

While Men Are Changing to Effeminate, Foppish Persons

Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 28 — Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, a celebrated authority on physical development, declares that woman is fast assuming the physical proportions and mental characteristics of man. Dr. Sargent is director of the Harvard and Sargent gymnasiums in this city. He cites from a model of a composite woman, molded from measurements made from 10,000 women, all taken prior to the year 1890. On the other hand, he avers that man is inclining toward effeminacy.

"Although I've no actual figures to verify the statement," Dr. Sargent says, "I know for a fact that the women of today are more mannish than the women of that time. Women, in the savage state, are so like men in form that it is well nigh impossible to tell them apart. Then, as civilization progressed, their especially feminine characteristics became accentuated, until the exaggeration was almost painful to look at.

"Then the pendulum began to swing the other way. Women are again beginning to look and be more like men. Great changes in this direction have been made since the molding of that statue. The women from whom the measurements for it were taken were different in conformation compared with those of today. The composite was the extreme type of femininity. She was woman overwomanized. Her hips and all the pelvic portion were overlarge. Her waist was oversmall. Her feet were undeveloped. So were her back and neck.

"Since that time her physique has been thoroughly made over. It is approaching that of man. The sloping shoulders of her grandmother's time have disappeared. They are no longer in fashion. In their place we find well-knit, athletic shoulders, broad ones. Her back, likewise, is better developed. Her hips are not so large as they once were. The entire pelvic region has decreased in size and the result has been an enlargement of the waist. The small waist is a thing of the past. Her neck is thicker and more muscular; her limbs more smoothly developed; her hands and feet are larger in every respect. Her chest has been said to be flatter. I should hardly wish to endorse that last opinion. It is true, however, that her chest may appear flatter, because I am glad to say the corset, which formerly forced it upward, has of late, been somewhat modified.

"Another reason for the change in woman's physique is that within the past 10 years women have done a great deal more in the way of athletics than they did formerly. Golf, tennis, running and swimming have done much to improve woman's physical development.

"It is a rule that one may take few exceptions to, that if a woman devotes herself to the activities of a man, there is bound to be a loss of sex. This approximation of man's physique is, from an anthropological point of view, a bad thing. It is to be hoped that men and women do not grow to be more alike than they are today. The same may be said of men. From the overdeveloped Sandow, man has changed to the effeminate and the foppish being. The assimilating of the sexes by each other is a possibility to be decried."

—Olean Evening Times, Olean, NY, Nov. 29, 1910, p. 2.