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.

Gibbon on Fame and Happiness

1910

Edward Gibbon, the historian, was not one to underestimate the pleasures of intellectual occupation or the value of literary fame. "I have drawn a high prize in the lottery of life," he wrote in his autobiography. "I am disgusted with the affectation of men of letters who complain that they have renounced a substance for a shadow, and that their fame affords a poor compensation for envy, censure and persecution.

"My own experience has taught me a very different lesson; twenty happy years have been animated by the labors of my history and its success has given me a name, a rank, a character in the world to which I should otherwise not have been entitled.

"D'Alembert relates that as he was walking in the gardens of Sans Souci with the king of Prussia, Frederick said to him, 'Do you see that old woman, a poor weeder, asleep on that sunny bank? She is probably a more happy being than either of us.'

"The king and philosopher may speak for themselves; for my part, I do not envy the old woman." — Youth's Companion.


Social Requirement

When a young girl appears at the theater with a young man who is a stranger in town, she should circulate a note among her friends telling who he is. It is very hard for the women to enjoy a performance with their curiosity unsatisfied. — Atchison Globe.

A Literary Curiosity — 38 Lines, Different Poets, One Poem

1878

A Literary Curiosity

A lady occupied a whole year in searching for and fitting the following thirty-eight lines from English and American poems. The whole reads almost as if it had been written at one time and by one author:

LIFE

Why all this toil for the triumphs of an hour? —Young.
Life's short summer — man is but a flower; —Dr. Johnson.
By turns we catch the fatal breath and die —Pope.
The cradle and the tomb, alas! so nigh. —Prior.
To be is better far than not to be. —Sewell.
Though all man's life may seem a tragedy; —Spencer.
But light cares speak when mighty grief is dumb— —Daniel.
The bottom is but shallow whence they come. —St. Walter Ralph.
Your fate is but the common fate of all; —Longfellow.
Unmingled joys here no man befall. —Southwell.
Nature to each allots his proper sphere. —Congreve.
Fortune makes folly her peculiar care; —Churchill.
Custom does often reason overrule, —Rochester.
And throw a cruel sunshine on a fool. —Armstrong.
Live well — how long or short permit to heaven —Milton.
Those who forgive most shall be most forgiven. —Bailey.
Since may be clasped so close we cannot see its face— —French.
Vile intercourse where virtue has not place. —Somerville.
Then keep each passion however dear, —Thompson.
Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear; —Byron.
Her sensual shares let faithless pleasure lay, —Smollet.
With craft and skill to ruin and betray. —Crabbe.
Soar not too high to fall, but stoop to rise; —Massinger.
We masters grow of all that we despise. —Crowley.
Oh, then, renounce that impious self-esteem; —Beattie.
Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream. —Cowper.
Think not ambition wise because 'tis brave. —Sir Wm. Davenaut.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave. —Gray.
What is ambition? 'Tis but a glorious cheat. —Willis.
Only destructive to the brave and great. —Addison.
What's all the gaudy glitter of a crown? —Dryden.
The way to bliss lies not on beds of down. —Francis Quaries.
How long we live, not years but actions tell; —Watkins.
That man lives twice who lives the first life well. —Herrick.
Make, then, while yet ye may, your God your friend. —Wm. Mason.
Whom Christians worship, yet not comprehend. —Hill.
The trust that's given guard, and to yourself be just; —Dana.
For live we how we may, yet die we must. —Shakespeare.

—Daily Star, Marion, OH, April 1, 1878, p. 2.