Farmer Henryer Meant Well, but He Didn't Deserve a Good Wife

1895

Old Ripley Henryer is a well to do farmer with skinflint tendencies whose life has been passed without an emotion except what may have been engendered in getting money together and holding fast to it.

When his father died a quarter of a century ago, his mother concluded she could not get along without him, so she quickly followed the same way, and Ripley, coming into possession of the homestead, felt the necessity for a good cook and washerwoman. Then he prevailed upon Hetty Mercer, an affectionate and pretty girl of the neighborhood, to assume those duties, first making her his wife.

It is possible he said nothing to her of the obligations attendant upon the wifely relations, but that made no difference as to results. Ripley was strong as an ox, and, a hard worker himself, he had no use for lazy people and no excuses for those who were weaker than himself.

As time passed little Henryers, one, two, three, five in all, came into the family fold, each one adding to the wife's cares, and meantime Ripley added to his acres.

The number of hired men increased, but in all the years it never occurred to him that the mother of his children might need help in her department. Hired girls were "scarce and awful high," as he put it when one of the neighbors reminded him of his remissness.

Hetty bore her yoke in silence and might have been contented even but for the man's utter lack of sentiment or affection. She had never felt the gentle pressure of his hand in soft caress, and he had never kissed her in his life. She grew old fast, faded and drooped, and finally even the stolid, sordid husband saw the necessity of calling in a doctor.

When the latter was leaving the house, he called Ripley aside and said:

"Suppose you show your wife a little kindness. I think a bit of affection will do her more good than medicine. She's in a bad way and may die."

The selfish fellow was frightened at the prospect of losing his cook and faithful housekeeper, and after some deliberation he entered her bedchamber and awkwardly approached her side, then stooped over and kissed her pale, cold brow.

The poor woman, who for 25 years had been dying for sympathy and love, was so startled at this exhibition of feeling on the part of her husband that tears of thankfulness gathered in her eyes and then rolled down her cheeks.

The lubberly fellow started back at sight of this evidence of weakness and blurted out:

"Gosh! Hetty, you needn't mind it. I didn't mean nothing by it. Doc, he said it mebbe'd make you feel better."

Then the tears dried quickly enough, and the woman turned her pallid face toward the wall.

When Ripley came back an hour later, all the kisses in the world could not have brought moisture to her eyes. The office of cook and laundress was vacant in his house. — Chicago Tribune.

When The Heat Is Greatest

1901

When the heat is greater out of doors than indoors, it is a mistake to think that open windows will cool a room. Instead, in the early morning, after the room is dusted and put in order, the windows should be shut and the shades drawn down and kept so until the sun has gone.

When the sun shines on the window most of the day, it should be protected by an awning of some sun resisting color that will keep out all stray sunbeams. An awning, even with the shades lifted, will keep a room comparatively dark and cool.

When it is necessary to keep a sickroom cool, an excellent plan is to open the door and almost shut it as fast as possible for about 20 or 30 times in succession; nothing changes the air in a room so quickly or so well. Then wet cloths should be hung before the open windows or anywhere where a draft of air may pass through them. Plenty of cracked ice is necessary in hot weather within reach of the patient, and in the room quite a good sized block of it in a deep pan will help keep the temperature down. — Helen Tripp in American Queen.

The Diseased Rich at Baden-Baden

The Diseased Rich at Baden-Baden

1901

A great deal of grandeur always makes me homesick. It isn't envy. I don't want to be a princess and have the bother of winding a horn for my outriders when I want to run to the drug store for postage stamps, but pomp depresses me.

Everybody was strange, foreign languages were pelting me from the rear, noiseless flunkies were carrying pampered lap dogs with crests on their nasty little embroidered blankets, fat old women with epilepsy and gouty old men with scrofula, representing the aristocracy at its best, were being half carried to and from tables, and the degeneracy of noble Europe was being borne in upon my soul with a sickening force.

The purple twilight was turning black on the distant hills, and the silent stars were slowly coming into view. Clean, health giving Baden-Baden. In the valley of the Oos, with its beauty and its pure air, was holding out her arms to all the disease and filth that degenerate riches produce. — Lillian Bell in Woman's Home Companion.

Healthy Open Air Life

1901

Modern humanity has done much to throw away the generous gift of robust health. By warm clothing, indoor fires and an overgenerous diet we have rendered ourselves comparatively independent of heat and cold.

And the direct result has been that modern skins are not as robust as were those of our ancestors. They are thinner, more delicate and less able to form an efficient protection for the body.

As originally intended, the skin is the great protecting mantle, which, properly performing its function, is able to keep the body as warm under the gray sky of December as in the sunshine of a summer afternoon.

Why is it that people in town catch cold more readily than their country cousins?

Why is it that soldiers on campaign, even though repeatedly wet through and without any change of clothes, are notoriously free from colds? Why is it that pampered people are so liable to take "a chill?"

The answer is: Country people, soldiers on campaign and all who lead an open air, natural life have healthier, stronger and more industrious skins than their more artificial fellow citizens.

Willah Belle Schenck

1904, Leon, Iowa area

Willah Belle Schenck was born Nov. 22, 1877, at Decatur City, Iowa, and died at Leon, Iowa, Dec. 25, 1904, being 27 years and one month old at the time of her death. She joined the M. E. church when she was 15 years of age. For several years she was an active member of the Epworth League and Sunday School, and at last after great suffering her work is done and she has gained the majority.

This third death of the children of Brother and Sister Schenck within two years from the dread disease that has taken them away, falls upon them with a peculiar weight of sorrow. Desolation naturally comes upon the family. Gloom, grief, helplessness against the grim destroyer seizes the soul until pent up grief finds relief in tears, yet not relief for tears do not give relief but temporary ease. God only can give relief and consolation. The whole community, bound by a sense of brotherhood of man begs to be permitted to bear a share of the sorrow that has come to this home. Seven weeks ago the other daughter was carried to the grave and today made doubly gloomy by the disagreeable weather, we place the remains of Willah beside her brother and sister. What is left? Vacant chairs, voices loud in their silence. But memory is immortal; and these cannot be forgotten. We leave them with God, who doeth all things well.


Earlier article

Mrs. T. H. Schenck and daughters, Willah, Jennie and Mrs. M. H. Flinn, returned last Thursday from Lamar, Colo., where they spent the greater part of the past winter for the benefit of Miss Willah's health. Her friends will be glad to know that her health is much improved.


Earlier article

On last Friday Mrs. Fred L. Conrey entertained a party of young ladies in honor of Miss Willah Schenck, at a 12 o'clock dinner. It might more properly have been called a talking party, for those present indulged in a social view of old times. The guests were: Misses Willah Schenck, Ida Hebener, Maude Metier, of Leon, Miss Myrta Howell, of Davis City, and Mrs. Nannie Warrington, of Garden Grove.

Omaha Greatly Excited by Medicine Man

1910

"The Great Cooper" Stirs Up City to Remarkable Degree

Omaha, Nebraska, January 26. — This city is at present in the midst of an excitement beyond anything that it has experienced in recent years. Old and young, rich and poor, all seem to have become beside themselves over an individual who was a stranger to Omaha up to two weeks ago.

The man who has created all this turmoil is L. T. Cooper, President of the Cooper Medicine Co., of Dayton, Ohio, who is at present introducing his preparations in this city for the first time.

Cooper is a man about thirty years of age and has acquired a fortune within the past two years by the sale of some preparations of which he is the owner.

Reports from eastern cities that preceded the young man here were of the most startling nature, many of the leading dailies going so far as to state that he had nightly cured in public places rheumatism of years' standing with one of his preparations. The physicians of the East contradicted this statement, claiming the thing to be impossible, but the facts seemed to bear out the statement that Cooper actually did so.

In consequence people flocked to him by thousands and his preparations sold like wildfire.

Many of these stories were regarded as fictitious in Omaha and until Cooper actually reached this city little attention was paid to them. Hardly had the young man arrived, however, when he began giving demonstrations, as he calls them, in public, and daily met people afflicted with rheumatism, and with a single application of one of his preparations actually made them walk without the aid of either canes or crutches.

In addition to this work Cooper advanced the theory that stomach trouble is the foundation of nine out of ten diseases and claimed to have a preparation that would restore the stomach to working order and thus get rid of such troubles as catarrh and affections of the kidneys and liver, in about two weeks' time.

This statement seems to have been borne out by the remarkable results obtained through the use of his preparation, and now all Omaha is apparently mad over the young man.

How long the tremendous interest in Cooper will last is hard to estimate. At present there seems to be no sign of a let-up. Reputable physicians claim it to be a fad that will die out as soon as Cooper leaves.

In justice to him, however, it must be said that he seems to have accomplished a great deal for the sick of this city with his preparations.

Harry Potter, Colored Loiterer, Still in Jail

Excerpt from court news, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1916

The drunks let go this morning were Walter Kelsey, Dan McMuller and John Starr, the latter claiming to have been robbed of $45. Duke Bransirattor will be up again on Feb. 7. James Moran, a vag, and Harry Potter, a colored loiterer, were ordered hold until Feb. 12.

—Fort Wayne News, Feb. 5, 1916, p. 4.


Siloam Fight Monday

Siloam Springs, Ark., May 27. - A group of Tulsa amateur boxers will meet mittmen from Tahlequah, Okla. and Siloam here Monday night, May 29. Harry Potter, Tulsa, and Philip Bluebird, Tahlequah, and Jack Sikes, Tulsa, and Hoss Glory, Tahlequah, head the card.

—Fayetteville Daily Democrat, Fayetteville, Arkansas, May 27, 1933, p. 3.


El Paso, Texas, 1937

Mrs. Harry Potter has returned from a visit of several months in the East.


Salem, Ohio, 1894

Harry Potter, who has been visiting friends here, left last Saturday for Mansfield.


New Castle, Pennsylvania, 1940

Harry Potter, of East Washington street, who has been ill at his home, is somewhat improved.

Ulcers — Scientific Explanation from 1900

1900

An ulcer is a sore on the skin or mucous membrane, in which the healing process is very slow or wholly at a standstill. It may be due to a number of causes, some constitutional, others local; but even when a local cause seems most evident, there is almost always some constitutional taint present as well. This may be consumption, diabetes, gout, and so forth, or merely a little impurity of the blood resulting from constipation or indigestion. Ulcers in the mouth, on the tongue, or at the union of the cheeks and gums, are very common and exceedingly annoying. They should be treated by frequent rinsing of the mouth with a solution of boric acid or borax, and can usually be prevented in great measure by reducing the sweets and starchy food, such as bread, that enter into the diet.

A common seat of ulcers is the shin. Sores occur here especially in the aged or those past middle life, and are commonly due to the presence of varicose veins. These are caused by pressure from tight garters, by congestive disorders of the liver and other abdominal organs, and by any occupation which requires standing for many hours a day.

Ulcers of this kind are found more frequently on the left leg than on the right. They sometimes give little trouble, but they may be exquisitely painful, and are often most rebellious to treatment, which must be both local and general, corresponding to the local and constitutional causes.

All disorders of digestion must be corrected as far as possible, and the diet regulated. The food should be nourishing, but not stimulating, and all forms of alcoholic beverages are to be foregone. The patient should keep perfectly quiet, either in bed or with the leg supported on a chair.

The local treatment must be varied according to the necessities of each case. The sore must be kept clean by pouring over it twice a day a stream of boiled (not boiling) water, and in the intervals of washing it should be protected from the air. The leg must be kept snugly bandaged or encased in an elastic stocking, so as to prevent stagnation of the blood and distention of the veins.

A piece of silver foil smoothly applied over the surface of the ulcer and for a little distance beyond its edges, and kept in place by a bandage, often does good. Sometimes, when the extent of ulcerated surface is very large, skin-grafting is necessary in order to start the healing process. — Youth's Companion.

Tallest Man Reported Ill

1915

Captain Bates, Aged 70, Is Nearly 8 Feet in Height

SEVILLE, Ohio, Dec. 16. — The tallest man in Ohio is ill at his home near Seville. He is Capt. M. V. Bates and is 7 feet 11½ inches tall. Bates' wife, who is caring for him, is slightly over five feet.

Being ill is a new experience for Capt. Bates. Until a few weeks ago he worked daily on his 150-acre farm here.

Capt. Bates quit the circus sideshows in 1880 and settled on his farm. He is now seventy years old.



Bullet Kills Rat; Also Man

Glances Off Rodent's Body, Hitting Spectator in Stomach

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Dec. 16. — The bullet which killed a rat in the restaurant at 239 Cedar avenue, claimed its human victim when Daniel Golden died at the City Hospital.

Tuesday night Thomas Christo, employed in the restaurant, took a shot at a big gray rat. The bullet killed the rat, glanced and struck Golden in the stomach.

Gone Are Days of Flim-Flammers

1915

"Very Simple, Dear Friends. Doesn't Hurt a Bit."

Nowadays in country towns there are those who occasionally take a desperate chance at impromptu crimes, robberies, holdup or sneak thief jobs, but the day of the professional flim-flammer who set out deliberately to bamboozle the people — and invariably did — is gone. The people of the rural communities have grown too "wise." They recognize a four-flusher the moment he hits the town and his "line of stuff" simply doesn't go.

And how the professional Doctor Bunkmores long for "the good old days!"

Take the old-timers who worked the medicine game. They carried a full outfit, including orchestra, band and specialty performers, to attract and hold the attention of the population of the localities they worked. These good people, uninitiated into the workings of this highly specialized graft game, would stand gaping while Doctor Bunkmore would explain how his particular "cure all" was discovered by a missionary in some far-off land, who noticed the natives were never sick, and that they lived to a ripe old age without any pains or aches.

Doctor Bunkmore would dwell upon the wonderful effect of his "Liveo" plant — the basis of his remedy — and how the natives in the far-off lands derived great benefit from eating it.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he would say, "I have here a remedy that will make you feel like an entirely new person. No longer will you need to suffer — no matter what your ailment. My good friends, the greatest trouble I experience is to induce a trial by the afflicted."

Then he'd ask for volunteers to demonstrate the curative effect of his medicine. He would urge those who suffered from toothache to pay special attention.

"I want you to come up to the platform," he would say in his most persuasive tones, "and see how easily and quickly I can save you further annoyance with your teeth. You can have your molars removed without pain by the mere rubbing of the gums with this 'miracle.'"

And then he'd arrange his chair and instruments.

"Come right up! Don't be a doubter!"

The cry of the doctor could be heard at a great distance for his voice had been trained to address large assemblages. Then a couple of supposed outsiders who traveled with Doctor Bunkmore all the time would step up, one with his jaw bandaged and claiming he had four teeth that several dentists had refused to remove, fearing to break his jaw and cause lockjaw.

With an air of confidence, the doctor would seat him and apply the remedy to the gums prior to an examination; whereupon the patient's legs would cease waving as from relief of pain.

While the operator inserted an instrument into the man's mouth, the audience would watch with breathless interest.

Old Doc Bunkmore Yanks Out the Offending Molars

Doctor Bunkmore would get a hold with his instrument of a tooth which he had slipped in while making his diagnosis. He would give a slight twist and pull and presto! out would come the tooth. After showing the offending molar to the crowd, the "doctor" would drop it into a tin pan so that all might hear it strike, and repeat the operation until three or four were extracted.

The patient, who had acted as tho asleep, would be asked to stand. Then he would open his eyes as tho awakened from a pleasant dream.

Doctor Bunkmore began to appear to the audience as a wonderful person and expressions of amazement could be heard on all sides. Then patient No. 2, another hired worker of the flim-flammers, would do his stunt equally as well.

And then came the big rush!

Often there'd be as many as fifty men — real, live ones, willing to pay cold cash — ready and anxious to go thru the "painless" operation of having their teeth removed by the great Doctor Bunkmore.

While the band would play so as to drown the squeal of the native as the "doctor" yanked out a tooth, the other victims-to-be would crowd and push ahead for their opportunity to have "Liveo" rubbed across their teeth before the simple — emphasis on the simple — operation was performed. The poor chump would have no chance to move for the doctor would stand straddling his knees as tho they were in a vice, while two husky attendants would hold down his arms and shoulders. No matter how much he squeaked, the slam, bang, bang, ta-rah-rah, of the band would out-noise him. When the teeth were out, one of the assistants would pat him on the back and say: "Ah, you're a game fellow, all right. You've got plenty of nerve." The patient would seek to cover up his yellow streak. He'd slip into the crowd without a murmur. Often he'd deliberately lie that the operation "didn't hurt a bit."

Doctor Bunkmore, having demonstrated the beneficial effects of his "Liveo" would start to place it on sale at $1 a bottle. How cheap! Cheap at twice the price. The bottles of "Liveo" would go like a house afire.

The story is told that one of such "doctors," whose home was in Illinois, who sent barrel after barrel of teeth home to gravel his walk and driveway.

An old-time circus man, speaking of this flim-flamming game, spun this yarn the other day:

"I was once spending the cold months in a Florida city years ago, and from reason of having owned a concession the season just passed was living on easy street. I was particularly impressed with the number of afflicted and crippled people, white and black.

"I had been there about three weeks when advance notice was posted of the coming of a 'classical concert and colossal band,' which was billed for the following week.

"Well, the following Monday the concert company blew into town like a circus. They owned a large waterproof tent seating about 2,000 people, carried a large number of musicians as well as performers, and distributed handbills announced that, commencing at 7:30 p.m. Monday, and every evening during the week, a free concert would be given on the ground.

"Monday night the tent was filled with working people and not a single speech from the doctor or even an intimation of the object of the visit.

"Tuesday evening the crowd was increased by half, and during the intermission between orchestra and vaudeville parts of the program the doctor arose and quietly announced that he proposed selling an absolute instantaneous cure for any swelling or trouble resulting in lameness or nonuse of limbs, as well as rheumatism or kindred ailments, informing them that not one bottle would be sold until acceptable proof had been given, and asked any present to bring a suffering friend, no matter how badly afflicted, the following night, for he desired proving his assertions by relatives and others who lived in the city, whom they knew, and in whom they had confidence.

:A victim was being led toward the stage by two friends. As he drew near I recognized him as 'Uncle Joel' who sold papers in front of the post office and who I understood was a preacher.

"I had seen him daily, seated in his chair with his crutches by his side and legs tied up in a bow knot, from reason, as he said, 'sitic rhum'tism' that had troubled him for 'fo-teen years.'

"He was gently lifted to one of the half dozen cots that had been placed on the elevation.

"Then the doctor pointed to the Col. Wilder negro and another man who from reason of his condition had been laying on the ground, and they were assisted up, groaning, swearing and praying in turn.

"The Wilder patient gave his name as Rufus Johnson, and said he had been hurt by a falling tree striking his back 'six years gone.'

"They were a queer bunch, each with his crutches and bandages, and the audience seemed to hold its breath in suspense as to what would come next, as the doctor quietly ordered his attendants to strip Rufus from the waist up.

"After his old coat and shirt had been removed, one of the attendants held a brilliant light while the doctor diagnosed the case, and that part of the crowd in his rear gasped when they saw the scars on his back.

"One of the assistants handed the doctor a bottle, from the contents of which he saturated a cloth and began applying to the back bones, then forced the patient to lean over in his chair with his head down, while he laid a strip of cotton along the vertebra and soaked it with the remedy, cautioning Rufus not to move, informing the audience that paralysis of the lower limbs was caused by pressure on the spinal cord and that it might require some time to secure results.

"The doctor then requested absolute silence as he turned to Rufus, felt his pulse gently, turned down the top of the cotton which plastered his back, and noted the result of the application; then motioned for his first assistant, who came over and took a peep, nodded his head and smilingly shook the doctor's hand, and it looked to me as tho the doctor dropped his worry mask.

"Turning to the negro he ordered him to raise his right foot. The man groaned and made effort, but failed.

"Turning suddenly, and in a commanding voice, he said: 'Stand up!'

"Rufus stood up with his mouth open and felt his legs, first the right, then the left; a peculiar look passed over his face as he carefully pinched his lower limbs.

"His walk improved with every step until he suddenly stopped and said, 'Gimme them crutches!' and when they were handed him he threw them off the platform to the ground, saying, 'Good-by, old sticks, we's pahted, and I'se gwine to walk widout you after this.'

"The audience began to sit up and take notice, and when one of the men who had been carried in on a cot sprang from his bed and jumped up and shouted a half dozen times and dropped on his knees to give thanks, then joining the four who were now walking around in excitement, it was then the crowd broke loose like crazy people. Then hundreds crowded up and demanded to purchase the medicine. Hundreds of bottles were sold at $2 per bottle, or two bottles for $3. I bought a bottle, tho I had to put up a hard fight to get to the platform.

"That night the doctor and his crowd left the city to fill an engagement somewhere, and early the next morning I packed my grip and went to New Orleans to dig up the best chemist money could induce to analyze the stuff.

"I paid $150 to be informed that the analysis showed only a few cheap ingredients, all harmless, and without curative properties.

"I learned later that the doctor had in his employ a dozen 'high-class' white men and about twenty picked negroes, whom he had carefully trained and divided into two or three companies, one of which would be sent to a city about three weeks in advance of his entry.

"The whites were furnished with plenty of money, stopped at the best hotels, and, as good mixers, under pretext of tourist or speculator, made friends with the best people. All were under strict instruction not to associate with one another; the negroes to always claim residence in the county, hobble on crutches in public, and each, under assignment of the white boss, asked to carefully cultivate the acquaintance of certain business or professional men, so that the latter would afterward recommend them for cure when called upon by the doctor's assistants.

"The company carried a good artist, who, prior to the public appearance of the patients, would paint scars, cancers and knots true to life on the person of the 'patient.' He could also shade a leg or arm to look large or small, and, naturally, when the doctor applied the remedy, under cover of the cotton, he would rub away the painting."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 12.

Woman Fought for Liberty

Woman Fought for Liberty

1900

Deborah Sampson, who enlisted in the continental army as Robert Shurtleff, was one of the most dashing and bravest fighters for the cause of liberty. She enlisted in a Massachusetts regiment and served three years before it was known that the brave soldier was a woman.

She was taken ill in Philadelphia and the hospital nurse had pronounced her dead, but a slight gurgling attracted the doctor's attention. He placed his hand over her heart, and finding, to his surprise, an inner waistcoat tightly compressing her breast, ripped it open. She was immediately removed to the matron's apartments, where everything was done for her comfort.

The commanding officer, upon learning that his aid was a woman, granted her an honorable discharge and presented her with a letter from Washington commending her services. The humble soldier stood before him with shining eyes filled with tears and thanked him many times, begging him to ask that her fellow soldiers be told and that he ask them to tell him if she had done aught that was unbecoming a woman. This was done and her comrades and officers declared their respect for her was unbounded.

Upon her honorable discharge from the army she returned to her mother's home, striving to escape the calumny which followed her singular career. After Gen. Washington became president he wrote a most cordial letter to Mrs. Gannett (Deborah Sampson — she having married in the meantime), inviting "Robert Shurtleff" to visit him. She accepted and was treated with the greatest honors by the president and residents of Washington. — Ladies' Home Journal.


Too Early In The Day

When Sir Frederick Carrington was in South Africa before with the Bechanaland border police a new recruit wanted to join. He was questioned with martial-like severity, winding up with the question: "Do you drink?" As there was a syphon of soda and something suspiciously like whisky near it, the would-be recruit conceived the idea that he had been invited to partake. Nevertheless he answered the colonel's question with a modest, "No, thank you, sir; It's rather too early in the day for me."

People Retain Belief in Amulets

1910

Superstitions That Once Were General Throughout the World Not Yet Entirety Gone

Faith in the virtue of amulets was well-nigh universal in ancient days; Lord Bacon says the historians had firm belief in them. Indeed, much of the art of medicine consisted in the direction for their employment. Gems, gold, stones, bones, bits of parchment with sacred writing, cylinders of stones, unicorns' horns, all of these would protect against the invading spirits or the influence of the evil eye.

This is the origin of countless popular superstitions that remain to this day. The form has been handed down, while the theories which prompted it have long since been lost sight of. This is why some people carry in their pocket a horse chestnut or a new potato to ward off rheumatism; this is why others tie around the necks of their children a tarred rope as a preventive against all the diseases common to children; this is why others think a gold chain will prevent quinsy sore throat, or a string of root beads worn around the neck will help children to cut teeth.

The coral beads which ease the troubles of teething children and the amber beads which cure asthma are beliefs which are firmly adhered to to this day. Pliny relates that Domitius Nero used to wear the hair of his wife on his neck, thinking it beneficial because it was amber colored. Amulets for teething are of very old date, and as red was a favorite color for an amulet, it can easily be seen how the coral necklace came to be so popular for infants who were teething.

Red was considered very potent in warding off the evil eye. In time of trouble, when the evil eye was especially triumphant, all the red tape in a certain county in England was brought up to ward off its baleful influence. The remains of this superstition still prevail, for many people believe that a red string around the neck is an excellent remedy for asthma, measles and mumps. The preservation of faith in red still exists, as is shown in the great virtues of red flannel, and the belief that the milk of the red cow is better than that of a cow of another color.

The German peasant, if he cuts himself, thinks he stanches the blood better with a red ribbon. This may be accounted for not only by tradition, but by the fact that blood would not form so startling a contrast when wetting a red ribbon as when wetting a white one.


They Really Believe It

Some people cling to the old-fashioned idea that a man must be a genius if he goes about with hair.

Flu Victim Sleeps 26 Days

1920

Strange Illness Sets in Whole Year After Epidemic Attack

OXFORD, Pennsylvania — Influenza is blamed for a stupor that has afflicted a youth of this place for twenty-six days. The lad is Chester Williams, 19-year-old son of William Williams, a farmer.

In good health the lad bade his father "good night" several weeks ago and retired in a lively mood. Next morning he could not be aroused. He has now slept twenty-six days, but at times he appears to be semi-conscious and then he is fed. He understands at these times what is said to him, but cannot talk. Once he did speak to his father in a very weak voice.

Dr. Wilson, who is attending the lad, thinks his condition might have been caused by an attack of influenza that he suffered over a year ago. He eats heartily when in the state of semi-wakefulness and drinks much water.


Burglars Build Wooden Platform

CHESTER, Pennsylvania — Burglars took time to build a wooden platform in front of a window at the store of Benjamin Bischof, in Essington. After destroying a lot of stock they took goods valued at several hundred dollars. The proprietor thinks it was done partly as an act of revenge, as he was threatened several weeks ago.

Catching Cold, Cough, Consumption

1874

Antique Medical Advice That Might Still Be Good — Who Knows?

A large number of fatal diseases result from taking cold, and often from such slight causes, apparently, as to appear incredible. But, although the causes are various, the result is the same, and arises from the violation of a single principle, to wit, cooling off too soon after exercise. Perhaps this may be more practically instructive if individual instances are named, which, in the opinion of those subsequently seeking advice in the various stages of consumption, were the causes of the great misfortune, premising that when the cold is once taken, marvelously slight causes serve to increase it for the first few days — causes which under ordinary circumstances, even a moderately healthful system would have warded off.

Rachel the tragedienne, increased the cold which ended her life by insufficient clothing in the cars, traveling from New York to Boston; this was her own statement.

The immediate cause of the last illness of Abbott Lawrence, the financier and the philanthropist, was an injudicious change of clothing.

An eminent clergyman got into a cold bed in mid-winter, fifteen minutes after preaching an earnest discourse; he was instantly chilled and died within forty-eight hours.

A promising young teacher walked two miles for exercise, and on returning to his room, it being considered too late to light a fire, sat for half an hour reading a book, and before he knew it a chill passed over him. The next day he had spitting of blood, which was the beginning of the end.

A mother sat sewing for her children to a late hour in the night, and noticing that the fire had gone out, she concluded to retire at once; but thinking she could "finish" in a few minutes, she forgot the passing time, until an hour or more had passed, and she found herself "thoroughly chilled" and a month's illness followed to pay for that one hour.

A little cold taken after a public speech in Chicago, so "little" that no attention was paid to it for several days, culminating in the fatal illness of Stephen A. Douglas. It was a slight cold taken in mid-summer, resulting in congestion of the lungs, that hurried Elizabeth Barrett Browning to the grave within a week. A vigorous young man laid down on an ice chest on a warm summer's day, fell asleep, waked up in a chill which ended in confirmed consumption, of which he died three years later. A man in robust health and in the prime of life began the practise of a cold bath every morning on getting out of bed and standing with his bare feet on a zinc floor during the whole operation; his health soon declined, and ultimately his constitution was entirely undermined.

Many a cold, cough, and consumption are incited into action by pulling off the hat or overcoat as do men, and the bonnet and shawl as do women, immediately on entering the house in winter after a walk. An interval of at least five or ten minutes should be allowed, for however warm or "close" the apartment may appear on first entering, it will seem much less so at the end of five minutes, if the outer garments remain as they were before entering. Any one who judiciously uses this observation, will find a multifold reward in the course of a lifetime.

Animals Board Ship, Seasick

1903

They Get Seasick, Though Not Just the Way Human Beings Do

"Speaking of animals getting sick at sea," said a man who has had some experience with the dumb brutes on the briny deep, "I can tell you that they do get sick, and sometimes they get very sick too. Of course, they do not manifest the sickness in the way that human beings show it and for reasons which will suggest themselves on a moment's reflection. But they nevertheless get quite as sick as members of the human family. Seasickness in human beings will manifest itself in violent vomiting. A seasick person cannot retain anything in the stomach. The old rule that whatever goes up must come down is in the case of pronounced seasickness reversed. Whatever goes down must come up. But when we come to reckon with horses and cows we find a different condition to deal with. Horses and cows never vomit. They cannot. So here right at the beginning of the matter we find a reason for difference in the way this peculiar sickness shows itself in man and beast.

"I have had more experience with horses than with any other kind of dumb animal and consequently know more about the way the horse suffers during seasickness. It is a rather curious and rather interesting fact that the horse is more violently attacked in the feet than in any other portion of the body. I have seen the feet of horses at sea swell until they could scarcely stand on them. Of course, the stomach of the animal is affected to some extent, but this is not so serious a matter as the attack in the feet. The effect of these attacks is sometimes of a lasting kind, and the usefulness of horses is seriously impaired.

"The fact that seasickness attacks the horse in the feet is mainly due to the peculiar influence a vessel's motion has on the kidneys of the animal. At any rate, this is the generally accepted view of the matter. We cannot say definitely just why horses get knotty feet at sea, but the popular view of horsemen who have studied the matter is as stated. As to cows, I do not know a great deal about them, but I understand the chief trouble with them at sea is that they lose their taste for food and quit eating." — New Orleans Times-Democrat.

The Quack — Fake Healthcare for Gullible Public

1915

"Every age has its quacks, its fakers, its fortune-tellers with their countless vicitms," says Leslie's Weekly.

"Newspapers expose the quacks, the postoffice department denounces the fakers and get-rich-quick schemers but the newspapers are filled with the advertisements of quack medicines and the postoffices with the prospectuses of the get-rich-quick schemers.

"The campaign of education goes on, however. The public is learning. Analyses of quack medicines show them, in many instances, to be made up of water, salt and other cheap ingredients. A bottle that costs a few cents sells for a dollar.

"The gullible public swallows the quack medicines and the manufacturers of the so-called 'remedies' revel in millions.

"The sick always want to get well. Anything that deadens pain, even for a moment, is promptly accepted as a remedy, though, in the end suffering is intensified and sickness prolonged.

"The last resort is the doctor, the practiced, experienced physician — the one who should have been consulted first. Often he comes too late. The quack medicine may have done its work, but the doctor must take the blame.

"It is not strange that the sick get impatient to recover their health, nor that they can be so easily imposed upon, but experience should teach its valuable lesson. Yet it doesn't, for if it did quacks would disappear, the fakers would fade away and the get-rich-quick schemers be heard of no more.

"But for the credulity of mankind — a credulity often based upon ignorance — we should have a healthier, wealthier and a happier people.

"As we have quack remedies for human ills, so we have quacks prescribing for all the ills of society and taking the places of elder statesmen who ought to be first.

"So the loud-mouthed demagogue, the persuasive pleader for the rights of 'the common people', the fakers of politics, the 'sockless Simpsons' and the 'Mother Joneses,' are knocking at the door of the White House, intruding upon the makers of party platforms and publishing their preposterous vaporings in the columns of a sensational press.

"The statesmen must take a back seat until the people have tried the quack remedies and witnessed the results. We are witnessing some of the natural results in the revival of the soup houses, the crowding of municipal lodging places and all the employment agencies, while engines are still and factories cutting down their payrolls.

"In our legislative halls the quacks and the fakers are pressing new and still newer remedies upon legislators. As a result we are having experimental legislation at the expense of the taxpayer. If one experiment fails, try another, just as one quack remedy is replaced by a worse one. The taxpayer foots the bills, until patience ceases to be a virtue and then, in their wrath, they will rise, cast out the quacks and beseech the elder statesmen to resume the reins of government.

"Experience still continues to the best schoolmaster."

Judge Also Town Bartender, Court Recesses for Drinks

California, 1879

Tending Two Bars

At Moore's Flat, Nevada Co., Cal., on the 18th instant, Justice J. M. Ballard was presiding in his court room, trying a prisoner. His Honor combines the business of Justice and mixing drinks.

During the trial a man entered the court room and, walking up to "the bench," implored the Justice to come out and give him a drink, as he was sorely suffering with the belly-ache. The case was urgent and the court kept the only saloon in the place.

At length his Honor yielded to the eloquent pleading of the spasmodic appellant, and left the bar of justice to preside at the bar of alcohol. The prisoner, lawyers, and jury all left the court room to see relief administered to the colicky sufferer. His pains were speedily relieved, and after a social glass all round, the court resumed its sitting.

—Weekly Reno Gazette, Reno, NV, Aug. 28, 1879, p. 4.

Census Forms from British Guiana — "Me name is James Homer"

1899

Lucid

The opportunities which the census affords to eccentric people in the way of furnishing strange answers to plain questions are seldom neglected. In foreign countries, where the standard of education is lower than in the United States, the variety of answers affords astonishing problems to the officials whose duty it is to catalogue them. An Englishman, high in the civil service in British Guiana, gives some ludicrous specimens of native talent, selected from recent census returns.

One citizen gives his name as "John." He is the "head of the family," and by birth "a male." Then in the column of "Profession, Rank or Occupation," he puts down:

"Can't get nothin' to do for the last six months, and can't pay house rent. Has got four children. They in Barbados now, but is coming to Demarara."

Farther down the list, this same column of "Profession, Rank or Occupation" is filled with interesting information. One person's occupation is put down as "sickly." One is "an idler" and another, more ambitious, enrolls himself as "a scoller."

In the column devoted to infirmities, one man protests that he has no "infurrities." The next writes "dito" below this statement, and the next declares he is "romantic" [presumably for "rheumatic"]. A fourth has "no orflections," while a fifth, less content, says he "has been black from birth."

Another gentleman writes, "My wife is a female. She is close washer. She is not inflicted, and is got two boy children and two is dead. They can't read or write yet."

One poor man, ignoring the division of the paper into columns, gives the following pathetic tale:

"Me name is James Homer, i is 32 years old and i works punts in the river. i is married but i keep one servant who died November last year. She name Rebecca Kemp, clothes washer, 48 years, and I too sorry for she." — Youth's Companion.

Some of The Genuinely Odd Things That Happen in Life

1893

OF GENERAL INTEREST.

—Dr. McBride, of Orange, Va., uses a flock of geese as a team of horses, which draw him over the ice in a specially prepared vehicle at the rate of one and a quarter miles a minute. He is now making a balloon in which he proposes to ride drawn by the same team.

—The man who orders plain butter in a New York restaurant and discovers it to be oleomargarine, or other kind of substitute, can have the proprietor arrested and fined, and the informer receives half the fine. The way in which the proprietor can protect himself is to print on his bills of fare the confession that his butter is not genuine.

—Uncle Joe Ardle, an old Georgia darky living on the Savannah river, thinks it about time to take to the woods. After the earthquake of 1886 he was afraid to live on the ground, so he built a hut in the branches of a huge oak tree, where he lived contentedly until the storm of a few weeks ago blew him and his hut clear out of the trees and almost into the river.

—The keeper of a cheap but clean restaurant in the French quarter in New York has hit upon the plan of advertising his wares by means of pictures on the flags of the sidewalk. He hires a chalk artist for this work, and you may see upon the flags just within the stoop line well-drawn fish in groups of three, and other lifelike representations of the viands that the place affords.

—An alligator eight feet two inches in length and weighing two hundred and twenty pounds was lately caught in the Mississippi. Alligators are quite plentiful in southwestern rivers, but they rarely attain a length of more than four feet. So far as known, this one is by far the largest ever taken from the Mississippi. Some of its teeth are over two inches long and very like the teeth of a shark.

—The Evening Democrat, Warren, PA, Oct. 17, 1893, p. 3.

Note: I've never heard of the French quarter in New York. Probably make that New Orleans.
—Towns county, Ga., boasts of a novel specimen of the "white" negro. This one has been "turning" for several years, until the left side of his face is perfectly white while the right side remains almost jet black. Negroes whose skin changes from black to a light brown or reddish white are not uncommon in the south, but the change mostly shows in blotches, giving them a mottled appearance.

—Stock raising is a business beset with many risks which do not cease until the flocks and herds are safely marketed. A flock of sheep was being driven through Grant county, Ore., to market at Baker City a few days ago, when, in passing through a narrow ravine, the sheep stampeded, and after the scare was over the stockman counted over sixty head of dead sheep that had been smothered in the crush.

—It may distract the attention of those who suffer from headache to learn that in early English days there were remedies "for headache, and for old headache, and for the ache of half the head." "Eye work and the fiend's temptations" are also mentioned in this catalogue. Ache of half the head, or hermicrania, from which George Eliot suffered so much, has been considered a distinctively modern disease, but there is nothing new.

—A strange fatality hangs over the Weeks family of Albion, Ind. Sherman was killed recently while climbing a tree. His brother entered the army during the war and died of lockjaw. Cornelius lost his life by swallowing a copper cent. Thomas jumped from a train and was killed, while Charles, still another brother, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Edward Weeks, also a brother, moved west some years ago and has never been heard of.

—Miss Minnie Rush, of Lakeville, Indiana, has discovered for herself and, perhaps for her sisters a new field of employment. For the past three years she has had charge of the passenger, freight and telegraph offices of the Vandalia line in her town, the receipts for which are fully ten thousand dollars a month. Miss Rush is only twenty-one years old, but she has organized railroad excursions which have netted handsome profits to her employers the past year, besides conducting the ordinary affairs of the office with skill and success.

—An ingenious mechanic in the Catskills has long manufactured small articles of use and ornament from the excrescences that grow upon the maple and other trees of the mountain region. He travels far in search of these nodules, seasons them for many years, and then fashions them into polished jewel boxes and many other beautiful things. He is especially careful that his material shall be well seasoned, a fact that means a good deal when one knows that the wood that goes to form some parts of thoroughly well made pianos should be seasoned thirty or forty years.

When Ma is Sick (poetry and humor)

1917

When Ma is Sick

When Ma is sick she pegs away;
She's quiet, though, not much t' say.
She goes right on adoin' things,
An' sometimes laughs, or even sings.
She says she don't feel extra well,
But then it's just a kind o' spell.
She'll be all right tomorrow sure,
A good old sleep will be the cure.
An' Pa, he sniffs an' makes no kick,
For women folks is always sick.
An' Ma, she smiles, lets on she' glad—
When Ma is sick it ain't so bad.

—Scoville Bulletin.


Why Is It?

That a legless man can "put his foot in it?"
That persons who are "consumed by curiosity" still survive?
That frequently a sinking fund is used to meet a floating debt?
That straining the voice is not the proper way to make it clearer?
That we speak of a stream running dry when the only way it can run is wet?
That wives should expect their husbands to foot the bills without kicking?


Not a Personal Matter

The queen of Holland isn't quite sure that she approves of suffrage for women. But, of course, queens don't need it. — Cleveland Plain Dealer.


Like Human Engine

A locomotive may be all right in the long run, but at that it frequently has to take water.


One cannot know everything. — Horace.