Coffee Shortage After the Civil War

1920

People old enough to remember the Civil War are able to recall the fact that after the close of that conflict it was difficult and often impossible to obtain coffee.

Various substitutes were used, such as parched rye, but one that was commonly utilized in Washington and many other cities was sweet potatoes. The latter were first roasted and allowed to burn somewhat on the outside. Then they were mashed in water and boiled. The water was thus transformed into coffee, by no means so unpalatable as might be imagined.

Sugar in those days cost 25 cents a pound. But the sweet potato coffee required no sugar, and so was an economical drink.


No Need for Interpreter

Squaw Evidently Had Not Always Been One of the Ordinary "Blanket Variety."

We were honeymooning in Arizona. Of course, we had our ever-faithful camera with us. On the principal street corner of a small town I saw an old Indian squaw sitting on the sidewalk with her pottery on exhibition about her. I thought that would be a dandy picture to take back home. My wife and I stopped in front of the squaw, and, knowing an Indian's superstition about being photographed, we hesitated.

Just then the proprietor of the store in front of which she was squatting opened the door and I inquired of him: "Do you think she would object to our taking a snapshot of her?" He said he didn't know, that we might try it, and while we were discussing the situation the squaw spoke up in excellent English and with decided gestures, said, "No, I don't care to have my picture taken." — Exchange.

Famous Composer Found His Bride in a Tomb

1915

Romance in Life of a Famous Venetian Composer — Sister Substituted Herself in Coffin

Benedetto Marcello, one of the most famous Venetian composers, fell in love with a beautiful girl named Leonora Manfritto, who married Paolo Seranzo, a Venetian noble. She died in a short time after her marriage, a victim of the harsh and jealous treatment of her husband.

Her body was laid out in state in one of the churches, and her lover actually succeeded in stealing the corpse and conveying it to a ruined crypt in one of the islands, and here he sat day and night by his lost love, singing and playing to her, as though by the force of his art he could recall her to life, says the London Telegraph.

Leonora had a twin sister, Eliade, who was so like her that her closest friends could scarcely distinguish them. One day Eliade heard a singer in a gondola singing so exquisitely that she traced the gondola to the deserted island, and then she learned later the fate of her sister's corpse and the identity of Marcello. Aided by a servant, Eliade substituted herself for her sister's body, and when Marcello returned and called Leonora to awake he did not ask in vain, for apparently she rose alive from her coffin. Marcello, when he found out the delusion, was quite satisfied and married Eliade, but his happiness was short lived, as he died a few years afterward.

—New Smyrna Daily News, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, October 29, 1915, page 4.