They get your loved ones in the ground in a third of the time!
From the
Washington Post - Apr 21, 1907.
"The action of certain foods in influencing the formation of the features has been watched, with highly interesting results. The growth of the chin has been discovered to bear a very striking relation to the amount of starch consumed, and particularly when the starch takes certain forms or is combined with other properties....
It has been shown, and seemingly conclusively, that a flesh or greatly mixed diet promotes angularity in the face generally, while the nourishment obtained from a single article, commonly of a starchy nature, coarsens the features. Thus we have the potato lip, the oatmeal lip, the maize lip."
From
Fauconberg, W. (1905). "The effect of diet and climate on the face." The Strand Magazine: 418-423.
Who would ever suspect that boring old Iowa was host to so many odd creatures?
Consider
this winged monster from 1903, above.
Or this account, below, found along with more Iowa monsters in
UNNATURAL PHENOMENA. (See book sidebar.)
A bracing humorous antidote to all the do-gooder cant so rampant nowadays.
Read the whole small book here.
The author at Wikipedia.
"Trust in God, and keep your Bowels open" is my new motto for every situation.
Original ad here.
History of Cascarets.
Back in 1905, celebrities of the day were asked to try to draw a pig while blindfolded. The results were printed in
The Strand magazine:
Most of the names I don't recognize. But I do know
Caton Woodville (middle of the second row from the top). He was an artist who specialized in war scenes, such as his rendition of the
Charge of the Light Brigade. I'm guessing his paintings aren't cheap. But I wonder how much his blindfold pig would go for?
I would have paid good money for a safe ringside seat at this riot.
From
The New York Times for April 24, 1901.
It came into existence circa 1903. Details from
The Strand Magazine:
Philadelphia can boast of a phonograph school for parrots. It is said to be the only institution of its kind in the world. Here parrots are taught to speak by means of the phonograph, and during the brief time that the school has been in existence over one hundred birds have been taught to pronounce all kinds of sentences and phrases for the edification of themselves and the amusement of their owners.
This is the twentieth-century method of teaching a parrot. Hitherto he has been taught by tutors, generally women, and, if the truth must be told, he has not been altogether a satisfactory or exemplary pupil. First of all his teacher has to repeat the phrase or sentence over and over again, hundreds and thousands of times, before "Pretty Polly" is able to pronounce it. This in itself is a tiresome procedure, but it is rendered more fatiguing on account of the fact that the speaker must be hidden from the parrot. She has, therefore, to crouch behind a screen or to cover the cage of the bird with a large hood. The former is regarded as the best method, as no self-respecting parrot likes to be left alone in the dark, but to hide oneself secretly behind a screen and then repeat the words, "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," a thousand times is surely not an enviable task.
By the new mode of teaching, however, no personal inconvenience of this nature is felt, for all the tutor has to do is to obtain a phonograph, secure a few records suitable for birds, and set the phonograph going in the parrot's ear. The bird, too, learns more quickly by this method than in the old way...
The fee for a full term of six months is eight pounds. Parrots are often sent, however, for a briefer period, when the rate charge is ten shillings per week, including, of course, board and lodging. Sometimes, when a pupil has to be taught unusual phrases—French or German sentences, for instance—the tuition rate is a little higher.