Surprise! a new post, an old article from 1871. Reading this makes me think of most of the simple mundane jobs I've done around the house that turned out to be a regular pain in the neck and not simple at all.
....from The Manufacturer and Builder
WE do not remember the exact date of the invention of stoves; but it was several years ago. Since then mankind have been tormented, once a year, by the difficulties that beset the task of putting them up, and getting the pipes "fixed." With all our Yankee ingenuity, no American has ever invented any method by which the labor of putting up a stove can be lessened. The job is now almost as severe and vexatious as humanity can possibly endure.
Men always put up their stoves on a rainy day. Why, we know not; but we never heard of an exception to the rule. The first step to be taken is to put on a very old and ragged coat, under the impression that when the operator gets his mouth full of plaster it will keep his shirt—bosom clean. Next, he gets his hand inside the place where the pipe ought to go, and blacks his fingers; then he carefully makes a black mark down one side of his nose. Having got his face properly marked, the victim—usually "paterfamilias" ——is ready to begin the ceremony. The "head of the family" grasps one side of the bottom of the stove, and his wife and his hired girl take hold of the other side. In this way the stove is started from the wood—shed toward the parlor. Going through the door, the chief operator carefully swings his side of the stove around and jams his thumb—nail against the door-post. Having got the "family comfort" in place, the next thing is to find the legs. Two of these are left inside the stove since the spring before. The other two must be hunted after for twenty- five minutes. They are usually found under the coal. Then the "head of the family” holds up one side of the stove while his wife puts two of the legs in place, and next he holds up the other side while the other two are fixed, and, one of the first two falls out. By the time the stove is on its legs he gets reckless, and takes off his old coat, regardless of his linen."Paterfamilias" then goes for the pipe, and gets two cinders in his eye. It don’t make any difference how well the pipe was put up last year, it will always be found a little too short or a little too long. "The head off the family” jams his hat over his eyes, and taking a pipe under each arm goes to the tin-shop to have it fixed. When he gets back, he steps upon one of the best parlor chairs to see if the pipe fits, and his wife makes him get down for fear he will scratch the varnish off ffom the chair with the nails in his boot- heel. In getting down, he will surely step on the cat, and may thank his stars that it is not the baby. Then he gets an old chair and climbs up to the chimney again, to find that in cutting the pipe off the end has been left too big for the hole in the chimney. So he goes to the wood—shed and splits one side of the end of the pipe with an old ax, and squeezes it in his hands to make it smaller. The chief operator at length gets the pipe in shape, and finds that the stove does not stand true. Then himself and his wife and the hired girl move the stove to the left, and the legs fall out again. Next it is to be moved to the right. More difficulty now with the legs. Move to the front a little. Elbow not even with the hole in the chimney, and the "head of the family” goes again to the wood-shed after some little blocks. While putting the blocks under the legs the pipe comes out of the chimney. That remedied, the elbowkeeps tipping over, to the great alarm of the wife. "Paterfamilias" gets the dinner-table out, puts the old chair on it, makes his wife take hold of the chair, and balances himself on it to drive some nails into the ceiling but in doing this he drops the hammer on his wife’s head. At last he gets the nails driven, makes a wire swing to hold the pipe, hammers a little here, pulls a little there, takes a long breath, and announces the ceremony concluded. Job never put up any stoves. It would have ruined his reputation if he had.
Pittsburgh, 1910
Excerpts from The Pittsburgh Dispatch Dec 6,1910. The Dispatch was one of the most important American newspapers of its day. The famous woman journalist Nellie Bly worked for the paper in the late 19th c.
Let's start with a comic. This was the only one on my few available sheets, GINK AND DINK. I wasn't able to find much about this strip, except that Dink had a strip all his own before this which was popular.
Here's a nice apron, just wrap your coin in a piece of paper and they'll send you the pattern.
Now here's something you just don't see anymore, Heirs Wanted.
The Flatiron Building in New York was nationally known.
You don't see ads like this anymore either, a comment on the higher mortality rate of that era.
Apparently you can still by Syrup of Figs by the California Fig Syrup Co.
Planning a trip?
Shhh...for men only.Dr.Lorenz had Sunday hours.
An eyecatching ad.
Rosenbaum's was having a sale, with extra S&H Green stamps offered.
Assorted ads and news briefs.
Boggs & Buhl was also having a sale. Furs were very popular, and they had 1/3 off on a limited number of afternoon and evening dresses.
Bennet's furs and some Society notes. The Dispatch was full of the doings of the well to do.
Next a news story about immigration, the page was torn, I did the best I could to piece it together. All the pages were torn into 4 sections because they broke where they had been folded.
Below it was this little bit about a stockholder suing the directors of the Illinois Central RR for failing to do their duty. Does this seem timely or what?
Next comes the sports page with a story about an after the fight fight, some local basketball news, and a recap of the first game in the Billiards Series Championship.
The Boston Doves were not to be sold (they later were renamed the Boston Braves), and famous wrestler George Hackenschmidt was coming to town.
Classifieds next
The Dispatch financial section next, starting with oil prices.
Commodities follow:
Let's start with a comic. This was the only one on my few available sheets, GINK AND DINK. I wasn't able to find much about this strip, except that Dink had a strip all his own before this which was popular.
Here's a nice apron, just wrap your coin in a piece of paper and they'll send you the pattern.
Now here's something you just don't see anymore, Heirs Wanted.
The Flatiron Building in New York was nationally known.
You don't see ads like this anymore either, a comment on the higher mortality rate of that era.
Apparently you can still by Syrup of Figs by the California Fig Syrup Co.
Planning a trip?
Shhh...for men only.Dr.Lorenz had Sunday hours.
An eyecatching ad.
Rosenbaum's was having a sale, with extra S&H Green stamps offered.
Assorted ads and news briefs.
Boggs & Buhl was also having a sale. Furs were very popular, and they had 1/3 off on a limited number of afternoon and evening dresses.
Bennet's furs and some Society notes. The Dispatch was full of the doings of the well to do.
Next a news story about immigration, the page was torn, I did the best I could to piece it together. All the pages were torn into 4 sections because they broke where they had been folded.
Below it was this little bit about a stockholder suing the directors of the Illinois Central RR for failing to do their duty. Does this seem timely or what?
Next comes the sports page with a story about an after the fight fight, some local basketball news, and a recap of the first game in the Billiards Series Championship.
The Boston Doves were not to be sold (they later were renamed the Boston Braves), and famous wrestler George Hackenschmidt was coming to town.
Classifieds next
The Dispatch financial section next, starting with oil prices.
Commodities follow:
Greensburg, Pa. 1910
Greensburg is the county seat of Westmoreland Co.,PA, and in 1910 it was a center of the coal mining industry and a prospering little city. My husband's grandfather came to the area in the 1910's and went to work in a mine.
From the pages of the Greensburg Daily Tribune, Dec 7, 1910 (Greensburg, PA, USA)
Check out the story Latest Departure in Frisking Games. It involves two female con artists, a garter and an orange.
It was Christmas shopping season, and below is most of an ad for Keck's department store, one of several in town. There are very few stores left in the town now, there mostly at the malls at either end of town.
Here's an ad for the famous Gold Dust Twins cleaner.
An ad for Cuticura.
And ads for a menswear store and butter.
Girl Plans Long Jaunt is my favorite story in this paper.
H.S.Ackerman, The One Price Piano Store, was one of several piano stores in town. Unfortunately the other ads were incomplete.
Joseph Strouse The "Fair" Store.
What to do With Hats is actually about what to do with those pesky hatpins.
The Greensburg Steam Laundry will be happy to send around their wagon in a jiffy.
A few classifieds....I think Mr. Loughner wanted a housekeeper who'd work cheap.
There was an interesting story that started on page one, I wish I had page one. It's about attitudes towards Christmas shopping. There a small gap of a few sentences, the paper had crumbled away where it had been folded.
Here's the rest of the story.
And finally, a story about a big snowstorm.
From the pages of the Greensburg Daily Tribune, Dec 7, 1910 (Greensburg, PA, USA)
Check out the story Latest Departure in Frisking Games. It involves two female con artists, a garter and an orange.
It was Christmas shopping season, and below is most of an ad for Keck's department store, one of several in town. There are very few stores left in the town now, there mostly at the malls at either end of town.
Here's an ad for the famous Gold Dust Twins cleaner.
An ad for Cuticura.
And ads for a menswear store and butter.
Girl Plans Long Jaunt is my favorite story in this paper.
H.S.Ackerman, The One Price Piano Store, was one of several piano stores in town. Unfortunately the other ads were incomplete.
Joseph Strouse The "Fair" Store.
What to do With Hats is actually about what to do with those pesky hatpins.
The Greensburg Steam Laundry will be happy to send around their wagon in a jiffy.
A few classifieds....I think Mr. Loughner wanted a housekeeper who'd work cheap.
There was an interesting story that started on page one, I wish I had page one. It's about attitudes towards Christmas shopping. There a small gap of a few sentences, the paper had crumbled away where it had been folded.
Here's the rest of the story.
And finally, a story about a big snowstorm.
Pittsburgh 1920
Here are excerpts from the Nov. 6, 1920 issue of the Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA (USA). I aquired a few pages many years ago, gone brown and crumbling around the edges. They've gotten more crumbly since, so I scanned them, cleaned them up, and am posting most of what I had.
Shall we start with the funnies?
The first strip is Abie the Agent and was a very popular strip from 1914 through the 20's. It was drawn by Harry Hershield, and was about a Jewish car salesman named Abie Kabibble. It's the first strip to show a Jewish character in a positive light.
The second strip is Jerry on the Job by Walter Hoban. Jerry stayed a small kid over the years, no parents ever appeared. He just held odd jobs at one place or another. After WW 1 he started working at a train station for the peevish Mr.Givney. this particular comic has a reference to the Bolshevics.
Next we have Hon and Dearie, How Do They Do It? and The General.
Hon and Dearie was drawn by Jack Callahan, and the characters were later also seen in another strip called The Piffle Family.
How Do They Do It? and The General were both drawn by Arnot.
Next, an episode of Thimble Theater, from whence was born Popeye. Here we see Olive Oyl and Ham Gravy.
Bringing Up Father., which ran from 1913 to 2000 and was also known as Jiggs and Maggie. In the center panel Jiggs says "If I get by her room I'm all right".
Stuck to the Last was found on the sports page
Finally, Then the Fun Began
The rest of the pages I had held partial sports stories and scores, ads and the want ads,lots and lots of want ads....
Here's a selection from Men Wanted. In those days you could specify if you wanted an employee who was "colored", "foreign","married" or "Catholic".
Let's see some of the Female Help Wanted. How would you like to be a pickle sorter?
The next section has more Female Help Wanted ads, someone was desperate for a prima donna and a soubrette, someone else wanted a Hungarian or Bohemian cook. There are also a few Board Wanted ads, 3 of which are for essentially day care for the children of working mothers.
Shall we see what's playing at the movies? Oh yes, the only complete news stories I had from this issue are on this page.
I'd heard of all the stars on the page, but for a few, but you can find bios about them all online if you're interested.
What's left? Advertising!
This first piece also has a few news items with it.
Shall we start with the funnies?
The first strip is Abie the Agent and was a very popular strip from 1914 through the 20's. It was drawn by Harry Hershield, and was about a Jewish car salesman named Abie Kabibble. It's the first strip to show a Jewish character in a positive light.
The second strip is Jerry on the Job by Walter Hoban. Jerry stayed a small kid over the years, no parents ever appeared. He just held odd jobs at one place or another. After WW 1 he started working at a train station for the peevish Mr.Givney. this particular comic has a reference to the Bolshevics.
Next we have Hon and Dearie, How Do They Do It? and The General.
Hon and Dearie was drawn by Jack Callahan, and the characters were later also seen in another strip called The Piffle Family.
How Do They Do It? and The General were both drawn by Arnot.
Next, an episode of Thimble Theater, from whence was born Popeye. Here we see Olive Oyl and Ham Gravy.
Bringing Up Father., which ran from 1913 to 2000 and was also known as Jiggs and Maggie. In the center panel Jiggs says "If I get by her room I'm all right".
Stuck to the Last was found on the sports page
Finally, Then the Fun Began
The rest of the pages I had held partial sports stories and scores, ads and the want ads,lots and lots of want ads....
Here's a selection from Men Wanted. In those days you could specify if you wanted an employee who was "colored", "foreign","married" or "Catholic".
Let's see some of the Female Help Wanted. How would you like to be a pickle sorter?
The next section has more Female Help Wanted ads, someone was desperate for a prima donna and a soubrette, someone else wanted a Hungarian or Bohemian cook. There are also a few Board Wanted ads, 3 of which are for essentially day care for the children of working mothers.
Shall we see what's playing at the movies? Oh yes, the only complete news stories I had from this issue are on this page.
I'd heard of all the stars on the page, but for a few, but you can find bios about them all online if you're interested.
What's left? Advertising!
This first piece also has a few news items with it.
Workmen needed in Texas-1870
A business man in New-York lately received the following report from one of his correspondents in Galveston, Texas: 1. We have no hatter in the city. 2. Ice is sold by only one man, who has, therefore, a monopoly. 3. We have only one gas company, which has put prices exceedingly high. 4. We have plenty of bones, but nobody who converts them into manurre. 5. There is neither a soap nor a candle-maker in the whole State. 6. There is no brick-maker, although we possess plenty of material, especially shells, sand and lime. 7. We. are in need of a broom-man. 8. There exists no shoe manufactory in the whole State. 9. We have neither wagon nor furniture manufacturers, and likewise no makers of musical instruments 10. In our harbor we need a dry-dock for the repairing of ships. 11. We possess no paper-mill. 12. Pray can you not assist us to get rid of so many wants? Send us useful men, skilled workmen from the North; we will return you with pleasure, for every honest workman, one dozen individuals of that swarm of carpet-baggers who devastate our country like grasshoppers, doing only ”harm and mischief."
Identifying steamships, 1870
There were quite a few steamship lines crossing the Atlantic in the 19th century.
Signals of the Steamers Sailing between North- America and Europe. aug 1870
WE find the following interesting facts on this subject in one of our German contemporaries:
CUNARD LINE—Two rockets and a blue light.
INMAN LINE—A blue light at the bow, a red one in the centre, a blue light at the stern, and two rockets. The lights all burn at the same time.
GUYON LINE—Blue lights at tile bow, centre, and the stern, all burning simultaneously
NATIONAL LINE—A blue light, a rocket, and a red light
ANCHOR LINE—Alternately red and white lights.
MONTREAL OCEAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY (PORTLAND LINE.)—White and red rockets following each other.
FRENCH LINE—A blue light at the bow, a white one amidship, and a red one at the stern, all burning simultaneously.
NORTH-GERMAN LLOYD (BREMEN.)—A blue light at the bow, and one at the stern, and two rockets.
HAMBURG-AMERICAN PACKET LINE—A roman light, a rocket, and again a roman light, following each other at an interval of about three minutes.
NEW-YORK AND LONDON LINE—A rocket, a blue light, and again a rocket. RUDGERS LINe—A blue and a red light in the centre, both burning simultaneously.
In the day-time these steamers may be recognized by the color of their smoke-stacks. These are painted respectively: Red, with black top; black, with a white stripe and black top; black, with a red stripe and a small black top; white, with black top ; entirely black black alternating with white; red and white stripes amid a black top; red with black top; black; black; white; finally, those of the Rudgers steamers are black, and the paddle-boxes are all painted white.
Signals of the Steamers Sailing between North- America and Europe. aug 1870
WE find the following interesting facts on this subject in one of our German contemporaries:
CUNARD LINE—Two rockets and a blue light.
INMAN LINE—A blue light at the bow, a red one in the centre, a blue light at the stern, and two rockets. The lights all burn at the same time.
GUYON LINE—Blue lights at tile bow, centre, and the stern, all burning simultaneously
NATIONAL LINE—A blue light, a rocket, and a red light
ANCHOR LINE—Alternately red and white lights.
MONTREAL OCEAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY (PORTLAND LINE.)—White and red rockets following each other.
FRENCH LINE—A blue light at the bow, a white one amidship, and a red one at the stern, all burning simultaneously.
NORTH-GERMAN LLOYD (BREMEN.)—A blue light at the bow, and one at the stern, and two rockets.
HAMBURG-AMERICAN PACKET LINE—A roman light, a rocket, and again a roman light, following each other at an interval of about three minutes.
NEW-YORK AND LONDON LINE—A rocket, a blue light, and again a rocket. RUDGERS LINe—A blue and a red light in the centre, both burning simultaneously.
In the day-time these steamers may be recognized by the color of their smoke-stacks. These are painted respectively: Red, with black top; black, with a white stripe and black top; black, with a red stripe and a small black top; white, with black top ; entirely black black alternating with white; red and white stripes amid a black top; red with black top; black; black; white; finally, those of the Rudgers steamers are black, and the paddle-boxes are all painted white.
Machines Driven by Solar Heat—Sun-Machines. 1870
from The Manufacturer and Builder,August 1870 issue.
MR. A. Mouchot, a professor in Tours, France, has recently published a pamphlet, in which he communicates his experience about the technical application of solar heat. The article bears the title, “The Heat of the Sun and its Industrial Uses.” In it the French savant has laid down in a clear and sound manner, as the result of observations extending over nine years, what, in 1868, the Swedish engineer, Ericsson, well known for his invention of the caloric machine, had announced to the world, to wit, that it is actually pos- sible to concentrate the solar heat in such a manner as to heat our technical steam and pneumatic apparatus. To us, the consequences which must be the result of an extensive application of the projected machines are of great interest. On this point, the author expresses himself in the following manner: “If Egypt, in spite of her efforts, finds it so difficult to elevate herself from her ruins, this decline is less to be ascribed to the exhaustion of her old physical resources—which, in the powerful sun and the fertile inundations of the Nile, have always remained hers—than it is to the lack of an inexpensive fuel. People have to use dry camel-dung, and at a price of coal of fifty or a hundred francs per ton, laborers can not be readily substituted by machinery. In that country, machines driven by solar heat may be effective, because it lies under a sky on which ‘the sun rises in an eruption, and sets in a sea of flames;’ where, for months, no cloud darkens the lord of heaven ‘—the old guardian-god of the Nile land. And the same holds good for the tropics, under which the heat is great and fuel rare, and where the labor of man and beast is very inconsiderable.” “And the time will arrive,” says the author of the above- named pamphlet, “when the industry of Europe will cease to find those natural resources, so necessary for it. Petroleum-springs and coal-mines are not inexhaustible; but are rapidly diminishing in many places. Will man, then, return to the power of water and wind? or will he emigrate where the most powerful. source of heat sends its rays to all? History will show what will come. Countries which have maintained large nations always needed rest the same as the fields.” No doubt the future will show in what direction “sun-machines” will be practically available. Any one who considers the facts will have to agree that tropical countries offer some hope of success for them; in which case, with the realization of an ancient idea, (Hero of Alexandria having already described a pump driven by the heat of the sun,) great changes would have to take place in many respects. Meantime, let us await results patiently.
MR. A. Mouchot, a professor in Tours, France, has recently published a pamphlet, in which he communicates his experience about the technical application of solar heat. The article bears the title, “The Heat of the Sun and its Industrial Uses.” In it the French savant has laid down in a clear and sound manner, as the result of observations extending over nine years, what, in 1868, the Swedish engineer, Ericsson, well known for his invention of the caloric machine, had announced to the world, to wit, that it is actually pos- sible to concentrate the solar heat in such a manner as to heat our technical steam and pneumatic apparatus. To us, the consequences which must be the result of an extensive application of the projected machines are of great interest. On this point, the author expresses himself in the following manner: “If Egypt, in spite of her efforts, finds it so difficult to elevate herself from her ruins, this decline is less to be ascribed to the exhaustion of her old physical resources—which, in the powerful sun and the fertile inundations of the Nile, have always remained hers—than it is to the lack of an inexpensive fuel. People have to use dry camel-dung, and at a price of coal of fifty or a hundred francs per ton, laborers can not be readily substituted by machinery. In that country, machines driven by solar heat may be effective, because it lies under a sky on which ‘the sun rises in an eruption, and sets in a sea of flames;’ where, for months, no cloud darkens the lord of heaven ‘—the old guardian-god of the Nile land. And the same holds good for the tropics, under which the heat is great and fuel rare, and where the labor of man and beast is very inconsiderable.” “And the time will arrive,” says the author of the above- named pamphlet, “when the industry of Europe will cease to find those natural resources, so necessary for it. Petroleum-springs and coal-mines are not inexhaustible; but are rapidly diminishing in many places. Will man, then, return to the power of water and wind? or will he emigrate where the most powerful. source of heat sends its rays to all? History will show what will come. Countries which have maintained large nations always needed rest the same as the fields.” No doubt the future will show in what direction “sun-machines” will be practically available. Any one who considers the facts will have to agree that tropical countries offer some hope of success for them; in which case, with the realization of an ancient idea, (Hero of Alexandria having already described a pump driven by the heat of the sun,) great changes would have to take place in many respects. Meantime, let us await results patiently.
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