Bassett's Scrap Book/Volume 5/Number 1
Bassett's Scrap Book
SCRAPS OF HISTORY, FACT AND HUMOR
OFFICIAL ORGAN LEAGUE OF AMERICAN WHEELMEN
Entered as Second-Class Matter, March 10, 1904, at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., uuder the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
A LITTLE FARTHER ON.
Just a little farther on waits a wondrous April dawn,
When the boughs will break in blossoms as a flag is lifted up,
When the grass will rise and run with the laughter of the sun
And the sky will seem to pour us wine from out a magic cup;
And we'll sing because of knowing all the songs the wind is blowing,
And the earth will be the gladder for the dreary days agone.
Then we'll catch the murmured words in the singing of the birds,
When the earth has rolled to springtime—just a little farther on.
Shut your eyes, and you may dream of the dandelion's gleam
Where the careless hand of springtime has been spilling all its gold,
While the meadow over night flings aside the wintry blight
And its carpet smooth as velvet is by fairy hands unrolled.
Then we'll know the tang and tingle of the blossom scents that mingle,
And we'll taste the joys of living in the wondrous April dawn,
For we're swinging to the wiles of the singing and the smiles,
To the blessedness of springtime—just a little farther on.
SCRAPS THAT MARCH.
Why not muzzle March hares?
Cycle shows spring up in March.
Lady Day, March 25, was the old New Year's Day. But that was a long time ago, 1751.
A well known physician says that that man is in perfect health who never gives his health a thought.
Says an Oklahoma editor: "There are two ways of spending a dollar." If he knows only two ways that editor certainly never had much fun in his life.
The United States has a greater proportion of school children to population of any country in the world. About 190 per 1,000 of her population are children at school, while in Russia the proportion is only 20 per 1,000.
Hand a man enough lemons and he'll get sour on the world.
What a happy world this would be if people could come to a thorough agreement on everything like they do on the weather.
It is the bait that lures, not the fisherman or the rod.—From the Spanish.
Good judgment largely consists in the ability to convince people that you have not made a mistake when you really have.
SALUTATION.
Though all the sea keep our bodies asunder,
Though we should miss by a turn of the street,
This is the thought we must ponder and wonder—
Some day, some hour, we surely will meet.
Friend who was born for me, shaped for me, made for me,
Formed for my fate as the wax to the flame;
You who unknowing have still lent your aid for me,
Here's to you, Friend—though I know not your name!
Whether you strive to conceal or to show it,
When we strike palms, and my eyes meet your eyes,
Spirit will leap out to spirit and know it,
Though it were hidden in twice the disguise.
Friend I have thought of, dreamed of and yearned for,
Who can inherit the best I can be,
Though your sails know not the course they are turned for,
Here's to you, Friend—who are coming to me!
—Jeannette I. Helm.
Billiards comes from the French word "billard," meaning a stick with a curved end.
If there were not so many mean husbands there would not be so many religious women.
The same force that moves a ton on a road will pull a 32-ton canal-boat.
A little Auburn boy who looks after his grandfather's cuspidor for a moderate salary, offers this philosophy: "When I grow up I shall chew tobacco and have my little boy look after the cuspidor. Then he will not chew."
Nearly thirty per cent. of all flowers are white.
"I will see," replied the blind man.
Korean proverbs indicate mentality of no mean order. "The blind man stole his own hen and ate it" is terse and ironical. "Even the hedgehog says her young are smooth," is the equivalent of the English, "The crow thinks her own child the fairest." Insincerity is epitomized by "Honey on the lips, but a sword in the heart." "When there are no tigers, wild cats are self-important," and "You cannot expect to lift a heavy stone without getting red in the face," are sound doctrine in any language.
In an address before some ministers in Boston, President Eliot of Harvard said he was opposed to anything that stands for finality in religion. He said the general trend of belief was that truth cannot be fixed, and if in the range of science and philosophy it was thought the end had not been reached why should the theologian imagine he has reached the end of theology?
A traveler passing through a small country town noticed a post on which was marked the height to which the river had risen during a recent flood.
"Do you mean to say," he asked a native, "that the river rose as high as that in 19—?"
"Oh, no," replied the native; "but the village children used to rub off the original mark, so the mayor ordered it to be put higher up, so as to be out of their reach."
Take a strong string, about two yards long, at one end make a loop big enough to pass over a person's head without any trouble, and another loop—a tiny one—at the other end, the right size to hold a pencil.
Tell your friend to cover his ears with his hands—held flat against them. Then pass the large loop over his head and draw it tight across the backs of his hands. Place a pencil in the smaller loop, and turn it rather quickly around and around while you hold the string tight. The effect on your friend's ears will be like the firing of numerous guns. Then pluck the string with the fingers of your free hand. Just a little flick will sound like the booming of a heavy gun.
Keeping the pencil held in one hand, and pulling the string tight, now fold a small piece of paper over the string and move it—not roughly—up and down the length of the string. This will sound to your friend like the waves on the beach. If next you scrape the string with anything hard—like a knife or paper cutter—it will give your friend the impression of heavy thunder.
VIOLETS.
I know, blue modest violets,
Gleaming with dew at morn—
I know the place you come from
And the way that you are born!
When God cut holes in Heaven,
The holes the stars look through,
He let the scraps fall down to earth,
The little scraps are you.
March 31, 1832, the hatters of Philadelphia sent a hat to Lafayette, with the following letter:
"We have the pleasure on behalf of the hatters of this city of Philadelphia of transmitting to you a hat, manufactured on a car of the trade in a grand civic and military procession in honor of the centennial birthday of the illustrious Washington, Feb. 22, 1832. We performed the task with the liveliest emotions of pleasure."
Indisputably the current standard of success is the control of millions. The universities bow to it equally with the man in the street. It is shown not only in the deference paid by them to plutocrats with bounty to dispense, but the large output of students bent on commercial pursuits has displaced the proportion aiming at intellectual and moral eminence. Divinity schools languish, medicine turns out an oversupply of doctors, thoroughly equipped teachers are harder to obtain, and if law is an exception, it is because the profession has greater chances of wealth from its closer association with commercialism.
The original footman ran before his master's carriage for the purpose of bespeaking changes of horses, etc. He carried a cane with a large silver knob. The knob was hollow, and contained wine for the man's refreshment.
The managing editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette has announced that the news department of that paper will hereafter be opened each morning with prayer. "I believe," said he "that the reporter will be able to do better work and that the object of the newspaper will be more thoroughly reached in this way than heretofore."
We often hear it said, with portentous solemnity, "Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right;" but no right thing is ever settled. Even a potato, from the time a cutting is planted in the ground until the digging from the hill at last, requires fresh treatment at every stage of its growth. By as much as a great cause is more important than a hill of potatoes is the need of fresh thought, new methods, and increased energy at every stage of its progress. We stopped the slave-trade, but settled nothing; we emancipated the slaves on the American continent, but settled nothing; we gave the colored man in the United States the ballot, but settled nothing. We are educating them, but we are opening new problems and raising new questions with every advance we make.
THE SKY.
The sky is a drinking cup
That was overturned of old,
And it pours in the eyes of men
Its wine of airy gold.
We drink that wine all day.
Till the last drop is drained up.
And are lighted off to bed
By the jewels in the cup.
SCRAPS OF INFORMATION.
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information about it.—Samuel Johnson.
Quotation.—Who said, "A gentleman will not affront me, and no other can?"
Ans.—Perhaps you mean, "A moral, sensible and well-bred man will not affront me and no other can." Cowper, in "Conversation."
The Devil.—Who wrote: "The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be; The Devil was well, the Devil a monk was he?"
Ans.—Rabelais, Book IV., Chap. xxiv.
William Morgan.—Is it true that Captain Morgan was killed by the Masons for betraying their secrets?
Ans.—There was a William Morgan whose death was the immediate cause of the promotion of the anti-Masonic party. He was born in West Virginia, about 1775. He fought in the defense of New Orleans in 1815; removed to Canada in 1821, where he became a brewer and whence soon after he removed to Batavia, N. Y., and in August, 1826, disappeared; soon after a rumor had been spread that he was to reveal the secrets of the Masonic order. He was supposed to have been drowned in Lake Ontario. A corpse found near the mouth of the Niagara River was stated to be his, and much political capital was made of this so-called proof. Thurlow Weed, a leader in the anti-Masonic movement, cynically said that it was "a good enough Morgan till after election," a remark that has become proverbial.
Saint Vitus.—Was there ever a Saint Vitus?
Ans.—Yes. He was a fourth-century Roman martyr, and his festival is celebrated on June 15th. The practice of dancing at his shrine at this festival has given its name to the disorder which has been given his name.
Lady Day.—When and what is Lady Day?
Ans.—This festival was instituted about A. D. 350, according to some authorities, and not before the seventh century according to others. On this day, the 25th of March, the angel Gabriel brought to the Virgin Mary the message concerning her son Jesus; hence it is called the Annunciation, and is celebrated in the Catholic church as one of its chief feasts. In England, before the alteration of the style in 1752, the new year began on the 25th of March.
Swastika.—Kindly tell what you can about the Swastika.
Ans.—The Swastika is the earliest known symbol in the world, the widest known symbol and by many thought to be the most fascinating of all symbols. The origin and primitive meaning of the almost universal, curious, and interesting Swastika is lost in antiquity. Nor is there any authentic information as to its transmission from one country to another, if such were the case. It is found in our Western prehistoric ruins, in the temples of Central America and Mexico, in the burial ruins of the East, in Persian and in Navaho Indian rugs, and in the baskets of Pima and Apache Indians of Arizona. With the Buddhists much religious significance is attached to it, and it is found over the heart and on the soles of every authentic statue of Buddha. In Asia it is the symbol of good luck, good fortune, long life, pleasure, success, and as it is not found in this country in connection with any religious ceremonies, only upon objects of daily use, it is fair to presume our Indians use it for the same significance.
Population.—How large a population would the world now have if no one had died?
Ans.—This problem has been worked out by Proctor. According to him, if from a single pair, for five thousand years, each husband and wife had married at twenty-one years of age, and there had been no deaths, the population of the earth would be 2,199,915, followed by 141 ciphers. It would require, to hold this population, a number of worlds the size of this, equal to 3,166,526, followed by 125 ciphers. The human mind shrinks from contemplating such immense numbers.
Spelling.—Pupils in the schools are now taught to repeat a letter when it is doubled. They say double u, o, o, d, wood. We used to say double u, double o, d. Why the change?
Ans.—We cannot account for the change, nor do we believe in it. When you "double" a letter it has a single sound unlike the sound of the letter by itself. When you repeat a letter you get two sounds, as in zoology. We have yet to hear a good reason for the change.
Prince of Wales.—In the treaty between the ancient Britons (the Welsh) and their enemies, which culminated in the establishment of Great Britain, was there not a condition that every child born to the Queen must be born in Wales, and if a son, he was to be known as a "Prince of Wales"?
Ans.—The only historical foundation on which this legend can have been built up is the odd custom which kept up the connection between Wales and the English reigning house until the time of Charles II, and which consisted in the constant selection of a Welsh wet nurse for the infant Prince of Wales. As to the bestowal of the title, the real fact of the matter is that Wales was at first designed to form a separate apanage for a younger son of the English king, but as Edward, who was created first Prince of Wales in 1301, succeeded to the crown by the death of his elder brother, the title has since been borne by the eldest son of the king. Nor is this title his birthright, either; he receives it through investure or declaration.
The English Language—Where and by whom was the English language first spoken?
Ans.—It is a long story, but limited space makes it necessary to cut it short. The English language is a direct development of the Anglo-Saxon, but the development has not been regular and gradual. There are five periods of the English language: First, from 450 to 1100 A. D.; second, from 1100 to 1250 A. D.; third, from 1250 to 1350 A. D.; fourth, from 1350 to 1460 A. D.; fifth, from 1460 to the present. From 450 to 1066 the language spoken in England was a dialect of Low German. Before the Norman Conquest there were two dialects in England, a southern and a northern, the former being a literary language. After the Conquest dialects became much more marked, so that there were three varieties, the northern, the midland and the southern, distinguished from each other by various grammatical differences. The midland dialect was the more widely spread, and ultimately became the standard language, a result principally due to Chaucer's influences. At this period, about the middle of the fourteenth century, the English of the present began to be used, but has since undergone many changes and there is need for many more.
COMPENSATION.
Fair Phyllis, wandering on a day
Through meadows sweet with blossoming May
Her finger pricked upon a spray
Where hid a thorn.
"Alas!" the maid quoth, tearfully,
"How Nature's way displeaseth me!
Why, then, must sweets and sorrows be
Fore'er twin-born?"
But Corydon was lingering near,
And swift he came and wiped the tear,
And on the tender finger dear
A kiss he pressed.
"Heigh ho!" quoth Phyllis cheerfully,
"How Nature's wisdom pleaseth me!
In all a fair design I see—
She knoweth best!"
MARCH IN HISTORY.
Its tree, Juniper. Its stone, Bloodstone. Its motto, "Courage and strength in time of danger."
1—Napoleon leaves Elba, 1815.
2—John Wesley died, 1791.
3—Letter postage reduced to two cents, 1883.
4—Battle of Ivry, 1590.
5—Boston Massacre, 1770.
6—Dred Scott decision, 1857.
7—Goffe and Whalley, regicides, arrive at New Haven, 1661.
8—Death of Henry Ward Beecher, 1887.
9—Napoleon marries Josephine, 1796.
10—Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII., marries Alexandria, 1863.
11—Charles Sumner died, 1874.
12—Caesar Borgia killed by a cannon shot at Biano, 1507.
13—Magellan discovers the Philippines, 1521.
14—First train crosses Suspension Bridge, 1855.
15—Maine admitted to Union, 1820.
16—Samoset visits the Pilgrims at Plymouth, 1621.
17—Boston evacuated by British, 1776.
18—Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, 1766.
19—First lunar eclipse on record, 721.
20—L'Aiglon born, 1811.
21—Cranmer burnt for heresy at Oxford, 1556.
22—Stamp Act passed, 1765.
23—Dr. Webster found guilty of the Parkman murder, 1850.
24—Longfellow died, 1882.
25—Was New Year's day till 1752.
26—Governor John Winthrop died at Boston, 1649.
27—Ponce de Leon discovers Florida, 1512.
28—Vera Cruz surrendered, 1847.
29—Emanuel Swedenborg died in London, 1772.
30—Joseph Bonaparte made King of Naples, 1806.
31—Death of John C. Calhoun, 1850.
[Having now given an important event on every date in the year, we shall ring down the curtain.]
"A gentleman should always associate with his superiors," says President Eliot, of Harvard. But can a gentleman have superiors?
A HOME SONG.
I turned an ancient poet's book,
And found upon the page:
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage."
Yes, that is true, and something more:
You'll find, where'er you roam,
That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home.
But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is the guest,
Is surely home, and home, sweet home,
For there the heart can rest.
—Dr. Henry van Dyke.
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Price $1.25—Mailed by L. A. W. Publishing Co., 221 Columbus Ave. Boston, To Any Address.
Other Waterman Books:—In Merry Mood, $1.25; A Book of Verses, $1.25
ALONZO D. PECK,
Distributer For
POPE MANUFACTURING CO.
HEADQUARTERS FOR
Columbia, Hartford and
Fay Juvenile Bicycles.
During the winter months we will make special reduced rates for overhauling and cleaning your bicycle, and getting it in readiness for next season's use.
Drop in and see me if for no more than a "Shake."
L. A. W. Periodical Department.
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