Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Weep and you weep alone,
For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
It has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer,
Sigh, and it is lost on the air;
The echoes rebound to a joyful sound
And shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you.
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of your pleasure,
But they do not want your woe;
Be glad, and your friends are many,
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There are none to decline your nectared wine;
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast and your halls are crowded,
Fast, and the world goes by;
Forget and forgive - it helps you to live.
But no man can help you to die;
There is room in the hall of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But, one by one, we must all march on
Through the narrow aisle of pain. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox, "Solitude."
The Ides were eight old women, Nones nine, and Colind another - making eighteen on the whole whose breath were poison. These old hags were sure to be out in bad going and old Mother Colind took the lead. Hence the expression "Beware of old Colind." ~March 1818
On April 15, 1718, all 24 churches of St. Pol de Leon in Brittany started ringing bells to keep away lightning. All were struck. The six churches whose bells were not ringing were not struck - thus ending a superstition.
A duel was lately fought by Alexander Short and John Nott. Nott was shot and Shott was not. In this case it is better to be Shott than Nott. There was a rumor that Nott was not shot, and Shott avows that he shot Nott, which proves either that the shot Shott shot at Nott was not shot, or that Nott was shot.
Notwithstanding that circumstantial evidence is not always good, it may be made to appear on trial that the shot Shott shot shot Nott, or as accidents with firearms are frequent it may be possible that the shot Shott shot shot Shott himself, when the whole affair would resolve itself into its original elements, and Shott would be shot and Nott would be not. We think, however, that the shot Shott shot shot not Shott but Nott. Anyway, it is hard to tell who was shot. ~Courtesy of A.H. Langlois
On January 27, 1967, Mrs. William Cooley, of Ada, Ohion, (99 years old) recalled, as highlights of her childhood
(1) Barnum & Bailey's circus.
(2) Women in hoop skirts and
(3) Hair-does called "waterfalls" made of artificial curls worn at the back of the head and neck. When the curls came out they were wrapped on cattails and boiled in hot water. ~Courtesy - Mark Warren
The odd, often satirical, items on this page are from clippings in an old scrapbook of mine. I think they may be from an old Old Farmers Almanc. I did e-mail OFA, asked if these belonged to them, and requested permission to post them here, but never received any response, so if there is a copyright on these and someone is offended, SORRY, but I did try. If you recognize these and can give me a citation for them, please e-mail me (left) ~Sara
