Imagining Hattie’s World of 1874

Pages from Hattie’s 1874 Diary

In my business as a dealer in old, unique books and papers, I’m sometimes lucky enough to come upon a really interesting old diary, like this one that Hattie Weston kept in 1874.

            Hattie was a young girl, growing up in the village of Hancock, New Hampshire. The village is still fairly quaint and traditional today, over 130 years later.

Barn near Hancock, NH

            Hattie Weston tells about her daily life with her mother, older brother Edward, and young brother Ned. In a diary covering one year of her life she completes her schooling and begins to teach her own scholars.

            There’s plenty of work for a woman in the home in 1874. She helps her mother with washing, and then ironing, and cleaning of the house. She writes that doughnuts she made were quite tough, but the biscuits were good.

 She attends meetings of the “Good Templars”, a temperance organization, and plays the organ, attends prayer services, and Sunday meeting. 

            One time she writes about attending a meeting, enjoying the sermon, but confesses that “my thoughts were wayward.” 

            For me, reading about the regular events in the life of this young woman makes her come back to life. 

She writes about going to school, and just in that one year, 1874, she transitions from one of the students to a young teacher herself.  Like many young people in New England in those years, she’s very religious, and an enthusiastic member of the Good Templars, a temperance organization.

            Her last entry in this diary is October 25 when she writes that she attended prayer services and Meeting (church service) and confesses that “my thoughts were wayward.”

            One can only guess what horrible thoughts this apparently pure young woman had!

Church in Hancock, NH

        In the nineteenth century in America Christmas was a tiny event compared to today. It’s always interesting to me to see just how they did, or didn’t celebrate it. It was always very, very low key.  

            And  the subject of death and dying.  Certainly mortality rates were higher then, so it was much more a part of everyone’s life.  They invariably write about people dying.  Many of their relatives and friends died young, and you get to share in their thoughts about life and death.  Also, there’s plenty of the fun that they have—going for sleigh rides on a snowy night, picking blueberries, going to the meeting house to watch lantern slides, watching as President Grant comes to town.  Or President Taft. 

            For me, it’s fascinating, and I hope you get a chance to share that!

               

           

            In order to fill in the picture of Hattie’s life, I asked myself: “What was New England like in 1874?  What was the United States like?” 

            The year was just nine years after the end of the Civil War.  Ulysses S. Grant, the great leader of Union forces in the War, was President.  

            Looking through my collection of books, newspapers, magazines and other printed material from 1874, I attempted to piece together a view of 1874.

            Temperance was very important in much of America, and the churchgoing portion of our population was probably much larger than today. 

           American churches and missionary organizations were sending missionaries all over the world to carry the message of Christianity to “heathens” in countries whose people were Muslims, or Hindus, or belonged to a thousand other religious groups, or no groups at all.  But our missionaries aggressively pushed their way onto distant shores, determined to convert people, and convinced in their own minds that Christianity was what needed to be spread everywhere. 

            If you had made it to the eighth grade in school, that’s where it ended for most Americans. But by that time, you could write much better than most college graduates today.  You wrote letters, and could express yourself in writing better than today.  Most people could quote loads of Bible scripture, and spent hours memorizing famous poetry and prose.

Here are 1874 items in The Personal Navigator’s inventory:

            Hattie's 1874 Diary (Handwritten) by Hattie Weston.  Hancock, NH: Handwritten diary    ~400 pp.          6.5 x 10 cm.           Hattie Weston is a young girl living in Hancock Village in New Hampshire, and she is the most hopeful, optimistic, positive girl you will hope to encounter.  She writes about her daily life with Mother, Edward, younger brother Ned, her work in the house, her teaching scholars, and attending the "Good Templars",  Temperance organization. She goes shopping in Peterboro. She plays the organ, and attends prayer services and Meeting. Last entry is Sunday, Oct. 25, 1874, when she writes that she went to meeting, enjoyed the sermon, but confesses that "my thoughts were wayward." This little diary gives reader a marvelous insight into a young woman's life in the last half of the Nineteenth Century Standard diary with almanac material, postage rates, currency, weights and measures, etc. printed in front. Pencil and ink entries for 60% of book, remainder blank. Mentions friends Lettie Goodhue, Ida Johnson. Leather diary, standard 19th century type, spine and leather closure flap badly suffering from biopredation, text block very good.       (8124) $48.00. American Originals/Ephemera

            Bellows Falls  Times, Bellows Falls, VT, Friday, February 27, 1874 Bellows Falls, VT: A.N. Swain. Republicans won in Philadelphia last week by over 10,000-- not because they were so good, but because their democratic and pretended "reform" opponents were so bad.   Temperance Crusade in Ohio and other places continues with much success.  An extensive liquor raid took place at Rutland last Saturday. Franklin B. Evans was executed in Concord, NH last week, for the murder of Georgiana Lovering in October, 1872. He also admitted murdering the Mills child at Derry in 1850 for the purpose of dissecting the body.  Evans sold his body to the medical college at Hanover for $50, and was satisfied that he had made such a good bargain. 4 pp. 6 x 60 cm. Newspaper, fair. (7840)  $14.00. Newspapers

Christian Register, The, Boston and Chicago, Saturday, April 4, 1874     Boston, MA: Christian Register Association. Writing in this newspaper is as tart and alert, educated with a good sense of humor, that one can observe even after all these years. "A Sunday among the Szekler Unitarians" by Robert S. Morison reports of visit to religious community in Almas on Homorod, Transylvania. Nearly everyone in these villages is Unitarian...visit to funeral of old woman.  "A Burman Dandy" description of a man who thinks himself the most worthy to be admired  of any dandy in all of Burmah. "An Answer to 'T.H." on Darwinism" gives erudite argument to earlier statements.  Editorial reports decision of the Brooklyn Trinitarian Congregational Council which justifies and approves the course of the churches of Rev. Dr. Storrs and Budington, and favors the continuance of fellowship with Plymouth Church, with stipulations. Letter from Michigan reports the Festival of the Annunciation in Ann Arbor, one of the most solemn and joyous festivals of the Catholic Church. Writer compares celebration to one in Nazareth, Palestine, with little Syrian children, 20 years ago. 4 pp.  54 x 70 cm. Newspaper,  small holes in folds, fair. (7721) $20.00. Religious/Unitarian

Dartmouth, The, April 1874; published by the students of Dartmouth College and edited by the senior class  1874;  Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College. Publication features literary genius of Dartmouth students. “Hamilton as a Young Writer” describes Alexander Hamilton as a revolutionary pamphleteer.  "A Proposition" by Franz Boyd is humorous piece that suggests boxing up 300 Chinamen and smuggling them through the Upernavik custom-house. "Mr. Webster in Court" relates story of celebrated divorce case (and others) with Webster as counsel, in 1848.  156 pp. 14 x 22 cm.  (6502) $32.00. $12.50            Printed Matter/Educational

French and Chamberlin's Union Business and Nautical College, 460 Washington St., Boston, Mass. Charles French, A.M., Principal 1874;  Manchester, NH: Chas. F. Livingston's steam Printing House. Catalogue offers studies in Business including penmanship, commercial arithmetic, book-keeping, commercial law; Nautical including logarithms, compass variation, middle latitude and Mercator's sailing, declination and equation, use and adjustment of quadrant and sextant, more. 46 pp.    11.5 x 19.4 cm. Paper booklet, cover mended with cellophane table, fair.          (6027)  $13.50 Educational

Illustrated Christian Weekly, Saturday, May 30, 1874, Vol. IV, No. 22.  1874     New York, NY: The American Tract Society. Cover illustration shows Decoration Day, with women decorating graves. Report on visit of Alexander II of Russia to England, "one of the greatest benefactors … of mankind…"    12 pp.  29 x 44 cm.      Paper periodical edges frayed, edges browned, fair.      (3443) $16.00. History/Religious

Maine Farmer, Vol. XLII No. 17, Saturday morning, March 28, 1874      Augusta, ME: Homan & Badger, Publishers. Story of doomed house of Seward in Washington; Disraeli will release Fenians; Advertising in dull times; Proclamation by Gov. Dingley for Fast Day in Maine.     4 pp.    56 x 72 cm.      Newspaper, very good.  (4459)  $12.50.   Farming

Maine Farmer, Vol. XLII No. 7, Saturday morning, January 17, 1874      Augusta, ME: Homan & Badger, Publishers.  Scheme for the relief of the Southern States by assuming their indebtedness. This matter has frequently been spoken of by southern men and has generally been treated as a joke; but there are now the strongest indications that the present Congress will be called upon to act upon this question.  A Massachusetts congressman is expected to advocate this measure.        4 pp.       56 x 72 cm. Newspaper, small chips at edges, good.     (5306) $15.00. Farming

Montpelier Daily Journal, Montpelier, VT, Thursday, October 8, 1874    Montpelier, VT: J. & J.M. Poland            Report from Rio de Janeiro of Civil war on the La Plata. President Grant is visiting the fair in St. Louis; General Sherman is also in the city. The American Board of the Commissioners of Foreign Missions is holding its national meeting in Rutland. This is the first national gathering that has taken place in Vermont. 4 pp.            37 x 54 cm.      Newspaper, very good. (6282) $12.00. Newspapers/History

Plymouth Pulpit: A Weekly Publication of Sermons preached by Henry Ward Beecher, Saturday, Mar. 28, 1874; Vol. 2 No. 1    Beecher, Henry Ward   1874    New York, NY: J.B. Ford & Co.         Subject: Charles Sumner. "And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors at at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." Isaiah I., 26. Beecher preaches right after the deaths of Millard Fillmore and Charles Sumner. Fillmore he had not much use for, but Sumner was an honorable man.  Not a democrat, rather an autocrat, but dedicated to the rights of man, in a time when so many northerners gave up their voice for the rights of the slaves in their love of Mammon.            24 pp.  14 x 19.7 cm.   Paper booklet, very good.        (5897)  $15.00. Religious

Science of Health, The;  a new monthly devoted to health on Hygienic Principles, Aug.,1874     New York, NY: Samuel R. Wells, Publisher. Lead article: "Is Alcohol a Poison?" by R.T. Trall, MD."Restoring Life When Apparently Drowned";  "Popular Physiology--Illustrated" Chymification. The stomach and great blood vessels.  Pancreas, spleen  and duodenum.  Poem, "An Ode to Rum" by William C. Brown. "Dysentary" by R.T. Trall, MD. "Fruits for Man" by Julia Colman. Recipes: Raspberry Pyramid, Blackberry Ambrosia, Whortleberry Bread-pudding. "Triple-Poisoning--Husband, Wife, Babe."  ...They all drank ale.  Ad for Dr. Trall's Hygeian Home, Florence Heights, NJ. Ads for Ferdinand Schumacher Oat Meal; Dr. Trall's Graham Crackers; American Oat Meal; B&L Brand Irish Oat Meal; Taft's Portable Collapsible Bath for Country   residences.           46 p.    16 x 24 cm.      Paper periodical, cover moderately stained, fair. (7981) $15.00.  Scientific/Health/Medicine

Science of Health, The;  a new monthly devoted to health on Hygienic Principles, Dec.,1874 New York, NY: Samuel R. Wells,Publisher. Lead article: "Transmission of Moral Tendencies". "Danger of Eating Hearty Suppers" by D. Denison, MD. "Infant Mortality--Cause and Cure" by James Alexander Mowatt. "What and When Shall we Drink?" by W. Perkins, MD. "Popular Physiology" Respiration. "Doctor Edmunds on Druggery" by R.T. Trall, MD. "Edible Nuts" by Julia Colman.  Cheap Manure. Wet Boots. Pure Water for Animals. Horses at Rest.  Preserving Parsnips. Keeping Onions. Index for issues July to December 1874. Illustrated ad for Sewing Machines, Elgin Watches, Clothes Wringers, Reversible Body baby Carriages. 64 p.      16 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, cover moderately stained, fair. (7982) $15.00            Scientific/Health/Medicine

Science of Health, The;  a new monthly devoted to health on Hygienic Principles, July 1874 New York, NY: Samuel R. Wells,Publisher. Lead article: "Our American Girls" by Laura E. Lyman, on the education of women. "Artificial Crises" by J.S. Galloway, MD.: about diuretics, enemas, sudorifics and vapor baths--- organs of depuration should be used as intended by nature. Popular Physiology, illustrated:  Insalivation, Deglutition. "Predisposing Causes of Disease: Common Salt" by Ernest Wellman, MD. Household and Agricultural Section:  "Fat and its uses" by Julia Colman.  "Shakerdom-- A Criticism" discusses piece in May issue about the Shaker Society of South Union, KY.  44 p.    16 x 24 cm.      Paper periodical, cover moderately stained, fair.          (7980)  $15.00.  Scientific/Health/Medicine

Science Record for 1874, The; A compendium of Scientific Progress and Discovery during the past year with illustrations Beach, Alfred E., Editor. 1874     New York, NY: Munn & Co., Inc. Scientific American Office. This Record is packed with inventions for 1874, including Method for cleaning greasy laboratory beakers; Tungsten in steel; Hardening Steel by air currents; Henderson Iron Process; Combustibility of the Diamond; Diamond cutting in New York--The Cleaver or Klover, the Cutter or Snyder; The Setter and the Polisher; Miniature Telegraph; a new nail; waterproof paint for canvas; The Electrical Condenser; Electrical Railway Signal; New life-raft at sea; Artificial milk for calves; Education of horses; Mammoth Cheese manufactured in Boston weighs 4050 pounds.           600 pp. 12 x 19 cm.     Maroon cloth onboard with gilt design, very good.   (1758)  $33.00. Scientific/Inventions

Smith's New Class Register, containing records for classes (probably in New Hampshire) in class for term beginning Nov. 20, 1874.       Detroit, MI: E.B. Smith & Co.  Teacher's class register for classes in bookkeeping, history, reading, primary geography and grammar.  14.6 x 18.6 cm.       Cloth on board. Very good condition. (0240) $16.00. Educational

Statistics and Gazetteer of New Hampshire, The; containing descriptions of all the counties, towns and villages, 100+ pages of statistical tables.        Fogg, Alonzo J., Compiler. 1874 Concord, NH: D.L. Guernsey, Bookseller and Publisher. Grand collection of history and statistics of New Hampshire, with excellent engraved illustrations, including picture of monument to Hannah Dustin, (p.588)  heroine who killed ten Indians in 1697. Includes fold-out map of New Hampshire. History of NH in the Great Rebellion (Civil War). 681 pp. 15 x 23 cm. Calf on board, spine torn, cover scuffed.  Fold-out map has large (10 cm) closed  tear detached, tear. Overall fair.  (2428) $40.00.  History/Civil War

Sumner:  The Life and Times of Charles Sumner. His boyhood, education and public career     Nason,  Elias            1874    Boston, MA     B.B. Russell, 55 Cornhill. Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was born in Boston (now Revere); incorruptible statesman, accomplished scholar, champion of human rights, enemy of slavery and nemesis of the South.    356 pp. 12 x 19 cm.            Green cloth on board with gilt lettering and Sumner signature in gilt, edges rubbed, corners bumped; inscription dated 1874 on ffep; second free endpaper torn out. Dampstain on frontispiece engraving of Sumner. Good.            (4873) $48.00.  Biography

Youth's Temperance Banner, The, New York, February, 1874      New York, NY: National Temperance Society and Publication House . Caught and Fettered by Mrs. J.P. Ballard.  Cold-Water Remedy-- discusses book recently published by National Temperance Society, and conceited young man who drank wine. His brother drenched him with cold water. "Give us a glass of your best liquor," says the drunkard. Ex-bartender  offers him cold water, as "The best liquor ... God's beautiful sparkling water was the drink of Eden." 4 pp.  25 x 35 cm.      Paper periodical, lightly soiled, good.  (6378) $16.00.  Religious/Temperance                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

                                                                   

Getting Settled in Tehran

Our kids in pool in our yard in Tehran. In background are Alborz Mountains.

A note to readers:  When you see when some of the things I write about took place, you may say to yourself, “Gosh, that’s ancient history!  I wasn’t even born then!”  Let me put you at ease.  As a person of my years, I try to show you the world we lived in, but I also can see what is going on today in Iran.  Many things haven’t changed!  Iranian people are still very gentle, intelligent and friendly people.

This blog was published on May 3^rd, 2011, but is now re-issued, with some additions.

Getting Settled.  We found our house in Sahebgraniyeh, in the northern part of the city. It was a very upscale part of the city—every home was enclosed by high walls, and within the walls were very pleasant gardens and tall trees.  About three blocks away was Niavaran Palace, the palace where the Shah usually lived.  He had several all over town from which to choose.

Our landlord was a wealthy Persian engineer.  In our garden lived a little family.  Hossein Massoumi, with one eye that looked askew, was our gardener. His wife, a teenager, was Keshvar, and they had two small children-- Nassir, a boy, about 5, and Batul, a girl, about 2. We lived in a nice house with glass all along the south wall, which was our living room and hall, looking down over the whole city of Tehran.  We had a beautiful swimming pool, filled with ice-cold spring water, and on the hottest days, that water was still frigid.

We were at 5200 ft. of altitude, and the city slopes down to the center, at about 3750 ft. above sea level. Windows along our back upper floor allowed beautiful views of the Alborz mountains, which border Tehran on the north. It was October, 1970.

 Moving into a house in Iran was an adventure.

We hired a badji (maid), Parvin. 

One evening she made a huge chelo kebab for us. She used a large metal bowl, about 2½ feet wide, filled with fragrant, delicious rice, with marinated lamb, cooked on skewers over a fire, laid by skewer across the top of the rice. Then in the center, a raw egg yolk.  This is a real Persian delicacy.

Chelo Kebab--Wonderful!

Parvin was nice enough, but after a short time we found she was stealing a lot of stuff.  She left, and we hired Mehrab Mehrabi, a houseboy. Mehrab was a diminutive fellow, very polite, and very shy. Sometimes he brought his wife, Qoli.  She was loud, with a shrill voice, and darting, suspicious eyes.  Mehrab was Iranian, and she was an Arab from down in the Persian Gulf. 

Hossein, our gardener, would break a branch off a tree to use to rake leaves.  I produced a rake that I had brought from home and showed him, and he appeared grateful.  But the next time he needed to rake, he broke off another branch.  One day he wanted to use the water hose to wash off the roof outside our second floor windows.  He turned on the hose and walked through the house with the hose spewing water over the tile floors as he walked across them and up the stairs.  He would never have thought to wait till he had gotten to his work to turn the hose on.

Next door to our house was the ASS Dry Cleaners.  One of the employees made a habit out of going in the back yard of the cleaners every morning after I had gone to work, and squatted and did his business, in full view of my wife. I don't recall what "ASS" meant.  Next to this was the Barf Laundry. “Barf” means “snow” in Farsi.

The Lulekesh, simsaz and other notables.  “Lulekesh” means one who pulls or draws pipes, or a plumber.  To move into a house in Tehran, you need a plumber to hook up water pipes in the kitchen, and connect the toilet, as people take these things when they move. 

You need a “Simsaz”, (means “cutter of wires”) or Electrician. The electrician uses his fingers to check for the 220 volts of electricity. They count on their thick, Pakistani-made tennis shoes to insulate them. My wife would say, “Someday I expect to see nothing but those tennis shoes standing there!” To find a wire, they demolish the whole wall, because wiring a house Persian-style is quite a bit more haphazard than in the U.S.

After the electrician has done his damage, you’ll need a plasterer, and then you’ll need a painter to “rang zadaen” or “hit with color”.  And when an Iranian painter paints a room, that’s what he does—hits it with color. 

We had Red the Cashier install a 5 kw transformer to convert the house electricity from 220 to 110 volts. Iranians seem to think they can do about anything, but it seems most are still back in the camel-driving era. Red worked for the Americans here, so he spoke English.  However, when he converted our electricity, he did it for the first floor only.  I unpacked our small television and plugged it in to the wall socket and poof!  American TVs don’t work so well on 220 volts.

Karaj Dam near Tehran

Our "Bomb" of a car. It took quite a while for our car to arrive from the U.S., so we rented a car from PKEOM (Persian Knights Enlisted Officers’ Mess), an American servicemen's club that traces its roots back to the lend-lease days of World War II.  These cars were known as “PKEOM Bombs.”  We had this car until our 1966 Ford Falcon station wagon could arrive.  We thought we’d get out and see some of this beautiful country, so we drove up to Karaj dam in the mountains.  The scenery was magnificent, but we soon found out that the brakes on our “Bomb” were imaginary.  While we were up there the car started to spout steam, and we drove downhill as fast as we could, to find help for our problem. We finally reached a village where there was a filling station and drove in, with steam coming from all over.  I had never opened the hood, and then found out that I couldn’t. 

Anytime Americans showed up somewhere, a crowd of curious Iranians would gather.  They are a very helpful people, even if they haven’t a clue what they are doing. Several men tried to help open the hood, and finally a mechanic did it with a big crowbar.  The water pump was “tamum shod”—finished! he declared, and so this looked like it was going to take several hours.  A cab came by that already had an Iranian family in it, but the driver and the family were glad to have us, so our family of five jammed in, and off we raced to Tehran, with about 11 people including the driver.

Iranian taxi drivers always go as if they were on fire, so fast that you know you are in grave danger.  You learn early on to say, “Yavash!” (Slow!!) and this might make the American feel better, but it has absolutely no effect. 

Tehran traffic “Sholouq”, or impossible traffic jam.

We got to visit with a lot of plain, everyday Persian people during our two years in Iran, and found them to be wonderfully friendly and helpful. Where they might differ from Westerners in their familiarity with technology, they were generous, intelligent and fun to be around.

Western coverage of Iran and Iranians, or Persians, in recent years may have painted them as America-hating, single-minded Islamic fanatics. However, I think you will find that those people are in the minority.  I look for the day when Iran and the U.S.A. can be friends again.

Iranian men protest

Here are some books and papers  the Personal Navigator is offering:

 Rawleigh's 1917 Almanac

 Rawleigh's 1917 Almanac, Cookbook and Medical Guide, 28th Year: A Valuable Hand Book  1916 Freeport, IL: The W.T. Rawleigh Co.Marvelous book, loaded with advice and information. 140 products for 1917, including toilet articles, spices, medicines, cleaning products, poultry and stock products. Design for an iceless refrigerator using Canton flannel. Recipes for candies. Canning. Rawleigh's Dip for Cattle, Horses, Sheep and Hogs.   Louse powder. How soap is made at Rawleigh's. Photos show gathering of raw drugs in faraway India and other spots. 104 pp. 14.7 x 22.4 cm. Paper booklet, full color, very good condition. (6561) $29.00. Advertising

 Baby Doll Poster

Baby Doll: Warner Bros. Picture, an Elia Kazan Production of Tennessee Williams' screen play, starring Karl Malden and Carroll Baker; Advertising-Publicity Campaign Packet 1956 Warner Brothers. Advance Publicity campaign and advertising campaign samples for film"Baby Doll", has been called “notorious, salacious, revolting, dirty, steamy, lewd, suggestive, morally repellent and provocative.” This was 25-year-old Carroll Baker's second film, and she received an Oscar nomination for her part in the film. Its advertisements and posters featured a sultry young "Baby Doll" curled up in a crib in a suggestive pose, sucking her thumb.   21 x 28 cm. Paper folder contains Samples of Ad Campaign and Big Ad-Pub Campaign. Very good. (7092) $29.00. Advertising/Cinema

Burdock's Blood Bitters 1892 Almanac and Key to Health 1892 Buffalo, NY: Foster, Milburn & Co. Josiah Lewis of Sing Sing, NY had dyspepsia for years with no cure until he took Burdock Blood Bitters. Hettie McCourtney of Remus, MI had a pain in her back, head, heart, poor appetite, constipation and more until she took BBB. Mrs. Samuel Rieder's little boy (of Summit Hill, OH) had sores all over his body and legs, couldn't stand on his feet. " I gave him two bottles of BBB, and now he looks like another boy altogether." Almanac offers many testimonials and health advice, cures for Dyspepsia, dizziness, headache, variable appetite, souring of food, heart palpitation, constipation, biliousness, scrofula, rheumatism, pain in loins, dropsy, female complaints. Just take Burdock sugar-coated pills, Burdock's Blood Bitters, Dr. Wood's Norway Pine Syrup and Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil. Mrs. Wm. F. Babcock of Norvell, MI was "run over by a team of horses and a lumber wagon, and not expected to live, but my friends bathed me in Eclectric Oil..." 32 pp. 14.5 x 20 cm. Paper booklet, good. (7024) $24.00. Advertising/Medical

Wright's Pictorial Family Almanac 1865 Philadelphia, PA: Dr. Wm. Wright, NW Corner Fifty and Race Sts. Civil War edition of Almanac, which advertises Wright's Indian Vegetable Pills, which cleanse the bowels and purify the blood, with good effect upon asthma, acidity of the stomach, biles, dropsy, dysentery, erysipelas, female irregularities, foulness of the complexion, fever and ague, jaundice, scrofula, ulcers, worms, yellowness of the skin, Yellow fever and much more.  Humorous cartoons. Testimonials from men in Yankee camps. Man from Pennsylvania volunteers at Brandy Station, VA writes that Indian pills cured bad colds he and comrades had while they were at Culpepper. Man from Eight Pennsylvania cavalry, nearWarrenton, VA writes about good effect of Indian Vegetable pills on disordered stomach and diseases of the digestive organs. QM Sgt. Hughes of Penna. Militia writes from Yorktown, VA ordering one-third gross of Indian Vegetable Pills. John Portney in Camp Convalescent, Alexandria, VAwrites asking for Indian Vegetable pills. Also music, "The Picket's Last Watch" by David A. Warden.     20 pp. 12.5 x 21 cm. Paper booklet, worn, fair. (7728) $24.00. Advertising/Civil War

Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net

Tour Guide for The Little Wanderers

USS Wright (CC-2)

               

                When I left Washington in 1967 I found that I had not made the cut for future submarine duty, which was the path to command for submarine officers.   I thought this was the end of the world, but like a lot of things in life, you don’t know what’s best for you, and people around you may not know, either. 

                At the time, diesel submarines were being quickly replaced by nuclear submarines, and I, as a diesel submariner, was part of a vanishing breed.  By “not making the cut” I put myself in line to climb the ladder to (hopefully) command a destroyer, and this was a prize for any naval officer.

                So, here I was, an ex-submariner, and I was sent to a strange little former aircraft carrier that was neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red herring. 

Capt. Frank Romanick was skipper of USS Wright, a small (46,000 ton) carrier converted to a national command authority communications command ship. Romanick was the public relations person par excellence. He lived for seeing his face plastered across a newspaper page, or on TV. He came from command of a naval communications station in the Philippines, where he had been known all over the Far East for his publicity tricks.  Now he commanded a ship that, in time of war might have the President aboard.  I was his navigator.

Sailors man the rails aboard USS Wright, 1968

This was a remarkable ship— it had once been a light aircraft carrier, but was now converted to a super state-of-the art floating communications station, a “National Emergency Command Post Afloat”.  Large antennas sprouted from the flight deck, and we had a helicopter that would often lift a heavy wire antenna several thousand feet in the air, its other end tethered on the ship, to experiment at sending signals if this ship took over from shore facilities in Washington in time of a nuclear war.  This was just at the dawn of satellite communications.

The central part of the ship was called “The Box” and it contained all the communications systems and an operations control center manned by a special team of officers and enlisted men from all the armed services, and NSA, CIA and so forth.  We even had a grandiose state room called “Flag One” which was designed for the President, who was then Lyndon B. Johnson. It even had the array of three television sets that LBJ always demanded  wherever he went. [In those days he wanted to watch NBC, CBS and ABC at the same time.  It would have blown his mind to have to watch CNN, Fox, MSNBC and all the rest!]

Captain Romanick congratulates Mrs. Romanick

Romanick discovered that ships got good press when they did good deeds. When we visited a port, he sent the Chaplain out in one direction and me in another, to round up orphans, kids of all descriptions, ladies' groups, whatever, to tour that ship.

We had ship visits down to a science: Bring them aboard in the hangar bay, welcome them, give them yellow "Wright Guy" buttons, then put them on the flight deck elevator and send them topside. Play with a gun mount. Look at the helo. Watch a liferaft inflate. Climb up to the bridge. Then, down to the mess decks for cookies and fruit punch. Then off. (and check to make sure none of the little rascals got left behind.)

I think the low point in my life aboard Wright was when we tied up at the Boston Navy Yard and I was in charge of touring The Little Wanderers aboard ship.  These kids were poor orphans from a time-honored Boston charity, and we showed them a great time.  But it seemed to me that my life as a naval officer, doing grand deeds upon the bounding main, was going down a rathole.  I was depressed.

Once a month in port in Norfolk, we'd have massive “Bravo Zulu” ceremonies, where Romanick would give large plywood keys, painted with the ship's logo, to people who really excelled at something, like giving the most blood at a blood drive, or leading a team of sailors to clean up a school in Bermuda. [“Bravo Zulu” is Navy code for “Well done!”]

There were flowers for all the wives and girlfriends who came to watch, and awards, awards, awards.

Romanick discovered that you could get good press for rescuing someone at sea, so he tried to turn us into a coast guard cutter, by steaming into hurricanes or other storms, looking for ships or boats that had sent a distress signal. We rescued a few, but as the President's National Command Post Afloat, was that our mission?

One time he got negative press, though .He was in a big rush to get up to an anchorage in Annapolis, where we were expecting dozens of helos full of flag and general officers and the Secretary of the Navy, flying over from Washington.

                So we roared up Chesapeake Bay at 27+ knots with a wake that spelled disaster for the marinas along the shore.
                At 46,000 tons, this was not just another motor boat tooling up Chesapeake Bay. Unless you've done it, it's hard  to imagine how a carrier navigation team looks for lighthouses and other navigational aids on either side as you zip past at 27 knots.  

                The Baltimore and Norfolk papers gave Romanick just the kind of coverage he didn't want, people from all the marinas in Chesapeake Bay were calling up the Navy Department and yelling, and Romanick got chewed out by his boss.

                Frank came up with another scheme to get publicity.  We’d do a burial at sea!  The brother of one of our officers had just died, and so the plan was to bring his coffin aboard and bury it at sea, with appropriate ceremony by several chaplains and gun salute, and all hands on deck in dress blues.  The ceremony went nicely, with cameras snapping and capturing every move, and the coffin was eased down a slide on the stern.  However, they had not put enough air holes in the coffin, nor weighted it down enough, and so it floated along astern of the ship.  Romanick was furious and ordered the stern gun mounts manned and away they blasted at the poor, defenseless floating coffin, until it finally sank. 

                USS Wright and Romanick tested me in a way that I had never been tested before.  In addition to the frantic, manic, screaming skipper, we had a quiet, pensive executive officer and a collection of officers at all ranks who seemed to act as if they wished they were somewhere else. 

                One young officer who worked with communications in “The Box” for the Joint Chiefs was Lieutenant Junior Grade Bob Woodward, USNR.  Shortly afterward he left the navy and found his way to The Washington Post where he distinguished himself with his stories about the Watergate Break in that ended with the resignation of President Nixon.

                I had just come from several years in submarines, where I had been surrounded by competent officers and men, highly motivated people with a real sense of purpose.   Here I found officers who openly admitted they were “putting in their time” before they were released, and everyone clearly unnerved by a commanding officer with a quicksilver temperament and a large case of insecurity.  In submarines I thought every officer and man was dedicated to a professional qualification program, and people were proud to learn more about their boat and the Navy every day, and showed it. 

                Aboard Wright, everything was for the moment, because the captain was likely to change his mind many times in the day, whether at sea or in port, and then expect everyone to conform instantly.  While I was aboard this ship, it looked like my future was to get assigned to a service force ship, the kiss of death for promotion.  I put in my papers to resign from the Navy, but after they had reached Washington, a former Wright executive officer and Romanick pulled some strings to get me offered the job of executive officer of a destroyer. What a joyous surprise this was!

Frank wasn’t at all sure he needed an ex- submariner as his navigator, and he was pretty tough on me, which encouraged me to do my best.  I learned a lot from him, including some invaluable pointers about the positive aspects of public relations, and certainly a lot about leadership.

Life aboard Wright exposed me to “The Amazing Things”.

   Now, the Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:   

Portfolio of the World War-- Rotogravure Etchings Selected from the Mid-Week Pictorial of The New York Times. 1917. New York: New York Times Company. Excellent collection of photographs from World War I. 28 x 41 cm. Cloth on board, very nice cover. Sepia-toned, high-quality photos. Front hinge broken, but binding intact. Good condition. (0392) $90.00. History.

Coaster's and Fisherman's Guide, and Master's and Mate's Manual: Laws of the Sea. Including the Passenger Laws of 1819, '47, '48 and '49 

by Butts, Isaac Ridler 1849 Boston, MA: I.R. Butts, No. 2 School Street. Butts (1795-1882) published a whole mass of guide books  for Sailors, Seamen and Fishermen. This Seaman's Assistant provides guidance for Rights of Merchant Seamen, including hiring, when they may desert, right to salvage, wages (including tables) and punishment. "...a master might be excused for knocking a seaman down, under the influence of sudden passion, from provocation by language of gross insolence.....(further) kicking and beating the fallen seaman ...would not be justified."  "The master is not justified in stripping a seaman naked, and inflicting  a severe punishment with a cat; at least not for ordinary violation of the ship's discipline." Also included are Coaster's Guide, Fisherman's Guide, including Bounty in Cod Fisheries, Mackerel Fishery, Pickled Fish; Shipmaster's Manual, Passenger Vessels (Act of 1847); In Appendix is Navy Ration for victualling, which stipulates 4 lbs. of beef per week per man, 3 lbs. pork, 1 lb. flour, 1/2 lb. raisins or dried fruit, and 1 3/4 pints of spirits.  Also guidance for Common Carriers, Marine Insurance and Book-keeping.. 120 pp. 11 x 18 cm. Paper on board with cloth tape spine, parts of cloth tape on spine missing, inside back hinge cracked, pencil inscriptions on back pastedown and back endpaper. Fair. (4742) $290.00. Nautical

Spirit of Sail: On Board the World's Great Sailing Ships 1987 New York, NY Henry Holt & Co. 175 pp. 24 x 31 cm. This is a magnificent work, with beautiful photographs aboard the finest tall ships in the world, by Peter Christopher, with text by John Dyson. Cloth on board, excellent condition. Dj has two minor scratches, else excellent. (0719) $40.00. Nautical/ Picture Books.

Table compares Armies and Navies of the World, and tonnage of ships under sail or steam, 1882 1882 Graphic presentation shows relative size of shipping fleet in tons; Size of armies and navies in numbers of men.  Great Britain and Ireland led the world in shipping, with 3,621,650 tons under sail; 3,335,215 under steam, with U.S. second with 2,366,132 under sail, 1,221,206 under steam.  Siam had 20,930 tons, all sail. Russia had the largest army in the world, with 717,747 soldiers, next was Italy with 714,958, and France with 518,642, Germany with 449,239. Great Britain had the largest navy with 69,540 sailors; Sweden and Norway were next, with 50,915. The United States, just 17 years after the Civil War, had only 25,186 soldiers and 12,230 sailors. 1 page     17.5 x 24.5 cm.       Colored plate, good. (7722) $24.00. Navy/Nautical

Tales of the Coast and a Brief History of the Merchants & Miners Transportation Co. Seventy-fifth Anniversary 1927 Baltimore, MD: Merchants & Miners Transportation Co. Seventy-fifth anniversary publication offers stories of life and high adventure in the old days along the Atlantic seaboard. Frontispiece shows painting of Duel between Blackbeard and Maynard.  Battle of Chesapeake and Shannon, June 1, 1813. History of Merchants & Minors, from 1852. Thomas C. Jenkins, first president of company. Capt. Solomon Howes was master of Company's first vessel in 1854. Includes fold-out map of United States Eastern Seaboard with mileages from various points to and from Baltimore. 63 pp. 13 x 19 cm. Paper on board, spine suntanned, very good. (1478) $29.00. Nautical/History

 Vielliebchen

 Vielliebchen [in German] von Marie von Olfers,  1882 Berlin, Germany: Verlag von Georg Stilte.  15 pp. 20.5 x 27 cm. Vielliebchen by Marie von Olfers (b. 1826 d. 1924) is a children's book drawing upon old German custom. "Ihr Mädchen und Bübchen, Nur ja sin Vielliebchewn, S'ist nicht um das Essen, Uber um's Vergessen!" Decorated paper on board, worn, price mark on front free endpaper. All illustrated pages printed on one side of heavy stock.  Good. (2612) $29.00. Children's

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A Trip to the Land of Harvard, and Prof. Guthke

Harvard Square

            I received a telephone call the other day from a man with what I thought was a British accent.  “This is Karl Guthke", the voice said. …" you may not remember me…..”

            “Karl Siegfried Fürchtegott Guthke!  Of course I remember you!” 

            Karl and I met 59 years ago, when he came to America the first time from Germany.  More about that later.

            It turns out that he and his wife have been living in Lincoln, MA since 1969; he has taught German literature at Harvard since 1969, and we have lived just an hour apart for the past 21 years. He invited me to visit him at Harvard.  Although he is now retired, he still has an office in the Widener Library.

            I parked in a strange underground parking garage where the roof at each level seemed to be about six inches above the roof of my car, and cars were tucked in everywhere, so finally parking there was a work of art. However, Cambridge meter maids are famously expert at handing out parking tickets, so I was not about to try looking for a metered spot and then exceeding two hours. 

            Cambridge is really different from my world.  Zip Code 02138 is known as the most Liberal zip code in the country and I believe it.  As I drove into Harvard Square I passed a Revolutionary book store.  I could imagine it filled with hirsute Bohemians who might vaguely resemble Che Guevara or Vladimir Lenin.

            People here seem to celebrate the “other” of our national life. In my two years in the old Soviet Union I never saw so many people who thought that Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Lenin were the really good guys.  Intense-looking lollabouts relaxing in the intellectual atmosphere of Harvard Square.  They seem to take pride in tee shirts with the slogans and the face of Guevara, or Malcolm X, Stalin, Eugene V. Debs, Pancho Villa, Zapata, Rosa Luxemburg or just “Hang all the Capitalists!”

            [You have to give Cambridge denizens credit:  Who else in all of Massachusetts would even know who Rosa Luxemburg or Gene Debs was?]

            As I walked along the street, I saw a scraggly young man seated on the sidewalk with a large sign that said “Homeless— Vegetarian.”      

            Most cars had Obama bumper stickers on them.  No Palin or McCain or other such stickers here!

            Everyone looked the part of Harvard. Either the students and would-be students with backpack and cell phone at the ready, waiting for an urgent call… 

            Or, the bearded, pale-skinned professorial types with tweed jackets and bulging briefcases…

            Or the intense looking men who looked like they had just left an important meeting in Mogadishu, Mumbai or Mombasa, and were on their way to share their wisdom with other equally important people in some Harvard seminar room.

            It was time for me to leave this quasi-Harvard world and penetrate the little portals and enter Harvard Yard.  What a beautiful sight of green grass and trees with elegant, stately buildings on all sides!  Workers were putting up the tents and banners for the graduation ceremony the following week.  Groups of visitors were walking thoughtfully from a trip to view the statue of John Harvard to see the Widener Library.  In one group, everyone looked Eastern European; the next Chinese.  Some young Chinese were cheerily posing for pictures with the august John Harvard.

            Maybe it was just my imagination, but everyone, even the bums, looked so thoughtful!

            I went into the guard station at the Widener, which is a magnificent library of some 15 million volumes, and asked to contact Professor Guthke. The Professor arrived—we had not seen each other in 54 years!

He showed me up to his third floor office in this huge library, and I passed offices with people in them but looked like there had been a book explosion, with books stacked haphazardly all over everything.

            Karl’s office, however, was very neat, with antique maps hung in frames.  He pointed to the shelves that contained books he had written, both in English and German.  I later searched his books on Amazon.com and found some 24, but I suspect there are many more.

            Karl showed me the room at the center of the library that contained the books that belonged to a young gentleman from the Class of 1907, Harry Elkins Widener. He lost his life in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and his family bequeathed money to Harvard to build this library, which was completed in 1915.  At the front center of this room was an enclosed case containing one of the original copies of the Gutenberg Bible.

            We viewed two reading rooms, and it appeared as if most students were reading from laptops, perhaps reading material NOT in the 15 million volume collection, but from some other library in the world. Or maybe just doing their Facebook...

            Karl and I walked across the Harvard Yard to the Faculty Club, and this was every bit what you would expect:  A comfortable, old-style Gentlemen’s club with a reading room, and an attractive dining room with many young, clean-cut and well-attired attendants.  Faculty members and guests at the tables mostly wore ties, the ladies were well-dressed and everyone looked appropriately professorial.  

Karl Guthke.  In my senior year in high school we hosted a young German student in our home for a few weeks. He was one of about 12 men and women sent to Port Arthur (Texas) from different parts of West Germany as part of The Experiment in International Living. 

            I think these were all very bright young people; after living with families in Port Arthur they would go on to colleges in the U.S. and then return to Germany.  The objective was to show German citizens American-style democracy.  This was seven years after World War II had ended.  This “Experiment” was one of many programs intended to help rebuild Europe after this disastrous war.

            Karl Siegfried Fürchtegott Guthke was 19 years old, from Leer, Ostfriesland, a town in northwest Germany near the Dutch border.  He had just graduated from the Gymnasium, he said, and from what he said and did, we gathered that he already had received a whole lot more education than one would get in an American high school. 

            At any rate, he was headed for Texas University in the fall, as was I.

            All of these young Germans spoke English fluently, but there were many cultural differences that we discovered as time went on.  First, all we knew about Germans is what we had read about Nazi troops marching across Europe, and Hitler, and swastikas, and … really not much good.

            My mother, however, had studied German in college and spoke a good bit of it, and, as a person born in 1908, had a broader, more balanced picture of Germany. 

            The Germans noted that young people in Texas all were able to drive, and many had cars.  For them that was a big difference.  In talking with Karl many years later he told me that he had never felt any unpleasantness, dislike or hatred from Americans in those earlier years. 

            Our family included Karl in trips to McFadden beach, on the Gulf of Mexico, a few miles from Port Arthur, and to Cow Creek or Cow Bayou, two fresh water swimming spots. Also, I thought it would be fun to take Karl on a very low-cost trip across the southern United States.  He and I hitchhiked from Port Arthur, across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama to Pensacola, Florida, in the panhandle of that state.  Then we hitchhiked back, and arrived home unmolested and unmurdered, something far less likely today (2011).  

            In the fall, Karl and I entered Texas University.  I began a year as a typical Texas kid, trying to get a college education at the very least cost possible.  My parents, like many other middle class people in those days, were not affluent at all, and even the low price for an in-state student at a state school was a stretch. 

            I think Karl had very few extra dollars as well.

            We lived in different rooming houses, and we visited each other only rarely. 

            At the end of the school year, I had completed a year of college.

            Karl, on the other hand, through his native brilliance, his superb educational preparation in Germany, and his year of intense study in Austin, was able to apply for and satisfactorily complete a test that allowed him to be granted a Master’s degree in English! 

            He didn’t even have a bachelor’s degree, but his professors found that to be no problem.

            After that year in Texas, by the terms of his grant, he returned to Germany, where he quickly obtained a PhD. After he had his doctorate, he contacted his old professor at Texas, who had since moved to U.C. Berkeley, and soon Karl was an assistant professor at Berkeley. 

            Karl spent a few years at Berkeley, then went to the University of Toronto to teach, then landed at Harvard in 1968.  Since then he has had a brilliant career teaching German literature and writing many, many books.

            Karl somehow tracked me down recently (April 2011) and invited me to lunch at the Harvard Faculty Club, and we got together again, after 57 years. 

Some of Karl’s books:

Karl Siegfried Guthke, The Gender of Death: A Cultural History in Art and Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1999).

Last Words: Variations on a Theme in Cultural History by (Oct 30, 1992)

Erkundungen: Essays Zur Literatur Von Milton Bis Travern (Germanic Studies in America) (German Edition)  (Sep 1983)

Last Frontier: Imagining Other Worlds, from the Copernican Revolution to Modern Science Fiction by Guthke and Helen Atkins (Nov 1990)

B. Traven: The Life Behind the Legends by Guthke and Robert C. Sprung (Apr 1991)

Epitaph Culture in the West: Variations on a Theme in Cultural History (Apr 2003)

Letzte Worte: Variationen uber ein Thema der Kulturgeschichte des Westens (German Edition) (1990)

Ist der Tod eine Frau?: Geschlecht und Tod in Kunst und Literatur (German Edition) (1998)

Das deutsche bürgerliche Trauerspiel (1972)

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (Sammlung Metzler ; Bd. 65 : Abt. D, Literaturgeschichte) (German Edition)  (1979)

Das deutsche burgerliche Trauerspiel (Sammlung Metzler. Abt. D, Literaturgeschichte) (German Edition) (1980)

Das deutsche bürgerliche Trauerspiel. (Jan 1, 1994)

Literaturkritik (Freies Deutsches Hochstift) by Albrecht Von Haller and Guthke (Jan 1970)

B. Traven: Biographie eines Ratsels (German Edition) (1987)

Gerhart Hauptmann: Weltbild im Werk (Uni-Taschenbucher) (German Edition) (1980)

Gerhart Hauptmann: Weltbild im Werk (Uni-Taschenbucher) (German Edition) (1980)

Das Abenteuer der Literatur: Studien zum literarischen Leben der deutschsprachigen Lander von der Aufklarung bis zum Exil (German Edition) (1981)

Der Mythos der Neuzeit: Das Thema der Mehrheit der Welten in der Literatur- und Geistesgeschichte von der kopernikanischen Wende bis zur Science Fiction (German Edition)  (1983)

Schillers Dramen: Idealismus und Skepsis (Edition Orpheus) (German Edition)  (1994)

Lessings Horizonte.  (Apr 30, 2003)

Now, while we are the subject of books, The Personal Navigator offers these books and papers:

Boston Courier, Semi-Weekly, Monday, September 28, 1829       Buckingham, J.T., Editor           1829    Boston, MA: Adams & Holden, Printers            Prince Polignac is now at the head of the French cabinet. Story relates his background, including his, and his brother's, attempts against the government of Buonapart in 1806. He gave proof of his congenial feelings toward this country in 1816 by marrying Miss Campbell, a young lady of large fortune.  Ireland is in a most horrible condition now. From John Bull, a high church anti-Catholic paper, reports gangs of murderers, fiends who take the opportunity of waylaying Protestants. Burning, slaughterings and abductions continue in that "priest-ridden land."  Long report on imaginative robbery of the Suffolk Bank by John Wade, who took $5100 and boarded a schooner for Hallowell, Maine. He made it to Bath, bought a sailor suit, re-boarded the schooner under the name of Mr. King, sailed back to Boston, where the ship lay at anchor and he and crewmates went ashore to play nine pins, with Wade (alias King) paying all the bills. Gentleman from the West Indies says he has been exporting 2000 to 3000 puncheons of rum, but now, owing to the Temperance societies, demand for rum in the United States has fallen off, and he will have to sell his plantation and leave the island. USS Constitution has arrived at Norfolk, in 40 days from Rio de Janeiro. The seven mutineers were left on board the Hudson, to be sent home for trial. Advertisement for Patent Sponge Boots for Horses.         4 pp.    39 x 50 cm.            Newspaper, small holes in folds,  good. Inscription on top of page one "G. Wilkinson".  (8137) $26.00. Newspapers

Rockport Eagle, The, Rockport, Mass., Thursday, January 13, 1972       Hurnowicz, Frank and Betty J., editors.      1972    Rockport, MA: The Rockport Eagle Newspaper Co. Weekly edition features  report of First Arrival of '72--Robert Wayne Muise was born Jan. 1 at 10:02 a.m. to Robert Nicholas Muise and Jacquelyn Almeida. Photo shows father, grand father and great grandfathers, including George N. Mackey. "Women's Lib--1889" Selectmen on Dec. 30 1971 voted to accept the low bid of Richard Poole for the Sanitary Land Fill operation from Jan. 3 to July 1, 1972 for $500 per week.Lumber Wharf Committee members Gene Lesch, Richard McGlauflin and James Curtis  discuss proposal for the Town to buy Lumber Wharf. Lawrence E. Swan requested a "taxicab" renewal for Kate to continue her tripping from Dock Square via Old Garden Road to the Coast Guard Station.         8 pp.    29.5 x 44 cm.   Newspaper, good.        (8155)             $15.00 Newspapers

Rockport Eagle, The, Rockport, Mass., Thursday, Oct. 1, 1970   Hurnowicz, Frank and Betty J., editors. 1970            Rockport, MA: The Rockport Eagle Newspaper Co. Weekly edition features photo of George Smith of Pigeon Cove readying his boat, Beaver, at Yacht Club. Chairman Ernest R. Poole returned to Selectmen's meeting Sept. 24. Board heard request of William Dixon for used car dealer's license at his Mobil filling station at 225 Main Street. Board denied request. Photo and story about David Platt, Cape Ann Craftsman. Column, "Tongues & Cheeks" by Frenchy Hilliard discusses senseless killing of patrolman Walter Schroeder in Hub bank heist.  Salty language.     12 pp.  29.5 x 44 cm. Newspaper, good.        (8146)  $15.00 Newspapers

Rockport Eagle, The, Rockport, Mass., Thursday, Oct. 22, 1970 Hurnowicz, Frank and Betty J, editors.  1970            Rockport, MA The Rockport Eagle Newspaper Co. Weekly edition features photo and story about Clarence Waddell, boat builder. Selectmen focused attention on Commonwealth's plan for reconstructing Rt. 127 at Nugent's Stretch, and criticism of Representative Harrison for his apparently taking over citizens' petition organized by Ted Tarr.  Column, "Tongues & Cheeks" by Frenchy Hilliard attacks Selectmen Nick Barletta and G. Herbert Carlson about their criticism of his earlier remarks about Town Engineer and fence at the Granite Savings Bank.  12 pp. 29.5 x 44 cm. Newspaper, good. (8148)  $15.00. Newspapers

Memoirs of the Harvard Dead in the War Against Germany, Vol. I, The Vanguard by Howe, M.A. DeWolfe1920 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  Volume I the Vanguard includes the memoirs of thirty Harvard men whose deaths occurred before the United States entered the European War. Over 360 Harvard men died in World War I, and these are included in Vols. II through V. This volume contains the memoirs of George Williamson '05, Edward  Stone '08, André Chéronnet-Champollion '02, Harold Marion-Crawford 11, Calvin  Day 12-14, Carlton  Brodrick ’08, Harry Byng ’13, Henry Farnsworth ’12, Charles Cross Jr. 03, Archibald Ramsay 07, George Taylor 08, Allen Cleghorn (Instr), Crosby Whitman '86, Merrill Gaunt, Victor Chapman ’13, Clyde Maxwell '14, Alan Seeger '10, Henry Coit '10, Robert Pellissier '04, John Stairs (Law '14), Dillwyn Starr '08, William Lacey DMD '13, Norman Prince '08, Edward Sortwell '11, Edgar Shortt '17, Henry Simpson '18, Howard Lines (LLB '15), Lord Gorell (Henry Barnes) (Law '04), Addison Bliss '14 and Henry Suckley '10. Many colorful stories of the heroism of fine young Americans, Britons and Frenchmen. 200 pp. 15.6 x 23.7 cm. Red cloth on board with gilt page tops, title in gilt, cover bright and clean, spine sunfaded, several pages unopened, very good. (1742) $49.00. WWI/Biography

 Scene at Versailles

Lustige Blätter, No. 8 XXXIII Jahrg. 186. Kriegs-Nummer, February, 1918 (German World War I humor and propaganda magazine) Berlin, Germany: Verlag der Lustigen Blätter, (Dr. Eysler & Co.), G.m.b.H. Cover picture shows two stylish women and dog, one woman is holding cigarrette. Cover caption: “Friede im Often:Weißt du schon, Alma, fünf Millionen Zentner Eßwaren bekommen wir aus der Ukraine."

""Ja, mir wird förmlich Augst um meine schlauke Taille.""

Articles:  Neues Dekameron. Der Amerikaner und die Pariserin, features cartoons of American soldier and Parisiennes. Full page picture, "Frülingsarbeit in der Ukraine." ; Der erste Frieden. Two cartoons show scene at Versailles in January 1871 and January 1918. 16 pp. 24 x 32 cm. Paper periodical, spinefold worn, very good. (5813) $20.00. World War I/History/Propaganda

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