This is the main attraction. This was the story that first stopped me in my tracks taken from that page of The Graphic published that August Saturday 119 years ago. I was distracted by so many other stories on that page and that led me to share with you the pheasant plucking book, the death… Continue reading Zebras in harness
Tag: 19th century
Did Dickens steal Sam Slick of Slickville?
It was not looking like a success. It was meant to be an amusing satiric picture postcard of a book about the exploits of lower middle class sportsmen who aped their betters. The writing was merely meant to wrap around a series of pictures — for the whole concept originated with an artist. To do… Continue reading Did Dickens steal Sam Slick of Slickville?
What are zoos for?
That page of The Graphic from 1895 just keeps on giving. Looking across from the pheasants shocker is another piece of news that has echoes today. Right now there is a half-hearted debate about what economists might call the moneytisation of cultural assets. As the first world (yes I know, we’ve discussed this phrase), falls… Continue reading What are zoos for?
More from The Graphic
There was more on that same page of The Graphic dated August 17th 1895 than just a review of a pheasant shooting handbook (see below). Right beside it was the news that a man who wrote the songbook of the American Civil War had just died. As the obituary recalled, George Frederick Root “…is better… Continue reading More from The Graphic
The Unmet Need
Oil is a risky business. It is not surprising to hear a geologist predict that ‘peak oil’ has past. Oil’s future will be inexorable decline. It would not shock you unduly to hear them say oil is now just “a temporary and vanishing phenomenon—one which young men will live to see come to its natural… Continue reading The Unmet Need
“The pheasant flies a great deal faster than he appears to do”
Reading this book review from 1895 will almost certainly anger practitioners of what is now called animal rights. It will cause bird protection societies to tut tut about how unfeelingly cruel were our ancestors. And of course the class warriors will take it upon themselves to behave as the encouraged guard dogs of our morality.… Continue reading “The pheasant flies a great deal faster than he appears to do”
These boots are made for… limping
On one of those million and one BBC websites there is a report of this singular phenomenon from the 19th century. The website claimed for a brief time there was a fashion among women to feign a limp in public when there was nothing the matter with them. This was more than a daft fashion… Continue reading These boots are made for… limping
Spare the rod
You have to hope this gathering worldwide storm of populism is not a glissando towards Nazi-ism. Sure, there is a quickening in the political pulse. The disconnected nomenklatura and all-too-connected social welfarists demand that the people get to eat cake when there really is no cake. The dispossessed gather in tribal clans to do harm.… Continue reading Spare the rod