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A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.
From Our Abecedarian Blog . . .

Today — October 3, 2025 (permalink)

Though identified in the 1940s at the very latest, the "electric tumblebug" (pictured lower right) delivers zero Google results as of this posting.  From Basic Studies in Science by Wilbur Beauchamp, 1940.


From Wee Wisdom, 1920.


From Amrita, 1977.


From Youth's Companion, 1914.  Compare to this one from 3 years earlier.


From Life on a Medieval Barony by William Stearns Davis, 1923.


From The Stage and the School by Katharine Anne Ommanney, 1932.


"The best kind of dictator.  How they do it in the USA."  From The Children's Newspaper, 1934.


From Indiana University's 1975 yearbook.


"Hitting wife with cheese, 'contempt.'"  From The Duluth Herald, 1912.


From Piedmont College's 1988 yearbook.


"It was not always easy to get the right light."  From Mrs. Raffles by John Kendrick Bangs and illustrated by Albert Levering, 1905.


At first we assumed that they never made it through Hamlet to the final scene, but the headline actually refers to the play opening on Friday the 13th.  From Hartnell College's 1964 yearbook.


From Elfie's Visit to Cloudland and the Moon by Frances Austen, 1891.




From the University of Pittsburgh's 1918 yearbook.


A subject is hynotized to believe a mouse is present.  From The Master Course in Hypnotism by Harry Arons, 1948.


From South Western Normal School's 1915 yearbook.


From Practice for Up and Away by McKee, Harrison, McCowen & Lehr, 1957.


From The Buffoon, by Louis Marlow:


A doll's hair as nesting material.  From Under the Maple Tree by Zoe Meyer and illustrated by Florence Liley Young, 1927.

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