"Moral uses of dark things," from Grip, 1884.

From St. Nicholas, 1889, and Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.

Here's a hare as a substitute for a powder-puff, from Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1883.

"The sweet morning bell."  From The Harvard Lampoon, 1885.

From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1887.   Related: A Snowball's Chance in Hell.

From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1884.

From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1883.

A: "In all likelihood, the responsibility lies with both of you – even though your role and your faults have only been those of passive neglect." —Ernest Dichter and Motivation Research

"In the Black Valley," from a drawing by Heywood Sumner.  From Undine and Other Tales by De la Motte Fouqué, in English Illustrated, 1886.  This should also be of interest: How to Believe in Your Elf.

"Guess I'm quite the Cheshire," says a newfangled American version of British cheese.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1885.

"Under the clock."  From Fun magazine, 1885.

From American Spiders and Their Spinningwork, 1889.

An illustration by Frederick Burr Opper for Puck magazine, 1885.

Here's !!! (a.k.a. Exclamation Point, Exclamation Point, Exclamation Point or Three Exclamation Points by George Hughes Hepworth, 1881).

From Judas der Ertz-Schelm by Abraham à Sancta Clara, 1883.

"A wet day for a wedding."  From Fighting an Omen by E. Henderson Smith, 1883.  Speaking of weddings, see our Collected Lost Meanings of Wedlock.  Why lost meanings? The definition of "marriage" has become hotly debated of late, to the point that the word has become "increasingly unmentionable" (Catholic Herald) or even "has no meaning at all" (Family Policy Institute). It's been said that only through loss can there be gain, that only through loss can we truly grow and understand what is at stake, that only through loss can that which is beautiful be found. As the poet Joseph August has noted, "Only through loss can we glimpse the deepest meanings, / hints and flashes whispered from below / elucted as from underwater, deep." The collected lost meanings of wedlock might surprise even those who would otherwise be considered well-informed.  It's the perfect gift for one's betrothed, or for a wedding planner, or for anyone contemplating matrimony.

From A Book of New England Legends and Folk Lore in Prose and Poetry by Samuel Adams Drake, 1884.