The colour of Love

Confessedly, as a class, the quadroon women of New Orleans are the most beautiful in America. Their personal attractions are not only irresistible, but they have, in general, the best blood of America in their veins. They are mostly white in complexion, and are, many of them, highly educated and accomplished; and yet, by the… Read more »

The Ghastly Influence of Bad Literature on the Weak Mind

Firmly in the “nothing new here” category comes this commentary on a crusade to ban “Penny Dreadfuls” [aka. trashy fiction at the end of the 19th century.] Our friends have been occupied with the case of a half-witted boy who consumed Penny Dreadfuls and afterwards went and killed his mother. They infer that he killed… Read more »

An answer to that pressing question — what DO pirates have for breakfast?

Captain Thomas Pound. On August 8th, 1689, this pirate, with five men and a boy, sailed out of Boston Harbour as passengers in a small vessel. When off Lovell’s Island, five other armed men joined them. Pound now seized the craft and took command, and declared his intention of going on a piratical cruise. The… Read more »

Sometimes even the words disappear …

Reconstituting my lost blog — hoorah for the Internet Wayback Machine. I’ve lost some, but not much, given I’m such a lackadaisical soul. This is obviously the best of quotes to begin again with. Let them pile up costly and lofty monuments–reaching heavenward; let the artist cut their names and virtues deep into the enduring… Read more »