Bassetts Scrap Book, Vol 2, No 4
Articles in this issue
- p. 2
A celebration of June as the prime month for weddings, tracing the tradition to the goddess Juno's festival and noting that statistics confirm more marriages occur in June than in any other month.
- p. 5
A warm reflection on the pleasures of the familiar and well-tested — old books, old authors, old friends — drawing on the maxim attributed to Alonso of Aragon and adding King James's preference for old shoes.
- p. 5
An etymological note explaining the phrase 'not fit to hold a candle to him', tracing it to the medieval custom of a page or maid holding a candle for a reader, and to the liturgical use of candles at the reading of the Gospel.
- p. 3
A comic anecdote about a farmer who placed progressively larger objects in his hen's nest to encourage bigger eggs, until the hen left him a football-sized egg with an indignant message and was found inside it.
- p. 2
A satirical fantasy imagining a newspaper announcement where all the wedding-day attention is focused on the groom's perfect suit, bouquet, and winning ways, while the bride is noted only for her good salary.
- p. 4
A comic verse about a Russian girl with an unpronounceable name who resolves her difficulty by marrying a man whose name is even longer and more impenetrable.
- p. 11
A brief natural history note comparing the feeding habits of land and ocean animals, with attention to how fish like the sole hide in mud all day and feed only at night.