Bassetts Scrap Book, Vol 2, No 7
Articles in this issue
- p. 2
A lyrical welcome to September as the harvest-home month of the English and oyster month of the Americans, described as the most tender of all the year's months yet carrying the pathos of approaching winter.
- p. 6
A sketch of Count Tolstoi's contrarian lifestyle — a nobleman who lives in a palace but dresses as a peasant, makes his own fires, digs potatoes, cooks, and is known to give passing tramps the boots from his own feet.
- p. 2
An amusing observation that men, women, and horses all return from their summer holidays more tired than when they left, suggesting that the only way to keep a tired creature in condition is never to take it out of its harness.
- p. 13
A note on Michaelmas Day (29 September) as a great feast in England and Ireland, complete with the goose tradition promising year-round prosperity, the ring-in-the-cake custom for the unmarried, and the saying that the devil steps on the blackberries on that day.
- p. 5
A scientific note on competing measurements of the speed of nerve impulses, with Dr. Alcock claiming 216.5 feet per second at the Royal Society and earlier authorities giving figures as low as 108 feet per second.
- p. 3
A survey of the epigram as a literary form, from its place in classical anthologies to its relative underdevelopment in English, illustrated with examples of good epigrams from Tom Moore and others.
- p. 8
A brief note that Japan is the only country in the world that has never been conquered by a foreign enemy.