Above the Fold
Guess the Number of Prunes in the Bear!
America has lost ground when it comes to simple pleasures and diversions. I don’t know if this is a consequence of the mind-numbing qualities of mass media and the internet, but modern competitions lack panache. How challenging is it, for example to dial into a radio station when you hear a song played?
Our forebears knew how to mount a satisfying distraction.
The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO, offered one amazing spectacle after another, but it was the enormous, stuffed Black bear that stood beside the entrance to the California display in the Palace of Agriculture that set tongues in motion. Placards declared that the bear had been stuffed with Sacramento Valley prunes. Visitors were encouraged to enter their guesses of the number of prunes a bear might contain.
The competition proved irresistible. California officials collected thousands of entries. Outside, pilot Roy Knabenshue was making the first American flights of the dirigible California Arrow, but it was hard to compete with a prune-stuffed bear.
What an attraction. What an inspired competition.
So how many prunes did the bear contain? 14,265. Only one contestant, Oliver Schwob, of Moundsville, WV, landed on the number. St. Louis’ F. W. Castle and Maude Redmond of Chicago were the runners up in the competition—both guesses were within two of the correct total.
Schwob walked away with the first prize: a box of Sacramento sweet oranges; Castle and Redmond both won a box of Sacramento valley prunes—hopefully not extracted from the bear.
Regular Features
True Crime Files: The Case of the Dead Farmhand
Was the shooting of Norman Cook justifiable homicide or a brutal murder?
A small farm, glowing like bronzed topaz in the fading light of an August evening. Anna Bankert — mother of two boys, wife of Sylvester — was canning tomatoes in the wash shed with her hired girl, Sadie Smay. As the hands of the clock ticked toward 7:00 PM, the shed lost its sunlight and the interior darkened.
“There’s a lamp on the dresser in my bedroom,” said Sadie. “I could bring it down so that we could see better.”
Anna patted her arm. “You keep working. I’ll fetch it.”
The farm wife strode across the yard. She could hear her husband cutting wood. A typical Saturday night, Aug. 12, 1905. A decade earlier, she would have been dancing instead of stuffing tomatoes into jars for the coming winter.
Anna entered the house and climbed the stairs. Something moved as she turned into the second floor hallway. A shadow shifted. She froze.
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Via Romea Germanica XIV: Levico Terme, Italy to Borgo Valsugano
We woke this morning to an unusual, and virtually unprecedented sight: sunlight was streaming in through our windows.
Che strano, as we say here in Italy.
We had a wonderful breakfast, during which I was able to practice my fractured and fractious Italian. Once our landlady realized that I had a rudimentary grasp of the language, she switched over to her native tongue, and I was given a linguistic workout. It was a fabulous opportunity, and I need to step out in my second language more frequently to continue to improve my skills.
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Oyster Burger Chronicles XIV: The Shrimp Shack, Anacortes, WA
Here’s one of the great unresolved questions of dining: how long are you willing to wait for great food? When the hostess tells you that there will be a forty minute interval separating from a table, do you shrug and settle in, or do you walk away? Connoisseurs of quality fare may be willing to stand by for a couple of hours, as long as a jaw-droppingly delectable plate eventually appears on the table before them.
So what is the answer? Hours? Days?
And what about the horrible disappointment of waiting an inordinate amount of time, and then, when the plate drops, the dish is substandard?
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Temperatures are rising and most of winter’s chill has crystallized out of the air. Spring has officially arrived, but some mornings the signs are less than evident. A bleak winter passes; another five weeks and we will turn the page and begin a new chapter. Stay tuned, some real excitement coming soon.