SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
The Republican
Page A-2
Delving Into Yester~Year
Local historian and writer Paul Miner takes items from The Republican’s Yester-Year column to develop an interesting, informative and often humorous article.
To the Editor: Much study has been devoted to the snore. The Reverend Thomas De Witt Talmadge weighed in thoughtfully in August 1883. “Some of the best men who have ever lived have occasionally indulged in it. There are species of snoring that are positively impressive and suggestive.” The nationally known reverend, having no objection to snoring, “if it is well done,” described more types of rhonchus log sawing than I thought possible. The Republican shared. Those are: the confusing snore, guttural snore, roaring, choking, skirring, easy, strangulated, crashing, ripping, rousing and “snore all together.” I assume the last is when bedmates, however so many, cooperatively, simultaneously and possibly in harmony snore. Nothing wrong with that. No one can be accused of keeping others awake during such a stertorous cacophony. Talmadge offered more. There was snore-down, dignified (I fall within the category), the ecstatic snore and the melancholy one. Another was triumphant. Talmadge claimed to have heard all in “the course of half an hour.” I’ll not detail further other than observing wildcats and hyenas were mentioned. One snore he overlooked is the sermon snore. I’ve heard it. Perhaps his oratory was so thunderous none dared fall asleep, or it could be not heard above his din. Admonitions for good health and long life in February 1882 advised against sleeping in a draft while ensuring proper ventilation and “don’t go to bed with cold feet.” Whose? Dunking the feet in hot water as a counter-irritant warded off pain, disease and sleeplessness. The ensuing rush of blood to the feet reduced blood that was “crowding into the head.” Briskly rubbing the scalp “may attract outwardly the blood previously pressing the internal organs.” Elsewhere, a “sun-purified” room was recommended. Rival paper The Gazette later that year called sunshine “the very best soporific.” Laudanum was the worst. “It is plain that the poor sleepers should pass as many hours in the sunshine and as few in the shade as possible.” Secluded plants and ladies accustomed to sunshades exhibited “injurious effects.” Verily, “the invigorating powers of sunlight is infinite, and he whose skin is tawny seldom requires a pill.” Mothers gave their kids Castoria to aid sleep. Castoria also cured colic, constipation and diarrhea (I’m confused), killed worms, promoted digestion and tackled eructation (belching). Wetting half a towel cured sleeplessness by placing it at the back of the neck and pressing upward “to the base of the brain.” Imagine the pressure required. The dry half of the towel was to be fastened over “so as to prevent the too rapid exhalation. “The effort is prompt and charming, cooling the brain and inducing calmer, sweeter sleep than any narcotic.” Having a bath towel handy and no narcotics, I exhaustingly experimented with fastening techniques. Rubber bands were too tight, adding to my misery. I keep bungee cords in my truck but I was unwilling to step outside while pressing a half-wet towel to my brain. Small-town neighbors are inclined to misinterpret; they tend to talk. I finally wrapped another towel around my head and tucked the end in at the top, avoiding suffocation by employing a straw I hadn’t used from my last visit to Taco Bell. I remembered at the last moment to remove my hand from the cocooning cotton envelope. It didn’t work but I don’t think I snored. Late in 1889, a towel again was recommended for insomnia brought on by “nervousness directly traceable to the optic nerve.” This time, the towel was folded around two pieces of ice spaced apart enough to fit over each eye. The sufferer prone in bed, sleep ensued shortly. I rather prefer an 1870 insomnia article The Republican somehow missed, but Evansville readers endured instead. Sufferers were to turn their eyes to the right, left, up or down as far as possible, and then commence to roll them around in their sockets continuously until sleep puts an end to it. Suggested time: roughly three minutes, five at the most. “It not merely diverts thought into a new channel, but actually suspends it.” Deliberately concentrating on the subject keeping one awake was considered impossible. “As long as (the eyes) are moving around, (the) mind is blank.” Paul Miner Lizton ______________________________________________________________________
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Yester~Year
The Republican has published local news weekly since 1847. We offer this column as a look back at events from our archives and to help connect today’s readers to the people and events in our past. ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of August 27, 1896 The J.O.B. club of Avon entertained the S.R.G. and C.O.M. club at the home of Alva Huron last Friday night. Stilesville: The people saw something very unusual Saturday. It was a rainbow made by the moon. Stilesville: Frank Miller has invented a new pneumatic buggy cushion and has put one in Philip Kreigh’s new road wagon to try it. Elmer Miller says he saw a water melon grow so large they had to lay down the fence to get it out of the patch. Can anyone beat it? Lizton: Dr. S.O. Leak, having finished his course at the Medical College at Chicago, has returned home. Hazlewood: Our watermelon growers report a larger crop of melons and a shorted crop of boys than they have seen for years. The boys say they are too cheap to steal. Oak Ridge: John McClain has presented his wife with a fine yard fence. The Brownsburg Record is gradually climbing into a front seat in the Populist band wagon. There is talk of an Episcopalian church being established in this city. A tennis tournament for the championship of Hendricks County will be played on the grounds on East South street Saturday afternoon at 4:30 between Bert Sears and Ornan Baker who have been the champions for three years and Charley Brewer and Tom Barker. An eight week’s term of kindergarten conducted by Miss Mabel Reid, of Indianapolis, closed Friday. Many parents and friends witnessed the last day’s work, after which the children had their pictures “tookt” as one of them was heard to say. _____ ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Issue of August 18, 1921 Hendricks county will be one of the few counties to have more than one girl enrolled in the Indiana State Fair School of Home Economics to be held in connection with the State Fair. Miss Ruth Dickey, from Brown township and Miss Cora Candy, from Liberty township have been appointed to the school by the Hendricks County Federation of Home Economics clubs. William Crow, of Guilford township, is laying out a fine in jail on a plea of guilty in ‘Squire Barlow’s court to taking watermelons from a neighbor’s patch. Next week, the second Hendricks County Fair will be held on the county’s land on the north side of the Rockville road east of Danville. The buildings erected to house the county’s road-working machinery will be utilized in addition to many tents to protect the exhibits. Avon: Miles Tudor invites his friends in for a social hour. On departing, he presented each a fine melon to keep as a souvenir. Miss Ruth M. Dix, from St. Louis, Mo., will begin her work in the county as Home Demonstration Agent, Saturday, August 20. Will Walton, of Indianapolis, and B.H. Canine, of Danville, have leased the room now occupied by J.O. Tinder where they will open an electric shoe repairing shop, shining parlor and cleaning a pressing parlor. After September 1, the Buick home will be on the south side of the square in a room occupied by C.E. Mithcell, who has sold the building to J.O. Tinder. E.H. Conn believes he has the prize peach, weighing slightly over three-quarters of a pound and measuring ten inches around. _____
lege would range from $3 to $5 per week, depending upon the size of the room and whether it has single or double beds. Between 175 and 200 of the 300 students expected to attend Canterbury College will be veterans studying under the G.I. Bill of Rights. About 80 students will be obtaining their tuition free as residents of Hendricks county. Two hundred members of the Hendricks County Farm Bureau attended the annual picnic at the Danville Park. Prizes of silver dollars were awarded winners of contests. Flossie Bryant of Union township won the hog calling contest, Mrs. Conrad West of Guilford won the husband calling contest. The wife calling contest was won by John Woodard of Union township. ______ FIFTY YEARS AGO Issue of August 26, 1971 Miss Julie English’s “Clyde” – Hendricks County’s 4-H Grand Champion Hereford steer, took the honors home again at the Indiana State Fair. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin English of Clayton. The Evelyn Miller Artificial Kidney Fund topped the $7,000 this week. An Independent Party and the American Party will have its first confrontation in 20 years at North Salem, September 7, in a special “petitioned” election. Leland Cooper of Clayton placed second in the National Professional Sheep Shearing final contest at the Indiana State Fair, Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Meredith Kincaid of near Lizton has been accepted as a Country-side Family Test Group with the Farm Journal magazine. Remodeling has started on the former E.J. Roberts Ford building on North Washington St., Danville The building has been purchased from the Roberts estate by Robert Rader of Yorktown, a dealer in draperies and coverings. The tool shed at the Danville Park was dynamited last Wednesday at 11:32 p.m. Investigation is being conducted through the co-operation of the U.S. Treasury, the Ft. Harrison Bomb Squad, the State Fire Marshal, the Indiana State Police and the Danville Police Department. ______ TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of August 22, 1996 The closing ceremony of the 1996 Summer Reading Club, “Hat’s Off to the Olympics,” was at the Danville Public Library, Thursday, August 8. The All-Around Champions were John Gramley, senior, and Megan brooks, junior. Mr. and Mrs. Jason Kehrein announce the arrival of their first child, a boy, on July 23, at Hendricks Community Hospital, weighing in at 7 lbs. 7 oz., 21 in. long. He has been named Tyler Matthew Kehrein. J.B. Hayes, son of Ruth Hayes and the late James Hayes of Danville, was selected to play on the United States Tennis Team in The Gordon Trophy Cup this year in Cleveland, Ohio. Town Manager Gary Eakin is to obtain some quotes on a traffic study from other engineers. R.W. Armstrong was $12,000 for such a survey. None of the councilmen wanted to spend that amount. The 13th annual Coatesville Harvest Festival is this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It will be a BBQ and Fish Fry, sponsored by the Volunteer Fire Department. Parade at 2 p.m., Saturday. _____
TEN YEARS AGO Issue of August 25, 2011 The Hendricks County Health Department announced last week that a pool of mosquitoes in the county has tested positive for the West Nile Virus. SEVENTY-FIVE Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and Indiana YEARS AGO Agriculture Director Joe Kelsay presentIssue of August 29, 1946 ed Pat Wethington the Centennial Farm Plans have been completed for the esAward. Mr. Wethington’s farm is located Birthday parties, new tablishment of two new implement businear Brownsburg and has been owned by babies, anniversaries, visits nesses on Road 36 a mile east of Danthe family since 1891. from long-lost cousins ville, on land located east of county home. State Bank of Lizton is offering an ex-- these are the items that James Hill, owner of the Hill Implement & clusive Bulldog Checking Account with make up the kind of news Truck Sales, will build a repair shop this Bulldog check debit card, checks, and you only find in the pages fall. H.R. Humphries, John Deere dealer check book cover . of The Republican. Mad Hatter’s Cups & Cakes will have If you have a local in Danville, will move the Danville Implement Sales there when construction is its grand opening on Friday, Sept. 2, at 5 news item you’d like to completed this spring. p.m. at 57 S. Washington St. The shop ofcontribute, you can call Mrs. George M. Walker of North Safers cupcakes, cake pops, specialty cakes, us at 317-745-2777, send lem joined the staff of The Republican this wedding cakes, and birthday parties. by fax to 317-647-4341, week as advertising manager and reporter. A comprehensive tree inventory was e-mail to therepublican@ Mrs. Walker comes to the staff after fifteen presented to the Danville Town Council on sbcglobal.net or drop by years of service for the paper’s corresponAugust 15. All trees within the street rightthe office at 6 East Main dent from North Salem. of-way and park/public spaces were invenin Danville. Our deadline Dr. W.T. Lawson, Indiana’s oldest practoried. for submitting news items All great baseball players have nickis noon on Monday for ticing physician, will celebrate his ninety-seventh birthday, Tuesday. names. We understand Brenda now goes Thursday’s edition. According to college officials, a reasonby “Shiner Sutton.” ___________ able rent for rooms approved by the col__________
It’s News To Us
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Thursday, August 26, 2021
