Today in History: 1908
The Plymouth Tribune for the first week in June, 1908 is full of the recent Plymouth High School graduation and corresponding homecoming, predictions about the corn crop, news bulletins of interest, congressional bills, local ordinances, and pictures showing the latest fashions. The advertisements scattered through the pages are for household goods, local services, and several over-the-counter medicines.
On one page, there is a farm and garden column with many pieces of advice and agricultural news. One recommends treating bumble foot in poultry by painting the area with a tincture of iodine daily for a week. If caught early enough, the column assures improvement. another portion tells of a man who was convicted of selling bogus Vermont maple syrup through the mail and sentenced to thirty months in jail and a $500 fine (nearly $16,500 today).
Further down in the article, there are some instructions for creating a hotbed—an early year-round greenhouse— by creating frame with a glass lid. The gardener was to soak fresh horse manure to let it warm up before putting it on the ground inside the hotbed. On top of that, three or four inches of earth was to be placed. When the soil was warm, the seeds were to be planted. “Water frequently and raise the sash on warm days and be sure to have horse blankets ready when the thermometer goes down to zero,” the instructions read.
On the last page, there’s a short piece about a cure for “Spring Fever,” which is defined as feeling “dull and spiritless in the spring or early summer,” and is the result of winter habits. “The nerves are mostly at fault. Tired, worn-out nerves leave us languid, lifeless, and without spirit or ambition.” as a cure, a few doses of Dr. Shoop’s Restorative is recommended on the avadavat of “druggists everywhere” and was available at Tanner’s Drug Store, which was located where City Hall is now. “The Restorative of course won’t bring you back to full health in a day or two, but it will do enough in 48 hours to satisfy you that the remedy is reading that ‘tired spot,” the notice reads.
The newspaper was also a place of jokes and humor, like the following:
“a college professor had been seriously ill of a fever for several weeks, but the fever had left him at last and he lay in a stupor, utterly exhausted.
“‘This is the really critical period,’ the attending physician said to the waters, in an undertone. ‘If he has sufficient vitality to carry him through this—and I am strongly disposed to hope that he has—he will recover. at present there is nothing we can do but be patient and give nature a chance, watching in the meantime for an opportunity to awaken his interest in what is going on about him.’
“One of the attendants, who happened to be standing near the window looking at the rosy sunset remarket to the doctor: ‘See what a lurid sky there is.’
“The sick man opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction indicated. ‘Lurid!’ he exclaimed, in a tone of disgust. ‘If you will consult your dictionary, madam, you will find that lurid means gloomy, ghastly, dismal.’
“‘He will recover!’ announced the doctor triumphantly.