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Knowledge From Before 1930
From Early Marceline Newspapers

September 4, 2026

What interesting knowledge was given from early Marceline newspapers? How can you test wool? Why do we clink our glasses? Do you agree with the knowledge from over 100 years ago?

Newspaper Articles

July 19, 1901
The Marceline Journal-Mirror:

How to Treat Your Guest: Remember, there is such a thing as overdoing the attention paid a guest. Do not feel that you must be forever at her elbow; do not think it necessary to plan something for every minute of her day. Nothing is more annoying. People, even when they are visiting, like to have moments to themselves. They like to go places where they feel at home, and no woman feels at home if her hostess is continually at her hand suggesting things for her amusement; nor does it conduce to her comfort if she feels that the whole household has been turned upside down because of her coming. - Alice I. Eaton, in Woman's Home Companion.


July 16, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

How Wool is Tested: Wool fibers are short and kinky. They give a characteristic sensation when drawn between the teeth, smolder when ignited, leaving an irregular lump of ash and giving off the odor of burning feathers. Wool dissolves when boiled for 15 minutes in a solution containing one tablespoonful of lye to a pint of water. Larger amounts of alkaline washing powder may be used instead of lye. This is an excellent way to detect fabrics made of both wool and cotton, as the cotton will not disappear under such treatment.


July 16, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

Why Milk Curdles: The Department of Agriculture says that milk sours when the lactic acid bacteria convert a sufficient amount of the milk sugar into acid to precipitate the casein. Certain types of bacteria produce an enzyme similar to that extracted from calves stomachs to curdle milk for cheese making. Under some conditions these bacteria curdle milk before enough acid has been produced to give it a sour taste.


July 16, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

Why Trees Petrify: Petrification of trees is produced by the infiltration of water containing dissolved mineral matter as calcium carbonate, silica, etc., which replaces the organic material particle by particle, sometimes with the original structure refrained.


July 16, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

Why Average Man Today "Has It Over" Ancestor: The average man had no last name of his own in 1426, no definite address. He had no particular idea of the hour of the day, except as the church bells tolled it. Record keepers, surveyors and clock makers have wrought some difference on that score, haven't they? Or take it by races if you like. The French were once barbarous and ignorant, the English lazy and passionate, the Scots dirty and thriftless, the Germans impracticable and idle drunkards. Are they like that today? Most men once lived according to their fears, not, as now, according to their hopes. There are libraries full of books that tell you all this. Read and think for yourself. You would not have dared do either in 1426, and no responsible person would have dared allow you to do so. If man has a kinder heart and a truer soul, then his nature must have changed. Five hundred years are not so long in the history of the race, and there is much more time than that ahead of mankind. Do you think our human nature has stopped changing? - London Tit-Bits.


August 27, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

Why We Clink Glasses: Roman gladiators were accustomed to drink a glass of wine before fighting. Two glasses of wine were brought by friends of one or the other gladiator, and to guard against treachery through the poisoning of the wine in one of the glasses the gladiators would pour the wine from one glass into the other until it was thoroughly mixed. Later it became a mere custom to show a friendly spirit between persons drinking together, and when the danger of poisoned wine was past the actual act of pouring the wine from one glass to another was changed to merely touching the glasses together.


August 27, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

Why Horseshoe Is Lucky: Anything in the shape of a crescent has always been considered a thing to bring luck. It is made of iron, and since early times iron has been a good luck metal and, English mythology having always held the horse to be a lucky animal, the combination of the crescent, the iron and the horse has become a lucky emblem.


September 17, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

How "Black" Is Made: The "black" that gives the jet to phonograph records, rubber shoes, shoe and stove polish and ink for newspapers, is made from gas in petroleum fields, according to the American Research foundation. "Gas-black, carbon-black and lamp-black," says the foundation, "are trade terms to all practical purposes synonymous. Ordinary lampblack is made by burning tars and similar substances. The black of ordinary commerce is usually gas-black. It is made by the incomplete combustion of natural gas."


September 17, 1926
The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald:

How Hornets Build: Hornets build of the weather-beaten fibers from old fences, boards or other wood. They are very fond of building in the peaks of houses, under shelter of the caves.


If you enjoy reading about town history, check out the books below!

Learn more about the book, Learn more about the book, Marceline History Through The Eyes of a Newspaper Journalist Learn more about the book, Brookfield History Through The Eyes of a Newspaper Journalist