Private French Lessons

City of Light [and Lampshades] We are so used to electric power and having light at our fingertips that we forget that it is just a century old. In 1925 only half of all US and British homes had electricity. People used to fear going out on the dark streets at night. The streets were pitch black before the use of gas lamps, offering criminals and cutthroats dense cover. Carrying a flaming torch or navigation by moonlight wasn’t too practical. The earliest portable lights were candles. Candle makers produced thousands of candles from tallow, beeswax or whatever else would burn for a few hours. Matchmakers were hard at work too. Households, churches, businesses, and public buildings relied on their products every evening after sunset. Public lighting by candle required a lamplighter to tour the town with a ladder in tow at dusk, lighting each of the lamps. Of course, when the lamps went out, the darkness was deep. It was common practice up through the mid-17th century for…

The Square Egg by H.H. Munro (SAKI) Hector Hugh Munro, 1870–1916, better known by his pen name Saki, was a British-Scottish writer celebrated for his witty, mischievous, and often macabre short stories. It is unknown why he chose that pen name, but one theory links the name to the South American saki monkey, to go along with his mischievous, exotic character that comes through in his writing. He served as a private and Lance Serjeant in the British Army during World War I, ultimately losing his life on November 14, 1916, during the Battle of the Ancre (part of the Somme offensive). Munro was sheltering in a muddy shell crater near Beaumont-Hamel, France. According to accounts of his final moments, Munro chided a fellow soldier with the famous warning, "Put that bloody cigarette out!" fearing the smoke would draw enemy fire. The movement or sound attracted a German sniper, and Munro was killed by a single bullet to the head. His name is inscribed on the…

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City of Light [and Lampshades]

A humorous WWI story – The Square Egg by Saki

BILL & ROSA's BOOK ROOM