Author Archives: Xenomanes

Break bread

No crown indeed has been a higher honour than the crown of grass among the rewards for glorious deeds given by the sovereign people, lords of the earth. Jewelled crowns, golden crowns, crowns for scaling enemy ramparts or walls, or for boarding men-of-war, the civic crown for saving the life of a citizen, the triumph crown—these were instituted later than this grass crown, and all differ from it greatly, in distinction as in character. All the others have been given by individuals and personally by generals and commanders to their soldiers, or occasionally to their colleagues, or have been decreed in triumphs by a Senate freed from the anxiety of war and by a people enjoying peace; the grass crown has never been conferred except upon the leader of a forlorn hope, being voted only by the whole army and only to him who rescued it. The other crowns have been conferred by commanders, this alone on a commander by his soldiers. The same crown is called the siege crown when a whole camp has been relieved and saved from awful destruction. But if the civic crown is deemed a glorious and hallowed distinction because the life has been saved of only one and even maybe the lowliest citizen, what, pray, ought to be thought of the preservation of a whole army by the courage of one man? This crown used to be made from green grass pulled up from the site where the besieged men had been relieved by some one. For in old times it was the most solemn token of defeat for the conquered to present grass to their conquerors, for to do so meant that they withdrew from their land, from the very soil that nurtured them and even from means of burial. This custom, I know, exists even today among the Germans.

Real bathing beauties

Real photographs of the famous Mack Sennett water nymphs.

Just the thing for your den. Size 3½×5½. Positively the best on the market. Assortment of 6 for 25 cents or 25 for $1.00. Send money order or stamps. Foreign money not accepted unless exchange is included. Egbert Brothers, Dept. W. B., 303 Buena Vista Street, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Wholesale agents wanted everywhere in the U. S. Write for wholesale terms.

XPPQ

 

xppq is a tool which transforms an XML file to another XML file, following directives inserted directly in the source XML file. This directives allow to handle macros, to affect value to variables and to test their values, to include files… In a glance, xppq aims to be to XML what cpp is to C/C++.

Download xppq at the Free Software Directory and packages of the Epeios XML preprocessor (XPPq) at q37.info.

Back Water

The fleet had scarce left the land when they were attacked by the barbarians. At once most of the Greeks began to back water, and were about touching the shore, when Ameinias of Pallene, one of the Athenian captains, darted forth in front of the line, and charged a ship of the enemy. The two vessels became entangled, and could not separate, whereupon the rest of the fleet came up to help Ameinias, and engaged with the Persians. Such is the account which the Athenians give of the way in which the battle began; but the Eginetans maintain that the vessel which had been to Egina for the Aeacidae, was the one that brought on the fight. It is also reported, that a phantom in the form of a woman appeared to the Greeks, and, in a voice that was heard from end to end of the fleet, cheered them on to the fight; first, however, rebuking them, and saying – “Strange men, how long are ye going to back water?”

 

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New in our collection

Listed on the shoreside roster as Helena Hornblower, Marcy Tigner blew the departure of the fleet. Her latest album, “Trombone,” is classified under harp, pipe, and organ, and within the sub-genres thereof.

Sabat madder

Hans Brinkner going on his sabbatical to study up for the priesthood. He hoped to get his hands on some of those nuns in all their budding beatitudes. “I’ll dictate the sermon on the mount, ex post facto,” he said in gest.

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Missing in action

I missed my sailing and had the wind knocked out of me. I missed my calling and lost all my cattle. I missed my departure but I’ll catch it on the reruns. I missed my water, I had something on the brain. I missed my class, but came in the middle. My second cousin once removed never reappeared.

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Dr. Smith’s Electric Oil

Cures pain in few moments. Dr. Smith’s Electric Oil gives almost instant relief in all nervous diseases. Acute rheumatic pains need only a few applications. Dr. Smith may be consulted at the Smithsonian House, and at 91 Hudson Street. Try it. Say you read it in Stephen H. Branch’s Alligator.

History of Winds

He was working on a draft of a history of wind when he got caught in a tornado.

While he was whirling in the twister, he ruminated revising his Language of Cows. A summary of arithmetic came into his head, with an appendix on problems of the bowel.

Old man Schuler

He claimed to be a cut above the norm but was accused of hitting below the belt. They sweared it on a stack of bibles. It was in all the newspapers, save for the ones he owned.

When he died, his last will and testament provided a handsome bequest to the policemen’s widows’ fund if they could persuade their late husbands to wipe his hard drives, save for the copies in the cloud.

The last thing I heard that poor boy say, “Give me a cool drink of water before I die.”