Past Pages for Friday, March 7, 2014

140 Years Ago

Advertisement: “Warm Springs Hotel (at the State Prison), situated one and one half miles east of Carson City. The best of accommodations in meals, lodging and wines, connected therewith the Finest Baths in the World ... The most delightful in temperature, promotive of health and commodious in all respects of any natural warm baths in the world. Bathing dresses provided for such as desire them. Free carriage from Carson. Baths ... Fifty Cents. D. Lachapelle, Proprietor.”

130 Years Ago

In the Wasp Magazine Ambrose Bierce tunes his lyre into chords that strike a sympathetic chord in the human heart. This little chanson of Emma Abbott (opera soprano) is delightfully good:

I cannot sing the old songs,

I cannot sing the new;

I shun the free and bold songs,

The modest I eschew.

I cannot sing when sadly

My thoughts take heavy wing,

Nor when they mount up gladly.

In short, I cannot sing.

120 Years Ago

All sorts: Dickey Jose has retired from the stage with the accent on the tired. (Richard Jose, born in 1852 in Cornwall, immigrated to Nevada in search of his uncle. He sang in saloons in Virginia City for charity and in 1906 recorded for the Victor Talking Machine the song “Silver Threads Among the Gold.”)

70 Years Ago

Rationing: Sugar and shoe ration stamps will no longer have an expiration date. The postponement of buying sugar except when needed is one of the factors that will determine whether the sugar ration of half a pound of sugar every week will be changed.

50 Years Ago

Centennial: The Nevada State Museum in Carson is gearing up for the centennial celebration. According to James W. Calhoun, museum director, “A museum offers a visual impression of history, and history is our biggest topic of interest this year.”

30 Years Ago

CBS tops prime time ratings: The top 10 prime time shows for the week ending Feb. 26, 1984, according to A. C. Nielsen are: “The Master of the Game,” “Master of the Game Part II,” “Dallas,” “Star Wars,” “60 Minutes,” “Simon and Simon,” “Falcon Crest” and “Magnum P.I.”

Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.