#lotta crabtree

[juliesandothings]

stage performer Lotta Crabtree rose from child stardom to become a celebrated comedienne in New York, London and Paris

[whiteshipnightjar]

Does art make a difference?

Aw, sure. Of course there are degrees of extremity to the potential change that art can effect, depending on how many people are able to engage with it. The Beatles made a huge difference in the world. But Henry Darger, Jeff McKissack, Karen Dalton, Pauline Oliveros, Kenneth Patchen – there are so many folks who have made great art and not gotten massively famous for it, yet I think there are all sorts of ways their work informs and shapes other people’s work, and brains, and decisions.

Should politics and art mix?

Well, everything mixes, the New Statesman! That’s like asking if a knee-reflex hammer and a quadriceps tendon should “mix”.

Is your work for the many or for the few?

That’s for the many/few to say. I just crank out the hot jams.

If you were world leader, what would be your first law?

Gravity. I feel like we need to tighten up the constitutional protections that particular law enjoys. It’s a ticking time bomb, if you ask me.

Who would be your top advisers?

Cute angel on one shoulder, cute devil on the other.

What, if anything, would you censor?

Maybe we could all agree to not bust each other’s chops all cut-dang day.

If you had to banish one public figure, who would it be?

Don’t know, banishment might be a little extreme, but I’d sure like to take that Stephen Hawking dude down a notch or two. Right? Are you with me?

What are the rules that you live by?

Basically, “bros before hos”. I feel like if you stay true to that, everything else just kind of falls into place.

Do you love your country?

I love William Faulkner, Dolly Parton, fried chicken, Van Dyke Parks, the Grand Canyon, Topanga Canyon, bacon cheeseburgers with horseradish, Georgia O’Keeffe, Grand Ole Opry, Gary Snyder, Gilda Radner, Radio City Music Hall, Big Sur, Ponderosa pines, Southern BBQ, Highway One, Kris Kristofferson, National Arts Club in New York, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Joni Mitchell, Ernest Hemingway, Harriet Tubman, Hearst Castle, Ansel Adams, Kenneth Jay Lane, Yuba River, South Yuba River Citizens League, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”, “Hired Hand”, “The Jerk”, “The Sting”, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, clambakes, lobster rolls, s’mores, camping in the Sierra Nevadas, land sailing in the Nevada desert, riding horseback in Canyon de Chelly; Walker Percy, Billie Holiday, Drag City, Chez Panisse/Alice Waters/slow food movement, David Crosby, Ralph Lauren,San Francisco Tape Music Center, Albert Brooks, Utah Phillips, Carol Moseley Braun, Bolinas CA, Ashland OR, Lawrence KS, Austin TX, Bainbridge Island WA, Marilyn Monroe, Mills College, Elizabeth Cotton, Carl Sandburg, the Orange Show in Houston, Toni Morrison, Texas Gladden, California College of Ayurvedic Medicine, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Saturday Night Live, Aaron Copland, Barack Obama, Oscar de la Renta, Alan Lomax, Joyce Carol Oates, Fred Neil, Henry Cowell, Barneys New York, Golden Gate Park, Musee Mechanique, Woody Guthrie, Maxfield Parrish, Malibu, Maui, Napa Valley, Terry Riley, drive-in movies, homemade blackberry ice cream from blackberries picked on my property, Lil Wayne, Walt Whitman, Halston, Lavender Ridge Grenache from Lodi CA, Tony Duquette, Julia Morgan, Lotta Crabtree, Empire Mine, North Columbia Schoolhouse, Disneyland, Nevada County Grandmothers for Peace; Roberta Flack, Randy Newman, Mark Helprin, Larry David, Prince; cooking on Thanksgiving; Shel Siverstein, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Radziwill, Jackie Onassis, E.B. White, William Carlos Williams, Jay Z, Ralph Stanley, Allen Ginsberg, Cesar Chavez, Harvey Milk, RFK, Rosa Parks, Arthur Miller, “The Simpsons”, Julia Child, Henry Miller, Arthur Ashe, Anne Bancroft, The Farm Midwifery Center in TN, Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Clark Gable, Harry Nilsson, Woodstock, and some other stuff. Buuuut, the ol’ U S of A can pull some pretty dick moves. I’m hoping it’ll all come out in the wash...

Are we all doomed?

If we keep our expectations pretty low I think we might be fine. I mean, we’re definitely all dying at some point. There’s no getting around that. But between now and then, things might start looking up!

— Joanna Newsom for The New Statesman, 2008

[lost-in-woodlawn]

(Songsheet via LOC.gov)

Lotta Crabtree was one of America’s first child stars and one of those rare celebrities widely referred to with just one name; she was known across the country as simply “LOTTA.” She rests in Woodlawn’s Juniper section along with her brother John, her Aunt Charlotte (for whom she was named) and her devoted mother, Mary Ann Crabtree. Lotta’s stone reads:

Lotta M. Crabtree /September 25, 1924/Beloved Actress/Founder of Noble Charities

Lotta began her journey to stardom in the gold mining camps of California in the 1850s. She was born in New York in 1847 but her English immigrant father John Crabtree left his Manhattan bookshop in 1851 to follow the rush for gold on the west coast, and young Lotta and mother Mary Ann followed after a couple of years.

(Lotta and mother Mary Ann Crabtree around 1879; photo from book Lotta Crabtree: Gold Rush Fairy Star by Lois V. Harris)

Mary Ann Livesey Crabtree was herself an immigrant from England. She was truly a controlling “stage mother/Momager” who could’ve given Gypsy Rose Lee’s Mama Rose a run for her money, but I have to admire her survivor’s spirit and financial savvy; it was thanks to her wise management of her daughter’s earnings that Lotta eventually became the richest actress in America.

In California, John Crabtree never made a dime off the gold mines and Mary Ann was stuck running a boarding house for the miners so her family could eke out a living. John seemed to hang around just long enough to get Mary Ann pregnant again and then take off when he found “new opportunities” (which inevitably led to nothing.) Mary Ann had two more children by him, both sons, before their eventual final separation.

While Mary Ann was keeping her family going running the boarding house, little Lotta befriended one of their neighbors, Lola Montez, a saucy celebrity known for her racy dances.

Lola taught Lotta to dance, and she soon realized Lotta was a natural. Lotta laughed when she danced, a habit that stayed with her and was part of the perky personality that would charm audiences all over the States for decades to come. Lola also taught Lotta to ride a horse, which would become a life-long passion (Lotta eventually owned winning race horses for a time.)

Entertainers came frequently to the mining camps to perform for the men panning for gold, and when the miners approved, the players were sometimes rewarded with gold nuggets thrown up on the makeshift stages. Mary Ann Crabtree saw an opportunity and encouraged her tiny daughter to start performing for the miners.

Lotta learned the banjo (one of the first female entertainers to do so) as well as different songs and dances from the entertainers who came to the camps, and Mary Ann herself learned to play the triangle and to do some impersonations; the two eventually joined a troupe and started traveling around California to perform at various mines. Lotta wasn’t even 10 years old when she and Mary Ann made these rough journeys by horse, mule and stagecoach over dangerous terrain, but they persevered and Lotta began thriving on the makeshift stages. The miners adored her.

(Lotta as a child, photo from San Francisco Public Library archives: https://sfplamr.blogspot.com/2008/08/san-francisco-theatre-research.html)

Lotta’s popularity in the mines led to stage work in San Francisco and eventually to New York and many main cities in between. Lotta was never a serious actress and critics frequently panned the shows she was in, but people loved her quick humor and amusing dances; her personality leaped from the stage. She loved playing roles where she could dress as a boy or do multiple characters in a show.

(Lotta as The Marchioness in “Little Nell & The Marchioness”, a favorite role of hers)

(Lotta in “Cranks”; photo from https://www.broadway.cas.sc.edu/content/lotta-crabtree-cranks)

By all accounts Lotta was well loved by both audiences and other entertainers alike, though she never married and Mary Ann remained her closest companion until Mary Ann’s death at age 84. There was speculation that Mary Ann kept any possible suitors away from Lotta but it’s really impossible to know if Lotta remained unmarried by choice or if she truly was stuck under Mary Ann’s thumb. There were apparently many men romantically interested in Lotta, some seriously and some for possible financial gain (she was sued at least once for money by a “husband” who was proven to be a phony just out for a payout.) Lotta had one persistent stalker who bombarded her with letters and followed her around the country until she finally had him arrested. He was released and returned to his native San Francisco where he eventually committed suicide by drowning.

Lotta remained particularly popular with the California miners who recalled her performances from the gold rush days and beloved by “newsies” for her generous spirit, as mentioned in this 1858 article from the New York Times:

(from the New York Times, September 1858)

Lotta retired from performing in her 40s after suffering an injury on stage that took months to heal. She decided to get out permanently while she was still popular; she then enjoyed several decades of rest from her long years of constant touring and passed away in 1925, aged 76. She must have been gratified to live to see American women get the right to vote; she had told reporters who asked that she was for women’s suffrage.

Lotta is mainly remembered now for the still-existent fountain she funded in San Francisco in 1875 to provide water for horses and dogs. Lotta’s Fountain in San Francisco survived the Great Earthquake of 1906 and it became a meeting point for survivors of the disaster. Each year on the anniversary of the earthquake, San Francisco still holds a commemorative ceremony at the fountain.

Lotta also left an estate of almost $4 million dollars to various charitable foundations in her will, providing for veterans of World War I, newly released prisoners, farming students and homeless animals, among others. Grants are given to this day out of her estate.

More bio info can be found on the Wiki page on Lotta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotta_Crabtree

[comparativetarot]

Nine of Cups. Art by James Pascoe, from the California Tarot.

Wish granted. Count your blessings. Life is good! Abundance, comfort. Pleasure. Satisfaction. Material Success. An assured future, physical well-being; bliss. Law of attraction.

Lola “Lotta” Crabtree grew up in Grass Valley, California. She was a child star, became famous in the mining camps, toured the world as a dancer, singer, musician, actress, and comedian, from 1847-1924. After more than 30 years as a star and hard-working touring performer, Lotta retired in 1891 a very wealthy woman, thanks to her enduring popularity and smart investments. At the time of her death, she had $4 million dollars. Half of her fortune went to veterans, and the other half went to out-of-work actors, recently released convicts and the SPCA.

In her obituary, the New York Times called her the "eternal child". She was described by critics as mischievous, unpredictable, impulsive, rattlebrained, teasing, piquant, rollicking, cheerful and devilish.

Lotta's Fountain is a historical fountain located at the intersection of Market Street, where Geary and Kearny Streets connect in downtown San Francisco, California. It was commissioned by Lotta in 1875 as a gift to the city of San Francisco.

[detroitlib]

Portrait of actress Lotta Crabtree. Printed on front: "Scholl, Philadelphia." Stamped on back: "Scholl portraits. 112 & 114 North Ninth Street, Philadelphia. Handwritten on back: "Lotta Crabtree. Must have been taken 1878-79. Lotta, actress & buyer of race trotters; M.E. McHenry drove for her. Warren Lewis auctioneer, Ypsilanti, Michigan."

Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[anaratto]

Lotta Crabtree, 1870

by Napoleon Sarony

/

Lotta Crabtree, 1868

by J. Gurney & Son

[angelkarafilli]

Charlotte Mignon “Lotta” Crabtree (1847-1924) Gold rush girl and entertainer.

[californiastatelibrary]

Book of the Week: Lotta Crabtree: Gold Rush Fairy Star

A foothills “Fairy Star” and a “San Francisco Favorite,” these are just two of the many accolades won by Lotta Crabtree, a child actor in Gold Rush California, who went on to become modern theater’s first female comedian. While her early acclaim came from acting, Lotta’s philanthropic activity was what won her an enduring place in the hearts of Californians. Using original pictures and lively narrative, author Lois Harris brings this California original back to life in Lotta Crabtree: Gold Rush Fairy Star, a literary gem sure to enthrall kids and adults alike. If you have a child in your life or are a child at heart; if you love theater history, charities or even just California, this is the book for you!

[justineportraits]

Ren Wicks   Lotta Crabtree,  Reno Harolds Club October-December 1969 pinup calendar page

[jamisonwieser]

Lotta's Fountain is a public fountain gifted to San Francisco by actress Lotta Crabtree in 1875.

It holds a special place in San Francisco history because it made through the 1906 earthquake and fire and provided a meeting point for survivors in the aftermath.

[fascinatingbonanza]

Bonanza chronology

(so far, which is the first 5 seasons)

As someone quite interested in history, I always enjoy stories set in the past and I always like to know when exactly in the past they are set. So recently I found myself trying way to much to figure out when does "Bonanza" actually take place. And It seems to be a far more difficult problem than I initially thought. But here's what I've got so far, after watching 5 seasons.

But then, as I was watching the series episode after episode, I quickly realised, that this 'canonical chronology' is bullshit and that time in "Bonanza" works in mysterious and extremely convoluted ways.

Generally the series takes place roughly somewhere in the 1860s. The first half of the decade to be a bit more precise, somewhere right before and during the American Civil War (something that is occasionally brought up in the episodes). That's literally what wikipedia says. However, as I dived a little into the fanpages and whatnot, I discovered that there seems to be a some sort of a more specific, canonical, chronology that basicly says that the pilot ("A Rose for Lotta") is set in 1859, then the first season is 1860, the second - 1861, the third - 1862 and so on.

(To be honest, that's quite cool actually, because it would mean that the series takes place exactly 100 years before it's premiere)

To realize that the canonical chronology just doesn't apply to the actual show, you only have to watch the first two seasons, where some episodes have literally a written year at the beginning.

We have it in season's one "San Francisco":

And that's ok, I mean, yeah, the first season (supposedly set in 1860) is coming to an end and now we are getting into the next year. It makes sense.

It still makes sense in the second season where we have "The Courtship", again with a date at the beginning:

Don't know why would they say it again, but all right, it's still 1861, no problem here.

And then, just two episodes later, comes "Bank Run" with this audacity:

What on earth happened here??? They just totally skipped 1862 and now we're a year later, with no explanation or a reason. And that's the moment when you realize that there is no such thing as 'linear chronology' in "Bonanza".

Especially when you also take into account all those stories involving real historical figures which were quite often in the first season. Sometimes the show just doesn't really care about historical facts and for example Lotta Crabtree (from "A Rose for Lotta") in 1859 would be only 12 years old. "The Julia Bulette story" is a bit closer to history altrough Bulette's death was changed a lot as in reality she died in 1867. Mark Twain, who appeard in "Enter Mark Twain", in reality visited Virginia City in 1863, so again, why is this a part of the first season which takes place in 1860?

Then you also have episodes which literally bring up real historical events, but they do it in such a clumsy way, that it's just painful. The one episode that strikes me the most with it is propably "A House Divided" which obviously quotes Lincoln's famous speech. Ben Cartwright even reads this speech in a brand new newspaper, but guess what, it's a speech from 1858, which is before the Comstock Lode was even discovered, so how can this whole episode be set around supplying the south with silver?! (But since it is about supplying the south with silver, I assume it must be around 1861, right at the start of the war)

After the first season "Bonanza" slowed down a bit with those 'history lessons', so in the second one there isn't really anything that could suggest any particular date (apart from "The Courtship" and "Bank Run" that I mentioned earlier). And maybe events from the second season do actually happen in 1861, as the canonical chronology would like it to.

But then comes my beloved third season, and boi oh boi, does it make an even greater mess. In "The Frenchman" the title character (apparently a reincarnation of Francois Villion) reads his last poem and starts with:

So we go back in time now? How nice. October 17th 1860, they couldn't be more explicit with it.

Towards the end of the season, we also get a little throw back to Bonanza's history lessons with "Look to the Stars" which tells a story of young Albert Michelson, future physicist and a Nobel Prize winner, who happend to live in Virginia City somewhere in the 1860s. The episode specifically focuses on his efforts to become a student at the Annapolis Naval Academy, which he started in 1869, so we can assume that this episode takes place around 1868-69. That's again a long jump in time.

The fourth season gives us even more specific dates and events to go over. First of all, right at the beginning, we have "The First Born", personally one of my very favourites, but that's not important here. The important thing is that Clay tells Joe that he was fighting in a war in Mexico:

But you know, that war in Mexico was kinda spread over time (from 1861 to 1867) so just mentioning it isn't quite enough to give us a more narrow period of time. Fortunately, Clay later tells just enough detail to do it:

So it's not all over yet, it's just that moment when the royalists won and the French took over Mexico for a while. From my very general knowlege about this I can guess that it's somewhere after 1863 then. Not much though. I like to think it's 1863 or 1864.

But all right, that may be to much guessing. Let's focus on those more obvious hints.

"The War Comes to Washoe" is one of those episodes that mention the Civil War and this time it tells a story of Nevada becoming a state. There's that voting and all, and basically it means that it's 1864, because that is when Nevade became a state (or maby 1863, because from thet voting to actually becoming a state it could've been a longer process). Just like that.

But the one episode that surprised me the most with the fact that it gives us a specific date is "The Last Haircut". And you can miss it, but right at the beginning we see an interesting banner:

So it's February 2nd, 1868... Well, that was easy. But again, a huge jump in time.

The fifth season greets us with another completely nonsensical historical figure appearance in "A Passion for Justice". From what I know, Charles Dickens never went west during his visits to America, but whatever. They wanted Charles Dickens in Virginia City so they put Charles Dickens in Virginia City. For the record, he was in America in 1842 and in 1868, so I guess we can pretend it's his 1868 visit. But still, it's just absurd.

But this season is mostly known for it's Laura and Will subplots, and you know what? We can actually precisely tell when it takes place. At the beggining of "The Waiting Game" we see Laura's husband's grave:

And look! February 20th, 1861! So that's when it all started. Later Adam says that it's been four months since Frank died, so we have June 1861. Then in "The Pressure Game" they celebrate the 4th of July, and in "Triangle" it is said that it had been a year since Adam gave Peggy her pony so now it must be around June 1862. And since at this point it all conects to Will's subplot, then "Return to Honor", "The Roper" and "The Companeros" must've happen somewhere inbetween.

Meanwhile there's also "The Prime of Life" about building the transcontinental railroad, and since we know that it reached Reno in 1868, then I guess the episode must be set somewhere right before that.

And to top it all off, in the season's finale, "Walter and the Outlaws", we get that one useless piece of information that Obie had last seen his sister in 1843, and it's been 16 years since then. So by easy maths we can say that the episode is set in 1859, just like the show's pilot.

And that's all for the first five seasons. What we get form it, is that "Bonanza" diefinietly doesn't have any chronology and that this canonical one is just right out of the blue.

To sum it up I can say that this show is just made out of random Catwright's adventures from several years and in no chronological order whatsoever. It's funny when you start to think about it and for example realise that when the Laura/Will story takes place, many of the adventures from previous seasons hasn't even happen yet.

Of course there's also four prequels that tell the stories about Ben's wives, but I think I'll leave it for some other time, because while talking about it, I would also have to talk about the ages of each Cartwright and generally it's a whole different complicated subject.

Also, if now there are episodes happening as late as 1867 and 1868, then when exactly did Adam leave the Ponderosa? Well that's something I'll have to think about while watching the 6th season. I hope there will be some answers to that.

[English isn't my first language so please excuse any mistakes. And I know there must be some.]

[myhauntedsalem]

The Bird Cage Theatre

The Bird Cage Theatre belonged to William “Billy” and Lottie Hutchinson. Opening on December 26th, 1881, the name came from the fourteen boxes called “cages” that were located on the two balconies on either side of the central hall. The cages were mostly used for prostitutes, and drapes could be drawn in front of them for while they entertained their clients.

Down in the main hall, there was a stage and orchestra pit for live shows to be performed. It is rumored that the theater’s name actually came from the early 20th-century song A Bird in a Gilded Cage, and that the theater’s original name was the Elite Theatre Opera House.

Shortly after the theater opened, the theater was visited by Eddie Foy, Sr. and Arthur J. Lamb, a songwriter. While there, they talked in the bar about the prostitutes. Allegedly, Arthur J. Lamb said they were like “birds in gilded cages”, and he worked out the song on the saloon’s piano.

It was later performed to by an unknown singer (believed to be Lillian Russell), and she was called out for encore performances eight times. However, it would be impossible for the story to be true, as Lamb was born in 1870, making him eleven or twelve.

The most widely accepted version of the story is that the theater was named the Bird Cage Theatre when it opened, and it was named the Elite Theatre briefly after Joe and Minnie Bignon bought it in 1882. It was later changed back. For eight years, the Bird Cage Theatre was operated continuously for twenty-four hours a day and 365 days a year.

As time progressed, the theater earned a reputation as one of the country’s wildest places. In 1882, The New York Times reported that it was the “wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast”, mainly because of the 120 bullet holes that riddle the walls.

Many renowned entertainers from the 19th century performed at the Bird Cage over the years, such as Lotta Crabtree, Lillie Langtry, and Eddie Foy, Sr. Entertainer Fatima performed her belly dancing routine at the theatre as well. Legend has it that the basement poker room had the longest-running poker game in history. It played continuously for eight years, five months, and three days, with $10,000,000 changing hands throughout the game (with the house taking 10%). It is doubted that the players stayed awake all this time, and much rather that players took turns.

Some of the poker marathoners were Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady, George Hearst, and Doc Holliday. During the late 1880s, the town’s mines began to be flooded, causing the Bird Cage Theatre to lose its clients. The poker game came to an end after the long run, and the building was closed and sealed up in 1889.

Eventually, the Bird Cage Theatre was purchased in 1934, and almost nothing had been altered in the 45-year span. Now, the theater is open as a tourist attraction year-round from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily.

As for the haunting of the theater, the sounds of a woman singing and the voices of a crowd can be heard. Shadows of unidentified spirits believed to be the victims of shootouts have been seen along the walls. A woman’s apparition in white has been known to appear, items move by themselves, and many EVPs of music have been recorded.

[si-national-portrait-gallery]

Lotta Crabtree, c. 1860-1870, Smithsonian: National Portrait Gallery

Size: Plate: 9.5 × 6.1 × 0.3 cm (3 3/4 × 2 3/8 × 1/8") Medium: Glass plate collodion negative

http://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.81.M248

[blindrapture]

[three paragraphs from Finnegans Wake, book 1, chapter 3. pages 61 - 64. the chapter as a whole is one of my favourite things, and I have no fucking clue how to talk about any of it. this sequence is a, uh, “narrative block” which I frequently return to.] [bold has been added to emphasize a pattern.]

Be these meer marchant taylor’s fablings of a race referend with oddman rex? Is now all seenheard then forgotten? Can it was, one is fain in this leaden age of letters now to wit, that so diversified outrages (they have still to come!) were planned and partly carried out against so staunch a covenanter if it be true than any of those recorded ever took place for many, we trow, beyessed to and denayed of, are given to us by some who use the truth but sparingly and we, on this side ought to sorrow for their pricking pens on that account. The seventh city, Urovivla, his citadear of refuge, whither (would we believe the laimen and their counts), beyond the outraved gales of Atreeatic, changing clues with a baggermalster, the hejirite had fled, silentioussuemeant under night’s altosonority, shipalone, a raven of the wave, (be mercy, Mara! A he whence Rahoulas!) from the ostmen’s dirtby on the old vic, to forget in expiating manslaughter and, reberthing in remarriment out of dead seekness to devine previdence, (if you are looking for the bilder deep your ear on the movietone!) to league his lot, palm and patte, with a papishee. For mine qvinne I thee giftake and bind my hosenband I thee halter. The wastobe land, a lottuse land, a luctuous land, Emeraldilluim, the peasant pastured, in which by the fourth commandment with promise his days apostolic were to be long by the abundant mercy of Him Which Thundereth From On High, murmured, would rise against him with all which in them were, franchisables and inhabitands, astea as agora, helotsphilots, do him hurt, poor jink, ghostly following bodily, as were he made a curse for them, the corruptible lay quick, all saints of incorruption-of-an holy nation, the common or ereingarden castaway, in red resurrection to condemn so they might convince him, first pharoah, Humpheres Cheops Exarchas, of their proper sins. Business bred to speak with a stiff upper lip to all men and most occasions the Man we wot of took little short of fighting chances but for all that he or his or his care were subjected to the horrors of the premier terror of Errorland. (perorhaps!)

We seem to us (the real Us!) to be reading our Amenti in the sixth sealed chapter of the going forth by black. It was after the show at Wednesbury that one tall man, humping a suspicious parcel, when returning late amid a dense particular on his home way from the second house of the Boore and Burgess Christy Menestrels by the old spot, Roy’s Corner, had a barkiss revolver placed to his faced with the words: you’re shot, major: by an unknowable assailant (masked) against whom he had been jealous over, Lotta Crabtree or Pomona Evlyn. More than that Whenn the Waylayer (not a Lucalizod diocesan or even of the Glendalough see, but hailing fro’ the prow of Little Britain), mentioning in a bytheway that he, the crawsopper, had, in edition to Reade’s cutless centiblade, a loaded Hobson’s which left only twin alternatives as, viceversa, either he would surely shoot her, the aunt, by pistol, (she could be okaysure of that!) or, failing of such, bash in Patch’s blank face beyond recognition, pointedly asked with gaeilish gall wodkar blizzard’s business Thornton had with that Kane’s fender only to be answered by the aggravated assaulted that that that was the snaps for him, Midweeks, to sultry well go and find out if he was showery well able. But how transparingly nontrue, gentlewriter! His feet one is not a tall man, not at all, man. No such parson. No such fender. No such lumber. No such race. Was it supposedly in connection with a girls, Myramy Huey or Colores Archer, under Flaggy Bridge (for ann there is but one liv and hir newbridge is her old) or to explode his twelvechamber and force a shrievalty entrance that the heavybuilt Abelbody in a butcherblue blouse from One Life One Suit (a men’s wear store), with a most decisive bottle of single in his possession, seized after dark by the town guard at Haveyoucaught-emerod’s temperance gateway was there in a gate’s way.

Fifthly, how parasoliloquisingly truetoned on his first time of hearing the wretch’s statement that, muttering Irish, he had had had o’gloriously a’lot too much hanguest or hoshoe fine to drink in the House of Blazes, the Parrot in Hell, the Orange Tree, the Glibt, the Sun, the Holy Lamb and, lapse not leashed, in Ramitdown’s ship hotel since the morning moment he could dixtinguish a white thread from a black till the engine of the laws declosed unto Murray and was only falling fillthefluthered up against the gatestone pier which, with the cow’s bonnet a’top o’it, he falsetook for a cattlepillar with purest peaceablest intentions. Yet how lamely hobbles the hoy of his then pseudojocax axplanation how, according to his own story, he vas a process server and was merely trying to open zozimus a bottlop stoub by mortially hammering his magnum bonum (the curter the club the sorer the savage) against the bludgey gate for the boots about the swan, Maurice Behan, who hastily into his shoes with nothing his hald barra tinnteack and came down with homp, shtemp and jumphet to the tiltyard from the wastes a’sleep in his obi ohny overclothes or choker, attracted by the norse of guns playing Delandy is cartager on the raglar rock to Dulyn, said war’ prised safe in bed as he dreamed that he’d wealthes in mormon halls when wokenp by a fourth loud snore out of his land of byelo while hickstrey’s maws was grazing in the moonlight by hearing hammering on the pandywhank scale emanating from the blind pig and anything like it (oonagh!oonagh!) in the whole history of the Mullingcan Inn he never. This battering babel allower the door and sideposts, he always said, was not in the very remotest like the belzey babble of a bottle of boose which would not rouse him out o’ slumber deep but reminded him loads more of the martiallawsey marses of foreign musikants’ instrumongs or the overthrewer to the third last days of Pompery, if anything. And that after this most nooningless knockturn the young reine came down desperate and the old liffopotamus started ploring all over the plains, as mud as she cud be, ruinating all the bouchers’ schurts and the backers’ wischandtugs so that be the chandeleure of the Rejaneyjailey they were all night wasching the walters of, the weltering walters off. Whyte.

[detroitlib]

Lotta Crabtree (November 7, 1847 – September 25, 1924) 

American actress, entertainer and comedian and philanthropist.

Raised in the gold mining hills outside San Francisco (where she first rose to fame), Lotta Crabtree would go on to become one of the wealthiest and most beloved American entertainers of the late 19th century. From her beginnings as a 6-year-old until her retirement at the age of 45, she entertained and was named "The Nation's Darling". Her life story was filmed as Golden Girl (1951), starring Mitzi Gaynor. (Wikipedia)

From our stacks: Illustration “Lotta. Photo by Sarony.” from Familiar Chats with the Queens of the Stage. By Alan Dale. New York: G. W. Dillingham, 1890.

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Secret to weathering climate change lies at our feet: New research on the microbiome of grass shows that the future lies with healthy bacteria

New Post has been published on https://uspost.xyz/uncategorized/secret-to-weathering-climate-change-lies-at-our-feet-new-research-on-the-microbiome-of-grass-shows-that-the-future-lies-with-healthy-bacteria/

Secret to weathering climate change lies at our feet: New research on the microbiome of grass shows that the future lies with healthy bacteria

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently discovered that the ability of agricultural grasses to withstand drought is directly related to the health of the microbial community living on their stems, leaves and seeds.

“Microbes do an enormous amount for the grasses that drive the world’s agriculture,” says Emily Bechtold, a graduate student in UMass Amherst’s microbiology department and lead author of the paper recently published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. “They protect from pathogens, provide the grass with nutrients such as nitrogen, supply hormones to bolster the plant’s health and growth, protect from UV radiation and help the grass manage drought.” Yet, the increased severity and longevity of climate-change-driven drought conditions across the world is sapping the ability of the microbiome to thrive.

Since 60% of all agriculture is grass-related — think of the cows, sheep and other grass-munching livestock that provide meat, milk, cheese, leather, wool and other staples — the bacteria living on grass touches every aspect of our lives, from what we eat for breakfast to food security, economics and international development.

The new research, which is the first of its kind, focuses on two different types of grasses: those that make up the majority of grasslands in temperate zones and those that predominate in tropical regions. “The goal of this research,” says Klaus Nüsslein, professor of microbiology at UMass Amherst, and the paper’s senior author, “is to be able to manage the interactions between plants and the bacteria they host in order to support a truly sustainable agriculture.” Until now, however, it was largely unknown how grass and its microbiome supported one another, and what effects drought might have on the bacterial communities.

The researchers, whose work was supported by the Lotta M. Crabtree Foundation and the National Science Foundation, grew their temperate and tropical grasses in two different greenhouses. Each greenhouse’s climate was controlled to mimic natural climactic conditions. Once the grasses reached maturity, the researchers further divided each group into three sub-groups. The first, the control group, maintained optimum climactic conditions. A second sub-group had its climate altered to mimic mild drought conditions, while the third was subjected to severe drought conditions. Over the course of a month, the researchers counted, gathered, and sequenced the DNA of the bacteria across all the groups of grasses and compared the results.

What they found was that when the bacteria showed signs of drought-induced stress, so did the plants. As expected, the tropical grasses were better able to withstand drought than the temperate grasses, but there were significant shifts in the microbiomes of all the grasses under severe drought conditions. Not only were there fewer total bacteria, but the microbial communities became less diverse, and so less resilient to environmental stress. In some cases, there was an increase in the count of bacteria that can prove harmful to grass.

However, there is hope. A few potentially beneficial bacteria were shown to thrive under mild drought conditions. More research needs to be done, but, says Bechtold, their research indicates that plans to actively support and biofertilize with these beneficial bacteria could be the key to weathering the drought conditions that will only become more widespread in the era of global warming.

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Materials provided by University of Massachusetts Amherst. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.