Baseball

BASEBALL HISTORY

It is a matter of record that in the 1700s English boys played a game they called base ball.

Americans have played a kind of baseball since about 1800. At first the American game had different rules and different names in various parts of the country--town ball, rounders, or one old cat.

Jane Austen made the first recorded use of the word "baseball" in English. The author mentioned baseball in her novel Northanger Abbey when she wrote “It was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, baseball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at 14 to books.”

On a hot summers day in 1839, a West Point cadet, Abner Doubleday, laid out the first baseball diamond at Cooperstown, New York. Doubleday had devised a scheme for limiting the contestants on each side and allotting them to field positions each with a certain amount of territory; also substituting the existing method of putting out the base runner for the old one of plugging him with the ball. In 1907 a special commission decided that the modern game was invented by Doubleday.

Baseball did not receive a standard set of rules until 1845, when "father of modern baseball," Alexander Cartwright, organized the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York City. The rules Cartwright set up for his team were widely adopted by other clubs and formed the basis of modern baseball. Among his innovations were the nine-member team, the "diamond" infield with bases 90 feet apart, and the rule that a player had to be tagged, not hit, with the ball to be called out.

It is widely thought that the first competitive game under the new rules was played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1846 with Cartwright umpiring. The New York Base Ball Club defeated the Knickerbockers 23-1.

Early baseball game played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey 

In the 1850s, baseball had different rules in Massachusetts than it did in New York. Under the Massachusetts rules, you could throw the ball at a runner, and if you hit them, they were out.

In 1857, amateur clubs joined together in the National Association of Baseball Players, which produced the first uniform rules. They stipulated that a batsman was out when a batted ball was caught either in the air or on the first bounce. The length of a game was fixed at nine innings.

The National Association of Baseball Players adopted the rule in 1859 that limited the size of bats to no more than 2-1/2 inches in diameter.

It is said that when a delegation of politicians called on Abraham Lincoln to inform him of his nomination for the presidency, he was engaged in a game of baseball and kept the men waiting until he had had another chance to make a base hit.

In 1869, Harry Wright organized the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in which regular salaries were paid to the players. This was certainly a revolutionary - and ardently criticized - step at the time.

At the first professional baseball game, the umpire was fined 6 cents for swearing.

Baseball's National League was founded on February 2, 1876. Eight competing baseball teams met in New York City's Grand Central Hotel. The first president of the new league was Morgan Gardner Bulkeley, who later became a US Senator.

The eight original cities with teams were: Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Louisville and Hartford. Two of the original teams are now in the American League (Boston and New York) while Louisville and Hartford are now minor-league baseball towns.

The first shut out in baseball was achieved on July 15, 1876 when St. Louis Brown Stocking pitcher George W. Bradley allowed no hits to the Hartford Dark Blues team. George Bradley pitched 16 shutouts in 1876, which still stands as the Major League record (currently tied with Pete Alexander who pitched the same number in 1916). Bradley’s nickname was “Grin,” which came from the constant smile he showed to batters as he pitched.

Labatt Park, a baseball stadium near the forks of the Thames River in central London, Ontario, Canada held its first game on May 3, 1877. It is the oldest continually operating baseball ground in the world.

Labatt Park in 2010 By Alethe

Fred Pfeffer, Tom Burns, and Ned Williamson each had three hits in the same inning of an 1883 major-league baseball game, and no other player had a three-hit inning until 1953.

The first baseball World Series was contested in 1884 when Providence NL defeated New York AA, 3 games to none.

Benjamin Harrison became the first president to attend a game while in office when he watched the Cincinnati Reds defeat the Washington Senators 7-4 in 11 innings on June 6, 1892.

The American and National Leagues agreed to peacefully coexist and organize a World Series between their champions in the early 20th century. Between October 1-13th 1903 the Boston Americans, representing the American League, defeated the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates in eight games (best of nine) to win the first modern baseball World Series.

In 1904 Amanda Clement traveled to Hawarden, Iowa to watch her brother Hank pitch in a semi-professional game. The umpire for the amateur game taking place before Hank's did not show, and Hank suggested that Amanda, who had played baseball with her brothers and was knowledgeable about the game, serve as the umpire. In so doing, Clement became the first woman paid to umpire a baseball game. Her performance was so well received that she was hired to umpire further semi-professional games

On September 28, 1919, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in just 51 minutes in New York City's Polo Grounds. It was the fastest nine-inning in MLB history.  

The Americans customarily take a "stretch" after the seventh inning at their national game of baseball. It all started, however, when Herbert Hoover, who was attending a game, for reasons unknown or forgotten, had to leave before it was finished. It so happened that his departure coincided with the end of the seventh inning. Seeing their president leave, all spectators got up to pay him respect. Thus the "stretch" originated, which has been observed at that very juncture of every game ever since.

The first night game in Major League Baseball history was played in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 24, 1935. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field. The game drew 25,000 fans, who stood by as President Franklin D. Roosevelt symbolically switched on the recently installed lights from Washington, D.C. 

The first televised ball game was shown on August 26, 1939 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.

The "Shot Heard 'Round the World", one of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history, occurred in 1951 when the New York Giants' Bobby Thomson hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.

On May 16, 1970, Los Angeles Dodgers pinch hitting specialist Manny Mota hit the only batted ball in major league baseball history to cause a fatality. In the bottom of the third against the Giants at Dodger Stadium, Mota fouled one off of Gaylord Perry along the first base line. The ball struck 14-year-old Alan Fish, who was seated in the second row down the first-base line in the left temple. He was part of a group of seven boys and an adult attending the game. Four days later, Fish died of an inoperable head injury.

When Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles in 1971, game two was the first night game in World Series history.

The designated hitter rule, the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, was adopted by the American League on January 11, 1973. The rule allows teams to have one player, known as the designated hitter, to bat in place of the pitcher.

Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, facing Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance on April 6, 1973. "Boomer" Blomberg was walked.

In 1981, Major League Baseball players begin a mid-season strike over the issue of free-agent compensation. It ended on July 31 of that year after 713 games  (or 38 percent of the Major League schedule) were cancelled.

The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, two teams from the Triple-A International League played the longest ever professional baseball game. The game begun at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, Rhode Island on April 18, 1981. It lasted for 33 innings, with eleven hours and 25 minutes of playing time. 32 innings were played, before the game was suspended at 4:00 the next morning. The final 33rd inning was played June 23, 1981. Pawtucket won the game, 3–2.

The Mexican Wave was first used during an Oakland Athletics v New York Yankees playoff game on October 15, 1981, led by professional cheerleader, “Krazy” George Henderson. It spread nationally then went international thanks to the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, hence its name.

The Toronto Blue Jays are a major league baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario. In 1992, "the Jays" became the first team based outside of the US to win the World Series when Dave Winfield hit a two-run double in the 11th inning in Atlanta to beat the Braves four games to two. They repeated the feat in 1993.

Major League Baseball players went on strike on August 12, 1994. The labor strike resulted in the premature termination of the season, and the cancellation of the World Series for the first time since 1904.

Interleague play begun in baseball in 1997, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series. 

A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox set the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball on April 29, 2015. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.

Baseball has become popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly Japan. 

FUN BASEBALL FACTS

The distance between the pitcher's rubber and home plate in baseball is 60 feet, 6 inches.

The phrase "giving (or taking) of a rain check" originated in the custom of issuing spectators with a ticket for another game if the baseball match for which they had paid was interrupted or cancelled because of rain.

Baseball is the most popular sport among blind people because it is slow paced, simple, and not much happens during a game. This means a visually impaired person don't miss much of anything by not being able to see it. 

The average 3-hour baseball game contains only 18 minutes of game action.

Sources Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc

John Bartram

John Bartram was born into a Quaker farming family in colonial Darby, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, on March 23, 1699.  He developed an early interest in botany while growing up on his father's farm.

John Bartram Library of Congress. https://www.historynet.com/

Orphaned at the age of 13,  Bartram taught himself botany, medicine, and surgery when he was not working as an agricultural laborer.

In 1728 he purchased land at Kingsessing, near Philadelphia. Bartram developed it into the first botanical garden in the American colonies and he conducted there the first hybridization experiments in America. 

Over four decades, Bartram made frequent collection expeditions, travelling north to Lake Ontario, then to Florida and the Ohio River in search of plants and natural history specimens for his own botanic garden and for collectors at home and abroad.

He and his botanist son William Bartram are credited with identifying and introducing into cultivation more than 200 of America's native plants.

Bartram's botanical garden was a favorite place of visit for the Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin. The garden is still maintained by the city of Philadelphia as Bartram’s Garden. 

By 1765, Bartram’s international reputation earned him the notice of King George III. The British monarch honored him as King's Botanist for North America with an annual pension of £50, a position he held until his death in 1777

A naturalist as well as a botanist, Bartram described and collected zoological specimens, proposed geological surveys of North American mineral sites, and argued that fossils be investigated scientifically, rather than exploited as curiosities.

His best-known work is Observations on the Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, Rivers, Productions, Animals, and other Matters Worthy of Notice, made by Mr. John Bartram in his Travels from Pennsylvania to Onondaga, Oswego, and the Lake Ontario, in Canada (1751).

In 1743 Bartram was one of the co-founders, along with Benjamin Franklin, of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. It supported scientific studies as well as philosophy.   

He was married to Mary Maris from 1723 to her death in 1727.  She bore him two sons, Richard and Isaac. Bartram married Ann Mendenhall (1703–1789) in 1729. They had five boys and four girls together. 

A Quaker, Bartram demonstrated his opposition to the slave trade by freeing his slaves; his outspoken religious opinions caused him to be disowned by his coreligionists in the Society of Friends.

Bartram died on September 22, 1777, just four days before the British invaded Philadelphia. He was buried at the Darby Friends Cemetery in Darby, Pennsylvania. 

Bartramia, a genus of mosses, was named in his honor. 

Sources Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia,  Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999

Clara Barton

EARLY LIFE

Clarissa "Clara" Barton was born December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, to Captain Stephen Barton, a member of the local militia and a selectman (politician)  and Sarah Stone Barton

She was named after the titular character of Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa. 

Clara Barton – steel engraving by John Sartain

She nearly died aged 5 after being stricken with blood dysentery and convulsions. Her family assumed she would not survive, and a report went out that Clara had passed away. Happily, she made a full recovery.

Her father inspired Clara with patriotism and a broad humanitarian interest.  He was a soldier under the command of General Anthony Wayne in his crusade against the Indigenous in the northwest. Captain Barton was also the leader of progressive thought in the Oxford village area.

An adventurous and strong-willed daughter, Clara was educated at home, chiefly by her four brothers and sisters.

Clara nursed her invalid brother David for two years from the age of 10  after he fell from the roof during a barn raising and received a severe head injury.

EARLY  CAREER

Clara became a teacher at age 15, working for different schools in Canada and West Georgia for 12 years.

In 1852, Barton was contracted to open a free school in Bordentown, which was the first ever free school in New Jersey. It grew so large that local leaders believing being head of a large institution to be unfitting for a woman  refused to let her run it and brought in a male principal. Barton was demoted to "female assistant" and had a nervous breakdown along with other health ailments, so she quit.

She worked in the US Patent Office in Washington, from 1854. Clara Barton held a clerkship in the US Patent Office with pay equal to that of men. She was the first woman to hold a position or pay of this type in government. Being wrongly fired in 1857 she returned under Abraham Lincoln as a copyist to help pave the way for future women's equality in government.

CIVIL WAR

Barton resigned from the Patent Office at the start of the American Civil War to work as a volunteer, distributing supplies to wounded soldiers.

After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, Barton advertised for provisions for the wounded, and received such a large contribution that she set herself up as a distributing agency. 

From mid-July 1862, Barton operated as a freelance front-line nurse, distributing comforts and tending the sick and wounded of the Army of the Potomac. 

She served as superintendent of nurses for the Army of the James (1864), her only official connection, but Baron had difficulty taking orders and preferred to work on her own. 

Barton's most supportive patron during the Civil War was Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson

POST CIVIL WAR

After the war, Barton supervised a systematic search for missing soldiers. 

Clara Barton c 1866

Between 1869 and 1873 Barton lived in Europe, where she helped establish hospitals and distribute relief to the French during the Franco-Prussian War. She was honored with the Iron Cross of Germany.

RED CROSS

When Barton returned to the USA, she campaigned for the establishment of an American Red Cross. Through Barton’s efforts the American Red Cross Society was formed in 1881; she served as the first president of the organization until 1904. 

In 1884 Barton represented the United States at the Red Cross Conference and at the International Peace Convention in Geneva. She was responsible for the introduction at this convention of the "American amendment," which established that the Red Cross was to serve victims of peacetime disasters as well as victims of war. 

Clara Barton. Photo by James E. Purdy (1904)

Her Glen Echo, Maryland home also served as the Red Cross Headquarters upon her arrival to the house in 1897.

PERSONAL LIFE

Although not formally a member of the Universalist Church of America, Barton identified herself with her parents' church as a "Universalist".

Barton never married or had children. She had several nieces and nephews on whom she lavished her attention. 

Clara's brother David taught her to ride a horse, a skill she loved and enjoyed throughout her long life.

Barton recalled in The Story of My Childhood, her first pet, a dog she named Button, was “a sprightly, medium-sized, very white dog, with silky ears, sparkling black eyes and a very short tail.” 

Barton loved cats. Her favorite was Tommy, her faithful black-and-white companion for almost two decades.

LATER YEARS AND DEATH

Within days after the Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania in 1889, Barton led her delegation of 50 doctors and nurses in response. 

Other relief work Barton superintended included in the yellow-fever pestilence in Florida (1887), the Russian famine (1891), among the Armenians (1896), in the Spanish-American War (1898), and in the South African War (1899–1902). 

The last work that Barton personally directed was the relief of victims of the flood at Galveston, Texas, in 1900. 

Barton published her autobiography in 1908, titled The Story of My Childhood

She died in her Glen Echo, Maryland home on April 12, 1912, at the age of 90. The cause of death was pneumonia.

Barton was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.

Sources Mentalfloss, Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia

Karl Barth

Protestant theologian Karl Barth was born on May 10, 1886, in Basel, Switzerland, to theology professor and pastor Fritz Barth (1852–1912) and Anna Katharina (Sartorius) Barth.

Karl Barth 1956 By Bundesarchiv, Bild 194-1283-23A / Lachmann, Hans

Barth began his student career at the University of Bern, then studied at the University of Berlin and the University of Tübingen before finally in Marburg to study under Wilhelm Herrmann. 

Barth served as a Reformed pastor in the village of Safenwil in the canton of Aargau for ten years from 1911. He them moved to Germany where he served as professor of theology in Göttingen (1921–1925), Münster (1925–1930). In 1930, Barth was appointed professor of systematic theology at the University of Bonn.

Barth married Nelly Hoffmann, a talented violinist in 1913. They had a daughter and four sons.

After the First World War, Barth began working through the problems posed by war and the failure of liberal theology to account for such a dark episode in human history. The outcome of this was the Epistle To The Romans, which opened the way for a revival of orthodox Protestantism based on the Bible.

Karl Barth published the first volume of his monumental Church Dogmatics in 1932. In his tome, Barth, emphasized the limitations of man, and God's unquestionable authority and transcendence. After criticizing the prevailing liberal theology he developed an emphasis on revelation of the Father by the Son through the Spirit.

A socialist in his political views, Barth opposed the Nazi regime in Germany and supported church-sponsored movements against National Socialism; he was the chief author of the Barmen Declaration, six articles that defined Christian opposition to National Socialist ideology and practice. 

Barth was forced to resign from his professorship at the University of Bonn and deported to his native Switzerland in 1935 after he refused to sign (without modification) the Oath of Loyalty to Adolf Hitler.

In Switzerland, Barth pursued his literary and teaching work at the University of Basel, enjoying a special extension beyond the usual retirement age of 70. 

Barth was featured on the cover of Time magazine April 20, 1962.

Barth remained in Basel until his death on December 10, 1968. 

Bartender

A bartender (also known as a barman, barmaid, or a barperson) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a pub or saloon.

pxhere.com

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in ye olde England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them, "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase "mind your Ps and Qs."

Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. president who was also a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Illinois.

The first publication of a bartender's guide, which included cocktail recipes, was made in America in 1862.

At the turn of the 20th century, slightly less than half the bartenders in London were women. 

Mickey Finn was the manager and bartender of a Chicago establishment, the Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden Restaurant, which operated from 1896 to 1903 in the city's South Loop neighborhood on South State Street. It is alleged he made some additional earnings from slipping something into his customers' drinks, then proceeding to rob his unconscious victims. A drink laced with a drug given to someone without their knowledge in order to incapacitate them subsequently became known as a "Mickey Finn."

A well-known bartender Signore Martini di Arma di Taggia, of the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York was renowned for his expertise in mixing drinks in the early 20th century. He is said to have perfected the Martini cocktail.

Harry Yee (September 26, 1918 – December 7, 2022) started bartending in 1952. The Hawaiian bartender created the Blue Hawaiian drink, was the first person to use paper parasols and orchids in mixed drinks, and helped popularize Tiki culture in the United States.

According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics data on occupations in the United States, 55% of a bartender's take-home pay comes in the form of tips. 

J.M. Barrie

James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) was born on May 9, 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland to a conservative Calvinist family. He was a small child and only grew to just over 5 ft 3 inches (160 cms) as an adult. He didn't shave until he was 24.

When he was 6-years-old, James Barrie's older brother David (his mother's favorite) died two days before his 14th birthday in an ice-skating accident. This left his mother devastated, and Barrie tried to fill David's place in his mother's attentions, even dressing as him and whistling in the manner that he did. Gradually his mother drew comfort in the thought of a boy who would never grow up.

He studied literature at the University of Edinburgh and obtained an M.A. on April 21, 1882.

Following a job advertisement found by his sister in The Scotsman,  Barrie worked for a year and a half as a staff journalist on the Nottingham Journal.

Barrie published his first novel, Auld Licht Idylls, in 1888. It depicted the "Auld Lichts", a strict religious sect to which his grandfather had once belonged.

Barrie was friends with Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies and entertained their sons George and Jack regularly with his ability to wiggle his ears and eyebrows. The character of Peter Pan was invented to entertain George and Jack. Barrie would say, to amuse them, that their little brother Peter could fly. He claimed that babies were birds before they were born; parents put bars on nursery windows to keep the little ones from flying away. This grew into a tale of a baby boy who did fly away.

J. M. Barrie by George Charles Beresford, 1902

The first appearance of Peter Pan came in Barrie's novel The Little White Bird, which was serialized in the United States, then published in a single volume in the United Kingdom in 1902.

Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up had its first stage performance on December 27, 1904.

Peter Pan introduced audiences to the name 'Wendy,' which was inspired by a young girl, Margaret Henley, who called Barrie 'Friendy', but could not pronounce her Rs very well and so it came out as 'Fwendy'.

After the death of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies, Barrie adopted their five sons: Peter, Jack, George, Michael and Nicholas. The writer was very close to all the boys, and was heartbroken when Michael drowned in 1921 and George was killed in action in 1915.

Barrie married actress Mary Ansell on July 9, 1894. The wedding was a small ceremony in his parents' home, in the Scottish tradition. 

Mary Ansell in 1891

Barrie and Ansell first bought a house at 133 Gloucester Road, Kensington, London and a few years later, in 1900, moved to Leinster Corner, a house at 100 Bayswater Road overlooking Kensington Gardens. In the same year, Ansell bought Black Lake Cottage, a country house in Farnham, Surrey where Barrie could entertain his cricketing friends and the Llewelyn Davies family. 

The relationship was reportedly unconsummated, and the couple had no children.

Beginning in mid 1908, Ansell had an affair with Gilbert Cannan who was employed as a secretary by Barrie. Cannan helped Barrie with his efforts against censorship of the theater by the Lord Chamberlain. 

They divorced in October 1909 after Barrie discovered his wife's affair with Canaan. 

H.G. Wells was a friend of many years, and tried to intervene when Barrie's marriage fell apart.

George Bernard Shaw was for several years his neighbor, and once participated in a Western that Barrie scripted and filmed.

Barrie was godfather to Robert Falcon Scott's son Peter, and was one of the seven people to whom Scott wrote letters in the final hours of his life following his successful – but doomed – expedition to the South Pole, asking Barrie to take care of his wife Kathleen and Peter. Barrie was so proud of the letter that he carried it around for the rest of his life.

Barrie founded an amateur cricket team for his friends in 1890. The team was called the Allahakbarries, under the mistaken belief that "Allah akbar" meant "Heaven help us" in Arabic (rather than "God is great"). Amongst the luminaries who played for the Allahakbarries throughout the years were Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Jerome K. Jerome, G.K. Chesterton and A.A. Milne.

In 1929, James Barrie signed over the rights of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London. Since that time, Great Ormond has received a royalty from every production of Peter Pan that hits the stage, in addition to sales of the book and all related products.

Barrie died of pneumonia on June 19, 1937 and is buried at Kirriemuir next to his parents and two of his siblings.

He once quipped “nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.”

Source Wikipedia

Barrel

The Romans were the first to use a hollow cylindrical container called a barrel for the storage and fermentation of wine. It was made of wood staves and is bound with iron bands.

A Greek philosopher called Diogenes renounced all material things and gave away all his possessions except for a coarse cloak, a stick and bread bag. He then asked a friend to find him a hovel to live in. When he failed to do so, Diogenes began living in a barrel in Athens.

Drunkards in 17th century North West Europe were sometimes made to wear a wooden barrel with holes for their hands and head in order to shame the victim into sobriety. 

The first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel was Anna Edson Taylor. She made the journey on October 24, 1901, and escaped unhurt.

Until the double bubbler" tap in a barrel was developed during the First World War, the only source for the thirsty of free liquid refreshment in the United States (unless they were near to a river, lake or stream), was a public barrel filled with drinking water, equipped with a small communal hand-held dipper that was shared by all users.

"Shooting fish in a barrel" is considered easy because the bullet impact causes the water pressure in the barrel to change suddenly, killing every fish instantly. 

Scottish single malt whisky is typically aged in oak barrels, and the majority of those barrels are ex-bourbon barrels. Bourbon is a type of American whiskey that, by law, must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. Once the bourbon has been aged in these barrels, the barrels are sold to distilleries in Scotland to be used for aging single malt whisky.

The use of ex-bourbon barrels is popular because they are readily available and relatively inexpensive compared to new oak barrels. Additionally, the barrels often impart desirable flavors and aromas to the whisky, such as vanilla, caramel, and nutty notes, which are a result of the charred oak and the bourbon that was previously aged in the barrel.

The oak barrels used to age Cognac are made by hand from French oak.

P. T. Barnum

Phineas Taylor Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut on July 5, 1810, to innkeeper, tailor, and store-keeper Philo Barnum and his second wife Irene Taylor

Barnum became a small business owner in his early twenties and founded a weekly newspaper before moving to New York City in 1834. 

He became intrigued by Joice Heth, A blind and almost completely paralyzed slave, she claimed to be George Washington's nurse and was reputed to be 161 years old. Barnum launched his showman career by successfully promoting her in the late 1830s.

Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum 

P. T. Barnum purchased Scudder's American Museum on the corner of Broadway and Ann Street in New York City in 1841. He converted it into a combination zoo, museum, lecture hall, wax museum, theater and freak show museum, which offered both strange and educational attractions. At its peak, the museum had as many as 15,000 visitors a day,  but on July 13, 1865 the building burned to the ground in one of the most spectacular fires New York has ever seen.

Barnum's American Museum had crowds that would linger inside too long. To make way for new paying guests, signs saying "This Way to the Egress" were put up. Not knowing Egress was another word for Exit, people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit but ended up outside. They couldn’t re-enter without paying the entry fee again.

The Lecture Room of Barnum's American Museum, 1853

Barnum brought in 1847, to the United States, the Lancashire Bell Ringers under the pseudonym Swiss Bell Ringers. That label has been retained by all subsequent professional handbell groups. 

In 1850 Barnum brought Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer, to America, paying her an unprecedented $1,000 a night for 150 nights.

In 1871 he established the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’, which included the dwarf ‘General Tom Thumb’, a circus, a menagerie, and an exhibition of ‘freaks’, conveyed in 100 railway carriages.

He also brought Jumbo the Elephant and the Siamese twins Chang and Eng to an American public eager for spectacle.

Barnum has been quoted in history as saying "There's a sucker born every minute." However a banker named David Hannum coined the phrase; there is no record of Barnum saying this.

A liberal Republican, Barnum served in the Connecticut legislature (1865–9) and as mayor of Bridgeport (1875–6). He strongly supported the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery.

In his later career as a politician, Barnum sponsored a law banning contraception in Connecticut that remained in effect until 1965.

Barnum married Charity Hallett on November 8, 1829,. They had four children one of whom died in infancy.

After his wife died on November 19, 1873, Barnum married English socialite Nancy Fish on February 14, 1874. She was 40 years his junior and their marriage was reported to be a happy one. 

Barnum suffered a stroke in 1890 during a performance. He quietly passed away at 6:22 pm at Marina, his residence in Bridgeport, Connecticut on April 7, 1891.

Barnum was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut, a cemetery he designed.

The Barnum Effect is a common psychological phenomenon where people give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that seem tailored to them but are, in fact, vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. This effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some paranormal beliefs and practices as astrology and fortune telling, This term was coined in 1956 by American psychologist Paul Meehl in his essay Wanted — A Good Cookbook. He relates the vague personality descriptions used in certain "pseudo-successful" psychological tests to those given by P. T. Barnum. 

The Greatest Showman is a 2017 American musical drama film inspired by the story of P. T. Barnum's creation of Barnum's American Museum and the lives of its star attractions. Australian actor Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum and Michelle Williams Charity Barnum.

Source Compton's Encyclopedia 

Thomas Barnardo

Thomas Barnardo was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 4, 1845. He was the fourth of five children (one died in childbirth) of John Michaelis Barnardo, a furrier who was of Sephardic Jewish descent, and his second wife, Abigail, an Englishwoman and member of the Plymouth Brethren.

He and his surviving siblings grew up in Dublin. After a period spent preaching in the Dublin slums, Barnardo arrived in London to study medicine in 1866 with the aim of becoming a medical missionary. Moved by the child poverty and homelessness around him, he begun to care for destitute waifs and strays. 

In 1870 he opened the first of the "Dr Barnardo’s Homes" at 18 Stepney Causeway, London while still a student. One evening an 11-year old boy, John ‘Carrots’ Somers was turned away because the shelter was full. He was found dead two days later from malnutrition and exposure and from then on the home bore the sign ‘No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission’. 

Thomas John Barnardo

His marriage to Sara Louise Elmslie in 1873 resulted in seven children, three of whom died in infancy. They included a daughter, Syrie Maugham, who became a notable interior designer that popularized "the all-white room".

Although Barnardo never finished his studies at the London Hospital, he used the title of 'doctor' and later secured a licentiate.

Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge was among the first royals to patronize a wide range of charities in the 1800s. One of those was Barnados. 

The work steadily increased until, at the time of Barnado's death, on September 19, 1905, his charity was caring for over 8,500 children in 96 homes, besides mission branches, throughout the United Kingdom. 

Barnardo died of angina pectoris in London on September 19, 1905. He arrived at his own funeral by means of the London Underground. His body was transported on the Central Line from Liverpool Street to Barkingside to be laid to rest.

Dr. Barnardo's Homes ran hundreds of children’s homes across the United Kingdom from Thomas Barnardo’s day until the mid-20th century. The charity changed its focus from the direct care of children to fostering and adoption in 1965, renaming itself Dr. Barnardo's. Following the closure of its last traditional orphanage in 1988, it took the still simpler name of Barnardo's.

Famous Barnando's children include dressmaker Bruce Oldfield and former footballer John Fashanu.

Barley

Barley is the common name for any cereal grass of the genus Hordeum.

Evidence that humans were grinding wild barley and grass seeds to make dough at least 22,000 years ago has been found on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Around 8000BC, the people of Mesopotamia, who dwelled in the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys began to plant seeds themselves to grow their own barley.

Barley by Cliff from Arlington, Virginia, USA

It was a Mesopotamian who discovered by accident the first alcoholic drink-beer. After some barley bread crumbs fell into water and started fermenting, someone tasted it, enjoyed it and began experimenting with different brews, made with different combinations of barley grains and water often with inebriating consequences!

The medium of exchange for many of the ancients was barley. It was replaced by metal coins around 625BC in Greece.

The Vikings had a varied diet. The first meal of the day, called “dagveror”, was a porridge consisting of a mixture of barley and rye cereals. With it the wealthy might have rye or wheat bread which was considered superior to barley as it rose better. However barley was cheaper and barley bread was still the chief bread of the poor.

In 2017, barley was ranked fourth among grains in quantity produced (149 million tonnes or 330 billion pounds) behind maize, rice and wheat.

No other cereal can thrive in so wide a range of climatic conditions; polar barley is sown and reaped well within the Arctic Circle in Europe.

In the United States and Canada, as well as in the greater portion of Europe, barley is sown in the spring. Along the Mediterranean Sea and in parts of California and Arizona, it is sown in the fall. It is also grown as a winter annual in the southern U.S. 

In 2017, world production of barley was 149 million tonnes, led by Russia producing 14% of the world total. Australia, Germany, France, and Ukraine were major producers. 

Barley germinates at about the same temperature as wheat. 

Barley is no longer much used in bread making, but it is used in soups and stews and as a starch. Its high-protein form is widely used as animal feed, and its low-protein form is used in brewing and distilling alcoholic drinks.

Sources Funk & Wagnells Encyclopedia,  Hutchinson Encyclopedia © RM 2012. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat with a long structure, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. The word originally could refer to any small boat; the modern meaning arose around 1480.

A barge carrying recycling material on Deûle channel in Lambersart, France By F. Lamiot 

The world's first ever patent was granted in 1421 to architect Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence to make a barge crane to transport marble.

During the later Middle Ages, members of the English nobility whose homes were on the banks of the Thames, almost exclusively made use of barges. These were equipped most luxuriously. In 1454, Sir John Norman, Mayor of London, had his own barge built. It was of impressive dimensions and noble appearance, with silver oars. 

During the reign of Henry VIII, a bargeman's occupation was much sought after in Britain, and many ruffians and persons of low repute joined their rank. Such unsuitable individuals introduced an element of unruliness among bargemen and caused frequent collisions and accidents. Matters went so out of hand that urgent control measures were needed. For this purpose, in 1555, the Watermen's Union was established.

From 1825 there was competition from the railways. Eventually the British rail system took over from canal traffic in many countries due to the higher speed, falling costs and route flexibility of rail transport.

Today, barges are used for low-value bulk items, as the cost of hauling goods by them is very low. Barges are also used for very heavy or bulky items. Open-hopper barges carry coal, gravel, and large equipment; covered dry-cargo barges are used for grain, dry chemicals, and other commodities that must be kept dry; tank barges carry petroleum and liquid chemicals. 

Barges may be self-propelled, usually with a slow-revving diesel engine and a large-diameter fixed-pitch propeller. Otherwise, "dumb barges" are pushed or pulled by tugboats and towboats; one towboat may pull as many as 40 barges lashed together.

The long pole used to maneuver or propel a barge have given rise to the saying "I wouldn't touch that [subject/thing] with a barge pole."

Sources Europress Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia