The Hidden Dangers of Cocoa Mulch

It is a mistake every pet owner could easily make. As spring approaches, you head to the local home and garden store for mulch to freshen up your flower beds. Next to the bags of traditional shredded mulch are bags of a newer type—cocoa mulch.

According to National Cocoa Shell, the nation’s largest retailer of cocoa shell mulch, the material is leftover from the cocoa bean roasting process—making the product more environmentally friendly than regular mulch. Plus, who couldn’t resist putting chocolate smelling mulch down in their garden? For chocolate lovers across the country it’s a dream come true.

But there’s a catch. Cocoa mulch is extremely toxic to pets, especially when curious dogs have access to the outdoors.

Dr. Maureen McMichael is a veterinarian at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana who specializes in emergency and critical care. She says, “Cocoa mulch is significantly more toxic than milk chocolate or even baker’s chocolate because it has quite a bit more theobromine in it.” Theobromine is the toxic compound in most chocolates that is responsible for the clinical signs seen in pets after ingestion.

Though it, too, can be deadly to pets, milk chocolate has only 44 mg. per ounce of theobromine. Baking chocolate has nearly eight times the concentration of theobromine in it compared to milk chocolate, making it one of the most toxic kinds of chocolate, but still not as concentrated as cocoa mulch.

In addition to having more theobromine in it, cocoa mulch is also usually found in an unlimited supply to the pet. Your Labrador may gobble up that chocolate bar on the counter, but left to their own devices, most dogs will eat cocoa mulch until you catch them or toxic effects start to set in, leading to the ingestion of large amounts of the toxin. “Unfortunately, many of the dogs that present with a history of eating cocoa mulch do not survive if they were not stopped quickly,” notes Dr. McMichael.

The clinical signs of chocolate or cocoa mulch toxicity include: hyperactivity, muscle tremors, fast heart rate, hyperthermia, and seizures. There are anecdotal reports from gardeners who unknowingly purchased the mulch and later found their dog dead after a very short exposure time. Incidents such as this are likely a result of heart arrhythmias that develop after ingestion.

After time, the sweet smell of the cocoa mulch will wear off, and some have questioned if, after that point, it is safe for dogs to be around it. Dr. McMichael cautions that, “it is possible that dogs are not attracted to it once the smell wears off but that does not eliminate its toxic load—it is still toxic.”

The moral of the story is: don’t purchase cocoa mulch if you have an outdoor pet. That said, if you happen to make the mistake of buying the mulch and you catch your animal eating a bite, time is of the essence. The quicker you can get Fido to the veterinary emergency clinic, the better the chances are of survival.

For more information on the topic, please contact your local veterinarian.

Ashley Mitek is an information specialist at University of Illinois’ College of Veterinary Medicine.

New Derby Drink

It’s a century-old Kentucky Derby tradition—the classic concoction of sugar, water, mint, ice, and Early Times Kentucky Whisky—served to toast the contenders of the most prestigious horse race in the world. But in 2006 Kentucky Oaks fans launched a new tradition known as the Oaks Lily®, the official cocktail of the Kentucky Oaks.

Developed by the Brown-Forman Corporation of Louisville, the cocktail creates a more feminine libation.

The Oaks Lily®

Oaks Lily

When the ingredients are mixed, place the pinkish cocktail in an official Oaks Lily® glass (stemless wine glass) with crushed ice, add a straw and garnish with an orange wedge and cherry.

Energy in Medicine

New devices utilizing laser energy and radiofrequency waves help reverse hearing loss from chronic ear infections and target cancer cells for better cure rates.

Laser energy

A new laser-equipped scalpel system from OmniGuide allows surgeons to more accurately aim energy beams deep inside the body, including the middle ear.

The innovative system directs infrared energy from a high-intensity carbon dioxide (CO2) laser through a flexible fiber tube lined with reflective material. Rigid lasers used for the past 30 years operate in a straight line only.

“The CO2 laser has been utilized in middle ear surgery for the past two decades,” explains ear specialist Dr. Bob Owens of Dallas, Texas, “But the OmniGuide BeamPath CO2 laser system allows an otologist (specialty ear surgeon) to hold the laser in a handpiece. This creates the greatest degree of surgical precision that can be obtained while operating in a microsurgical environment such as the middle ear space.”

Kayla, age 14, developed hearing loss from multiple ear infections that gradually immobilized tiny bones inside her ear. After undergoing the new laser procedure, she no longer needs a hearing aid.

“Conductive hearing loss occurs when patients have scarring or bone growth that ‘tethers’ the eardrum or ossicles (small bones of hearing),” Dr. Owens told the Post. “The OmniGuide laser divides the scar tissue and obliterates abnormal bone growth to free up the structures and allow better conduction of sound to the inner ear.”

Patients with cholesteatoma (abnormal tissue in the ear), a perforated eardrum, or otosclerosis (abnormal bone in the ear) may also benefit from the new laser surgery, according to Dr. Owens, who is one of the first doctors in the U.S. to use OmniGuide for hearing loss in children.

The FDA-cleared system is also utilized for brain, throat, and GI tract problems. Click here for video clips of laser therapy in brain cancer.

Radiofrequency waves

Calypso Medical’s “GPS for the body” uses tiny electromagnetic transponders to pinpoint the exact location of prostate cancer cells during radiation therapy.

Experts know that organs in the body may shift during radiation treatments for prostate cancer. As a result, tumors may not receive the optimal treatment dose and nearby urinary and rectal tissue may be damaged by unintended radiation exposure.

Credit: OmniGuide

How the Calypso Works

1.     Doctors implant 3 transponders about the size of rice grains into the diseased prostate.

2.     Radiofrequency waves from the transponders communicate with external components of the Calypso System.

3.     A display screen continuously monitors the position of the prostate gland during treatment and alerts the therapist when the prostate drifts out of position.

Findings from a February 2010 study show that Calypso’s real-time tracking technology enabled physicians to direct increased doses of radiation to the tumor while sparing surrounding tissue—a treatment strategy referred to as “margin reduction.”

“This is the first comparative study to show that margin reduction in prostate cancer radiation therapy has clinically significant and measurable benefits in decreasing acute toxicity and short-term side effects,” said Dr. Constantine Mantz, radiation oncologist at 21st Century Oncology in Cape Coral, Florida and lead investigator of the study. “By reducing acute toxicity, we hope these patients may also experience a significant reduction of long-term side effects.”

 

Exclusive Excerpt from James McCommons’ New Book

Download the first chapter, a Saturday Evening Post exclusive. You can also read McCommons’ cover article in the new May/June issue, on sale now.

In 2007, a business trip took travel writer James McCommons from his home in Michigan to the West Coast. McCommons, who hails from a railroad family, took a train west and flew back to the Midwest. His trip on “The California Zephyr” had transcendent moments of crossing the moonlit Great Plains and running through the Red Rock Country of the Rockies’ western slope, but also was marred by equipment breakdowns in Nevada’s deserts and repeated delays due to backed-up freight trains. He reached Sacramento 12 hours behind schedule.

The American Rail

Waiting On A Train
An in-depth and scenic view of the past, present, and future of trains in America.
Whistle Stops
5 classic American rail journeys for your next adventure.
A Love of Rails
An inside look at model train collecting—a consuming passion.
Post Exclusive: James McCommons
Will passenger-rails experience a rebirth in America? James McCommons spent a year riding trains in his search for an answer.
From the Archives: the Passenger Rail
Articles from the archive of America’s oldest magazine.

“On the flight home, I kept thinking about that train,” says McCommons, who teaches journalism at Northern Michigan University. “When are we going to have a decent passenger-rail system in this country again, one that moves people efficiently between major cities and provides Americans with a true alternative to airplanes and automobiles?” To answer that question, McCommons spent a year riding on and writing about America’s trains. He shares insights from his journey in the May/June cover story of The Saturday Evening Post, and also in his book, Waiting on a Train available for purchase from publisher Chelsea Green.

The Royal Role of Grace Kelly

Any American under the age of 30 can be forgiven for asking “Who’s this Grace Kelly person, and why is she showing up in all these magazines lately?”

The former American actress and late Princess of Monaco has been dead for almost 28 years — a long time for a celebrity to hold the media’s interest.

What has brought her back to America’s magazine covers is an exhibit of her royal wardrobe at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The couture will be interesting, but the real attraction is the style of Grace Kelly, which becomes increasingly rare in a Madonna and Lady Gaga world.

Kelly didn’t just dress well and expensively. She was also an innovator and a successful proponent of high style. Her tastes were exceptional but, more important, she had the face, figure, and carriage that made good clothing look extraordinary.

Behind her style and her looks, though, was Kelly’s iconic power: her ability to exude elegance, charm, and poise, like those other classic archetypes: Jacqueline Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn.

Grace Kelly fixing her hair in the mirror
Grace Kelly (left and right). “She’s a lady and she expects to be treated like a lady,” says Jimmy Stewart.Photograph by Gene Lester

It was also her fantastically successful life. In less than ten years, she became a well-paid model, an Oscar-winning actress, and a princess. For girls of a romantic nature, this is the Trifecta of daydreams. Grace had accomplished it all, and took her amazed fans along for the ride.

In 1954, the Post editors were intrigued by the meteoric rise of this young (well, 25-year-old) model and actress who, two years after playing a minor role in a minor movie, was starring in romantic roles with Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, William Holden, and Jimmy Stewart.

The Post’s celebrity interviewer, Peter Martin, was aware of Kelly’s reputation before they met. She was, according to Hollywood sources, extremely cool, reserved, even haughty — a woman with “stainless steel guts.”

“When we sat down to talk, her face was expressionless. I saw only the surface of her eyes, not into them. She was poised, cool, collected, and wary. She said nothing — unless I asked her a question first. Once or twice, even when I put a direct query to her, she smiled and didn’t answer. However, little by little, she began to come out from behind her private Iron Curtain.”

She eventually relaxed just enough to joke about a story that had circulated in the tabloids.

“It had to do with her knitting a pair of sock for Clark Gable and hanging them on his tent, on Christmas morning, while they were on location for Mogambo. The way it had actually happened was different from the printed version — as such things have a way of being. She had tried to knit a pair of socks for Gable, but, like many another knitter with good intentions, she hadn’t finished them in time. ‘When I realized that I wasn’t going to make it, we were out in Tanganyika, in the middle of nowhere,” she told me, “and I couldn’t buy anything for him. So I stole a pair of his own socks. Each day I stole something else from him. On Christmas Eve I filled one of his sock with his own things and hung it up. It was a silly gesture, but he liked it. I am very fond of Clark.”

Gable received a telegraph asking him if there was any romance between himself and Kelly. Pete Martin followed up on the story that Gable told her, “This is the greatest complement I’ve ever had. I’m old enough to be your father.”

“I’m not too good at the sly remark and the personal probe, but I tried anyhow. ‘I should think he would have been able to overcome that feeling,’ I said.

“Once more she smiled and didn’t say anything.”

Five years later, they met again, only this time Martin was interviewing Princess Grace of Monaco, wife of Prince Rainier III. It was a role for which she seemed ideally suited. Few actresses were better at portraying reserve and gracious nobility. She graciously answered his questions, at one point making an off-handed estimate about the size of her housekeeping staff.

“How many servants do you have in the palace?” I asked.

“‘I don’t know exactly,’ she replied. ‘There are so many different categories. We have servants attached directly to our household, and there are other servants in the place who take care of other people. But to answer your question, approximately two hundred fifty people work here in the palace. That includes carpenters, electricians and the like.’

“‘Does that include the [palace guards]?’

“‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘There are sixty to sixty-five of them.'”

“‘I’m curious why anyone would expect you to drop all you have here, which is so lovely and so idyllic,”‘ I said, ‘and go back to the rigors of movie making. It must be wishful thinking.’

Princess Grace with her children, Caroline and Albert
“I do miss acting in a way,” says Princess Grace, ” but it is no real loss, because being married and having children is far important to me.” Here she is with Princess Caroline, aged three, and Prince Albert, twenty-two months.Photograph by Philippe Halsman

“She did it again. She looked at me, smiled sweetly, and said nothing. I found myself hurrying along to my next questions.”

No one could ever accuse Grace Kelly of changing after she became a member of the nobility.

She was a woman of large ambition, willing to work hard to get ahead. She believed she had earned her success in Hollywood. But even she must have thought that becoming a princess was almost laughably implausible. But then, as Mark Twain once noted, “Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”

Post script:

The story of European nobles marrying rich American women is an old one. An item in the Post of 1874 noted:

“How the foreigners seem to admire our American girls, or is it their fortunes that prove so attractive?  They come here and make their selections and are only too gladly accepted as a general thing.

“Mrs. Gen. Griffin has become the Countess Esterhazy; little blue-eyed Camille Webb is now the Baroness Von Havre; Miss Williams, of Georgetown, became the bride of Count Bodisco, and another Georgetown girl has given her affection to an Italian count, who has left her here, expecting his tardy return, which looks too prolonged to promise any realization… I wonder if the Turkish and new French ministers will secure American wives and fortunes?”

Marriages into nobility often raise the question of whether Americans can hold foreign titles. Federal laws permit dual citizenship, and even allow American citizens to retain titles from foreign countries. However, such titles have no legal significance; royal privileges in a foreign land only get a nod of diplomatic recognition in this country.

The stern republicans that founded the United States were always suspicious of nobility. They warned of the aristocratic habit of grabbing up privileges and precedent, and they wanted no such inequalities in the new country.

Yet Americans yearn for its own aristocracy: people who are distinguished by their learning, virtue, and public spirit — equal but superior. These would be “natural aristocrats,” as Jefferson described them in a letter to John Adams.

“I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents… The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature, for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society. And indeed, it would have been inconsistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of the society… May we not even say, that that form of government is the best, which provides the most effectually for a pure selection of these natural aristoi into the offices of government?”

When Grace Kelly returned to the United States, Americans were happy to call her “Princess” and “Your Grace” — partly for the novelty of speaking these words, but also because she had, in their eyes, earned the deference by her “virtue and talents.”

Read “The Luckiest Girl in Hollywood” [PDF].

Read “I Call on Princess Grace” [PDF].

[The Post sends out a special thanks for background information from fashion-and-culture writer P.J. Holmes.]

Go Green Salsa!

Think green for Earth Day with this verdant dish.

Go Green Salsa
(Makes about 3 1/2 cups)

Combine first 8 ingredients in food processor until texture is smooth. Add spices. Pour into serving bowl and serve with tortilla chips.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke of Insight

As profiled in the May/June 2010 issue of the Post, neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As she felt her brain functions slip away one by one (speech, movement, understanding), Taylor—a trained and brilliant researcher—studied and remembered every moment. She eventually recounted the lessons and insights gained from her experience in her bestselling book Stroke of Insight—a powerful story of recovery and awareness, and how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

Dr. Taylor recounted her moving story in a lecture that we now share with you.

Understanding Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Seven in ten Americans underestimate the seriousness of sudden cardiac arrest or SCA, and mistakenly believe it is a type of heart attack, according to a recent survey by The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS).

Here are 5 facts from the ongoing HRS Apples and Oranges campaign to help you understand the difference between the two heart emergencies—and why it matters:

1. SCA is a malfunction of the heart’s “wiring” or electrical system that controls your heartbeat. Heart attacks result from bad “plumbing”, or problems within the blood vessels that carry oxygen to the heart muscle.

2. SCA immediately and completely halts blood flow throughout the body, starving the entire body of oxygen. Heart attacks (also called myocardial infarctions or MIs) reduce or block circulation to a particular area of the heart muscle.

3. SCA occurs without warning and is often the first indication of unsuspected heart rhythm problems. Loss of consciousness occurs within 20 seconds. Heart attacks are usually (but not always) preceded by chest discomfort or trouble breathing and happen to people with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a personal or family history of heart disease. Heart attacks can trigger the deadly heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation that causes SCA.

4. SCA has a cure. It is to “shock” the heart back to normal rhythm with a machine called a defibrillator. But the window of opportunity is short—chances of survival decrease about 10 percent for each minute spent waiting for a defibrillator. Fortunately, many therapies exist for heart attacks and getting prompt emergency treatment can avoid or reduce heart muscle damage when symptoms are recognized early.

5. SCA occurs almost 1,200 times per day in the U.S. Heart attacks claim the lives of about 600 Americans daily, including 300 who die before reaching the hospital. Most of those deaths are from SCA.

Click here for more on SCA from The Heart Rhythm Society.

Watch for more about preventing SCA and saving lives in future weeks.

The Inevitable Politics of the High Court

Last week, Justice John Paul Stevens announced his resignation from the Supreme Court after 34 years. Almost immediately, the media fired up the great calliope of political journalism. Reporters breathlessly debated who President Obama would nominate. How would it shake up the Court? How would the Republicans respond? Which political faction would benefit?

The feverish excitement isn’t just the product of a sudden, national fascination with Constitutional law. New judges are news because they become a profound, lifelong influence on America’s legal landscape. They’re news because they are political — whether or not that is their intention.

This was not the original idea. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had both hoped that every branch of the government would operate without the maneuvering and deal-making of political factions. It was clear by the 1800s that this was unrealistic in Congress and the White House.

The Supreme Court avoided politics a little longer — probably because it was so insignificant. It had no budget, no building, and no significant work until Chief Justice John Marshall wrote his Marbury v Madison decision. The Court, Marshall said, was the foremost interpreter of the Constitution. If it thought a law was unconstitutional, it could overturn it, despite the vote of the House and Senate and the President’s signature.

This was unexpected political power, and Presidents quickly realized how they could use it to their advantage. By appointing a judge with similar opinions, the President could ensure his policies were pursued in the high court for the lifetime of the judge.

The nomination process has basically expanded the playing field for Washington’s endless political wrestling match. In many cases, appointing a Supreme Court justice is the continuation of politics by other means.

Like all political wisdom, though, this is at least 20% wrong. Throughout history, Presidents have chosen fair-minded, independent judges who offered wisdom, insight, and a keen insight into the Constitution. But they have also nominated judges who were political ciphers and ideological sock puppets.

Sometimes, though, Supreme Court justices can move off in an unexpected direction. Justice Felix Frankfurter, appointed by liberal President Roosevelt, became the court’s most prominent conservative voice. President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice in 1953, confident that Warren would exert a steady, conservative influence on the Court. Instead, Warren moved to the left, siding mostly with liberal opinion, and causing Eisenhower to refer to Warren’s nomination as “the biggest damned-fool mistake I ever made.”

Sometimes judges act like politicians, and sometimes they act like fair-minded, objective jurists. The uncertainty makes politically focused Americans extremely anxious.

For example Merlo J. Pusey, in a 1963 Post article, saw signs of domestic turmoil gathering like thunderheads over the court. The reasons — for him, at least — were clear.

“During its last session the court handed down two of the most bitterly controversial opinions in its long history — one against a prayer in the public schools and the other for reapportionment of gerrymandered legislatures. Both these cases are new landmarks in the law. Yet, like others before them, they represent no more than battles in the long war within the court itself—the war between the ‘activists’ and the ‘traditionalists.’

“This struggle has already deeply affected the political climate of the United Slates and the rights that all men and women cherish.”

Interestingly, the author thought the reapportionment decision would have a greater impact on the country. The “school prayer” decision, though, would remain a politically hot issue for decades.

“The case was brought by Steven I. Engel and other parents of children [who] objected to a nondenominational prayer recommended for use in the schools by the State Board of Regents, the highest educational authority in New York, and officially adopted by the local board. The prayer consisted of only 22 words drawn largely from state constitutions:

“‘Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country.’

“The prayer was repeated at the beginning of each school day, along with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Those who did not wish to participate could remain silent or be excused from the room or come late in order to miss the prayer. All the judges agreed that there was no compulsion on any pupil to join in the prayer, but that did not save it in the eyes of the court.”

The court had shown its power in the 1950s, particularly in Brown v Board of Education, which struck down the practice of operating racially divided schools that were “separate but equal.” Now, it seemed, the Court was expelling God from school.

But real trouble was ahead, according to Pusey. Justice Frankfurter had retired and the court was now dominated by “activists” and “free-speech absolutists.” Pusey dreaded the prospect of the First Amendment running rampant through the streets.

“If the absolutist doctrine in its more extreme forms should be established as the law of the land, the consequences would be almost revolutionary.”

The statement is far less scary once you see all the qualifiers: if there is a concept of absolutist doctrine, if it might exist in “its most extreme forms,” and if it is made the law of the land, the results would be revolutionary, almost.

“It would mean, for example, that the Government could no longer enforce the Smith Act, under which numerous Communists have been convicted of teaching and advocating the overthrow of government by force and violence.

“It would also sharply curtail the investigative powers of Congress. If the doctrine were literally applied in its extreme forms, the general maintenance of public order would be severely handicapped because irresponsible people would presumably be free to indulge in perjury, obscenity, misrepresentation, false advertising and even solicitation of crime and subversion.”

It’s reporting like this that make the nominating process such a spectacle. Any and every fear can be entertained.

Overall, the article is suprisingly thoughtful and balanced. Pusey gives a thoughtful assessment of Hugo Black, but he keeps returning to his theoretical revolution, which was as fearful as it was imaginative.

If the court of 2010 is in the same awful straits as Pusey saw in 1963, we would all spend our worrying resources on another, more realistic problem.

Post Boys and Girls – 74 Years Later

“I have been a reader/subscriber to the Post since the 1930’s,” wrote Maxine Trevethen of Torrance, California. Okay, we love her already. Then Maxine sent us a photo of her and her grandmother from 1936. Maxine is nine in the photo and clutching a Shirley Temple doll.

In 1935, The Saturday Evening Post was offering a Shirley Temple doll to anyone who would send in a certain number of new subscriptions for the magazine. “I really wanted that doll,” Maxine writes. “I lived in Seattle and I can remember trudging around in the rain knocking on neighbors’ doors, trying to get new subscriptions. Finally, I succeeded and sent in the required new subscriptions. To my delight, I received the ‘authentic Shirley Temple doll’ as promised.”

Post Boys pose for a photo in 1910
Lester Bishop(rear, right) poses with his fellow Post Boys in 1910.
Courtesy of George Crotts.

We’re happy to share the photo of Maxine today, prettier than ever, with that same beloved Shirley Temple doll. Thank you for sharing your story, Maxine. We’ll put a bug in the Editor’s ear about this method of increasing circulation.

But we have an even older photo to share, sent in by George Crotts, Jr. of North Bend, Washington. This is a remarkably good photo for 1910 and shows Lester Bishop, a cousin to George’s mother, standing in the rear to your right. Young Lester, born in 1899, had an early and sad ending, we’re sorry to say. A mere eight years after this newsboy photo, Lester died from wounds received at the battle of Chateau-Thierry, France in World War I.

George included some photos of Les with family and friends before shipping out to France. Included was this one of Les and his parents in a fancy automobile. “Lester was honored,” George writes, “along with another young man as being the first two killed in action from Sutter-Yuba Counties in California” when VFW Post 948 in Marysville was named for them.

Les poses with his parents in an old car
Les Bishop with his parents just before his deployment in World War I.
Courtesy of George Crotts.

Too many wars, too many young lives taken too soon. We’re proud to publish these fine photos in Lester Bishop’s memory.

 

How America Is Falling To Pieces Around Us: 1928 Version

The following is an excerpt from “The World Does Move,” from July 7, 1928 [PDF]. The author is listening to a judge’s outrage at the state of the nation’s youth.

“I’ve been going to the same barber shop for fourteen years,” he said harshly, as I sat down. “I went to it for the last time today. I took off my coat and necktie the way I always do, and then I noticed there were three women sitting there in the waiting chairs and looking at me as if I’d committed a crime. Mad at me for taking off my coat and collar in a place where they had no right to be themselves! I thought probably they were them to solicit for a charity or something; but just then old George called ‘Next!’ And my soul, if one of those women didn’t get right up and march to the chair and sit down in it !

“That wasn’t the worst of it. The person that had just got out of the chair was wearing boots and breeches, but it wasn’t a man. It was a girl—one that had been a nice-looking girl, too, until she sat down in that chair and had three feet of beautiful thick brown hair out off. She was my own daughter, Julie, nineteen years old. I didn’t my a word to her—not then; I just looked at her. Then I told old George I guessed his shop was getting to be too co-educational for me and I put on my things and went out. I’ll never set foot in the place again!”

“Where will you get your hair cut, judge?”

“I guess we’d better learn to cut our own hair, we men,” he mid bitterly. “There really isn’t any place left nowadays where we can go to get by ourselves. Coming home from Washington the other day, I was in the Pullman smoker—what they call the club car — and I’ll eat my shirt if four women didn’t come in there and light cigarettes and sit down to play bridge!

Never turned a hair—didn’t have any hair long enough to turn, for that matter. They won’t let us keep a club car, or any kind of club, to ourselves nowadays;

they got to have anyway half of it.

“I said when we let ’em into the polling booth they’d never be contented with that, and I was right. Remember all the fuss they made about their right to vote? Well, they’ve proved they didn’t care about that at all, because more than half the very women that made the fuss don’t bother to vote, now they know they can. They just wanted to show as we couldn’t have anything On earth to ourselves. They haven’t left as one single refuge.

“It used to be a man could at least go hang around a livery stable when he felt lonesome for his kind; but now there aren’t any more livery stable. He can’t go to a saloon; there aren’t any more saloons. [Written in 1929, nearly a decade into Prohibition] Once he could go sit in a hotel lobby, because that was a he place; nowadays hotel lobbies are full of women sitting there all day. When I studied law there weren’t three women in all the offices downtown; now you can’t find an office without a bob-haired stenographer in it, and there are dozens of women got their own offices—every kind of offices.

“That’s another thing I’ve been having it out with Julie about. She’s not only cut off her hair; she wants to go into business as soon as she finds out what kind she’d enjoy most. She’s like the rest—the one thing that gives her the horrors is the idea of staying home.

“What’s become of the old home life in this country anyhow? Everybody seems to have to be going somewhere every minute. There’s the car in the garage: it’ll take us anywhere—let’s go! ‘Let’s go’ is the unceasing national cry.

“I understand there’s a great deal of what they’ve now invented a horrible new word for—’necking’ — while they’re on the road between parties and movies and end-of-the-night breakfasts. But it’s always, ‘Let’s go—let’s go anywhere except home!”

He paused for a moment, while his bushy gray eyebrows were contorted in a frown of distressed perplexity: then he looked at me almost with pathos and speaking slowly, asked a question evidently sincere: “Does it ever seem to you, nowadays, that maybe we’re all—all of us, young people and old people both—that maybe we’re all crazy?”

Read the full story, “The World Does Move,” from July 7, 1928 [PDF].

Creamy Basil Potatoes

Creamy Basil Potatoes

Creamy Basil Potatoes
Creamy Basil Potatoes

(Makes 6 servings)

Scrub potatoes thoroughly. Cut into ¼-inch slices. (If you must, you can peel first-but remember you will be sacrificing valuable vitamin C and added taste.) Steam 5 minutes. Remove potatoes from steamer, set aside.

Melt margarine in large saucepan. When margarine is bubbling but not brown, add flour. Mix with wire whisk, cook 2 minutes. Remove mixture from heat. When bubbling has stopped, add hot milk. Stir constantly until mixture is smooth.

Blend in evaporated milk, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Simmer couple minutes, then add potatoes. If sauce does not cover potatoes, add little more milk. Cook very slowly 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Just before serving, add minced parsley and any correct seasoning. Serve at once. (Tarragon may be substituted for basil, if desired.)

Per Serving: 1-1¼ cups
Calories: 218
Fat: 5.9 gm
Cholesterol: 2 mg
Sodium: 215 mg
Carbohydrate: 33.3 gm
Protein: 7.9 gm

Recipe from The Saturday Evening Post Antioxidant Cookbook, © The Saturday Evening Post Society. All rights reserved.

Herbs for Seasonal Allergies

Experts say that soaring temperatures on the heels of record snows  and heavy rains add up to one of the worst seasons on record for people with allergies to tree pollens.

Without hard data from large clinical trials, it’s hard to make conclusions on the benefits of herbs for allergies. But European studies suggest these widely-available remedies may be worth considering:

Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) blocks the formation of compounds called leukotrienes that promote inflammation. Swiss researchers found that the flowering herb is less sedating but as effective as the OTC antihistamine cetirizine (brand name: Zyrtec). To reduce the risk of liver damage, it’s recommended that butterbur be taken for only six weeks a year.

Rosmarinic acid, a chemical derived from rosemary leaves, reduced seasonal allergy symptoms in a preliminary Japanese study.  The compound seems to have anti-inflammatory properties and also suppress immune cell activity.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a popular allergy remedy in Europe.  In one study, 58 percent of 69 volunteers reported that a daily 600 mg dose of freeze-dried nettle leaf relieved allergy symptoms—and 48 percent said its anti-inflammatory effect was more effective than standard OTC allergy medicines.

For research-based information on conditions and treatments, including diet supplements and herbs, visit The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Bob Cerv: A True Tough Guy

In 1958, Bob Cerv was having the best season of his pro baseball career. Until then the 32-year-old had been a career backup, known as a role player best suited for pinch-hitting. He had won a few titles with the Yankees and even hit a home run in the 1955 World Series, but even so, seemed destined to go down in history as simply an average ballplayer.

He knew that, at his age, his career was in the ‘now or never’ stage, and it seemed this season was the one that would make it ‘now.’ Through May, Cerv was leading the American League in home runs and RBIs while batting .344 with the Kansas City Athletics’ (now in Oakland).

Then, fate struck.

On May 17, Cerv was rounding the bases trying to score against the Detroit Tigers. As he rounded third, he knew the throw was going to beat him to home plate. There are only a few things a baseball player can do in that situation. One is try to slide below or jump over the tag by the catcher. Unfortunately, at 6 feet and 220 pounds, agility was not Cerv’s forte. This left him one option—lower his shoulder and run head-on into the catcher to jar the ball loose.

Base runners make this decision to this day. It is a scary situation: the catcher is standing still, concentrating on trying to catch a ball often thrown from all the way across the field, while an opposing player is running at him full speed, with every intention of knocking the ball — and the daylight — out of him. (This is why the catcher is typically the stoutest and strongest player on the team.)

In Cerv’s case, it did not work out. Not only was he tagged out, but the collision left him with a broken jaw.

Cerv fractures his jaw as he slides home.
Bob Cerv (right) fractured his jaw in this home plate collision with Detriot Tigers catcher Wilson.

Doctors said he would be out for six weeks, but Cerv was having none of it. He was back three days later. After six weeks playing with his jaw wired shut, Cerv was still batting .310 and leading the American League in home runs and RBIs.

The Saturday Evening Post covered this story in 1958, and we recently caught up with Cerv, for a follow up interview.

Not surprisingly, he is still going strong. “I may be 85, but I still have a pretty strong brain,” Cerv says.

He recalls that season like yesterday, especially eating with his jaw wired shut: “That was my best season. I hit 38 home runs, finished third in hitting; RBIs and runs, and beat out Ted Williams to start in the All-Star Game. I remember when I first had to eat after I broke my jaw. We got a ½ pound of steak, green beans, and potatoes, threw it all in a blender, and I had dinner through a straw.”

Although he was with the Kansas City A’s in ’58, he spent the beginning and end of his career with the Yankees, playing with all-time greats like Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra, to name a few. He still stays in touch with the ones that are still around. “I just saw Yogi recently,” says Cerv. “Our birthdays are only a week apart. I was born on May 5, and he was born May 12.”

Cerv was Roger Maris’ roommate when he hit home run number 61. Cerv and Maris often roomed together, because the Yankees’ manager didn’t understand Maris’ personality and wanted Cerv, the seasoned veteran, to help him figure it out. “Roger asked me ‘Why are you my roommate now?’ when I first roomed with him,” recalls Cerv. “I told him, ‘To tell the truth, the skipper wants to know what makes you tick.’ We were best buds after that.”

Bob Cerv removes the wire from his jaw.
Free at last: Cerv could open his mouth, but sore jaws forced him to forgo the sirloin steak he craved.

Cerv also recalls playing with another Yankee legend, Billy Martin. “He was a ballplayer. A little hotheaded, though. He didn’t take any crap.” Many New York fans know this is true. Although Martin played with the Yankees on several World Series teams, he is best remembered as the fiery manager who got in umpires’ faces, got angry with veteran players (especially Reggie Jackson), and won games.

Although his playing days are long over, Cerv still reminisces about his time in the big leagues and compares his experience to players today. “When I signed, it was for $5,000.” Obviously, a little less than what players are making now. “Pitching was the name of the game back then. There were only eight teams in the National League and eight in the American, so teams stockpiled the very best pitchers,” he said. “That was also before they lowered the pitching mound. If you got a hittable pitch across the middle and fouled it off, you screwed up.”

After baseball, Cerv became a family man. He has 10 children, all of whom went through college, 32 grandkids and 10 great-grandchildren (with one on the way). He currently resides in a quiet condo in Nebraska.

Read Bob Cerv’s original 1958 article, “I Played Without Eating” [PDF].

A Norman Rockwell Spring

The temps may still be chilly, the sky dreary … but hey, honey – Look! Rockwell’s eye for detail was costly. He couldn’t find a budding crocus, the little flowers being the stubborn things they are. Greenhouses for miles around proved, er, infertile ground. Finally, he called a swanky New York florist who specialized in out-of-season flowers. In 1947, gasoline was 23 cents a gallon and a loaf of bread was 12 cents, a postage stamp 3 cents, and Rockwell’s special delivery from the florist: $15.50. The price of art.

First Crocus by Norman Rockwell, March 22, 1947
First Flower or First Crocus
Norman Rockwell
March 22, 1947


Many, many artists copied Rockwell. Although the boy and dog in this cover below are “all Rockwell.” The fanciful spring fairy was Rockwell copying the style of Maxfield Parrish. A boy kissed by the first warm day of spring? Works for us.

Springtime 1933 by Norman Rockwell, April 8, 1933
Springtime 1933
by Norman Rockwell
April 8, 1933


An elementary school teacher once emailed us about this painting. She had her children making up stories about the cover, which we thought a wonderful idea, but they wanted the real story. Many folks don’t understand that the cover had nothing to do with an interior story, they were just works of art. And Rockwell, with his delightful imagination, thought it would be fun to have a sunny young lady greet a portly scarecrow on a spring walk.

The Scarecrow by Norman Rockwell, April 25, 1936
The Scarecrow
by Norman Rockwell
April 25, 1936


Communing not only with bunnies, but geese, turtles, squirrels, and frogs is this youngster from 1927. We’re not sure where he acquired his musical gift, but we believe Rockwell got his sense of whimsy from illustrating for children’s publications such as Boys’ Life. [Editor’s note: Read more about this cover in “A Fruitful Relationship,” by Abigail Rockwell.]

Springtime, 1927 by Norman Rockwell, April 16, 1927
Springtime, 1927
by Norman Rockwell
April 16, 1927


It’s almost the last day of school, and the bunnies are out and about. This charming 1935 cover says it all: Springtime! Sometimes criticized for not showing the stark realism of childhood in the cities, Rockwell preferred the fanciful.

Springtime, 1935 by Norman Rockwell, April 27, 1935
Springtime, 1935
by Norman Rockwell
April 27, 1935

All of the spring covers shown here are available in reprints at: Art.com.

More spring cover galleries:
Spring Covers: A Perenial Favorite
Classic Covers: A Hint of Spring

Protecting Animals from Beasts

There was a time in this country when cruelty was hard to see.

Everyone knew what it was. They recognized it in the attacks of Native Americans on settlers, but they had a hard time seeing it among themselves. Life was hard. Cruelty, many assumed, was necessary — unpleasant, perhaps, but expedient.

But cruelty and brutality didn’t sit well with the ideas of liberty. The patriots of the new country were rightly suspicious of any “rule by force.” In the years following the Revolution, Americans started to recognize how cruelty was often used for domination — of the poor, the sick, the insane, of children, and women. By the mid-1800s, they even began to see cruelty in the system of slavery — or, rather, they started to acknowledge what they’d already known.

In time, the widespread practices of mistreating animals also became clear. The Post helped raise public awareness though numerous articles of the 1860s.

Here, for example, they denounce the cosmetic mutilation of dogs:

“Sir Edwin Landseer, one of the judges at the dog show in London, England, endeavored to exclude all dogs that had been mutilated by ear-cropping or otherwise. The principal reason… is, that the cropping of ears is most and hurtful of the dog… All dogs, more or less, require to be protected from sand and earth by overlapping ears; but especially do terriers, literally “earth dogs,” the species which, of all others, is most persecuted by cropping.

“The only excuse that can be set up for the system is a delusive one. It is said that fighting dogs fare better with their ears cropped, and the exigencies of fighting dogs have set the fashion of all others… Leave the dog his ear, and the assailant’s grasp of the sensitive gland [within] is impeded by the folds of the ear, and rendered much more feeble. Thus, even to the fighting dog, the long ear is a positive defense.” [Dec, 6, 1862]

Curiously the reporter accepted commercial dogfighting as an inevitability. (Dog fighting has been illegal in all states since 1976. The last state to outlaw cockfighting did so in 2008.)

The Post pointed out potential abuse of farm animals:

“Kindness must be constantly exercised toward milch cows, and we might add towards all domestic animals. Very often young cows are restless or irritable, especially during the operation of milking, but whatever the cause gentleness is the only treatment that should be allowed — violence or even harshness never. There are many causes after recent calving that may produce inquietude, but no other remedy will be effectual. A young animal never forgets ill treatment, and a recurrence of similar circumstances will remind the cow of former punishment.” [Sep. 2, 1871]

“Stabling of every description is an evil. It is impossible a stable should be so built that it will allow the animal one half the freedom he enjoys when loose out of doors… The fact is, our modern stables throw the stress upon the back sinews or flexor tendons, and thus prepare many an animal for injury…  Nor is this all: the stall is perfectly at variance with the habits of the horse: he is evidently gregarious, [living] among crowds of his fellow-creatures; the stall dooms him to solitude, and the groom sits behind to see he does not put his nose over the division, only to look at a comrade. In many stables the stall is so small that the horse cannot turn around; he can lie down perfectly at ease in very few.”  [Nov. 22, 1856]

“In offering Prizes for animals in agricultural meetings, distinction should be made between those smothered in fat, by which the framework is totally concealed, and those whose proportions are visible, though well covered with wholesome meat… It may be amusement — there is no accounting for taste — to watch an unfortunate quadruped daily increase in size, till he becomes unable to stand without assistance of his attendant, who is obliged to cram him by hand. This may almost be said to be cruelty to animals for no good purpose. [my italics]… The first thing to be considered in regard to stock is not who can, regardless of cost and trouble, bring before a wondering public a live mass of grease, which, after a gleam of astonishment has passed away, fills the mind with a sickening sensation and compassion for the sufferings of the brute – [quoted from the London’ Gardeners’ Chronicle, Feb. 7, 1857]

The Post even raised concerns about the abuse of animals in the name of science:

“In the veterinary colleges of France, especially in the great establishments of Alfort, and Lyons,… the pupils are regularly instructed in surgery by cutting up living horses… This fiendish lesson is given regularly twice a week; when the doomed horse is cast, and is then subjected to all sorts of surgical operations… Steel, and fingers guided by stony hearts, invade the poor animal at all points; these operations on the same horse lasting from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, unless, indeed, the poor animal escapes from the diabolical torments inflicted upon him, by dying in the meantime… Vivisection is condemned everywhere but in France, as absolutely unnecessary to the successful cultivation of the veterinary art.” [Nov. 17, 1860]

Americans in these years lived closely with horses. They relied heavily on them for transportation and farm work. The practices of beating, starving, whipping, and maiming horses was more than just barbaric, it was ingratitude.

“We would suggest to the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals — and an excellent and greatly needed society it is — to take a glance occasionally at the manner in which horses, monkeys, etc., are treated in our circuses. The whip, we are included to think, is much too freely resorted to by those who have the training of these co-called brute performers… Forepaugh’s Menagerie and Circus is now on its travels — an excellent Menagerie and a very poor Circus — but what pleasure can be derived by any intelligent and tender-hearted audience, from the displays of the leading horse… To see an animal naturally of a very fine intelligence, with its high spirits all broken down by the whip, and shivering and trembling over the difficult feats required of it, so far from giving pleasure, almost makes a sympathetic observer sick. [April 11, 1868]

A horse turning on his abuser.
Mr. Jockey having heard Mr. Rarey lecture, fallters himself that he has learned the entire system of horse breaking. His first exhibition to his friends!

The Post’s editors frequently praised the work of John Rarey, who had developed a method for horse training that avoided all beating and punishment.

“The horse, according to Rarey, is happier in finding his master than he could be without him, provided the action of his master be kind, gentle, and adapted to the needs and instincts of the horse. Make him feel that you have him utterly in your power and that your power is kindly, and the horse is your happy and affectionate servant henceforth.” [Feb. 16, 1861]

In praising Rarey, the Post was voicing one of its strongest arguments against cruelty to animals: that cruelty is never contained. The idea of using pain and fear, even on dumb animals, pollutes a democratic society. “Cruelty to an animal touches every human man and woman precisely as cruelty to a human being does — the only difference being one of degree and not of kind.”

“The force and benefit of Mr. Rarey’s precepts and example in bringing about a more humane and sensible mode of dealing with horses, can hardly be over-estimated. And in rescuing horses from foolish brutality, he is aiding in overturning the general reign of brutality and ignorance in the world. If horses can be managed by calm force used intelligently in a spirit of kindness, why not children, why not men? We therefore enroll the name of Rarey not only among the benefactors of Horses, but also among the benefactors of Mankind. [Feb. 16, 1861]