Relic on the Lethe

As I was finishing up a transcription for the second page of the People's Voice from April 17, 1880 , there was an intriguing tidbit at the bottom of the paper. The article stated, "There are four firms that monopolize the manufacture of quinine in the whole United States." Can we figure out these four companies from this one tantalizing clue? Unfortunately the previous article source is vague. So far the original article has eluded our search attempts (there are many newspapers named "Free Press" or variations to that effect). Another researcher helpfully clipped an article in the Ann Arbor Courier from 1888 that names the four manufacturers that were (presumably) in the original article. The Ann Arbor list includes "Powers & Weightman, Rosengarten & Son, Keason & Mattison, and C.T. White & Co." Now that we have the business names, what can we find learn about these companies? Powers and Weightman : This is probably the most-remembere...

It has been fairly common in to find poems and short stories printed in the local newspapers, but this one in particular from the Winchester Virginian of August 11, 1848 caught my eye. Tantalizingly labelled "Odes for the Campaign," and set to the air " Ye Mariners of England ," the full text is as follows: YE SEAMEN OF COLUMBIA.  BY F. A. DURIVAGE.  Ye seamen of Columbia,  Our country’s boast and pride,  Who man our ships on every sea,  Wherever keel can ride,  Forth fling from every mizzen-peak  Your ensign to the breeze,  As ye sweep  Through the deep. In the freedom of the seas.  For we at home will guard our rights, and the  Freedom of the Seas.    The mariners of England,  Who ruled alone the wave,  Till to their pride our Yankee tars  An iron death-blow gave,  Took heart of hope when banded kings  Combined that flag to stain,  Which gave light  To the flight  When our thunder...