From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 29, 1914:

• “‘The day of the so-called “rough-neck” sailor who on approaching shore climbed a mast, waved his hands, then went ashore and got drunk is fast passing away,’ says Lieut. II. S. Burdick, U. S. N., who is visiting in Lawrence with his uncle, Dr. William L. Burdick, 916 Kentucky. ‘There has come to be so much mechanical work aboard the ship; so much of the work is done by electricity, that the sailor of only average intelligence will absorb enough knowledge to acquire a practical education that will enable him to succeed in a life ashore,’ said Lieut. Burdick. ‘Also the old happy-go-lucky spirit is not so much in evidence as in former years. The navy is being built up of men who are serious and in the service as a life work.’… During the recent American occupation of Vera Cruz Lieut. Burdick was in command of the torpedo boat destroyer Jouette…. Lieut. Burdick is a graduate of the class of 1909 at the United States Naval Academy and has spent the last year of his service on board the Jouett. The plans for his ship are to sail around from the east coast to San Francisco to be there at the official opening of the Panama exposition.”
• “Reports have come to the city officials as the city hall of a man who has been working on the north side of town telling the people that he will tell them the number of their house according to the new system in numbering that has been adopted by the city officials for the sum of fifty cents and in addition that he will put up the numbers on the house for an additional sixty cents. Some of the people on whom he has called have called the city officials and asked them if such a man is authorized by the city to make these charges. The police and mayor are after this man for he is working a fraud on the people in trying to sell the information they can secure for nothing by calling the city clerk’s office.”
• “After about thirty-six hours of thawing weather the temperature has again turned and the north wind is again blowing the cold of the Canadian provinces to the middle western states…. The change began at an early hour this morning and the temperature continued to fall today. The United States weather department at Washington announces that there is a storm coming and has ordered the storm flag displayed in most parts of the middle west…. The sidewalks are very dangerous today. The thawing snow and the sudden freezing make them dangerous to traffic. Several people have been quite seriously injured by falls. In many places salt, cinders, or sand have been pressed into service and they render the walks perfectly safe to anyone, but there are more places where nothing has been done. Many people who wish to come down are held home by the fear of injury from falling.”
• “The county treasurer says that more persons are inclined to forget the payment of their personal taxes than they are taxes on real estate. It may be that when the assessor called you did not report a large amount of property and that the amount of tax is only a few cents, but if those few cents are not paid, later on the collection of the tax will be placed in the hands of the sheriff and there will be added costs. Do not use the telephone to call up, for it is not fair to those who stand in line at the desk for the treasurer or his deputies to leave them waiting while they answer telephone calls.”
• “For the first time in many years the probate judge of Douglas county did not issue a solitary license to wed for Christmas or for the day preceding. From the couples at the theaters and dances, one would imagine that Cupid was still on the job, but Judge Lindley is convinced that he is taking a vacation.”
• “The west side is to have another grocery store. F. O. Richardson is building a new store building at the corner of 6th and Maine streets and hopes to be open for business by the 10th of the month. The store will be known as Richardson’s Cash Grocery.”
• “Chas. Starkweather has a Christmas present that was distinctive at any rate. Some of his admiring friends perpetrated the gift on him and they surely had him guessing. One day recently the telephone on Mr. Starkweather’s desk rang and a voice at the other end said, ‘This is Fairly, the showman, and I have been ordered to deliver a monkey to you for a Christmas present. Where shall I deliver it?’ ‘Don’t bring it to the store,’ said Starkweather, rather annoyed, ‘take it to the house.’ And to the house the gift came, a regulation box, warmly wrapped to keep the monkey from catching cold. Inside the outer box was a crate and inside the crate was a – toy monkey.”
• “According to a summary of the weather conditions of the year 1914 as recorded by the government bureau in Topeka, there was something unusual every month in this state. It was what the government declared to be a ‘freakish’ year, but a most favorable one. The warmest day of the year in the eastern section of the state was July 16 when the thermometer climbed to 102 and the coldest December 6 at 5 below. The year was the ninth driest in the government records.”