Once the Hapsburgs ruled most of Europe. Today only one little country is ruled by a Hapsburg - Liechtenstein. It is 1/250th the size of Switzerland. It has a castle and the royal family lives there. But that has not always been the case. There was a time in history when the ruling family of Liechtenstein did not even come to...

In his great painting The Blue Cloak Peter Bruegel has incorporated at least 78 proverbs, maxims, rhymes and symbols. One shows a woman carrying fire in her right hand and a bucket of water in the left. It is a depiction of an old proverb. To say "she carries fire in one hand and water in the other" means that she holds two...

The bitternut tree does not bear fruit every year. It only bears fruit every three years and sometimes only every five years. The beech tree bears fruit every eight years. The white oak can go ten years without bearing fruit. But the champion in delay is the bamboo which bears fruit only every 120 years! Most Christians don't...

Thank God I'm An Atheist is the title of a little book by Rudolph Brasch. He said he got the title from a reported exchange between a disbeliever and a heckler at the famous Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park in London. The contradiction of the statement is obvious. It is as obvious as the true story of the atheist father who was...

The smallest Indian reservation in North America belongs to the Mattaponi tribe in eastern Virginia. The reservation consists of only 125 acres. The Mattaponi signed a treaty with the Virginians in 1646. The treaty provided for an annual visit by the tribe to the governor of Virginia to renew their pledge of loyalty. They have kept...

Writing in the October/November 1998 issue of Carolina Mountain Living Timothy M. Smith remarked on the strange fact that towns put up signs "No Loitering!" He says "The problem is ... that we're already moving too fast." Some cities have put up signs on entrance ramps that command "Keep Moving." But those who grew up...

Visitors to Milan, Italy, are often disappointed when they see DaVinci's famous painting "The Last Supper." It was painted on the wall of a monastery dining room and by now the colors are so faint you can barely see the painting. Restoration has been going on for years with little success. If you knew the history of the world's...

In his book The Man Who Was Thursday G. K. Chesterton put these words in the mouth of one of his characters: "We have only known the back of the world." It must certainly be remembered that our knowledge of the world is partial. Paul said we see through a glass darkly. Looking at the world -- or life -- is like looking at the...