GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE

Getting the Most Out of Life is the title of a 1946 Reader's Digest issue that's a part of the Bullis Collection.  Next time you're in the Bullis Room, you'll want to look through this issue and pick out one or two of the essays to read. In spite of being almost 70 hears old, much of the wisdom holds true today.  Here're some of the individual titles:

"The Turning Point Of My Career,"  A. J. Cronin

"How to Win Friends and Influence People," Dale Carnegie

"Three Days To See," Helen Keller

"Education Begins At Home," Charles F. Kettering

"How I Found Freedom From Fear," Margaret Lee Runbeck

"Making Habits Work For You," William James

It's More Fun To Be Fit," Gene Tunney

"The Quest of Our Lives," I. A.  R. Wylie

"Peace of Mind," Joshua Loth Liebman

"Turn Your Sickness Into An Asset," Louis E. Bisch

We can imagine Nettie Bullis, on a cold winter's night, carefully reading through these articles, nodding in agreement much of the time but perhaps also responding with an occasional "hmm" or "?hmm?."  And then, when she was finished, she may have just sat down at her typewriter and written her own essay on a chosen topic. We like to think that, anyway, because Nettie Bullis was certainly one for "getting the most out of life," right up to the end of her days.

SELF-PROPELLED VEHICLES

Two D&C newspaper articles this week sent us searching through the Bullis records for books on automobiles. The first was an item in the "History" column on Sunday, noting that in 1911 Charles F. Kettering "demonstrated his electric automobile starter in Detroit by starting a Cadillac's motor with just the press of a switch, instead of hand-cranking." The second was Bob Marcotte's February 27 article titled "Brakes put on 'pleasure driving,'" referring to gas rationing in 1942.  So we decided to see what was in the Bullis collection on automobiles, and we found another fascinating book.

Self-propelled Vehicles was written by James E. Homans and published in 1912 by Theo. Audel & Company. It includes information on "construction, operation, care and management of all forms of automobiles." It has approximately 500 illustrations and diagrams and includes information on the "various types of motor carriages driven by steam, gasoline and electricity." This book is a must-read for readers interested in machine mechanics and a must-look-through for those of us who love old books. You are invited to take a look, whichever category you fall in.