Yet once again, it’s time to step back into the 19th century and revisit the early days of The Baldwin Times.

   It seems October 1895 broke with a relatively slow news week, as the front page of the four-page publication is filled with yet another letter to the editor from Tar Heel. This time, the focus is on the ongoing debate over implementing silver into American currency. Tar Heel argues that doing so would raise the price of cotton.

   Speaking of cotton, The Baldwin Times front page does provide an update on the upcoming Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta with an article announcing that rooms within a 40-mile radius of the international event would be available for travelers at no cost, thanks to efforts of an organized committee deemed a public comfort bureau.

   “At Atlanta, absolutely no charge will be made in the city and the suburbs and every available room will be registered,” the article states. “A corps of messengers will be constantly in waiting, and every house on the list will be visited twice a day, and every vacant room will be reported. In short, the public comfort bureau will run the city very much as a hotel is run, only bicycle messengers will take the place of bellboys.”

   It’s clear that today’s academic calendar is much different than in 1895, as The Times reports that school in Bay Minette starts “at the beginning of October.” It goes on to report that the city has three schools, with one teacher per school.

   The state of education seems to have been an issue, even in Victorian times, as a correspondent from Seminole pens a proposal of school board examinations for teachers.

   Sports celebrity news is nothing new, as the weathered publication reports the sighting of prize fighter Robert Fitzsimmons in Mobile early the previous Saturday morning.

   “He showed himself on the platform to the few who happened to be at the depot at that hour, “ the article states, “but he was entirely unexpected.”

   It’s easy to trace the creation of structures we may take for granted today, as the Baldwin County Commission published two advertisements, this week in 1895, for bids for the building of a bridge across Lake First south of Stockton and a bridge across Rock Creek leading from Daphne.

   As is common in the early days of the journalism, some articles blur the lines between reporting and opining. An example is an article taking a took a tongue in cheek approach to defining cigarettes.

   “A cigarette is a roll of paper, tobacco and drugs with a small fire at one end and a big fool at the other,” the article states. “Some of the chief enjoyments are condensed nightmares, fits, cancer of the lips and stomach, spinal meningitis, softening of the brain, funeral processions and families shrouded in gloom.”

   On the international front, an article reports Italy’s efforts to colonize Abyssinia.

   “When the annexation of Abyssinia to the Italian kingdom is completed, Italy will rank in the matter of possessions with Germany, which has some 5 million people within its protectorate in Africa, within Turkey and Denmark, which have colonies in North and South America,” the article states. “Austria, one of the greatest monarchies of Europe, is the only one having no foreign colonies.”

   Check back next week for another look at The Baldwin Times of yesteryear.