110

Corkscrews to Awls

From the July 3, 1919 edition of the

Lowell Sun

(Massachusetts):

―

Formerly we were

enjoined to turn the sword into a ploughshare. Perhaps last fall it was timely to warn

the world to make the tank tractors stir the ground to fruitfulness. This week we are

asked to turn our cork screws into awls. What will be the next transformation

demanded?

‖

Non-Alcohol Corkscrew Uses

From the August 7, 1919 edition of the

Maurice Times

(Iowa):

―

There will still be a use

for corkscrews when the nation goes dry. Corks are found in other bottles besides those

containing whisky

.‖

Note: In 1907 the Gilchrist Co. of Newark, New Jersey advertised its Yankee No. 1. with

“

A

household necessity - Should be in every home. Don't let any woman struggle with a corkscrew

to open tightly corked catsup, olive, pickle, medicine on any other bottle. The Yankee is screwed

against any upright surface: Icebox, Sideboard, Door Frame or Wall. It's always there. No

hunting for a corkscrew, always ready to draw the tightest cork from any bottle.

”

Corkscrew Prizes

From the June 19, 1919 edition of the

Des Moines Capital

(Iowa): Washington, D. C.

–

―

There has been no rush thus far by senators to buy any of the 171 corkscrews

discovered the other day in the senate stationery room, which sells everything from nail

files to

—

well, to corkscrews. It has been suggested however, that the corkscrews be

given as consolation prizes to the museums of 171 towns failing to get captured German

cannon.

‖

The Vanishing Corkscrew

From the December 8, 1920 edition of

The Ada Evening News

(Oklahoma):

―

A man walked, into a Dallas

hardware store Wednesday looking

for a corkscrew, and his demand was

so unusual that the storekeeper hasn't

forgotten it yet. The man purchased a

corkscrew all by itself, and not as a

part of a pocket knife. There is a reason why he couldn't get a pocket-knife with a

corkscrew to it. That reason is the eighteenth amendment.

In the good old days when a pocket knife was called upon to trim finger nails, open

bottles and pull corks they were an altogether different article. Since then the pocket

knife's evolution has been slow but sure. First came the pretty manicurist, and man's

love of having his hand held by a pretty girl soon eliminated the nail file and clippers