(Image by Mgregoro.)
Fairies: Supernatural beings, generally diminutive in size, a belief in whom is one of the most popular forms of superstition. It is confined to modern Europe (and of course America) and the character of the fairies depends upon the country they inhabit, thus the English fairies are simple and comely, the Scandinavian are harsh and often traitorous. According to the Irish as well as Scottish fairy lore, the elves, though in the main harmless or at most mischief loving, have the bad reputation of stealing away little children from their cradles and leaving a changeling in their place who never thrives.
Fire Alarm: A system of telegraphic wires connecting a central office with convenient signal boxes in every neighborhood. The keys are held by the police or a neighboring house-holder, but sometimes the boxes open freely and are trusted to the public. The circuit is closed by a crank or hook. An automatic alarm in a building operates whenever influenced by heat.
Flagellants: A fanatical sect which sprang into notice at Pérouse in the thirteenth century during a time of plague. They held processions and flogged themselves as they walked naked about the streets until they bled. They declared that sins could not be remitted without such practices. The sect continued down to the sixteenth century, in spite of their being declared heretics by Pope Clement VI, and ninety of them were burnt at the stake.
Flying Machines: Heavier than air. The invention of the flying machine for so many centuries the goal of succesive inventors, marks an epoch of human progress, inspiring and conclusive. The spectacle of men venturing into the skies beyond the range of vision, of darting through space at terrific speeds; lifting over mountains with the ease of the eagle and crossing seas in veritable flocks, are triumphs which stir the emotions and inspire new ambitions in the entire race. But the triumphs of to-day have been won only after centuries of endeavors. As early as 400 B.C., Archtyas, an early philosopher of Tarenium is said to have devised a wooden bird. Leonardo da Vinci, the famous artist (1452-1519) built what was probably a successful gilder, and Henson, in England in the early forties, constructed an “Aerial Steam Carriage” remarkably like the dirigible of Count Zeppelin. Numberless inventors continued working on the problem, and finally the experiments and scientific work of Prof. Langley, Sir Hiram S. Maxim, Otto Lilienthal, Clement Ader, Octave Chanute and others proved that flight was at hand.
Friday: The sixth day of the week, named after Friggs, with wife of Odin. It is the Mohammedan Sabbath, and is a general fast day of the Roman Catholic Church. According to popular superstition, Friday was an unlucky day, and even now there is a general disinclination amongst old-fashioned seafarers to set forth on a voyage on a Friday.
•Taken from the 1912 Standard Illustrated Book of Facts.
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