Does "erstomaire" ring a bell?

Wordsmith.org

A group of us is creating an archive of periodical articles related to a topic of interest to us (electrical insulators) and one of us came upon the alleged word "erstomaire".

I am including the entire article to add context, but the word itself appears in the couplet in the middle of the article, which appears below.

Any insights into this word or if it is actually another word that has been misspelled or misread, would be greatly appreciated..

I was just sent a link to the original newspaper text as added information if anyone can read this better than we can:

http://udn.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/docviewe...;CISOSHOW2=5239

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Mrs. Joseph Conway Hemingray Hostess at Dinner Festival
The Salt Lake Daily Tribune
Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, Saturday, April 22, 1876

The Festival.

The festival given in the Wasatch Hall last evening by the ladies of St. Mark's Church, was a very enjoyable affair, and was largely patronized. The refreshment tables under the supervision of Mrs. Jenks afforded all the delicacies of the season, and large numbers of ladies and gentlemen, practically, paid them very high compliments. Thirteen young ladies dressed a la Lady Washington, all beaming with smiles and blushes, waited upon the tables. Miss Ella Haydon was the presiding genius of the punch bowl, and it was

Punch, sister, punch; punch with care,
Punch for the plate of the erstomaire.

whose name was legion and he did get punched with the nicely prepared beverage. The culinary department was under the management of Mrs. J. B. McKean, who filled her important trust admirably. The table of fancy articles, presided over by Mdes. J. C. Hemingray, Geo. A. Black, and J. Woodard, was neatly arranged and drew about it a large number of customers. Last, but not least, the floral conservatory of the Misses Sholes, arranged in the center of the hall in arches of evergreen, was beautiful, and was a credit to the tastes of the young ladies who arranged it. To-day the ladies will keep their refreshment tables spread and will furnish a splendid lunch to all between the hours of twelve and two. The admission will be free to all, and the lunch will cost fifty cents.

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Jill Meier
wordsmith@public.insulators.com

welcome!! "electrical insulators"?

a search came up with nothing for me...

I did find several references to this song which I'm guessing someone in your organization has cleverly (perhaps TOO cleverly) re-purposed:

Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

CHORUS

Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

in the original, the phrase suggests 'palate of the customaire' to me.

I hope time machines aren't too expensive when they invent them. I'd love to attend an event like that, petticoats, gigantic hat and all.

PS happy to have you aboard.

Quote:

The refreshment tables under the supervision of Mrs. Jenks afforded all the delicacies of the season, and large numbers of ladies and gentlemen, practically, paid them very high compliments.

It seems that Utah was a somewhat rough and ready place socially in 1876. Those attending this occasion were practically ladies and gentlemen, but perhaps not quite?

Welcome, Mrs. H.!
Erstwhile customer?

Or--take a look at the last line in this def. from Webster's 1913 dictionary:
Erst
Erst (?), adv. [Orig. superlative of ere; AS. rest. See Ere.] [Archaic]
1. First. Chaucer.

2. Previously; before; formerly; heretofore. Chaucer.

Tityrus, with whose style he had erst disclaimed all ambition to match his pastoral pipe. A. W. Ward.

At erst, at first; at the beginning. -- Now at erst, at this present time. Chaucer.
web page
First customer? Current customer?

Hi again,

Thanks for the discussion so far..I did find the origin of the rhyme at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Literary_Nightmare or at least another link in the chain of where it came from, but we are still looking for where the "word" "erstomaire" came from, unless it was created to rhyme appropriately and is based on "erst" somehow?

As far as why the insulator hobby cares about this, one of the major manufacturers of insulators was the Hemingray Glass Company, so the hostess of this event is to blame or thank for this discussion!

Jill

Ah, Jackie, thank you for sneaking in while I was creating my reply! Perhaps first or current customer is what we are looking at, and palate rather than plate (thanks, tsuwm)

Part of the frustration (and fascination) in reviewing very old periodicals is the difference in how words were used one hundred or more years ago. Many questions have come up as to if a word is a typo or not, especially since none of us are specialists in the field of words (past or present).

We are creating a searchable database of periodical articles (or the relevant parts) many of us have found in our research. Many times we are working from copies of copies and/or copies of microfiche.

And for more information on the insulator hobby, please visit www.insulators.com!

Perhaps I will come back with more unsolved mysteries later!

thanks again, and keep those cards and letters coming! :-)
Jill