Shed Sheds", which argues that a "place of retreat" is a "male necessity" which provides men with solace, especially during their retirement. In contrast, in the novel "Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons, Aunt Ada Doom saw "something nasty in the woodshed" and retreated to her bed for half a century. To woodshed, or 'shed, in jazz jargon, is "to shut oneself up, away from the world, and practice long and hard, as in 'going to the woodshed'." The word is recorded in English since 1481, as "shadde", possibly a variant of shade. The word shade comes from the Old English
By the Great Horn Spoon! By the Great Horn Spoon! "By The Great Horn Spoon!" is a children's novel about the gold rush by Sid Fleischman, published in 1963. The story takes place in the California Gold Rush. A twelve-year-old boy named Jack, who has lived with his Aunt Arabella since his parents died, heads to [California] to search for gold after Aunt Arabella loses all her money. He is accompanied by Aunt Arabella's butler, Praiseworthy. As the novel opens, they are stowaways on a ship, "The Lady Wilma", hiding in Mr. Azariah Jones' eighteen potato barrels. On the second day, Jack and Praiseworthy turn