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On the date

Monday, April 28, 1902

From the day

Perspective: The Future Historian · Sound

The rhythmic *clack-clack* of horseshoes on cobblestone competes with a distant gramophone warbling "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home," a melody that feels like the very pulse of this modern age. My word, the chatter on the street is thick with talk of General Grant’s triumphs over the Filipino insurgents, though I am more fascinated by the hum of the experimental **air conditioner** promising to chill our sweltering summers. I observe an elegant gentleman adjusting his bulky **hearing aids** to catch the news, unaware that scientists are already tinkering with a **lie detector** to strip the artifice from human speech. In this cacophony of progress, the sounds of 1902 signal a terrifyingly transparent future.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

FILIPINO LEADERS GIVE UP.; Gen. Grant Returns with Guevarra and His Command -- Rufo, a Ladrone, Surrenders.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home

Hughie Cannon

The must-have

Teddy Bear

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

bullyfit as a fiddleblockhead

Aristocrat

capitalmy wordbally

Working Class

gadzooksblimeychump

Catchphrases of 1902

  • Teddy Bear

Tech Check

Air Conditioner, Hearing Aids & Lie Detector (Polygraph).

Cost of Living (1900)

Loaf of Bread

$0.05

Gallon of Gas

$0.10

Average Home

$3,200

New Car

$1,000

Time Elapsed

45,330 days ago

(124 years, 70 days)