My brother’s birthday was fairly recently so when I looked through my box of Victorian trade (advertising) cards for this week, I decided to share the ones with boys and their games and toys.

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. Sir Isaac Newton

I love nerdy, cute, quirky boys who don’t take themselves too seriously.  Ariana Grande

Older people sit down and ask, ‘What is it?’ but the boy asks, ‘What can I do with it?’. Steve Jobs

When I was a boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies. I grew up believing this dream.  Elvis Presley

Many are they who have a taste and love for drawing, but no talent; and this will be discernible in boys who are not diligent and never finish their drawings with shading.  Leonardo da Vinci

I purely attribute my ‘hamming it up’ quality to growing up with three older brothers and just being like a tomboy my whole life. Literally, my mother had to be like, ‘Honey, there’s a certain point where you have to start wearing a shirt.’ You know, I would run around with the boys and play tag football and climb trees. Actress Eliza Dushku

The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.  Eric Berne

I thought that the chief thing to be done in order to equal boys was to be learned and courageous. So I decided to study Greek and learn to manage a horse.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

As a boy, because I was born and raised in Ohio, about 60 miles north of Dayton, the legends of the Wrights have been in my memories as long as I can remember.  Neil Armstrong

Vig used to call me ‘Elf boy’, and I’d call him ‘filthy human’. As an Elf, I never got a scratch on me, never got dirty. And Vig would come out with blood and sweat all over him. And he’d say to me, ‘Oh, go manicure your nails.’  Orlando Bloom

‘The Polar Express’ began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, ‘What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?’  Chris Van Allsburg

Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They wade through it the way a boy wades through water, feeling with his toes for the bottom: The echoes are the bottom. Wallace Stevens

When I am grown to man’s estate I shall be very proud and great. And tell the other girls and boys Not to meddle with my toys. Robert Louis Stevenson

A man is never completely alone in this world. At the worst, he has the company of a boy, a youth, and by and by a grown man – the one he used to be. Cesare Pavese

Today is the 103rd anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, which isn’t whimsical at ALL, of course, but I decided to take ships as my theme for this Wednesday. Here’s one from a series of decorative plates I  own, illustrating different famous areas of the ship. I thought the grand staircase was perhaps the most well known to share, since it’s seen in every movie about Titanic.

This Victorian trade, or advertising card, startled me when I first saw it, although of course the ship isn’t  Titanic. Seems like it’s sailing a bit close to that iceberg for my taste.

I never knew what all the different types of sailing ships were until I saw this delightful insurance company card, helpfully illustrating each variety.

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.  Zora Neale Hurston

Put two ships in the open sea, without wind or tide, and, at last, they will come together. Throw two planets into space, and they will fall one on the other. Place two enemies in the midst of a crowd, and they will inevitably meet; it is a fatality, a question of time; that is all.  Jules Verne

The horns came riding in like the rainbow masts of silver ships.  Peter S. Beagle

My experience of ships is that on them one makes an interesting discovery about the world. One finds one can do without it completely.  Malcolm Bradbury