January 1918 had three issues of the Abendschule. The magazine appeared every two weeks, which meant that usually a month would have only two issues, but because the first issue appeared so early this month and January has 31 days, there were three issues this time, on the 3rd, the 17th, and the 31st. February, of course, cannot have three issues, unless it were a leap year and the first issue appeared on the 1st, which was not the case for 1918. Months with 30 days can have three issues only if the first issue is on the 1st or 2nd, while the ones with 31 days, like January, March, July, or December, can produce three issues only if the first issue appears on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. In other words, this will be a busy month.
Those of you who have been following along will know that each issue usually contains a number of poems. In this issue there are seven, eight if you count one embedded in the “Buntes Allerlei.” They are: page 409 “Neujahrshoffen”, page 411 “Neujahr”, page 414 “Zum neuen Jahre 1918”, page 415 “Der große [sic] Sieger”, page 418 “Der Wechsel der Zeiten”, page 419 “Es strahlt ein heller Stern”, and page 422 (the page with the cute puppies and the frog!) “Des Knaben Neujahrswunsch”. As for the “Buntes Allerlei” on page 421, there is a poem inserted right after the item starting “Im ‘Tierschutz-Heim’ in Baltimore …” The poem starts, “Ob gross, ob klein erscheint, was wir getan, …”
Finally, sometimes the advertisements in the Abendschule are worth noting. For example, on page 431 there is an ad for a chicken egg incubator (“The famous Old Trusty Incubator and Brooder”). One might not have looked at it were it not for the slogan in large type in the bottom left corner of the ad: “Tell Me Your Poultry Troubles.”
If you think “poultry troubles” is noteworthy, wait until the January 17 issue!