dual personalities

Thank goodness today is Friday! And bonus: this morning I am running up to the airport to pick up daughter #2 who is popping in for a quick visit from Maryland! Daughter #1 will drive in from mid-MO to join us later tonight. 

We’re going to have a little Halloween party so the wee babes can come over and wear their costumes again. In between we’ll do our usual old-lady stuff: go out to lunch, check out estate sales and sip margaritas in the afternoon. Who cares if it’s going to rain all weekend?

You will recall that today is the 157th anniversary of the day the Pony Express ceased operation in 1861. The idea of a fast mail route to the Pacific coast was prompted largely by California’s newfound prominence and its rapidly growing population. William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell, who were already in the freighting and drayage business, founded the Pony Express in St. Joseph, MO in 1859, delivering messages, newspapers, and mail from St. Joseph to Sacramento, CA along an approximately 1,900-mile-long route.

Majors was a religious man and resolved “by the help of God” to overcome all difficulties. He presented each rider with a special edition Bible and required them to sign an oath:

I, …, do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God.”

The Pony Express demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and its reliance on the ability and endurance of individual young, hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism and awesomeness.

In honor of this anniversary I propose we try to find Pony Express (1953) starring Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill and Forrest Tucker as Wild Bill Hickok. I’m sure it is highly fictionalized (i.e. made up out of whole cloth), but any movie with a young Chuck Heston is probably worth watching.

And here is Crowder’s new song, which I like a lot.

Have a great weekend!