dual personalities

Tag: History

November 20, 2020

“O let me ne’er forget”*

by chuckofish

There’s only a week left before Thanksgiving! Zut alors!

Thanksgiving will certainly be very low key this year. And we’ll have to try to be especially mindful and focused about being thankful. This weekend I will also continue to get a head start on my Christmas present wrapping which I started last weekend.

And so it begins…

In other news, I have been remiss in not noting that our great-great grandfather, John Simpson Hough, was inducted into the Santa Fe Trail Association Hall of Fame this year. Of course, they had to cancel the festivities in September, but hopefully next year we will be able to go to the conference in Pueblo, CO where he will be recognized.

JSH is a favorite ancestor of mine and he really was an important person in the history of the Santa Fe Trail and in the history of Colorado. You will recall that he went west to escape Philadelphia and all his well-meaning, upstanding Quaker relatives. Once west of the Mississippi, he was taken with the wide open spaces and with all the old rough types he met in Missouri and Kansas and in his travels westward: Uncle Dick Wooten, Seth Hays, Kit Carson. He knew them all.

He prospered, but he was no self-promoter. (When he ran for governor, he refused to campaign in his opponent’s home county. He thought it would be in poor taste to do so.) There is no county named after him as there might be. So I did a little promoting and nominated him for the award. In the greater scheme of things, this award is certainly no big deal, but it made me happy. Small historical associations such as the SFTA are extremely important and I encourage everyone to participate in ones that interest you. These associations do good work, and, if you think history is important, please support them.

By the way, 2021 is the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail, so we will be celebrating appropriately. 2021 also marks the bicentennial of the state of Missouri! Huzzah for 2021! (U.S. Grant’s bicentennial is 2022–another party on the horizon!)

Have a good weekend. Read some history.

*Maltbie Davenport Babcock, “This is My Father’s World”

This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad! 

5 Comments
September 8, 2020

For so the swallow and the sparrow sings

by chuckofish

You don’t believe
by William Blake

You don’t believe — I won’t attempt to make ye.
You are asleep — I won’t attempt to wake ye.
Sleep on, sleep on, while in your pleasant dreams
Of reason you may drink of life’s clear streams
Reason and Newton, they are quite two things,
For so the swallow and the sparrow sings.
Reason says ‘Miracle’, Newton says ‘Doubt’.
Aye, that’s the way to make all Nature out:
Doubt, doubt, and don’t believe without experiment.
That is the very thing that Jesus meant
When he said: ‘Only believe.’ Believe and try,
Try, try, and never mind the reason why.

Well, I hope you had a good long weekend. Mine was lovely and I feel that I accomplished a little bit too. There’s nothing like a trip to the recycling center to lighten my step.

Today is the birthday of one of my heroes (and a non-relative) Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828-1914). He is best known for his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Following the Civil War, he served as Governor of Maine and the President of Bowdoin College. 

We will toast him tonight. I am happy to say that I have been to Gettysburg and was able to cross that excursion off my bucket list several years ago. I hope I can cross something else off my bucket list this year, but chances are looking slim. Year’s end is quickly approaching, after all, and I am starting to think about Christmas. Amazing.

As always, we like to listen to Steve Earle’s fine song about Colonel Chamberlain and Little Round Top on his birthday. We’ll toast Steve too for managing to rhyme “Chamberlain”:

4 Comments
June 30, 2020

“Thus we salute thee with our early song”*

by chuckofish

Today is the 332th anniversary of the day the Immortal Seven issued the invitation to William of Orange which culminated in the Glorious Revolution in England in 1689. One of the Seven was, of course, the OM’s ancestor Henry Compton. Perhaps we should watch The Magnificent Seven (1960) in honor of the occasion.

Perhaps you think I have gone ’round the bend, but, no, that is always how my mind has worked.

Today is also the birthday of John Gay (1685-1732), British Poet and Playwright. He is best known for “The Beggar’s Opera,” a ballad opera upon which “The Threepenny Opera” is based. Laurence Olivier filmed his version of “The Beggar’s Opera” in 1953 (his only musical film), and I think I may have to find it and watch.

At the very least, we should listen to “Mack the Knife” on repeat.

It is also the birthday of singer-songwriter Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) upon whose life the movie Inside Llewelyn Davis (2013) is loosely based (according to Rolling Stone Magazine.)

Bob, Susie and Dave back in the day

So here’s something for your listening pleasure in honor of Dave–can’t help thinking the wee babes would really enjoy this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ce5GtjBss

So you see, everything is loosely based on something else. I am cool with it. And there is plenty to toast at the end of the day.

*John Milton, “Song on May Morning” (1632–33)

5 Comments
November 16, 2016

The broad and beckoning highway or it’s good to have a hobby

by chuckofish

On this day in 1822 Missouri trader William Becknell arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

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As you know, I am very interested in this historic route which connects Independence, MO and Santa Fe. One reason I am so fascinated by it is because my ancestor, John Simpson Hough, was an Indian trader in his youth and he made many trips up and down the trail and knew all the old timers, as did his brother-in-law, John Wesley Prowers.

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Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site today

I have been to several stops along the way, including Arrow Rock, Mo, Westport Landing, MO, Council Grove, KS, and Bent’s Old Fort in La Junta, Co. There is a lot more to see! For instance, I can’t wait to make my way out to Pawnee Rock, KS,

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the scene of many a dramatic encounter and the mid-point of the long road. I would also like to see the Santa Fe wagon ruts near Dodge City, KS, which are also (thank goodness) on the Historic Register.

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Recently I have been reading Colonel Henry Inman’s famous book, The Old Santa Fe Trail, the Story of a Great Highway. A book reviewer in 1897 noted that

Colonel Inman sees his material with the eyes of a frontiersman, and herein lies the great charm of his book. He has accepted things as he found them, and has not stayed to philosophize on the deeper meaning of the scenes he describes, but has contented himself with the role of raconteur.

This is delightfully true.

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It’s good to have a hobby.

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November 11, 2016

Filled with wisdom and girded with strength

by chuckofish

Today is Veterans Day when we salute and pay our respects to all those who serve and have served in the military.

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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is also the anniversary of the Great Blue Norther of November 11, 1911 (11/11/1911) wherein a cold snap affected the central U.S.  Many cities broke record highs, going into the 70s and 80s early that afternoon. By nightfall, cities were dealing with temperatures in the teens and single-digits on the Fahrenheit scale. This is the only day in many flyover cities’ weather bureau jurisdictions where the record highs and lows were broken for the same day. Some cities experienced tornadoes on Saturday and a blizzard on Sunday. The main cause of such a dramatic cold snap was an extremely strong storm system separating warm, humid air from frigid, arctic air. Dramatic cold snaps tend to occur mostly in the month of November, though they can also come in February or March. They are nothing new, as you can see.

Today is also the birthday of Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973), film actor and graduate of Dartmouth College. He was never one of my favorite actors, but he did star in one of my favorite movies–you guessed it–The Professionals (1966). I have to admit that, after this week, I am in the mood for this great movie about “some men with guns, going somewhere, to do something dangerous.”

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Even though it is not a war movie, per se, it is about veterans. So I’m going with The Professionals. “Yes, ma’am, I’m on my way.”

3 Comments
October 12, 2016

“Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies”

by chuckofish

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This is the day Nurse Edith Cavell was executed in 1915 by the Germans during WWI.

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Accused of treason, i.e. helping British and French soldiers to cross the border and eventually enter Britain, Edith was found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage. While the First Geneva Convention ordinarily guaranteed protection of medical personnel, the German authorities justified prosecution merely on the basis of the German law and the interests of the German state. What were they thinking?

In the months and years following Edith’s death, countless newspaper articles, pamphlets, images, and books publicized her story. Her execution was represented as an act of German barbarism and moral depravity. (As it turned out, they weren’t wrong on that count.) The Allies claimed Edith as a martyr and she became an iconic propaganda figure for military recruitment in Britain. Within eight weeks of her death, enlistment into the British Army had doubled.

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Edith, aged 49, was executed by firing squad just outside Brussels on October 12, 1915. Permission was given for the English Chaplain, the Rev. Stirling Gahan, to visit her the night before she died and together they repeated the words to the hymn Abide With Me. It was also to Gahan that Edith made her famous comment that “patriotism is not enough”. Her strong Anglican beliefs propelled her actions and so the Church of England commemorates her in their calendar of saints on October 12.  Although we do not commemorate Edith Cavell on our Episcopal calendar, I think it is fitting that we recognize her here.

Martyrs never regret
what they have done
having done it.
Amazing too
they never frown.
It is all so mysterious
the way they remain
above us
beside us
within us;
how they beam
a human sunrise
and are so proud.

–Alice Walker

5 Comments
October 11, 2016

Drawing the line

by chuckofish

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Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed surveying for the “Mason-Dixon line” separating Maryland and Pennsylvania on this day in 1767.  The work was done between 1763 and 1767 in order to resolve a border dispute involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

In popular usage, the Mason–Dixon line still symbolizes a cultural boundary between the North and the South.

Reading about this, it suddenly occurred to me that the name “Dixie” (used as a historical nickname for the southern states) must derive from Jeremiah Dixon’s name!

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Mind-blowing that I just thought of that. Did you know that?

Anyway, here’s a great song by Mark Knopfler (with James Taylor) about Mason and Dixon, which was itself inspired by the book Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon.

P.S. I read that book back in the 1990s and liked it.

4 Comments
August 10, 2016

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

My scholarly dual personality is too modest to tell you that her book has just been published!

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It was six years in the making, but now it is out!

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Gregory Urwin of the University of Oklahoma Press writes:

I am pleased to announce the release of Volume 55 in the Campaigns and Commanders Series that I edit for the University of Oklahoma Press — The Campaigns of Sargon II: King of Assyria, 721-705 B.C. by Sarah C. Melville.

If you think you know the Assyrians from fleeting references in the Old Testament, think again. Melville has plunged deep into the sources, which are more extensive than most of us would think. She mastered Akkaidian, the language of the Assyrians, so she could read the clay, gold, silver, copper, lead, and lapis lazuli tablets on which these people recorded their history, along with inscriptions on freestanding steles, natural rock formations, walls, doors, thresholds, and bull colossi of palaces. She also deciphered palace reliefs, consulted archaeological studies, and reviewed the documentation left by the Assyrians’ enemies.

The result is a history that depicts the Assyrians as a much more complex race of warriors. They could be cruel in war, but they devised much more sophisticated means to hold their empire together than beheading defeated warriors and sending conquered peoples into exile. I found the brand of geo-politics that Sargon II practiced to be surprisingly modern.

At a time when ISIS fanatics are attempting to obliterate the pre-Muslim history of the Middle East and south Asia, the appearance of Sarah Melville’s book could not be more timely. Impeccable research and a lively writing style makes this the definitive look at the Assyrian way of war.

It is with no little pride that I see this volume take its place in my series. Part of that pride rests on the fact that Sarah is also the first woman historian to publish with Campaigns Commanders. It was about high time that happened…

So get your copy of The Campaigns of Sargon II  today! I have mine and I look forward to finding out all about Sargon II.

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On the fiction side of things, I finished the Grantchester book this weekend and also re-read Olive Kitteridge, the wonderful novel by Elizabeth Strout. If you have not read this great book, I highly recommend it.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

9 Comments
July 25, 2016

Weekend update

by chuckofish

“Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young, the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom, and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.” *

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Happiness is road-tripping with your BFFs in your home state and stopping at every antique mall along the way.

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This past weekend we journeyed to historic Arrow Rock, MO. We stopped for lunch in historic Boonville and also in historic Blackwater.

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What, you ask, makes them historic? Well, they’re old and there is probably some link to the Santa Fe Trail or a Civil War engagement. To some people they are just old river towns that have seen better days. But I like them.

The whole town of Arrow Rock is on the historic register. It is truly lovely, lush and green and well cared for. There are some wonderful old buildings.

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The theater there seems to support the town and its bed and breakfasts, restaurants and shops.

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It is a booming place during the theater season. We bought our tickets back in March when tickets first went on sale. (They sell out fast!) We made our B&B reservations in April and got the last room in town (practically).

As usual, I came prepared for a late afternoon pick-me-up.

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Fun fact about Arrow Rock: In 1973, a musical version of Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” was filmed here. It starred Johnny Whitaker as Tom, Jeff East as Huck, Celeste Holm as Aunt Polly, Warren Oates as Muff Potter, and Jody Foster in her third movie as Becky Thatcher. Supposedly, many of the town’s buildings and landscapes are recognizable in the film. I saw the movie back in 1973, but I guess I will have to check it out.

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The OM, who does not enjoy the above activities, spent a quiet 36 hours home alone, ordering pizza and watching Nascar. At least that’s what he told me.

Our electricity went out Sunday night–it was 100-degrees outside–but it came back on after a couple of hours. Thunder and lightening followed. Now it is Monday and it’s back to the salt mines. Have a good week!

*Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

7 Comments
July 7, 2016

The greatest thing since sliced bread

by chuckofish

Sliced bread was  first sold on this day in 1928, advertised as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.” This huge step for mankind was taken right here in my flyover state, in Chillicothe, Missouri!

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I guess they are still pretty proud of this fact.

Also on this day in 1954 Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played “That’s All Right” for the first time on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. It was Elvis Presley.

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The rest is history.

Today is also World Chocolate Day–celebrations include the consumption of chocolate. Well, duh.

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So what is our message for today? Enjoy the day! Take a risk! Eat dessert!

Speaking of going for the gusto, here is a picture of the boy playing ice hockey in his men’s league.wrc hockeyHe wanted to play as a youngster, but we encouraged him to speed skate instead, which he did for several years. Then he switched to lacrosse. Good to see him finally padded up and happy! (BTW, where’s your mouth guard?!)

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