Today is the Feast of St. Swithin. St. Swithin (A.D. c800-c862) was “a pious British monk who became Bishop of Winchester and counsellor  [sic] of the king.”

He remained so humble, in spite of all his honors, that he requested to be buried outside the cathedral, where the rain from the eves would fall upon his grave. A later bishop planned to have the body moved to a shrine within the church. But on July 15, the day appointed, the change so enranged teh saint that it rained for 40 days, and the plan was given up.

Legend has it that if it rains on St. Swithin Day, it will rain for the next 40 days.

We need some rain, but not 40 days’ worth.

This Week’s Birthdays

Rembrandt van Rijn (1607-1669). Happy Rembrandt Day! 🙂 (Get it? Rhembrant?) 

Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville (1661-1706). It was the “d’Iberville’ that caught my attention, and sure enough, Pierre was a French-Canadian explorer, colonizer of Louisiana.

Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910). Founder of the Christian Science Church.

Theodore Newton Vail* (1845-1920). “Largely responsible for the expansion and unification of the telegraph and telephone systems.” Think how much easier it was for NSA to spy on Americans back in the crappy olden days, when there were just telegraphs and telephones. 

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928). Discovered the South Pole in 1911.

William Makepeace Thackery (1811-1863). English Novelist and satirical humorist.

And the Peacemaker Himself, Samuel Colt (1814-1862). Inventor of the six shooter.

Deaths This Week

Josiah Spode (1827). Originator of Spode. Spode. 

In other news This Week

Bastille Day. French National Holiday (at least it was in 1928). Anniversary of the taking of Bastille (1789).

The District of Columbia established (1790). “Permanent home of the government.” You can say that, again.

Punch, the oldest humorous newspaper, published its first issue in London (1841); See Thackery, above.

First Women’s Rights Convention in the United States at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.  At issue were equal educational opportunities, suffrage, and property rights. We’ve come a long way, baby, just in case you’ve forgotten, baby.
~~
 
All quotes and paraphrases from 

Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them. Mary E. Hazeltine. American Library Association, Chicago. 1965 

and

Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them (Second Edition). Mary E. Hazeltine. American Library Association, Chicago. 1928.

* I should do some analyses of the differences between these two books. The 2nd edition is “completely revised.” The two are formatted identically– same column widths which facilitates comparison. 

For example, in the 1st ed., Bastille Day gets nine lines plus a quote from a reference on how to celebrate the day. In the 2nd, the day gets three lines. 

Even more striking are the entries on Vail. In the 1st, he’s a “Capitalist; promoter of the telegraph and telephone.” In the 2nd, he’s a “Telephone utilities executive; largely responsible for the expansion and unification of the telegraph and telephone system.” That alone suggests some crappy old dictionary research on “capitalist.”