Born this day in 1855 Simeon Ford. Here we go. Fifteen minutes later: The internet is a dump. Can’t find him anywhere in my crappy old books. Two pages of Amazon results & nothing more? A dump, I say. Daily Reading September 1 At a Turkish Bath The Discomforts of Travel Boyhood in a New
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Born this day in the year 1811 Théophile Gautier. That infallible source spills a lot of ink over someone of whom I have never heard– though now that I’ve search the card catalog of my little home library I see “The Mummy’s Foot” is one of The World’s One Hundred Best Short Stories Volume Two:
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On this day in 1828 Leo Tolstoi was born. If War and Peace is a bit much, here’s your chance to read some Tolstoi. The Prisoner in the Caucasus Here’s the entire entry at that infallible source: “The Prisoner of the Caucasus” (Russian: Кавказский пленник, Kavkazskii plennik) is an 1872 novella written by Leo Tolstoy. The story
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Today we turned quite a few pages in our crappy little old Guide to Daily Reading (1925). If you’ve forgotten, turning the page means we’ve started a new week in the Guide which offers … um, daily readings, and at the beginning of the week, an epigraph. It’s been a while since we’ve been guided
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Daily Reading Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s Judgement of Indra From that infallible source: Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Bengali: ধন গোপাল মুখোপাধ্যায় Dhan Gōpāl Mukhōpādhyāy.) (6 July 1890 – 14 July 1936) was the first successful Indian man of letters in the United States and won a Newbery Medal in 1928.[1] He studied at Duff School (now known as Scottish Church Collegiate School), and at Duff College,
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Today in the year 1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned. Whoa buddy. That infallible source does not disappoint today. Here’s the skinny from the first paragraph: Percy Bysshe Shelley (/bɪʃ/ (listen) BISH;[1][2] 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was one of the major EnglishRomantic poets, widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric and philosophical poets in the English language.[3] A radical in his poetry as
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A few noteworthy things happened since last we opened The Pocket Univ. Guide to Daily Reading (1924). Hellen Keller was born (1880); Harriet Beecher Stowe was born (1896); A couple of people I’ve never heard of were born; Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (July 4, 1804). We turned the page while we were celebrating Independence Day.
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On this day in 1842, Ambrose Bierce was born. On this day in 1314, the Battle of Bannockburn was waged. Today is one of those days on which I again learn how ignorant I am. That infallible source– Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842[2] – circa 1914[3]) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and Civil
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Nothing happened today. I’m serious. If you know of anything that happened today, let us know. Of course, when you read this 24 hours from my now, who the heck knows what may have happened? Daily Readings June 23 Longfellow’s The Day is Done The Beleaguered City The Bridge Whittier’s Ichabod Maud Muller Interesting note
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Born today in the year 1888, Alan Seeger. He died in WWI. Pete Seeger’s uncle. His most famous poem is the first Daily Reading. That in fallible source tells me it was JFK’s favorite. Mysterious ways & all. Daily Readings June 22 I have a Rendezvous with Death [published posthumously] O. Henry’s Gift of the
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All of today’s reading are by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of the historically wildly inaccurate poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.” But we won’t hold that against him. (Go to the link if you like American history. More fun stuff.) Daily Readings June 20 Hymn to the Night The Light of Stars Daybreak Seaweed The Village Blacksmith
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Today in the year 1885, Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton, died. Ah. Once again, infallible source, I am not particularly curious about about the man’s perverted tendencies. Why? What does it add? Wait. You’re telling me that he had ____ and then you’re telling me that he “was a persistent suitor of Florence Nightingale (who finally refused
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Today we turned the page on a new week at the Pocket Univ. Guide to Daily Reading. Sitting last winter among my books, and walled around with all the comfort and protection which they and my fireside could afford me– to wit, a table of higher piled books at my back, my writing desk on
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We missed William Butler Yates’ birthday on June 13. He was born in 1865. Am I feeling like Irish poetry today? Not really. Not that there’s anything wrong with Irish poetry or famous Irish poets. Let’s instead figure out who the author of today’s three readings was. Nothing too remarkable. Born 1845 or ’46, died
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Sorry about the weekend. We had “PEOPLE!” over and I was caught up in other things. Daily Readings | June 15 Leacock’s “My Financial Career” [short and mildly amusing] Hawthorne’s “Gray Champion” [worth every word] And who was the Gray Champion? Perhaps his name might be found in the records of that stern Court of
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Born this day in 1819, Charles Kingsley. Kingsley is the author of The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby, published in 1863, two years before Alice in Wonderland. The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature (1984, 1995) has an entry on both Kingsley and The Water-Babies. He was made a Canon of Westminster. Surely that
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Because I skipped over June 9th– readings from Charles Dickens’ letters— and hence did today’s GDR yesterday, we will wing it. The Guide to Daily Reading (1925) begins with two essays, and a short Introduction to the Guide in which we are given permission to let the Guide “go by the board” if it has
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Yesterday’s is today’s and today’s is tomorrow’s. I skipped one. June 9 should have been a reading from Charles Dickens. From Volume XVII Autobiography in the Pocket Univ. Library— The novels of Dickens, David Copperfield in particular, are largely written out of his own sufferings, struggles, and victories. His hardships as a child left a
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Today we turned the page on a new week in The Pocket Univ. Guide to Daily Reading (1925). If an author be worthy of anything, he is worth bottoming. It may be very well to skim milk, for the cream lies on the top; but who could skim Lord Byron? George Searle Phillips Heh. “The
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Today in the year 1909, Edward Everett Hale died. Hale, as you will recall, is the man who wrote, The Man Without a Country. If you haven’t read this short story, you must. Maybe especially now. Today’s reading comes from Vol. VIII in the Pocket University Library– American Wit and Humor. Hale’s “My Double and
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