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
Today in the year 1719 Joseph Addison died. Okay. There are days when The Pocket Univ. Guide to Daily Reading (1925) is more than exasperating. Today is one of those days. He freaking wrote Cato, for crying out loud and you have included a poem? A poem. I mean, even that infallible source goes so
Let’s be clear about something. A black actress played a black woman in a movie. More specifically, in 1939 a black actress played– and note that word, played, pretended to be– a character in a movie set during the Civil War. Presumably, she did this of her own volition. And was paid. After working as
Took a drive to Carrolton the other day. It’s an old town that still has some antebellum churches. Something different. Don’t mind the crooked photos. I was trying to get as much as I could from the truck windows. It’s actually a nice little town. Population 190 ten years ago. We’d been before and walked
Reposted from April 7, 2014. The reading of good books is one of the most helpful ways in which young people can develop themselves. One of the saddest mistakes I made in years gone by was utter neglect of reading. I now realize what I have missed by not having read and studied more. …
On this day in 1904 Henry M. Stanley died. Stanley is the Stanley of Stanley & Livingston, I presume. Let us turn to The Boy’s Book of Explorations: True Stories of the Heroes of Travel and Discovery in Africa, Asia, and Australia; From the “Dark Ages” To the “Wonderful Century” (1909). (Link goes to Archive
Today on this day in 1864 President Lincoln apparently sent a telegram to the Missus which, in part, said, “Tell Tad the Goats are Well.” The readings are the telegram, and The Last Address in Public delivered on April 11, 1865. The telegram is out there. It’s a telegram. Skimmed through 294 pages of Lincoln’s
Today in the year 1822, U.S. grant was born. Daily Readings 4/27 General Ulysses Simpson Grant, 16-Pt.II: 3-30 The reading is from The Pocket University, Autobiography Greatest Americans, Volume XVI. Amazingly, I do not have Grant’s autobiography in my collection of crappy old books. Aside: You know what’s weird? This whole crappy olden days ordering
4/23/2020 A Shakespeare Day on The Farm repost, first published December, 2019. The Shakespeare connect will become apparent in another post.
Another Shakespeare Day on The Farm repost coming up shortly but I wanted to set the scene and draw attention to the supporting cast first. The Stage was the occasion of the 400th year since Shakespeare’s death– 2016– and the nation-wide, traveling exhibition of several first folios. Here in Mississippi a first folio was at
This is the day you’ve been waiting for! Okay. Maybe not you. But this is the day I’ve been waiting for! On this day in the year 1775 the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought. [Also, in the year 1809, the Siege of Ratisbon (Napoleonic Wars)] Truth be told, things were already in play
Today, on this day in 1790, Benjamin Franklin died. Today, on this day in 1842, Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst was born. As much or as little as I know about American history– and in particular this period– I never know quite what to make of Ol’ Ben. Charles Henry Parkhurst (April 17, 1842 – September 8,
I spent some quality time with the raspberries and blackberries yesterday. We turned the page on a new week in our Guide to Daily Reading. Many times the reading of a book has made the fortune of a man– has decided his way of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson Probably true. Daily Readings 4/16/20 Herbert’s “Easter”
On this day in 1865, Abraham Lincoln died. On this day in 1912, the Titanic sunk. Daily Readings 4/15/20 Farewell at Springfield Speech to 166th Ohio Regiment Letters to Mrs. Lincoln [I have no idea what these might be. But I did stumble upon something interesting about her displays of grief. No idea if it’s
So I signed up to take an online course from Hillsdale College. (I do this from time to time.) This is a special opportunistic course offering from Hillsdale, Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution. More crappy old stuff. I was scrolling through the syllabus– standard stuff. A bit too much from that
On this day in 1865 Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth. Daily Readings 4/14/20 Markham’s “Lincoln, Man of the People” Flecker’s “Dying Patriot” [Flecker’s] “Ballad of Camden Town” Oh, brother. I am not a special fan of Abe so you will pardon my lack of enthusiasm for this “poem”. Here’s the penultimate stanza of “Lincoln,
GDR 4/12/20 Excerpts from Franklin’s Autobiography I do not have the Pocket University Library volume that contains the excerpts, so I’ll pluck some pages from the Autobiography. And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His kind providence,
Once again, nothing of note happened on this date in the past. Once again, I shall consult Anniversaries and Holidays (2nd ed., 1944). Born this day in 1583, “Hugo Grotius, Dutch jurist, statesman, and humanist; father of international law, and author of the great work, De juri belli et pacis (The law of war and
Today, in 1909, Commander Robert E. Peary reached the North Pole! I am trying to figure out where I can get my hands on the other 22 volumes of The Pocket University readings, either digitally or in crappy old book form. LibraryThing has the complete list: I’ve clicked on a few, including the one containing
Found via a link at Ace of Spades Head Quarters. Here’s the quiz. I got a perfect score because I’m definitely over 40. Take the quiz. It’s the weekend. What else do you have to do?