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To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 16th

Feb16

Henry Adams, b. 1838. He was the grandson of one president and the great-grandson of another. Numbered among his many friends were Lincoln’s private secretary John Hay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Theodore Roosevelt, geologist Clarence King, Senators Lucius Lamar and James Cameron, artist John La Farge, and writer Edith Wharton. His most famous work was an autobiography written in third person, The Education of Henry Adams. (online here) He also wrote and published many books about his extensive travels and about history.

The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand.

LeVar Burton, b. 1957. Star and executive producer of the PBS series Reading Rainbow. We used to watch a lot of Reading Rainbow, and I still have quite a few episodes on videotape. Mr. Burton also starred as Geordie in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he got his start as Kunta Kinte in the mini-series Roots, based on the book by the same name. How many of you read Roots when it was a best-seller, about thirty years ago? I remember it as a good story, and it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976. However, in 1978 Mr. Haley was sued for plagiarizing several passages in his book from a book called The African by Harold Courlander. Haley admitted that he did copy Courlander’s work “unintentionally,” and the suit was settled out of court for $650,000.
It was still a good story, and Mr. Burton started a fine career with it. Thanks to Roots and its success as a TV-miniseries, we have Reading Rainbow, a good deal if you ask me.
“But you don’t have to take my word for it.”
Reading Rainbow Official website.
On January 29, 2007, LeVar Burton announced that he had made his last episode of Reading Rainbowand that he was retiring, citing a difference in vision with the new owners of the show. “Their vision was not in alignment with what I stand for,” he said.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 15th

Feb15

Galileo Galilei, scientist and astronomer, b. 1564. The Catholic Encyclopedia on Galileo and his conflict with the Inquisition.

Jeremy Bentham, eccentric philosopher, b. 1748.

Susan B. Anthony, women’s rights advocate and abortion opponent, b. 1820. “Guilty? Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh! Thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impels her to the crime.”
Frederica Matthewes-Green on Susan B. Anthony, Pro-Life Feminist.

Lucy Beatrice Malleson, author of murder mysteries using the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert, b. 1899. Her most popular detective character was “beer-drinking Cockney barrister Arthur G. Crook, an overweight detective like Nero Wolfe, who drives in Rolls Royce and comes on stage when it is time to solve the case.”

Norman Bridwell, author of Clifford the Big Red Dog, b. 1928. Scholastic Clifford website with games and stuff for kids.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 14th

Feb14

Richard Owen Cambridge, poet, b. 1717. This article says he had “a penchant for writing verse and building boats.”

George Henry Kingsley, physician and world traveller, b. 1827. He wrote about his travels and also educated his daughter, Mary Henrietta Kingsley, at home and allowed her to help him in his scientific studies until his death in 1892. After her father’s death, Mary Henrietta became a world traveller in her own right, especially making several trips to Africa. She wrote Travels in West Africa about the animals, plants and people she encountered in her travels. She died in Africa nursing soldiers during the Boer War.

Graham Hough, literary critic and scholar, b. 1908. “The fact that poetry is not of the slightest economic or political importance, that it has no attachment to any of the powers that control the modern world, may set it free to do the only thing that in this age it can do —to keep the neglected parts of the human experience alive until the weather changes; as in some unforeseeable way it may do.”

George Washington Gale Ferris, engineer and inventor, b. 1859. He developed the Ferris wheel for the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Robert Lawson wrote a children’s fiction book called The Great Wheel that tells the story of this event. We read it aloud last year in our homeschool and found it to be a good story.

Paul O. Zelinsky, Caldecott award winner and creator of the book The Wheels on the Bus. b. 1953. He’s illustrated some beautiful fairy tale books. Rapunzel is the one for which he won the Caldecott Medal, and he’s also done versions of Rumplestilskin and Hansel and Gretel.

My Aunt Audrey, b. 19??. She was actually only my great aunt-by-marriage, and even that marriage ended in divorce. And she never was sure whether her birthday was on February 14th or 15th. It got recorded in the family Bible as one date and handed down verbally as the other. My Aunt Audrey was a character: soft and sentimental and at the same time, tough as nails. She and her second husband, Charlie, lived in Fort Worth for a good while, and they liked to go to the wrestling matches on Saturday nights. I never knew anyone else who did that. They collected salt and pepper shakers and were as poor as church mice, but Charlie took good care of Aunt Audrey, unlike her first husband, the one who was actually related to me. Husband #1 was an alcoholic who gave me my first taste of beer. He gave me a sip when I was two or three years old, and I spit it out at him. Served him right. I miss Aunt Audrey. My urchins would have gotten a kick out meeting her and Uncle Charlie.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 13th

Feb13

Spring in Town
Eleanor Farjeon, b. 1881. Click on her name to read a little more about her life and her poetry.

Grant Wood, b. 1892. American artist born near Anamosa, Iowa. The picture to the right is a sample of his wor, although his most famous picture was called American Gothic.

Georges Simenon, b. 1903. He was a Belgian-born author of detective fiction. Many of his books feature the Parisian detective, Inspector Maigret. Has anyone read these books? I think I tried one a long time, and it lost something in the translation. But maybe not.

Betsy-Bee, b. 1999. She’s a joy and a wonder, Miss Fashion, full of life, our Funny Little Valentine.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 8th

Feb8

John Ruskin, b. 1819. Known as a literary and art critic, Ruskin lived a rather tragic life. He was a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites, Rossetti, Morris, Meredith, and Swinburne, and his wife left him and married the painter Millais. He fell in love with a young Irish girl, but she would not marry him and she later died. He lost his faith in Christianity, suffered from mental illness, and finally re-embraced the Christian faith of his youth, although he refused to believe in hell. Maybe this rejection had something to do with the fact that during episodes of mental illness he had horrendous visions of himself battling with Satan.

Henry Walter Bates, b. 1825. Naturalist, entomologist, and evolutionist. He wrote The Naturalist on the River Amazons, published in 1863. Has anybody out there read it?
If you’d like to know more about this pioneer in entomology, here’s a good article from The New Yorker, August 22, 1988, about Bates’s life and travels along the Amazon.

Jules Verne, b. 1828. In a letter: “I must be slightly off my head. I get caught up in all the extraordinary adventures of my heroes.”

Digby Mackworth Dolben, b. 1848. English poet, he was rather a character. He wrote love poetry to another (male) student at Eton and then considered conversion to Roman Catholicism and went around wearing a Benedictine monk’s habit. He drowned in a rather mysterious accident at the age of nineteen before he could go up to Oxford.

Kate Chopin, b. 1851. American author of The Awakening.

Martin Buber, b. 1878. Jewish philosopher and teacher. In 1938 he left Germany and went to live in Jerusalem. He wrote the book, I and Thou about the relationships of people to people and persons to God. “Egos appear by setting themselves apart from other egos. Persons appear by entering into relation to other persons.”

John Grisham, b. 1955. OK, I’m not really terribly intellectual at all. Of all the authors who have birthdays today, the only two I’ve read are Jules Verne (Around the World in Eighty Days and John Grisham. Which Grisham novel do you like best? Do you agree with me that his novels have not gotten better but rather the opposite? I did enjoy The Firm and The Client and, my favorite, The Rainmaker.

Edited slightly and reposted from February 8, 2006.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 7th

Feb7

I wrote a post three years ago (my, have I really been doing this blogging thing for that long?) about all the illustrious people born on February 7th: Sir Thomas More, b. 1478, Charles Dickens, b. 1812, Laura Ingalls Wilder, b. 1867, Sinclair Lewis, b. 1885, Henry Clifford Darby, b. 1909.

And a couple of years ago at this time, I told you about all my favorite Dickensian things.

Last year I did a Dickens quiz, and only one person attempted to answer it. You’re welcome to visit last year’s quiz and see how well you do at matching the Dickens quotation to the novel it came from.

This year I have a few quotations about Mr. Dickens, links and thoughts that I’ve picked up over the course of the year. Enjoy.

“They may admire Shakespeare more but it’s Dickens they love. Maybe the average Englishman, being neither king nor peasant, identified less with the kings and peasants of Shakespeare than with the lower and middle-class upward-mobility types in Dickens.” The Duchess of Bloomsbury by Helen Hanff. (Borrowed/stolen from MFS at Mental Multi-vitamin)

“Who call him spurious and shoddy
Shall do it o’er my lifeless body,
I heartily invite such birds
To come outside and say those words.” —“Charles Dickens” by Dorothy Parker

G.K. Chesterton Discusses Dickens’ Christmas Books

. . . one of the things that makes Dickens run is language. Think of the names in his fiction: Scrooge and Jarndyce and Betsy Trotwood and Oliver Twist. And think of his propensity for describing inanimate objects with the adjectives of life. In the Cratchits’ kitchen, the “potatoes, bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled.” Scrooge has “a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again.”

—Joseph Bottum at First Things in an article entitled “A Christmas Carol Revisited.”


“As chance and cultural confessions would have it I sat down on Sunday afternoon in very determined fashion and surrounded by a stack of Dickens.The plan was to read a first chapter or two of each until one suddenly jumped out, grabbed me by the throat and pulled me in kicking and screaming to read it in the run up to Christmas. —Dove Grey Reader, December, 2006.

What a fun way to come at Dickens! I want to try it, too. I wonder which book would capture me. Have Dickens’ novels ever captured you?

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 5th

Feb5

William Earl Johns, British children’s author, b. 1893. Has anyone ever heard of a series of children’s books about a character named Biggles? I never have, but apparently they were very popular in England and around the world in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

“By 1964, the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook placed Biggles books 29th on a list of the most translated books in the world and Biggles was the most popular juvenile hero in the world. However, sales in North America were low and Johns never really cracked the American market. The books were considered just ‘too British’.” From the website biggles.org

I guess that’s why I’ve never heard of the books. They look cute, don’t they? The covers kind of remind me of TinTin, a series my urchins have been re-visiting in the past few days.

David Wiesner, b. 1957, children’s author and illustrator, also has a birthday today. He’s 50 years old today (and I know that for a very good, non-mathematical, reason). As an early birthday present Mr. Wiesner won the Caldecott Medal for the third time in January 2007 for his pcture book, Flotsam. He’s the second person to win three Caldecott Medals. Does anyone know who the other author/illustator who won three Caldecott Medals was? Can you name her three Caldecott medal-winning books? Can you name Mr. Wiesner’s other two winners?

(This is a test of the Emergency Caldecott System. Had this been an actual emergency, you would have been directed to your nearest children’s librarian.)

February Homeschool Fun

Feb1

February 1: It’s Friendship Month, American Heart Month, Library Lovers’ Month, National Bird Feeding Month, National Cherry Month, Black History Month, and National Hot Breakfast Month.

February 2: Groundhog Day. Last year we watched the movie Groundhog Day because Barbara likes it.
Groundhog Day was first known as Candlemas Day, a holy day still celebrated within the Catholic Church. Candlemas Day marks the end of the Christmas season and the midpoint of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox. Light the candles in your house to celebrate Jesus, the Light of the World. The custom of predicting the spring weather from conditions on the 2nd of February also comes originally from Candlemas Day.
Here’s more about The Loveliness of Candlemas from a Catholic point of view, lots of ideas and thoughts on celebrating the feast of Candlemas.
Journey Woman on Ground Hog Day, the movie and the holiday.

On February 2, 1949 RCA issued the first 45 rpm record. Do you remember 45’s? If so, do you remember any specific songs you purchased on a 45 record? I remember listening to a set of 45’s of the music from the musical Oklahoma. “Poor Jud is daid. Poor Jud Fry is daid. He’s lookin’ oh so peaceful and serene. And serene.”

February 3: Felix Mendelssohn was born on this date in 1809.

February 4: Lord’s Day and then Super Bowl. Will you be watching the Super Bowl at your house?
Charles Lindbergh, the first man to make a solo transatlantic flight, was born on this date. If you’ve never read the journals of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, I recommend them. The first volume is called Bring Me a Unicorn and covers the years 1922-1928.

February 6: George “Babe” Ruth was born on this date in 1895.
Waitangi Day in New Zealand, celebrating a treaty signed in 1840 between the British colonists and the native Maori tribesmen.

February 7: It’s always fun to see that Laura Ingalls Wilder and Charles Dickens, two of my favorite writers, share a birthday. I think we’ll read some Little House today and maybe we’ll try something with the little ones that I did long ago with the older urchins: make a churn out of a coffee can and make butter. I think I used Tinkertoys for the dasher, but we don’t have any of those, so I’ll have to come up with something else.

February 8: On this date in 1932, John Williams, American composer and conductor, was born in Flushing, New York. I still enjoy the music from Star Wars although I have grown weary of the saga. Play it and remember, if you can, the first time you saw a Star Wars movie.

February 10: February is Friendship Month. Send a friend a letter or a card or a valentine. Renew an old friendship or make an effort to start a new friendship.

February 11: Thomas Alva Edison’s Birthday. On February 19, 1878, he patented the phonograph. Draw an invention that you would like to build. Name ten machines or inventions that are no longer in common use. (Actually, Computer Guru Son prefers phonograph records. Who knew they’d become popular among the musical snobs?)

February 12: On this date in 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York City. Play a recording of it and draw a picture of the city that Gershwin put into music.
It’s also Abraham Lincoln’s actual birthday.

February 13: Betsy-Bee will be eight years old today.

February 14: Valentine’s Day. We’ll be giving out valentines to all our friends and neighbors with these verses printed on them: “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” I John 4:7-8

February 15: In 1874, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, was born. Of course, he wasn’t a “sir” when he was born.

February 16: On this date in 1923, King Tutankhamen’s burial chamber was opened by archaeologist Howard Carter.
Discovering King Tut Online.

February 18: On this date in 1885, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published. Some people say Huck Finn is the Great American Novel. What novel do you think best epitomizes the American experience?
On February 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis’s Inaugural Speech.
Did you know that February 18-24 is National Engineers Week? Celebrate your favorite engineer.

February 19: President’s Day. Since February is National Cherry Month, and George Washington may have cut down that cherry tree, and my Engineer Husband likes cherry pie and we’re still celebrating National Engineers Week, I declare today Cherry Pie Day. “Can you bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?” I’ll let you know how the pies come out.
Memorize the names of all the presidents of the US in order.
Plans for a President’s Day Cabin Fever Party.

February 20: Shrove Tuesday, also called Pancake Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Greasy Tuesday). On the day before Ash Wednesday, you were supposed to use up all the butter and cream in the larder before the Lenten fast. >Read about Shrove Tuesday in England.

February 21: Ash Wednesday. Christians from liturgical raditions may go to church on this day, and the minister or priest may smear ashes on the foreheads of worshipppers to signify repentance. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent, forty days leading up to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday. Does your family observe Lent, and if so, how?

February 22: On this date in 1620, the Indians introduced popcorn to the Pilgrims in Massachusetts. That fact sounds like a good excuse to enjoy some popcorn, the homeschool snack.

February 23: Handel’s Birthday. Listen to some Handel today. The Messiah is great, but be adventurous and try something else.

February 26: In 1932, Johnny Cash was born.

February 27: Birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Evangeline anyone? Or Hiawatha?
Also born on this date was Gioacchino Rossini who said, “Give me a laundry-list and I’ll set it to music.” What a challenge! Can you and your children set some words to music today? Perhaps something more significant than a laundry-list—a Bible verse or a poem?

February 28: On this day in 1854 a new political party was organized. Their common goal was the complete and final abolition of slavery; their slogan was “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men, Fremont!” Their candidate for president, John Fremont lost the election of 1856, but in 1860 their candidate, Abraham Lincoln, won —a victory that caused the Southern states to secede from the Union in horror.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born February 1st

Feb1

Arthur Henry Hallam, b. 1811, the subject, upon his death in 1833 at the age of 22, of Tennyson’s famous poem In Memoriam. The poem wasn’t actually published until 1850; I guess it took Tennyson that long to work through his grief in poetic form over Hallam’s untimely death.

Charles Nordhoff, b. 1887, was the co-author, along with his friend James Norman Hall, of one of my favorite books, Mutiny on the Bounty, the fictionalized story of Captain Bligh, Fletcher Christian, and the mutiny that took place on HMAV Bounty (His Majesty’s Armed Vessel) in 1789. It is Nordhoff’s and Hall’s book that is the basis for most of the movie versions of the mutiny story.

Langston Hughes, American poet, b. 1902.

Jerry Spinelli, b. 1941, won the Newbery Award for his book, Maniac Magee.

To this Great Stage of Fools: Born February 27th

Feb26

American Authors of the 19th Century - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow




Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, b. 1807 (only five years after Victor Hugo).

The Arrow and the Song:
“I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where.”

The Children’s Hour:
“Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,
That is known as the Children’s Hour.”
*Why is it that the Children’s Hour lasts all evening at my house?

Excelsior:
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell like a falling star,
Excelsior!

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere:
“So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm, —
A cry of defiance and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!”

What The Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist:
“Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
and things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art; to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.”

A little Monday inspiration from from Mr. Longfellow on his 199th birthday.