Ann Rinaldi, b. 1934. Ms. Rinaldi may be my two teenage daughters’ favorite historical novelist. You can find many titles by Ann Rinaldi, mostly based on American historical figures, in these two lists:
Historical Fiction for Young Ladies, Part 1.
Historical Fiction for Young Ladies, Part 2.
Also born on this date:
Lyndon Baines Johnson, b. 1908.
Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhui), b. 1910.
I can hardly think of two more unlike people to share a birthday, can you?
Lee DeForest, b. 1873. American pioneer in the invention of broadcast radio, talking pictures, and television. We watched this excellent PBS documentary a long time ago and need to watch it again:
In Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Ken Burns examines the lives of three extraordinary men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success, and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity interacted in tragic ways. This is the story of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdrawn inventor who pioneered FM technology; and David Sarnoff, a hard-driving Russian immigrant who created the most powerful communications company on earth.
John Buchan, b. 1875. Read George Grant’s brief but informative biographical entry on Buchan posted last year at King’s Meadow.
Albert Bruce Sabin, b. 1906. He invented the oral polio vaccine which replaced Salk’s injected vaccine.
Patricia Beatty, b. 1922. Author of mostly historical fiction for children and young adults. My favorites of her books are Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant about a turn-of-the-century preacher’s daughter who’s always in trouble and Wait for Me, Watch for Me, Eula Bee about a young man whose little sister is captured by the Indians when he is supposed to be looking after her.
Max Beerbohm, b. 1872, was an English satirist, critic and caricaturist. Quotation of the day: “Anything that is worth doing has been done frequently. Things hitherto undone should be given, I suspect, a wide berth.”
Mike Huckabee, b. 1955 in Hope, Arkansas. Are all presidential candidates from Arkansas born in Hope? Wikipedia: “Hope is also the birthplace of the former governor of Arkansas and current presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee; former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty; attorney Vince Foster; former Louisville, KY mayor David L. Armstrong; former Arkansas Secretary of State Kelly Bryant (1908-1975), and actress Melinda Dillon.”
Edgar A. Guest, b. 1881. I’ve posted poems by American poet Edgar Guest here and here. My father-in-law, a Southern Baptist preacher, often quoted Guest’s poems, several of which I think he had memorized and used as sermon illustrations. (I didn’t know that Judith Guest, author of the novel Ordinary People, was Edgar’s great-niece.)
Here’s another sample of Guest’s poetry, which some folks deride as sentimental and overly optimistic. I rather like it.
Good books are friendly things to own.
If you are busy they will wait.
They will not call you on the phone
Or wake you if the hour is late.
They stand together row by row,
Upon the low shelf or the high.
But if you’re lonesome this you know:
You have a friend or two nearby.
The fellowship of books is real.
They’re never noisy when you’re still.
They won’t disturb you at your meal.
They’ll comfort you when you are ill.
The lonesome hours they’ll always share.
When slighted they will not complain.
And though for them you’ve ceased to care
Your constant friends they’ll still remain.
Good books your faults will never see
Or tell about them round the town.
If you would have their company
You merely have to take them down.
They’ll help you pass the time away,
They’ll counsel give if that you need.
He has true friends for night and day
Who has a few good books to read.
What this country needs is a great poem. John Brown’s Body was a step in the right direction. I’ve read it once, and I’m reading it again. But it’s too long to do what I mean. You can’t thrill people in 300 pages. The limit is about 300 words. Kipling’s “Recessional” really did something to England when it was published. It helped them through a bad time. Let me know if you find any great poems lying around.
Herbert Hoover, b. August 10, 1874
So, what is The Great American Poem, or who is the Great American Poet? Sandburg and Frost, I think, are too much tied to one area of the country, Sandburg to Chicago and the Midwest and Frost to New England. Emily Dickinson is too detailed and sometimes obscure. The British nowadays might not want to put Kipling in such a grand position, might prefer Yeats or Eliot or even Tennyson, but Kipling is inspirational.
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe–
Such boasting as the Gentiles use
Or lesser breeds without the law–
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard–
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard–
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!
So Herbert Hoover and I are taking nominations for the quintessential American poem, a poem that captures the American spirit and inspires us to live up to what is best about the United States of America. Maybe if we’re trying to mirror Kipling’s British poem, we should call it the Great American Hymn. Any suggestions?
As for art, I’m not sure who the Great American Artist is either. But I nominate Norman Rockwell. His best work is both inspirational and challenging.
Last night my mother and I watched the beautiful movie Miss Potter, and today, serendipitously, is Miss Beatrix Potter’s birthday (b.1866).
A few interesting facts:
When Beatrix was fifteen, she began to keep a journal written in a secret code of her own invention. Even Beatrix herself, when she read back over it in later life, found it difficult to understand.
Potter made numerous drawings of lichens and fungi. As the result of her observations, she was widely respected throughout England as an expert mycologist. She also studied spore germination and life cycles of fungi.
Miss Potter’s books:
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself.
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin(1903)
This is a Tale about a tail – a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin.
The Tailor of Gloucester (1903)
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)
The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904) Then there was no end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca. They broke up the pudding, the lobsters, the pears, and the oranges.
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (1905)
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1906) And while Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat – sucking his sore fingers and peering down into the water – a much worse thing happened; a really frightful thing it would have been, if Mr. Jeremy had not been wearing a macintosh!
The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit (1906)
The Story of Miss Moppet (1906) HE has wriggled out and run away; and he is dancing a jig on the top of the cupboard!
The Tale of Tom Kitten (1907)
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908)
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or, The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908)
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909)
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910)
The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes (1911) He came up and kissed Goody through the hole; but he was so fat that he could not get out.
The Tale of Mr. Tod (1912)
The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913)
Appley Dapply’s Nursery Rhymes (1917)
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (1918)
Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes (1922)
WE have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930)
I think I’ve read about ten of the books on the list, but Peter Rabbit is still my favorite.
Also born on this date are poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (b.1844) and semi-famous blogger, educator, and mom, S. Early (b.1957).
“I rather like being fifty. For one thing I revel in the probability that I will not in the future make very much more of a fool of myself than I already have done. At twenty I knew I would amass the great American fortune. At thirty I knew I would write the great American novel. At forty I knew I would become a Socrates for sagacity. At fifty I know better. I know I shall end my days semieducated and semisolvent, leaving behind me an untidy paper trail of forgettable prose. To have snatched even this much ragged wisdom from the fifty-headed Cerberus of my life is no small matter. Some have fared farther and learned less.” —Clifton Fadiman, On Being Fifty.
Today is the birthdate of poet, essayist, novelist, politician and humorist Joseph Hilaire Pierre Rene Belloc (b.1870, d.1953).
A Trinity
Of three in One and One in three
My narrow mind would doubting be
Till Beauty, Grace and Kindness met
And all at once were Juliet.
Belloc was a close friend of G.K. Chesterton. George Bernard Shaw wrote a famous essay in which he called Chesterton and Belloc together “the Chesterbelloc,” implying that Belloc did the thinking for the pair and led Chesterton astray.
The Pacifist
Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.
The Frog
Be kind and tender to the Frog,
And do not call him names,
As “Slimy skin,” or “Polly-wog,”
Or likewise “Ugly James,”
Or “Gap-a-grin,” or “Toad-gone-wrong,”
Or “Bill Bandy-knees”:
The Frog is justly sensitive
To epithets like these.
No animal will more repay
A treatment kind and fair;
At least so lonely people say
Who keep a frog (and, by the way,
They are extremely rare).
Edward Gorey illustrated Belloc’s book of (somewhat grisly) poems, Cautionary Tales for Children. I love this picture, especially the way the cattails extend up out of the frame.
Belloc quotes:
Of all fatiguing, futile, empty trades, the worst, I suppose, is writing about writing.
Every major question in history is a religious question. It has more effect in molding life than nationalism or a common language.
When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
‘His sins were scarlet, But his books were read.’
H.G. Wells once said, “Debating Mr. Belloc is like arguing with a hailstorm.”
Monsignor Ronald Knox observed at Belloc’s funeral, “No man of his time fought so hard for the good things.” Not a bad epitaph.
Matthew Prior, poet and satirist, b. 1664. Borrowing ideas and outright plagiarism is nothing new. Dr. Samuel Johnson on Prior: “He never made any effort of invention: his greater pieces are only tissues of common thoughts; and his smaller, which consist of light images or single conceits, are not always his own. I have traced him among the French epigrammatists, and have been informed that he poached for prey among obscure authors.” From Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson.
Elizabeth Hamilton, b. 1758. Scots author of several books including Letters on the Elementary Principles of Education, a treatise on the desirability of advanced education for women who are entrusted with the early education of the next generation. Published in 1818, you can read it here.
Ernest Hemingway, b. 1899. I asked this question last year, and I ask again: Hemingway fans, why? What is it about Mr. Hemingway’s spare prose that inspires, resonates, causes you to say, “Wow, that’s a good book!”? Which of Hemingway’s novels do you like the most? Why? I’ve read four of Hemingway’s novels, a long time ago, and I must say that I mostly remember a lot of very drunk characters and something rather poignant about The Sun Also Rises.
Hemingway website
If you’re really a glutton, you can go here for my further thoughts on Hemingway.
Robin Williams, b. 1952. Great comedian. The movie Dead Poets Society makes my list of 105 Best Movies Ever.
Petrarch, Italian essayist and poet, b. 1304.
Dame Cecily Veronica Wedgewood (b.1910, d. 1997) She was a famous historian of the Renaissance era. Quotation: “History is an art–like all the other sciences.”
Sir Clements Robert Markham(b. 1813, d. 1916) He was an English geographer and historian. Most interesting facts: “It was almost entirely due to his exertions that funds were obtained for the National Antarctic Expedition under Captain Robert Scott, which left England in the summer of 1901,” and he wrote several books including “a Life of Richard III. (1906), in which he maintained that the king was not guilty of the murder of the two princes in the Tower.” We’re all defenders of Richard III around here ever since we read Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.
Sir Richard Owen (b. 1804, d. 1894) Richard Owen was a famous taxonomist, biologist, and scientist in Victorian England. He actually taught anatomy to Queen Victoria’s children. Interesting story:
Owen also described the anatomy of a newly discovered species of ape, which had only been discovered in 1847 — the gorilla. However, Owen’s anti-materialist and anti-Darwinian views led him to state that gorillas and other apes lack certain parts of the brain that humans have, specifically a structure known as the hippocampus minor. The uniqueness of human brains, Owen thought, showed that humans could not possibly have evolved from apes. Owen persisted in this view even when Thomas Henry Huxley conclusively showed that Owen was mistaken — apes do have a hippocampus. This tarnished Owen’s scientific standing towards the end of his life. Victorian author Charles Kingsley satirized the dispute in his childrens’ classic, The Water-Babies:
You may think that there are other more important differences between you and an ape, such as being able to speak, and make machines, and know right from wrong, and say your prayers, and other little matters of that kind; but that is a child’s fancy, my dear. Nothing is to be depended on but the great hippopotamus test. If you have a hippopotamus major in your brain, you are no ape, though you had four hands, no feet, and were more apish than the apes of all aperies. But if a hippopotamus major is ever discovered in one single ape’s brain, nothing will save your great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- greater- greatest- grandmother from having been an ape too.”
The biography I read on the web seemed to conclude that Owen was a fairly good scientist, but nothing could absolve him of the sin of having disagreed with St. Darwin, and therefore Owen was “vain, arrogant, envious, and vindictive.”
Sir George Trevelyan (b. 1905, d. 1996) Wow! You’d have to see this one to believe it. I’d never heard of Sir George, but he apparently has some major influence in the”New Age Movement” in England. This short quotation should give you an idea of what he taught:
Who and What is the Christos? Clearly an exalted Being of Light must overlight all mankind. He must illumine every race, creed and nation. There can be nothing sectarian about Him. Truth and Love must play down on to every man, whether atheist or believer. The great world religions need not merge and indeed should not merge, for each of them carries a tremendous facet of the Truth. But over all a real and all-embracing world religion could begin to appear in recognition of the Lord of Light, overlighting all mankind.”
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to read more of Sir George’s ramblings, but if you’re trying to talk to someone who has fried his brain on this stuff, the link is above on his name.
Martin Provenson, b. 1916, d.. 1987. Author and illustrator, with his wife Alice, of several delightful children’s picture books, including Caldecott Award winner, The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot, also A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius and The Year at Maple Hill Farm.
Edited from material posted July 2004 and July 2005.
Edgar Degas, artist, b. 1834.
Eve Merriam, b. 1916, d. 1992. She is the author of the picture book A Gaggle of Geese and also a poet, writing mostly poems for children and young adults.
John Newbery, b. 1713, d.1756. (According to Wikipedia, he was baptized on July 9th, not the 19th, birthdate unknown.) Newbery was one of the first booksellers and publishers to specialize in children’s books. His best-selling and most popular children’s book was called A History of Little Goody Two-Shoes. Newbery’s motto, printed on his books, was “delectando monemus” (instruction with delight). Oh, by the way “Newbery” is spelled with only one “r”. I learned this useful spelling rule in library school at the University of Texas, and it has served to make me feel like a real librarian ever since; every time I see someone write about the “Newberry Award,” I feel oh-so-librarily educated. The poet Christopher Smart married Mr. Newbery’s step-daughter.