Take a look at Ella’s beautiful work on her garden, an illustrated poem.
A.M.Smith Novel Online in Twenty Weeks
Alexander McCall Smith is delivering a novel through The Telegraph Online, day by day in twenty weeks. Corduroy Mansions is on chapter 33 today, and you can read it at The Telegraph site or get them in your email or rss feed. It begins “in the bathroom.”
Passing off, thought William. Spanish sparkling wine – filthy stuff, he thought, filthy – passed itself off as champagne. Japanese whisky – Glen Yakomoto! – was served as Scotch. Inferior hard cheese – from Mafia-run factories in Catania – was sold to the unsuspecting as Parmesan. Lots of things were passed off in one way or another, and now, as he stood before the bathroom mirror, he wondered if he could be passed off too.
If God had not been on our side
A hymn by Martin Luther, perhaps inspired by Psalm 124.
If God had not been on our side
And had not come to aid us,
The foes with all their power and pride
Would surely have dismayed us;
For we, His flock, would have to fear
The threat of men both far and near
Who rise in might against us.
Their furious wrath, did God permit,
Would surely have consumed us
And as a deep and yawning pit
With life and limb entombed us.
Like men o’er whom dark waters roll
Their wrath would have engulfed our soul
And, like a flood, o’erwhelmed us.
Blest be the Lord, who foiled their threat
That they could not devour us;
Our souls, like birds, escaped their net,
They could not overpower us.
The snare is boken–we are free!
Our help is ever, Lord, in Thee,
Who madest earth and heaven.
Everything’s coming up daisies
If there’s anyone out there who doesn’t believe there’s a God—consider this.
There’s only one big network not broadcasting Barack Obama’s infomercial tonight.
That network is ABC. They’re airing their usual program—“Pushing Daisies.”
That means that when I avoid Obama’s state of the art ego trip (paid for as it was by thousands of teeny little individual contributions from ordinary Americans named Mickey Mouse and Ben Dover) I get to watch the most entertaining show on TV. And millions of Americans who haven’t yet been absorbed by the Hive will get to discover it.
Surely this will lead to national renewal.
Here’s a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. that I memorized years ago. I consider it a perfect thing of its kind. (The version printed on Henry Ward Beecher’s Wikipedia page is less perfect, in my opinion, so I’ll transcribe it here as I remember it):
Said a great Congregational preacher
To a hen, “You’re a beautiful creature!”
And the hen—just for that—
Laid an egg in his hat.
And thus did the hen reward Beecher.
It seems to me that anyone who had the talent and cleverness to write that single verse would have no alternative to being blissfully happy forever.
A Few Definitions & Quotes
Right: That which is just, morally good, legal, proper, or fitting. “The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.” – James Madison
“The right of the police of Boston to affiliate has always been questioned, never granted, is now prohibited…. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.” – Calvin Coolidge
Opportunity: A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances or a chance for progress or advancement.
‘O opportunity! thy guilt is great,
‘Tis thou that execut’st the traitor’s treason;
Thou set’st the wolf where he the lamb may get;
Whoever plots the sin, thou point’st the season;
‘Tis thou that spurn’st at right, at law, at reason;
And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him,
Sits Sin to seize the souls that wander by him. – William Shakespeare
Need: A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted.
“We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.” – Eric Hoffer
Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints
“Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Liberty: The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one’s own choosing. Also, the condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor.
“Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether a blessing. As the liberty to work or to starve, it spelled toil, insecurity, and fear for the vast majority of the population. If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economic subject, the disappearance of this freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilization.” – Herbert Marcuse
Do Americans still believe that if a man does not work he shouldn’t eat, generally speaking? Do Americans believe that our current political rights are “inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness,” to quote FDR again?
We Just Want a Good Story
How stories do their work on us: “Real life doesn’t always feel like a great adventure. Sometimes doing the right thing is rather dull. Great adventure stories remind us that in the end, the choices we make every day are the stuff of greatness. The world is changed by people who choose to tell the truth, to show kindness, to be courageous.”
The Sum of Good Government
“A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
More like this at Sweetness & Light. (via Rush Limbaugh)
Coffee Inspired Volunteers
Ten thousand Starbucks employees are helping rebuild New Orleans‘ parks, schools, and houses while in town for a convention. “This is the largest single volunteer corporation effort I’ve ever seen, and I’ve worked with hundreds of corporations,” one community leader said.
Gathered from the Heedless Winds
I’ve been posting hymns from Martin Luther this week as we approach the anniversary of his nailing a few disagreements to the door of a new Wittenberg church, thus making him the world’s first blogger.
I wish I could give you the melodies for these, because I’m sure they carry the words better than their rhythm alone. This one is a sober hymn which needs a quiet tune to bring it home.
Flung to the heedless winds
Or on the waters cast,
The martyrs’ ashes, watched,
Shall gathered be at last.
And from that scattered dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed
Of witnesses for God.
The Father hath received
Their latest living breath,
And vain is Satan’s boast
Of victory in their death.
Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And, trumpet-tongued, proclaim
To many a wakening land
The one availing Name.
Discovered: “Vast Copper Mine” in Jordan
The 10th century mine could be one of King Solomon’s mines. That is super cool.