Where the Past and Present Come Together

This past weekend my wife and I traveled to Charleston, Illinois to spend the weekend with family. On Friday evening we drove to Mattoon, Illinois to pick up some others who were arriving by train from Chicago and we found a little treasure trove when we arrived there, the Mattoon Depot.

The depot opened in January of 1918 and is currently in the last phase of restoration. I noticed as we awaited the arrival that they had a small museum that would be open the next day (Saturday) so we made plans to return the next day.

The Friday evening train arrived, and away we drove…

The train schedule on Saturday is a bit light, and as we arrived right after a tain had departed, we basically had the place to ourselves for a while. I’m guessing that there hasn’t been a gift shop behind this door for quite some time…

The Mattoon Depot was and is a stop for the legendary “City of New Orleans” passenger train that was operated by the Illinois Central Railroad between Chicago and New Orleans beginning in 1947, and was the setting for the song by the same name written by Steve Goodman and recorded by many artists, most notably Arlo Guthrie in the ‘70’s.

As I looked around the waiting room, a thought hit me… I wondered how many young men said their goodbyes to family and loved ones in this room and left here to go off to war, never to be seen again. Then on a happier note, how many have been reunited with loved ones in this same room upon their return?

The old ticket counter is quiet now; tickets are purchased on the internet these days…

At one time there was a café here; I took this picture of an old photo in a museum exhibit…

I also noticed an odd thing: They have a poster advertising the New York Central Railroad hanging in here. I rather doubt anything like that went on in the IC days, but I really like those old art deco posters, even if it is the wrong railroad.

I always enjoy visiting places like this, because if you let your mind wander a little more thn usual, if you let your imagination go out on a longer leash than usual, you can see quite a bit more than might meet the eye at first.

That was certainly true at the Mattoon Depot.

The Gettysburg Address: Redux

Note: If you have been a follower for a long time, you may remember that I run this post most years on November 19th. Here it is again, adjusted for the year; I think it is well worth thinking about for both for anyone who speaks in public or writes a blog…

 

President Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, 152 years ago today.  Of course, the occasion was to dedicate a cemetery of the battlefield at the scene of the greatest carnage in American history.

On that particular morning, a great ceremony was held at the scene.  A very famous orator, Mr. Edward Everett gave the main speech that day before the assembled crowd which included numerous dignitaries; his speech went on for hours, as was the custom in those days.  He was followed by Mr. Lincoln, who spoke for a couple of minutes.

The newspapers reported that Mr. Lincoln’s speech was either wonderful or terrible, depending upon whether or not the newspaper support Republicans or Democrats, but one thing is clear:  All these years later, only historians are familiar with Mr. Everett; everyone has heard Mr. Lincoln’s remarks.  Mr. Lincoln, in his brief statement pulled a nation together, pointed it forward and gave his people a reason to carry on.

It is interesting to note the contrast between the wordy Mr. Everett, his flowery language and speaker’s tricks and the simple and direct Mr. Lincoln.  Maybe all of us should learn to measure our words more carefully, speak to the point and always to speak the truth.

Here is Mr. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in full.  Do take a second to read it and to reflect on its meaning…

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

#1: Remembering Martin Van Buren

I think every kid in America has found this post when doing a homework assignment, and surely, they all have one of these pictures in their report. Yes dear friends, this is the most viewed post in the history of The Life Project, from December 5, 2011… go figure!

 

What? You don’t remember Van Buren…?

He was America’s eighth president… Here’s his story from White House.gov:

Only about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but trim and erect, Martin Van Buren dressed fastidiously. His impeccable appearance belied his amiability–and his humble background. Of Dutch descent, he was born in 1782, the son of a tavern keeper and farmer, in Kinderhook, New York.

As a young lawyer he became involved in New York politics. As leader of the “Albany Regency,” an effective New York political organization, he shrewdly dispensed public offices and bounty in a fashion calculated to bring votes. Yet he faithfully fulfilled official duties, and in 1821 was elected to the United States Senate.

By 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. President Jackson rewarded Van Buren by appointing him Secretary of State. As the Cabinet Members appointed at John C. Calhoun’s recommendation began to demonstrate only secondary loyalty to Jackson, Van Buren emerged as the President’s most trusted adviser. Jackson referred to him as, “a true man with no guile.”

The rift in the Cabinet became serious because of Jackson’s differences with Calhoun, a Presidential aspirant. Van Buren suggested a way out of an eventual impasse: he and Secretary of War Eaton resigned, so that Calhoun men would also resign. Jackson appointed a new Cabinet, and sought again to reward Van Buren by appointing him Minister to Great Britain. Vice President Calhoun, as President of the Senate, cast the deciding vote against the appointment–and made a martyr of Van Buren.

The “Little Magician” was elected Vice President on the Jacksonian ticket in 1832, and won the Presidency in 1836.

Van Buren devoted his Inaugural Address to a discourse upon the American experiment as an example to the rest of the world. The country was prosperous, but less than three months later the panic of 1837 punctured the prosperity.

Basically the trouble was the 19th-century cyclical economy of “boom and bust,” which was following its regular pattern, but Jackson’s financial measures contributed to the crash. His destruction of the Second Bank of the United States had removed restrictions upon the inflationary practices of some state banks; wild speculation in lands, based on easy bank credit, had swept the West. To end this speculation, Jackson in 1836 had issued a Specie Circular requiring that lands be purchased with hard money–gold or silver.

In 1837 the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed. Thousands lost their lands. For about five years the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history.

Programs applied decades later to alleviate economic crisis eluded both Van Buren and his opponents. Van Buren’s remedy–continuing Jackson’s deflationary policies–only deepened and prolonged the depression.

Declaring that the panic was due to recklessness in business and overexpansion of credit, Van Buren devoted himself to maintaining the solvency of the national Government. He opposed not only the creation of a new Bank of the United States but also the placing of Government funds in state banks. He fought for the establishment of an independent treasury system to handle Government transactions. As for Federal aid to internal improvements, he cut off expenditures so completely that the Government even sold the tools it had used on public works.

Inclined more and more to oppose the expansion of slavery, Van Buren blocked the annexation of Texas because it assuredly would add to slave territory–and it might bring war with Mexico.

Defeated by the Whigs in 1840 for reelection, he was an unsuccessful candidate for President on the Free Soil ticket in 1848. He died in 1862.

via Martin Van Buren | The White House.

It strikes me as interesting how much different things were in those days… and yet how much the same they were.  We argued about many of the same things; the economy, big banks, inflation, and the national debt, and yet it seems like the sides of the argument were so different.  Van Buren was against the big banks and wanted deflation for example, where today you are more likely to hear people speak against the banks and advocate inflation. I’ll leave it there so everyone can feel free to draw their own conclusions about such things.  One thing is definitely the same no matter how you view it.  In those days the political campaigns were very rough and dirty; there were even people who went around whispering that Mr. Van Buren was the illegitimate son of Aaron Burr!  Of course in our own political season, we are girding ourselves for one of the nastiest campaigns in years…

Oh well, Happy Birthday Mr. Van Buren, may we learn from your story

Oh yes, love the hair!

#8: Happy Birthday Teddy Roosevelt!

This classic post is from October 27, 2011, It was one of the first posts on this blog, and with over 4,0000 views, it still pulls from search engines every week. Hilarious!

Yes, today is the 153rd birthday of our 26th president.

It’s also true that our 26th president was one of our more colorful characters!

He came to public prominence during the Spanish-American War in 1898 as Colonel Roosevelt of the “Rough Riders”; you know, the dude who conquered San Juan Hill down in Cuba.  How important this victory actually was is the subject of a lot of conjecture, but one things is definite… Roosevelt became a star as a result.

In 1900, he became William McKinley‘s running mate and ended up as president upon Mr. McKinley’s assassination in 1901, much to the chagrin of those who made him VP to get him out ofNew York!

Roosevelt was famous for clicking his teeth (usually three or more times in loud succession when he was happy about something… a habit that tended to unnerve people.

He was the kind of guy who couldn’t sit still, pacing furiously across rooms where ever he went.  He was an ardent advocate of the “strenuous life” in which he was always active and on the go… something that made the cartoonists of his day pretty happy.

He was also a serious president, enacting many reforms and taking credit for even more…

…and was quite busy in foreign affairs walking softly and carrying big sticks with him; he even won the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering peace in the Russo-Japanese war.

He is very famous for splitting with his party in 1912 to oppose his own hand-picked successor,William Howard Taft in the general election leading to the victory of Woodrow Wilson that year. (thanks a lot, Ted)

Here’s something Mr. Roosevelt did that most people don’t know about: he completely remodeled the White House, making it the building we are familiar with today. He moved the president’s office and working space to a new West Wing…

And, as you will see in the remaining photos, he transformed the White House from a threadbare old Victorian to a more modern look… Here’s his new entrance hall

His new look Blue Room…

The new look Red Room…

and the Green Room…

…and of course the East Room…

…and finally the all new State Dining Room (note the dead animal heads overlooking your dinner!)

(White House pictures source: White House Museum)

And so there you go; an all new reference for you!

Do You Remember?

I’m old enough to remember that people always used to talk about “where you were when JFK was shot.”  I was very young in 1963, 5 to be exact, so nobody ever asked me where I was.  I can tell you this much, just because I was only five then doesn’t mean that I can’t recall every detail of that day. I’m only surprised that it was 50 years ago!

On November 22, 1963, I was in Kindergarten in the afternoon, but I was home in the morning, and since we lived in California, the events of that fateful day broke while I was still at home… or more accurately at Hughes Market with my Mom.  Her usual grocery shopping day was Thursday, but since this was my sister’s twelfth birthday, and she was having a slumber party that night, my Mom dragged me to the store to pick up the stuff she needed for the party.

We were picking up the birthday cake in the bakery section when a lady came out from the back and said that the radio has just said there was a report that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, and my Mom was mortified. It was my five-year old’s view that she was mortified because something terrible happened in Dallas; she was from Ft. Worth, you see.  Then it seemed to hit her that we were talking about the President!  We quickly went home where she turned on the TV.  I recall that at some point I made a smart alack comment of some kind and she whacked me across the face, one of only two times she ever did that, such was her shock that day.  I also recall that shortly after I was delivered to school, Mrs. Dahlstead (yes, I remember the principal’s name) came on the intercom to announce that Mr. Kennedy had died and that Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson was the new president. I thought she had said “Lemon” instead of Lyndon, but my Dad straightened me out later.  I almost got another whack from him, but he realized I wasn’t being disrespectful, just confused… whew!

During that afternoon, my Mom was beside herself, and when I returned home, she was all upset trying to figure out if she should cancel my sister’s party that night.  On the advice of Father Duffy, she went ahead with it, since they hadn’t let school out early that day.  When the time came for the party, they dressed me up in a tie like I was going to church, and I hated it, but being so fancy didn’t keep me from doing my duty as a little brother and annoying my sister as much as possible until my Mom made me sit in their bedroom with my father and watch the news.  I remember seeing all of the newsreels of the day, and watching Air Force One return to Washington, where President Johnson gave his speech at plane side.  That’s when I decided I wanted to be pilot when I grew up!

I remember all of the other events that followed.  Seeing Oswald shot on live TV, the funeral and all the rest, and on that next Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, I remember thinking that it was very sad that Mr. Kennedy didn’t live long enough for the holiday.  I had the same thoughts on Christmas, a month later.

Funny, the things you remember from a five-year old point of view.

That terrible day had an impact on an entire generation.  I think those who are old enough will agree with that.  Let’s all pray that no such horrors will ever again effect an entire generation.  Of course, let’s also be thankful that despite some near misses, it hasn’t over the last 50 years.

Step into the past…

I thought this Saturday might be a good time for a change of pace and a step back in time.  I came across this house the other day while visiting Easton, Maryland for the first time.  Located in the East Shore of Maryland, Easton is a wonderful place to see, and certainly one of its most attractive homes is the Bullitt House on E. Dover Street.  It was built in 1801 by Mr. Thomas Bullitt, a local lawyer, to accommodate his growing family, and has witnessed a fair amount of history in the years that followed.

Not only is the house one of simple elegance, it has an enchanting garden to the side.

Additions to the rear of the home have an old world charm that seems out-of-place today.  Out of place in a way that makes you want to go back to when things were somehow quieter and simpler…

Yes, this is simple charm, something that we seem to have lost.  Maybe that is why the few examples of this charm that remain for us to view often find their way into drawings, paintings and calendars!

Today the house is owned by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.

I hope that these photos have given you a little sense of beauty and serenity for your Saturday, and that you all have a blessed weekend!

Stillness at the Tomb

There is a stillness at the tomb of George Washington; a reverence really.  Each time I have stood before it, I have been struck by the fact that in that white crypt right in front of me is George Washington!

I’ve noticed that I’m not the only one who is quiet at this spot, others are as well.  This is as close as we can ever be to one of the greatest men who has ever walked the planet, the man who the historians call the Indispensable Man. Without George Washington, it is highly unlikely that there would be a United States…

This is quite unlike another tomb I have visited.  That other tomb fills one with a sense of awe, wonder and joy, but not particularly a sense of nearness.  There is a very good reason for the difference, because unlike the tomb of George Washington, that other tomb, located in Jerusalem, is empty. No tomb could ever hold the remains of Jesus Christ, for He burst forth from the tomb and arose from the dead.  While Washington rests until the great day comes, Jesus Christ sits in glory at the Father’s right hand, ruling the universe.

And He rules my life as well…

George Washington deserves our respect, and we rightly pay him honor, but the Lord Jesus Christ deserves our obedience, praise and humble service.  Washington established a Nation, Jesus gives eternal life. I am confident that I give no disrespect to the memory of Washington when I say that the One who was  truly indispensable is Jesus Christ!