Honoring Our Veterans

Computer Classes every Sat. mornings 10-12. "Open House" Whatever you need.

"Geek the Library" November 23rd, at the Library - Bring us your tech "?'s"

 

 

 

 

 

Genealogy tip for today: The Rogers Public Library was closed yesterday for Veterans' Day. So in honor of Veterans Day, today I would like to salute those in my own family who have served for our country. My father in law, Mitchell Perry Guinn served in WW2.  He served the most of his time in the Philippines. My half brother, Ernest Wagner, served in Hawaii and other places, making a career out of the army. My great grandfather, Henry Wells Spear, fought in the Civil War with the New York Infantry (see above picture) and several ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War.

Henry Wells Spear fought at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chattanooga and marched with Sherman to the sea (thru Atlanta). He suffered heat exhaustion on one of the marches which permanently broke his health. He was discharged from a Nashville hospital a month before the regiment was, in Washington DC. Grampa Spear also wrote poetry, some of which pertained to the Civil War. He kept these in a small leather case that he had carried in the War. Both the case and his handwritten muses have been passed down through the generations and today reside with yours truly. What a treasure!

 

The following poem was written in his honor:

The Civil War Soldier

 

The Civil War Soldier

He clogs through the mud keeping in line
Carrying his gun, stepping in time.

He has cuts on his feet and tears in his clothes.
His shoes are worn out and showing his toes.
His stomach is empty, canteen nearly dry.
His thoughts wander home, but dares not to cry.

“When will this be over, this nightmare ‘tween men?
I must do my duty, but wish it would end.
State against state and neighbors at war.
I hardly can stand this, can take it no more.”

Yet the young soldier keeps marching on,
With some battles lost and some battles won.
The snow keeps on falling and freezing his feet.
Or, the sun bears down in scorching heat.

He’s lost some of his buddies from sickness or strife.
He witnessed today, then in the rest of his life
The horror of dying and violence at hand
Brought on by his brother and wielded by man

His wounds are still hurting, he wish’d he were dead
When news of surrender is brought to his bed.
Now there is hope and reason to live.
The fighting is over, God’s praise he did give.

He’s witnessed how hatred nurtured the strife;
Now this “brother’s quarrel” has changed him for life.
He’s weakened and broken but not lost his life.
Now with one more walk he’ll be with his wife.

The battles have ended and treaties are signed,
As peace settles down with hope for mankind.
A house that’s divided surely can’t stand.
We must work together to help understand.

 

 

 

 

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Today in History

1035		King Canute of Norway dies.
1276		Suspicious of the intentions of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales, English King Edward I resolves to invade Wales.
1859		The first flying-trapeze circus act is performed by Jules Leotard at the Circus Napoleon.
1863		Confederate General James Longstreet arrives at Loudon, Tennessee, to assist the attack on Union General Ambrose Burnside's troops at Knoxville.
1867		Mount Vesuvius erupts.
1903		The Lebaudy brothers of France set an air-travel distance record of 34 miles in a dirigible.
1923		Adolf Hitler is arrested for his attempted German coup.
1927		Canada is admitted to the League of Nations.
1928		The ocean liner Vestris sinks off the Virginia cape with 328 aboard, killing 111.
1938		Mexico agrees to compensate the United States for land seizures.
1941		Madame Lillian Evanti and Mary Cardwell Dawson establish the National Negro Opera Company.
1944		U.S. fighters wipe out a Japanese convoy near Leyte, consisting of six destroyers, four transports and 8,000 troops.
1944		The German battleship Tirpitz is sunk in a Norwegian fjord.
1948		Hikedi Tojo, Japanese prime minister, and seven others are sentenced to hang by an international tribunal.
1951		The U.S. Eighth Army in Korea is ordered to cease offensive operations and begin an active defense.
1960		The satellite Discoverer XVII is launched into orbit from California's Vandenberg AFB.
1968		The U.S. Supreme Court voids an Arkansas law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools.
1971		President Richard Nixon announces the withdrawal of about 45,000 U.S. troops from Vietnam by February.
1987		Boris Yeltsin is fired as head of Moscow's Communist Party for criticizing the slow pace of reform.
1990		Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan.
1990		Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, publishes a formal proposal for the creation of the World Wide Web.
1996		A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 collides with a Kazakh Illyushin II-76 cargo plane near New Delhi, killing 349. It is the deadliest mid-air collision to date (2013) and third-deadliest aircraft accident.
1997		Ramzi Yousef convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
2003		The first Italians to die in the Iraq War are among 23 fatalities from a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base in Nasiriya, iraq.
2003		Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record (311 mph or 501 kph) for commercial railway systems.

 

 

Birthdays today     

1815		Elizabeth Cady Stanton, political reformer and founder of the Women's Rights Convention.
1817		Mirza Hoseyn 'Ali Nuri (Baha' Ullah), founder of the Baha'i faith.
1840		Auguste Rodin, French sculptor.
1866		Sun Yat-Sen, Chinese revolutionary who founded the Nationalist Party.
1889		DeWitt Wallace, founder of Reader's Digest.
1911		Buck Clayton, jazz trumpeter.
1922		Charlotte MacLeod, mystery writer (Rest You Merry, Maid of Honor).
1929		Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco.
1945		Tracy Kidder, writer (Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends).
1945		Neil Young, singer, songwriter, musician, producer; member of several well-known bands including Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
1952		Ronald Burkle, business magnate; founded Yucaipa Companies private investment firm and is co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins pro hockey team.
1957		Tim Samaras, engineer and storm chaser who contributed to scientific knowledge of tornadoes; killed along with his son Paul and meteorologist Carl Young by a tornado with winds of nearly 300 mph near El Reno, Okla,, in 2013.
1961		Nadia Comaneci, Olympic gold medal-winning Romanian gymnast; named one of the athletes of the century by Laureus World Sports Academy (2000).
1962		Naomi Wolf, activist, author of The Beauty Myth; a leader in what has been described as the third wave of the feminist movement.
1968		Sammy Sosa, pro baseball player from Dominican Republic; only MLB player to hit 60 or more home runs in a single season three times, he was denied entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013 after as-yet unproven allegations he used performance-enhancing drugs.

 

 

Word for the Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BID-ee)

 

MEANING:

noun:
1. A young chicken.
2. A woman, especially an elderly one, who is talkative, interfering, or annoying.
3. A cleaning woman.

 

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1: Of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1616.
For 2, 3: Short for the name Bridget. Sense 3 is from Irish maid-servants in the US. Earliest documented use: 1785.

 

USAGE:

"Les Dawson's most lasting legacy is probably Cissie and Ada, the gossiping old biddies whose innuendo-laden sketches graced his television shows for many years."

Andrew White; Cissie & Ada: An Hysterical Rectomy; Northern Echo (Darlington, UK); Oct 4, 2013.

Quote for the Day

Patience is also a form of action. -Auguste Rodin, sculptor (1840-1917)

 

 

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

In Honor of Veteran’s Day yesterday here are pictures of three cakes decorated for that day.

 

 

 

ENJOY!

 

Now You Know!