Aeronautics

1910, the first airplane flight by a U.S. President was taken in St. Louis, Missouri. Theodore Roosevelt, ex-president and not yet the Bull Moose candidate for another term, was taken aloft by pilot Arch Hoxsey in a Wright Brothers plane.

It is said that the Wrights, by whom Hoxsey was employed, were inclined to fire their pilot for having "endangered" a personage of such stature.

On New Year's Eve that same year, Hoxsey died in a crash in Los Angeles in which he was attempting to set a powered aircraft altitude record.

Archibald Hoxsey 1884 - 1910 RIP

Image: Wikipedia

Young King Does Right #T

The Scripture lesson is in 2 Kings 22.  Josiah began his reign in Jerusalem at the age of eight.  We are told that he followed in the steps of David and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, turning neither to the left nor to the right.

Presently we see the king when he was about 26 years of age order the repair of the temple.  A historical preview is here in order.  Solomon dedicated the Temple in 950 BCE.  We are studying Josiah in about 622 BCE.  A lot of time has passed between these two monarchs.  Everything built with human hands falls into disrepair and decay.  And so the temple through neglect and abuse from time to time had been repaired twice prior to Josiah's day.  About 800 BCE it was repaired by Joash (2 Chronicles 24:12) and also about 100 years prior to Josiah by Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:12).  And Josiah now finds the building falling to staves, so to speak.

I found it interesting that when King Josiah ordered the money for the repairs conveyed to the workmen who would be responsible that he stated that an accounting was not necessary, "because they are honest in their dealings." (2 Kings 22:7)  The question lurking in my mind is this:  Are there today reliable people, honest in their dealings, in whom such complete trust might be placed?  As difficult as we may find it to believe, given human nature and the proclivity to avarice, apparently Josiah's trust was not misplaced.

The real thrust of the chapter is the finding of "the book" and the King's sorrow and agony over the wickedness of the people.  God told him that He would rain punishment and destruction on Jerusalem, but that mercifully He would let Josiah die before he saw this terrible thing because "Your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord." (v. 19)

Josiah died in battle around 601 BCE and fifteen years later the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.

Notes on the narrative.
1.  The chronology is from the website of The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel.
2.  Herod's Second Temple, completed in 64 CE, was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world.  It was destroyed by Titus's Roman forces in 70 CE.
3.  It is a goal of devout Jews to rebuild the Temple yet again.

God who made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of Heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Acts 17:24

More for Kenneth

During our conversation Saturday I told Kenny I had found two or three Kodachrome slides crumpled in the bottom of a box.  One was of Ann, which I posted yesterday.  He said, "Do you still have all those slides?'  I told him I did. He said, "We used to have so much fun setting the projector on your bed and showing the pictures on the wall."

I told him that if I could locate the pictures I might share some of them here.  Then this happened.

 One of my favorite snapshots of Frieda, my children's mother.
On Queen Anne Hill, Seattle, Washington, 1956.

 The kid's grandfather, D.W. Lacy.  Backyard picnic,
Wilkinson, Indiana 1960

 Their grandmother, Vera Morrell Lacy

 Our first-born, Ann Marie

Seattle

 Ivanelle Beth

Wilkinson

 Delbert Wendell

Lebanon

 Lebanon, Indiana c. 1963

 Grandmother Mary Matilda Palmer Morrell.
She was 83 when she visited us in Lebanon.

Ann and Ivy with cousins Coleen and Joanne 

and their Aunt Mildred Morrell Stone.  Lebanon, 1963.

 Little backyard mechanic, Converse, Indiana, ca. 1965

 Mom with her three chicks. The fourth still a couple of years in the future.

 Dad and Mom in Converse.

 Grandpa and Grandma Lacy at their home on Maish Road,
Frankfort, Indiana  ca. 1972.

With Grandpa in Frankfort

 There's Kenny!  His brother is at the wheel.

 No comment.  From me, anyway.

 The "lineup" is against the wall of the Gateway Arch ca.1972.

Names, Kenny.  People and pets.

In front of the chicken house in which we lived in Portland, Oregon, 1968.

Kenneth is nine months and walking.

Remembering Elvis

Copied directly from post on STSTT ten years ago today.  Thus today would be the 84th anniversary of Mr. Presley's birth.

Love Me Tender

January 8, 1935

The birth date of Elvis Aron Presley, of course. There is nothing I can say in tribute to his contribution that his fans don't already know better than I; and there is nothing I can say to persuade the naysayers of the error of their ways. So we would wish the King a happy 74th birthday had he not departed this life so prematurely.

Posted by vanilla at 6:07 AM

Spymaster #T

or, From Boise, Idaho to the Inner Machinations of World Politics

Which of us  has not been fascinated with tales of intrigue, spy vs. spy, and perhaps have even built a fantasy life in which we were the hero, saving the nation or the universe by dint of clever manipulation of men and ideas?  Okay, boyhood fantasies perhaps.

Will the real James Angleton please stand?  So much has been written about this individual that the man himself virtually disappears, vanishes, his fellow craftsmen might say, and in his place a legend has arisen, a man whose career will never be paralleled!

This is an introduction to a man whose legacy is bigger than life, and who by his own deathbed admission had many regrets, even stating that he would meet his masters in hell.  Angleton served in the CIA under eight Directors from Roscoe Hillenkoelter to William Colby who dismissed him, and under six Presidents from Truman to Ford.  James Jesus Angleton was Director of Counterintelligence from 1954 to 1974.

Angleton has his supporters, accolades showered upon him; he has his detractors, even to those asserting that he himself was the mole for whom he so famously searched.  Much that has been written is fascinating, so much so that movies have been based upon some of these tomes-- Orchids for Mother, Honorable Men, Wilderness of Mirrors, possibly among others.

As he was a life-long chain smoker there is no irony in the fact that on May 11, 1987 the last breath of air escaped the cancer-riddled lungs of James Jesus Angleton.  He was 69 years of age.

Mr. Angleton was truly a man of many parts, an amateur poet, literary deconstructionist, grower of orchids.  His work with the OSS in World War II was the inception of his career in spycraft.  He was one of the founding members of  "The Company" when the CIA was chartered in 1947.

This man is almost always referred to by his full name, James Jesus Angleton, perhaps in part to differentiate him from his well-known father, James Hugh Angleton who was also an OSS operative during the war and the owner of the NCR franchise in Italy,  James J. spent much time in Italy.  After joining the army he became an OSS field agent.  His mother was Carmen Moreno whom James H. met while serving as a US army officer in Mexico.

Curiously it happened that Wednesday this week I was listening to the Senate confirmation hearings for Gina Haspel's appointment as Director of Central Intelligence.  She asserted that the CIA is not in the business of violating human rights or lawbreaking  in general.  Perhaps.  And perhaps, too, it was before her time, but maybe she should read the CIA's own document referencing The Family Jewels.  Abstracts and the document itself are readily available under FOIA.  (By the way, I support Mrs. Haspel for the position.)

"The Family Jewels" cites eighteen "issues of legal concern" from wire-tapping, mail opening, search without warrant, and so on, to the four-year detention of Yuri Nosenko, tantamount to kidnapping, in which Angleton was complicit.

I have long thought Angleton to be a fascinating character, but keep in mind that I am not an expert  on his life nor on the trade he plied.  Study them yourself if you are so inclined.  Whatever you read, take it with a grain of salt, or a tablespoonful, depending upon the source.

 "Deception is a state of mind--and the mind of the state." - James Jesus Angleton, 1917-1987

See also The James Angleton Phenomenon, a CIA document.

Good Old Golden Rule Days #T

Past these ivied walls
and through these hallowed halls

Two generations, three
 learned their "times" and ABC.

Now occupied by ghosts
and memories of hosts

of superannuated "boys" and "girls,"
and bats, and birds, and mice, and squirrels.

All good things give way
To better things in their day.




Madison Township, Tipton County, Indiana

Be Still

"And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on), but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God."

--I Samuel 9:27

In the previous study we saw Samuel in communion with the Lord, for the people were demanding a king to rule over them so that, "we might be as other nations."  The Lord told Samuel exactly what a king would do to the people (Chapter 8) but nevertheless, He said, they have rejected my rule over them.  Give them what  they want.  And thus ends theocratic rule and that not to be re-instituted for untold millennia.

Samuel in obedience searches the people for a king and finds Saul, handsome and taller than all the people, son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin.  Samuel called Saul to dine with him,  But Saul was on a mission to find his father's donkeys.  Samuel said, Forget about the donkeys.   They walked together after dining. Now the scripture quoted above.

"Stand still," Samuel said, "that I may show you the word of God."

The word to Saul is the word of the day for us in this day and time.  We must learn to stand still and attend to the message that we may see the will of God.   The hustle and bustle, the pressures of life and living, the distractions of both needful things and the frivolous must all be set out of mind as we stop and listen.  Kish's donkeys were a distraction to Saul.  Samuel told him to put that away and tend to what was truly important.

"Be still," the Lord says, "and know that I am God." --Psalm 46:10

Walter Tell Retold

This from five years ago today, which makes this the 709th anniversary of the famous shot.

Turtle duck turtle duck turtle duck duck duck!

We all recognize instantly the phrase from The William Tell Overture. But this article is not about opera, or music, or Rossini.

Today, if our legends are to be trusted implicitly, is the 704th anniversary of the famous cross-bow shot in Switzerland by one William Tell. It is a story that casts William Tell as a larger-than-life hero. I am of the opinion, however, that the real hero to be memorialized on this date is Tell's son, Walter. In case you need to brush up on your fifth-grade lessons, Tell refused to salute the hat raised on a pole which represented the Habsburg authority in Altdorf. Gessler, Austrian ruler of the dorf, was a harsh and unforgiving despot. He had Tell arrested, and because of Tell's fame as an archer, he required that Tell shoot an apple from his son's head, or both would be executed.

My father never earned any medals for it, because he never entered any competitions. But he had a clear eye and a steady hand which enabled him to be a crack marksman with a rifle. Prior to hunting season each year, we would go to the range to "sight in" the rifles. I have seen him shoot, and he was good. And yet. And yet I think that to persuade me to stand before him with an apple on my head-- oh, no. No, thank you very much. And thus I nominate Walter Tell as the hero of the tale to this point.

At any rate, Tell's shot cleanly split the apple. This is pretty much the end of the school-child tale as I recall it from my ten-year old experience. But Gessler had noted that Tell had taken two bolts from his quiver prior to the shot, so he asked, Why the second bolt? Tell replied had he killed his son, he would have put the second bolt through Gessler himself. Irate, Gessler had Tell arrested. One might like to read the rest of the tale, for it ultimately cost Gessler his life, and forever immortalized William Tell as a Swiss Hero.

You say Na vaa da, I say Na vay dee. #T

We took a nice Sunday drive Tuesday afternoon since the medical equipment that provides treatment for the spouse was incapacitated.  We chose to tool along Indiana 19 heading north, just the opposite of our normal routine.  Checking out the cornfields, the bean fields, noting the high number that have already been harvested, and seeing some fields that were not yet ripe.

About two miles east of the highway sits the little unincorporated town of Nevada.  That is not what you are thinking unless you are a Hoosier.  "Na-vay'-dee" would be the correct pronunciation if your are in the area.

Nevada was first platted and settled in the mid-nineteenth century.  It boasted a U.S. Post Office until 1909.  Today the village consists of a church, a granary, and a dozen or so occupied houses.

I have lived in this area for more than a half-century and yet had never been in Nevada.  On this beautiful blue-sky afternoon we made the turn to the east.  The town is situated in Tipton County less than half-mile south of the Howard County line.  We have now been to Nevada.

I stood facing north to take this shot of the south face of the church.  Services are still held here regularly.
 

 Pivoting 120^o to face the southwest we saw this.

 No street department to maintain the only street sign in town.  The others are county road signs.

 The M.E.s turned the facility over to God.  According to the cornerstone the building was erected in 1909 and became the home of Church of God in 1986.

 At the easternmost edge of town one can see nearly into the future.
 

 On the burg's east edge sits this building which bears all the hallmarks of a schoolhouse.  What it is used for today we have no idea.

The residential area north of the main drag.

Downtown

West side of Square, Tipton, Indiana

 Picture not dated but doubtless more than a century ago.

Picture September 1, 2016

The first picture is hanging in the store which currently occupies the red brick building.  It is a somewhat faded sepia print and the above is the best reproduction I could make.

The second picture was taken Thursday afternoon.  I tried to replicate the scene from the past and missed a little bit.  But note the wall around the courthouse lawn.  The first building that shows on the right side of the top picture does not show in the recent picture because it is no longer there.  Parking lot and outdoor displays for the merchant occupying the building.  Note, too, that utility poles are prominent in both pictures, yet they are different.

Traffic signals  were introduced sometime between the making of the two pictures, yet I would guess that if someone who lived in Tipton in 1916 were dropped down to view today's scene they would know where they were.  Might be both amazed and appalled.  The first reaction because of the obvious changes, the second at how little commerce is actually conducted in this formerly hopping and busy locale.  (You know, malls and automobiles.)

Heads up! Tipton's 48th annual Pork Festival will take place right here on the square next week, Thursday September 8; Friday September 9; Saturday September 10.  Be there.

 

Friday night, 9 o'clock.

The Most Tragic Conflict=

Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquility, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States of America.  Proclamation 157, President Andrew Johnson. August 20, 1866

The bloodiest war in US History was declared over by President Andrew Johnson on this date 150 years ago.

The American Civil War, or for those still fighting it, "The War of Northern Aggression," started with the attack on Fort Sumter by a Confederacy of seven Southern slave states.  The Confederate States of America ultimately consisted of eleven states.

The war was over in the spring of 1865 when the Confederate government imploded.

The war cost 620,000  American lives and generated millions of pages of written material, books, magazine articles, and scholarly papers.

Gobron-Brillie Speed

•  In the early days of the automobile a Frenchman, Louis Rigolly, was the first person to surpass 100 mph on land. Measured speed was 103.56 mph.  This took place in Ostend, Belgium, July 21, 1904. The car was said to have a  15 liter (915 cubic inch) Gobron-Brillie opposed engine.  GB was a French auto manufacturer which built and sold cars from1898 to 1930 when the company filed for bankruptcy.

Emancipation Day

Today, June 19, is the holiday, Juneteenth. This celebrates the abolition of slavery in Texas, and in Texas it is a legal holiday. Thirty other states recognize the holiday, although they do not require closing of state offices as Texas does.

On June 19 ("Juneteenth"), 1865, Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, which read in part, "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor."  (Texas Handbook on Line)

Juneteenth is a day of jubilation. How about a good old- fashioned picnic in the park? A few fireworks and a band would be in order, too!

Politics as Usual, 1956

 Remember Ezra Taft Benson? Sam Rayburn? How about Ike, Adlai, and Dick?

She says to the pollster, "I haven't decided!  Which do you think would help me the most=-Eisenhower or Stevenson?"

Well, which will help ME the most is always the question, isn't it?  plus ça change

 Eisenhower was the second campaigner I heard speaking from the rear platform of a train.  Truman the first in Colorado Springs, Ike in Seattle.

Bureau of Artifacts

Leave it to a woman and this is what happens.  I have maintained my bureau drawers for a few years now.  The drawers were carefully lined with newspaper, Kokomo Tribune actually.  The papers were even trimmed to fit the bow front drawers.

Now for whatever reason the lady of the house decides it is time to update the linings so she rips the papers out.  How can I be upset?  What a stroll down memory lane.

For starters we have "The Boys of October" all set for the Dodger/Yankee World Series of 1956!

And we find that the President of the United States on his first-ever visit to a WS game throws out the first ball.  

More to follow.

Ten Word Wednesday 7

One actually has to be pretty old to remember these.