Joe L. Wheeler's Blog, page 13

Will Carleton’s “The First Settler’s Story”

BLOG #30, SERIES 4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

POEMS I’VE LOVED IN LIFE #5

WILL CARLETON’S “THE FIRST SETTLER’S STORY”

July 24, 2013

Several days ago I had a long phone conversation with a dear cousin of mine, Steve Hamilton. Especially dear because when we were young, we were perpetually getting into mischief together. What one of us didn’t think of to perpetrate, the other one did. Back in those “spare the rod and spoil the child” days, given that our fathers were in the prime of their manhood, Steve and I got spanked together with alarming regularity. Not that it was considered alarming to us, for we merely considered it part of the rhythm of life—except we didn’t believe for an instant that old line, “Son, this hurt me more than it hurt you!”

Well, it so chanced that this time our conversation veered into the subject of words, and their impact on relationships. How, in spite of our best resolutions, wrong words seem to have a fiendish propensity to slip out at the most inopportune moments, and leave heartbreak in their wake.

Which led to this old poem bequeathed to me by my minister-father. The only such case I can ever remember, because it was my elocutionist mother who filled my memory banks with unforgettable poetry. After I quoted some of the most memorable lines to Steve, I promised to send him a photocopy of the complete poem. In doing so, I was impressed to make it the subject of this week’s blog.

Will Carleton (1845-1912), was born in Hudson, Michigan; became an editor and prolific writer of poetry, long and short. This particular poem was included in Carleton’s collection, Farm Festivals (Harper & Brothers, 1881).

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a life-long battle with my tongue. In the process, I’ve learned that what I’ve said, no matter how sincere my penitence may be, cannot be apologized away. In such cases, prayer doesn’t help much either because God cannot save us from the consequences of our own mistakes and ill-chosen speech.

So, just in case any of our readers suffer from the same malady I do, I’m sharing the essence of this story-poem with you. The essence, because it is a very long story-poem. Too long for a blog.

It is chronicled as though it was a true story, and so I consider it to be. It is told in the first-person by the so-called “First Settler.” An intrepid soul who moved west, into unsettled territory, bringing his lovely girl-bride with him.

But it was such a lonely life!

“Well, neighborhoods meant counties, in those days;

The roads didn’t have accommodating ways;

And maybe weeks would pass before she’d see—

And much less talk with—any one but me. . . .”

And finally I thought that I could trace

A half heart-hunger peering from her face.

Then she would drive it back, and shut the door;

Of course that only made me see it more.

‘Twas hard to see her give her life to mine,

Making a steady effort not to pine;

Twas hard to hear that laugh bloom out each minute,

And recognize the seeds of sorrow in it.”

Time passed, and the stresses resulting from isolation, bad weather, failed crops, poverty, and inadequate most everything, one day precipitated the following:

“One night, I came from work unusual late,

Too hungry and too tired to feel first-rate—

Her supper struck me wrong (though I’ll allow

She hadn’t much to work with, anyhow);

And when I went to milk the cows, and found

They’d wandered from their usual feeding ground,

And maybe left a few long miles behind ‘em,

Which I must copy, if I meant to find ‘em;

Flash-quick the stay-chains of my temper broke,

And in a trice these hot words I had spoke:

‘You ought to’ve kept the animals in view,

And drove ‘em in; you’d nothing else to do.

The heft of all our life on me must fall;

You just lie round, and let me do it all.’

That speech—it hadn’t been gone a half a minute,

Before I saw the cold black poison in it.

And I’d have given all I had, and more,

To’ve only got it back in-door. . . .

She handed back no words, as I could hear;

She didn’t frown—she didn’t shed a tear;

Half proud, half crushed, she stood and looked me o’er,

Like someone she’d never seen before.”

That night, too proud to apologize, he went to bed with the issue unresolved. Next morning,

“So, with a short ‘Good-bye,’ I shut the door,

And left her as I never had before.”

That afternoon, sensing an oncoming storm, he left work early and hurried home.

“Half out of breath, the cabin door I swung,

With tender heart-words trembling on my tongue;

But all looked desolate and bare;

My house had lost its soul—she was not there!

A pencilled note was on the table spread,

And these are something like the words it said:

‘The cows have strayed away again, I fear;

I watched them pretty close; don’t scold me, dear

And where they are, I think I nearly know:

I heard the bell not very long ago

I’ve hunted them all the afternoon;

I’ll try once more—I think I’ll find them soon.

Dear, if a burden I have been to you,

And haven’t helped as I ought to do,

Let old-time memories my forgiveness plead;

I’ve tried to do my best—I have, indeed.

Darling, piece out with love the strength I lack,

and have kind words for me when I get back.’”

Just as he finished reading her note, he heard thunder—and the storm swept in.

“As if the ocean waves had lost its way;

Scarcely a pause the thunder-battle made,

In the bold clamor of its cannonade.

And she, while I was sheltered, dry and warm,

Was somewhere in the clutches of this storm!

She who, when storm-frights found her at her best,

Had always hid her white face on my breast!”

He rushed out, with his dog, frantically searching for her.

All night we dragged the woods without avail;

The ground got drenched—we could not keep the trail.

Three times again my cabin home I found,

Half hoping she might be there, safe and sound;

But each time ‘twas an unavailing care:

My house had lost its soul; she was not there!

When, climbing the wet trees, next morning sun

Laughed at the ruin that the night had done,

Bleeding and drenched—by toil and sorrow bent—

Back to what used to be my home I went.

But, as I neared our little clearing-ground—

Listen!—I heard the cow-bell’s tinkling sound;

The cabin door was just a bit ajar;

It gleamed upon my glad eyes like a star!

‘Brave heart,’ I said, for such a fragile form!

She made them guide her homeward through the storm!’

Such pangs of joy I never felt before.

‘You’ve come!’ I shouted, and rushed through the door.

Yes, she had come—and gone again. She lay

With all her young life crushed and wrenched away—

Lay—the heart-ruins of our home among—

Not far from where I killed her with my tongue.

The rain drops glittered mid her hairs’ long strands,

The forest thorns had torn her feet and hands,

And midst the tears—brave tears—that one could trace

Upon the pale but sweetly resolute face,

I once again the mournful words could read—

‘I’ve tried to do my best—I have indeed!’”

But Will Carleton wasn’t yet quite through with his story-poem. He added six more lines. Six lines that grant him immortality—for untold thousands of readers have written them down, posted them on walls, and learned them by heart. Repeated them over and over until they made them part of their very souls.

Here they are – italicized:

Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds;

You can’t do that when you’re flying words.

‘Careful with fire,’ is good advice, we know:

‘Careful with words,’ is ten times doubly so.

Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;

But God himself can‘t kill them once they’re said.

Book of th Month Club – Gene Stratton Porter’s “Freckles”‘s Freckles

BLOG #29, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

DR. JOE’S BOOK OF THE MONTH SERIES #21

GENE STRATTON PORTER’S FRECKLES

July 17, 2013

During the first half of the twentieth century, three authors ruled America’s Fictional world: Zane Grey, Harold Bell Wright, and Gene Stratton Porter (Zane Grey as numero uno, and Wright and Porter fighting it out for second place).

Their wholesome romances have stood the test of time–just ask any knowledgeable bookseller. So have prices for their books.

Since three of Grey titles have already been chosen as club options, and one of Wright’s, it is high time I introduce you to the third of the triumvirate.

I’ve always loved Porter’s books, re-reading them again and again during my growing-up years. I wrote a 64-page biography of Gene Stratton Porter for the edition of Freckles I created for the Focus on the Family/Tyndale House Great Books Series. Before writing it, I read Porter clear through, a number for the first time. Not surprisingly, the short biography took most of a year to write.

Little Geneva, the youngest of twelve children, was born to Mark and Mary Stratton on August 17, 1863, in Indiana, during America’s Civil War. She was very much a surprise, for Mark was fifty and his wife forty-seven; and neither of them had any desire to start another child through life at that age. Since six years separated Geneva from her closest sibling, she would grow up the center of her parents’ lives.

Her father, a lay minister for the Methodist Episcopal Church, had a prodigious memory, having memorized the entire Bible, except for the begats. Since twice each day, he would read from the Bible to the family, the rhythm of the King James translation became part of the very fiber of each child. “Geneva inherited her father’s worship of beauty–be it in faces, souls, hearts, landscapes, trees, or flowers. His orchard was a tapestry in the spring with apple white in the middle and apricot pink on the edges. His entire farm, from out buildings, barn, and carriage on down, was kept as immaculate as his wife kept the house.” (Wheeler’s Freckles, xx).

As for her mother, perhaps the greatest legacy the mother passed on to her daughter was the magic she had with all growing things. From both parents, the little girl gained her deep love for nature, especially for the then great Limberlost forests, encompassing much of Indiana.

After growing up and marrying, Geneva incorporated this spirituality and love of nature and family into her novels. Five of her books became bestsellers: Freckles (1904), The Girl of the Limberlost (1909), The Harvester (1911), Laddie (1913), and Michael O’Halloran. Children growing up in America’s Golden Age of Print who read, or were read to, from Porter’s books, couldn’t help but incorporate both the values and the love of nature woven into the fabric of each book.

As for Freckles, I quote from the back of my Focus/Tyndale edition:

“Crippled and abandoned at birth, will he ever find someone who loves him as he is?

“Deep into a majestic, untamed forest called the Limberlost wanders an orphaned young man known only as ‘Freckles.’ Arriving at the logging camp of Mr. McLean, he convinces the skeptical Scotsman to hire him to guard the prized lumber–though Freckles has no experience, no family and just one hand.

“Despite harsh conditions and long hours, Freckles grows to love this untouched piece of nature–and the Swamp Angel, a beautiful girl he meets who has everything he lacks. Though she is kind to him, he knows he cannot hope to win her heart. Suddenly, his character is changed by a lumberman plotting to steal from Mr. McLean. Freckles’ honor wins him the love of the people who have now become his family, leading him to discover the answer to his past–and his future. Freckles is an unforgettable story of love, courage and adventure.”

* * * * *

I’m confident that it will take but this one book by Gene Stratton Porter to hook you for life on her story-people. There are many many editions of this book out there available from Amazon, the world-wide web, Bluebird Books in Denver, and other used book stores. Her primary publisher was Doubleday, Page and Company (1904). It is still possible to find first editions in near-fine condition and dust-jacketed reprints. Should you wish a copy of my now out-of-print Freckles (Focus on the Family/Tyndale House, 2000), I still have new copies of our First Edition at $16.00 (plus $5.00 shipping; or $6.00 for priority). Let me know if you’d like me to inscribe the book to you.

You can see the books on our web page: http://www.joewheelerbooks.com.

Send me an email at: mountainauthor@gmail.com.

Happy reading!

Once Again – Trying to Make Sense of Egypt

BLOG #27, SERIES 4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

ONCE AGAIN – TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF EGYPT

July 10, 2013

Like the rest of the world, we’ve been riveted by the sight of millions of Egyptians demanding that Morsi resign his presidency. At last, freedom for the Egyptian people!

But then the Military, seeing which way the wind is blowing, steps in, in a semi-coup, and arrests Morsi and key Brotherhood leaders. Freedom at last!

Not so quick: not necessarily—for how do you so cavalierly dispose of 30% of the Egyptian people? For this dispossessed minority howls their indignation that their legally elected president has been removed by force, without due-process of law. No matter that Morsi and the Brotherhood had abused their power and done their utmost to stifle all dissent—which had caused the public outcry in the first place.

The whole world watches, waiting for a counterattack from the leaderless Muslim Brotherhood. It doesn’t take long: in a confrontation, the Military fires on a Brotherhood crowd, resulting in significant casualties.

Meanwhile, there is nobody on first except the Military, for the civilians, Coptics, etc., in the middle seem paralyzed by indecision, unable to marshal behind a democratic leadership team. Sadly, reminiscent of an earlier scenario in imperial Russia when Czar Nicholas II’s soldiers fired on a crowd of protesters. By that act of firing on his own people Nicholas II lost his legitimacy. In the bloody aftermath, the leader of the moderates, Kerensky, dithered around long enough for the ruthless well-organized Bolsheviks, led by the steely-eyed Lenin, to triumph by default. And democracy lost out in Russia. Russia briefly regained that freedom after the fall of the Berlin Wall, only to lose it again to a former KGB operative, Putin.

But back to Egypt. Currently there is a standoff between two roughly equal powers: the Military and the Brotherhood, neither of which appears capable of tolerating a democracy to take center stage. The Brotherhood has been discredited by its Morsi dictatorship and the Military has been discredited by firing on its own people.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian people and the world can only watch helplessly while the stalemate continues. Can a miracle still occur, and democracy emerge?

No one knows. We can only wait—and hope.

Great Circle National Park Series – Conclusion and Index

BLOG #26, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

GREAT CIRCLE NATIONAL PARK SERIES

CONCLUSION AND INDEX

July 3, 2013

At long last, it is done! The dream that began by Bob and Lucy Earp, and Connie and I, watching two riveting PBS series: Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan’s National Park Series and Christine Barnes’ National Park Lodges Series. So impressed were we by those two series that we decided to visit those parks and stay in those park lodges ourselves. Took us two years to pull it off.

The series was also carried during the last couple of years by The Country Register issues in Colorado, Minnesota, and New Mexico.

But for those of you who haven’t followed along with us from week to week, we have created this index so you can check out the segments you missed.

Suffice it to say, that we consider this Great Circle to be, far and away, the greatest concentration of national park wonders and historic national park lodges on the planet.

Do let us know if you think we ought to reprint these blogs in two books so that you could carry them with you from park to park. Would you buy them if we did?

Here they are, according to date posted:

THE GREAT CIRCLE (NORTHWEST PORTION)

1. “A Ken Burns Pilgrimage” – Blog #38, Series #1, August 4, 2010

2. “Crater Lake Lodge” – Blog #39, Series #1, August 11, 2010

3. “Oregon Caves Chateau” – Blog #40, Series #1, August 18, 2010

4. “Timberline Lodge” – Blog #41, Series #1, August 25, 2010

5. “Paradise Inn” – Blog #42, Series #1, September 1, 2010

6. “Steheken Landing Resort and Lake Chelan” – Blog # 43, Series #1, September 8, 2010

7. “Enzian Inn and Leavenworth” – Blog #44, Series #1, September 15, 2010

8. “Lake Quinault Lodge” – Blog #45, Series #1, September 22, 2010

9. “Lake Crescent Lodge” – Blog #46, Series #1, September 29, 2010

10. “North Cascade Loop” – Blog #47, Series #1, October 6, 2010

11. “Grand Coulee Dam” – Blog #48, Series #1, October 13, 2010

12. “Old Faithful Inn” – Blog #49, Series #1, October 20, 2010

13. “Lake Yellowstone Lodge” – Blog #50, Series #1, October 27, 2010

14. “Jackson Lake Lodge” – Blog #51, Series #1, November 3, 2010

15. “Glacier National Park Titans” – Blog #56, Series #1, December 15, 2010

16. “Glacier Park Lodge” – Blog #57, Series #1, December 22, 2010

17. “Lake McDonald Lodge” – Blog #58, Series #1, December 29, 2010

18. “Many Glacier Hotel” – Blog #60, Series #1, January 12, 2011

19. “Prince of Wales Hotel” – Blog #61, Series #1, January 19, 2011

20. “People Who Work in National Park Lodges” – Blog #62, Series #1, February 2, 2011

21. “Ranking the NW National Park Lodges” – Blog #63, Series #1, February 9, 2011

THE GREAT CIRCLE (SOUTHWEST PORTION)

22. “The Southwest National Park Lodges” – Blog #37, Series #2, November 9, 2011

23. “Rocky Mountain National Park and Stanley Hotel” – Blog #38, Series #2, Nov. 16, 2011

24. “Arches and Canyonlands National Parks” – Blog #40, Series #2, November 30″, 2011

25. “Capitol Reef National Park” – Blog #42, Series #2, December 14, 2011

26. “Bryce Canyon National Park” – Blog #2, Series #3, January 11, 2012

27. “Zion National Park” – Blog #3, Series #3, January 18, 2012

28. “Grand Canyon National Park: North Rim” – Blog #6, Series #3, February 8, 2012

29. “Grand Canyon National Park: South Rim” – Blog #7, Series #3, February 15, 2012

30. “Death Valley National Park” – Blog #12, Series #3, March 21, 2012

31. “Sequoia National Park – #1″ – Blog #16, Series #3, April 18, 2012

32. “Sequoia National Park – #2″ – Blog #17, Series #3, April 25, 2012

33. “Kings Canyon National Park” – Blog #24, Series #3, June 13, 2012

34. “Yosemite National Park #1″ – Blog #25, Series #3, June 20, 2012

35. “Dr. Joe’s Book of the Month Club: Burns and Duncan’s The National Parks” – Blog # 26, Series #3, June 27, 2012

36. “Yosemite National Park #2″ – Blog #23. Series #4, June 12, 2013

37. “Yosemite National Park #3″ – Blog #24, Series #4, June 19, 2013

38. “Gold Country, Lake Tahoe, Loneliest Road, Great Basin” – Blog #25, Series #4, June 26, 2013

39. “Great Circle National Park Series” – Conclusion and Index, Blog #26, Series #4, July 3, 2013

And we’re still friends!

HAPPY TRAVELING!

Gold Country, Lake Tahoe, Loneliest Road, Great Basin

BLOG #25, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

SOUTHWEST NATIONAL PARKS #15

GOLD COUNTRY, LAKE TAHOE, LONELIEST ROAD, GREAT BASIN

June 26, 2013

As we reluctantly left the park, slowly, we realized again why Yosemite is, for untold thousands, on their Bucket Lists to see before they die. As for the Ahwahnee, mortgage your house rather than not experience it at least once. Disengage from your parasitic electronic tentacles, and get out there with your families and travel. Over a billion people are doing that each year.

After leaving Yosemite, we descended to the Gold Rush towns on California Route 49, passing through Angels Camp, made famous by Mark Twain’s “Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” story, Jackson, and then up into the Sierra Nevadas [very “Nevada” (snowy) then], via Route 88 to Silver Lake, almost 9,000 feet in elevation. Then down to a lake that ought to also be on everyone’s Bucket List–Lake Tahoe. Fond memories came back to Connie and me, for we honeymooned there.

Lake Tahoe holds enough water to cover the entire state of California to a depth of fourteen inches. It is said that the water in Tahoe is 97% pure, nearly the same as distilled water. The lake is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, about one-third lying in Nevada. Its average depth is 989 feet, and deepest point is 1,645 feet, making Lake Tahoe the third deepest lake in North America. The water is mighty cold: the first twelve feet below the surface can warm to a toasty ☺ 68 degrees F in summer, while depths below 700 feet remain a constant 39F year-round.

The “lake in the sky” (elevation 6,229 feet) is ensconced in a valley between the often snowcapped Sierra Nevadas and the Carson Range. The Sierras tower more than 4,000 feet above the lake, contributing no little to its magic.

Immigrants and early miners did their utmost to destroy the lake’s environs; fortunately, just in time, the decline of the Comstock Lode caused the miners to turn their attention elsewhere.

In winter, snow covers the lakeshore to an average of 125 inches, but snow depth in the mountains can reach 300-500 inches, making the region a mecca for skiers (think Alpine Meadows, Diamond Peak, Squaw Valley, and Heavenly Valley).

We’ve never seen the lake when it wasn’t beautiful, but to see it on a clear winter day, offset by snowy mountains the incredibly deep blue waters of the lake can take your breath away.

We had dillydallied so long in Yosemite, it was evening before we descended from Silver Lake to Tahoe. We drove along the west side of the lake to the north end, considerably quieter than the casino-generated hubub in the south end; there we stayed at Mourelatos Lakeshore Resort. 

Next day, after breakfasting at the Old Post Office, so popular with locals, we crossed over the pass, then down to Truckee, Reno, and Fallon, before abandoning boring Interstate 80 for Highway 50, famously known as “The Loneliest Road in America” (gained a cult-following through commercials featuring pretty vagabonding girls in convertibles). For trivia-buffs, “Where in America is concentrated the largest number of north/south mountain ranges?” Answer: Here in Nevada – one after another: the Stillwater Range, Clan Alpine Mountains, Desatoya Mountains, New Pass Range, Shoshone Mountains, Toyabe Range, Simpson Park Range, Toquina Range, Monitor Range, Sulphur Springs Range, Diamond Mountains, White Pine Range, Butte Mountains, Egan Range, Schell Creek Range, and Snake Range – one after another like oncoming waves (most snow-capped) we cruised through them. Very few automobiles and even fewer trucks – hence its name.

We stopped in Austin: Bob desperately needed an ice cream fix. Also in the old mining town of Eureka, with its serpentine roads. Arrived in Ely late afternoon, and checked in at Prospectors Hotel. Lodging pickings are lean at best on the Loneliest Road in America. Especially when you’ve just been spoiled rotten at the Ahwahnee!

Next morning, again those long long straight stretches of road, on into infinity. So quiet you could hear each other breathe. Soon we turned south into Great Basin National Park.

According to Michael L. Nicklas, “Although only a small part of this immense, wild land, Great Basin National Park is undoubtedly the best example of the entire Great Basin region. Its geologic diversity–from windswept playas to mysterious caverns and icy summits–defines the hydrologic boundaries. . . . Great Basin’s only remaining glacier lies sheltered within the national park in the cool shadow of 13,063-foot Wheeler Peak, which also supports bristlecone pines, the oldest living trees on earth. . . . Precious water draining from the mountain ranges does not flow into the oceans. Rather, this priceless substance either percolates underground, accumulates in bodies to form lakes, or evaporates back into the atmosphere.

“Typically long winters grip the land above 10,000 feet from November through June. Bristlecone pines stubbornly cling to lofty slopes and windy ridges between 9,000 and 11,500 feet, living for 5,000 years or more. In 1964, a living tree was discovered in the Wheeler Peak grove which contained 4,844 annual growth rings.”

Lehman caves were first protected on January 24, 1922, when President Warren G. Harding established by presidential proclamation Lehman Caves National Monument. It took 43 more years to achieve national park status: Finally, on October 27, 1965, President Ronald Reagan signed the Great Basin National Park Act.

Not surprisingly, given the sparse traffic on Highway 50, Great Basin is one of the least visited of all our national parks, attracting only about 90,000 visitors a year. Which isn’t at all a bad thing, for when we walked into the visitor center, we were treated like long-lost relatives; quite a change from the ho-hum oh, Lord, not another one attitude of some weary attendants in parks that are swamped by travelers. Connie, of course, made sure to get them to stamp her national park passport. The quiet winding road up to the base of Wheeler Peak (second highest peak in Nevada) was narrow, but scenic, passing through many varieties of trees as we ascended. Other than the beauty of the land and snowcapped peaks, the main roadside photo-op proved to be a rusty old car, complete with a skeleton.

 

 

Then it was back down to The Loneliest Road – sometimes 30 miles without a curve – into Utah. Spectacular scenery along Interstate 70.Then we pulled into our favorite oasis stop in Green River, River Terrace Inn, shaded by verdant trees on the river side, and situated next to the very popular Tamarisk Restaurant, also on the river. But the real reason we always stay at River Terrace Inn is the comp to-die-for full breakfast prepared on the site by chefs who are either owners, relatives, or close friends of the owners. Each guest orders a la carte – scrumptious omelets, decadent cinnamon rolls, and on and on. You either eat inside or outside by the partly shaded pool. Needless to say, the Inn is usually booked up – so get your reservation early!!

Next day – our last day –, after pigging out at breakfast, we headed east through the Colorado Rockies, alongside swollen rivers, until late afternoon, we reached home; at 9,700 feet elevation, blessedly cool.

After two years, we’d finally reached the end of the Great Circle!

SOURCES USED

Northern California & Nevada Tour Book (Heathrow, Florida: AAA Publishing, 2010). [Source for Lake Tahoe information].

Nicklas, Michael L., Great Basin: the Story Behind the Scenery (Las Vegas: K.C. Publications, 2008).

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – PART THREE

BLOG #24, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

SOUTHWEST NATIONAL PARKS #15

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – PART THREE

June 19, 2013

THE AHWAHNEE HOTEL

Without question, the Queen of our national park lodges is the Ahwahnee. [The Niwok Indians called the valley “Ahwahnee” - place of the gaping mouth]. Of it, Keith S. Walklet declares, “It has been called the finest hotel in the national park system. Surrounded by three-thousand-foot granite cliffs and forests of immense pines in the heart of California’s Yosemite Valley. The Ahwahnee was built to attract visitors of wealth and means at a time when American society was developing a love affair with the automobile. This monumental hotel of stone, timber, concrete, and steel remains a remarkable achievement, a rare convergence of art and vision, combining the talents of public servants, architects, engineers, designers, and craftsmen.” (Walklet, front-flap of dustjacket).

* * *

Yosemite National Park was, for Stephen T. Mather, Founder of the National Park System, unquestionably, his favorite park. But it needed a hotel that could match the grandeur of the park. After all, automobile ownership had exploded across the nation: In 1915 alone, nearly a million new cars crowded roads meant for stagecoaches and wagons. As for Yosemite, the first all-weather highway (140) was opened in 1925. And car-loads of people poured in!

Both Mather and his able assistant, Horace Albright, envisioned a grand hotel for Yosemite on the scale of Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn, the Glacier National Park lodges, and Grand Canyon’s El Tovar. For architect, Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who had already proved his worth at Bryce and Zion, was chosen. But the consensus among the many project principals (architects, bureaucrats, businessmen, visionaries) was that while they desired the proposed hotel to be rustic, they envisioned an elegant country estate that would blend flawlessly with its breathtaking setting. Eventually, two organizations (Curry Camp Company and Yosemite Camp Company) merged, ending decades of wrangling. Mather now had a stellar team of Albright, Underwood, landscape engineer Daniel Hull, and San Francisco contractor James L. McLaughlin, individuals who bickered plenty, but saw through the massive building project that eventually cost $1,250,000 (a vast sum back then).

Originally, it was the plan to build it in the center of the valley, but wiser heads prevailed; it was concluded that it ought to be moved to a more secluded spot, backed up to the massive mountain walls of Royal Arches. A core block six stories high anchored it, and two wings set at angles enabled guests to feast their eyes on Half Dome, Glacier Point, Yosemite Falls, and Royal Arches. One year late, the grand hotel opened on July 14, 1927.

It has wowed the world ever since. Indeed, numbered among its guests are VIPs such as Presidents Hoover, FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan; foreign leaders such as Winston Churchill, King Badouin of Belgium, the exiled Shah of Iran, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (who had the hotel all to themselves), and Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie; Hollywood greats such as Kim Novak, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Mel Gibson, Robert Redford, Bing Crosby, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Charleton Heston, Boris Karloff, William Shatner, Shirley Temple Black, Helen Hayes, Jack Benny, Leonard Nimoy; and Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball stayed here when filming The Long Long Trailer in the park – the list could go on and on.

ENTER THE WHEELERS AND EARPS

Although a fifth-generation Californian on both sides of my family, and a frequent visitor to the park down through the years, never before had I or my bride stayed at the Ahwahnee. Best I could do on a limited budget was to visit the hotel. Christmas in My Heart readers may remember that the Ahwahnee is part of the worldwide setting of my Christmas story, “Christmas Sabbatical.” It is also slated to play a key role romance-wise in my upcoming novelette-length Christmas story, “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” in Christmas in My Heart 22 (due out fall of 2013). But now, since staying in the hotel had been on my Bucket List for so long, I saved my shekels long enough to treat Connie to a two-night stay. Earps too, had long wanted to stay in this legendary Shangri-La of a lodge.

That last week of May 2011 represented a once-in-a-lifetime experience, for the tremendous snowfall of the winter of 2010-2011 was now paying huge dividends: the falls of Yosemite were at a 50-year-high in terms of the volume of water—and not coincidentally: sound! Crowds were already swarming in to see and hear the falls. Before the season was over, 5,000,000 people crowded the valley wall-to-wall.

As our car emerged from the Wawona Tunnel, there spread out before us was one of the grandest views on the planet. Bridalveil Fall was at full strength, but even before we arrived at the Ahwahnee we could hear the thunder of that wonder of the world, Yosemite Falls, hurtling over the canyon wall almost 2600 feet above the valley floor.

Once checked in, we moved into our room on the second floor; after sprucing up, we gazed out the window at a sight that never ever could grow old. Once downstairs, we began to explore the hotel a bit. Then it was time for another treat: dinner in the largest room in the hotel, the world-famous Dining Room (6,630 square feet; 130 feet long, 51 feet wide, 34 feet high, with vaulted peeled log trusses, 24-foot-high windows, through which we could see and hear Yosemite Falls). The food and service five-star quality, and after a while a concert pianist playing Chopin on the grand piano. Not often, in this journey we call life, have I experienced a sensory overload–but this was one of those times. Mere words came hard, for no one wished to shatter the mood.

Then, tired from the long day, we had little trouble falling asleep to the thunder of the falls.

Next morning, we all shutterbugged in the verdant grounds of the hotel. Then, an unforgettable breakfast in the great Dining Room, now transformed by the glory of morning light. Then to the Visitor Center to see the splendid film, “Spirit of Yosemite.” Afterwards, we donned coats or rain gear for our walk to the base of Lower Falls. The closer we got to it, the wetter we got; it became almost impossible to hear each other speak. We never were able to get to the base of the falls. And the people kept coming, young and old from all over the world. It is unlikely, in my lifetime, that I’ll ever experience the like again. Later, we took the shuttle to the Mist Trail, and trekked all the way up to the base or Vernal Falls, also boiling over at floodstage. Later in the afternoon, we were privileged to be given a personal VIP tour of the hotel by its genial General Manager; he took us through the lobby, gift store, beautiful Mural Room, the Great Hall (second-largest room in the hotel, flanked by two great fireplaces), kitchen (where we got to talk with the chef and his pastry gurus), even the outside foundation stone. We felt deeply honored by his willingness to spend all this time with us. After eating in the Bar Café, exhausted from the hikes, we quickly fell asleep.

When the sun, birds, and falls woke us up next morning, it was to an almost unworldly radiance. Not one of us but longed to remain there. For a time, we relaxed and drank in the ambiance of the Great Hall, cups of steaming coffee in hand, and imagined all the events held in that room over three-quarters of a century; all the world-famous celebrities who had walked through those doors.

Then one last breakfast in the Dining Room. When we finally pried ourselves out of our chairs, walked toward the hallway, and turned back for one last look, we felt physical pain at the parting. How could any place else we ever saw or experienced build on such perfection?

Then it was time to leave. 

Next week, we complete the Great Circle.

SOURCES USED

Christine Barnes’ Great Lodges of the National Parks I (Bend, Oregon: W. W. West, Inc., 2002).

Keith S. Walklet’s historical tour de force, The Ahwahnee: Yosemite’s Grand Hotel (Yosemite: DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, 2004).

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – PART TWO

BLOG #23, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

SOUTHWEST NATIONAL PARKS #14

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – PART TWO

June 12, 2013

I abjectly apologize for the long delay in completing The Great Circle. Just to recapitulate, Bob and Lucy Earp, and Connie and I were so impressed by Ken Burns’ magnificent PBS National Park Series films that we decided to personally explore our western national parks for ourselves. Since we’d also been impressed with Christine Barnes’ Great Lodges of the National Parks (aired just after the Burns and Duncan series by PBS) as well as the two books that preceded the film series, we decided to stay in those wonderful old lodges whenever possible.

It took us two years to complete both the Northwest and Southwest portions of The Great Circle. However, the blogs that detailed our peregrinations came to a temporary halt on June 20, 2012; “temporary,” because I fully intended to return to the series in a couple of weeks, but so many timely, provocative, and interesting subjects intruded that almost a year has passed since then! This time, I promise we’ll complete the loop before I stray away again.

* * * * *

REENTER JOHN MUIR AND YOSEMITE

It is impossible to read Duncan and Burns’ national parks blockbuster without being mesmerized by the role one man played in awakening the nation to a belated conviction that America’s endangered scenic wonders must be saved before it was too late.

John Muir (1838-1914) was born in Dunbar, Scotland, but moved when only nine to America. In 1867, while attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an industrial accident nearly cost him an eye. That near disaster changed the course of his life, for he abandoned his technical studies and devoted himself to nature. He walked from the Middle West to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1868, he trekked into then little known Yosemite Valley, which over time became his life’s lodestar. From this focal point he took many trips into Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

As early as 1876, Muir urged the federal government to adopt a forest conservation policy. The Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks were established in 1890. Early in 1899, President Grover Cleveland designated 13 national forests to be preserved from commercial exploitation; but powerful business groups persuaded the President to back off. But Muir penned two eloquent magazine articles that reversed the tide and swung public and Congressional opinion in favor of national forest reservations. Muir also influenced the large-scale conservation program of President Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1903, during his first term in office, accompanied Muir on a camping trip to the Yosemite region.

The rest of Muir’s life was spent in almost continual battle with commercial interests determined to wrest control of America’s scenic wonderlands away from those who sought to preserve them for posterity. Though Muir won many such battles, one of his defeats all but broke his heart and hastened his death: the damming of Little Yosemite Valley and turning it into the Hetch Hetchy water reservoir for California’s Bay Area cities.

Quite simply, Yosemite National Park is iconic in its being one of the world’s most famous wild spaces. Even in the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln found time in 1864 to sign a Congressional bill granting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias to the State of California as an inalienable public trust.

Today, in Mel White’s words, “Yosemite National Park, declared a World Heritage site in 1984 for its natural features, attracts more than 3.5 million visitors annually, most of whom see only the valley at its heart, a mile-wide, seven-mile-long area where the Merced River winds among waterfalls and granite monoliths.”

Among the wonders drawing tourists from around the world are the 620-feet-high Bridalveil Falls, the 3,000-feet-high El Capitan (the largest monolith of granite in the world), 8,842-feet-high Half Dome (Yosemite’s most recognized feature), 3,214-feet-high Glacier Point, three Redwood groves (the largest being the Mariposa Grove), 317-feet-high Vernal Falls, 500-feet-high Cascades, 370-feet-high Illilouette Fall, 600-feet-high Pywiak Cascade, 2,000-feet-high Sentinal Falls, 2,000-feet-high Snow Creek Falls, 1,612-feet-high Ribbon Fall, 1,250-feet-high Royal Arch Cascade, 700-feet-high Wildcat Fall, and the granddaddy of them all: 2,565-feet-high Yosemite Falls (including 1,430-feet-high Upper Fall, 320-feet-high Lower Fall, and the Cascades), besides the Park’s too many to count ephemeral falls [seasonal]. Mike Osborne says of the spectacular totality, “Many would argue that Yosemite National Park has the grandest assemblage of waterfalls in the world.” And there are many more in Yosemite’s high country (which few tourists ever reach). The spectacular Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, with its Horseshoe Falls, can only be reached by foot.

Our visit will continue next week.

SOURCES USED

Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).

Northern California and Nevada Tour Book (Heathrow, Florida: AAA Publishing, 2009).

Osborne, Mike, Granite, Water, and Light: The Waterfalls of Yosemite Valley (Berkeley, California: Yosemite Association, 2009).

Walklet, Keith S., Yosemite: An Enduring Treasure (Berkeley, California: Yosemite Association, 2001).

Book of the Month – Zane Grey’s “Riders of the Purple Sage”

BLOG #23, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

DR. JOE’S BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB #20

ZANE GREY’S RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE

June 5, 2013

Zane Grey (1872 – 1939), creator of the Romantic West, was the most famous and highest-paid author in the world during the first half of the Twentieth Century. He was the last western writer to write while the American frontier still existed. Over 119 movies have been made from his books, and two television series. He was the first American author to insist that movie producers film his books on location, reason being that he felt locations, to a significant extent, influence behavior and even contribute to character development, both positively and negatively. Interestingly enough, Grey has always attracted as many female readers as he has male readers.

THE GREATEST WESTERN EVER WRITTEN

RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE

ONE-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

(1912 – 2012)

Grey’s second western (after Heritage of the Desert) begins with one of the most memorable opening paragraphs in American fiction and ends with one of the most memorable conclusions in all literature.

According to Lawrence Clark Powell, “The character of the deadly yet noble gunman, Lassiter, approaches the epic folk-hero in its powerful simplification, and was memorably personified by the old-time movie actor William S. Hart–slit-eyed, steel-muscled, and claw-fingered on the draw. The final scene . . . is perhaps the finest moment in all western fiction, approached only by the Virginian’s ‘When you call me that, smile.’” –“Books Determine,” Westways, August, 1992.

Digby Diehl of the Los Angeles Times noted that “By the tine Grey died in 1939, he had two generations of writers hot on his western trail, such as Ernest Haycox, Max Brand, A. B. Guthries, Sam Peeples, and Louis L’Amour. But none of them ever wrote a sentence like ‘A sharp clip-clop of iron-shod hoofs deadened and died away, and clouds of yellow dust drifted from under the cottonwoods out over the sage.’ This, of course, was the beginning of Riders of the Purple Sage, hailed in many circles as the best western novel ever published. –“Zane Grey’s Tales of the West,” Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1972.

T. V. Olsen pointed out that Riders of the Purple Sage . . . sold two million copies, a then unprecedented sale and ranked with Pollyanna and Tarzan of the Apes as one of the ten leading best-sellers of the decade 1910-1920. A masterpiece of romantic adventure, it combined a suspenseful, well-knit plot with firm, totally dimensional characterization, a gut-ripping pace with awesome spectacle. At times its prose soared to a truly epic strength that, for all the high spots in his early works, Grey never achieved again. –“Pantheism and the Purple Sage,” The Roundup, November 1966.

Nor could western scholar G. M. Farley forget him: “What man while reading Riders of the Purple Sage hasn’t seen in Lassiter some of the characteristics of himself? These rough-hewn characters appeal to something basic in the reader; they touch the fountain-head, and the reader becomes identifiable with them. He can almost feel the trigger against his finger, the buck of the booming gun against his hand. For that moment he escapes the office, the home, the everyday strife, and is transported. It is not just the fast action that thrills him; he is there.” –“An Approach to Zane Grey,” Zane Grey Collector, Vol II, #4.

Nor could John Parsons forget him: “Lassiter of the Purple Sage specialized in carrying his black-butted guns ‘low down.’ By a rapid but undefined movement, he was able to swing ‘the big black gun sheaths around to the fore.’ Ordinarily a two-gun man, he buckled on two more revolvers when going out to face the foe in quantity. Think of the fire-power, even if only two at a time were fired. So far as I know Lassiter was the first four-gun man in print. . . . Zane Grey successfully exploited a vanished cult of gunfighters, seldom contemporaneously documented, whose resuscitation fired the imagination of millions of readers.” –“Gunplay in Zane Grey,” The Westerners, (New York: Posse Brand Books, 1961).

Lassiter doesn’t even have to actually use his guns to be memorable. Case in point, his first appearance in the book: “Lassiter’s face’ had all the characteristics of the range riders–the leanness, the red burn of the sun, and the set changelessness that came from years of silence and solitude. But it was not these that held her; rather the intensity of his gaze, a strained weariness, a piercing wistfulness of keen, gray sight, as if the man was forever looking for that which he never found. Jane’s [Withersteen, the heroine] subtle woman’s intuition, even in that brief instant, felt a sadness, a hungering, a secret.” (p. 8).

Another gunman, Venters, and Bess Oldering, the Masked Rider, hold sway over half the book.

Grey loved horses. Indeed, Frank Gruber maintained that the novel contains the most magnificent horse race in all western fiction.

The novel was Dwight D. Eisenhower’s favorite book.

* * * * *

The book is available in multitudes of editions, both hardback and paper. Just make sure your copy is unabridged.

But, for all you book-lovers who cherish heirloom classics whose value can only go up through the years, the Zane Grey’s West Society recently published a magnificent Centennial Edition. Ordering information follows.

This book was a labor of love by the Society. Many people were involved, with Roseanne Vrugtman deserving special mention as she did all the work of cleaning up the manuscript and formatting it to properly match the original first edition. Multiple folks were involved in proofreading, editing, and several members authored additional content articles for the book. Joe Wheeler wrote on the importance of Riders to American Literature, Todd Newport wrote on Grey’s love of the outdoors, Chuck Pfeiffer and Zen Ervin wrote an article on the geography of Riders, Bob Lentz discussed the movies made from the novel, and Marian Coombs provided a biography of Grey.

This book was printed in 2012, the anniversary year of Riders, and will be shipped in January 2013. We went to extreme lengths to try to make the book as close a replica of the original 1912 Harper’s First Edition as possible. The actual text of the novel was formatted in such a manner that it exactly matches the original, so now if you are doing research, you can use this book as if it were the original first edition. The book cover is bound in linen, like the original, even though we could not find an exact match to the color. We stamped the text on the front cover using a purple backing with gold text on top of it, just like the original. We scanned the original paste down image that was on the front cover and tried to match that, even though those paste down images did not survive the years very well, and every example we found had issues. We used a slightly ivory color paper, hoping to make it look more vintage. –Zane Grey Review, December 2012, p. 3.

One of the rarest of all Zane Grey dust jackets was used for the Centennial Edition’s reproduction dj. Where rare Zane Grey First Editions are concerned, original vintage dust jackets sometimes bring five times as much as the book itself at auctions.

Just in: The printer: Frederick Printing/Denver Bookbinding was just honored by the Printing Industry of America’s 2013 Print Excellence Silver Award (for demonstrating superior craftsmanship, digital print, hardbound book) for the Centennial Edition of Riders of the Purple Sage.

* * * * *

This rare edition had a print-run of only 300 copies. Most likely, they’ll all be sold by the end of the Zane Grey’s West Society’s 31st annual convention (to be held in Provo, Utah June 16-19, 2013). Last year’s convention was held in the Black Hills; the year before in Williamsburg, Virginia; in 2014, in Durango, Colorado.

Price for the Centennial Edition is $70 plus shipping. However, if you contact our Secretary Treasurer, at

Sheryle Hodapp

15 Deer Oaks Drive

Pleasanton, CA 94588

Telephone: 925-485-1325

email: sheryle@39ws.org

and first join The Society as a member (our annual dues are only $35, and include our splendid quarterly magazines; we’ve only raised dues once in 31 years, by all serving pro-bono), rather than the regular $70 for the Centennial Edition, you will be entitled to the Society member price of $48 plus shipping, thus your membership will end up costing you only $13 for the year if you’re able to land a copy before they’re sold out.

We’d love to have you join our extended family of Zanies. Perhaps you’d even like to join us at Provo! Contact Sheryle Hodapp for details.

WSJ – Best Kept Secret in America?

BLOG #22, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

WSJ – BEST KEPT SECRET IN AMERICA?

May 29, 2013

It certainly was a secret where I was concerned, for all those years I just considered the Wall Street Journal to be merely the best-known of all financial newspapers, and what tycoons and wannabe tycoons subscribed to. Was I ever wrong!

Perhaps up until recently I just wasn’t ready to find out, lulled as I was by the assumption that, after half a millennium years of cultural dominance by print and paper, nothing significant was likely to alter that state of affairs.

But then came the long societal earthquake which triggered a seemingly endless succession of toppling dominoes. Small-town newspapers were first; then large dailies such as Rocky Mountain News in Colorado. At first I managed to console myself that the demise of that beloved old paper might not be all bad if the surviving paper, The Denver Post, would thereby become twice as strong, twice as rich, twice as interesting – but that didn’t happen. Then I began to hear of the demise of other well-known newspapers. And the ones that managed to survive seemed to be but pale shadows of what they once were, kept alive only by advertising; and when that too began to go elsewhere, massive staff layoffs became the norm.

Magazines were next. Actually, this equally sad development was anything but new, for magazines had been in steady retreat ever since the Great Depression hit in the 1930′s. Indeed magazines had ruled supreme over all other media in the 1910′s,1920′s and 1930′s, magazine editors paying writers more than book publishers or movie studio producers. Even though my wife and I had subscribed to both Time and Newsweek over the years, we’d always preferred Newsweek. Then I began to hear rumors I first considered to be all but impossible: my favorite news magazine, after a century of vibrant life, might not make it. And, not long before its last print issue; same for another news magazine I’d often read or consulted: U.S. News and World Report.

And then came what I first assumed would be merely a fad: e-books. Not in my wildest dreams did I envision electronic books ever challenging the supremacy of printed books! But like Dickens’ immortal supplanter, Uriah Heep, in David Copperfield, e-books seemingly were determined to supplant traditional ink and paper.

Just when I’d almost given up on print, one day at an airport, I idly picked up a copy of WSJ. Huh? Couldn’t be! After all, USA Today had a monopoly on national newspaper readership. Or did it?

I kept buying WSJ, then subscribed to it. An eye-opening series of daily newspaper thefts (always the WSJ, never The Denver Post), jolted me. Was the WSJ so good that people would break the law to steal copies that didn’t belong to them? Evidently so.

Gradually I became aware that a phoenix was arising from the graveyards of print. A newspaper that was a print window to the world. In depth, well-written, fascinating articles, columns, reviews, etc., that kept me informed on events, not just local, not just national, but global. And not just financial, not just political, but something I as a historian of ideas had only seen in Smithsonian’s incredible monthly magazines – art, music, books, fashion, religion, history, anthropology, geology, biography, cinema, television, burning cultural issues, sports . . . on and on. And Friday and Saturday’s expanded issues were so fascinating it would sometimes take half a day to fully digest them. I no longer missed Newsweek.

Having said all this, in many respects the same conclusions could be drawn for newspapers such as the New York Times, that also deliver well-drawn windows to the world. Indeed, a case could be made for reading both newspapers in order to arrive at a balanced synthesis of opposing political viewpoints.

Nor am I maintaining that faithfully reading newspapers such as WSJ or NYT each day may alone result in Renaissance men or Renaissance women, for today we are bombarded by such incessant streams of knowledge and information (mostly electronically) that the big problem may have to do with the distillation of it: making sense of it all.

We ought to be concerned about the demise of journalism, evidenced by the killing off of elementary and secondary newspapers, for the result will be a further diminution of adult journalistic minds. For make no mistake about it: electronic sound-bytes, thirty-second attack ads, electronic infomercials, and half-hour news broadcasts that include no more news substance than would fill one-half-page of newspapers such as the WSJ or NYT, are no substitute for thoughtful in-depth reading; for simplistic pre-digested information, not offset by broad in-depth reading, inevitably will result in adults crippled by myopic views of life and current issues.

Which brings me back to the reason I walk out each morning to the mailbox: to pick up The Denver Post (that fills me in on local/regional news) and the Wall Street Journal (that broadens my horizon so that I can see the broad global picture – the Zeitgeist).

What a pity that so few Americans today realize what they are missing by their disregard of newspapers, magazines and books.

“ABRAHAM LINCOLN CIVIL WAR STORIES”

BLOG #21, SERIES #4

WEDNESDAYS WITH DR. JOE

ABRAHAM LINCOLN CIVIL WAR STORIES

May 22, 2013

NEWS RELEASE

Joe L. Wheeler, Ph.D., author of the biography, Abraham Lincoln: Man of Faith and Courage (Howard/Simon & Schuster, 2008), has a new book coming out on June 11 (also by Howard/Simon & Schuster): Abraham Lincoln Civil War Stories, tying in to the current 150-year retrospective of the Civil War. More specifically, 2013 is also the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg (the bloodiest battle of the war) and Lincoln’s delivery of the most famous speech in American history, “The Gettysburg Address.”

There has never been another comparable collection to this one. Wheeler has spent a lifetime, as a story archeologist, tracking down these rare and elusive stories. Given that few can be found in books, but rather in old magazines or hand-copied, typed, spirit-duplicated, mimeographed transcripts (many passed on by one elocutionist to another), such an heirloom collection as this – is a once in-a-lifetime event.

Most remarkable of all will be the effect of reading them all, as, through story (many penned by contemporaries who knew Lincoln personally), a new conceptualization of our only servant President gradually comes into focus. Readers will see why Lincoln remains today the only universally beloved American, both at home and around the world. They will also be struck by the many stories detailing Lincoln’s interactions with children and teenagers.

TWO RECENT REVIEWS

Thomas Lincoln was a master storyteller, a skill he taught his son. Those who knew Lincoln vividly remember the stories he told. Joe Wheeler sifts through the many stories about America’s favorite president to provide a portrait of the man through the medium he loved–stories.

–Thomas F. Schwartz, former Illinois State Historian and former Director of Research and Collections at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library-Museum, in Springfield, Illinois.

Joe Wheeler’s new collection of stories is sure to appeal to anyone who wonders what it would have been like to encounter Abraham Lincoln in person. These compelling accounts, painstakingly gathered over many years, offer a unique perspective on Lincoln’s humble spirit in the midst of the chaotic surroundings of the Civil War.

–Jim Daly, President, Focus on the Family

Just to give you a feel for the contents of this Civil War treasure chest, all the following are included:

INTRODUCTION

“Lincoln, the Man of the People” – Edwin Markham

“It Took More Than 150 Years” – Joseph Leininger Wheeler

THE FRONTIER YEARS

“Once to Every Man and Nation” – James Russell Lowell

“Countdown to the Civil War” – Joseph Leininger Wheeler

“How Lincoln Paid for His First Book” –Earle H. James

“Childhood in Lincoln’s Town” –Octavia Roberts Corneau

“He Loved Me Truly” –Bernadine Bailey and Dorothy Walworth

CIVIL WAR—THE EARLY YEARS

“Three Hundred Thousand More” –James Sloan Gibbons

“Stalemate” –Joseph Leininger Wheeler

“When Lincoln Passed” –Mabel McKee

“The Strength Conquered” –T. Morris Longstreth

“More Than His Share” –Author Unknown

“Boys in the White House” –Ruth Painter Randall and Joseph Leininger Wheeler

“The Tall Stranger” –Arthur Somerset

“The Missionary Money” –Olive Vincent Marsh

“Just Folks” –Mary Wells

“The Sleeping Sentinel” –L. E. Chittenden

“Lincoln and the Little Drummer Boy” –Roe L. Hendrick

“Only a Mother” –Author Unknown

“A Schoolboy’s Interview with Abraham Lincoln” –William Agnew Paton

CIVIL WAR—THE LATER YEARS

“Battle-Hymn of the Republic” –Julia Ward Howe

“High Tide at Gettysburg” –Joseph Leininger Wheeler

“Across the Great Plains Just to See Lincoln” –Caroline B. Parker

”A Lesson in Forgiveness” –T. Morris Longstreth

“Ransom’s Papers” –Mary Wells

“Tad Lincoln” –Wayne Whipple

“The Heart of Lincoln” –Louis B. Reynolds

“The Perfect Tribute” –Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews

“Mary Bowman, of Gettysburg” –Elsie Singmaster

”Tad Lincoln’s Goat” –Seth Harmon

“President Lincoln’s Visiting Card” –John M. Bullock

“Tenderness in a Ruined City” –Louis B. Reynolds

“Memory of Lincoln” –Carla Brown

TO LIVE ON IN HEARTS IS NOT TO DIE

“O Captain! My Captain!” –Walt Whitman

“The Living Myth” –Joseph Leininger Wheeler

“A Boy Who Loved Lincoln” –Kathleen Reed Coontz

“A Decision That Took Courage” –John L. Roberts

“Captain, My Captain” –Elizabeth Frazer

“Abraham Lincoln’s Rose” –Isabel Nagel

“He Knew Lincoln” –Ninde Harris

“Mr. Lincoln, I Love You!” –M. L. O’Hara

EPILOGUE

“Personal Memories of Abraham Lincoln” –Robert Brewster Stanton

NOTES

Release date: June 11, 2013

Binding: Hardback

Dust Jacket Painting: Nathan Greene’s “Abraham Lincoln at Antietam”

Pages: 358

Price: $22.99

Packaging and Mailing: $5.00

Personally signed or inscribed if requested at no extra cost

SAGE AND HOLLY DISTRIBUTORS

P.O. Box 1246

Conifer, CO 80433