Thursday, February 23, 2017

The Most Dynamic Personality Of His Time








Teddy Roosevelt




     The winter of 1917 was bitter cold.  Camp Grant, Illinois, looked more like a frozen morgue that it did a training camp for World War I soldiers. All of us were uneasy. Things had not been going well for us against Kaiser Wilhelm's forces in Germany, and the days were gloomy.  Our commanding general began issuing all sorts of orders that seemed to us to be silly and unnecessary, but just the same we had to toe the mark or hazard a stay in the guardhouse.
     This irritable, precise, demanding, and commanding general had informed us that we were to have an important visitor the next morning but left us in the dark as to who this individual might be. At any rate, we were to undergo inspection and be ready at any moment. Speculation was rife.
     It was now ten o'clock in the morning, and nearly thirty thousand soldiers were seated upon the ground awaiting for someone to arrive. At last the hour came. Walking leisurely and slowly down the field was one of the greatest Americans of all times.


Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
1858-1919
26th President of the United States of America
 1901-1909


      Who could help but be thrilled, to be actually in the presence of this wonderful man, ex-President Theodore Roosevelt?  The one-time sickly asthmatic was now a stocky man five feet ten inches tall, who weighed a little under two hundred pounds.  He was barrel-chested and held his head forward on a thick, short neck. He was a powerful and vigorous walker and had a firm handshake.  I shall never forget his vigorous denunciation of German warfare, and his hatred for unfairness. 
He was not one for indecision or afraid to speak up.
     Teddy Roosevelt was born one hundred years ago in New York City.  As a child he was weak and sickly. He developed bronchial asthma while still a young boy, and this continued to bother him throughout his youth. He was told that perhaps he had incipient tuberculosis, and he was advised to lead an outdoor life. He bought a ranch in North Dakota and became a rancher. Who knows but this very training gave him the opportunity later to become the chief of the famous "Rough Riders" of the Spanish-American War?
     I was only eight years old at that time, but I well remember the exploits of this man and his daring companions.  At the age of forty-two Mr. Roosevelt, then Vice President of the United States, was called upon to take oath of office of President, following the assassination of William McKinley.
     Theodore Roosevelt had a remarkable medical history.  While still on his ranch in North Dakota he was thrown by a bucking horse and broke his arm, and a few months later, he broke his shoulder blade when a horse rolled over on him. In 1900, while making a speech in Colorado, he was struck on the chest by a big piece of lumber.
     On one occasion, during a friendly boxing match with a young naval officer he was struck in the left eye, thus sustaining a severe and permanent damage to his eye. Again in 1904, he was thrown from a horse and landed squarely on his head and face that severely cut and bruised him, also injuring his neck and shoulders. During a political campaign while in Milwaukee he was shot in the chest.
     In 1913, Roosevelt traveled to South America to deliver several speeches and to study the flora and fauna of the continent. Even this was not peaceful.  First he contracted malaria. Later, while attempting to shoot a rapid, he was forcibly thrown against a jagged rock when his canoe was upset.  He received a gash in his thigh, which quickly became infected in spite of immediate attention.
     In February, 1918 he entered Roosevelt Hospital in New York with the diagnosis of abscess of the thigh, inflammatory rheumatism, and bilateral acute otitis media.  He became very ill but finally survived in spite of an inflammation of the left mastoid bone.  Later that year, he developed an acute attack of erysipelas of his leg. 
     This versatile, vigorous American died quietly in his sleep at his home in Oyster Bay, New York on January 5, 1919. This ended the career of the most dynamic personality of his time, a man who had as active a medical as a political history.
     




During one of my random treasure hunts at a local thrift store
I was fortunate to come across this 100th Anniversary (1902-2002)
commemorative talking Teddy Bear in mint condition!





The Story Of The Teddy Bear

Did you know that the Teddy Bear was invented in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt? It all began when Theodore Roosevelt was on a bear hunting trip near Onward, Mississippi on November 14, 1902. He had been invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino, and unlike other hunters in the group, had not located a single bear.


Roosevelt's assistants, led by Holt Collier, a born slave and former Confederate cavalryman, cornered and tied a black bear to a willow tree. They summoned Roosevelt and suggested that he shoot it. Viewing this as extremely unsportsmanlike, Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear. The news of this event spread quickly through newspaper articles across the country. The articles recounted the story of the president who refused to shoot a bear. However, it was not just any president, it was Theodore Roosevelt the big game hunter!

A political cartoonist by the name of Clifford Berryman read the article and decided to lightheartedly lampoon the president's refusal to shoot the bear. Berryman's cartoon appeared in the Washington Post on November 16, 1902. A Brooklyn candy shop owner by the name of Morris Michtom saw the cartoon and had an idea. He and his wife Rose were also makers of stuffed animals, and Michtom decided to create a stuffed toy bear and dedicate it to the president who refused to shoot a bear. He called it 'Teddy's Bear'.


After receiving Roosevelt's permission to use his name, Michtom mass produced the toy bears which were so popular that he soon founded the Ideal Toy Company. To this day the Teddy Bear has worldwide popularity and its origin can be traced back to Theodore's fateful hunting trip in 1902.





An original Theodore Roosevelt
"Teddy Bear"













"Teddy Roosevelt"
Taken from the book,
Mustard Plasters and Printer's Ink
A Kaleidoscope Of A Country Doctor's Observations
About People, Places, And Things 
By Allen H. Moore, M.D.
Copyright 1959 By Allen H. Moore

"The Story Of The Teddy Bear"
 taken from the website of the
National Park Service 
United States Department of the Interior
https://www.nps.gov/thrb/learn/historyculture/storyofteddybear.htm

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

February Poetry Corner

  

The heart hath its own memory
 like the mind,
And in it are enshrined
The precious keepsakes 
into which is wrought
The giver's loving thought.
 -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow




I remember when wintertime was really cold for days on end,
school was cancelled and we kids spent hours outside playing, sledding
down frozen hills of hard-packed snow, building snowmen and snow forts
and launching snowball fights in the backyard!
Those were the days!







"For the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom;
from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
Proverbs 2:6




Painting By Sam Timm




 
Lord, let mine be
a common place
while here.
His was a common one;
He seems so near
when I am working
at some ordinary task.
Lord, let mine be
a common one, I ask.
Give me the things to do
that others shun,
I am not gifted or so poised,
Lord, as some.
I am best fitted
for the common things,
and I am happy so.
It always brings
a sense of fellowship
with Him Who learned
to do the lowly things
that others spurned:
to wear the simple clothes,
the common dress,
to gather in His arms
and gently bless
(and He was busy too)
a little child,
to lay His hand upon
the one defiled,
to walk with sinners
down some narrow street,
to kneel Himself
and wash men's dusty feet.
To ride a common foal,
to work with wood,
to dwell with common folk,
eat common food;
and then upon the city dump
to die for me.
Lord, common things
are all I ask
of Thee.

-Ruth Graham Bell 



 Jesus The Friend Of Children
Harry Anderson 






 "I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature
That saw what I could see--
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me."
-Sara Teasdale





Evening Star
Photograph By Tommy Richardsen








"Shed no tear - O, shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more - O, weep no more!
Young buds sleep in the root's white core."

- John Keats   

   
Signs Of Spring
Crocus Blooming In The Snow





Sunday, February 19, 2017

The Battle Hymn Of The Republic








Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.


Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.


I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.


Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.


I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contempters, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.


Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.


He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.


Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.


Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.


He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.


Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

Words By Julia Ward Howe




American Trilogy
Elvis Presley

Undaunted

 


Our Father Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
Our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those
Who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
Forever and ever
Amen     




First Lady of the United States of America
Melania Trump





The liberal American news media is bashing
First Lady Melania Trump for reciting
 the Lord's Prayer at a recent
rally for her husband in Melbourne, Florida.

So, where was the similar outrage when pop singer
Madonna, speaking before the crowd at the recent
Women's March on Washington DC
admitted that she "had thought a lot
about blowing up the White House."?

Saying a heartfelt prayer is met with derision,
while making a public threat to destroy the White House
is given a free pass by the news media?

  Can anyone spell the word,
 H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y?





"I have told you these things, so that
in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence.
In the world you have tribulation and trials,
and distress and frustration;
but be of good cheer;
take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted!
For I have overcome the world.
I have deprived it of power to harm you
and have conquered it for you."
John 16:33






Melania Trump holds the Holy Bible while her husband is
sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America
   




Three things the Master hath to do,
And we who serve Him here below
And long to see His kingdom come,
May pray or give or go.

He needs them all - the open hand,
The willing feet, the asking heart -
To work together and to weave
The threefold cord that shall not part.

Nor shall the giver count his gift
As greater than the worker’s need,
Nor he in turn his service boast
Above the prayers that voice his need.

Not all can go, nor all can give
To arm the other for the fray;
But young or old or rich or poor,
Or strong or weak - we all can pray.

Pray that the full hands open wide
To speed the message on its way,
That those who hear the call may go
And pray - that other hearts may pray.

 "The Threefold Work"
Annie Johnson Flint

Time Capsule 2000: The Sanctity Of Life







I recently came across a copy of a letter I wrote nearly
twenty years ago to a local newspaper in which I voiced
my concern about the persistent devaluation of human life.

What I wrote about then has sadly become a
reflection of the times we are living in today.



                                             8/21/00

To The Editor:

   In response to the recent letter,  "Pro-Life Politicians" as a woman, wife, mother, and independent voter,
I will always vote in favor of protecting unborn human life.
   There is something terribly wrong when the Supreme Court of the United States declares that a ban against partial-birth abortion is unconstitutional. Could there be more to this alarming response from the nation's highest court than meets the public's eye?
   Human cloning use to be mere science-fiction fantasy.  It is now reality.  Suppose that during a partial-birth procedure, pieces of the infant's brain tissue are being extracted and sold to the highest bidder for experimental scientific research. Perhaps viable organs are also harvested and sold for unlawful medical testing.  It might explain why this horrific procedure, although concluded to be, "never medically necessary to protect a woman's health" by the Physicians Ad-Hoc Coalition for Truth (PHAFT), as well as former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, is being so strongly and inexplicably advocated in this country.
   Has our society become so besotted with economic prosperity and living beyond our means that we have willingly traded our compassion for compromise regarding the sanctity of life?
   I believe that the time is now for strong pro-life leadership. We need a president who is not afraid to stand up for the rights of the unborn future citizens of America.  After eight disgusting years of pro-abortion policy from the Clinton-Gore Administration, our nation has turned into a vast killing field. The abortion mills are running at full speed and the baby killers of America are getting richer.
   There is a wise old saying which states, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  During the Second World War, babies arriving at the notorious Auschwitz death camp were ripped from their mothers' arms and put to death immediately, deemed "unfit to live" by their Nazi murderers.
The infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, known as the evil "Angel of Death" performed hideously unspeakable "experiments" on innocent people, including helpless infants.
   Is this where we are heading, America?  Can anyone besides myself see the strikingly familiar parallels between then and now?

Pamela D. Kelly
Franklinville NJ
                                         



"You shall not commit murder."
Exodus 20:13




"As you know not what is the way of the wind,
or how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb
of a pregnant woman, even so you know not
the work of God, Who does all."
Ecclesiastes 11:5






Baby Mine


Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part
Baby of mine

Little one when you play
Pay no heed to what they say
Let your eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear
Baby of mine

If they knew all about you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for the right to hold you

From your head down to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Sweet as can be
Baby of mine

Lyrics from "Dumbo"
Music and lyrics by 

Frank Churchill and Ned Washington







"...therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live."



 “Listen closely, I have set before you today
 life and prosperity (good), and death and adversity (evil); 
 in that I command you today
 to love the Lord your God,
 to walk [that is, to live each and every day]
 in His ways and to keep His commandments
 and His statutes and His judgments (precepts),
 so that you will live and multiply,
 and that the Lord your God will bless you
 in the land which you are entering to possess.  
 But if your heart turns away
 and you will not hear and obey
 but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,   
I declare to you today that you will certainly perish.
 You will not live long in the land 
which you cross the Jordan to enter and possess. 
  I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today,
 that I have set before you life and death,
 the blessing and the curse; 
therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live,
 you and your descendants,  by loving the Lord your God,
 by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him;
 for He is your life [your good life, 
your abundant life, your fulfillment]
 and the length of your days, that you may live in the land
 which the Lord promised (swore) to give to your fathers, 
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 30:15-20






  America The Choice Is Yours
Choose Life

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Abide With Me







Cross in the Sunset
By Richard Fairless





Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.


Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.


Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.


Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.


Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.


I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.


I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.


Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Words: Henry F. Lyte
(1847)
Music: William H. Monk
(1861) 






Sunrise Cross




"Who is like You?
The Lion and the Lamb
Seated on the throne
Mountains bow down, every ocean roars
To the Lord of hosts

Praise Adonai
From the rising of the sun
To the end of every day
Praise Adonai
All the nations of the earth
All the angels and the saints sing praise..."




Praise Adonai
Paul Wilbur