All of the Presidents pictured above were sworn into office on this day.
1569 – The translator of the Bible into English, Miles Coverdale, dies at 80
1942 – Slim Whitman, yodeler and country singer, was born. Below are two videos of him singing “Indian Love Call.” The first is from Mars Attacks.
1948 - Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. A few quotes from him follow.
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.”
1993 - Audrey Hepburn, actress in My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Roman Holiday, dies of colon cancer in Switzerland at 63.
1563 – The Heidelberg Catechism was first published in Germany. Written by Peter Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, it was a statement of Calvinist tradition, and was soon after adopted by nearly all of the Reformed churches in Europe. The complete text can be found here.
Today is the birthday of American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Out of all his poems, my favorite is “Annabel Lee,” which is printed below. It is also the birthday of Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), renowned French Post-Impressionist painter. The image above is of his painting “Pyramid of Skulls.”
———-
“Annabel Lee” (published 1849)
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;–
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love–
I and my Annabel Lee–
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me:–
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we–
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:–
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea–
In her tomb by the side of the sea.
The poem and painting seem to go together, if you ask me.
1914 – Lester Flatt, famed country musician of “Flatt and Scruggs,” was born. Here is video of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”
1919 – A veritable tidal wave of molasses 15 meters high x 25 meters wide kills dozens in Boston. To read more about this tragic event and how it helped bring about some essential government regulation of industry, click here.
1782 – Lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, N.H. A few quotes from Webster follow.
“A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.”
“There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange.”
“I mistrust the judgment of every man in a case in which his own wishes are concerned.”
1788 – The first English settlers arrived in Australia’s Botany Bay to establish a penal colony
1882 – A.A. Milne, author and creator of Winnie the Pooh, was born.
1913 – The American actor and comedian Danny Kaye was born. Here he is singing the song “Inchworm” from the movie Hans Christian Anderson.
1980 – One of my favorite albums of all time, Pink Floyd’s The Wall hits number 1 on Billboard. Below is the song “Another Brick in the Wall.”
1706 – Benjamin Franklin, statesman and inventor, was born. At the age of 26, he outlined a list of virtues, which he then attempted to emulate in his daily life. The following is taken from wikipedia:
These are the virtues[13] that Benjamin Franklin used to develop what he called ‘moral perfection’. He had a checklist in a notebook to measure each day how he lived up to his virtues. They became known through Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography.
Temperance: Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.
Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling Conversation.
Order: Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality: Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e. Waste nothing.
Industry: Lose no Time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions.
Sincerity: Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice: Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.
Moderation: Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Cleanliness: Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity: Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace or Reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
1931 – James Earl Jones, Actor and the voice of Darth Vader, was born. If my life was to be narrated by anyone, I would have it be James Earl Jones, followed by Morgan Freeman. Here Jones is in a scene from one of my favorite movies: Field of Dreams.
1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, was arrested by secret police in Hungary and never heard from again. To read more about Wallenberg, click here. Wallenberg once said, “I encounter one example after another of how relative truth is.”
1956 – Paul Young, Rock singer, was born. Young was one of my favorites in the early 80s. Below is a video: Love of the Common People.
1604 - John Rainolds presents to King James I the motion ‘…that there might bee a newe translation of the Bible.’ Approved the next day, Rainolds’ motion led to the 1611 publication of the King James version of the Bible.
1740 - English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: ‘If I see a man who loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity, I am not very solicitous to what…communion he belongs. The Kingdom of God, I think, does not consist in any such thing.’
1749 - Vittorio Alfieri (died 8 October 1803), poet, playwright and philosopher, was born. Alfieri is often considered the “founder of Italian tragedy.” A few quotes from him, that I found interesting, follow.
“Ofttimes the test of courage becomes rather to live than to die.”
“To err is human; but contrition felt for the crime distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked.”
“First thoughts are not always the best.”
On this day in 1973, the final episode of the long-running western “Bonanza” aired on NBC. Featuring the exploits of the Cartwright family (including Little Joe and Hoss) on the Ponderosa, “Bonanza” was one of the longest running Western television series (it ran for 14 seasons) and continues to air in syndication.
Two versions of the Bonanza theme song follow. The first is the original as seen on the TV series, and the second is one with words sung by the Ponderosa patriarch himself, Lorne Greene.
Today in Norway is Tyvendedagen (Twentieth Day, after Christmas). As this site explains:
“Saint Knut drives Christmas away,” is an old folk saying which explains why, in many country areas it was customary on this day to hold the traditional “Christmas race.” People piled into their sleighs and sledges and drove madly across ice-bound lakes and frosty roads to the accompaniment of joyous shouts and merrily jingling bells; for, according to ancient superstition trolls, led by the troll woman herself, Kari-Tretten, or Karl the Thirteenth, raced over the frozen countryside on the night of January 13.
On Tyvendedagen, which marks the official end of Yuletide and is the last day the greeting “Glaedelig Jul,” “Merry Christmas,” is used, Christmas trees are dismantled and decorations carefully packed away until the following year. Generally the tree is chopped up and burned in the fireplace. The last Christmas parties are held, the final festivities attended on this day.
1695 – Jonathan Swift was ordained an Anglican priest in Ireland
1832 – Horatio Alger was born. Alger, the American author of boy’s adventure stories whose heroes lead exemplary lives and strive to succeed in the face of adversity and poverty, also has the following epitaph on his tombstone: “Here lies a good fellow who spent his life while he had it.”
1884 – Sophie Tucker, American entertainer/singer and the “last of red hot mammas.” was born in Russia. Below is her signature song Some of These Days.
1901 – A.B. Jr. Guthrie, American novelist, was born. Guthrie once said: “Nouns and verbs are the guts of the language. Beware of covering up with adjectives and adverbs.”
1981- The Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to May Swenson & Howard Nemerov. A poem by each is found below.
The Lowering
by May Swensen
The flag is folded
lengthwise, and lengthwise again,
folding toward the open edge,
so that the union of stars on the blue
field remains outward in full view;
a triangular folding is then begun
at the striped end,
by bringing the corner of the folded edge
to the open edge;
the outer point, turned inward along the open edge,
forms the next triangular fold:
the folding continued so, until the end is reached,
the final corner tucked between
the folds of the blue union,
the form of the folded flag is found to resemble that
of a 3-cornered pouch, or thick cocked hat.
Take this flag, John Glenn, instead of a friend;
instead of a brother, Edward Kennedy, take this flag;
instead of a father, Joe Kennedy, take this flag;
this flag instead of a husband, Ethel Kennedy, take this flag;
this 9-times-folded red-white-striped, star-spotted-blue flag,
tucked and pocketed neatly,
Nation, instead of a leader, take this folded flag.
Robert Kennedy, coffin without coverlet,
beside this hole in the grass,
beside your brother, John Kennedy,
in the grass,
take, instead of a country,
this folded flag;
Robert Kennedy, take this
hole in the grass.
1876 – Jack London, American novelist and author of Call of the Wild, was born. London once wrote:
“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
1957 – The Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) was founded. To read more about this important civil rights organization, click here.
1967 – The Louisville KY, draft board refuses an exemption for boxer Muhammad Ali. Here is what Ali had to say about his refusal to enter the draft:
“I strongly object to the fact that so many newspapers have given the American public and the world the impression that I have only two alternatives in taking this stand: either I go to jail or go to the Army. There is another alternative and that alternative is justice. If justice prevails, if my Constitutional rights are upheld, I will be forced to go neither to the Army nor jail. In the end I am confident that justice will come my way for the truth must eventually prevail.”
To rad more about this event in history and Ali’s ultimate victory in the Supreme Court, click here.
1813 – The first pineapples were planted in Hawaii (And you thought they were native to Hawaii, didn’t you? I know I did).
1903 – Alan Paton, South African writer and author of Cry, the Beloved Country, was born. Some quotes from Paton follow.
“But there is only one thing that has power completely, and this is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.”
“The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.”
“There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive. ”
“The truth is, our civilization is not Christian; it is a tragic compound of great ideal and fearful practice, of loving charity and fearful clutching of possessions.”
1907 - The Church of God, headquartered today in Cleveland, Tennessee, and with roots going back to 1886, officially adopted its current name. The Church of God is the original “holy roller” church, and was also the church of my childhood and youth.
1952 – The Bollingen Prize for poetry was awarded to Marianne Moore. Below is her poem “The Past is the Present.”
If external action is effete
and rhyme is outmoded,
I shall revert to you,
Habakkuk, as when in a Bible class
the teacher was speaking of unrhymed verse.
He said – and I think I repeat his exact words -
“Hebrew poetry is prose
with a sort of heightened consciousness.” Ecstasy affords
the occasion and expediency determines the form
1959 – The Bollingen Prize for poetry was awarded to Theodore Roethke, Below is his poem “The Right Thing.”
Let others probe the mystery if they can.
Time-harried prisoners of Shall and Will-
The right thing happens to the happy man.
The bird flies out, the bird flies back again;
The hill becomes the valley, and is still;
Let others delve that mystery if they can.
God bless the roots!-Body and soul are one!
The small become the great, the great the small;
The right thing happens to the happy man.
Child of the dark, he can out leap the sun,
His being single, and that being all:
The right thing happens to the happy man.
Or he sits still, a solid figure when
The self-destructive shake the common wall;
Takes to himself what mystery he can,
And, praising change as the slow night comes on,
Wills what he would, surrendering his will
Till mystery is no more: No more he can.
The right thing happens to the happy man.
1984 – The Supreme Court reinstated a $10 million award to Karen Silkwood’s family. To read about her life and death, I suggest clicking here.
1776 – Thomas Paine published the pamphlet “Common Sense.” Oh, how I wish today’s politicians would read it.
1858 – English poet and hymnist Frances R. Havergal wrote the words to her first popular hymn while on a trip to Germany
“I Gave My Life for Thee”
by Frances R. Havergal, 1836-1879
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might’st ransomed be
And quickened from the dead.
I gave My life for thee;
What hast thou given for Me?
I spent long years for thee
In weariness and woe
That an eternity
Of joy thou mightest know.
I spent long years for thee;
Hast thou spent one for Me?
My Father’s home of light,
My rainbow-circled throne,
I left for earthly night,
For wanderings sad and lone.
I left it all for thee;
Hast thou left aught for Me?
I suffered much for thee,
More than My tongue may tell,
Of bitterest agony,
To rescue thee from hell.
I suffered much for thee;
What canst thou bear for Me?
And I have brought to thee
Down from My home above
Salvation full and free,
My pardon and My love.
Great gifts I brought to thee;
What hast thou brought to Me?
Oh, let thy life be given,
Thy years for Me be spent,
World’s fetters all be riven,
And joy with suffering blent!
I gave Myself for thee:
Give thou thyself to Me.
1894 – Uri Zvi Greenberg, Hebrew and Yiddish poet, was born. Below is his poem “The Man Who Stepped Out of His Shoes.”
I stood, and my two eyes saw this:
I didn’t know who the man was,
his name, or his tangled history.
It was a morning all of gold,
and this man marched up to the electric pole
as if to a borderline that he had chosen,
and there he stepped out of his shoes,
and leaving them behind, as if on a threshold,
he began walking barefoot,
to somewhere beyond this final point,
towards an endless beginning far in the distance:
without house, or bed, or bosom;
without a loaf of bread or a jar of water…
light and empty-handed.
I saw his broad shoulders,
his high stature, his manly steps
going away, going from here to his distances,
without the memory of his shoes,
which wait for him here.
(Translated by T. Carmi)
Today is the birthday of the American dancer and actor Ray Bolger, who was born on this day in 1904 and died on January 15, 1987. Bolger a contract player for many years at MGM studios, is perhaps best known for his role as the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Below you will find a video celebrating Mr. Bolger: his famous scene from “Oz,” featuring his song “If I Only Had a Brain.” It includes footage ultimately cut from the movie as well. Enjoy.
1964 – The Beatles’ first album in the United States, Introducing the Beatles, was released. A video of “Love Me Do” is below.
On January 9, 1777, Francis Asbury, who would become a bishop in Methodist Church, wrote in his journal: “My soul lives constantly as in the presence of God, and enjoys much of His divine favor. His love is better than life!”
Hmmm . . .
While I can certainly agree on the last part of that statement about the love of God being better than life, I have a much harder time with the “my soul lives constantly as in the presence of God” part. That is a much harder thing to accomplish, it seems to me. Of course, Asbury exhibited a dedication to his ministry and to God that most of us living today do not come close to emulating. The following paragraph (found here) demonstrates some of the religious fervor and devotion he demonstrated upon coming to America in 1771.
In no time [Asbury} reflected the practicality of American life, putting behind him the old world’s concern for pretentious titles and social position. Concerning slaveowners who would not free black serfs he announced without hesitation, “God will depart from them.” A minister was someone who did the work of the ministry and was manifestly used of God in that work; to forsake the ministry for a less rigorous job and expect to retain “Reverend” was ridiculous. Ordination at the hands of the church conferred nothing; it merely acknowledged that someone had been ordained at God’s hand already. At the same time he was upset at the scarcity of qualified preachers, and startled that many without qualification assumed none was needed. Like Wesley before him, Asbury insisted that those claiming a call to preach must study five hours per day — or return to shop and farm. When resisted by older ministers whose ardour had diminished and who preferred to minister amidst comfort, Asbury stated, “I have nothing to seek but the glory of God; nothing to fear but his displeasure…. I am determined that no man shall bias me with soft words and fair speeches.” He sought no comfort for himself as he preached everywhere: a widow’s rented room, a tavern, a cabin filthy as a stable, an orchard, a paper-mill, a crowd at a public hanging, a wagon carrying men to their execution.
In his lifetime Asbury crossed the Allegheny mountains over 60 times in order to make his rounds as bishop. He ultimately travelled over 300,000 miles, preached over 16,500 sermons, and ordained over 4,000 Methodist preachers during his lifetime. During his last seven years he could not, due to illness, stand to preach, and in his final two years he had to carried by others since he could no longer walk.
And to think, I was just complaining a couple of hours ago that I was feeling tired.
In other news from the day:
1908 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer, was born. A few quotes follow.
“Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.”
“Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female – whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male.”
One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.
2006 – “The Phantom of the Opera” became the longest-running show in Broadway history, surpassing “Cats,” which ran for 7,485 performances. Personally, I do not know which of these musicals is worst.
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traditional “Christmas race.” People piled into their sleighs and sledges and drove madly across ice-bound lakes and frosty roads to the accompaniment of joyous shouts and merrily jingling bells; for, according to ancient superstition trolls, led by the troll woman herself, Kari-Tretten, or Karl the Thirteenth, raced over the frozen countryside on the night of January 13.
