On January 16th

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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.

 

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On January 13th

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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.

A Life
by Howard Nemerov

Innocence?
In a sense.
In no sense!

Was that it?
Was that it?
Was that it?

That was it.

On January 12th

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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.

On January 11th

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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.

On January 10th

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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.