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 . . MEDICINE see: "HEALTH" for related links Erection is chiefy caused by parsnips, artichokes, turnips, asparagus, candied ginger, acorns bruised to a powder drunk in muscatel. --Aristotle (384—322 B.C.) Greek philosopher. _Nicomachean Ethics_ [c. 350 B.C.] ^^ **To cure the Thrush. (parasitic stomatitis) Take a living frog, and hold it in a cloth, that it does not go down into the child's mouth; and put the head into the child's mouth 'till it is dead; and then take another frog, and do the same. **To cure the Tooth-Ach. Take a new nail, and make the gum bleed with it, and then drive it into an oak. This did cure William Neal's son, a very stout gentleman, when he was almost mad with the pain, and had a mind to have pistolled himself. **To staunch Bleeding. Out an ash of one, two, or three years growth, at the very hour and minute of the sun's entring into Taurus: a chip of this applied will stop it; if it is a shoot, it must be cut from the ground. Mr. Nicholas Mercator, astronomer, told me that he had tried it with effect. Mr. G. W. says the stick must not be bound or holden; but dipped or wetted in the blood. When King James II. was at Salisbury, 1688, his nose bled near two days; and after many essays in vain, was stopped by this sympathetick ash, which Mr. William Nash, a surgeon in Salisbury, applied. --John Aubrey (1626—1697) English antiquarian and writer. _Miscellanies Upon Various Subjects_ [1696] ^^ I find the medicine worse than the malady. --Francis Beaumont (c. 1584—1616) English Jacobean playwright and poet who collaborated with John Fletcher on comedies and tragedies between 1606 and 1614. _Love's Cure_, III, ii [c. 1606—1615] Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety — all this rust of life ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. --Henry Ward Beecher (1813—1887) American Congregational minister; brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, son of Lyman Beecher. _Royal Truths_, p. 241 [1862] A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. --Bible "Proverbs" 17:22 Those two great medicines: Diet and Self-Control. --Max Bircher [Maximilian Oskar Bircher] (1867—1939) Swiss physician. In Gordon Young, _Doctors Without Drugs_ [1962]. [Erma Bombeck's Rule of Medicine:] Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. --Erma Bombeck (1927—1996) American humorist. Medicine, the only profession that labors incessantly to destroy the reason for its existence. --attributed to James Bryce (1838—1922) British politician, diplomat, and historian; ambassador to the U.S. [1907—1913]. ^ Agatha Christie (1891—1976) British writer of detective fiction. In 1977, a young Arab girl was flown to England in a semiconscious state and admitted to a London hospital. The doctors were baffled by her condition, which continued to deteriorate over the next five days. On the sixth day, the child began to lose her hair. The nurse watching over her was suddenly struck by the similarity of her symptoms to those of a series of murder victims in Agatha Christie's 'The Pale Horse,' which she was reading at the time. The fictional characters had been killed by thallium poisoning; subsequent tests on the Arab girl revealed that she had high levels of thallium in her urine. Three weeks later, the child was fit enough to return home, and the case was written up in the 'British Journal of Hospital Medicine,' with a note of thanks to the observant nurse and the late Dame Agatha Christie. --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ - Alarmed successively by every fashionable medical terror of the day, she dosed her children with every specific which was publicly advertised or privately recommended. No creatures of their age had taken such quantities of Ching's lozenges, Godbold's elixir, or Dixon's anti-bilious pills. The consequence was, that the dangers, which had at first been imaginary, became real: these little victims of domestic medicine never had a day's health; they looked, and were, more dead than alive. --Maria Edgeworth (1767—1849) Irish novelist. _Patronage_, ch. 20 [1814] - It is right well done that pilgrims have with them both singers and also pipers; that when one of them that goeth barefoot striketh his toe against a stone and hurteth him sore, and maketh him to bleed, it is well done that he or his fellow begin then a song or else take out of his bosom a bagpipe for to drive away with such mirth the hurt of his fellow; for with such solace the travail and weariness of pilgrims is lightly and merrily borne. --Desiderius Erasmus (1469—1536) Dutch humanist and theologian. _Pilgrimages to St. Mary of Walsingham and St. Thomas of Canterbury_, p. 21 [1875 edn.] He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines. --Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790) American politician, inventor, and scientist. _Poor Richard's Almanack_ [1733] All those who drink of this remedy recover in a short time, except those whom it does not help, who die. Therefore, it is obvious that it fails only in incurable cases. --attributed to Galen (129—199) Greek physician, anatomist, and writer on medicine and philosophy. [On flute music:] Specific for the bite of a viper. --Aulus Gellius (130—180) Latin author and grammarian. Gellius cites Theophrastus & Democritus for this belief. Quoted in Charles Burney _A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period_, vol I [4 vols., 1776-89]. A library is a repository of medicine for the mind. --Greek proverb Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess was why several of us died of tuberculosis. --Jack Handey (b. 1949) American comedian and comedy writer. _Deeper Thoughts_ [1993] In cases where such treatment is advantageous, bleeding or purging is more efficacious in the spring. --Hippocrates (c. 460—377 BC) Greek physician. _Aphorisms_ [c. 400 B.C.] The indigent sick of this city and its environs, without regard to sex, age or color, who may require surgical or medical treatment, and who can be received into the hospital without peril to the other inmates, and the poor of this city and state, of all races, who are stricken down by any casualty, shall be received into the hospital, without charge, for such period of time and under such regulations as you may prescribe. --Johns Hopkins (1795—1873) American merchant and investor who in his will left large endowments to found Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital. In a letter instructing the first trustees of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland [March 1873]. What happens in a changing field of medicine, where we have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering? --Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Swiss-born psychiatrist and author. _On Death and Dying_, ch. 2 [1969] Experience has proved the toad to be endowed with valuable qualities. If you run a stick through three toads, and, after having dried them in the sun, apply them to any pestilent tumor, they draw out all the poison, and the malady will disappear. --Martin Luther (1483—1546) German Protestant theologian. _Table Talk_ [1566] tr. William Hazlitt [1857] A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree. --Spike [Terence Alan] Milligan (1918—2002) Irish novelist, poet, musician, and comedian. Attributed in "Daily Telegraph" [28 February 2002], as quoted in Ned Sherrin _Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations_ [2008 ed.]. Meet the disorder in its outset. Medicine may be too late, when the disease has gained ground through delay. --Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso] (43 B.C.—18 A.D.) Roman poet. In _A New Dictionary of Quotations from the Greek, Latin, and Modern Languages_, p. 371 [1869, J. B. Lippincott & Co.]. ^ Richard Leo Simon (1889—1960) American publisher. Lauching a new children's book, _Dr. Dan the Bandage Man_, Simon decided to include a free gift of six Band-Aids with each copy. He cabled a friend at the manufacturers, Johnson and Johnson: 'Please ship half million Band- Aids immediately.' Back came the reply, 'Band- Aids on the way. What the hell happened to you?' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ The sound of the flute will cure epilepsy, and a sciatic gout. --Theophrastus (c.370—c.287 BC) Greek philosopher of the Peripatetic school. Attributed in Nat Shapiro _An Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music_ [1981]. The operation was successful, but the patient died. --"Washington Post" [28 July 1904] [After Randolph Churchill's lung was removed and found not to have malignancies:] A typical triumph of modern science to find the only part of Randolph that was not malignant and remove it. --Evelyn Waugh (1903—1966) English novelist. _Diary_ [March 1964] - Scene: a surgical operation Dramatis personae: Hawkeye and nurse Hawkeye: Scalpel. Sponge. Forceps. Snew. Nurse: Snew? What's snew? Hawkeye: I dunno, what's snew with you? -- Sung to the tune of Clementine: 'In a back street, you can see feet, skin and bone and intestine all entangled cut and mangled by the blokes of medicine. We'll prescribe it You'll imbibe it Take it when you go to bed Drink your fill then Make your will and In the morning you'll be dead. -- A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE: "Doctor, I have a stomach ache." 2000 B.C. - "Here, eat this root." 1000 B.C. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer." 1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstition, drink this potion." 1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill." 1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic." 2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is terribly artificial. Here, eat this root!" ----- allay (verb) [ê-'ley] To reduce the intensity or severity of something, as to allay a pain or allay fears. analeptic (adj.) Of medication, restoring strength to the body after a disease or after the effects of sedatives. anodyne [AN-uh-dyn], adjective: 1. Serving to relieve pain; soothing. 2. Not likely to offend; bland; innocuous. 3. A medicine that relieves pain. 4. Anything that calms, comforts, or soothes disturbed feelings. bolus (noun) 1: A large pill or ball of medicine, used primarily for large animals. 2: A rounded mass, esp. one of partially chewed food. Related: tablet efflorescence (noun) [ef-flo-'re-sêns ] Flowering, blooming, blossoming. (Medicine) a rash or other red eruption on the skin. nostrum [NOS-truhm], noun: 1. A medicine of secret composition and unproven or dubious effectiveness; a quack medicine. 2. A usually questionable remedy or scheme; a cure-all. panacea (noun) [pæ-nê-'see-ê] A remedy for everything, for all problems or difficulties; a cure-all, a catholicon. The adjective is "panacean," as a panacean remedy or a panacean effect. Etymology: From Latin "panacea," a herb Romans believed could cure all diseases. The word was borrowed from Greek panakeia "universal cure." roborant [ROB-uh-ruhnt], adjective: 1. Strengthening; restoring vigor. 2. A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.  . . see: "BORES" see: "FOOLS" see: "IGNORANCE" see: "MOB" see: "VULGARITY" Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs. --Sir Max Beerbohm (1872—1956) English satirist and caricaturist. In obituary of music-hall comic Dan Leno _Saturday Review_ [5 November 1904]. The success of many works is found in the relation between the mediocrity of the authors' ideas and that of the ideas of the public. --Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort (1741—1794) French playwright and conversationalist. Quoted in James Wood (ed.) _Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources_, p. 456 [1893]. Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859—1930) Scottish-born writer of detective fiction. _The Valley of Fear_, ch. I [1915] Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form. --Albert Einstein (1879—1955) German-American physicist. Letter to Morris Raphael Cohen [19 March 1940]. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was. --Joseph Heller (1923—1999) American novelist. _Catch-22_, ch. 9 [1961] There are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers, and they are entitled to a little representation [on the Supreme Court] aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters, and Cardozos. --Roman L. Hruska (1904—1999) American politician. Quoted in "N.Y. Times" [17 March 1970]. In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous. --Robert Green Ingersoll (1833—1899) American politician and orator know as "The Great Agnostic." _Liberty in Literature_, lecture delivered in Philadelphia, Pa. [21 October 1890]. Mediocrity is excellent to the eyes of mediocre people. --Joseph Joubert (1754—1824) French philosopher. _Recueil des pensées de M. Joubert_ ("Collected Thoughts of Mr. Joubert") [1838] Malice is only another name for mediocrity. --Patrick Kavanagh (1904—1967) Irish poet. _Collected Prose_ [MacGibbon & Kee, 1967] Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding. --François de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680) French classical author. _Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims_ [1665–78], #375 (Wikiquote) The highest order of mind is accused of folly, as well as the lowest. Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. The majority has established this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way. --Blaise Pascal (1623—1662) French mathematician, physicist, and moralist. _Pensées_ ("Thoughts") [1670] The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment. --William Arthur Ward (1921—1994) American college administrator and author. _Thoughts of a Christian Optimist_ [1968] ;void(0)) MEETING . . see: "GREETINGS" see: "HOSPITALITY" see: "WELCOME" see: "FRIENDS / FRIENDSHIP" for other related links 'Whom are you?' he asked, for he had attended business college. --George Ade (1866—1944) American playwright and humorist. "Chicago Record" [16 March 1898] Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like paté. --Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) Canadian novelist and poet. Quoted in "Evening Standard" (London) [9 April 2002]. Our meetings are held to discuss many problems which would never arise if we held fewer meetings. --attributed to Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) British-born American writer and artist. The place where two friends first met is sacred to them all through their friendship — all the more sacred as their friendship deepens and grows old. --Phillips Brooks (1835—1893) American religious leader. Sermon "The Young and Old Christian" That old miracle — Love-at-first-sight — Needs no explanations. The heart reads aright Its destiny sometimes. --Owen Meredith (pseudonym of Edward Bulwer-Lytton) _Lucile_, p. 317 [1860] Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. --Julius J. Epstein (1909—2000) American screenwriter and playwright. et al., "Casablanca" [1942 film], spoken by Humphrey Bogart. Some enchanted evening, You may see a stranger, You may see a stranger, Across a crowded room. --Oscar Hammerstein II (1895—1960) American songwriter. "Some Enchanted Evening" 1949 song from the musical "South Pacific" Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and all rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door. --Charles Lamb (1775—1834) English essayist. _Essays of Elia_ [1823] "Valentine's Day" Ships that pass in the night, and speak to each other in passing; Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life we pass and speak to one another; Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and silence. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882) American poet. _Tales of a Wayside Inn_ [1863] pt. 3 "The Theologian's Tale: Elizabeth" pt. 4 [1874] Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. --Og Mandino (1923—1996) American author and motivational speaker. Quoted in H. Jackson Brown _P.S. I Love You_ [1999]. I love a hand that meets mine own With grasp that causes some sensation. --Frances Sargent Osgood (1811—1850) American poet. "What I Love" in _A Wreath of Wild Flowers from New England_ [1838]. There is no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand. --William Shakespeare (1564—1616) English dramatist. _King Henry VI_, pt. II, IV, ii [1590—1591] Dr Livingstone, I presume? --Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841—1904) Welch-born British-American explorer. _How I Found Livingstone_ [1872] [Lady Lou (Mae West) speaking:] Why don't you come up sometime, and see me? --Dialogue from "She Done Him Wrong" [1933 film], screenplay by Harvey F. Thew & John Bright from the Broadway play Diamond Lil by Mae West. ----- klatsch [KLAHCH], noun: A casual gathering of people, especially for refreshments and informal conversation. ;void(0)) MELANCHOLY . . see: "UNHAPPINESS" for related links There will always be a lost dog somewhere that will prevent me from being happy. --Jean [-Marie-Lucien-Pierre] Anouilh (1910—1987) French playwright. _La Sauvage_ [1938] If there be a hell upon earth, it is to be found in a melancholy man's heart. --Robert Burton (1577—1640) English scholar, cleric, and author. _The Anatomy of Melacholy_ [1621-1651] "Democritus to the Reader" Wise men mingle mirth with their cares, as a help either to forget or overcome them; but to resort to intoxication for the ease of one's mind is to cure melancholy by madness. --Pierre Charron (1541—1603) French moralist. Attributed in _The Speaker's Garland and Literary Bouquet_, vol IV [1905]. There are some people who think that they should be always mourning, that they should put a continual constraint upon themselves, and feel a disgust for those amusements to which they are obliged to submit. For my own part, I confess that I know not how to conform myself to these rigid notions. I prefer something more simple, which I also think would be more pleasing to God. --François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651—1715) French theologian and author. "Upon the Amusements that Belong to Our Condition" Make not a bosom friend of a melancholy soul: he'll be sure to aggravate thy adversity and lessen thy prosperity. He goes always heavy loaded; and thou must bear half. He is never in a good humor; and may easily get into a bad one, and fall out with thee. --Thomas Fuller (1654—1734) English writer and physician. Quoted in James Comper Gray _The Biblical Museum_, vol. 4, p. 297 [5 vol., 1872]. Cheerfulness is health; the opposite, melancholy, is disease. --Thomas C. Haliburton (1796—1865) Canadian politician, judge, and writer who was best known as the creator of the literary character, Sam Slick. _Sam Slick's Wise Saws and Modern Instances_ [2 vol., 1853] - The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do or who do nothing. --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. 1 Sept. 1759 issue of _The Idler_ (essays in the newspaper "The Universal Chronicle"). Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking. --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. March 1776 entry in James Boswell _The Life of Samuel Johnson_ [1791]. Employment, sir, and hardships, prevent melancholy. --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. In James Boswell _The Life of Samuel Johnson_ "20 September 1777" [1791]. You are always complaining of melancholy, and I conclude from those complaints that you are fond of it. No man talks of that which he is desirous to conceal, and every man desires to conceal that of which he is ashamed. .... Make it an invariable and obligatory law to yourself, never to mention your own mental diseases; if you are never to speak of them you will think of them but little, and if you think little of them, they will molest you rarely. When you talk of them, it is plain that you want either praise or pity; for praise there is no room, and pity will do you no good. --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. Letter to James Boswell [8 April 1780]. - He who walks through a great city to find subjects for weeping, may, God knows, find plenty at every corner to wring his heart; but let such a man walk on his course, and enjoy his grief alone — we are not of those who would accompany him. The miseries of us poor earthdwellers gain no alleviation from the sympathy of those who merely hunt them out to be pathetic over them. The weeping philosopher too often impairs his eyesight by his woe, and becomes unable from his tears to see the remedies for the evils which he deplores. Thus it will often be found that the man of no tears is the truest philanthropist, as he is the best physician who wears a cheerful face, even in the worst of cases. --Charles Mackay (1814—1889) Scottish poet and newspaperman. _Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds_ [1841] - Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach. --Sydney Smith (1771—1845) English clergyman and essayist. Quoted in Lady Holland (Smith's daughter) _A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith_ [1855]. If idleness does not produce vice or malevolence, it commonly produces melancholy. --Sydney Smith (1771—1845) English clergyman and essayist. Attributed in _The Review of Education_ [May 1902]. - One of the greatest menaces [is] people with intelligence deciding that the point is to become grimly grey and intense and unhappy and tiresome, because the world and many of its people are in a bad way. --James Thurber (1894—1961) American humorist and cartoonist. Quoted in "The Economist" [23 August 2003]. ----- atrabilious (adjective) [æ-trê-'bi-li-ês] Peevishly gloomy; melancholic in the original sense of the word and exhibiting a proclivity for hypochondria. ;void(0)) MEMORIAL DAY . . see: "SACRIFICE" see: "WAR & PEACE" for other related links see: "TIME" for other related links - Then, while it was still summer, the Marine Corps notified me my footlocker had been shipped and I could pick it up at Grand Central Station. ... I handed a paper to an employee of the railroad, and he led us deeper into the cellar. There, along with lost baggage and my footlocker, were the coffins from Korea, stacked and tidy, each with its American flag neatly lashed on. Like Mack and Simonis and Captain Chafee and me, they too were home. --James W. Brady (1928—2009) American columnist and author. _The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea_ [2000] - The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten. --Calvin Coolidge (1872—1933) American Republican statesman and President [1923-29]. Acceptance speech upon nomination for Vice-President [27 July 1920]. Through all history, from the beginning, a noble army of martyrs have fought fiercely and fallen bravely for that unseen mistress, their country. So, through all history, to the end, as long as men believe in God that army must still march and fall, recruited only from the flower of mankind, cheered only by their own hope of humanity, strong only in the confidence of their cause. --George William Curtis (1824—1892) American essayist, editor, and reformer. Quoted in James Baldwin _Harper's School Speaker_ [1890], Pt. II "Memorial Day". But Memorial Day may and ought to have a meaning also for those who do not share our memories. When men have instinctively agreed to celebrate an anniversary, it will be found that there is some thought of feeling behind it which is too large to be dependent upon associations alone. The Fourth of July, for instance, has still its serious aspect, although we no longer should think of rejoicing like children that we have escaped from an outgrown control, although we have achieved not only our national but our moral independence and know it far too profoundly to make a talk about it, and although an Englishman can join in the celebration without a scruple. For, stripped of the temporary associations which gives rise to it, it is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for the country in return. --Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841—1935) Justice of the United States Supreme Court, legal historian, and philosopher. "In Our Youth Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire," An address delivered for Memorial Day [30 May 1884], at Keene, NH, before John Sedgwick Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic. - The only way we got out of Frozen Chosin is because a lot of young guys knew how to fight. God bless the Chosin Marines. They are my brothers for life. ... Every Memorial Day my thoughts go drifting back to those youngsters who never came home. I can still see them as they were then. They'll never grow old. --Lt. Henry Litvin A battalion surgeon with the U.S. Marines, describing fighting which occurred in the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea [1950]. Quoted in Martin Russ _Breakout_ [1999]. - - Then as oft as the 30th of May returns with time's annual round let a grateful nation remember its dead, and with a floral offering decorate the tombs of its fallen heroes, while the dropping tear moistens the cold sod that covers their sleeping dust. To them we owe the liberty we enjoy; to them we owe the preservation of our institutions; and shall we not hold them in grateful remembrance? And though we may often differ in opinion, let us here be united. In God's name let us respect and love the dead who have died for us. Let this beautiful custom be perpetuated until the day shall become a hallowed day in the history of freedom. It carries with it the idea of our loss and dear cost of liberty. It brings fresh to mind the deeds of our country's martyrs, it keeps alive and warm the great principles for which our sires poured out their blood, on which our republic is based. --John Alexander Logan (1826—1886) American general and legislator. Speech on the second National Memorial Day. [May 29 & 30, 1869 (some speeches were given on the 29th because the 30th was a Sunday.)] - - Remembrance of Vietnam is not on the wane; it is on the ascendancy. The number of visitors to the Memorial keeps growing. There are many excellent web sites on the Internet, television documentaries, and many outstanding books, some of which we are fortunate to quote here. Some of the Internet sites publish letters, poems, and essays written in tribute to Vietnam veterans. On one — www.thewall-usa.com, Racheline Maltese had this to say after a visit to the Memorial: "I am only 21. I do not remember the war when it was happening. I did not learn about it in school. To see these men and women with their shirts and flags shakes me. Seeing the things people have left here shakes me. A picture of Jimi Hendrix, a bottle of Seagrams 7, a pack of cigarettes have reduced me to tears. "I wonder if you [the inscribed veterans] watch us. If you'd like to say 'thank you' for these gifts. I wonder if we mourn for you or for ourselves." --Lamar Underwood _The Quotable Soldier_ [2000], "'Nam: Words From Beyond The Wall" - You who went forth with a mother's benediction; you who bade farewell to the children who received your last embrace at the place of embarkation; you who faced the enemy so boldly in the charge; you who died amid the carnage of battle alone, while the very stars of God seemed to look in pity upon you. O yes, you, you, my countrymen, whether from Georgia, or New York, tonight, these — the remnant of more than 2,000 men — these your comrades gathered here, salute you as we bring to mind your faithfulness as soldiers, and rejoice with you that our country has passed from the hurricane to the calm; from out of that clash, of which we were part, to liberty; union, brotherly love, and peace. --Clark Wright 19th cent. American soldier and clergyman. "Thirty Years After", speech when his old regiment, the 9th New York Volunteer, entertained the 3rd Georgia. - What we now call Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day in my early youth. In those days my school year was over shortly before Decoration Day and I would be excited because I was looking forward to the family's annual visit to my Grandmother. Grandmother lived very far "off the beaten path" in the Appalachians. When that greatly anticipated day arrived we would be up at daybreak ready to pile into the family car and start our journey. The family car at that time was a 1932 Franklin, a large heavy car. The early start would give us time for the delays that we somewhat expected. Flat tires were commonplace and the Franklin carried two spares. Many of the main US highways in those days, no freeways of course, were often just two lane roads. I recall that one that we followed for part of the trip was a red brick two lane highway. Not a Yellow Brick Road, but a Red Brick Road. My sister and I would be alert to see which one of us would be the first to spot the Great Silver Bridge for we know that a good part of the trip would be behind us when we crossed that bridge. Finally we would be over the bridge and not too long after that we would leave the paved highway for a small gravel road. After some miles on the gravel road we would turn off on an unpaved road better described as a trail than a road. There were several options as to which dirt road we would take and my father would stop and ask a local about the present condition of the various roads and for a recommendation concerning the best route. As we continued on these backroads there would be little room for two cars coming from opposing directions to pass. Sometimes one of the cars would have to backup in order to facilitate passing. During this passing exercise one of the cars might get a back wheel into a mud hole and become stuck. Then the drivers would assist each other to get the mudfast car going again. The small streams were not bridged. The car was driven down one bank fording the stream and back up the opposite bank. The cars of the early 1930s were high wheeled vehicles with enough road clearance to transverse these primitive roads. A modern passenger car would not be capable. If there had been any recent rains, and there usually had been, my father would have to stop and put the chains on. These chains were the same as snow chains but in this case they were "mud chains". On more rare occasions the car would become totally bogged down in the mud and my father would walk to the nearest farm and ask the farmer to bring out a team of horses to pull the car out of the mud. In that era such a request would never be refused. I can only recall one trip that we did not manage to get through all road hazards and arrive at Grandmothers by dusk. On that one occasion the car slid part way off the road and down a slope. It was very late so we left the car and we walked the shortcuts over the mountain footpaths by moonlight that my mother remembered from her childhood. My father had to go back the next morning with a couple of horse teams to recover the car. My grandmother's life style was not of this century. There was no electricity, no indoor plumbing and the (crank phone) phone line was a local party line that run for a few miles in each direction with no connection possible to a long distance system. Each party on the line had a distinctive ring, such as two shorts and a long. Cooking was done on a huge old cast iron wood burning range. The chickens ran loose on the farm. Now they call those "range chickens". The mattresses on the beds were "feather ticks", mattress type material filled with chicken feathers. Not far from the kitchen was the smokehouse where the locally butchered pork was cured. Water was drawn out of the well with a bucket. The mailman delivered the mail on horseback. There was little difference in the life style there in the 1930s as compared to the lifestyle of the 1870s. The laundry was done on a washboard after the water was drawn from the well and heated on the woodburning range. Unless the weather dictated otherwise the laundry was done outdoors. Those farmers were very self sufficient. My Grandmother made her own soap and even the lye water used to make the soap was prepared by running water through wood ashes. During the week that we would stay there my father would keep a very close eye on the weather. If it appeared that a heavy rain was threatening, we would quickly pack up the car and leave for if the streams were to rise we would be unable to leave for several days until the water went back down. Also the red clay roads became extremely slippery when rain covered. So much for the 1930s Decoration Day and the annual trip to Grandmother's. --author unknown - - Decoration Day in the Hudson Valley meant the Spring High Season and the start of the parade season. The entire NY/NJ/New England area is loaded with Drum & Bugle Corps, often sponsored by a town or a Company of Firefighters. Moving there from N.C., we had never seen a parade; but became quickly convinced that Yankees need only the smallest excuse to have one. Membership in a Drum & Bugle Corp was good discipline for young people, because it taught all the values that a musical marching unit requires. Many of the members and participants were adults as well. We practised all Spring and Summer. There was intense competition between Corps from various locations. On Decoration Day, parades were scheduled in almost every town, consisting of veterans, cops, politicians, firemen and lots of gussied-up fire trucks, civic groups, and of course, Drum & Bugle Corps. We would usually march in 3 or 4 parades that day in different towns. If it was a hot day, then we were exhausted by late afternoon. After all the parading, of course, it was a fried chicken/potato salad supper out in the back yard. --author unknown - Before I sit down to watch the Memorial Day Concert on PBS I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to all who served in WW II. I was a young girl in Britain when we were 'invaded' by hordes of gum-chewing, wise-cracking young men who tore up our beautiful fields to lay down runways for the aircraft that would soon be taking off on missions. At first we resented those loud, brash fellows who drove too fast on our country lanes and who filled up our pubs. They were young, wonderfully handsome and cocky in their new-found roles of about-to-be- heroes. They soon became 'our boys'. I was able to be with some of them after D-Day at a Red Cross Club in London. Their youthful brashness was gone - they would never quite be young again. My thanks to their families and all those on the Home Front who also 'served'. Now I will go and watch the program with a tug of the heartstrings as memories come flooding in. --Lorna May soc.retirement (USENET newsgroup) [24 May 1998] end page | MACARTHUR (DOUGLAS) - MALICE | MAN - MARINES | MARRIAGE | MARTYRS - MAUGHAM (WILLIAM SOMERSET) | McCARTHY - MEANNESS | MEDIA (THE) | MEDICINE - MEMORIAL DAY | MEMORIES - MEMORY | MEN - MEN v. WOMEN | MENTAL ILLNESS - MILK | MIND (THE) - MINDING OWN BUSINESS | MINNESOTA - MISERY | MISFORTUNE - MISSOURI | MISTAKES | MISTAKEN IDENTITY - MODESTY | MONEY | MONROE - MOON | MORAL ASSASINATION - MORALITY | MORNING - MOUNTAINS | MOVIE DIALOGUE - MUSHROOMS | MUSIC - MYTHOLOGY | | H | I - J | K - L | M | N - O | P - Q | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The Reviews | |
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