I’d read Charles Dickens in high school (David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities), but it was only when I was working as a speechwriter for a CEO that it became serious. He read Dickens, a lot of Dickens, and I was expected to read what he read. And to quote Dickens. So, I did. And I discovered how much I enjoyed his works. I’ve visited the Dickens Museum in London five times and joined the Dickens Fellowship. I read Pickwick Papers back in the 1990s, bit I was reminded of it this week when I saw Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern post and discuss a poem Dickens included in that work – “Ode to an Expiring Frog.”
It was called a miracle, and it may have saved the American Revolution. The British had occupied Boston, and in very short order, cannons were transported in almost impossible conditions from Fort Ticonderoga on the New York-Vermont border to the hills overlooking Boston. The ensuing bombardment forced the British to their ships in Boston Harbor. In nearby Quincy, Abigal Adams watched the bombardment and sent her observations to her husband John. The transfer of the cannons was a hugely successful operation, and it even had some involvement by none other than Benedict Arnold.
As many times as we’ve visited London, I can remember using the iconic red telephone box only once. It was 1983, my wife was recovering from a prescription reaction at our hotel, and I called her at 3 p.m. as the bells of St. Paul’s rang out the hour. More than 40 years later, phone boxes are generally used for one reason – for tourists to take photographs. (There’s one near Parliament Square that always has a long line of people wanted to snap a photo of a phone box with Big Ben and the houses of Parliament in the background.) Spitalfields life posted some pictures of phone boxes this week, and yes, they’re still there.
More Good Reads
America 250
Major General Richard Montgomery: The Making of an American Hero – review by Sam Short at Journal of the American Revolution.
A Fleet Against One: The Continental Navy’s Embarrassing Clash Off Block Island, April 6, 1776 – Bjorn Bruckshaw at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
The Spirited Revolutionary Who Led the Fight for Independence in Corsica Also Inspired America’s Colonial Rabble-Rousers – Anna Richards at Smithsonian Magazine.
Colonel William Hill: Hero or Disgrace? – Robert Ford at Journal of the American Revolution.
Faith
Christian astronaut pilots first moon mission in 53 years – Bobby Ross Jr. at The Christian Chronicle.
Art
The Silent Traveler – Spitalfields Life.
Poetry
Old Fred’s Night Music – Steve Knepper at Front Porch Republic.
The Point of Poetry? Slow Down – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.
“Knowledge,” poem by Louise Bogan – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Accidentally – Sonja Benskin Mesher.
British Stuff
King Charles Is Failing to Defend the Faith – Garrett Exner at Providence Magazine.
Man on the Marquee – Andrew Duhon
Painting: Reading Woman, oil on canvas (ca. 1900) by Jacques-Emile Blanche (1861-1942), Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.
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