Not the Battle Hymn of the Republic

Providence, Rhode Island

John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
His soul goes marching on
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul is marching on....

One of my personal heros is the abolitionist, John Brown. John believed that slavery was wrong. John thought that the American pacifist abolitionist movement of his time lacked the conviction of action. He demonstrated the sincerity of his beliefs in 1856 by murdering five pro-slavery men in the Pottawatomie Massacre. His raid on the Harper's Ferry Arsenal in Virginia in 1859 to foment a slave rebellion is often credited with igniting the American Civil War. The Harper's Ferry rebellion was meant to arm the slaves. Robert E. Lee was called upon to quash this rebellion, led, as it was by outside agitators.


So when we saw a chance to visit the John Brown House in Providence today, I became confused about the opulence of the Georgian mansion, but plunked down the admission fee. "Is this THE John Brown, or some other John Brown" I ask the guide. The guide explains that this John Brown is a very fat robber barron Providence Yankee slaver who once owned half of Rhode Island and established the nearby Brown University. My guide doesn't mention it, but this John Brown was the first person convicted under the Federal Slave Trade Act of 1794.

This John Brown got rich on the three-corner trade: sugar and molasses from the West Indies to New England, Rum from Providence to Africa and slaves from Africa to the West Indies. On one especially unprofitable trip over 100 of his cargo perished from disease and starvation and the 30 survivors brought a poor price due to ill health.


John had a piggery to eat the dregs from his rum distillery. Apolitical, he drew "first blood" in the American revolutionary war. In 1792, he hired mercenaries to burn one of King George's revenue cutters. The cutter had the effrontery to attempt to collect taxes on one of his ships that was bringing in molasses.


So, we wandered around Providence and then found a really nice place for lunch. Brown University is a lovely "ivy league" school in Providence.

Cape Cod

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Cape Cod has about 80 miles of "National Seashore". It is undeveloped white sand beach and sand dunes. It cost $15 for a vehicle pass, unless you are old like us and then it's free.

The trip over to Cape Cod involves a lot of traffic in the summer. We saw one traffic jam of stopped cars backed up for 15 miles trying to leave the peninsula.


We drove out to the Provincetown at the end of the Cape. The small seashore town is jammed with cars and pedestrians in mid-summer.

The only thing uncrowded in Provincetown is the barber shop. I get a haircut and we have lunch and do a little shopping.

The beaches are lovely and the water is clear and cool. It all reminds me of "Jaws" which was filmed on one of the nearby beaches in a summer setting.


The pungent odor drifting out of a local shop tells me that the local police are not much into drug law enforcement.

Obama has been over in Europe discussing chlorinated chicken in Berlin with crowds of 200,000. Europe bans our chicken because we disinfect the carcasses in a chlorine bath. This running for President stuff is more complicated than I first thought....I've always been a fond of the concept of nuclear irradiation of foodstuffs to kill germs like salmonella. I think they might they go for that in Europe. Wrap them in plastic and nuke 'em. That should result in a shelf life of 100 years or more. I know how to say nuclear without sounding like a Texas hick. This is also a neat solution for what to do with high-level radioactive waste....a glowing chicken in every pot.

There are a number of motor homes parked right on the beach at the Cape Cod National Seashore.... but for the traffic, we'd be tempted to drive here and camp for several days. Maybe next time, in a different season.

Boston: Non- Rhoticity

Boston, Massachusetts

 
The traditional Boston accent is non-rhotic; in other words, the phoneme [r] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant, as in some types of British English. Thus, there is no [r] in words like park [pahk], car [kah], and Harvard [hahvəd].

The train into Boston takes us about 55 minutes. On both the departure and return we get onboard 30 seconds before the train leaves the station. We also purchased a pair of tickets on a Boston sight-seeing trolley, but the first 45 minutes all the trolleys are full so we decide to walk.

Yeah, the train left the station, it had two lights on behind,
Well, the blue light was my baby and the red light was my mind.

We hoof it to the town center. While we are staring at a map, a nice lady stops and gives us a tip on a local basement restaurant. I have chicken farfella. Mrs. Phred has gazpacho soup with a big blob of goat cheese and bread sidedish.


We wander though the Boston Commons, past the State House, up to Beacon Hill, back though the Commons, to the theatre district and then into Chinatown.


We decide to walk some more and do the harbor, the aquarium and the market. All told we walk five hours, maybe ten miles. My heel hurts the whole time. Strangely, this morning it hurts less than it has since we were in Colorado, two months back. Maybe I’m onto something?


We want to see Harvard. I received a letter of acceptance there in 1962. My father was a house-painter and didn’t see how he could swing the cost. My life would have been completely different. No Air force or Viet Nam. No Mrs. Phred. No son or grandchildren. Maybe I would be running for President now? Maybe not.


I’ve got a walking plan that includes Harvard and ten museums. The plan only requires a mile of walking.

Maine: Lake Sebago

Lake Sebago State Park, Maine

A few days ago we went to see The Dark Knight. I was impressed by the performance of the actor who played The Joker. I asked Mrs. Phred yesterday who the actor was, expecting great things in the future. She tells me that he died of an overdose before the movie was released.

That got me thinking about my old roommate, Jim Morrison and other people born in 1943: me, Janis Joplin, Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell and Mick Jagger to name a few. Some have managed to handle life fairly well, others failed along the way. I think Keith Richards possibly had the best quote of that generation: “I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.”


Joni Mitchell had a sweet thought: “All I really, really want our love to do is to bring out the best in me and in you too.”
We spent a relaxing day here on the beach. We dragged our lawn chairs down to the sand, under a shady elm, and watched the kids and families play and swim. We read for about six hours in the shade.


A little boy asked me if I had a boat or a jet ski. I told him no, but that I had a bicycle. He stared at me dubiously and told me that I was too old to ride a bicycle. This is a popular family park in the summer, full of tents, hammocks and children.

Today we head south 200 miles to find a base camp between Boston and Cape Cod. The water should get warmer as we move south.

Maine: Isleboro Island

Islesboro Island, Maine

There was a time when American parents exercised very little imagination in naming their children. No one called their kids "Dwezel" or "Moon Unit". Robert, Thomas and Richard were popular names for boys. For some reason these all becames Bobs, Dicks and Toms. Once I sat at a table drinking beer with six other Bobs...just a random happening.

The Bob next door has a nice RV...the guy on the other side is also a Bob...somehow he RVs around with a motorized wheelchair....


In the morning we take our bikes on the ferry to Ilseboro Island. The people next to use have bright, spiffy spandex bicycle suits and well-maintained bikes with skinny wheels...we sense they're going to be better at this than us.


John Travolta has a big vacation home somewhere on the island. Our front carrier basket engages the front brakes on either bike. It takes awhile to sort that out. The roads are all uphill and downhill. Neither of our gearshifts work anymore. I turn the bikes over and try to figure out how to get them into low gear....my fingers are filthy with old grease and dirt....the only thing we have to clean with is the map of the island....eventually I get both bikes into low gear...lunch is good...downhill is better...


In the evening we go to see Belfast. It's an arty little town on the Maine Coast.


They have a little movie theatre. It's an old one built in the thirties...definitely not a modern Cineplex...they're playing "Dark Knight" tonight at 6:40 and then an "action movie" made in Maine at 9:00 PM....we might do a double feature....Mrs. Phred wants to go out to dinner with Bob...and Bob...I've always wanted a black leather jacket with a chicken on the back....