Rescued Book #31—Walt Disney: Magician of the Movies

Last year I set out to share 52 of the books (or series of books) that I’ve “rescued” from library sales and other used book sales.  The came the ABC Blogging across Missouri challenge and I fell waaayyy short of my goal of 52.  So I’m going to finish the Rescued Books series, although you’ll notice I’ve taken “weeks” out of the series title.

My “W” for Blogging Across Missouri was Walt Disney’s Hometown.  He wasn’t born in the state, but he considered Marceline, MO as his hometown—it was even the inspiration for Main Street U.S.A. at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  So naturally good ole Walt came up when we studied famous Missourians in Schnickelfritz’s study of The Show Me State.  I used all living books for our history that year and was fortunate to find an old Disney biography.

Walt Disney, Magician of the Movies. Thomas, Bob, and Leonard Vosburgh.  New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1966. 176 pp.

Before the Table of Contents is a storyboard of Disney’s life.  For those who don’t know—a story board is a series of illustrations displayed in sequence to pre-visualize the actions of a motion picture. The process was develops by Walt Disney Productions in the early 1930’s.

The biography begins with six year old Walter having too much time on his hands, a bucket of tar, and a perfectly blank canvas of whitewashed siding.  When his father saw the painting of the pig on the side of his home he gave Walt a spanking, when Walt’s aunt heard the tale she gave Walt a set of colored pencils and some pads of paper.

We learn that Walt loved English in school, even Shakespeare, but algebra seemed like a foreign language. He spent his recess and lunch hour sweeping the sweeping the candy store across the street from the school in return for a hot lunch and some treats.  Other jobs included delivering newspapers for his father (a non-paying job), selling papers and refreshments on trains, and being a mailman.  He never forgot his love of drawing and painting though.  While driving ambulances for the Red Cross after World War I, he earned some spending money by painting medals on the leather jackets of the soldiers.  He returned home having made up his mind to be an artist, more specifically a cartoonist.

We still had two chapters before The Mouse came on the scene (and he was originally going to be called Mortimer).  Fritz got to learn about Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and the innovative “Alice” series of shorts that combined live action with cartoons decades before Song of the South.  Then came Mickey Mouse,  Silly Symphony cartoons, Donald Duck and the first feature-length cartoon, Snow White.  I’ve got quite a collection of Walt Disney Treasure DVD’s and whenever we read about a cartoon, we’d look through the collection to see if we could watch the actual feature.

More chapters and more innovations—the True Life Adventure movies, Disneyland, television shows.  We go on a ride worthy of an E ticket (and I’m old enough to know) before the book ends with Disney’s death on Dec 15th, 1966.

Walt Disney: Magician of the Movies is one of Gross & Dunlap’s Pioneer Books. The introduction explains that these books are “designed to create unique and challenging biographies in many areas in which there has been some significant breakthrough in human achievement—a breakthrough largely engineered by a single person.”  Remember, there was a time when Disney wasn’t a worldwide corporate behemoth but simply a man with a dream, better yet a boy with a paintbrush and a blank canvas to fill. 

You can see all my rescued books by clicking here.

 

The Battle of Pilot Knob

A few weeks ago I shared about an upcoming reenactment for my R post in ABC Blogging Across Missouri series.  The Battle of Pilot Knob was part of Gen. Sterling Price’s last attempt to divert attention, supplies, and soldiers from the war in the east and gain Confederate control over a state he had once governed (1853-1857).  My Schnickelfritz and I traveled down to witness the anniversary battle, 150 years to the day from the original.

Having learned about traffic and parking woes at the Battle of Wilson Creek (we could hear the cannons roar as we waiting in a 2 mile line for the parking field), we arrived more than two hours early.  This gave us a little time to look around.

 

 

 

The permanent museum contained a model of the fort.  It was not made of logs with parapets as many of us may picture (F Troop anyone?), but a hexagonal earthworks with a dry moat surrounding it.  In the middle was a dugout building that served as the armory.

Other exhibits included one of those maps with lights to indicate troop movements.  It seemed very popular as I could never get close enough for a picture.  There was also a restored cannon that is believed to have been abandoned by the Confederate troops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were allowed to walk through the original fort (just DON’T scale the walls).  Here in the center is the crater left when Union troops abandoning the fort blew up all the munitions rather than let them fall into enemy hands.  I don’t know if the cannons are part of the permanent display or were brought in by re-enactors.

 

Aside from the battlefield there were various educational opportunities and places to listen to speakers.  This display was next to a tent with a “forensic surgeon” sign.  The man inside was sharing his knowledge of medical instruments and field surgery.

Sadly, many war dead did not get such fine treatment as this hearse—instead they were buried in a mass grave on the battlefield.

 

 

And of course there were the suttler tents—I’d never seen such fine dresses.  There were vendors selling soldier uniforms too and the usual collection of wooden swords for the boys.  Schnickelfritz got a tin cup and a flint & steel kit, he’s think ahead to Frontiersmen Camping Fellowship.

Finally it was time to find our seats and wait for the battle.  The field had a slight rise in the center which prevented us from seeing clear to the other side, but we managed to find a shaded spot.  A mounted soldier stopped by to let us know the Union Cavalry would be mustering in our corning. This meant sometimes we had great action shots like this ….

But other times our view wasn’t nearly as exciting….

Still we managed to see a few things that we found interesting enough to research further when we got home.

Ever see this flag waving about in a Civil War movie?  Perhaps not since most of them (like Gettysburg and Gods and Generals) focus on the eastern battles.  This was the flag of the Missouri 1st Regiment Cavalry (dismounted).  I thought it was important to point out to my son as he’d developed an idea that Confederates were “the bad guys.”  I pointed out there were God-fearing Christians on both sides.

Thanks to my telephoto lens, I was able to notice a few women taking part in the event.  The one in the upper right corner was trying to “blend in” as Confederate cavalry, but the other was clearly wearing a skirt on the battlefield.  Later we saw her escorting this gentleman to the shade and giving him some water.  She spoke to a fire fighter volunteer who’d been keeping tourists behind the barricades.  I don’t know if she was playing the role of a field nurse or the real thing keeping an eye out for heat exhaustion, etc.  I wasn’t able to find anything online about nurses being issued uniforms, so if any read can enlighten me I’d love to know.

U is for Ulysses S. Grant House

If you were taking a quiz and asked which president was from Missouri I hope would be able to answer Harry S Truman, but he wasn’t the only president who lived in the state.  After graduating from West Point, a young Ulysses S. Grant was stationed at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis.  As a promise to a schoolmate Grant rode out to visit the Dent family at their White Haven estate and pay his respects.  He enjoyed himself so much that he returned on a weekly basis.  The following spring, Julia Dent returned home from boarding school and the visits occurred on a daily basis.  Julia was not the prettiest of the Dent daughters, but she was the best horsewoman.  The couple began to court while riding along the creek that cut through the 850 acre plantation.  When Grant learned he was being transferred in preparation for the Mexican-American War, he proposed.  The couple were finally married in a Dent home in St. Louis in 1848.
Grant remained in the army after the war and was stationed in California for a time.  Julia remained with her family at White Haven and gave birth to their first child, Jesse (eventually 3 of their 4 children would be born in this house).  When Grant resigned his commission (1854), he built a cabin on the Dent property for his young family to live in.  They remained only a few months and returned to the main house when Julia’s mother passed away.  They remained in the home until 1860 when Grant went to work in his own father’s store in Ohio before he returned to the army in 1861.

The Grant’s had intentions of returning to White Haven

as late as his second term as president.  The barn on the property was built to house Grant’s prized horses and based on a design he had sketched on White House stationery.  As it was being constructed, the house was painted a shade of green that Mrs. Grant had noticed and admired among the homes in Washington, D.C. The Grants never did return to Missouri though, instead settling in New York after he left office. 
This field trip was near and dear to my heart.  I grew up just up Grant’s Road and was very familiar with Grant’s Farm, his cabin, and the Clydesdales that were pastured there (Anheuser-Busch owns Grant’s Farm and used to breed horses for their Budweiser wagon team there).

I’d never visited White Haven though.  The property had been sold to a private family and I’d never even seen the house as it was hidden from the road and Grant’s Farm parking lot by the barn.  The property didn’t become available for public tours until the 1990’s.

We began our visit by watching a 16 minute movie about Grant’s life from his arrival at Jefferson Barracks until his death.  He had a tragic ending—he lost the family savings in a bad Wall Street deal and developed throat cancer.  He began work on his memoirs, hoping the proceeds would support his family after his passing.  He finished them just a few days before he died.

Tours of the home are scheduled on the hour and half hour.  The home itself is very sparsely furnished—most of the Grant’s furniture was lost in a fire while it was being stored on the Grant’s Farm property. In addition to the main house, you can tour the summer kitchen/laundry, icehouse, and chicken coop. 

It was interesting to see the contrast between the doors of the family entrance to the home and the slave entrance.  The Dents were slaveholders and Col. Dent even gave a slave to Grant at some point.  Grant freed the man when he moved to Ohio (a free state).  The ranger giving us the tour pointed out that Grant chose to free the man rather than sell him. My mother and I had been taught the Grant was a failure at business and farming and that’s why he had to move to Ohio, but the ranger said if Grant had truly been in such financial straits he could have sold the slave for up to $1500. 
Of more interest to me were the exhibits in the barn.  It may look like a horse stable on the outside, but the inside includes a first class museum.

You find portraits, family artifacts, and interactive displays from various eras in Grant’s life (not so much about his Civil War years). The exhibit below dealt with the four Grant children.  You could listen to memories each child had about their presidential father.  The display case and items of importance to each (one had a microscope while another cherished a story book).
 

 

I was keenly interested in a display about another widely held belief about Grant that may or may not be true.  He is often portrayed (especially in Civil War movies) as a heavy drinker.  The display doesn’t deny that Grant imbibed while he was stationed in California and depressed about the separation from his family.  During the Civil War however, it appears that a Gen. Halleck (Grant’s superior officer) may have started the rumor about drunkenness when Grant was promoted for actions at Ft. Donelson and he wasn’t.  When the rumor was published, Grant’s staff officers wrote it was “the most infamous and malicious falsehood that was ever uttered.”   The Secretary of Wayrsent his own man to investigate the charges and he wrote “To the question they all ask: ‘Doesn’t he drink?’—I have been able, from my own knowledge to give a decided negative.”  It may have in fact been Grant’s frequent migraine headaches or the doctor’s prescribing quinine (which can cause slurred speech and confusion)  that may have led those aware of the rumor to assume he was drunk.
Schnickelfritz wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about reading all the information on the walls, but the museum was prepared for such a contingency.  They had cubbies filled with hats and costumes for kids to try on and a full length mirror in which to view themselves. 

The Ulysses S. Grant home is open daily (except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day).  Admission is free. 
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P is for Pony Express Museum

It only lasted for eighteen months…the founders lost thousands of dollars…and yet you can hardly find an American history textbook that fails to mention the Pony Express--a series of riders jumping from one horse to another, racing across half a continent to deliver the mail. In terms of the Wild West, it is as iconic as Buffalo Bill –who actually was an Express rider long before he formed his rodeo show.  St. Joseph, Missouri was home to the eastern terminus of the route, where you can now find the  Pony Express National Museum.  The building is on the site of the original Pike’s Peak Stable (the wooden structure was replace in 1888 by a brick building, but they reused some of the original posts and beams).  NOTE: The Pony Express offices were in the Patee House (look—another P word) which has it’s own exhibits as well as those pertaining to the Outlaw Jesse James who died in St. Joseph.

"Pony-express-joseph". Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Pony Express was the brainchild of William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell, all three of whom were already in the business of moving freight and army supplies to the western frontier.  They proposed using swift horses and fearless riders as a means to get mail to and from the state of California (the current method being a southern stage coach route that took 25 days) but failed to secure a government contract.  The men proceeded with the plan anyway, using their own funds to build way stations, purchase the best horses, and hire riders. 

My son here wouldn’t qualify as he’s not an expert rider and more importantly his Mama wouldn’t let him go (I guess that’s why orphans were preferred).

If you visit the museum today you can see a replica of the blacksmith and leather shops to would have been needed to maintain the horses and the special letter-carrying saddle bags known as mochilas. Part of the floor is opened up to expose an archeological dig of the site.

Museum admission is $6/Adults, $3/Students, Free/Under 6.

Be sure to stop by later this week as I share more about the Pony Express with my Rescued Books Series.

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O is for the Old Courthouse

Tourists looking down from the windows of the Arch to the west often see the federal style building with the oxidized copper dome and assume it’s the state capitol.  Nope, that’s in Jefferson City—not visible from the Arch.  St. Louisans refer to the building as “The Old Courthouse” Not terribly original, huh?  The basilica nearly across the street is referred to as the Old Cathedral.  I’m not presuming this is the only old courthouse in the country, in fact I’m sure there are many older buildings on the east coast where legal cases were heard. 

The building has ties to the founding of the city itself.  The land on which it sits was donated in part by Auguste Chouteau with the stipulation that it be forever used as the site of the courthouse.  (Chouteau was 14 years old when he laid out the plans for St. Louis – learn more about his story in the book A Boy for a Man’s Job).   Yes, it’s not being used as a courthouse anymore and yes,  the Chouteau descendants sued to have the land returned to them, but they lost and the courthouse and land was turned over to the National Parks Department where it’s now part of the Jefferson Expansion Memorial (along with the Arch ).

I hadn’t been to the Old Courthouse since my fourth grade field trip –and it’s a good thing I didn’t share what I remembered because they ripped out all those exhibits years ago.  Instead, I decided to invite my mother on an “adventure” (our family term for field trips) to the big city.  We took Metrolink and got off at the 8th & Pine station.  If you’re already visiting the Arch, you’ll just need take a bridge over the highway.  NOTE: they are in the process of making the highway go in a tunnel and creating additional parkland to better connect the Arch grounds to the rest of the city.

The first thing to impress me was the art and architecture of the building.  Just look at the elaborate iron scrollwork in the steps!

And then you reach the rotunda, with a very patriotic display I might add.

We were far too early for the guided tour so we browsed on our own.  Where the Museum of Westward Expansion under the Arch covers all of the Louisiana Purchase territory, the exhibits in the Old Courthouse focus on the City of St. Louis.  There is the diorama room…

Here’s a keelboat is bringing in supplies.  Can you see the flag in the background?  It’s Spanish, as are the militiamen on shore.  Spain controlled the land from 1762 to 1802 (remember I wrote about this in D is for Daniel Boone Home) The house is actually French in style, as were the original settlers of the city. There were also four galleries with photos and artifacts from four eras of St. Louis history:  founding to 1850, 1850-1900, 1900-1930 (this includes the St. Louis World’s Fair, 1930 to present. 

Even if you’re not interested in architecture or St. Louis history, it’s still worth visiting the Old Courthouse to learn about the significant 19th century trial that took place there.  Yes, this is another example of Missouri history overlapping U.S. history---in this case the Dred Scott trial, a significant step leading to the Civil War.

Dred Scott was a slave brought to the state by the Blow family and sold to a military surgeon, Dr. John Emerson.  The doctor was assigned to various forts and outposts, including at least two in “free” land –the state of Illinois and Wisconsin Territory (remember the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in all Louisiana Purchase land north of 36°30′ latitude).  Both Scott and the doctor married and both couples returned to St. Louis in 1842.  Shortly after, the doctor died and his widow inherited the Scotts as her property.  She hired out the Scotts (they did the work, but she collected most of the wages).

In 1846, the Scotts filed lawsuits against the widow for their freedom (according to a movie we saw in the courthouse, nearly 300 slaves obtained their freedom this way as Missouri courts supported the “once free, always free” doctrine despite being a slave state).   Their first case was lost on a technicality, but they were allowed to re-file their suits.  In 1850, the Circuit Court granted the Scotts their freedom, but the widow appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.  From that point on, the Scotts lost in both state and federal courts up to the Supreme Court decision in 1857.  Chief Justice Taney wrote in the majority opinion that no African descendant, slave or free, could be a citizen of the United States and that the provisions of the Missouri Compromise were voided (in other words congress couldn’t prohibit slavery in the territories). 

So what happened to the Scotts?  Shortly after the decision, the widow sold them back to their previous owners, the Blows, for one dollar. I’ve read that she did so because she had remarried, and her Massachusetts congressman husband was opposed to slavery, but the marriage took place in 1850.  Why not sell them then, or let them by their freedom (as Dred Scott had once tried to do), or just free them?   And when the Blows did free Dred and Harriet Scott, the widow went to court to collect the wages they had earned for the 11 years the lawsuit was being tried (the money had been held in escrow pending the outcome)—the court gave all the money to her!  Dred Scott died a year later from tuberculosis.

These are copies of the “Free Negro Bonds” for Dred and Harriet Scott.  The Blow family had to put up $1000 for each. The documents  lay out the rights and responsibilities required for the two to live in the state of Missouri.  If the Scotts were ever deemed “a menace to society”  they would lose the money.

It’s not a pretty picture of Missouri or U.S. history, but I left with a greater depth of knowledge and understanding than can be gained by the one or two sentences afforded to the case in history texts.  There is no admission charged to visit the Old Courthouse.

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J is for Jesse James

Well, so far I’ve shared about several famous people who lived in Missouri – every school kid in the U.S.A. should have heard of Daniel Boone and George Washington Carver and I think it’s fair to say Mark Twain is known around the world.  My letter J post is reserved for someone “infamous.”   In fact, if I were to say “Wild West” or “Gunslinger” or “Outlaw” the name might pop into your mind.

Jesse Woodson James was born Sept. 5, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri.  His father was a preacher of all things, but left the family to join the forty-niners with a bad case of gold rush fever.  He died in California when Jesse was three years old.   I won’t say we can blame Jesse’s outcome on the lack of a father figure though.  Another important piece of the puzzle was the Civil War.  The James’ family sided with the Confederacy.  In 1863, a Union patrol attacked the farm and hung Jesse’s stepfather.  Later, both Frank and Jesse James were members of Quantrill’s Raiders – a group of pro-Confederate guerillas who ambushed Union patrols and stole their supplies.  Their worst offense may be the Lawrence, Kansas massacre that claimed the lives of 150 men and boys.

After the War, the James boys kept up their disruptive ways, stealing from trains and banks rather than the Union army.  Somewhere along the way, James earned the reputation of being an American Robin Hood—robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.  He may have done the former, during train robberies he would steal the train’s cash box but not hold up the individual passengers.  There’s no evidence that he did the latter—they kept the loot for themselves.

I’m not saying Jesse James should be modeled or idolized (does anyone else remember The Brady Bunch episode where Bobby picks James as his hero?), but he is definitely an iconic figure in America’s history and there are plenty of places in Missouri to learn more about him.

The Jesse James Home (St. Joseph, MO)

$4/adults , $2/ages 6-17, free/5 & under

This is the home where James was shot in the back of the head as he straightened a picture.  He was killed by a fellow gang member, Bob Ford, who was interested in the reward money.  Bob Ford was pardoned by the governor of the murder, but he never received the full reward.  The house has been moved from its original location to a spot behind the Patee House, a hotel where the investigation of the death took place (the Patee House was also the headquarters for the Pony Express so it’s worth a visit too).

The Jesse James Farm  (Kearney, MO)

$8/adults, $4.50/ages 8-15, free/under 8

The birthplace of Jesse James.  You may view a 20 minute film about James and his family, tour the farmhouse and see James’ boots and cartridge belt in the museum.

The Jesse James Bank (Liberty, MO)

$6/adults, $3.50/ages 8-15, free/under 8

The James Younger gang held up this bank in February 1866 –the first daylight armed bank robbery in peacetime.  The bank looks as it did back then and you can still see the original green vault.  Neither of the two bank employees was injured during the robbery, but a Liberty College student was shot outside the bank.  The take was nearly $60,000.

Jesse James Days (Pineville, MO)

This annual festival celebrates the town’s location for the filming of the 1938 film Jesse James starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda.    There’s a carnival and parade and a staged bank robbery.

Meramec Caverns (Stanton, MO)

$20/adult, $10/ages 5-11, free/4 & under

I mentioned in my post C is for Caves that there was evidence that Jesse James used the cave as a hide out.  One of the stops on the cave tour is Loot Rock,  where strong boxes from a Gadshill, MO train robbery attributed to the James gang.  The items found can be seen in a display box at the cave’s entrance.  These were also two figures (presumably from the James gang) situated in the underground river showing how they used it as an escape route.   They weren’t pointed out the last time I visited the cave so I’m not sure if they’re still there.

Jesse James Wax Museum (Stanton, MO)

$7/adult, $3/ages 5-11

This is a stop for all those folks that enjoy a good conspiracy theory.  According to the museum, Jesse James was not killed by Bob Ford, but the entire thing was a hoax that allowed James to start a new life under the alias J. Frank Dalton.  You can see a collection of firearms and other belongings of Jesse James and his gang and see a variety of wax figures pertaining to the James family.  The was museum was started by the general manager of Meramec Caverns (who arranged for Dalton to live in a cabin on the cave property and greet tourists).  Unfortunately for the museum, the body of Jesse James was exhumed in 1995 and proved with 99.7 percent certainty that it was the outlaw’s remains.  This may be why I’ve never seen visitors in the parking lot when we drive by.

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I is for Independence Day in Hannibal, MO

How do you like to celebrate the Fourth of July (I’m talking to my American readers)?  I suppose it depends where you live.  Those on the coasts by like to spend the day at the beach or watching the famous hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.  I grew up watching airshows and fireworks under the Gateway Arch overlooking the Mississippi River.   If you’re looking for Americana and nostalgia, there’s probably not much that can compete with Hannibal, Missouri. 
Each year the town schedules its own National Tom Sawyer Days to coincide with our country’s anniversary.  Tom Sawyer is the fictitious,  all-American boy created by the town’s real, famous author Samuel Longhorn Clemens (better known by his pen name Mark Twain).  During the three day event, you can watch raft races on the Mississippi, compete in a contest to whitewash a fence, even enter your favorite hopper in a frog-jumping contest (this in honor of another Twain work, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County). 

One of the highlights is the Tom Sawyer/Becky Thatcher contest to select a young man and young lady to be ambassadors of the city and the faces of the town’s tourist industry.  This isn’t just a look-alike or costume contest and is only open to Hannibal residents (which is too bad because my Schnickelfritz would make a very cute, freckle-faced Tom).  The seventh graders must make speeches, be interviewed, and pass two written tests—one about the town and one about Mark Twain.   The winners represent the town at civic events throughout the year and stroll the historic district for tourists during the summer so they really have to know their stuff.  In the ceremony to announce the new winners the outgoing Becky gives the new Tom a fishing pole and the outgoing Tom gives the new Becky a slate (it says I Love You, just like the scene in the book).  Here’s the local newscast’s reporting on last year’s contest…

Of course if you can’t visit during National Tom Sawyer Days, you can still submerse yourself in all things Mark Twain the rest of the year.  You can visit his boyhood home (the whitewash fence is still there).

Other museum properties are the office where Clemens’ father served as Justice of the Peace, the home of the boy who inspired Huckleberry Finn, and the home of the girl that inspired Becky Thatcher.  The museum has 15 original painting by Norman Rockwell for a commemorative edition of the Tom Sawyer book.  You can also cruise the Mississippi River on a paddle wheel steamboat or explore Mark Twain’s cave.  Adults might enjoy the Mark Twain Himself show at Planters Barn Theater –one man dressed in the familiar white suit, sharing that special Twain wit. Watching the Tom Sawyer Days events is free, the other attractions have their own fees.

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Wilder Days

As I mentioned in our last field trip post, Schnickelfritz and I had traveled to Mansfield, Missouri for a quick, weekend jaunt.  We’d spent Friday afternoon at the Baker Creek Seed company and Saturday  the town of Mansfield was hosting its annual Wilder Day’s in honor of the towns famous author—Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

Laura and Almanzo Wilder moved to Southwest Missouri in 1894 as a compromise (he couldn’t take the cold winters of the north and she couldn’t stand the low altitude and humidity of south).  They purchased 40 acres with money she had hidden in her writing desk.  The original log cabin on the property was moved and became the kitchen of the white farmhouse they started building the next year.  2013 marks the centennial of completion of the house so they apparently worked on it as time and finances allowed.   It’s probably the least famous of the Little Houses, because it’s the one she didn’t write about—at least not in a book.  Many Missourians read about the Rocky Ridge farm through Laura’s articles in the Missouri Ruralist.  It definitely has Little House ties though because this is where she sat down and wrote the books – in long hand with a pencil no less.

And Wilder Days is the time to come visiting—the town hosts a parade and look-alike contest, the town players host an outdoor pageant of Laura’s Memories, there’s reduced admission to the house and museum, you can go upstairs in the farmhouse (not part of the normal tour), and best of all—they take Pa’s fiddle out of the case and play it!  I heard from someone with relatives in the area that the Rock House (built by Rose Wilder Lane for her parents) isn’t always open depending on staffing, but it definitely is for Wilder Days.

Having scouted out the venue after our Baker Creek trip, we thought it best to arrive early Saturday morning for a parking spot.  There were a number of weavers and spinners setting up their looms and wheels,  several Morgan horses were being led out of their trailer, and there were a few other eager guests mulling about.  I had to say I was a little concerned about the state of our cultural well-being by what I saw.   There was a smaller group of older ladies – I took as fans of the books from when they were originally published;  the majority of guests were my age—these were clearly fans of the TV series (more on them later), and NO other kids besides my son.  I was afraid that Laura and her little houses were being largely ignored by the new generation more interests in vampires and werewolves or post-modern battles to the death.

Since it wasn’t quite time for the opening ceremonies Schnickelfritz went to visit the horses while I got in line to get Dean Butler to sign my copy of his documentary The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder (which I reviewed last month).  Cleary most of the people  were here just for the chance to meet the actor—who was running an hour late.  A group of five sisters headed the line, clad in t shirts sporting the actor’s picture and touting “We love Zaldamo!”  Another woman pulled a Ziploc bag of cinnamon chicken out of her purse (fans of the show will understand these two references).  The woman in line ahead of me was 45 minutes late in getting her daughter to a church wedding –WHERE SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ATTENDANT!  She had been a tour guide at the home in her teens and had old hardback copies of Farmer Boy signed by the original illustrator, Garth Williams.  I was pleased to see that Mr. Butler was humble enough to refuse to add his signature to that page.



Mr. Butler had to leave the autograph table to take part in the opening ceremony.  He encouraged everyone to take part in the capital campaign to restore the grounds to their original design and build a new bookstore/ museum down the hill from the farmhouse.  As you can see, by now there were other children—I guess most had been in Mansfield taking part in the look-alike contest.

By the time Pa’s fiddle was being played there were plenty of “little Laura’s”  twirling and swirling in their prairie dresses.   David Scrivener, the musician, explained that Pa probably received his fiddle through a promotion by a seed company—which sounds really strange until you do some investigation.  The contraption used to broadcast seed was called a seed fiddle and you looked like you were moving a bow back and forth as you distributed the seed.   Mr. Scrivener read passages from the various books as introductions to the songs: Ol’ Dan Tucker, Pop Goes the Weasel, Camptown Races,  Golden Slippers, and the Sweet By and By.   He even took a few requests for more gospel tunes like I’ll Fly Away.  He probably played for more than an hour!


Photographs are prohibited in the houses and museums so I can only tell you about the things we saw –Laura’s writing desk, the jewelry box she got for Christmas, Pa & Ma’s marriage certificate, Mary’s nine-patch quilt, and on and on.  Where applicable, there was a card quoting the book that mentioned the object.

In the houses we could see that the family was petite by the lowered kitchen cabinets, etc.  You should see the narrow stair/ladder that rose used to take up to her bedroom.  I’m not sure I would fit and yet the volunteer said Laura still used the ladder in her 80’s!  we also learned  that Almanzo had made the latch-hook rugs and pillow in the front room.  There were several volunteers in both houses willing to answer questions and offering some information but they weren’t officially “tours.”  We received a tri-fold paper with notes on each room for a self-guided tour
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It was just a short drive to the Rock House.  The museum is hoping to restore the original path between homes as part of their capital campaign.  My Schnickelfritz had just received his first real camera-a hand me down from his grandpa.  He took this photo of the front of the house and the fiddle player.  Pretty good, huh?
 
Mansfield is probably only an hour from Branson, MO.  If your vacationing in the live music capital or visiting Silver Dollar City,  Laura’s Home and Baker Creek Seeds would make an excellent day trip.

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Christmas in Hermann

It's a tradition for us to go to Hermann in December, but this year there were a few changes.  First, the weather was MUCH warmer than in the past.  The temps reached the sixties, which doesn't do much to put you in the holiday mood but it helps wonderfully when you're outside learning about Lewis and Clark.  For the first time we skipped the school day for the Corp of Discovery re-enactors and visited on Saturday so we could take advantage of some other events in town: Kristkindl markt (arts and crafts) and Weihnachtsfest (German Christmas) at the Deutschheim historical site.    I suppose that a lot of folks picture a Dicken's village when they get nostalgic about Christmas but think how much the Germans have contributed to our holiday traditions: an evergreen Christmas tree, gingerbread houses, nutcrackers, Advent calendars,  and carols like Silent Night.

Paper Marbling

Here's an artisan making patterns with nails in the paint he's just dripped into a dish of water.  Then he'll lay paper on top to catch the paint and make the wonderful paper designs you see in the background.



This house has been decorated to celebrate a 19th century German Christmas in Missouri.   As you can see hanging Christmas trees from the ceiling is not a new idea.  I can't tell you why they did it although children will probably say to fit more presents underneath.

Cookie Molds

These molds are for Springerle cookies (although Schnickelfritz is demonstrating with Playdoh).  The cookies have a lot of anise seeds which gives them a licorice flavor.

Making Rope

We also spent time with the Lewis & Clark campers.  I was surprised and saddened by the small turn out of visitors, especially on so warm a day.  I suppose they were all at the Christmas events.  It just meant more attention for Schnickelfritz from the interpretors.  I've always said the best teachers are enthusiastic about their subjects.  These folk are definately enthusiastic if they will take a weekend in December to camp out and share their knowledge with boys and girls. Here's Fritz making a rope.

Starting a Fire

 Fritz got to start two fires--one with this glass lens and one with flint & steel.  He'll have to do both for his Royal Rangers merit badge someday so this was good exposure, but he was less than thrilled about holding combustible material in his hands.

Fife & Drum Corps

Okay, these guys don't really fit in with a German Christmas or the Lewis & Clark Corps, but it was very entertaining to hear Jingle Bells and Hark the Herald Angels Sing performed by fife and drums.

Battle of Wilson's Creek

Do you remember when we last saw Captain Lyon disguised  as a widow at the Camp Jackson affair?   Well, someone in the army must have thought he did a good job preventing secessionist forces from capturing the St. Louis Arsenal because he's been promoted to General.   On the other hand, several civilians including a baby were killed and that prompted the Missouri General Assembly to create a State Guard to protect Missouri from outside forces (either North or South)    Now three months later and clear on the other side of the state Lyon's troops are standing opposed to Missouri troops again.   Soldiers from Iowa and Kansas have joined with Lyon,  troops from Arkansas (an officially Confederate state) have joined with the Missouri Guard all near the city of Springfield.

We left the house early Saturday morning to make the trip down to the 150th anniversary reenactment, but it wasn't early enough.  When we first heard the rumble of cannon-fire for the morning's battle we were still in a miles-long line waiting to park.  This had been advertised as a national event so there were 2500 reenactors and many times that number of Civil War buffs (or perhaps other homeschoolers on a field trip).  Then we had to wait for a shuttle bus to take us to the battlefield.  We managed to arrive about five minutes before the reenactors were "resurrected."    There was still plenty to see and do and another battle was scheduled for the evening.



Okay, these guys obviously aren't reenactors.  They did have a popular display for little boys (daddies might have wanted to get behind the gun too, but I only saw kids in line).  It was a real test of strength to see if they could pull down the handle and pull it back to cock the gun.  Older and larger boys also tried on ALL the field gear and tried to run a lap around the hummer.  It wasn't even a scorcher that day but they could all see what a miserably hot and heavy load these soldiers bear to protect us.  Someone yelled "They could've used you boys in the fight this morning."  I don't know which side he wanted them to fight on.  The soldier quipped back "They didn't give us any bullets."  The first man pointed out that the reenactors didn't have real bullets either so it still would have been a fair fight.



Another not specifically Civil War attraction was an old fashioned baseball game.  The St. Louis Brown Stockings took on the Irish Brigade according to the 1860 rules of the game.  First we had to learn a whole new terminology:  strikers instead of batters, hands instead of outs, ace instead of run.  And there were plenty of other differences.  A player could be called out if the ball is caught on the first bounce (this may have something to do with the players not wearing gloves, I'm not sure I'd want to catch any of those line drives with my bare hands either).    There was an occasional horse trotting through the outfield and once the game had to be halted while   everyone searched for the ball in the tall grass around first base(see the picture) .  I doubt any of those millionaires in the professional leagues would have put up with the conditions, but we thought is was fun to watch.  Schnickelfritz even helped hang the numbers on the portable scoreboard.



The reenactment did not take place on the actual battlefield which is now part of the national parks system.  We decided to head over to the real site during the heat of the day (the visitor's center had air conditioning).  We watched a 30 minute movie about the historical significance of the battle and Fritz was enthralled with the miniture map that lit up to show troop movements.  Then we got in our car for a 5 mile tour around the battlefield.  There is corn growing in the same location soldiers fought.  There is still an old cabin where children hid in the root cellar to protect themselves from flying bullets.  I think the map and driving tour helped us better understand the battle we were about to see.



Speaking of battle, it was time to get back and reserve our seats.  As you can see we were VERY close to the cannons.  Fritz wore his daddy's chainsaw hearing protection.  I had a pair of Indy 500 earplugs.  The sound was reduced but we still felt  the full force of the concussion (it made my straw hat wiggle).   These men represented the Missouri Guard and you can see one of them is just wearing his farm clothes and carrying a scythe.  It didn't matter that they didn't have guns, there would soon be plenty of guns available after the battle.  The lack of standard uniforms this early in the war also played an important role in the battle.  Col. Sigel of the Union forces mistook the approaching troops from Louisiana (which would be the enemy) for reinforcements from Iowa (his allies) because they both wore gray.  This allowed the Louisiana troops to get within 40 yards of Col. Sigel before the first shot was fired and by then the Union troops panicked and scattered.



For the first half hour of the battle everyone seemed to be cheating--that is to say no one fell dead or wounded.  I suppose they didn't want to miss out on all the fun.  Later you could see bodies in the field.  Now that I'm looking at close ups of my photos I still see a lot of cheating/peaking going on.  Occasionally someone would want his moment in the sun and would come to where the crowd was sitting for his death scene.



Unfortunately, the evening ended on a sour note for us.  Unlike the morning battle and contrary to the instructions we had during our wait for the battle to begin, the bridge over Wilson's creek was closed and guarded by police officers.   We were captives on the field until the battle was over.   One lady with a migraine and many small children overwhelmed by the noise and smoke could not escape.  And it wasn't much later that we realized we were on one side of the creek and all the port-o-johns were on the other.  Children were having to try and hold it or go in the woods (scarier than you might think with cannons and rifles shooting around you, even if they were blanks).  I hope future event planners will take this fact into consideration.

Well, I suppose things could have been worse.  Remember Gen. Lyon from the beginning of this post?  He died in the battle and became the first Union General of the Civil War to do so.