Washington National Cathedral

On Sunday I went to the Washington National Cathedral, camera in hand. The Bishop's Garden was beautiful, as I expected it to be this time of year.



Pansys were peeking up from flowerbeds filled with other taller flowers.













A peony fully opened.







What an enriching visit it was. I walked around inside the cathedral, as well. It seems barren inside by comparison with European cathedrals I have visited.

Morrisville VA

On Route 17 going north from I-95, there are several signs giving the mileage to Morrisville, Virginia. I finally decided to see what was at Morrisville that warranted such notice by the Virginia Department of Transportation. I drove there only to discover that Morrisville is little more than the proverbial wide spot in the road. Have I missed something? I even turned off onto Morrisville Road, thinking it would lead to something more than what I saw on Route 17, but it turned out to be a loop leading back to Route 17.

I googled the city and state names but learned little. There was apparently a skirmish near Morrisville during the Civil War, but given the location, that is hardly surprising.

I shall continue to seek an answer to the question of why there are so many mileage signs for Morrisville. There must be a reason.

Before I quit reading

Before I quit reading The Voice of the People, I came across mention of one of the former servants (read slave) "carding wool which she had taken from a quilt of faded patchwork." How very thrifty!

Too much vernacular

I have given up on Ellen Glasgow's The Voice of the People. Too much of the dialogue is in vernacular, and I frankly cannot understand some of what is being said. Even that which I can understand makes for difficult reading, and while I think it is a fine and promising story, I just can't slog through all that vernacular dialogue. It is very disappointing, for I feel it would be a wonderful novel except for that.

Ellen Glasgow - The Voice of the People

I have begun reading Ellen Glasgow's novel about reconstruction called The Voice of the People. Set in fictional Kingsborough, Virginia (based on Williamsburg), it begins with the story of a boy of about 11 named Nicholas Burr who is determined not to follow in the footsteps of his peanut farmer father. Nicholas catches the eye of Judge Bassett, who offers Nicholas the opportunity to study with his son's tutor.

Nicholas is a remarkable boy, going to extraordinary lengths to achieve his goal. He borrows a book from Judge Bassett, committing to memory passages from the book which are incomprehensible to him, believing that one day he will know what those long words mean and will be able to understand the passages he is memorizing. It is not difficult to understand the judge's interest in this boy.

War-Days in Richmond

For those who are interested in what life was like for residents of cities caught in Civil War battles, Constance Cary Harrison's article titled "War-Days in Richmond" makes for fascinating reading. The article was published in Appleton's magazine, July 7, 1872 and can be read online at the University of Michigan's Making of America website. Here is a link to the article:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moajrnl;cc=moajrnl;q1=war-days%20in%20richmond;rgn=full%20text;view=image;seq=0015;idno=acw8433.1-08.171;node=acw8433.1-08.171%3A7

Confederate Cemetery

Fredericksburg's Confederate Cemetery is located away from the Battlefield, not far from Kenmore, the home of George Washington's sister, Betty Lewis. It is a beautiful and peaceful place. Although it is called the Confederate Cemetery, there are more civilian graves than military. About one quarter of the area hosts the small rectangular tombstones, the engravings on most of which are almost worn away. A few of the gravesites have modern bronze markers in addition to the stone rectangular ones, presumably put there by descendants. Walking down the rows, reading those markers with names and dates, is a sad reminder of lives cut short.