Emily's Death Day

Dickinson Open House

Yesterday was the 123rd anniversary of the death of Emily Dickinson. Every year on the weekend closest to her death anniversary her hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts marks the occasion with an open house at the Dickinson homestead and a poetry walk covering important locations in the poet's life. I didn't take the walk but I stopped by her house for a few minutes to check it out. 

The front lawn of the house (above) is all torn up because a lot of trees and shrubs that did not exist in Emily's time were removed recently as part of an ongoing attempt to restore the house to how it looked when Dickinson lived there.

Here are the circumstances surrounding Dickinson's decline and death, according to the Wikipedia:

That summer she had seen "a great darkness coming" and fainted while baking in the kitchen. She remained unconscious late into the night and weeks of ill health followed. On November 30, 1885, her feebleness and other symptoms were so worrying that her brother Austin Dickinson canceled a trip to Boston. She was confined to her bed for a few months, but managed to send a final burst of letters in the spring. On May 15, 1886, after several days of worsening symptoms, Emily Dickinson died at the age of 55. Austin wrote in his diary that "the day was awful ... she ceased to breathe that terrible breathing just before the [afternoon] whistle sounded for six." Dickinson was buried, laid in a white coffin with vanilla-scented heliotrope, a Lady's Slipper orchid and a "knot of blue field violets" placed about it. The funeral service, held in the Homestead's library, was simple and short.

 

A considerable number of local history buffs and literary fans made the scene.

Inside, quite a variety of Emily Dickinson products were for sale. 

Dig this poster, which I feel captures some of the passion of the fiery redhead.

The most popular place for people to hang out was Miss Emily's garden. 

Here I am on her back porch.

 



 

Nostalgic Sighting

Afterwards we stopped in across the street at this odd little curio shop called The Claw Foot Tub.

Inside I saw this antique stove of a type I haven't seen since my grandmother died.

It was in mint condition.

 

Today's Video

Here's Jim O'Neill of Northampton's Iron Horse with David Byrne:

It's a shame about David and how weird he got. 

 

A couple from Alabama and a couple from the Northeast were seated side by side on an airplane. The girl from Alabama, being naturally friendly and all, asked the couple, "So where y'all from?"

The Northeast girl replied, "From a place where they know better than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence."

The girl from Alabama sat quietly for a few moments and then replied:

"So where y'all from, bitch?"

 

Golden Books Encyclopedias

A blast from my past.

This morning I had to go see my psychiatrist in downtown Northampton. This is the poster in his waiting room. A Van Gogh is somehow appropriate in a shrink's office, don't ya think?

When I got out I headed towards the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting affectionately known as The Looney Nooner. On my way I spotted something in the window of Essentials (next to CVS) that really surprised me - Golden Book Encyclopedias of Natural History!

I remember that when I was a boy they used to give them out at supermarkets, but I don't remember specifically what market my parents got them at. Here's what Wikipedia.org has to say about this classic children's education series:

The Golden Book Encyclopedia is a set of children's encyclopedias published by Western Printing and Lithographing Company under the name Golden Press. Advertised as circulars in newspapers, the encyclopedias were sent out in weekly or bi-weekly installments. Supermarket chains, such as Acme Markets, used these encyclopedias as a promotional hook to lure shoppers.

The front page of every volume describes the books as, "Fact-filled Volumes Dramatically Illustrated with More Than 6,000 Pictures. The Only Encyclopedia for Young Grade-school children. Accurate and Authoritative. Entertainingly written and illustrated to make learning an adventure." Subjects included in the Golden Book Encyclopedia series were related to nature and science, history, geography, literature, and the arts.

The first edition of the encyclopedia was published in a joint venture between Simon and Schuster and Western Printing and Lithographing Company in 1946. The author of the edition was Dorothy A. Bennett and the illustrator was Cornelius De Witt. A 16-volume hardcover encyclopedia set was published in 1959 and in 1969, and was written by Bertha Morris Parker, formerly of the Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago and research associate at the Chicago Natural History Museum.

The books in the window were obvious originals, not copies, so I went inside Essentials and asked the clerk about them. She said the owner (who was not present) had got them in an auction and thought they would be good to display for back to school sales as well as a treat for baby boomers.

My favorite edition was the one below with a lizard on the cover called a Gila Monster. The Wikipedia has this to say about the Gila Monster.

 

The Gila monster (pronounced /ˈhiːlə/, HEE-la), Heloderma suspectum, is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. A heavy, slow moving lizard, up to 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) long, the Gila monster is the only venomous lizard native to the United States, and one of only two known species of venomous lizard in North America, the other being its close relative the Beaded Lizard (H. horridum). Though the Gila monster is venomous, its sluggish nature means that it represents little threat to humans. However, it has earned a fearsome reputation, and is often killed by hikers and homeowners, despite the fact that it is protected by state law in Arizona and Nevada.

I don't know why I was so into the Gila Monster. I guess as a kid I was just plain into monsters in general. Some people might tell you that in some ways I grew up to become one.

Scrawled outside the Looney Nooner were these words of wisdom.