Black and White is Gray

Memorial Day was not yet observed in 1863, but if it had been, it would also have fallen on Monday, May 25th. The first Memorial Day was in 1865, and observed by freed slaves to recognize dead Union soldiers. It was originally called Decoration Day, with the graves of the soldiers being decorated with flowers picked from nearby fields.

On May 25th, 1863, Manley Stacey, a soldier in the Union Army was seeing his father for the first time since he volunteered about nine months earlier, in August, 1862. Arriving on Saturday the 23rd, his father had come to Camp Hayes in Centerville, Virginia to spend a couple of days with him. It was a little more than a month before Manley would see battle for the first time at Gettysburg. For their visit, Manley got a pass and he and his father went and stayed in Washington DC together, parting in Washington on the night of May 28th.

So they spent what would have been Memorial day weekend together. They only saw each other one more time after that, when Manley got a short furlough to visit home later in September. Manley Stacey died, accidentally shot, on December 26, 1863.

Here are Stacey’s letters home from May 26th and May 29th, 1863:

May 26th 6,30 AM

Dear Mother

We have been in so much excitement for the past few days, that I have not written as much as I should have done. I was very glad, on Saturday, to see Father. I had just been down in Swimming, & had washed my Shirt, & had nothing on but my Blouse. I was looking rather rough, but then they could see how we work it. Every day, since they have been here, we have run around the Country. I think Father has enjoyed his visit, very much. The Col has been very kind he has excused me from Duty every day, & has signed our Passes for Washington. I am very glad they have come down, it has done me a great deal of good, both the rest & the visit. I am expecting a great deal from my Trip to Washington, & think the change, will benefit me, At any rate, I shall feel more like doing my Daily Duty.

I should have been very glad, to have seen you here, & think the change would have done you a great deal of good. I had no idea you thought of coming, or I should have written & urged it before. I think I shall succeed in getting a Furlough in August, that is if we remain in this Camp. Then I shall have be 21 in August also. I am very much obliged for the things you sent, the Sugar, Tea, Stockings, Collars &c &c. all of which I wanted. I am now equipped for the Summer, I suppose Father has told you all about his Travels. There is one thing that I am sorry about that is, that we could not go on the Bull Run field.

Love to all
Will write soon again

Manley

——————–
Camp Hayes

May 29th 8 PM

Dear Father

Well we here in Camp again, which makes me feel at Home again. After you left last night I got my supper, & went around the City a little, then Slept at our Boarding house all night. This morning the first thing, after Breakfast, we went up to the Provost Marshals, to get our Pass, to cross the River. The office was closed up so we made up our mind’s to run the risk of the one we had. Then we got our Figures & letters. We then met Capt Perry of Co B, at Williards, who told us we could go on the Train from Alexandria, at 3 PM.

So we concluded to take the 1 oclock Boat, & look around the City a little. We then went to Mr Tafts, at the Patent Office. we then went through there, From there we went to the Smithsonian Institute. There we had a splendid time, I was very sorry that you had not visited there. At 1 PM we took the Boat for Alexandria, & had a very pleasant trip across the River. At 3,15 PM, we took the Cars, & arr at the Mills about 5 PM. We arrived in Camp about 6,45 PM, walking all the way.

Things are all right in Camp. On Monday next, we have got to move our Camp, over by the Mass Battery. You know where we saw the Brass Pieces. The Col, thinks it is healthier down there. In the City today, Capt Perry, told us, that it was reported, that Brig Genl Hays, had Marching Orders for Louisiana & he thought the Brigade would go with him. The Chaplain says there is nothing in this that we have only got to move a short distance.

May 30th 5 AM. I have just had a good nights rest, & feel a little better. Byron & Albert, have got to go on Picket today, The boys are all well, but very tired. We are to be paid off, next Tuesday, so we are in plenty of time. My visit to the City has done me a great deal of good, I am very glad you came down here, both on my account & yours. I met Dr Vosburg in Alexandria, last night, on his way to the City. Mr Millard did not charge me anything for Board, they invited me to come there & stay, when ever I came to the City.

Hoping you will return home all safe, & will soon recover from your Trip. Love to all

Manley

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.

Sojourner Truth

No time to write my thoughts right now, but I just have to share this writer’s comment, posted on a New York Times blog, about Geithner’s bank rescue plan:
Suzanne Garment’s column in the Wall Street Journal–in which she expresses her belief that populism is being stirred up by Obama–or any other politician–for political advantage, is a shocking reflection of just how out of touch the culture on Wall Street is from the rest of the world.

The populist passions–and growing fury–is not a creation of opportunistic politicians–nor is it the a reaction to the bonuses at AIG.

For 30+ years, ever since Ronald Reagan aw shucked his way onto the national stage and began peddling the idea of trickle down economics as a sure path to prosperity for the majority of Americans–the public has tolerating a widening gulf between what 99% of Americans get in the way of wages–and what the top 1% get.

To the point that in the U.S. today, the average CEO is paid 450 times as much as the average worker makes.

Compared with 11 times as much Japan, 12 times as much in Germany–22 times as much in Britain.

And that shocking multiple is a mere fraction of what hedge fund managers have been pulling in.

The promise was that if we showered the wealthy with ever more wealth, they would create more wealth–and shower it down on the rest of us.

The promise was a lie.

The wealthy have proven that what they excell at is not creating wealth–but accumulating it.

And adjusted for inflation, the average working man in the U.S. is making less today than he did in 1977.

And those 401Ks we were all sold as superior to company provided pension plans–because we could “control” them–and put them to “work” in the stock market are looking pretty shabby.

The populist sentiment rising in the public square is not the creation of craven politicians. It is real–and a direct result of 30 years of a one-sided class war–waged by and for the rich–that has left the bottom 95% less well off. And mad as hell.
— Don Duval

“It’s good to be a recessionista these days,” said wardrobe consultant Jane Hamill. “You may have shopped at Goodwill, but unless you were an art student, you probably didn’t tell people that you did. Now if you do, it makes you seem smart and with the times.”

Source: chicagotribune.com

Just heard that a school district in Arizona is cutting the school week to four days. School kids will have more free time. And, of course, with thousands of lay offs every week,  adults will have more free time too. So with so people having more hours a week to themselves, what will they do with the time? Go shopping? No, that’s out. No one has any money. Sit around the house all day? Nah, that leads to depression and weight gain. Surf the Internet? Start a blog? Read a book a day? Take long walks? Take up drinking? Hunt for a job? Clean the basement, the attic? How can the time and energy we  once focused day after day on school and jobs best be put to use? Perhaps the whole idea of what it means to work will change. Perhaps people will realize how stagnant their lives had become going to “work” day after day simply to pay bills. Perhaps education will stop being just a means to a job. Maybe with so many people becoming suddenly idle, we can have some time to think, to think about what’s really important.

A few years ago, I realized that the “work” I was doing wasn’t adding anything to the world, wasn’t making me a better person, wasn’t delivering the meaning I needed to feel alive and whole. Work needed to be redefined. Work needed to be more than about covering bills. Life had to be more than work. Living and giving is what we should be doing.

My friend Roger sent me these pics today. He took them in DeKalb (Illinois) at one of Barack Obama’s campain stops when he was then running for the U.S. Senate. That was a week or two after his now-famous speech at the 2004 Democratic convention.

Roger said Obama was the same regular kind of guy he is today – though I think you’d have to expand the meaning of “regular” if you were to account for his innate and easy connection with people, his spontaneous public speaking skills, his intelligence! Roger also mentioned it was a lot easier to walk up and take a picture than it is today.

Who would have thought that just five years later…?

Thanks Roger!

The Independant:  Catholics ordered to keep quiet over Virgin visions

“The Pope has instructed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, to draw up a new handbook to help bishops snuff out an explosion of bogus heavenly apparitions.”

And here’s my favorite part:

“Benedict XVI plans to update the Vatican’s current rules on investigating apparitions to help distinguish between true and false claims of visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, messages, stigmata (the appearances of the five wounds of Christ), weeping and bleeding statues and Eucharistic miracles.”

No…wait…this is even better:

“The visionaries will then be visited by a team of psychiatrists, either atheists or Catholics, to certify their mental health while theologians will assess the content of any heavenly messages to see if they contravene Church teachings.”

Who says Catholics don’t have a sense of humor?

Bill Nye (the Science Guy)/Huffington Post: On Science and the Obama Administration

“… as Barack Obama begins his administration with his lovely family alongside, I find myself as a science educator, not just relieved, but downright, maybe upright, optimistic.”

“If you think about it, well, even if you don’t, the President of the United States, for better or for worse, affects every species on Earth.”