The Sticky Mess

   Way back in January of 1919, a deadly event occurred that could have been prevented had carelessness not gotten in the way.  Most folks nowadays have forgotten or merely have not even heard of the "Great Molasses Flood of 1919" and when you mention it, a lot of folks stare in disbelief as if it was not a true disaster.  Jokes are often made but the loss of life is not ever fodder for comedy.  The flood really did happen and it was all the result of greed and carelessness.  The flood was truly that...a flood.  It happened because of a failure in the structure of a 50 foot tall storage tank that was a slipshod construction.  A neighborhood in North End, Boston was completely devastated by a gigantic surge of molasses after the storage tank ruptured.  Townsfolk had pointed out the structure leakage long before the tank literally exploded but nothing more than a brown coat of paint was applied to the tank.  This was done to merely disguise the problem and not to remedy the situation.  Because of the shady dealings, the rupture caused the neighborhood to be engulfed by a 35 mile per hour wave that was 25 foot tall.  2.3 million gallons of molasses ripped through buildings, toppled trains from the tracks and, most horrifically, killed 21 people and numerous animals.  The town was in complete shambles and covered in a horribly sticky mess that made cleanup nigh on impossible until it was found that salt water helped dissolve the goo.  The fire department was then put in charge of the major amount of cleanup as salt water was pumped from the Boston Harbor.  All in all, this was a tragic event that could have been prevented had the Purity Distilling Company only inspected their tank to make sure it would withstand the pressure of so many tons of molasses.  Responsible action should have been key goal.

  Not to be compared to this catastrophic incident, something happened yesterday here at the Little Bayou House that caused this whole memory of that flood.  Purely because of a molasses spill on the kitchen table, I recalled that Granddad had told me about the Great Molasses Flood.  This spill, like the flood, could have been avoided had "protocol" merely been followed.  It appears that the lid of a molasses bottle was not properly tightened after use and then the bottle was inadvertently toppled.  Yep, a small scale "chaos" occurred.  Sticky syrup flooded the table.  As I was cleaning the goo, Granddad's story came to mind.  I was determined that, once I finished the task at hand, I was going to research the event.  It was eye-opening and, at the same time, heartbreaking.  There were 21 too many lives lost due to negligence.  In both cases, that "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" idiom comes to mind.  Responsible action could have prevented the devastating flood in Boston and the small-scale mess in my kitchen.  

  Folks, if you ever have a few moments, read the history of the Great Molasses Flood of Boston.  Something that happened over a hundred years ago should be a reminder that we all need to be more responsible in our actions.  

 

  

Just a Heart

   Here I am in those years deemed to be "the elderly" and I am still learning new things every day.  I guess that old adage "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." is a bunch of hogwash.  In fact, it is good to keep learning.  You know...you have to keep that brain active!  At least, that is what my kids tell me.  So, I research just about everything I come across.  Some of this, I retain.  Some I deem boring so it gets stored in that dusty part of the brain where things go to hide for eternity.

  Today, I found a leaf!  Exciting?  Nope but interesting enough that it brought questions.  The research did not even involve the type of leaf or what caused the odd shaped holes carved into it.  I knew the answers to both.  It is a grape leaf and the holes were the result of pine needles being dropped onto the vine.  Those pierced the soft part of the leaf leaving gaping holes.  Nope.  I did not need any help figuring that.  My research came as a result of me thinking the leaf resembled a heart.  (It did not look like an anatomical heart but rather the cute hearts we all use to decorate things.) Where in the world did that shape come from?  Who thought that a few squiggles should be called a heart?  I had to know.

  Come to find out, the heart shape is all because of a now extinct plant, the Silphium.  This plant was something that was widely used back in ancient Rome.  (This plant is not to be confused with any modern day plant even if it has a similar name. This silphium has gone the wayside.)  Anyway, those ancient Romans decided that the plant was good for a myriad of things but all were centered around "love".  The plant was deemed as an aphrodisiac, a contraceptive and an abortifacient. Hmmm...perhaps that is why it is extinct now.  Overharvesting can indeed cause problems. 

  Still, that does not explain the shape of the cute little emoji heart nor the Valentine heart.  Well...there is more.  Since the plant was tied to all this "love", they needed something to represent the plant and there it was.  What we know as the heart shape comes from the fruit or seed.  The case was roughly that shape.  The mericarp (fruit) was soon representative of the plant itself.  Those ancient Romans started carving the shape of their wondrous plant onto everything.  It became the decoration of the time.  It wasn't long before the mericarp was on the coins used at market.  Geez!  So...there you have it.  What we know as a cutesy emblem came from long ago and depicts a part of a plant.  It has nothing to do with the human heart.

  So, folks...keep learning.  Even if it is something that is just a curiosity and not that useful, learning keeps the wheels of thought going.  That is not a bad thing.

  

The All Important Lantern!

  Back years ago, I wrote about Great-grandfather's lantern but today as I was dusting the buffet, the tale of the importance of the lantern came rushing back into my brain.  While this is just a run-of-the-mill lantern as far as lanterns go, it is a pretty significant piece of my history.   You see, I may not be here if this lantern had not belonged to Great-grandfather.  Most folks have some tale of items that "changed my life" but few have things that were a determining factor in their pure existence.  I do.  It is the lantern.  A pretty nondescript lantern but a lantern all the same. Now, I cannot attest to the whole truth involved in these tales as over the years there have been some pretty good storytellers in the family who may have...umm...exaggerated just a wee bit now and again but since I have been told the same story by several different family members over the years, I have to believe there may be some bit of truth in there somewhere.

  The tale that I previously told took place far back in time during the Great Depression.  It was then that my great-grandparents lived in a massive old manor in Biloxi.  As was the custom of folks at the time, they owned a cow and a few chickens even though they lived in town.  No one thought this was strange and both the cow and chickens were highly important in their lives.  Survival at the time was not guaranteed and having critters that provided food was a wise choice.  Great-grandfather used to head out before dawn to feed and milk the cow.  He toted the lantern to provide light for his chores.  On the fateful morning of our tale, Great-grandfather found more than the cow in the barn.  During the night, an intruder had slipped into the barn to escape the cold.  This was not unusual at the time since many folks had lost their homes and many men were out searching for work.  When Great-grandfather questioned the man about his presence, the man lunged at him with a knife!  Quick thinking saved the day as the lantern became a weapon.  When Great-grandfather swung the lantern, it caught the man up side the head and stunned him enough for him to be bound hand and foot.  Great-grandfather sent one of his young sons to the constable's office and it was discovered that the man had escaped from prison where he was being held on a murder charge.  Had that lantern not been in hand, Great-grandfather may not have survive the attack!  But this was not the lifesaving matter that is tied to me...in a roundabout way.

  Strange as it may seem, this was not the first time that the lantern had saved Great-grandfather's life. Long before he had children, he and Great-grandmother bought an old farm far out in the country from their city house.  The "Farm", though only minutes away from the house with modern transportation, was a good couple of hours away when riding an old horse.  A tale has been passed down through the generations that an approaching hurricane caught Great-grandfather on the trail back to the city.  In days past, there were no warnings of such things and, if one did not read the signs correctly, a storm might catch one unawares.  Just as Great-grandfather was to catch the ferry to haul him (and his horse) across the Bay, the storm struck with a vengeance.  Although it was terrible weather, the ferryman agreed to make the crossing.  Once out on the water, things took a turn for the worse.  The ferry was being tossed about like a toy and the men on the far shore could not see well enough to help.  Great-grandfather lit the lantern and started sending signals.  Without that lantern, the ferryman and Great-grandfather could have been lost in that storm.  As it was, things turned out well and the lantern had saved the day.  Great-grandfather made it home to his lovely bride and they rode out the hurricane together.  This was the tale of the lantern that is tied to my being.  If Great-grandfather had not survived the ferry crossing during the hurricane, there would have been no children born to the happy couple.  Hattie was born and raised in the old house and on the Farm.  Hattie was my mother's mother and, hence, how I am tied to a old lantern.  Had Great-grandfather not survived, Hattie would have never been born...nor my mom....nor me.  Lanterns are important!

  This lantern has...no, IS...history.  So many pieces such as this are tossed as junk when, in actuality, they are important family pieces.  With the coming of electric lights, the old lantern was passed along to my parents.  City folks received electricity far sooner than farm folks.  Since Pop and Mom needed lanterns to take care of their livestock in the wee hours of the morn, the lantern, once again, came into use.  Later, once electricity was commonplace, the lantern was used during storms and other power outages.  Now, the thing sits proudly in my living room.  Yep, it is dented (possibly from contact with an evil person's head), rusted (perhaps from saltwater blown during a hurricane!) and otherwise useless (except as a conversation piece and a reminder that all things have their purpose.)  Life is good...treat it wisely and with respect.  Be thankful for what you have, even rusty, dented old lanterns. You never know when some weird item might just save your life!

  

A Time Forgotten

  The Little Bayou House sees a wide variety of visitors.  Every few days, someone will just pop in to say hello or maybe grab a cup of coffee or cold glass of lemonade.  Some of my favorite visitors are the young folks that used to frequent the place about a decade ago.  The Little Bayou House seemed to be the place to "hang out" for my kids' friends. It was not unusual to find several teenagers (or up to a dozen) here over the weekend.  That was fine by me as it helped me to keep tabs on my own kids' whereabouts.  Of course, I knew where everybody else's kids were as well but that was all good, too.  These kids never complained about what I fed them (a good many times it was just a pot of red beans and some cornbread!) or if I asked them to help with certain chores.  It does my heart good to have these young folks come back to visit now that they are grown.  My, how time does fly!

  Yesterday, one of my favorites came by to see how we were doing and spend the day.  Chris is sort of our "adopted" son and obviously feels quite at home here.  He was watching me paint a picture of a crow for our upcoming "Clue hunt on the Bayou" all the while rattling away one tale after another.  He absentmindedly picked up two glass items that were on the end table.  After inspecting them, he looked at me a bit bewildered. "I have seen these things here for as long as I have been coming and have never known what they are. Just what in the world are they?"  I started to giggle quite messing up my crow. It never occurred to me that some "kids" (now fully grown men" had never seen a glass electric wire insulator.  The ones he was holding were of the pretty aqua color and are some of my favorites. When I explained just what they were and how they were used, he was amazed.  "How in the world did they survive all of these years?"  I told him that I had no clue but perhaps it had something to do with the quality of work that used to be put into things years ago.  Something we do not see nowadays. 

  This whole conversation made me happy but, at the same time, left me a bit saddened.  Have we really gone so far into the future that no one looks back to the past?  Are all of my treasures going to be forgotten some day?  The work and ingenuity that went into making things like these insulators has not been passed from generation to generation. There is little left of stories from "back in the good ole days".  It is not really a good thing that young people have to visit the Little Bayou House learn of the past.  Do parents (and grandparents) these days not tell the stories of the past?  Or do youngsters just not listen? Perhaps folks now are so caught up in the rush of the day that family chats are just not prevalent. If that is the case, the world has progressed into a sad situation.  I always said that folks need to step into the future while looking and learning from the past.  Maybe I am far off track with that. Whatever. Still, I guess all of the weird and wonderful treasures housed within the Little Bayou House will have to serve as history lessons whenever an interest is shown.