Dr. Charles Richard Drew Mural 2014 by Susan Schwerin

 

Dr. Drew can be seen on the left, rising out of the fog (symbolizing his neighborhood, Foggy Bottom, in DC where he was born). He is holding a test tube of blood that has been separated into its individual components: plasma (55%), platelets (1%) and red blood cells (44%). Next to him is a microscope with a microscopic view of each blood element in the background. The red blood cells are marked for the various blood types (A+,A-, B+,B-, O; however, in 1 drop of someone’s blood all of the red blood cells would be the same type, I have only mixed them here to exemplify that there are different types). Plasma, however, is not very different across people making it a better candidate for transfusions, plus it does not need to be refrigerated and lasts a long time.

Dr. Drew’s steps to “SUCCESS” are created by his education and training:

 

First he went to Stevens Elementary where he was received medals for swimming2 (“S” of success with silhouette of swimmer).

 

Next he went to Dunbar high school where he lettered in track (hurdles), football, baseball and basketball1(“U” of success with silhouette of hurdles, football, baseball, basketball).

 

Then he was off to Amherst college where he was captain of the track team and was the most valuable player on the baseball team, star halfback, national high hurdles champion5(“C” of success with silhouette of baseball, football and hurdles).

 

After graduating he started saving for medical school by teaching biology and chemistry and coaching football and basketball at Morgan State University in Baltimore1. During his two years at Morgan, his coaching transformed its mediocre sports teams into serious collegiate competitors1 (“C” of success with silhouette of an instructor and a coach, a football and a basketball).

 

He then went to McGill Medical School where he earned a Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) and a Master of Surgery (CM)2. He joined the Omega Psi Phi fraternity where he helped to pen their fraternity hymn, “Omega Dear”3. He was also inducted into the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha2. He won a neuroanatomy award2 and continued to excel competing in hurdles (“E” of success with silhouette of music notes, brain, hurdles).

 

He then went to work as a surgeon and teacher at Howard University, where they were trying to get and/or train their faculty to be competitive in their fields (“S” of success with silhouette of instructor and surgeon).

 

Dr. Drew got a Rockefeller Foundation research scholarship to get his doctorate at Columbia University where he wrote a thesis titled, ”Banked Blood”2 (“S” of success with silhouette of researcher at microscope and thesis).

  

World War II broke out. There is a world map at the bottom of the mural where the different countries are colored according to whether they were on the side of the Axis (blue-primarily Germany, Italy, Japan, and also Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Irag, Finland) or the Allies (green: primarily United Kingdom, France, China, Soviet Union, United States and also Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, India, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia with light green being countries that joined the war late: United States, Mexico, many South American countries, Liberia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Phillipines) or Neutral countries (gray-primarily Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and also Sahara, Angola, Mozambique, Yemen, Afghanistan, Tibet, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).

 

After the war started, Dr. Drew was requested to organize the Red Cross Blood for Britain program (represented by the blood transfusion line spelling out Blood Bank, which then enters the top of the Red Cross symbol in the middle of the mural), where his attention to detail and doctorate research on blood banking enabled him to effectively collect blood, separate out the plasma and ship it to wounded British soldiers (represented by the yellow plasma transfusion line leaving the Red Cross symbol and going to the soldiers in the bottom right of the mural). The plasma transfusion line makes the shape of an EKG heart beat signal before getting to the soldiers, showing that it is giving life (giving heart beats). Beneath the soldiers is an open box with open cans, this is the box they received from the Red Cross with the dried plasma and distilled water which they combined to reconstitute the plasma to give to the soldier on the battlefield. Behind the soldiers is the British Flag. After the US joined the war, Dr. Drew led the National Blood Donor Service as well (represented by the American Flag on the far right of the mural).

 

In order to meet the huge demand for plasma, Drew initiated the use of "bloodmobiles" - trucks equipped with refrigerators6.

 

Unfortunately, the irony of his work was that the Red Cross would only accept blood from white donors. (This is shown in the mural by the 5 hands at the top. The center hand is Caucasian and is the only hand, whose blood drop has a Red Cross symbol on it, even though all the blood drops look the same, no matter what color hand is holding it). Dr. Drew publicly stated that the blood from different races was no different; however the Red Cross continued to exclude black donors. They eventually began allowing black donors, but kept the blood segregated for the recipients.

 

The NAACP gave Dr. Drew the Springarn award for "the highest and noblest achievement" by an African-American "during the preceding year or years” for his blood banking accomplishments2 (The medal and ribbon are at the top of the mural, just under the hands). This award bolstered Dr. Drew into becoming more of an advocate for black rights4.

 

Dr. Drew had a personal commitment to excellence as well as an expectation of excellence of his black medical students who frequently scored among the highest in nationwide medical exams (represented by the word “EXCELLENCE” in the mural). Dr. Drew continued to teach at Howard University where he was known by his students as ‘Big Red’ because of the color of his face when he was upset4 (represented in the mural by the Howard University Bison Logo with the words “Big Red”).

 

Dr. Drew died in a car accident in 1950 at the age of 45 (represented by the car in the upper right hand corner of the mural).

 

While attending a conference in April 1939, Drew met Minnie Lenore Robbins, a professor of home economics at Spelman College in Atlanta. They married in September of that year, and had three daughters and a son (represented on the mural by the house with the family inside, just under the Red Cross).

 

Dr. Drew’s one leisure activity was gardening, especially Canna Lily flowers4, which are featured at the base of the mural under SUCCESS.

 

The hand in the upper left corner of the mural that is punching through the wall is a representation of this quote by Dr. Drew and symbolizes how his accomplishments (the blood bank) knocked a hole out of the wall:

“Whenever, however, one breaks out of this rather high-walled prison of the "Negro problem" by virtue of some worthwhile contribution, not only is he himself allowed more freedom, but part of the wall crumbles. And so it should be the aim of every student in science to knock down at least one or two bricks of that wall by virtue of his own accomplishment.”

 

References:

1.The Charles R. Drew Papers. Profiles in Science. National Library of Medicine. profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/BG/p-nid/336

2.Bio. www.biography.com/people/charles-drew-9279094#early-life

3.Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Website www.omegapsiphifraternity.org/about_omega.asp

4.One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles R. Drew By Spencie Love books.google.com/books?id=JF3sSgLA_AC&printsec=frontc...

5.http://web.stcloudstate.edu/lstripp/charles-drew.htm

6.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/innovators/bio_drew.html

 

Before his inauguration on March 4, 1801, President Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis, a 29-year-old career officer in the U.S. Army, to join him in the White House as his personal secretary. Jefferson knew Lewis and Lewis's family, as they were neighbors of his Monticello, Virginia, estate. Lewis, a staunch Jeffersonian Democrat, tested the loyalty of top Army officers to the President and reported back to Jefferson. Lewis was sent with sensitive messages to the ministers of foreign powers, and generally assisted the President. But most of all Lewis listened. Lewis absorbed Jefferson's ideas on geography, science, politics, American Indians, and diplomacy. It seems that Lewis was being groomed to lead Jefferson's expedition into the West.

 

On January 18, 1803, President Jefferson sent a special message to Congress about the proposed expedition. He noted with concern the fact that the British were carrying on a lucrative fur trade with American Indians along the northern border of the United States and into the West. He approached Congress with the idea that "an intelligent officer with 10 or 12 chosen men, fit for the enterprise and willing to undertake it, taken from our posts, where they may be spared without inconvenience, might explore the whole line, even to the Western ocean ..." (Jackson 10-13). In this message, Jefferson portrayed the major goal of the projected expedition as a diplomatic one, in which the explorers "could have conferences with the natives" about commerce, and gain admission for American traders among the various Indian tribes. The other major goal of the expedition, barely stated by Jefferson on January 18, was a scientific one--to not only explore but map and chronicle everything of interest, as he put it, along "the only line of easy communication across the continent." Jefferson took great care to describe the project as a cheap one which would not cost the taxpayers much money. "Their arms & accouterments, some instruments of observation, & light & cheap presents for the Indians would be all the apparatus they could carry, and with an expectation of a soldier's portion of land on their return would constitute the whole expense." Jefferson knew that diplomacy, especially with the goal of increased commerce, could be sold to Congress; scientific discovery and description could not. One seemed practical, the other less so. Thus Jefferson asked for $2,500 to fund the expedition (based on Lewis's initial estimates). (Jackson 8-9 and 13)

 

On about March 15, 1803, Lewis arrived in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (today's West Virginia), to obtain rifles and other equipment for the expedition, including an iron boat frame. The construction of the boat detained him longer than he had expected, and he stayed in Harpers Ferry for about a month. The boat was made in two sections, each weighing 22 pounds, which could be fitted together to form the skeleton of a boat of 40 feet in length, and would be covered with animal hides and sealed together with pitch. This special boat could be used high in the mountains if they were unable to make dugout canoes.

 

Besides procuring equipment, Lewis was also expected to take crash courses in several disciplines to round out his training as leader of the expedition. With only the precedent of the voyages of James Cook, Lewis was instructed to compile scientific data on every aspect of the terrain through which he would pass. He was prepared for this by Jefferson during the period he served as the President's personal secretary, and during the Spring of 1803 by astronomer Andrew Ellicott, botanist Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, surveyor and mathematician Robert Patterson, physician Dr. Benjamin Rush, and anatomist Dr. Caspar Wistar (Rush and Wistar were both members of the American Philosophical Society). Lewis also spent his time in Philadelphia procuring supplies, such items as "portable soup," medicine, special uniforms made of drab cloth, tents, tools, kettles, tobacco, corn mills, wine, gunpowder in lead canisters, medical and surgical supplies, and presents. In addition to all of these activities, Lewis most certainly visited the famous museum of Charles Willson Peale, then located on the second floor of Independence Hall.

 

Lewis left Philadelphia on June 1 and traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Jefferson and make final arrangements for his journey to the Pacific. These included writing a long letter on June 19 to an old friend, William Clark, asking him to be a co-leader of the expedition and to recruit men in his area. Lewis told Clark the real destination of their mission (the Pacific Coast), but told him to use a cover story that the mission was to go up the Mississippi River to its source for his recruitment. Lewis also hinted at secret news just received by President Jefferson: the French had offered the entire territory of Louisiana to the United States for $15 million. On July 3, 1803, official news arrived in the nation's capital--Robert Livingston and James Monroe had purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon's France.

 

Lewis left Washington on July 5 for Harpers Ferry, where he picked up the more than 3,500 pounds of supplies and equipment he had amassed to take overland to the Pittsburgh area. The Harpers Ferry-made items probably included 15 rifles, 24 pipe tomahawks, 36 tomahawks for American Indian presents, 24 large knives, 15 powder horns and pouches, 15 pairs of bullet molds, 15 wipers or gun worms, 15 ball screws, 15 gun slings, extra parts of locks and tools for replacing arms, 40 fish giggs such as the Indians use with a single barb point, 1 small grindstone and the collapsible iron frame for a canoe. Lewis left Harpers Ferry for the West on July 8. He hired a man named William Linnard with a Conestoga Wagon to haul the supplies to Pittsburgh. The items were so heavy that Linnard had to obtain another wagon. At Elizabeth, Pennsylvania (south of Pittsburgh on the Monongehela River), Lewis was held up for more than a month waiting for his 55-foot keelboat to be built. During this time, Lewis received word from William Clark that he would join the expedition.

 

On August 31, the keelboat was completed and Lewis began his journey down the Ohio. It is believed that Lewis also purchased what later became known as the "Red Pirogue" at this time, a single-masted boat rowed with seven oars. Lewis investigated ancient Indian mounds on his way down the river at what is now Creek Mounds State Historic Site near Kent, West Virginia. The next day Lewis first mentioned his Newfoundland dog, Seaman, in the journals. The water in the Ohio was low, causing long portages at various points. Lewis reached Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 28, 1803, where he talked with Dr. William Goforth, a local physician who was excavating the fossil remains of a mastodon at the Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. Lewis traveled to Big Bone Lick himself by October 4, and sent a box of specimens back to President Jefferson, along with an extremely detailed letter describing the finds of Goforth--the lengthiest surviving letter written by Lewis.

 

On October 14, the keelboat arrived at Clarksville, Indiana, where Lewis finally joined William Clark, his slave York, and the "young men from Kentucky" including Joseph and Reubin Field, recruited by Clark on August 1, and Charles Floyd and George Gibson. John Colter officially enlisted on October 15, George Shannon and John Shields on the 19th, Nathaniel Hale Pryor and William Bratton on the 20th. These so-called "nine young men from Kentucky" formed the backbone of the expedition's crew. Whatever inexperience they may have suffered from in October 1803 was rectified quickly at Camp Wood and along the trail in 1804-06. We don't know if these men met Lewis's initial criteria, but they certainly grew into the role as time went on, and hindsight shows that Clark could not have chosen better.

 

The expedition got under way once more on October 27, moving down the Ohio to Fort Massac, Illinois, by November 11. Today a replica of the American fort as it looked when Lewis and Clark visited in 1803 stands on the site. Lewis hired interpreter George Drouillard and gained volunteers from the U.S. military at Fort Massac: John Newman and Joseph Whitehouse of Daniel Bissell's 1st Infantry Regiment. These were the first active-duty military personnel added to the Corps of Discovery. The most important addition at Massac was Drouillard, or "Drewyer" as his name is most often spelled in the journals. Born north of present-day Detroit, Michigan, Drouillard was half French and half Shawnee Indian. Drouillard possessed skils that members of the expedition lacked to this point--he was a real frontiersman in the mold of Daniel Boone or Simon Kenton, by far the best hunter and woodsman of the entire expedition.

 

On November 13 the Corps left Fort Massac, arriving in the vicinity of modern Cairo, Illinois, on the 14th. Here Lewis and Clark worked jointly on their first scientific research and description; to study the geography at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. On November 16, they began the diplomatic phase of their journey when they visited the Wilson City area of Mississippi County, Missouri, and met with Delaware and Shawnee Indian chiefs. They ended their surveys at Cairo on November 19, and proceeded up the Mississippi River, now working against the current.

 

Lewis and Clark stopped to describe and climb Tower Rock on November 25, and arrived at Fort Kaskaskia, Illinois, on the 29th. In 1803, Kaskaskia was the U.S. Army post furthest north and furthest west. Kaskaskia was a town of 467 people when Lewis and Clark visited in 1803. Six soldiers enlisted at Kaskaskia from Russell Bissell's Company, 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment: Sgt. John Ordway and privates Peter M. Weiser, Richard Windsor, Patrick Gass, John Boley, and John Collins. In addition, John Dame, John Robertson, Ebeneezer Tuttle, Issac White, and Alexander Hamilton Willard of Capt. Amos Stoddard's company, U.S. Corps of Artillery, also enlisted for the journey. This was a very important crop of men who added immeasurably to the success of the expedition. Francois Labiche, another half-Indian half-Frenchman, enlisted with the expedition on November 30. Another boat, the "White Pirogue," may have been acquired at Kaskaskia. Clark and the men of the Corps departed Kaskaskia on December 3, and camped just below Ste. Genevieve. Lewis remained at Kaskaskia, probably meeting with locals and taking care of the military and paperwork sides of the expedition. On December 4, Clark and the men moved further up the river, passing Ste. Genevieve on the left side, a very prosperous town of about 1,000 residents--equal in size to St. Louis in 1803. Clark and the men next viewed the remains of Fort De Chartres, abandoned for over 30 years, on the right side. On December 6, Lewis left Kaskaskia and traveled to Cahokia along the Illinois roads. Both Lewis and Clark arrived in Cahokia on December 7.

 

Harpers Ferry-West Virginia

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

 

West Building, Main Floor—Gallery 60

 

•Date: 1842

•Medium: Oil on Canvas

•Dimensions

oOverall: 134.3 × 195.3 cm (52⅞ × 76⅞ in.)

oFramed: 162.9 × 224.8 × 17.8 cm (64⅛ × 88½ × 7 in.)

•Credit Line: Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

•Accession Number: 1971.16.1

•Artists/Makers:

oArtist: Thomas Cole, American, 1801-1848

 

Overview

 

Cole’s renowned four-part series traces the journey of an archetypal hero along the “River of Life.” Confidently assuming control of his destiny and oblivious to the dangers that await him, the voyager boldly strives to reach an aerial castle, emblematic of the daydreams of “Youth” and its aspirations for glory and fame. As the traveler approaches his goal, the ever-more-turbulent stream deviates from its course and relentlessly carries him toward the next picture in the series, where nature’s fury, evil demons, and self-doubt will threaten his very existence. Only prayer, Cole suggests, can save the voyager from a dark and tragic fate.

 

From the innocence of childhood, to the flush of youthful overconfidence, through the trials and tribulations of middle age, to the hero’s triumphant salvation, The Voyage of Life seems intrinsically linked to the Christian doctrine of death and resurrection. Cole’s intrepid voyager also may be read as a personification of America, itself at an adolescent stage of development. The artist may have been issuing a dire warning to those caught up in the feverish quest for Manifest Destiny: that unbridled westward expansion and industrialization would have tragic consequences for both man and nature.

 

Inscription

 

•Lower Left: 1842 / T. Cole / Rome

 

Provenance

 

Sold by the artist to George K. Shoenberger [1809-1892], Cincinnati, perhaps as early as 1845 and no later than May 1846;[1] Shoenberger heirs, after 20 January 1892;[2] purchased 1908 by Ernst H. Huenefeld, Cincinnati;[3] gift 1908 to Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association of Methodist Church of Cincinnati;[4] sold 17 May 1971 through (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York) to NGA.

 

[1]For a discussion of a possible 1845 date, see Thomas Cole, Exh. cat. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 1969: 35. Other sources place the acquisition a bit later than 1845; see Paul D. Schweizer, “The Voyage of Life: A Chronology,” in The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985: 45 (“December 1846?”), and Ellwood C. Parry III, The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination, Newark, Delaware, 1988: 332 (“sometime late in 1846 or, more likely, early in 1847”); however in a Boston Transcript article entitled “The Voyage of Life,” which appeared 21 May 1846, the pictures are mentioned as then belonging to “a wealthy gentleman of Cincinnati.”

[2]A letter of April 1979 from Mrs. Robert Heuck (in NGA curatorial files) specifies: “Mr. Shoenberger died in 1892, at which time many of the belongings of the home were given to heirs.” Shoenberger died 20 January 1892; for additional information, see The Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery with an Historical Sketch of the State of Ohio, 6 vols., Cincinnati, 1895: 6:1457-1458.

[3]Mrs. Robert Heuck, letter of April 1979 (in NGA curatorial files) states: “In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest W. [sic] Huenefeld purchased the land [and the house and contents].”

[4]Edward H. Dwight and Richard J. Boyle, “Rediscovery: Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’,” Art in America 55 (May 1967): 62.

 

Associated Names

 

•Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association

•Hirschl & Adler Galleries

•Huenefeld, Ernst H.

•Shoenberger, George K.

 

Exhibition History

 

•1842—Annual Exhibition of Modern Artists, Piazza del Popolo, Rome, 1842, no cat.

•1842—Private Exhibition, Luther Terry’s studio, Orto di Napoli, Rome, 1842.

•1843—Pictures by Thomas Cole N.A. … The Voyage of Life! A Series of Allegorical Pictures, National Academy of Design, New York, 1843-1844, no. 1.

•1843—Second Exhibition, Boston Artists’ Association, 1843, no. 1.

•1844—Paintings Exhibited…, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1844, no. 1.

•1848—Western Art Union, Cincinnati, 1848, no cat.

•1854—Pictures at the Ladies’ Gallery, Cincinnati, 1854, 2 and 5, no. 20, as Infancy.

•1983—A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 25, repro.

•1985—The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985, 4, 5, 28, 30-32, 34-36, 38-40, 42, 44, 45, 48, 53, 66-69, no. 33.

•1994—Thomas Cole: Landscape into History, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; The Brooklyn Museum, 1994-1995, fig. 115.

•1995—Loan for display with permanent collection, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1995-1996.

•2000—Explorar el Edén: Paisaje Americano del Siglo XIX, Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2000-2001, no. 2, repro.

 

Technical Summary

 

Secondary ground layers include red under the top left corner; yellow under the boat and angel; red under the center in the light area of mountain; red under top right corner in the light area of sky; red under the water around the boat. Infrared reflectography reveals some underdrawing of mountain contours in the right middle and far distance. There are scattered small losses along the edges, a small loss below the boat, and craquelure throughout.

 

All four paintings in The Voyage of Life series were executed on herringbone twill fabric with moderately fine threads and a moderately rough surface. The paintings were lined (apparently for the first time) and the original panel-back stretchers were replaced during treatment in 1970-1971. The presence of unused tack holes and the pattern of wear on the canvas edges suggest that the paintings were originally stretched and painted on slightly larger stretchers, and then restretched by the artist on the panel-backed stretchers. All four paintings have white ground layers; in specific areas of each painting (see individual comments, below) secondary ground layers of different colors were applied. Infrared reflectography reveals only minimal underdrawing. Paint was applied moderately thinly and with low and broad brushstrokes in some areas such as the skies, and more thickly and with some high impasto in details such as the figures and foliage. In general, the paintings are in excellent condition, with only scattered small losses, some craquelure, and minor abrasion. In 1970-1971, discolored varnish was removed and the paintings were restored.

 

Bibliography

 

•1843—“Cole’s Pictures at the National Academy of Design.” Anglo American (30 December 1843): 239.

•1843—“Dottings on Art and Artists. No. II.” New World 6 (25 February 1843): 246.

•1843—“Mr. Cole’s Paintings.” New-York Daily Tribune (26 December 1843): 2.

•1843—New-York Daily Tribune (18 February 1843): 3.

•1844—“A Few Words About Mr. Cole’s Paintings.” New World 8 (17 February 1844): 217.

•1844—“Cole’s Paintings.” New-York Daily Tribune (9 January 1844): 2.

•1844—“Editor’s Table.” The Knickerbocker 23 (January/February 1844): 97, 196.

•1844—P., S.H.J. “To Thomas Cole.” New Mirror 2 (27 January 1844): 269.

•1847—Transactions of the Western Art Union for the Year 1847. Cincinnati, 1847: 25.

•1848—Bryant, William Cullen. A Funeral Oration, occasioned by the death of Thomas Cole delivered before the National Academy of Design, New York, May 4, 1848. Philadelphia and New York, 1848: 30.

•1848—Whitley, Thomas W. Reflections on the Government of the Western Art Union and a Review of the Works of Art on Its Walls. [Originally published in the Herald of Truth] Cincinnati, 1848: 17-18.

•1849—Lanman, Charles. “The Epic Paintings of Thomas Cole.” Southern Library Messenger 15 (June 1849): 353.

•1849—Transactions of the Western Art Union for the Year 1848. Cincinnati, 1849: 10.

•1853—Noble, Louis Legrand. The Course of Empire, Voyage of Life, and other Pictures of Thomas Cole, N.A.. New York, 1853: 295-298, 301, 309, 312-314, 317, 320-322, 353, 359.

•1854—“Thomas Cole.” National Magazine 4 (April 1854): 318-321.

•1855—“Sketchings.” The Crayon 1 (7 February 1855): 92.

•1858—“Notes and Gleanings—Cole’s Pictures of Life.” National Magazine 13 (September 1858): 284-285.

•1860—Green, George W. Biographical Sketches. New York, 1860: 101, 105, 110-112.

•1860—“The Artists of America—Taken from New American Cyclopaedia.” The Crayon 7 (February 1860): 46.

•1865—Cummings, Thomas S. Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863). Philadelphia, 1865. Reprint, New York, 1965: 170, 176, 201.

•1932—Mayer, Frank Blackwell. With Pen and Pencil on the Frontier in 1851: The Diary and Sketches of Frank Blackwell Mayer. Edited by Bertha L. Heilbron. Reprint, Saint Paul, 1932: 41.

•1954—La Budde, Kenneth James. “The Mind of Thomas Cole.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1954: 171, 212.

•1962—Devane, James. “Sightseers Have Visited Scarlet Oaks for 95 Years.” Cincinnati Enquirer (20 May 1962): 6A.

•1964—Noble, Louis Legrand. The Life and Works of Thomas Cole (1853). Edited by Elliot S. Vesell. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964: 220-224, 231, 233-235, 237, 239-240, 264.

•1967—Dwight, Edward H., and Richard J. Boyle. “Rediscovery: Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’.” L’Art et les Artistes 55 (May 1967): 60-63, repro. 62.

•1967—Merritt, Howard S. “Thomas Cole’s List, ‘Subjects for Pictures.’” In Baltimore Museum of Art, Annual II: Studies on Thomas Cole, an American Romanticist. Baltimore, 1967: 84, 90.

•1970—Riordan, John. “Thomas Cole: A Case Study of the Painter-Poet Theory ofArt in American Painting from 1825-1850.” 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 1970: 1:99-100; 2:345, 455-497.

•1973—Wallach, Alan Peter. “The Ideal American Artist and the Dissenting Tradition: A Study of Thomas Cole’s Popular Reputation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, 1973: 70-72, 106.

•1976—Kurland, Sydney. “The Aesthetic Quest of Thomas Cole and Edgar Allan Poe: Correspondence in their Thought and Practice in Relation to their Time.” Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio University, Athens, 1976: 105-109, 172, repro. 227.

•1977—Wallach, Alan. “The Voyage of Life as Popular Art.” The Art Bulletin 59 (1957): 234.

•1980—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 133, repro.

•1980—Coen, Rena N. “Cole, Coleridge and Kubla Khan.” Art History 3 (June 1980): 218, 227, pl. 31.

•1980—Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 11, 14, 88, repro. 88.

•1981—Virdis, Caterina Limentani. “Paesaggio e racconto in Edgar Allan Poe.” Artibus et Historiae 4 (1981): 90, 94, repro. 89.

•1981—Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 96, 112-113.

•1983—Schweizer, Paul D. “Another Possible Literary Source for Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life.” In “New Discoveries in American Art.” Edited by Jayne A. Kuchina. The American Art Journal 15 (1983): 74-75.

•1985—The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985: 66-69.

•1987—Sarnoff, Charles A. “The Voyage of Life Had a Life of Its Own.” Paper presented to the NGA, January 1987.

•1987—Wilmerding, John. American Marine Painting. Rev. ed. of A History of American Marine Painting, 1968. New York, 1987: 44, 46, 47, color repro. 42.

•1988—Parry, Ellwood C., III. The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination. Newark, London, and Toronto, 1988: 218, 228, 265-268, 270-272, 275, 277, 280, 284-285, 291-298, 301-303, 332, 338, 378.

•1988—Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 11, 17, 102, 103, repro. 102.

•1990—Powell, Earl A., III. Thomas Cole. New York, 1990: 103.

•1991—Kopper, Philip. America’s National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 261, 263, color repro.

•1991—Wilmerding, John. American Views: Essays on American Art. Princeton, 1991: 56, 67, repro. 57.

•1992—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 145, repro.

•1994—Truettner, William H., and Alan Wallach. Thomas Cole: Landscape into History. Exh. cat. Natl. Mus. of Am. Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Brooklyn Museum. Washington,1994: 42,46-47,79,82,84,98-101,113,130-133,138,144,149-150,152,154,182, no. 115.

•1995—Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. The Spirit and the Vision: The Influence of Christian Romanticism on the Development of 19th-Century American Art. Atlanta, 1995: 137-148, fig. 26.

•1996—Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 95-108, color repro.

•1998—Boeckl, Christine M. “Path/Road/Crossroads.” In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:692.

•2004—Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 308-310, no. 247, color repros.

•2012—“Rethinking ‘Luminism’: Taste, Class, and Aestheticizing Tendencies in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Painting.” In The Cultured Canvas: New Perspectives on American Landscape Painting edited by Nancy Siegel. Lebanon, N.H., 2012: 133-134.

•2013—Corbett, David Peters. “Painting American Frontiers: ‘Encounter’ and the Borders of American Identity in Nineteenth-Century Art.” Perspective 2013, no. 1: 140, 141, color fig. 9.

  

From American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I:

 

1971.16.1 (2550)

 

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

 

•1842

•Oil on Canvas, 134.3 × 195.3 (52⅞ × 76⅞)

•Ails a Mellon Bruce Fund

•Inscriptions:

oAt Lower Left: 1842 / T. Cole / Rome

 

Technical Notes

 

All four paintings were executed on herringbone twill fabric with moderately fine threads and a moderately rough surface. The paintings were lined (apparently for the first time) and the original panel-back stretchers were replaced during treatment in 1970—1971. The presence of unused tack holes and the pattern of wear on the canvas edges suggest that the paintings were originally stretched and painted on slightly larger stretchers, and then restretched by the artist on the panel-backed stretchers. All four paintings have white ground layers; in specific areas of each painting (see individual comments, below) secondary ground layers of different colors were applied. Infrared reflectography reveals only minimal underdrawing. Paint was applied moderately thinly and with low and broad brushstrokes in some areas such as the skies, and more thickly and with some high impasto in details such as the figures and foliage. In general, the paintings are in excellent condition, with only scattered small losses, some craquelure, and minor abrasion. In 1970-1971, discolored varnish was removed and the paintings were restored.

 

1971.16.1 (Childhood): Secondary ground layers include red under the top left corner; yellow under the boat and angel; red under the center in the light area of mountain; red under top right corner in the light area of sky; red under the water around the boat. Infrared reflectography reveals some underdrawing of mountain contours in the right middle and far distance. There are scattered small losses along the edges, a small loss below the boat, and craquelure throughout.

  

Description by the Artist:

 

First Picture: Childhood

 

A stream is seen issuing from a deep cavern, in the side of a craggy and precipitous mountain, whose summit is hidden in clouds. From out the cave glides a Boat, whose golden prow and sides are sculptured into figures of the Hours: steered by an Angelic Form, and laden with buds and flowers, it bears a laughing Infant, the Voyager whose varied course the artist has attempted to delineate. On either hand the banks of the stream are clothed in luxuriant herbage and flowers. The rising sun bathes the mountains and the flowery banks in rosy light.

 

The dark cavern is emblematic of our earthly origin, and the mysterious Past. The Boat, composed of Figures of the Hours, images the thought, that we are borne on the hours down the Stream of Life. The Boat identifies the subject in each picture. The rosy light of the morning, the luxuriant flowers and plants, are emblems of the joyousness of early life. The close banks, and the limited scope of the scene, indicate the narrow experience of Childhood, and the nature of its pleasures and desires. The Egyptian Lotus in the foreground of the picture is symbolical of Human Life. Joyousness and wonder are the characteristic emotions of childhood.

His mother did this to him

Trump National Doral Miami

 

-- The Kaskel Years --

 

Immigrating from Poland in the 1920's, Alfred L. Kaskel (1901–1968) used his skills to open in the Coney Island neighborhood a small building supplies store which led to early opportunities as a building contractor. Kaskel saved his money and was able to build his first apartment building on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn. By the age of 30 he was a millionaire. He reinvested the profits and rose to prominence in New York City real estate in the postwar period - as did Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump and Sam Lefrak - by securing low cost government loans to build housing for returning GIs. Kaskel realized the potential for affordable housing in New York City and developed apartments in Forest Hills-Kew Gardens-Rego Park, Queens. In 1945 Kaskel bought the Belmont Plaza Hotel on Lexington and 49th Street - which marked his beginning of a rapid acceleration into the hotel real estate. Kaskel (Carol Management named after his daughter Carole) bought Coney Island's famed Half Moon Hotel for $900,000 in 1947. Kaskel sold the hotel in 1949 for $1,000,000 to the Harbor Hospital of Brooklyn.

 

By 1958 Kaskel was a part time resident of Miami and built the Carillon, a 620 room palace designed by Norman Giller, the celebrated “father” of Miami Modern (MiMo) architecture at Collins and 68th. The Carillon epitomized resort culture in Miami Beach. In 1959, it was voted Miami Beach’s “Hotel of the Year.” A glamorous night spot, the Carillon became known during the 1960s for its famous guests, lavish parties, cabaret shows, and big-name entertainment. Kaskel enjoyed golf - it led him to the swampland west of the Miami Airport and the Doral Country Club. Alfred and Doris Kaskel purchased 2,400 acres of swampland between NW 36 Street and NW 74 Street and from NW 79 Avenue to NW 117 Avenue for about $49,000 with the intention of building a golf course and hotel. At that time there was no paved road to the property. Kaskel's wife and daughter thought he was crazy to purchase the property and called it "Kaskel's folly". In 1962, the Kaskel's dream came true when they opened a hotel and country club that featured the Blue, Red and Par 3 golf courses. They named it Doral - a combination of Alfred and Doris. The Doral was the most luxurious resort constructed in South Florida since the Miami Biltmore in Coral Gables opened in the 1920's. The Doral Country Club was built for $10 million by Kaskel's family owned real estate firm, Carol Management. The Doral golf concept was to build multiple golf courses with a central country club, dining, meeting facilities and lodge rooms and reserve the fairway views for future house, condo and apartment buildings. In 1963 Kaskel also opened the 420- room Doral-on-Ocean - as the sister hotel to the Doral Country Club. The Doral Beach Hotel was long considered the most elegant and luxurious hotel in the area. It won several Mobil Five Star awards. It was said Kaskel did not have a mortgage on the Carillon Hotel, Doral Beach of the Doral Country Club - all funded by the thousands of apartment houses he owned in New York City.

 

Kaskel hired Louis Sibbett "Dick" Wilson and his assistants Joe Lee and Bob Hagge (Robert von Hagge) to design Doral's two regulation length golf courses plus a par-3 course. Wilson was the architect for Bay Hill in Orlando and La Costa in Carlsbad, CA. Since much of the land was swamp Mr. Hagge excavated enough land to route fairways through the water infested terrain just as Kaskel had requested. The intention was to use existing water as an ever-present hazard compensating for the very flat landscape. In May, 1963 construction began on the White Course, for the Doral complex, but it needed dirt, and so the lakes were dredged and enlarged on the Blue course from 60 acres to 75 acres. Kaskel hired Bob Hagge to design the White course. As a result of the building of the new White course, the par-3 course was redesigned since they were both located on the same parcel of land. On January 20, 1966 the Doral Country Club White Course opened and in December 1966 the redesigned Par 3 course reopened. Since the Blue Course had been renamed the Blue Monster, the other courses were renamed as well. The Red Course was renamed the Red Tiger, as Jackie Gleason once called the course. The White Course became known as the White Wonder, and the Par-3 Course became known as the Green Course or the Green Hornet. In 1968, Robert von Hagge and Bruce Devlin were hired to build the fifth course at the Doral Country Club - the Gold Course. In January, 1970 the Gold Course opened for business and received the moniker of Bachelor's Gold.

 

Kaskel put up a large purse to attract a PGA event at Doral in 1962. The tournament was held on the Blue Course and was named the Doral Country Club Open Invitational. Billy Casper was the inaugural winner of the Doral tournament. For that triumph, Casper earned $9,000 of the $50,000 purse. After watching the professionals struggle on the Blue Course, the tournament director Frank Strafaci gave the Blue Course the nickname 'The Blue Monster' which stuck. Doral's Touring Golf Pro for many years was Seve Ballesteros.

 

By 1978 the Kaskel family had grown the Doral brand to 8 hotels including in NYC: Doral Tuscany (now the St Giles Tuscany), Doral Park Avenue (now the Iberostar), Doral Court (now the St. Giles The Court) and the Doral Inn (originally the Belmont Plaza and the former W Flagship hotel now the Maxwell). In 1987, a spa wing was added to the Doral Country Club's hotel and the facility was renamed as the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. Prior to its renovation, the 800 acre complex was reported to feature "four golf courses; 700 hotel rooms across 10 lodges; more than 86,000-square-foot of meeting space, including a 25,000-square-foot ballroom; a 50,000-square-foot spa with 33 treatment rooms; six food and beverage outlets; extensive retail; and a private members' clubhouse.

 

--- The next five owners - KSL, CNL, Morgan Stanley, Paulson & Co. and Donald J. Trump ---

 

In 1994, the Kaskel family (Carol Management) sold the resort to KSL Recreation, a Kohlberg Kravis Roberts affiliate focused on premier golf facilities, for approximately $100 million. KSL Recreation was formed in 1992 (Henry Kravis, Michael Shannon and Larry Lichliter) as a portfolio company of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. KSL investors include public and private pensions and high net worth individuals. KSL appointed Hans Turnovszky as the new general manager. KSL planned a $30 million renovation. Starwood Capital was another interested buyer. The renovation included the remodel of ground floor restaurants (Terraza and Champions Sports Bar and Grill), all rooms and the 4 golf courses.

 

By 1995 the 4 courses (Blue Monster, Gold, White and Red) at Doral were frayed around the edges after some years of neglect. The Blue Monster was dropped off Golf Digest's list of the best 100 courses in 1993. In an effort to update the Blue Monster's difficulty in relation to changes in golf technology and skill, KSL contracted Ray Floyd to renovate the course in 1995. Floyd added and enlarged the already numerous bunkers narrowing many landing areas from the tee. The course was challenging under ideal conditions, but in normal tradewinds the alterations proved too penal and very unpopular. In 1999 Jim McLean, the Doral golf instructor, was asked to take the edges off Floyd's modifications.

 

In 1999 KSL sold 36 acres next to the Doral's golf courses to Marriott Vacation Club International for 240 timeshare villas. The sale marks the first time the Doral's owner, KSL Hotel Corp., relinquished a part of its property, said Joel Paige, KSL president and general manager of the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. KSL has agreed to let Marriott feed off the Doral's amenities by granting timeshare owners the same 40 percent discount and preferred access as guests at KSL's 700-room hotel. That includes the spa, golf courses, tennis courts.

 

In 2004 CNL acquired KSL for $1.366 billion and debt of $794 million for total acquisition cost of $2.16 billion. The resort portfolio of six included: 692-room Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami, Florida, 780-room Grand Wailea Resort & Spa on Maui, Hawaii, 796-room La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA West in La Quinta, California, 738-room Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona, 279-room Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley, California, 246-room Lake Lanier Islands Resort near Atlanta, Georgia. CNL placed the Doral resort under the management of Marriott International and renamed the property the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, a Marriott Resort. CNL said it would spend $40 million over the next three years on capital improvements at the Doral.

 

In 2007, CNL Hotels was acquired by the real estate arm of Morgan Stanley. The Doral was included in the portfolio of 8 resorts acquired by Morgan Stanley Real Estate for a total transaction cost of $6.6 billion. Michael Franco, the managing director of Morgan Stanley Real Estate said the resorts are extremely hard to replicate and will show excellent future growth from increased corporate group travel and leisure traveler markets.

 

In 2009, Doral's Silver Course was redesigned by Jim McLean and the course was renamed as the Doral Golf Resort & Spa - Jim McLean Signature Course.

 

In 2011, a group of creditors led by hedge fund giant Paulson & Co. seized control of the Doral and seven other properties from Morgan Stanley real estate funds. Morgan Stanley could not handle a $1 billion bond payment coming due. They quickly placed the Doral under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and began seeking a buyer for the Doral. By selling Doral now the Paulson-led owners can use the cash to pay down debts and avoid making overdue capital expenditures of updating the property.

 

Donald Trump announced in October 2011 that he would buy Doral for $150 million and invest more than the purchase price to restore the property and make Doral great again. When asked what the renovation budget would be Trump has said "unlimited" which publicly became $250 million. The renovations were financed with $125 million in loans from Deutsche Bank. The Trump Organization's hotel management unit, Trump Hotel Collection, took over Doral's management in June 2012. Donald Trrump's daughter Ivanka took charge of the 700 guest rooms' redesign featuring Ivanka's "stylish palette of elegant neutrals, including ivory, champagne and caramel - accentuated with mahogany veneers and gold leaf Spanish revival details". Ivanka introduced her own brand synonymous with quality, elegance, and sophistication into every aspect; from the imported Austrian crystal chandeliers to the handmade Italian bed linens. The rooms were made over in to luxury suites that include massive marble baths with European styled whirlpools. All existing restaurants were gutted and a classic five-star "gourmet stunner" opened - BLT Prime.

 

Doral Golf Resort & Spa was renamed Trump National Doral Miami. The Blue Monster course was renovated by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner and reopened in December 2013. After a Hanse/Wagner renovation, the Silver Fox course reopened in December 2014. The White Course was closed in January, 2015. The Red Tiger course reopened on January 12, 2015 and the Golden Palm course reopened in September 2015 after the Hanse/Wagner renovations.

 

The Blue Monster played host to the Doral Open on the PGA Tour from 1962 to 2006, and from 2007 to 2016 the WGC-Cadillac Championship made its home there. In 2016, it was announced that the tournament would be moved to Mexico City. In 2017 Rick Smith, best known as Phil Mickelson's former swing coach, replaced Jim McLean as the lead instructor at Trump National Doral Miami. McLean, a fixture at Doral through five owners and 26 years, moved his golf school to the nearby Biltmore Miami Hotel, where ownership has promised significant upgrades to its existing practice facilities. McLean called the move to Coral Gables "bittersweet."

 

Trump has been the target of dozens of liens from contractors who worked on the renovation project. On May 20, 2016, a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge ordered Trump National Doral Miami to be foreclosed and sold on June 28 unless the Trump Organization paid $32,800 to a Miami paint supply company. A 6-foot high portrait of Donald Trump hanging in the Champions Bar became controversial when it was reported to be purchased for $10,000 with funds from the non-profit Trump Foundation. The resort has challenged the local property tax assessments every year. In May 2019 it was reported the resort was in "steep decline" financially, in which its net operating income had fallen by 69 percent – from $13.8 million in 2015 to $4.3 million two years later.

 

David Feder has served as Vice President and Managing Director of Trump National Doral from 2014 to present. He previously presided over the Boca Resort and Club, Fairmont Turnberry Isle and the Arizona Biltmore. Paige Koerbel managed Doral in 2010 when it was operated by Marriott International and was there during the Trump acquisition. Joel Paige served as KSL's General Manager at Doral from 1995 to 2001. Paige is now the Chief Operating Officer at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va.

 

Photos and text compiled by Dick Johnson

richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com

 

Pepe Zappa of the duo ''Me&Him''

By T. W. Windeatt. (Read at Torquay, July, 1893.)

 

The little town and ancient borough of Totnes has during its lengthened history been the birthplace of men, not a few of whom have made their mark in the world, and not the least of these is one born in the present century – Wills, the Australian explorer – whose name deserves to be enshrined in the Transactions of this Association.

 

William John Wills was born in Totnes on the 5th January, 1834, being the son of William Wills, a surgeon then practising in Totnes, and Sarah, youngest daughter of William Galley, an old and respected inhabitant.* They both spent the latter part of their lives in and died at Torquay. As a boy Wills seems to have early developed an enquiring and thoughtful mind. His father says he was never a child in the common acceptation of the term, as he gave early indication of diligence and discretion scarcely compatible with the helplessness and simplicity of such tender years. He was educated at the Ashburton Grammar School, where he went as a boarder when eleven years of age, and of which school Mr. Paige, who still survives, was then the head master. A deep cutting in one of the benches in the old chapel of St Lawrence, then and now the schoolhouse, “W. J. WILLS” is still to be seen and records his sojourn there. Mr. Fabyan Amery, one of his schoolfellows, speaks of him as having always been a very scientific boy, and very observant of natural phenomena, which he always tried to get some scientific reason for. There appears to have been nothing remarkable in his progress at school, though his master commended his steady diligence and uniform propriety of conduct Mr. Paige remarked on one occasion to his father, “It vexes me that John does not take a top prize, for I see by his countenance that he understands as much, if not more, than any boy in my school; yet from want of readiness in answering he allows very inferior lads to win the tickets from him.”

 

* Henry Le Visconte, who was first lieutenant in the Erebus, and perished in the Franklin Expedition, was first cousin to Mrs. Wills.

 

He left school when sixteen and commenced to study medicine in his father’s surgery. In 1852 he studied practical chemistry under Dr. John Stenhouse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, who spoke of him as one of his most promising pupils, and ventured the assurance that in two years he would be second to none in England in practical chemistry.

 

In 1852 Dr. Wills determined to join the exodus then pouring out from England to Australia, engaged as medical attendant on board the Ballaarat, and arranged to take out the subject of my sketch, and a younger brother Tom with him. A few days after this arrangement was made Wills came to his father, and with that expression in his countenance so peculiarly his own, said, “My dear father, I have a favour to ask of you. I see my mother is grieving, although she says nothing, at our all leaving her together. Let Tom and me go alone. I will pledge myself to take care of him.” After a consultation this new plan was agreed upon. Dr. Wills released himself from his engagement with Messrs. Simpkins and Marshall for the Ballaarat, and secured two berths for the boys in one of Mr. W. S. Lindsay’s ships, which at that time were conveying living freights to Melbourne, their Channel port of departure being Dartmouth.

 

Wills’s love of knowledge in its details is evidenced by a story told by his father of him at this time. “I found,” he said, “that William had shortly before sailing expended some money on a quantity of stuff rolled up like balls of black rope-yarn, and exclaimed with astonishment, ‘In the name of goodness, are you going to chew or smoke all the way to Australia?'” for the commodity was the good old pigtail tobacco. He said smiling, “This is to make friends with the sailors. I intend to learn something about a ship by the time we reach our destination.” His mode of proceeding, as he told his father, was first to secure the good graces of the crew through the persuasive medium of the pigtail; then to learn the name and use of every rope, and of every part of the ship’s tackle from stem to stern. He thus soon acquired the art of splicing and reefing, and was amongst the first to go aloft in a storm, and to lend a hand in taking in topsails.

 

On arriving in Australia the two lads obtained situations as shepherds at Deniliquin, about 200 miles from Melbourne, at £30 a year and their rations. In August, 1853, Dr. Wills reached Melbourne, but it was some two months after landing before he ascertained his sons’ location, and joined them at their sheep station. William subsequently removed to Ballarat with his father, where he remained twelve months attending to patients in his father’s absence, and opening a gold office, where he perfected a plan of his own for weighing specimens containing quartz and gold in water, so as to find the quantity of each component. His thoughts and conversation were, however, constantly reverting to the interior of the great continent, and to the hope that he would some day undertake the journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1856 Wills obtained an appointment under Mr. F. Byerly, a gentleman in the Survey Department, and under him he commenced to learn surveying. A letter of advice as to the study of science written to his youngest brother at Totnes while he was engaged on a survey at an out station (St. Arnaud) evidenced his earnest love of science, and the following paragraph in it, referring to the study of astronomy, which I venture to think worth quoting, shows he had no difficulty in reconciling science and religion:

 

“As the great object of the science is the correction of error and the investigation of truth, it necessarily leads all those that feel an interest in it to a higher appreciation and desire for truth; and you will easily perceive that a man having a knowledge of all these vast worlds, so much more extensive than our own, must be capable of forming a far higher estimate of that Almighty Being who created all these wonders than one who knows nothing more than the comparatively trifling things that surround us on earth.”

 

Another paragraph at the end of this letter speaks for itself, and gives us the key to the man:

 

“One other piece of advice I must give you before I shut up; that is, never try to show off your knowledge, especially in scientific matters. It is a sin that certain persons we know have been guilty of. The first step is to learn your own ignorance, and if ever you feel inclined to make a display, you may be sure you have as yet learned nothing.”

 

In 1860 an expedition was organized by the colony of Victoria for the exploration of Australia, and to ascertain the nature of the interior of the great continent, which was then a sealed book; for up to that time the efforts towards exploration had been confined to lonely wanderings through the outer boundaries of the unknown continent, and opinions varied as to whether the interior was a vast inland sea, as Oxley and the first of the explorers believed, or whether it was a stony desert unfit for man and beast, as Sturt concluded.

 

Mr. Ambrose Kyte, whose name was, however, concealed from the public at the time, offered £1,000 as an inducement to the Government and others to come forward and raise funds for the exploration. Parliament voted £6,000, and subscriptions from the public raised the fund to £9,000. A Committee of the Royal Society undertook the superintendence of the arrangements. Twenty-four camels were imported from India with native drivers, and provisions and stores for twelve months were provided. After considerable delay the choice of a leader fell upon Robert O’Hara Burke. He was forty years of age, an Irishman from county Galway. When quite a youth he served in an Austrian cavalry regiment, and subsequently in the Irish Constabulary and the Police Force of Victoria; possessing bravery and dauntless courage, he had no special aptitude or scientific training to lead such an Expedition. He was enthusiastic and impulsive but was unfortunately without the indispensable experience of a seasoned bushman.

 

The appointment of second in command fell upon Mr. G. I. Landells, who owed his preferment to the circumstance of his having been employed to bring the camels from India, an appointment, however, which, as the sequel shows, was a most unfortunate one. Wills, who by this time was a seasoned bushman, with great powers of endurance, tendered his services as astronomer and guide without thinking of any distinct post of command, his object being exclusively scientific. Dr. Ludwick Becker was appointed naturalist and artist, Dr. Herman Beckler as botanist and medical adviser. Ten white men, among whom was John King (a private soldier) and three sepoys, were appointed to accompany the Expedition.

 

The explorers left Melbourne on the 20th August, 1860, amid considerable enthusiasm; nearly the whole population suspending ordinary business, and turning out to witness the start. The mayor of Melbourne publicly addressed them, and wished them God-speed, and through the settled districts their progress, which was slow, was a kind of triumphal march. The route marked out for them was to strike the river Darling, then the lower Barcoo (Cooper’s Creek), and from that point to go northwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

 

Swan Hill, on the Murray, which, properly speaking, was the northern boundary of the colony of Victoria, was reached on September 8th. At Balranald, beyond the Murray, Burke found it impossible to get on any longer with his foreman (Ferguson) and discharged him. He had, however, no sooner rid himself of this troublesome man than Mr. Landells, his second in command, began to sow dissension, and to exhibit insubordination in an unmistakable manner. This reached a crisis by the time they came to Menindie, on the Darling, and after a violent scene Landells resigned, returning to Melbourne full of violent complaints against Burke, and Dr. Beckler was foolish enough to follow Landells’ example of resigning, on the alleged ground that he did not like the way Burke spoke to Landells. Fortunately for Burke’s reputation a very full account of all that took place was written at the time by Wills to Professor Neumayer, and the committee expressed their entire approbation of Burke’s conduct, an opinion shared in by the general public, as evidenced by the newspapers of that date. Burke, on the resignation of Mr. Landells, immediately promoted Wills to the post he had vacated, which appointment the committee confirmed. Here there was perfect union and reciprocal understanding. Neither had petty jealousies or reserved views. The success of the expedition was their object, not personal glory their aim. The leader had every confidence in his second, and the second was proud of his leader. But Mr. Burke committed an error in the selection of Mr. Wright for the third position in command, without any previous knowledge or experience of his capabilities. In this he acted from his impulsive nature, and the consequences bore heavily on his own and Wills’ fate.

 

Burke then made his second mistake by dividing his party, and on 19th October left Menindie, where he had formed a depot, with about one half of his number, leaving the others behind, and made a rush to the Barcoo. He reached Torowota on 29th October, and from that encampment forwarded a despatch, and an exhaustive surveying report from Wills, to the secretary of the expedition. In his own despatch Burke said:

 

“I consider myself very fortunate in having Mr, Wills as my second in command. He is a capital officer, zealous and untiring in the performance of his duties, and I trust he will remain my second as long as I am in charge of the expedition.”

 

Burke sent Wright back to Menindie with instructions to follow him up with the remainder of the camels to Cooper’s Creek, and Wright himself admitted he gave Burke his word to take the remainder of the party out as soon as he arrived at Menindie. This, however, he omitted to do, and unaccountably delayed making any start until the 26th January, 1861, and to this criminal delay may be attributed the whole of the crushing disaster which subsequently overtook the expedition.

 

Cooper’s Creek, where a camp was formed, was reached on the 11th November. In a letter to one of his sisters from there Wills describes the place as follows:–

 

“To give you an idea of Cooper’s Creek, fancy extensive flat, sandy plains, covered with herbs dried like hay, and imagine a creek or river, somewhat similar in appearance and size to the Dart above the Weir, winding its way through these flats, having its banks densely clothed with gum trees and other evergreens. So far there appears to be a considerable resemblance, but now for the difference. The water of Cooper’s Creek is only a number of waterholes. In some places it entirely disappears, the water in flood-time spreading all over the flats, and forming no regular channel.”

 

While awaiting the arrival of the tardy Wright, short explorations of the adjoining country were made, chiefly by Wills, with the view of examining two or three promising routes to the Gulf of Carpentaria. On the last of these trips Wills penetrated eighty miles, and would have gone further, but the men in charge of the camels fell asleep and let them escape, and the return had to be done on foot in a broiling sun of 146 degrees, no shade, and very little water.

 

Impatient at Wright’s delay, and irritated almost to madness in waiting for him, and seeing the time slipping by, Burke and Wills determined to make a dash for the Gulf of Carpentaria while the opportunity still remained to them.

 

Burke again divided his small party, and taking Wills, King, and Grey, one horse, six camels, and three months’ provisions, started on Sunday, the 16th December, for a dash across the continent. Four men – Brahe, Patten, McDonnough, and Dost Mahomet – with six camels and twelve horses, were left at the camp at Cooper’s Creek, which was made a depot, and Brahe placed in charge until the arrival of Wright or some other person duly appointed by the committee to take command of the remainder of the expedition at Menindie. A surveyor was expected to be sent on to assist Wills, and plenty of work was laid out for all until the return of Burke and Wills – Brahe receiving the most positive orders to remain at Cooper’s Creek until this took place, three or four months being named as the possible time of absence.

 

Wills strongly advised a direct course northward for the exploring party, but Burke hesitated to adopt it unless he could feel confident of a supply of water. The more westerly course was therefore adopted at the commencement of the journey; but after a day or two they turned to the east, and scarcely deviated throughout from the 141st degree of east longitude.

 

Wills kept a diary giving a full account of the journey to the Gulf from the start to February, 1861, which contains very interesting details of each day’s progress. The first point the explorers made for was Eyre’s Creek, and on their first day’s journey they came upon a large tribe of blacks, who, Wills says, came pestering them to go to their camp and have a dance, and nothing but a threat to shoot them would keep them away. They were fine-looking men, but decidedly not of a warlike nature. The explorers crossed Sturt’s supposed “stony desert”, and did not find it the melancholy waste or bad travelling they were led to expect.

 

On 20th December they came upon a large camp of not less that forty or fifty blacks, who brought them presents of fish, for which they gave them beads and matches. On Christmas-eve they reached Gray’s Creek, and took a day’s rest to celebrate the festival. Their camp was really an agreeable place, an oasis in the desert; for there they had all the advantage of food and water attendant on the position of a large creek or river, free from the annoyance of the ants, flies, and mosquitoes invariably met with amongst timber or heavy scrub. The following day they struck a magnificent creek coming from the N.N.W., and this they followed until the 30th, by which time it had tended considerably to the N.E. This stream has since received the name of “Burke’s Creek”. The country adjacent they found an alternation of sand ridges and grassy plains. On 8th January they came into green and luxuriant country, improving at every step. Flocks of pigeons rose and flew, and fresh plants and rich vegetation met the eye on every side. On the 10th, passing over fine open plains, they came to the main creek in those flats, “Patten’s Creek”, flowing along the foot of a stony range. From here they pushed on over fairly good country, coming repeatedly upon blacks in their way, some of whom, being surprised by the explorers coming suddenly upon them, fled, dreadfully frightened. On the 30th January, 1861, having got to within a comparatively short distance of the shores of Carpentaria, Burke and Wills determined to leave Gray and King in charge of the camels, one of whom, having got logged in the creek, had already been left behind, and to proceed onwards on foot, leading the horse. The river or creek down which they passed, and which was quite salt, is named in the journal the Cloncurry. The channel making a sudden turn. Wills remarked that it might be a new river. “If it should prove so,” said Burke, “we will call it after my old friend Lord Cloncurry.”

 

In crossing Billy’s Creek the horse got bogged in a quicksand, and was with difficulty rescued. They came again on blacks, who shuffled off, and near their fire was a fine hut, the best they had ever seen, built on the same principle as those at Cooper’s Creek, but much larger and more complete. Hundreds of wild geese, plovers, and pelicans were enjoying themselves in the watercourses on the marshes, the water of which was too brackish to be drunk. They then soon came to a channel through which the sea-water entered. Here they passed three blacks, who pointed out unasked the best way down. Next morning they started at daybreak for the sea, leaving the horse behind short hobbled. Here Wills’ diary, from which I have been quoting, abruptly ends, and was not resumed until the 19th February, when they had already started on their fatal homeward journey. Burke did not keep any regular journal, but in his notes, under date of the 28th March, 1861, he says: “At the conclusion of the report it would be as well to say that we reached the sea, but could not obtain a view of the open ocean, although we made every endeavour to do so.” There is no doubt whatever that the two explorers reached the verge of the northern ocean.*

 

* In the account of McKinlay’s Expedition from Adelaide, in August, 1861, it is mentioned that when he, in the following February, found himself on the Gulf of Carpentaria, dense walls of mangrove barred his way to the shore, and there can he little doubt that it was the same obstacle which prevented Burke and Wills from viewing the open sea.

 

Having thus accomplished the grand object of their expedition Burke and Wills rejoined Gray and King, where they had left them with the camels, and the four proceeded together on the return journey on the 13th February. Wills’ notes on their scamper back to Cooper’s Creek are brief but powerful. An incessant rainfall made the country boggy, and added to their troubles. On the 2nd March, at Salt-bush Camp, they found Golah, the camel which they had been obliged to leave behind on the outward journey. It was thin and miserable, and had fretted at finding itself left behind, but began to eat as soon as it saw the other camels.

 

On 5th March Burke became ill from eating part of a large snake which they had killed, and poor Golah, being completely done up, and unable to come on, even when pack and saddle were taken off, had to be finally left behind. On 13th March it rained so heavily that Wills had to put his watch and field-book in the pack to keep them dry. All the creeks became flooded, and the poor travellers had to seek shelter under some fallen rocks. Their journey was now slow, as they had to keep on the stony ridge instead of following the flats, which were very boggy owing to the rain. On the 20th they commenced to lighten the loads of the camels by leaving 60 lbs. weight of things behind. Rain continued to fall in torrents, and the ground they passed over was at times either full of water or covered with slimy mud. The names given to some of their camps by Wills – viz., “Humid Camp”, “Muddy Camp”, “Mosquito Camp”, show some of the trials they had to encounter. Gray, who had been complaining of dysentery, stole some of the flour, and was punished by Burke. Five days after this (March 30th) the camel Boocha was killed for food at a place which by gentle irony they called “Boocha’s Rest”; and on the 10th April the horse, which was reduced and knocked up from want of food, was killed also. Down to the 17th nothing very noteworthy is recorded.

 

On that day – the beginning of the end – Wills records the death of Gray, whom the others had thought to be shamming. The survivors sorrowfully buried him in the lonely bush: they were so weak that it was with difficulty they could dig a grave sufficiently deep to lay him in. After a day’s delay to rest their wearied limbs they pushed on, but in a most exhausted state, straining every nerve to reach the goal of their arduous labours, their legs almost paralysed, so that it was a trying task to walk a few yards. Four days afterwards they were cheered by the sight of the familiar landmarks of their old camp at Cooper’s Creek. King describes in vivid language the delight of Burke when he thought he saw the depot camp. “There they are!” he shouted. “I see them.” But, alas! the wish was father to the thought. There was no one there. Lost and bewildered in amazement, he appeared like one stupefied when the horrible truth that the camp had been deserted burst upon him. He was quite overwhelmed, and flung himself on the ground broken-hearted. Wills looked about him in all directions, and presently turning to King said, “They are gone”, and pointing a short way off added, “There are the things they have left.” Calm and quiet as ever, he never once, as King testified, showed the slightest anger or loss of command of himself.

 

On a tree was marked “Dig 21st April”, and from under it a box was extracted containing provisions, and a bottle with a note from Brahe conveying the mortifying intelligence that he had only seven hours before abandoned the depot, and was encamped fourteen miles away, that he had remained four months at Cooper’s Creek, and that Wright had not turned up with the supplies. The explorers felt that, exhausted as they were, it was useless to attempt to overtake Brahe. They rested for two days, and on the morning of Thursday, April 23rd, Burke, Wills, and King, strengthened by the provisions they had found, resumed their journey. Wills and King were desirous of following their track out from Menindie, but unfortunately Burke preferred striking for the South Australian stations, having heard it positively stated at a meeting of the Royal Society that there were settlers within 100 miles of Cooper’s Creek. Wills deferred to his leader, and so they went to their destruction, making for Adelaide via Mount Hopeless (ominous name). There was, in fact, nothing to commend this route, while everything was in favour of that by the Darling. The one road they knew nothing of, the other was familiar to them, and as a matter of fact the nearest police station on the Adelaide line of march was distant between four and five hundred miles. Before starting Wills’ journals were buried in the cache, with the following note from Burke:

 

“Depot No. 2, Cooper’s Creek Camp, 65.

“The return party from Carpentaria, consisting of myself, Wills, and King (Grey dead), arrived here last night and found that the depot party had only started on the same day. We proceed on to-morrow, slowly down the creek towards Adelaide by Mount Hopeless, and shall endeavour to follow Gregory’s track; but we are very weak. The two camels are done up, and we shall not be able to travel faster than four or five miles a day. Grey died on the road from exhaustion and fatigue. We have all suffered much from hunger. The provisions left here will, I think, restore our strength. We have discovered a practicable route to Carpentaria, the chief position of which lies in the 140° of east longitude. There is some good country between this and the Stony Desert. From thence to the tropics the land is dry and stony. Between the Carpentaria a considerable portion is rangy, but well watered and richly grassed. We reached the shores of Carpentaria on the 11th of February, 1861. Greatly disappointed at finding the party here gone.

 

“(Signed) Robert O’Hara Burke, Leader.

“April 22nd, 1861.

“P.S. – The camels cannot travel, and we cannot walk, or we should follow the other party. We shall move very slowly down the creek.”

 

By slow stages the doomed explorers moved on day by day through what was little better than a desert. The second and third days they came upon some friendly blacks, who gave them fish. On 28th April one of the two remaining camels got bogged by the side of a water hole, and it being impossible to get him out, he was shot the next day, his flesh providing them with food. On May 7th the remaining camel would not rise even without any load on its back, and after making every attempt to get him up they had to leave him to himself. Burke and Wills then went down the creek to reconnoitre, and fortunately fell in with some blacks fishing, who gave them food and took them to their camp, where they passed two nights. Some days after, being pressed for food, several excursions were made to find the blacks again, but without success. On May 17th, however, King unexpectedly came upon the nardoo plant, the seed of which is powdered by the natives and baked into a cake. This discovery raised their spirits, as they considered that with this food they would be able to support themselves, even if they had to remain on the creek and wait for assistance from town. On 27th May Wills started alone to the depot at Cooper’s Creek to see if any relief had arrived.

 

Brahe – who, it will be remembered, deserted his post at the depot only seven hours before the wearied explorers returned there – fell in with Wright’s party at Balloo on his way to the Darling on the 28th or 29th April, and on the 3rd May Wright started with him for the depot, which they actually reached on the 9th. It seemed fated, however, that blunder should succeed blunder, for here they remained but a quarter of an hour, and casting but a hurried glance around came to the conclusion that the depot had not been visited in the interval, and with fatal and criminal neglect never even opened the cache. Had they done so the papers and letters deposited would have been found, and all would yet have been well. Wills, who had met natives on the way, and been given food by them, arrived at Cooper’s Creek on this return visit on the 30th May, and naturally enough failed to discover it had been re-visited by Wright and Brahe, who had left no record behind them. He opened the cache, buried the remainder of his journal and letters, with the following touching note:–

 

“Depot Camp, May 30th.

“We have been unable to leave the creek. Both camels are dead, and our provisions are exhausted. Mr. Burke and King are down the lower part of the creek. I am about to return to them, when we shall probably come up this way. We are trying to live the best way we can, like the blacks, but find it hard work. Our clothes are going to pieces fast. Send provisions and clothes as soon as possible.

“W. J. Wills.”

 

“The depot party having left contrary to instructions, has put us in this fix. I have deposited some of my journals here for fear of accident. “W. J. W.”

 

Wills then started to rejoin Burke and King. He received kindly assistance on the way from the blacks, and rejoined his companions on 6th June. His diary which he continued to keep was brief but expressive. They had little but nardoo to live upon, and though it allayed the pangs of hunger, it contained little nourishment; the poor fellows were literally starving to death. In his diary under date of 21st June Wills says:–

 

“I feel much weaker than ever, and can scarcely crawl out of the mia-mia. Unless relief comes in some form or other I cannot possibly last more than a fortnight. It is a great consolation at least, in this position of ours, to know that we have done all we could, and that our deaths were rather be the result of the mismanagement of others than of any rash act of our own. Had we come to grief elsewhere, we could only have blamed ourselves; but here we are returned to Cooper’s Creek, where we had every reason to look for provisions and clothing, and yet have to die of starvation, in spite of the explicit instructions given by Mr. Burke, that the depot party should await our return, and the strong recommendation by the Committee ‘that we should be followed up by a party from Menindie.'”

 

He suffered much from cold, his clothing was reduced to a wide awake, a merino shirt, a regatta shirt without sleeves, the remains of a pair of flannel trousers, two pairs of socks in rags, and a waistcoat. Wills finding his weakness increasing, it was resolved that Burke and King, as the only chance of saving the party, should go in search of natives, and having collected and pounded sufficient nardoo seed to last Wills for eight days, they constructed a rude shelter of boughs for him, placed water and firewood within his reach, and took a sorrowful farewell of him, Wills giving Burke a letter and his watch for his father, and telling King if he survived Burke to carry out his last wishes. In a postscript to this letter Wills says, “I think to live about four or five days. My spirits are excellent.” On the 29th June Wills made his last entry in his diary, shewing that he maintained his calmness of spirit and resignation to the last.

 

“Friday, 29th June, 1861. — Clear, cold night; slight breeze from the east; day beautifully warm and pleasant. Mr. Burke suffers greatly from the cold, and is getting extremely weak. He and King start to-morrow up the creek to look for the blacks; it is the only chance we have of being saved from starvation. I am weaker than ever, although I have a good appetite, and relish the nardoo much; but it seems to give us no nutriment, and the birds here are so shy as not to be got at. Even if we got a good supply of fish, I doubt whether we could do much work on them and the nardoo alone. Nothing now but the greatest good luck can save any of us; and as for myself I may live four or five days if the weather continues warm. My pulse is at forty-eighty and very weak, and my legs and arms are nearly skin and bone. I can only look out, like Mr. Micawber, ‘for something to turn up.’ Starvation on nardoo is by no means very unpleasant, but for the weakness one feels, and the utter inability to move one’s self; for as far as the appetite is concerned it gives the greatest satisfaction. Certainly fat and sugar would be more to one’s taste; in fact, those seem to me to be the great stand-by for one in this extraordinary continent – not that I mean to depreciate the farinaceous food, but the want of sugar and fat in all substances obtainable here is so great that they become almost valueless to us as articles of food without the addition of something else.

 

(Signed) “W. J. Wills.”

 

We are now, alas ! nearing the end of this ill-fated expedition. Burke and King had not travelled many miles when, on the second day from leaving Wills, Burke gave in from sheer weakness, and died early the next morning. King remained two days to recover strength, and then returned to where they had left Wills, taking back with him three crows he had shot, and nardoo he had discovered, and was shocked to find Wills lying dead in his gunwah, where he would appear to have sunk quietly to rest, but in utter loneliness, a few hours after Burke and King had left him. King buried the corpse with sand, and remained there some days prostrated at the death of his companions, and at being left alone in the vast wilderness. The nardoo running short, and being unable to gather it, he tracked some of the natives by their footprints in the sand, and eventually fell in with a number of them, who were kindly disposed, and so was preserved from the fate of his companions.

 

The Exploration Committee at Melbourne seem by their supineness to have helped on the final catastrophe. Although informed of the criminal delay of Wright at Menindie, they took no steps to urge his departure from there. Dr. Wills, our hero’s father, unable to bear the suspense in the month of June, walked with a small pack on his shoulders, and a stick in his hand, from Ballarat to Melbourne, a distance of seventy-five miles, and his energetic appeals led to a search party, under Mr. A. W. Howitt, being sent out.

 

Two of the three camels lost on one of the excursions at Cooper’s Creek on the way out were discovered in South Australia and brought to Adelaide. News of this reaching Melbourne excited the interest of the public, and doubtless contributed to the awakened energy of the Committee. In connection with this Mr. Fabyan Amery has contributed a strange and interesting story. He tells me that a Mr. James Wills, who had been a servant at the Ashburton Grammar School, in special attendance upon the boarders, whilst Wills was a pupil there, was, in 1861, residing with his wife, whom he had married in the Colony, on the banks of the Murray river; and one morning Mrs. Wills, casting her eyes around the horizon, spied in the far distance two animals, which with quick feminine decision she declared to be camels. This she mentioned to her husband, who ridiculed the idea, as no camels were ever known in Australia. She persisted in her opinion, and started towards them to satisfy her curiosity. Sure enough they proved to be two camels, undoubtedly two of those who had escaped from the ill-fated expedition, and which, with the wonderful instinct of their species, had sniffed the water at a great distance, and in an almost exhausted state were making for the river. Mrs. Wills went up to them, when the youngest came and ate out of her hand. Her husband immediately gave information to the police, which he understood was forwarded to the Governor of Victoria, and which he always believed led to the despatch of the Relief Expedition. Howitt started early in July, 1861, taking Brahe with him, who had come down with Wright’s despatches, and made all speed to Cooper’s Creek. On 13th September he arrived at the fatal depot, and on the 15th King was discovered sitting in a hut which the natives had made for him. He presented a melancholy appearance, wasted to a shadow, and only distinguishable as a civilized being by the remnants of clothes upon him. As soon as King was well enough to accompany them the relief party proceeded down to the place where Wills died. The remains were found, carefully collected, and interred where they lay, Howitt reading that sublime chapter – 1 Corinthians xi. – and cutting the following inscription on a tree close by to mark the spot:

 

W. J. WILLS

XLV Yds

W.N.W.

A. H.

 

Burke’s remains were subsequently discovered and buried, wrapped in a Union Jack. Howitt then returned to Melbourne, taking King with him. He subsequently went back again, disinterred the remains of Burke and Wills, and brought them to Melbourne, where, after lying solemnly in state, they were accorded a public funeral, and so –

 

“After life’s fitful fever they sleep well.”

 

No one who has read the simple records of this great expedition, with all its blunders – so successful as far as its great object was concerned, but so fatal as regards the precious lives of the explorers – but must admire the character, actions, and quiet heroism of Wills. None of the blunders which led to the disaster which befell the Expedition are traceable to him. Throughout the toilsome journey he maintained his quiet, equable temperament. Loyal to his leader he deferred to his wishes, never complained of or reflected on others, continued and carefully recorded his scientific observations to the last, and laid himself down to die in utter loneliness in the vast wilderness with perfect resignation and calmness, as if he were but falling asleep in his father’s arms; and “his works do follow him”; for they opened up the way to the march of civilization, and have been rich in results. The greater part of the country he explored is now in a state of cultivation, with homesteads containing prosperous settlers in all directions, and so early as 1867 a stage coach was running not many miles from where he and Burke laid down their lives. The testimony of the colonists to Wills was on all sides that of admiration for his devoted heroism, appreciation of the scientific results achieved by him, and deep regret at the sacrifice of his young and promising life.

 

Sir Henry Barkly, the Governor of Victoria, in a letter to his mother, said of Wills: “You may rely upon it that the name of William John Wills will go down to posterity, both at home and in this colony, amongst the brightest of those who have sacrificed their lives for the advancement of scientific knowledge and the good of their fellow-creatures.” Dr. Mueller, of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, who as a tribute to his memory named a new plant in the Australian Flora Eremophila Willsii, “to record by botany the glory never to be forgotten of the intrepid and talented but most unfortunate Wills”, maintained that it was only by his skilful guidance and scientific talents that the great geographic success of the expedition was achieved.

 

A portion of the city was directed to be thereafter named Wills Street by order of the Governor. A massive obelisk was erected to the memory of the two martyrs in the cemetery where they were buried; and on April 21st, 1866, a monument raised to them by the Victorian Legislature at a cost of £4,000, consisting of a statue of each of these two distinguished explorers, was unveiled by the Governor in Collins Street, one of the principal thoroughfares of Melbourne. The day chosen for the ceremony was the fourth anniversary of the return of Burke and Wills to Cooper’s Creek, and their surviving companion King was present on the occasion, which to him must have been one of mingled sorrow and pleasure.

 

Wills was not forgotten in his native town. The inhabitants, aided by the contributions of Devonshire men in Australia, erected a granite obelisk on the plains containing this inscription:Inscription on obelisk to W. J. Wills in Totnes

And though more than thirty years have passed since his death Wills is not forgotten in the colony; for only last year one of the colonists from Devon, Mr. Angel, who returned from South Australia on a visit to Totnes, and to his native parish of Littlehempstone, finding the inscription on the memorial becoming obliterated had it renewed on a tablet of white marble let into the granite,* that the coming race may not be unmindful of the patient and courageous life and heroic death of this Devonshire hero, the martyred Wills.

 

* Since this paper was written Mr. F. Horn, marble mason, of Totnes, has executed a successful medallion of Wills, which has been let into the obelisk above the tablet."

 

devonassoc.org.uk/devoninfo/wills-the-australian-explorer...

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Isaiah 40: 31

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The whole HIM gang

''I've found some Bugle :)''

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Odense, 1994-07-21

 

Slide: D02550

 

Carol Morello, the Diplomatic Correspondent for The Washington Post, questioned Secretary Kerry after the traveling press “pool” – a slimmed-down but representative group of the traveling press corps – watched him while he met with State Department Chief of Staff Finer and some U.S.-delegation sanctions experts on the Palais Coburg Terrace on July 10, 2015. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is a widely worshipped deity in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.

 

Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.

 

Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta Period, although he inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. He was formally included among the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the 9th century. A sect of devotees called the Ganapatya arose, who identified Ganesha as the supreme deity. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.

 

ETYMOLOGY AND OTHER NAMES

Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri is often added before his name. One popular way Ganesha is worshipped is by chanting a Ganesha Sahasranama, a litany of "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. At least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama exist; one version is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu scripture venerating Ganesha.

 

The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana, meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha, meaning lord or master. The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva. The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati, a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". The Amarakosha, an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha : Vinayaka, Vighnarāja (equivalent to Vighnesha), Dvaimātura (one who has two mothers), Gaṇādhipa (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), Heramba, Lambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana; having the face of an elephant).

 

Vinayaka is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Ashtavinayak (aṣṭavināyaka). The names Vighnesha and Vighneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hindu theology as the master and remover of obstacles (vighna).

 

A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pillai. A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pillai means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali word pillaka means "a young elephant".

 

In the Burmese language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinne, derived from Pali Mahā Wināyaka. The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikhanet or Phra Phikhanesuan, both of which are derived from Vara Vighnesha and Vara Vighneshvara respectively, whereas the name Khanet (from Ganesha) is rather rare.

 

In Sri Lanka, in the North-Central and North Western areas with predominantly Buddhist population, Ganesha is known as Aiyanayaka Deviyo, while in other Singhala Buddhist areas he is known as Gana deviyo.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.

 

Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century. The 13th century statue pictured is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900–1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973–1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost, and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal. Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature. A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century. Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a pasha (noose) in the other upper arm.

 

The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but is turned towards the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness (abhaya mudra). The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing, which is a very popular theme.

 

COMMON ATTRIBUTES

Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, he acquires the head later in most stories. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary from source to source. Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.

 

Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta. Ganesha's protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries). This feature is so important that, according to the Mudgala Purana, two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it: Lambodara (Pot Belly, or, literally, Hanging Belly) and Mahodara (Great Belly). Both names are Sanskrit compounds describing his belly. The Brahmanda Purana says that Ganesha has the name Lambodara because all the universes (i.e., cosmic eggs) of the past, present, and future are present in him. The number of Ganesha's arms varies; his best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms. Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts. His earliest images had two arms. Forms with 14 and 20 arms appeared in Central India during the 9th and the 10th centuries. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms. According to the Ganesha Purana, Ganesha wrapped the serpent Vasuki around his neck. Other depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Upon Ganesha's forehead may be a third eye or the Shaivite sectarian mark , which consists of three horizontal lines. The Ganesha Purana prescribes a tilaka mark as well as a crescent moon on the forehead. A distinct form of Ganesha called Bhalachandra includes that iconographic element. Ganesha is often described as red in color. Specific colors are associated with certain forms. Many examples of color associations with specific meditation forms are prescribed in the Sritattvanidhi, a treatise on Hindu iconography. For example, white is associated with his representations as Heramba-Ganapati and Rina-Mochana-Ganapati (Ganapati Who Releases from Bondage). Ekadanta-Ganapati is visualized as blue during meditation in that form.

 

VAHANAS

The earliest Ganesha images are without a vahana (mount/vehicle). Of the eight incarnations of Ganesha described in the Mudgala Purana, Ganesha uses a mouse (shrew) in five of them, a lion in his incarnation as Vakratunda, a peacock in his incarnation as Vikata, and Shesha, the divine serpent, in his incarnation as Vighnaraja. Mohotkata uses a lion, Mayūreśvara uses a peacock, Dhumraketu uses a horse, and Gajanana uses a mouse, in the four incarnations of Ganesha listed in the Ganesha Purana. Jain depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse, elephant, tortoise, ram, or peacock.

 

Ganesha is often shown riding on or attended by a mouse, shrew or rat. Martin-Dubost says that the rat began to appear as the principal vehicle in sculptures of Ganesha in central and western India during the 7th century; the rat was always placed close to his feet. The mouse as a mount first appears in written sources in the Matsya Purana and later in the Brahmananda Purana and Ganesha Purana, where Ganesha uses it as his vehicle in his last incarnation. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa includes a meditation verse on Ganesha that describes the mouse appearing on his flag. The names Mūṣakavāhana (mouse-mount) and Ākhuketana (rat-banner) appear in the Ganesha Sahasranama.

 

The mouse is interpreted in several ways. According to Grimes, "Many, if not most of those who interpret Gaṇapati's mouse, do so negatively; it symbolizes tamoguṇa as well as desire". Along these lines, Michael Wilcockson says it symbolizes those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish. Krishan notes that the rat is destructive and a menace to crops. The Sanskrit word mūṣaka (mouse) is derived from the root mūṣ (stealing, robbing). It was essential to subdue the rat as a destructive pest, a type of vighna (impediment) that needed to be overcome. According to this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the rat demonstrates his function as Vigneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk grāma-devatā (village deity) who later rose to greater prominence. Martin-Dubost notes a view that the rat is a symbol suggesting that Ganesha, like the rat, penetrates even the most secret places.

 

ASSOCIATIONS

 

OBSTACLES

Ganesha is Vighneshvara or Vighnaraja or Vighnaharta (Marathi), the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, though traditionally he also places obstacles in the path of those who need to be checked. Paul Courtright says that "his task in the divine scheme of things, his dharma, is to place and remove obstacles. It is his particular territory, the reason for his creation."

 

Krishan notes that some of Ganesha's names reflect shadings of multiple roles that have evolved over time. Dhavalikar ascribes the quick ascension of Ganesha in the Hindu pantheon, and the emergence of the Ganapatyas, to this shift in emphasis from vighnakartā (obstacle-creator) to vighnahartā (obstacle-averter). However, both functions continue to be vital to his character.

 

BUDDHI (KNOWLEDGE)

Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. In Sanskrit, the word buddhi is a feminine noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect. The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha, especially in the Puranic period, when many stories stress his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in the Ganesha Purana and the Ganesha Sahasranama is Buddhipriya. This name also appears in a list of 21 names at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama that Ganesha says are especially important. The word priya can mean "fond of", and in a marital context it can mean "lover" or "husband", so the name may mean either "Fond of Intelligence" or "Buddhi's Husband".

 

AUM

Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum, also spelled Om. The term oṃkārasvarūpa (Aum is his form), when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa attests to this association. Chinmayananda translates the relevant passage as follows:

 

(O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trinity) Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa. You are Indra. You are fire [Agni] and air [Vāyu]. You are the sun [Sūrya] and the moon [Chandrama]. You are Brahman. You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka [earth], Antariksha-loka [space], and Swargaloka [heaven]. You are Om. (That is to say, You are all this).

 

Some devotees see similarities between the shape of Ganesha's body in iconography and the shape of Aum in the Devanāgarī and Tamil scripts.

 

FIRST CHAKRA

According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (mūlādhāra). Mula means "original, main"; adhara means "base, foundation". The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Divine Force rests. This association is also attested to in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Courtright translates this passage as follows: "[O Ganesha,] You continually dwell in the sacral plexus at the base of the spine [mūlādhāra cakra]." Thus, Ganesha has a permanent abode in every being at the Muladhara. Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life".

 

FAMILY AND CONSORTS

Though Ganesha is popularly held to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranic myths give different versions about his birth. In some he was created by Parvati, in another he was created by Shiva and Parvati, in another he appeared mysteriously and was discovered by Shiva and Parvati or he was born from the elephant headed goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water that had been thrown in the river.

 

The family includes his brother the war god Kartikeya, who is also called Subramanya, Skanda, Murugan and other names. Regional differences dictate the order of their births. In northern India, Skanda is generally said to be the elder, while in the south, Ganesha is considered the first born. In northern India, Skanda was an important martial deity from about 500 BCE to about 600 CE, when worship of him declined significantly in northern India. As Skanda fell, Ganesha rose. Several stories tell of sibling rivalry between the brothers and may reflect sectarian tensions.

 

Ganesha's marital status, the subject of considerable scholarly review, varies widely in mythological stories. One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as an unmarried brahmacari. This view is common in southern India and parts of northern India. Another pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified as goddesses, said to be Ganesha's wives. He also may be shown with a single consort or a nameless servant (Sanskrit: daşi). Another pattern connects Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts, Sarasvati or Śarda (particularly in Maharashtra). He is also associated with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi. Another pattern, mainly prevalent in the Bengal region, links Ganesha with the banana tree, Kala Bo.

 

The Shiva Purana says that Ganesha had begotten two sons: Kşema (prosperity) and Lābha (profit). In northern Indian variants of this story, the sons are often said to be Śubha (auspiciouness) and Lābha. The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction. This story has no Puranic basis, but Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen cite Santoshi Ma's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.

 

WOSHIP AND FESTIVALS

Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. K.N. Somayaji says, "there can hardly be a [Hindu] home [in India] which does not house an idol of Ganapati. [..] Ganapati, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country". Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity.

 

Ganesha is a non-sectarian deity, and Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin performances of arts such as the Bharatnatyam dance with a prayer to Ganesha. Mantras such as Om Shri Gaṇeshāya Namah (Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha) are often used. One of the most famous mantras associated with Ganesha is Om Gaṃ Ganapataye Namah (Om, Gaṃ, Salutation to the Lord of Hosts).

 

Devotees offer Ganesha sweets such as modaka and small sweet balls (laddus). He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a modakapātra. Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with red sandalwood paste (raktacandana) or red flowers. Dūrvā grass (Cynodon dactylon) and other materials are also used in his worship.

 

Festivals associated with Ganesh are Ganesh Chaturthi or Vināyaka chaturthī in the śuklapakṣa (the fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of bhādrapada (August/September) and the Gaṇeśa jayanti (Gaṇeśa's birthday) celebrated on the cathurthī of the śuklapakṣa (fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of māgha (January/February)."

 

GANESH CHATURTI

An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesha Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival begins with people bringing in clay idols of Ganesha, symbolising Ganesha's visit. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when idols (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water. Some families have a tradition of immersion on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 7th day. In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman", Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra. The festival also assumes huge proportions in Mumbai, Pune, and in the surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples.

 

TEMPLES

In Hindu temples, Ganesha is depicted in various ways: as an acolyte or subordinate deity (pãrśva-devatã); as a deity related to the principal deity (parivāra-devatã); or as the principal deity of the temple (pradhāna), treated similarly as the highest gods of the Hindu pantheon. As the god of transitions, he is placed at the doorway of many Hindu temples to keep out the unworthy, which is analogous to his role as Parvati’s doorkeeper. In addition, several shrines are dedicated to Ganesha himself, of which the Ashtavinayak (lit. "eight Ganesha (shrines)") in Maharashtra are particularly well known. Located within a 100-kilometer radius of the city of Pune, each of these eight shrines celebrates a particular form of Ganapati, complete with its own lore and legend. The eight shrines are: Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri, Ozar and Ranjangaon.

 

There are many other important Ganesha temples at the following locations: Wai in Maharashtra; Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh; Jodhpur, Nagaur and Raipur (Pali) in Rajasthan; Baidyanath in Bihar; Baroda, Dholaka, and Valsad in Gujarat and Dhundiraj Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prominent Ganesha temples in southern India include the following: Kanipakam in Chittoor; the Jambukeśvara Temple at Tiruchirapalli; at Rameshvaram and Suchindram in Tamil Nadu; at Malliyur, Kottarakara, Pazhavangadi, Kasargod in Kerala, Hampi, and Idagunji in Karnataka; and Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh.

 

T. A. Gopinatha notes, "Every village however small has its own image of Vighneśvara (Vigneshvara) with or without a temple to house it in. At entrances of villages and forts, below pīpaḹa (Sacred fig) trees [...], in a niche [...] in temples of Viṣṇu (Vishnu) as well as Śiva (Shiva) and also in separate shrines specially constructed in Śiva temples [...]; the figure of Vighneśvara is invariably seen." Ganesha temples have also been built outside of India, including southeast Asia, Nepal (including the four Vinayaka shrines in the Kathmandu valley), and in several western countries.

 

RISE TO PROMINENCE

 

FIRST APEARANCE

Ganesha appeared in his classic form as a clearly recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes in the early 4th to 5th centuries. Shanti Lal Nagar says that the earliest known iconic image of Ganesha is in the niche of the Shiva temple at Bhumra, which has been dated to the Gupta period. His independent cult appeared by about the 10th century. Narain summarizes the controversy between devotees and academics regarding the development of Ganesha as follows:

 

What is inscrutable is the somewhat dramatic appearance of Gaņeśa on the historical scene. His antecedents are not clear. His wide acceptance and popularity, which transcend sectarian and territorial limits, are indeed amazing. On the one hand there is the pious belief of the orthodox devotees in Gaņeśa's Vedic origins and in the Purāṇic explanations contained in the confusing, but nonetheless interesting, mythology. On the other hand there are doubts about the existence of the idea and the icon of this deity" before the fourth to fifth century A.D. ... [I]n my opinion, indeed there is no convincing evidence of the existence of this divinity prior to the fifth century.

 

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES

Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way:

 

In the post 600 BC period there is evidence of people and places named after the animal. The motif appears on coins and sculptures.

 

Thapan's book on the development of Ganesha devotes a chapter to speculations about the role elephants had in early India but concludes that, "although by the second century CE the elephant-headed yakṣa form exists it cannot be presumed to represent Gaṇapati-Vināyaka. There is no evidence of a deity by this name having an elephant or elephant-headed form at this early stage. Gaṇapati-Vināyaka had yet to make his debut."

 

One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vinayakas (Vināyakas). In Hindu mythology, the Vināyakas were a group of four troublesome demons who created obstacles and difficulties but who were easily propitiated. The name Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. Krishan is one of the academics who accepts this view, stating flatly of Ganesha, "He is a non-vedic god. His origin is to be traced to the four Vināyakas, evil spirits, of the Mānavagŗhyasūtra (7th–4th century BCE) who cause various types of evil and suffering". Depictions of elephant-headed human figures, which some identify with Ganesha, appear in Indian art and coinage as early as the 2nd century. According to Ellawala, the elephant-headed Ganesha as lord of the Ganas was known to the people of Sri Lanka in the early pre-Christian era.

 

A metal plate depiction of Ganesha had been discovered in 1993, in Iran, it dated back to 1,200 BCE. Another one was discovered much before, in Lorestan Province of Iran.

 

First Ganesha's terracotta images are from 1st century CE found in Ter, Pal, Verrapuram and Chandraketugarh. These figures are small, with elephant head, two arms, and chubby physique. The earliest Ganesha icons in stone were carved in Mathura during Kushan times (2nd-3rd centuries CE).

 

VEDIC AND EPIC LITERATURE

The title "Leader of the group" (Sanskrit: gaṇapati) occurs twice in the Rig Veda, but in neither case does it refer to the modern Ganesha. The term appears in RV 2.23.1 as a title for Brahmanaspati, according to commentators. While this verse doubtless refers to Brahmanaspati, it was later adopted for worship of Ganesha and is still used today. In rejecting any claim that this passage is evidence of Ganesha in the Rig Veda, Ludo Rocher says that it "clearly refers to Bṛhaspati—who is the deity of the hymn—and Bṛhaspati only". Equally clearly, the second passage (RV 10.112.9) refers to Indra, who is given the epithet 'gaṇapati', translated "Lord of the companies (of the Maruts)." However, Rocher notes that the more recent Ganapatya literature often quotes the Rigvedic verses to give Vedic respectability to Ganesha .

 

Two verses in texts belonging to Black Yajurveda, Maitrāyaṇīya Saṃhitā (2.9.1) and Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (10.1), appeal to a deity as "the tusked one" (Dantiḥ), "elephant-faced" (Hastimukha), and "with a curved trunk" (Vakratuņḍa). These names are suggestive of Ganesha, and the 14th century commentator Sayana explicitly establishes this identification. The description of Dantin, possessing a twisted trunk (vakratuṇḍa) and holding a corn-sheaf, a sugar cane, and a club, is so characteristic of the Puranic Ganapati that Heras says "we cannot resist to accept his full identification with this Vedic Dantin". However, Krishan considers these hymns to be post-Vedic additions. Thapan reports that these passages are "generally considered to have been interpolated". Dhavalikar says, "the references to the elephant-headed deity in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā have been proven to be very late interpolations, and thus are not very helpful for determining the early formation of the deity".

 

Ganesha does not appear in Indian epic literature that is dated to the Vedic period. A late interpolation to the epic poem Mahabharata says that the sage Vyasa (Vyāsa) asked Ganesha to serve as his scribe to transcribe the poem as he dictated it to him. Ganesha agreed but only on condition that Vyasa recite the poem uninterrupted, that is, without pausing. The sage agreed, but found that to get any rest he needed to recite very complex passages so Ganesha would have to ask for clarifications. The story is not accepted as part of the original text by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahabharata, in which the twenty-line story is relegated to a footnote in an appendix. The story of Ganesha acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 manuscripts consulted during preparation of the critical edition. Ganesha's association with mental agility and learning is one reason he is shown as scribe for Vyāsa's dictation of the Mahabharata in this interpolation. Richard L. Brown dates the story to the 8th century, and Moriz Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900, but it was not added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Winternitz also notes that a distinctive feature in South Indian manuscripts of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend. The term vināyaka is found in some recensions of the Śāntiparva and Anuśāsanaparva that are regarded as interpolations. A reference to Vighnakartṛīṇām ("Creator of Obstacles") in Vanaparva is also believed to be an interpolation and does not appear in the critical edition.

 

PURANIC PERIOD

Stories about Ganesha often occur in the Puranic corpus. Brown notes while the Puranas "defy precise chronological ordering", the more detailed narratives of Ganesha's life are in the late texts, c. 600–1300. Yuvraj Krishan says that the Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha and how he acquired an elephant's head are in the later Puranas, which were composed from c. 600 onwards. He elaborates on the matter to say that references to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas, such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas, are later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries.

 

In his survey of Ganesha's rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature, Ludo Rocher notes that:

 

Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding Gaṇeśa concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent.

 

Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century, when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism. The 9th-century philosopher Adi Shankara popularized the "worship of the five forms" (Panchayatana puja) system among orthodox Brahmins of the Smarta tradition. This worship practice invokes the five deities Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, and Surya. Adi Shankara instituted the tradition primarily to unite the principal deities of these five major sects on an equal status. This formalized the role of Ganesha as a complementary deity.

 

SCRIPTURES

Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Brahmanism, some Brahmins (brāhmaṇas) chose to worship Ganesha as their principal deity. They developed the Ganapatya tradition, as seen in the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana.

 

The date of composition for the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana - and their dating relative to one another - has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comments about dating and provides her own judgement. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for the Ganesha Purana to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text.

 

R.C. Hazra suggests that the Mudgala Purana is older than the Ganesha Purana, which he dates between 1100 and 1400. However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the Mudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, the Mudgala Purana specifically mentions the Ganesha Purana as one of the four Puranas (the Brahma, the Brahmanda, the Ganesha, and the Mudgala Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha. While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the 16th or 17th centuries.

 

BEYOND INDIA AND HINDUISM

Commercial and cultural contacts extended India's influence in western and southeast Asia. Ganesha is one of a number of Hindu deities who reached foreign lands as a result.

 

Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures. From approximately the 10th century onwards, new networks of exchange developed including the formation of trade guilds and a resurgence of money circulation. During this time, Ganesha became the principal deity associated with traders. The earliest inscription invoking Ganesha before any other deity is associated with the merchant community.

 

Hindus migrated to Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture, including Ganesha, with them. Statues of Ganesha are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences. The spread of Hindu culture to southeast Asia established Ganesha in modified forms in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. In Indochina, Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced side by side, and mutual influences can be seen in the iconography of Ganesha in the region. In Thailand, Cambodia, and among the Hindu classes of the Chams in Vietnam, Ganesha was mainly thought of as a remover of obstacles. Today in Buddhist Thailand, Ganesha is regarded as a remover of obstacles, the god of success.

 

Before the arrival of Islam, Afghanistan had close cultural ties with India, and the adoration of both Hindu and Buddhist deities was practiced. Examples of sculptures from the 5th to the 7th centuries have survived, suggesting that the worship of Ganesha was then in vogue in the region.

 

Ganesha appears in Mahayana Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god Vināyaka, but also as a Hindu demon form with the same name. His image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period. As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, he is often shown dancing. This form, called Nṛtta Ganapati, was popular in northern India, later adopted in Nepal, and then in Tibet. In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha, known as Heramba, is popular; he has five heads and rides a lion. Tibetan representations of Ganesha show ambivalent views of him. A Tibetan rendering of Ganapati is tshogs bdag. In one Tibetan form, he is shown being trodden under foot by Mahākāla, (Shiva) a popular Tibetan deity. Other depictions show him as the Destroyer of Obstacles, and sometimes dancing. Ganesha appears in China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character. In northern China, the earliest known stone statue of Ganesha carries an inscription dated to 531. In Japan, where Ganesha is known as Kangiten, the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806.

 

The canonical literature of Jainism does not mention the worship of Ganesha. However, Ganesha is worshipped by most Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. Jain connections with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up Ganesha worship as a result of commercial connections. The earliest known Jain Ganesha statue dates to about the 9th century. A 15th-century Jain text lists procedures for the installation of Ganapati images. Images of Ganesha appear in the Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Steelwing: You! This is your fault!

 

Soundwave grabs Steelwing and quickly flips him into the air and transforms. As the Decepticon's body rapidly shifts and folds, Steelwing lands atop Soundwave's vehicular form. The communicator wastes no time and drives off in retreat.

 

Steelwing: Where are you taking me? Those are missiles! Missiles headed towards my home! My money bin! My workshop! My life!

 

Soundwave sees the drones alter course toward him but the missiles soon find their mark. Steelwing's workshop burst into flame!

 

Steelwing: No!

 

Soundwave leaves no time for Steelwing to mourn as he motors away from the flaming wreckage and tries to outrun the jets. The drones open fire with a burst of lasers from their nose-guns, peppering the landscape around the speedy Decepticon. Soundwave drives in a zig-zag pattern in an effort to avoid the blasts erupting all around him. The horror of the moment forced Steelwing from despair and focuses him on survival. He points to the west.

 

Steelwing: Over there! There'll be cover over that way!

 

Soundwave alters course as the jets fast approach. The Decepticon accelerates towards a maze of silos, pulling free of the random explosions erupting around his original trajectory. The drones shift their course as well but their speed is too great and they overshoot the Decepticon ground vehicle, giving Soundwave a few precious moments to duck between the silos. He is now only visible if the planes were directly above him, now hidden between the tall containers. Soundwave slowed down to explore the immediate area.

 

Soundwave: How did you know of this place?

 

Steelwing looked upwards, fully alert to incoming danger. He answered Soundwave but dared not take his optics off the sky.

 

Steelwing: I come here all the time. It's where I steal my energon from.

 

Soundwave froze with dread.

 

Soundwave: These are energon silos?

 

Steelwing: Well yes, they are... oh...

 

Steelwing lost his voice as he came to the same obvious mental conclusion that had immediately occurred to Soundwave. Soundwave instantly accelerated, just in time for the drones soar directly above him. The drones looped around and began tailing the Decepticon.

 

Soundwave: Which way is out?

 

Steelwing: You weren't supposed to run, you were supposed to hide!

 

Soundwave: Which way is out?!?

 

Steelwing: That way! That way!

 

Hold him still so I can see! What have I told you about leaving these toys on the floor?

Mige, Gas, Ville, Burton and Linde.

You'll see him soon in PRELUDE TO FAME with Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron and Kathleen Ryan

 

Magazine cutting from Picturegoer : The National Film Weekly (Alan Ladd cover), Week ending April 29, 1950. Every Thursday. Threepence.

 

The photographs were taken by the stills photographer Ian Jeayes.

 

Bought from an eBay seller in Wardle, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

 

Jeremy Spenser (1937-), British actor, active 1948-1967.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_Fame

 

C. A. Lejeune, The Observer, 7 May 1950:

 

"The film is based on a story by Aldous Huxley called Young Archimedes. It is about a small boy, an Italian farmer's son, who turns out to be a musical prodigy. But for that light chance that touches off the direction of an artist from his earliest years, he might have been a poet. He is not a creator, but an interpreter. His ear picks out the concert of everyday sounds, and correlates the beat of a passing train with the rhythmic crowing of cocks and the whisper of wind in the grass. There is nothing fancy about this idea. Test it for yourself. Sit quite still for a moment, and listen. You will find the inner ear is filled with layer upon layer of sound. I am writing, for instance, beside a gas stove in a room with a wide open window. I can hear, at one and the same time, the faint hiss of gas, the bark of a dog, the mad song of innumerable birds, the distant drone of an aeroplane, a man crying rag-and-bones, a motor-car changing gear: my subconscious mind is bothered with a half-remembered tune, and my conscious mind is trying to compose words into some sort of dominant theme. By nature, we are all living in the heart of a vast orchestral score. But only a few of us, by special gift or training, can hope to make musical order out of it.

 

The small hero of Prelude to Fame has this natural gift. Rich patrons give him the training to develop it. He becomes the most celebrated child conductor in the world, but suddenly the strain gets too much for him, and he wants either to kill himself or go home. He goes home, leaving the nastiest of his rich patrons fulminating.

 

The child and the music are the main things, and in all that concerns them I cannot find a fault. A small boy called Jeremy Spenser plays the musical prodigy and manages to be wholly convincing without being in any way a blot. All children are natural mimics, but it is an unusually talented or receptive child who can simulate an intellectual passion. This child does just that. It is highly improbable that Jeremy Spenser could actually conduct the Royal Philharmonic or the San Carlo Theatre Orchestra with success. The impression of the film is that he could and that is all that matters.

 

Muir Mathieson, the best man of music that British films have permanently employed, makes sure that the musical basis is sound. It is very clear indeed that the score of Prelude to Fame has been built up, deliberately, by a man who knows what's what. He doesn't believe in the fiction of musical groundings. He doesn't kow-tow to the foibles of musical highbrows. He contrives his film music-plot, from Neapolitan love-songs to Weber to Bach to Beethoven to Borodin, with a truly magnificent sense of drama. His best job, and the picture's is to grant a good orchestra the courtesy of allowing them to play the 'Oberon' overture without interruption. This passage of Prelude to Fame, wonderfully cut, beautifully played, with the child conducting in an apparent glory of possession, is so right that I should like to see it carved out of the heart of an inconspicuous picture and kept for posterity."

 

- www.powell-pressburger.org/NFT/Prelude.html

With a huge red lei around his neck and a wide grin that could have stretched across Oahu, Larry Fitzgerald held up the gleaming, silver MVP trophy. It sparkled in the sunshine as much as his game.

 

The only problem: It wasn't the Lombardi Trophy.

 

Fitzgerald caught five passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns, 44-year-old John Carney kicked two fourth-quarter field goals, and the NFC rallied to a 30-21 victory over the AFC. The Arizona Cardinals' All-Pro receiver, coming off a record-breaking postseason and a spectacular Super Bowl in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, earned MVP honors.

 

But he said the victory over the AFC, which featured three members of the Steelers' defense, didn't ease the pain from the Super Bowl.

 

"No, not one bit," he said.

 

Fitzgerald also took home keys to a new Cadillac.

 

"I'm just glad we won, that's the most important thing," he said.

 

On a sweltering day, with 60 percent humidity, Kurt Warner started for the NFC and played just one series before making way for Brees. Warner was just 1-of-2 for 8 yards.

 

"I would've liked to have won last week and not this week, if I could switch them out," he said.

 

Fitzgerald caught a 46-yard scoring pass from Drew Brees before the half and a 2-yard TD pass from Eli Manning for the go-ahead score with 4:07 to play.

 

The NFC defense took care of the rest.

 

Manning, making his Pro Bowl debut, was 8-of-14 for 111 yards. While big brother Peyton had better stats, 12-of-17 for 151 yards and a TD, Eli got the win.

 

"He didn't play the whole second half, so it's not about beating my brother, it's just about having fun," Eli Manning said.

 

The Manning brothers were the first quarterback brothers in Pro Bowl history. And Carney, who was a perfect 3-for-3, became the oldest player in the game's history. He booted a 48-yarder with 2:06 remaining to make it 27-21 and sealed the win with a 26-yarder with 32 seconds to go.

 

Sunday's all-star game ended a successful 30-year run at Aloha Stadium, with a sellout every year. The Pro Bowl will be played in Miami next year, a week before the Super Bowl. The NFL, which has been looking to increase the profile of the game, hopes to bring the game back to Hawaii.

 

The players, who spent most of the week by the beach and sipping umbrella-adorned mai tais, were pretty unanimous in wanting the game to return.

 

For Warner, the question now is whether this was his final game in the NFL or, as a free agent, will he opt to continue playing at age 38?

 

"I don't know right now," Warner said. "Again, when I have a feeling one way or the other, I'll let everyone else know. I don't have a time frame. This is the first time right now that I am done having to think about football for a while, and I'm going to enjoy that part of it, enjoy my wife, enjoy my kids and then we'll make a decision as soon as we can."

 

The AFC was looking to hula dance into halftime with a comfortable 14-3 cushion after Kerry Collins connected with Owen Daniels on a 9-yard scoring pass with 28 seconds left in the half.

 

However, that was more than enough the time for the NFC, with all its weapons.

 

The NFC took over at its 45 with 19 seconds left after a nice kickoff return by Clifton Smith. They ran two plays before Larry Fitzgerald hauled in Brees' 46-yard bomb with fellow All-Pro Cortland Finnegan on his back as time expired to pull the NFC to 14-10.

 

It made for two huge end-of-the-half plays in consecutive weeks for Fitzgerald. But this time, rather than trying -- and failing -- to chase down James Harrison on his 100-yard interception returned for a TD, Fitzgerald was the one celebrating.

 

Fitzgerald also beat Finnegan on his second score.

 

"These guys are such elite players, it doesn't take much time to get in the groove with these players," Fitzgerald said. "These guys were great."

 

The usual high-scoring affair surprisingly also featured plenty of defense. Despite rules such as no blitzing linebackers and safeties, the quarterbacks were feeling the heat, at times buried by the defensive line. None of the passes had any room for error on throws against the speedy defensive backs.

 

The AFC had a chance to take the lead late, but Julius Peppers got in the way. Down by six, the AFC started its drive on its 20 with 4:03 remaining and got to midfield. Peppers then swatted a pass by Jay Cutler with his left hand and came up with the interception that led to Carney's 48-yard field goal.

 

There were three straight drives ending with a turnover in a span of about 2 minutes in the third quarter alone, including two by Collins.

 

The second led to the NFC's first lead of the game, 17-14, late in the third quarter. Jared Allen stripped Collins from behind and scooped up the bouncing ball at the AFC 10. All-Pro Adrian Peterson, last year's Pro Bowl MVP, finished it off with a 10-yard run.

 

Pinned on its 4, the AFC came out firing behind the league MVP. Peyton Manning completed passes of 20, 18, 22, 4, and 6 yards to five players before hitting Tony Gonzalez for the score on a high-arcing, 19-yard pass.

 

Gonzalez easily outmaneuvered Seattle linebacker Julian Peterson before hauling in the pass and tiptoeing into the end zone. Gonzalez, also an All-Pro, finished with six catches for 98 yards.

 

On the ensuing series, Robert Mathis stripped Brees and gave possession back to the AFC.

 

Manning then completed a 22-yarder to Colts teammate Reggie Wayne before the NFC finally started playing some defense.

 

After the AFC reached the NFC's 31, Peppers squashed Manning -- and gave him a hand to get back up. It is, after all, the Pro Bowl.

 

With a huge red lei around his neck and a wide grin that could have stretched across Oahu, Larry Fitzgerald held up the gleaming, silver MVP trophy. It sparkled in the sunshine as much as his game.

 

The only problem: It wasn't the Lombardi Trophy.

 

Fitzgerald caught five passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns, 44-year-old John Carney kicked two fourth-quarter field goals, and the NFC rallied to a 30-21 victory over the AFC. The Arizona Cardinals' All-Pro receiver, coming off a record-breaking postseason and a spectacular Super Bowl in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, earned MVP honors.

 

But he said the victory over the AFC, which featured three members of the Steelers' defense, didn't ease the pain from the Super Bowl.

 

"No, not one bit," he said.

 

Fitzgerald also took home keys to a new Cadillac.

 

"I'm just glad we won, that's the most important thing," he said.

 

On a sweltering day, with 60 percent humidity, Kurt Warner started for the NFC and played just one series before making way for Brees. Warner was just 1-of-2 for 8 yards.

 

"I would've liked to have won last week and not this week, if I could switch them out," he said.

 

Fitzgerald caught a 46-yard scoring pass from Drew Brees before the half and a 2-yard TD pass from Eli Manning for the go-ahead score with 4:07 to play.

 

The NFC defense took care of the rest.

 

Manning, making his Pro Bowl debut, was 8-of-14 for 111 yards. While big brother Peyton had better stats, 12-of-17 for 151 yards and a TD, Eli got the win.

 

"He didn't play the whole second half, so it's not about beating my brother, it's just about having fun," Eli Manning said.

 

The Manning brothers were the first quarterback brothers in Pro Bowl history. And Carney, who was a perfect 3-for-3, became the oldest player in the game's history. He booted a 48-yarder with 2:06 remaining to make it 27-21 and sealed the win with a 26-yarder with 32 seconds to go.

 

Sunday's all-star game ended a successful 30-year run at Aloha Stadium, with a sellout every year. The Pro Bowl will be played in Miami next year, a week before the Super Bowl. The NFL, which has been looking to increase the profile of the game, hopes to bring the game back to Hawaii.

 

The players, who spent most of the week by the beach and sipping umbrella-adorned mai tais, were pretty unanimous in wanting the game to return.

 

For Warner, the question now is whether this was his final game in the NFL or, as a free agent, will he opt to continue playing at age 38?

 

"I don't know right now," Warner said. "Again, when I have a feeling one way or the other, I'll let everyone else know. I don't have a time frame. This is the first time right now that I am done having to think about football for a while, and I'm going to enjoy that part of it, enjoy my wife, enjoy my kids and then we'll make a decision as soon as we can."

 

The AFC was looking to hula dance into halftime with a comfortable 14-3 cushion after Kerry Collins connected with Owen Daniels on a 9-yard scoring pass with 28 seconds left in the half.

 

However, that was more than enough the time for the NFC, with all its weapons.

 

The NFC took over at its 45 with 19 seconds left after a nice kickoff return by Clifton Smith. They ran two plays before Larry Fitzgerald hauled in Brees' 46-yard bomb with fellow All-Pro Cortland Finnegan on his back as time expired to pull the NFC to 14-10.

 

It made for two huge end-of-the-half plays in consecutive weeks for Fitzgerald. But this time, rather than trying -- and failing -- to chase down James Harrison on his 100-yard interception returned for a TD, Fitzgerald was the one celebrating.

 

Fitzgerald also beat Finnegan on his second score.

 

"These guys are such elite players, it doesn't take much time to get in the groove with these players," Fitzgerald said. "These guys were great."

 

The usual high-scoring affair surprisingly also featured plenty of defense. Despite rules such as no blitzing linebackers and safeties, the quarterbacks were feeling the heat, at times buried by the defensive line. None of the passes had any room for error on throws against the speedy defensive backs.

 

The AFC had a chance to take the lead late, but Julius Peppers got in the way. Down by six, the AFC started its drive on its 20 with 4:03 remaining and got to midfield. Peppers then swatted a pass by Jay Cutler with his left hand and came up with the interception that led to Carney's 48-yard field goal.

 

There were three straight drives ending with a turnover in a span of about 2 minutes in the third quarter alone, including two by Collins.

 

The second led to the NFC's first lead of the game, 17-14, late in the third quarter. Jared Allen stripped Collins from behind and scooped up the bouncing ball at the AFC 10. All-Pro Adrian Peterson, last year's Pro Bowl MVP, finished it off with a 10-yard run.

 

Pinned on its 4, the AFC came out firing behind the league MVP. Peyton Manning completed passes of 20, 18, 22, 4, and 6 yards to five players before hitting Tony Gonzalez for the score on a high-arcing, 19-yard pass.

 

Gonzalez easily outmaneuvered Seattle linebacker Julian Peterson before hauling in the pass and tiptoeing into the end zone. Gonzalez, also an All-Pro, finished with six catches for 98 yards.

 

On the ensuing series, Robert Mathis stripped Brees and gave possession back to the AFC.

 

Manning then completed a 22-yarder to Colts teammate Reggie Wayne before the NFC finally started playing some defense.

 

After the AFC reached the NFC's 31, Peppers squashed Manning -- and gave him a hand to get back up. It is, after all, the Pro Bowl.

The Great Morgani, the Accordion guy, in his orange manifestation for Fall. He was some kind of weird rooster thing. I was afraid to ask, heh.

 

He was playing his accordian on the Mall as usual, when I heard a shopping cart lady screaming at him. She was cursing him out in the most foul language, while he bravely played on. After she walked away, still cursing him out, she kept turning around and stopping to add even more invectives. I mean, I may not find the accordian to be my most favorite instrument, but come on, give the guy a break. He actually can play, unlike most of the buskers I see on the Pacific Garden Mall!

 

Anyway, after she left, I asked him if he gets this kind of criticism often. He semed quite upset, and told me that this never happens. We talked for a while, and after he calmed down he agreed to my taking a few shots. So here it is! Enjoy!

 

See his Winter Incarnation.

Lyrics: They Hung Him On A Cross

Artist: Nirvana

 

They hung him on the cross

They hung him on the cross

They hung him on the cross

For me

 

One day when I was lost

They hung him on the cross

They hung him on the cross for me

 

They whooped him up the hill

They whooped him up the hill

They whooped him up the hill

For me

 

One day when I was lost

They hung him on the cross

They whooped him up the hill for me

 

He never said among them word

They never said among them word

They never said among them word

For me

 

One day when I was lost

They hung him on the cross

They hung him on the cross

For me

 

They bit him in the side

They bit him in the side

They bit him in the side

For me

 

One day when I was lost

They hung him on the cross

They hung him on the cross for me

 

He hung his head and died

He hung his head and died

He hung his head and died

For me

 

One day when I was lost

They hung him on the cross

They hung him on the cross

For me

 

-=-

 

Self portrait as Jesus on the cross.

 

This is a composite image. The sky was taken at our home and is unaltered. The cross is made of parts of a big piece of driftwood. Carpentry by me (of course). The chap on the cross is me. The blood is entirely fake and all done in Corel PhotoPaint. All the above by me. Light shining on Jesus eyes by God. The Crown of thorns however is available for about $25 from www.crown-of-thorns.com/ (Really, with a certificate of authenticity! Get in quick as it is nearly Easter).

 

Done for The Rogue Players for 5th April 2009 when we invaded Picture a Song with the added proviso by NikkiDee that it had to be by Nirvana.

 

Us followers of Buddha spell it the pali way as Nibanna. I am entirely convinced by a large amount of historical evidence that the Essene's, that Jesus was a member of, were started by an Arahant sent by Ashoka. Also, that their practices were very much the same as what the Buddha taught, including not killing animals for food, having a community of monks spending much time in silence, and keeping good morality very seriously. The description of Jesus time in the desert for 40 days with temptation by the devil is very similar to the Buddha's final meditation with temptation by mara.

Mr. Marek. I meet him in the little village on the road to Góra Kalwaria (just outside Warsaw) He considers himself racist - that is not the first case I come across - the level of absurd is high considering that Poland was and is far from being cosmopolitan and people of other races were practically absent in communist Poland. Anyway according to his store two black guys were molesting his girlfriend (presently his wife) so he took the knife out of his pocket and killed one of them. He did 10 years sentence from 1978 until 1988 between Rakowiecka, Potulice and Fordon facilities.

 

Here U can see his girlfriend portrait. He also has colones distinctions. The lettering RPA on his arm stand for Republic of South Africa.

 

2 needles, soot

 

Poland, September 2011

I found him sometime in the early to mid 1970s. He was a small figurine on top of a cupcake at Kevin Boyd's house. I took him home that night and kept him for years. We became fast friends. Sadly, in a fit of fundamentalist religious zeal sometime in the mid to late 1980s, I threw him away. Everything related to Halloween had to go. What was I thinking? Obviously I regretted this later and spent years recollecting all the elements I could find that were part of my original collection. I started recollecting in the years prior to the internet so there were no options such as ebay. You just had to go to every antique store or garagae sale you could find just hoping they would have some old cast off durable plastic Halloween offerings. I pretty much assumed I'd never see him again, until the age of the internet. Then I began allowing myself glimmers of hope. Soon, I was finding some good collectibles books that were giving me hope as well. Finally, with some encouragement from krispy, New York Observer, halloween guy and nemo_434 and a helpful tip from riptheskull, I was able to finally reunite with Blacksuit after 22 years. So, a special thanks to all of you guys and to the ebay user who sold him to me. The one I ended up buying is not exactly the same. It's a slightly larger model that I believe used to stand on top of a car. However, the design that inspired the cupcake topper is the same. Hence, I can say that Blacksuit is home. I still can't believe it.

Wonderful collection of quotation from around the world.

you may download it for free about kindness quotes for him .

Below are some unique quote you can read :

King lived this quote. For him, this was the oasis for courage and strength Spirituality is a divine common thread that is made with...

 

picquotes.biz/kindness-quotes-for-him-10791.html

Aftershock Festival // Sacramento, CA // 9.15.13

Pentax ASAHI Spotmatic + Helios 44-2, 58mm f2 + Kodak Portra 160 VC

Hugo reacting to the news that he will soon get a haircut. 100 degree days and long poodle hair don't mix. Check out the shock of pure white hair on his ear. We have taken to calling him "Rogue."

Too old to keep up with him.

- have 2 extra Polar Bear cards of him...

 

Vladimir Alvino Guerrero (b. February 9, 1975) is a Dominican former professional baseball player who spent 16 seasons in Major League Baseball as a right fielder and designated hitter. He played for the Montreal Expos from (1996–2003), the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from (2004–2009), the Texas Rangers in (2010), and Baltimore Orioles in (2011).

 

In 2004, he was voted the American League Most Valuable Player. He helped lead the Angels to five AL West championships (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009), and was voted as one of the most feared hitters in baseball in a 2008 poll of all 30 major league managers.

 

A nine-time All Star, he was widely recognized as one of the best all-around players in the game because of his impressive offensive production, regularly hitting for power and average, and, prior to injuries that robbed him of range, stellar defense, and a strong throwing arm. He was also regarded as the game's premier "bad ball hitter", for his ability to consistently hit balls thrown well outside of his strike zone, a skill made evident on August 14, 2009, when Guerrero hit a pitch which bounced in front of home plate.

 

Guerrero's proactive batting aggression was reflected by his career statistics: while he hit over 30 home runs in eight separate seasons and surpassed 100 RBI ten times, he had just two seasons with as many as 65 walks. In the first pitch of an at-bat, he hit 126 home runs, believed to be the most ever, and put 1,780 balls into play.

 

On September 26, 2011, Guerrero became the all-time MLB leader in hits among players from the Dominican Republic, surpassing Julio Franco. He was later surpassed by Adrián Beltré in 2014. At the time of his final game, he was the leader among active major league outfielders in errors, with 125, and was second in assists, with 126.

 

His older brother, Wilton Guerrero, also played in Major League Baseball, and the two were teammates for several seasons on the Montreal Expos.

 

Guerrero was signed by the Montreal Expos as an amateur free agent on March 1, 1993 and eventually made his major league debut on September 19, 1996. He was 1 for 5 in his debut, with his first hit a single to center field off of Steve Avery of the Atlanta Braves in the top of the 4th. He hit his first career home run off of the Braves closer Mark Wohlers on September 21, 1996.

 

On May 10, 2012, Guerrero signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. During his first game for the Class-A Dunedin Blue Jays on Sunday May 27, 2012, Guerrero hit a home run. Guerrero played in 4 games for Dunedin, with 9 hits in 20 at bats, including 4 home runs and was then promoted to the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. With the 51s he played in 8 games, with 10 hits in 33 at-bats (.303 avg). He asked for, and was granted, his release on June 12, 2012.

 

MLB statistics:

Batting average - .318

Hits - 2,590

Home runs - 449

RBI - 1,496

 

Teams:

Montreal Expos (1996–2003)

Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004–2009)

Texas Rangers (2010)

Baltimore Orioles (2011)

 

Career highlights and awards:

9× All-Star (1999–2002, 2004–2007, 2010)

AL MVP (2004)

8× Silver Slugger Award (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004–2007, 2010)

 

Link to all of his issued baseball cards - www.tradingcarddb.com/Person.cfm/pid/2290/col/1/yea/0/Vla...

Reviews by JD Piche, RCRs Producer and Pop Culture expert, follow him on Twitter at @misadventurer

 

In the era of Too Much TV, Hollywood's Biggest Night has shifted from The Academy Awards to The Emmy Awards. With over 1500 television shows submitting themselves for awards recognition, the Emmys spread over 3 days to accommodate the multitude of awards, the week between the Creative Arts and Primetime Emmys is one of the most celebratory in Hollywood, with primping and pampering and gifting suites! This was also a big season for gifting for a few reasons, Celebrity Connected, the reigning Best Gifting Suite not participating left the title up for grabs, and Red Carpet Report's first time back to the Old top suite, GBK Productions in years, but have they lost their luster? With a Strong showing from Secret Room Events and Debbie Durkin's Eco Luxe garden party there's some competition for who had the Best Gifting Suite of the TV Awards Season.

 

Starting with GBK Productions, previously a two day affair, GBK would operate the Friday and Saturday before a major Awards show, down to just Friday now. The email stating press was to park offsite, versus their standard of comping valet, as well as the same email directing attendees to the wrong room at the iconic Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Two Strikes off the bat, with 25 Vendors spread into two rooms on the Mezzanine level with WEN Haircare as the title sponsor and the largest booth, in the center back of the main room, GBK attendees were welcomed by a DJ, and front loading the big ticket vendors like Biotoc Skincare from Korea, Paccioni watches and a week at FitFarm (Only for Nominees). Austere wood frame Sunglasses and Bowties. Several Skincare and Make Up lines as well, drink ware from Simple Modern, premixed cocktails from Vitani, Candles designed to help pets with anxiety from Athenaroma, a new kind of resistance workout from Booty Sprout, placed next to a bamboo toilet paper vendor, Khi. One of the friendliest booths was Just Food For Dogs, human grade dog food, was one of the only LA Local booths. To utilize the gift from FitFam, GBK attendees would need to travel an hour outside Nashville, take a trip to Turks and Ciacos for the Sailrock vacation, Orange County for the menswear vendor or a trip to San Jose to make use of the $250 store credit from Harborside Dispensary. There wasn't much, from GBK's 25 Vendors someone could actually use. Lots of Niche vendors. We left pretty empty handed, and disheartened at how far GBK, once the gold standard of Gifting Suites has fallen so far.

 

Debbie Durkin's Eco Lux Lounge, at the Garden lawn at the Beverly Hilton felt like stepping into Midsommar with white frocked, flower children with floral laurels in their hair guiding guests around, the restrained 10 vendors. The only suite with a lunch buffet and seating, Debbie's working with tastemaker, Shae Savin added some InstaGlam to the lounge, with a set of feather and flower wings for guests to snap a soulful pic with, while enjoying the September sun. With JillJoanne.com's bags, learning Meal Prep with Flawless Cuisine from Chef Lauren Lawless, some cold therapy from Upgrade Labs, The Elephant Cooperation's #TrunksUp campaign, The Spa Dr, Etana Beauty (who also had a table at GBK), CBD Drink Mixers from Everyday Natural Products, supplements from SoCal Hemp Company, bamboo bedding from Ettitude, and unfortunately due to a shipping mishap, Hope CBD's products weren't delivered until midway through the festivities, but well worth investigating if you're exploring CBD. They're an independent grower, Veteran and Family owned. Hope-CBD.com

Here are links to the products listed above

ettitude.com

etanabeauty.com

thespadr.com

upgradelabs.com

Hope-CBD.com

flawlesscuisine.com

enpstore.com

socalhempco.com

www.elephantcooperation.com

 

That leaves us with The Secret Room, curated by Amy Boatwright, at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City. With 15+ Vendors featuring Neva Nude body art, one of a kind pieces from Desert Daisy Jewelry, Inika Organic Makeup, luxurious lace from Dentelle de Calais-Caudry, and The Original fashion compression sleeves from Sleevey Wonders. Ooh La Lemon handed out dog collars with matching leashes and bowties in very cute themed boxes with a sample of Gangsta Dog gourmet dog biscuits (my puppies couldn't get enough of them). Secret Room also teamed with NoKillLA's Best Friends shelter, and ChildLife Liquid Vitamins and 1More headphones. The HIGH-light of the suite was From The Earth Dispensary setting up a counter sampling and explaining products from Kushy Punch (edibles), Papa and Barkley (topicals) & Kurvana (smokable) as recreational cannabis has become less stigmatized, they were the belle of the ball, and helped crown Secret Room, the Best Gift Suite this Emmys Season.

 

Check out these amazing products from the Secret Room event below

NKLA.org

RafiaJewelry.com

DesertDaisyJewelry.com

FTEusa.com

InikaOrganic.com

oohlalemonstore.com

PrimoWater.com

SleeveyWonders.com

childlifenutrition.com

usa.1more.com

www.dentelledecalaiscaudry.fr/en/

Hope you're having a great week.

I think I want to get some black fur or a black sheet for him to lay on with this background - it might look more dramatic. I'll try it and post the other version if it looks good. :)