Poems and Heroes

These lines kept running through my mind, and I wanted to read the whole poem:

Bear down upon me, winds of destiny;
I'll show you how to tote a heavy load!

I'll show you how to breathe hot wind that's free!

I'll show you how to climb a boney road!

I thought they were by Countee Cullen, but can't find them anywhere. I remember first reading that poem when I was 10 or 12 years old, and I thought it was a pretty reckless challenge. "Just asking for it!"

Countee Cullen, 1903-1946

Even if he didn't write it, he was that brave and stoical.
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My lamp arrived yesterday, something of a disappointment. It's in brand-new condition, and will go perfectly in the living room. But I thought it was yellow, and it turns out to be green. And the shade sits too high.

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All-Day Singing and Dinner on the Grounds

I wonder if any of the old country churches still hold such events. If I could find one that does, I might join it.

Book Bargains!

At the Friends of the Library sale Thursday evening, I didn't guess very well in picking books. But today I went by there coming back from the P.O. I bought 7 books for 6 bucks. When I got home, I found that one had listings up to $50+, so I listed mine for $30.00. Another one had only one listing on Amazon for $35.00, so I matched that price. BUT, a third book was listed nowhere, but based on a little research of some similar later books, I priced mine at $195.00! Listed two more of the books I bought at more ordinary prices (under ten dollars), and will return the other two for them to sell again.

Makes me feel a little bit guilty, but not much. But to sort of make up, tomorrow I'm taking them a big bagfull of nearly new books to add to the sale. I also signed up to "sit and sell" next Thursday evening, the penultimate sale day.

Two of the books I bought Thursday night are biographies of Sojourner Truth. I read one of them. Surprised to learn that she was a northern slave, not southern; she was born Isabel Van Wegener, and later renamed herself. All her slave years were spent in New York state. She met a lot of famous people, including President Abraham Lincoln who autographed one of her books for her. Apparently it was easier for slaves to gain their freedom in NY than in a lot of other states, maybe because slavery there grew out of the original Dutch settlers' custom of having indentured servants who worked for a certain period of time and then were free. After awhile, finding they could get away with it, the Dutch started keeping people as slaves, but it was still possible to make a "freedom deal" in rare cases. Sojourner and her parents and siblings had to speak Dutch; she didn't learn English until various slave-owners scolded, cajoled, or beat it into her. She never learned to read and write; she dictated her books and other papers.