Friday

Jul. 4, 1997

Woolworth's

by Donald Hall

FRIDAY 7/4

Today's Reading:"Woolworth's" by Donald Hall from OLD AND NEW POEMS, published by Ticknor and Fields (1990).

Today is Independence Day, the 221st anniversary of the Continental Congress accepting the Declaration of Independence.

It was on this day in 1931 that novelist James Joyce and Nora Barnacle were married in London, legalizing their 26-year common-law marriage.

It's the birthday of playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon (BAREFOOT IN THE PARK; THE ODD COUPLE; THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE), born in the Bronx, in 1927.

It's the birthday of literary critic and educator Lionel Trilling, born in New York City on this day in 1905.

English actress, dancer and singer Gertrude Lawrence was born on this day in London, in 1898.

The poem AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, written by Wellesley College Professor Katherine Lee Bates, was first published on this day in 1895 in a church publication called the CONGREGATIONALIST.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg was born on this day in San Francisco, in 1883.

It was on this day in 1863, during the Civil War, that Confederates surrendered the city of Vicksburg to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

On this day in 1862, the Rev. Charles Ludwidge Dodgson first told the story of ALICE'S ADVENTURES down the rabbit hole to three young daughters of a friend during a picnic along the Thames. He later published ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

Walt Whitman published the first edition of LEAVES OF GRASS on this day in 1855 at his own expense.

It was on this day in 1845, that Henry David Thoreau began his 26-month stay at Walden Pond.

It's the birthday of American composer Stephen Foster ("My Old Kentucky Home," "Swanee River"), born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, in 1826.

Novelist and short-story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES; THE SCARLET LETTER) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on this day in 1804.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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