Tuesday

Dec. 8, 1998

Travel

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

TUESDAY 12/8

Poem: "Travel," by Edna St. Vincent Millay, from EARLY POEMS (Penguin, 1998).

It's the birthday of the creator of Popeye, ELZIE CRISLER SEGAR, born in 1894 in Chester, Illinois, in 1894. The first strip with Popeye characters came out in 1919, entitled "Thimble Theatre," but Popeye did not appear in the strip until ten years later, in 1929.

The writer and cartoonist JAMES GROVER THURBER was born on this day in Columbus, Ohio, in 1894. His most beloved creation is Walter Mitty, the daydreaming henpecked man featured in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," published in My World—and Welcome to It (1942).

It's the birthday of Finnish composer JOHAN SIBELIUS, born Johan Julius Christian in the town of Hämeenlinna, Finland, in 1865.

It's the birthday of South Carolina native HENRY TIMROD, known as the "laureate of the Confederacy," born in 1828 in Charleston.

It's the birthday of ELI WHITNEY, inventor of the cotton gin, born in Westboro, Massachusetts in 1765.

It's the birthday of Mary Stuart, also known as MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, born in Linlithgow Palace in Lothian, Scotland, in 1542.

It's the birthday of QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN, born in 1626.

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

 

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