Three Cents

 Funny how today there is talk of getting rid of the penny.  However, 140 year ago a penny was rather common. A penny for your thoughts? Well, if you read this you will get some of my thoughts at no charge. In any event, in 1877 three cents could buy a first class stamp. A pound of rye flour at the time was 4 cents; a pound of corn meal was half the price of a pound of rye flour, meaning you could buy a pound of corn meal for less than the cost of a first class stamp. Five cents could get you a quart of milk, and double that value ($.10) to obtain a pound of fresh pork. In 1880 a farm laborer’s average monthly wage was $11.80 (which works out to $141.60 for 12 months), although room and board was also provided. Today, a farm laborer annually is said to make about $33,000 in wages with an additional $5,000 for benefits (Bureau of Labor Statistics). I doubt room and board is provided. This post follows an earlier post titled “One Hundred Forty,” which was about the union in Holy Matrimony on January 30, 1877 of my great grandparents, Hovel side. That post recounted their marriage and move from Wisconsin to an Iowa farm. This post will deal with a few other parts of the common day existence on the plains of the northcentral Iowa prairie in the latter part of the 19th century.

Martin and Amelia Hovel
Photo from Michael Hovel

The August 21, 1952 edition of the Manly Signal contained an article that gave a look at living conditions present just after the founding of that community in 1877. In one article, the newpaper noted that “Their simple homes portrayed a love of cleanliness and beauty.” This is generally consistent with the words of historian John Shover who described Midwestern farm homes of that time as "unpretentious."  While the grand homes of Europe were all the rage, the United States would see its grandest home construction during and following the gilded age, which began about the same year as my great grandparents were married. Back then most farm houses were of simple of wood construction.  Some would be heated by a wood stove, others by coal burning stove.   My great great grandfather, Josef Hovel, who remained in Wisconsin in 1880, sold 23 cords of wood in 1879, from which he earned $46. Martin and Amelia would build a simple white clapboard house on their farm. This house type, as described by Shover, would have had low ceilings would always seem crowded.   Water was likely from an outdoor well and cast-iron hand pump.  There also would have been an outhouse.

The farm and house would later become property of their youngest child, my grandfather Rudolph James. The white two-story home may not have been their first farm house in Manly, but I do know that both my grandfather and my father were born in the same house. If their house was decorated inside like others described in the 1952 Manly Signal article, the home would contain a handmade rug for carpet, underlain by straw. Every spring, giving meaning to the term to spring cleaning, the rug would be pulled up and patched, and the straw replaced. Obviously, you would not want this near the wood stove. The kitchen would contain a wood stove, for baking, cooking, and of course warming hands and feet.   Stover has noted that the nucelus of the Midwestern from home was the kitchen and adjoining dining room, a radius determined by the heat thown off the wood burning stove.

Hovel Farm House, Town of Lincoln, Worth County
Just south of Manly, IA.
My Dad is on a rocking horse in front of the house
Photo from archives

There was little free time. If my great grandparents had the same practice as my grandfather, only necessary chores were accomplished on Sunday, the day of rest. The rest day of Sunday was earned by the work accomplished the other six days of the week. In the home, they made their butter, baked their bread, and preserved much of their food. And of course, they lacked the wash machines and dryers of today, so if laundry, and its associated ironing, is a difficult chore today, it was doubly (or more) so in the late 1870’s. As difficult as the laundry chore was, my great grandmother would do the laundry of others in order to earn money to purchase first class stamps to correspond with her relatives in Sun Prairie, WI (this information came from Carol Ryan  in an email in which she transcribed an article from a 19777 Manly Signal celebrating Manly’s 100th birthday).  Amelia took on the chores others wished to avoid in order to retain contact with her relatives. Showing the differences of the time to present day, she was dependent upon the U.S. Postal Service for contact.

The Hovel farm house was moved to Manly, and is still present today
Obviously additions have occurred.
Photo from Carol Ryan

But, she did more. As noted in the prior post she did here share of farmwork, and she likely took care of the chickens and harvested the eggs (60 dozen in 1879).   In an August 21, 1952 edition of the Manly Signal, Martin and Amelia’s oldest son Joseph Hovell (his wife decided to have the family add the second “L” to the last name), the only child to live in Worth County his whole life, recounts “how his mother prepared the wool and spun the yarn for all the stockings, mittens and great, warm mufflers for all the family.” The spinning wheel Amelia used was on exhibit for the 75th Anniversary celebration, and is still in the family today. Amelia also sewed clothes for the family. The same article has a photo of Joseph, at what is reported to be age 17 “wearing his first boughten suit bought especially for the occasion….” The occasion being a family photo taken at the Kirk Studio in 1895.  The newspaper refers to it as "grand day for young Joe."   A copy of the studio photo from that day was loaned to the newspaper, by the JJ Hovel family, and was printed with the article.  The suit cost $8.00 and was purchased at what was referred to as the Knowles Bros. store.  That store was built by A. Harris in 1877, who was also its first proprieter. It was probably at that store where Martin and Amelia would purchase necessary supplies as they first farmed the deep rich soils of Iowa.  The news article goes on to report that the other two sons “Rudy and Ed being but little fellows, are wearing suits which their mother made.”

Spinning Wheel owned by Amelia Hovel
Still in the family
Photo from Carol Ryan

Free-time was valuable, and it was often used to offset, what the 1952 Signal article referred to as the “deadly monotony.” Perhaps they too lived for holidays. Memorial Day would see children walking up and down the rail track in search of Sweet William and other flowers in which to decorate graves. The fourth of July saw orations, milk shakes, lemonade, and of course everyone’s favorite—fire-crackers. Fathers, the newspaper reported, would often take their sons to see the circus when it visited Mason City. Lack of free-time, however, should not be associated with lack of caring and the customs of the day.  Persons would call on new arrivals, and if they were not home, calling cards would be left. The same article would go on to say that “loaves of bread and plates of cookies were taken to friends, and in case of sickness there were sympathizers and helpers galore.” This level of care harkens to the famous “frontier hypothesis” of the well-known University of Wisconsin historian, Frederick Jackson Turner which talked about the equality of the populations on the frontier. This level of equality makes me think of the comment made by the highly regarded Czech composer Antonin Dvorak who on visiting Iowa (he spent time in and near the heavy Bohemian settlement of Spillville, only ten miles from Festina, where my paternal grandmother was born) in the later part of the 19th century noticed that in American democracy the porter and the millionaire addressed each other as “Mister” with “no difference except for the millions.” As I noted in my 2010 work: “Community cooperation was important in the early communities whether it be for corn husking, barn building, or school and church building.” This time period in Manly would seem to not only help prove Turner’s hypothesis, but also follows on the observations by Alexis de Tocqueville in his seminal work Democracy in America.

1895 Photo from 1952 News Article
 (L to R) Rudy, Martin, Amelia, Ed,
wtih  Joe, in his store bought suit,  in back
Source: Newapaper archives

Papers of the past often recorded common day occurences: persons visiting or who was visited. Lacking phone connectivity, much less social media of the present, connection was often in person. For example, accodring to the Mason City Globe Gazette, Amelia was a caller in Mason City on a Monday in early May 1915. It does not say who she may have visited. The Wisconsin State Journal reported in its Sunday, May 10, 1931 paper that "Mrs. Amelia Hovel, Manly, Ia, is a guest of her son and family."  A traveling widow was she.  That same paper also reported on 13 August 1931 that Amelia along with Mr. and Mrs. E. Duscheck and Addie Every took “an auto ride into Iowa last week returning Tuesday.” It reported the group visiting friends and family in a few towns, and noted that Mrs. Hovel went to Manly, Iowa where she would be staying for a longer visit.” I would guess it to be for a longer visit, as she lived in Manly; perhaps it was her return trip after visiting the family for the summer.

Amelia and Martin by home in Manly, IA  they would purchase
and move to after retiring from farming
Photo from Michael Hovel

Of course, some visitors were not relatives or friends. We know that Indians were still present, and in an article in the 21 August 1952 Manly Signal, Marcella Rossiter, a long-time Manly resident whose grandparents moved to the area in 1871, takes the standard view and prejudice of the time and says in her article that “Though Grandfather and Grandmother were not molested by Indians as most pioneers were, they did see tribes of them pass by on their way to Plymouth….” Rossiter notes that her grandparents would also provide food to the Indians.  My Aunt once told me a story of how my grandmother’s family owned a general store, and my Aunt said that it was not uncommon for Indians to stop by and for my great grandparent Pitzenbergers (my paternal grandmother side) to provide food or other items, and sometimes a meal. She also noted that she had never heard of the Native Americans causing any trouble.  It was the least that could be done.  The Native Americans after all did not ask to be removed from their land.  Care for others was part of the way of life.

1890 Book of Saints owned by Martin Hovel

Caring and helping the less fortunate is/was a common aspect of humanity and Christianity. Care on the frontier was provided to those in need that set a standard for providing comfort. As then, it is still customary to provide food for a family who lost a loved one, although I think that custom is not as common place as in the past.  Local religious denominations were visited on Sunday, the day of rest. Amelia and Martin likely traveled to Mason City for Sunday Mass, as Catholic Church in that community was in place in 1864. The church in Manly would come later. The only item I possess that belonged to my great grandfather Martin is a book of saints printed in German. I see this book as a testament to the importance of faith in his life.

Inside of book, Martin's signature in pencil is barely visible

Bohemia, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when Martin departed for the United States. Martin was multi-lingual due to an Empire that demanded use of German. Say what you will about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but unlike many others at the time, starting with the reign of Maria Theresa, education was mandatory, Martin would end up knowing not only German and English, but also likely Czech. He was multi-lingual before it was fashionable. Multi-lingualism was not uncommon for first and second generation Americans.  Immigrant labor was critical to the growth of the United States during this start of the gilded age, and one does not all of a sudden learn to write and speak a language, much less understand the colloquialisms and nuances of a learned language. It was not uncommon for the native tongue to be spoken at home and at ethnic-centered events.  After all Martin and Amelia had two strikes against them: first, the predominantly Protestant nation was not keen on Roman Catholics, and second Eastern and Southern European immigrants were also faced with prejudice.  In some corners it dies hard.  And some places still have a strong ethnic base.  It was not that many years ago when attending mass in Armstrong Creek that the priest would say some prayers in Polish.

Original Martin Hovel family farm in present time
Photo from Carol Ryan

This was the world of north central Iowa just after the arrival of my great grandparents. Martin and Amelia would raise three sons on their farm, all of whom would also go on to farm: Joseph (born on 26 July 1878), Edward (born on 28 February 1881), and my grandfather Rudolph (born 21 July 1887). Each of the three would go on to have families of their own. Joseph would remain in Worth County and the Manly area for his whole life; Ed farmed a few miles south in Cerro Gordo County, but not far from Manly. My grandfather would see his first child born in the family homestead near Manly, but in the 1920’s would move and farm in the Town of Bristol, just north of Sun Prairie. My grandfather would bring the family back to that part of Wisconsin from which his mother hailed when she met Martin.

Their Three Sons, children  of Amelia and Martin Hovel
Photo from Michael Hovel

The late 19th century is a time long gone. Cars have replaced horses and passenger trains; email is negatively affecting the postal service; and farming is more mechanized than ever before, but still can be hard and tedious. If farming practices in 1920, as Stover says, were closer to 1720 than present day, one can imagine what it was like 40 years earlier before tractors and even more mechanized equipment. Even with the difficulties of farm work at the time, those pioneer residents still took time to socialize and foster direct connections, leaving calling cards, rather than using Facebook, greeting with cookies and bread.  The pioneer plains of Iowa, in spite of or because of the difficulties of life on the prairie, fostered a sense of community and friendship. Connectivity to family was also important, even if one had to launder clothes of neighbors in order to earn sufficient funds to send a three cent first class letter back home.

1952 Article
Newspaper archives

“It’s about the meanest business I have ever experienced. It’s all fact—solemn fact – no romance, no poetry, no joke. It does seem to me that all this sort of work ought to be done by machinery or not to be done at all.” Charles H. Smith, writing of farm work in 1892.

One Hundred Forty

It was on this date 140 years ago, January 30, 1877, an epochal event in my family history occurred--one set of my great  grandparents, Martin Hovel and Amelia Duscheck were joined in the sacrament of holy matrimony.  In early 1877 the U. S. Congress would settle the 1876 election, the most contentious election in U.S. history; yes, even more contentious than that of 2016.  That resolution would bring about an end to the Reconstruction policy that followed the Civil War.  The end of Reconstruction would see the Democratic Party take control of most of the south and bring about Jim Crow laws that continue to effect the nation.  It would also be the start of the Gilded age, when in less than a generation the American economy doubled, when names like Rockefeller, Morgan and Carnegie would be as common in a household at that time as Gates, Musk, and Bezos are to us today.  This post, and perhaps another one or two (I am making this up as I type, with no grand scheme) will provide information on my great grandparents and the life they lived.  History is but a combination of stories, and this is one small story, probably inconsequential in the large mosaic that is our American historical journey that seemingly is as dynamic as it is static.

Baptismal/birth Record of Martin Hovel
Source:  digi.ceskearchivy.cz
See the notation starting in column two regarding issuance of a
duplicate  certificate in the matter of immigration to America

To say that times were different 140 years ago would be an understatement.  A tweet was what the train did upon its pulling out of, or its arrival in town.  Personal transportation was by foot, or horse.  Yet, as noted in the first paragraph, similarities exist between two very different eras.  What is important to me is not so much the grand events of the time, but the experiences and life of that one family started by the union of marriage on this day 140 years ago.  Martin Hovel entered this earth in a home-barn combination on 11 November 1850 in southern Bohemia, part of the Czech Republic, in a small village known as Dolni Chrastany, and in fact it was in building number 18.  It was the same home in which his father, and grandmother were born.  With his parents and siblings he would immigrate to Wisconsin in 1868, arriving in Baltimore, MD, aboard the ship Baltimore.  He would be part of the immigrant labor that would break the deep sod of the American Midwest and in so doing assist in the economic growth of the nation.  He was part of the agricultural expansion of this nation.   The Hovel family first farmed land in the town of Jefferson, according to the 1870 census. According to an 1872 plat map, Martin’s father, Josef, owned, and with the aid of his children, farmed 80 acres near Fort Atkinson, in the town of Koshkonong.  This Farm would be sold to George Kachel, a brother-in-law of Martin’s, who married Rose Hovel in 1882, the only family member to remain in Wisconsin.    

1872 Plat Map of Town of Koshkonong
Showing Josef Hovel land (Haffell)
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society Archives

 Amelia Duscheck, was a day shy of here eighteenth birthday when she wed Martin on that unusually warm late January day, with high temperatures recorded in the low 40’s.  Amelia was born in the Town of Milford, in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, just outside of Watertown.  Her father was Josef Duscheck. Her mother, Rosalie, was Josef’s second wife.  A second spouse after the death of the first wife appears fairly common in that era, after all there were children to raise, and women, like today, did much work to allow the family to function.  Josef Duscheck was about 20 years older than Rosalie, Amelia’s mother.  The Dusheck family would emigrate in 1854, three years after Joe and Rosalie were married.  Entry for the Duscheck’s to Wisconsin was by way of Quebec, Canada.  The Duscheck family would leave their farm in Milford Township, Jefferson County in 1867 and move to a farm in the Town of Bristol, Dane County, and north of the then small village of Sun Prairie.  Showing the nature of a small community and its then bonds, it seems that half of the residents with some sort of history in the Sun Prairie--Town of Bristol area can claim ancestry to Josef Duscheck. 

Marriage Record of Martin and Amelia Hovel
Source:  Wisconsin Historical Society 

Amelia and Martin married at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in the crossroads of East Bristol.  The formal witnesses to the marriage were Rosa Duscheck, and Anthony Pohl.  Showing a major difference with today when most marriages are celebrated on a Saturday, their marriage occurred on a Tuesday.   How a man who emigrated from Bohemia and settled near Fort Atkinson in 1868 met a young lady living in the Town of Bristol I do not know, but suspect it had a relationship to the strong Bohemian and Czech network that had established itself in this part of Wisconsin.  Churches have historically played an important role in many of life's key moments, and so it was in January and again in early April of that year, when St. Joseph's Church would hold the funeral for, and in its cemetery be buried, Amelia’s father, Josef.  Rosalie, Josef’s widow, who was just 48 years and one week old at the time of her husband’s death would continue to farm with the assistance of her children and step children.  Joy and heartbreak were not uncommon emotions in the raw and rough times in rural America of the 1870’s.  Rosalie was viewed as a pioneer woman of Sun Prairie, and a similar role would be played by Amelia and Martin in the untamed land of north central Iowa.

Martin and Amelia (with  son) 1880 census Town of Lincoln, Worth County, IA
Source:HeritageQuest

Martin and Amelia, as a married couple, did not long stay in Wisconsin, as in the fall of 1877 they would move west to Manly, Iowa.  If Manly is small today, at 1,023 persons, it was newly created when Martin and Amelia moved there in the fall of 1877.  Manly, Iowa was founded by the joining of two railroads in August of 1877 and was originally called Manly Junction.  It was named after the Central of Iowa’s freight agent J.C. Manly.  The land Martin would purchase, about one and one-half miles south of then Manly Junction, would be along the rail line.  More research is required but it is possible it was purchased from a land speculator. Settlement of this part of Iowa was delayed following the panic of 1857.  The speculators at that time placed a high value on the land, but prospective settlers, upon seeing the price, moved further west.   However, Martin would appear to make a wise decision, as the land prices had dropped and by the later part of the 1880’s arable land in the midsection of the nation had been claimed, forcing agricultural production further and further into the more arid climatic zones of the west.  Martin and Amelia would not be alone, as his parents and seven of his eight living siblings who made the long journey to Wisconsin from Bohemia had or would move to Iowa.  Rose, who as noted earlier married George Kachel, would be the only sibling to remain in Wisconsin.  The Martin Hovel family would be recognized as true pioneers of north central Iowa.  At the time Martin and Amelia arrived in Manly it had its newly constructed railroad depot in operation and a general store, which in 1877 was owned by A.H. Harris, and later was known as the Knowles Store.  A short article in the “Manly Signal” on August 21, 1952, which celebrated the 75th year of its founding, refers to Martin and Amelia, and their children as a “Pioneer family.” 

Manly, IA Depot
Source:  University of Iowa digital archives

Martin and Amelia would set up farming in the rich prairie land of north central Iowa, less than twenty miles south of the Minnesota border.   The 1880 Agricultural Census has Martin owning 80 acres, of which 45 were tilled in 1879.  The history of Manly recalled in that 1952 paper began with a sentence which shows that Martin and Amelia were the first to break the soil, as it reads: "In the summer of 1877 only the ceaselessly waving tall grass of the prairie marked the present site of Manly."  This would be the Hovel version of the Little House on the Prairie.  It is probable that the remaining 35 acres had yet to be cleared and plowed as the census was based on farm items in 1979, or less than two years distant from their settlement in the pioneer prairie plains of Iowa.   The farm, at that time, had a land value of $1,200, and they had $190 in machinery, with their stock valued at $140.  Farm laborer wages totaling  $20 were paid.  It was an old nostalgic farm operation of varied crops and animals making it quite different from the large single purpose mega-farms that have been common in the past thirty or more years.   In contrast to, or a result of,  the continued mega-farm movement the rage today, however, is to know your food.  This theme is popularized by such phrases as “farm to table” or “field to fork”.  I often think of myself as ahead of the time with my glasses and wardrobe, but Martin and Amelia were well ahead of the food rage today. Seriously, they were diversified, and produced much of their own food. It was a time when self-sufficiency was still important, before specialization brought on by an ephebic industrial age. 

Josef  Hovel Family, 1870 Census Town of Jefferson
Source:  HeritageQuest

One cow to produce 25 pounds of butter is what Martin and Amelia owned in 1879.  They also owned one other cattle, but not a milk cow.  Barnyard poultry was numbered at 24, and they would report the production of 60 dozen eggs in that year. The farm would produce four main field crops, potatoes, oats, Indian corn, and wheat.  As could be expected in what was then the nation’s wheat belt, Martin had 30 of his 45 tilled acres in wheat producing 840 bushels.  The couple got by with two horses.  The value of all farm products produced in 1879 was $370.  Martin would occasionally travel well over 100 miles to McGregor, IA by horse and wagon to deliver wheat to be ground into flour.  To make the trip by auto today it would take an estimated 2 hours and 16 minutes by the fastest route (ahh, the benefits of Google maps).  But, Martin had no truck, no paved roads, and no Google maps.  It would likely have taken Martin more than a week to get to McGregor and return home.  Amelia would have the job of tending the farm in his absence. 

1913 Plat Map of  Martin and Rudy Hovel Farms
Source: University of  Iowa archives

While Amelia is noted in the 1880 census as a homemaker, she did her share of work on the farm, and we know she assisted Martin with the harvest.  One recollection passed to me by a grandchild of their oldest child is that she would place that child, Joseph J. (born in 1878) among the shocks of wheat. The other two children may have been brought and set in the field as well, but I have not uncovered a written record as such.  Many helicopter parents of today might find this shocking, pun intended, but at that time they relied on their ears and eyes, no baby voice or video monitors which are common in present time.  In any event, Joseph grew up to become a farmer, and later a blacksmith.  A growing nation needed its wheat, and while a small producer, Martin and Amelia likely found growing the crop to their benefit. Their farm diversification, which was an early version of today's field to fork, was necessary and not a luxury.  

Martin and Amelia
Source:  Michael J. Hovel

Martin and Amelia were a young couple and would raise a family on this farm in the plains of north central Iowa.  They were part of an immigrant wave that stretched across the nation to provide labor for a growing agricultural and industrial economy.  1877, the year of their marriage would see the beginning of the end of that era’s great recession which began in 1873 with the collapse of an Austrian bank.  They were part of a larger movement heading west.  As I noted in a written work on family history in 2010, Iowa was a land in transition.  Martin was the first to break the deep and rich alluvial soil of the prairie for his farm.  Farming was their way of life, it is what they knew.  Martin grew up on a farm in Dolni Chrastany, and helped his father farm near Fort Atkinson, WI, but I suspect he changed his way of farming to a less labor intensive regime than common in the old country.  Martin and Amelia would bind themselves in marriage on that day 140 years ago, which lacks any real significance but to those whose lives they touched and to their descendants.  

Martin Hovel farm as it appeared in 2009
Source: Carol Ryan 

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future,” JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Watch It

Early last week I had the pleasure of taking my wife for a 9 am medical procedure.  The procedure is usually scheduled as a preventative measure, and is commonly provided upon turning age 50.  My wife had the procedure at age 50 and was nice and "clean" so she did not need the procedure for another ten years. Hence the reason for this visit.  I myself have not been "clean" and have had three such procedures; my last being a year ago.  Most informed persons probably know the procedure to which I refer.

Help avoid cancer, get your colonoscopy

The procedure was undertaken on the west side of Madison, in what is known as University Row.  Not knowing what the traffic on USH 12 , or as it is most commonly known, "the Beltline", will be we left early to assure prompt arrival for a 9 am appointment.  She was checked in at about 8:40 am.  After my wife sits down in waiting room, I was about to do the same, but she orders me to take a walk, even though I had walked earlier that morning.  Never one to disobey my spouse, particularly as she said it again, I went for a walk in the non-pedestrian friendly environment that makes up Madison's west side.  She had told me that there was no need to present as she was prepped, so I walked for about 25 minutes, returning after her appointed time and noticed she had been called back.  I inquired of the receptionist about the prep time, and she told me it is about 40 minutes.  Hence, I sat in the waiting room and figured I would get called back when the procedure was complete.  At about 9:35 I was thinking she was probably entering the procedure, when a nurse comes and gets me.  Oh, I thought, that was quick. In fact, she had yet to be taken back and was worried about me having not shown up in her room, so she asked the nurse to ask for me.  I then met the nurse who would be with her during the procedure.  

Clean the colon

Before the nurse wheeled her out I inquired if she noted her being a redhead and the additional anesthesia required.  Among other unique traits redheads need more anesthesia than non-redheads. She noted she had done so.  Redheads are thought to more sensitive to pain.  Appartently the MC1R gene that can cause red hair also is related to the family of receptors involved in pain perception, and may explain the sensitivity in a mutation MC1R gene to pain perception. A few minutes after my arrival she was led out of the room.  Given that her room was more quiet than the waiting room, I spent time reading and then watched a gardening show on PBS. As time passed she was wheeled back in.  She was quite awake already.  All went fine, but she did note that she had woke up during the procedure and was able to see her inner bowels on the screen, which she said was right in front of her face.   What a pleasant surprise, being able to see the inside of your large intestine.  The nurse said that is not uncommon that someone wakes up during the procedure.  My wife did note that they inquired if she was still comfortable, and she assured them she was.  The doctor appeared some time later and gave the all clear.  He explained, in the cost saving sort of way, if all is clear in the future there will be no need for the doctor to come in, the nurse will provide the information.

Rendering of in the colon

Last year I was not awake during any part of that procedure and the follow up one that goes down the front end,  Probably as the front end is done last, they are sure to keep one anesthetized.  Of course, it makes for some interesting antics.  When I arrived in the room, I, at least according to my wife, tried to crawl out of bed to get dressed saying, it was time to leave.  I to take her word for it, as with what the doctor explained, because I recall very little of what was said while in recovery. Every now and then my wife tells my "You are full of it" but during a colonoscopy prep, procedure and after, I rightfully am able to say "I am not."   In any event, my spouse got to watch part of her own colonoscopy as the scope probed in, out and about.  Talk about getting know your body better.  If you need to do so, get your colonoscipy and perhaps you too will be able to get a surprise peak inside yourself.

Change and Same in Poland

History has a tendancy to repeat itself.  A little recognized event occurred on this date, January 22, in 1982, and that event remains relevant today.  The event involved Poland and what was the then occurring nuclear arm reduction talks between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Before exploring the similarity between an event 35 years ago and today, and seeing how history repeats and in a sense the tables have turned, a short history lesson is in order.

the Big three at 1945 Yalta Conference

Poland was received under the influence of the Soviet Union following the end of World War II which was a result of the February 1945 Yalta Conference (Yalta, somewhat ironically, is part of Crimea). The issue would become not so much which sphere Poland would fall (as that had already been decided), but its form of government. [Interested readers can find additional information on these events of 1945 in a past blog post.] According to historian Antony Beevor, Churchill noted the reason the war was entered was a need for a full and independent Poland.  However, Beevor noted that Stalin "referred very obliquely to the secret clauses of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact"  (p. 80, The Fall of Berlin).  This pact allowed the Soviet Union to invade and occupy eastern Poland.  The Soviet leader would cleverly play his cards, and an ill Roosevelt failed to recognize the signifcance and back Churchill.  Poland, like the remainder of Eastern Europe, would be puppets of the Soviet Union.  But, over thirty-three years later native Pole John Paul II became Pope.  Lacking any divisions, but with moral authority, he helped energize the Polish Workers who would go on strike in one country that was part the   self-proclaimed "worker's paradise." In 1979 his first visit back to Poland as Supreme Pontiff, he told the large Crowds "be not afraid."  The  Soviet Union would institute Marshall Law in 1981 in order to suppress the burgenoning Solidarity movement.

John Paul II in Poland, 1979

The movement of more Soviet control of Poland, led U.S. President Ronald Reagan to delcare, according to hisotry.com, "that arms reduction talks could not be 'insulated from other events',"   Being a Republican President, his action did not sit well with the left, who always feared he desired a nucelar war.  Heck, I recall after his election, an older brother putting a poster up on the back of our bedroom door that armageddon was at hand.  As we know the prediction of dire nuclear events did not hold true, Reagan did not induce a nucelar war, and in fact, in 1987 the INF agreement was signed.  Poland would see free elections in 1990.

Solidarity Protests

This is relevant to us today as it was just about ten days ago President Obama sent United States and NATO troops into Poland to counter what he see as "Russian agression."  The United States had  a lukewarm response to Russia annexing Crimea, which had been part of the Ukraine, but now wished to show solidarity with Poland and the need for the NATO alliance.  Poland, since its free elections, has tied itself to the west and is a NATO member, as are many other former Soviet bloc countries.  In a sense, what we see is another President of the United States essentially backing the Reagan stance.  While nuclear arms may not be the question today, Russia still likes to harken back to the days of their past manifest destiny and control of Eastern Europe.  Churchill and Reagan viewed Poland as a key element to resisting what was than Soviet aggression, and in his last days in power, so too did President Obama.  We are 35 years distant from thta event in 1982.  Interestingly, Solidarity began at the end of the first 35 years of Soviet control of Poland.  The more things change, the more they remain the same.  History has also turned the tables, with a Republican president now apparently viewing Russia more friendly than did his Democratic predecessor.  Reagan was criticized by Democrats for tying nuclear arms talks with Soviet treatment of Poland.  Now the shoe may be on the other foot, although many Republicans in congress do not trust Putin.

NATO forces upon Arrival in Poland on Jan 12, 2017

As for the Poles, they like Ukraine and other Eastern European Countries, are at the door step of Russia and view the Russian sphere of influence completely differently than many in the west.  They know what may result from a growly, and calculating bear.

Images from Google.

Two Men

Last week two men from two different generations passed away within two days of each other.  Each man lived his life in his own way, and yet each is known for one remarkable, but significantly different contribution to humanity of the nation.  The first, Steven McDonald, passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack on January 10. The second, William Peter Blatty, passed away due to blood cancer at the age of 89 on January 12.  Each would receive some notoriety in the press.

Steven McDonald (center) with his wife and son

 Steven McDonald was a New York City police officer, and on July 12, 1986 he inquired of a group of young teenage males about bicycle thefts occuring in Central Park.  As he was questioning one of the teenagers he noticed a sock being held by the young man.  As he inquired about the contents of the sock he was shot three times at close range. All to the face/neck.  One shot was above an eyebrow, a second in the throat, and a third would shatter his spine leaving hiim paralyzed from the neck down.  Married for just under a year, his wife was pregnant with what would be their only child, a son who is a sergeant in the NYPD.  About six months later, according to news reports, "with McDonald still struggling to recover, he made a statement about Jones [the shooter] through his wife that defined the rest of his life: 'I forgive him and hope he can find peace and purpose in his life.'" A powerful statement of mercy which would be his moment of definition.  It was a moment of grace when he realized that hate could just as easily overpower him, and lead him on a path of self-destruction.  It was also a sign of the power of his faith.  Before his statement, McDonald had even pondered suicice wishing not to be a burden to his young wife.  Yet, because he lived and made that one powerful statement, his life provided a direction to others who face similar trials.  Suicide would have been an easy way out for a man bound to a chair and needed others to help care for basic human needs.  Those who spoke at his funeral at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, was summarized by one news source as him being a man who chose a spiritual journey over self pity and spite.  

William Peter Blatty

Spite, is certainly one element evident in the book and movie for which William Peter Blatty is famous.  The Exorcist, is about satanic possession, and it is spite to God which comes through the demonic possession of the young girl.  Blatty wrote his book, not as a work of horror, but what he saw as a work of the supernatural.  Blatty, who was a son of immigrant parents, said that the book was written to recognize the works of the Jesuits who taught him in prep school and at Georgetown University. As he told Jesuit William J. O'Malley, it was a thank you to the Jesuits.   The book was on its way back to the publisher due to lack of sales when Blatty arrived as a fill-in for a cancelation on the Dick Cavette show.  His appearance on that show would take the book to the best seller list, and he would write the screen play for the movie.

The long blue line at Steven McDonald's funeral

What is interesting is the varied interpretataions of the movie.  O'Malley, who had once taught at the same prep school, Brookly Prep, as Blatty had attended would write and provide a review of the book at a library event in Rochester, NY.  Having Brooklyn Prep as a connection O'Malley would write to Blatty.  Blatty would ask to meet him in New York.  That would lead to a life long friendship,and for O'Malley a cameo appearance in the movie.  During that lunch meeting, Blatty would take issue with two points in O'Malley's review.  The main point being that, as O'Malley puts it in Americamagazine.org:

that I had missed the whole point of the book (admittedly a flaw). He said his intention was right there toward the end when, after the first excruciating exorcism session, the mother asks the doubtful young priest why God would allow such an assault on a young child. The priest answers, 'To make us despair. To make us feel we would be beyond even God’s contempt, much less his love.' In other words, God makes us feel lost in order to show us our need to be found. That was the core of Bill Blatty. He never lost that conviction of divine love.

While I am not sure I fully agree with the that despair is put forth to make us feel the need to be found, it gets back to the age old question of why does God allow evil.  It may be more that God allows free will, and with free will comes consequences-- a learning experience if you will.  However, as attested by some of the great saints, even the best acknowledge a "dark night of the soul."  The deeper ones faith, it sometimes seems, so there is more turbulance in faith.  There is also the more questioning.  St John of the Cross experienced and so did Mother Teresa.  But, the dark night, gives way to light.  The light being the mercy and grace of God. Last November, Pope Francis made the following statement that explains the "dark night of the soul":  "We do not need to be afraid of questions and doubts because they are the beginning of a path of knowledge and going deepr; one who does not ask questions cannot progress either in knowledge or in faith."need to be afraid of questions and doubts because they are 

The Movie poster

This, darkness is the connection between the two men.  McDonald felt lost, so lost that he had contemplated suicide.  Such an action would have been devasting to his wife, and he would never have known his son, nor his son know him.  No doubt that McDonald experienced, and lived through one of the most excruciating experiences a human can encounter--shot in the face, not once but three times and left to die on the streets of New York. His whole way of life would be affected. Hhis life would take a fully unexpected turn.  However, his the mercy of his forgiveness would allow him to not succumb to darkness.  The mercy and grace of God was at work in Steven McDonald. He went through a terrible crisis, and encountered evil face-to-face, but he realized a way forward.  He would not let evil fill him with hate, so instead he went the route of forgiveness, and in so doing found something much better.

Decoration Deconstruction

The United States loves to celebrate Christmas. Christmas decorations are a way to enliven the long nights we experience this time of year in the northern hemisphere.  Even just just under three weeks distant from the shortest day of the year, one can sense the lengthening day light hours.  Christmas decorations involve the Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and lights, candles, greenery and lights, figurines, and lights, and creche sets and lights. Decoration at this time of year, near the winter solstice, has been around for a long time, as I noted in December 2015.   It is often more fun, than a chore  to decorate.  Decoration is often involved with some levity and excitement with the approach of  Christmas.  The more difficult chore is taking down the Christmas decorations--deconstruction, if you will.

Decorated Christmas Tree

The United States as a whole spent about 6 billion dollars on Christmas decorations in 2011, the latest figures I could find, which represented, according to the news article, an 8.1% increase over the prior year.  Of this, most is spent on Christmas trees.  One figure noted that about $3.4 billion dollars will be spent on trees for Christmas, with $2.6 billion on fake trees, and the remainder on real Christmas trees.  We purchase a real tree, and where we live the price on a cut-your-own tree runs from $45 to $60.  That is a lot of money, but it is usually up for four weeks.  Christmas takes a great deal of energy and time, but it is not like we have day light and overly nice days one can be working outside, so the energy goes into inside decorating for Christmas, and then its deconstruction.  

Christmas Tree with lights and ornaments removed
The creche set (right) is the last to be taken down

Energy goes into gift selection and purchase, but with the Internet the purchase is more the easy part, leaving gift selection as difficult aspect.  Some people are just hard to buy for.  Others not so. they make it easy, like me.  One example of how I make it easy is through writing this blog.  Showing that there are at two readers of my blog, last October I wrote on post on my use of chocolate chips.  This year, I received over 8.5 lbs of chocolate chips, all but about 12 ounces of which came from  mys sister; she also gave me a a container and a lock.  This year I will not have to hear my wife complain about my eating the chocolate chips set aside for baking.  I now have my own stash. For those that read that post, I also received two large jars of peanut butter from my sister to complement my use of chocolate chips.  This makes me wonder if I should go out and get some bologna to once again create my favorite sandwich as a child--bologna, peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Outdoor front yard decorations

While chocolate chips will over time be eaten, not all gifts have that quality.  Some will be used, and stored, like clothes, and others will get packed away until next Christmas season.  Packing away can present its own set of challenges, like finding stuff packed away in order to put up the Christmas decorations. There is also the challenge of packing the boxes on shelves in the basement, and my desire to pack as tight as possible, even taking advantage of space between the joists.  My spouse prefers that I wait for her to assist, but this year I did most while she was otherwise occupied.  Too early it turns out, as she had not pulled out all stuff packed for Christmas.  My spouse  also uses the decoration deconstruction to rearrange furniture in the house, particularly in the living room.  She does not wish to simply put the room back they way it was before Christmas, she needs to come up with a fresh idea and furniture arrangement.

Ornament

Our inside decorations are now down, but I will wait for some warmer weather before removing the outdoor decorations.  While, the day is nice and sunny it is cold, single digits, and I need not tend to electric lights in the cold.  The number of out door light strands I use is minimal compared to other places.  No massive light display choreographed to music at this house.  Yet, it still takes time to take down, and why do it with warmer weather anticipated for next weekend.  I did, however, cut off the branches of my Christmas tree to use as mulch on some of my flower beds. I am sure they also provide cover for some little critters, although hopefully not the opossum that occasionally lurks in our window well.  IN the spring they will be chipped for mulch for use around the yard.

Christmas Tree as viewed from outside

Decorating a house is what helps make it a home.  Decorations tell not only a cultural story, but give an insight in to one's tastes, interests, and self expression.  A colleague of mine at work has two large, like more than three feet in height, figurines--one of Darth Vader and the other a Storm trooper, both decorated with Santa hats.  And for the month that the train and tree was set up he also switched a beanie baby on the train that would make a journey around the base of the holiday tree set up near the front counter.  In that sense, decoration is not just for home. What we need to guard against is Christmas being simply a time for our consumer culture to spread the idea of excess.Think six billion dollars spent on decorations a year.  This poses quite a contrast to that first Noel.

Outdoor decorations in early morning sun light

Cotton Bowl

Happy New Year!

January 1 is not only the first day of the New Year, but in the culture of the United States is synonymous with football.  When not on a Sunday, this day hosts a number of college football bowl games. When on a Sunday, the day is turned over to professional football. There is something interesting about the Cotton Bowl game on Monday, January 2, 2017.  It is that a football team from the state of Wisconsin will be playing for the second time in the Cotton Bowl in Texas.  The University of Wisconsin Badgers will meet the Western Michigan Broncos at the stadium built by Jerry Jones, AT&T Stadium, near Dallas, TX.  The Badgers hail from one of the power five conferences, the Big Ten, while the Broncos, who come from the Mid-America Conference, will look for recognition and respect for a lesser regarded conference.  The first team from Wisconsin to play in the Cotton Bowl was not the Badgers, rather it the Marquette University football team.  Marquette is a private Jesuit school located in Milwaukee better known for its basketball teams, particularly in the 1970’s, than in its football program which played its last intercollegiate season in 1960. 

1936 Marquette Football Team
Played in First Cotton Bowl, January 1,1937
Source: family archives from Marquette U
Roy Hovel is front row, fourth one in from the left

Back in the 1936 season Marquette was a good football team.  It would achieve some national recognition when it was selected to meet Texas Christian University, TCU, in the inaugural Cotton Bowl.  The Marquette Golden Avalanche had been rated as high as the fourth best team in the nation during the season.  The Hovel family has a connection to that 1936 Marquette team and the first Cotton Bowl game.  My father was a sophomore guard for the Golden Avalanche.  He was probably one of the youngest, if not the youngest, member of the team, being only 18 years of age when he set foot on the State Fair of Texas football field, under what the game summary termed “threatening skies”.  A smaller than anticipated crowd of 22,000 persons attended the first Cotton Bowl game.  While there are so many bowl games today, such that teams like the Minnesota Gophers (hey, at least they won) and the Indiana Hoosiers made bowl play this year.  The 1930’s saw the first expansion of bowls, with the decade having added the Sugar, Sun, Orange, and in 1937 the Cotton Bowl.  A Texas oilman, not related to J.R. Ewing, but sharing the same first initial, put up his own money to start and finance the bowl game.  J. Curtis Sanford came up with the idea, as noted in a recent “Milwaukee Journal” article, to “’dream of a Texas Sports spectacle’ to rival California’s Rose Bowl.”  Marquette agreed to play on December 9, 1936 when it was guaranteed either 40% of the gate receipts or $6,000 or $10,000 (depending upon the source), whichever was greater. 

Part of 1936 Marquette Team

 However, according to a Dec 10, 1936 "Milwaukee Journal" article, money was only one of a few other reasons reported by Marquette for going to this first bowl game—first, they looked upon it as a reward to the players for a well-played season in which they ended regular season play 7 and 1, the loss being in the last game of the regular season.  Second, it was to introduce Marquette football to the south, and third make contacts in the south for teams in the future. 

Roy Hovel in his offensive line stance

The Marquette team, coached by Frank Murray in what would be his last year as head coach of the team, would lose to TCU 16 to 6 on a dirt field interspersed with pockets of mud where the tarp leaked from prior day rains.    The defensive front of TCU was too much for the Marquette line.  In standard boastful practice still evident today, particularly in the SEC, the “Dallas Morning News” frequently noted the superiority of TCU.  “Marquette was no match to this first string purple contingent” and that “at least four Southwest Conference teams could have taken the Golden Avalanche.”  The biggest cut of all was their statement that “Marquetters hail from a section that is supposed to specialize in fundamentals as blocking and tackling-powerhouse, head butting football, and while reputed to be a dazzling aggregation with the overhead game, too, they’d be no aerial circus in the Southwest.”  All of the scoring came in the first half, and even though Marquette was well outgained 189 to 318 yards, (and outscored by only 10 points) the key was likely the ability of TCU to run the ball.  Marquette had 32 rushes for only 55 yards, while TCU had 34 for 169.  Net passing yards for the two teams were similar with 134 for Marquette and 149 for TCU.  The teams both came in with vaunted passing attacks, in hindsight it seems to be the rushing attack of the TCU that was the difference, regardless of how the sportswriters built up Sammy (the Sniper) Baugh of TCU.  Baugh finished 5 of 13 with two interceptions, and Ray Buivid of Marquette was 9 of 18 with three interceptions. 

1934 Campion Academy High school team, of which Roy Hovel was a member
Roy Hovel is in second row, fifth person from left
Source:  Joe  R Sweeney

Baugh finished fourth in the Heisman ballot in 1936, while the Marquette quarterback, Ray Buivid of Sheboygan finished third.  Buivid would give up playing in the East-West Shrine game in order to play in the Cotton Bowl. Buivid would be drafted third in the 1937 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears, and would go into the history books as the first quarterback to pass for five touchdowns in an NFL game.  This shows that historically the Bears did not always suck.  He played only two years of ball in the NFL.  Baugh, would be picked 6^th in the draft and would play his whole NFL career with the Redskins, 1937-1952. Baugh would go on to set 13 NFL records in three different positions: QB, punter and defensive back.

Starting offensive front seven for 1936 Marquette team
Source:  Cotton Bowl from J Curtis Sanford Papers
Via Cotton Bowl  representative  Charlie Fiss (2014)

 Perhaps TCU’s greatest strength was it essentially being a home game.  They were provided privileges and facilities superior to what Marquette was provided.  My Dad had commented that the practice field Marquette was provided was a cow pasture.  The long trip by train, was also draining, as many of the team members, he noted came down with the flu.  Marquette saw what many teams from the north see yet today, an advantage to the team that does not have as far to travel, and is not from the region where the game is played.  If you don’t think this is the case just ask Michigan, who played Florida State in the Orange Bowl.  If it is a problem today, it was much more so back in 1936 with a team enduring a long train ride, over a plane flight. 

1937 Cotton Bowl Program Cover
Source:  Cotton Bowl, Charlie Fiss

 The Wisconsin and Western Michigan game will see both teams travel a similar distance, so their game on January 2 does not see any one team location to sport a home favorite.  Back in 1936 Marquette played its first game of the season in Madison against the University of Wisconsin, in front of 32,000 fans.  Marquette won that October 3 contest 12 to 6.  The day following the game the “Wisconsin State Journal” would note the brutality of play (see news article inset below) on the line, quite different than the Marquette line described by the Dallas writer.  Over the years, Marquette faced Wisconsin 28 times, and Marquette won only four games.  Setting a pattern still evident today for the UW, all of the games were played in Madison, never once in Milwaukee. Talk about home field advantage. 

Oct 4 1936 Wisconsin State Jounral
Snippet of article on UW Marquette game

As a young 18 year old underclassman, my Dad mainly watched the game from the sidelines.  He was part of the Marquette team to visit the Cotton Bowl for its 50^th anniversary event from which he received a throw blanket, and a commemorative football.  The 1936 Marquette team as a whole was inducted in the Marquette Hall of Fame on August 20, 2011.  It was a posthumous induction, although family members were invited to attend, and many did.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend.  Two of my Dad’s 1936 team members, Buivid and Ward Cuff were individual inductees in 1974 and 1988, respectively.

Front Cover of Invitation to 2011 Marquette Hall of Fame Induction
1936 football team if pictured in upper left

Inside of front cover
Source:  T Hovel

My Dad loved football.  The oldest sibling in the family would go on to play college ball at Stevens Point, enjoy a semi-pro career, and coach for many years at the high school level.  Steve began as a line coach and moved to head coach.  He noted that many of the techniques, so derided by the Dallas newspaper, are techniques still successful to lineman today.  My Dad loved football so much that in 1964 when my mother was in the early stages of labor with our youngest sibling, Dad went to my brother Steve’s football game at Ashley Field in Sun Prairie, although he did come home at halftime to check on her, and eventually make their way to the hospital.  While I am sure he was disappointed that Marquette did not win that day, I am confident that I speak for all my siblings when I say he was a winner in life, when measured by that which is most important.