Friday, March 29, AD 2024 6:39am

July, Springfield and Lincoln

 

Well, it is time again in the McClarey household for our mini three day July vacation.  (We take a week off in June and August.)  Today we make our annual pilgrimage down to Springfield to the Lincoln sites.  We say a prayer at the tomb of Mr. Lincoln for the repose of his soul and the souls of his wife and children.  All of Lincoln’s immediate family are buried there except Robert Lincoln, a Civil War veteran, who is buried in Arlington.

We also go to the Lincoln Museum, which is first rate.  For those of you with time to kill, go here to watch a CSpan two and a half hour (!) tour from 2005 of the Lincoln Museum.

The day wouldn’t be complete without a stopover at the Prairie Archives, one of the finest bookstores in the State of Illinois, with a special emphasis on Civil War and American history tomes.

Except for the politicians who infest it, Springfield is a lovely town.  Filled with historical sites, it retains a small town feel.  You can park on the street at very little cost, and life tends to move at a sedate Central Illinois pace most of the time.

It is a pleasant day for us, these annual Lincoln trips, and a significant one.  Our experiment in democracy in this country is of vital importance, not just for Americans but for all of mankind.  Lincoln to me stands for the best in our American democracy.  His memory helps me realize that beyond the backstabbing and the self-serving that often seem to be all there is in public life, there are also great principles that must be guarded and fought for by each generation.  My wife and I do our best to help pass on this understanding to our kids, and we believe our trips to Springfield help us accomplish this.

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Elaine Krewer
Admin
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 5:58am

Hope you have a great time today, Don — but take it easy. The forecast for today: Sunny and hot, high of 98 with heat indexes as high as 116. Time to hunker down in the A/C as much as possible!

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 6:25am

You can blame all the corn for that. Really. Moisture transpiration from all the corn and bean fields is making the humidity worse, but it’s also holding the actual air temperature down a few degrees. Actual triple digit high temps seem to be relatively rare in downstate Illinois. (The last official 100 degree high in Springfield was about 15 years ago.)

Jay Anderson
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 8:57am

We’ll be headed to Manassas this weekend to see the 150th anniversary reenactment of where the war almost all went bad for Mr. Lincoln and his picnicking Yankee cohort.

Jay Anderson
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 4:48pm

It’s “First Manassas”. You can give the Yankee names to the battles y’all won.

😉

Jasper
Jasper
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 7:20pm

Don,
It is very nice to reflect on the past and all the good that Abe Lincoln did. It makes me think about our present day cowardice on behalf of our Catholic bishops and political leaders and the 1.3 million unborn humans being murdered every year.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 10:09pm

It seems to me that many of the political figures whom we end up revering for their honesty and integrity are NOT necessarily those who enjoy “rock star” status or have cults of personality built up around them. More often than not they seem to be second choice or compromise candidates chosen to split the difference between two wings of the party, or to satisfy a desire for “balance” on the national ticket.

Lincoln wasn’t the front runner for the 1860 Republican nomination; William Seward was, and the convention more or less “settled” on Lincoln because Seward was seen as too radical on slavery. Abolitionists certainly wouldn’t have seen Lincoln as their political savior in 1860. Yet, it was on his watch that the slaves were finally freed (for the most part).

Likewise I still believe that if Roe is ever overturned or legalized abortion on demand ever comes to an end, it could very well happen on the “watch” of a president who is NOT necessarily a hard core conservative, or a devout Catholic or evangelical Protestant, or even a Republican (he or she could belong to a political party that doesn’t yet exist, just as the Republican Party didn’t yet exist in 1850).

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Wednesday, July 20, AD 2011 10:23pm

“Except for the politicians who infest it, Springfield is a lovely town. Filled with historical sites, it retains a small town feel. You can park on the street at very little cost, and life tends to move at a sedate Central Illinois pace most of the time.”

I’d have to agree with that, which is one reason why hubby and I have stayed here longer (6 years and counting) than in any other community we have lived in since we got married almost 17 years ago. Actually, you don’t run into too many politicians on a regular basis unless you 1) work for certain state agencies or 2) frequent particular restaurants, hotels, bars and other hangouts favored by the political crowd during legislative session days.

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