Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Lincoln’

Happy Presidents Day!

Although it’s actually Washington’s birthday (tomorrow). What happened to Lincoln’s birthday? It used to get its own holiday. But on the subject of Washington, in addition to being father of his country, he was something of a dog breeder, credited with the development of the American foxhound. He bred the Virginia hounds with French hounds he got from the Marquis de Lafayette and voila.

And in the end, when he could have been king, he walked away. What a lucky land, to have someone like him turn up when the need was greatest! And then lightning struck twice and we got Lincoln! Now we seem to be in a rather long interim between lightning strikes. But enough with the bloviating.

 

 

Politics and Us

Has anyone else noticed a perhaps slight deterioration in the political tone in this century? Didn’t Lincoln say “If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend.”? It would be a shame if Lincoln gets forgotten. Tender Is The Bite is the Chet and Bernie novel where politics is center stage, although the tone of the book differs from our current political tone. For one thing, Chet makes an onstage appearance at a political rally. (A recent Amazon reviewer wrote: “This is one of the funniest stories that I have ever read.”)

Great Books That Never Got Written

Memoirs of Abraham Lincoln

 

(Any others?)

With Malice Toward None

Thinking about Lincoln’s dog Fido today. Lincoln loved Fido (Fido as the pre-eminent generic dog name dates from this particular dog) but Mary Todd L. refused to let Fido come to Washington when Lincoln won the presidency. He had photos of Fido taken in Springfield as a comfort for his sons (3 still alive at that point). Fido was still living in Springfield when they brought the body back. He went back to his original home that day and spent time with the mourners.