Posted by Elaine on March 27, 2000 at 22:22:10:
In Reply to: In Search of ... posted by Lainey on March 27, 2000 at 15:10:03:
: John Boy Walton! Yep, I was off in the Old Dominion this past weekend running errands for the Towne Crier & Doctor Mary. Doctor Mary sent me to Vir-gi-Ni-A to find her second love, John Boy, so I could deliver her very important message. [Sorry, doc, no go ... couldn't find him anywhere! A few folks claim he went off to the Big City - I don't believe it ... But, I did as you asked; carved yours & his initials in that big oak tree & painted the whip & arrow above it. Hope he replies in the affirmative soon!]
: The Towne Crier sent me to *procure* Ol' Ben Franklin's printing press. She seems to believe TH Jefferson stole it ... more on that later.
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It's later now ...
As I was saying, the Towne Crier seems convinced TH Jefferson had stolen Ben Franklin's printing press. I knew Sam Adams stole the King's Tea & Mr. Revere regularly stole other men's news scoops & engravings and that Ol' Ben had stolen poor Richard's Almanack (the colonials were a thieving lot) - but I had never heard accusations that TH Jefferson had stolen Ben's fast print copier. I had to go check it out because TC wants that Press Kit VERY badly. [Why? Because the Towne Crier has established MohicanLand's OFFICIAL Print Shoppe.]
It turns out TC is very much mistaken in regards to Mr. Jefferson's possible printing pilferage. He may have stolen constitutional liberties, and perhaps he coveted his neighbor's western goods, but NEVER would he have stolen the printing press! Unthinkable. TH Jefferson DID invent an early copy machine ... He attached a secondary quill & ink jar to his primary quill & ink jar that automatically dipped & scratched & dipped & scratched along with TH Jefferson's hand held quill. Very neat!
Now - while at TH Jefferson's humble little mountain home I looked for clues as to what it was that made him tick. (Besides TH Jefferson's OBSESSION with clocks!) Both he & Ol' Ben (not the ticking Big Ben) were early America's true Renaissance men. Enigmas for their time & place, in a way ... overly endowed with brilliance, both were men of letters, inventors, products of the European Enlightenment, disciplined in quirkiness, a bit eccentric in their compulsion to waste not-want not regarding time, Europhiles who aggressively participated in rebellion against their European mother, etcetera ... but more on that another time. I still sought insight on the influences in TH Jefferson's life & times.
The Frontier! TH Jefferson had a fascination with it. Many did, of course, & many lived in regions *near* the frontier. But, unlike most of his political peers, Jefferson grew up with the Frontier literally right before his eyes. Both at his boyhood home & at nearby Monticello, Jefferson would look not through wood or hills leading to the frontier, but daily cast his eyes smack upon it. He grew up with the Blue Ridge Mountains towering to his west. A walk outside & there they were. In Jefferson's day, these mountains WERE the frontier. The very same blue-hued vista images that have captivated so many LOTM fans & spurred on an interest in the colonial frontier surely must have captivated the imagination of the young Thomas Jefferson. It's one thing to speak of the frontier, another to actually look upon it every single day. See? It was absolutely *historically correct* to film LOTM near this Frontier. That's a Six Degrees Hook, by Thomas!
And the Printing Press connection, you ask? Ha! Jefferson couldn't LIVE without books! Books, books, books ... his collection formed the nucleus of the Library of Congress. Sooooooooo ... he WOULD have founded our MohicanLand Print Shoppe IF he hadn't already obliged himself to the University of Virginia. Yep - without a doubt.
As it is, the Towne Crier has taken up the cry for books, books, books. What a novel idea!
When she rings, rings, rings about Rose Publishing, she is ringing about MohicanLand's very own Print Shoppe! Sure, we've got Bumppo's! And a Trading Post ... and a Cooper. Gunsmiths & Gunslingers, an entire Black Watch regiment, kilters & quilters, ... even a Bedlam psych ward has been established (and REALLY thrives) within MohicanLand. But now, we have our very own PRINT SHOPPE! And Ben Franklin can't steal a single literary drop (even poor Richard has copyright protection now!)- literally!
And authors? Ha! They are EVERYWHERE. Several of YOUR MohicanLand neighbors, previously thought to be illiterate drunkards spending inordinate amount of hours at Bumppo's are taking up their quills ready to do battle - even as we speak. There's no stopping it now ...
Rose Publishing House is YOUR Print Shoppe!
Oh, about THAT Edict ... it will be strictly enforced & expanded - just for the fun of it.
E
PS Susan H - I met a Virginian Houck!