CONTEST SIGN-UP

We're here in the Bullis Room, waiting for you to stop by and choose your book to read and review for the Bullis Book Review Contest. Wonder what the book choices are. Here are some of the titles you can choose from:

Juvenile: The Adventures of Mr. Mocker; The Cruise of the Snark; Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights; Hans Brinker; The Jungle Book; The Heroism of Hannah Duston.

Adult: The Deer Slayer; The Exile; The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson; Typee; Four Years in the White North; In Darkest Africa; The New ElDorado; Sailing the Seas-The Log of the Tom Darke.

There are complete lists on the contest display by the front desk that you can look through. Or stop by and see us today, 11 AM through 5 PM and tomorrow from 11 to 3 PM (or make an appointment with June Hamell, 315-986-5932, Ext. 119).

BULLIS BOOK REVIEW CONTEST

A $100 prize is being offered in a contest designed to raise awareness of this collection. The Friends Endowment for the Macedon Public Library has approved funding for this contest.

Contestants are asked to write a 500 to 750 word review of a book contained in the Bullis Collection. Participants will be divided into two categories, those 18-years-of-age and under, and those over 18 years. A $100 prize will be given to the winner in each category.

The Bullis Committee has compiled a list of eligible titles from this collection. Entrants must choose a book from this list; that book will then be removed from the eligible list. The entrant may choose to read the book in the Bullis Room (these books do not circulate), or may read a digital version of the book online; copies of a number of the books are also available through the Pioneer Library System.

Contestants must register in the Bullis Room at the library by July 5; completed reviews must be submitted by August 13; winners will be announced by August 27. The contest is open to residents of Macedon and the surrounding area.

Those interested may visit the Bullis Room to fill out an entry form and select their book on either Friday, June 25, from 11 AM to 5 PM, or on Saturday, June 26, from 11 AM to 3 PM. Appointments for other times are available by calling June Hamell at (315) 986-5932, ext. 119.

A full description of the contest rules may be obtained from the library or by checking the library website at: http://www.macedon.pls-net.org/index.htm

This is your special invitation to participate in this contest. It's an opportunity to enjoy a good book and have a chance at winning a picture of Benjamin Franklin.

OLD FASHIONED ROSES

OLD-FASHIONED ROSES

(Hoosier Dialect)

They ain't no style about 'em,

And they're sort o' pale and faded,

Yit the doorway here, without 'em,

Would be lonesomer, and shaded

With a good 'eal blacker shadder

Than the mornin'-glories makes,

And the sunshine would look sadder

For their good old-fashion' sakes.

I like 'em 'cause they kind o'

Sorto' make a feller like 'em!

And I tell you, when I find a

Bunch out whur the sun kin strike 'em,

It allus sets me thinkin'

O' the ones 'at used to grow,

And peek in thro' the chinkin'

O' the cabin, don't you know.

And then I think o' mother,

And how she used to love 'em

When they wusn't any other,

'Less she found 'em up above 'em!

And her eyes, afore she shut 'em,

Whispered with a smile and said

We must pick a bunch and put 'em

In her hand when she was dead.

But, as I was a-sayin',

They ain't no style about 'em

Very gaudy or displayin',

But I wouldn't be without 'em, --

'Cause I'm happier in these posies,

And the hollyhawks and sich

Than the hummin-bird 'at noses

In the roses of the rich.

This poem is a part of a collection of poems by James Whitcomb Riley called Old Fashioned Roses. The Bullis copy of this book is the twenty-eighth edition, published in 1906 by Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis.

Old fashioned roses are blooming along our roadsides now. Let's enjoy them while we can, together with Mr. Riley's equally beautiful poetry.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

On April 17, 1864, while stationed at Annapolis during the Civil War, John Lapham Bullis wrote a letter to his mother in which he stated that he was reading "Victor Hugo's sketches of Napoleon." This reference caused us to wonder if the book Mr. Bullis referred to might possibly be a part of the current collection, so we searched our data base for all things Napoleon.

We did not find any book about Napoleon that Mr. Bullis could have been reading in 1864, but there are several in the collection that he might have read at a later time, such as:

The Destroyer of the Second Republic; Being Napoleon the Little

by Victor Hugo

published in 1870

Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon

by Louis Constant Wairy

published in 1900

Napoleon, the Last Phase

by Archibald Philip Primrose, Earl of

published in 1900

Memoirs of the Emperor Napoleon, from Ajaccio to Waterloo, as

Soldier, Emperor, Husband

by Laure Junot Abrantes, duchesse d'

published in 1901

The Life of the Empress Josephine, First Wife of Napoleon

by P. C. Headley (Phineas Camp)

published in 1850

Mr. Bullis's reference to Napoleon also caused us to wonder why he was interested in that particular military and political leader. Perhaps he wanted to learn from Napoleon's successes and mistakes? Or was it simply to distract himself from the realities of the war he was involved in at that time? Putting aside the reason for his choice of reading material, we find it characteristic that a member of the Bullis family would have in his possession a book that he was reading at any opportunity. Obviously, like all the Bullises, John Lapham Bullis was a true book lover and avid reader as well as a military genius.