CELEBRATING CONFUCIUS

Today, September 29, is always Confucius Day.  An online search will suggest lots and lots of ways to celebrate the life of this great philosopher.   Bullis Room volunteers suggest that you stop by and take a look at some of the philosophy books in the collection. Here are two that we spent some time with:

The Story of Philosophy:

The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers

Author: Will Durant 

Publisher: Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City, NY, 1927

and

Introduction to the Study of Philosophy

Author: William Torrey Harris & Marietta Kies

Publisher: D. Appleton, New York, NY, 1873

Will Durant's book gives concise accounts of the lives and ideas of many great philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, and Nietzsche.

And Introduction to the Study of Philosophy addresses the subject of morals and moral sentiments, the classification of the sciences, and the philosophy of laws in general.

So ... when you're in the library today, we suggest you take a few minutes with one of these books or some of the many others on the shelves in the Bullis Room. 

HEROES & RESCUES

Within the last three weeks, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have resulted in destruction, injuries, and loss of life.  They have also resulted in many acts of heroic rescues.

The Bullis Collection has a number of books on heroes and rescues.  However, since there are so many children (from 1 to 100 years old) who are affected by these storms, we zeroed in on the one book age-appropriate that was for that group ... and here it is:

Arthur Mee's Hero Book;

A Companion Volume to Little Treasure Island

Author: Arthur Mee (1875-1943)

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, London (1921)

This book includes stories of 12 heroes, including:

 Abraham Lincoln, Captain Cook, Robert Louis Stevenson, 

Benjamin Harrison and Ordinary folk

We especially enjoyed the chapter on the "ordinary" folk who made heroic rescues. And we highly recommend that section (as well as the whole book!) to you. 

So ... the next time you're in Macedon Public Library, we once again invite you to stop by and take a look at Arthur Mee's Hero Book and all the others on the shelves in the Bullis Room.

LABOR DAY, 1904

Due to 13-year-old Charlie Bullis's three entries in his diary for September 5, 1904, we know what the Bullis Family was doing on Labor Day 117 years ago:

"Clarence plowed for wheat and papa fixed the roof for sheet iron on the west side of the house. "

"The weather was nice."

"12 skelletins were dug out on emery bealses."

These entries tell us a number of things about the Bullises:

First, they were farmers and no matter what the holiday, they did the chores that needed to be taken care of on the farm.

Second, they maintained the condition of their houses and farm buildings "around the place" with routine upkeep.

Third, they maintained contact with their neighbors, and also appeared to take in stride the discovery of skeletons on the Beals' place.

Last ... Happy Labor Day, 2017!

(Oh -  by the way  -  if any of you have any information you want to share about the Emery Beals family and/or the identity of the skeletons found in 1904, we'd love to hear from you!)