November 11 is Veteran's Day

As the early forefathers of our country studied the different ways of governing, they were taken with the Seneca ways.  Their democratic ways served as inspiration for our constitution.  Our constitution is defended by brave men and women who respond to the call of military service.  Our freedom does have a cost.  Since the Revolutionary war, approximately 656,000 military personnel have died in battle.  There have been 1,478,000 non-mortal wounds in that time period.  And this statistic does not include the effects on families, on service members adjusting to domestic life, the lack of medical services sometimes, etc.  Freedom is not free!  And we thank those who have given of their lives to defend the U.S. Constitution.

The Bullis family collected many books on military service.  Charles H. Bullis had fought in the War of 1812 before he emigrated to Macedon in 1839.  His grandson, John Lapham Bullis, fought in the Civil War and the Indian Wars of the West.  And he participated in the Spanish-American War as a Paymaster in Cuba and the Philippines.  Granddaughter, Lydia, married Theodore Wint from Pennsylvania who fought in the Civil War and served in the west.  Granddaughter, Jeanette, married a Lt. who fought in the West and died in the Philippines.  Great-grandson, Charles, served stateside at the end of World War I.   Great-granddaughter, Anita, married into a military family and her son carried on the military tradition.  The family had many links to military service.

So we thank all of you who have served, given your time, your energy, sacrificed for this country, and placed duty to country ahead of personal lives.  Click for thank yous in Wayne County

THE BRIDGE, PART II

A local news item this morning informed us that the removal of the Canandaigua Road bridge will be finalized today.  Sections of the bridge will be placed on a barge and floated away on the Erie Canal.

Nettie Bullis was 21 when this bridge was opened to horse-drawn and pedestrian traffic, and her brother Charlie was 23.  We can imagine both of them watching the construction and  marveling at the completed structure. If she were present at today's final removal, we imagine that Nettie might discreetly wipe a tear or two from her eyes and then look forward to the construction of the new, safer bridge.

Here's the rest of Longfellow's poem. Enjoy!

The Bridge

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How often, O, how often

In the days that had gone by

I had stood on the bridge at midnight

And gaped on that wave and sky.

How often,  O, how often

I had wished that the ebbing tide

Would bear me away on its bosom

O’er the ocean wild and wide.

For my heart was hot and restless,

And my life was full of care,

And the burden laid upon me

Seemed greater than I could bear.

But now it has fallen from me

It is buried in the sea.

And only the sorrow of others

Throws its shadow over me.

Yet whenever I cross the river

On its bridge with wooden piers,

Like the odor of brine from the ocean

Comes the thoughts of other years.

And I think how many thousands

Of care-encumbered men

Each bearing his burden of sorrow

Have crossed the bridge since then.

I see the long procession

Still passing to and fro,

The young heart hot and restless

And the old subdued and slow.

And forever and forever,

As long as the river flows

As long as the heart has passion

As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection

And its shadows shall appear

As the symbols of love in heaven

And its wavering images here.

Save the date

On October 4, 2009, there will be an Open House at the Macedon Public Library celebrating the life of Miss Nettie Bullis, her historic family and her contributions to our community. So please save the date : October 4, 2009 4-6 PM. There will be more information to follow.

THE RIVER

Follow the river as it winds and bends
thru hamlets and towns…

M
E
A
N
D
E
R
I
N
G
DOWN.

Follow the river thru shady green coves
Where in deep pools the bass lay low.

Follow the river thru cities bold
Where barges and boats ferry their load.

Follow the river as it rolls to the sea,
And calls to you, "follow me!"

For those of you interested in waterways, we suggest you stop by the display case outside this room and take a look at some Bullis books on rivers and canals.

These volumes cover local waterways, such as the 1901 STATE OF NEW YORK REPORT ON THE BARGE CANAL FROM THE HUDSON RIVER TO THE GREAT LAKES, and distant rivers, THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS, an 1875 "record of adventures, habits of animals, sketches of Brazilian and Indian life, and aspects of the nature under the equator during eleven years of travel," written by Henry Walter Bates.

You'll also see a copy of THE RIVERS OF GREAT BRITAIN, (RIVERS OF THE EAST COAST), with illustrations and maps, published in London, 1889, as well as an 1896 copy of Mark Twain's THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

Also for you Mississippi River enthusiasts, a "must-read" is DOWN THE GREAT RIVER, published in Philadelphia, 1889, and written by William Glazier. This is a wonderful armchair trip "embracing an account of the discovery of the true source of the Mississippi together with descriptive views and pictorials of the cities, towns, villages, and scenery." Some of the towns and villages mentioned are St. Anthony, St. Paul, Davenport, Rock Island, Saint Louis, Vicksburg, and Fort Snelling.

This is the time of year to get out and enjoy our rivers and other waterways. We encourage you to begin the season in the Bullis Room.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I pondered this post, I was reminded of the attitude of thankfulness. I believe the Bullis family as a whole experienced thankfulness. In Nettie Bullis' valedictory speech when she graduated from Macedon High School in 1911 she stated, "Life, like every other blessing, derives its value from its use." She valued her life, was thankful for it, and wanted to use it well. She was a woman who looked into the future for our children and made an effort to invest in their lives by setting up a fund to provide scholarships for higher education. Many students of the Palmyra-Macedon Central School District have benefited from that. She knew what it was to be without the finances needed for education. She invested in co-workers lives sometimes with advice and sometimes with finances. We are thankful that she was a woman with foresight. And we are thankful for her life and how she used it.
Happy Thanksgiving! And may we all be willing to invest time and energy into those lives around us.

Henry Drummond

I walked to the shelf this morning and pulled off the book "Henry Drummond's addresses". My favorite essay was "The greatest thing in the world." It is a great essay where he describes love as the greatest thing in the world. He lists the 9 elements of love as patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good temper, guilelessness and sincerity. How different the world would be if we all practiced that kind of love.

And then I flipped to the end of the book and found another address titled "A talk on books." And this being a library and all, I proceeded to read it. He shares about authors who enabled him to see the world differently : Ruskin, Emerson, George Eliot, Channing, and F. W. Robertson. And then he writes: "One day as I was looking over my mantelshelf library, it suddenly struck me that all these authors of mine were heretics - these were dangerous books. Undesignedly I had found stimulus and help from teachers who were not credited by orthodoxy. And I have since found that much of the good to be got from books is to be gained from authors often classed as dangerous, for these provoke inquiry, and exercise one's powers."

And another quote from him: "To fall in love with a good book is one of the greatest events that can befall us."

And yet another quote: "...and I think everyone owes it as a sacred duty to his mind to start a little library of his own."

Mr. Drummond also wrote "Natural law in the spiritual world." We have copies of both of these books in the Bullis Library.

Mr. A. R. Bullis (the surveyor) owned both of these books. I wonder what he gained from them. I wonder if this is where the idea of this family library came from. Hmmm....

This week in the Bullis Library

Monday we found a neat little book about the Adirondacks titled "Murray's Adventures in the Wilderness ". The subtitle is "Camp-life in the Adirondacks". We can't wait to explore more in this book. It has advertisements, etchings, photos, and a newspaper article pasted in the back entailing the"Other Side of the Story - The Horrors of the Adirondacks".

Tuesday our volunteers continued their work on Increase Lapham's semi-circular genealogy. It was a good idea in theory but is not quite practical for our reading.

Wednesday we had more volunteers making cards for books (maybe more about this later) and
choosing books to review. Another volunteer worked on transcribing Dr. Abram Bullis' notebook.

And Thursday here we are updating the blog.