HOW-TO BOOKS

How-to (aka self-help) books continue to be a perennial Christmas gift choice.  Did you know there are several of books in this category in the Bullis collection? Here's a partial list:

How To Write Letters. 

(Formerly The Book of Letters)

A complete guide to correct business and personal correspondence

Author: Mary Owens Crowder

Publisher: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1922

How To Read Character;

A new illustrated hand-book of phrenology and physiognomy, 

for students and examiners: with a descriptive chart.

Author: Samuel R. Wells

Publisher: Fowler & Wells Co., New York, c 1808

Flying Machines:

Construction and operation; a practical book which shows,

in illustrations, working plans and text, 

how to build and navigate the modern airship.

Author: William James Jackman

Publisher: The Charles C. Thompson Co., Chicago, 1910

So ... if you're looking for an almost-last-minute gift for that special someone (who may have an interest in how to write correct business and personal correspondence, how to read character, or how to construct and operate a flying machine), here's what we suggest. Stop by MPL and ask someone to help you access these books. Take your time looking over each one, and if you decide on one or more of them as a gift, you can purchase them online.  

There are also Kindle editions available. Two of the books have customer review ratings of 4-out-of-5 stars, indicating that books can continue to inform and entertain for more than 200 Christmases. Now, that's a gift that lasts.

CHRISTMAS WITH AUNT JO

Where did November go? We're not sure, but it went fast for us Bullis Room volunteers.  Now it's December and time for holiday celebrations.  This brings up the question (once again) of how the Bullis family observed Christmas. Here's an excerpt from a July, 2009 interview with an extended-family member who is connected with the Bullises through her grandmother.

Question: "Did you ever spend any holidays with them (Bullis family)?"

Answer: "Yes, Christmas with Aunt Jo. But Charlie and Nettie weren't there. I don't know if they celebrated Christmas or not. Auto Jo always celebrated. We always got books or we got money. We always got gifts from her and I still have all of the books. They were nice books. They were Richard Halliburton books, The Occident and The Orient, they were travel books (The Book of Marvels: The Occident; The Second Book of Marvels: The Orient). I had one about the Erie Canal. We had some of those Thornton Burgess books - children's books about animals and the seashore. I liked the books. I'm not a Bullis, but I like books."

The time frame for the Christmases referred to in the interview was the 1930s and early 1940s. Charlie and Nettie Bullis were adults  by then, which may be why they were not present at those holiday celebrations.  However, another source quotes Nettie Bullis as saying that when she and Charlie received gifts from their parents, they were books or practical toys.  This fits in with the Bullis frugality recorded in many other accounts.

Another question in that July, 2009 interview solicited Christmas memories as well:

Question: "Any Bullis family recipe?"

Answer: "Always had goose for Christmas. Nettie and Charlie didn't have much in the way of recipes (or food!) I don't mean to disparage them in any way at all. They were very good people. Aunt Jo used to have a big wooden bowl and her chopper and she would always chop a cabbage salad. That was one of the things that was always a part of Christmas dinner - cabbage salad."

So, in a nutshell (chestnut?):  The Bullises observed Christmas by giving books to the children and eating goose and cabbage salad for dinner.

From the Bullis Room: Happy Holidays to you.

NATIVE AMERICAN BOOKS

Have you seen the display of Native American books, in the case outside the Bullis Room? If not, please make a point to stop by this week.

You'll see books on Native American traditions, crafts, and their history in general.

And if you'd like to take a closer look at any of those books on display, they'll be available in the Bullis Room next week. Just stop by and ask for a volunteer to assist you.

VETERANS DAY, 2015

This coming Wednesday, we have another opportunity to honor those who served in our military.  In order to get more familiar with this observance,  we suggest you revisit two Bullis Book Chronicles from previous years.

"HONORING VETERANS" (November 5, 2011)

http://bullisbookchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/11/honoring-veterans.html

This post relates some of the history of this observance,  originally designated as "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace ...."


And,

"FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY," November 11, 2014

http://bullisbookchronicles.blogspot.com/2014/11/for-love-of-country.html

The title of this post refers to a contemporary book, For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism and Sacrifice, by Howard Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

How does this book connect to the Bullises?  The Bullis family  has a long and distinguished history of serving their country's military. Beginning with Philip Bullis, who served in Major Savage's Company during King Philip's War in 1675-1676; continuing with Charles Bullis who served in the Revolutionary War in the Vermont Militia; John Lapham Bullis, whose lengthy military career spanned the Civil War, Indian Wars, and Spanish-American War; and Charlie Bullis, who served in World War I. 

And now, a question for you: How can we show our appreciation to our Veterans? Here're a few suggestions:  Attend a Veterans Day event, fly a flag, write a card or email to some veterans thanking them for their service, or sit down with a veteran and listen to that person tell about his/her experiences.

FALL BACK

This is the fourth day follow, even though our bodies may still be "running" on Daylight Savings. (That's another subject.)

Anyway ... being that "time" is on our minds, we searched for Bullis books about clocks. Only one on antiques popped up, one that we posted a couple years ago, titled:

The Lure of the Antique

by Walter A. Dyer (1878-1943)

Published in New York by The Century Company, 1921

FYI, here's the link to that post:
http://bullisbookchronicles.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-lure-of-antique.html

If you're interested in antique clocks, this book has several pages of information on grandfather clocks and shelf clocks, as well as nine illustrations.

So if you have time on your hands (as well as your mind), you're invited to stop by the Bullis Room and spend some of it with this book.

PS: This book also contains "a handy guide for the determination of age, style, maker, genuineness, and value" of a wide variety of antiques.

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.

THE BRIDGE

The bridge over the Erie Canal on Canandaigua Road (built in 1912) is being removed this week.  After a century of connecting local drivers with Route 31 and  Macedon Center Road, it's time for a new bridge to be in place to transport us safely over the canal waters.

Is it coincidence that just a week or so ago we found a poem among some Bullis documents that had recently been forwarded to the Bullis Room? And that it's a copy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Bridge?  The cursive looks similar to Nettie Bullis's handwriting, so we're also wondering if she's the scribe. If she was the copyist, was she thinking of the bridge within sight of her family home on Canandaigua Road? (We like to "suppose" so.)

Anyway, here's the first half of the poem. We'll post the remainder next week.

The Bridge

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I stood on the bridge at midnight,

As the clocks were striking the hour,

And the moon rose o'er the city, 

Behind the dark church-tower.

I saw her bright reflection,

In the waters under me,

Like a golden goblet falling,

And sinking into the sea.

And far in the hazy distance

Of that lonely night in June,

The blaze of the flaming furnace

Gleamed redder than the moon.

Among the long black rafters

The wavering shadows lay,

And the current that came from the ocean

Seemed to lift and bear them away.

As, sweeping and eddying through them,

Rose the belated tide,

And streaming into the moonlight,

The seaweed floated wide.

And like these waters rushing

Among the wooden piers,

A flood of thoughts came o'er me

And filled my eyes with tears.