Publisher Awed By Hundreds of Buggies

Did you ever have a yen to buy something that you could not possible use, could never afford, and wouldn’t know what to do with it if you had it?

Fortunately for my pocketbook, I had no trouble avoiding temptation recently, while still enjoying the moment.

We were vacationing near Sisters, Oregon, when we discovered that there was to be a three-day auction in that central Oregon tourist town. Not just any auction, mind you, but an auction first of buggies and then of horses with which to pull them.

How in the world could it take two days to auction off a few buggies?

What we found out, of course, is that it takes two days to auction off a “lot” of buggies. There couldn’t possibly have been more buggies, in every style, shape and color, in one place in the whole world. And yet, there they were - almost anything that can be pulled by a horse - in Sisters, Oregon.

And, darn it, I wanted one.

Thankfully, the auction was for odds and ends associated with buggies and farm stuff and we had to leave before they got to any buggy I couldn’t live without.

Meanwhile, scattered throughout the Sisters fairgrounds were one-horse buggies, two-horse buggies, four-horse buggies (I guess you would call them wagons). There was a “cook” wagon with a door open where you could see a real household toilet, complete with lid.

There were numerous Amish buggies that looked like they just came off the assembly line. There were racing buggies.

I was seeing buggies and wagons that would liven up any parade of which I wanted to be a part.

There were not one but two stage coaches that looked like they had just come off the lot of the latest western movie.

Struggling with reality, I found myself trying to estimate how I could get a riding mower between the traces, so I didn’t have to deal with finding a place for horses as well as the coach.

Alas, my bum knee kept me from walking by every buggy, and I got hustled off before the first buggy got auctioned.

I’m sure my wife knew that I would want one or two of the horses, as well, so she found something else to keep me occupied for the rest of the weekend.

Come to think about it, when I was dreaming of how I wanted to be a cowboy, my heroes weren’t riding buggies. It was the gorgeous horse, fancy spurs and wide-brimmed hat that filled my imagination.

Hi Ho Silver, away!

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Chief ‘Seattle’ Gives Memorable Speech As Prelude To Treaty Signing

There are many famous Indian speeches. Among the best is the one made by Chief Sealth, leader of the Indians of the Seattle area and for whom the city was named. The speech was delivered in 1854 to Governor Isaac Stevens and his aides, when they arrived at the village on the shores of Elliott Bay to forge a treaty with the nearly 1,000 members of the local tribes assembled there.

It was probably not Gov. Stevens fault that most of his promises in the treaty never came to pass. He may have been completely sincere in what he offered. However, what transpired in Washington, D.C. concerning Indian matters was another story altogether.

Chief Sealth responded to the governor’s proposals with a quite lengthy speech. The version most often seen today is the translation by Dr. H.A. Smith, who was not a professional writer, but did know Sealth.

The closing portions of his speech are the most well known.

“It matters little where we pass the remnants of our days. They are not many. The Indian’s night promises to be dark. No bright star hovers above his horizon…

“A few more moons, a few more winters – and not one of all the mighty hosts that once filled this broad land and that now roam in fragmentary bands through these vast solitudes or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to weep over the graves of a people once as powerful and as hopeful as your own.

“But why should I repine? Why should I murmur at the fate of my people? Men come and go like the waves of the sea. …It is the order of nature. Even the white man, whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, is not exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers, after all. We shall see…

“Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some fond memory or some sad experience of my tribe. Even the rocks, which seem to lie dumb as they swelter in the sun or darken in the rain along the silent seashore in solemn grandeur, thrill with the memories of past events connected with the lives of my people…

“And when the last Red Man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among the white men shall become a myth, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribes; and when your children’s children shall think themselves alone in the fields, the store, the shop upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to your solitude.

At night, when the streets of your cities and villages will be silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land.

“The white man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead – did I say? There is no death. Only a change of worlds.”

Sealth was around 68 years old when he delivered this challenge. He lived on for 12 more years, in friendship with most of the leaders of the community named for him.

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Embroidery Is Type Of Needlework Extending Back To Medieval Times

Embroidery is a type of needlework in which  design is applied on top of a finished piece of fabric, as opposed to other techniques such as knitting or needlepoint, where the design is worked into the fabric itself. It is a craft that has been practiced for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

It may be compared to painting a picture on a canvas, with thread replacing the paint and fabric taking the place of the canvas. There are limitations, of course. The seamstress does not have the infinite shades of color at her disposal, as does the painter. However, with patterns and techniques specific to embroidery, this can be turned to advantage, and stylized and abstract designs become very effective.

Some embroidery exists from medieval times, although very little is in good condition. It has either decayed or been looted for the gold and silver thread that was commonly used. From what remains, it can be seen that among the pieces embroidered were ecclesiastical garments, horse-trappings (these were cloths put across the backs of horses going into battle,) the clothing worn by riders over their armor, ladies’ gowns and bed-hangings.

Patterns were stamped onto the material to provide the basic designs to be followed. The first patterns were made of wood. After a design was worked out on a piece of paper, the paper was glued onto a flat wooden block. A sharp cutting tool scored the design into the wood, following the paper’s lines. Pewter or copper strips were inset into the cut lines. Then the block was dipped in ink and stamped on the fabric, transferring the design.

It became the duty of every lady in England to become an accomplished embroiderer. More and more stitches were invented, and almost every piece of fabric that could be embroidered was decorated with stitchery.

By Victorian times in England, embroidery covered everything. Entire sofas were worked with intricate stitches; so were items as small as gentlemen’s handkerchiefs, where an initial, intricately draped with leaves and vines, could be added.

In America, the well-known sampler became a requirement for almost every young woman. This was a cloth used to practice stitches and stitch combinations and a means of learning to produce embroidery patterns and designs. Some of the first ones were unframed and quite narrow. They were rolled and stored in the same way as an Oriental scroll, and then consulted whenever the seamstress needed to use it as a reference source.

Embroidery was not limited to use by the leisure class, although just from a time standpoint, these women could practice it most. Embroidery was applied to sheets, towels, pillowcases and coverlets. It could also be found on petticoats, nightgowns and corsets.

By the 18th century, definite differences were found in the embroidery practiced in America and that used abroad. American pieces tend to be more individualized in concept and often more flamboyant in appearance. They seemed to have a more naturalistic character. They also tended to show more variation in quality. Some of the workmanship was superb, but some was definitely not very good, whereas English examples tended to show a uniform discipline and polish.

The Arts and Crafts movement of the last quarter of the 19th century helped to create a vogue for embroidering among middle-class American women. Particularly characteristic of this work was a combination of embroidery with block printing.

All over America, embroidery societies were formed, such as one in Massachusetts called the Society of Blue and white Needlework. Their designs were based on colonial patterns which were worked in blue and white linen yarns.

The ladies of Newcomb College in New Orleans, whose pottery has become highly collectible, made embroideries in the style of decoration featured on their pottery.

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