Reading room

Magnet #893 - William Howard Taft (1909 - 1913)

Poor Taft. Hovering somewhere around 300 pounds, William Howard Taft was indeed our heaviest and largest president.

Remember that Cow on the White House Lawn book I read a long time ago? The Taft story I remember from that is that he's the only president who got stuck in his bathtub. But, I think that's just an urban legend. He supposedly ordered the largest bathtub ever for the White House, though.

Another Taft legend was that he unwittingly invented the seventh-inning stretch. He went to a baseball game, and having to squeeze into the wooden seats, he couldn't take it, and by the seventh inning, he got up to take a stroll. Others thought he was leaving, so they got up as well. And thus was born the YMCA yardrakers seventh-inning stretch.

I'm just using Taft for today, because he visited New York to attend the opening of the first New York Public Library main branch in 1911. I took the tour this afternoon, and it's such a wonderful building.

I don't know why we don't build more things out of marble these days, but Carrère and Hastings' Beaux-Arts architectural style of the main branch is just breathtaking. We went walking around Astor Hall, where the soft-spoken guide explained that the marble was from Vermont. And then into the periodicals room, where the wood was French something or other. And then the new modern steel and glass addition nestled in the heart of the library. And the story of the written word in four WPA-painted panels in the McGraw Rotunda. And the tw0-block long reading room on the top floor. Oh! And a Guttenberg Bible!

Seriously. A really great tour, even if I couldn't hear the guide. I will admit, though, that it was fascinating to roam one of the back halls and see some of the 88 miles of stacks they had hidden from general view...mostly because about 20 years ago, my sister and I came to visit the library, and we were so excited to visit the library, and we walked and walked and walked, and lord help us, we couldn't find a single book anywhere. We seriously didn't understand why the main branch didn't have any books!

Now we know.

Actually, there's something scary and fun about the fact that they're gonna turn the main branch of the library into an actual lending library, and move the current stacks into a new facility under Bryant Park!

Jeepers, I can't wait for that tour!

Tales of a fourth grade everything

Magnet #908 - Dogs must be carried

We all have that one teacher that we remember growing up - the one who took extraspecial care for us, the one who mentored us and made getting through the schoolyear easy.

For me, that was Mrs. Honbarrier, my fourth-grade teacher, who, besides having a Fireball factory in her basement and always having her ventriloquist's dummy take class pictures for our yearbooks, was just the best teacher ever - and there are tons of people who went through our public school system who will back me up on that.

She gave me the gift of reading by noticing my head was always stuck in a book. She began to let me borrow from her personal library, even though we had a perfectly good one on the other side of campus.

Behind her giant wooden school desk, she kept a bookshelf filled with books that you'd expect - Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary and Louisa May Alcott. On top of that, she introduced me to one of my favorites, Ruth Chew. (It was to Ruth Chew that Mrs. H totally caught me writing a fan letter to...which would have been ok, had it not been in the middle of class. It was one of the few times I was ever scolded in that class - though, honestly, it must have been hard for her to scold a little fourth-grader for writing a fan letter to a children's book author. Heh.)

But it wasn't just fiction. That bookshelf was where I learned about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the cow on the White House lawn. And, oddly enough, it's where I learned about Service Dogs, and how they train the puppies from birth to be guide dogs for the blind. No, I haven't a clue why she had that book there, but I remember being fascinated by the fact that the dogs can sense danger, and be trained to protect their humans from the outside world.

That's why Mrs. Honbarrier came to mind yesterday on the train, and why I knew I had to use the London Transit magnet, because an old lady carrying a supercute cocker spaniel walked by me. The spaniel was wearing a little yellow jacket that clearly marked him as a service dog, and I instantly remembered that service dogs book from fourth grade.

Mind you, it was really because I was trying to remember if they ever mentioned any other breed besides German Shepherds being guide dogs, but still, I'd bet that Mrs. H would never have guessed that almost three decades later I'd still recall the books she loaned me.

The advance agent of prosperity

Magnet #562 - William McKinley (1897-1901)

There's a book I read in fourth grade that I've seriously been trying to track down forever - a little mass-market called The Last Cow on the White House Lawn, and Other Little-Known Facts about the Presidency. Of course, now Amazon has it listed. Of course.

I know it's out of date now, but I must have read that thing cover to cover a few times, because half of the presidential factoids and half-a-facts (/tm David Tennant) in my head come from that book, or others just like it.

One story I've always remembered is the one about William McKinley, our 25th president, who was shot twice today, in 1901. Several days later, he became one of our four assassinated presidents. (Lincoln, Garfield, and Kennedy - in case you were trying to remember.)

Elected as the "advance agent of prosperity," his administration was credited with helping get America out of a recession. Shortly into his second term, McKinley was at the Pan-American Exposition up in Buffalo (a world's fair type deal), in for just a couple of receptions and a military review. Supposedly, his secretary was worried about the security risks, and totally didn't want the president out and about. But Mac was like, nu-uh, who's gonna get me.

Anarchist Leon Czolgosz, that's who.

But that's not what I remember about McKinley's assassination - and it's odd that none of the wikis mention the below but if you dig deeper, it pops up in most every other write-up, including first-hand remarks:

It's said that McKinley he used to always wear a flower on his lapel, supposedly for good luck. At the Pan, there was a little girl who had been in line to meet him. Apparently, she was supersweet, and asked for something to remember him by, and the president removed his good luck charm from his lapel and pinned it on her shirt.

Not two people after her was the shooter, Czolgosz, hiding his gun in his handkerchief, waiting his turn to greet the president.

It's weird what the mind retains, because while I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, in my head, I can totally picture the accompanying illustration of the president leaning down to give the little girl his pink carnation, with the guy waiting in line, hiding the gun. Freaky.