This Week in The Civil War: Sunday, Oct. 2

William Tecumseh Sherman and Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson was the Union colonel and commander at Fort Sumter, S.C., when a Confederate bombardment in April 1861 opened the Civil War. Afterward, he rose through the command and was promoted to the Army's Department of the Cumberland Valley. But when an ailing Anderson took medical leave, he was succeeded by a new commander, William Tecumseh Sherman, on Oct. 8, 1861. So would Sherman begin a military career that - despite ups and downs - would make him one of the most recognized Union commanders after Ulysses Grant. Eventually Sherman would go down in history for a scorched earth campaign that led to the capture and burning of Atlanta in 1864 and the subsequent march by his troops to the sea on a wide path of destruction in the Deep South. This fall marks the start of an outbreak of numerous small skirmishes but no battles of significance. Outside Washington, a federal observatory ballon is lofted near the northern Virginia community of Falls Church, hoping to spy out Confederate pickets. Within days, skirmishing erupts near Falls Church but reports say "the (cannon) balls coming from each side of the delicivity of a hill and a dense woods .. failed their purpose" and Union batteries escaped harm. Further west, rebels who had seized Lexington, Missouri, during a major battle the previous month withdraw as federal forces threaten. "The evacuation of Lexington by the rebels is confirmed," The Associated Press reports in a dispatch published Oct. 4, 1861. It reports "six thousand men left Lexington, crossing the river on Saturday ... they were met by a Federal force ... when a battle ensued" and the federals were driven back. It added: "Many of the rebels swarm the river in their impatience to get across."

I do my little turn on the catwalk

Today was the Big Day for the American Girl Fashion Show AZ and I am exhausted.

As previously mentioned, I was NOT selected as an "official" model, but Momma and I had our hands full anyway with my Big Sister and her two cousins, as well as Felicity, Kirsten and Nellie.

But first I must say that Big Sister's godsister did a fantastic job modeling the Everyday Play Outfit for Girls. Well done!

During the intermission I hopped up on the catwalk to show the others how to properly model.

Felicity developed stage fright and kept swooning, requiring a helping hand.

Kirsten did well but kept standing too close to Felicity who had a bad habit of collapsing into her arms - and taking them both down in the process.

Nellie had a real knack for it as well as a definite sense of style, but I shall have to talk firmly to her since I have discovered she was not wearing her unmentionables! 

(Hey, wait a minute. I just realized All Three Dolls have been archived! I read Banned Books and hang out with Archived Dolls. What does that say about me?) 

I'll have more in a day or two but I need to help Momma with the chores before bed. Let's just say I discovered ma chère amie Cécile's Deep Dark Secret ... and have photos to prove it!

I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah
I do my little turn on the catwalk

Right Said Fred

Banned Beauty

Just when you thought you'd heard it all.

I thought I'd end Banned Books Week with the 10 (plus my two) most farfetched (silliest, irrational, illogical) reasons to ban a book according to the American Library Association. 

1. “Encourages children to break dishes so they won’t have to dry them.” (A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstien) 
   
2. “It caused a wave of rapes.” (Arabian Nights, or Thousand and One Nights, anonymous)
   
3. “If there is a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it?” (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown)
   
4. “Tarzan was ‘living in sin’ with Jane.” (Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
   
5. “It is a real ‘downer.’” (Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank)
   
6. “The basket carried by Little Red Riding Hood contained a bottle of wine, which condones the use of alcohol.” (Little Red Riding Hood, by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm K. Grimm)
   
7. “One bunny is white and the other is black and this ‘brainwashes’ readers into accepting miscegenation.” (The Rabbit’s Wedding, by Garth Williams)
   
8. “It is a religious book and public funds should not be used to purchase religious books.” (Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, by Walter A. Elwell, ed.)
   
9. “A female dog is called a bitch.” (My Friend Flicka, by Mary O’Hara)
   
10. “An unofficial version of the story of Noah’s Ark will confuse children.” (Many Waters, by Madeleine C. L’Engle)

And my two additions?

1. Black Beauty, by Mary Sewell, was banned in 1965 (without being read) in South Africa by the Publications Control Board, as "its title seemed to suggest beauty existed outside the white race, and was therefore deemed offensive."
   
2. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was banned in Texas in 2010 because the author Bill Martin Jr., happened to have the same name as an obscure Marxist theorist, and no one bothered to check if it was the same person.

Sigh.

I'm gonna go read....