2.17.2026 – world so full should be

world so full should be
happy as kings, and you know …
how happy kings are

One sweet morning in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, a little old gentleman got up and threw wide the windows of his bedroom, letting in the living sun. A black-widow spider, who had been dozing on the balcony, slashed at him, and although she missed, she did not miss very far. The old gentleman went downstairs to the dining room and was just sitting down to a splendid breakfast when his grandson, a boy named Burt, pulled the chair from under him. The old man’s hip was strained, but it was fortunately not broken.

Out in the street, as he limped toward a little park with many trees, which was to him a green isle in the sea, the old man was tripped up by a gaily colored hoop sent rolling at him, with a kind of disinterested deliberation, by a grim little girl. Hobbling on a block farther, the old man was startled, but not exactly surprised, when a bold daylight robber stuck a gun in his ribs. “Put ‘em up, Mac,” said the robber, “and come across.” Mac put them up and came across with his watch and money and a gold ring his mother had given him when he was a boy.

When at last the old gentleman staggered into the little park, which had been to him a fountain and a shrine, he saw that half the trees had been killed by a blight and the other half by a bug. Their leaves were gone and they no longer afforded any protection from the skies, so the hundred planes which appeared suddenly overhead had an excellent view of the little old gentleman through their bombing sights.

Moral: The world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we should all be as happy as kings, and you know how happy kings are.

Further Fables VIII by James Thurber as was printed today, February 17, in the New Yorker Magazine back in 1940.

The first 2 stanzas of the moral are from the Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem Happy Thought (XXIV) from Mr. Stevenson’s Child’s Book of Verse.

The world is so full of a number of things,
I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.

The final part, and you know how happy kings are, was a favorite Thurber quote.

Oh how I wish for a Thurber or a Mencken to experience this era …

But then, I wouldn’t wish this era on anyone.

As Mr. Thurber said, The world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we should all be as happy as kings, and you know how happy kings are.

The fable must have been too dark as it wasn’t picked to be the either Fables for Our Time, published in 1939 or Further Fables for Our Time published in 1955, but had to wait for the Collected Fables which didn’t come around until 2019.

2.16.2026 – most enviable

most enviable
of titles, the character
of an honest man

In a letter to Alexander Hamilton dated 28 August 1788, George Washington wrote:

Still I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an honest man, as well as prove (what I desire to be considered in reality) that I am …

The character of an honest man.

The headline comes to mind, “Channel 4 to mark Trump’s UK visit with ‘longest uninterrupted reel of untruths’”.

The occassion for the show was the current man in office and his visit tot he UK in Ocotber of 2025.

Another columnist for the Guardian wrote: “Channel 4 will be marking Donald Trump’s visit to the UK with what it describes as “the longest uninterrupted reel of untruths, falsehoods and distortions ever broadcast on television”. It will play more than 100 of Trump’s lies or misleading statements in a segment called Trump v The Truth. All his greatest hits, from false claims about the price of eggs to disgusting lies about the US spending millions on condoms for Hamas, packaged together.

Obviously we’ve got to be fair and balanced here, though, haven’t we? Gotta show both sides. So I think it’s only right that Channel 4 also broadcast a 10-second segment covering all of the truthful and astute things the president has said”

(It’s not all lies, lies, lies with Trump – sometimes he’s unnervingly honest by Arwa Mahdawi. How was that feller unnervingly honest your ask? Like when he said, “Smart people don’t like me, you know?”)

What was it that the General wrote?

The character of an honest man.

Washington’s letter came at the time when the new country was discussing the adoption the new Constitution that had been pulled together in 1787.

It was during the discussion about the Executive and its powers that Dr. Ben Franklin said:

“The first man put at the helm will be a good one.

No body knows what sort may come afterwards.“*

Just some thoughts for Presidents Day, 2026.

*Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention, Monday June 4, 1787 – The Question was resumed on motion of Mr. PINKNEY 2ded. by WILSON, “shall the blank for the number of the Executive be filled with a single person?”

2.15.2026 – worst of times, age of

worst of times, age of
foolishness, the epoch of
incredulity

La barricade ferme la rue mais ouvre la voie!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom,

it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief,

it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light,

it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope,

it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us,

we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven,

we were all going direct the other way –

in short, the period was so far like the present period,

that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil,

in the superlative degree of comparison only.

The opening to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Mr. Dickens was trying to portray life in the era of the French Revolution.

Something the Brits must have viewed with a bit of relief.

See the French had a law about leaving France to go to the new world.

You had support the government, had to support the King and you had to be a Catholic in good standing with the Church.

The Brits took the line of ‘if you don’t like it here, you can go to America and complain there.’

So those PROTESTing PROTESTants did and when the time came for a British revolution, it was far from home.

In France, they kept all the rabble rousers home and when they had their revolution it was in the front yard.

Mr. Dickens was writing a little more than 50 years after the events of revolution in France.

Here is almost 225 years later.

And it is the worst of times …

The age of foolishness …

The epoch of incredulity …

The season of Darkness …

The winter of despair …

Nothing before us …

We were all going direct not to Heaven, but the other way …

Still …

Remember, the barricade blocks the street but opens the way.

PS: By chance I put this haiku together from the book and was thinking about a picture to use and I checked my Thurber database to see that this drawing with the caption, See you at the barricades, Mr. Whitsonby! was first published in the New Yorker Magazine on February 15, 1936. 90 years ago today! And as we all remember, to the barricades is the motto of the French Revolution or as history has it, La barricade ferme la rue mais ouvre la voie! or The barricade blocks the street but opens the way.

2.14.2026 – let it, love, go on

let it, love, go on
heartbeats are measured out with
a measuring glass

Let it go on; let the love of this hour be poured out till all the answers are made, the last dollar spent and the last blood gone.

Time runs with an ax and a hammer, time slides down the hallways with a pass-key and a master-key, and time gets by, time wins.

Let the love of this hour go on; let all the oaths and children and people of this love be clean as a washed stone under a waterfall in the sun.

Time is a young man with ballplayer legs, time runs a winning race against life and the clocks, time tickles with rust and spots.

Let love go on; the heartbeats are measured out with a measuring glass, so many apiece to gamble with, to use and spend and reckon; let love go on.

Let Love Go On by Carl Sandberg as published in Smoke and Steel in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandberg (Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1950).

2.13.2026 – sometimes need to walk

sometimes need to walk
under a ladder but what
about the bad luck

Lord knows you can’t avoid it sometimes,
you need to walk under a ladder —

but what about the bad luck?
Try this, if you have faith: They say

spit on your shoes and let the spit dry
and you are safe to walk on through.

I believe it. Sort of.
Do you?

Ladder by Janet S. Wong as published in the book, Knock on wood : poems about superstitions written by Janet S. Wong; illustrated by Julie Paschkis (Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York, 2003).

Something for Friday the 13th.

Wikipedia says:

Any month that starts on a Sunday contains a Friday the 13th, and there is at least one Friday the 13th in every calendar year.

There can be no more than three Friday the 13ths in a single calendar year; either in February, March, and November in a common year starting on Thursday (such as 2015 or 2026), or January, April, and July in a leap year starting on Sunday (such as 2012 or 2040)

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17–21 million people in the United States are affected by Paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th), making it the most feared day and date in history. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. It has been estimated that US$ 800–900 million is lost in business on this day. Despite this, representatives for both Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines (the latter now merged into United Airlines) have stated that their airlines do not suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.