1605 In Madrid Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) published the first edition of ‘El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha’ (Don Quixote). Sometimes this is considered the first novel and it is the foundation of Spanish literature. Cervantes was duelist, debtor, soldier, slave, wounded veteran, and writer. I read a one-volume abridgement in college and that’s it.
1838 In Morristown New Jersey Yale grad Samuel Morse demonstrated the telegraph system for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works. To prove the utility of transmitting electrical impulses by wires he used a code that came to bear his name.
1900 In Montréal work began on a modest chapel at the bequest of Brother André. It became the massive St. Joseph’s Oratory on Mount Royal. In the picture below the wooden steps in the middle are reserved for those who mount the hill on their knees as an act of penitence. We took the outer stairs when we visited.
1912 In Santa Fe New Mexico became the 47th state of the United States. Its state flag is below. The symbolism comes from Zia Pueblo with the sun at the centre of four directions, four stages of life, four times of day, and the four bases (first, second, third, and home). Kate’s mother grew up there.
2014 In Washington D.C. the U.S. Senate advised and consented to the appointment of Janet Yellen as chair the Federal Reserve. The first woman in that chair in the central bank’s 100-year history. Suspecting Yellen was Hillary in disguise, President Tiny replaced her with Homer Simpson. Fact or fake? Take a pick.
Month: January 2019
5 January
1891 Queensland’s the great shearers’ strike began, leading to the foundation of the Australian Labor Party to represent the interests of workers in parliament.
1895 In Paris in an elaborate public ceremony the blameless Captain Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of rank, humiliated, and trundled through the streets to become the sole inhabitant of Devil’s Island. Robert Harris’s novel about this affair will be discussed on the blog in a post.
1914 In Detroit Henry Ford paid a minimum wage of $5 a day and shared with employees $10 million in the previous year’s profits.
1937 In Lincoln (Nebraska) the first session of the new unicameral state legislature occurred. It is the only unicameral in the United States. (We will not mention Queensland.) George Norris led the campaign for the change which he started in Hastings as detailed in the discussion of a biography of Norris elsewhere on this blog.
1968 The Prague spring began when Alexander Dubček became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. It ended with tanks on 21 August. We saw some of the sites when in Prague.
