September 29th is National Coffee Day. International Coffee Day is October 1st. We shall talk coffee only on the 29th. I love the smell of coffee. I love reading about coffee. I have some unusual old books about coffee.
The first is “Coffee from Plantation to Cup” by Francis B. Thurber, published 1883. This is a wonderful book that explains the history of coffee production and consumption. The subtitle is “They have in Turkey a drink called COFFEE. This drink comforts the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion.” – Bacon.
The author goes into great detail about coffee plantations, harvesting, drying, roasting, etc. It was written by a coffee dealer, and has much information first about the plant itself. Then about the statistics of selling, buying of coffee wholesale-the whole business from places like India, Ceylon, Java, Brazil and other countries. There is then a bunch about processing coffee. And then lastly, every country in this time, prepared coffee differently.
An interesting note (as this book was written in 1883), when talking about life in Hong Kong, the author discusses: “The ‘pyjama’ is also an institution not known in America. It consists of a loose garment, made of silk or other very light material, made up in two pieces, one being a pair of wide, loose drawers, and the other a sort of jacket or shirt. They are very neatly made, and make quite a resepetable suit; they are worn in place of night-gowns at night and in the privacy of one’s own house, and on shipboard they are used to some extent as a morning and evening dress. I speak from personal experience when I state that no one knows what the perfection of comfort is until they have thrown off their clothes worn during the sweltering heat of a tropical day, taken a cool and refreshing bath, put on their ‘pyjama’ and sat down to dinner with a good appetite.”
The next book is “Over the Black Coffee” compiled by Arthur Gray, published in 1902. This book while also giving some interesting facts obout coffee, it is also meant to be read for enjoyment. The author here states: “Tea has always been, and will always be, a soft soothing, purring, gossipy decoction for gentle women and men of mild power and peaceful walks. Coffee, on the other hand, has ever been associated with the robust, daring, and the adventurous.”
This book was a thorough enjoyment to read.
Speaking of enjoyment, I have my third book, called “Coffee & a Love Affair” by Mary Boardman Sheldon, published 1908. This romantic novel is about a girl who travels to a coffee plantation in Columbia, to visit her uncle. She falls in love with the plantation owner’s son. While that story plays out, we learn of the actual workings in a coffee plantation, along with the different classes of people. Perhaps this would be an early example of historical fiction. It is a good story.
The cornerstone of the Washington National Cathedral was laid on September 29, 1907.
The final finial of the Washington National Cathedral was placed in September 29, 1990.
It took 83 years to build. I have visited the Cathedral several times, The first was in Eighth grade for a field trip, and later in life when visiting my sister. There are several famous people buried there: President Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller, and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. As well as several general guides to the Washington Cathedral, I have several specialty books.
The first is “Jewels of Light-the Stained Glass of Washington National Cathedral” by Elody R. Crimi and Diane Ney, 2004. There are some very impressive stained glass at the Cathedral. As well as bible history put in glass, there is much of American history also there. One glass section is called ‘Space’, and has a great design with a moon-rock in the center.
I will have to go back to take some new pictures, because two windows have been taken down and replaced. Windows honoring Robert E. Lee and Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson were replaced by the ‘Now and Forever’ windows to show resiliance and endurance for the African American history and struggle in America.
The second book is “the Stone Carvers: Master Craftsmen of Washington National Cathedral, by Marjory Hunt, published 1999. This great book goes into the biographies and lives of the Cathedral’s stone carvers. It also shows how they did the carving, and hanging of statues and gargoyles. A very interesting story.
The next book is “Sculpture and Carving at The Washington Cathedral” by Richard T. Feller, 1976, reprinted 1981. This book goes into more details of all of the free standing sculptures, different saints and others carved in walls, designs in stone, gargoyles, fineals, all about the stonework.
My last book is “Guide to Gargoyles, and other Grotesques” by Wendy True Gasch, 2003. This has details of many of the gargoyles at the Washington National Cathedral.
I bought this book when I did a Gargoyle tour of the cathedral. We had to bring binoculars. They were used during the lecture as we walked around the cathedral. The guide would point out many of the specific gargoyles and their history. Every single gargoyle is different, and has a story. We also were told that if the sculpture has a pipe (for draining water off roof) in mouth, it is called a gargoyle. They guide rainwater to fall away from the base of the cathedral. Other scary sculptures of heads that do not have plumbing, have the water just spill over their heads, splashing away from the walls, and are called Grotesques.
It was a great tour. We found out that there was a contest for children to design a grotesque in the 1980’s, and top three winners would have their design actually carved into grotesques. The third place winner had drawn a head shot of Darth Vader, as the scariest person he knew. While the stone cutter really did not want to put a pop culture figure on the cathedral, he compromised by putting it near the top of one of the West towers. We needed the binoculars to find it.
Thanks for following my journey today. I do have one question. If I drink my coffee in a church or cathedral, could I be a “Latte-Day Saint?”
Librarytomes 