Fiddler's Ball
Journal 2006 09 25
Fiddler’s Ball
St. Louis was celebrating the return of the Corps of Discovery. Yet like the rest of us two hundred years later work needed to be completed while it was day. Celebration was for after hours. Today the Captains oversaw the drying and storing of their goods as recorded by Captain Clark. “…had all of our Skins &c. Suned and Stored away in a Storeroom of Mr. Caddy Choteau”
And sometime later, “…payed Some visits of form, to the gentlemen of St. Louis. in the evening a dinner & Ball” According to Dr. Gary Moulton, who has published the most complete work regarding the expedition and whom I have principally drawn from for the text of the journals; “The affair was held at William Christy's tavern. Eighteen toasts were drunk, starting with one to President Jefferson, "The friend of science, the polar star of discovery, the philosopher and the patriot," and ending with "Captains Lewis and Clark—Their perilous services endear them to every American heart."
And indeed it is their courage in perilous service that has endeared them to my heart. I hope yours has been enlarged and encouraged in the process, too.
Their exists no record of which I am aware, but I can only wonder if the one eyed, near sighted riverman who was a lousy elk hunter but a wonderful fiddler took the stage and led the ball in a wilderness dance as he had so many times in Indian camps across the nation. Pierre Cruzatte, the first musician to play from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
I hope he brought the spirit of the wilderness celebrations to this ball on the westward press of the western world as he fiddled.
And as all of life eventually leads us to, this is another story about the heart. The heart of a visionary. The heart a leader and his fine friend. The hearts of twenty nine hearty young soldiers. And the heart a young bride with her baby whose courageous heart still stands as a tribute to all that is right with the human spirit. “Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it.” King Solomon (Proverbs 4:23 GW)
My desire, my prayer, for each of us is that we would live in that place which draws from us all we have to give, even more than we knew we had to give, so our hearts could be tested and revealed as it was for our forefathers. May it be so for our generations that follow. I hope they have a wilderness tested fiddler teaching them how to celebrate!
Proceed on.
Fiddler’s Ball
St. Louis was celebrating the return of the Corps of Discovery. Yet like the rest of us two hundred years later work needed to be completed while it was day. Celebration was for after hours. Today the Captains oversaw the drying and storing of their goods as recorded by Captain Clark. “…had all of our Skins &c. Suned and Stored away in a Storeroom of Mr. Caddy Choteau”
And sometime later, “…payed Some visits of form, to the gentlemen of St. Louis. in the evening a dinner & Ball” According to Dr. Gary Moulton, who has published the most complete work regarding the expedition and whom I have principally drawn from for the text of the journals; “The affair was held at William Christy's tavern. Eighteen toasts were drunk, starting with one to President Jefferson, "The friend of science, the polar star of discovery, the philosopher and the patriot," and ending with "Captains Lewis and Clark—Their perilous services endear them to every American heart."
And indeed it is their courage in perilous service that has endeared them to my heart. I hope yours has been enlarged and encouraged in the process, too.
Their exists no record of which I am aware, but I can only wonder if the one eyed, near sighted riverman who was a lousy elk hunter but a wonderful fiddler took the stage and led the ball in a wilderness dance as he had so many times in Indian camps across the nation. Pierre Cruzatte, the first musician to play from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
I hope he brought the spirit of the wilderness celebrations to this ball on the westward press of the western world as he fiddled.
And as all of life eventually leads us to, this is another story about the heart. The heart of a visionary. The heart a leader and his fine friend. The hearts of twenty nine hearty young soldiers. And the heart a young bride with her baby whose courageous heart still stands as a tribute to all that is right with the human spirit. “Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it.” King Solomon (Proverbs 4:23 GW)
My desire, my prayer, for each of us is that we would live in that place which draws from us all we have to give, even more than we knew we had to give, so our hearts could be tested and revealed as it was for our forefathers. May it be so for our generations that follow. I hope they have a wilderness tested fiddler teaching them how to celebrate!
Proceed on.
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 11:53 PM
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