“We have to make an effort to understand to get beyond or go beyond these difficult times.
“My favorite poem is by Aeschylus.
“He once wrote, ‘Even in our sleep, pain, which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God. ‘
“What we need in the United States, is not division.
“What we need in the United States is not hatred.
“What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness,
“But is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another.”
Brie is the thirteen-year-old protagonist of this fiction novel, at a time when a young, strong, female character is so needed in the world. She deals with individuality and relationships, and comes to realize there is only one race, the human race. She time travels to the birth of Jesus in a stable, hears the choirs of angels sing, and babysits Jesus.
In other chapters, Brie gets captured by the Nephilim, meets Noah and his family, and travels to the Sanctuary of the Great God’s in Greece. Her cousin Abby, Grammy Rose, and Aunt Cher share the adventures.
Sanctuary of the Gods, Northern Aegean, Island of Samothrace
Brie and her family sail the Mediterranean Sea with Dodanim of Noah’s lineage, helps save the day during the Roman wheat shortage, hears Jesus firsthand give the Sermon on the Mount, meets Apostles Paul and Timothy on the island of Samothrace, and learns why Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.
While Brie and part of her family time travel, her remaining family is attending Old Sturbridge Village’s 70th Anniversary in 2016, featuring the Christmas By Candlelight annual celebration. Brie’s mother, Sarah, her brother Greg and her cousin Abe, who is Abby’s twin, enjoy a fascinating journey through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Panic of 1837, an introduction to the Rev. Adin Ballou, angels and Santa Claus; all presented in the many historic buildings that make up the Village.
The snow filled evening is complete with a Christmas turkey dinner, horse-drawn sleigh and carriage rides, a moving wall, a hidden library, a ring of antique keys, antique locked books and adventures with Bactrian camels, wolves, to allow a family to learn little known historical connections between Noah’s sons, and the Babylonian, Mede-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires.
This book is inspired by a set of large keys handed down to me from my grandfather, F. Louis Tetreault. I am sure these keys went to the farm on Blackstone Street, Mendon, Massachusetts, either to the barn, locked chests, equipment, or to the house both he and my grandmother, Maria (Benoit) Tetreault lived in. My mother is number thirteen of fourteen children. Mom, cousins and your families, I love you all. I am so glad my Canadian French grandparents had so many children, or else I would not be here, or have had so many cousins to make my childhood so happy.
Pepere’s keys and cup made at Old Sturbridge Village
Or the keys might have belonged to my grandparents’ Vermont cottage or the shed on Sheldon Hill Road, with the Wardsboro Brook directly behind it, where my sister, cousins and I would brave the icy waters flowing into our tiny, dammed up swimming spot. When I was young, I would often spend weeks and months living with them in their home away from home, while my mother, as a single parent, worked full-time painting radon on watch hands so they would glow in the dark. Both my beloved grandparents have since passed away and were very dear to me. These keys remind me of them.
The book’s first timely publication would have covered the April 20, 2016 announcement by the United States Treasury planning to put Harriet Tubman’s picture on the front of the $20 bill, moving President Andrew Jackson to the back in the year 2020, had it not been undermined during the Trump Presidency. Fascinating information between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin is also included in this work of fiction. The names of Old Sturbridge Village including all the buildings at this place, and the Christmas by Candlelight celebration are real. However, I have never attended the Christmas by Candlelight celebration, and the adventures in this book are pure exciting fiction.
Also, real names in this area are: Thai Place, Annie’s Country Kitchen, The Bird Store and More, Brimfield Antique Center, Southwick’s Zoo, McLean Hospital, Harrington Hospital, B.T.’s Smokehouse, and the Sturbridge Tourist Center, now transformed into an ice cream shop.
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is available at:
softcover / ISBN: 978-1-5320-0761-3 / $13.99
eBook / ISBN: 978-1-5320-0762-0 / $3.99
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, subtitled Christmas Unlocked. This book goes back in time to the days of Old Sturbridge Village (1830’s), starting at the Christmas by Candlelight celebration in real time, back to the days of the Underground Railroad, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, and back further to the days of Noah and the Nephilim, and to the days of the birth of Jesus. It is available at:
Brie is the thirteen year old protagonist of this fiction novel, at a time when a young, strong, female character is so needed in the world. She deals with individuality and relationships, and comes to realize there is only one race, the human race. She time travels to the birth of Jesus in a stable, hears the choirs of angels sing, and babysits Jesus.
In other chapters, Brie gets captured by the Nephilim, meets Noah and his family, and travels to the Sanctuary of the Great God’s in Greece. Her cousin Abby, Grammy Rose, and Aunt Cher share the adventures.
Brie and her family sails the Mediterranean Sea with Dodanim of Noah’s lineage, helps save the day during the Roman wheat shortage, hears Jesus first hand give the Sermon on the Mount, meets Apostles Paul and Timothy on the island of Samothrace, and learns why Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.
While Brie and part of her family time travel, her remaining family is attending Old Sturbridge Village’s 70th Anniversary in 2016, featuring the Christmas By Candlelight annual celebration. Brie’s mother, Sarah, her brother Greg and her cousin Abe, who is Abby’s twin, enjoy a fascinating journey through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Panic of 1837, an introduction to the Rev. Adin Ballou, angels and Santa Claus; all presented in the many historic buildings that make up the Village.
The snow filled evening is complete with a Christmas turkey dinner, horse-drawn sleigh and carriage rides, a moving wall, a hidden library, a ring of antique keys, antique locked books and adventures with Bactrian camels, wolves, to allow a family to learn little known historical connections between Noah’s sons, and the Babylonian, Mede-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires.
This book is inspired by a set of large keys handed down to me from my grandfather, F.
Pepere’s keys and tin cup made in Old Sturbridge Village
Louis Tetreault. I am sure these keys went to the farm on Blackstone Street, Mendon, Massachusetts, either to the barn, locked chests, equipment, or to the house both he and my grandmother, Maria (Benoit) Tetreault lived in. My mother is number thirteen of fourteen children. Mom, aunts, uncles and cousins, I love you all. I am so glad my Canadian French grandparents had so many children, or else I would not be here, or have had so many cousins to make my childhood so happy.
Or the keys might have belonged to my grandparents’ Vermont cottage or the shed on Sheldon Hill Road, with the Wardsboro Brook directly behind it, where my sister, cousins and I would brave the icy waters flowing into our tiny, dammed up swimming spot. When I was young, I would often spend weeks and months living with them in their home away from home, while my mother, as a single parent, worked full-time painting radon on watch hands so they would glow in the dark. Both my beloved grandparents have since passed away, and were very dear to me. I treasured them and everything about them, even these keys.
The book’s timely publication would have covered the April 20, 2016 announcement by the United States Treasury planning to put Harriet Tubman’s picture on the front of the $20 bill, moving President Andrew Jackson to the back in the year 2020, had it not been undermined during the Trump Presidency. Fascinating information between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin is also included in this work of fiction. The names of Old Sturbridge Village including all the buildings at this place, and the Christmas by Candlelight celebration are real. However, I have never attended the Christmas by Candlelight celebration, and the adventures in this book are pure exciting fiction.
Also real names in this area are: Thai Place, Annie’s Country Kitchen, The Bird Store and More, Brimfield Antique Center, Southwick’s Zoo, McLean Hospital, Harrington Hospital, B.T.’s Smokehouse, and the Sturbridge Tourist Center.
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is available at:
Uniting the country means we do not only take care and heal red states or blue states. We are the United States of America. We are all one and are much more alike than any difference we profess. Now is the time to build us up in peace, empathy, compassion, kindness, and brotherly love. There is no difference in our humanity, in the color of our skin, our countries of origin, the language we speak, our gender, our age, nor in our abilities and/or disabilities. All Is One.
Bigotry is the opium of the ignorant.
The narcissistic personality disorder masking as unbounded greed and bottomless selfishness of the President over the past four years, validating a deep undercurrent of systemic racism at the helm, has been a schooling of handicapping traits revealing the very best decisions for himself, reaping huge financial gains at the expense of the democracy of the United States of America, racial equality, national security, and the death of nearly a quarter of a million citizens, among other atrocities.
To the narcissist Commander In Chief, addressing the COVID-19 pandemic is paramount to admitting failure, failure of his dismantling of the Pandemic Watch Team, failure of pro-active measures that could have been taken as early as January 2020, failure to treat immigrants fleeing dangerous situations with empathy and compassion, failure to keep immigrant families together rather than heartlessly separating children from their parents – putting both in separate cages – in the process losing 545 children’s parents, and failure of countless backwards-nationalistc goals much to the diminishment of the standing of the USA on the world stage.
Prejudice is a mental illness, not an opinion. It is emotionally blinding. Like environmentally and family seeded biases, some mental illnesses are passed on generationally. It is still a mental weakness to mentally agree and accept prejudice as a valid belief system, reacting to others not like themselves with cruelty in thoughts, words and actions.
Cults use this same principle to inflict fear, obligation and guilt (FOG) as manipulation techniques to get the followers of the group to conform to the will of the deformed group. Notice the cult of followers of the President of the last four years, following fiction over fact, myth over science, and accepting the $100 paid to them for selling their souls for the almighty dollar.
If money is the bottom line of democracy, then a host of unholy thoughts, words and actions can appear as good or normal when they are not.
Like many diseases, healing can only take place when we acknowledge the disease, apply the healing balms of accurate knowledge of history, and the best therapies, procedures, and medicines. We need to address the systemic racism raging across this country from shore to shore, in order to truly be the melting pot of the world.
We the people will not be silenced.
We the people will not be bullied.
Divisive ideologies have attempted to divide and conquor before, without success.
Cartoon from 1860 with Presidential Election showing three of the candidates (left to right) Republican Abraham Lincoln, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge – tearing the country apart, while the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell, applies glue from a tiny, useless spot. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster gave a speech known as the Second Reply to Hayne, where he famously thundered “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!” In Webster’s speech on January 26, 1830 before the United States Senate, he described the federal government as: “made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.”
President Abraham Lincoln loved these words so much that he re-phrased the conclusion of the Gettysburg Address with, “… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
President-Elect Joe Biden smartly gave one of his 2020 campaign speeches from Gettysburg, rich in its symbolism.
People are resilient. The country is resilient. We are all in this together. While we have our own viewpoints on important matters in running our democracy, we are one United States of America. We are all One.
We are more alike than the differences we profess. We all need to think, speak and act in ways of the greater good.
I AM my brother’s and sister’s keeper.
As a Christmas present this year, let us unwrap the gifts of peace, empathy, compassion, kindness, brotherly love, and share them with everyone around us. Let us also forgive one another. Let us use these healing gifts to heal our hearts, our families, our neighborhoods, and our social and civic circles, focusing on healing divisions of race, color, creed, gender, ages, abilities and disabilities, and any other difference we humans have contrived of to be different from one another.
Let us also continue to shine a light on science, medicine, and technology for the betterment of all of humanity.
How many people have said, “This is just my opinion. I have a right to my opinion. That’s just the way I am.”? Everyone has a right to their own opinion. However, prejudice is not an opinion, nor is it “just they way I am.” Prejudice is a mental disease, a value of hate that is taught through families, friends, and society.
Prejudice is taught. Prejudice is an ignorant teaching. No one is born with a prejudiced mindset. It is also part of the poverty “rich vs poor” mentality, which includes the “us vs them.” It also infiltrates to the “we are better than them,” no matter which side of belief we are on.
The problem occurs when we atttempt to make prejudice be normal, or just another thought or value system someone has. Society never does well when we pretend any form of mental illness is normal.
How close to mental illness do you choose to get? Prejudice is a choice. No matter what our parents, friends or people in our circle of life believe, we always have the choice in what we believe as an individual.
I have had people tell me they have a right to be prejudiced, that the only crime is to act out in harmful or criminal ways. This is faulty reasoning. What you think about, you bring about.
If you encourage others with words full of prejudice then they commit a crime because they are emboldened by your words, you are culpable in their crimes. Charles Manson was.
A white person told me that they carry a gun and could shoot a black person with no problem. This is the form of mental disease that prejudice takes. It shows the beginning of thinking, speaking and acting out in hate, not simply “believing what I want to believe.”
I could be bipolar, which used to be called manic-depressive, and say, “I was born like this. It is in my DNA.” That would be an accurate statement. But since prejudice is not in our DNA, it is a mindset that shapes how we choose to lives our lives, to say “I was born like this” is not a true statement.
Prejudice is an ignorant, deformed mental concept. It serves no one, except the most ignorant and un-Christian among us. Jesus never taught nor practiced prejudice. This mental illness has been with humanity since people populated the earth. But prejudice has not been recognized for what it truly is, a mental disease.
Some of us fall into the weakness of prejudice by becoming victims of it, or by becoming bullies by it. Neither side is healthy. Both sides can heal, but only with the truth that all human beings work together, regardless of race, color, creed, gender, age and any other difference which makes us human. Our variety as human beings is what makes us unique and lovable, not deplorable.
If we only look at the crimes and outrage taking over cities in the United States these days, while not looking at what sparked this in the first place, we would be willfully ignorant of the facts ourselves. Facts are not opinions.
The spin of liars in the world is to call true facts “fake news.” That is the tip off, the red flag that someone is lying to you. Those who tell the truth never call the other side “fake news.” Only liars use those words.
Changes obviously need to be made. Staying relatively quiet since the days of Martin Luther King, Jr. has not stopped the sinister wave of hate prumulgated through the United States and the world under the subculture of white supremacy including prejudice in all its hideous forms.
We need to take off the blinders to the reality of how we treat all people in all situations, stop red-lining districts, stop political and willful conniving to scam the system, and stop pretending mental illness is normal, and stop putting prejudiced lawmakers and judges, all of whom are examples of the mental illness of prejudice in public office.
Prejudice has nothing to do with being educated, it has to with a deformed mental understanding of humanity. That is why prejudice is a mental illness. It is deformed.
The solution to the mental disease of prejudice is to call it what it is, mental illness. Mental illness is treatable. We as a country as well as the world can heal from every form of prejudice. Some people are prejudiced against the mentally handicapped, or people from other lands or beliefs, not just against people who are not exactly the same color of skin that we have. Still, all prejudice is a mental shortcoming, a defect that ought not to be treated as normal.
While systemic racisim has blinded many people, it is not a disease that is incurable. We need to deal with the core issue of racisim, which is prejudice, which erroneously thinks that one brand of people is better than another.
We are all the same in the eyes of God.
There is only one race of people, the human race.
It is time we mentally heal, and educate ourselves to all the goodness diversity has to offer.
It is time we mentally heal, and choose empathy and compassion over mental illness, including narcisism.
It is possible to heal with our very next thought. Reach out to help others. Use words of kindness.
It is possible to heal mental illness through counseling, support, and prayer.
It is just as easy to build each other up as to tear each other down.
If we start with a positive solution today, we can live in a better world tomorrow.
Cartoon from 1860 with Presidential Election showing three of the candidates (left to right) Republican Abraham Lincoln, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge – tearing the country apart, while the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell, applies glue from a tiny, useless spot. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
“To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.” ~ Plutarch
Democracy is not a thing. Democracy is the people who promote Life, Liberty and Freedom for all people in our One Union. That is what makes it Great.
It is good for us from time to time to remember the accurate facts of the history of the United States of America. Since the fledgling-first footsteps into Liberty for all people, our Freedom-born country is set upon the firm foundation which our fragile Democracy currently lies.
The first colonies banded together to form a more perfect union, with the good of all as the glue binding them together. This is our aim today, for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all humankind.
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, my historical fiction book out in its second printing in 2016. This fictional adventure takes place in a setting of Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Old Sturbridge Village is a real living history museum today, which is used as the setting to tell of the accurate history touching the lives of: President George Washington, President Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster, President Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, President James Madison, Edward Coles, President Zachary Taylor, President John Tyler, President Martin Van Buren, Stephen Myers, William the Conqueror, William Strother, Charlemagne, the Underground Railroad, Samuel L. Hill, Robert Carter III, President Andrew Jackson, Harriet Tubman, President Jimmy Carter, President Barak Obama, and the Quaker commity.
The fictional characters who take part in explaining our historical roots included in this chapter are: fictional Quaker characters of Lily and Gabe – educational instructors for the Underground Railroad; young boys Abe and Greg and Greg’s mother Sarah interacting with the instructors; among other particiants in the Underground Railroad workshop.
This is important history not to forget.
“Are you aware that on April 20, 2016, the United States Treasury Department announced they intend to put the picture of Harriet Tubman on the front of the United States $20 bill, replacing former president Andrew Jackson, and putting him on the back of it? It is supposed to be coming out in the year 2020,” Sarah asks, unsure if she should cross timelines like this.
“We are portraying Old Sturbridge Village in the year 1830. President Andrew Jackson is our president at this current moment. He was just elected last year, in 1829. I can tell you he remains our President until 1837, when Martin Van Buren is elected president. By the way, there is an expression everyone uses today that is attributed to President Van Buren. Does anyone know what this is?” Gabe questions.
A spindly old woman in a beautifully woven shawl raises her hand and says, “OK. The expression is ‘OK.’ He was from Kinderhook, New York, sometimes referred to as Old Kinderhook. ‘OK’ clubs were created to support his political campaigns. The expression ‘OK’ came to mean ‘all right.’”
“When he was seventeen years old and before he was President, Andrew Jackson became well-known for his role in the Battle of 1812. He won at the Battle of New Orleans when the British army was invading there. But in 1818, President Jackson also invaded the Seminole Indian Tribe in Spanish Florida,” the spindly woman says in dismay.
“Yes,” Gabe agrees. “Did you know that the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Indian tribe, the only tribe in America who never signed a peace treaty?”
“Yes,” the spindly woman says. “Florida then gets transferred from Spain to the United States.”
“Correct,” Lily says. You know your history. Your modern-day money is reflecting that. These conductors have a tough and dangerous job. First the slaves have to make a getaway from their owners by night. They know if they keep their eye on the North Star in the sky, they will reach the northern states. Harriet Tubman pretends to be a slave and goes to the plantation, then guides them on their way, since she is a former slave. She is a Union spy. She returns nineteen times and helps more than three hundred slaves to freedom. In the process, she threatens to shoot any slaves who lose heart and want to turn back, which can foil the whole escape plan.”
Abe and Greg exchange horrified glances.
“Second, the operators put themselves in a very precarious position by helping the slaves. Operators are fined hundreds, and even thousands of dollars, an exorbitant amount of money at this time. In this area, not only did the Underground Railroad operate openly, former slaves, like Stephen Myers of Upstate New York, writes his own newspaper, Northern Star and Freeman’s Advocate, telling about his work to help other slaves escape,” Lily continues.
“That’s good!” a Mexican, Spanish speaking teenager exclaims in broken English.
“Vigilance committees are formed within communities for the purpose of aiding runaways often openly advertised their meetings. These same words mean different things in different periods in history when people take the law into their own hands for non-existent or corrupt justice. Any questions?” Lily asks.
The tall black man in the doorway asks in exasperation, “Aren’t there any famous people in the southern states who were against slavery?”
“That’s a very interesting question. Has anyone heard of Robert Carter III?” Lily inquires of her interested audience.
No one answers.
“This is a wealthy and prominent individual, a member of the planter class in Virginia. He is the wealthiest man in the colonies and has owned hundreds of slaves for the past forty years, since 1791. But he is losing his popularity because now he wants to free the slaves. He says he has become convinced that to keep slaves is contrary to the true principles of religion and justice. He even feels it is his duty to manumit them,” Lily explains.
“What does manumit mean?” Abe asks.
“Manumit means to release from slavery. Carter not only condemns slavery, he actually does something about it. He is freeing his slaves, but only 15 of the oldest slaves each year. He also believes there is only one race, the human race.” Lily scans her guests, accessing their attention spans.
“Why release only fifteen slaves each year?” Greg asks.
“This rich businessman from Virginia, not only releases them, he cares about them. If he releases too many slaves at once into the hostile South, they might not find enough work to support themselves. He carefully releases fifteen slaves each year, so he can help them find work and survive. He just wrote a book that is still around called, Deed of Gift. Some of the children of the slaves are still being released in 1830. We help them through this Sturbridge Village area. Carter released approximately five hundred slaves, which is the largest emancipation by one person in American history,” Lily boasts.
“Carter is so wealthy that President Jackson has borrowed money from him. President George Washington’s nephew proposed to his daughter. Former President Jimmy Carter is a descendant of his. Robert Carter III’s nickname was King. He was descended from William Strother, on his father’s side. Everyone knew Robert Carter III was descended from English royalty, going back to Charlemagne and William the Conqueror, and many other English kings. Presidents Zachary Taylor and John Tyler were also descended from Strother. Former President Jimmy Carter also is related to former President Barak Obama. They are eighth cousins,” boasts Lily, proud that the United States of America truly is the melting pot of the world. She takes a drink of water and continues.
The guests gasp at the little-known revelation.
“Do you know of anyone else who has helped the slaves?” Lily asks.
Again, no response.
“Let’s learn about Edward Coles. He was President James Madison’s secretary in the year 1809, and neighbor to Thomas Jefferson, our third president. After Madison’s presidency, Coles sells his Virginia estate and moves to the Illinois Territory where slavery is not permitted. Next, he releases his slaves, then sets them up as farmers. Does this sound familiar to anyone?” Lily asks.
“Seems to me,” the tall black man says, “I heard Jefferson suggested all slaves be freed and removed from the United States. Illinois was only a territory then. Coles must have listened to him.”
“I think you are right. Don’t forget, it is not the case that all presidents who owned slaves, wanted to promote slavery. What else did they have to consider?” Lily asks.
“Their political careers,” the tall black man answers, shaking his head.
“Was the Reverse Underground Railroad active here?” Sarah asks.
“Yes. Not everyone remembers this,” Gabe says. “Unfortunately, yes, in some northern states bordering on the Ohio River, but not so much here in this location. It is good to know who your friends are though. There are profits to be made. Black men and women, whether or not they had ever been slaves, are sometimes kidnapped and hidden away in homes, barns or other buildings until they are taken into the South and sold as slaves.”
The guests sigh a disgusting groan.
“Keep heart though,” Lily encourages. “Samuel L. Hill is a local abolitionist. He just purchased two properties, the Ross Farm and his house which he calls the Samuel L. Hill House. They are both in Northampton as part of his utopian community called the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. It’s about nine towns to the northwest from here.”
“Northampton also has the Elisha Hammond House, the Dorcey-Jones House, and the Hall Judd House, if the other safe houses are full. The Unitarian minister, Rev. Rufus Ellis also has a house on 48 Pomeroy Terrace in Northampton that serves as a station too. Exhausted slaves, running for their lives, come in from the sea, landing in Boston. But some come in by land from the south up through New York and Connecticut. Worcester is the key point northwards in the Underground Railroad system. We help out here as best we can between Worcester and Northampton. Sturbridge Village a good half-way point,” Gabe adds.
“It’s been one hundred, forty-four years now that our philanthropy has been flourishing. We Quakers are the first organization in history to ban slaveholding. We’ve created several groups that promote emancipation and abolition societies, like the American Anti-Slavery Society; the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society and the Female Anti-Slavery Society,” Lily says.
“Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster gave a speech known as the Second Reply to Hayne, where he famously thundered “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!” In Webster’s speech on January 26, 1830 before the United States Senate, he described the federal government as: “made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.” Does this sound familiar?” Lily asks.
“Yes,” Abe answers. “President Lincoln spoke of this in the Gettysburg Address.”
Lily nods. “In 1830, Abraham Lincoln has not been elected President yet. He is elected as our sixteenth president on November 6, 1860. But he is very interested in Webster’s 1830 speech, so much so, that he re-phrases the conclusion of the Gettysburg Address with, ‘… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ It is worth mentioning that the Springfield Republican newspaper, from just a few towns west of here, published the Gettysburg Address in its entirety, saying it was a ‘perfect gem, deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression, tasteful and elegant in every word and comma.’”
Lily adds, “Webster also noted, ‘This government, Sir, is the independent offspring of the popular will. It is not the creature of State legislatures; nay, more, if the whole truth must be told, the people brought it into existence, established it, and have hitherto supported it, for the very purpose, amongst others, of imposing certain salutary restraints on State sovereignties.’ Union responsibilities and State’s rights were just as important to people back then as it is today.”
Abe pauses for a moment, worried about Grammy Rose, and who will take care of her. Grammy Rose was just asking his Mom yesterday what will happen if her Social Security gets cut.
“Southern states, calling themselves the Confederate States, want state’s rights to slavery, the impetus for the Civil War which is brewing in 1830. It is the reason for the Underground Railroad here in Old Sturbridge Village. President Lincoln is well aware that slavery is illegal in England since 1772, was abolished in New York in 1827, and also in the English colonies in other parts of the world in 1833. Sadly, the United States of America lags behind social progress and justice until January 1, 1863 when Republican President Abraham Lincoln issues the presidential Emancipation Proclamation, freeing more than three million slaves across the entire Union. Even though it is little later than the time we are portraying here, does anyone remember the date that the Civil War and the Underground Railroad finally ends?” Lily asks.
“The Civil War ended May 9, 1865,” the man answers, sporting the brown woolen hat with ear muffs.
“I think that is one of Brie’s high school’s history teachers,” Greg whispers in his mother’s ear.
“You are correct,” Lily says.
“Did you start any schools here?” Abe asks.
“Yes. We are interested in the education and the social progress of freedmen. We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for freeman’s relief and established many freedmen’s schools,” Lily explains.
“I’m glad the Quakers helped,” Greg says, firmly shaking Gabe’s large hand as they leave the Religious Society of Friend’s Meeting House.
They step out into the carol-filled, brisk air of the night, looking to the right and to the left for their long-lost family.” ~ end of excerpt
The ideals for freedom and equality of all people is just as revelent today as it was during the days of the Underground Railroad. The Civil War united a broken country, from Northern and Southern friction, into one United States of America. The ideals of Freedom, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness for all people are tested throughout history.
Democracy stands firm when we stand up for all the principles Democracy encompasses. Democracy crumbles into meaningless words when we ignore the very foundation upon which a fragile Democracy rests.
Democracy is not a thing. Democracy is the people who promote Life, Liberty and Freedom for all people in our One Union. That is what makes it Great.
“To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.” Plutarch
Cartoon from 1860 with Presidential Election showing three of the candidates (left to right) Republican Abraham Lincoln, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge – tearing the country apart, while the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell, applies glue from a tiny, useless spot. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The following excerpt is from my lastest book, MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, subtitled CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED. In Chapter 7, a history lesson is being taught in an educational evening as part of the Christmas By Candlelight Celebration held at Old Sturbridge Village. While Old Sturbridge Village is a major tourist attraction in Sturbridge, Massachusetts; and the Christmas By Candlelight event is a real attraction held each year, the educational program written about in this book, although fiction, draws on the accurate history of 1830. It recalls the words of then Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster and soon to be President Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address, which are appropriate for every citizen in the United States of America today.
Let us not forget the history of our country, which many lives have lived for, fought and died for, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In 1830, thirty years before Abraham Lincoln became president, Lincoln is so inspired by Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster’s view of what the government is, and how it ought to be run, that he adopts the words of Webster in the Gettysburg Address.
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, page 86-87:
(The character of Abe mentioned below is a young, fictional boy in the story. President Abraham Lincoln is mentioned as such.)
“Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster gave a speech known as the Second Reply to Hayne, where he famously thundered ‘Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!’ In Webster’s speech on January 26, 1830 before the United States Senate, he described the federal government as: ‘made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.” Does this sound familiar?'” Lily asks.
“Yes,” Abe answers. “President Lincoln spoke of this in the Gettysburg Address.
“Lily nods. ‘In 1830, Abraham Lincoln has not been elected President yet. He is elected as our sixteenth president on November 6, 1860. But he is very interested in Webster’s 1830 speech, so much so, that he rephrases the conclusion of the Gettysburg Address with, ‘… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ It is worth mentioning that the Springfield Republican newspaper, from just a few towns west of here, published the Gettysburg Address in its entirety, saying it was a ‘perfect gem, deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression, tasteful and elegant in every word and comma.
“Lily adds, ‘Webster also noted, ‘This government, Sir, is the independent offspring of the popular will. It is not a creature of State legislatures; nay, more, if the whole truth be told, the people brought it into existence, established it, and have hitherto supported it, for the very purpose, amongst others, of imposing certain salutary restraints on State sovereignties.’ Union responsibilities and States rights were just as important to the people back then as it is today.
“Abe pauses for a moment, worried about Grammy Rose, and who will take care of her. Grammy Rose was just asking his Mom yesterday what will happen if her Social Security gets cut.”
This is the same question senior citizens in theupcoming November 3, 2020 election face. The tax cuts promised by the Republican party are shown to be cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
The United States of America is founded upon the popular will of the people, seeking a more perfect union, in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people of every race, color, creed, financial status, political affiliation, gender and age.
We stand up, showing what the popular will of the people is by voting, a right long ago established in the USA. This right is our right, which is not under the thumb of any other country or devious agenda. No one can take this right away from you and me.
This is the United States of America, not an authoritarian dictatorship. We need to remember our history so that we can make better decisions for our future.
THE MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS is available at:
A fascinating way to discover accurate history, ancient history and antediluvian history
is to read my latest historical fiction book MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS prior to the Christmas holiday season. So many people say the reason for the season is not exactly what the truth reveals. The subtitle of this book is CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED.
What modern day Christmas enthusiasts have done is like taking a roll of factory made cookie dough out of the refrigerator, putting it into a bowl, mixing it up, repackaging it into a square shape, and handing it out to your neighbors saying that what this really is , is your starter dough for a new bread recipe.
This book begins at the Christmas by Candlelight Celebration held at Old Sturbridge Village, an 1830’s living museum. Brie is the 13 year old female heroine who comes forth in this day and time when the world is in need of light, love and understanding of world events. By better understanding our history, human beings of every race, color, creed, gender in every country on this planet, can make better decisions affecting our every day lives, the our futures.
Brie attends the Christmas By Candlelight Celebration with her cousin and best friend, Abby, their brothers, mothers and Grammy Rose. The family lives in the town of Mendon, Massachusetts where I grew up. Readers will find familiar fond references to Lake Nipmuc, the Nipmuc Indians in the greater area from Rhode Island to the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire to western New England, the history of Morgan horses named after Justin Morgan who owned the first of this breed in America, and the Rev. Adin Ballou who began the first commune in the neighboring town of Hopedale and the effects still lingering today.
By a life-altering event while at this celebration, half the family spirals back in time to experience and discover first hand what they had studied in school in history classes, becoming part of the very fabric of history itself. Brie babysits baby Jesus until he is two years old, encounters the Magi when they make their memorable appearance, and further back in time, interacting with Noah and the Nephilim, later meeting Alexander the Great and the time of the Sanctuary of the Great God’s and Greeks conquering the Medes and the Persians, up to the time of the Romans, how immigrants flocked to America for freedom from oppression and a better way to live, and how the Panic of 1837 affected the residents of Old Sturbridge Village.
Meanwhile the other half of the family learns unlikely connections between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, who share the same birthday, and learn by attending the Friends Quaker Meetinghouse all about how the Underground Railroad flourished in this area. They also about all of the writings of Charles Dickens while touring the Freeman Farmhouse. The Freeman Farm was an actual real working farm in real time in Sturbridge in the 1830s. Readers will learn how Silas Freeman, the youngest son of Pliny and Delia Freeman, chose to switch careers from farming to become a driver for the Stagecoach travel system through Hartford, Worcester and Providence. The family also experiences an encounter with a wolf while enjoying the outdoor living manger scene featuring a Bactrian camel, in a fictional cooperative venture with Southwick’s Zoo, a real attraction in Mendon, Massachusetts.
Modern day Christians say that Jesus is the reason for the season. This is half true. Today we acknowledge the birthday of Jesus on December 25. But it was most likely in late September or early October, when the people could walk the roads to the city in which they were born to fulfill the decree of Caesar Augustus for all the inhabited earth to be registered. Also, December 25 would be far too cold for the sheep to be out in the fields grazing on frozen blades of grass, nor would the shepherds be able to follow them over icy rocks nor sleep by night on the snow and icy ground.
Reading this book will reveal the lesser known, true origin of all of today’s Christmas customs and traditions, like mistletoe, decorated trees, wreaths and specialty foods, which were born some 2,000 years earlier.
This book is the first in the MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS series. There have already two successful book signings, selling out at Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Millbury, MA, and The Bird Store And More in Sturbridge, MA. While this book is rated for people of all ages, I personally think that it is best understood from pre-teen to adult.
Brie is the thirteen year old protagonist of this fiction novel, at a time when a young, strong, female character is so needed in the world. She deals with individuality and relationships, and comes to realize there is only one race, the human race. She time travels to the birth of Jesus in a stable, hears the choirs of angels sing, and babysits Jesus.
In other chapters, Brie gets captured by the Nephilim, meets Noah and his family, and travels to the Sanctuary of the Great God’s in Greece. Her cousin Abby, Grammy Rose, and Aunt Cher share the adventures.
Brie and her family sails the Mediterranean Sea with Dodanim of Noah’s lineage, helps save the day during the Roman wheat shortage, hears Jesus first hand give the Sermon on the Mount, meets Apostles Paul and Timothy on the island of Samothrace, and learns why Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.
While Brie and part of her family time travel, her remaining family is attending Old Sturbridge Village’s 70th Anniversary in 2016, featuring the Christmas By Candlelight annual celebration. Brie’s mother, Sarah, her brother Greg and her cousin Abe, who is Abby’s twin, enjoy a fascinating journey through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Panic of 1837, an introduction to the Rev. Adin Ballou, angels and Santa Claus; all presented in the many historic buildings that make up the Village.
The snow filled evening is complete with a Christmas turkey dinner, horse-drawn sleigh and carriage rides, a moving wall, a hidden library, a ring of antique keys, antique locked books and adventures with Bactrian camels, wolves, to allow a family to learn little known historical connections between Noah’s sons, and the Babylonian, Mede-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires.
This book is inspired by a set of large keys handed down to me from my grandfather, F.
Pepere’s keys and tin cup made in Old Sturbridge Village
Louis Tetreault. I am sure these keys went to the farm on Blackstone Street, Mendon, Massachusetts, either to the barn, locked chests, equipment, or to the house both he and my grandmother, Maria (Benoit) Tetreault lived in. My mother is number thirteen of fourteen children. Mom, aunts, uncles and cousins, I love you all. I am so glad my Canadian French grandparents had so many children, or else I would not be here, or have had so many cousins to make my childhood so happy.
Or the keys might have belonged to my grandparents’ Vermont cottage or the shed on Sheldon Hill Road, with the Wardsboro Brook directly behind it, where my sister, cousins and I would brave the icy waters flowing into our tiny, dammed up swimming spot. When I was young, I would often spend weeks and months living with them in their home away from home, while my mother, as a single parent, worked full-time painting radon on watch hands so they would glow in the dark. Both my beloved grandparents have since passed away, and were very dear to me. I treasured them and everything about them, even these keys.
The book’s timely publication would have covered the April 20, 2016 announcement by the United States Treasury planning to put Harriet Tubman’s picture on the front of the $20 bill, moving President Andrew Jackson to the back in the year 2020, had it not been undermined during the Trump Presidency. Fascinating information between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin is also included in this work of fiction. The names of Old Sturbridge Village including all the buildings at this place, and the Christmas by Candlelight celebration are real. However, I have never attended the Christmas by Candlelight celebration, and the adventures in this book are pure exciting fiction.
Also real names in this area are: Thai Place, Annie’s Country Kitchen, The Bird Store and More, Brimfield Antique Center, Southwick’s Zoo, McLean Hospital, Harrington Hospital, B.T.’s Smokehouse, and the Sturbridge Tourist Center.
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is available at:
Imagine the known world map according to the knowledge of Nimrod, back in the days of the Babylonian
Empire, the first empire to rise after the global Flood. While the Akkadian and Ur Empires preceeded the Babylonian Empire, most all traces of them have been washed away. Therefore most history books credit the Babylonian Empire as the first empire of the world. The Babylonian Map to the right is the oldest map of the known world. It is known as the Imago Mundi. This map dates back to 500 BCE. It was found in southern Iraq in a city called Sipper, and was formed out of a clay tablet found north of the ancient city of Babylon, on the fertile east bank of the Euphrates River.
Civilization begins again with the Babylonian Empire. This map depicts what later civilizations did, like the cities of Athens, Jerusalem and others, putting themselves as the center of the world. This is all they know. This is their reality.
Find out what happens next in the book, MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS.
“To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.” Plutarch
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS shows that Noah and his sons used such a map, with Shem, Ham and Japheth exploring and settling the different regions of the world. It is their lineage who seed the empires as we know them today.
“Surrounding the city of Babylon on the map lies seven cities and seven islands, surrounded by two circles that represent bodies of water possibly located near to Babylon at the time. The cuneiform writing at the top of the tablet labels each location; the water parameters on the map are labeled as a salt sea and a river of bitter water.
“The locations on the map are mountains, a swamp, a canal, three unnamed cities, the cities of Urartu, Assyria, Der, Elam, Bit Yakin, Habban, Babylon, and an unknown location. Parallel lines below the marked city of Babylon are thought to represent the southern marshes of present day Iraq and another curved line, the Zagros Mountains which would have been visible close to the city.
“Another feature of the map visible in the cuneiform inscription is that it is actually a copy of an even older map of the region, one which has been lost to time and memory. The unique perspective of the map, even as a copy of an older creation, shows not only how Babylonians saw the world around them, but the mythical heavenly realm as well. The islands surrounding Babylon and the known regions around it don’t exist in the physical realm; they are thought to be a mythical representation of the connection between the earth and the heavens. The reverse side of the tablet shows a depiction of the stars with recognizable constellations corresponding to our modern understanding of the zodiac.
“This fusion of the heavens and the earth, the realities of life around them and the accurate charting of the universe above them caused the Babylonians to create the world’s oldest existing map still in existence today.” Taken from the references listed below.
References:
Kurt A. Raaflaub & Richard J. A. Talbert (2009), Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies, John Wiley & Sons, p. 147, ISBN1-4051-9146-5
Make sure to get your copy of MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS before Christmas to share with your friends and family. There is no other book published today that explains how Noah’s ancestry populates the Old World Empires. This is a must read for serious history buffs.
My fiction novel is now available for purchase. I hope you enjoy it.
Brie is the thirteen year old protagonist of this fiction novel, at a time when a young, strong, female character is so needed in the world. She deals with individuality and relationships, and comes to realize there is only one race, the human race. She time travels to the birth of Jesus in a stable, hears the choirs of angels sing, and babysits Jesus.
In other chapters, Brie gets captured by the Nephilim, meets Noah and his family, and travels to the Sanctuary of the Great God’s in Greece. Her cousin Abby, Grammy Rose, and Aunt Cher share the adventures.
Brie and her family sails the Mediterranean Sea with Dodanim of Noah’s lineage, helps save the day during the Roman wheat shortage, hears Jesus first hand give the Sermon on the Mount, meets Apostles Paul and Timothy on the island of Samothrace, and learns why Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.
While Brie and part of her family time travel, her remaining family is attending Old Sturbridge Village’s 70th Anniversary in 2016, featuring the Christmas By Candlelight annual celebration. Brie’s mother, Sarah, her brother Greg and her cousin Abe, who is Abby’s twin, enjoy a fascinating journey through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Panic of 1837, an introduction to the Rev. Adin Ballou, angels and Santa Claus; all presented in the many historic buildings that make up the Village.
The snow filled evening is complete with a Christmas turkey dinner, horse-drawn sleigh and carriage rides, a moving wall, a hidden library, a ring of antique keys, antique locked books and adventures with Bactrian camels, wolves, to allow a family to learn little known historical connections between Noah’s sons, and the Babylonian, Mede-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires.
This book is inspired by a set of large keys handed down to me from my grandfather, F.
Pepere’s keys and tin cup made in Old Sturbridge Village
Louis Tetreault. I am sure these keys went to the farm on Blackstone Street, Mendon, Massachusetts, either to the barn, locked chests, equipment, or to the house both he and my grandmother, Maria (Benoit) Tetreault lived in. My mother is number thirteen of fourteen children. Mom, aunts, uncles and cousins, I love you all. I am so glad my Canadian French grandparents had so many children, or else I would not be here, or have had so many cousins to make my childhood so happy.
Or the keys might have belonged to my grandparents’ Vermont cottage or the shed on Sheldon Hill Road, with the Wardsboro Brook directly behind it, where my sister, cousins and I would brave the icy waters flowing into our tiny, dammed up swimming spot. When I was young, I would often spend weeks and months living with them in their home away from home, while my mother, as a single parent, worked full-time painting radon on watch hands so they would glow in the dark. Both my beloved grandparents have since passed away, and were very dear to me. I treasured them and everything about them, even these keys.
The book’s timely publication covers the April 20, 2016 announcement by the United States Treasury planning to put Harriet Tubman’s picture on the front of the $20 bill, moving President Andrew Jackson to the back in the year 2020. Fascinating information between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin is also included in this work of fiction. The names of Old Sturbridge Village including all the buildings at this place, and the Christmas by Candlelight celebration are real. However, I have never attended the Christmas by Candlelight celebration, and the adventures in this book are pure exciting fiction.
Also real names in this area are: Thai Place, Annie’s Country Kitchen, The Bird Store and More, Brimfield Antique Center, Southwick’s Zoo, McLean Hospital, Harrington Hospital, B.T.’s Smokehouse, and the Sturbridge Tourist Center.
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is available at:
You are invited to a book signing by Linda Hourihan for this book, December 9, 2016 from 6:30 – 9 p.m. at for the annual Night Owl Christmas Open House, taking place at The Bird Store And More Open House, 4 Cedar Street, Sturbridge, MA. The event is known for good food and drink, among the treasures of the store. The Bird Store And More appears in the book, featuring the galvanized, super tall, bear proof bird feeding pole, since the author had three regular bird feeders, cemented into the ground, taken down, cement and all, by black bears. Check out The Bird Store And More website: thebirdstoreandmore.com, or call (508) 347- BIRD; or (888) 823- 2473.
My fiction novel is now available for purchase. I hope you enjoy it.
Brie is the thirteen year old protagonist of this fiction novel, at a time when a young, strong, female character is so needed in the world. She deals with individuality and relationships, and comes to realize there is only one race, the human race. She time travels to the birth of Jesus in a stable, hears the choirs of angels sing, and babysits Jesus.
In other chapters, Brie gets captured by the Nephilim, meets Noah and his family, and travels to the Sanctuary of the Great God’s in Greece. Her cousin Abby, Grammy Rose, and Aunt Cher share the adventures.
Brie and her family sails the Mediterranean Sea with Dodanim of Noah’s lineage, helps save the day during the Roman wheat shortage, hears Jesus first hand give the Sermon on the Mount, meets Apostles Paul and Timothy on the island of Samothrace, and learns why Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.
While Brie and part of her family time travel, her remaining family is attending Old Sturbridge Village’s 70th Anniversary in 2016, featuring the Christmas By Candlelight annual celebration. Brie’s mother, Sarah, her brother Greg and her cousin Abe, who is Abby’s twin, enjoy a fascinating journey through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Panic of 1837, an introduction to the Rev. Adin Ballou, angels and Santa Claus; all presented in the many historic buildings that make up the Village.
The snow filled evening is complete with a Christmas turkey dinner, horse drawn sleigh and carriage rides, a moving wall, a hidden library, a ring of antique keys, antique locked books and adventures with Bactrian camels, wolves, to allow a family to learn little known historical connections between Noah’s sons, and the Babylonian, Mede-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires.
This book is inspired by a set of large keys handed down to me from my grandfather, F.
Pepere’s keys and tin cup made in Old Sturbridge Village
Louis Tetreault. I am sure these keys went to the farm on Blackstone Street, Mendon, Massachusetts, either to the barn, locked chests, equipment, or to the house both he and my grandmother, Maria (Benoit) Tetreault lived in. My mother is number thirteen of fourteen children. Mom, aunts, uncles and cousins, I love you all. I am so glad my Canadian French grandparents had so many children, or else I would not be here, or have had so many cousins to make my childhood so happy.
Or the keys might have belonged to my grandparents’ Vermont cottage or the shed on Sheldon Hill Road, with the Wardsboro Brook directly behind it, where my sister, cousins and I would brave the icy waters flowing into our tiny, dammed up swimming spot. When I was young, I would often spend weeks and months living with them in their home away from home, while my mother, as a single parent, worked full time painting radon on watch hands so they would glow in the dark. Both my beloved grandparents have since passed away, and were very dear to me. I treasured them and everything about them, even these keys.
The book’s timely publication covers the April 20, 2016 announcement by the United States Treasury planning to put Harriet Tubman’s picture on the front of the $20 bill, moving President Andrew Jackson to the back in the year 2020. Fascinating information between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin is also included in this work of fiction. The names of Old Sturbridge Village including all of the buildings at this location, and the Christmas by Candlelight celebration are real. However, I have never attended the Christmas by Candlelight celebration, and the adventures in this book are pure exciting fiction.
Also real names in this area are: Thai Place, Annie’s Country Kitchen, The Bird Store and More, Brimfield Antique Center, Southwick’s Zoo, McLean Hospital, Harrington Hospital, B.T.’s Smokehouse, and the Sturbridge Tourist Center.
MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is available at:
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