Train wrecks past…
Lest we think that our own little corner of the space-time continuum is darker or more fraught than most, The Hope Chest is here with “bad news from the past” to remind us that it has been ever thus…
LAUREL, Del., May 21 [1931]–Weathering the severe drouth which hit the agricultural section, Leon Tyndall suffered a severe injury to his foot which sent him to bed after he had tried to jump from beneath a falling tree.
Scarcely had be recovered when he was taken ill with appendicitis, and had to undergo an operation.
Then an automobile truck killed one of his best mules, and he caught his hand in a ripsaw and severely injured several fingers.
Many, many more in The Hope Chest.
As we cautiously count our blessings, we might recall that on this date in 1816, the incomparable Jane Austen responded to a request from the Prince Regent (who had apparently been among the multitude of admirers of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma, all of which had been published by then) that she write a historical romance, replying that “I could not sit down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life.”
(The foregoing is actually true… still, Happy April Fools Day!)