UPCOMING EVENTS
December 12 (Sunday): Christmas Ghost Walk Proctorsville. 7 pm. Meet in front of the Proctorsville War Memorial (Route 131 and Depot Street). The walk ends at the Golden Stage Inn, where there will be a bonfire. Please dress appropriately as the walk will be outside. Bring a flashlight.
THE RED WHEEL NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION
One of the questions we are frequently asked is how did the Nobel laurate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spend the 18 years he lived in Cavendish? The short answer is he spent it writing “The Red Wheel.”
In 1936, Solzhenitsyn, at the age of 17, decided to be the chronicler of the Russian Revolution. “War, prison, camps, survival from terminal cancer, and his fight to tell the story of the Gulag intervened and delayed, but did not stop him from his life’s mission,” said his son Stephan Solzhenitsyn.
Solzhenitsyn was in a unique position to write about the Revolution. According to Stephan, “You might say that he caught the last train of departing memory. He was able to interview some of the last living participants of those fateful days in 1917, and of the Russian civil war that followed. His childhood years were the fearsome Soviet 1920s and early 1930s, when the revolution was in fact still ongoing, completely reshaping the old order amidst an atmosphere of terror. Born just a year after the revolution, he breathed its powerful, both terrifying - and for some, edifying – air.”
The Red Wheel is a series of novels, 10 volumes, which explores the passing of Imperial Russia, the Russian Revolution and the beginnings of the Soviet Union.
Described by Solzhenitsyn as “the chief artistic design of my life,” he believed that the Russian revolutions of 1917 were the central event of the twentieth century and its impact went well beyond Russia and Europe. It basically altered the course of history.
The various “Nodes” of The Red Wheel capture certain crucial moments that reveal the nature of the unfolding revolutionary juggernaut, the “red wheel” of the book’s title. These huge, sprawling books are “novelistic” in a real but qualified sense. Above all, they are polyphonic works that allow dozens of characters (including those for whom Solzhenitsyn has no sympathy, such as Lenin) to speak from their own points of view. This does not preclude the author from speaking in his own voice, particularly in the more historical chapters. The movement back-and-forth from historical-political analyses to fictional representations of its heroes such as Sanya Lazhenitsyn (a fictional representation of Solzhenitsyn’s father) as well as Vorotyntsev, no doubt taxes those who have little interest in the political and spiritual fate of Russia or even in the Russian revolution. In the first instance, this is a book directed especially at Russians and students of Russia. But for all those who truly share–or come to share–Solzhenitsyn’s desire to comprehend the underlying meaning of 1917, for those who have the discipline to encounter and engage with an artful mixture of history, philosophy, and literature in the pursuit of a truth that goes beyond narrowly nationalistic limits and concerns, Solzhenitsyn’s masterwork will delight and instruct.” The Solzhenitsyn Reader” by Edward E. Ericson, Jr and Daniel J. Mahoney.
On October 15, 2021, The Red Wheel, Node III, March 1917, Book 3 English translation was published and is available at bookstores and Amazon.
The action of Book 3 (out of four) is set during March 16–22, 1917. In Book 3, the Romanov dynasty ends and the revolution starts to roll out from Petrograd toward Moscow and the Russian provinces. The dethroned Emperor Nikolai II makes his farewell to the Army and is kept under guard with his family. In Petrograd, the Provisional Government and the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies continue to exercise power in parallel. The war hero Lavr Kornilov is appointed military chief of Petrograd. But the Soviet’s “Order No. 1” reaches every soldier, undermining the officer corps and shaking the Army to its foundations. Many officers, including the head of the Baltic Fleet, the progressive Admiral Nepenin, are murdered. Black Sea Fleet Admiral Kolchak holds the revolution at bay; meanwhile, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, the emperor’s uncle, makes his way to military headquarters, naïvely thinking he will be allowed to take the Supreme Command.
Also recently released is the paperback edition of “Between Two Millstones: Sketches of Exile Book 1 1974-1978. Copies of both Books 1 and 2 of Between Two Millstones are available to borrow from CHS. Please contact CHS by calling 802-226-7807 or margocaulfield@icloud.com
The children’s biography, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Writer Who Changed History can be purchased from CHS for $15 plus shipping and handling costs of $3. Checks can be made payable to the Cavendish Historical Society and sent to PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142.
IS THE GOLDEN STAGE INN HAUNTED?
In late October, as part of the Carmine Guica Young Historians (CGYH) program, CHS has a ghost walk for the 5th grade. The last stop, and by far the favorite, is the Golden Stage Inn.
Each year, innkeepers, Julie and Mike Woods offer new tales of strange things that happen at the Inn, which have no explanation.
Known for being one of the most haunted places in New England, as Julie notes, As with most haunted inns, there is no real proof that this is true. But there’s no proof it’s untrue either.
We arrived at Golden Stage Inn ten years ago as full non-believers in ghosts, but certainly some events over the last several years have left us puzzled and wondering. There are voices, but no one is there. A ghost cat has been reported by guests. Another guest reported a parade of spirits walking through her room as if part of a funeral procession. Recently a guest related how she had said out loud to the room, “If there’s a ghost here, give me a sign.” And moments later, the auto-clean cycle of the jetted tub kicked in without reason. These are just a few of stories Julie has related to the students.
At the Proctorsville Christmas Ghost Walk on Dec. 12, you can learn more about the spirits of the Golden Stage Inn and other places in Proctorsville. The last stop will be the Inn, where tales will be told around a bonfire. To prepare for the walk, we suggest reading the 2020 Christmas Eve Ghost Story, available at the CHS blog.
UPDATE TO MEMORIES OF A TEENAGE PHARMACIST
This is a follow up to the Summer 2021 Scribbler II.
Dan Churchill, who worked at as the pharmacist at Pollards store starting in high school and through college, gave a fascinating talk on Aug. 15. The Summer article indicated that he ceased working at Pollards when he started college, which occurred at roughly the same time Park Pollard died in 1955. As part of his talk, Dan explained that he continued working one day a week, since he was one of the few pharmacists that was still compounding medications. In fact, he compounded for Dr. Gene Bont, who came to Cavendish in 1957. His career as a pharmacist came to an end in 1964 when Pollards closed.
Among the attendees at Dan’s talk was Marty Irons, a pharmacist at Beauchamp & O’Rourke in Rutland and author of Phalanx Against the Divine Wind: Protecting the Fast Carrier Task Force During World War 2.
It was fascinating to compare and contrast what Dan was doing in the 1950s to what Irons currently does. Dan’s first job requirement as a trainee under Pollard was to learn how to read physicians’ handwriting . He had no formal training, just an apprenticeship, while Irons graduated from a four year college pharmacy program. Dan spoke of working for various physicians as well as a veterinarian. Irons practice is focused on patient care and doesn’t fill animal prescriptions.
While Dan used a machine to make the pills, Irons has a technician to count out pills, which come prepackaged. Dan’s most frequent prescription was for coughs, while Irons is for cholesterol medication. The Rutland pharmacist said that they stopped compounding medicines about five years ago.
ORDWAY’S FUNERAL SERMON
Driving by the Twenty Mile Stream Cemetery one of the first things to capture your attention is a tall monument. Mary Churchill’s book “Cemeteries of Cavendish, Vermont” explains the story about the monument as well as how David Ordway had his funeral sermon delivered so he could hear it.
David Ordway, a miller and also a stone mason, lived on Twenty Mile stream in a stone house he built. He also helped to build the stone Universalist church in Cavendish village and cemetery tombs.
In his old age, he decided to have his funeral sermon preached. He chose Rev. William Balch, a former pastor of the Universalist church in Cavendish to give the sermon. The funeral was held in the Universalist church in Ludlow on Sunday, August 2, 1876.
The occasion brought together an unusual crowd. The preacher never at a loss how to adapt himself to any emergency., realizing that it was only one of those freaks which are indicative of the return of second childhood, accepted the situation and preached a remarkable sermon. Except for a few words near the close alluding to his aged friend and trifle explanatory of the occasion, no one would have mistrusted that there was anything unusual.
Mr. Ordway, not precisely in the box, but sitting in the front pew seemed well pleased with the performance. He never realized there was anything incongruous in the exercise, that he simply took that method to signify that he was all through with this world and anxious to enter on the undiscovered realities of the next.
In the Twenty Mile Stream cemetery stands, “Uncle David’s” red sandstone monument, just a little back up from the tomb. Its base is a real millstone. Its inscription is unique in every respect as there is not a punctuation mark from start to finish.
“Tho I am dead yet speaketh
For here is a rest upon this millstone top
I set the noble block
To let the world no that what I have done
It is ever been my heart desire
To do unto you as I would you should do unto me
So cast the beam out of your own eye
And let me lie in peace and sing my redeemer love
Come my sweet companion meet me here”
For years he had his coffin, made by himself, kept in his dwelling and used it for a bean storage box. He also had a small headstone about 24” by 18” on which is this inscription
Come all my friends from far and near
Without a sigh or a fear
The storm is past and I am at rest
Weep no more for me
Please take the golden rule for your guide
And a clear conscience by your side
Mar not the sand you see
Take you your cross and follow me
After “Uncle David” died, there was a large flat stone, as large as four oxen could draw, drawn up and laid across the two graves. The small stones and rail were put in place upon this flat stone.
Mary. “Uncle David’s sweet companion, died July 15, 1875 ae 81 yr.
David died November 8, 1884 aged 89 years.
“Uncle David” has pounded up a large white limestone rock with a mortar and pestle. This, he requested, should be put on the graves to a depth of two or three inches, each year. This was kept in the tomb.
In Volume 4 of “Families of Cavendish,” Linda Farr Welch quotes a newspaper article from April 18, 1879. “David Ordway, who lives on the Twenty-Mile Stream and who had his funeral sermon preached last summer, has now procured his coffin, had it trimmed, and taken it to his house. He is at present quite unwell, but may live some time yet. He is now about 84 years of age. He has also got his burial robe with the coffin.
An eccentric for sure, Oramel Esty, a Cavendish fiddler, stopped by Uncle David’s to play a few tunes for him. When he played “Bonaparte’s March Across the Rhine,” Ordway had him play it again. When Oramel finished, Uncle David said, “Oramel, when I die, I want you to sit on the hearse beside the driver and play that piece on my last ride to the cemetery.
Several years before he died, Ordway deeded land to his nephew Wallace Fulhum on the condition that he was to take care of David’s lot and monument in the cemetery for 50 years.
CHS HAS A PHINEAS GAGE SKULL!
After years of wanting a replica of Phinaes Gage’s skull, an attendee at the annual Walk and Talk program brought one by a week later. A very special thank you to Barbara Drukovka of Woodstock High School who presented the Cavendish Historical Society with a 3-D model of Gage's skull.
The actual skull is at the Warren Anatomical Museum in Boston, along with the tamping rod and a life cast.
He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco, which was damaged in the San Francisco Earthquake. However between 1939-1941, the Cemetery was closed and some 35,000 bodies were buried in a mass grave at Cypress Lawn. Was Gage’s remains among them or did he end up in the Bay or ocean?
CARMINE GUICA YOUNG HISTORIANS
The school year is off to a great start and we’ve been fortunate to once again host field trips to Coolidge and Sturbridge Village. We are now allowed to be in the school, so we’ve been able to do a Constitution Day program, as well hold workshops on making chalkboards and bricks.
The Preserve and Serve program is also in high gear as students are helping their neighbors with fall chores, taking care of the Proctor Cemetery and various parks, and participating in RiverSweep. The kids are hard workers and it’s amazing what an hour of dedicated students can accomplish.
In December, we will once again hold our annual holiday workshops. This year we will be following the Scandinavian tradition of encouraging the kind treatment of birds. Birdseed outside your doorstep is believed to help ensure good luck in the coming year. This tradition has practical and symbolic origins. Swedes would put aside the last sheaves of grain from the harvest and hang out a bundle for the birds on Christmas (called a julkarve), hoping the birds would stay out of the barn where their harvest was stored.
Special thanks to Jane Pixley who has provided cookie cutters so students can make “bird seed cookies.”
BECOME A MEMBER, RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP, DONATE
If you have not joined the Cavendish Historical Society, need to renew your membership, and/or would like to be a volunteer, please complete the form below and sending a check, payable to CHS, to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. All contributions are tax deductible.
Name: _______________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________
Phone Number: _____________________ E-Mail: ____________________________
Membership Level
__ Individual Member $10 __ Senior Member 65+ $5 __ Sustaining Member $500
__ Household Member $15 ___ Contributing Member $250
Volunteer
___ I would be interested in serving, as a volunteer .I would be interested in serving on the following committee(s):__ Program Planning __ Fundraising __ Building (Museum)
__Archives _ Budget –– Cemetery __ Carmine Guica Young Historians
Donations are always welcome and can be designated as follows:
__ For general purposes __ Young Historians __Publications
__ Archaeological Activities _ Museum & Archival __ Special Events
__ Rankin Fund __ Williams Fund __ Solzhenitsyn Project
__ Other (please specify) __ Cemetery Restoration __ Preservation Projects
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