For Amaneunsis Monday, I thought it would be fun to check out old newspapers on this date, especially a newspaper that either Mary or her parents, Eva and John, might have read.
I went to the Library of Congress web site and did a search for Montana newspapers and then looked specifically for a Helena publication. The list shows that LOC has scanned images of The Helena Independent from January 1, 1889 through December 31, 1894. So I just picked today’s date and began scrolling through the 8-page newspaper that was published that day.
This editorial paragraph on page 4 of the The Helena Independent immediately caught my eye.
Transcription:
One of the things for which we of
Montana should return thanks to-day,
and to-morrow as well, and for all time,
is that we have a governor[1. Joseph Toole, Democrat, was the first governor of the State of Montana, having recently taken office on November 8th, several weeks before this editorial was written.] who cannot
be bullied or coaxed by the conspirators
who are trying to overturn the result of
the election, even though the conspiracy
has the sanction of Benjamin Harrison,
by virtue of accidental circumstances
president of the United States.[1. The U.S. Presidential election of 1888 was the third of five – including the most recent, Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump – in which the winner did not receive a plurality of the national popular vote. The incumbent president, Democrat Grover Cleveland, lost re-election in the electoral college to Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, but won a plurality of the popular vote by a narrow margin.]
Mary was only 11 years old at the time but no doubt her father, John Rumping – a Democrat – would have been interested in this election.
Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.
“Amaneunsis” is defined as “one employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript”. [3.Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary : accessed 21 November 2016, “amaneunsis.”]
Copyright (c) 2016, Lark M. Dalin Robart
Notes
