[lit-ideas] Niagara
- From: "Julie Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:09:27 -0500
This came to my inbox -- it could almost, the whole of it, be "found
poetry".
<<On this day in 1929, *the U.S. Stock Market crashed*. The day became known
as "Black Thursday." By the next Tuesday, the market had lost almost 26
billion dollars of value. Banks failed, individual investors lost their
savings, and the Great Depression began in America.
It was on this date in 1938 that the *Fair Labor Standards Act went into
effect*, which established the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage. The
first minimum wage was 25 cents per hour.
It was on this day in 1901 that *Annie Edson Taylor became the first person
to survive going over the Niagara Falls*. She was 63 years old and had no
money. She hoped that the stunt of going over the falls in a barrel would
bring her fame and fortune.
She got the idea while reading a newspaper article about the upcoming
Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, so she knew there would be a big
audience. She had a custom barrel made to order by a Michigan company that
normally made barrels for kegs of beer. The barrel was about two feet in
diameter across the top, three feet across the middle, and 15 inches across
the bottom. It was four and a half feet tall and weighed 160 pounds ? the
same weight as Annie Edson Taylor. It was constructed from white Kentucky
oak and reinforced by iron rings, with a heavy block of steel in the bottom
for ballast and a mattress inside for padding.
Annie Edson Taylor climbed into the barrel in the Niagara River, at Little
Grass Island. She was wearing a flowing black dress and flowery hat, and
carrying her lucky heart-shaped pillow. After she was inside, the top was
shut and a bicycle pump increased the air pressure inside the barrel to help
with the cushioning. It was pushed into the river at 4:05 p.m. and it headed
toward the Canadian side. Shortly after, Annie and the barrel plunged over
the falls. It took about 35 minutes from the time Annie pushed off shore to
when she was pulled out of the water by rescuers. She got out of the barrel
unharmed, except for a few bruises and a small gash on her forehead. Her
first words after she emerged were, "Nobody ought ever to do that again."
She had planned a big lecture tour following the stunt, but it wasn't very
successful. She tried to earn money by posing in photographs with her
barrel, but that didn't work either, and neither did trying to write a
novel.
However, several poems were written about her. John Joseph O'Regan wrote:
"All hail to the Queen of the Mist,
Brave Anna Edson Taylor;
She has beaten all former records,
By her courage, grit and valor."
And P. M. Reynolds wrote:
"Since earth's creation down the stormy way,
All human feats have been surpassed today.
Mrs. Edson Taylor, in her barrel sound,
Through the wild rapids did in safety bound.">>
--
Julie Krueger
Visit www.VoteForChange.com. Register to vote and help spread the word.
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