1858.68: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "{{Chronology Entry |Year=1858 |Year Number=68 |Headline=Thoreau Assessees Preaching and Base Ball |Salience=3 |Tags=Famous, |Country=US |Coordinates=42.4603719, -71.348948399...")
 
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|Year=1858
|Year=1858
|Year Number=68
|Year Number=68
|Headline=Thoreau Assessees Preaching and Base Ball
|Headline=Thoreau Ponders Manliness in the Church and Base Ball
|Salience=3
|Salience=3
|Tags=Famous,  
|Tags=Famous,  
Line 8: Line 8:
|Coordinates=42.4603719, -71.34894839999998
|Coordinates=42.4603719, -71.34894839999998
|State=MA
|State=MA
|City=Concord [[[???]]]
|City=Concord
|Game=Base Ball,  
|Game=Base Ball,
|Immediacy of Report=Contemporary
|Immediacy of Report=Contemporary
|Age of Players=Adult
|Age of Players=Adult
|Text=<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "If I should draw a long breath in the neighborhood of&nbsp; these institutions, their weak and flabby sides would fall out, for my own inspiration would exhaust the air about them.</span></p>
|Text=<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">"The church! It is eminently the timid institution, and the heads and pillars of it are constitutionally and by principle the greatest cowards in the community. The voice that goes</span><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;up from the monthly concerts is not so brave and so cheering as that which rises from the frog-ponds of the land. The best 'preachers,' so called, are an effeminate class;</span><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;their bravest thoughts wear petticoats. If they have any manhood they are sure to forsake the ministry, though they were to turn their attention to baseball*."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The church! It is eminently the timid institution, and the heads and pillars of it are constitutionally and by principle the greatest cowards in the community. The voice that goes</span><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;up from the monthly concerts is not so brave and so cheering as that which rises from the frog-ponds of the land. The best 'preachers,' so called, are an effeminate class;</span><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;their bravest thoughts wear petticoats. If they have any manhood they are sure to forsake the ministry, though they were to turn their attention to baseball."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">(*Note: "baseball" is an editor's choice of form: the journal entries themselves use "base-ball" and "base ball,") <br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">[[[did he write "baseball" or "base ball?"]]]<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
|Sources=<p>Henry David Thoreau, Journal entry for November 16, 1858, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Journals.</span></p>
|Comment=<p>The thrust of Thoreau's entry has puzzled us a little.</p>
<p>John Bowman writes:&nbsp; "This is but a small excerpt from a journal entry that is all but rabid about organized religion and its churches, which Thoreau attacks for being afraid to confront the hard truths and realities of our lives.</p>
<p>Exactly what he means by that final phrase -- 'though they were to turn their attention to base ball' -- has been debated, but my&nbsp; interpretation is as follows: He seems to&nbsp; be saying that, in particular, its ministers/preachers are so cowardly as to be 'effeminate,' and if any of them were truly manly they would do better to leave the ministry and engage in some other activity -- even playing base ball, despite its questionable value, would be preferable.</p>
<p>But others may have read this differently.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
|Sources=<p>Henry David Thoreau, Journal entry for November 16, 1858, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Journals,</span> [[[citation?]]]&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
|Warning=<p>We&nbsp;are aware that this quotation is somewhat obscure.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
|Query=<p>Can you throw more light on what Thoreau is saying here?&nbsp; Some interplay on the 19CBB listserve, reports John Bowman, resulted in a shared feeling that Thoreau&nbsp;regarded base ball as&nbsp;more manly than being a preacher, and as an activity that was as disreputable as&nbsp;preaching.</p>
|Query=<p>Feel free to throw more light on what Thoreau is saying here.&nbsp; </p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial Black;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p>
|Submitted by=John Bowman
|Submitted by=John Bowman
|Submission Note=Posting to 19CBB, 2015 [[[date?]]]
|Submission Note=Posting to 19CBB, September 2015, emails of October 2015  
|Reviewed=Yes
|Reviewed=Yes
|Has Supplemental Text=No
|Has Supplemental Text=No
}}
}}

Revision as of 13:25, 13 October 2015

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Thoreau Ponders Manliness in the Church and Base Ball

Salience Peripheral
Tags Famous
City/State/Country: Concord, MA, US
Game Base Ball
Immediacy of Report Contemporary
Age of Players Adult
Text

"The church! It is eminently the timid institution, and the heads and pillars of it are constitutionally and by principle the greatest cowards in the community. The voice that goes up from the monthly concerts is not so brave and so cheering as that which rises from the frog-ponds of the land. The best 'preachers,' so called, are an effeminate class; their bravest thoughts wear petticoats. If they have any manhood they are sure to forsake the ministry, though they were to turn their attention to baseball*."

(*Note: "baseball" is an editor's choice of form: the journal entries themselves use "base-ball" and "base ball,")

 

Sources

Henry David Thoreau, Journal entry for November 16, 1858, Journals.

Comment

The thrust of Thoreau's entry has puzzled us a little.

John Bowman writes:  "This is but a small excerpt from a journal entry that is all but rabid about organized religion and its churches, which Thoreau attacks for being afraid to confront the hard truths and realities of our lives.

Exactly what he means by that final phrase -- 'though they were to turn their attention to base ball' -- has been debated, but my  interpretation is as follows: He seems to  be saying that, in particular, its ministers/preachers are so cowardly as to be 'effeminate,' and if any of them were truly manly they would do better to leave the ministry and engage in some other activity -- even playing base ball, despite its questionable value, would be preferable.

But others may have read this differently.

 

 

 

Edit with form to add a comment
Query

Feel free to throw more light on what Thoreau is saying here. 

         

Edit with form to add a query
Submitted by John Bowman
Submission Note Posting to 19CBB, September 2015, emails of October 2015



Comments

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