And nothing says loving like a check.
I understand. Nobody loves us Yankees. (Geographical, not baseball reference.)
Did I ever show you this:
NOW IS THE TIME FOR. . .
Author(s): CHARLES KENNEY AND ROBERT L. TURNER
Date: June 3, 1984 Page: ?????
Section: NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE
The tension was palpable on the floor of the United States Senate one day in 1856 when Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts rose to speak. The issue was slavery, and Sumner was known as the nation's leading abolitionist. He was despised by Southerners in Congress, who referred to him as a serpent and a leper. He often whipped them into a frenetic rage with his speeches; friends worried for his safety, though he scoffed at their concern.
Sumner was an inviting target for Southern enmity. He was a Bostonian of privilege, a dear friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's, a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School. He had memorized great chunks of the classics and liberally seasoned his discourse with quotes from Plato, Aristotle, Dante, and Homer.
He brought his considerable intellectual and rhetorical powers to bear whenever he addressed the subject of abolition. "When Charles Sumner spoke on the issue of slavery," wrote Gene Smith in his book High Crimes & Misdemeanors, "it was said that here was the conscience of the nation speaking." When Sumner rose to his feet in May of 1856 during the debate over the admission of Kansas to the Union as a slave or a free state, Southerners stiffened. During a five-hour speech, Sumner delivered one of his most stinging assaults. He harshly criticized the state of South Carolina as suffering from "shameful imbecility" because of its leaders' attitudes toward slavery, and he insulted one of the state's senators.
Representative Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina read a copy of Sumner's remarks that evening. Brooks seethed for two full days. He then stalked onto the floor of the Senate and confronted Sumner, who was seated at his desk, reading. Suddenly, the frenzied Brooks attacked Sumner, bludgeoning him with a cane. He repeatedly smashed Sumner's head, administering a beating so savage that it sent the great orator to the threshold of death.
It was an unspeakable tragedy. A brilliant, towering figure was reduced to a ghostlike appearance. Sumner was unable to walk, speak, or read as he had before, and he was in constant pain. But like others in the distinguished group that Massachusetts had sent to the US Senate, Sumner was a cut above most other men. He struggled through agonizing medical treatment until, four years after the assault, he returned to the Senate and dramatically took the floor. His speech that day was a withering attack on "the barbarism of slavery."
If that doesn't scream, "Bite me" I don't know what does.
Ahm, I believe Sen. Kerry occupies the seat in the Senate that the noble Charles Sumner once held. Gulp! I get it. Don't say anyone from SC exhibits a "shameful imbecility" cuz it might hurt. At least now they don't beat us up when we say mildly offensive things.
BTW, the above story was about the people who were running for the open Senate seat from MA in 1984. The seat that John Kerry eventually won. Ahm, low self-confidence and a bad self-image are apparently not among our problems in Mass. (Geesh, high expectations anyone?)
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