The Royce Files

War at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible. Abraham Lincoln 16 June 1864 Not being in a war with weapons and being shot at I would agree that war is unpleasant to say the least. My family doesn't have many veterans. None died during their service. My great-great-grandfather, Robert Palmer (not the singer), during the Civil War and may have been injured during his term but I can't make out the words on the 1890 Veteran's Census form. Above is the monument in Grand Forks, ND to the lads who fought in the Civil War. It stands on its own ground less than a mile from the downtown. I am not sure how oft it is observed what with the downtown mostly quiet these days. But I took note of it many times when I was in town. It looks very similar to one in Island Park in the Go. I recall another lonely monument in Washington DC. A WWI monument that sits on the edge of the Mall. Not sure if it gets much atten...

Happy Thanksgiving. In the midst of the Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln had the nation set aside the 4th Thursday in November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Thus began the modern version of the holiday still celebrated on the the 4th Thursday of November. Of course there were Thanksgivings long before 1863. The one we most look back towards is the 3 day feast at the Plymouth Plantation in 1621. We love the pilgrim epic. But I still don't get why they wore their belts on their hats! There are 2 other contenders for the 1st Thanksgiving: one in St. Augustine, FL in 1532 and another near Jamestown, VA at Berkley Hundred in 1619. Neither of these make the childrens' books. What began as a sacred state sanctioned holiday has over the many years become secularized or at the very least the prayer and praise part have fallen into disuse. Henry Ironside once said "We would worry less if we prais...