Month: March 2011

Fala: Franklin Roosevelt’s Presidential Pup

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President Franklin Roosevelt owned a variety of dogs throughout his life, but when he was elected president he needed one that wouldn’t misbehave. In 1940, FDR’s cousin gave him a Scottish Terrier for Christmas. FDR named the dog Fala and he became instantly popular with everyone in the White House. A few weeks after Fala arrived, he got sick to his stomach. The White House staff had become so fond of him that everyone gave the little dog too much food. After that, FDR ordered that only he would feed Fala and the dog got better. In order to receive his food, Fala first had to do tricks like shaking hands and begging, but he didn’t seem to mind as long as his master was there.

Fala was the president’s nearly constant companion. He met with important world leaders and was present when FDR signed the Atlantic Charter, which outlined the aims England and the U.S. had for World War II. He attended press conferences and was trained to shake hands so he could welcome important people to the White House. In the evening he helped FDR entertain guests, or sometimes he napped. The dog even slept in the president’s bedroom at night.

Fala’s popularity was not limited to FDR and the White House staff, however. Photographers loved taking pictures of the Scottie. Fan mail regularly arrived for him from people all over the country. He received more letters and certainly more compliments than most presidents. A book about Fala was written for his adoring fans. In it, Fala expressed his disappointment that the Secret Service would not allow him to attend his master’s third inauguration. Though both were sad when FDR passed away, Fala quickly became First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s companion.

 

Abigail Smith Adams–Future First Lady

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Girls in the eighteenth century were expected to learn household chores and the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The girls in the Smith family of Braintree Massachusetts, however, gained more knowledge than many of their friends. While they learned to sew and cook from their mother, they also had access to their father’s impressive library. Abigail, nicknamed Nabby, was especially eager to spend her spare time reading authors such as Shakespeare. Though her mother thought her daughter was wasting time on topics women did not need to know, Abigail’s father encouraged his daughter’s curiosity. He taught her not only to read literature and history, but also to ask questions about what she read.

In addition to reading, Abigail also spent hours writing. She learned to write by copying sentences in a notebook. Writing was one way that young girls at the time could communicate privately with friends, and Abigail took full advantage of the opportunity. She and her friends shared their everyday experiences and the crushes they had on boys as they wrote by candlelight. Abigail even practiced writing some letters in basic French, but did not learn Latin as many eighteenth century boys did.

Abigail’s curiosity made her unwilling to accept things simply because she was told they were true. She became skilled at debating various topics with her family—a skill she would later use in conversations with her husband John Adams about America’s relationship with Britain. One friend said to her during a debate, “Nabby, you will either make a very bad, or a very good woman.” As it turned out, Abigail’s skills made her the perfect partner for the man who would take a major role in starting the American Revolution.   

 

Creating The Great Library and Museum of Alexandria

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Alexander the Great established Greek rule in Egypt and founded the city that still bears his name today, Alexandria. After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., his close friend and army general Ptolemy I ruled Egypt. 

Ptolemy sought to create a learning center in Alexandria that would outdo any others in the ancient world. He tried with great success to acquire a copy of every text that existed. Some of these texts were supposedly stolen from ships docked at Alexandria. However they were acquired, each text was cataloged and placed in the library of Alexandria. Though no official number of texts exists, the library likely contained 100,000 scrolls or more. The number of texts made the library of Alexandria the largest of the ancient world. All of Homer’s works were kept there in addition to the works of ancient playwrights.

Next door to the library was the museum, which meant temple to the muses who were Greek goddesses of the arts and sciences. The greatest scholars in the world met there to exchange ideas. Unlike most scholars today, they didn’t worry about how they would make a living because the palace supplied them with money. 

The library and its museum was the site of many new discoveries. The sun was fixed at the center of the solar system, geometry was formed, the circumference of the earth was measured for the first time, constellations were mapped, and the brain was recognized as the source of human intelligence (previously intellect was thought to come from the heart). Unfortunately the library was destroyed, probably by fire, and many sources from the ancient world were lost forever.

 

 

 

The First Egyptian Pyramid

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Until the reign of the pharaoh Djoser in the Third Dynasty, the tombs of elite Egyptians were rectangular structures made of mud-brick. These tombs, called mastabas, included a burial chamber as well as a space for grave goods the tomb’s owner could use in the afterlife. Though mastabas may have been good enough for the early pharaohs, Djoser wanted his tomb to stand out among his predecessors. The task of planning a grander burial place for the pharaoh fell to his architect, Imhotep.

Imhotep’s design originally resembled a traditional mastaba, but from the start it had some important differences. For example, unlike the earlier rectangular mastabas, which were made of mud-brick, Imhotep planned a solid, square structure made of stone. The original mastaba was extended on all four sides, forming a two-stepped mastaba. Angling the bricks towards the center of the pyramid, the mastaba became the bottom step of a four-stepped pyramid. When the base was extended a final time, the six-step pyramid was complete. 

Djoser’s six-step pyramid stood almost 200 feet tall and was the tallest structure in Egypt until other pharaohs tried to outdo him with pyramids and monuments of their own. With its steps leading up to the heavens, the pyramid implied the pharaoh’s close connection to the Egyptian gods. By building the first pyramid, both Djoser and his architect Imhotep ensured their places in history as powerful and inventive men.

 To learn more about Egyptian pyramids and their builders, see Pyramids by Joyce Tyldesley.