{"id":581,"date":"2009-11-01T23:30:23","date_gmt":"2009-11-02T03:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/?p=581"},"modified":"2009-11-01T23:30:57","modified_gmt":"2009-11-02T03:30:57","slug":"a-genealogists-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nltaylor.net\/sketchbook\/archives\/581","title":{"rendered":"a genealogist’s Hallowe’en"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just an odd bit culled from the website of the Times<\/a><\/i> \u2014 \u00a0Robertson Davies, writing in 1990, reminded us that Hallowe’en should be a good time to “revive the custom of giving some respectful heed to our forbears:”<\/p>\n

[O]ur forbears are deserving of tribute for one indisputable reason, if for no other: without them we should not be here. Let us recognize that we are not the ultimate triumph but rather we are beads on a string. Let us behave with decency to the beads that were strung before us, and hope modestly that the beads that come after us will not hold us of no account merely because we are dead.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He didn’t mention All Souls’ Day at all \u2014 he was haranguing those whose holidays are marked at the drugstore, not a church; read the whole piece here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just an odd bit culled from the website of the Times \u2014 \u00a0Robertson Davies, writing in 1990, reminded us that Hallowe’en should be a good time to “revive the custom of giving some respectful heed to our forbears:” [O]ur forbears are deserving of tribute for one indisputable reason, if for no other: without them we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\na genealogist's Hallowe'en - 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