Dead Wake by Erik Larson - October Book Club Online

[Shelby girl]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome.

October Book Club Online

Dead Wake
by Erik Larson

"Few tales in history are more haunting, more tangled with investigatory mazes or more fraught with toxic secrets than that of the final voyage of the Lusitania, one of the colossal tragedies of maritime history. It’s the other Titanic, the story of a mighty ship sunk not by the grandeur of nature but by the grimness of man." - ~ New York Times.

DISCUSSION SCHEDULE:

Week 1: to "Lusitania a Cavalcade of Passengers" p.89
Week 2: to "Lusitania: Helpful Young Ladies: p.191
Week 3: to "All Points Rumor p. 279
Week 4: to end p.353

For Your Consideration:

-The Titanic disaster (the White Star Line) at sea was in 1912, the Lusitania in 1915 (the Cunard Shipping Co.)

1-Which of these two disasters are you more familiar with?  Did you know much about the Lusitania before beginning this book?

2-Have you ever been on a luxury liner?   A submarine?

3-The ship burned 1000 tons of coal a day into 192 furnaces.  Can you imagine that?  Do any of you remember having a load of coal brought to your home and deposited into the coal cellar?

4-What was the blue riband and why  is it important to the story?

5-Have you read much about President Woodrow Wilson?  If so, what sticks in your mind about him?

6-"there existed a widespread, if naive, belief that war.......had become obsolete-the  economies of nations were so closely connected with one another that even if a war were to begin, it would end quickly.  Capital flowed across borders."    What did you think when you read this statement?   
 
7-In his orders concerning submarines, Kaiser Wilhelm stated, "Mistakes would happen.................the commander will not be made responsible."   What would be the result of this statement?
 
8-Do you believe in "sucking tubes?"

9-Charles Lauriat was bringing invaluable items to London - would you have loaned him a rare book such as the Charles Dickens book?


 

"It took more persistance than I thought, but I finally found it: dead wake is "the trail of a fading disturbance in the water"- PATH

Discussion Leaders:  Ella & JoanK

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Hi, I'm Marie Nelson.  I'm the proud mom of David Simpson (see above.) He invited me to read this book and enter the discussions.  I'm a retired elementary school teacher.  I've lived in seven different states, and really enjoy learning about the areas of our country.  I also love history, so the October book will be right up my alley.

[DavidSimpson]

Welcome, Mom!

[Halcyon]

Welcome aboard David's Mom!  This is a great discussion group. Different backgrounds make for lively discussions. Enjoy.

[BarbStAubrey]

Welcome David and Shelby Girl - you'll enjoy this group of readers - Ella always does a wonderful job with History, one of her favorite subjects and JoanK is versatile with many genre's - Looking forward to reading your posts as you add to our discussion.

David have you had an opportunity to visit the places in the world where the languages you are familiar with are spoken?

Shelby Girl when you were teaching elementary school what class age was closest to your heart and did you specialize in any one field of study?

Something tells me you chose Shelby girl from the name of Shelby County - here in Texas we have a Shelby County named after the first Governor of Texas after Texas joined the Union - however, there is a Shelby County in Tennessee. Do you live in either area?

I have not yet received my book - Ella is the list of passengers included in the book?

[DavidSimpson]

Barb -- thanks, I'll be looking forward to it.  I'm guessing we start on October 1?

Every year the World Esperanto Association (UEA) holds its annual Congress in a different country, so attending the Congresses gives you an opportunity to see a lot of the world.  This year's Congress was in France; next year it will be in Slovakia, and in 2017 it will be in South Korea.  I've gone to three of these Congresses so far, in Italy, Japan, and Iceland.  We speak Esperanto all week, but I also make an effort to learn some of the local language so I can talk to the local people.

[Shelby girl]

Welcome aboard David's Mom!  This is a great discussion group. Different backgrounds make for lively discussions. Enjoy.

Barb, I was actually born in a little town in Ohio.  I taught mostly first grade, but taught other grades, too: preschool through sixth grade.  I liked third grade best.

[PatH]

Welcome, David and Shelby girl.  David, I don't see how you can possibly fit so much in your life, but I'm glad you can find time for us.  What was Icelandic like?

Shelby girl, do you want us to call you that, or do you prefer Marie?  (Not that we'll be consistant, whichever you say.).  This is a good book to start with.

Yes, I think we start the1st, and we divide a book up in chunks and talk about one chunk at a time.  The divisions are listed in the heading on the first page.

[BarbStAubrey]

David I need to tell my youngest grandson about this - he has been bound and determined to learn street Chinese and Mandarin - lived in China twice - once for a summer in 2013 and then the second time 2015 for half of his Junior year plus the summer - now he thinks he would like to learn several languages - his major is B.A. Global Studies and Peace, War, and Defense - with a Minor in Entrepreneurship - not sure what he wants to do upon graduation but he is thinking the more languages he knows the more locations in the world he can explore.

David when you attend a conference how long do you stay in the area - do you get to explore on your own - do you have a group of folks from the organization who you talk with regularly using today's technology? When you say France is the conference in Paris or in another location in France?

Shelby girl - Ohio - for goodness sake - For 12 years back in the late 50s and early 60s lived across the river in Kentucky - remember visiting Dayton and of course Cincinnati and Chillicothe where just north we turned east to the old Pennsylvania Turnpike when we visited some of our family still living in the east.

Third grade as I remember was such a cusp year - no longer little and not yet big - back when... it was the year you memorized your multiplication tables - wonder if they even still do that any longer - but then, there is this new math that I never did learn.

My daughter-in-law is an elementary school gym teacher - she has so much fun -  monthly she brings in some well known sports figure to meet with the students and put them through a set of paces that is part of their personal routine - from Houston Football players to baseball players to professional golf, and Tennis on and on. She teaches in an elementary school in the Woodlands. 

Both her sisters are teachers - one a science teacher here in Austin and during the summer at the UT Marine Science Institute down at Port Aransas and the other is an art teacher in San Antonio, both teach High School.

Yep, teachers coming out of our ears because my Daughter is also a teacher at a Henderson County High School in NC and both my sisters were collage professors, now retired.

OK now did you teach in Ohio or were you living in other areas? First grade - the beginning - I would not even know what they learn any longer because even my grandboys no longer read about Dick and Jane - do they come into the first grade knowing how to read the basics since most youngsters now attend some sort of pre-school?

I wonder among the passengers if there were any teachers on the Lusitania - I doubt other than the possibility of a collage professor since at the time most states were only beginning to require that youngsters stay in school - seems to me I remember looking that up not long ago and Massachusetts was the first state to require school attendance at around the time of the Civil War where as the Southern states did not require school attendance till around the time of the sinking of the Lusitania and so I cannot see a teacher having the funds to make such a journey. I wonder what a passage cost?

[DavidSimpson]

Icelandic was very difficult.  I only learned a few words and phrases to get by, but I think it's only good manners to at least make some effort to learn the local language when you're in another country.  I did a little better with Italian and Japanese - there's more learning material available.

This was the year of the 100th Esperanto congress, and it was held in Lille, France -- a location chosen to be near the location of the first congress, which was held in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1905.  The congress lasts one week, and consists of lectures, workshops, plays, concerts, movies, etc., all held entirely in Esperanto.  All week long there are also guided tours going on, with Esperanto-speaking tour guides.  If you like, there are optional additional tours going on the week before and the week after the congress, so you could extend your sightseeing to up to three weeks.  Typically there are about 2000 people going to these each year.  Esperanto is designed to be especially easy to learn, so it's an excellent first foreign language to study.

[PatH]

I think it's only good manners to at least make some effort to learn the local language when you're in another country.

I wish everybody felt that way.  It doesn't take that much to learn "please" and "thank you", some numbers, and a few key phrases, and it shows some respect for your hosts.

[JoanK]

SHELBY: WELCOME WELCOME! I know you'll enjoy our group. And check out our ongoing discussions --we discuss every book from mysteries to histories. Just click on the down arrow in the line "jump to" at the bottom of the page to get a list.

DAVID. I agree. I lived in Israel for a while, and knew Americans who had lived there for years and didn't know a word of Hebrew. They lived in a cocoon of other English speakers, and made no attempt to be part of the society where they lived. So they were unaware of all the resentment and anti-American feeling (unfair, since they were the minority) they fed.

We Americans are really behind when it comes to other languages. You are the exception among Americans. Almost everyone I've met from other countries is fairly fluent in several languages. Esperanto is such a good idea! How great it would be if everyone had a common language.

[JoanK]

The discussion schedule is at the top of the page. Starting Thursday, we'll discus pp. 1-88 (up to the start of "A Cavalcade of Passengers.") We won't be boarding quite yet, we have to meet all the characters in this drama and get the ship ready.

Discussion questions will also be posted. They're just to stir the pot. Ignore them if they don't interest you: we talk about anything and everything.

[Ella Gibbons]

WELCOME DAVID!  We're so happy to have you aboard and your Mom, hopefully!  The ship, this luxury liner, is in dock at New York and anxious to begin the journey.

So are we!  Tomorrow, or tonight, we'll have questions in the heading to help our discussion along.

 

[Ella Gibbons]

Oh, I just saw Marie's post - David's Mom - I missed it earlier.   Welcome, Marie! 

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/esperanto.htm

David, I'm totally ignorant of the language.  If you wanted to correspond you would need an entirely new keyboard, correct?

[Ella Gibbons]

THE SHIP IS IN THE HEADING, ISN'T SHE LOVELY!  NOTICE THE FOUR FUNNELS - they are important in our story.

[Ella Gibbons]

Beautiful photos of the ship:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/galleries/dark-secrets-of-the-lusitania-photos/at/unlucky-lusitania-56098/

[ANNIE]

Welcome David and Shelby Girl, its so nice to have new members join in our book discussions.  Hope you both enjoy our many posts.

David, I thought that I remembered that Esperanza was supposed to be the language for the whole world?  Is that wrong?  I seem to remember is being discussed when introduced to the world in the 1950's on our PBR station at Purdue University?  No?

Shelby Girl, I live in Gahanna, OH and was best friends with a first grade teacher of Gahanna and Columbus but she retired 16 years ago and now lives in Charleston, WV. We do keep in touch often.  We were neighbors for 18 years so we have a lots to memories.

Barb, my great-grandfather was born in Weurtemburg-Baden in the Black Forest and came here in the 1850's.  He left Germany to escape the typhoid fever epidemic.  He met my great-grandmother aboard the ship and they married in Hamilton, OH in 1857.  I see that on his naturalization papers he had to give up his allegiance to the King of his German area?Anyway, he and his wife settled in Jackson county, Union City area, in Indiana.  They had huge farm plus many other acres of planted fields.  They had 6 children and my grandfather was one of them.  Born in Indiana, he married an Irish lass and they lived in Knightstown and ?

I have my book and have read the first assigned pages but my repeat my read as we have been out of town and I am not remembering what I read.  See ya'll tomorrow. 

[BarbStAubrey]

Ha it was just the opposite because my grandmother married an Irish lad... in the 1890s.

[JoanK]

HI ANNIE. great you're with us! We may keep you busy: we may need a nurse on this voyage!

WOW! What a difference! from seeing the ship sinking to seeing her in all her glory! No wonder so many believed she would be safe.

[DavidSimpson]

Ella -- The Esperanto alphabet has 28 letters.  It is the English alphabet, minus the letters q, w, x, y, plus six new letters:  ĉ ĝ ĥ ĵ ŝ ŭ.  You don't really need a new keyboard -- software like Accent Composer will make the accented letters for Esperanto and a number of other languages.  I use it in the SeniorLearn Latin courses to make the long vowels ā ē ī ō ū.

Adoannie -- Yes, Esperanto is designed to be an international language.  The idea is to have it as a common second language for everyone, so people around the world will be able to communicate.  Nobody knows how many speakers there are today -- probably roughly 100,000 or so.  It's particularly easy to learn.  I learned from books about 40 years ago, but today there are Web sites where you can learn it, like www.lernu.net and www.duolingo.com .

[Ella Gibbons]

Thanks, David, and Welcome Ann!

We are a bit late in starting our discussion today; our questions will soon be in the heading.  While we are waiting let's talk about the book in general.  Have you read other Erik Larson books?  Does it disturb you or your reading to see the differing views of the incident, each chapter being from the German side and the side of the British and Americans?  The modern way of writing, I'm sure it has a name???

Also, there's a rumor that a Vanderbilt is wandering around on the ship.  What do you know of the Vanderbilt fortune? 

[JoanP]

Good morning, Ella, JoanK and all of you!  How exciting to have a mother and son team joining in this discussion.  I may be wrong, but I think it's a first.
How fun for both of you. Marie! 

I know the questions  for us to consider on the opening chapters of the book will be up momentarily.  Until then, I want to thank you for keeping a deck chair for me...the blanket and pillow an unexpected extra.
I'll add a few preliminary quesitons of my own...
1. WHY?
2. WHY?
3. Why?
4. Why?

Why would anyone book a cruise into a war zone during this time...without a really compelling reason?
Why was the warning from the Germans disregarded - that the Lusitania would be sailing into harm's way? I'd have eaten my ticket if I had heard that! 
Why would anyone dare to take infants and toddlers to sea at this time?   
*Why was Dead Wake chosen for discussion - after all this time?  Why did Erik Larson write it?*

* Duh.  It didn't take long to answer quesiton #4.  Just noticed the date of the disaster - May 8, 2015.  The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania on May 8, 1915.  I don't remember much said about this back in May, but apparently there were many survivors or relatives of survivors who remembered the date.  Probably more books published as well. 

  His Devil in the White City was written in a similar way, alternating chapters from the viewpoint of the architect of the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer in the story. 

Thanks for bringing the book to our attention, Ella!

[Jonathan]

Of course it's nice to know that we have a nurse to go to if we should get seasick, but that's not likely travelling first class on a liner like the Lusitania. Perhaps in economy, near the boilers, but not at midship high above the water. My last crossing was so violent I vowed never again. It was in one of those early sailing vessels, in midwinter and it was so stormy we spent all our time on our knees in prayer, or dying  in our bunks. I believe it was in 1648. It's all written up in the book Puritan Adventure, I believe. I must still have it somewhere in the house. And I just remembered that other crossing on the Ship of Fools. That was fun. Who was our captain? Was it Ginny?

I cannot for the life of me understand the title Dead Wake. The cover of my book has the most glorious view of a ship's wake lit up by a rising sun. That's probably the view from one of the first class suites. Very likely Alfred Vanderbilt's. Must get to know him. A most charming fellow, I've heard.

All in all it's a glittering passenger list. What a pleasure to be part of it. I'm looking forward, David, to having you teach me some Esperanto. Learning a new language is an experience. I chose Yiddish when I retired, first several years of evening classes at the shul, and then three years at college. A Hebrew alphabet, reading from right to left, beginning at the back of the book...! And what a mavellous literature the yiddish writers produced in a hundred years.

But we're all coming aboard with the wildest anticipations no doubt.

[BarbStAubrey]

A thought - prior to and during WWI the highest percentage of folks in the USA were of German heritage - the Kaiser had a reputation as being a Peacemaker - at least here in North American as compared to the German history in Africa.

We know that the end of the nineteenth century a European nation's prestige was measured by the number of and wealth extracted from colonial holdings. Germany was very late in the game and they were ruthless to the point of a genocide in German South West Africa - Germany was about increasing its prestige and when the Kaiser dismissed Bismark before the turn of the century it fell to the Kaiser to direct the climb to power.

There were still many small principalities and nation states within the area we call Germany today even after Bismark, a Prussian, through wars unified many of the German states. For generations the attitude about Prussia was it was always a waring state, that its sole national wealth was the export of its well trained soldiers. As Prussia and a few other areas became one during the nineteenth century this new Germany had other ways of growing its economy however the military mindset was in-bedded in the Prussian psyche.

There was an explosion in births in Europe during the nineteenth century and Germany not only wanted its place at the head table among the powers of Europe it needed more land to accommodate the needs of its growing population. Also Germany felt humiliated that so many of its citizens as compared to the other European powers chose to migrate to the US. A further reason to make their mark at the head table.

However, America did not see this affecting them - the Monroe Doctrine was still highly recognized and most Americans had little to no knowledge of European politics especially, how Germany colonized Africa. Even the Boxer War was something that did not alter their nostalgic view of Germany.   

With the high percentage of German people in the US they did not think Germany would attack even a British ship since William Howard Taft spoke of the Kaiser as the "single greatest force in the practical maintenance of peace in the world" and in tributes to the Kaiser emphasis was made about his love of England and his deep attachment to Queen Victoria, his grandmother.

And so with the thinking of the times I can see passengers on the Lusitania did not take any warning seriously and why the shock was greater than just the ship's integrity not holding up and sinking.

[PatH]

Jonathan, were you with us when we crossed part of the Pacific in a small boat, reading The Mutiny on HMS Bounty?

I've actually really crossed the Atlantic in a Cunard Line ship--in 1958, after a year in Switzerland, where my husband had a postdoctorate fellowship, we returned on the Queen Mary.  It was hardly luxurious, though.  We were in tourist class, and a plan I saw of the ship showed our cabin was even smaller than most.  And not a grouse moor anywhere!  But the only disaster was a crossing so rough that most of the passengers were seasick most of the time.  I'm pretty resistant, but the dining room was fairly empty.

[PatH]

It took more persistance than I thought, but I finally foound it: dead wake is "the trail of a fading disturbance in the water"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms#D

I'm traveling, or I could have just looked in Chapman.

[serenesheila]

Count me in.  I am in the middle of reading our first assignment.  I am amazed that so many people were willing to book passage from the USA, to Europe at that time.  I wonder if future passages had fewer passengers buy tickets?

Sheila

[PatH]

So here it's the dying trace of Lusitania as she sinks.

[PatH]

Hi, Shiela, we were posting at the same time.  Glad you're on board.  I bet there were a lot fewer.  I sure wouldn't book passage after that.

[Ella Gibbons]

JOANP!   Nice to have you aboard!  And your questions are so relevant, yes, why would anyone chance a trip across the Atlantic to a war zone?  But we have hindsight.  These passengers all had reasons to believe it would be a safe journey - a luxury passenger ship.

As BARBARA explained in her post most Americans had little knowledge of foreign affairs and the German Kaiser, if they had read about him, was related to  English royalty.  Great post, thanks for the history, Barbara

Neither can I, JONATHAN, understand Larson's title to this book.  I mean, COME ON, who is going to choose a book to read with this title!  Who understands what it is?  I don't know and I've read the whole book, almost twice.  If I had not known Larson, I doubt I would have picked it up.  Great to have you with us.

And PATH has been on a Cunard ship.  YEAH!   She can tell us about it, weren't you given a tour of the ship?   Didn't you see the first class, the dining rooms, etc.? 

Thanks for your comments, we will be up and running soon!

[Ella Gibbons]

Oh, good, SHEILA, is joining us.  I know I would be fearful of buying a ticket to cross in the future, but then I'm rather a homebody to begin with.  So glad you are with us.

And PATH found the interpretation of the title - here it is again:

[dead wake is "the trail of a fading disturbance in the water"


Now, that is sad!

[Ella Gibbons]

Thanks for all your comments, folks.  Let's hear from some of the other passengers onboard! Can you tell us about the following:

The Titanic disaster (the White Star Line) at sea was in 1912, the Lusitania in 1915 (the Cunard Shipping Co.)

Which of these two disasters are you more familiar with?  Did you know much about the Lusitania before beginning this book?

Pat has been on a luxury liner, even though it was not first class, but what about a submarine? Ever toured one?   Anyone?

[JoanK]

I too crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary (not at the same time as PatH, in 1962). I don't want to burst anyone's bubble but I don't have glamorous memories. I don't know if the passengers in first class were seasick, but JONATHAN is right; we were down "near the boilers". I'm fortunate in having a strong stomach, but there were times when I was almost the only person in the dining room for meals, and some poor green-faced waiter had to be rousted out to serve me. The food almost wasn't worth it: it was terrible.

It was December, and the weather was bad the whole time, so we couldn't go on deck. When my husband wasn't being sick, we spent the time playing Scrabble with another couple.

I didn't get the grand Tour then, but I did 45 years later. The Queen Mary is now docked in Long Beach, California. When we moved out here, I took a historical tour of the ship. When he learned I had sailed in her, the guide took me to meet the current Captain.

Of course, the tour centered on first class (which is gorgeous) and the famous and glamorous people who sailed on her. We saw Churchill's suite, fitted up for his specifications (including an extra wide, extra strong chair, if I remember) and heard about movie stars escapades. Another world. It is now a hotel, and you can stay overnight in one of the staterooms. There is also a ghost tour, featuring all the ghosts who are said to haunt the ship.

[PatH]

There was no way the class-conscious British were going to let us peons into first class.  When I was on the Queen, a friend of my father's was sailing in first class, and they wouldn't let me go in to see him.  When I went over, on the America, a friend of JoanK's was in first class, and it wasn't hard to see her.

[Ella Gibbons]

Oh, what fun memories!   We have Jonathan traveling the sea in (what's this 1648?) hahahaaa and then we have Pat in 1958, Joan in 1962.  Hadn't either of you  heard of airplanes, or did you just want to be miserable! 

Nevertheless sailing the ocean blue in a luxury liner is on my bucket list.  However isn't it frightening to look out - over - and see nothing but water?  Water you can't control?   On a ship you are not in control of?  I think I'll cross it off my list.  Never was comfortable on or in the ocean.

I crossed over in a plane, with wings, and never looked down.

 Songs our passengers were listening to or singing back in the day, so take a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU5auHNTX2w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFruHQJeaRg

[BarbStAubrey]

Yep, Do any of you remember having a load of coal brought to your home and deposited into the coal cellar? only we called it the coal bin and the men used a burlap sack cut open on the long side and at the top - that they then used the uncut corner on their head with the opened sack hanging down their back. They filled up the opened burlap cape with coal to carry it and then dump it down a shoot into the bin. Growing up that was my job to take care of the fire - put fresh coal in before school and stir it up opening the damper a bit and then in the evening shake it down and put more coal on and close the dampers to a slit. Every other day shovel up the cinder ashes that were shaken down and put them in a bucket that at the end of the week my father usually spread them in the front where today there would be a sidewalk. Kept the mud down.

[Ella Gibbons]

Yes, a coal cellar door in the back - I don't remember the details, BARBARA, that you do, but you see those doors on old houses at times. 

192 furnaces on the Lusitania, 1000 tons of coal a day!!!  Think of the labor involved!  300 stokers, trimmers, and firemen, working 100 per shift to feed the boilers; they were called the 'black gang' because of the coal dust which enveloped their bodies.  I don't imagine they were compensated for inhaling all that coal dust either.

Did the book tell us how many hours a shift was and did the men all have beds or did they use the same ones a shift?  Questions, questions come to mind.

Let's hear your questions and comments!

[JoanK]

you have a good memory, BARB. As a child, did you feel proud of the responsibility, or just cold and sleepy?

How many of those sacks must have been dumped to fill the Lusitania! The numbers are staggering!

I wonder how many people it took, overall, to get her going, including dozens that the passengers never saw!

I wonder if the method of storing coal will help or hinder her when she is struck? It's supposed to help.

And I noticed that Cunard learned from the Titanic disaster, and had many more lifeboats. (but of course the economy passengers got a cheaper kind).

[BarbStAubrey]

It just was - there were lots of jobs we did - I was the one who went shopping and brought the monthly check to the bank from the time I was about 5 - in fact I have a funny story - my Mom was pregnant and in those days you did not go out in public once you were showing - plus my sister was not yet 3 and was napping.

Mom needed me to pickup 5 things at the grocery and there was a nearby grocery only 4 streets away so I did not have to walk on any street where there could be traffic - well the lady who owned and ran the store was Italian with no English - she was old and could not read or speak English - I had not yet started school and could not read - so mom could not write a note which was my usual way to shop - I had to memorize the 5 things and mom tried to make it easy by using our fingers with each finger standing for an item and then she made connections to how we ate or other ways to remember -

It was mid-summer and as I am walking out the door she stuck an umbrella under my arm - that was to help me remember salt since the salt box had a little girl with an umbrella. Earlier the memory tick was, we always put the salt on our potatoes and we needed (yes I still remember) we needed 3 potatoes - my sister and I would share one - the pound of liverwurst was an easy one to remember and a half pound of butter- that was easy for me because I liked seeing the grocers cut the butter out of that big wooden tub on its side in the glass windowed cold space, the tub must have held 30 to maybe even 50 pounds of butter - I was fascinated how they always after cutting weighed it and it came out almost exact no matter how much you asked for - and the pinky was one onion that was cooked with the potatoes.

Well...! I forgot the salt - my mother could not believe I forgot the salt - I went over my fingers and knew I forgot something - worried all the way home knowing I forgot something - did not even remember the umbrella that was tucked under my arm the entire time -

Got home slamming the door behind me with my foot announcing I had forgotten something - Mama looked in the sack to see what I had remembered then put her head back and was aghast - how could I forget the salt - I remembered the potatoes and did I not realize we put salt on potatoes - I remembered the onion and the butter - how did I think we were going to eat the potato and fried liverwurst without salt for the potato. You had the umbrella to remember - Mama out-loud could not understand how could I forget the very thing with her giving me another way to remember. Of course half of this was said in German - the half sentence that still rings - Sie haben den Schirm zu remember - so we had German, English, fingers, an umbrella, Italian but no note all involved in this endeavor.

So of course I went back - this time without the umbrella because by now there was enough of an issue made of my forgetting the salt that to this day I can remember the scene exactly.

And to top it off to this day if I write down a list I forget the list or if I bring the list I get confused - if I cannot memorize it - then forget it - even shopping for a big celebration meal like Thanksgiving - it was all committed to memory.

I laugh everytime I think of this - learned early that communication is not always easy and hahaha so much angst over a box of Morton Salt.

[Jonathan]

"dead wake is "the trail of a fading disturbance in the water"

Thanks for finding that information, Pat. But I'm more puzzled than ever. Far from fading into still waters, the sunken Lusitania had consequences that made it a memorable part of WWI. It helped to define the ruthless enemy. Germany must have lost a lot of support among the neutrals. After that, throughout the century, civilian deaths were calculated into military strategies and objectives. London and the Blitz. The Dresden Inferno. Hiroshima nuked.

On the other hand, what can we make of the association of the Titanic and Lusitania disasters? One caused by the Germans. The other? Thomas Hardy wrote an interesting poem on the subject: 'The Convergence of the Twain.' A very sinister sort of thing with a higher power disturbed by the human vanity that went into the building of the Titanic. Here are some lines:

'And as the smart ship grew/ In stature, grace, and hue,/ In  shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too.

'Alien they seemed to be:/ No mortal eye could see / The intimate welding of their later history./

Some so-called "Spinner of the Years" has decided to teach man a lesson. Bragging about his unsinkable ship. And so many innocent people had to die.

Barb, your umbrella story, or 'Schirm story', reminded me of a funny story that came up in a Yiddish class many years ago. The poets in Odessa were having a convention. In walked a Jewish man with an umbrella and asked if someone could repair it for him.He had asked in the street for the whereabouts of a schirmmacher and had been directed to the conventioneers. It's understandable if you know that shirim in Hebrew means poems. They were known by some to be shirim (pl) machers (makers).