{"id":2679,"date":"2014-06-29T13:39:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-29T17:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/?p=2679"},"modified":"2015-10-31T22:25:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T02:25:25","slug":"ephemera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/ephemera\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephemera"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"samuel<\/a>Ephemera: Things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time; items of collectable memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.\u00a0 Recorded in English from the late 16th century as the plural of <\/em>ephemeron, from Greek, neuter of <\/em>eph\u0113meros \u2018lasting only a day\u2019. As a singular noun the word originally denoted a plant said by ancient writers to last only one day, or an insect with a short lifespan, and hence was applied (late 18th century) to a person or thing of short-lived interest. Current use has been influenced by plurals such as <\/em>trivia and <\/em>memorabilia.<\/em>1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Samuel Williston is often presented as an ever- and over-serious, deeply religious, hard-driven New England entrepreneur.\u00a0 Much of this is probably true \u2014though Samuel apparently worked hard at creating his own legend.\u00a0 (For a biographical essay, please read “The Button Speech<\/a><\/strong>.”)\u00a0 Occasionally we see glimpses of someone a bit more . . . well, human.<\/em>\u00a0 His grandson, also named Samuel Williston, recalled “That he had softer feelings than might have been guessed from his manner, was indicated by his toleration of young children about the house, as well as by his habit of feeding daily with his own hands the family cat.”2<\/sup><\/p>\n

So Sam was a cat-lover.\u00a0 But there was also at least one dog, a black Newfoundland named Major.\u00a0 We still have the great man’s dog license.\u00a0 Strictly speaking, Major belonged to the cotton mill.\u00a0 And the town clerk had the temerity to charge Sam two bucks\u00a0\u2014 about $30 in current terms \u2014 for the document.\u00a0 One wonders how many Easthampton residents would have paid this.<\/p>\n

\"Image6\"<\/a>Throughout his life, Samuel Williston kept a Memorandum Book in his office.\u00a0 It is a fascinating and valuable document \u2014 certainly warranting future exploration on this blog.\u00a0 It is full of business records, plans for improving water power for the mills and for expanding the Congregational Church, and much more.\u00a0 On a less lofty level, the following notes are inside the back cover:<\/p>\n

\"Image1\"<\/a>Apparently Sam thought he had a weight problem.\u00a0 So approximately once a month, beginning in May 1871, he had himself weighed on the factory’s shipping scales.\u00a0 By August 1872, he’d lost 32 pounds.\u00a0 Sadly, like many of us, he had trouble keeping it off.<\/p>\n

\"Image2\"<\/a>Or imagine for a moment.\u00a0 It is Sunday morning.\u00a0 As they do every Sunday, Samuel and Emily Williston are attending services at the Payson (now Easthampton Congregational) Church, where, as befits the town’s leading citizen and the church’s principal benefactor, they are prominently seated in a front pew.\u00a0 As was the custom of the time, each member of the congregation has brought his own hymnal.\"Image3\"<\/a>The Archives retain two copies of Songs for the Sanctuary,<\/em> both with Samuel’s name — although in Emily’s handwriting.\"Image4\"<\/a>So \u2014 we’re still imagining \u2014 the collection plate is being passed.\u00a0 Sam reaches for his wallet \u2014 and discovers that he’s left it at home.\u00a0 Hurriedly, he nudges Emily, fishes the stub of a pencil from his coat pocket, and scrawls on the flyleaf of his hymnbook:\"Image5\"<\/a>Human!<\/p>\n

1<\/sup>The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2nd. ed.)<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/sup>Williston, Samuel, 1861-1963, Life and Law: an Autobiography (<\/em>Boston: Little, Brown, 1940); p. 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ephemera: Things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time; items of collectable memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.\u00a0 Recorded in English from the late 16th century as the plural of ephemeron, from Greek, neuter of eph\u0113meros \u2018lasting only a … Continue reading Ephemera<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[125,138,397],"tags":[337,5],"class_list":["post-2679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easthampton-history-2","category-founders","category-local-history","tag-ephemera","tag-samuel-williston"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2679"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2709,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2679\/revisions\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}