Do We Learn From History?

Maybe more so if we studied it.

As is standard procedure, I was reading a book and the other day I came across the two paragraphs which I have included below. Not only did it strike me that what was written was about the struggles we have been and still do face in this country concerning middle class, balance of power, money corruption to influence society and political decisions, etc., but also that one might ask when was this written?

Was this book written about events occurring in 2013? How about 1913? 1813? Let me tell you this. The book was written in 1891 by A.T. Jones, titled – The Two Republics. But, the real shocker in this is that this is describing the struggles taking place in 146 B.C.

What do we learn from history?

And as these two classes were constantly growing farther apart, – the rich growing richer and the poor, poorer, – there ceased to be any middle class to maintain order in government and society by holding the balance of power. There remained only the two classes, the rich and the poor, and of these the rich despised the poor and the poor envied the rich. And there were always plenty of men to stir up the discontent of the masses, and present schemes for the reorganization of society and government.

Some of these were well meaning men, men who really had in view the good of there fellow-men, but the far greater number were mere demagogues, – ambitious schemers who used the discontent of the populace only to lift themselves into the places of wealth and power which they envied others, and which, when they had secured, they used as selfishly and as oppressively as did any of those against whom they clamored. But whether they were well meaning men or demagogues, in order to hold the populace against the persuasions and bribes of the wealthy, they were compelled to make promises and concessions, which were only in the nature of larger bribes and which in the end were as destructive of free government as the worst acts of the Senate itself.

New-Science Wildlife Scientists Available For Free Download

Dear Readers:

After composing the seven-part series, “New-Science Wildlife Scientists: Creations of Wellington House”, I took the time to neatly (with a little editing) put the seven parts into one 19-page document. It is now available at Tom Remington’s E-Book Library as a FREE download – available in 3 formats (PDF, TXT, and ODT).

Please visit this page and get your copy as well as share it with other people.

Tom Remington Releases Second Book

I have finally released my new book and it is available in ebook only at this time. Follow this link for information about the book and your options for purchasing a copy.

The new book is titled, “Nobody in Their Right Mind Should Want to be an Innkeeper”. The content of this book may surprise some as most readers here know me to write mostly about hunting and other outdoor issues. In a prior life, my wife and I spent several years in the hospitality industry, owning our own bed and breakfast to top motel and hotel management. This book is very much a humorous and sometimes shocking diary of many events we experienced over those years.

Below is what is written in the book under “About the Book”. Follow the link and you can also read the Foreword and about 21 pages of an excerpt from the book.

About the Book:

It seems that for so many times I would gather with friends and family and inevitably the topic of conversation would end up being a storytelling session of all the whacky things that happened over the course of years of being in the business of inn keeping and hotel and motel management. The reactions I got ranged from shock to uncontrolled laughter.

As much as I would find pleasure in making people laugh, for certain, friends would always say, “You really need to write a book!”

And so, here it is. I left the hospitality industry nearly a decade ago, and haven’t regretted it, and it has taken that long to get this book together. Working on it in fits and starts I believe has been instrumental in crafting what I hope to be a masterpiece that, not unlike the hours of sitting around the kitchen table or open fire, I can cause people to pause in shock or laugh out loud, for that is my intent.

Too often the nonsensical dreams of wannabe inn keepers, clouds the realities of what may lie before them. I had no such chimera as my fantasies more resembled those of nightmares. I’m not sure that I can say the same for my wife as is displayed in the opening sentence.

In my storytelling, my wife has often remarked that to her it appeared all “these weird things happen to you”. Without fail my response has been that these “weird” things happen to everyone. It’s just that not everyone pays attention to what’s going on around them.

I have paid attention and I hope that I have been able to present those observations in an entertaining fashion worthy of your time. I am not one to write in adult or cursing language, however there are, on rare occasions expletives to be found that become only necessary because I am quoting someone and I feel it necessary to maintain the moment.

To all those people who have ever thought of and seriously considered becoming an innkeeper, the authenticity of that lifestyle might be more than you had bargained for.

This book is not a “how to” get started in the inn keeping profession but it contains a lot of valuable information, based on experience, than can be useful to anyone in this business or interested in jumping in. It helps to give those with such thoughts a better understanding what the commitment actually means. It’s not all roses and demands a special person.

Anyone who has been an innkeeper, a hotel or motel manager or employee, should read this book. They will find themselves in it and can relate. For anyone who has ever stayed at a bed and breakfast, inn, hotel, motel, etc., you might just find out I’m writing about you.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Odd Perspective on Hunting, Storytelling and Grizzly Bears

Some time ago, some good friends bought me a book for my birthday. The book is called, “Theodore Roosevelt on Hunting“. And shamefully I must say I am just getting around to reading it.

As is the case most often, we as Americans tend to idolize past iconic figures. I suppose each of us has our own individual perspective on Theodore Roosevelt, but most of us are guilty of placing people like him on a level perhaps a bit above being a normal human being, capable of errors, poor decision making and having faults. When we take the time to read personal writings that include accounts of his life, it does offer us a chance to see someone in a different context than the one history has painted for us. Teddy Roosevelt was only human and as much as one might or might not enjoy his storytelling, it seems that he had some unusual views on others who told stories and what I would say was a near bizarre concept about the grizzly bear.

Early on in his book, Roosevelt writes about hunting grizzly bears. He begins by recalling some of his own experiences with hunting the big bears; interesting enough. But then he gets into an odd sort of protective proclamation about grizzly bears and how they have been wrongly labeled as vicious by exaggerated storytelling but then uses his own storytelling (exaggerated?) to label the bears as vicious, still claiming them not to be.

One of the last grizzly bear hunting stories of his own personal account he tells us is of a time when having shot at and wounded a bear, it turned on him. Roosevelt then goes on to write:

This is the only instance in which I have been regularly charged by a grisly. On the whole, the danger of hunting these great bears has been much exaggerated.

I’m not sure I understand what he means by “regularly charged”. I’m still pondering that.

Roosevelt justifies his claim that grizzly bears aren’t dangerous to hunt by telling readers that, “At the beginning of the present century”, (that would be early 1800s) grizzly bears were an “exceedingly savage beast” that would attack a man “without provocation” and that was because there didn’t exist the modern equipment that Roosevelt was using, which has evidently taught the bear to run in the other direction. Roosevelt describes it as: “he[grizzly] has learned to be more wary than a deer, and to avoid man’s presence almost as carefully as the most timid kind of game.”

But did it really teach the bear to run instead of charge or was this merely Roosevelt’s perspective of the temperament of a grizzly bear that, for whatever the reasons, he felt compelled to project?

In his book, Roosevelt pretty much appoints himself as an expert on grizzly bear hunting and behavior while doing his very best to discredit anyone’s grizzly bear story that he might not agree with.

Hence men of limited experience in this sport, generalizing from the actions of the two or three bears each has happened to see or kill, often reach diametrically opposite conclusions as to the fighting temper and capacity of the quarry. Even old hunters – who indeed, as a class, are very narrow-minded and opinionated – often generalize just as rashly as beginners.

I wonder if, in Roosevelt’s elitist mind, obviously placing himself in a class of hunter above all others, he felt the same way toward those “narrow-minded old hunters”, when he became one? He obviously didn’t recognize himself to already be one.

Not only, it appears, has Teddy Roosevelt appointed himself the lone grizzly bear hunting expert, he lays claim to be the only one qualified to tell a hunting story. In the thirty pages that Roosevelt appropriates for telling his grizzly bear hunting stories, ten of those pages he dedicates to ballooning his own self-importance with his self-proclaimed authority on grizzly bears and dumping on anyone else with a grizzly bear story to tell I assume because they were not as intelligent as he was.

But oddly, which brought me to audible laughter while reading this chapter, Roosevelt takes 20 pages to retell all the grizzly bear stories he has heard and they are all about hunters being attacked by grizzly bears; some of those attacks being unprovoked. And if that isn’t enough, he also tells tales of humans not hunting and being attacked by grizzly bears unmolested. I guess whether a grizzly bear story is exaggerated or not or tells of grizzlies being vicious or not depends on who is spinning the yarn.

I suppose how often people were attacked provoked or unprovoked back then was all relative and therefore, someone like Teddy Roosevelt could easily state that grizzly bears have no interest in attacking a human. He appears to have had some issues in dealing with “old hunters” and accepting stories or even companionship from some of the “outdoor men” of the time and region.

Don’t take me wrong. There is much in what Roosevelt writes that comes directly from his own experiences of what bears do during certain circumstances. This information was useful then and probably would be useful today if there was any grizzly hunting in the U.S. I wouldn’t, however, be too quick to disregard the other tales from the rugged outdoorsmen of the day. As tall as some of those tales might be, there is always a certain degree of truth in all of them.

I did find it interesting to discover this part of Roosevelt, what in my opinion appears to be a bit of haughtiness on his part – but wasn’t the bully Roosevelt a haughty person anyway?

Book: “The Legend of Grey Ghost” Now Available for Download and on Kindle

Many of you may already know that about 10 years ago my son and I coauthored a book called, “The Legend of Grey Ghost and Other Tales From the Maine Woods”. We sold quite a few hard cover and paper back copies but ran out of the print copies. With ebooks outselling print books, Steven and I have decided to make this great book available once again in ebook form.

If you will notice, at the top of TomRemington.com, on the menu bar, you will see, “Tom Remington’s EBook Sales“. If you click that link you will get information on “The Legend of Grey Ghost” as well as future books coming soon. The Legend can be purchased currently in two formats. At the bottom of the page, readers can click on the “BUY NOW” button. Through PayPal you will be able to purchase the book and download it to your computer hard drive. From there you can open and read the book or if you have other ebook reading devices, there are processes that exist to get this pdf version uploaded to those devices.

Or, you can follow the Amazon.com link and quickly and easily download “The Legend” to your Kindle.

Steven and I are excited about providing this opportunity for you. In addition, writing is underway and plans made for more ebooks coming soon. You don’t want to miss out.

Thank you.

Tom Remington