This is a four-page handwritten letter, written on lined three-hole-punch paper. And it\u2019s yet another letter where I\u2019m missing significant context. It starts out looking like just a set of quotations, but then it turns into something else. For more on that, see my comments after the letter.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n8 Nov. 1970, 1:00 a.m.<\/p>\r\n
Dear Parents \u2014\u2014 Happy Hanukkah, Already!<\/p>\r\n
Here are some stories:<\/p>\r\n
\u201cOn observing the Moon, Galileo saw mountains and craters. He even estimated the heights of Moon-mountains from their shadows. What he saw was unwelcome to many who had been taught that the Moon is a smooth round ball. Mountains and craters made the Moon earthy and broke the Aristotelians\u2019 sharp distinction between the rough, corruptible Earth and the polished unchangeable heavens. The telescope dealt a smashing blow to the old astronomy of perfect spheres and globes. Human beings are conservatives and do not like to have their settled opinions changed by a newcomer who proves he is right. Far from being pleased at being shown something new, they are angry to find their beliefs upset, particularly if those beliefs have been firmly established in childhood \u2014\u2014 their sense of security is assailed. So Galileo found some people angry over his discovery. When he offered a convincing look through his telescope, many were delighted but some refused, and others looked and then said they didn\u2019t believe it. One Aristotelian admitted the mountains were there but explained away the damage by saying that the valleys between them are filled with invisible crystal material to bring the surface back to a perfect sphere. Sure, said Galileo, and there are mountains of invisible crystal there as well, that stick out ten times as far!\u201d<\/p>\r\n
(from chapter on Galileo, in<\/p>\r\n
\u201cPhysics for the Enquiring Mind,\u201d<\/p>\r\n
c. 1960, by Eric Rogers\u2026)<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\u201cScience liberates humankind<\/p>\r\n
From the terror of the gods\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
(Lucretius)<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\u201cI believe a leaf of grass is no less<\/p>\r\n
than the journeywork of the stars,<\/p>\r\n
And the pismire is equally perfect,<\/p>\r\n
and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,<\/p>\r\n
And the tree-toad is a chef-<\/p>\r\n
d\u2019\u0153uvre for the highest,<\/p>\r\n
And the running blackberry would<\/p>\r\n
adorn the parlors of heaven,<\/p>\r\n
And the narrowest hinge in my hand<\/p>\r\n
puts to scorn all machinery,<\/p>\r\n
And a cow crunching with depressed<\/p>\r\n
head surpasses any statue,<\/p>\r\n
And a mouse is miracle enough<\/p>\r\n
to stagger sextillions of infidels,<\/p>\r\n
And I could come every afternoon<\/p>\r\n
of my life to look at the<\/p>\r\n
farmer\u2019s girl boiling her iron<\/p>\r\n
tea-kettle and baking shortcake.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
. . .<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\u201cI think I could turn and live<\/p>\r\n
awhile with the animals\u2026 they<\/p>\r\n
are so placid and self-contained,<\/p>\r\n
I stand and look at them<\/p>\r\n
sometimes half the day long,<\/p>\r\n
They do not sweat and whine<\/p>\r\n
about their condition,<\/p>\r\n
They do not lie awake in the dark<\/p>\r\n
and weep for their sins,<\/p>\r\n
They do not make me sick<\/p>\r\n
discussing their duty to God,<\/p>\r\n
Not one is dissatisfied\u2026not one is<\/p>\r\n
demented with the mania of owning things,<\/p>\r\n
Not one kneels to another nor to his<\/p>\r\n
kind that live thousands of years ago,<\/p>\r\n
Not one is respectable or industrious<\/p>\r\n
over the whole earth.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
(Walt Whitman,<\/p>\r\n
Leaves of Grass)<\/p>\r\n
(Doubleday, N. Y.)<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
I copied all three of these out of the book I\u2019m using for a physics text \u2014\u2014 it\u2019s really very clear, and well worth reading\u2026<\/p>\r\n
Well, anyway, we were glad to receive your letter today, and not very surprised at its contents: of course you will be not very surprised when we show up anyway \u2014\u2014 because although it saddens me to be disinvited by you, still my other<\/u> brothers, john, david, and paul, have extended warm invitations, and since we\u2019ll have (hopefully) a \u201961 VW-bus, we won\u2019t lack for a roof to keep the snow off our sleep-sacks; ho, ho, ho, everything works together for them as love the Lord.<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\u201cO it\u2019s hard<\/u> to try to understand<\/p>\r\n
Einstein through my pores, and nerves,<\/p>\r\n
when so many people haven\u2019t really<\/p>\r\n
quite<\/u> caught up to Copernicus,<\/p>\r\n
can\u2019t really quite<\/u> believe in their<\/u> nerves<\/p>\r\n
& sinews that this Earth swings round the Sun;<\/p>\r\n
it\u2019s hard<\/u> to revaluate all values,<\/p>\r\n
& swing allegiance to a Greater Center;<\/p>\r\n
but if God is your Father, then<\/p>\r\n
I am<\/u> your brother, and<\/p>\r\n
you know that we all are<\/u> One\u2026\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
love, peter, marcy, jed, & joaquin<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\u2026I have no idea what that paragraph in the middle is about. Presumably we were headed up to Washington for a visit, but why did George and Helen disinvite us? And was it more of a \u201csorry, we won\u2019t have room for all of you to stay over that night\u201d kind of disinvitation, or more of a \u201cwe disown you and never want to see you again\u201d kind of disinvitation?<\/p>\r\n
Presumably not entirely the latter, as the letters continue unabated. But possibly more than the former, as the next letter (which I\u2019ll post next week) included some significant disagreement with G&H.<\/p>\r\n
And given that paragraph in the middle, I\u2019m not sure whether the quotations are meant as chastisements.<\/p>\r\n