FYI September 20, 2021

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On This Day

1697 – The Treaty of Ryswick is signed by France, England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, ending the Nine Years’ War.
The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years’ War between France, and the Grand Alliance, which included England, Spain, Austria, and the Dutch Republic.

One of a series of wars fought by Louis XIV of France between 1666 to 1714, neither side was able to make significant territorial gains. By 1695, the huge financial costs, coupled with widespread famine and economic dislocation, meant both sides needed peace. Negotiations were delayed by the question of who would inherit the Spanish Empire from the childless and terminally-ill Charles II of Spain, the closest heirs being Louis and Leopold.

Since Louis could not impose his preferred solution, he refused to discuss the issue, while Leopold refused to sign without its inclusion. He finally did so with great reluctance on 30 October 1697, but the Peace was generally viewed as a truce; Charles’ death in 1700 led to the War of the Spanish Succession.

In Europe and North America, the terms essentially restored the position prevailing before the war, while Spain ceded the islands of Tortuga and Saint-Domingue. France also evacuated territories occupied since the 1679 Treaty of Nijmegen, including Freiburg, Breisach and the Duchy of Lorraine.

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Born On This Day

1831 – Kate Harrington, American poet and educator (d. 1917)
Kate Harrington, born Rebecca Harrington Smith and later known as Rebecca Smith Pollard, was an American teacher, writer and poet.[1]

Biography
She was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania on September 20, 1831. She spent her most productive years in Iowa. Her father, Prof. N.R. Smith, was a playwright and an authority on Shakespeare. She was married to New York City poet and editor Oliver I. Taylor. Harrington was the anonymous author of Emma Bartlett, or Prejudice and Fanaticism, a fictional reply to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, intended to expose the hypocrisy of Know-Nothingism.

Harrington’s family moved to Ohio, then Kentucky, where Harrington worked as a teacher. Later, she taught in Chicago. Harrington lived in various Iowa cities, including Farmington, Keosauqua, Burlington, Ft. Madison and Keokuk. She began her writing career with the Louisville Journal, whose editor opposed secession and was an important influence in keeping Kentucky in the Union.

In her Letters from a Prairie Cottage, Harrington included a children’s corner with tales about taming and raising animals and of a cat who adopted orphan chicks. Harrington also wrote other children’s books, including a primer and a speller. Pollard’s work in the field of reading represented a pioneer effort in terms of creating a sequential reading program of intensive synthetic phonics, complete with a separate teacher’s manual and spelling and reading books, and moving into a broad based graded series of literature readers.

Her series is important for its high correlation of spelling and reading instruction, for its concern for the interests of children, for its incorporation of music into the process of learning to read, and as the forerunner for other phonics systems. Her readers were used in every state in the Union and were still in use in Keokuk, Iowa, as late as 1937. Few women have single-handedly contributed so much to the field of reading.[2]

In 1869, she published a book of poems entitled Maymie, as a tribute to her ten-year-old daughter who died that year.

Emma Bartlett received mixed reviews when it was published in 1856. The Ohio Statesman gave her a very good review but the Cincinnati Times said, “We have read this book. We pronounce the plot an excellent one and the style charming, but she has failed to fulfill the intended mission of the book.” It accused her of also showing prejudice and fanaticism typical of the politicians that she tried to defend.

In 1870, Harrington published “In Memoriam, Maymie, April 6th, 1869”, a meditation on death and suffering, written on the occasion of the death of Harrington’s young daughter.[3]

In 1876, Harrington published “Centennial, and Other Poems,” to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the first official World’s Fair to be held in the United States. The volume included many poems about Iowa, as well as selected poems of Harrington’s father, Prof. N.R. Smith, and illustrations of the Centennial grounds in Philadelphia.

Kate Harrington, or Rebecca Harrington Smith Pollard wrote all of her life. She was 79 years old when she produced the poem, “Althea” or “Morning Glory,” which relates to Iowa. She died in Ft. Madison on May 29, 1917.

 
 

FYI

STORIES FROM NORTHERN CANADA AND ALASKA: Defending America, Building the Alaska Highway
 
 
 
 
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By Nicole Howard, Beyond Bylines: 10 Hispanic News Podcasts You Shouldn’t Miss
 
 
By Oscar Duran, Beyond Bylines: Blog Profiles: Coffee Blogs, Volume 2
 
 
 
 
By Open Culture: How Technology Is Reshaping Democracy & Our Lives: A Stanford Course with Sal Khan, Thomas Friedman, Kara Swisher, Sasha Baron Cohen, Reid Hoffman & More
 
 
 
 
By Luana Ferreira, Narratively: This Heavy Metal Band Is Hell-Bent on Saving an Endangered Language As the Brazilian tribal language Tupi Guarani nears extinction, this hyper-aggressive group is raising awareness about the urgent need to save it – one power chord at a time.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Recipes

By Trisha Yearwood, The Food Network: Parmesan Chicken Linguini with Sunday Gravy
 
 
Food Network Kitchen: Surprisingly Healthy Homemade Frozen Fish Sticks; Key Lime Pie Whoopie Pies and more ->

 
 
DamnDelicious
 
 


 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

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