This week's theme: Romance during WWII

No wait - I meant Valentine's Day.

That special day each year when guys get to shell out $100 for dinner, candy 
and flowers - or never hear the end of it.

The day when we meditate on the brutal beheading of St. Valentine, the third 
century Christian martyr, who was executed under the rule of the Roman 
Emperor "Claudius the Cruel".

Whenever I travel to another city, if I have a few extra days, I like to 
check out the local antique stores and see if they have any interesting old 
records.

I was surprised once in Raleigh, NC when an antique store turned out to be 
an actual antique store. I mean there was nothing in it newer than 1850 and 
most items were from the 1700s. I didn't know there even were stores like 
that, the antique stores around here are really just second-hand shops with 
about half of their items going back 50 to 100 years or so.

Anyway, some time ago I was in Des Moines, IA, looking around in a store. I 
didn't find any records but I ran across a 19th century edition of Lord 
Chesterfield's "Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World 
and a Gentleman".

I'd heard about this book back in college and knew it was on the super 
secret list of universally banned books. So banned that even the super 
secret list of banned books it is banned on is banned. I mean everybody 
banned this book. And we're not just talking about some church group like 
the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, I mean everybody.

Well, that has ME written all over it, so of course I bought it.

So I get home and start reading it and basically it's "the talk" in the form 
of letters to his son about life and love and fooling around - as a 
"gentleman" of course.

It's not as exciting as it sounds. It was written in an old style of English 
that's half way back to Shakespeare and the guy uses ten words when one 
would have worked so basically it's actually pretty boring. So I just 
started skipping ahead and skimming parts until I think I got the gist of 
it.

Basically he said that if you flatter a woman enough you can get her to do 
ANYTHING, even the "nasty" - if you just lay it on thick enough.

Evidently women can't help it. Flattery is like a super "start" button - 
then watch out - it's "Girl's Gone Wild - 18th Century England Edition", and 
we all know what those crazy chicks were like.

I don't know if I believe this or not. I mean I guess that if you're telling 
a women how beautiful she is she's probably not likely to argue with you, 
but really. This seems kind of cheesy, I mean do you really want to be with 
someone who is just responding mechanically to a trick and not of their own 
free will? How shallow and pathetic. And how insulting to womanhood in 
general.

I mean, when I think of all the truly beautiful women who grace my life with 
their warmth and charm, who bring such joy and delight by their 
graciousness, thoughtfulness and kindness, with their fascinating, angelic 
and enchanting ways, who are truly radiant and adorable in every possible 
way and ... hey, babe, is this working yet? - I running out of superlatives 
here.

Anyway, you can find a copy on-line at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3351

Samuel Johnson said of the letters "they teach the morals of a whore, and 
the manners of a dancing-master" as means for getting on in the world as a 
gentleman.

Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Stanhope,_4th_Earl_of_Chesterfield

Chesterfield Cigarettes were named after Chesterfield County, Virginia, 
which was itself named for the 4th Earl of Chesterfield.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em ...


...