Smattering’s a good word, don’t you think? I don’t have many occasions to use it successfully.
Yet, today, I will offer a smattering of historical events which occurred on this date, as I could not choose one over the others.
Now, I shall smatter all over the place.
1620. The first merry-go-round was introduced at a fair in Philippopolis, Turkey. Now, first of all, if you are going to debut your newly fashioned merry-go-round, what better place to do it than in Philippapolis? It sort of sounds like something Mary Poppins would say.
Before this, during the Crusades in the 1100s, Turkish and Arabian horsemen would compete in a game. It was similar to jousting, and I am not sure if there was a gold ring involved or not. But the participants took it very seriously, probably to the death.
European onlookers began to refer to it as a “little war.” That, when translated into Italian, becomes “carosella.” It is from this phrase that the name carousel is derived.
I can’t find much more on the first one in Philippopolis, but I bet there were dummy horses spinning around on something. Maybe a little man in a turban played music on a flute nearby.
1792. Some merchants got together — 24 of them — and formed the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street. And so it goes. I bet they were wealthy merchants.
1848. Gerrit, Count Schimmelpenninck resigned as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Netherlands. Now, I don’t think there is too much to this event. In fact, I don’t care much at all. Yet, before now, I never knew there was a “Count Schimmelpenninck.” I’m glad I know now. I thought you would be glad to know this too. Count Schimmelpenninck.
1875. The first Kentucky Derby was run. The jockey, Oliver Lewis, crossed the finish line aboard Aristides. There were 15 horses and 15 jockeys in that race. Thirteen of those men, including Oliver Lewis, were African American.
1900. One of the best stories ever told, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” was first published by L. Frank Baum with illustrations by William Wallace Denslow in Chicago. It is a great step into a magical world, where Munchkins and Flying Monkeys are as common as apples growing on talking trees.
1964. The very first Tim Horton’s coffee and donut shop opened in Hamilton, Ontario. The founder, of course, was Tim Horton. He had first, unsuccessfully, tried his luck with a burger stand. However, I did not know Horton was a National League Hockey player. He was playing for the Toronto Maple Leaves at the time. He would go on to skate for other teams, including the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers, and the Buffalo Sabres.
I also did not know that Horton was killed after losing control of his De Tomaso Pantera sports car on the Queen Elizabeth Way in St. Catharines, Ontario. This happened in the early morning of February 21, 1974.
Horton had just played a game in Toronto against his former team, the Maple Leafs, and was driving alone back to Buffalo, New York. The Sabres lost the game. He was 44 years old.
1971. The Stephen Schwartz musical “Godspell” premiered off-Broadway. This is one of my favorite musicals of all time. I sing the songs. Out loud. “Yes, it’s all for the best.”
And, today, I smattered.
Perhaps you will smatter today, but you matter today too. Always, you matter.
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“The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.”
— Felix Mendelssohn
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“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein
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“All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.”
― Octavia E. Butler
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From coffee shops to spinning horses. It matters.
