My Debt to Maine

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American roots grow deep – first in our country, and then in our homes. We’re proud to take up the names of our states. We’re Kentuckians, they’re Texans. No matter where you are, you know where you are from, where home is, what a good meal is, what kind of smell and sound you fall asleep to.

Well, here we go. Let’s see what makes Maine proud.

Colonial times are the most prominent in Maine’s culture. You may tour through their Acadian heritage, or through houses full of early murals. Castle Tucker and Nickels-Sortwell houses in Wiscasset were built off of the wealth gained by seafaring and shipbuilding. In Portland, we can find the house of Neal Dow, an abolitionist, and that of the author, Sarah Orne Jewett. These are only a few examples of the pride Maine takes in their history. They have also preserved portions of towns and lighthouses.

Theodore Roosevelt visited Maine many times, and wrote of it, titling the small letter “My Debt to Maine”.

I owe a personal debt to Maine because of my association with certain staunch friends in Aroostook County; an association that helped and benefited me throughout my life in more ways than one…

 

I also remember such delicious nights, under a lean-to, by lake or stream, in the clear fall weather, or in winter on balsam boughs in front of a blazing stump, when we had beaten down. I’d shoveled away the deep snow, and kept our foot-gear away from the fire, so that it should not thaw and freeze; — and the meals of venison, trout, or partridge; and one meal consisting of muskrat and a fish-duck, which, being exceedingly hungry, we heartily appreciated. But the bodily benefit was not the largest part of the good done me. I was accepted as part of the household; and the family and friends represented in their lives the kind of Americanism –self-respecting, duty-performing, life-enjoying– which is the most valuable possession that any generation can hand on to the next. It was as native to our soil as “William Henry’s Letters to his Grandmother” — I hope there are still readers of that delightful volume of my youth, even although it was published fifty years ago…

 

When I was President, the Sewalls and the Prides came down to Washington to visit us. We talked over everything, public and private, past and present; the education and future careers of our children; the proper attitude of the United States in external and internal matters. We all of us looked at the really important matters of public policy and private conduct from substantially the same viewpoint.

 

Never were there more welcomed quests at the White House.

 

Theodore Roosevelt
Sagamore Hill, March 20th 1918

Maine is the site of the first ship to be built in North America. They keep up a thousand year old site, home to Native Americans. Again, these are only a few of the many sites of Maine. They hold a wide variety of sites well looked after, waiting for people to discover them, to learn more about them. If you’re ever in Maine… There’s a part of your country to learn about.

- By Haley,  FPP Intern and Blogger

Preserve & Restore Prayer in our Military

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In a few short weeks we will remember those who died in service to our country on Memorial Day. Let’s not leave the majority of those serving today without a prayer. “Endowed by Their Creator” is a collection of historic American military prayers spanning from 1774-present. Get this case for prayer and give/send it to someone serving so that they will know they have a right to pray as they read the history, the case, and the 100s of prayers in the book that serve as “evidence” that America is a nation that values prayer. FPP Store

Colonel Ronald D. Ray had this to say about the book, 

“As a Vietnam combat veteran, 34 years as a Marine officer, a former Defense official, a military historian and a lawyer, I spent 10 years collecting American military prayer books from before the nation’s founding to the present day. I did this research not as a man of the church, but as lawyer to make the case for the “military necessity” of prayer, because there are ‘no atheists in foxholes’. I found that while over 70 percent of those serving today in the US military self identify as Christians, their Chaplains are threatened and discouraged from praying in the name of their God, Jesus Christ and leaders are officially prohibited from leading their troops in pray – even in battle in this One Nation Under God.” 

An Army Reservist serving in Afghanistan sent the following note as a thank you for the book,

“I wanted to send a quick email to you thanking you for the book sent a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, we do not have a chaplain available at the camp I’m stationed at, so finding my own source of spiritual material has been important.  I particularly enjoy the historical aspect of the prayers in your book, as it connects me to the long tradition of men serving in America’s military, which is a tradition mostly ignored today by the Army at least.  We have little discussion of those that went before us and I don’t think most of the people here feel any connection with that history.  That neglects something that could be a real inspiration for those having a hard time here.  Others survived it before, and we’ll survive it to.  The preface of the book was very interesting as well, particularly its connection to the VMI Supreme Court case a few years ago.” 

For a book review visit: http://firstprinciplespress.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/EBTC-Book-Review.pdf 

Below are two national articles on the battle over traditional military prayer and the political and legal pressures being placed upon chaplains and military leaders.  

Military religious leaders report pressure, backlash over beliefs
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=51278

Chaplains challenge commanders in lawsuits
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=51280 

Share this message today with your friends and family and do not let the prayers of our soldiers go unheard.

Tumultuous Loyalty – The Greatest American Elegy

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Walt Whitman lived from 1819 to 1892. He took up many occupations through his life, as few to none can maintain a livelihood from their poetry. He was first a partner in a printing press. Other work followed and included teaching, carpentry, and journalism. Later, he attempted to join the army at the time of the Civil War, but had exceeded the age limit. Therefore, he followed many camps and treated the injured and sick. He wrote many famous poems addressed to his time serving in the army, including O Captain! My Captain!, I Hear America Singing, and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed.