Avoid the traffic... take the Ferry to Martha's Vineyard.
Avoid the traffic... take the Ferry to Martha's Vineyard.
Last Thursday (July 11) was the day of issue in Anaheim, Calif., of the block of four stamps saluting John Henry, Paul Bunyan, Mighty Casey and Pecos Bill. The stamps should now be available at most area post offices.
John Henry has been extolled since the 1870s as a strong man born with a hammer in his hands and the ability to drive steel for hours on end. Railway tunnel workers who labored during the building of America's rail system literally sang the praises of this folk hero.
Paul Bunyan was a giant lumberjack, according to lore, who journeyed the country with Babe the blue ox, clearing trees. Bunyan was a hero to legions of lumberjacks who spun yarns about him clearing acres of outsized trees and employing legions of loggers from across the country.
Generations of children have heard the classic "Casey at the Bat," which first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1888. Written by Ernest Thayer and popularized by orator William DeWolf Hopper, the ballad relays the story of an arrogant young baseball player who strikes ou at bat, causing his Mudville team to lose an important game.
Since his original tale appeared in Century Magazine in 1923, Pecos Bill and his mastery of the American frontier has been part of our national lore. Legend contends that this folk hero was raised by a coyote and was rugged enough to ride a mountain lion and commandeer a rattlesnake as a lasso.
"The folk heroes are illustrated exactly as in at least one written version of their tales," said stamp artist David LaFleur of Derby, Kans.
Mighty Casey's Massachusetts connection was his author. Ernest Thayer was born and raised in the Bay State. He graduated from Harvard University and at one time was editor of the Harvard Lampoon.
After the poem was first published in June of 1888 it became an instant success and created baseball's most famous literary character.
In the late 1880s, the poem was catapulted into national prominence by Hopper, who gave a historic rendering of the poem for the New York Giants who were hosting the visiting Chicago White Stockings.
His rendition brought down the house and he then went on to give performances from stages all over the country and became famous doing it -- by his own count more than 10,000 times.
Through the years, the poem has been published widely, set to music, recorded, and parodied, most recently during last year's baseball strike. It has been made into silent films and a Walt Disney cartoon. It has even been the inspiration for an opera.
The design of this particular stamp in the set was unveiled last November at the Sports Museum in Cambridge.
A total of 113 million Folk Hero stamps have been prepared in sheets of 20. Colors are black, cyan, magenta and yellow.
Australia's three-stamp set for the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games honor two of that nation's gold medal winners of the past and the Paralympics. The Summer Olympics will be held in Atlanta, Gal, July 19-Aug. 4.
A 45-cent stamp pictures Edwin Flack. When the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens, Australia did not have an official team. But Flack, an Australian working in London at the time, decided to go and try his luck. He won the gold medal in both the 800 and 1500 meters, one of only 15 people ever to win more than one gold for Australia.
Another 45-cent stamp pictures Fanny Durack, the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal for Australia. She won the 100 meter freestyle in swimming. During her career, she set at least nine world records, including distances from 100 meters to 1 mile.
The $1.05 stamp honors the Paralympic athletes. From relatively meager beginnings with the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948, competitions for sports people with a disability have grown markedly with hundreds of disabled atheletes competing in the Paralympics today. This year's games for the disabled will be held Aug. 16-25.
Brad Hathaway is a prize-winning philatelist. He will answer questions about stamp collecting (but not appraisals), if a stamped, self-addressed envelope is sent to him at his home, 87 Aucoot Road, Mattapoisett, Mass. 02739
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