Is there a Biscuits Anonymous?
If so, I need to join. Clearly I can't be trusted with a 20 count bag of Pillsbury biscuits in the house. I've baked two batches already today and between me and the kids we've consumed 12 hot, flaky, fantastic, heavenly biscuits. Yes, that's four a piece, and I'd gladly eat more. OK. Update. I just went over and ate one of Justin's biscuits that he couldn't finish. Yes, I admit it. I ate not four, but five biscuits today. Scratch what I just said about gladly eating more. It would seem I've found the previously unknown threshold where biscuit enjoyment ends, and repugnance begins.
So, I'm more than half way through the Lincoln the Unknown book and I have to tell you that I have learned a lot of amazing things in reading this book.
1. People didn't always have the three feet of personal space rule, to the point of becoming the strangest of bedfellows, literally. I quote:
"'I think I can suggest a plan by which you will be able to attain your end without incurring any debt. I have a very large room and a very large double bed in it, which you are perfectly welcome to share with me if you choose.' And so, for the next five and a half years, Lincoln slept in the bed with Speed, over the store, without paying any rent at all."
Abraham Lincoln accepted the arrangement and shared a bed with Joshua Speed, general store owner, while trying to make a go of becoming an attorney, until he was able to afford his own accommodations. I might also point out that they had only just met when this deal was struck. Lest you're thinking our nation's 16th president was a pervert, I should let you know that the practice of bed-sharing was not that uncommon, particularly among men who travelled for a living, such as lawyers travelling the circuit for work. During Lincoln's time there were too many attorneys for the town to support, so they would travel around on horseback, following the judge while he held court in various places throughout the district. I suppose it wasn't economically feasible, and perhaps available accommodations none too plentiful, for people to each have their own bed. Still, it was nothing that I had ever contemplated, or been aware of, and I found it ever so strange that people would sleep in the same bed with people that they were hardly, if at all, acquainted with.
2. Abe Lincoln didn't love his wife, Mary Todd, and she was an extremely ill-tempered woman. He stood her up at the altar the first time he was to marry her, and in the end only married her out of a sense of obligation, and to restore his honor. He regretted promising to marry her, but still felt a promise was a promise and ultimately went through with it, resulting in a very contentious and unhappy domestic life.
I learned a lot more than those two points, but those were the ones that I felt might be of interest to those that aren't necessarily as adoring of history in the manner in which I'm enthralled. The political revelations were a marvel, but I will spare you the boredom.