Extra Credit Questions

[Eva Elisabeth]

Australia?

[RJNorton]

Brilliant, Eva! Here is part of Dave Wiegers' recent post where he mentioned it:

(11-04-2016 03:43 PM)Lincolnphotog Wrote:  Just to add to the list I have found additional statues in Portugal, Japan, Singapore, Moscow and a missing one in Australia. There are three in Mexico, and two and maybe three in Havana.

Here is a story about the lost statue of Abraham Lincoln:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nat...36c2945380

Eva, your last prize was a warm 2016-2017 winter. Your new prize is a record-setting warm winter - the warmest ever!


Here is what the article says if the link does not work:

The Australian

THE NATION
Search for lost Centennial Park statue of Abe Lincoln

A statue of US president Abraham Lincoln stood in Sydney’s Centennial Park until it mysteriously vanished in the 1970s.

TROY BRAMSTON

The Australian 12:00AM April 15, 2015

An 1880s statue of Abraham Lincoln that once stood proudly in Sydney’s Centennial Park until it mysteriously vanished in the 1970s has long puzzled park managers, historians and US civil war buffs.

But the search for Sydney’s Lincoln — assassinated 150 years ago today — continues.

If found, the Lincoln statue will be restored to the park where it stood for nearly a century.

Craig Easdown, from Centennial Parklands, said the search for 21 missing 19th-­century statues was ongoing.

“We have heard many ­stories and rumours over the years — statues being buried to help stabilise levy banks, mysterious trucks pulling up in the middle of the night and pinching statues — but we’ve nothing conclusive yet. If we can locate these statues … where feasible and appropriate we’ll put them back in the park.”

Before the park opened in 1888, NSW premier Henry Parkes commissioned statues to ornament the grounds. At the turn of the century, there were 31.

US president James Garfield and British prime ministers William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli were represented alongside those symbolising the four seasons, science, commerce, archi­tecture and the arts.

A headless Charles Dickens was found a few years ago, reconstructed and returned to the park in 2011.

The white marble statue of Lincoln, on a sandstone pedestal, depicted the 16th US president standing next to law books and a shield with his outstretched hand holding a scrolled piece of paper. It was located at Grand Drive on the corner of a road that led to Ocean Street, Woollahra.

Parkes was a great admirer of Lincoln. His original plan for the park envisaged a “national palace” to promote citizenship, preserve documents, showcase statues and as a mausoleum for deceased political leaders.

A newspaper report from 1889 reveals one Sydneysider thought the choice of Lincoln “positively awful”. They wanted heroes from the British Empire to be depicted throughout the sprawling parkland.

After several years, the statues were crumbling. Cars were bumping into them. By 1908, Lincoln was reportedly missing “a nose, thumb and part of the coat”. It was described as “hideous” after “irresponsible youths” had been seen throwing stones at it in 1936. In the 1970s, the statues were removed for ­repairs. Lincoln, with several others, was lost.

Centennial Park is running a “missing statues” campaign to restore the park to its original glory.

“Today we can account for just 10 of the 31 original statues — nine are on display in Centennial Park and one (the William Gladstone statue) was gifted to Gladstone City Council ,” Mr Easdown said.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you, Roger - I will have flip flops and bikini ready! (I guess it is in Australia...)

[RJNorton]

(11-08-2016 06:29 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thank you, Roger - I will have flip flops and bikini ready! (I guess it is in Australia...)

Yes, you will be able to go swimming in the Baltic Sea in January! (and get a nice tan, too)

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks for the additional information - very interesting.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(11-08-2016 06:40 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-08-2016 06:29 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thank you, Roger - I will have flip flops and bikini ready! (I guess it is in Australia...)

Yes, you will be able to go swimming in the Baltic Sea in January! (and get a nice tan, too)

According to my mother, the prize has arrived in Kiel, but I am in desperate need of it here in Vienna, deadly cold and humid. You don't expect that when moving so far south...

[RJNorton]

(11-08-2016 06:29 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  According to my mother, the prize has arrived in Kiel, but I am in desperate need of it here in Vienna, deadly cold and humid. You don't expect that when moving so far south...

I shall attempt to transfer the prize to Vienna, but it may take a few days before arrival (and I am afraid no guarantees).

[RJNorton]

Who were the "Little Mothers?"

Hint #1: The answer involves a member of the Lincoln family.

[J. Beckert]

Was one Julia Taft?

[RJNorton]

A very logical answer, Joe, but all the "Little Mothers" were men!

Hint #2: Warren G. Harding was also involved with the "Little Mothers."

[RJNorton]

Hint #3: Augusta, Georgia

[RJNorton]

This was a very difficult question. I only own one book, I think, that has the answer: Jason Emerson's Giant in the Shadows - The Life of Robert T. Lincoln. On p. 393 Jason writes:

At Augusta (Georgia), Robert was a member of an informal group of important men known as the "Little Mothers," a name given in jest by a woman who insisted that when the group came together, "it was for the purpose of rocking the cradle of the universe." The Little Mothers met every March at the Hotel Bon Air, where they would play golf during the day and sit and talk - mostly politics - at night. In addition to Lincoln, members of this group included governors, congressmen, senators, and President Warren G. Harding. Robert Lincoln was "very much at home" in this group and often told interesting and amusing stories of his experiences as secretary of war and minister to Great Britain."

The Bon Air Hotel in Augusta, Georgia, where the Little Mothers met

If anyone had answered correctly, the prize was going to be a free round of golf at any golf course of choice in Augusta, Georgia.

[Gene C]

They must have been the inspiration for this Jazz song, "Happy Little Mothers"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlnY80dFB9U

[RJNorton]

This man was a Springfield resident at the same time as the Lincolns.

What was his profession?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Lawyer?