I’ve been living in two worlds – one where I sleep, shower, cook, correct, hug, kiss, sing, pray, write, smile, frown; i.e. live my life in the here and now, just as you do.
The other world is not my own, but one that I’ve nonetheless inhabited for the past three weeks, a world of letters and law, of kings and court, powdered hair and whale-bone corsets, politics and philosophy, treason and heroic patriotism, revolution and the establishment of what was to become by this the year 2009, the longest-standing government in the world.
David McCullough’s biography of John Adams, is, as they tell you on the front cover, “a masterwork of storytelling..” I’m no book reviewer, but what I’ll say is that for me it’s been a time-traveling machine, in which I’ve survived violent storms at sea - as John did, waited months for news about my husband and son - as Abigail did, buried sons, daughters and grandchildren – as they both did. I feel as if I’ve lived in what John Adams would call the greatest of times, in which
“It has been the will of Heaven that we should be thrown into existence
at a period when the greatest philosophers and lawgivers of antiquity
would have wished to live…a period when a coincidence of circumstances
without example has afforded to thirteen colonies…an opportunity of
beginning government anew from the foundation.”
Reading good books won’t make you good. But good books will, I believe, make your life better by weaving their truth and wisdom into your heart and mind, expanding and buttressing, correcting and broadening. Reading about the struggle to form a new nation, one like none other, which the rest of the world predicted would fail, is a necessary and fitting backdrop to the current news of the day. Following the lives of our founding fathers, appreciating their genius and sacrifice while not blind to their failings has been for me a rich privilege, made possible by the thousands of letters written during those years.
Within these pages, friendships, fortunes and reputations are made and lost. Monarchies are overthrown and reinstated, people cry for war one day and peace the next. Newspapers slander and libel, duels are fought.
Lest you think it’s one big history lesson, the pages are also filled with the details of domestic life here and abroad. While in France, Abigail grudgingly submits to French fashion by having her own hairdresser in residence. While traveling, John Adams shares a bed with Benjamin Franklin, who lectures him on the necessity of keeping the windows open all night. They raise a son who becomes a President, two others who are overcome by alcohol, faithful daughters whose husbands are wanting. Throughout the book, the love between Abigail and John, and their love for their country, do both them, America, and their God honor. May we learn from them and aspire to the same.
I'm sad to have finished the book, to have no more letters to read, to say goodbye to my new friends. At the same time, I was ready to see Abigail and John reach their well-deserved rest, glad to rejoice with them, they who looked forward to "a future state" with God who
"in his wisdom and benevolence could (not) make such a species as the human merely to live and die on this earth."
2 comments:
Time to write!
I had no inkling that my little firstborn with the big blue eyes, whom I fed, diapered, chased, and corrected would one day be calling me into account. I'll try; it's been kind of busy as you can guess.
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