Good morning.
It’s a Thursday of showers, and a high of seventy-seven, ahead for the Whippet City.
Forty years ago today, Congress sent a proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. It fell short of the three-fourths approval needed. In any event, America shouldn’t need an amendment to recognize rights equally true for men and women.
Oh happy day — it’s the birthday of Eugene Shephard, father of the hodag. The Wisconsin Historical Society has the details of Shepherd’s discovery invention:
On this date Eugene Shepard was born near Green Bay. Although he made his career in the lumbering business near Rhinelander, he was best known for his story-telling and practical jokes. He told many tales of Paul Bunyan, the mythical lumberjack, and drew pictures of the giant at work that became famous. Shepard also started a new legend about a prehistoric monster that roamed the woods of Wisconsin – the hodag. Shepard built the mythical monster out of wood and bull’s horns. He fooled everyone into believing it was alive, allowing it to be viewed only inside a dark tent. The beast was displayed at the Wausau and Antigo county fairs before Shepard admitted it was all a hoax. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners, by Fred L. Holmes, p.459-474]
Hard to top a post about the hodag, but Google’s daily puzzle, about an early Congressional mistake, still fascinates: “Due to an oversight in Congress, the state that joined the Union in 1803 didn’t officially become a state until what year?”