Esperanto by Act of Congress

Proposed Esperanto for
D.C. schools

One of the odd bits about Washington, D.C. is that Congress gets some say over some things that anywhere else would be wholly local decision. And so, when in 1908, Sara (Mrs. Wilbur) Crafts went to the D.C. school board to urge that Esperanto be taught (there was some opposition to the idea), maybe she should have taken things up with Congress.

If she were looking for a sympathetic member of Congress, her best best would have been the gentleman from Missouri, Richard Bartholdt. In 1910, Mr. Bartholdt took up Esperanto. Maybe Mrs. Crofts could have convinced him to start earlier.

But it’s not until 1914, nearly seven years after Mrs. Crofts went to the D.C. school board, that Mr. Bartholdt came up with his own proposal. As a member of Congress, he didn’t have to convince the school board, just the other members of Congress. His resolution was H.Res 415, “Providing for the study of Esperanto as an auxiliary language.” The resolution was introduced on February 14, 1914, and was in the newspapers on February 15.

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The Volapükian Daughter of the Father of Prohibition

I wanted a picture of her. I got this.

It’s a tiny item in a collection of short pieces on women in the November 3, 1891 Wichita Daily Eagle, under the heading “Feminine Fancies.” The second fancy is about Volapükian, one Louise Dow Benton. A quick search on the Internet assured me that my Volapükian readers[1] would likely know who she was. Out of the first ten Google results for “Louise Dow Benton,” three deal with Volapük as well.

Not only did Ms. Benton’s name not ring a bell for me, neither did that of her father, General Neal Dow. Here, at least, Wikipedia came to the rescue. General Dow had enlisted in the Union Army, starting with the rank of colonel, but rose to brigadier general. Given as he was both an abolitionist and prohibitionist, we can assume that he didn’t get one of those barrels of “what Grant was drinking” that Lincoln joked about sending to his other generals.[2] The entry notes that some called Dow “the father of prohibition,” since due to his efforts, Maine became a dry state. But while Wikipedia talks about all that and more (not about the barrels though), there’s scant reference to his family life. Wikipedia does not that Neal Dow was married to Maria Cornelia Durant Maynard Dow, but gives no other details. You wouldn’t know from the Wikipedia page if they had any children. Clearly, at least one.

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