The Cauldron No. 3
Third in the series titled “The Cauldron” – the circa 1930’s and 1940’s musings of Nelson Douglass Jr. aka Granville Douglass. Enjoy his views and insights of yesteryear, laced with humor, honesty, and sincerity.
Nelson Douglass Jr. was my paternal Grandfather. A man I never met on the physical plane but know intimately through the wealth of writing, notes and stories he left. I am working on a book about a small segment of his life, which you can read about on my website dedicated to this work.
The Cauldron No. 3 by Granville Douglass
Things I Don’t Like About People –
These fellows who carry combs around with them, and stop in the middle of the street, whip out the bally things, and tidy up. Of course, the only thing I can use for such purpose is a towel, but it isn’t sour grapes with me – it’s just something I don’t like about people.
Memories –
In going through some old papers, I have just run across a copy of a memorandum put out by the 91st Division Hdq. overseas on November 2nd, 1918. It reads as follows:
Headquarters 91st Division
Summary of Intelligence
Nov. 2nd, 1918– Extract –
Translation of a German document taken from a wounded officer by the 107th F. A.
H.Q. 30 October, 1918
- Early tomorrow we must be ready to meet a hostile attack. It is therefore ordered that from six o’clock on the companies will be alerted for action.
- Munitions may be got at the K. T. K. (distributing point) at any time. Empty light machine gun feed boxes must be exchanged for full ones.
- Opposite our sector lies the 91st American Division. For each prisoner brought in the Division will give 18 days extra leave.
(Signed) von Below
Thomas A. Driscoll,
Major A. C. Infantry
A. C. of S. G2
The 91st was recruited from the Western States. Its battle flags rest in the State Capitol building in Sacramento. A lot of old timers hereabouts will remember October and November of 1918.
To Remember –
A lot of good fortune doesn’t change people much, it simply unmasks them, for it requires far greater virtues to support good fortune than it does bad fortune. In other words, blessed is he who has great worldly goods and remains humble.
Traffic Problem –
If you don’t want to get into one of the worst traffic snarls you’ve ever experienced, don’t get too near the Lockheed plant when they are changing shift. Thousands of men in a never ending line of cars. If you ever do get caught in the jam on such an occasion, you’ll get some idea of the pick-up in employment brought about by the defense program.
Reflections of a Bachelor –
If you really want to get the dope on a girl, praise her to another.
Things I’ve Always Wondered About –
Why is it that newsboys never hold the paper in their hand still enough for a guy to read the headlines? If they catch you trying to read, they invariably flip the paper around, with the result you have to buy, if you want to satisfy your curiosity.
Daniel Webster –
Now that the welfare of the country is so uppermost in our minds, it is well to regard the words of Daniel Webster who once said, “I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that character to the end of my career. I mean to do this with absolute disregard of personal consequences. What are the personal consequences? What is the individual man, with all the good or evil that may betide him, in comparison with the good or evil which may befall a great country, and in the midst of great transactions which concern that country’s fate? Let the consequences be what they will, I am careless. No man can suffer too much, and no man can fall too soon, if he suffer, or if he fall, in the defense of the liberties and constitution of his country.”
To Fill in Space –
That Germany and Russia are at each others throats should pretty well satisfy Jan Valtin, author of “Out of the Night”, who, according to his book, worked for the secret police of both countries. Whatever the outcome, his worries should be simplified…….. The most contented people during these days of confusion and fear are to be found in our insane asylums…….. As a rule, anything you get for nothing proves little value. You respect and place a tangible value only on those things for which you have traded products of your physical and mental energy…….. We can all exhibit some real patriotism these days, and do so without getting ourselves red, white and blue in the face. These are days when we should forget our political differences and all pull together on the same rope.