"When
in the course of human events you fail, then try, try again." I
believe those words or something close to them are probably carved
in stone somewhere. Maybe not, but they should be. The point being
that you must never, ever quit trying. I recently started a new
column based on trivia called ‘Ponder Points’. This is something new
for me and like the one carried here, it’s designed to keep me on
the lookout for new things to write about every week. Well, last
week I wrote, "Paul Revere was said to have ridden into Concord
yelling, "The British are coming, the British are coming."
When actually he never made it, and what he said by those in the
know was ."The regulars are about." The ink had not hardly
dried on this until I received an e-mail from a kindly soul who
wished to correct me and that she had it on good authority that what
he actually said was ."The regulars are ALL about." I sent
her a thank you and advised her that since it was a long time ago,
it’s possible that he was misunderstood.
Being
the diligent person that I am, always concerned over getting my
facts correct thus making better and more informed readers, I
decided to do some more research. Boy, was I shocked! After
spending hours upon hours of my time, I determined that we were both
wrong. What Paul was actually heard to say on that fateful night
actually was.” The British are selling sauerkraut." This was of
particular concern to Paul since he was planning to open the first
string of sauerkraut stores in this country. His attorneys were
drawing up his franchise agreements and he had gotten over 15
colonists to invest their life savings into these new ventures. If
the British were going into the sauerkraut business, then the
potential for serious competition along with possible financial ruin
were a real possibility.
Unfortunately,
a grown man riding like crazy through town on horseback in the
middle of the night screaming something about sauerkraut didn’t call
anyone to arms. My research also shows that old Paul did this about
the time the local taverns were closing and the villagers were
somewhat used to such things. As an aside, you can tell that the
colonists of the day were prone to imbibe by the words of
"Yankee Doodle". As you recall old Doodle ."Stuck a
feather in his hat and called it macaroni.’ Now, I think most of us
can tell the difference right off between a piece of spaghetti and a
feather. That is unless you had consumed several pints of beer, ale
or whatever the local "Boar and Hog" pub had on sale at
happy hour.
No,
I’m sad to report that Paul acted somewhat hastily and gave up on
the idea of a national chain of sauerkraut shops or shoppes as he
planned to call them. Instead, he thought about what to try next and
was a visionary in his thinking about cookware. Paul decided that a
new nation would have new houses. New house would have new kitchens.
New kitchens would need new microwaves. No, wait that came later.
New kitchens would need pots and pans. So, Paul sat down and
designed Revereware. After making a huge success of this idea, he
put his efforts into commemorative plates, saucers and figurines.
Most of us are unaware that his "Colonial Plate of the Month
Club" was the inspiration for the post office with his new
friend, Ben Franklin. After all, he had to devise some method to
deliver all of this stuff to the villages once it was sold. He
couldn’t just ride through town yelling.” Your plates are
here." He just never gave up. There’s an inspirational story if
there ever was one. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
