Lars Redoubt
February 9th, 2011, 12:12 AM
30 AUG 05
Dear Mr. L[---]: Many thanks for your letter of 23 AUG [---]! No, I have never read anything by A.B. Guthrie, since I never heard of him. I am not a particular fan of books on the Wild West, cowboys, Indians, the great vistas, &c. because I grew up in this environment. Cowherding is not at all ‘romantic’ to me, either, for I had to do a bit in Africa & West Virginia. I grew up, saturated with cowboy songs on the radio. That is why I prefer classical music. Our family always had a gun, which we learned to treat with care & use with caution. I fired my first revolver, under my father’s supervision, when I was 10. Cowboy hats & boots are still quite common in these parts, even if it’s Mexicans who wear them. Of course, there are lots & lots of “Injuns”, who are all mestizos & not pure Asians, just as there are many more mestizos who think they are White. If you remember Roy Rogers & Will Rogers, you would be seeing two Anglo-mestizos. I’ve ridden a good many miles on horse & mule, so I know what it is to be saddlesore. Also, growing up in Southern California, next to Hollywood, I got to absorb the aspects of cowboy movie-making, complete with “Wild West” movie sets, such as Corriganville. As a high school student, I lived in a town dominated by William S. Hart’s Castle, a big, Spanish-style hacienda on a scenic hill, which was open to the public. Hart began his silent movie acting career in New York City, as a Shakespearean actor. Then, he came out west & fell in love with cowboy ‘culture’. He rode horses, roped cattle & did his own stunts in his silent movies, some of which I’ve seen. In his library, I saw his autobiography: “My Life, East & West”, if I recall the name correctly.
In 1954, I worked after school in the blacksmith shop on the town’s main street, Newhall, California. Horses were often brought in for shoeing, & I carried 100 pound bags of coal for the forge, plus some bookkeeping & janitorial duties, for $1 an hour. After I got out of the U.S. Army in 1961, I went up to the old California goldfields, including Angel’s Camp, Calaveras County, where I panned for gold, the old-fashioned way, until forest fires prompted me to rejoin The U.S. Forest Service, in which I became a Helitack foreman of a hotshot crew who flew in to the fire areas by helicopter, based on my summers of firefighting experience. I did enjoy reading Mark Twain & Ambrose Bierce, both of whom were in those areas during The Gold Rush. Yes, I’ve also slept many nights outdoors, on the ground, & I’ve cooked over many a campfire.
Thank you for prompting these reflections, for I am a bit surprised about how much cowboy-style experience I had absorbed before I left the USA for longer & longer periods of time. Of course, I had more such experience in Latin America & Africa. Colombia of the 1960s was very similar to the USA of the 1890s or earlier. The usual Colombian steam locomotives had manufacturers’ plates on their boilers which said: “Skodawerken, Österreich”. That meant they were made before World War I. These were similar, if not the same type of locomotives used by the Germans on The Turkish Empire’s Hejaz Railway, which was attacked by T.E. Lawrence’s Arab irregulars. Colombia also had wood-burning paddlewheel steamers on some rivers. I sometimes had to ask myself, “Is it 1863 or 1963?” Alone in a jungle, with a steamboat passing by, one had no other reference point from the present which was visible, unless a jet plane passed overhead. Ha!
On the mestizo subject, if you can log onto the FAEM website, I recommend that you read Mark Twain’s little essay on “The Noble Savage”. Karl May did much to romanticize these “skraelings”, as the Vikings called them, for that is what they are. One American called them “red niggers”, for that is what they resemble in their behavior, always ready to beg or steal. One major characteristic of Asiatics & semi-Asiatics (mestizos) is their lack of preparation for the future. Food preservation was a big problem for the so-called Indians, although they did process smoked fish, & dried meat, but they rarely seemed to make enough for the winter. If they could not find fresh game when they got hungry, they’d organize raiding parties to take food from other Indians. As I see their Asiatic behavior, they do nothing until they really have to, not because they should provide for the future. Real Whites, on the other hand, always seem to be preparing for the next season, so they usually have enough to eat. Of course, Eskimos seem to find all the food they need, & they have their own natural refrigeration for food storage. Eskimoes also race-mix. The enclosed newspaper story from Canada refers.
It may be that Scandinavians’ lack of foresight in protecting their lands from alien invasion indicates the Asian admixture in the ostensibly White population. The mestizo type is lazy & will put off doing what he needs to do until it is a matter of life or death. Only then does he get off his ass. Alcohol is bad enough for Whites, but it is disastrous to mestizos, for it can frequently turn them violent, even against their friends & loved ones. I’ve learned to stay away from Finns when they are drinking, for their “Injun” comes out, resulting in bloody mayhem, as I saw in Sweden. I enclose a shortstory which I wrote in Africa. I hope you enjoy it. All the best & ORION!
Eric
--------------------
Mark Twain: The Noble Red Man
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Indians/redman.html
--------------------
Eric Thomson: Night Express
http://vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t=72750
--------------------
Write to:
Mr. Eric Thomson
P.O. Box 896
Yakima, Washington 98907-0896
U.S.A.
Dear Mr. L[---]: Many thanks for your letter of 23 AUG [---]! No, I have never read anything by A.B. Guthrie, since I never heard of him. I am not a particular fan of books on the Wild West, cowboys, Indians, the great vistas, &c. because I grew up in this environment. Cowherding is not at all ‘romantic’ to me, either, for I had to do a bit in Africa & West Virginia. I grew up, saturated with cowboy songs on the radio. That is why I prefer classical music. Our family always had a gun, which we learned to treat with care & use with caution. I fired my first revolver, under my father’s supervision, when I was 10. Cowboy hats & boots are still quite common in these parts, even if it’s Mexicans who wear them. Of course, there are lots & lots of “Injuns”, who are all mestizos & not pure Asians, just as there are many more mestizos who think they are White. If you remember Roy Rogers & Will Rogers, you would be seeing two Anglo-mestizos. I’ve ridden a good many miles on horse & mule, so I know what it is to be saddlesore. Also, growing up in Southern California, next to Hollywood, I got to absorb the aspects of cowboy movie-making, complete with “Wild West” movie sets, such as Corriganville. As a high school student, I lived in a town dominated by William S. Hart’s Castle, a big, Spanish-style hacienda on a scenic hill, which was open to the public. Hart began his silent movie acting career in New York City, as a Shakespearean actor. Then, he came out west & fell in love with cowboy ‘culture’. He rode horses, roped cattle & did his own stunts in his silent movies, some of which I’ve seen. In his library, I saw his autobiography: “My Life, East & West”, if I recall the name correctly.
In 1954, I worked after school in the blacksmith shop on the town’s main street, Newhall, California. Horses were often brought in for shoeing, & I carried 100 pound bags of coal for the forge, plus some bookkeeping & janitorial duties, for $1 an hour. After I got out of the U.S. Army in 1961, I went up to the old California goldfields, including Angel’s Camp, Calaveras County, where I panned for gold, the old-fashioned way, until forest fires prompted me to rejoin The U.S. Forest Service, in which I became a Helitack foreman of a hotshot crew who flew in to the fire areas by helicopter, based on my summers of firefighting experience. I did enjoy reading Mark Twain & Ambrose Bierce, both of whom were in those areas during The Gold Rush. Yes, I’ve also slept many nights outdoors, on the ground, & I’ve cooked over many a campfire.
Thank you for prompting these reflections, for I am a bit surprised about how much cowboy-style experience I had absorbed before I left the USA for longer & longer periods of time. Of course, I had more such experience in Latin America & Africa. Colombia of the 1960s was very similar to the USA of the 1890s or earlier. The usual Colombian steam locomotives had manufacturers’ plates on their boilers which said: “Skodawerken, Österreich”. That meant they were made before World War I. These were similar, if not the same type of locomotives used by the Germans on The Turkish Empire’s Hejaz Railway, which was attacked by T.E. Lawrence’s Arab irregulars. Colombia also had wood-burning paddlewheel steamers on some rivers. I sometimes had to ask myself, “Is it 1863 or 1963?” Alone in a jungle, with a steamboat passing by, one had no other reference point from the present which was visible, unless a jet plane passed overhead. Ha!
On the mestizo subject, if you can log onto the FAEM website, I recommend that you read Mark Twain’s little essay on “The Noble Savage”. Karl May did much to romanticize these “skraelings”, as the Vikings called them, for that is what they are. One American called them “red niggers”, for that is what they resemble in their behavior, always ready to beg or steal. One major characteristic of Asiatics & semi-Asiatics (mestizos) is their lack of preparation for the future. Food preservation was a big problem for the so-called Indians, although they did process smoked fish, & dried meat, but they rarely seemed to make enough for the winter. If they could not find fresh game when they got hungry, they’d organize raiding parties to take food from other Indians. As I see their Asiatic behavior, they do nothing until they really have to, not because they should provide for the future. Real Whites, on the other hand, always seem to be preparing for the next season, so they usually have enough to eat. Of course, Eskimos seem to find all the food they need, & they have their own natural refrigeration for food storage. Eskimoes also race-mix. The enclosed newspaper story from Canada refers.
It may be that Scandinavians’ lack of foresight in protecting their lands from alien invasion indicates the Asian admixture in the ostensibly White population. The mestizo type is lazy & will put off doing what he needs to do until it is a matter of life or death. Only then does he get off his ass. Alcohol is bad enough for Whites, but it is disastrous to mestizos, for it can frequently turn them violent, even against their friends & loved ones. I’ve learned to stay away from Finns when they are drinking, for their “Injun” comes out, resulting in bloody mayhem, as I saw in Sweden. I enclose a shortstory which I wrote in Africa. I hope you enjoy it. All the best & ORION!
Eric
--------------------
Mark Twain: The Noble Red Man
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Indians/redman.html
--------------------
Eric Thomson: Night Express
http://vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t=72750
--------------------
Write to:
Mr. Eric Thomson
P.O. Box 896
Yakima, Washington 98907-0896
U.S.A.