The Phrase Finder says the current usage is to describe “impending trouble or other bad consequences from one’s actions. I settled on this expression after posting a review of a book about the Confederate camp for Union prisoners of war at Andersonville. The commandant, Captain Henry Wirz, was hanged (which certainly would be “other bad consequences”) after the war and a rigged trial. The phrase alludes to Faustian pacts in which people forfeit their soul to realize some wish or wanted goal. Thomas Brown wrote in Letters From the Dead to the Living in 1707, “…we knew we should have the Devil to pay…we have pawn’d our Souls…” Sailors named the seam that “…margins the waterways on a ship’s hull…” the Devil, and they called plugging the seam with caulk or tar “paying.” Sailors probably adopted the established phrase to describe the unpleasant task of seam caulking.
Author Archives: Advocate
Ignorance is Bliss
I just posted the second half of a review about Candice Millard’s book, “Destiny of the Republic, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President.” D. Willard Bliss was the doctor who took control of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot by a madman. Bliss probed to try to find the bullet with unsterilized fingers on several occasions. Garfield died from the massive infections introduced by the inept medical treatment. The author observes that the expression “ignorance is bliss” could have been applied to describe Dr. Bliss. According to Reference.com, the phrase came from the poem “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” by Thomas Gray. The quote is “Thought would destroy their paradise. No more. Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”
Destiny of the Republic, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President—Part II
Part I of this book by Candice Millard was about Garfield’s early life, his military service during the Civil War, entrance into politics, and his seemingly accidental connections to a madman named Charles Guiteau who shot him and the inventor, Alexander Graham Bell. This part will be about the medical treatment after Guiteau shot him, or more accurately the inept medical treatment of Garfield, the people who interacted with Garfield during his long decline to his end, and the remarkable transformation of Vice President Chester Arthur. Arthur was transformed from being a political hack to becoming an admirable American President.. He was influenced to become a decent President by the coaching from a previously unknown disabled woman and by his limited contact with the remarkable Garfield. I would be remiss if I did no encourage any student of history or anyone who enjoys a well written, interesting story to read this book. I give it a very high recommendation.
Alexander Graham Bell began working on an electrical induction device when he learned that President Garfield had been wounded by a gunshot from the insane Guitreau, and that there was doubt where the bullet had lodged. He hoped he could develop a metal detector that would assist in identifying the location of the lead slug embedded in Garfield. Bell would test his equipment with some success on a Civil War veteran who had carried a bullet in his body for many years. However, his equipment failed to find the bullet in Garfield in part because of an error in setting up the equipment, and in part because Bliss, the doctor in charge of Garfield’s treatment, gave him a completely incorrect assessment of the approximate location of the bullet. Bell continued to work on his equipment after failing to find the bullet in Garfield, and would eventually find the location of a slug in Private John McGill who had carried a bullet twenty years after being shot at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill. Bell made a return visit to Garfield’s bed and found a feeble signal in the general vicinity where Bliss believed the bullet to be lodged. Bell was unconvinced, but Bliss took it as proof of his ideas. Bell did not know the President was on a mattress with metal coils that probably gave the false signal that Bliss believed proved he was right. Continue reading
Destiny of the Republic, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President—Part I
I heard Peter Boyles on KOA radio of Denver interviewing Candice Millard and reviewing her book, and decided it sounded fascinating. I now think “fascinating” doesn’t do the book justice, and I give this book a very high recommendation. I wanted to do a single part review, but this book simply had too much information for a mere couple of pages to do it justice. This part will be about Garfield’s early life, his military service during the Civil War, entrance into politics, and his seemingly accidental connections to a madman named Charles Guiteau and the inventor, Alexander Graham Bell.
I am frequently astonished at how little I know about history, and this book led me even further to the conclusion that I don’t know enough. I certainly knew little about James A. Garfield. He was born to a poor family that was barely scraping out a living in Ohio, and his father died when he was two. His mother, Eliza Garfield, who came from a family of intellectuals, and eleven year old brother worked to keep the family from starving, and eventually sacrificed what little they had to see that James could be educated. His ability to learn was remarkable. His willingness to work at any job perhaps was just as remarkable. He worked on the Erie Canal with rough men, and was amazingly saved from drowning by a rope that caught solid in a crack as he fell overboard alone in the dark. He worked as a janitor at a preparatory school and within a year was an assistant professor teaching literature, mathematics, and ancient languages. He was accepted into Williams College in Massachusetts, and became the president of Eclectic Institute by the age of twenty-six. Continue reading
Yell Bloody Murder
I settled on this expression because I just posted the first half of a review of Candice Millard’s book, “Destiny of the Republic, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President.” The book is about the remarkable James A. Garfield, who was shot by a madman and died some time later because of inept medical care.
Mahalo.com explains that the expression originated with the sound a person makes when they are being killed, but that it has evolved to mean to protest loudly and angrily. The example given is, “If I don’t get a good raise I’m going to yell bloody murder.”
No Sense of Decency, The Army McCarthy Hearings—Part II
The first half of the review of this book discusses the early days of McCarthy’s attacks on communists in the U.S. government beginning with a speech in 1950 to a Wheeling West Virginia women’s club when he announced he was holding a list of communists or suspected communists in the State Department. This part will talk about the expansion of his attacks and the gathering of forces that eventually tore him down. I’ve suggested that anyone reading this book should also read “Blacklisted by History,” which presents strong defenses of McCarthy and his actions.
The rebuff by his colleagues did not deter McCarthy, and he continued his attacks on powerful people. He called Secretary of State Dean Acheson the “…great Red Dean.” He declared Truman was a drunkard, and that “The son of a bitch should be impeached,” after Truman dismissed General Douglas MacArthur. Truman commented after McCarthy’s attack on General Marshall, “The man who made that attack isn’t fit to shine General Marshall’s shoes.” Edward R. Murrow said that he hadn’t always agreed with Truman, but said “…we are obliged to applaud his choice of shoeshine boys.”
McCarthy would announce on television that presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson and five of his key advisors were supporters of communism. He broadened his attack by declaring, “…those who wear the label Democrat wear it with the stain of a historic betrayal.” He later angered Eisenhower with his lengthy speech attacking the Army. Eisenhower told his brother Milton, “I am not going to get into a pissing contest with that skunk.” Richard Nixon, who had gained fame interrogating suspected communists as a member of HUAC, said “When you go out and shoot rats you have to shoot straight…you might hit someone else who is trying to shoot rats too.” Continue reading