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Highlights from our virtual mailbag. Please email your letters to us, making them as short as possible. We reserve the right to edit them for length and clarity. For safety's sake, they may be published anonymously, but you must send us your name in your email. We're sorry, but we cannot answer all questions we receive. |
I believe this is a good time to reassess the fence 'tween the outbound
& inbound tracks. I'm familiar with weekend trains, for which said fence
prevents access to inbound trains from the "assisted living" side of the
tracks, & vice-versa. If the trains were carefully spotted with doors at the
openings in the fence, trains could be boarded from either side, but they
aren't. This creates the situation wherein someone arriving at the last minute
is tempted to try to dash across in front of the oncoming train to avoid
missing the train altogether.
For residents of the assisted living facility, this poses a particularly
serious hazard, due to their presumed less agility, & the likelihood their
use of commuter rail from there will be predominantly inbound, from the other
side of the tracks.
Removing the fence will enable train crews to open doors on both sides
of trains, allowing access and observation of "runners" from both directions.
This will eliminate the temptation to try to cross in front of an oncoming
train. This works very well at the Ayer station, where embarking & debarking
from both sides even saves a few seconds each stop.
Please, give this your thoughtful consideration.
Frank Frederick Maxant
Hello my name is Philip and I am doing a GCSE course in Resistant materials. I have had experience with handling these materials:
For my final project I have got to design a product which will sort out a problem in my home. Because my bedroom is a mess I decided to do seating with inbuilt storage, made from wood. Could you please give me your opinion on the idea, whether you think it would look better in Metal (Please tell me the truth I would like to know). I would also like to know some history about chairs and the various types of designs that are available. Any literature would be gratefully accepted. Thanks again.
Philip, Atherstone Warks, UK
The Editor replies:
Phil, you've got the equivalent of a "wrong number" here. We get lots of very interesting -- and entirely misdirected -- email, and we publish this one and the one below as examples. There is obviously a lot of careless reading going on before the "send" button is pushed.
The history of chairs?! We really scratched our heads over this one. Why on EARTH send us this query? Then we remembered that 2.5 years ago we published something about the Allen Chair Company, late of Concord. Though this hardly makes us furniture experts. This page must have come up on Philip's search engine results. Well, we hope he has gotten his room tidied nonetheless.
Where might I find and download a copy of the Concord town flag? I pass it by every day in the center of town.
Brent
The Editor replies:
We suspect you mean some other Concord than the one in Massachusetts (remember us? ConcordMA.com). There are 93 other towns in the US named Concord and some more in Canada. Perhaps you mean to be writing to one of those?
According to our Town Clerk, Anita Tekle, Concord, MA does not have a town flag. We do have a town birthday flag, but it is flown but once a year on September 12th. We do have a town center with a flag pole, but it flies the American Flag.
 My name is David Kelly, and I am a freshman at Fitchburg State College. I have a paper due on Shea's Rebellion; and I was wondering if you had any information on the subject. It would be great if you did. Thanks.
Dave Kelly
D. Michael Ryan answers:
The uprising of farmers popularly known as "Shays'
Rebellion" occurred from 1786-1787 (generally in central
and western Massachusetts) and was the result of the
economic aftermath of the American Revolution. When the
state government would not provide tax and debt relief to
poor farmers, they rose in armed revolt. Their goal was to
seize local Courts to prevent actions which would either
place them in jail or confiscate their property.
Concord did have a small uprising in Sept. 1786 led by
"Captain" Job Shattuck and which resulted in the local
Court not being allowed to open. Shattuck was eventually
shot, captured an sent to prison but pardoned as was
eventually Shays (who fled to and died in NY state).
The "rebellion" was put down by state militia for
the most part and never received overwhelming popular
support. Concord was old Puritan and very conservative,
believing that constitutional law should always be followed
to resolve disagreements. This armed revolt was
unacceptable... a bit different from the mood in 1775.
This is a thumb-nail sketch. I might suggest
"Shays' Rebellion: The Making of an Agrarian Insurrection"
(UMass. Press, 1980) by David P. Szatmary.
White Clover Photo: Courtesy of David Smith and the Delaware Wildflowers Website.
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