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.

NOS PENSEES ET NOS BENEDICTIONS VONT VERS VOUS "QUE VIVE L'AMERIQUE ETERNELLEMENT PUISSANTE ET DEMOCRATIQUE"

NOUS VOUS AIMONS DEPUIS TOUJOURS NOUS SOMMES A VOS COTES PLUS QUE JAMAIS.

LYDIA ET BERNARD ATHURION - SAINT-MANDE

Translation: "We are overcome with pain that your country, with which ours has strong ties, has been subjected to such a trial.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with you. 'Long live a powerful and democratic America.'

"We love you as always. We are at your side more than ever." (Translation by Paul Horowitz)

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It's the cutest little chair.
Steven Caplowe, New London, CT

I wanted to thank you. I found just what I needed at your website. I have a pair of mission oak rockers with labels on the bottom stating they were made by the Allen Chair Company, Concord Junction, Massachusetts.

We'll be having our town's annual Harvest Festival at the end of this month. Each year we have a special exhibit; this year it is rocking chairs owned by townspeople. I plan to exhibit one of our rockers and was supposed to put some information with it. Until I tried your site, I had found no info. Thanks very much!
Jeannie Thibodeau - Temple, NH

Editor's Note: See our archived article on the Allen Chair Company of West Concord.

A Hosmer Disputes Author's Version of Family Story
I doubt if D. Michael Ryan's interpretations of Hosmer's motivation to suggest that something be done about the British who were setting fires about the New England landscape were accurate (Myth and History: A New Understanding of a Famous Statement, July/August, 2000).

I don't doubt that Hosmer was questioning or challenging authority. It's a Hosmer tradition, but he was more than just a soldier under the leadership of authority figures. This was his land, his homeland, his birth place. For more than a century, his family had struggled and succeeded at creating a life in a beautiful and free land. Unlike his Vietnam ramblings in that article, Hosmer lived and was nurtured by his home and community.

My family still finds it very hard to give up its Concord legacy, and I am somewhat bothered by all the interpretations, analyses, and characterizations of my ancestors. I feel it is an intrusion into my personal legacy--more authority figures trying to take something that will never be theirs.
Susan Buttrick Hosmer (11) born in Concord, MA

Editor's Note: To see our 5-part series on the subject of myth and history, start here; also see installment 2 here, 3 here, installment 4 here, and the last in the series here.

Autumn Leaves from New England
Help for the "foliage challenged" around the world! Are you a transplanted Yankee who misses autumn foliage - or just someone who has always wanted to see authentic New England foliage? If so, help is here - just email leafpeeper98@yahoo.com with your request for our colorful fall leaves, along with your postal mailing address, and our elves will send you your very own authentic New England leaves. There is no charge for this, just our request that you do something nice for a stranger. Please request leaves before October 31, 2001.
Anne Sterling II

Fascinating, Beautiful Magazine
I have been reading your July/August, 2001 edition and was prompted to write to you. The historical research is fascinating, and the web site is extremely well illustrated and artistically perfected.
Sam, Boston

From Our Friends to the West and North: More Mystery Orchid
I see this plant gave you a run for your money, too! One of these just sprouted up in my backyard under a pine tree, nestled in among some ladybells. I had never seen it before (I have lived in this house five years), and was excited at "discovering" a "rare" orchid. After a few fun fantasies of making botanical news with a new orchid named after [[[me]]] my online research led me to Epipactis helleborine, and also to your page.

So, just to let you know I have one of these cute little orchids, too. I don't know how it got there, just another whimsy of Mother Nature! Enjoy!
Rebecca Macauley - Northampton, MA

I just found your website in the course of other research, and I thought I'd drop you a line to say that helleborines are very common here on the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada. Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park (where I work) protect 34 of the 44 orchid species that grow on the peninsula.
Jack Wellington - Parks Canada

The Disappearing Baby Finches
I was saddened to hear of the disappearance of the baby finches. When I have bird nests near on parts of my house, they usually survive to their flight times. I would encourage you to have future articles of baby animals born in people's yards, etc. A happy article would be good for the next one.

Your magazine is great! Congratulations!
Dian Pekin, Concord

Photos: Courtesy of ArtToday.
Backgrounds: Culprit Fey and ABC Giant.