For this episode, we will depart from the usual back road or mountain trail, far from where the Great Plains, the Ozark Mountains and the Indian Territory collide for the cobble stone street of London, 1854. This story has all the elements of a good Within The Realm tale: A significant event in an overlooked place, this time just with an English accent! Our story involves a doctor on the cutting edge, a neighborhood facing an overwhelming problem and a pump handle.
The Piggy Bank, that most useful tool in teaching thrift and saving for a rainy day. The idea has been around for centuries, but the concept of a little slotted-back pig in every child’s room is pretty recent and from the unlikely starting point of White Cloud, Kansas. The bank was inspired by Pete the Pig, sold by Wilbur Chapman to lend aid to the world’s lepers. Pete eventually inspired over a million dollars donated toward that cause.
An old fan used by my Grandfather to provide a little respite from the Oklahoma summer heat had a history. It had been purchased three decades before I became fascinated with it, listening to it’s ancient blades whir during his afternoon naps. I later learned it figured prominently in a sad chapter in the family story and represented progress during a tumultuous time in American history.
Katie DeWitt had come to the Oklahoma Territory to get herself a piece of the disappearing American Frontier. She taught school there in what would become Dewey County, perfected her claim to a farmstead,married and had a child, all by the age of 29. On July 6, 1905, She made the trip into Taloga, the County Seat, to file for divorce from her husband Luther James. Two days later during a trip to visit relatives in another part of the Territory, Katie and her baby disappeared. Plenty of heartbreak and tragedy in this tale.
Traditions have to start somewhere. I was present at the birth of a new tradition for a bunch of fellow Okies living in Kansas involving a favorite food from our home state. A few things had to fall into place before the tradition was born – like the invention of the Frito and for the daytime high temperature not to exceed a certain limit!
Within the Realm 