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In this hobby more than most, if you don't put much in you won't get much out. The real rewards and satisfaction come from the moments when "getting it right" pays off. Some times things happen that are exactly what you would hope for and the people who care a bit less than they should get more or less what they deserve. In a perfect world, more things would be this way...here is a recent classic example:
While representing the Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as a guest of the Camp Chase Gazette at New Market in Virginia last month, My son and I decided to participate in the battle and fell in with a group of fairly well squared away fellows on Saturday as invitees. This group was a hodge-podge but most of them were hale fellows well met and their mid-1864 CS impressions were fairly decent. The command structure however threw us in with some of the mainstream units for the tactical.
We were deployed as skirmishers in the "tactical" and activities were in the pre-battle lull. We were perched behind a split rail fence waiting for the engagement to begin. An unknown enactor to my right reached into his haversack, and set down his musket and answered his cell phone! I watched this transpire with horror, and thought I might quote him some scripture...specifically the book of Watchdog 3:16, "Farb-man be fruitful, go and multiply"...(but not in those exact words) specifically someplace else. Then I noticed he was kneeling in a patch of poison ivy, and had laid his musket against a tree covered in it as well. This, I thought, is exactly how it should be. Upon request, he picked his weapon and put his phone away without ever noticing the horticulture in his midst. However, the expected reward for this lack of diligence began to show up almost immediately. It appears he was quite allergic.
Does anyone have a "topper" for this one? Or another "moment of dawning comprehension" story?
While representing the Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as a guest of the Camp Chase Gazette at New Market in Virginia last month, My son and I decided to participate in the battle and fell in with a group of fairly well squared away fellows on Saturday as invitees. This group was a hodge-podge but most of them were hale fellows well met and their mid-1864 CS impressions were fairly decent. The command structure however threw us in with some of the mainstream units for the tactical.
We were deployed as skirmishers in the "tactical" and activities were in the pre-battle lull. We were perched behind a split rail fence waiting for the engagement to begin. An unknown enactor to my right reached into his haversack, and set down his musket and answered his cell phone! I watched this transpire with horror, and thought I might quote him some scripture...specifically the book of Watchdog 3:16, "Farb-man be fruitful, go and multiply"...(but not in those exact words) specifically someplace else. Then I noticed he was kneeling in a patch of poison ivy, and had laid his musket against a tree covered in it as well. This, I thought, is exactly how it should be. Upon request, he picked his weapon and put his phone away without ever noticing the horticulture in his midst. However, the expected reward for this lack of diligence began to show up almost immediately. It appears he was quite allergic.
Does anyone have a "topper" for this one? Or another "moment of dawning comprehension" story?
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