Ben Franklin would have had a good chance to test his theory of electricity this morning. It was on June 10, 1752, when he experimented with electricity and lightning by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. His aim was to collect an ambient charge of electricity in a leyden jar. Mr. Franklin was curious about the world and it’s due to that curiosity that we enjoy many conveniences today. The lightning rod, bifocal glasses, swim fins, the Franklin stove…all these and more are due to Ben’s inventiveness. If you haven’t read the delightful book, Ben and Me, by Robert Lawson, I invite you to read it. It’s one of my favorites.
So, because of the thunderstorm, it is still quite dark this morning…looks like approaching night instead of approaching day. It’s a good day for reading, writing, or delving into ancestry. That’s what Sara and I did yesterday. Goodness! We went way back to the 1700s. Interesting people, these ancestors. They lived lives of triumphs, hardships, victories, and tragedies. We both particularly liked the individual stories that have been passed down, detailing episodes of daily life or adventures.
Curiosity can be a good thing, as in the case of Ben Franklin. With Sara and me, it’s a fun thing, finding out where we came from, the many directions of the globe, the people who were as different as clouds and sunlight. I don’t feel the need to become better acquainted with lightning or electricity, but who knows? Maybe, someday some descendant will be curious about great, great, ever-so great grandmother or aunt Blanche and I’ll go down in the annals of family history! What a sobering thought.
an ancestor?
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