[pct-l] Horsethieves and the PCT

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I used to think there was a delicious scandal in my family history, what  
else explained why my great-grandfather would have left one of the most  
prosperous and cosmopolitan cities in western Europe in the late 19th  
Century to emmigrate to a dirt-farming, coal mining and culturally  
isolated colony in America?  Was it sex (did he knock up a princess)?   
Religion (the pogroms were in full swing)?  Politics (always a fertile  
field, but then why didn't he appear on our shores as a true anarchist  
instead of the guy who worked his way up diligently so he could afford, in  
1897, a gold pocket watch which I now have, complete with that year's  
calendar?)?

Of course all the records were burned in 1944.  A little instability Over  
There, y'know.

Then, one day the television revealed a bunch of students dancing atop the  
Berlin wall.  And a few weeks later one of them was in our living room,  
through various social connections.  I ran my theory out to him.  He  
laughed.  Nothing so complex, almost assuredly.  After Metternich came  
Bismark.  As Germany rose in stature and was consolidated, the feudal  
landlords were dispossessed.  Their serfs, those who could, fled to the  
Big City, where at least they would starve a little more slowly.  And the  
lucky ones jumped on the first boat out of there.

Not sex.  Not religion.  Not politics.  Just money.

Damnit.

I am now officially O.T.  While I'm there (what the hey), rent "Golden  
Door," a fascinating fictional depiction of late 19th-Century/early  
20th-Century immigration through Ellis Island.  Maybe your scoundrel  
ancestor was there, too.


On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:01:58 -0800, Jim and/or Ginny Owen  
<spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> ... every every family tree (including mine) has its share of liars,
> pirates, drunks, con men and horsethieves. Why should the thruhiking  
> family be any different? ...



-- 
I'm through with love
I'll never fall again.
Said adieu to love
Don't ever call again.
For I must have you or no one
And so I'm through with love.