Traveling Ribbed Eyelet Panel

SOUL, n.  A spiritual entity concerning which there hath been brave disputation.  Plato held that those souls which in a previous state of existence (antedating Athens) had obtained the clearest glimpses of eternal truth entered into the bodies of persons who became philosophers.  Plato was himself a philosopher.  The souls that had least contemplated divine truth animated the bodies of usurpers and despots.  Dionysius I, who had threatened to decapitate the broad-browed philosopher, was a usurper and despot.  Plato, doubtless, was not the first to construct a system of philosophy that could be quoted against his enemies; certainly he was not the last.
     "Concerning the nature of the soul," saith the renowned author of Diversiones Sanctorum, "there hath been hardly more argument than that of its place in the body.  Mine own belief is that the soul hath her seat in the abdomen--in which faith we may discern and interpret a truth hitherto unintelligible, namely that the glutton is of all men most devout.  He is said in the Scripture to 'make a god of his belly'--why, then, should he not be pious, having ever his Deity with him to freshen his faith?  Who so well as he can know the might and majesty that he shrines?  Truly and soberly, the soul and the stomach are one Divine Entity; and such was the belief of Promasius, who nevertheless erred in denying it immortality.  He had observed that its visible and material substance failed and decayed with the rest of the body after death, but of its immaterial essence he knew nothing.  This is what we call the Appetite, and it survives the wreck and reek of mortality, to be rewarded or punished in another world, according to what it hath demanded in the flesh.  The Appetite whose coarse clamoring was for the unwholesome viands of the general market and the public refectory shall be cast into eternal famine, whilst that which firmly though civilly insisted on ortolans, caviare, terrapin, anchovies, pate's de foie gras and all such Christian comestibles shall flesh its spiritual tooth in the souls of them forever and ever, and wreak its divine thirst upon the immortal parts of the ratest and richest wines ever quaffed here below.  Such is my religious faith, though I grieve to confess that neither His Holiness the Pope nor His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury (whom I equally and profoundly revere) will assent to its dissemination."

Shetland Eyelet Panel

CALLOUS, adj.  Gifted with great fortitude to bear the evils afflicting another.
 

When Zeno was told that one of his enemies was no more he was observed to be deeply moved.  "What!" said one of his disciples, "you weep at the death of an enemy?"  "Ah, 'tis true," replied the great Stoic; "but you should see me smile at the death of a friend."

Staggered Fern Lace Panel

CONDOLE, v.i.  To show that bereavement is a smaller evil than sympathy.

SMALL TWIST PATTERN

FAMOUS, adj.  Conspicuously miserable.

Done to a turn on the iron, behold

Him who to be famous aspired.

Content?  Well, his grill has a plating of gold,

And his twistings are greatly admired.

Hassan Brubuddy.

Thirteen-Stitch Claw Pattern

LOSS, n.  Privation of that which we had, or had not.  Thus, in the latter sense,  it is said of a defeated candidate that he "lost his election"; and of that eminent man, the poet Gilder, that he has "lost his mind."  It is in the former and more legitimate sense, that the word is used in the famous epitaph:

Here Huntington's ashes long have lain

Whose loss is our own eternal gain,

For while he exercised all this powers

Whatever he gained, the loss was ours. 

Loose Woven Cables

LOCK-AND-KEY, n.  The distinguishing device of civilization and enlighten-
ment.

FORKED CABLE

LOQUACITY, n.  A disorder which renders the sufferer unable to curb his tongue when you wish to talk.

BROKEN CHEVRON

BEHAVIOR, n.  Conduct, as determined, not by principle, but by breeding.
The word seems to be somewhat loosely used in Dr. Jamrach Holobom's tanslation of the following lines in the Dies Irae:

Recordare, Jesu pie,

Quod sum causa tuae viae.

Ne me perdas illa die.

Pray remember, sacred Saviour,

Whose the thoughtless hand that gave your 

Death-blow.  Pardon such behavior.

Intimacy

Intimacy, n.  A relation into which fools are providentially drawn for their mutual destruction.

Two Seidlitz powders, one in blue

And one in white, together drew,

And having each a pleasant sense

Of t'other powder's excellence,

Forsook their jackets for the snug

Enjoyment of a common mug.

So close their intimacy grew

One paper would have held the two.

To confidences straight they fell,

Less anxious each to hear than tell;

Then each remorsefully confessed 

To all the virtues he possessed,

Acknowledging he had them in 

So high degree it was a sin.

The more they said, the more they felt

Their spirits with emotion melt,

Till tears of sentiment expressed

Their feelings.  Then they effervesced!

So Nature executes her feats

Of wrath on friends and sympathetes

The good old rule who won't apply,

That you are you and  I am I.

Simple Seed Stitch

GALLOWS, n.  A stage for the performance of miracle plays, in which the leading actor is translated to heave.  In this country the gallows is chiefly remarkable for the number of persons who escape it.

Whether on the gallows high

Or where blood flows the reddest,

The noblest place for man to die--

Is where he died the deadest.

Old Play.

SEED PEARL GRID

FIB, n.  A lie that has not cut its teeth.  An habitual liar's nearest approach to truth:  the perigee of his eccentric orbit.

When David said:  "All men are liars," Dave, 

Himself a liar, fibbed like any theif.

Perhaps he thought to weaken disbelief

By proof that even himself was not a slave

To Truth; though I suspect the aged knave

Had been of all her servitors the chief

Had he but known a fig's reluctant leaf

Is more than e'er she wore on land or wave.

No David served not Naked Truth when he 

Struck that sledge-hammer blow at all his race;

Nor did he hit the nail upon the head:

For reson shows that it could never be,

And the facts contradict him to his face.

Men are not liars all, for some are dead.

Bartle Quinker.

SLIPPED THREE STITCH-CABLE

MERCY, n.  An attribute beloved of detected offenders.

When the world was young and Man was new,

And everything was pleasant,

Distinctions Nature never drew

"Mongst king and priest and peasant.

We're not that way at present,

Save here in this Republic, where

Wehave that old re'gime,

For all kings, however bare

Their backs, howe'er extreme

Their hunger. And, indeed, each has a voice

To accept the tyrant of his party's choice.

A citizen who would not vote,

And, therefore, was detested,

Was one day with a tarry coat

(With feathers backed and breasted)

By patriots invested.

"It is your duty," cried the crowd,

"Your ballot true to cast

For the man o' your choice." He humbly bowed,

And explained his wicked past:

"That's what I very gladly would have done,

Dear patriots, but he has never run."

Apperton Duke.

TaDah! Samsung 32" Television! (thank you Max)

Property, n.  Any material thing, having no particular value, that may be held by A against the cupidity of B.  Whatever gratifies the passion for possession in one and disappoints it in all others.  The object of man's brief rapacity and long indifference.

Devil's Dictionary 

Ambrose  Bierce

BRAIDED CABLE

SYMBOLIC, adj.  Pertaining to symbols and the use and interpretation of symbols.

They say 'tis conscience feels compunction;

I hold that that's the stomach's function,

For of the sinner I have noted

That when he's sinned he's somewhat bloated,

Or ill some other ghastly fashion

Within that bowel of compassion.

True, I believe the only sinner

Is he that eats a shabby dinner.

You know how Adam with good reason,

For eating apples out of season,

Was "cursed."  But that is all symbolic:

The truth is, Adam had the colic.

G.J.

Little Pearl Cable

LAUGHTER, n.  An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises.  It is infectious and, though intermittent, incurable.  Liability to attacks of laughter is one of the characteristics distinguishing man from the animals--these being not only inaccessible to the provocation of his example, but impregnable to the microbes having original jurisdiction in bestowal of the disease.  Whether laughter could be imparted to animals by inoculation from the human patient is a question that has not been answered by experimentation.  Dr. Meir Witchell holds that the infectious character of laughter is due to instantaneous fermentation of sputa diffused in a spray.  From this peculiarity he names the disorder Convulsio spargens.

SIX-STITCH SPIRAL CABLE

Reflections: November 6th

Going with the Flow

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him... 

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 96

The first words I speak when arising in the morning are, "I arise, O God, to do Thy will."  This is the shortest prayer I know and it is deeply ingrained in me.  Prayer doesn't change God's attitude toward me; it changes my attitude toward God.  As distinguished from prayer, meditation is a quiet time, without words.  To be centered is to be physically relaxed, emotionally calm, mentally focused and spiritually aware.

One way to keep the channel open and to improve my conscious contact with God is to maintain a grateful attitude.  On the days when I am grateful, good things seem to happen in my life.  The instant I start cursing things in my life, however, the flow of good stops.  God did not interrupt the flow; my own negativity did.

As Bill Sees It

(selected writings of A.A.'s cofounder)

Middle of the Road

"In some sections of A.A., anonymity is carried to the point of real absurdity. Members are on such a poor basis of communication that they don't even know eachother's last names or where eachother lives.  It's like the cell of an underground.

"In other sections, we see exactly the reverse.  It is difficult to restrain A.A.'s from shouting too much before the whole public, by going on spectacular 'lecture tours' to play the big shot.

"however, I know that from these extremes we slowly pull ourselves onto a middle ground.  Most lecture-giving members do not last too long, and the superanonymous people are apt to come out of hiding respecting their A.A. friends, business associates, and the like.  I think the long-time trend is toward the middle of the road--which is probably where we should be."

Letter, 1959 (ymcav)

EYELET CABLE *See--No! I don't want it harder!*

Pearl

Marie Borroff

Better to cross yourself, and bless

The name of the Lord, whatever he send;

No good can come of your willfulness;

Who bears bad luck must learn to bend.

Thou like a stricken doe, my friend,

You plunge and bray, with loud lament,

This way and that, yet in the end

 As he decrees, you must consent.

As water flows from a fountainhead

I cast myself in his mercy clear

Then sorrow broke from my burning breast;

"O honored Pearl," I said, "how dear 

Was your every word and wise behest 

If you in a garland never sere

Are set by that Prince all-provident,

Then happy am I in dungeon drear

That he with you is well content."

The more I mused on that fair face,

The person of that most precious one,

Such gladness grew in my heart by grace

As little before had been, or none.

I longed to call across that space

But found my powers of speech had flown;

To meet her in so strange a place--

Such a sight, in truth, might shock or stun!

Then raised she up her brow, that shone 

All ivory pale on that far shore,

That stabbed my heart to look upon 

And ever the longer, more and more.

More dread diminished my delight;

I stood stock-still and dared not call.

With eyes wide open and mouth shut tight

I hoved there tame as a hawk in hall.

Unearthly, I knew, must be that plight;

I dreaded much what might befall,

Lest she I viewed should vanish quite

And leave me there to stare and stall.

That slender one, so smooth, so small,

Unblemished, void of every vice,

Rose up in robes imperial,

A precious pearl in pearls of price.

His gifts gush forth like a spring in spate

Or a stream in a gulley that runs in rains,

As in his flock no fleck is seen,

His hallowed halls are wholly bright,

I had 

The transport of the aim.

Perforated Ribbing

Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo

The Assayer

page 237

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

I have never claimed (as Lathario Sarsi pretends) that my opinion was certain to be swiftly carried by the winds to Rome.  That usually happens only with the words of great and celebrated me, which really far exceeds the bounds of my ambition.  It is true, though, that in reading Sarsi's book I have wondered that what I said never did reach Sarsi's ears.  Is it not astonishing that so many things have been reported to him which I never said, nor even thought, while not a single syllable reached him of other things that I have said over and over again?

But perhaps the wings that blow the clouds and those chimeras and monsters that tumultuously take shape in them had not the strength to carry solid and weighty things.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

Feather Rib

EAVESDROP, V. i.  Secretly to overhear a catalogue of the crimes and vices of another to yourself.

A laday with one of her ears applied

To an open keyhole heard, inside,

Two female gossips in converse free--

The subject engaging them was she.

"I think," said one, "and my hasbund thinks

That she's a prying, inquisitive minx!"

As soon as no more of it she could hear

The laday, indignant, removed her ear.

"I will not stay," she said, with a pout,

"To hear my character lied about!"

Gopete Sherany.

Spiral Pattern

Lunarian, n.  An inhabitant of the moon, as distinguished from Lunatic, one whom the moon inhabits.  The Lunarians have been described by Lucian, Locke and other observers, but without much agreement.  For example, Bragellos avers their anatomical identity with Man, but Professor Newcomb says they are more like the hill tribes of Vermount.