Oct 1, 2006

Toto, I don't think we're in Maryland anymore

Here's a mildly startling inscription, I came across in Little Britain, PA. It's not all that inflammatory, but it's a lot less diplomatic an inscription than those found in Maryland. Some (many), like Robert J. Brugger, like to play up Maryland as having a "middle temperament," others, like Barbara J. Fields, say that's a lot of hooey. Historically, I tend to side with Professor Fields, but when it came to tombstones, MD Civil War vets (and those mourning them), tended to keep their inscriptions on the diplomatic side. This is not always the case in Pennsylvania or Virginia and I always find it a little creepy, like maybe it would be best for me to jump in the car and head back to the "middle ground." And in this day of Neo-Confederates and Reparationists, maybe that isn't such a bad place to be, even if it only exists in the minds of a few crab-addled Free-Staters.

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