MDMD: Meaningless line

[Judy Panetta]

Almost...it was a border dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania. As
always, one can follow the money and in this case, clarifying who should be
paying what taxes to which governor. The line is the line and it hasn't
moved.

Just love the antique trail...what would Charlie and Jer say?



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org]On Behalf
Of John Bailey
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001 8:39 PM
To: jbor at bigpond.com; pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: MDMD: Meaningless line


The original purpose of the line was to demarcate the border between
Maryland and Virginia, if I remember correctly. Not the best source on
American history myself, I'd always thought the 'meaningless' bit was
referring to the fact that it either a) was just a line drawn by some guys,
which is ultimately meaningless and arbitrary, and/or b) the border between
the two states was shifted not long afterwards anyway (well, 50 years) with
the Missouri Compromise (which sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel)? But then
again in other ways it was very meaningful, as that damn'd line is still
used to symbolize the division of North and South, free and slave states,
yeah?
On the furniture front, there are some great pics at
www.masondixonantiquetrail.com to get you in the mood, and there's an image
of one of the five-mile markers which M&D place along the way at
http://www.masondixonantiquetrail.com/lineinfo/marker.html
A joke I came across: "Mason-Dixon: Line that separates y'all from youse. "



313 people gave this joke a 2.84 rating on a 1-5 scale (5 being best).
People are easy to please.
Also, a wonderful map of the line from 1768, divided into five parts (the
Westernmost including the warpath) although I'd be interested if anyone
knows of a better scan available on the web. Some of the writing is a little
hard to make out.
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000017/000013/ht
ml/0000.html
Another piece of trivia which I came across is the following recipes for
soldiers of the Civil War era, which I realise is a lot later, but I'm
pretty sure that these meals were common for the military of M&D's time as
well. Hard tack anyone? It even has a recipe so you can eat like a sailor...
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/1369/recipes.html
Chow down folks.
John
>From: jbor
>To:
>Subject: Re: MDMD: Meaningless line
>Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 09:11:16 +1000
>
>I'm guessing that the original purpose of the Line, which escapes me at
>present though perhaps it will be made clear later on in the text (was it
>essentially a cartological exercise?), has been rendered "meaningless" by
>the outcome of the War of Independence. It was, after all, a venture
>sponsored by England.
>
>I think this passage sets up an ironic distance between the Rev.d as the
>narrator, and the reader, for *we* know that the Line later became
extremely
>meaningful in demarcating the rift between North and South which
exacerbated
>the Civil War.
>
>best
>
>
>on 9/9/01 9:15 AM, Judy Panetta at judy at brandxinc.com wrote:
>
> > "...what we were doing out in that Country together was brave,
scientifick,
> > beyond my understanding, and ultimately meaningless."
> >
> > Meaningless? In what way? To whom?
> >
> > Does the Revd think the Independent Colonies...now almost states will
erase
> > the line. What indication was there that that would ever happen? The
issue
> > that was being "bickered" about at the Continental Congress was states'
> > rights. Wouldn't the line continue to serve it's purpose?
> >
> > So?
>



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