AtDTdA: (9) 266-267

[Jasper]

266-267 Deuce and Lake Get Hitched (continued)

Page 266
"Was it possible [Sloat wonders] [...] that Deuce was being haunted by 
what he did, and that marrying Lake looked like some chance at putting 
that one ghost to rest, some way, God help him, of /making it up/ to her?"

See also p. 263. What are Deuce's motivations for marrying Lake? How 
much does it have to do with Webb?

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"The snows lengthened down the peaks"
P has a lot of nice /time passing/ imagery in this book.

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white-throated swift
A swift is a small plainly colored bird similar to a swallow. The 
white-throated species, which breeds in the western U.S. and winters in 
Mexico, is less plain than some. And get the species name: /Aeronautes 
saxatalis/.
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/187/_/White-throated_Swift.aspx
*wiki*

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the military occupation
"In 1903, millworkers walked off the job and sympathetic mine workers 
soon followed. Six carloads of state militia men were sent by Colorado's 
governor into Telluride. Strikers were loaded into railcars and dumped 
at Ridgway with warnings not to return. Many did. The strike continued 
until November 29, 1904, when the Western Federation of Miners conceded 
defeat. The mine owners and sympathetic merchants, backed by armed 
militia men, had outlasted the by then poverty stricken mining families. 
Even so, the workers of Telluride had written themselves into history."
http://www.mountainstudies.org/databank/history/Towns/Telluride.htm

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November
November 1903.
*wiki*

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in January, martial law
January 3, 1904.
*wiki*

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nymph du pave
should probably read "nymphE du pave": street-whore. Theoretically this 
could also translate as: (image of a) nymph on a mosaic (tesselated 
floor) - like the huge roman one of Ariadne in the Rue du Pavé in 
Avenche (Switzerland)
http://dict.die.net/nymphe%20du%20pave/
http://www.stub.unibe.ch/welten/texte/herzig.html

Most likely not (the mosaic idea); this is a consecrated term for 
prostitute. Note: in French, pavé means cobblestone. --Kirkm 02:09, 3 
March 2007 (PST)
*wiki*

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"at first nearly the color of the gray sky in which it figured as little 
more than a geometric episode, till at closer range the straight lines 
began to break up"

Another zoom-in on some architecture

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geometric episode
Vaguely reminiscent of Proust on Combray: "And on one of the longest 
walks we ever took from Combray there was a spot where the narrow road 
emerged suddenly on to an immense plain, closed at the horizon by strips 
of forest over which rose and stood alone the fine point of 
Saint-Hilaire's steeple, but so sharpened and so pink that it seemed to 
be no more than sketched on the sky by the finger-nail of a painter 
anxious to give to such a landscape, to so pure a piece of 'nature,' 
this little sign of art, this single indication of human existence." etext:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/8swnn10.txt
*wiki*

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Engelmann spruce
Picea engelmannii A short biography of Dr. Engelmann (lit. Angel-Man) 
Wikipedia-Entry, more elaborated on German site
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=175
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Engelmann
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Engelmann
*wiki*

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mouth-harpist
harmonica-player, like this guy:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/06/24/mouth-harpist-goes-to-extremes/

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"elevated into more grace than the acoustics of his way would have 
granted him so far"
A prairie church, music, grace. I love the phrase "the acoustics of his 
way".

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The officiating presence [...] wore gray robes
Sky-gray?
Franciscans ran around in gray robes, maybe he was a friar. Did the 
Franciscans hire Swedes?

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albatross cloth
Evidently a distinct color/design for a wedding or wedding party dress 
in the West at the time. I have no OED at the moment, but there are at 
least two online "diaries" or descriptions using the phrase. Here is 
one: "We were married August 6, 1896 at 7:30 AM at my folk’s residence 
among friends and relatives. To honor the event, my folks had our parlor 
decorated with many flowers including roses, myrtle and geraniums. I 
wore an elegant gown of white silk and albatross cloth."
*wiki*

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albatross
I hesitate to bring up "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" again, but doesn't 
Lake wearing an albatross, the symbol of the Mariner's guilt, sort of 
beg for it?

"Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."
(139-142)

http://www.bartleby.com/101/549.html

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Page 267
Osterbybruk
Town noted for ironmaking, 20 miles (32 km) north of Uppsala, eastern 
Sweden, nowhere near Jämtland (next entry).
*wiki*

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Everclear alcohol
It's grain alcohol, in this case 60%. Very refreshing!

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Jemt-land
A Province in west central Sweden. The hyphen is not part of the name 
and probably marks a syncopation in the rev's delivery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4mtland
*wiki*

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"She was a virgin bride."
She was? Could have sworn it was implied she was naughty in Silverton. 
See p. 191, 2nd paragraph, tell me she's not being naughty.

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"At the moment of surrendering, she found herself wishing only to become 
the wind. To feel herself refined to an edge, an invisible edge of 
unknown length, to enter the realm of air forever in motion over the 
broken land. Child of the storm."

Just some more great stuff -- this section has some really lyrical 
passages, no?

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Child of the storm
See http://againsttheday.wordpress.com/?s=child+of+the+storm
*wiki*

Webb calls her "Child of the storm" on p. 190:
"Pa, what 'n hell's that mean?"
[...]
"See how long you can stay out in it alone. /Child of the Storm/. Well. 
Let the god-damned storm protect you."

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Damn! Imagine if the whole book were as good as these two pages.