Take it to the bank . . .

In Tew's Day's mailbox on this soon-to-be-snowing-in-Okieland-January-24th moment . . .

Today is the 161st anniversary of Edith Wharton's birth. The novelist was born Edith Newbold Jones in New York City (1862). “The Joneses were wealthy New York society — that's where the expression "Keeping up with the Joneses" comes from. . .They were alarmed by their little girl, who was precocious; she taught herself to read, and wrote her first novel on brown wrapping paper when she was 11 years old.” – Garrison Keillor. The House of Mirth (1905) was published when she was 43, and was followed by Ethan Frome (1911), and The Age of Innocence (1920). According to Keillor, “She loved motorcars, especially fast ones, she loved dogs — especially small dogs — she liked to knit, she was passionate about design and she loathed the Victorian style she had grown up with: cluttered, dark, heavy drapes and fancy upholstered furniture. And she loved to write.”

Gold was discovered 175 years ago today at Sutter's Mill in California. When the “gold rush” began, the population of California was about 150,000 Indians and about 14,000 non-Indians. Twelve years later, more than 300,000 people had migrated to California, and fewer than 30,000 Indians.

Out of all our striving with symbols in order to grasp what is called “reality,” there are only three we can rely upon with veracity: “The Great Mystery.” The Great Mystery is so named because … it's a mystery. Take that to the bank.