Saturday, June 14, 2014

Thank You William Penn

Yo!  Howya Doin' ?
 No Pain, No Qualm,

No Victory Palm;











No Thorns, No Groan,

No Ultimate Throne;
















No Bitter Gall,

 No Glory At All;











No Cross to Bear,

 Then

No Crown to Wear.








 Today's words are my own adaptation
from William Penn's quote.


" No pain, no palm; 
no thorns, no throne;
 no gall, no glory; 
no cross, no crown. "
                          William Penn 
                                         (1644 - 1718)

William Penn was 
an Englishman and
  one of the first Quakers.
Link


Once, he was
 proprietor/owner
of today's US State 
of Pennsylvania
(which means Penn's Woods).

Penn received a royal charter 
from the King of England
In 1681
to form a new colony in America. 

  He envisioned a peaceful refuge 
for all beliefs. 

Penn was known for
fair dealing with ALL
 including the
Original Inhabitants.

 He named his capitol city:
Philadelphia  "Brotherly-Love City"
Founding it on October 27, 1682

Link


The City of Brotherly Love,
[or "The Quaker City".
As it is also called]
still benefits from the 
sensible grid pattern 
of streets
that Penn laid out,
and punctuated with
capacious parks and Squares.

His urban design 
left it's mark 
on modern cities today!

Until relatively recently,
 William Penn's heroic statue
atop Philadelphia City Hall
was the tallest point in the city
by gentlemen's agreement.


Pennsylvania calls herself
a Commonwealth:
"The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

Philadelphia began as a place of 
tolerance
during an age of religious tests
and religious violence,
flourishing thereby
in Medicine, Arts, Sciences,
Commerce, and Government.

You may have heard
of something called
The Declaration of Independence,
or the US Constitution.

They were both created
by delegates in Philadelphia.

Many good things got their 
start in Philly,
and I don't just mean
cheese-steaks, soft pretzels,
and Stetson cowboy hats!

I was born there.
No. I never met
William Penn!
(impertinent!)

Next week brings
 my birthday.

Thanks for coming along
on this nostalgia trip!


           Warmly, Cloudia
Philadelphia City Hall-zoom
By Jeffrey M. Vinocur  Wikimedia Commons

Once visible for miles,
from every direction,
this particular profile
is the one
we smirked about
as children.
You can see why!
A remarkable building:
The world's largest free standing
masonry building [no steel skeleton]
and the world's largest example
of French Renaissance style.

23 comments:

  1. William Penn was an intellectual innovator for his time, a great man!

    As for the statue on top, sometimes a guy just has to go!

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  3. These greens are beautiful! I love plants!

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  4. Without him the state would have just been sylvania

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  5. I'll be in Philly in 8 days for a soujourn with 100 kids. Yikes!

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  6. seems you had a good start there, too. :)

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  7. One of my ancestors came to America to work for William Penn in 1740.
    ~

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  8. Been a long time since I thought about William Penn, although I remember reading about him in history class in high school.

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  9. Aloha Cloudia, great goodness in your words and delightful captures, wow! I'm putting on my crown and hoping to stay dry this weekend with all our party stuff! Send us some sunshine okay?!

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  10. Terrific use of the quote, Cloudia... and such beautiful skies!

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  11. Yes! Thanks to each of Thee ♥

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  12. I have many Quaker friends Cloudia and several of them come to our Poetry afternoon, so I shall read this.

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  13. and if you go to the football stadium....dont wear the other teams jersey, just saying....ha....

    so true that little gain, true gain, comes without work....

    aloha from va

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  14. Happy birthday for next week. A very happy birthday - full of love and laughter.

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  15. Best wishes for your birthday, Cloudia!

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  16. Best wishes for your birthday, Cloudia!

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  17. Thanks for sharing about Penn's woods... Happy upcoming birthday. Hope you're revving up for a blow-out celebration!

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  18. Oh, this is great, Cloudia. Penn was amazing, and your home state is a remarkable place for the great experiments in community buiding that have successfully taken place there.

    I remember my first trip to Philadelphia and seeing so many very different types of people reconnoitering on the wide sidewalks in front of places where our history was made.

    Beautiful you!

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  19. How weird for the statue to have that profile, hmmm.
    Happy Birthday wishes your way! So, you'll always be just a bit older than I, eh?
    DrumMajor

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  20. Penn, a truly great man of vision. We could use a lot more of them.

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  21. Gosh I love seeing each of you here and reading your comments!

    Thanks very much

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