"Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace. " ~Charles Sumner

So. Charles Sumner was the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, whose brains were nearly beaten out of his handsome head in 1856, by way of So. Carolinian Congressman Preston Brooks' walking stick [made of stout gutta-percha. "a genus of tropical trees native to Southeast Asia and northern Australasia," god, I love wikipedia. not always to be trusted, I know, but I love it anyway. sounds like a romance novel, no?]. I'd never have known that Sen. Sumner said these noble words had I not been clicking about, looking for something to paste onto my Facebook profile today, today being the official end of the official combat chapter anyway, of our heartbreaking, budget-busting invasion of Iraq. Man oh man, what a violent species we are.

oh yes. according to one of my books hereabouts, baby Gaius Caesar Gerrmanicus, a.k.a. Caligula, dreadful Roman emperor, was born on this day in history, Anno Domini 12.