Sunday Salon ~ compassion

This is a wonderful example of compassion, showing that even small children can be compassionate.  Three-year-old Jaxon's mommy said, "Love this little boy's heart!   Playing Candyland and he was upset when I told him he beat mommy.  He asked why we both couldn't win and took my piece and took it to the Kastle and said, 'There, we boff winned.' "

BOOKS

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 ~ by Michelle Markel, 2013, children's history, 9/10

Clara Lemlich (1886-1982) was an immigrant from the Ukraine who couldn't speak English, but she nevertheless led several strikes against working conditions of women garment makers a century ago.

I posted this as my only library loot for the week.  Helen of Helen's Book Blog commented:

"Such an interesting time!  Sophia just read a historical fiction called Ashes of Roses about an Irish immigrant who works in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory when the fire happens."

Because I'm interested in history, the first thing I noticed when I picked up this 32-page picture book is an illustration near the middle showing the outside of a big building with comic-book bubbles coming from the windows of one upper floor saying, "Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!"  On the side of the building is a sign saying "Triangle Waist Company," which is not mentioned anywhere in the story except in this illustration. In the two pages at the end for adults (or older children) is this sentence:

"Some companies refused to negotiate, notably the Triangle Waist Factory, where the following year hazardous conditions led to a fire that claimed 146 lives."

Interesting that Helen's daughter was reading about the same thing.  Have you ever heard of that famous fire?  It changed the working world because it was so awful.

WORD of the WEEK

My Aunt Bonnie, for whom I was named, was the only person I've ever heard use this unusual word.  She must have thought it was funny, since she used it on a regular basis.  I'm not sure you can figure out the word's meaning from the cartoon above.

"My dog masticated my vocab."

Perhaps the boy thinks it means "ate," as in the dog ate my homework, but masticated actually means "chewed."  My aunt would tell us we should masticate our food thoroughly.  She helped me learn "vocab," but would have been appalled by the shortened form of a perfectly good word:  vocabulary.  Maybe my Aunt Bonnie is part of what's behind my fascination with words.

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