WILLIAM FLOYD & ANTOINETTE KNAPP
..... there is always a Knapp Connection
WILLIAM FLOYD & ANTOINETTE KNAPP
..... there is always a Knapp Connection
Back in September of 1956 when I entered the 5th grade, on one of my first days back in the "Big New School" at Floyd, I bought a school emblem patch like the one above. Not having a clue what Lux Et Veritas meant, I asked the guy who was directing us onto the buses with a bullhorn. He looked like one of those TV Quizmasters with his crew cut and bow tie and I was betting he knew. His name was Mr. Coles and he wound up being the assistant principal to Mr .Thomas. He was pretty busy that afternoon and just said to me " Light and Truth" and went back to barking out instructions in his bullhorn.I don't know if Jim Coles ever taught a class or not, but if he did, I don't think anything he ever taught anyone has stuck with them as long as my mini Latin lesson has.
Mr. Jim Coles
If he couldn't sub for Bud Colyer on "Beat The Clock" who could?
Now one of the things about gathering all the stuff I have for this website, has been the luxury to sit back and think about it...sometimes perhaps too much...but also I get to look at it in many ways including the abstract or the Spooner Slant if you will.
But what a great slogan Lux Et Veritas is ...LIGHT & TRUTH....it's a slogan for all times, but perhaps no better time than the present which is not where 99% of this website dwells, other than to issue the occasional remembrance of someone who passes on. If there ever was a time for LOTS OF LIGHT and TRUTH it is now where the spin doctors and masters of deceit seem to have grabbed the world by throat and are choking us all with their agenda driven and dangerous drivel.
That's why it was encouraging yesterday (Jan 16th 2005) to hear a little bit of light and truth from an unlikely source. Al Gore an ex politician. But perhaps it's the ex in the politician that allowed him to speak the truth. Of course there was the immediate pre crafted "reaction" from the dark side who continue to lose more and more credibility every time their lips move.
But I digress ... let us return for a minute to a simpler time and reflect on the brief words of one Antoinette Knapp (1862-1948). These may well be the only published words of J. P. Knapp's big sister . They appeared in a publication called Godey's Ladies Book one hundred and twenty three years ago. Oh one other thing..... I heard that Antoinette's favorite color was green. Her niece Claire Knapp paid her "aunt Netty tribute by naming one of her daughters after her and reportedly using lots of green paint at her Clairdale Estate in Hampton Bays. And "true green" of course is a school color at William Floyd as is "bright white" ...the color of light.
& 
LIGHT
“Let there be light!” God spake,
And forth from mountain flashed the day:
Unfurled true banners, from crag to crag
In crimson flush, to worlds away.
Delved into Ocean's lowest deeps,
Caught the sea-shells in brave arms,
And breathed. Lo !—now transformed; in hues,
Spiral, curve, vie the rainbow's charms:
Unrolled endless scrolls through darkest space,
Tinted with blue the bending dome.
Knelt; and with calm lovely face
Bowed—wrote within the Eagle's home
In crevice of the rocks, all unafraid,
Those changeless tributes there
Into strange paths, beneath, overhead,
Leaving priceless beauties everywhere.
Unto all places in His firmament,
The light of God's countenance went.
________________________________
TRUTH
Trifles light as air stirred the smooth
Undercurrent:
Foamed the surface into wrath,
Effervescent.
Whirl'd the water's angry courses,
Circumvent:
Stayed the mighty tidal-forces,
Triumphant.
