Dear
Members, Alumni, & Friends of the James Scholar Advisory & Leadership
Team:
The
month of August is rapidly drawing to a close, and the season of autumn (my
favorite of the four seasons) is almost here! September will soon be upon us,
with warm days, cool nights, and the beginning of the harvest in the American
Midwest. To mark the transition from summer to autumn, here is a poem by one of
my favorite American poets of the 19th century, along with a
reflection on Johnny Appleseed from a hegemontological (leadership studies)
perspective.
A
Calendar of Sonnets: September
By
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)
O
golden month! How high thy gold is heaped!
The
yellow birch-leaves shine like bright coins strung
On
wands; the chestnut's yellow pennons tongue
To
every wind its harvest challenge. Steeped
In
yellow, still lie fields where wheat was reaped;
And
yellow still the corn sheaves, stacked among
The
yellow gourds, which from the earth have wrung
Her
utmost gold. To highest boughs have leaped
The
purple grape, -- last thing to ripen, late
By
very reason of its precious cost.
O
Heart, remember, vintages are lost
If
grapes do not for freezing night-dews wait.
Think,
while thou sunnest thyself in Joy's estate,
Mayhap
thou canst not ripen without frost!
Leadership
Lessons from Johnny Appleseed
Ever since my Kindergarten class took a field trip to a local apple orchard in
September 1973, I’ve been a perennial fan of Johnny Appleseed. The pioneer hero
who headed west from his New England home to bring apple trees to the pioneers
(and Native Americans) captured my imagination at an early age and has never
let it go. Johnny has many exemplary lessons to teach up-and-coming leaders of
today. Venturing outside your comfort zone to explore what lies beyond the
horizon, building bridges of peace and understanding through generosity, and
promoting self-sufficiency in harmony with sustainable growth are just a few of
the gems that we can glean from learning about Johnny and his life story. Just
like Johnny, our leaders can become trailblazers, peacemakers, and
philanthropists – and our need for these types of people only grows with each
passing year, as our global civilization continues to expand and grow in new
and unexpected ways.
Johnny
Appleseed: Pioneer Nurseryman
By
Rob Chappell, JSMT Advisor
Adapted
and Expanded from Cursus Honorum
VI: 3 (October 2005)
Johnny Appleseed, one of America’s most beloved homegrown heroes, has been the
subject of countless poems, folksongs, novels, plays, and even a Walt Disney
cartoon. Johnny’s appeal has vastly increased over the past fifty years,
concurrent with the emergence of global concern over rampant deforestation and
the drive to develop sustainable agriculture on a worldwide scale. Behind the
larger-than-life legend of Johnny Appleseed, however, there was once an
admirable historical person: John Chapman, a pioneer nurseryman from New
England.
John Chapman was born on September 26, 1774 near Leominster,
Massachusetts. Details of his childhood are sketchy, but he learned to read and
write at an early age and evidently chose to follow an arboricultural career in
his teens, for by the time he was 25, he had already planted apple orchards in
the western counties of New York and Pennsylvania. During the early 1800s, he
pushed farther west into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois – planting apple trees all
over the wilderness, where they could be enjoyed by the arriving settlers.
Wherever he journeyed on the frontier, Chapman earned the respect and trust of
the Native Americans and coexisted peacefully with the wild animals. He
practiced vegetarianism, never carried a weapon of any kind, and was by all
accounts an amiable and hard-working person. Although he led a solitary life in
the wilderness for weeks or months at a time, he enjoyed interacting with the
people who crossed his path and regaling them with stories of his frontier
adventures. It is estimated that he planted millions of apple seeds during his
fifty years of arboricultural activity; this was his lifelong philanthropic
service to our country.
Johnny Appleseed, as he came to be known in his later years, reposed near Fort
Wayne, Indiana, on March 11, 1845. His grave has become a historic site,
as have other places where he once lived and labored. Descendants of his
original apple trees can still be found throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,
and his legacy of philanthropic arboriculture is still celebrated at annual
Midwestern festivals, especially in the autumn, when apple cider is in season.
His birthday – September 26th – is celebrated as Johnny Appleseed
Day in schools and towns throughout the American Midwest, where he lived and
worked for most of his adult life.
Johnny Appleseed’s popularity shows no sign of waning. He played many roles
during his lifetime – nurseryman, peacemaker, pioneer, and storyteller. In our
own time, he has come to represent such worthy causes as conservation,
environmentalism, and sustainable agriculture. John Chapman will no doubt
continue to inspire generations yet to come with his philanthropic life and
trailblazing achievements that still benefit his fellow Americans two centuries
after his labors first began.
Further
Reading
·
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed
à Reference
article about Johnny Appleseed, fully annotated with bibliography and
footnotes.
·
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/miscellaneous/johnny_appleseed_grace.htm
à Here
are the lyrics and music for the “Johnny Appleseed Song” that I learned in
Kindergarten, from Disney’s classic animated film, Melody Time (1948).
·
http://www.urbana.edu/resources/community/johnny-appleseed/about.html à The
Johnny Appleseed Educational Center and Museum is located on the campus of
Urbana University in Urbana, Ohio.
Happy
Byzantine New Year on September 1st! :)
Rob
