Today is the birthday of Vladimir I. Lenin, b. 1870.

Also, Kurt Wiese, b. 1887. He was the illustrator of The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Bishop and also the Freddy the Pig books by Walter Brooks.

Jan de Hartog, b. 1914. Author of The Peaceable Kingdom and The Lamb’s War I think I read The Peaceable Kingdom back when I was in high school and had decided to become a Quaker and a pacifist. I didn’t find many (any) Quakers in West Texas to associate with, and I’m no longer a pacifist. Mothers with a brood of eight chicks tend to believe in defending the brood.

Immanuel Kant, b. 1754. I haven’t read Kant, but dense and cloudy would be appropriate words for him, from what I’ve heard.