Thursday, June 28, 2018

Yet another postcard of a child riding a water buffalo


This flimsy old postcard featuring a photographic image of a young child atop a water buffalo has never been used. The caption states:
29. Riding on a Water Buffalo. Philippine Islands. (American Baptist Missionary Union, Boston)
The American Baptist Missionary Union was founded in 1814. Among the group's numbers was Charlotte "Susanna" Hazen Atlee (1782-1863), who was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After she was widowed, Charlotte White joined the First Baptist Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and later became the first unmarried American woman missionary sent to a foreign country, working in India from 1816 through 1826. She remarried and had three children while serving there.

As for water buffalo, they apparently have the highest numbers of use for domestic labor of any animal in the world, and are even seeing their numbers rise in the United States. I say it's time to give them a well-deserved break for the next couple of centuries. Here's my plank for jump-starting a better America for everyone and everything: Put Americans (and those seeking citizenship) to work building, from 100% recycled materials, solar-powered robotic water buffalo, which we shall ride atop and use as our primary form of transportation moving forward. Make room for plenty of cargo space in the hollow robot rump.1 Commute times will be longer, but perhaps that will inspire us to work closer to home and/or find more time for reflection, relaxation and education while the Autonomous Water Buffalo Automobile (AWBA) does its thing. Are you with me, Elon Musk?

Footnote
1.

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