http://www.vermontjournal.com/content/bilbo-baggins-springfield
Bilbo Baggins in Springfield?
Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/11/2014 - 2:58pm
By ANNE DEMPSEY The Shopper
SPRINGFIELD, VT -What do Bilbo Baggins the hobbit and Springfield’s James Hartness have in common? Not that much. Hartness was a living, breathing man (1861-1934). Some people described him as a go-getter. He arrived in Springfield having apprenticed at machine shops in Connecticut. He eventually became a leader in Springfield’s machine industry, patenting many inventions during his lifetime (including the flat-turret lathe). He was a political leader, having served as governor of VT. He was also an amateur astronomer and one of the first persons in history to get an aviator’s license.
Bilbo Baggins is a fictitious character from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series. This character had little motivation to do anything at all. He liked the quiet peaceful life in his Shire. And when Gandalf and the dwarves arrived at his doorstep, he felt stirred up in a most uncomfortable way.
However, an undeniable concern for their fellow beings ran through both their bloodstreams. Because Hartness was swindled out of some of his patents (and royalties) as a young man, he had his eye out for the working man. Any signs that an employee of his had motivation to improve or invent a useful machine were encouraged. He wrote papers and gave speeches stating that the most important asset a factory has was not the machines, but the men who run them. In turn, he promoted in his words and his deeds a respect and filial concern for his employees well being.
Bilbo Baggins too had a strong concern for the welfare of his fellow beings. While not often manifested in his words, his intuitive actions saved his fellow travelers from certain destruction, time and time again. It was he who stumbled upon Golem’s ring, when lost in the trails under the mountain. He was the first of his party to bumble into Smaug the dragon, who could have destroyed himself and his party with one fiery breath. He saved many lives in his own fumbling way. His concern for others extended even to those who his comrades considered enemies. He did not believe that battle was the solution to controversy.
Their love of underground rooms, built into the sides of hills was their strongest commonality. Baggins’ home, noted for round doors and windows and pantries filled with foodstuffs is well described in Tolkien’s work. Hartness’ underground rooms were built to allow him a calm, very quiet setting to concentrate on his inventions. His large mansion sitting high on a Springfield hillside concealed this man’s private quarters. While his wife and two daughters went about their daily lives above ground, Hartness would often descend a set of stairs, walk through a long tunnel underground until he arrived in his small apartment of four rooms. There he would work on developing new patents, including his flat-turret lathe.
Hartness’ tunnel and underground rooms are still intact.
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There is no useful comparison between Hartness and Baggins. And it's not "Golem", it's Gollum; a golem is an entirely different thing. Is money paid for articles like this?
ReplyDeleteare the publishers this desperate for articles? sad.
ReplyDeleteAnd what if the dwarves were members of UD218 (united dwarves). I'm betting the union would have prevented one Mr. Underhill from keeping the one ring to himself!!!! Gollum Gollum. (not reading it now Phil, but several times in the past).
ReplyDeleteThe dwarves tended toward racial unity in matters of property, even without an official organization, as, for example, the elf lord Thingol learned to his terminal discomfort from the dwarves he enlisted to mount a Silmaril in the Nauglamir. (I'm just finishing an umpteenth reading of The Silmarillion.) In Bilbo's case, where his services as a thief were covered, probably in fine detail, by a signed contract, a case could probably be made that the ring he stole became the property of the dwarves, or at least common property of the whole company. Of course, Bilbo omitted to mention the ring at first, and later he lied about how he got it, but I'm a little surprised the dwarves didn't question this point somewhere along. Perhaps the authoritative presence of Gandalf dampened their natural acquisitiveness, even for things dwarves had a historical predilection for, like gold rings of power.
DeleteBTW, I think Underhill was the name Frodo used in The Fellowship of the Ring, when he and his hobbit companions were at Bree. As best I can recall, Bilbo used his real name of Baggins in The Hobbit, though it's been a long while since I read that book.