Closed for the foreseeable . . . .

Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral, which I now learn, is in far northern Scotland. Her last journey will take her through Edinburgh, where her body will lie in state at St. Giles Cathedral.

At the cathedral a temporary sign has been posted which reads: "St. Giles will be closed for the foreseeable . . .

I remember the December 1947 day when Elizabeth and Phillip married. In Southern California, thousands of miles from London, my mother and I crouched over the Hallicrafter radio, so as to not miss a single word. We thought it quite amazing.

In a few days the entire world will be able to view the funeral by video.

Labor Day -- No Picnic in the Park

The first Labor Day was no picnic in the park. Labor Day was so declared in 1894 to appease labor, still engaged in the Pullman Railroad Strike. Workers were marching in the streets of Chicago, urging laborers still inside factories to come outside and join them in the push for an eight-hour work day. President Grover Cleveland ordered 2,000 federal troops into Chicago over the protest of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld. The U.S. troops were commanded by General Nelson Miles.

The newly organized American Railway Union was led by Eugene Victor Debs, who was arrested and charged under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which had originally been passed in 1890 by Congress to control manufacturing monopolies. Go figure.