Get it out of your system...

Courtesy of Dunechaser

If you plan to be a reader at the upcoming Moby-Dick Marathon, today's the day to purge your urge to grunt and growl at the podium — it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Face it, you ain't no Gregory Peck. So when it's your turn to read at MDM17, you can leave out the hoarse shouts and fake English accent.

We at Ahab Beckons thank you for your restraint.

Today in History

On this date in 1850 Herman bought, from "Dr. John Brewster, Sr., the farm adjoining the Broadhall estate in the rear." This was the Pittsfield farm that Melville later named Arrowhead.

Parker's biography describes the transaction in vol. 1, p. 778. Herman persuaded his father-in-law to give him "three thousand dollars against Lizzie's [his wife] inheritance" so that he could buy 160 acres and a house for $6500.

Returning to our trusty tool, we find that $6500 in 1850 had the "purchasing power" of $187,000 in 2010. Make of that what you will. Today, Broadhall, once the farm of Herman's uncle (Thomas Melvill, Jr.)  is a tony country club.