Under the Wire

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” A guy named Edward Bulwer-Lytton said back in 1839. One hundred and seventy-four years later, I have found a way to rewrite his thought to describe my own experience. “The pen might get you chased by someone with a sword.”

Ed’s quote was one of many things that led him to be remembered 17 decades later. My hopes are that the world will quickly forget a couple of slips of my pen that came close to the sword chasing variety.

Months ago Sue and I visited Ireland. I wrote a lot about our experience. These columns contained stories about horses, cows and trips to auction barns. Things I figured you would be interested in. As expected, lots of readers said they enjoyed hearing about those subjects relevant to their own lives. To satisfy the Irish Tourism Council who invited us there, I also threw in references to some of the must-see locations in their wonderful country. It was harder for me to pay attention if livestock wasn’t involved. That’s where the old pen got me into trouble.

Awhile back we received a phone call that at first I thought was coming directly form the Emerald Isle. A very Irish sounding voice identified himself as an Irish horseman now living in Cheyenne, Wyo. who had been reading about our visit to his native land. While he had enjoyed most of what he read, it was necessary to point out one slight error. My pen, attached to a faulty hand connected to an equally malfunctioning brain had described our visit to the Cliffs of Dover. Unfortunately, they are in England, not Ireland. We had visited the Cliffs of Mohr, which are in Ireland. “Not only did you get the wrong Country, he observed, “you moved a couple of oceans, too.” In fact, England’s Dover cliffs face the North Sea, while the Mohr cliffs look out over the Atlantic.

He stopped without pointing out that Ireland’s cliffs are 40 feet taller than those in England.

Back to the power of the pen. Mine moved 390 foot cliffs and an entire ocean. Power like that is dangerous. Not sure if that gentleman has a sword to chase me with. Am sure he has a great sense of humor and intends to bring a horse and check out our ranch soon. If he goes home and writes back to friends in Ireland that he toured a hog farm in New Jersey, I guess it will be OK. Had it coming. That’s still better than being chased with a sword.