Moby Dick, or The Rant: chapters 55-59

D-Ray and I went to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where I took way too many pictures and learned a whole bunch about whaling and also stumped the museum employees.

ME: Do you have any sword mats?
MUSEUM PEOPLE: What?
ME: Sword mat? Named for the wooden, vaguely sword-like implement used to weave them?
MUSEUM PEOPLE: S-W-O-R-D sword?
ME: Yup!
MUSEUM PEOPLE: [exchange confused glances]
ME: Moby Dick, Chapter 47: The Mat-Maker?
MUSEUM PEOPLE: Did you check the Herman Melville exhibit?
ME: Yup!
MUSEUM PEOPLE: Yeahhh, we have no clue. Try the research library?

For the record, Google doesn't know what a sword-mat looks like either. According to the museum people (who, by the way, were super polite and friendly and helpful and generally awesome in every aspect) there is an event at the yearly Moby Dick reading marathon* called "Stump the Scholar" which they think I will be able to win with my question of "what is a sword mat?"

So, yeah. Those were my museum adventures. Back to reading!

( Will you stop <i>talking</i> about whales and go kill some already? )

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Other adventures in Moby Dick include:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Part Eleven
Part Twelve
Part Thirteen
Part Fourteen
Part Fifteen
Part Sixteen
Part Seventeen
Part Eighteen
Part Nineteen
Part Twenty
Part Twenty-One
Part Twenty-Two (You Are Here)