DC webmaster. My webmaster, Knights of Colombo, will I hope post
this on the Doubtful Guests' website and send you the link. Thanks.

Even though this is a micro box it is the longest stamp I ever made,
or seen. If you stand it on end it is as tall as the Empire State
Building. It has a special feature, an idea I copied from a recent
stamp I've encountered. It's only my second "positive image" stamp
and my first pink rubber material stamp that wasn't an eraser. I am
not sure how much I like the pink rubber since it is not as hard as
I'd like. Happy hunting.

Scarab of the Doubtful Guests
----------
The Inventor
Placed by Scarab of the Doubtful Guests
January 9, 2003
Washington, DC
Hand Made Stamp
Urban Microbox
Dogs on Leash OK, Bikable

March 8th, 1862, fictional, mystery novel, union spy Harrison
Raines' investigation of the murder of President Lincoln's close
friend Colonel and Senator Edward Baker during the battle of Balls
Bluff has miraculously and fascinatingly led him aboard the
launching of the first ironcald warship, the former Union U.S.S.
Merrimack, now the C.S.S. Virginia, to witness the sinking or
wrecking of three helpless wooden Union warships that terrifies the
Union cause.

Little more than 100 days earlier, rejected by the Union Navy
because his design was considered too outlandish, John Ericsson
meets personally with Abraham Lincoln to plead for his gun turret on
an iron shingle. Convinced, over the Naval commander's objections,
Lincoln orders the bizarre ship built. They retaliate by writing
into the contract that it must be completed within 100 days or the
contract is void. Constructed in nine different foundries at once,
John Ericsson completes the U.S.S. Monitor in time to save the Union.

John Ericsson's design saved the union. His invention populated
America. Clumsy, dangerous, side paddle wheel, wooden steamers
would now evolve into ocean liners. (In those days people still
thought of ships as having sails. The new ships that belched smoke
were called steamers, as in "steamer trunk".) A grateful populace
erected a grand, artistic monument to the designer, the inventor,
the Union savior, in the nation's capital that his name and his work
might not be forgotten. It is one of those out of the way monuments
over awed by the larger grander ones. No one pays any attention to
it. I didn't remember the inventor's name until I got there. His
invention is completely taken for granted. Most people even call it
by the wrong name, one properly used for aeroplanes.

Directly south of the Lincoln Memorial look for a marble memorial in
the middle of a small traffic circle.

Notice the allegorical representations of adventure, labor and
vision. Now you must learn your compass points. Before we marked a
compass into 360 degrees mariners had to learn the 32 points of the
compass rose. Here are the first 9 as a sample. North, N by E,
NNE, NE by N, NE, NE by E, ENE, E by N, East. The compass point S
by W points directly towards the dual film cannister microbox. Sit
on the steps and no one will notice you reaching under the leaves
under the bushes. Please replace it carefully, hidden from view
under the leaves, so it is not mistaken for trash.

So what did John Ericsson invent? For extra credit guess which is
what is pictured on the stamp and what was it's affectionate
nickname (not to be confused with it's sister letterbox down near
Fort McNair where Lincoln assassination conspirator Mary Surratt was
hanged)? Write to me at theDoubtfulGuests@yahoo.com with your
answer or if this micro letterbox is lost, damaged or the log is
full or if you object to my run away run on sentences, too many
connections or the shameless plugs of the Apple Dumpling Gang's
letterbox at Balls Bluff, of Harrison Raines mystery novels and my
other letterbox, Ghost of the _______.

Be sure to enjoy the walk and the view along the river. You are in
walking distance from a few other letterboxes including Skull and
Bones, Independence Microbox, and Orion the Hunter depending on how
far you like to walk.