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Robert Bike

Robert
Bike

Licensed Massage Therapy #5473
Eugene, Oregon

EFT-CC, EFT-ADV

Teaching Reiki Master

Life Coach

541-465-9486

Gift Certificates

Reiki
Private classes.
Biblical Aromatherapy
Therapeutic Essential
Oil Massages
Member
OMTA & ABMP
President of the Oregon Massage Therapists Association
2008-2010
& 2012-2013

I graduated from Freeport (Illinois) High School.
I'm a Pretzel!

FHS Reunions

Copyright 2002 - present

Latest Copyright
March 28, 2013

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Buy one of my books, on sale below.
All sales go to help support this website.

Remarkable Stories,
Volume 1


by Robert Bike

Remarkable events have happened in Freeport and Stephenson County, Illinois, and remarkable people have lived there. These are stories gathered about people and events from 1835 through World War II.

By no means complete, these are overviews of lives and events which shaped our country and our world. From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

The author lives in Eugene, Oregon, and works as a Licensed Massage Therapist and Life Coach. An amateur historian, parts of these stories and many more appear on this website.

Buy now! Only 99 cents to download in .pdf format!

Want a paperback? List price $14.99, now only $11.99!

Biblical Aromatherapy

by Robert Bike

The Bible mentions about 232 plants by name, or closely enough to figure out what plant is meant. Of these, 24 are aromatic plants; that is, parts of the plants can be pressed or distilled to get an essential oil. Essential oils are the lifeblood of plants and have tremendous healing capabilities.

The healing power of plants is the basis for modern medicines.

Biblical Aromatherapy
discusses how the plants were used in biblical days and how you can use the essential oils from biblical plants.

Originally published in manuscript form in 1999, I completely revised the book and added illustrations.

To order Biblical Aromatherapy in paperback,
Click here.

List price $24.99; introductory offer $19.99


To order the pdf version and download to your computer or phone,

Click here.

The electronic version is only $2.99!

 

Publicity!

Olga Carlile, columnist for the Freeport (Illinois) Journal Standard, featured this website in her column on January 19, 2007.
Here is a jpg scan.

Harriet Gustason, another columnist for the Freeport Journal Standard, has featured this website twice. Click to see pdf of articles:
June 29, 2012
November 3, 2012

 

"My Life Purpose is to inspire my friends
and clients to achieve
success, health,
wealth and happiness
by empowering them
to reach their potential,
while living in harmony
with each other, animals
and our planet."
Robert Bike

Robert Bike, LMT, LLC

The Polaris is the high school annual from Freeport High School, Freeport, Illinois.

All text and photos Copyright 2002 - present Robert L. Bike, except for photos listed and uncopyrighted material in the public domain.

The Class of 1854

While FHS was not yet on the graded system with classes, there were students attending.


The Freeport Journal
October 28, 1854
Clipping courtesy of Steven A. Cole

This two-column clip talks about the upcoming election in the left column (John H. Addams is running for State Senator, and Thomas J. Turner is running for Representative to the Legislature), and two well-known speakers coming to Freeport the following day:

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Frederick Douglass in an 1856 photoThis celebrated orator will Address the citizens of Stephenson county, on Friday evening the 27th, in reply to Stephen A. Douglas, who is advertised to speak here on that day, in the afternoon. Nothing need be said in regard to Mr. Douglass, as he is well known to hundreds of our people, who have heard him, as one of the ablest speakers of the day. He comes here on Friday next, for the purpose of hearing Stephen A. Douglas, whom he has never heard, and with no intention of interfering, in any way, with the Nebraska meeting.

Handbills have peen printed and circulated announcing that he will speak in the evening. This, we presume, not even the most inveterate "nigger hater" can object to, and will, we hope meet the approbation of the Little Giant and his friends. That Frederick Douglass' speech will be the ablest of the two, we are well aware, but that need not interfere with the delivery of either. Let the people of Stephenson turn out en masse, and hear for themselves, and decide which of the two, is preferable. Let no one pass the opportunity. We were also requested to state that Hon. S.S. Beman, of Troy, New York, who was with us a few days since, will also be here at that time, together with others, from abroad. We may expect a rare time.

"DOUGLAS COMING."

The Little Giant1854 is at last in sight. After weeks of anxiety lest his "triumphal march" through the central and southern portions of the State should last until the election, his friends are to have a sight at their leader, at Freeport. He will speak in this place, on Friday, tomorrow, at 2 P.M. This arrangement, we learn, has been made with a special reference to his friends. He had given up his canvass some days since, closing with a fit of ague, at Aurora, with Fred., his name-sake, at his heels, but has consented to make positively his last appearance in Freeport, on the 27th. We presume that there will be a full meeting of the Nebraskals, and we certainly hope, that every freeman in the county will come out and hear him.

Let there be one of the largest meetings ever held in the county, on Friday.

Let every man come out, and hear him candidly and respectfully. Especially let there be no attempt to disturb or disrespecfully treat him in speaking. Such a course would be unworthy of the citizens of Stephenson county. After his meeting adjourns, there will doubtless be other speeches, and counter argument as there of right may be, but, let no one degrade himself by attempting to disgrace our county by a disturbance or much less a mob. Much as we despise the principles and actions of Douglas, we should yet sincerely and keenly regret to see him abused, by a Stephenson county audience.

Steven Cole as Frederick DouglassSteven A. Cole (right, a 1971 Pretzel), who sent a scan of the clipping, often plays the role of Frederick Douglass in historical reenactments, along with Michael Krebs (a 1974 Pretzel, below with Cole), who plays Lincoln.

Douglass, (1818-1895), was born a slave in Maryland, and escaped in 1838, surviving an owner who often beat him. He travelled widely, was hailed as a speaker in Ireland and England, and developed into one of the greatest speakers in his generation.

In one of the three books he wrote about his life he penned, "I have often been asked, how I felt when first I found myself on free soil. And my readers may share the same curiosity. There is scarcely anything in my experience about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer. A new world had opened upon me. If life is more than breath, and the 'quick round of blood,' I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life. It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. In a letter written to a friend soon after reaching New York, I said: 'I felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions.' Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil."

Cole as Douglass, Michael Krebs as  LincolnThough he was free, blacks in the 1850s still had it rough, and equality was not the norm in the United States. However, upon arriving in Ireland, he wrote, "I breathe, and lo! the chattel [slave] becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult. I employ a cab - I am seated beside white people - I reach the hotel - I enter the same door - I am shown into the same parlour - I dine at the same table - and no one is offended... I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people. When I go to church, I am met by no upturned nose and scornful lip to tell me, 'We don't allow niggers in here!' "

Douglass spoke not just for abolition of the slavery laws, but also for all human rights. He favored women's suffrage. He spoke about the need for education to improve life. He spoke about desegregating the schools.

Douglass argued that African Americans should be allowed to fight in the Civil War, to fight for their freedom. He celebrated the Emancipation Proclamation. He conspired with Abraham Lincoln to move the liberated slaves out of the South. He and two of his sons fought for the Union Army.

 

Polaris Home

Freeport High School

Click on any year in the chart below to see the class and other info,
such as postcards, people and events from that year.

1854
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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