During the last fifteen years there have been 740 essays composed at this desk.  Actually it is not a desk.  It is a serving tray used by hospitals for holding meals for patients.  For my purposes, the tray serves eloquently.  If my estimate is fairly correct, the first 250 or 300 essays were hand-written.  That of course is when I could see.  Significantly, the essays in the hand-written stage tended to be longer.  As time has gone on, blindness has forced me to resort to a dictating machine.  As a general rule, my essays have reached about four to five pages each, some longer and some shorter.  It depends on what I have to say.
After 740 essays have been written, we come to a pause.  It seems to me that I have mentioned previously that I need to stop and make an appraisal.  And this seems to me the time to do it.  As you know, I am a person of advanced age.  I look back over my career as a filling-station attendant, a telephone worker, a soldier, and a carefree civilian wanting to comment on the frailties of life.
I trust that in the 740 essays that have been written, I have not bored you.  After a time, the well tends to run a bit low.  This has happened before.  There have been occasions when the well seems to have run dry, but in a matter of a week or so, new subjects developed.  I have to explain that what we need are some examples of outrageous behavior by our elected representatives to have a proper subject for an essay.
I am not dismayed at the well running low.  I know that in short order the essays will come once again.
I am not in any conversations with other essayists.  I suspect that after 740 essays, their well may have run dry just as mine did.  But be of good cheer.  I am certain that, for example, the Pope may be induced to make a statement or that the religious authorities will do something bizarre, and finally one can always rely upon our Representatives, among which I include Senators, to provide essay material which is also fitting and interesting.
So we have a case of waiting for a choice of great essay material.  But until that time, I wanted my readers to know that after some 740 essays, the well had tended to run a bit low.  As soon as I discover the magic elixir to bring those essays to life, you will have them.  In the meantime, I hope that this pause will be short-lived and that soon we will return to essays published regularly.
E. E. CARR
March 7, 2013
Essay 740
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Kevin’s commentary: The pause was indeed short. He already has another one waiting for me to publish, as a matter of fact. And for any of those who want to read even more of Ezra’s Essays, just check back here daily. I average about seven updates a week even though that’s been a little lumpier lately