"Home on the Land"

Us Folks living in the country and following country ways of Raising our Meat, and Chickens and Garden, and doing our Washing... we ain't suffering these days nothing like Town People that's so dependent on the Butcher and the Baker and the Milk-man, and the Laundry-man.

There's a great Satisfaction in being independent. Country life may not be quite so slick and easy but it has its Compensations, and I feel like this war is going to Bring 'em Home to a heap of people. Civilization was getting to be like a fine big Flowering Bush, but it was going all to top... and you know anything that grows, if it ain't got as much growth in the ground for Strength and Nourishment as it's got above the ground for Blossom and Fruit, it ain't a-going to stand very many Cold Winters and Dry Summers. And Country folks are never going to be shut-off from Life like they used to be. When the war is over, think of all the Airplanes there'll be, and folks will go Traveling 'round in 'em. I declare, it'll make the Hull World no bigger than the State of Missouri was to my Grand-Parents when everything had to be hauled by Ox-Teams, and it took two days to go to town.

Everything is geared-up so high Now-a-Days, but just to show how slow things moved in the Olden Times -- y'know the Potter's Wheel it speaks about in the Bible, and I reckon you've all seen pictures -- how they made it go 'round to smooth out their clay cooking-pots. Well, sir -- that Potter's Wheel was known and In Use for Centuries before anybody ever got the idee of setting Two of them Wheels up on Edge, putting a stick betwixt 'em, slinging a box on it, and Dragging it Around for a Wagon. For hundreds of years folks was a-carrying all their Burdens on their Back and never realized how much Easier it would be to drag it behind them... let alone hitching a Nag to it.

I shore have been interested in this International Food Conference. If they don't make something come out of that they're going to miss a Awful Good Chance.

It says in the Good Book, "What man by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" Well, of course you can't do it. But it's almost the onlyest thing you can't Improve by Studying and Planning. And the idee is not only Improving Conditions fer the farmer but also seeing to it that he gets a Bigger Proportion of the price that his produce brings... "The Government should take all practicable steps to reduce marketing, processing, storage and distribution costs, and margins between producers and consumers." That is Sweet Music to the farmers' ears.

We shore hate to get the blame for the High Cost of Living when the farmer's share of the price paid by the consumer is only 'round-about Half, -- sometimes more or less. This war is a good thing In One Way, because with Food so scarce and labor so scarce and Gas short, too, they're being forced to get around to some Long Overdue Reforms, 'specially in marketing Perishable Fruits and Vegetables in the cities.

When they get it down to where the Farmer Gets More and the poor Folks in the City has to Pay Less that's what we're all a-looking forward to. And there's just no end to the Schemes they can work out once them Scientific Fellers puts their mind to it -- Canning and Freezing vegetables and fruits right out of the Field and Orchard, and cutting down on so much toting and hauling stuff around. There are wonderful opportunities ahead of us, a Golden Age for the farmer, and it is a good thing we're all a-getting work-up to it.

"Uncle Wills Lawson"

He was a Land-Mark. Some way you speak of Uncle Wills and timber together, just kinder naturally, 'cause he was an Old-Time Rafter. When the piles of Cedar, Walnut, or Oak was lashed together and floated down White River to market, there was a certain cry the pilot would give -- for he knowed the River like the bus-driver knows the Highway. It was "Shoal" -- that meant shallow water, and Beware. That was Uncle Wills. He helped to Tame and Break the Wilderness to Harness like a Colt.

He was a tall man, and handsome -- even in my time, and for fear he'd get to stopping over, he held his back as Stiff as a Ramrod. His hair was White as snow and Thick on his head as a hay-stack clear to the day he died, and his skin pink and clear. He was always a great one for lifting and there wasn't a Picnic nor Old-Settler's-Reunion in the county that Uncle Wills didn't do some fancy lifting for folks to admire over. He was a great one for whittling, too. He Loved Wood -- big, little, green, or seasoned. And he was a great hand for Story-telling. Nobody could tell a Story and make it seem as funny as Uncle Wills.

One of his Favorites was about Aunt Linney Miner -- she was give up to be the Best Cook on Big Caney Creek, but she never could set a meals-vittles on the table without Complaining and Apologizing for every single thing -- even when she knew she was a-dishing up the best Bait you ever set your eye on, or your tooth into. Well, -- one time when the Preacher was there, she just kept on, and kept on Fussing how her Chickens was tough, Garden-sass wasn't fitten-to-eat -- her Cake had fell on her... and all such as that, till finally her Old Man said, kinder short like, "Well, Linney, Brother Bond cain't help it."

I can see Uncle Wills a-telling that yet, and slapping his leg. He used to josh Aunt Linney rite to her face, but nobody ever got mad at Uncle Wills. Our Ozark Poet-Laureate, Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey wrote a Poem about Uncle Wills one time. It was read as His Funeral:

I was here first, I feel the trees
That made these log walls -- I did it with ease.

I planted the orchard on top of the hill,
I dug the deep well -- blazed the path to the mill.

My sons and my daughters were strong, and were fair
They all left the Valley -- something called them out there.

But I was here first, and here I will stay
Loving the cool dark -- at home in the clay.

"Ozark Hills"

Of course the Ozark Hills is not really a Fine Farming Country according to most peoples' ideas. The ground is pretty steep and rocky and wore out, -- We Admit It. There's a Story I've heerd since I was knee-high to a Duck, about a Old Man finally give up a-trying to make a living on his Hillside Farm -- he went up to Kansas City and got him a job, For Wages. He started trading at the corner-grocery and Paid Cash for what he bought. Then times got kinder hard -- wages wasn't so good, and he got the Grocer to put it down on the book, what he owed him.

Well, -- run along that-a-way for a right-smart -- him getting further behind all the time and finally the Store-Keeper got at him to settle up. The old feller said he didn't have the Money right then, but he says, "I don't aim to beat you out of ary cent -- I've got a forty-acre Farm down in the Ozarks with a House and Barn on it, and I'll be glad to deed it to you for the Balance on my Bill." Well, the Grocery Man scratched his head a little and decided a forty acre piece of ground with Improvements on it ought to be worth more than that, so he taken the deed and Called it Square.

The next Summer when he had his vacation, he went down to see his Farm. He found the place was Too Dang Steep for a cockle-burr to get a good toe-hold on it. The old tumbled-down Log House... he was scared to step inside it fear it would fall down on him. The Barn wasn't fit for a Hog-Pen and the few Acres of Land that had been cropped was all Growed up to Sprouts. Finally he come to a little piece of Bottom-Land down by the Branch, about a half-acre, and in the middle of it was a big old Tree that had been cut down years before and a Ground-hog had dig his-self a hole under the stump and throwed up the dirt all 'round.

Well, -- there was a old Hill-Billy that had drove this feller out to look at his place and he says to him, "what's that?" The Driver said, "That's a Ground-hog's Den." "Is that his Home?" he says. The driver said, "Yes, I reckon that's his Home." "Well," the feller says, "I don't believe in anything having a Home and not having a Deed to it," so he taken the Deed to the Farm out of his pocket, stuck it down the Ground-hog's Hole and went on back to town.

I may sound like I don't think much of my Native Land -- nothing could be further from the truth. Facts of the matter, Mabel E. Mueller of Rolla, Missouri, speaks for the real Ozarker in these lines she calls "Heap O'Living" --

Thar's suthin' bout these hills o'mine,
Thet sets my heart aglow,
There's suthin' mity homey-like
An' comfortin' tu know.
Ther's a heap o'joyous livin'
Ye ketch it at a glance.
An' ever' breath o'air ye breathe,
Is chuck full o'romance.
The sight o' them tall, sturdy oaks
An' corn-rows standin' by,
With splashin' streams a tellin' ye
Thet "Kingdom Come" is nigh.
Ther's a heap o' satisfaction
In knowin' whut life's worth,
You git it in the growin'
An' the smell o' Ozark earth.
I wouldn't trade it nary bit,
Fer city work er play,
Jes' got a hankerin' notion,
I'm planted hyar tu stay!

"Cheer Up"

You work with your Body and you can stand an awful lot, but when you get to Worrying and Straining with your Mind, that wears you out quicker than anything. I have never noticed that a person who goes around all the time with their face pulled down long enough to eat mush out of a churn... I have never see where they get any more done than somebody who can whistle, or sing a little Tune and kinder step lively to the music.

You don't have to sing Good -- it ain't to be listened to, it's kind of like Prayer -- it don't stand to reason the Lord has to have us tell him what our needs are, but it's a Healthy thing for us to pray... we're the one that Needs it. It's the same way with singing, or laughing, or cracking a joke, it kind of loosens that Puckering-String of our Mind that gets in such an awful snarl sometimes.

That's one great advantage us Americans have over our enemies... that ability to Laugh and make light of things, even when they're pretty serious. 'Course it can be carried too far -- but you know a body ain't always a Fool just because they act like one. Ole Hitler and Them said us Americans was too pleasure-loving and light-minded to ever buckle down to fighting a war. Well, we're Showing 'em, ain't we tho? And that's one reason they're going to break under the strain, because they can't Laugh about things.

Yes, sirree, if we just keep our ability to look on the Funny Side, it will be a great help to us in the year's work ahead. Not only to keep cheerful, but to be Gay, even Comical... keep folks cheered up and ourselves, too, even if we have to act the Fool to do it.

I have a Aunt Cordy who's an awful fat woman, and she does cut kind of a Comical figure, but she don't let it bother her. She says if she can't find nothing else to laugh at she can always laugh at Herself.

Y'know if a body looks for the funny things and for the Beautiful things in life, they'll never get very down-hearted. When Spring-time comes and the Birds start to sing, the Trees leaf out, and the Posies break through the ground, a body is just plumb foolish to not Enjoy them things as they go along. It rests you -- keeps you from straining.

I don't want to be like old Newt Plumtree... there was an Artist-Woman come down here one time painting pictures, she seen old Newt a-squinting up at the clouds and says, "The sky is certainly beautiful this morning, ain't it?" Old Newt says, "Well, I dunno, I been a-lookin' at it fer sixty years now and I never seen nothin' so purty about it -- I jest look to see if the weather is goin' to be fittin' or onfittin' to plow."

Well, in my efforts to keep you'ens cheered up I might pass on a little joke I heered. Some fellow was driving an old Jalopy, but he had what is really more valuable than the car these days, a "C" ration card. It was bitter cold day and he drove up to the Filling Station, waved his card kind of biggety and says, "Fill her up" forgetting to turn off his engine. After the Gas had been running into his tank for a few minutes, the Gas-Station-Man come around and rapped on his window and says, "Hey, listen, -- you'll have to shut off that motor, she's a-gainin' on me."

Well, I recoken that'll hold you for a spell.

---

"O Thou, the One from whom
breath enters being in
all radiant forms.

O Parent of the universe, from your
deep interior comes the next wave
of shining life.

O fruitful, nurturing Life-giver!
Your sound rings everywhere
throughout the cosmos.

Father-Mother who births Unity,
You vibrate life into form
in each new instant."

-- Jesus, "The Lord's Prayer" translated from the Aramaic Gospels, Abwoon d'bashmaya, by Neil Douglas-Klotz

---

"Apostleship (church development), Artistic Creativity, Counseling, Craftsmanship, Deliverance (from spiritual oppression), Discernment (of God's will), Evangelism, Giving, Faith, Healing, Helping (assisting) Leaders, Hospitality, Knowledge, Interpretation, Leadership, Mercy, Miracles, Missionary Work, Music, Organization, Prayer, Prophecy, Service, Shepherding, Suffering, Singleness (celibacy), Teaching, Tongues, Voluntary Poverty, and Wisdom"
-- Chuck Griffin, pastor of Fairview United Methodist Church, Jonesborough, in "Spiritual Trails," Herald & Tribune 10/27/09, listing the 30 spiritual gifts as taken from NCD NCD discipleship resources

"In the spring of 1908 members of the Fairview community, inspired by the sermon of Rev. Richard Walker, met in the local Quaker Church envisioning another church in which to worship God. They formed a board of trustees who later purchased an adjacent acre of land for thirty-five dollars. With enthusiasm and prayer, with donations of money, materials, and labor, a building was finished in early 1909. Rev. James Robinette of First Methodist Church in Johnson City refused to complete the dedication service and dismiss the people until the remaining debt of two-hundred and fifty-dollars was resolved. The congregation responded with amounts of twenty-five, ten, and two-fifty until only twenty-five dollars was needed. At his request for small pledges, donors began waving one dollar bills all over the church. This collection totaled twenty-six dollars. Pointing to the back of the sanctuary, Rev. Robinette directed: 'Younder is a cracked lamp bowl, go buy a new one, and we will dedicate this beautiful building as the Fairview Methodist Episcopal Church.' The early Vision was fulfilled." -- door plate describing Church founding

Video below, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus performed at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall