ADD TO YOUR FAITH

 

One noted bible teacher made a statement which has stuck to me and that is; "The numbing effect of sin."

 

 

Paul in Galatians chapter three states; "Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth." 

 

The process of sinning for the Christian is something like this. The first time it really bothers them. But the second time isn't as bad until finally they can commit a sin and it doesn't bother them at all.

 

The attitude of what's wrong with a little sin once in a while becomes full blown if not restrained.

 

For a Christian to sin and not be bothered is a desperate situation. The enjoyment of sin will not allow him to repent and he becomes the slave ungodliness.

 

Sitting in the pew each Sunday brings on the condition known as "Harding of the heart." It is a confused state to be in. when there are several in this condition in the church how can the church prosper.

 

Watchman Nee said "The spirit and soul of the unregenerate have become fused into one; therefore they do not know at all the presence of the deadened spirit; on the other hand, they are very well aware of a strong soulical sensation.”

This foolishness continues even after being saved. That is why believers sometimes walk after the spirit and sometimes after the flesh even though they have received spiritual life and have experienced to some degree victory over the things of the flesh.

 

To be unaware of the demand, movement, supply, sense, and direction of the spirit naturally curtails the life of the spirit and allows the natural life of the soul to go unchallenged as the living principle of one’s walk

 

If this is case of a Christian, clearly there is something missing and the place to look for the answer is GOD'S word. In all probability there is something to put off and something that needs to put on. It is both a spiritual and personality issue. GOD has solved both problems by first saving the individual and then adding certain attributes supplied by HIM.

 

This is the salvation part

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

 

This is the revamping of the personality part

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.

 

(How? By putting on these things) for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. It is essential for you to separate the spirit and soul otherwise the soul will over ride the spirit and there will be the wishy washy walk with a tainted testimony.

 

RANDAL CHIMES CHAPTER THREE - - Cattle Drive

Cattle Drive

 

Chapter three

The rancher’s sons were both putting a whoop on me but good.  Their sister picked up a stick and knocked one off of me and was hitting both of them as hard and fast as she could.

The result was all three of us were pretty well beat up; except for her, for she didn’t have a scratch on her. As we walked back to the house the brothers were threatening me with great violence to which I paid no attention for I was hurting from the kicking I had received.

I was thinking I have only been here an hour and I have been choked, treated to the sight of a naked girl and kicked in the ribs. I was wondering if I was going to last till the morning.

I told the girl Jenny she was very brave attacking her brothers the way she did and she said, “They don’t dare touch me for my father would beat them with a strap till they couldn’t walk.”  I just said, “Oh.”

That evening Pecos said, “We are invited to eat in the big house where the vittles are better.”

I told him I wasn’t hungry and he said, “Yes you are.  When you’re invited up to the big house, you go and you will eat and brag on the food.”

Jenny told me to sit next to her and she would protect me.  She pulled her dress up as she sat down and she caught me looking at her skinny legs.

I was embarrassed and whispered that I couldn’t believe those skinny legs could have squeezed me like they did. She just giggled and said, “You better watch out for them weapons of mine.”

The dinner was delicious and I ate more than I thought I would. Pecos retired to the parlor with the rancher and his wife while they talked about the coming roundup.

Jenny and I went to the porch swing.  She put her skinny legs across my lap as we swung back and forth. She heard her mother open the screen door and quickly she straighten up with her feet on the porch.  Her mother asked if I wanted some lemonade and I said, “No thank you, I was too full from supper.”

She said, “Jenny it is near your bedtime so don’t be late.”

Once we were alone she snuggled over closer to me and said, “This swing is for kissing and I am waiting.”

I said, “You are the most forward girl I have ever met and if you are this way with every boy you are going to be the most popular girl in these here parts.”

She kissed me and said, “Only with you my Randy boy.”

I said, “I wish I could believe you but I just don’t know if I do.”

She kissed me several times more and I said, “I’m getting to believe you more;” when Pecos came out and said, “Let’s hit the bunk house.”

We were up before the rooster crowed and ate quickly.  As the sun was a slight glow over the hills, we left.  I would like to have said goodbye to Jenny but there was no chance.

When we got home Pecos told grandpa what we had done and he asked me how I liked his neighbor.  I replied, “They are very nice and I would like to see them again.”

He said, “Well when the roundup started we would join up with them and drive our cattle together to the rail head where we would separate them.”

We spent the next few weeks cutting out and branding the calves getting ready for the roundup. When we weren’t doing that I was helping grandma with the huge garden she raised.

I notice I was putting on some more muscle from wrestling the calves and haying.

Then grandpa said we have three days of harvesting the corn fields then the roundup starts.  The cowhands were griping about having to help with the corn, but it had to be done.  After the last wagon load had been brought into the barn excitement once again ruled in the bunkhouse.

Pecos found me and said, “We are out of here let’s go!”

I wanted to ask, “Go where?” But I decided to just keep quiet.  We stopped at the main house and Pecos said, “You go pack some clothes while I speak to mister Chimes.”

We lit out at a gallop and in two hours we were on the circle D, and thirty minutes later we arrived at the ranch.

The first one I wanted to see was Jenny so I went up on the porch and Pecos said, “You wait till you’re invited before you brace the porch.”

Before I could get completely get off the porch Jenny and her mother came out to greet us and served us with some liquid refreshment.

Jenny seemed a bit cold which I found hard to understand. She had said hello and little else.

Pecos and her mother went into the house where he and Jenny’s father made the last arraignments for the roundup and the drive to the railhead.

I grabbed Jenny’s arm and pulled her aside asking her what was wrong; “Did I do something I shouldn’t have done?”

She curtly said, “No.”

Then I remembered something; she had a birthday and was thirteen years old now and something else I had heard men say when women were out of sorts.

I asked if it was her time of the month.

She fumed and said, ‘What do you know about the time of the month?”

This threw me and I said, “I don’t know nothing; it is just something I heard other men say at times.

She confided, “Yes it was the first time and she was upset about it.”

She said her mother laid down a lot of laws now and that made it worse.

I told her that I had hoped we could spend some time together for I had thought often about her ever since the last time I was here.

She began to soften and came over and hugged me. She said it was something she would have to get used to and was the normal thing for women to do.

I still didn’t know what we were talking about but figured as long as she understood, it was okay.

We walked down to the river but she didn’t take her clothes off.  She said that was one of the new laws her mother laid down. No more skinny dipping with boys.

I said that was okay but if she didn’t mind I was going to cool off and proceeded to take my clothes off.  She said she would sit behind the tree while I got undressed.

 

I said it was okay either way for I didn’t care if she watched.

I dove in and swam across the river and back and got out of the water. She had changed her mind and watched me put on my clothes. She said seeing me in the water made her want to strip down also but from now on her ma’s laws ruled.

She explained why it was important to follow her Ma’s rules and what some of the consequences could be.

I was still in the dark about the whole situation but figured when I got home I would get George to explain it to me.

I had found the roundup to be a dusty duty and plainly hard work.

Jenny caught up with us a few days later and seemed like a different person. We didn’t have any time together but the fact she was around made me feel better.

When we drove the last of the herds to the rail head I breathed a sigh of relief.  At last the round up was over and it was time for me to pack for home.

I had two days before I left so Pecos got me a room in the hotel.  Grandpa surprised me with a payday. I didn’t expect anything but he told me, I wasn’t a finished hand but had done the best I could with what little training I had.

Jenny and her folks were in town also settling up with the cattle buyers. She came to my room and spent time with me there. We resumed our romance such as it was and I could tell she was changing into a young woman instead of the skinny girl I first saw when I arrived.

As for me I felt pretty much the same as before and I feared she was going to outdistance me in maturity while not in age.  While we were in the room we made some promises I doubted she would be able to keep but I hoped for the best.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

 

 

We're caught in a trap

 

 

We're caught in a trap, I can't walk out - - Are the first lines of the song sung by Elvis.

This is how it is for so many of GOD'S creations.

In order to remain in their relationship to drugs, gangs, politics or what ever they don't want to walk out.

Each thing has as it's center piece the thing which binds them and for that reason they won't escape.

In many cases they know GOD has made a way of out for them but they are so enamored by their involvement and commitment to the relationship with the other members they reject GOD"S remedy.

The simpatico they find within the relationship causes them to have no desire to seek release from the trap and they don't want to leave it and walk out.

The Word of GOD speaks out against gang activity, use of drugs, dishonest political acts and illicit relationships.

The forewarning of a severe penalty for ignoring GOD"S will concerning the aforementioned shows the fair-mindedness of GOD.

They know better but are committed to their personal trap and what their actions show is: "I don't want to get out."

This is the life they have chose and wish to be left alone in it.

Amen, so be it .

"What a difference a day makes."

My Fiction Story will continue soon - - Today I am musing about What a Difference a Day Makes

 

 

As I sat musing, or at least that is what I call it; An old song came floating out of my memory banks.

It has been hidden away for several decades but showed up today.  Titled; "What a difference a day makes." All the sudden I had a list of things that changed one day and have never been the same since.
 

The first time I kissed my future wife (she remembers every detail, all I remember was going for it).
 

Our wedding day, that changed everything for us.

 

 

The birth of each child and so on.
 

Life is made up of many days after which you are never the same.
 

Some are small changes others a bit larger.
 

Then there may be a biggie that really transformed your life.
 

I remember that night in July of 1948 when I was coerced into going next door to the church, where a family was holding a revival meeting.
 

They played and sang several songs while I sat stiff as a board wondering what I was doing there.
 

Something happening that I couldn't get a handle on. By the time the preaching was over whatever that was had grown extremely potent. It was like the air was charged with electricity.
 

They invited everyone who wanted to have their sins washed away to come down and pray.  I hesitated at first but couldn't resist that drawing power that filled the place. I was urged to kneel and pray which I did.
 

It was then for the first time I experienced the cleansing power of GOD.  Born again, made a new creation, changed from darkness unto light, all of the descriptive terms in the Bible I experienced that evening.
 

I have had many spiritual experiences since that day in 1948 but I remember that one especially -  - 
 

 

What a difference a day makes.

 

Randle Chimes Chapter Two - Arriving at Grandpa's Ranch

Riding the Train to Grandpa's Ranch

 

Chapter two

As I boarded the train to my grandpa’s place, Ma was crying and George had a tear running down his cheek.  Unbeknownst to me there was a Pinkerton man on board looking after me just in case there might be someone who liked young men.

There was a man who seemed overly friendly to me - - who someone threw off of the train while it was moving very fast.  I didn’t find out any more about the incident and figured it wasn’t any of my business.

We pulled into one of the stations and I was hungry. There was a sandwich shop across the street so I went and loaded up with food not realizing that there was a dining car on the train. The conductor saw me with all the sandwiches and told me I didn’t have to eat cold sandwiches because my ticket included meals in the dining car. I felt foolish but I didn’t know any better.

I went to the car where people who bought the cheap tickets were and passed out all the food I had bought.  Some of them acted mad because I didn’t have enough for everybody. They were getting riled up when this man grabbed me by the arm and escorted me back to my seat and said, “Don’t go wandering off again.”  

I didn’t know the man but I promised I would stay where I belonged from now on.

Someone came into our car and played some chimes and said dinner is served. The people started getting up so I got up and followed them. I found a seat with the man who rescued me and we ate together.

He didn’t speak during our meal so I kept quiet also. When we finished he said, “Go back to your seat and stay there,” so I did.

We ate together during all our meals and during the last meal he said we would be arriving to where I was to get off shortly.  About a half hour later the train came to a jarring halt.  

I saw the man get off, go over to an older man, speak to him and leave.  The old man came over and greeted me and said, “I’m your grandpa and you must be Randle Chimes the second.”

I didn’t know what to say to that for no one had ever called me that.

He said, “From now on you will be called junior.”

“I said that would be fine with me.”

He then said, “Come here boy,” and he picked me up and just about squeezed the breath out of me.  He put me down and said, “I sure am glad to see you at last.”  

One of the cowboys had picked up my suitcases and loaded them on the wagon.

Grandpa stood back and said, “We need to go shopping,” and with that, he took me to the general store.  When we left I had a complete cowboy’s outfit.  He put the hat on my head and said, “Wear it proudly boy for that hat and the way you wear it tells everyone the measure of the one who wears it.”

He asked me if I could ride and I told him I had ridden some.

He grabbed me and tossed me up on a large rangy horse who didn’t seem too happy about me being on him.  As soon as we started moving he settled right down and had a nice smooth gait.

There were three cowboys on horseback and one who drove the wagon that was loaded with food stuffs; counting Grandpa and me that made six of us.

We had to move over and let the stage pass us. The driver of the Coach was going at a gallop and we gave him plenty of room.

Grandpa said, “There would only be a few more trips and that would be the last of the stage runs.  The railroad was connecting to the towns it had served and would be giving far better service.”

He said he was sorrow to see it go because the stage line had been part of his childhood.

We hadn’t ridden but about an hour till grandpa said our property starts here and takes a day to ride across it.  I couldn’t imagine anything that big but in the years to come I rode over all of it.

The ranch compound came into view and it was a large complex, with several barns, two bunk houses, a large smoke house, corrals, out buildings and a large ranch house.

Grandpa said I was going to have to earn my keep for no one gets a free ride here.

We went into the house and grandma gave me the same greeting as grandpa did. She hugged me and kissed the top of my head several times.

I thought she is a nice old woman and I hoped she could cook as well as she could hug.

The next morning after a big breakfast one of the hands named Pecos took me to the barn and together we fed certain animals.  Some milk cows, chickens, horses they kept in the corrals for emergency purposes. There was another person who fed the hogs so I was for the present spared that chore.

The cowboy who was bossing me around said grandpa wanted me to improve my riding skills.  We spent the rest of the day doing starts, turns, fast gallops and swimming the river.  He said we would pick it up tomorrow and we headed to the barn.  

I was worn out but he said, "We need to tend to our horses." We took the gear off of them and rubbed them down real good and then fed them.

I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and I was so tired I didn’t think I could eat. But after the first bite my appetite returned and I ate a good meal. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It was still dark when Pecos the cowboy came in and woke me. I was so stiff he had to help me get out of bed.  He assured me that in a few days I wouldn’t have any more soreness and would be up before him.

Once again we had a big breakfast and I ate a lot more than normal just in case we didn’t have any lunch again.

As we rode along he had me practice with my rope.  Half of the time I was lassoing myself, but as the day went on I began to improve.

Pecos said we were going to herd a few cattle back over to the neighbor range and would spend the night there.  He said it would be really late when we would arrive back to my grandpa’s so it would be better to sleep in their bunkhouse.

I thought that suits me fine for I was tired already. When we got the cattle back to the rancher’s property we met a couple of hands and they thanked us for bringing them back instead of changing their brand to grandpas.

We rode on in to the rancher’s compound and I saw that it was a lot like grandpas. Pecos knew most everybody who worked on the circle D and they were joking around just about ignoring me.

Finally Pecos started introducing me to the hands and the owners of the circle D. John R the ranch owner had two boys who were a year or two older than me and they had been raised on the ranch all their lives.

I felt a little intimidated for they were already getting bow legs from all their riding. They said to me C’mon let’s put your horse in the corral along with Pecos’s.

I felt relieved to be doing something instead of being stared at by the people who were looking at me.

I didn’t realize that the reason they were staring at me was because I was the heir to the largest ranch in the area. They probably thought I was a poor looking specimen of a ranch owner.

If I had known what they were thinking I would have been even more intimidated.

The boys took mine and Pecos’s horses and we went to the corral, unsaddled and fed them after a rubdown. I was standing with my back to the corral and…

All the sudden someone jumped on my back, locked their legs around my waist and was choking me.

At first I was too surprised to do anything and then I tried to unlock the guy’s legs from my waist with no results.  Nothing I tried could loosen the choke hold he had on me.

I was running out of air fast and with one last effort I shove the attacker back against the corral which for a second caused them to ease up on their hold and I got a gasp of air. Then the choker tighten his grip again and I was on the edge of passing out he turned me loose and I fell to my knees.

A few moments later my eyes focused enough see my attacker who was dancing around saying over and over “I whupped you.”

I struggled to my feet but I was still unsteady on my feet.

I said some threatening remark and the choker took off running with me stumbling behind him. He arrived at the nearby river and proceeded to remove his clothes and jumped in the river. When I got there I was furious and stripped down and began to swim after him. He was a better swimmer and just swam away from me with ease.

My eyes began to focus better and I could see the attacker more clearly and as I swam closer to him I could see that this boy was somewhat of a sissy looking lad. His hair was long and his face was smoother than mine. He quickly swam to the shore and when he got out of the water I could see his naked body and he turned out not to be what I thought he was.  

 

Lo and behold it was a bare naked girl about my age. She seemed to have no inhibitions at all.  She had some spots where titties were supposed to be but all she had was small mounds beginning to form.

By the time I got to the river bank she was almost dressed.

I took one more look at her chest and thought you poor thing. All the anger had disappeared by the time I realized I was standing there without any clothes on.

I turned away and began to dress. She teased me by saying, “It’s too late for I’ve seen it all,” to which I replied “I hoped you enjoyed what you saw for I did.”

We found ourselves bantering back and forth till her brothers showed up and began to rag on us. They asked did you enjoy looking at each other nakedness and other things like that till it went too far and I lit into the nearest one.

I had him down and was whaling the snot out of him when the other brother started kicking me in my ribs. That took the fight out of me and he proceeded to put a whip on me.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

God so loved the world

 

My Fiction Story will continue soon - - Today I am musing about God's Love - -

 

God so loved the world

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
 

This scripture is straight forward and it is the greatest promise to be found in the Bible. It is explanatory, purposeful, methodological, and reasoned out.
 

It is not succinctly implied but one can surmise that if one doesn't believe then they could perish.
 

What is the background of this loving and giving and the underlying reason for the action being spoken?
 

If the writer of these words had given a full answer and presented it as a play it would have been a cast of multiplied millions of different kinds of beings; (Spiritual hierarchy, angels of different dimensions, demons with different purposes, Satan the fallen angel, human beings and the triune Godhead.)
 

What started out as a simple act of GOD which was to create a race of mankind made in HIS image; it happened in the midst of the development of this original creation and was interrupted by the fallen angel and the plan was thrown into chaos.
 

God was not willing to be deterred from His original purpose so He set forth a way to redeem a people out of the masses which were to come forth by a method set by Him.
 

He devised this method whereby those who were to be a part of His people must chose to accept the remedy he set in place for them.
 

This method was simple and only required them to do what they were capable of doing and that was to believe that He loved them and that he had provided salvation free and available for all who would accept His terms.

As the drama is being played out there are fierce struggles going on in the background.
 

Conflict between the spiritual forces and interactions are mostly unperceived by the people they were interacting with, for they are not flesh and blood but spirits.
 

I shall not address these interactions between the spirits and humans but shall return to the scripture.
 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
 

GOD has made provision for your salvation and it is up to you to overcome all of the spiritual forces that stifles you from believing in Christ.
 

 



RANDLE CHIMES Preface and Chapter one

A New Continued Fiction story begins today. 

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My Grandfather was a Rancher

 

Randle Chimes - - Preface

Randle Chimes a name you should remember but probably won’t, for while he was outstanding in many of his ways but he was what you might call; “A bland man”.

He could impress for a moment but then his exploits quickly faded from memory. With that being said he is my hero and I retain his exploits for historical reasons and the fact he was my grandfather.

While today it is considered to be acceptable, in those days it was a shame to be a bastard child and sadly that became my lot.

My mother, Martha was raised on a huge ranch totally owned by her father. Her mother Ella was his wife who fit the bill as what a rancher’s wife ought to be. With a little help she managed everything that pertained to the main house plus outside of the cleaning, washing, cooking.  She also had to oversee the food management for all the ranch hands. They had their own cook but all the gardening and canning was her responsibility. Her cellar alone was as large as a good size barn.

The smoke house had room for thirty or so hogs at a time. When rendering the lard from the pork fat it took ten hirelings from the local poor area to fill all the lard stands. This was the way it was in grandpa’s day.

RANDLE CHIMES  - -  Chapter one

Though it was hard to understand in an age where women had a child about every other year my grandma Ella only had two children. One was a boy and the other a girl.

From an early age the children were taught how to earn their keep on a ranch. The boy, my uncle never took to being a ranch hand and early on became a rounder.

We frame the meaning within the structure where rounder meant; a slob who drank and caroused his time away. On the way home from a night of boozing he fell from his horse and broke his neck.  It is said grandpa was so nonplussed at what happened he ordered a hole to be dug where he lay, put a blanket around the body lowered Uncle into the hole and just covered him with dirt.

No one said anything good or bad about uncle and he was scarcely missed.

My mother was getting long in the tooth according to the standard marrying age being twenty one. My grandpa sent her to live with his sister in town. A short time later she was getting popular at the dances and other social events. As it turned out part of her popularity was in the nature of being what some call loose morals.

Being a fruitful woman she became pregnant with yours truly. When her aunt discovered that she was pregnant she wanted to send her back to the ranch but grandpa wasn’t having any part of it.

He sent her away to a place where permissive girls go to have their babies and it was there I got my start in life.  Since my ma had been taught to do many chores on the farm she was well prepared to work as a domestic in one of the large houses where the rich people lived.

Grand pa paid her expenses for a year after I was born basically because of me but after that he said my ma would have to “root hog or die” as far as he was concerned.

She got a job in a fancy house where she did most of the dirty work. The servants had to be more sophisticated in order to work above the scullery so that meant she was stuck down below. We lived in a one room rental and Ma had met an older woman who had no place to stay so Ma let her move in with us. The old woman took care of me and we all lived on the meager fare ma provided. This arrangement worked out well for all concerned except the woman had to sleep on the floor on a pallet.

My ma worked long hours so the woman we took in did most of the raising of me for the first five years.  The woman got sick and was sent to a state sanitarium where she finally died but while the woman was with us she taught me how to read and write some.

Since my ma did the cleaning up after the kitchen help which included the floors and such she was able to salvage the leftover food so we ate very well most of the time.  I got sick a time or two from food that had gone bad but for the most part everything was fine.

Ma met up with a man named George, who was called a Pinkerton man. He was a detective and a man of high standards.

He married my ma when I was five and bought us a nice house to live in.  George accepted me as his son and took me many places with him when he was on a case.  He felt a man with a child would be less noticeable than a man alone.

I was fascinated by the fact he carried two guns and how fast he could draw one of them out of its holster. We went shooting often and I became an expert shot at targets at an early age. He explained that shooting at a target was different than shooting at a person and how to handle each issue.

George and my ma never had any more children though it wasn’t from the lack of trying. Something I can attest to.  I observed them enjoying each other on many occasions since they seldom shut their door. To me at my young age I thought what they were doing was a waste of time but they were older than me and knew more than I did.

My name was Chimes like my grandfather but I didn’t have a first name or at least I didn’t know it if I did.  My mother started calling me Sonny Boy as far back as I can remember.  C’mere, Sonny Boy she would say and without questioning I would react.

A problem arose when I enrolled in school. They considered Sonny Boy to be a nickname and insisted I give them my real name. Being young and intimidated I said the only name I could think of which my grandfather’s name, Randle. From that time on I was known by the name Randle Chimes. It took my ma a while to get used to the name Randle for she never called her Pa anything except Pa.

For the next five years George treated me as his own, and I grew to love him.  Here he was a tough, no nonsense kind of guy who was gentle and kind to me and my ma.

Then there were two changes in my life which changed the direction where I was headed. First George was taken from being local and was sent out on the road. The result being he wasn’t at home with us near as much as he had been. When he was at home he didn’t have as much time to spend with us as before.

He talked about quitting but he loved his job with Pinkerton and couldn’t bring himself to leave them.

The second thing that came up was my grandfather sent for me to come to the ranch during the summer break from school. My mother was all for it because she hoped her father would finally forgive her and reconcile with her.

George wasn’t too happy about it but gave in after a man came to see him. The man introduced himself as a Pinkerton man like George was. They had a long conversation after which George agreed to allow me to go stay with my grandfather.

The Pinkerton man said he had been hired by my grandpa to check on me every so often and report to him. He knew George had been a good father to me and that he had taught me how to defend myself. He had taught me to box and wrestle both cleanly and dirty. He said dirty fighting can save your life when trying to fight cleanly can get you killed.

With all this information in hand my Grandpa thought it was time for me to come West and find out something about my families past.

TO BE CONTINUED


 

AIN'T LOVE GRAND

 

Some things irritate and some things bless.

 

One of the things that blesses my heart is to see an older couple as they walk hand in hand being attentive to one another.

 

My mind tries to trace their life back to the beginning and see them starting their courtship. There is a special excitement that accompanies that first real love that has a beauty of its own. The days of courtship and desire build up till longing can hardly be contained.

 

All the hindrances are put aside the moment he claims his lovely bride. This is a spiritual moment where the two of them and GOD meld the relationship into one unity never to be broken.

 

Sadly sometimes this requires a restart with the right one but when it is right it can be almost be as if it is the first time.

 

The years pass and love binds them together through the struggles of their early marriage and the raising of the kids.

 

All these stresses are no challenge to real love for their love conquers all. The love union produces the family which completes the love cycle and is the beginning of a new cycle.

 

Love mandates being there for the grandkids and being stable in all of their ways. This requires learning how to share their love to this new generation.

 

Time moves on but love remains and grows when and where it is possible and handles uncalled for rejection with patience and understanding.

 

Some never reach the acme of possibilities but even if that is so they still have an abundance of love just waiting to be released on some who is less worthy.

 

Immense Love is available for all from the one who loves us most.  For GOD loved the people of the world so much He made the supreme sacrifice for them. This love came forth with out conditions and is shed abroad for all to receive.

 

Getting back to the old couple I was enjoying as he was helping her through the door and watching over her. I surmised that it was no longer the youthful physical satisfaction that bonded them together, but their hearts desire to fulfill their life's cycle as one.

SHE AIN'T UGLY…IS SHE?

My New Fictional Story is all here - - it is NOT continued.
 

We Rode the Mule to School

 

 “C'mon Wiley! You gonna have to walk if you don't hurry.” 

“Don't be that way, Lonesome. Sometimes you just gotta have an extra minute to get ready cause the stuff inside wants to come outside.”   

“Well Wiley, you better not smell too good or you gonna be walking.” 

We were young boys going to school. It was just passed dark in the morning but light enough for the mule to see where he was going. We lived a half hour from school as the mule walked. Our pappy said as long as we just walked him the two of us could use him for transportation but if we loped him and tired him out we would have to walk from then on. A tired mule wouldn't be fit to work in the afternoon so just walk him said our pappy.  

We always obeyed our pappy cause he didn't put up with any disobeying.  No supper and a switch across the back was the reward for not doing pappy's will.  

We had a forty acre patch where our livelihood came from and it took all of pappy's smarts for us to make it. The school was just a half day and then everybody went home to work on their home place.  

Lonesome was almost a year older than me so he always got the better older son treatment. I was just as big as he was, but he could still whip me. The last time we got into a squabble I come near to getting the best of him but in the end he beat me. I think I will win the next time cause my muscles are growing and I'm getting more experience from scrapping with the other boys at school.  

I liked school very much for it was a lot easier than working on the farm. A half day was all the farmers could spare cause the kids had to earn their keep. Another reason was the school master said it was all he could take. The boys were so raucous that he said after a half day he was ready to start breaking heads. Another reason was he had his own place to tend to. 

Of course I had a ma but she wasn't around anymore. She left as soon as I was off the tit. She took off with a peddler when he came by one day and hasn't been heard from since.  

Our grandma stayed with us till we boys were old enough to care for ourselves then she returned to her home. Pa didn't want to talk about our ma but I was told by a woman who knew her that our pappy pawed her too much. I never did understand what pawed meant but figured it wasn't pleasant. 

One of fun things to do was to climb trees. Lonesome and I did that a lot until I fell and broke my arm. This made Pappy mad enough to ban us from climbing anymore.  

I was severely hindered from doing my chores with just one arm. I could still pitch horseshoes though not as well as before. I couldn't fight as good either. I started using one hand and two feet instead of two hands and it seemed to work better as I got used to doing it.  

I survived to twelve years old, Lonesome being thirteen. We started going to the monthly dances and I did more watching than dancing. I could knock a step as well as any other boys or men but I just liked to watch the older guys try to get fresh with their partners.  

The girls would leave the guys standing in the middle of the floor much of the time. Some of them would do a buck dance to lessen their embarrassment.  

There was one girl that no one would dance with except her father and once in a while a cousin who was forced to by their pa. This went on dance after dance. I asked Lonesome why that was.  Is she ugly?  

He said well she is a little hard to look at and I'm sure not going to ask her out on the floor.  He said I wouldn't do that even if no one else was there.  

Over the next two years I kept looking across the room and the more I looked at her the more I got used to her.  

I was getting some punch at the dance and made the mistake of drinking some of the grownup men's drink. Shortly I was feeling all warm and happy. The next thing I knew I walked right over to the girl I had been looking at for all this time and asked her if she wanted to dance with me. She looked flustered at first but then said; "I would be pleased."  

We stepped out on the floor and I begin to knock my best step and she kept right up with me. It was then I realized what I had done and was doing. The next thing I saw was everyone else had stopped dancing and most had left the floor with the rest just looking at me. I was feeling pretty good so I just kept on dancing and enjoying myself. We danced to several tunes till I was almost out of breath.  

She saw I was tired and said “I think we need some punch don't you?”  

I gladly said that would be nice. We got our drink (the young folk stuff) and I sat with her while we drunk it.  

As the good feeling began to wear off and I was sitting with Annie I began to feel uneasy. Everybody was staring at us sitting together so I said let's dance. Anything had to be better than sitting with her and people staring.  

That dance was the final dance so I said goodbye when it ended and told her that I enjoyed dancing with her.  

On the way home Pappy and Lonesome were very quiet. Just before we got home Lonesome said, “What in the world possessed you?”  

I answered, “What do you mean possessed me?”  

He said you know what I'm talking about. All the fellows are talking about you and are also funning me.  

I knew it would be useless to try to defend myself so I asked him; "Is she ugly?"  

Both he and Pappy burst out laughing and said, “She is a little hard to look at,” and continued to laugh. 

The next few days were uncomfortable for every where I went someone would say something ugly.  I had a number of fights and won every one of them.  Seemed like I was hot under the collar and had some extra mad in me.  Seemed like I whipped half of the town but whatever, it wasn't as funny when you just got the tar whipped out of you so everyone shut up and had no more to say. 

I didn't come out of all the fights unscathed but the time the next dance came around my lips were healed and my eyes were no longer blackened.   

Pappy yelled at me and said, “What is that racket all about?”  

I came down to where pappy was and said, “I was practicing knocking a step as I walked around.”  

At the next dance I was all stirred up and ready to hit the floor till I looked across the room and saw Annie.  

Seemed like everyone was watching me to see if I had enough nerve to again, ask her out on the dance floor.  A couple of the more popular girls asked me to dance which was unusual.

I had a drink of the hard stuff for I felt I needed it. I was just beginning to feel the effects of it so I agreed to dance with them. By the time I was finished with the second dance I was feeling good.  

With everyone's eyes on me I went straight to Annie and said, “Let's dance.”  

She bounded to her feet and we were on the floor dancing up a storm in a moment.  

The one thing everybody agreed on was she could out dance all the other girls. It was then more guys wanted to dance with her but she would only dance with me.  

The one thing I failed to mention was Annie's father was the richest farmer in the county. He began to look on me favorably because I had looked beyond Annie's looks and treated her with respect. I had never given that any thought about him being rich when I asked her to dance.  

I endured people making fun of me and even though I knew people were laughing behind my back (they had stopped laughing to my face because of the whipping they would get, man or boy) Annie and I had become best friends.  

We were seventeen when she told me her father was sending her to a finishing school back East for a year.  

I knew her so well now I could tease her so I said, “You think a year will be long enough?”  

She jumped on me and began to whale on me laughing all the while. She stopped hitting me and began hugging me. We had never shown this kind of affection.  

It was then I realized she was a woman of passion. How could I have missed that for we were closer for the last two years?  She was just my buddy not this passionate female.  

Then she kissed me and said, “I'm going to miss you and want to marry you when I get back.”  

I pushed her off of me and said; "Whoa."  

That one word changed the whole atmosphere. I could see she was hurt and I would never hurt her.  

I got my breath back and said; "I'm sorry that caught me by surprise.  I've never thought of us being married.”   

Everything I said just made things worse. She jumped up and ran to her house slamming the door as she went through it.  

I thought; "Now you’ve done it." Everything was so good as things were.  

I didn't share much with Lonesome but I had to talk to him concerning this. After giving him the details he told me, "She is like every other woman. Let her cool off a day or two and then go over and tell her how you feel about the whole thing. She will have rehearsed the whole thing over and over and will understand why you reacted like you did.”  

That sounded like the right thing to do so two days later I went to see her. When she let me in neither of us said anything until I took her in my arms and kissed her on her forehead.

 

I just held her for several minutes and then looked at her face. A face so many had laughed at and I said when you come back home we will sort out how we feel and then if we want to, we will marry.  It will be what we both want but regardless of what we decide you will always be my best friend.  

Tears welled up in our eyes and I continued to hold her until her mother called her to do a chore. 

She was busy the next couple of days packing and getting ready to leave. I saw her off and kissed her like we were lovers. That surprised her but she kissed me right back. She playfully winked at me and said, “I'll see you when I get back and pick up where we left off.”   Then she got on the train and was gone. 

While she was at school my father married a widow woman with some property. I don't know if he was divorced from my ma and he didn't either. I guess he figured that running off with the peddler was the same as getting a divorce.  

Anyhow he got married and moved to her house in town. He gave the home place to Lonesome which meant I was out.  

I started looking for work and when Annie's father heard what happened and he hired me to help run his plantation. I had a place to stay and was making money but kept wondering how this would affect Annie and me.  

Her father never mentioned anything about us getting married nor her mother either for that matter. I soon found out that running a large farm was a lot different from our forty acre place.  

This learning process kept me busy and I only thought about Annie late at night. I wasn't sure how I felt about her but would always think how nice it would be to have her in bed next to me.  

Since I had got my job on the plantation several girls became interested in me. They could see a future with me wouldn't be so bad. I went with different ones just to break the monotony of being alone but none were of any interest to me.  

I had to settle the Annie thing before looking for greener pastures. Her mother went to see her and spent a week with her. When she got back she said I wouldn't recognize her for she had changed so much. I thought, “How could she change she'll still be Annie?”  

I had one issue I had to deal with that was upsetting. A girl I took out once claimed I was the father of the child she was expecting. She knew it wasn't true for I hadn't messed around with her. All I did was we went to the picture show and then straight home.  

When I told her if she kept telling everyone I was the father I would be fired and I couldn't support her and her baby. That didn't set too well with her so she went searching for a more prosperous future husband.  

Actually Annie's father said he didn't believe what she said but he would stand behind me in any case.  

The big day finally came when Annie arrived home. I was busy working and didn't see her until dinner time. I met her in the ante-room and could hardly recognize her. She had really changed. She was really good looking now.

 

Since no one was looking I hugged her and kissed her right on the mouth. She kissed me back with a kiss I didn't recognize. I wondered where she learned to kiss like that. Anyhow I liked it and thought I could learn how to do it properly in short order.  

There was no mistake about it, Annie had changed. Her looks, the way she talked, her manners and the way she walked.

I thought, “They sure finished her nicely,” and I wondered if I could handle all the changes.  

I had decided to marry the old Annie but now I had to make a decision about this new Annie.  

Then there was her feelings on the same subject; “Is she still in love with me?”  

I concluded I would soon find out for it wouldn't take too long to settle on how we felt about each other. It was then I realized I had changed a lot also. I wasn't the same guy when she left.  

While Annie was out West, I had picked up many of the habits and traits of her folks and the well off people we did business with.  

We were right in the middle of harvest time so I was tied up which limited my time with Annie but she had a lot of company who wanted to see what the West was like. We aren't very far west but when you live on the East coast where we are seems like the West to them.  

I noticed there were several fellows visiting and acting very friendly. Annie's future money had a lot of appeal to guys who have never been employed and wanted to continue that life style. I could tell they were laying it on thick when they could get her in a corner but she would look at me and wink letting me know they weren’t getting anywhere with her. 

The harvest was finished. The hay was stacked and baled. The tobacco was in the barn drying out. And the hogs were killed and the meat put down in salt. Sausage was ground and put in sacks and soon the hams would be trimmed and smoked. The Eastern crowd had pretty well given up on Annie and finally I had time to be with her.  

All of a sudden some of the locals had taken up an interest in Annie but I sent then on their way. At one time or the other I had whipped them all and I let them know I would do it again if they came around bothering Annie.  

I had made up my mind concerning Annie but didn't want to commit to her unless she felt the same way. I would never get over the embarrassment of being rejected and that thought kept me from proposing to her as of yet. I went to a jeweler and bought a ring and he said if she didn't accept me I could always give it to someone else.  

That didn't set too well with me so I told him to engrave Annie's name on the inside for that ring was for her and no one else.  

He said, “Okay I was just saying.”  

Trying to find a place to be alone on the home place wasn't easy. Because of her family visiting, having parties, outside visitors and then the hired help.  

I took her by the hand and led her out of the house. She asked where we were going and I said to the smoke house. I knew we wouldn't be disturbed in there. Once inside I lit a lamp and said to her; "Have you made up your mind yet?"  

She answered, “Have you?”  

I said, “Yes but I want to know how you feel first.”  

She said, “No you go first.”  

I was close to her so I pulled her closer and kissed her for a long time. I slipped the ring on her finger while kissing her. She tried to pull away enough to see what I put on her finger. Once free from me she held her hand all the way out and looked at her ring and said, “Yes; I will marry you." 

I didn't know what else to say so I said, “Good.”  

She said, “Let's go tell Papa.”  

I said, “Don't you think we should wait a while.”  

She said, “We have waited long enough let's go now.” 

We found her mother and father in the kitchen having a snack. Before I had a chance to speak she said, “Papa, Wiley asked me to marry him and I said yes.”  

Her mother hugged her and started to cry. Her father said, “It's about time. I was about ready to tell you to get on with it. I spent a lot of money getting her all prettied up for you and I expected you to do your part.”  

He said, “As soon as you two are married I'm giving you a half interest in the place and I expect you to earn it.”  

He continued, “Have you two been in the smoke house?  I hope getting engaged was all you were doing.”   I assured him it was. 

The years have passed and I have become very well off financially. I have a family of my own with a wife, kids, and oh yes some dogs. I think from time to time about staring across the dance floor at the girl no one would dance with.  

It was by accident I drank the hard licker but it was the best mistake I ever made. I also remember asking the question; "Is she ugly?"  

Today I would say, “She's the most beautiful woman who ever lived."