The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to everyone in western Illinois.
I'm a hope'n everyone had a grateful Thanksgiving holiday. Now we can attempt to finish up on our outdoor work as the weather breaks and try to give up some of those calories we added during our eat'n sprees.
I enjoy read'n an author up north named William Urban. His columns are often placed in a neighboring paper on the same page as another author named Bill Knight, from over east, who is a radical and often down on our treasured American ways. Both have separate college connections however one is mostly insane in his logic while try'n to stir up trouble whilst the other gives comfort in read'n his work.
Bill Urban in a recent column wrote about how Thanksgiving is an American experience. One problem he noticed, in a recent article, that our children across the country are being taught ever more, that strong emphasis is being placed on America's shortcomings more than on its achievements. Guilt is stressed, not pride. It seems, by his estimation, this is what is learned at America's elite eastern ivy league and western supposedly sophisticated schools that some of our government leadership has graduated from.
Our Americanism heritage and spirit is good, strong and worthy of praise, not ridicule. It revived the blood of Europe and raised the Anglo-Saxon standard. It handed the pen to King John, as the headman's ax was reached for coaxing him to sign the Magna Charter.
It sired the Pilgrims of Old England and led the Huguenots of France. It frowned on despots ruling from ancient thrones and spurned their chains. It steered destiny on a westward course when the Mayflower sailed.
The American spirit feared neither wind nor tide nor the growl of an angry sea. It knew of dreams and the folk that held them. It traveled by the light of stars in search of a world where it could build and grow.
Founded on a new continent it anchored fast at Plymouth Rock. There in the name of God and man it drafted the Mayflower compact even before the Pilgrims went ashore. Out of this grew colonial commonwealths dedicated to liberty or death.
This same spirit gave the sword to Washington camped at Valley Forge. It issued the Declaration of Independence, wrote the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, spoke at Gettysburg, conquered despots in World Wars and attracted immigrants from every nation.
It drove covered wagons and conquered the plains. I lifted the torch of science to fight the inventors path, which shaped the wheels of industrial life. In its wake great cities were built along with a union of Federated States united in a common cause to become a giant among nations.
It is a stranger to defeat, knowing no master and owning no slaves. It stifled class hatreds, built no temples, and wrote no creeds. The Spirit of American is individualism.
It is a path of equality where all are equal before God and the law of the land. Souls and dreams can grow and bear fruit with it like a tree by a living stream.
Under Old Glory, it's inspired symbol, it is set to conquer new tyrants. It travels the eagles path to spread its wings for greater glories to unconquered heights.
There is a poem by Will Allen Dromgoogle that aptly describes this Americanism spirit entitled The Bridge Builder:
A old man going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide
Through which was flowing a sullen tide;
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream held no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old Man", said a fellow pilgrim near.
"You are wasting strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way,
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head,
"Good friend, in the path I have come", he said
"There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He to must cross in the twilight dim,
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him".
Well, that poem is an inspiration for which Americanism is built on, for which the boys and I are very grateful!
Barack Obama has said there is nothing exceptional about our country except that America is exceptional in the sense that Britain and France are exceptional.
This statement demonstrates a staggering ignorance and if'n it were true why don't Americans build rafts to travel for permanent residence in Cuba.
Put your trust in God and keep your powder dry is promoted to our young folk as warmongering and wrong-headed.
Political candidates who disagree with administration policies are called racists and are denounced as "grabbing their guns and Bibles".
Perhaps we can be thankful for a possible turning point in this last election.
Time will tell and we shall wait and see how it turns out.
As for the boys and I, we believe and trust in good old fashioned Americanism and the patriotism it inspires! That should warm us.
Keep on Smile'n
Catch ya Later
Barnyard Bruke