The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to everyone in western Illinois.
Again this week, as I write this column, the snow is a come'n down fast and heavy.
One good thing that has come of all this snow is that it has shut down Washington D.C. for a spell.
Political wrangling has temporarily been replaced by the snow shovel.
An old saying states, "There is always one fine week in February".
Do you reckon we've had the shortened version of that saying already?
With Valentine's Day come'n up in a week or so, my mind wanders toward vanity.
Sometimes folk do things to make themselves more attractive, but that can sometimes backfire.
There was once a wealthy woman who had her portrait done by the great French painter Hyacinthe Rigaud.
Upon seeing the portrait, the woman, who tended to wear far too much makeup, complained that the colors the artist used were too bright. Unabashed, Rigaud replied, "We buy them at the same shop, Madame."
There once was a women who was putting on face cream while visitin' with her young grandson.
The boy diligently asked her what she was doing. Grandmother explained that the cream was supposed to prevent wrinkles.
The boy promptly looked at her very closely and boldly stated, "It doesn't work, does it"!
Ben Franklin stated, "Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage".
However, Franklin learned a lesson from the Moravians, a religious group residing in Pennsylvania.
These were the folk that influenced "Wesley" so greatly which resulted in the Methodist Church as it was known in the late 1700's thru the 1800's and into the early 1900's.
Franklin had heard that the Moravians arranged marriages for their young people, choosing the partners by lot. When he asked some members of the group if this was true, they explained the process to him.
A young man who wished to marry told the elders of the church, who then spoke to the older women charged with bringing up the young women.
Since the elders knew the young people and their temperaments, they were generally able to make a good match.
Occasionally, however, two or three matches might seem equally suitable, in which case they drew lots.
Ben objected, saying, "If matches are not made by mutual choice of the parties, some of them may chance to be very unhappy".
The Moravians replied, "And so they may if you let the parties choose for themselves" -which, Ben had to admit, was also quite true.
I have read where Iowa is near to passing a law with a severe penalty for running a red light and someone is killed. It is based on an accident in which a young motor cyclist was killed when a man, having a stroke inadvertently ran a red light.
It would seem much simpler and less complex to pass a law making it illegal to drive whilst having a stroke or heart attack!
Which reminds me of "you tube" information sent to me by a friend, the subject is "Massachusetts Miracle" but it was sent to me in the subject line as:
(The Scott heard round the world!")
It is a Scott Brown commercial that ran mostly in Massachusetts when he was seekin' the U.S. Senate seat of Ted Kennedy.
For your enjoyment check it out on the web: http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nEoW-P81-0. It's worth the watch.
Keep on smilen'
Catch ya Later
Barnyard Bruke