The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to ever one in
western Illinois and to all readers of The Quill. I'm a hope'n all enjoyed the
weather we has a been have'n. We shore enough has much to be thankful fer.
Heritage Days - Dure'n
Heritage Days, this past weekend, I took a tour up north and visited two
museums. One at Raritan, the Henderson County Museum, and the other at
Biggsville, the Horse and Buggy Museum. The Raritan Museum is run by the Cooks,
mostly, and the Biggsville Museum by the Weibels.
Both museums are quality
productions and worthy of anyone's time to explore. Ya is a miss'n two real
'jewels' of Henderson County if'n ya hasn't explored them lately.
A fine museum can be found in
Oquawka, as well. It is enterest'n to see some of the history on button make'n.
Andy and Rosalee Melvin was help'n in a stand up there and have'n folk guess at
kernels of corn on one of their ears raised on their farm.
The Amish had a couple stands
up there as well, one of which was sell'n home made ice cream manfactured by a
hiss and puff antique John Deere one cylinder engine. MMM...that was good.
Attack on Religion-I'm told a
new series is out called '"Breaking Amish". Its a reality TV show that follows
the lives of five young Amish and Mennonite men and women who 'give up horses
and buggies' fer New York City's taxis, subways and air pollution.
The show joins modern
secularism in cheer'n fer 'liberation' from religion and the tyranny of faith.
It is a one sided, slanted look at something they barely understand and
certainly misrepresent in many respects.
This show joins an avalanche
of antagonists attack'n religion, especially fundamentalist religion. That is,
with he exception of the Muslim faith, which if'n it were approached in the same
manner of animosity and hostility as they approach Christianity, there would be
lives threatened and perhaps an ambassador or two killed, burned, and drug thru
the streets.
Of course, that's the real
difference of the two faiths. Christ's love and the Holy Bible under the new
covenant does not allow fer such activity.
One person recently told of
leave'n the church when they went to college and became a form of atheism that
required no special membership. It seemed to preserve the strength of the
individual. While relationships were developed with girlfriends, school friends,
professors, it was hoped to provide a balanced life. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
While many of those
relationships were good, they largely were fleet'n at best. That is they
increased or shriveled in reply to the chang'in mileage betwixt them.
Life became a lonely place,
bound to noth'in but what was bound themselves to. Worry became constant that
those ties would not be last'n enough.
And fer the next generation it
only became worse. Remorse fell upon the individual that they deprived the next
generation of the quality of life enjoyed by their parents in their youth.
A quality of life with
closeness of family and community. Comfort in have'n close relationships with
community and church members. The beauty of simple things in life was miss'n,
replaced by a harried, rushed, tense, and unforgive'n world of the "Big City".
It is enterest'n that any
reality show would overlook the forgiveness and charity the Amish had when their
school house children were slaughtered a few years back. They could compare that
to the Muslim folk who went on a rampage over a you tube production. Although,
the CIA now sez that was not the case. The rampage, we are told, was a well
thought out and planned act of terrorism against infidel Americans. Pent of rage
was allowed to flow inspite of any religious prohibitions.
Well, maybe instead of be'n
entertained by a bias attack on any particular religion, perhaps we should mourn
unbridled secular attacks today on religion that would not be tolerated a few
years back.
Sunday Clothes-On a lighter
note, I'm told a little boy was walk'n down a dirt road after church one Sunday
afternoon when he came to a crossroads where he met a little girl com'in from
the others direction.
"Howdy", replied the little
girl. "Where are ya goin?" asked the little boy.
"I've been to church this
morn'in and I'm on my way home," answered the little girl.
"I'm also on my way home from
church. "Which church do ya go to?" asked the little boy.
"I go to the Baptist Church
back down the road," replied the little girl. "What about you?""I go to the
Methodist Church back at the top of the hill," replied the little boy.
They quickly discovered that
they was both go'in the same way so they decided to walk together. They came to
a low spot in the road where spring rains had partially flooded the road. There
was no way that they could get across to the other side without gett'n wet.
"If'n I gets my new Sunday
dress wet, my Ma's gonna skin me alive", said the little girl.
"My Ma's gonna tan my hide,
too, if'n I gets my new Sunday suit wet," replied the little boy.
"I spect what I'm a gonna have
to do, said the little girl, "is pull off all my clothes and hold them high over
my head and wade across."
"That a good idea," replied
the little boy. I'm a gonna do the same thing with my suit."
So, they both in youthful
innocence undressed completely and waded across to the other side without
gett'in their clothes wet. They were a stand'in there in the sun wait'in to drip
dry before putt'in their clothes back on, when the little boy finally remarked:
"Ya know, I never realized before just how much difference there really is
betwixt a METHODIST and a BAPTIST!!!
Where ever ya are, what ever
ya are a do'n, Be A Good One.
Don't forget church next
weekend.
Keep on Smile'n
Catch ya later
Barnyard Bruke