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NEWS FROM TEXAS
Miriam A. Ferguson was married to the governor of Texas in the early part of the 1920s. Unfortunately, her husband was impeached and lost the governorship. He recommended to his fellow Texans that they should elect his wife. And so it was that Mrs. Ferguson, popularly known as Ma, which represented her first two initials,…
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“…UNTIL THOUGHT AND MEMORY ADJOURN” AND/OR “UNTIL THE SEAS RUN DRY”
Those of you who follow these essays know that in recent years there have been a number of essays devoted to women who have my admiration. Women do not have the best of it in this life. From the beginning, their strength is less than that of men and their earning power is often similarly…
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BELLS
After my essay on “Whistles” was completed, it struck me that as a matter of equity, there should be a story about bells. Bells and whistles are in the same family of sounds that enhance our lives. So here are my thoughts about bells. From my earliest days on the Lilac Roost Dairy Farm in…
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WHISTLES
Almost all of my friends know that I am a pushover when it comes to trains. They also know that I am a pushover when it comes to folk songs. When those two are wed together, I am largely a basket case. That is what happens when it comes to whistles on trains, but there…
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FABIAN’S AMERICAN GRANDPA
In my life, which has gone on much longer than I ever expected it to, I thought that I had experienced the full range of emotions that occur to human beings. There have been moments of happiness and moments of sorrow. There have been moments that are neither happy nor sorrowful. But it took a…
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GOING HOME …. SYMBOLICALLY
According to the Bible, Methuselah was a gentleman who lived 969 years. I know this for a fact because it is mentioned on five separate occasions in Genesis 5, in First Chronicles, and in Luke, Chapter 3 Verse 37. So there is no debate about Methuselah’s age. In 1935, George Gershwin wrote an opera called…
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11/04/08: AMERICA REJOINS THE CIVILIZED WORLD
Shortly after the results of the most recent presidential election were confirmed at 11 PM, our eldest grandson called me. Connor Shepherd is a 24-year-old grandson who lives and works in San Francisco. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2007, and spent the next year in Japan perfecting his use of the Japanese language. Connor…
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SAUCERED AND BLOWED
In previous essays, I have noted the fact that my ancestors were rural folks who carried their country customs to the big city of St. Louis. They were farmers in Pope County, Illinois and had one peculiar custom that I have not seen for many years. Basically, the custom was that, when served a cup…
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THE MANLY THING
This essay is not about my usual subjects such as politics or religion or the failures of mankind; it is about crying. Specifically, it is about the crying of men who have passed the age of puberty. This past week has been a difficult week for me. On Tuesday, April 27, Jim Livermore called to…