Martin Vol. 1b (2nd Half)

Another Bible Verse I have always enjoyed is one often used as the lyrics to a song -- 2nd Timothy 1:12 "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

"In The Garden". Although I do not know the proper title to another song it begins... "I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses etc..." [Maybe the name is "In the garden"]

Any thing that is unspoiled and properly prepared to be eaten... I Just Can't find anything I don't like. to eat. (My favorite candy is fudge) My favorite drink is water or milk.

The answer to these questions probably have already been touched on , but yes I attended Church when I was a young boy. I remember certain things about being in church as a child, some of which are memories that only a child could be impressed with. One time, when mother & I were sitting at the back part of the auditorium at the old Broadway Baptist Church --- I managed to break the string of pearls that looped around her neck 3 or 4 times. The floor of the church was slanted to the front of the building all the way to the podium ---- I can still hear the beads rolling down that incline. I probably got in trouble.

I had a compulsion to draw and so my mother always took a pencil and writing tablet to church with her. I remember one time when I had laid the tablet aside while everyone stood to sing or something & when the people were seated I discovered that a rather large man had placed his carcass on my papers. When they were recovered they smelled of tobacco and I presumed that he carried his chewing tobacco pouch in his hip pocket.... My mother threw the tablet away, great works of art and all.

Then I remember when Calvin was baptized. It was cold winter time and he was to be baptized that Sunday night and in order for the water tank to have time to heat the water it had to be lit many hours ahead of the scheduled time.... There was a problem because the problem was --- The custodian had forgotten to light the tank. Calvin had a baptismal service he never forgot, but I suppose the preacher enjoyed the same discomfort.

In my young mind it was difficult for me to understand why when someone accepted Christ as their Savior that they often times cried. I would ask my mother why and she would explain that it was because they were so happy. Tears of joy to me looked a bit like tears of sadness --- Later when I was saved, at age 13, I learned to understand how those tears of joy were from a feeling of spiritual closeness to the Lord that never leaves you in this lifetime. Praise the Lord for that peace of mind and his constant presence in our life.

I miss the old songs that were sung with such enthuasim and spirit, many of those old hymns are never revisited and many of them do not appear in our song books of today. I miss the old sermons about Hell Fire & damnation. But somehow I miss the old songs most of all.

***

I don't remember ever being without a bible, especially the New Testament. I still have it and it was given to me by my Parents. The testament is tan in color with an American flag on the cover. Just inside the canvas cover, my mother wrote my name, address & telephone number 2551 just under the printed scripture "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24).

There is a message written on the fly leaf by President Woodrow Wilson dated 23 July, 1917 but I probably received the Testament when I was about 6 years old. In looking through the text I find that in The Gospel According To Saint John that someone (Probably my mother) has underlined, with red pencil, the word believe each time it appears. My Christian Mother taught me to read the bible.

The year must have been 1934 because I was 13 years old. How did my life change? I don't recall a dramatic change except that I felt closer to my family, and that I knew when I had done something that was not a Christian thing to do.... I prayed that God would help me to resist temptation... And I know he answered prayer. I had seen my mother at death's door more than a few times and I recall how that Christian friends would come to her side and pray that God would spare her life. In my younger years as a very young child I believe God spared my life when I went through a very serious illness. I knew that my health was not too good even now and I prayed that HE would provide a way for me to recover. Dr. Gordon had diagnosed my physical condition as it was at the moment. I was suffering from rickets and was grossly under weight. Daddy would bring cod-liver oil home in cases of 16 ounce bottles and I learned to swallow it without a whimper. That summer I got an urge to go visit my Aunt Lucy and Uncle Purlee down on the farm near Boswell.

It did not turn out to be a vacation trip because they knew my problem and they taught me to hoe the weeds, plow the fields with a turning plow and cultivator. They taught me the basic meaning of life by working and earning a living by coaxing it from the soil. I learned to milk cows, bind oats in to sheaths, and that 7 or 8 O'clock P.M. it was time to go to bed. - We got up early and worked long hours. Along with this I learned from Uncle Purlee how to find a bee tree by observing the bees coming from a certain direction and later returning in a bee-line to where they came from. When the bee tree was located it was usually cut and a hive (home made) was placed on the stump.

My uncle would then lift the bees from their native hive and gently place them, along with the Queen bee, into the hive he had set up for them. After a time the hive would be carried to the place where he had other bee hives, close to the house.

On this farm, which was truly a pioneer homestead, complete with log barns and roofed with wooden shingles he had made himself using a froe or drawing knife. My Uncle Purlee told me that the logs he used in the construction of the barn were actually cut on the very spot where the barn was built, with the stumps from the trees being used for piers to rest the logs on. He had a small pond that was not over a foot or two deep that he would occasionally drive his wagon into and let stand until the wood swelled. This was necessary in order to tighten the "tires" which were made of steel No electricity was available and the lamps all used coal oil to make the wicks light up to make a light after dark. Although there was no electricity they did have an old crank type telephone which ran on two big B dry cell batteries.

If the weather became stormy and their was lightning around, my aunt would disconnect the wire from the telephone until the weather seemed to be clear. My Uncle was proud of his barometer, even though it had a cracked lens, because he could do a fair job of forecasting the weather accurately. When everything was working alright with the phone and my aunt entered into a conversation with someone she would have to talk extremely loud in order to be heard. You didn't have to eaves drop on the conversation because you could hear her outside all the way to the privy. I don't remember ever hearing my uncle converse on the phone --- I guess he left that fancy stuff up to the women folks. Both my Aunt Lucy & Uncle Purlee dipped Garrett snuff, which came in little square brown bottles that could be used to turn upside down and line a flower bed with. I have a few of these old bottles and to me they are worth a great deal as keep sakes that help recall a colorful period of time that existed over a half century ago.

This old farm was suitably located for an early homestead --- It had magnificent trees of about any variety and the terrain was very different from the prairie country found around Ardmore. Springs of fresh water abounded in the sandy type soil, saw mills were scattered around the country side which made raw hide lumber cheap and readily available. You could dig a well with a shovel and it would furnish so much water that it would run over. To fetch a bucket of water you only had to lean over a little and simply scoop the cool water up by hand. I was amazed to discover that you could strike water only a few feet down by using an auger type post hole digger. The woods were abundant with many kinds of exotic plants & herbs such as the Mayapple (Mandrake) or the Passion flower (sometime called the Maypop) . Corn and other vegetables were grown in abundance to support life on the farm, he had a corn shelling machine that you turned by hand and also a corn grinder to break the kernels into chops for the chickens and other small creatures. A hand driven separator was used to extract the cream from the whole milk and the skimmed milk was fed to the calves. When Irish potatoes were dug they were stored in a special built potato house with ventilated floor so they would not touch and could be used as they were needed. The sweet potatoes were harvested much later and were usually stored in a root cellar for use through the season and even into winter time. Uncle Purlee even had a little spot way down in the lower part of his orchard where he cultivated his own twist tobacco.

The people of pioneer stock were very self sustaining and had a means of preserving about anything they cultivated from the land. Soap could be made in the old iron wash pot by mixing a proper proportion of lard and lye and cooking it out in the yard over a hot wood burning fire. Later it would be laid out and cut into rough chunks of soap - This is what they washed their clothes with. Usually however, my Aunt & Uncle splurged a little and bought some Kirks Hard Water Castile soap, which is milder (it is made with olive oil) to wash their face and hands with.

The farm had about every type of creature that is usually peculiar to an old style farm -- cows, turkeys, guineas, ducks, geese, hogs, several kinds of chickens - those for frying, or laying eggs. Chickens ran loose and therefore were notorious scavengers, so it was prudent to put them in a coup for a few days before using them for food, in order to avoid an unpleasant flavor. Horses did the heavy work and he had one old horse named Snowball, that was as black as coal, and that was over 20 years of age.

Uncle Purlee was very kind to his animals and he cared for them because they were so very important to the successful operation of a farm. (Uncle Purlee was also a licensed veterinarian and excelled in that department also). I was going to tell about how he would set his work aside in order to quietly observe a sitting duck and be amused how she would lead him on a wild goose chase to throw him off the trail when she needed to get back to her nest. She may wander around for a very long time and keep her nest hidden out but eventually he would find the nest and later when the little ducklings were hatched he would look after them and protect them from the wild animals he knew were out there.

One other interesting thing about this old farm down in Choctaw County was over on the back side of Uncle Purlee's place were dozens (maybe 100's) of Indian mounds. I always wanted to excavate I will tell more of this Uncle Purlee and Aunt Lucy story later and get back one of the mounds but time did not permit and I never got around to it.

To the subject at hand. By the end of that summer of my 13th. year and before I came back home to Ardmore, I had gained a lot of weight but most of all my squeaky little voice had changed, almost over night, and it seemed to be exceptionally deep for a little kid my age. My dear mother suggested that I must have a recurrence of my throat problem. Not so, said ,Dr. Gordon- - "his voice has changed."

The following summer I repeated my experience and will always believe that God had this method worked out for me all along. As I said earlier, I must leave this subject for now .