OCR Text |
Show f&rTLj Creek IS i '! "I I . ' ! - -j Just to avoid getting into too deep of a rut, I shall begin this epistle with a couple of yarns, instead of ending it with a humorous anecdote. I suppose if we ever had a President that was a man of few words, it was "Silent Cal Coolidge." Not only that, he seldom smiled and never, 'well hardly ever laughed. One time, so the story goes, the late Will Rogers, America's beloved humorist, had a date to meet Mr. Coolidge at the White House. A friend of both men was to introduce them. Prior to the meeting, the friend bet Will $25 dollars that he couldn't make Cal smile within 5 minutes, following the introduction. As they approached the sol-emnfaced sol-emnfaced President, the friend said, "Mr. Collidge, may I present Mr. Will Rogers." The President bowed slightly as they shook hands, but said nothing. Assuming a puzzled look on his face, Will said, "Pardon me, but I didn't catch the name." Mr. Cooledge not only smiled, he actually laughed laugh-ed out loud. The other story has to do with an elderly Vermont farmer, farm-er, who like Cal Coolidge, was stingy with words. It was during dur-ing the early morning of Mother's Moth-er's Day. His wife arose first, leaving him asleep in bed. She milked the cows, fed the horses, slopped slop-ped the hogs and threw wheat to the chickens. Then she came inside and fixed breakfast. The menu was pan cakes, her home-churned butter, syrup from the maple sap she had boiled down, her home-cured ham, fresh eggs from her flock of Leghorns and topped off with her special blueberry jam. The old man sat down and wtihout speaking a word did juctice to the delicious and bounteous meal. When he had finished, he pushed back his chair, silent as ever. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and clearing his throat, he said, "Well Martha, you've been a good wife and a mother to our nine children and some times during dur-ing the past 50 years, I've had a hard time to keep from telling tell-ing you about it." An so kind friends, since next Sunday is Mother's Day, it might not be amiss for each of us to remind our wives and mothers that we do sincerely appreciate them. Cards are fine and flowers perhaps,, are better; but the spoken words of thanks are remembered long after the cards are put aside and the flowers have withered. Finally, I dedicate this column col-umn to all mothers, old and young, rich and poor. Who among us could not justly say as did President Abraham Lincoln: Lin-coln: "All that I am, I owe to my angel mother." So long 'til Thursday. |