| Show 7 R W 11 IP M U V M kl A a 0 ya j I 1 L I 1 by HOM E H CHOY R M 17 MO dri driving v ing home along a country roid road amid the scenes of his youth homer croy recalled the people he knew the friends he haddad ha hafl dOad ad as a child A brodl gal son of northwest missouri he was returning to places that revived mem ories or lesot of happy times with the kennedys Kenn edys newt the kindest man held hed ever known mrs kennedy their daughters ida and lucy their son harlan arlan II his boyhood pal ile he recalls how anton delinsky the newly arrived foreigner 11 almost let newt shave off his beard so held hed look more american and how newt finally gave up in utter disgust then there was that watermelon party at the kennedy mansion it was a gala affair CHAPTER IX after hours so it seemed harlan harian and I 1 would get something to eat but no knives and forks tor for us just the easy natural way conversation falls away people too busy the telephone rings go and see who it is mrs kennedy tells lucy who goes in and takes the phone off the hook enoch knabb is sinking she announces when she comes back A hush falls no knives tapping the plates now he was always a good neighbor newt says 1 I never knew anybody more accommodating newt thought being a good neighbor was being just about as fine as anybody could be its going to be hard on his wife mrs kennedy shakes her head sadly she always thought of things from the womans comans point of view the other women nod how long were they married someone asks twenty nine years grandpa says promptly they were married the year after grasshopper year grandpa always knew all the old dates 1 I suppose be at cains comes from mr cains was where the pioneers were laid it was on the old cain farm the others nod 1 I think the plan one says at last we are so full some of us are panting a little we just sit there and rest the dog comes over and lies down by harlan harlan harian pulls his ears gently fireflies flick by anton delinsky eats eata silently and moodily finally he says he is thinking of summer melons back home mooch better in old country foolishness anton declares newt theres no better melon than a missouri newt tries to argue with him but the more newt argues the more set in his opinion delinsky becomes newt says well if everything is so much better where you came from why dont you go back sadness comes into face get lonesome sometimes it iss hard to get opp an leave your country well says newt put down 1 I can understand that it is natural to like where you was born how about some theres nothing better than our yellow bottoms yah says anton the incident is over antons moment of homesickness is gone A guinea lets off a rain tomorrow announces mr good for the corn comes from mr we always thought about everything in relation to corn corn was our biggest crop it if there corn we had a hard year sometimes mrs kennedy would say it seems to me were always having hard years we ve manaueto mana manage geto to get along pretty well newt would say sometimes shed say people in town have an easier time occasionally wed feel sorry for ourselves then wed hear about the poor people in the ozarks orin the hardpan section of kansas or in the alkali section of nebraska and we would thank god we were so well off of course there was always lots of work to do sometimes wed make up barrels of clothes to send to these poor people sometimes wed get a letter back thanking us then wed feel thankful all over again how lucky we were while harlan and I 1 was resting newt would say boys everybody expects boys to do all the work at a melon party the girls never do anything just sit there harlan and I 1 gather up the rinds and put them in the wash boiler and carry it out to the chicken yard dump the rinds out on the ground and bring the wash boiler back tor for another load more work grandpa rouses up and begins to talk about pioneer days harlan and I 1 have our ears out for grandpa could make the old days so vivid we could almost think we were living them people dont know what work is now days lie he would finish grandpa was wrong about that suppose we bring out the says newt boys tie the flogging of uncle tom but harlan and I 1 care even it if it did mean more work anybody would like to bring out a for the was the finest entertainment we had and the kennedys Kenn edys had an especially good one it had come from a mail order house in chicago there it was in its box and with it was a mammoth horn held up by an iron tripod and a hook inside the lid of the box was printed in gold letters this cabinet is of golden oak and ornamental design there was a special box tor for the records between each two records was a sheet of paper so the records get scratched printed on the records were the names of the selections the printing ran in a circle so that we had to turn the disc to read a title chos got a favorite newt would ask wish had russia song delinsky suggests now you come out of it says newt harlan and I 1 always had a favorite because it was the most exciting flogging scene from uncle toms cabin with incidental music newt would wind up the and give the lever a flip there would be a dull scratching then suddenly a voice voice would bellow flogging scene from uncle toms cabin with incidental music there would be more grinding then uncle toms old voice would say please dont massa mass if you strike this yere white haid then the hand of hebben will fall upon you you simon legree snarled something uncle toms trembling voice replied then suddenly the air was filled with the most dreadful sounds 1 I can still hear the crack of the bull whips in a grandpa would say then just as suddenly as it had started the noise would stop we had a colored preacher the reverend clarence baker who preached on sundays at his church but helped us at haying time pa always asked him to say grace and the reverend baker would bow his head and say a fine grace when uncle tom was being flogged I 1 al ways saw the reverend clarence baker there on his knees tears streaming down his face receiving the terrible blows nobody could speak lor for a few moments so vivid so terrible had the scene been 1 I dont think wed ever better put that on again mrs kennedy would say but we all knew it would be the first next time there was a party another was cummings indian congress at coney island I 1 know what an indian congress was im still not quite sure but it had the most bloodcurdling shrieks in the world even worse than uncle toms in addition there were the indian war songs and the beat of sometimes mrs kennedy would say it seems to me were always having hard years their war drums then the terrifying pitiful shrieks of the poor white settlers an owl in the orchard sends up a mournful hoot the mules at the stable get into a kicking match but none of this matters we are all thinking about the treacherous indians heathens heathers He athens turn out to be missionaries someone sings out uncle josh and everybody smiles uncle josh weathersby was a farmer like us but he as smart as we were sometimes he would be trying to learn to ride a bicycle a lady would come along and he would try to tip his hat and dodge a streetcar at the same time sometimes he would be in a chinese laundry trying to get his washing but he had lost his as the chinaman called it pretty soon we would all be laughing U having forgotten all about uncle tom and the poor white settlers newt would look at his watch and say 1 I guess wed better have president mckinley the record read address at the funeral of our martyred Marty red president william mckinley the solemn tones and the slow music moved and stirred us we knew the story of how the assassin had shot president mckinley down at the buffalo exposition and we thought of that as the orator told about the noble Will william iain mckinley after it was over over no one could speak finally anton says how is dent chooses choo sed w 0 As newt tells him anton nods from time to time and says yah yah iss goot 1 I expect wed better think about goin mr says the women go out back the men light the lanterns pa goes over and stands by newt and the two talk in low tones man talk mr says well newt my colt stood and sucked so I 1 guess ive got to pay you for your service any time you find it convenient says newt the women come back politely pretending they been anywhere and soon everybody is moving across the yard the horses begin to paw and whinny the lanterns mean they can go home delinsky seizes newts hand have fine time in a few moments the people are in their buggies and spring wagons and going down the road the light from the lanterns gets smaller and smaller and finally disappears behind the osage hedges I 1 look back at the house where ive had such a wonderful evening the lights are going out work tomorrow one sunday our preacher announced that the following sunday was to be foreign missions day this was something to look forward to for on foreign missions day we always brought our old clothes and packed them in barrels for what the preacher called the heathen and the benighted it was a good time to get rid of our old clothes and to feel we were also serving god we liked foreign missions day it was fun to talk and pack the barrels but of course it got us home late to sunday dinner but on this special day the preacher said we were not to bring our old clothes and that no barrels would be packed this sounded strange jt ft probably meant money next sabbath when we tied up at the hitch racks we got a surprise the word flashed around that the preacher had two heathens heathers he athens in the church we went to the windows and peeked through and there sure enough were two he athens sitting on the deacons side our eyes nearly popped out never before in our lives had we seen the benighted people we had been sending our old clothes to but there they were gazing out over the heads of the congregation we ducked in in n no 0 time at all they had on the strangest the most outlandish clothes we had ever seen one of the he athens was a man the other a woman the woman had an ivory tan fan now and then she would open the fan wave it back and forth then drop it in her lap our women had palmleaf palm leaf fans and in the summer would swish them back and forth while listening to the sermon it was a bit of a shock to find the heathen had better fans than we had maybe we have rushed off our old clothes so fast the preacher began slow tor for he knew he had something good no one today was going to pretend the colt had got tangled up in the harness he told about what splendid work our american missionaries were doing and what a blessed privilege it was to save the souls of the benighted and win their hearts to god then he read some statistics about how many had been saved the number seemed tremendous but there were he said millions yet to be saved that was discouraging finally he got to what everybody was waiting tor for he said we were privileged to have with us this sabbath barth brother r and sister miller ga who had just returned fro from 0 performing a splendid work in japan well that was a shock brother and sister they were not heathen at all they were far above us for they were missionaries doing gods work in a foreign land while all we did was to stay at home and think only of ourselves it made us feel pretty cheap 1 I will now introduce brother miller brother miller stood up and we had a good look at his japanese clothes they would never do for farming his shoes were held on by straps between his toes he get very far in a muddy milk lot he had big sleeves and it developed he was carrying a tan fan that look good suddenly brother miller mille r smile and said ohio we thought that was where he was from but it turned out this was the japanese word tor for how are you now lets all get acquainted and say it t together ohio so we all said it together now 1 let et the women say it the women said it now let the men say it we said it iti the boy who did not love flowers Flot vers we found we had misjudged him tor for he began to tell about how poor the people ot of japan were and how they had to plow with a cow on one side and the wife on the other that was far far worse than the delin ekys about all they raised was rice also they had some fish at night they had to sleep on the floor we felt sorrier and sorrier for thedoor the poor japanese and saw how exceedingly lucky we were none of us had to sleep on the floor except when company came but that was not all as we soon found mothers had to sling their children in pokes over their backs and work in the rice fields with their children crying and sobbing so vivid and stirring was his description that we could hardly keep from sobbing ourselves thank god we lived in wonderful america where no woman had to carry her baby out to the field in a sling over her back the japanese loved their farms he said we understand that any farmer would there was one boy who was called the boy who did not love flowers everybody in japan loved gods beautiful flowers except this mean boy who love anything except himself he would walk across a flower bed and pull up flowers and shake the dirt off their roots I 1 hated that boy and so did everybody else but it worked out all right tor for he was converted to the true ligion of god and gave up destt desriv ing flowers also there was a bad man who smoked drank sake and gambled his children had to go out on the street and beg becy one day the man came to the mission heard a sermon confessed his sins sins and was saved the children have to beg and the family was happy ones once more and so were we he told other stories and we felt more and more sorry for the poor japanese then he said his wife could play the samisen and sing in the japanese language before our astonished eyes his wife reached under the seat pulled out something that looked like a hired mans banjo walked out in her foreign clothes sat down on a chair in the middle of the preaching platform and bs bela to play and sing never never there been anything like this idour church what exceedingly lucky people we werft TO BE CONTINUED |
