The Gettysburg Address

President Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…..

— that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

When I started compiling word pictures of my childhood memories, I realized they were like the mailboxes along the roads and the old barns set back in fields overgrown with weeds that served as landmarks in rural Montana.  

These landmarks told us where we were and how far we had to go.  Sometimes they signaled “home”  and the end of the road.  At other times, barely visible through swirling snow, they told us we had miles to go.  

In the 1950’s, a barn that looked like this one became one of our landmarks after it fell in on itself one Saturday night.

It had served its farmer well, provided shelter for his cows and a dry place for his hay; occasional shelter for a piece of machinery and sometimes a place to hide Christmas presents that might be discovered if they were brought into the house.  Neither the barn nor the farmer would have directly acknowledged it but the last time he walked away from it that evening, they both knew it was about over, and his hand gripped the shaky, worn-smooth-as-silk frame at the door with gratitude.  Out of habit, the old latch that holds the door shut is dropped into its place.

The old man knows the barn has nothing left to give.  He recognizes that the weather moving in is, sometime tonight, going to take her down.  The next morning as the  farmers are visiting outside the church, waiting for the bell to ring 27 times, they listen to his story. (more…)

When I started compiling word pictures of my childhood memories, I realized they were like the mailboxes along the roads and the old barns set back in fields overgrown with weeds that served as landmarks in rural Montana.  

These landmarks told us where we were and how far we had to go.  Sometimes they signaled “home”  and the end of the road.  At other times, barely visible through swirling snow, they told us we had miles to go.  

Dropping in unexpectedly on a neighbor or relative or Someone Who Lived In Town could be done in a dozen different ways and for a dozen different reasons.

Sometimes “dropping in” was a matter of a night time emergency such as when our closest neighbor came pounding at our farmhouse door late one night. (more…)

Mailboxes along the roads and old barns set back in fields overgrown with weeds often served as landmarks in rural Montana where I grew up.  These landmarks told us where we were, and how far we had to go.  Sometimes they signaled “home”  and the end of the road.  At other times, barely visible through swirling snow, they told us we had miles to go.

When I started compiling word pictures of these memories, I realized they were like those mailboxes and old barns–identifying places on the road.  This one is about the business of harvests.

On the farm, harvest comes after a lot of work, after a lot of time, after a lot of growth.  Any thaw that began before the end of March was a blessing.  Since the ground might be frozen solid 3-4 feet down, this is going to take awhile.    While waiting, he tended the machinery~~greasing, oiling and repairing things; getting fuel supplies and seed ready. (more…)

Mailboxes along the roads and old barns set back in fields overgrown with weeds often served as landmarks in rural Montana where I grew up.  These landmarks told us where we were, and how far we had to go.  Sometimes they signaled “home”  and the end of the road.  At other times, barely visible through swirling snow, they told us we had miles to go.

When I started compiling word pictures of these memories, I realized they were like those mailboxes and old barns–identifying places on the road.  Here’s one for today…about the plans and thoughts and expectations of Danes who were working toward emigration to America in the early 1900’s.

What follows is a translation of immigration tips for Danish immigrants in 1911, written by Holger Rosenberg in 100 nyttige Raad for Udvandrere.  Each piece of advice was followed by a shorter or longer explanation (which are not included here).  This provides a taste of what immigrants might learn before coming to this country.  At the time, even though American exceptionalism may not have been called that, the immigrants knew something in their hearts about America and knew it was worth the price to prepare themselves for both the journey and the destination.

Our maternal and paternal grandparents had completed their journeys by 1911, but Danes were still coming.

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Mailboxes along the roads and old barns set back in fields overgrown with weeds often served as landmarks in rural Montana where I grew up.  These landmarks told us where we were, and how far we had to go.  Sometimes they signaled “home”  and the end of the road.  At other times, barely visible through swirling snow, they told us we had miles to go.

When I started compiling these memories, I realized they were like those mailboxes and old barns from my memory–identifying places in the road over the years that still have the sharp edges given them by prairie life.  Here’s one for today…about water.

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In 1925, with his World World I Navy service behind him, our father was beginning to work his own land, thinking about rain and wheat.  He wrote the following to our mother in a letter dated September 14, 1925 in the early weeks of their courtship: (more…)

Last week we shared with you an unreported “cut” in the contoversial 47% Romney video (Contrived Controversy) that was initially denied by Mother Jones and David Corn. People familiar with media manipulation knew that something existed within the “Cut Out” portion of the video/audio that the progressive media DID NOT want people to hear.

As expected, there was more within the context of the 47%.  Mitt Romney was expanding on the tax revenue concerns and the economic impacts from tax policy combined with federal “Monetary Policy.”   Here is the audio they did not want you to hear.

Romney knows exactly what is wrong and he describes it in a simple and understandable way.  It’s not complicated; it’s just that the ruling class doesn’t want plain talk about serious problems with the Federal Reserve.

No wonder they didn’t play the whole statement.

Somehow it seemed that the first day of school was always a perfectly sunshiny day that still had the smell of wheat chaff in the air.  The hollyhocks on the east side of the house were so tall by this time that they leaned over the sidewalk, the sweet peas were about done blooming and the cottonwood trees were anticipating cooler fall weather.  It was good to go back to school with a new plaid skirt or jumper, new blouses and a jacket or sweater.

Eleven years ago today, Islamists murdered 246 people on the four planes (from which there were no survivors).  2,606 were murdered in New York City in the World Trade Center and on the ground, and 125 were murdered at the Pentagon. About 292 people were killed at street level by burning debris and the falling bodies of those who had jumped from the World Trade Center’s windows. All the deaths in the attacks were civilians except for 55 military personnel killed at the Pentagon.  372 of those murdered were foreign nationals.  The 19 dead murderers are not included in any of these counts. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

In his 1984 book, The Haj, Leon Uris explains the heritage of such murderers.  The setting is Tabah, 1937,  when the British have sent a liaison officer  to support Gideon Asch who is a first generation Jewish emigrant from Romania.  He has become an effective fighter for the Shomer,  protectors of the settlements in the Galilee.  The officer, Wingate, says to Gideon: (more…)

About 2:00 in the afternoon on a very special day, I would be sent up to the north window to keep watch.

There is a little landing three-quarters of the way up to the second story where the staircase turns for the final four steps up to the narrow hallway that runs past two small bedrooms on the left.  The first of those is my brother’s and the second one mine.  We inherited those rooms in our turn after they had been occupied and left by five older siblings over the previous 15 years.  Now the hall turns right to the last and largest bedroom that faces west.  That large one is all spruced up today, because Company Is Coming From California.

So I am sent up to The Window At The Landing to keep watch, where I can see over the trees up to the main road.  We don’t have a telephone, but two days ago we got a postcard that confirmed what the letter received two weeks ago said: they will be arriving about 2:30 on this afternoon.  Sometimes it might one or two of the unmarried aunts who would have ridden the Greyhound Bus to Glendive and then been escorted from there by other relatives.  (more…)