Beech Tree News Network

Although Lee was a black Methodist, at times it was necessary for him to become a Jew (It's ok to say "Jew"; it is found some 83 times in the Bible).

As I have aforementioned, I received my early education at a two-room school at New Cypress, in Muhlenberg County.

We didn't have many embellishments when it came to learning - no high-tech stuff. Just books, pencil and paper, and blackboard and chalk. And a coal stove, which we were allowed to hover around at times in winter. But now, we did have one piece of high-tech equipment - for that day anyway. It was called an abacus. It was a frame of sorts, with beads or balls sliding back and forth on wires: "you have ten beads - slide away three and you have left, seven."

If propriety is still, at least, considered somewhat of a virtue, there are certain domains in which we should tread in good taste. The marriage bedroom is such a domain. And procreation plus its withalls and therewiths is another.

For sometime now I've wanted to tell you about Earl Rudder, a small-town boy from Brady, Texas---that's only two or three wagon-greasins' from San Angelo. I've never been to Brady; I've flown over it lots of times from an Air Force base near there---it had a large race track near the edge of town---the race track made Brady easily identifiable from the air.

C.S. Lewis said, "Too often when the most important things in life are happening to us, they get by us, we don't recognize them for what they are." I only met Earl Rudder briefly, very briefly. Hold that thought.

They hung all five of 'em. I jumped up and clapped and hollered "good!" They hung them from a big tree limb . . . Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, in an episode from the TV movie, LONESOME DOVE. There were five of them. They had stolen a bunch of horses off of Duvall and Jones---not only that, they had spotted a couple of farmers plowing in a field. The head low-lifer, who could have eaten off the same plate with a snake, stopped and shot the farmers dead---simply, he hated "sodbusters." He then hung the bodies up on a limb and set them on fire.

What I saw from the bench at Wal-Mart: After an hour or so of people-watching, I saw fat women in stretch pants---not good. I only saw two real plump (real plump) women in short-shorts (I did sort of risk one eye). I also saw one or two old knobby-kneed men in knee-length shorts. Also not good. All in all, I did see a lot of obese adults . . . not many fat children. That's good.

Tom T. Hall loves ". . . little baby ducks . . . PICKUP TRUCKS . . . " Me too.

The first pickup I remember much about was our 1939 Ford. My daddy used it in his store business---back then there were few cash-and-carry stores . . . store keepers "carried," and tried to get the cash when they could. We delivered groceries, coal oil, paint and feed. We had to be mindful to keep the coal oil as far from the groceries as possible.

We have too many laws, not enough law enforcement, mind you, but too many laws. Someone has said that the sum total content of today's law books is beyond any man's possible knowledge. It's easier to pass a law than it is to get rid of one. To pass takes a simple majority, however to repeal takes a two-thirds majority. Many times that is hard to come-by. Most law makers don't want to let-go of a law even if it is outdated, or the changes of time and custom have rendered a law non-applicable.

Every now and then I like to share some thoughts--some from others and some I've contemplated my almost 79 years. Someone has said that all a man will ever really own are his own thoughts. Just as you can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd, it's hard to think worthy thoughts in one too. I speak of the clang and clatter and hubbub in which we live. I was talking to an older lady in a doctor's waiting room awhile back and a fire alarm test suddenly erupted - horns, whistles, etc.

Can I tell you about Bradley? . . . Bradley Evitts. Boy, can I ever. But I want to tell you about Pauline first. Pauline Reno was one of the most beautiful women around anywhere, and kind, and sweet with it. I was just a small lad, but I could recognize a pretty woman when I saw one. On the other hand Bradley Evitts was everything Pauline wasn't. What ever Pauline saw that made her want to hitch her wagon to him is a mystery . . . a big mystery.