Most of the parents in the neighborhood where I grew up were disciplinarians. Children were expected to be in their own yard by the time the streetlights came on in the evening. Chores varied by household, but all of us kids had them. Some pulled weeds and helped mow their ...
Read More »Lessons Taught, Character Caught
In early American schoolrooms the art of beautiful penmanship was more important than learning the proper spelling of words, but lessons in good moral character were of the most value. Students began by drawing straight lines over and over before moving on to the letters of the alphabet, and finally ...
Read More »God’s Command to Lend a Hand
Remember the stories of how our parents or grandparents trudged through snow drifts, or thunderstorms, or beating sun, uphill, to get to school each morning? In some ways, attending school today is much easier that in times past. Many schools today are air-conditioned, dress codes tend to be less restrictive, ...
Read More »Love Etched In Stone
When our father passed away, my sister and I went to choose a monument to be placed in our family plot. When the drawing was put in front of us, we knew that Dad had begun the designing of his own gravestone long before his death as our eyes fell ...
Read More »What the Heart Reflects
Before a closet full of clothing and a floor filled with shoes were the norm, before makeup and grooming supplies were here in abundance, the outward appearance mattered. When Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Patsy, was a small child in the late 1700’s, he took care to teach her to value her ...
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