At the edge of the yard on my dad’s property grew a large bed of vibrant orange tiger lilies. Every year as early summer came, they popped up and opened toward the sky. They were not just another patch of old-fashioned flowers; they had been planted 60 years before by ...
Read More »Consider the Penalty
Punishment in early American life was often public and quite humiliating to the offender. The Puritans of New England believed what God said, taking their laws directly from the bible. Drunkenness, fornication, and even smoking brought down the gavel as fast as stealing from a neighbor. Scarlet letters were worn ...
Read More »How Are Your Tests Going?
I loved our flashcard tests in third grade when we were learning our multiplication tables, and my favorite test was the Friday spelling test, because I was much better at spelling than I was at some of my other subjects! I always fared well in the spelling bee at school. ...
Read More »A Word That Will Save Your Life
Prudence—not a common word in today’s culture, yet a word all can live by and see good days. Prudence is caution, the ability to foresee and avoid an evil thing. It was a word so valued in early American life that is became a popular girl’s name during the 17th ...
Read More »Thoughts for a New Year
Auld Lang Syne began as a poem, penned in 1788. It told the story of two old Scottish friends with a history together that was worth remembering. As they sat and drank a cup of cheer, they remembered the past with fondness, for old time’s sake—or in their native tongue–auld ...
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