Columns

In the past this writer has written a brief history of several of our neighboring parishes in order that our citizens know a little more about our sister parishes. It is believed that another of our neighbors, Red River Parish, would likewise be interesting.

A couple of weekends ago when my husband and two sons were out of town, my daughter Juliana and I decided to spend the night with my parents in Mansfield.

We also brought our two miniature schnauzers, Kaiser and Charli, with us. They dearly love to run in the country and “chase the donkeys.”

After supper on Saturday night, we began watching the news because severe weather was on the way, including a strong possibility of tornadoes.

“Let’s take a walk before the weather hits,” Dad said. “I want to show you my new storage building.”

The schnauzers came with us as we went in and out of Dad’s multiple storage buildings, about 150 yards away.

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“What You Want”

Most of y’all know that dualities fascinate me and it doesn’t matter if it’s common themes in descriptions, poems or songs , nature or whatever. But the most striking to me is in analogies. The other day Garrison Keillor of “Prairie Home Companion” fame was writing about how fortunate he’s been in his career. How he’s stumbled into it and how rich it’d made his life. He concluded, “Some luck lies in not getting what you want but getting what you have, which – once you take a good look – you may realize is what you would’ve wanted if you had only known.”

That really resonated with me and I had to return to it after I’d finished his article and re-read it to try to straighten it out in my mind. After reading through it a couple of times I realized that I’d heard it or read it somewhere else. It’s theme was hauntingly familiar…

Lucky Sword

I bought one of the early copies of Robbo Davidson’s new book “The Evil I’ve Seen” and am almost binge-reading it. It’s very good and a real page-turner, like reading about Hannibal Lecter but you know all the people in the story. I have several paperbacks and 3 hard covers at my office in the Mansfield Female College Museum (101 Monroe St. Mansfield„ La.) if you want to purchase one. I’m trying to convince him to do a book signing here when they officially come out on April 20th.

I was talking with Sandy Spaulding after our DeSoto Historical Society meeting last weekend about how history is so easily lost if not recorded. She had a very interesting story about one of her Aunts searching for and bringing back their Uncle from the battle of Shenandoah during the Civil War. I shared a story about my Great-Great-Grandfather whose cavalry sword I still have. She insisted I record it and I promised to share it with all of you.

One of my favorite T-shirts simply has the word “Tetelestai” on the front.

This was the last thing Jesus said in John 19:30 before he died on the cross.

“Tetelestai” means “It Is Finished” in Greek.

It’s extremely important to know that Jesus spoke in the perfect tense when He said “It is finished.” Speaking in the perfect tense is very rare in the New Testament and there is no English equivalent.

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Did Mansfield ever have a rail streetcar? This writer as a 2-year-old boy thought so as he came down McEnery Street on U.S. Hwy 84 and turned left up Washington Ave. to Polk Street. There were the tracks and they were bright and shiny which showed daily use. Later it was found out the tracks were for the Mansfield Railway and Transportation Company (M.R.&T.).

According to the “Biographical and Historical Book of 1890” of which this writer has a copy- the MRT was organized in 1880 with B.F. Jenkins Pres., Boling Williams Sec., and M.R. Ricks Treas. to connect the downtown area with the Texas and Pacific R.R. south of Mansfield. It is rumored the ladies of Mansfield did not want the loud and stinky T&P railroad to come through Mansfield, therefore, it by-passed Mansfield about two miles to the west. The story goes that Mr. Sank Pegues bought 200 acres where the tracks crossed Hwy 171 south of town to prevent merchants from leaving Mansfield to be near the R.R.

I was told that I have a “Rain Crow” in my yard. I thought that I was hearing a woodpecker or a hawk but my ole friend, Van Griffith, said no that was a Rain Crow and they were very secretive and hard to see. Well, I’m kinda a birdwatcher and looking into what that curious bird was I found out that its real name is a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo. I do remember my Dad pointing out one to me when I was nine or ten so I was really on the watch now.

On that same bird watching subject a chart on the Internet showed that the first wave of Hummingbirds were due in this area early March. I put my feeders up and saw my first Ruby Throat last week – what fun! I usually don’t put them up until the middle of March so this is the earliest one yet. Because I had posted on Facebook that I’d seen my first “Hummer” several of my friends joked and asked what he was humming? I volleyed that Def Leppard song back, “Put some sugar (on it)…”

I recently read that “if comm o n sense was lard, most people couldn’t grease a pan.”

Let’s admit, that rings true especially currently.

When you think about things such as the recent cancelation of the cartoon character Pepe Le Pew by people who complain about the objectification of women, you wonder how these exact same people can support Cardi B’s performance of “WAP” at the Grammys on March 14.

It’s disillusioning to witness the inconsistent philosophy of so many who claim that they stand for one thing, but in the same breath support a variation of that exact same disdain.

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April 11, 1997 is the day Mansfield made the Guinness World Record Book. A downtown parade got underway with eleven Parade marshals of Veterans, longtime residents whose ages totaled 930 years. They were Evans Calvert, Ralph Fraser, Roger Silver, Hughes Jordan, R.U. Johnson, Cecil Flanders, Jack Lowery, J.C. McLaurin, P.E. Dixon, R.C. Bridges and W.T. “Billy” Pegues. Records reveal that Calvert and Fraser were the senior members among the longtime citizens. This writer has wondered down through the years how Claude Roberts was not included as one of the Parade Marshals. The only logical conclusion is that Claude didn’t want to be put in the same group of “Old Men”!

One of my sons forgot his lunch the other day, and since he rarely forgets anything, I decided to bring it to the school.

I donned my mask and walked to the appropriate door of the high school.

They wouldn’t let me in nor accept the lunch “because of the pandemic.”

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