Columns

The title “From Tepee to the Capitol” got my attention and well it should have. I consider myself rather interested and about half knowledgeable in history, yet this phase of American History had completely avoided my reading - a half American Indian elected as Vice President of the United States!

In the year 1863 three year old Charley Curtis was effectively left as an orphan when his Kaw Indian mother was killed in a Cheyenne Indian raid on the Kaw Tribe near Topeka, Kansas. Charley’s mother had been educated at a Catholic Mission at St. Mary, Kansas. She had married Orren “Jack” Curtis but he had seen little of Charley and his Mother. As a Union soldier he was assigned to Missouri. He had hanged three ex-Confederated Soldiers for bragging they had served in the Confederate Army. Captain ”Jack” Curtis served only a year in the Missouri penitentiary for the crime. After his release he never took responsibility for his son, Charley.

Our family is grieving. Last week, our beloved two-year-old miniature schnauzer, Charli, passed away. She escaped through our backyard gate that was inadvertently left open and immediately took off running toward the highway. She was hit by a car.

I have written many times about my two schnauzers, Kaiser and Charli, and how much they are a part of our family and our hearts.

My husband buried our beautiful girl in the back, right corner of our yard beside her favorite tree where she would stand and bark at the birds and squirrels.

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Oh Cornbread!

This is an amusing expletive that my Grandmother uttered to express annoyance or frustration – as in, “Oh Cornbread I spilled some milk!” AND I thought it would make an interesting title for this week’s column about the last few “cornbread mis-adventures” I’ve had.

I’ve always just bought a package or two of Gladiola cornbread that only require a cup of milk and an egg. However, I added a little Baking Powder to one and liked the way it puffed up a little higher. You may remember early March’s column on “Creamy Scrambled Eggs” where I found that adding a little Cornstarch helped the dish be more fluffy and creamy so I thought that adding even more Baking Powder to the cornbread batter would make the cornbread even better … it doesn’t.

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)…”