SORTING PINTOS AND HUMMING HYMNS

"Take the name of jesus with you...
    Child of sorrow and of woe
It will joy and comfort give you,
    Take it then where e'er you go...
Precious name, O how sweet!
    Hope of earth and joy of heav'n."

I saw my dear mother "a thousand times"  

    in the difficult days of the forties

rocking in her rocking chair     humming

     an old familiar hymn    and picking

the rocks and bean pieces    out of

     tomorrow's pot of pintos  cornbread

would be made fresh and hot   in the

    morning...          the hymn she favored

was oft the one she loved the most

   from her childhood..."Take the name

of Jesus--take it then where e'er you go."

    Forever etched on a young boy's

mind...along with warm family evenings.

As I watched her skill and dexterity,

   tossing occasional little rocks aside

along with the half beans   and one 

   night, after years of being mesmerized

I could stifle no longer   and I said:

        "Mom, why do you throw out

      the half beans? They are food too."

         "I don't know. I never thought 

                about it. My mother 

                     always did it."

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By MIL

26 JUNE  2019