Stuff About Things
Im in Monroe county Kentucky, and the soil of these hills is blended with the dust of my ancestors. Having lived in other states most of my life, Kentucky holds an old world fascination for me, and the ancient living like to tell me stories of my people.
Once a wrinkled great-grandmother, with a twinkle in her eye, told how one of my uncles left his horse tied at the church building so he could walk a young lady home. He then had to walk the several miles back to the horse—to ride the same trail home.
He could have led the horse and let the lady ride, I suggested; with my mind on long walks and tired feet.
We could have taken turns leading the horse, while we both walked, responded the young-at-heart; with her mind on the moonlit long ago.
There is no limit, it seems, to what a man will do for love. Like one cousin—second, or twice-removed, I can never remember the difference—whose father was a mortician. He just had to have that girl; they had no money; so—he loaded a casket into the flower wagon and they headed for Nashville. There he sold the casket (to the original manufacturer) and. they continued their honey-moon in the flower wagon. By the time the casket money ran out the parents were reconciled to the idea, and brought them home from Texas. Which proves that flower children and love can conquer death and Taxes.
And then, there is love for truth. A few miles from here is Old Mulkey Meeting House. It is now a State Park, and tourist come to see this example of a pioneer church building, and the burial place of Hannah, Daniel Boones sister. But students of Restoration church history see it in a different light. Here John Mulkey preached New Testament truth and refuted creed-bound traditions of the party. When the inevitable split came, he asked those who would stand on the Bible alone to move to one side of the twelve-cornered log house while others took the other side. In this case the majority desired truth, a remarkable tribute to the teacher: and Old Mulkey became the first reformed church in this section.
Feelings run deeply here: faith in God, country, and mans stubborn will. Our nation, our souls, may well depend on such a do-or-die spirit.