Vern’s Stories: Santa Monica - The Growing Up Years - Part III
Daddy has completed his contract taking out trees on Wilshire Boulevard. He has his wood yard on Lincoln Boulevard piled high with big logs and tree limbs. Jim Kneen is busy widening Wilshire Boulevard to four lanes. This necessitates moving out quite a few houses. Daddy has bought one of these houses and it is being moved onto our other lot on Ashland Avenue. It is a nice big house with nice large rooms, three bedrooms, bath and back porch. It has a nice large kitchen, dining room and front room with a fireplace. We will be moving in as soon as everything is hooked up and connected. The long, skinny house will be sold and moved away.
Meanwhile, Daddy is busy down at the wood yard cutting up the big tree limbs on his large circular saw. Funny thing happened today as Daddy is sawing up these tree limbs. He is de-panted by this saw rig. Once in a great while, sawing through one of these large limbs, the saw would hit a large hard knot or something which would stop the saw. This would throw the belt off, as the saw was turned by a wide flat belt from an engine. Rather than stop the engine to put the belt back on, he would go around to the belt, take a hold of it, pull it snug on the engine pulley, hold it against the saw pulley, give it a quick flip and presto, it was right back on. He had done this many times in the past with no problem. Today something went wrong. As he flipped the belt back on, his overalls caught in the pulley and started winding up around the pulley. Daddy was strong and he braced himself, to keep from being pulled into the belt and pulley, and his clothes were ripped right off of his body. There he stood in all his manly glory in his B.V.D.'s, on one of the main thoroughfares of the town. Streaking hadn't come into vogue yet, but he surely streaked across the street to his Mother's house. Wow! Never thought about that before, maybe our Daddy started the streaking thing. Well, he found something to put on at his Mother's house. He drove down town to the store where he had bought the overalls and said to the clerk, "Give me another pair of your rotten overalls. They just saved my life."
I don't suppose some of our younger readers have seen this, but back then, J. C. Penney's and most of the larger department stores used a system that had the cashiers in a booth on the mezzanine floor above the sales floor. Tight wires ran down in all directions to all parts of the store below. There was a little vehicle with grooved wheels. It had a little round money box that twisted off and on and it hung on the wire that was anchored tight on both ends. To propel it up to the cashier, there was a rubber slingshot affair that put it in motion by pulling on a cord that hangs down. These contraptions were all over the store. When a sales person made a sale, he put the money in the round money box with the sales slip and with a yank of the cord it is off to the cashier. She took the money, made the change, validated the sales slip and gravity took it back to the starting point.
I imagine our salesman was a little perturbed, having his merchandise called rotten. After all the overalls were probably a year old and had probably been washed fifty times and had lost most of their strength. When our perturbed salesman sent the money up to the cashier, he probably put a little extra zing into it when he pulled the cord. It hit the top with a loud bang. I can almost hear the cashier say, "Someone must be irritating old Mort again."
In the Twenties, people who liked to be in on a new exciting industry were flying, building and modifying existing aircraft. They were dreaming up new designs to improve safely and performance. New airfields were springing up in towns all over Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Towns were fairly small in those days with acres and acres of form land in between them. It was easy to find a piece of land on the edge of town, clear it, do a little leveling, hang up a wind sock and Viola! You had an airport.
Aviation fever was running high in the bay cities of Santa Monica and Venice. You could drive around town and see airplanes in backyards, garages and small shops, being built or worked on, rebuilt and modified.
At Clover Field there was much activity, building, remodeling and experimenting. The Montee Brothers were one of the early modifiers of aircraft. They would take a Jenny and widen the airframe so two people could set side by side in the front cockpit. A pilot who charged five dollars a ride, doubled his cash flow when he could take two passengers on each flight.
Bach at Clover Field was modifying and experimenting with different kinds of construction, mainly plywood. Lockheed in their Los Angeles factory were experimenting with plywood also. From this experiment would come the famous Lockheed Vega Monoplane, holder of many records. We boys saw the first Vega as it flew into Clover Field soon after being built. It was named the "Golden Eagle."
Some of these small operators who were able to come up with a new and better design were able to make it big. Others fell by the wayside. Northrup, Lockheed, Voltee, Stearman, Ryan and Bach were some of the small operators that made it big time. Meanwhile the big boys, namely Douglas, Martin and Boeing on the West Coast with their large factories, drafting and engineering departments, were making history and a name for themselves.
The return of the "Around the World Flyers," the movie making, the stunts and all the other activities around Clover Field were thrilling and exciting and a learning experience for us boys. There were other things we had to do. School came first and when Daddy needed help we helped him with his wood business. There were chores at home but whenever we could, we dashed off to Clover Field. It might be a weekend or after school or work. Even if it was only for an hour or so, we would dash up there to see what was going on and what was new.
During this time, we experienced our first release from mother earth and floated in the realm of the birds. We did some work for Bob Lloyd, washing and cleaning his airplanes and he took each of us for a ride in his open cockpit Standard airplane over Ocean Park and Santa Monica. What a thrill to not only be around airplanes but to be flying in one. I think it is interesting that most of our elders predicted we would all turn out to be aviators because we were so interested in airplanes. As far as I know of the three boys, I am the only one that soloed an airplane. I soloed three different aircraft, a Piper Cub, an Aronica Champion and a Taylor Craft. I loved it but after about ten solo hours, I decided it was too expensive for the income I had at that time. Later we bought a boat the whole family could enjoy together.
Bob Lloyd, the Montee Brothers, Kenneth, Ralph and Harold, and several other operators at Clover Field carried passengers over the Bay Cities and other places. A good part of this was on Saturdays and Sundays.
During the week it was work as usual. Designers and dreamers were at their drafting tables. Mechanics were tuning up an engine or giving it an overhaul. Some might be refinishing a plane, doping and painting, remodeling or modifying to make it better. There might be several planes in the air with stunt men aboard shooting a scene for a coming movie. Some of the flyers that flew for the moving picture companies were Art Goble, Leo Nomis, Al Wilson and Frank Clark. Other activities might be one of the Montee brothers taking off with an aerial camera to fly over Los Angeles, to make a commercial photo from the air of a building or landmark for an advertisement or magazine picture.
On the weekends Clover Field took on more of a carnival and circus atmosphere. In order for the operators to keep their planes busy flying passengers, large numbers of people had to be attracted to the airport. There were lots of stunt pilots and stunt men around because of movie-making. They put on some air shows that attracted large crowds: wing walking, headstands on top of wings, changing from one plane to another, airplane aerobatics and parachute jumping. One kind of parachute jumping was called a drag off. The stunt man would climb out on the backside of a wing while the plane flew low over the airfield in front of the crowd. The stunt man would pull the ripcord and let his parachute billow out and drag him off the airplane. This at low altitude was very spectacular.
Between the Army Air Service hangers at the upper end of the field and Bob Lloyd's hanger, there was a large parking area. On weekends it would be filled with automobiles. In front of this area next to the runway was a big sign that read, "Fly with Bob." Next to this sign was a little platform about five feet high. Bob had a barker named Gene. He would stand on this platform with a large megaphone, looking out over the cars and crowd. He would tell them how wonderful flying was and end up with these words: "The good Book says we will all fly in heaven, so why wait? Why not start now?" For those who did choose to fly, it was a nice ride and the planes were busy on the weekends flying passengers. They would fly over Venice, Ocean Park, out over the ocean, around over Santa Monica, Bel Air, Beverly Hills and back to land at Clover Field, all for five dollars.
Well, now there is some excitement at home. A movie production crew has moved in across the street, on the undeveloped land just south of our house. They are going to shoot two scenes with an airplane taking part. Oh boy, a movie being made right in our own back yard. In the first scene there is a group of people having a picnic. They are sitting around eating under a big umbrella. All at once this big blue plane comes diving out of the sky and they scatter in all directions. The pilot is supposed to hit the umbrella with his landing gear and then put his plane in a steep climb to get over the tall row of eucalyptus trees, which will take real skill and timing on the pilot's part. We know the plane and the pilot. It is a big beautiful custom-built blue plane. The pilot's name is Pat and he is really good. It took three tries with the cameras rolling. On the third pass, he knocked the umbrella over and cleared the trees for the third time. That Pat, he is something else, but the cameras don't take that part, just the dive down. The trees are the same ones I told about in our earlier story, that we played Tarzan of the Apes in.
In the next scene they have the plane down from Clover Field and stick it nose-down, tail-up at the base of the trees. They have bottles of liquid smoke and when it is poured out on the ground around the plane, smoke billows up around the plane. Out of the plane and smoke staggers the actor, out through the trees, cut, end of scene. We never did know the name of the movie; I wish we did. If we knew the name now, we could probably see it at one of the theaters showing old-time movies and find out what the rest of the story was all about. Wouldn't that be fun?
The movie crews are loading up their trucks with all their gear and will soon be on their way. The head honcho is a real nice dude. He hands each of us kids ten dollars to clean up the place after they leave. Papers, cans and bottles are scattered around. That was a lot of money for three little boys and we really did a good job of cleaning up the place. Well, guess what? While cleaning up we found almost a full bottle of liquid smoke under the trees where the plane had been. We had more fun with that bottle of liquid smoke! We would pour a little in the hollow tubing in the handle bars on our bicycles and ride down the street with smoke pouring out of our handle bars. The kids on the block were amazed and probably some of the parents were wondering what goes on with these Harris boys. I suppose if it were today, we would be given a ticket for polluting and fined and told to take our bikes down for a smog check. Smog hadn't been invented yet in those early days. Maybe that is why they called them the "good old days ."
They were leveling some land near us with a team of horses and a Fresno scraper. They kept the horses in a correl across the street from us. When the job was finished, they took one horse away, but for some reason left one there for a month or so. He was a nice gentle old sway-backed plow horse. They let us ride him around the area as he wasn't doing any work at the time. Maybe they felt he should be kept exercised to stay healthy. He was a lovable old nag and didn't seem to mind two or three kids riding comfortably in the sway in his back. Two or three of us would climb aboard. That was the hardest part; it was a long way up there. But we would somehow work our way up, probably one pulling from the top and one pushing from the bottom.
When we were all mounted, our gallant steed would lumber off to Clover Field. One time when we were up there, we were by the hanger that housed the German Fokker tri-plane, like the one the famous German Ace, Manfred Von Richthofn flew. There was this movie star by the plane. As I remember it, I think it was Wallis Berry. He was a funny, jolly little guy. I guess he probably wasn't so little, but he was fat and it made him look shorter than he probably was. He saw we were having trouble mounting our steed and he said to us, "Let me show you how to mount a horse." With that he backed off a few paces, took a running leap, threw his hands on the rump of the horse, vaulted over and landed right in the middle of the horse's sway back. He made it look so easy. We kids were amazed!
Genevieve and Nellie May were usually home playing with dolls or others girls in the neighborhood but sometimes they came with us to Clover Field. Our little dog Tippie was always with us and took his job of protecting us seriously. Genevieve remembers how the aviators liked to tease him by reaching out as though to touch her or Nellie May. Before you could wink your eye, Tippie had her teeth on the leg of his trousers, growling and ready to bite into his leg if he touched her. We were well-protected.
Sometimes when we were at Clover Field, as kids are wont to do, we would rummage through the trash bins behind the hangers. We would find all these empty paint cans, but they weren't completely empty. Almost all had a little paint in the bottom. There were blues, greens, reds, yellows, oranges, blacks and silvers. There were more cans with silver than any other color. A lot of the planes with colored bodies, had silver wings. We would take this paint home where we had been making toy airplanes out of wood. We each had our little airfield, full of the little model planes we had made to resemble the planes we liked best on the field. With the paint we brought home we could paint them up like the real planes at Clover Field.
We had more silver than any other color so we started mixing it with the other colors. It looked so nice; it had a nice metallic sheen to it. We were very pleased with our invention. It was years later when we first noticed automobiles with this kind of finish.
In 1925 and 1926 the U.S. post office department was awarding airmail contracts, to carry airmail between various cities. Some companies were formed and established routes just to get airmail contracts. Some of the first passenger-carrying planes on scheduled routes were mail planes equipped to handle a few passengers. Mail came first and if there was room, one or two passengers could fly with the mail. One of the first companies of this kind in the Los Angeles area was Western Air Express, flying between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. They started with five Douglas M-2 mail planes. The first flights were made on April 17, 1926. The first two passengers were carried on May 23, 1926. I think it was interesting when the early mail planes like the Boeings in those early days started carrying passengers along with the mail, the planes had a small cabin for the mail and passengers but the pilot set in an open cockpit in the back of the plane. In the winter time when the weather was foul with rain, sleet or snow, he was right in it while the mail and the passengers were in relative comfort in the cabin. As he brushed the snow off his face and goggles, he must have wondered why he couldn't be up there with the passengers. I guess in the early days of flying, all pilots flew from open cockpits and they felt they needed the wind in their faces and the extra visibility to properly handle the aircraft.
Well, 1926 is passing into history and as 1927 dawns, the first one in our family to have a birthday will be Glenn. On the second of January he will be ten years old. Vernon will be twelve on the twenty-fourth of January. Interesting thing here, our Mother had seven children, three boys and four girls. From Darleene, the youngest, the difference spans twenty six years and one day from the time Vernon was born. They were born one day apart, the twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth of January. Ralph is already eight, Genevieve is six and Nellie May is three.
1927 was a banner year for aviation. It was growing out of the carnival-circus stage and was becoming serious business. In May of 1927 Charles Lindbergh's solo flight from New York to Paris demonstrated to the world, the reliability of airframes and engines made in America. People were beginning to realize the potential that aircraft had, to be the wave of the future. Long over-water flights to Rome, to Germany, to Australia and over the polar icecaps were making aircraft more acceptable to the general public. Before, during, and right after the war, the United States was so far behind Europe in aircraft and engine design, we had to play catch- up. And catch up we did. By 1927 the United States manufacturers set the standard for the world. The radial engine Wright Whirlwind like Lindbergh used and radials built by Pratt and Whitney were propelling aircraft over the north pole and to all parts of the globe.
Maddux, Pickwick and Western Air Express were some of the early airlines in California, forerunners of the airlines we know today. Early on, the Bath Air Yacht, carrying ten passengers and others carrying six to eight passengers were sufficient for a while. As more people became comfortable with flying, bigger planes were needed. The Ford and Fokker tri-motors, carrying fourteen to sixteen passengers, were put into service.
The big carrier of the public travel business in those days were trains and ships. The great super-deluxe passenger trains like the Santa Fe's "El Capitan," "Chief” and "Super Chief," the Union Pacific's "City of Los Angeles" and "City of San Francisco," the "Burlington Zephyrs" and the New York Central's "Twentieth Century Limited” and others north and south with long strings of beautiful cars, competed for the trans-continental travel dollar. The giant ocean liners, the Canard Lines' "Queen Mary," the French "Il De France," Dutch, German and other great fantastically beautiful ships were competing for the Atlantic Ocean trade. In the Pacific, the United States and Japan were competing for the Hawaii and Orient passenger business with their huge ships.
The early airlines, carrying ten to sixteen passengers and making one round trip a day between major cities, weren't making much of a dent in the public travel business. I think aviation people figured that in a few years airlines would find their niche in transportation and get their share of the business. I doubt if any, in their wildest dreams, would have believed that aircraft would put all the super trains and passenger-carrying ocean liners out of business in a few years.
I remember as a small boy, standing by all these small planes at Clover Field. This big sixteen-passenger, all-metal Ford Tri-motor landed and taxied up by all the little planes and parked. It looked so huge by all these little planes. I wondered if this was as big as planes would ever get.
Well, I am twelve years old now and have a paper route in Ocean Park. The route is from 14th Street to the city limits, past Clover Field, and from Pico Blvd. to the city limits with Venice. It is a large territory but with my bike I can handle it. Later Glenn will have a paper route with Ralph helping him. We were learning a little more about business and responsibility. If we failed to deliver someone's paper, we received a complaint slip. You didn't want to get very many of these or you were in trouble. We had to collect from all of our customers each month and the price was seventy-five cents. This was quite a job; we had a receipt book with each customer's name on it. Sometimes we would have to go back several times to get the money. We would sometimes be out until nine o'clock at night, collecting for the paper. We received a small commission for this work. I remember this one lady on my route. Her husband had a barber shop clear across town, almost to Santa Monica Canyon. Every time I came to her door to coIIect for the paper, she would send me over to his barber shop to get the seventy-five cents. I didn't think much about it then; I just looked at it as part of the job. Now as I look back on it, I wonder, couldn't the poor man trust his wife with seventy-five cents?
One time Glenn and Ralph were out collecting for the paper and at this particular house, no one would come to the door when they rang the door bell. They could hear someone inside but no one would come to the door, then it would get quiet. The next time they came by one of them happened to be standing in the driveway and when the bell was rung, they saw the woman bolt out the back door and run over to the neighbor's house. The next time they came by, they had a plan. Glenn went to the front door, waited for Ralph to get to the back door and then he rang the doorbell. The resulting collision as the lady bolted out the back door, left both of them disoriented for a second. When Ralph regained his composure, he said, "Mam, we are here to collect for the paper." She said, "Oh yes, just a minute. I will run in and get the money for you." What some people won't do to keep from giving up seventy-five cents.
Well, carrying papers wasn't all fun and games. There were dangers lurking out there, too. On this day I could have been killed or badly maimed. Here is what happened. I was coming down the hill with a full load of papers toward Lincoln Blvd, a heavily traveled thoroughfare. I backed up the pedals to put on the brakes to slow down and the chain came off. We didn't have all these fancy grip brakes on the handle bars that grip the front or rear wheels to slow down or stop. Back then our only brake was in the coaster brake on the rear wheel. With the chain off, there was no way to stop. I came flying down Ocean Park Blvd., through Lincoln Blvd., missed all the cars and trucks and finally coasted to a stop part way up the hill on the other side of Lincoln Blvd. I came through without a scratch. It could have been so different. My daughter-in-law Nancy says she thinks the Lord has assigned about three guardian angels to watch over me because I get in so many dangerous situations.
In 1927 the most wonderful experience of our lives happened. We began attending a Foursquare Church in Santa Monica and under the preaching of the gospel we all accepted Jesus as our Savior and became born-again Christians. Now we were not only born physically but were born spiritually. Now we had a new outlook on life. Our life had new goals and purpose and meaning. It was a new beginning for all of us and our joy was great. I remember I knew some things in the Bible from Sunday School but now I began to really dig deep and I read and studied the Bible and got into the meat of the Word. We became concerned about others and wanted everyone to know about our new-found joy. I remember when I was boxing my papers to deliver on my route, I would slip a tract into each paper. I took my Bible to school and read it when I had free time. I suppose in some public schools today they would say I was breaking the law and I would be expelled if I didn't change my ways. I guess that is another reason to call them the "good old days" back then.
Later on in 1927 there was a grocery store for sale on Ocean Park Blvd. and 21st Street. Daddy looked it over and decided to buy it. Daddy had been in the grocery business years ago before he was married. I guess he thought this would be a nice change of pace. This store was built like some of the stores back then. It had a bunch of folding doors hinged together. When folded back, it left the whole front of the store open to the Blvd. This worked out real well for Daddy as he liked to buy and seII fruit and vegetables. This way he could stack them out near the street and make a nice display that would attract buyers. Daddy had a knack for buying vegetables at the cheapest wholesale price. We kids would sometimes go with him to the big wholesale produce market on San Pedro Street in Los Angeles. Here was Daddy's strategy: the market opened at 4 a.m. All the farmers would bring their produce in by the truck load. Most buyers would get there early, buy and get back to their businesses. Daddy would wait and plan on getting there about 6 a.m. By that time some had sold out but there were lots that had a few lugs left. Daddy would go down the line, maybe he would see a man that say had a dozen lugs of sweet corn left. The man was tired, probably been up all night and was anxious to get home. Daddy would say, "How much for the corn?" The man would say, "Seventy-five cents a lug." Daddy would say, "I'll take all you got left for fifty cents a lug." The man would say something like, "You don't want to buy them, you want to steal them." They would haggle a little bit and Daddy would maybe get them all for fifty-five cents a lug. Daddy would go down the line, using the same strategy several more times on vegetables and fruit. When he had everything he wanted, we would head home.
Back at the store another problem was developing. There was this lady customer that had a huge, yellow Persian cat. She would come to the store with the cat in one arm and a shopping bag in the other. She would purchase the items she needed and go home. But as soon as she put the cat down and went into her house, the cat came right back to the store. It would prowl around over the shelves. It was impossible to keep it out because the store was wide open. We would chase it away and it would come right back. The folks were concerned because people don't like to buy food that animals have been crawling around over. They just couldn't keep this pesky cat out of the store and they might lose customers if they didn't do something. Dad was about at the end ofhis rope as far as solutions to the problem were concerned. He had one more trick that he was sure would work but didn't like to use it although it wouldn't hurt the cat, but cat-lovers would probably take a dim view of it. He was desperate so decided to go ahead anyway. We caught the cat and Daddy took a small can and filled it with several small pebbles, closed it off and tied it to the cat's tail with a string. When we turned it loose and the pebbles began to rattle inside the can, that cat took off, up and down trees, across the street and up another tree and down. About that time, the string came loose from his tail, but he never stopped until he got home. The next day the lady started for the store with the cat as usual, but the cat would have no part of it. The lady came into the store completely mystified. Says she, "I don't know what got into my kitty. I was coming to the store with him as usual. When we were just across the street from the store, he started hissing and clawing and jumped out of my arms and ran for home." Well, I'm sure we never offered any explanation for such strange behavior. As you can well imagine, we never had any more trouble with that cat.
1928 has rolled in and things are happening at Clover Field. I don't know if the City of Santa Monica has just bought the airfield or if they have owned it for some time, but they have sure ruined our little playhouse. They have torn down all the old wooden hangers and the army has moved out to another location. They built three large hangers with paved aprons around them. The old gang are all gone. It's just not the same anymore. I guess that is progress. They say you can't stop progress but sometimes you wished things would just stay as they are.
The National Air Races this year are being held at Mines Field in Inglewood. Mines Field will later become Los Angeles International Airport where there is almost a continual traffic jam both in the air and on the ground. From there millions fly out to all parts of the world every year. Quite a contrast to yesteryears at Vail Field which was nearby. The waiting room was in a corner of the hanger with maybe a couple of chairs for passengers who could fly if there wasn't too much mail.
Well, it seems Daddy is getting restless again and dreaming about farming and raising cattle. Mama and he are traveling on weekends around the country, looking at land in Oceanside, Twenty-Nine Palms, Tehachapi and the Mojave desert. In their travels they are seeing lots of Model A Fords on the road. The quirky, cantankerous Model T Ford, nicknamed the "Tin Lizzie" made its debut in 1908 and this year has been replaced with the Model A. Thus ended the longest run of any assembly-line model of automobile. During the nineteen year life of the Model T, more than a million and a half were sold, the last one rolling off the assembly line in late 1927. Well, that will do it for 1928.
Welcome 1929. On the 24th of January, I will be 14 and will be able to get a driver's license. Back then you could get a driver's license at 14; now you have to be 16. I almost goofed though, kind of crazy, I had been reading "Tilly the Toiler" in the funny paper. Well, here is what happened: Mama takes me down to the city hall to take the written test and I passed O.K. Now for the driver's test. I think I am a good driver. We are in our 1917 Buick touring car. Mama is in the back seat, I am behind the wheel and the examiner is in the front seat on the right with his clipboard. I'm a little leary of this guy, from reading "Tilly the Toiler." In there the examiner seemed to be pretty tricky. I'm determined he is not going to pull any tricks on me. We start out and we are driving around town, so far, so good; everything seems to be going well. Now all at once the examiner says to make a u-turn at the next corner. Ah-ha, I have been expecting that; he isn't going to catch me in any of his tricks. I reply very politely, "I don't want to do that." "I can't pass you if you won't make a u-turn," says he. I am puzzled. About that time, Mama caught on to what was going on in my mind. She says to the examiner, "He's been reading the funny paper and Tilly the Toiler was getting her driver's license and the examiner had her parking by fire plugs and making u-turns in the wrong places and she failed the test because of that. Vernon thinks you are telling him to make a u-turn in the wrong place." The examiner laughed, then in a more serious tone said, "Oh no, we never do that. We will never tell you to do anything unlawful. With that bit of education (don't take funny papers too seriously) I went ahead, made my u-turn and got my driver's license.
Well, my first girlfriend has been and is not (come and gone). I now am licensed by the State of California to drive about anything on wheels that is legal on the streets and highways. I think I am beginning to feel like I am starting to grow up.
Sometime later the folks inform us they have bought a homestead on the Mojave Desert and a little later we will be moving there. It is a 160-acre piece of the hot, dry desert. It is five miles east, across a large, smooth dry lake from a little town on the main line of the Santa Fe railroad. The town is called Muroc. On our property there is a cabin. It is about 18 x 20 feet, 2 x 4 inch stud construction with clapboard siding on the outside, unfinished on the inside. It is just one big room, no electricity, no gas, no plumbing, no running water, just a little hand pump in front of the cabin.
Whoa there! It seems like progress has gone into reverse! Well, 1929 is the year of the big stock-market crash and the start of the great depression. Maybe Daddy is getting a jump start on it. Well, whatever, it will be a new adventure for us kids. We kids are the adventurous kind and our desert tour of duty will make us strong and tough and will make us able to face up to anything life brings our way. Well, that will be another story.
I have enjoyed writing these stories. I was a little reluctant at first, afraid to come out of my cocoon and try my wings. With a lot of encouragement from Genevieve and Pat, I decided to give my memory some exercise and come up with some stories about our family.
After I got started I really enjoyed it. It was very enjoyable to go back over the years and realize what a wonderful thing our memory is, to realize what a blessed life we had together and to see God's blessing and protection on our lives in so many ways and in so many places. I realized what a wonderful family I was in and it made me appreciate my own family more.
I think some people are afraid to spend too much time in their memories, afraid people will think they are living in the past. Just think what it would be like to live without any memory. You wouldn't know anything except what you are doing right now. You wouldn't have any help from the past to help you with the present and the future. Memory gives us a balance. It gives us three dimensions to our lives, the past to help us with the present and faith for the future.
Dear Reader, what do you see in your past that has been the greatest blessing in your life? As I look back on my life, the greatest blessing in my life was when I was twelve years old. I realized I was lost in sin and that a loving God was reaching out to me. Jesus had paid my debt of sin by His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary. God raised Him to life again and before He ascended into the clouds, He had said, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also." He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. Down through the years I have seen God's moving in the lives of our family many times in many ways. He is with us now, tomorrow and forevermore. How more blessed can we get? I love that beautiful old hymn, "Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow."
It's been around two thousand years since Jesus left this earth in bodily form. He is corning back the same way He went and with all our loved ones with Him. What a reunion that will be. Maybe it will be in the early part of the twenty-first century! "Even so, come Lord Jesus" is my prayer.
My Love to All,
Bye, Bye,
V. M. H.
APPENDIX
Steps to Salvation
1. Acknowledge - "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
2. Repent - "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." (Acts 3:19)
3. Confess - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
4. Forsake - "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord; and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)
5. Believe - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
6. Receive - "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." (John 1:11-12)
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