Grandma Dipped Snuff

Does your Grandmother dip snuff in secret? Has the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan ever run your long johns up the flagpole? Has your mother ever starved the family to death while waiting for moochy relatives to leave at suppertime? Have you suspected that your family cat had a desire to eat you? Has a high school custodian ever held a 12-gage shotgun on you? Does your Grampa have a secret cache of whisky in the barn? If you can answer "Yes" to any of these questions, and maybe even if you can't, Grandma Dipped Snuff is a must-read book for you. Taken from a weekly column in a small-town newspaper, these essays are as current as today, but reflect the sense of a time gone by.

Close your eyes. Get set. Go! to where Bay Swamp smells like aftershave, to where friends raise Billies dad a barn in a day. Youre there! On her "pizer," Grandma, waiting to serve dinner, relaxes with a dip of her Sweet Society snuff. Billies mom and dad, sweaty from hoeing tobacco, rush in and wash up. They cant wait to bite into Grandmas succulent chicken. They tell you, "Pull up a chair!" After dinner, take off your shoes, trek across sandy, open fields, feel sand between your toes. Beyond the watermelon patch, a rare sight: Venus flytraps and yellow trumpet flowers, set to gobble up every bug in sight, and Bug Swamp has bugs. Also gators, bears, cooters, possums, snakes gold. Later, on Grandmas "pizer," youll hear how Billie and her mom almost become bear bait, and Grandma will spellbind you, telling about Grandpas tussle with a gator. Discover for yourself how Grandmas pipeline to God keeps everyone on track. Pity she doesnt have Hitlers ear in Germany, or Tojos in Japan. Why, Grandma could even advise Harry Truman! He uses a weapon so strong it keeps on killing and killing. That Great Depression? Pray it wont destroy Billies family. Her dad puts a mortgage on the place that can tear their family apart or hold them together. Luckily, World War II ends, and good and bad teeter into place.

"The Fields of Yesterday" is about the life of Alfred Duncan. It begins in a small Arkansas town in 1929 and in a chronological manner follows his life for over seven decades. Several things set his life apart and makes it interesting. They are related to the gifts and abilities that he was blessed with and how he has used them. The hardships of the 1930s and somewhat into the mid 1940s had a profound effect on shaping him into the man he became. He had a strong work ethic and did not expect anything from life that he had not earned in some way. The concept of an "entitlement" was totally foreign to him and for the most part, those of his generation as well. His friends and the games they played give an interesting insight into what children used to do with their idle time. His work and actual employment when still a child also gives good insight into how things were with many families in the 1930s and 1940s. Being a "shoe-shine boy" gave him some insight into human nature as well as did being a newspaper delivery boy. Even though he did not realize it at the time, those things were teaching him good business practices, organization and administration. All that would be of great value to him in the years to come. His time in the United States Navy in 1948 1952 continued his preparation for life in a much different manner. One specific skill in the area of woodworking was especially honed as he served as one of only fifty Patternmakers in the entire United States Navy. His travels into waters off Europe, North Africa and western Asia gave him exposures to other cultures as he visited small towns and large cities in those areas of the world. Our nations economic difficulties in the early and mid 1950s was in the mix for making decisions that involved marriage, family, moving and putting down roots. That was expected to turn out as a typical "American dream," meaning a home, a good job and a secure future. Several things contributed to that dream becoming a reality not the least being his employment by Dixie Cup Company. Added to that was schooling under the G.I. Bill and finally the establishment of a sideline occupation. His high school training in Architectural and Mechanical Drawing plus added studies by correspondence combined with his experience as a Patternmaker enabled him to "hang up his shingle" as an Architectural, Mechanical and Patent Draftsman. That opened doors to a new level of relationships with people as well as added income to the family. During those years he and his family had settled into regular participation in the life of their church and that brought them into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a "Christian," or maybe better, "A Follower of Christ." That understanding also brought some unrest to Mr. Duncan's life in the form of career dissatisfaction and a "seeking" for what God was leading him to do. After several months of prayer and thought he determined that God was "calling" him to enter the Pastoral Ministry. The settled life that he and his family had been living suddenly became unsettled. A rural church invited him to serve as their Pastor, and with that, move into their parsonage. Some "burning the bridges" decisions were made as they sold the home they had worked so hard for and he quit his job that had been the source of economic security. This was starting all over at age thirty, and involved entering into an area where he had no prior experience. The years that followed, and the record of the churches he served, reveal the victories and the defeats that are so much a part of being a Pastor. His life was indeed a great adventure and this book will certainly inspire others to meet life with courage as they trust God to supply their every need.

The purpose of this book is not to embarrass or slander anyone in recording events of my early life, which I believe were unique in the circumstances I experienced. Through the years I have come to dearly love all of my relatives and appreciate the people with whom I was associated, both living and deceased. Whatever happened in my life, God turned into something beneficial and beautiful. Life is a great teacher; and in the mellowness of age, I find it worthwhile. My advice to anyone is to understand that nothing lasts. Change is inevitable. Only God, his eternal precepts for living, and the soul entrusted to a person will last forever. Choice is the great privilege given to each person.

Grandmother says were moving, Cephas told his friend, Pudge. Cant be helped. That didnt mean the two boys had to like it. They had rambled the Sepulga River Swamp their entire lives. You boys got to remember, the old woman told them. All roads got forks. The hope that roads sometimes come together leads Pudge to record his memories. What had those boys cared that the nation was in the Great Depression and on a path that would lead to the calamity of a world war? Seventy-five years pass before Pudge travels back, looking for that crossroad, unsure of what he will find. The dirt roads are now unfamiliar, houses and farms are abandoned, and an old man sits on a porch. Hello. Im looking for a fella who used to live in these parts. Yes, he would be there.

Take a step back in time to a small community in Texas called Aiken. Learn about her citizens through the eyes of their neighbors and families. As the narratives come together and expand, nearby communities are included. A few historical figures are mentioned, but they take second place in our stories. The heroes in this collection are the men and women who lead quiet, dignified lives in a little corner of the USA.

'My life was hard, and I had no love. That is what I always longed for so much, love-the real heartfelt kind of love, with hugs and kisses. So a lot of the time I daydreamed and pretended. I was the great pretender long before the song came out! As I sit here, my mind wanders back in time...' Come along on the journey as Frankie Oberlechner shares the tale of Charlea, a woman whose life was never easy, often terrible, but always blessed with joyous moments and God's protection. Charlea is looking back on her life and noticing something important-God has always been there for her. As a child, she found herself needing to act like a grown-up. Her mama and daddy were always drinking away the money. She had to act like a mother for her sister's children when she was only a child herself. Her daddy was abusive, threatening their very lives at times. But Charlea had her grandmother, whose home was a safe haven where she learned about God's love. There life was easier...until her grandmother passed away. Then it seemed as though Charlea would never find the light again. True friends were hard to come by, until she met Lin and June. Soon after she met Ben, they married, despite the fact that no one liked him. She thought life would be different, but Ben proved to be much like her daddy-an abusive alcoholic. As Charlea grew into a woman, she had many ups and downs. Charlea was caught in a terrible web-but then she was reintroduced to God, and things began to change. Join Charlea as she discovers the love she has always longed for and that Life Is Built around If.

From her thought-provoking All of Mississippi, Aint Mississippi, Brown appears to be up to snuff in coming out and saying whats on her mind. Her adept knowledge of the South and its history lends her a crown of credibility for the literature of reality that says, She just could not have made this stuff up! Snuff Jars and Jelly Glasses, a rich blend of narrative, flows with contemplative musings, reflective poetry, and amusing memoirs. With twinkles of her Southern charm and unique depictions of her beloved Mississippi, Brown delivers a superb, inspirational read, cleverly interlaced with comedy, tragedy, drama, and history of actual journeys and encounters with family and the local pioneers of Mississippis historic Sunflower Plantation, a place she knows like no other. Brown unfolds her anecdotes with crackerjack humor, yet with outspoken affection, even admiration, for those of a more simple mindset who are forever spouting uncanny fonts of profound wisdom with childlike simplicityby simply stating the obvious. Penned from an intuitive over-the-shoulder glance, she enchantingly lures us with hysterical and poignant perceptions that apply to all humanity seeking love, community, friendship, and freedom. Brown incites us to think about the past as we are reminded, again and again, that the issues of our past are indelibly inscribed on our present. Snuff Jars and Jelly Glasses strives to anchor usas elapsing time draws us backward, toward homein simple collections that can be devoured in one sitting, or nibbled in bits to make it last a while.