Let Me Entertain You, 1956

Look at some of the names set to entertain you on the big screen.
Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward, Richard Widmark,
William Holden, Brian Donlevy, Audie Murphy,
George Raft, Gene Tierney, Ginger Rogers.

Need daytime tv entertainment?  How about "My Little Margie," or "Our Miss Brooks," "Captain Kangaroo," "Arthur Godfrey"?

Mary Magdalene #T

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  --Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:11)

Mary of Magdala gets a bad rap in modern culture.  Many, even those raised in the church, have long supposed that this Mary was of unsavory character, probably a prostitute.  There is nothing  whatsoever mentioned in the New Testament to support this conjecture.

Let me say up front that even were her character depraved God's grace would have flowed to her anyway.  For example, note the woman taken in the act of adultery (John 8).  This woman is not identified and perhaps some confuse her with Mary Magdalene.  Jesus did not condemn her but in an act of grace adjured her to go and sin no more.  That grace is available to all.

When Mary of Magdala met Jesus she was possessed of seven demons which Christ cast out, healing her of her turmoil.  Matthew 27 tells us that Mary followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.  Luke 8 says that certain women healed of evil spirits and Mary of Magdala who had seven demons were Christ-followers, that is they were disciples.  Named here with this Mary are Joanna and Susanna who, we are told, "ministered to Jesus with their substance."  Thus it is reasonable to conclude that Mary was reasonably well-to-do and had no family obligations to tie her down, as we might assume for the other women referred to here as well.

Mary of Magdala was one of the three Marys who stood before the cross. (John 18:25)  She followed Jesus's body to the sepulchre so that she would know where he was laid.  She later returned to treat the body with spices to find instead the empty tomb, and there she met Jesus who was risen from the dead.  He commissioned her to go "tell the others" making her the first herald of His resurrection.  The eleven, as we presently see, were at best reluctant to believe and indeed were doubtful and skeptical.

We do not know the occupation of Mary before she became a disciple, nor  what the source of her income was.  We do know she was a tortured soul who was freed from her bondage by Jesus Christ, as we all can be freed from whatsoever tortures our souls.

I think the "harlot" speculation is unfounded.  What we know for certain is that Mary Magdalene was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Scripture references to Mary Magdalene:  Matthew 27:56, 61; 28:1; Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1-19; Luke 8:2; 24:10; John 19:25; 20:1-18.

Dressing Up in the '50s

As we continue riffling through the old newspaper we find some clues regarding the costs of proper attire for the lady and her gentleman.

Dad always wore a fedora.  Sometime in the nineties, I think, he was shopping for a new hat.  He was appalled at the notion of paying eighty dollars for a new Dobbs hat.  This may help us understand why he felt as he did.

Ten Word Wednesday, It's in the paper.

What does it cost to fill your grocery cart today?

Bureau of Artifacts

Leave it to a woman and this is what happens.  I have maintained my bureau drawers for a few years now.  The drawers were carefully lined with newspaper, Kokomo Tribune actually.  The papers were even trimmed to fit the bow front drawers.

Now for whatever reason the lady of the house decides it is time to update the linings so she rips the papers out.  How can I be upset?  What a stroll down memory lane.

For starters we have "The Boys of October" all set for the Dodger/Yankee World Series of 1956!

And we find that the President of the United States on his first-ever visit to a WS game throws out the first ball.  

More to follow.

Persevering for Christ

Fickle?

 Paul and Barnabas went into Lycoania and there in the city of Lystra preached to the people.  So impressed were the inhabitants that they supposed these missionaries to be gods and called Barnabas "Jupiter" and Paul "Mercury" (for he was the chief spokesman).  So they brought animal sacriifces and garlands with which to honor these "gods."  When Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they rent their clothes and cried out in protest that they were there to preach salvation through Christ.

So the people took Paul and stoned him, thinking him dead, dragged him outside the city.

Paul was a god one minute, and a corpse the next.

Yet Paul survived and he and Barnabas went to Derbe.  But this does not end their efforts with Lystra, for they returned to that city!

Perseverance in the Cause of Christ!  (Acts 14)

The Stoning of Saint Paul at Lystra

 Drawing by Jan Lievens

Pen and Brown Ink, c.1621

Eggs and Milk

I offered this little vignette a few years ago and read it again yesterday.  It amused me anew. I hope you will enjoy a re-read.   True story and walking up the hill with the male parent is a pleasant memory.
 
The lad is carrying two pails as he walks alongside his dad, footsteps crunch, crunching in the gravel as they walk. One pail is the milk bucket, the other the near-gallon lard can for collecting eggs. Daddy insists that this is the day the boy will "learn to milk the cow."

When they get to the chicken coop, the boy sets the milk pail down and goes in to collect the eggs. For the most part, this is an easy job. Forget the squawking, the feathers flying around-- pft! pft!-- and the dust the birds kick up. Just go to the nests and gently lift the eggs and place them carefully in the bucket. But of course Old Broody will not get off the nest, and when the youngster attempts to reach beneath her, a quick and painful peck on the wrist encourages quick retreat. David steps out of the enclosure with his bucket of treasure and Dad says, "Did you get Old Broody's eggs?" "She wouldn't let me have them." "Get in there and throw her off the nest." You see where this is going-- caught between the mad dad and the angry hen.  So back into the coop, grabbed the hen and threw her across the house.

Now we take the pail and enter the milking stall, where the "little Jersey" patiently awaits the relief she so desperately needs. She places her head in the stanchion, the boy gets the stool and places the bucket beneath the cow, all the time thinking, "There's no way I'm going to milk her." David sits on the stool and tentatively reaches for a teat. The tail whips around the back of the boy's head. He flinches and complains loudly. "Get your head up in her flank. Don't let her push you around." The boy obeys, reaches again for a teat. A bit of fumbling around with no visible result, unless one counts an increasingly impatient cow and ever more impatient "instructor." Finally the mentor gets down and demonstrates the proper finger motions, starts a stream. The boy again fumbles around with the resulting trickle further irritating both animal and parent.

"Get away from her," says the parent, "I'll do it myself." And he did.

The original title is "Red Hen, Red Cow ."

Yesterday's Poser

About three weeks ago we shared a nostalgic piece about tax tokens and the small role they played in my childhood.  Yesterday we posted a picture of an item which we declared that one had to be really old to remember.

When I was sent to the corner grocery store (which was actually about three blocks away) the little satchel containing the few coins, including tax tokens, also included one of the pictured items to cover the requirement that our household actually was entitled to the purchase Mama ordered.

Rationing stamps came in booklets and the purchaser carefully removed the stamps required for the purchases.  Clearly I was not allowed to carry the booklet to the store, only the needed stamp.  If my memory correctly serves me the "meat" stamps were red and the gasoline stamps were black and for Daddy's use only.

Rationing of coffee reduced each individual 15 years of age and up to one pound of coffee per six weeks.  Coffee-stretching techniques included a supply of chicory in the kitchen.  While rationing was not popular, it was generally accepted as a necessary part of the war effort.  But rationing of coffee was the least popular of all, and President Roosevelt lifted it in July, 1943, the first item to be removed from rationing.*

Anyway, nine-year-old David with three dimes, three tax tokens and a coffee stamp might be entrusted to walk to the store and obtain the required item.  Yes, coffee retailed at about thirty-cents per pound.

*Reference this very interesting article about coffee in 1943.

In front of our grocery store there stood one gasoline pump.  One grasped the handle, pumped up from the ground tank the amount he wished to purchase into the glass cylinder.  Then placing the hose into the car's filler pipe, releasing the nozzle valve allowed gravity to do the rest.  Except for paying the seventeen cents for each gallon purchased.  And don't forget the ration stamps!