Book # 29

Stories From the Life of Porter Rockwell

By John W. Rockwell and Jerry Borrowman

John Rockwell is the great, great, great grandson of Porter Rockwell, and the other author's ancestors were friends and business partners with Rockwell, so they were both interested in telling these stories from his life.

It was interesting because they are pretty honest about this man; didn't try to pretty him up, and even shared some of the stories that anti-mormons and his enemies told about him. But despite that, it was obvious that Porter Rockwell was an impressive man.

He was a neighbor and friend to Joseph Smith from the time he was 6 years old, and Joseph was about 13. They were friends despite the age gap, partly because they had something in common. They both limped. Porter was there when Joseph began to share stories about the angel and believed in him unwaveringly throughout his life. He was there when the church was organized and was the 9th person to be baptized. He was a fairly normal, peaceful man until they lived in Far West, when his home was destroyed and his family terrorized by a anti-mormon mob, while he watched helplessly from the woods. He decided that he would never allow that to happen again. He began to practice his marksmanship skills and soon became an excellent shot. As Mormon history progressed, he was always at Joseph Smith's side, always willing to help and protect him. At one point, during the Nauvoo period, he was imprisoned for 9 months, charged with the attempted murder of Governor Boggs. He was nearly starved to death. Even after being acquitted by a Missourian jury, he still wasn't released in an attempt to lure Joseph Smith back to Missouri and into their murderous plans. They even tried to bribe Porter with gold and a life of luxury among them if he would only help them to get Joe Smith. But Porter remained loyal. He attempted to escape several times, and would have been successful on one of those attempts, if he had not gone back to help a fellow escapee, who was caught on a fence. Eventually he was released and made his way back to Nauvoo, where he arrived at Joseph Smith's home on Christmas Eve, where there was a party underway. He hadn't washed, shaved or changed his clothing in 9 months and the guests told Joseph that there was a dirty drunk attempting to crash the party. Joseph went to throw him out and discovered that it was his dear friend Porter Rockwell. He was invited to stay and everyone gathered around to hear the story of his long incarceration. Joseph was touched by his faithfulness and endurance, and gave him a blessing right there on the spot. He promised him that "as long as he was true and faithful to his covenants, to the church and to his God, that no bullet or blade would ever harm him. As a token of his acceptance of this promise, he was never to cut his hair again." After that, he became well known as Joseph Smith's personal bodyguard. At the time of Joseph Smith's incarceration in the Carthage jail, he asked Porter to stay behind in Nauvoo, knowing that Porter would be killed if he went with him to Carthage, and wishing him to remain alive to help the church continue on. Which he does. He was in the advance scouting party to the Salt Lake valley. He made several trips back and forth across the plains to help the saints make it to Utah. He traveled throughout the west to make trails and discover places for the saints to settle. He developed and fostered better relations with the Indians. He also became a deputy sheriff, a rancher, a saloon and hotel owner. He had 3 wives (not a polygamist) and had 15 children. One story I liked was when he made a trip to California, on the trail he helped to blaze through the west desert. When he reached the coast, he found the saints, and among them was Agnes Smith, the widow of Don Carlos, Joseph Smith's younger brother. She was recovering from typhoid fever and had lost all her hair. Porter went and had his hair cut, which he hadn't done for about 16 years, and had it made into a wig for her. It was said that he went into hiding for a while until his hair grew back.

There were a lot of tall tales and legends about Porter Rockwell. One being that he was the person responsible for the failed assassination attempt on Governor Boggs of Missouri. There was no proof and it was generally felt that if Porter had tried to kill the Governor, he would have succeeded. There were tales of gunslingers seeking him out to test the legend that bullets couldn't kill him. None of them survived. Legend or not, Porter Rockwell was not killed by gun or knife. He died at age 65 of a heart attack....with his boots on.

Until Next Time ;o)

Book # 28

Before The Dawn

By Dean Hughes

Yep, another Dean Hughes book. I like his books. This one caught my attention because the main character is a bitter, grumpy widow of about 10 years. Reminds me of someone, ha ha... I am going on 8 years and if I keep feeling like I am, I will be just as grumpy and bitter.

Her name is Leah Sorenson and she is called to be the Relief Society president in 1932, just as the great depression is being felt throughout the United States. She lives in a small town in the Uintah basin of Utah, she has a teenage son and daughter, works their farm on her own, and is isolated, anti-social and bitter at the hand life has dealt her. When the bishop calls her to the position, she turns him down, knowing that the ladies will be shocked and un-accepting of her as their leader. But he tells her to pray about it because the call is from the Lord and that she is uniquely equipped to help the women in the ward at this time of economic trouble. She has a dream that night that she will accept the call and there is a woman in the dream that she knows that she will be able to help in her calling, but when she wakes up she cant remember who it is. So she accepts, and when she is announced as the new Relief Society President in Sacrament meeting on Sunday, there is a loud gasp from the congregation, which humiliates her, even though she knew it would happen. She ends up calling an 80 year old woman that she likes, a "snooty" town woman who wanted the position as president for herself, and a young mother to be her counselors and secretary. The story continues as she begins to help the women and families in the ward through their challenges. Every time she helps someone, she wonders if that was the person in her dream. Some she helps with her particular toughness, and others she angers and offends. She has struggles with her daughter, who is embarrassed by their poverty. She has difficulty relating to the women that she has isolated herself from and has judged harshly all these years. She struggles with her pride and her quick and sharp tongue. She helps several families with some insurance money that she has been saving for her childrens' college education but then is devastated when she loses the rest of it when the town bank closes. But by the end of the story, things are going well and the calling has refined her. And she finds out who the person was in her dream. It was a good story.

Until Next Time ;o)

Book # 27

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life

by Wendy Watson Nelson

My Mom gave me this book for my birthday. She knows me pretty well. I loved it and it has helped me with some major issues that have been rumbling through my life. I read through it once, and now I am reading it again and actually doing some of the assignments the author suggests. It is a nice size book with lots of pictures. That sounds like a juvenile thing to say, but actually pictures can really get you thinking about more than just the written word can.  "A picture paints a thousand words", right? I am mostly going to copy some quotes from the book and comment on the ones that meant the most to me.

The moment of reflection is the moment when we become aware of that part of ourselves which we cannot see in any other way....The power of questions comes from their ability to invite us to reflect.

Read Alma 5 and select your favorite questions. Then answer them." My favorite question was "Have ye received his image in your countenance? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your heart?" This is something I have thought about a lot this last year. Partly because of a quote I found that I like which says, "Of all the things I wear, my expression is the most important". But mostly because of experiences with people that shook me up about who I really am and what I really believe and how my actions reflect those things.

"Are your questions enlivening you, encouraging you, enlarging your life, expanding your vision, enriching your relationships, inviting energy and joy into your life? OR are they depressing you, discouraging and demoralizing you, inviting fear and frustration into your life?

What can I do to learn from this difficult experience? 

     Some advanced variations...

What can I do to learn what I NEED to learn from this difficult experience?

What can I do to learn what the LORD wants me to learn from this difficult experience?   

This one was powerful in my life. At the end of my divorce, the number one thing I learned was that there are worse things than being alone. Which was good for me at that point. However, 10 months later, I finally learned what God wanted me to learn, and that was about forgiveness. It was amazing!

Think about a situation where another person's actions have caused you concern. Often in such a situation you might ask yourself, "Why does he always....Why doesn't she ever....When will they....?" Such questions have no useful answers and only bog us down.....Alternative questions that can actually free your mind and heart and get you moving forward with your own life. "How or why  is that situation a problem for me?"

Four questions to help you solve problems:

1. Could your solution be the problem?

2. Could your problem be a solution?

3. Could your focus on the problem be the problem?

4. Could your problem be the story you tell about the problem?

What story have you been telling yourself and others about you and your life? 

How have you been casting yourself? As the victim, survivor, or the HERO?

What we believe is what we see. Could your beliefs be the problem? Finding our core beliefs can help us solve our problems. What beliefs about yourself hold you captive? What beliefs about another person constrain you? What beliefs about life prevent me from moving forward? What beliefs about love prevent me from giving and receiving love? If I were to believe ______ (insert helpful belief), what would be different?

SEVEN QUESTIONS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

1.  What is on my pre-mortal list of things to do while on earth?

2.  What is the one question I most need to have answered from the scriptures today?

3.  What are three words to follow for a great life? Her three words were "NOT EVEN ONCE", speaking of things we shouldn't do, not even once, because they can lead to a lifetime of trouble. Also of opportunities you never want to miss.  My three word motto is: 

BE  BETTER  TODAY.

4. Whose agenda is this supporting ...when we relax our spiritual muscles, don't do the spiritual work of asking and seeking, and thus live far beneath our privileges? I really like this one. If we ask ourselves this question before we act, and if we really care, I think it would make a huge difference. 

5.  If I were to pray for and picture the Holy Ghost being right beside me, how would I manage this difficult situation? Here is 5 day experiment.....For 5 days, in your morning prayers, pray with concerted effort, and with the faith of a child, for the Holy Ghost to be with you that day. Then throughout the day, as you encounter any difficult, tempting, or trying situation--right in that moment--pray for and really picture the Holy Ghost being right there with you.

6.  How can I be more of my true self at the end of this experience? .... Life is a spook alley. You never know what is around the bend or hiding in the corners. The Lord expects you to live your life fully---even the unexpected life.  All I can say is WOW. So simple, yet so profound.

     Principle #1:  Remove every obstacle that is preventing you from being your true self.

   

    Principle #2:  Remember that you lived premortally. WHO AM I??? Guess it makes sense that you would have to discover who you really are in order to BE that person.

   

     Principle #3:  You can be your true self only when you are obedient to the Lord and are near to Him.

    Principle #4:  You can be your true self only when you are increasingly pure and leave the world behind. As you come more and more out of the world, you are free to be more of your true self. As you are more of your true self, you will desire to be less and less of the world. Love that quote!

    Principle #5: To be your true self, you need to stay immersed in truth and seek in every way to be infused with light. ...The words spoken in our homes lodge in the walls of our homes, in the cells of our bodies, and in our spirits. Now that is scary!  That's a new way of expressing that thought, "if these walls could talk."

7.  What do I know to be true? How did you learn that truth? When did you learn it? What difference has that truth made in your life? Which truths are important?

D&C 88:40 -- For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own.

In times of stress or fear of hurt or discouragement  or confusion or frustration, speak words of peace and safety and joy and truth to your soul. Beautiful words of worship are filled with power. Words filled with power can bring power to our lives. 

PURITY IS POWER

OBEDIENCE TO THE LORD IS POWER

RECEIVING ORDINANCES IS POWER

MAKING AND KEEPING SACRED COVENANTS WITH THE LORD IS POWER

FORGIVENESS IS POWER

APOLOGIZING IS POWER

REPENTING IS POWER

HUMILITY IS POWER

FAITH IS POWER

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS POWER

If we really want to change our lives, we need to ask god the questions that are burdening our hearts and wearying our minds. We are to ask God--

in faith (1 Nephi 15:11)

in sincerity of heart (Mosiah 4:10

after studying things out in our minds (D&C 9:8)

not asking amiss (2 Nephi 4:35)

that which is right (Mosiah 4:21)

believing that we will receive (Mosiah 4:21)

in the name of Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 20:31)

In conclusion, she says, "I believe that most important question we come to earth to answer is this one asked by the Lord himself: 'Whom say ye that I am?' (Matt 16:15) When we know the correct answer to that question everything in our life changes. 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' (Matt 16:16) The Savior did all that he did so that you and I can change and progress and become more and more like him. There is power in the Atonement to help us change our questions and change our lives!"

This is a part I liked, since I dream often.

"Elusive answers often emerge in the still of the night....What might you discover if you dedicated your sleep to the Lord for 21 days? Try it! As part of your bedtime ritual, create an environment that is conductive to the spirit. You will know what that involves for you as you pray about it. It may involve turning off the TV; watching or listening to something that is soothing to your spirit before bedtime; opening your scriptures and savoring one last morsel of truth before closing your eyes, and then leaving your scriptures open; counting your blessings--or alphabetizing them!-- and expressing gratitude for everything, even for the wretchedly difficult things in your life. Let the Lord know you are serious about dedicating your sleep to Him. Tell Him in your prayers. Let him know you want to learn whatever He would have you learn--even in your sleep. And watch what happens. What might you learn in the morning as you remain quiet for a moment before jumping out of bed? As you reflect to see if there is a dream or two you remember? Is there something you feel impressed to write down on a pad of paper by your bedside? What might you learn about your true self? What might happen as you pray for any and all instructions, directions, protections, and warnings that the Lord may be willing to give you as you sleep--perchance to dream?"

I highly recommend this book!

Until Next Time  ;o)

Book # 26

Cat's Cradle

By Kurt Vonnegut

I think this was the strangest book I have ever read, and that includes some of the literature I read in AP English in High School. And it definitely wasn't what I was hoping for. It was a case of mistaken identity. I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury when I was a teenager, and really liked it, and when I saw a few used books by Kurt Vonnegut for sale at our library, I thought he was the author that had written F...451. Nope. Definitely not.

So the book is about a man named John, an author who is writing a book called "The Day the World Ended". He begins by researching the life of a Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the so-called fathers of the atomic bomb. His life becomes strangely twisted into the lives of Dr. Hoenikker's children and the destruction of the world through the invention of ice-nine. 

Although I found the book strangely absurd, there were a few parts that resonated with me. 

The first was when he told of sub-letting his apartment, while he was going to be away, to a nihilist, which word I had to look up. (These were the definitions: Nihilism is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived. Knowledge is not possible, or that contrary to popular belief, some aspect of reality does not exist as such. The term nihilism is sometimes used in association with anomie to explain the general mood of despair at a perceived pointlessness of existence that one may develop upon realizing there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws.) How positively delightful!

Upon returning, he found the fellow moved out and his apartment trashed...."he had run up three-hundred-dollars worth of long distance calls, set my couch on fire in five places, killed my cat and my avocado tree, and torn the door off my medicine cabinet....There was a sign hung around my dead cat's neck. It said 'Meow.' ....I have not seen Krebbs since...he served as...a person who steers people away from a line of speculation by reducing that line, with the example of the (person's) own life, to an absurdity. I might have been vaguely inclined to dismiss the stone angel as meaningless, and to go from there to the meaningless of all. But after I saw what Krebbs had done, in particular to my sweet cat, nihilism was not for me. Somebody or something did not wish me to be a nihilist. It was Krebb's mission, whether he knew it or not, to disenchant me with that philosophy. Well done Mr. Krebbs, well done."

In relating that experience to myself, without going into a lot of detail, I will just say that there were some aspects of my life that were similar to my ex-husband's. And once I saw how ridiculous his behavior was, it made me feel strongly inclined to act differently. 

Well done ex-husband, well done!

The next part was so amusing to me. It is pretty long, otherwise I would copy it here. Long story short, John meets a woman on a flight to an island called San Lorenzo. She finds out that he is from Indiana and proceeds to go on and on and on about Hoosiers, famous Hoosiers and how they can be found in charge of things all over the world, and how they must stick together. Then she tells him that he must call her mom. 

"Whenever I meet a young Hoosier, I tell them, "You call me Mom." 

"Uh Huh." he replies. 

"Let me hear you say it," she urged.

"Mom?"

She smiled and let go of my arm. 

(And this is the funniest part and I'm sure that you all know people with recordings like this!) 

"Some piece of clockwork had completed it's cycle. My calling Hazel "Mom" had shut it off, and now Hazel was rewinding it for the next Hoozier to come along.

In telling this next part I find that I'm going to have to explain a bit more of the story, something that I really didn't want to do. San Lorenzo is an island that is a poor, worthless piece of rock in the middle of the ocean. One of the current leaders of the country is a "holy" man who founded their religion called Bokononism. He is writing a book called the "Books of Bokonon." John found a copy of the book, which actually has been banned, and the religion made illegal to practice. He shared the Fourteenth book of Bokonon, which was entitled, "What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?" "It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period. This is it:    'Nothing'."    Pretty depressing religion, eh?

Last one...

"Bokonon....had written a whole book about Utopias, The Seventh Book, which he had called Bokonon's Republic. In that book are these ghastly aphorisms: 

The hand that stocks the drug store rules the world. 

Let us start our republic with a chain of drug stores, 

a chain of grocery stores, 

a chain of gas chambers, 

and a national game. 

After that we can write our Constitution."

I almost want to read another of his books, just to see if they are all that strange and depressing. But I think I'll wait until I am bored out of my skull and have NOTHING else to do. lol....

Until Next Time ;o)

Book # 25

Silks

By Dick Francis & Felix Francis

Dick Francis and I have had a long, satisfying relationship. I was introduced to his books of horse racing, crime, mystery and suspense when I was 18. I was a nanny for a family in Connecticut and the father really liked his books. He knew I liked to read and so suggested I try one. I fell in love! I am not a particular fan of horse racing, or even of horses, especially since I had one try to kill me (lol), and another one bite me (ouch). But I like them vicariously through his books and have learned a lot about horses, racing and jockeys. Which isn't surprising because he was an English jockey before he became a great author. Often he will have the main character working at another profession, as in "Silks", the main character was a Barrister (a English word for lawyer) who rode as an amateur jockey, and so I usually learn about more than just racing. There is usually a little bit of a love story, some action, a mystery, a lot of suspense, and I love his characters because they are imperfect and sometimes scared and far from the hero, but they always come through in the end. 

This story is about an English Barrister, Geoffrey Mason who is being intimidated into losing in a trial where he is representing a jockey charged with murdering another jockey, even though he knows his client didn't do it. There is a mysterious missing photo, some frightening intimidation, an unsure romance (as he lost his wife and unborn child 7 years earlier) and a great story.

Dick is getting old, which isn't surprising considering he had a long list of novels already written by the time I was introduced to him 28 years ago. Luckily for us, he has a son, Felix who has co-written the last few novels with his father and shows every intention of carrying on the great work.

Until next time ;o)

Book # 24

A Different Kind of Christmas

By Alex Haley

I have never read Roots, although it is a book that I would like to tackle someday, like when I'm stuck in bed for a month or something. This book, by the same author, is short and sweet. It is about a young southern man, Fletcher Randall,  in 1855, attending Princeton University. He is tired of being harassed by Yankees and so he asks to be reassigned to another dorm. He is allowed to move and in his new building he is befriended by 3 brothers, who are quiet, gentle "Friends"---Quakers. He knows that they are anti-slavery, and his family own the 4th largest plantation in his county, and over 100 slaves, but he appreciates their friendship, and their peaceful ways intrigue him. They invite him to visit their home in Philadelphia one weekend and he gladly accepts. He loves their family and the city, especially Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. But then they throw him into a turmoil of emotion when they introduce him to a successful business man in Philadelphia, who just happens to be a black man. "Mr. Randall, meet Mr. Fortas, our family's friend, our city's finest sailmaker, and one of our most prosperous businessmen. Fletcher almost collapsed as if shot. He felt his face flush hot as the black man shook his hand. As if he were an equal! A pleasure, sir, Fortas said. Fletcher could say nothing and he knew that his three host brothers saw his face turn crimson....Fletcher's right hand felt indelibly soiled..."  They take him to a rally, where recently escaped slaves share their stories of brutality. Fletcher knows nothing of this. All he has known are the house slaves, which are almost like family, and are never abused. The field slaves are handled by the overseer. He is so upset that he refuses to talk to his friends on the 10 hour trip home, and does not talk to them when back in school either. But the damage has been done, he cannot forget what he saw and learned. He begins to study everything he can get his hands on in the library, about slavery and about the underground railroad. His grades suffer because he has become obsessed with his research, and so he has to stay in school for the summer to make up the classes that he failed in. Finally he takes another trip to Philadelphia. He finds his friends and apologizes for his behavior. Then he travels to independence hall. "He wanted to look again at that historic gray stone edifice, this time from his widened perception of human frailties. Because, as he had furthered his research at the college library, he had come to realize the monumental irony that when the Framers had signed the new Constitution, with its ringing promises of freedom and justice for all mankind, many among them---indeed, some of the most prominent ones---were slave owners." His next stop is another rally, where he is "furious at those who had made it possible to indict the South by wantonly inflicting the terrible beatings..." He returns to school and considers dropping out and going home. Then one day he is in his moral philosophy class, taught by his favorite teacher. His teacher reads them a letter written by Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave. It read, "In a composite Nation like ours, made up of almost every variety of the human family...there should be as before the Law...no rich, no poor, no high, no low...no black, no white...but one country, one citizenship, equal rights...and a common destiny for all. A government that can not or does not protect...the humblest citizen in his right...to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...should be reformed or overthrown without delay." Fletcher later wrote, "When a human being is capable of writing this letter, if that human being is in bondage, in slavery--if that human being is another being's property--then the bondage, the slavery, is wrong." Fletcher takes another trip to Philadelphia, and this time he volunteers to work for the underground railroad. Later, when he goes home for Christmas vacation, he is given his first assignment---to help 12 slaves escape. He would be helped by another agent, who would make himself known to Fletcher by asking him the question "Am I your brother?" 

Well, I won't tell you the whole story, but in the end, Fletcher sacrifices much to save the life of a black man on Christmas Eve. 

Until next time ;o)

Book # 23

Promises to Keep

by Dean Hughes. 

I liked this book and I hated it. In his series, “Hearts of the children” there is a character named Diane who marries an abusive husband and then divorces him at the end of the series. So this book is about what happens to her after that. She raises her daughter alone for the next 18 years and is so-so okay. She dates but can't find the right guy. The story begins when her daughter is 15, and she meets this widower who wants a friend and likes her a lot, but can't see marrying anyone else and is having loads of trouble with his kids anyway. At the end of the book, Diane decides to move on with her life without him and to be successful and happy no matter what. And I am cheering, thinking YES! Finally, someone dared to write a book without that standard fairy tale ending.... boy and girl get together and live happily ever after. That standard tale that says “YOU CAN'T BE HAPPY UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE”. At times, my heart would agree, but my head usually butts in to tell me that that's a load of horse manure! There are about 40 widows in my ward and I know that they all miss their husbands (at least some of the time, haha) but they are living life without them. I wonder what the percentage of widows who remarry is? Anyway.....sigh..... of course in the very last chapter, the fellow shows up and tells her that he loves her and that he does want to remarry and that he wants to give their relationship a shot. And I am gagging with disappointment! We need a novel that says a woman without a man can be happy and live life. Because most of us widows, and divorcees too, will remain alone. We need encouragement that we can do it alone, that we can be happy and content, that we are not misfits. We don't need any more stories that make us yearn for the maybe-never-gonna-happen fairy tale. I guess I need to be the one to write it. 

Until next time ;o)

Book # 22

Behind Rebel Lines

The incredible story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy

By Seymour Reit

I like stories about strong women. Emma Edmonds was a strong woman. Turns out that she wasn't the only woman to disguise herself as a man and join the military in order to fight in the civil war, but she is the only one, as far as history knows, that was a spy for the Union army.

Sarah Emma Endmonds was born in Canada, but fled to the United States at  age 15 because of a brutal father who never forgave her for not being born a boy. At age 21, she joined the union army at the beginning of the civil war, disguised as a man. Her alias was Franklin Thompson. She worked as a nurse in a battlefield hospital for a year, but longed to do more. She volunteered to become a spy when an important union spy was caught in Richmond and executed. They trained her and then she created a disguise as a black male slave named Cuff. She slipped across enemy lines and gathered important information, plus discovered a man friendly to the union army, giving information to the rebels. Her information eventually led to the taking of Yorktown. 

For her next mission, she was disguised as a middle aged woman named Bridget O'Shay. I think its funny that a woman disguised as a man was disguised as a woman, and the army was none the wiser. As she moved toward the enemy, she took shelter in an abandoned house during a rain storm. There she discovered a young rebel soldier dying of typhoid. She nursed and comforted him until he died. He gave her a pocket watch and asked that he seek out a colonel in the rebel army and tell him that he had died. This gave "Bridget" the perfect opportunity to gather information. The Colonel asked her to lead his men back to the house in order to bring the body back for burial. Bridget agreed, and during the trip, the soldiers, thinking she was a rebel sympathizer told her of an ambush planned for the union army after they crossed the river. With this information, she was able to save many lives.

During one of her missions, she acquired a horse, which she named "Rebel". After that she was often called upon to ride as a messenger because it was discovered that she was a brave and excellent rider. On one such mission, she was nearly caught, when she found herself lost. Soon she saw a troop of union soldiers marching down the road. She was happy and rode to join them, not realizing that they were prisoners of the rebels. The rebel cavalrymen, charged at her, firing. She raced in the other direction, only to find another squad coming toward her. She wheeled Rebel to ride across a field and jumped him over a very large ditch, and managed to get away. 

In one mission, she disguised herself as a black washer woman. Carrying a basket of laundry, she quietly joined a group of slaves and passed through rebel lines. She spent an entire day in a confederate camp, washing and sewing for the rebels. By now she was expert at keeping her ears and eyes open and picked up valuable data. Late that afternoon, she was alone in the wash tent. A packet of official documents slipped from an officers dress coat. She quickly slipped out of camp and hid in the cellar of an abandoned farmhouse. All night long, the area was shelled and she wasn't sure if she would make it out alive. However, by morning the union army had taken the area and she was able to make it back to their camp.

Her next mission turned out to be the most difficult. She was sent to Louisville, Kentucky as a young gentleman. Kentucky was initially neutral in the war because it was a slave holding state, yet they had no desire to secede and destroy the union. But after a rebel army invaded, and the union army responded by sending it's army, the war was at its doorstep and Kentucky officially joined the union side. But there were many rebel sympathizers, and someone was feeding the rebel army a lot of important information that was hurting the union. Emma was sent in as Mr. Charles Mayberry, to discover who the informant was and arrange the capture of that person. He arranged to get himself a job as a book keeper with a prominent man who was known as a rebel sympathizer. He was a hard, dependable worker, and soon gained the trust of his employer, Mr. Aylesworth. Mr. Aylesworth often had secret meetings with a friend named Mr. Hall. Emma tried to eavesdrop on the meetings, without any luck. After weeks of no progress, she made a wild plan. She went to Mr. Aylesworth as Mr Mayberry, and told him that he was going to join the confederate army. He said that he believed in the rebel cause and wanted to do his part and was there any way that Mr. Aylesworth could help him? Mr. Aylesworth  liked his young employee and warned him that he would likely be killed in the war, and that he could arrange tor him to do important work with less risk of death. He arranged for Mr. Mayberry  to meet with Mr. Hall that night. Emma quickly met with her army contact and told him the plan. He arranged to have them followed and arrested. Of course she would have to be arrested to keep her from suspicion. The plan worked and Mr. Hall was discovered carrying important Union intelligence that he intended to pass to the confederate army. He also had information of two other enemy agents in Louisville, and they were arrested as well.

A few weeks after that mission, Emma became ill with malaria. She dared not turn herself in for treatment because she knew that it would be discovered she was a woman, and would be publicly humiliated. She applied for leave but the hospital was always  busy and her request was denied. So she ran away. She went to a nearby town and entered a hospital as a woman and received treatment. After a few weeks she was getting well, and planned to return to her post. But then as she scanned the army bulletins in the city newspaper, she saw the name of Private Franklin Thompson as AWOL. She had been listed as a deserter. There was no way she could return! So she went to Washington and worked under her own name as a nurse for the remainder of the war.

After the war, Emma worked as a nurse for a time. She wrote a book of memoirs, describing her two years as Private Thompson. She wrote how she made eleven different trips behind rebel lines and used various disguises, her favorite being the little black slave named Cuff. Her book was published and sold thousands of copies. Emma donated her share of the profits to US war relief. 

Morals in the 19th century America were prim and proper and some people thought Emma's actions very shocking. But the publisher, W.S. Williams of Hartford, CT, added a gallant note of defense. "Should any of her readers object to some of her disguises, it may be sufficient to remind them it was from the purest motives and most praiseworthy patriotism that she laid aside for a time her own costume, and assumed that of the opposite sex, enduring hardships, suffering untold privations, and hazarding her life for her adopted country in its trying hour of need."

After her book was published, Emma became homesick and went back to visit Saint John, Canada, There she met Linus Steele, an old childhood friend. A romance began, and they returned to the US in 1867, to be married in Cleveland, Ohio. They settled in Kansas and had 3 sons, one of whom later joined the army, "just like Mama did". 

She never fully recovered from the malaria and her health was poor for the rest of her life. She also brooded about being branded a deserter. She got in touch with officers from her old regiment and they encouraged her to petition the war department for a full review of her case. The matter was debated in Washington DC and on July 5, 1884, a special act of Congress granted her military rights restored, including back pay, plus an honorable discharge. After that she felt able to contact her old army friends and many were "amazed to learn that this plump, matronly lady in her fancy bonnet and long skirts was none other than their slim, cool-eyed war buddy, Frank Thompson!" 

In 1891, Emma and Linus moved to Texas to be with one of their sons. They liked the climate and lived there until Emma's death on September 28, 1898. (113 years ago, today!) Her simple grave can be found in the military section of Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas.

An interesting side note. The author of this book, Seymour Reit, is author of more that 80 books for young people. He is also the creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost and an experienced cartoonist.

Until Next Time ;o)

Book # 21

Saboteur

A Novel of Love and War

By Dean Hughes

This is a story of Andy Gledhill, a young soldier / spy in WWII. He is from Delta, UT. The story is about him and the family and girlfriend he left behind. It was a good story, but I found myself editing all his mistakes about Delta. Sorry, but the train tracks are not EAST of town and neither was the Topaz relocation camp.

One interesting thing I learned...."Do you know what sabotage is?" Simone (AKA Elise) asked. "Sabot is the name for the shoes we wear here on the farm--wooden shoes like the ones you two are wearing. During strikes, workers tossed them into the machinery as a way to shut down factories that weren't fair to them. It took courage to do such a thing, but it was the right thing to do. You're asking us to wait until the fight is over before we join the battle. I see no courage in that...."

BTW..... Elise dies in the book. 

That's what courage'll do for ya.....but of course she saved the hero.

Until next time ;o)

Book # 20

Sugar Changed the World:

A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science

by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

This wasn't the book I planned on reading next, but I was in the library and it caught my eye. So I thought I'd give it a lookie. And it was interesting. Lots of stuff I never knew.

To start out with, both authors have ancestors who were part of the history of sugar. Marc's distant uncle was a serf in Europe during the 1800's. At the time Britain controlled most of the sugar plantations in the Caribbean and the sea routes to Europe and so their rivals were looking for new ways to create sugar. Someone discovered that you could get sugar from beets. His relative, as the story goes, was an intelligent and remarkable man, who discovered how to give raw beet sugar sparkling colors. And although he was a serf, which was only a step above a slave, he made a lot of money from his invention and was able to buy his family a better life.

Marina's family story in sugar began when slavery was abolished in Britain in 1833. The British needed to find new cheap labor. So they turned to India. Marina's family were poor in India and so they went to Guyana to work on the sugar plantations and look for a better life. Marina's great-grandfather was chosen to be a "sirdar" in charge of the field hands. When his contract was over, he purchased land and prospered.

The book begins by describing "The Age of Honey" which was the sweetener before sugar was discovered. I liked this quote: "In the age of honey, people tasted the neighborhood where they lived. From a light orange blossom flavor that is almost a perfume, to dark buckwheat with a hint of soil and grain, honey tastes like local flowers. And that was only part of its appeal. Bees work very hard, and it is easy to see that a queen bee is surrounded by worker bees that protect and serve her. To the ancients, a beehive was perfect, for it brought a gift of sweetness to people while being a mirror of their lives--a king or queen served by loyal subjects....Honey was a way of living: people ate foods grown near them, did the same work as their parents and ancestors, and owed honor and respect to kings, nobles, those above them."

Cane sugar can be traced back to the island of New Guinea. The plant spread north to the Asian mainland. Polynesian seafarers took canes with them as they sailed from island to island and cane reached Hawaii around AD 1100.

India provides us with the first written record of sugar. It was used in religious and magical ceremonies. The word candy comes from the ancient Indian language Sanskrit. The word for "a piece of sugar" is khanda. Sugar had another use in India, it was considered medicine. "Today we say, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. But from ancient times until quite recently, sugar itself was a medicine, a means of healing."

Hmmmm......interesting. I'd love to see some modern studies on that!

The book then describes the intensive labor necessary to process cane into sugar. Not a pretty picture. There were two problems with processing sugar. Time and Location. Cut cane begins to dry out and turns woody if not into the boiling vat within 48 hours. Also  a great deal of wood to burn was needed to keep the vats boiling. Not many places in the world offer rich lands that can grow cane, are near water so that the sugar can be shipped to distant lands, and has plentiful trees to be cut and used for fuel. 

The plantation was primarily  invented to grow and process sugar. "On a regular farm there may be cows, pigs and chickens; fields of grain; orchards filled with fruit--many different kinds of food to eat or sell. By contrast, the plantation had only one purpose: to create a single product that could be grown, ground, boiled, dried, and sold to distant markets. Since one cannot live on sugar, the crop grown on plantations could not even feed the people who harvested it. Never before in human history had farms been run this way..."

Spain and Portugal were competing with other European countries and with the Muslims to explore the coast of Africa and find a sea route to Asia. Spanish and Portuguese sailors conquered the Canary Islands and Azores and established sugar plantations there ,staffed with slaves purchased from nearby Africa. "One sailor came to know these islands particularly well because he traded in white gold--sugar. And then, as he set off on his second voyage across the sea to what he thought was Asia, he carried sugar cane plants from Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, with him on his ship. His name was Christopher Columbus."

The book then begins to talk about the slaves used to work the plantations. Between 1701 and 1810, 252,500 enslaved African were brought to Barbados, an island that occupies only 166 square miles. In that same time, 662,400 Africans were taken to Jamaica. Thus sugar drove more than 900,000 people into slavery and those were just two of the sugar islands. By 1753, British ships were taking an average of 34,250 slaves from Africa every year, and by 1768, that number had reached 53,100. "Scientists have shown that people all over the world must learn to like salty tastes, sour tastes, mixed tastes. But from the moment we are born we crave sweetness. Cane sugar was the first product in human history that perfectly satisfied that desire. And the bitter lives of the enslaved Africans produced so much sugar that pure sweetness began to spread around the world."

"Day after day, week after week, month after month, the cane was cut, hauled to the mill and fed through the rollers. The mills kept going as long as there was cane to grind--the season varied between four and ten months, depending on local growing conditions. A visitor who came to Brazil in 1630 described the scene: 'People the color of the very night, working briskly and moaning at the same time without a moment of peace or rest, whoever sees all the confused and noisy machinery...will say that this indeed is the image of Hell' ".

The death rate on the plantations was very high. "Though we often think of slavery as a problem peculiar to the United States, only 4 percent of the slaves taken from Africa were brought to North America--which means 96 percent went to the Caribbean, Brazil, and the rest of South America to work with sugar. The slave population in North America grew over time as parents lived long enough to have children. Some 500,000 slaves were brought here, and there were 4 million enslaved African Americans at the time of Emancipation. But on the sugar islands, while more than 2 million people were brought over from Africa, there were only 670,000 at Emancipation. Sugar, with its demand for relentless labor, was a killer."

The next chapters dealt with the human fight for freedom, both for the black and the white. Americans protested the sugar act set upon them by England, Africans revolted on the sugar islands and in South America, the English began to see the blood in the sugar they used every day. Thomas Clarkson, Olaudah Equiano, William Willberforce were just a few of the many who fought to abolish slavery in England. The cry of freedom began to sound throughout the world. The French revolution, the American revolution, the American civil war. The revolutions fought by the slaves throughout the world. The book even talked about Ghandi and his work for freedom in South Africa and then in India. Ghandi was the first to use the idea of passive resistance for a mass movement. 

This is the second to last paragraph of the book..." Sugar turned human beings into property, yet sugar led people to reject the idea that any person can be owned by another. Sugar murdered millions of people, and yet it gave the voiceless a way to speak. Sugar crushed people, and yet it was because of sugar that Ghandi began his experiment in truth--so that every individual could free him or herself. Only sugar--the sweetness we all crave--could drive people to be so cruel, and to combat all forms of cruelty. The cravings for sugar took us from that ancient time when people were defined by the work of their ancestors to our modern world--the one Ghandi led us to see, in which each individual is valued as human. Though terrible conditions for sugar workers still exist in places such as the Dominican Republic, and cane sugar has been replaced by other sweeteners invented in the age of science, this one substance forever marked our history."....

Until next time ;o)

Book # 19

The Confession

by John Grisham

This is an interesting book. Some of John Grisham's books have an obvious agenda and this is one of them. He is against Capital Punishment, which is a reasonable opinion. I don't know how I feel about it. Having grown up in a conservative Mormon family and state, I have feelings in favor of it for practical reasons. We pay a great deal of tax money to support these men and women in prison. But as he points out in the book, often more public money is spent it the years of appeals to save these people, than if we just supported them for a life sentence.

I won't tell you much about the book because I don't want to spoil it for you. But it is about a young pastor who has a visit from a man who confides in him that he committed the crime that another man is going to die for in just a few days in another state. It is an exciting and upsetting tale. With a surprise ending. Enjoy!

Until next time ;o)

Book # 18

To The Rescue

The Biography of Thomas S. Monson

By Heidi S. Swinton

This book is 529 pages long. 588 if you count the timeline, notes and index. And although it was interesting, informative and inspiring, it wasn't exactly a "page turner" that lured me away from gardening or made me want to stay up late at night. So it's been awhile.

I won't give you much of a history of President Monson, although I found it amazing how long and faithfully he has served in the church. He was a bishop at 22, counselor in the stake presidency at 28, mission president at 32, and ordained an apostle at 36. He became the prophet at age 80. Wow! It made me tired just reading about all that he has done in his life.

What I am going to share are the things that resonated with me and the quotes that impressed me the most.

1. "He (President Monson) likes funerals because he feels that they provide an ideal setting for teaching the truths of the gospel. He has said, 'Because our Savior died at Calvary, death has no hold upon any one of us...we laugh, we cry, we work, we play, we love, we live. And then we die. Death is our universal heritage. All must pass its portals. Death claims the aged, the weary and worn. It visits the youth in the bloom of hope and the glory of expectation. Nor are little children kept beyond its grasp.'

2.  (This is a quote from Elder Harold B. Lee as he counseled President Monson before he went to serve as mission president in Canada) "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies....When you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to the Lord's help....Remember, God shapes the back to bear the burden placed upon it."

3.  "Remember that the mantle of leadership is not the cloak of comfort but rather the robe of responsibility."

4.  "No one can escape the influence of his own example....a mediocre teacher tells, a good teacher explains, a superior teacher demonstrates, but the great teachers inspire."

5.  He applied in his everyday work what he calls 'Wisdom's Seven Watchwords: vision, patience, balance, effort, understanding, courtesy, and love....Complaining is not thinking. Ridiculing is not reasoning. Accountability is not for the intentions but for the deed."

6.  (After telling a story of rescuing a widow who felt unwanted, unneeded and lost) "President Monson has taught that lesson many times. The names, faces and places change but his message is the same; 'Let us listen for the sound of sandaled feet. Let us reach out for the Carpenter's hand. Then we shall come to know Him. He may come to us as one unknown, without a name, as, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words, "Follow thou me", and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings that they shall pass through in His fellowship, and ...they shall learn in their own experience who He is."

7.  (Talking about the publication of the Latter-day saint edition of the King James version of the Bible with its cross referencing to the standard works and the topical guide) "The advent of the computer was absolutely necessary before the Topical Guide could have been prepared."

8.  "The holy scriptures are for our children, to fill their eager minds with sacred truth. They are for youth, to prepare them for the challenges of a fast-moving world. They are for the sisters...to be scholars of the scriptures....They are for the bretheren of the priesthood, that each may qualify for the description given in the Book of Mormon to the sons of Mosiah; "They were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God."

9.  "Resolve to make room in your life for Jesus Christ. We have time for jogging, time for working, time for playing. Let us make time for Christ."

10.  "Contemplate the next twelve months. First we should resolve to be good listeners. And to whom should we listen? To the prophets of God, to the whisperings of our conscience, to the whisperings of the still small voice."

11.  President Monson is a loyal supporter of scouting. He quotes, "The greatest gift a man can give a boy is his willingness to share a part of his life with him."

12.  'Throughout our country, we have been screaming ever louder for more and more of the things we cannot take with us, and paying less and less attention to the real sources of the very happiness we seek. We have been measuring our fellowmen more by balance sheets and less by moral standards... We have become so concerned over the growth of our earning capacity that we have neglected the growth of our character. Perhaps this is indicative of the days in which we are living--days of compromise and diluting of principles, days when sin is labeled as error, when morality is relative and when materialism emphasizes the values of expediency and the shirking of responsibility."

13.  (Elder Neil L. Anderson, speaking of President Monson) "He has never asked Sister Monson to be anyone different than she is."

14.  "In 2009, online current affairs publication Slate.com ranked President Monson number one on its list of the eighty most powerful octogenarians in America. He was ranked ahead of Former US presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, former Secretary of State Henry Kissenger, and news personality Barbara Walters, among others. Slate.com reported, 'The top spot this year goes to 82-year-old Thomas S. Monson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the only person on the list to rule over millions of people as a prophet of God."

15.  "When God speaks and a man obeys, that man will always be right."

16.  "Decisions determine destiny"

17.  "Your decision to think right, choose right, and do right will rarely, if ever, be the easiest course to follow."

18.."You do not find the happy life--you make it."

19.  "Good habits...are the soul's muscles; the more you use them, the stronger they grow."

20.  "Life is like a candid camera; it does not wait for you to pose."

Until next time ;o)

Book # 000

I've had a few readers comment that they are waiting for my next book. 

Well too bad!!! 

Just kidding....

 

I am reading a book. It's a big book but that isn't why I'm behind. 

Thought you'd like to see some pictures of what has caused the delay.

 A view of my garden from across the street, upstairs in my house.

 The watering system I built this summer to make my life easier.

 Two plantings of corn. 

 A row of sunshine!

 I planted a cover crop of alfalfa on the east side.

 My little helper loves the shadowy space in between the rows of corn.

 Fruit trees, squash, and melons.

 Granny Smith apples -- the only tree that produced this year.

 Pretty purple cabbage.

 Marigolds added another splash of color. 

Supposed to be a pest repellent as well.

 Beautiful Broccoli.

 Jack's magic bean stalk...

Actually a bean plant from some seeds I got from friends.

The seeds were very colorful and almost as large as quarters. 

The red flowers are pretty.

 Celery - a first for me.

 Potatoes - also a first. 

And I learned that if the eye hasn't already got a sprout, it won't grow. 

So I've only got about 6 feet of potatoes.

 I planted the rest of the row with corn.

One of our favorites - yellow banana peppers.

So, be patient with me. 

School starts in 10 days and 

maybe I will find more time to read some books,

before I have to DO something with all those vegetables!

Book # 17

20 Compelling Evidences That God Exists

By Kenneth D. Boa & Robert M Bowman Jr.

Okay, Okay .... so I am behind. I should be on book 20. But May has been a tough month. I got out of jail and then had to go back in after 2 weeks. It was just so depressing. Ha Ha! But seriously, I just got to go outside and work in the garden for 2 weeks and then it started to rain again! I am so sick of gray days!!! I am also behind because I picked another dumb book. Just kidding, it wasn't dumb. I liked this book for the first half, it was interesting, challenging, mind stretching. But then it got to where I was thinking "you've got to be kidding me!" and "is it over yet?" And I didn't read it because I doubt the existence of God, I was just interested in what someone had to say about it. I liked the scientific evidence that they presented in the first few chapters the best. The other thing I liked about it was that they also presented the opposite views to their own; what atheists might argue against the evidence of God and Jesus Christ's divinity.

I will make this a brief post. Just so you know, if anyone is interested in reading these books I am writing about, I would be glad to lend them out.

Chapter 1

The Evidence of Reality

If a belief system doesn't claim to correspond to reality, head for the nearest exit.

Chapter 2

The Evidence of Knowledge

You can know the truth--and still not be an arrogant pain in the neck!

Chapter 3

The Evidence of Existence

The most elementary question: Why is there something rather than nothing?

Chapter 4

The Evidence of the Universe's Beginnings

The Universe hasn't always been here, and it's a good thing, too.

Chapter 5

The Evidence of the Universe's Fitness for life

Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make it possible for us to be here.

Chapter 6

The Evidence of Life's Origin

The more we learn about the origin of life, the more of a puzzle it becomes.

Chapter 7

The Evidence of Life's Intelligent Design

The closer we look, the clearer it is that life was intelligently designed.

Chapter 8

The Evidence of a Fallen World

As wonderful as it can be, it's obvious that not all is right with the world.

Chapter 9

The Evidence of the Bible's Reliability

The general reliability of the Bible's text and major "story line" is not in question.

Chapter 10

The Evidence of the Bible's Accuracy

Where we can test the Bible's accuracy in matters of fact, it holds up remarkably well.

Chapter 11

The Evidence of the Bible's Fulfilled Prophesy

The Bible contains remarkable predictions of events occurring centuries later.

Chapter 12

The Evidence of the Bible's Profound Wisdom

Despite all criticism, the Bible contains the wisest counsel ever written.

Chapter 13

The Evidence of Jesus' Life

No one can afford to ignore Jesus, the most compelling person in history.

Chapter 14

The Evidence of Jesus' Claims

By claiming to be God, Jesus left us no room to view Him as just a great teacher.

Chapter 15

The Evidence of Jesus' Death

The death of Jesus holds the key to His identity and to the nature and love of God.

Chapter 16

The Evidence of Jesus' Empty Tomb

The empty tomb of Jesus is a cold, hard fact that even early critics couldn't deny.

Chapter 17

The Evidence of Jesus' Resurrection Appearances

The accounts of Jesus' appearances cannot be reasonably explained away.

Chapter 18

The Evidence of Those Who Lived For Christ

The realty of Jesus' resurrection is evident in those who have lived for Him.

Chapter 19

The Evidence of Those Who Died For Christ

Only Christ has inspired so many to die so nobly as martyrs for their faith.

Chapter 20

The Evidence of the Uniqueness of Christ

The world's religions have no one and nothing to compare with Jesus Christ.

Sorry. Not too much information shared. But the sun is shining today!!! 

So I'm done with this book.

Until next time ;o)