Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 127, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 14, 2013 Page: 25 of 25
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8C • Thursday, March 14, 2013 • Hondo Anvil Herald
In small towns, teens grabbed
any jobs available
At my age and with grown
children and grandchildren,
I’ve pretty much lost touch
with the daily goings and
comings of teenagers. Today’s
teens, I’m sure, have jobs
similar to what we did 55-60
years ago, but so much else
has changed. Youngsters to-
day face different challenges
at work than we did.
Growing up in a small town,
as the four Webb boys did, we
took just about any job we
could get. Two of us got our
business/work beginnings
at the feet of Teague’s lead-
ing variety store owner, O.H.
Forke (pronounced fork-ee).
Of course, a couple of us had
early morning paper routes all
the way through high school,
in addition to other jobs such
as at Forke’s. Another son was
a shoeshine boy at one of the
barber shops. And, the young-
est managed to get in a little
grocery bagging, just like his
three older siblings.
As you might imagine, in a
town of 3,000-plus one might
have a relationship on more
than one level with another
individual. Such was the case
for me with Forke’s.
Mr. and Mrs. Forke had a
daughter, Louise, who was
a teacher. I was in English
classes taught by her in junior
high and in journalism in high
school. She sponsored the
school newspaper and I was
on the staff all the way through
high school. Later on, she told
me I was her only journalism
student who went into the
profession.
Our jobs with Forke’s
changed somewhat with a city
council ordinance banning
the sale of fireworks within the
Webb
Sight
by Willis
Webb
city limits.
Forke’s carried fireworks in
the store and it was a nice rev-
enue producer during several
holidays, more particularly July
4, Christmas and New Year.
Forke was very enterprising,
so he decided that on the par-
ticularly good-for-fireworks
holidays, he’d set up an open-
air fireworks stand just past the
city limits sign on U.S. Highway
84 east toward the county seat
of Fairfield. And, the Webb boys
were chosen to man it.
But, we spent more time,
year ‘round, in the store than
at the fireworks stand and we
learned to handle all manner
of customers and all kinds of
products that Forke had in his
display cases and on counters.
O.H. Forke himself instruct-
ed us on a variety of issues
throughout our time in his
employment.
In time of segregation, Forke
maintained that everyone’s
money looked and spent the
same so we were to treat ev-
eryone alike.
If any customer showed
any signs of trouble, we were
to summon the owner and let
him handle it. As young teens,
that suited us just fine.
You’d have to be a veteran
of several years with Forke’s
to have enough time to learn
something about every sec-
tion of the store. The merchan-
dise was, as “variety” in the
store name indicated, quite
thoroughly varied. You could
find anything from a sheet-
rock screw for a penny (one
cent) to elaborate coolde jars
and other pottery with a nice
price tag. There was also a big
section for toys.
There was one rather small,
obscure section of the store
that produced a disclosure
that shocked my uncompre-
hending young mind—toilet-
ries, shampoos and all sorts of
personal grooming products.
O.H. forgot to warn me
about that one.
One day, a man came in and
asked for a bottle of Bay Rum
Hair Tonic, which was said to
keep your hair laying down
and looking well-groomed.
I sold it to him and he walked
through the front door onto
the sidewalk, unscrewed the
lid and took a swig.
Apparently, my chin must’ve
fallen to my chest. I turned
back toward the interior of the
store and saw O.H. looking at
me and chuckling.
“Did I do something wrong?”
I asked.
“No,” O.H. replied, “I just
forgot to tell you about our
Saturday runs on Bay Rum.
It’s the drink of preference for
some folks.”
Yuck!
Later, I looked at the label
and found out it was probably
the quickest, cheapest drunk
available in dry Teague. It was
30 percent alcohol. I figured it
would probably burn your scalp
not to mention your insides.
WillisWebb is a retired commu-
nity newspaper editor-publisher
of more than 50 years. Email him
at wwebbl937@att. net.
All or Nothing at All
There’s a huge difference
between a drastic transfor-
mation and change that takes
place as gracefully and gradu-
ally as a baby turns into a tod-
dler. But when we’re fed up
with our old ways, we tend to
want an instant and dramatic
fix. That’s what impatience is
all about.
Take weight for example,
we want the weight to come
off faster than we put it on.
We get frustrated with a loss
of just one pound in a week,
yet if we gained a pound a
week, we’d gain 50 pounds
in a year. I don’t know any-
one who’s done that and you
probably don’t either.
If you’re like me, you tend to
have that notion: All or noth-
ing at all. When we want to
get organized, usually we’ve
come to a place where every
room is laced with chaos.
When we decide to fix our fi-
nances, it’s when the power’s
been shut off or we max a few
credit cards and sink into fi-
nancial depression. When we
want to lose weight, it’s usu-
ally because we’ve let it go so
long that our pants hurt and
we’re scared to get on the
scale. We’re not like the frog
that stays in the water as it is
heated to boiling and cooks
to death, instead, we schlep
along until we snap.
It’s after the snap that we
typically make the decision
to do something. We rarely
think to be something. If you
think, “I want to be happy in
my body,” or “I want to be
comfortable in my home,”
or “I want to be debt free,”
all those thoughts will cheer
your heart.
If you’ve gained enough
weight to have it be a major
problem, you probably bare-
ly know the healthy, happy
you that’s under the fat. If
you are overwhelmed with
the operation of mnning a
home and family, you don’t
know the peace that attends
an organized and smoothly
running household. If you are
afraid to open your mailbox
and your heart races when
it’s time to pay bills, you are
missing the constant joy of
being debt-free.
There is this beautiful place
between all and nothing at
all and I love that place. It’s
called grateful patience. It’s
incremental progress and it
takes being patient, kind and
loving with yourself and cel-
ebrating the small stuff.
Be easy with yourself. Find
a photo of you when you were
a child and when you look at
it see if you can imagine that
child still within you because
she (he)is. How could you be
mean, impatient or unloving
to that little one? Think how
children enjoy life. I think we
are meant to enjoy life and it
should get better and better.
You are in self-improvement
mode or you wouldn’t be
reading this essay. Celebrate
that desire to be better and
enjoy the in between of all or
nothing at all as you become
grateful and patient on your
way to a better life.
For more from Pam Young go to www.
MAKEnWNANDTTWlLLGETDONE. COM. YOULL
FIND MANY MUSMGS, VIDEOS OF PAM IN THE
KITCHEN PREPARING DEUCIOUS MEALS, VIDEOS
ON HOW TO GET ORGANIZED, WAYS TO LOSE
WEIGHT AND GET YOUR FINANCES IN ORDER, ALL
FROM A REFORMED SLOB's POINT OF VIEW.
jjj
Class of 2013...
We have Graduation Invitations for all area schools.
Show your individualityl
Hondo Anvil Herald
% 1601 Ave. K, Hondo * 830-426-3346 * fax: 830-426-3348 j
Houston's former slave
held ex-master in high esteem
A 97-year-old ex-slave told
a newspaper reporter on Mar.
13, 1938 that his “proudest
possession” was the memory
of his famous former master,
Sam Houston.
Jeff Hamilton was born
into bondage in 1840 on a
plantation in Kentucky. Three
years later, his owner moved
lock, stock and chattel, which
included the little boy, his
mother and older siblings, to
the Republic of Texas. When
Jeff’s original master met an
untimely end, his widow re-
placed him with a real-life
Simon Legree.
James McKell drank and
gambled away most of his
wife’s wealth while making
life miserable for the slaves.
“We were worked long hours,
whipped, cursed and half-
starved by our new master,”
Jeff wrote in his autobiography
published in 1940.
Whenever McKell needed
money in a hurry, he sold a
slave. Behind in the payments
on two barrels of whiskey, he
came for Jeff early one morn-
ing in October 1853.
The confused child did not
understand what was happen-
ing, but his mother’s reaction
caused him to fear the worst. “I
turned my head for one last look
at my mother. She was standing
in the cabin door, holding her
apron to her face and sobbing
in a kind of hopeless way.”
McKell took Jeff by wagon to
Huntsville, the nearest town of
any size, and auctioned him
off on the courthouse square.
He found a buyer for the ter-
rified boy and waited for the
customer, whose reputation
was as bad as his own, to re-
turn with the cash.
In the meantime, “a large
and important looking man
drove up in a buckboard buggy
drawn by a fine black horse.”
It was none other than Sam
Houston, U.S. senator and
hero of San Jacinto, and he
made the fate of the frightened
youngster his business.
Rather than allow the
13-year-old to be separated
This Week
in
Texas History
By Bartee Haile
from his mother, brother and
two sisters, the two-term pres-
ident of the Lone Star Republic
offered top dollar for the entire
family. McKell readily released
Jeff, but later reneged on the
package deal and sold his rela-
tives one by one.
Life at Raven Hill, Houston’s
home outside Huntsville, was
a far cry from the wretched
existence the newest addition
had known. “The General and
the Missus saw to it that the
cabins were kept neat and
clean, and that we had plenty
of bed covering... good shoes
and other clothing. The Gen-
eral did not permit his slaves
to be whipped, and if we got
sick we had the best care.”
Jeff was Houston’s desig-
nated driver during his gu-
bernatorial campaigns of
1857 and 1859. The first was
the only election the consum-
mate politician ever lost and
the second was his amazing
comeback that gave Texas a
pro-Union governor on the
eve of secession.
In Austin, Jeff held down
three jobs: office boy, driver
and personal servant. He had
the run of the mansion and
ran important errands for the
busy chief executive.
On a dark night a few weeks
before the national election of
1860, Jeff spotted two members
of the Knights of the Golden
Circle peeking in the window
of the governor’s office. One of
the fanatics pointed a pistol at
Houston but held his fire be-
cause an aide stood between
the assassin and his target. The
slave saved the master’s life by
sounding the alarm and caus-
ing the killers to scatter.
Jeff sneaked into the bal-
cony of the House chamber
on Feb. 1, 1861, to hear the
prophetic words of heartsick
Houston to the convention
dead-set on pulling Texas out
of the Union. “If you go to war
with the United States, you
will never conquer her as she
has the money and the men.
If she does not whip you by
guns, powder and steel, she
will starve you to death.”
Jeff was present six weeks
later for the private reading of
a secret letter from the presi-
dent-elect to the soon-to-be
ex-governor. Lincoln promised
Houston 50,000 troops to keep
him in office and Texas in the
Union. After polling four trust-
ed friends, who voted three
to one against the proposal,
the old war horse remarked,
“I have asked your advice and
I will take it, but if I were ten
years younger I wouldn’t.”
Houston freed his slaves the
day in late 1862 that he read a
newspaper with the text of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
“I know I am your friend, and
I know you are my friends,” he
said. “If you want to stay here
and workfor me, I willpayyou
good wages as long as I can.”
Jeff remained and rarely left
Houston’s side during his final
illness the following July. “I
slept on my pallet in his sick
room but was up and down
nearly all night giving him his
medicine.” He watched “the
best friend I had ever had or
would ever have on this earth”
slip away and heard his last
words - “Margaret! Margaret!
Texas! Texas!”
Jeff stayed on until Houston’s
widow died, four and a half
years later. He settled in Belton
in 1889, and the Central Texas
community was his home for
the next half century.
Jeff Hamilton kept in touch
with the Houstons, who al-
ways invited him to reunions
and other family affairs. He
made many public appear-
ances, including the Texas
Centennial, before passing
away in 1941 two weeks shy
of his 101st birthday.
ContactBarteeHaileathaile@pdq-
netorPO. Box 152, Friendswood, TX
77549. Visit www. twithcom.
What s faith got to do with it?
“Where is your faith?” Je-
sus once asked. (Luke 8:25)
He proclaimed that faith as
a grain of mustard seed was
powerful. (Matthew 17:20)
Many times He told people
who had been healed, “Thy
faith made thee whole.” (Mat-
thew 9:22, Mark 10:52) Faith
definitely carried a lot of
weight with Jesus!
Perhaps this is why He repri-
manded His doubting disciple
Thomas and said, “Because
you have seen me you have
believed. Blessed are those
who have not seen me and yet
believe.” (John 20:29)
How many times when mak-
ing a resolution, taking an ac-
tion or when thinking about
something you’re striving or
hoping for, are you apprehen-
sive, doubtful, leery, skeptical,
unbelieving, wary or uptight
about the desired results?
I found it compelling that
this list of adjectives was
among synonyms for those
“without faith” in light of an-
other saying of Jesus: “...ac-
cording to your faith be it unto
you.” (Matthew 9:29)
Could it be that our tentative
and timid faith becomes a self-
fulfilling prophecy?
This reminds me of when
Moses led the Children of
Israel through the wilderness
for 40 years in search of the
Promised Land. I can’t help
but wonder that perhaps they
would have reached their
desired destination quicker if
they had not lost their faith so
many times.
So what is it about faith that
is so very powerful?
If our list of adjectives above
gives us an indication of what
it means to live without faith,
perhaps we need to better un-
derstand what having faith en-
tails. The innocence of youth is
often equated with blind belief,
as if blind belief was somehow
defining the meaning of faith.
Hardly, my friends!
It seems to me that there’s
nothing blind about the faith
of children. Yes, children trust
without question. They believe
with conviction. Their confi-
dence is unwavering. And their
expectancy is definite. There is
nothing provisional or hesitant
about the faith of a child.
Children have faith because
they know in their hearts
what is true. Their faith rests
entirely upon the certainty of
their knowledge. So, of course,
children are confident. Of
course, they have no fear. Of
course, they have no reason
to doubt.Oh to have child-like
faith! Now that’s what I call
having faith!
I’ve had times in my life
when my faith was shaky. And
it’s been in those times when
I learned that my answer was
found in “an absolute faith that
all things are possible to God,
- a spiritual understanding
of Him, an unselfed love,” as
Mary Baker Eddy writes.
God’s love for His children
surely means He is “a very pres-
ent help in trouble.” (Psalms
46:1) God’s goodness must
certainly mean He only wants
good for His children. And the
allness of God undoubtedly
leaves no room for evil to have
a permanent place or be a de-
structive force in our lives.
I’ve been learning that as I
assert my God-given dominion
and freedom, my faith brings
deliverance and blessings and
leads to divine heights.
Your knowledge of God and
His promises can transform
your world. What’s faith got
to do with it? Jesus would say
everything!
Annette Bridges is a freelance
writer who lives on a north Texas
ranch with her husband, John. She
believes we need to share what we’re
learningwith one another, especially
with our ch ildren!
Area Resources
Driver’s license office
702 Harper, Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m-5
p.m., 830-426-8975.
Wesley Nurse
Free blood pressure & blood sugar
checks, exercise classes, and
health education. Helpwith CHIPS,
Medicaid & SNAP applications,
emergency food & other resources.
Theresa Standage, 830-426-5532.
Veterans Service Office
Hondo: 709 Ave. Y. Mon. &Tues.. 9
a.m.-noon & 1 -4 p.m. Devine: 317 N.
Hwy. 132, 1st & 3rd Wed., 9 a.m-
noon: Castroville: 1312 Geneva. 3rd
Wed., 830-741-6135 by appt. only.
Medina Co. Food Pantry
502 Arnold St., Hondo, Mon., Wed.,
Fri., 8:30-11:30 a.m.
Caregiver resources
Hondo Public Library. Supplies, litera-
ture & resources. 830-426-5333.
Garden club thrift store
190319th St., Hondo, Thur., 1 -5 p.m.
Area Museums
• Medina County Museum
2202 18th St., Hondo, Wed.-Sat.
10-4, Sun. 1-4, 830-426-2755.
• Shooting Star Museum
Free. 6 mi. south of Castroville off
FM1343. Annual Bluebonnet Walk
Mar. 16-31, antique aircraft, cars,
farm equipment, vintage clothing.
Free GED classes
South Texas Regional Training Ctr.,
402 Carter St., Hondo, Mon.-Fri., 8
a.m.-noon, 830-591-7235.
Community services
Community Council of South Cen-
tral Texas Inc., 375 CR 5214 Mon.-
Fri., 8-5, D’Hanis, 830-363-3119.
Hondo Public Library
1011 19th St., Mon.-Thurs. 8:30
a.m.-6 p.m., Friday 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m., 830-426-5333.
Book club: 2nd Monday, 2 p.m.
Story time: Wednesdays, 10-11
a.m., ages 2-5, Sept.-May.
Free counseling
K’STAR Youth and Family Ser-
vices, 1210 18th St., Hondo, 830-
426-2878. Individual and family
counseling.
Darkness to Light mtg.
Classes to identify perpetrators and
symptoms of child abuse at Blue-
bonnet Children’s Advocacy Center,
1901 Ave I. 830-426-5554.
Free clothing
Blessed Threads, Medina Valley
Christian Worship, 2035 Hwy. 90,
Castroville. 3rd Saturday monthly,
10 a.m.-1 p.m.; 830-931-3085 or
210-772-0720.
Websites
Medina County
www.medinacountytexas.ora
City of Hondo
www.hondo-tx.ora
See “Clubs and Regular Meetings”or “Blurbs” for
additional services, organizations & happenings.
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Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 127, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 14, 2013, newspaper, March 14, 2013; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth741361/m1/25/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hondo Public Library.