The Cracked Acorn: Back When

Give me that old-time religion, It’s good enough for me.   (circa 1878)

One of our sons very young at the time liked to ask me to tell him about the olden days. At that time I did not feel that old but I went ahead and tried to relate to him what it was like to live in the olden days. The rural Kentucky area where I grew up provided within a short drive less than 30 minutes to all the shopping you could afford then. The little town of Auburn was about 5 miles from the house. Its sign boasted that “Auburn is big enough to serve you and small enough to know you.” It had the drugstore, doctor’s office, and grocery store and barbershop. If we needed more variety, it was 15 miles to the county seat of Simpson County, the larger town of Franklin.

Church worship service, most of the time opened with Give Me The Bible, and we sang all four verses. Later, songbooks omit this verse: “Give me the Bible, all my steps enlighten, Teach me the dangers of these realms below; That lamp of safety o’er the gloom shall brighten, That light alone the path of peace can show.” The only Bible for the scripture reading and referring to while the preacher was in the pulpit for 45 minutes was the King James version of 1611. Today, the translations and versions in English and other languages are almost numberless. Many missionaries have the task of selecting a BIBLE that is translated into the country’s language and easily understood by that population. I count 6 versions in my office which I often refer to see if certain words have been changed or edited out for supposedly better meaning.

The worship service like today ended by extending an invitation for baptism or for prayer on someone’s behalf. For years baptisms in the summer were done in a nearby creek, and in winter in the nearby town in a church that had a baptismal pool; I and a neighbor were baptized in it The old creek is gone; a new landowner changed its direction and gone is the willow tree and the steps down into the water.

Priscilla J. Owens (1829-1907) was a Sunday school teacher in Baltimore, Maryland, and taught in the public schools for a half-century. She was a member of a denominational church and most of her hymns were written for her Sunday school class. The year 1878 when Give Me The Bible was written was a quiet year noted only by the world event, the rise of Joseph Stalin-as Premier of the Soviet Union.

A child’s problem:

One afternoon a little boy was playing outdoors. He used his mother’s broom as a horse and had a wonderful time until it was getting dark.

He left the broom on the back porch. His mother was cleaning up the kitchen when she realized that her broom was missing. She asked the little boy about the broom, and he told her where it was.

She then asked him to please go get it. The little boy informed his mom that he was afraid of the dark and didn’t want to go out to get the broom.

His mother smiled and said, “The Lord is out there too, don’t be afraid.” The little boy opened the back door a little and said: “Lord if you’re out there, hand me the broom.”