The Cracked Acorn: Hard Times

The KENTUCKY DERBY has been delayed this year. It is a nostalgic event from my childhood when we traveled in our Kaiser to Louisville to my uncle and aunt’s home, their only child, Doris, was still alive. From there we drove out to Churchill Downs to make a day of it. I was probably 12 years old at the time. I recall that the crowds were large, and I was small lost in the adults out on the infield. The men wore brimmed hats and the ladies had their flowery hats to keep the sun off. When the race was over, there was quite a flow of people using the tunnel under the track to reach the parking lots. It was not time to get separated from your parents.

The band would strike up the state song MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME. I noticed that last year it appeared that most were not singing, maybe the lyrics were not on the program sheets or many were not from Kentucky. The old tune has bittersweet words – By ‘n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door, weep no more my lady, oh, weep no more, today. We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home far away. When Stephen Foster wrote it in 1853, there surely were days of hard times for everyone. While some lived lavishly, others barely made it from day today. Typhoid fever, tubercular disease, cholera, smallpox, malaria, yellow fever, syphilis, and consumption stalked and carried away the rich and poor alike. Life was short, but 167 years later we only read about such a time shortly before the Civil War… In our time the Lord has been good.

My parents could remember the Great Depression when jobs were nonexistent and you were fortunate to live on a farm. My dad often told the story of the man who went to see his doctor. He told the doctor he was feeling poorly. The doctor asked him what he was eating. “All we have to eat is peas.” The doctor said. “That’s your problem, your blood has turned to pea soup!”

The song of that day was -THEY USED TO TELL ME I WAS BUILDING A DREAM, AND SO I FOLLOWED THE MOB WHEN THERE WAS EARTH TO PLOW, OR GUNS TO BEAR, I WAS ALWAYS RIGHT THERE ON THE JOB. THEY USED TO TELL ME I WAS BUILDING A DREAM, WITH PEACE AND GLORY AHEAD, WHY SHOULD I BE STANDING IN LINE, JUST WAITING FOR BREAD? SAY, DON’T YOU REMEMBER, I’M YOUR PAL? BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

I doubt that there were many in the crowd the last May 7th at the 131st running that really know what an “a hard time-come knockin at the door” means. We truly live in the greatest country on this green earth. It is humbling to remember when times were not so good.

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 23

O Beulah land, sweet Beulah! As on the highest mount I stand. I look away across the sea Where mansions are prepared for me, And view the shining glory shore, My heaven, my home forevermore. (lyrics from SACRED SELECTIONS)

In closing, I saw this wise adage posted in a store, Do Not Resent Growing Old. Many Are Denied The Privilege …
(Irish Blessing)