The Old Oak

A large oak stands in front of the house. It is so tall and its limbs spread so wide that anyone standing under it during a rain is sheltered, as if by a giant umbrella. The tree is old and has seen many changes. A busy street a few feet away was once a dirt […]

Lady in the Lamplight

Dear children, after some delay I take my pen in hand in answer to your most welcome letter which I received and should have bin answered sooner but there is much of my time that it is almost all I can do to attend to my every day affairs so I hope you will excuse […]

The World Around Us

I opened my old, tattered three-ring notebook where I’ve stuffed a lot of past writing sales and found these two poems. Both were written a long time ago to two different Christian children’s magazines of widely differing beliefs. But, you know what? Both magazines’ editors liked poems. Poetry and stories sort of bring us all […]

Of Poe and Poetry

Sometimes, I think of them–those teachers who tried to instill a love of learning in the heads of high school students several decades ago. I remember many of them; in particular, the English teachers. Two teachers come to mind. Mrs. Duncan taught English to the third year students at Central High. She was a no-nonsense, […]

Ah! The Wonder of It

I’ve always been a shy person. I mean, bashful! When I was a child, I was sure I didn’t know the learned and sophisticated things other people knew, so I remained quiet, not to disclose my lack. But now–ah, the wonder of it! I am young no longer. In fact, I’m older than most people […]

The Older I Get

The older I get…the more I value family and friends and life and the less concerned I am about surface stuff,                         …the more I appreciate old values, old friends, old remedies to ills, physical and emotional, and spiritual.             […]