The Sweet Cherry Ranch: A Memoir

All five of their sons were born on this farm which has a special place in the memories of all the family. Father and mother lived here until they retired from the farm in From this homestead, they moved to a house in Wellsville. He always had the best in farm machinery of the day.

He seldom borrowed the use of his neighbors' tools which was a common practice of the time. The farmers of the neighborhood often owned some more expensive machinery cooperatively, taking turns in its use. The farm of acres was considered ample for that period. One of his interests was community progress and he served in a public capacity on several occasions. He was elected to the office of Township Trustee at different times, served on the local school board, and once ran for the office of a State Legislator on the Democratic ticket.

At this time in Kansas, his party seldom had anyone elected to a public office. I believe his most constructive contribution to the community was his interest in the New Hope Baptist Church where he was a deacon, Sunday School superintendent, Bible class teacher, and janitor, also. His faithful work in these capacities kept this small congregation active for many years. His farm buildings were always kept in good repair and, when necessary, replaced by better structures. He was one of the first in the community to build an ice house for the storage of ice for summer use.

This building was filled each winter, weather permitting, with natural ice. Having ice in the summertime then was indeed a luxury and I can still enjoy the thought of iced tea and ice cream on those hot Kansas summer days. With the help of two neighbors, A. Graves and Frank Wilson, they each built silos for the storage of winter feed which was an innovation of the first order of those days. Along with the hand cranking of the cream separator, this was a good appetizer for cold winter mornings.

Nevertheless, the cream check was a steady source of income for the farmers of those days. He also raised fat hogs for market and arranged to have some ready to sell at tax paying time. I can remember his comment that hog prices always went down when it was necessary to raise money to pay taxes.

Horsepower in those days was just that -- horse power. He kept several teams for farm use and raised colts most every year to replace his stock or to have a surplus horse to sell for added income. My brothers and I made pets of the colts and it was a sad day when we had to part with one by way of the auction block. Father was a rather large man, physically, being about six feet tall and weighing around pounds in the prime of his life.

I can remember how he handled some of his livestock by sheer strength when the occasion arose. He is buried in the Wellsville, Kansas cemetery along with May Belle. After Matthew's death, Martha married John H. At the time he wrote these, he was living with his son Clarence Staley. They were written on scraps of paper and in the fronts of various books in his library.

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2. Darkest Dawn (Fear Street Nights).
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5. JAMIE BRICKHOUSE, author and comedic storyteller - Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir.

Jeff has corrected spelling errors. It was one of the most pleasant experiences of my life. Everyone treated me so kindly and I made some new friends which I shall ever remember with pleasure.

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My visit with the two brothers was especially enjoyed as I had not seen any of them for many years. The visit with Guy's folks was a real treat to me as I have not had the opportunity in all my life to visit my own brothers as I earnestly wished and especially so while May was yet with me. But now that she is gone, I must go alone the few remaining days of my life -- though not alone, because God has given me five sons who are my support and great joy and pride for which I thank and praise His name all the days of my life.



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I know when my task is finished here, there remaineth for me that joyous privilege of meeting those dear ones of mine that have gone before to that land promised to those that love the Lord and that walk in His ways. I look back over the many years of my life and remember that, in all those years, God has kept me and has not taken any of my dear ones from me until He called my beloved wife from me on April 19, I have good cause for rejoicing. And, as I see this physical house in which I live growing weaker day by day, this fact brings to me more vividly the truth that I have but few more days to remain.

Only a few days till I shall meet May in that land where there will be no more parting. May God help me to so use those remaining days, that I may be a joy and an inspiration to these wonderful sons He has given me. The thought is so sweet today that I must write it here as my dream memories. She seemed to smile and commend some act of mine. All such thoughts are a great comfort to me now in my lonely life. Oh, if she could be with me now! If only for just a few minutes!

Sweet Cherry Ray

But then I know that can never be again on earth; only in memory -- and these glimpses of her sweet face as it was when we first knew each other. Love is oh so sweet. A new week has begun; this old body tired, these eyes that have served me so well for near seventy-eight years are beginning to dim, so that my sight is getting poorer every day. And, while life is not a burden, it is not the joy it was when May and I first knew each other. God has blessed me in that I have five noble sons of whom I am very proud, yet I am sorrowing over the loss of that life partner He gave me and who has gone on to her reward to which I am soon to go and ever be with Jesus and her that is now with Him.

I am homesick for heaven and all those dear ones who have gone on before, and who I know are waiting on the shore to welcome me, and from where none ever return. Oh, glorious land where God my Christ of eternal beauty will through all eternity reign! May my God hasten the day when I shall lay this useless and painful body down and take that perfect, sinless one which God has promised all who love and obey Him. But I know as long as He permits me to remain, He still has a task for me to do which is not yet completed.

And it is my remaining task to seek out and do that work until I shall hear that welcome call, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Come up higher and receive the reward that is prepared," not only for me, but for all who are faithful to the end. For God has a work for each of us to do that we each must finish before the call comes. Oh, that we may be patient and faithful to that task, knowing that He has promised that we shall not lose our reward! So I pray God, that I may ever be faithful. This book I bought early in my Christian life and which I have read several times.

I place it at the top of all the books on this subject I have ever read, except of course the Book of all books, the Bible. My wish and earnest prayer is that each of my five sons may want to read it as often as I, their father, has read it. It has been a source of spiritual uplift to me and a mine of information which I have used in my work in my many years work in the Sunday School. It gives one a vivid picture of what a real follower of Christ may expect in this sin-cursed world.

Peace will never come to this world until Christ and His teaching are accepted by all mankind. Yours in Christ, A. Staley by the members of New Hope Church and S.

The data above was written by my dear wife who was taken from me April 19th, And now this Bible is especially prized by me on that account as well as the cause for which it was given and the dear friends making the gift. And now, in my remaining days, as I go from place to place, it is always with me and my constant companion.



It is at all times on the table before me from which I read every day, if possible. I hope when I am gone it will be received by loving hands and hearts that shall ever keep in memory the devoted life of mother and the fond prayers of father as well as the words written in this book. Written on Christmas Day, , at Topeka, Kansas, by me. Most of it, I am sure, will necessarily be what I have remembered of her and boyhood recollections of my early life at home. Of the three or so years she lived there, I know very little. I do know that in , when she was three years old, she came with her parents to Kansas.

They traveled overland by covered wagon, which was the usual manner of moving with one's household goods and livestock in those times. The party consisted of my grandfather Matthew, his brother John F. Lamb and their families. I recall my mother telling of sitting on the wagon tongue with her cousin Charles F. Lamb when they were in camp while on the way.

The party crossed the Mississippi River by ferry at Hannibal, Missouri. By what route they came through Missouri, I do not know. The next day the party moved to their respective farms ten miles east of Ottawa on the Logan Street road. Uncle John Lamb bought a farm just south of grandfather's place on the south of the Paola road which ran between the two farms. I do not know what buildings were on these two farms when they bought them, but I do know that Grandfather Lamb built or added to the house that was there and that the house was framed with native Walnut lumber.

The barn that he built was made of Northern White Pine and is still standing at the time this was written. Mother spent her girlhood days on this farm and of this time of her life, I know very little. She did attend a country school, Evergreen District 42, which was located one-quarter mile north and one-half mile west of their home. It was not on an established township road, but was in the center of the section of land immediately west of their farm, because this was the exact center of the school district.

Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir

The Phillips family lived north and east about a mile. Mother's especial girlfriend was a Bosworth girl about her age. Her first name I do not remember, but I do remember that she married a school professor who later taught at Harvard University. For that reason, she was very much "looked up to" by her old friends.

Mother's total schooling was received at this country school and they must have taught the three R's quite well because Mother was an excellent speller and not so bad in arithmetic. I do not know anything of the courtship of my mother and father. My father's family lived about a mile and a half west of Mother's home on the Ottawa road near Hickory Creek. They probably met at some of the neighborhood parties that were quite common in those times; school and church programs, box suppers, and just neighbors visiting. Mother and father were married March 2, , at the home of grandfather Lamb by a Reverend Scherer, a Presbyterian minister who was a friend of the family.

After a year, they returned to the home farm which they bought from my Grandfather Lamb. My grandparents then moved to Wellsville, Kansas, where my grandfather was involved in several business ventures including a term as postmaster. Mother's life from now on was that of a farm wife and the busy occupation of raising a family of five boys. There was a continual round of preparing three meals a day and, in those days, you could not depend on boxes of prepared foods and frozen vegetables.

In fact, there were few, if any, fresh fruits or vegetables unless they could get them from their own garden. All cooking was done on a stove fired by wood which was cut by manual labor with a crosscut saw and an axe. Preparing meals was a continual daytime job and the dishwashing and cleaning up went well along into the evening hours. This method of cooking over a wood fire continued until gas was introduced in the neighborhood and a pipeline was laid by the farm.

Then we had gas heat and gas lights. It was usually the farm wives' task to raise a flock of chickens which supplied eggs and meat for our own table as well as income from the sale of eggs to the town grocer. Mother often raised a flock of 40 or 50 turkeys which were marketed about Thanksgivingtime. If the market was good, this made a welcome additional income for articles of clothing needed by the family for the coming winter. Turkey raising was quite difficult and required much attention. First of all, they hid their nests out and they had to be searched for so as to save the eggs to place under a chicken hen for hatching.

This way, the turkey hen would lay another batch of eggs instead of incubating the first laying and raising the poults herself. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Southpaw by Frank King. Southpaw by Frank King. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Southpaw , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Michael rated it liked it Oct 05, Nate rated it liked it Mar 21, Aaron Brammer rated it liked it Dec 30, Krista Silsby ruthstrom rated it it was ok Feb 09, Richard King rated it liked it Nov 12, Thebossinthewall rated it it was ok Oct 26, Dan added it Aug 28, Peta added it Sep 15,