September 28, 2008
CHAMPION—September 28, 2008
The good news in Champion is on every hand. There has been more hay to make. The community is overrun with visitors, friends and family. The ravages of Hurricane Ike are being repaired. Apples have made well this year. The weather has been delicious. While some are fighting off colds and more serious maladies, there is scant complaint to be heard. Champion is one of those places “Whur the honeysuckle smells so sweet/ It durn near makes you sick.” That is a metaphor for the place as being beautiful and tranquil and it is also a line from a favorite Champion song “I’m Goin’ Back to Whur I come From.” Carson Robison was the author of that one and “The Wreck of the No. 9.” He was from Oswego, Kansas and wrote many other 1920’s songs including “The West Plains Explosion.” This information came in a note from Darrell Haden the other day in response to a recent plea to him for reminiscent songs of an uplifting, toe tapping, light hearted type. He said, “We’ve all had a surfeit of honeysuckle on occasion.” Another lovely letter has arrived from his cousin, Ethel McCallie. It is ten pages of excellent penmanship in her free flowing conversational style of writing. She is a great fan of Champion and was most pleased to have been able to stop in at the Champion Reunion back on the Labor Day week-end. The full text of her letter can be found on the website: www.championnews.us. It can be located in the “Champion Friends” section under “Oklahoma Friends.”
Haymakers Barbara and Harley Krider have spent a few days in the Village. Barbara says the apples have been good up in Illinois too. They made a nice tour the other day that took them down to Brixie and to Rockbridge and Hodgson’s Mill. Even Champions can get so caught up in their daily struggles and victories sometimes that they neglect the local wonders. That can be easily remedied on October 4th and 5th when Dale and Betty Thomas once again host the Pioneer Descendants Gathering. Somewhere down county road 341 is a sign that says “The Edge of the World.” Their place is a sprawling farm at the end of the road down by Bryant Creek. It is nice and flat down there at the bottom of a long steep hill and the Gathering spreads out over several acres. There will be demonstrations of cow milking, corn grinding, rail splitting, horse shoeing, molasses cooking, chair caning, soap making, basket weaving and the like. Antique engines and tractors will be exhibited together with a number of classic cars and trucks and old implements and wagons. This is a public event that runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. There will be music and food and plenty of Champions in attendance. It is an excellent opportunity to run into neighbors and friends seldom seen.
This is the kind of weather that finally gets some old Champions off the porch and out in the garden. They are getting ready to plant garlic and getting ready to think about getting the garden put to bed for the winter. Walnuts are falling at a fierce rate. Maybe the price will hold. Currently it is $13.00 per hundred. Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that all the way through October 5th will be good to plant crops bearing yield above ground….leafy greens and things that can stand the cold. Sweet potatoes will be filling the larder soon and the persimmons are beginning to change colors.
A sweet little granny of an old Champion woman used to talk about making a nice green persimmon pie for the Yankee boys. She was not particularly interested in being politically correct. Some are saying there is hardly anything correct about politics but finally an old Champion has stepped up with some information about how the Presidential election works. “The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election. It consists of 538 representatives. Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress.” (Missouri has eleven electors but most folks don’t know who they are or exactly how they got to be there.) “The candidate that wins the most votes in the state wins the support of all of that state’s electors. This system was decided upon on at the Constitutional Convention on September 6, 1787. Over the years numerous constitutional amendments have been submitted to replace it with a direct popular vote, however no submission has ever successfully passed both houses of Congress.” It is a ‘winner-take-all’ system and Champions are more than ever convinced that every vote counts. Now perhaps this expert will fill in the information gap about just who those electors are and how they got to be there.
“When Johnny comes marching home again Hurrah! Hurrah! We’ll give him a hearty welcome then Hurrah! Hurrah!” This beautiful song is happy or sad depending on the tempo at which it is sung and on whether it is sung by a single plaintive voice or by an enthusiastic crowd. All the returning soldiers from the conflicts in the Middle East could benefit by a reception that reflects the Love and Gratitude of their Nation. The survivors of those who do not return may be comforted by these expressions but their loss is enduring. The war wounds that are not apparent now will be making themselves known for years to come.
Good news is always welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717. Fill in the information gaps concerning politics, gardening, good neighbor gossip, and music at Champion News and look for all the words to “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” at www.championnews.us. Lean on a porch post at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion and listen to the crack-pot notions of the opposition or drown out their rantings with a stirring rendition of any Champion song. Those are the ones that Look on the Bright Side!
