During my teenage years, my father would have two weeks off during the summer, and we would head for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where all my relatives lived.
My grandmother, Izella White Hare, had a big 12” x 15” x 6” leather-bound bible, which had a heavy silver latch on it that was about 4” wide and 6” long. The hinge was on the bottom, and the latch came up and snapped shut to keep the book closed. The Bible’s cover had a raised design with silver lettering and was so heavy that I had trouble picking it up. In the middle of the Bible were all the sheets for family information along with an elaborately printed Temperance Pledge. The Bible also had huge colored pictures with gold accents of the great bible stories. These pages were suitable for framing and would have been an excellent addition to any church office, hall, or narthex.
The Bible Looked Just Like This, Except It Was Red.
My grandmother may or may not have been joking about the Temperance Pledge. I was never really sure. A Temperance Pledge was a promise that you would not consume alcohol. Beginning in my late teens, Grandma Hare tried her best to get me to sign the Temperance Pledge in this Bible. Whenever it came up, I always had to wiggle my way out of the subject. “Isn’t it time for me to get a bath and go to bed, Grandma?” or “Hey, Grandma, didn’t you say you wanted your windows washed?” As I got older, I would ask her if she had any beer in her fridge, offering to split one with her. She never thought that was very funny. Through the years, the Bible became so worn that every time you picked it up, it left a substantial portion of the cover behind. If you are familiar with the Peanuts character “Pig Pen,” who leaves a cloud of dust everywhere, he goes…well, that’s what the Bible did. I checked with the book bindery downtown about having the colossal book rebound, but the cost was prohibitive.
The Infamous Temperance Pledge That No One Else Signed
It Was A Beautiful Bible
When my Aunt Marian moved to Jacksonville, the Bible came with her and ended up at my mother’s house. My mother tried her best to get me to take the Bible home. Mother was tired of cleaning up the mess that the Bible left behind. My response was always, “Thanks, but no thanks.” My brother and his wife didn’t want it either, so my mother ripped out the middle pages where the family births, deaths, and marriages were written. After serious thought, Mom decided to donate it to the youth group at the church for their annual rummage sale. Someone bought the Bible and took it home only to decide that this Bible with its beautiful gold accented pictures must have been given away by mistake. They tracked my mother down through the church office, drove over to her house, knocked on her door, and returned it. They had the tell-tale red dust on their clothes, and the Bible continued to disintegrate as they spoke on the porch. What else could my mother do but take the musty, mildewed Bible back and say thank you? She called me and said, “Great…NOW what do I do with it?” Mom decided to put it out for the city to take but made the mistake of putting the Bible on top of the garbage can instead of inside the garbage can. She probably did that out of respect for the Bible. When the man saw it, he too thought it must have been thrown out by accident and marched up the driveway and knocked on the front door at 5:30 AM am to return it. My mother just looked at him and said, “Thanks.” The Bible was, by now, in worse shape, having sat out in the street all night.
“There are no specific scriptural instructions on how to dispose of an old Bible. While God’s Word is holy and to be honored, there’s nothing sacred or hallowed in the physical materials: the paper, parchment, leather, and ink”.
By now, this Bible had become a running joke, and we marveled at its ability to find its way home each time it was thrown away. My mother was determined, and I finally agreed to take it. I told my mother that she didn’t have to worry anymore about the Bible. I couldn’t get rid of it either until I took it to work, where you could always find a home (for profit or not) for any unwanted object. The people I had the pleasure of working with were, for the most part, wonderful people. Not only would the majority of them eat any and everything considered food, but someone would always buy whatever you had on hand to sell. I liked this about them.
I didn’t want to sell the Bible, but I tried to find it a home and someone who wasn’t particular about dust and disintegrating leather and might even read it. So, as it goes, I found a friend who made beautiful greeting cards with a religious theme. She was part of a group of women at her church who made hand-crafted greeting cards sent to parishioners, priests, and the sick. Her cards were terrific little works of love and art with beautiful collages on the fronts of the cards and selected bible passages and prayers inside. I thought my Bible would be a source of art and scripture for this card-making group, and my friend wholeheartedly agreed. So I handed the Bible over to her, and for many years I thought it was used for that purpose.
Years later, I ran into my friend one evening in a restaurant, and we chatted about retirement and old friends at work we wondered about. Then, out of curiosity, I asked her about the Bible and had it helped out in her group’s card making. Her answer was no. They were afraid or thought it was too beautiful to cut up.
I’m left feeling just a little guilty (but not very much), just like my mother. I have no regrets. I took the burden off of my mother, and for that, she was grateful. However, I am ever mindful of the power of lightning.
I think it’s not IF a lightning bolt will hit me, but WHEN it will hit me. According to an article in the Orlando Sun Sentinel, Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, second only to Rwanda. I take cover or get wet rather than use an umbrella during lightning storms. I have given up golf.
If it could happen to the cow, it could happen to me.
A Poor Cow Hit By Lightning
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