<TITLE>04. Par 15-18</TITLE>L-15 And we had a spring down below the house. And--and I used to go down there, and had a gourd. Used to dip the water up in an old cedar bucket with a gourd. How many knows what a gourd is? Say, I'm not the only country boy here today, am I? No, sir. I feel better now. Makes my clothes fit me better. I know what you're talking about.
All right. Had an old gourd, lay on that old spring. My, what a time. And back under a rock, had the butter setting there, you know. All right. Couldn't keep the cream there, because there's too many little Branhams, and that... Yes, sir. We all liked it.

L-16 So pop used to get seventy-five cents a day and a bucket of milk every night. Mama would skim the cream off of it to save for the butter. And so that'd keep as long. Sometimes it'd sour, nearly before you got to churn it. We used to churn it in a... Had an old churn, and had a lamp chimney setting on top of it, you know. You rise it up-and-down. Did you ever do that? My, just looky here, brother. My, did you ever grind coffee? Have the coffee mill set... Oh, my, that does it. Well, how many's here from Kentucky anyhow? Let's see your hand. Oh, my. Well, anywhere along here... We're in a different day now, aren't we? You press a button, and the nation goes to work. That's right. So them was good old days, I guess. Anyhow, we had a little more brotherly love and feeling for one another in them days than what we do now. And...

L-17 I remember when dad used to make seventy-five cents a day, he'd come in home... Now, my daddy did that which was wrong. He drank. And he'd go pay off his bills, and what he had left, he--he'd drink it. And I hate to say that, and it's... But it's truth. If I have to tell anything, I--I must tell the truth. No matter if it's black against me, why, it--it's black. That's all. See? If it's something scarey to me, well, I might as well tell it here, because it's going to be on the canvases of the skies someday for everybody to look at. Not only had--would I confess it, but I'd been lying. So I'd just rather go right along and just tell the truth about it, and let it be just the way it is.
Daddy drank. Not only drink, but he made the--the whiskey. And when he would come in at home and--and drink right after he'd get his groceries all paid, so forth, he would--he would drink up what he had left. But I don't care what he ever done; I love him today in his grave. That's right. He was my daddy.

L-18 And look, young children, young folks, I don't care what it is; you always have a respect to your father and mother. I think one of the awfullest things that I can hear little children say, or young folks, "the old man" and "old woman." Listen. That's not the "old man" and "old woman"; that's your daddy and mother. And someday, when you see them going out of the room head first, and the wheels beneath the casket, squeaking, you'll know it isn't the "old man" or "old woman" then. That's right. You hear the preacher say, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," you realize the best friend you ever had on earth is going down.
The trouble of it is, you learn too late. Don't weep, and cry then, and send lots of flowers, give them to them now. Be a good boy or good girl.


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