November 10, 2014 (Monday)
In 1973 I went to a Baptist convention in Oregon. While there I met up with a dear friend, a Baptist minister who had retired on a very meager income. He immediately told me about the exhibit booths at the convention where free food samples were available. He showed me some cheese from the Wisconsin booth and he had an apple and an orange together with other small samples from other states. We had lunch together at an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant and he showed me how to eat so much I would not have to have another meal that day. Necessity had led him to find the “free stuff.”
In my earlier days of ministry, I led music or preached in many revival meetings. Usually in those days I was housed for the week in one of the homes of church members. I was always shown delightful hospitality in those homes, and have many nice memories. One home was especially interesting because the lady had enlisted in a program that provided her with free small appliances and other useful items for the home. All she had to do was make use of the stuff and send a report about it to the supplier. She assured me there was no “catch” to it and the items were hers to keep after trying them out. She liked her “free stuff.”
This morning a song kept rummaging about in my head. This happens often. Today the song was about “free stuff:”
(Composed in 1927 by B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson)
The moon belongs to everyone,
The best things in life are free.
The stars belong to everyone,
They gleam there for you and me.
The flowers in spring, the robins that sing,
The moonbeams that shine, they’re yours, they’re mine.
And love can come to everyone,
The best things in life are free.
Hear “The Ink Spots” sing this wonderful old song. Click here. (This takes you to “You Tube” where, if you like, you can hear Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford and others sing this great old song. While there, be sure to here the Ink Spots sing their great hit, “If I Didn’t Care”).
Huey Long, the last of the Ink Spots, died in Houston in June, 2009, at the age of 105. Every weekend he showed up at his museum at 117 E. 20th in the Heights, to visit and reminisce with whoever wanted to stop and talk with him.Click here to visit the online museum.