Bartlebyby Carl Parks
When I was living on our country estate of three acres, years ago, my neighbor had a young daughter who bought a small pup that she carried around in her purse. It didn't stay a small dog that long, but grew into a large beast. While it was in her purse, it must have been starved for oxygen, because it was the dumbest dog ever born! It didn't help much when he ran in front of a car and got a concussion!
The dog's name was "Bartleby." We had a three-foot opening in the fence between my neighbor's property and mine, with an iron post on either side. The dog couldn't make it through that opening without trying to take out one of the posts with his head. You could whistle and he would turn and look the other way.
Remember the old saying that anytime a dog sees a fire hydrant, he wants to mark his territory? Well, Bartleby was one of those dogs …. except we didn't have any fire hydrants, so he would seek out a post or a bush, or even, one time, my son's leg! There was a lot of shouting and rock throwing, and Bartleby hit both iron posts that day, trying to get home! We'll keep Bartleby in mind, because we will come back later and he will re-enter the story.
It was about this time my wife Frances and I decided to open a print shop called "Insty-Prints." But before we opened, we thought we'd take a vacation to visit my cousin in Nevada. She and her husband were dog lovers, and they raised beautiful, registered collies. Frances admired "Sassie" and she followed Frances around. They grew to be good friends.
Well, we had our vacation and returned home and opened our print shop. About a week later, we received a notice from my cousin informing us that, because we liked Sassie so much, they were shipping her to us by air. She would be in Portland the next day, and we could pick her up! Now we liked dogs, but we were so busy, opening a new business, raising four kids, and keeping my job with the telephone company, we really didn't need a dog. But what could we do? I went to Portland to pick up Sassie. Well, I didn't know it at the time, but lo and behold, the plane ride had caused her to go into heat. We began having dog visitors from 20 miles around. One of our neighbors raised sheep, and was not happy to see eight or nine dogs in a pack, following Sassie around his sheep, and he threatened to shoot them all! So I built a pen, eight feet tall, and installed Sassie inside, thinking I had my problem solved.
Now remember Bartleby?
He was so enamored with his own charms that he figured he must pass them on to future generations. So he climbed my eight-foot fence, and had himself a ball! I kicked him out of the pen, yelled at him, and threw rocks. He hit his head again on my steel posts, and had a lopsided grin on his face as he headed home. Later, we had to send Sassie back to my cousin's. We found we just couldn't keep her. After a few months, we got a letter saying Sassie had some of the ugliest collie pups they had ever seen. They had a hard time giving them away. They called them "dinks."
Cartoons by Jackie McGuire
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Some years ago the Living Hope Church designated 7 o’clock Tuesday night as Prayer night. It was held at our regular meeting place. But as the number of those who attended decreased, it was decided that those remaining, and wanted to, would pray at our
individual homes at the same time on each Tuesday. Those of us who remember, have continued the practice of Tuesday night prayer.
Years ago, Wayne Mitchell asked me what I thought about having Communion once a month, and I told him it would be fine IF it could be kept meaningful and fresh without it becoming just another ritual.