IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

It came upon the midnight clear

That glorious song of old

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold

Peace on the earth, good will to men

From heaven’s all-gracious King

The world in solemn stillness lay

To hear the angels sing

*

The words of this favorite Christmas carol were written in 1849 by Edmund Hamilton Sears as a poem which inspired Richard Storris Willis to write the familiar accompanying tune in 1859.

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IN THE NEWSPAPERS. Two weeks ago, the High Profile feature in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was about Dr. Robert Arrington, who is practically regarded as a saint at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He’s the son of the late Gene and Mary Arrington, and he grew up out at the Peach Experiment Station on the Center Point highway.

We knew him as Bobby Arrington, the skinny guard who had a deadly jumpshot as a Scrapper roundballer. I do believe he was also valdictorian of his class. Apologies if wrong.

Also in the news in the Texarkana Gazette was Jean Harrison Bratton, featured in an article about T-Town’s Audobon Society chapter and birdwatching. She is the daughter of the late Alger and Charlie Mae Harrison, two truly wonderful people. She’s married to Michael Bratton, one of the great Scrapper running backs of a few decades back. And there have been two (2) Scrapper RBs named Michael Bratton.

Also in the newspapers was the obituary of John Ward, former editor of the Conway Log Cabin Democrat who left newspapers to become the spokesman and campaign manager for Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. Although John never lived here, his brothers Gary and Bill, and sister Judy, did. They were the children of Rev. Roy and Mamie Ward. Rev. Ward was pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church. John became a friend of mine through the Arkansas Press Association.

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ANIMAL CRACKERS. The people of Ouachita and Dallas counties can thank me for eliminating two of the largest, juciest bugs ever to fly at night in south Arkansas.

On the way back from the MS Hornet playoff football game at Bearden, last Friday night, I drove into those two Buuggss (I am spelling Buuggss that way on purpose because they were nearly twice as big as anything you’ve ever smacked into). Whatever they were, I am fairly sure they ruled the Ouachita River bottoms which is where I was when they whoomped into my windshield. Splat-SPLAT! They musta been flying in formation.

MORE ANIMAL CRACKERS. Someone please tell me why ‘my’ bluejays and cardinals prefer peanuts in a shell to raw shelled peanuts. I’ve tried both goober varieties at my backyard feeder and the shelled nuts sometimes sit around all day whilst the ones in the shell are gone within minutes. The birds know when I put out the nuts, and they swarm the low table where they are served.

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WHEN AN EMPTY sack blows out of the bed of that pickup truck ahead of you, it becomes a threat to wildlife. Even in some of the most remote parts of the United States.

A doctoral student studying rattlesnakes and desert tortoises in Arizona realized that she was seeing far more deflated balloons and plastic grocery bags than animals, and that led her to a scientific study of how we are destroying once-pristine areas.

The ballons (and the strings tying some of them together) and the grocery bags break down verrrrrrry slooooowly, and in the process become a threat to the wildlife. One concern is that the trash is eventually blown to the remote waterholes the animals depend upon.

Like me, those wild critters will eat practically anything. A Walmart bag doesn’t have much nutrition and tends to block the digestive tract much to the detriment of the animal.

Here in the ‘civilized’ world we depend upon public service workers to pick up balloons and plastic bags and other trash from roadsides, otherwise …… well, otherwise we’d be submerged in our own debris.

Maybe we need to export some of our plentitude of community service workers to the desert southwest.

Please don’t litter our countryside. Don’t let an old grocery sack or feed bag blow out of the back of your buggy.

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MY MISTEAK. Got a month ahead of myself in the article about Margaret Thompson signing her book. It is NOT Dec. 28. It WAS Nov. 29 at Nashville Drug. The book is her collection of interviews with local residents. If you’d like a copy I’m sure the folks at the drugstore can tell you how to obtain one. She might still have a copy of her book about Okay, Ark.

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PUNS AND adult truths from my piano friend at Fellowship: How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

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HE SAID: “Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, philosopher

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SHE SAID: “You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.” Pearl S. Buck, novelist

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SWEET DREAMS, Baby