Time passed by when I wasn't looking and here we are in the midst of summer with its lazy days. I remember how my mother would often say at day's end, "We are one day nearer eternity."
    I recall in summers past how on the 4th of July papa would "lay by" his crops. Mama was about through her canning and drying of fruits until the apples ripened in the fall. Everyone was ready for a rest and the big celebration on the 4th.
    Between the 4th and the fall harvest, there was always a revival meeting. As I recall, back then there was only one revival a year, held when folks weren't so busy. Often the men of the community would build a brush arbor. They made the framework of poles, then covered the top with brush. Sometimes there would be a large stump for a pulpit.
    Folks would come in wagons and buggies, often from a great distance. Usually the revival lasted two weeks and people got saved. There would be a "mourner's bench" for the ones seeking salvation and forgiveness of their sins. Few churches of today have a mourner's bench and one hears of revivals being held almost every week.
    Soon the katydids will be singing and the old timers would say, "It's three months until frost." The 25th of July was the time to sow turnip seed as there was always a "season" in the ground at that time.
    And so summer is fast slipping away. When I think of the changing seasons, I am reminded of the saying I heard as a child, "The seasons write a book; spring, summer and winter -- and autumn turns the leaves."

Mellie Smith
undated