The Spiker Family Gathering Place

Lutent Gen Albert Cody Wedemyers Sayings Readers Digest Oct 1946. 

If you trust a man and give him your best he’ll almost never let you down (Treat all men alike – Americans and Chinese. 

June 1946.  When his son grad’s from West Point The Father quoted a Chinese Proverb. 

A wise man learns from his experiences; A Wiser man learns from the experience of others.  Common Sence Old Prayer God grant me the courage to change the thing I can change the serenity to accept those I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference.  Never avail before facts.  Look at the difficulty and tell your-yourself what has to be done.
 

External Links referencing script above:

[Albert Coady Wedemeyer at Wikipedia]
 

To acquire the right point of view – and hold it is never easy. 

Deft 
Definitions                

Genealoegist 
One who traces your family as far back as your money goes. 

Home a place where a man is found to say anything he pleases because no one pays any attention to him. 

External Links referencing script above:

[Paper of Pins at Kididdles]
[Paper of Pins at Sniff - by American Ballads and Folk Songs, Lomax]
[Paper of Pins at Alabama Folk Life by Julia Greer Marechal, July 6, 1947]
 

Gay.

Transcriber's Notes:

The script shown directly above was written at the top of the following magazine clipping.
 

THE MOTHER 

She did not weep on bidding him good-bye.
It would have been a luxury to cry,
And few of those, she thought, lips faintly curled,
Are given to the mothers of the world.
She did not weep when he was out of sight,
Though in that poignant moment well she might,
Recalling how young he was – absurdly so –
Absurdly proud and glad he, too, could go.
Go.  Her heart froze, her boy gone somewhere away,
Leaving – ironically – on her birthday.
But that was tear-producing, that would keep.
And she could weep when others were asleep.
And it was fitting really, in a way,
To do her greatest, hardest job this day.
And anyway, motherhood was sigh on sigh
From never-ending bidding sons good-bye;
Losing them to school, to work, or to wives,
To their own distant, suddenly separate lives.
This was a new job, difficult to learn;
But once learned and learned well, he would return.
Return.  Why, she had things to do, to plan,
That might take longer than his absent span;
Some other time she’d think these foolish things,
When she had time for her rememberings.
Absurd things..how he looked when he was born;
His first long pants, how proudly they were worn;
Things that should make her want to laugh, not cry,
She’d save them for some midnight and then try.

Swiftly she went to a looking-glass and stood,
Made her lips smile to see if they still could,
And forcing them from the way they tried to go,
Dry-eyed she made them practice saying, “Hello.” 

Internal Link referencing script above:

[Robert Spiker at the Spiker Family Gathering Place]

June 9, 1946 

Flood of 1888 

The flood of July 9-10, 1888, was unquestionably the greatest of accurate record in the valley reaching a height of 22 ½ feet at Weston, 27 feet at the West Milford bridge, 25 feet at Clarksburg, 31 feet at Shinnston, 39 feet at Fairmont and 28.2 feet at Pittsburgh, where the flood state is 25 feet. 

We must assume from these known crest elevations the extent of the areas affected. 

The 1888 flood crests in the West Fork River and Elk Creek may be obtained by adding 25 feet to the height of normal stream flow elevations at any point within the city limits. 

A map showing the flood crests at 19 points with notes on expected damage to present lands and structures, upon a repetition of the flood, is attached. 

A recurrence of the floods of 1807, 1824, 1852, and 1888, would close four or more essential Clarksburg utilities, and therefore, all factories.  No one could enter or leave the city by any means of transportation. 

(c) Nature, amount, frequency and location of past flood damages. 

Flood frequencies follow: 

1807 to 1824, 17 years
1824 to 1852, 28 years
1852 to 1888, 36 years
1888 to 1846, 58 years past due. 

The flood of 1888 carried away all highway bridges on the West Fork River except the Lightburn and Maulsby bridges; sawmills and farm fences also were lost in the flood.

Drought frequencies: 

1838 to 1892, 54 years
1892 to 1904, 12 years
1904 to 1908,   4 years
1908 to 1930, 22 years
 

Who has not heard of the Miff Tree!
The most common thing under the sun!
It grows without soil, like an air plant;
And nearly everybody has one. 

It is easy to raise, it is started
From a little slip of the tongue;
And almost before you know it,
To giant proportions has grown. 

It is handy to climb up into,
When your feelings suffer a bump;
Or when the stock of your patience
Meets with a sudden slump. 

Its odor is not very inviting;
But for that nobody cards.
For when you climb up in a Miff Tree,
You always put on – airs. 

Give me a good digestion, Lord,
And also something to digest.
Give me a healthy body, Lord
With sense to keep it at its best.

Give me a healthy mind, good Lord,
To keep the good and pure in sight, 
Which seeing sin is not appalled,
But finds a way to set it right. 

Give me a mind that is not bored,
That does not whimper, whine or sigh.
Don’t let me worry overmuch
About the fussy thing called I.

Give me a sense of humor, Lord,
Give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some happiness from life,
And pass it on to other folk.

R. BROWN ZINN 

Mrs. J. F. Severin of Jane Lew received word Sunday that her brother, Brown Zinn, had died in a veterans’ hospital at Tucson, Ariz.  Mr. Zinn had been critically ill for six weeks, suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage.  He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Asa Cox Zinn; a daughter, Mary Kate, and the following brothers a sisters:  Blaine of Brownsville, Pa, Perry of Baltimore, Mrs. Frank Miller of Wilmington, Del., and Mrs. J. F. Severin of Jane Lew.
 

Melanie Spiker Fouse provided the following information referencing the obituary shown above:

Mrs. J. F. Severin is Olive Mary Zinn, sister to Roy Brown Zinn.  Roy's grandfather, George Wesley, was brother to our Quilly Manley who was father to Marion Bukey, Gay's father. It would be the same relationship as Haley to John Bob, Jonelle, Byron etc.

Roy's draft registration indicates he was Secretary to congressman Stuart Reed (spelled Stewart on the draft registration form), working in D.C.

External Links referencing script and notes above:

[Stuart F. Reed on Wikipedia]
[Stuart F. Reed on Nation Master]
 

and sorrow comes to all, high and low, but the people of Great Britain seem to have learned that there is strength in the merging of sorrow.  Where so many suffer, those who survive must be able to go on.  Going on means following the day’s routine and submerging sorrow and anxiety in the doing of little things that are always at hand to be done.