Independence; J. Till

Mrs. Till is a housewife in Houston. Her article is reprinted, by permission, from the Republi can Banner. principles. If parent~ use the fam ily as a zone of safety from the responsibility of laboring to apply basic moral principles, then they should be ready to see their chil dren on television during the mass arreBtB at the local university. If the principles of private owner ship and personal responsibility are not worth teaching by word and example to one's children, they are not worth teaching at all. ~ ne JACQUELYN TILL It seems I remember him best in hot weather. Perhaps because it was in summer I saw him most; or maybe because that's the best time of year and we remember things we like best at t,imes we like best. Anyway, on a hot sum mer day about 11 :30, after setting the table, I would run to the field to tell him that it was almost "dinner time." Not that it was nec essary for he was always at the house by noon. Never a noonday passed that he didn't listen to Gab riel Heater give the news.

522 THE FREEMAN September Yet, I would go because this time of walking to the house with him was a glorious time. It was then Papa would talk. Not exact ly to me because I was a child and he really didn't know how to have "meaningful discussions" (as mod ern psychologists \vould say) with one so small. But talk he would. And since there was only me to hear him, it was a special time, indeed. I would have to walk fast, almost run, to keep up with his long strides. Too, I was trying to step on patches of grass where I could because black Texas dirt scorches bare feet. Along we went, the t,vo of us, never holding hands (I was always two or three steps behind) ,never touching. He talked and I absorbed every word, never speaking. I didn't need to, for at these times I was part of his soul. Remembering Things During these walks I found that he had played in the Alamo when he was small like me, before it had been restored by the Daugh ters of the Republic of Texas. He would tell of pretending he was Bowie or Crockett or Travis, but mostly Bowie. Dh, how I longed to have been there then. He had slept in packing-crates many nights be cause he had left home so young.

Though I wouldn't have said so, I was glad I wasn't there then. Once Papa said he didn't remember having a pair of shoes until he was nearly thirteen. As I wig gled my toes in the hot dirt, I thought that would be nice for I did hate to wear shoes. Then he went on to say how he would sell papers and stand on the grate in front of the Bank in winter so the heated air would keep his feet warm. Tears almost came as I thought of him with no shoes in the cold - thought of my own feet in winter when I jumped into bed between icy sheets before the bed got warm. No, it would not be nice to be without shoes. He told how one day a man, a complete stranger, took him off the street and bought him a pair of shoes without so much as "by-your leave." I loved that man, whoever he was. I discovered Papa could count and say all kinds of funny sound ing words in Spanish and that he taught himself to read and do numbers. That was why he whis pered to himself when he read and pointed to the words sometimes even though he was grown, some thing we were never allowed to do in school, not even use a marker anymore. He talked of men, too, like Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and Sam Houston. He talked about William Tell who wouldn't bow to another man's hat and how that was the most impor tant part of the story, not the 1971 INDEPENDENCE 523 part about shooting an apple off his son's head. I couldn't see why, but Papa said it, so I knew it was so.

A Greater Vision t1ach -Um.e, about mid-way to the house, Papa would stop and look out across the land and I would stop and look too. All I could see were pastures, fields, a few cows, and heat making it look wavy. I would look up at Papa again and then look back across the countryside because it seemed he saw something so wonderful out there; but all I had missed on my first look were a few bees buzz ing in a "Black-eyed-Susan." It wasn't until much later, when Papa lived only in my heart, that I realized he was telling me on these walks, the best way he knew how, of this country where a boy could have so little and still be come a man that could do so much. He was telling me of this country where one man was as good as another regardless of his mone tary wealth or position and where he could achieve whatever he set out to achieve. He need pay homage to no man. He was telling me of this country where men helped others in need, not because they had to, but simply because they wanted to; because it was the right thing to do.

Yes, I realized then that this tough, leathery farmer, ram-rod straight and strong, knew that great as the legacy of freedom was, it was not quite enough for his granddaughter. He had been giving me that greatest of gifts - an awareness of it all. He knew one day in the future I would put together these pieces he had placed in my mind. On that day, when I stood barefoot again to feel the hot, black dirt, looking out across this same country, remembering those long ago days, I finally saw what he had so often seen. This time, when Papa was standing not in front of me but within me, I was able to see through his eyes the wondrousness of this country. The gift he had been giving throughout the years was now totally mine. And I knew, at last, why I so love the word "Independ ence." , CLARENCE B. CARSON THE FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 2 The English Heritage 524 ONE of the major elements in the complex of experience and back ground which the Americans brought to their founding activi ties was their English heritage.