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    Where the Meadowlark Sings: In Spoon River Country
    Where the Meadowlark Sings: In Spoon River Country
    Where the Meadowlark Sings: In Spoon River Country
    Ebook81 pages1 hour

    Where the Meadowlark Sings: In Spoon River Country

    By Betty L. Clifford

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    About this ebook

    Familythe very word evokes foundation, roots, genealogy, warmth, and belonging. A family is a treasured gift from God, our heavenly Father.

    Due to circumstances beyond our control, our family was broken by our mother's untimely death. By faith and God's grace, our father was able to keep us together as a family unit. It takes much prayer and wisdom to raise a child and especially four of them.

    Now in my own elder years, I am very thankful for this gift. How very empty and alone I would have been without knowing my father and brothers. Without being a part of this common ancestry and lineage. Wondering forever: Who am I? Why am I here? Instead I have inherited this unity, singleness of heart and bond of understanding that begins on the day of birth upon bonding with mother and father.

    Family! Treasure it. Hold each member to your heart and never let them go.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateMar 31, 2014
    ISBN9781490830940
    Where the Meadowlark Sings: In Spoon River Country
    Author

    Betty L. Clifford

    The author was born in 1938 in Waterford Twp., Illinois. She grew up in Bernadotte Twp., Illinois, on a 250-acre farm with her father and brothers. She attended local schools and two years at Western Illinois University. She later married a minister and had five children. She attended nursing school after her children were grown. Retired, she now lives in Richmond, Virginia.

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      Book preview

      Where the Meadowlark Sings - Betty L. Clifford

      CONTENTS

      Preface

      Acknowledgments

      PART I

      Where The Meadowlark Sings

      Chapter 1 Seasons of Plenty

      Chapter 2 Taken by Death

      Chapter 3 Saying Good-Bye

      Chapter 4 From Grace to Glory

      Chapter 5 The Dream

      Chapter 6 Place of Dreams

      Chapter 7 Recapturing the Dream

      Chapter 8 Hand of Providence

      Chapter 9 A Time Just for Plowing / A Time Just for Planting

      Chapter 10 The Vow

      Chapter 11 To Be Close to the Earth

      Chapter 12 Seasons of Healing

      Chapter 13 Catfish Jumping as High as the Sky

      Chapter 14 Building the Bridge

      Chapter 15 Little Girl Dreams

      Chapter 16 Tree of Knowledge

      Chapter 17 A Time Just for Living

      Chapter 18 Fading Leaves

      Chapter 19 All Nature Sings

      Chapter 20 Green Leaves of Summer Are Calling Me Home

      PART II

      Reflections Of Family

      From the Portico

      Portrait of Alta Demott Bennett

      The Little Messenger Boy

      Ancient Springs

      Eventide Prayer

      About the Author

      Preface

      This is a love story that I felt compelled to write. In looking back, it is so easy to see God’s hand at work in the life of our family and, yes, even in many ages past! I write to remember and show to others God’s faithfulness and steadfast redeeming love for all who believe. I write to encourage others who have gone through deep valleys and challenging circumstances to look up and see there is one who cares and shares that heavy burden. By faith (Hebrews 11), mankind can find a way, and peace and rest, in Jesus, who calls out, Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28–30).

      Every life is a story of God’s love. We only exist because He has given us the breath of life. Psalm 139 states, Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there were none of them…How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in unmber than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

      Many, however, do not acknowledge or are unaware of God’s presence moment by moment in the daily cares of this life.

      May you see His hand in these writings I share.

      Acknowledgments

      Thanks to my father, August Wesley Jockisch, to Uncle Lyle Bennett (my mother’s brother), to my brother, Caleb William Jockisch, and to all others who provided pictures and memories that have guided me on this very special journey to where the meadowlark sings.

      To my son, Roger Leslie, and grandson, Timothy Leitherer:

      Thank you for special guidance with computer technology.

      PART I

      Where the Meadowlark Sings

      To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

      —Ecclesiastes 3:1 (King James Version)

      A time to be reaping, a time to be sowing.

      A time just for living, A place for to die.

      It was so good to be young then, to be close to the earth.

      Now the green leaves of summer are calling me home.

      Green Leaves of Summer from The Alamo (1961)

      The Brothers Four

      CHAPTER 1

      Seasons of Plenty

      A TIME TO BE COURTING A GIRL OF YOUR OWN

      By faith, the world turns and seasons come and go. The Spoon River is flowing peacefully, with the current ruffling gently at the center of the stream. The current, like a great heartbeat, keeps the water flowing, down to the smallest of inlets and capillaries along the river’s edge. No part of the riverbed is undernourished by the steady stream of water.

      It seemed to August that all of life was tied to rivers, including his own. His forbearers had journeyed bravely across the great Atlantic and then to the city of New Orleans and up the Mississippi River. From there, the great river interstate joined the Illinois River at St. Louis, then on to Beardstown near Springfield and Abraham Lincoln’s New Salem to Bluff Springs. At Bluff Springs, his family of German immigrants claimed the land and carved out a living in their new world.

      After they built homes for their families and shelters for the livestock, a church was given priority. A place of worship was most significant for their family’s quality of life! The omnipotent God had to be given a place of worship and thanksgiving, much like an altar to Him who had brought them safely across the great deep to a place of new beginnings. Now August gazed at the Spoon River near the farm fields he worked so hard to plow to produce a living for his newly formed family. He felt at peace with the world as he gazed at the river.

      The Spoon was a smaller river that flowed into the great Illinois River, which served as a waterway for shipping grain, coal, and lumber, the main economic products of the state. He studied it carefully,

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