Old Man of the Sea -- Part 1

                                       OLD MAN of the SEA -- Part 1


This was written nearly two years ago but it is the first time appearing here. This is Part ! of several in this series from an interview.

Old Man of the Sea (Part one)

  Before I begin this message, I want to ask you a question. It is some time before
Christmas. Will you greet people with "merry Christmas", or "happy holidays"? Give
it serious thought. What better way to offer a "soft" witness?

  Sometimes things seem to come about through coincidences, but I'm a firm
believer that these occasions are orchestrated by God. Recently I had the
opportunity to dwell on the subjects of religion, culture, history and business
with someone who had this lifetime experience through just short of 100 years.
Getting this information face-to-face from a person who didn't have to read it
in a history or other book, who had LIVED through it, was fantastic. Better yet,
I could ask questions.

  There will be direct references to scripture as it may apply throughout, so
don't think this is simply a personal historical travelogue. I will not interrupt his
story except when I ask a specific question. Subjects will not be addressed
chronologically for the most part, and be certain to check out the scripture
references.

  Pastor: You have been a man of the bible for many years?
  Old Man of the Sea: Most of my life. We had a big family bible written in German.
I learned enough German to speak it, but it was hard to read it in the bible because
the printing wasn't like English. I got myself a small bible in English I could carry in
a pocket if I wanted to. As I got older, and very busy, I always read scripture every
night before I went to bed.

  Pastor: Was the bible and church very important during your early years?
  Old Man of the Sea: We lived on a farm several miles from town and the location
of the family church. Those were horse and buggy days, and sometimes my folks
had to decide between taking a day to town to sell our produce or going to church.
We had a big family, and needed the money from things like milk, eggs, meat and
produce in season. My mother would get out the big family bible on the weeks we
didn't go to church.

  Pastor: So you didn't receive much bible instruction from a pastor or teacher?
  Old Man of the Sea: We called them preachers in those days. No, I didn't get
much teaching from anyone, really. My Dad told me God could work miracles. I
saw things happen sometimes that were hard to believe, and Dad always said God
was working and people better watch out.

  Pastor: Did your family pray often?
  Old Man of the Sea: As a family we did. I had older brothers and sisters who
were already out on their own when I was little.  My mother always quoted
Matt. 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am
there in the midst of them." Whenever there was a problem or need, there would
be prayer. We kind of had our own little church.

  Pastor: Do you think there was a different value of morals in those days?
  Old Man of the Sea: We lived in a rural, small town area. Today people would
say we lived in the sticks. I don't believe good and evil change much, but there
was a strong Christian moral value in much of that rural area, much more than
I can see anywhere today. There was also a strong sorta backlash against
people who seemed to flaunt being bad. Young people weren't so taken with
sex. There was more of a courtship attitude. Girls were more modest, and boys
more respectful. We weren't all angels, but we were held to a much higher
standard than today's kids.

  Pastor: What about jobs and business? Did the average person give much
thought to the actions of business or employers?
  Old Man of the Sea: Just about everybody wanted a job. Of course married
women mostly were housewives. That didn't change much til after World War II.
Pay for young women was pretty bad. Many quit school and went to work to
help support their family. Same with the boys. Most jobs in those days were
for unskilled labor. Lots of kids from the country had to walk to town every day
to their jobs. Hours were long and there were no benefits. The stores were
more honest. Most were small businesses and the owners knew most of
their customers.

  Pastor: There weren't any labor unions, no welfare as we know it, no
unemployment and no social security. What happened to the people who
worked all their lives but couldn't save up for retirement?
  Old Man of the Sea:  Ever hear of the Poorhouse? Local government came
up with the solution through creating "poorhouses". That was a type of
residence maintained by the county for people with no income. In those days
families were stronger, with grandparents and poorer relatives depending on
the family for survival. It was mother, father, kids, grandparents and maybe an
aunt or uncle living together.

  Pastor: Was that true in cities, too?
  Old Man of the Sea: I don't know much about that, but when we visited relatives
in the city, it was the same. They were more crowded, but seemed to have about
the same security as we did. The Christians I knew in that era believed in the
family structure taught by God's Chosen, the Jews. Families mostly took care of
their own. There was some discrimination against divorced women. In those
days divorce was really frowned on, and those women had a really hard time.

  Pastor: What about big business? Did the average person have much
knowledge about big business and its leaders?
  Old Man of the Sea: Nothing like today. There wasn't much information for us
because there was no television, no "national" newspapers, few magazines
with anything, no national radio networks or mass media on it. What we thought
about it was that it was far beyond our ability to do anything about it. We just
hoped there would be jobs and enough wages to live on. We hoped the big
money men would heed scripture as we prayed. Deut. 25:4 "You shall not
muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Luke 10:7 "And remain in the same
house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy
of his wages." and I Tim.5:18 "For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an
ox while it treads out the grain', and ' The laborer is worthy of his wages". For
the most part, that didn't happen. Wages kept most of us at or below what is
termed the poverty level. There was no such thing as workers' rights, no sick
benefits, no job seniority. If you got old and slowed up, you were out. If you
got hurt, you were out. Without a family or church you were in bad shape.
The bigshots were bottom liners, as you call it today,and weren't beyond
cheating big time to swindle you out of money.

  Pastor: How do you mean swindle you out of money?
  Old Man of the Sea: I can give you a sample, if you want, but there never was
any legal proof. Like today, the poor couldn't afford a lawyer, and lawyers'
reputations weren't very good back then, either.

  Pastor: By all means, tell us about it.
  Old Man of the Sea: This family owned a decent sized farm in the gas and oil
drilling area. Most of western Pennsylvania was the hot sport of drilling at the
time, and there was big money in it. As a young man I worked in that area until
I was hurt and had to have an operation on my back. It was hard and dangerous
work and rough work. Anyway, this farm was in an area where speculators were
leasing property. The owner of the local town's largest industry asked this family
if he could see their deed so he could get an idea of the land's location. The
family gave him a copy of the deed, and he took it with him to read. When he
returned it later, they didn't examine it closely. After a short time they were told,
by a lawyer, of course, that the mineral rights to their property was not on the
deed. Those rights were now the property of the bigshot. None of their kids were
old enough to investigate, and the husband and wife were not very well
educated, so they did nothing. A later generation did check the courthouse, but
there wasn't any legal trail to follow. The landowners had long since died. From
what the old timers told me, this happened a lot.

  Pastor: I understand the leases that were written didn't give property owners
very much.
  Old Man of the Sea: That's right. Of course it's only been the past few years
that property owners have received a fair shake. Up until then, gas and oil
companies only paid 5$ or 10$ an acre for a lease.

  Pastor: I want to talk to you more about modern drilling, but we're getting away
from the main thrust of this interview, which is the bible and Christianity.

  (To be continued)