The Tent Revival Preacher

We got this ole fish hawk, some people call him a osprey. He sits high in this pecan tree on the banks of Harper Lake and every now and then he gets hungry and goes circling high above the water until he sets his eye on his dinner. Then he dives straight down, as straight as the part in Bobby Jones' hair, and hits the water with a slap like somebody swung down with a 2 by 6 board. He seems to always come up with a good size fish and flies to the same limb each time--not the one where he sits all day--and eats up that fish.
Now the sound he makes when he hits the water is like the slap to my soul when this tent revival preacher come to town and tore my heart to pieces.
This preacher, Rev. Jerry Truman, stayed for about a week, took up a slew of collections, and had a bunch of the women in town slobbering all over themselves. He warn't all that good looking but he had a kind of draw, don't you know. Even the men dropped all the money they could spare in his plates. At the end of the week he took down his tent, packed up his stuff and left town and Trixie left with him. Tomorrow I'm gonna tell you what Trixie said to me before she left.

How This Works by Hollis

It was I who prompted Uncle Harvey Lee to give me material for this blog. He has a reputation for storytelling and people in and around Harper are often seen in groups of four or more prodding him for another tale. I go to school five days a week and work a part-time job on Saturday and two or three evenings each week. It is easier for me to meet with Uncle Harvey Lee two or three days each week and gather the material for posting. As you can see I try to divide the stories evenly, not making any one day too long. I have promised my uncle to write everything as close to his words as possible. This is not an easy task and occasionally this difficulty may show in my work.
It is my wish that everyone will enjoy reading about Harper and Uncle Harvey Lee's life here. Your comments are appreciated. Please be frank. I will not show anything to my uncle that could cause him concern. If you enjoy reading about our town please tell your friends. Uncle Harvey Lee can't believe the response and asks me every time I see him for the numbers.

My First Year with Trixie

I'm gonna tell you Trixie was full of fun. She got me doing all kinda of things I never woulda believed I'd do. Like square dancing, we went to the Dance Barn every Wednesday night. That's when Bethel and me would have been in Prayer Meeting. And Trixie taught me how to do the Cha Cha Cha and the Twist and all kinda of fast dancing. I got pretty good because I had so much practice. The best thing Trixie did for me was take my mind off losing two wives. Especially Bethel. Trixie liked a lot of attention. She always slept right up against me and was always running her hand through my hair. She didn't cook none, but I could take care of breakfast and dinner. Trixie worked all day at the Glamor Shoppe selling dresses and shoes and women's stuff. We ate almost every supper at Dorothy's.
Trixie warn't no special religion, but she loved to go to any revival at any church. She'd get in the spirit and would leave plumb wore out. But she always seemed to revive herself any time she got in the bed.
My life with Trixie was real good, but little did I know the balloon was about to pop and send me crashing back against the wall.

From Hollis:
Now reading as the sycamore grows by Jennie Miller Helderman.

Meeting Trixie

A cold front come through Harper County last night and it didn't get no higher than the low eighties today.
We're all real glad. It's been one of the hottest summers we ever saw. Some people think it was that global warning thing. I never knew who was giving the warning. Warning or not it was hot.
But the cool nights fit right in with me telling you about me meeting Trixie, who turned out to be my third and last wife. That night was the first cool night that year too.
I don't think I told y'all but my business was as a welder. My granddaddy started a blacksmith shop years ago which turned into a welding business with my daddy. I did all kinds of welding jobs, but for fun I did welding art. Still do. And at the county fair I took some of my stuff for sale and display. That's when I first saw Trixie. She was from the next county down and had not been to Harper a lot. I'll have to say she was a knockout. I had done a little metal monkey that could be hung from a tree. And Trixie was real took in by it. She said who did this thing. And I said I did. And from then on we was locked in love.

Looking Back on Bethel and Mary Kate

When I look back on my first two wives, I can't help but see how different they each was. Bethel was trim and real pretty. She put up with a whole bunch from me with my drinking and running around and all. She will always be my one true love. I can never get back all the time I wasted when I could have been right there with her. Mary Kate was at best pleasingly plump. She dyed her hair jet black and had a slight bitter odor about her. She was a good wife and was good to Bethel's children. I was regular at the Catholic Church because of her. But I warn't a real good Catholic. I mean I didn't learn the name they give to things. Them beads they used had a name, but they was just beads to me. I knelt and did not use the special name they gave to kneeling and I just made a cross across my chest. I never learned no special name for that neither. All in all I was lucky with my first two wives.
But Trixie. She was a different matter. I met Trixie at a county fair and for the next few years she led me down paths I never thought I would go down.

Note from Hollis

After I posted the last blog, Uncle Harvey Lee was concerned about one of the words which appeared in his telling of how one of his Catholic friends saw the difference in Catholics and Baptists. The friend actually used a much stronger word and I looked for some euphemism. The word I chose may or may not be best I could have done. But at the very least, Uncle Harvey Lee wanted me to assure readers that he does not use profanity and loves Baptists and Catholics alike.

Me and the Catholics

With Mary Kate I come to a fork in the road. Like I said she was Catholic and I had been taught all my life that they did things in that church that warn't right. Like worshiping statues and wearing robes and all that.
But I was real attracted to Mary Kate and she asked me to take her to her church eight miles away. I was surprised that Catholics are people too. It warn't all that different when you get down to it. We both loved God and Jesus. One Catholic I got to know was Hobart Holmes. He sort of summed it up for me. He said us Baptists could screw all we wanted to, but we couldn't drink no beer. Now y'all know he wadn't exactly right but he was close. Anyway me and Mary Kate and the kids was regular at the Catholic Church for a year or so until Mary Kate went to New Orleans for a food study course and got hit by a streetcar. Man, did I hate that. Now, I had lost two wives. Father O'Doole asked me to stay on at the church and I did until I met Trixie.

Mary Kate

Well, one of the best things about living in Harper is you know everybody. And one of the worst things is you know too much about everybody. Like one night Bethel got up from the table to answer the phone. Doreen was spending the night with a friend and me and Bethel and Bill and Jack was sitting there. On the phone was Mrs. Nicholson who lived just up the hill from us. She asked Bethel if we was all okay. Bethel said yes we were and why did she ask. And old lady Nicholson said she was worried when she saw there was only four of us at the supper table.
And that kind of thing is what made me notice Mary Kate. She had lived in Harper all her life and I didn't know nothing about her. After Bethel died I spent two lonely years. I was trying to be a good father, but them kids was about all I could handle. Mary Kate was the head of the cafeteria at Doreen's school. I kept coming by to check on Doreen, but really to get in good with Mary Kate. Before you knew it we was regular courting. Everything looked real good for us. Except for one thing. Mary Kate was a Catholic.

Rethinking Sobriety

I got to be honest. I been thinking and I ain't so sure that one dream had a lot to do with me quitting drinking. I think it was more of Bethel praying for me. During that time me and Bethel had two more children and I was still hanging out with my drinking buddies till late at night. When I would come in and try to be friendly with Bethel, she was usually friendly back. God bless her. But night after night when I turned and started to  try to go to sleep I could feel the bed shaking away. I thought she was crying and after a few nights I said what's wrong with you? What are you crying for? And Bethel said she warn't crying she was praying. I'm telling you it was like lying in one of them beds you put a quarter in and ride out five or ten minutes of tingling. And I figured if she was praying that hard for me I had to do something about it. And that's when I quit.
We had a real good life with me acting right, but it warn't long until Bethel got real sick and died. And I have to live with all that.

Note from Hollis: I am trying to steer Uncle Harvey Lee away from the sadness in his life and on to some humorous stories about Harper. But tomorrow he wants to tell about how he came to marry his second wife Mary Kate.
Now reading: Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps

Drinking and Stuff

Like I said I was feeling sorry for myself after my hospital stay. And when I come home my feet was all purple and I had a hard time getting around. Bethel was like an angel and looked after me. But I guess it warn't enough for me and I started to going down to the Do Drop Inn and having a drink or two with the fellows. And before you knew it I was a full-fledged drunk, coming home and cussing out Bethel and scaring the baby. Then I started doing things with a woman who hung around the bar that I don't even want to talk about it. Brother Emil Stoozer, the new preacher at the church came walking right into the bar one night and embarrassed me so bad I come out with him. He talked real rough with me and told me how selfish I was. I didn't work too good. I kept drinking, but I gave up what I was doing with that woman.
You know what made me quit all that stuff. A dream. One night I woke out of deep drunk-sleep and knew I had had a bad dream. I  couldn't remember all what happened but I knew I warn't any too good. Over a few days I began to remember things about the dream and what I remember most was I was in hell and it was hot as where I was. And I asked the devil for some water and he said all they had was bourbon and he made me drink it. And the more I drank the thirstier I got and the hotter I got. And I ain't had a real drink since. Now that's the truth.

Korea and What it Done to Me

Sometime in 1951 the North Koreans marched down into South Korea. This warn't good.  Right after Christmas in I found myself called up and had to leave Bethel. We'd been married only a little while and was living in bliss. I reckon her and me made Bill just before I left because he was born about nine months later. When I left on a train to New Orleans, I could look out the window and see Bethel standing right in front of the depot. She warn't waving, but she smiled a big smile to let me know everything was gonna be okay. Of course I had no idea little Bill was growing inside her.
Well I come home in January of '53. War wounds. Warn't no bullets or nothing. My feet got frostbit and I was sent to a hospital in California to get over it. I was let out in March and come home to Harper and I ain't left since. Except necessary trips to close by cities to get a set of teeth or things we ain't got here in Harper. Well all that stuff with my feet, I guess, made me feel sorry for myself and I took to drink and other bad stuff. Tomorrow I'll tell you about my dark days of drinking and how it hurt my Bethel so much.

Doreen

My girl's name is Doreen. She was born in 1956. Now she lives over in Golds Creek. I think she may be separated from her no-good husband cause he ain't come over last few times she visited. She don't come but once or twice a year. Her kids used to drive me nuts, but they all growed up with kids of they own. One funny thing about Doreen (well, it ain't really funny) she's got this real ugly tattoo on her left fore arm and top of her hand that says: FALSTAFF BEER. Now you won't believe it, but she actually made a pretty good bit of money with that tattoo. Some local beer distributor paid her every month for flashing his beer at everybody she come up to. Well, that beer ain't around no more, but the tattoo is strong as ever. I hate to see it, but I reckon since she don't come around much it's okay. There's a town right in the next county that has a Falstaff sign on one of its buildings. It's been there since I was a boy. I guess they like Doreen, advertising for nothing. Of course, a good coat of paint could fix theirs, but Doreen is stuck with hers. Tomorrow I'm gonna tell you about Korea and my war wounds.

Quick Note from Hollis

I made the mistake of telling Uncle Harvey Lee that several of the viewers had become followers. He wanted to see who these people were and I showed him that screen. One of the followers was also following another blog with a title that greatly disturbed Uncle Harvey. He made me "get it off." I got Lester, one of Willie's sons, who Uncle Harvey Lee thinks is the smartest guy on earth, explain the significance of the name and Uncle Willie said, "Put it back on." My apologies. To all the many viewers who have not yet become followers, I would encourage you to do so. I doubt if Uncle Harvey Lee will ever ask to look at that list again. He is more interested in the growing number of viewers.
I have to rush off to class, but  when I get back Uncle Harvey Lee wants to talk about his daughter Doreen and her tattoo.

Jack

Me and Willie went out early to fish a while. We caught six bass and two white perch. I'm taking them to Dorothy and she'll get them cleaned and fix them for supper.
But today, I promised to tell y'all about my middle child Jack. His name is John Conroy, but we called him Jack. Now, Jack was cursed with real good looks. I mean girls were always calling our house and walking out of there way to come by to see if he was out in the yard. And this, in my opinion, caused Jack to take the wrong path in life. He didn't study like Bill so he was always close to getting booted from school. When Bethel was alive, she died when he was seven and one-half, she kept him in line. She didn't have to get tough with him because he loved her mor'n anything and tried hard to please her. But after she was gone he got into real trouble. In his junior year in high school he got two girls in trouble. I mean within a month of each other. Well there couldn't be no shotgun wedding there, could there? Bethel had a brother up in North Mississippi, a preacher, so we sent him up there. He only came home a couple of times for a day or two at a time after that. But he did settle down enough to got to college to make an engineer. At the time I was real confused why you had to go to college for four years in order to drive a train. Course later I understood what an electrical engineer did. I hope you understand the difference in ignorance and stupidity.
And I hope you understand which one I was.

Bill

Well like I said me and Bethel had three children together. The first was Bill. His real name is William Clay  but we called him Bill and he was born while I was in Korea. Me and Bethel hadn't been married but a few months when I got the call. I reckon we made Bill just before I shipped out cause I wadn't over yonder but nine months when I got word he arrived. So when I come home there he was. He was a smart little thing, took after his mamma I reckon. He made real good grades and even traveled with the school to debate other schools. But his mamma never knew it. She died when he was only nine. She missed seeing him go off to college and make a lawyer. But at least she didn't have to suffer through missing him when he moved out to California and took up a life of high living. She didn't have to know he would forget about all he left behind in Harper. Of course, me and Bethel had two more children before she passed on, Jack and Doreen.
Tomorrow I'll try and explain Jack to you.

Jimbo's Hardware

         Jimbo’s

                    Hardware

Before I go on, I thought of a couple of stories about Jimbo Johnston and his hardware store. The first one took place back in the seventies. I know because it involved our town marshall, Bledsoe Blevins, and he died back in 1979. Well, Bledsoe was walking around about midnight one night, checking doors and found that Jimbo had forgot to lock his front door. He called him and told him to get down with his key. But Jimbo said it wadn't necessary. He was there all day and nobody came by, so he didn't think anybody would show up at midnight. Another time Jimbo was telling about how somebody came in and bought a broom. He forgot to charge it and couldn't remember who bought it. So he just charged everybody he could think of for a broom. I think it was $2.99. I asked him didn't people complain. Well he said Ethylene Walker raised a little hell so he bought her a coke and she cooled down. And he said the rest of the fools paid for the broom. Just like they really bought it, don't you know.
Hope I'll tell you more about me and Bethel on Monday.

More About Harper

Note from Hollis: Uncle Harvey Lee does not want to talk about Aunt Bethel today. So I asked him to tell a bit more about Harper. Next week he will probably continue his story of his life with Bethel.

Well Harper, like I told you, has 600 citizens, maybe a few more. We have everything here we need. There is no need to drive eight miles to that city with all the stores and the big mall. We got a real good grocery store, Neighborhood Pantry. We have Jimbo's hardware where you can get anything from hand plows to paint. There is Jay's Drug Store, Bickerstaff Furniture Store, and Speedy Dry Cleaning. And two of my favorite places: Berber's, a filling station, and Dorothy's Cafe. I don't drive no more so the filling station is just a place where I get information and go to visit my cousin Wilkie. He has worked there for many years. He calls it his day job because he does lots of other things in his time off. And Dorothy, a very close friend of mine, runs one of the best eating places you'd every want to see. I eat lunch there every day that I'm not out in my boat. Today she has fried catfish. She has fish every Friday, but she ain't Catholic or nothing.
I used to be for a while and she started serving fish for me and my second wife Mary Kate. That's just how good Dorothy is.

Note from Hollis

Uncle Harvey Lee did not want to post today so I thought I would take the opportunity to tell you a little bit about how all this got started.
Uncle Harvey Lee is a storyteller. Not professionally but people around here send strangers and new-comers over to see him when he is whittling out in front of the bus station. They seem to enjoy his ramblings. I told him he need to post a blog. He had no idea what a blog was, but when I told him people all over the country could have access to his stories he agreed. He does not want me to edit anything he says and for the most part I follow his instructions. Sometimes I have to violate this rule.
I am a freshman at the local community college, a school only six miles from Harper. I plan to go to a state university in a couple of years, but in the mean time I will be reporting for Uncle Harvey Lee.
I am sure he will be ready to post tomorrow. He is usually upbeat, but when he starts to think about Aunt Bethel, his one true love, he gets a little maudlin.
Still reading Tinkers.

Me and Bethel

Well like I said me and Bethel had three kids together, a girl (Doreen) and two boys (Bill and Jack.)
Doreen married a nair-do-well and lives over at Golds Creek. Bill and Jack both live out west. Doreen comes home once or twice a year even though it's only fifty miles to where she lives. And the boys ain't been home in several years. But I reckon that's all right.
Now I don't wish for much but if I could have one wish it would be to be standing right beside my Bethel, holding the hymn book, singing Blessed Assurance, in the Harper Lake Baptist Church. That's all I want to say today.

Note from Hollis:
Uncle Harvey Lee gets a little despondent when he talks about Aunt Bethel. He is walking down by the lake where he always goes when he has to think things out.
Now I am reading: Tinkers by Paul Harding.

Bethel

Like I told you my first wife was named Bethel. She was as sweet and as kind as a wife could be. I like to tell a story about how we met that always miffed up Bethel some. I told people we was both swimming at the Harper Lake Beach. I was changing from my wet suit when I heard somebody come into the girl's side. Now the girl's side and the boy's side was separated by a piece of wall that did not go all the way to the ceiling or the floor. I bent over to look to the girl's side and me and Bethel rubbed noses. We really knowed one another since we was in grade school, but I liked to fun around with Bethel. She was smarter than me, but who wadn't back then. I got most of my learning after I quit half way through the seventh grade. I saw better opportunity at the Neighbor Pantry, our grocery store, as a bag packer and delivery boy.
But this is about Bethel. We got married at the Harper Lake Baptist Church by Brother Ezra Crowder and was happy for more than ten years before Bethel got sick. Tomorrow I'll talk about how Bethel and me had
three children.

Monday in Harper

Well it's Monday again in Harper. Seems to come around at least once a week. Monday is a good day to get off to a start on things or just to get a better grip on things you already doing.
So I thought maybe it's a good time to let you know a little more about the person you reading about. Of course you already know my name and the name of the town where I live. And by now you've guessed I'm  no spring chicken. Actually I'm seventy-eight years old. And I live just outside the town limits of Harper right on the lake. My house in town was too big with me now that I'm all alone so I moved out into my fishing cabin. Works good for me.
I been married three times. Buried two of 'em. And the third one run off and left me, but more about that later.
My first wife was named Bethel. You could probably guess with a name like that she was a fine
Christian woman. Well you'd be right. Tomorrow when I have more time I'll tell you all about her.

Weekend in Harper

Well, it's Friday here in Harper. I reckon it is where you are too. Unless you're in Korea or one of them places over yonder. They sometimes a day ahead. I know cause I served in the army over there. Now I'm gonna tell y'all more about Harper and me, Harvey Lee Whitmire, next week. But I can't do much more today. My friend, Willie Howe, is on his way to get started fishing. Willie is an Afro-American man and we been friends since we was kids. We decided a long time ago we wouldn't let all that agitation stuff that went on get between our friendship. And we didn't. I figure we both got a right to catch all the fish we can out of our lake. Willie and me been funning around all these years. Willie's been married to the same woman, Gladys, for over fifty years. They got eight children, all successful except Charles. He's a lawyer. Down in New Orleans. You can see him on TV most every day. Advertising. It's a shame he has to do that to keep in business. None of the lawyers around here have to do that and they all live in big houses.
Well, here's Willie. I got a feeling we gonna catch a mess of fish today. The air just feels right, don't you know. But even if we don't catch nothing we gonna have a good time. That's just the way me and Willie is.

Note from Hollis: I try to write everything just like Uncle Harvey Lee says it.  But I will always try to correct any politically incorrect things he says. I started to change Afro-American to African-American, but I remembered that Ralph Ellison used the term Afro-American in Invisible Man, so I left it as my uncle said it. I am rereading that book now.

How Harper Got Its Name

This lake out here was named after a Major Harper who come down here during the reconstruction days.  They named the town the same thing. This major made a big contribution to the town's population before he had to go back to one of them "I" states. Think it was Illinois. They said he left more'n half a dozen kids behind when he had to go home to his family up north. Now y'all probably wondering why they'd name the town and lake after a fellow like that. Well lots of 'em missed him. Said they wanted him to come back.
Sitting here on my bench in front of the bus station I can see Harper Lake glistening off to my left. They's a soft breeze coming off the lake and I'm whittling a tiny statue of my dog what died last year. His name was
Waymon. All in all things is real good in Harper.

A little about Harper

Harper is a little town in southwest Mississippi. No use looking it up. It ain't on no maps. Harper is right slam on a lake, Harper Lake, that was made by stopping up Lazy Creek. We got all kinds of fish in those waters. If you travel north on Main Street you'll run right into the lake. We got over six-hundred people living here. And that's enough. Now if some of the things I tell you about how great living here, make you want to visit us, that's okay. But don't get it in you head to move here. We got all we can stand.
Tomorrow I'll tell you how Harper got its name. You ain't gonna believe it.
I make Hollis read back what he writes about what I say, to make sure he don't try to tell it like I went all the way through high school like he did. I want it to be as natural as life here in Harper. But I did tell him he could add a little bit about himself. Like what he's reading and stuff.

Hollis' reading List:
Now reading Saturday by Ian McEwan

Today in Harper

Greetings from Harper, Mississippi
It ain't too hot today. Better than yesterday and hopefully not as good as tomorrow. I'm on my way down to the bus station. Some of us sit out on the bench and whittle. I never know what I'm going to end up with.
Sometimes it's a dog, sometimes a car, and sometimes when I get distracted I end up with just a toothpick.
But that's okay. The whittling is better than the thing that gets whittled. This is my first time to post and thanks to the help of my great-nephew Hollis I am sending out word from Harper to you. Gotta run. My friend Bart is wanting to go the the bus station with me. Don't want to make him wait. More from Harper tomorrow or the next day or maybe next week.