The Lane

The Lane

There is a lane, which has no turning

Just ahead of me always.

There is a lane, which has no turning,

I've searched for it for days and days.

I've walked along the path of life,

Looking for this lovely lane,

But all I've found are curves and turns

And walks across the lonely plain.

If I could find this lane,

They say that has no turning,

Then perhaps I could lay to rest,

This cold and fearful yearning.

They say that if down this lane,

With your love you take a stroll.

Then your life forever changes,

And never again shall you be cold.

©

George Henry Nichols

from the book

‘The Legend of Captain Outrageous’

About the First of June

What I like, come ‘bout the first of June,

I’ll tell you this, it n’ver comes too soon!

When the birds are flying, upon the sky,

And along with them my heart soars high.

A heat that comes with a summer’s day,

A heat like you’ll never feel in May.

The long stem roses that reach up high,

You’d almost think, they’d touch the sky.

The grass that covers the graveyards in town,

And covers those that fill the ground.

As I remember those buried there,

And all their Junes, and how they cared.

The bugs are many, as they buzz about,

Some buzz too low and feed the trout.

The trees are green, with leaves anew,

Filled with birds and there families too.

The fire flies come out as evenin’ nears,

Yes, the beauty of June, I’m moved to tears.

For on the rise we fine the moon,

And it’s glow will fill the night of June.

And the lazy days will come to me,

And find me down upon my knees.

Giving thanks to God, I’m wise and smart,

I’m no longer young, but young at heart.

Along the beaches where the seagulls play,

I fine myself wadding this fine June day.

As the earth cools, as evening grows,

Nectar in the flowers begins to flow.

I think of a girl I use to know,

And how in June she use to glow.

As evening closes on this fine June day,

I almost forget, I’m made of clay.

As the young girls, like flowers bloom,

These are the things I like, come the first of June,

And I’ll tell you this, it n’ver comes too soon.

©

George Henry Nichols 

Why I love the Rich Guy

Right this very minute, I am poor as church mice. And I want to speak about why I love the rich guy, and why I want the government to leave the rich guy the hell alone.

I’ve done a lot of things in my life, had a lot of jobs and only once did a poor man give me a job, and the check bounced. So I don’t work for poor people any more.

I’ve worked for large companies with lots of benefits and I’ve worked for the guy building a dream. I’ll take the guy building a dream anytime.

I worked for this fellow once, over in Alabama, he had six-hundred acres on Styx River, and his dream was a nice suburban neighborhood with all the property water-front.

He went out and bought a tractor, a big bull-dozer and a little bull-dozer, and track-hoe, an earth-mover (scraper), a grader, a roller, a front end loader, a dump-truck and a fire-truck. He bought all this at an auction, it was all used, and he got it cheap.

He hired a retired engineer, me and a mechanic. And starting from a bench mark on the state bridge crossing the river, we worked our way onto the property and eighteen months later we had cleared two-hundred acres of overgrowth, built three dammed lakes and one dug (excavated)  lake, laid, ditched and paved three miles of road, including mining the road building dirt, and back-filling the pits. He even grew his own hay, and you’d be amazed at how much hay a job like that takes.

Three of us, and the boss. When the job was finished, I stood amazed at what we had accomplished, how much earth had been moved as we shaped the landscape into a neighborhood. Three of us and the boss.

Now I bet you think I’m talking about the boss being the rich man, you’d be wrong. The rich man was the fellow who bought all of that equipment new. Whatever it was he did with all that equipment, he was done with it now, and it went up for sale at a price the fellow I was working for, the fellow with a dream, could afford.  Giving me a job, and the privilege of being part of a dream.

The rich man is different today than in the time of King Herod. Today in America, the better the rich do, the better we all do.  He isn’t greedy, he is extravagant and we all benefit from it.

When the rich man is flush with money, he gets his car washed, he get’s his grass mowed, his house painted. And he also has to have a new car, a new TV, a new computer, new furniture, new stove, new ice-box and on and on.

Because he has to have the latest and greatest, he pays the very high price placed on an item when it is new to the market, ie…the flat screen TV. Thus supplying the money for research, development and production while creating a market, his lust for what is new, makes what is new, possible.

If you shop smart, all the stuff displaced by what the rich has to have, goes onto the market somewhere. Starting with the yard-sale, flea-markets, antique markets, collectible shops, Paula’s Cheaper Choices… so on and so forth…

I have driven nice cars my entire life, but never a new one, I let the rich buy it, drive it, work the bugs out of it, then when he’s tired of it, I buy it, and enjoy it the same as he.

In 1976 I bought a ten year old Lincoln Continental for seven-hundred dollars. It was a Lincoln Continental, it was a beautiful automobile; it rode like a cloud, quiet as a mouse, fast as the wind. It was the fastest car I ever owned, I drove this automobile for ten years; it was the change in the gasoline which brought an end to it. A beautiful automobile, truly an Art Form, a master piece of American engineering, and I paid seven-hundred dollars for it because some rich guy had to have it, and paid the 8,000 dollar sticker price of 1966.

You want a good set of pots and pans, can’t afford them, go to the flea-market, you’ll find them. Whatever you want, a rich guy just got a new one, and what he no longer needs or wants goes into the market-place somewhere.  

So not only does the rich man build dreams and create jobs, he enjoys life; let us enjoy it right along with him. Serve him, and inherit his spill-over.

This is part of what makes America so bountiful, so wonderful, because the market place is busting at the seams, and prices low, when the rich man is doing well.

Let us leave him to his work, and let us help him work.  And tell the Government to butt the hell out. ©

George Henry Nichols 

Where's Your Compass?

You bunch of bleeding heart, whining, Dumb-Asses

You know I don’t understand this sometimes, There’s one fellow, maybe two, selling communism, a couple teaching Capitalism, a mess of you screaming on about liberty, a few selling god, this god, and that god, and the other god! Come on people, get a life. 

Don’t you understand these things by now!!! You all act like there is some great understanding here, some great solution, if only. Well, if I only had money? There is no great secret. I am who I am. We are who we are. 

We can’t go around saving each other, it can’t be done. We can help, we can lead, we can serve, but in the end…. That’s all we can do. They have got you sold on some kind of guilt trip that is just plain Crap!!! This guy got more than that guy… Whine!!! There’s more of them than there is of me… Whine!!! That bank charges less than my bank… Whine!!! Wal-Mart makes to much money… Whine!!! It’s all bull-shit!!! So…. what? It’s always been like that… Always… 

It's the nature of man... It's the way it was made... Life is contrast, you can't have white, if you don't have black, You can't have a medium, if you don't have a large and small, you can't have a man, if you don't have a female, you can't have beauty, if you don't have ugly , You don't have the rich, if there are no poor,and you can't have the joy of life, if you don't have the tragedy of death,  for one defined the other. It is the recognition of this truth that leads to an understanding and appreciation of life as a whole,

You have nothing to feel guilty about, unless you’ve done something sure enough. They're ten commandments, which one's have you broken? Fix it and move on.  But don’t let the TV make you feel guilty, or the radio, or the newspaper, maybe not even your preacher, depending on what he’s telling you, and you should know what he’s  suppose to be telling you. Don’t go around feeling guilty. My mother had an ole saying, 'Don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see...'  

You know what’s wrong with you people, you have forgotten your philosophy, and it’s like a compass, and here you are lost in the wood, with voices all around you, calling to you, pulling you this way and that, and here…? You don’t have a compass. Shame… Shame… Now I know a lot of you think you have a philosophy, some of them short cute phrases. Some of them quotes from this guy or that, but have you ever sat down and strung it altogether into a line of logic?  Have you ever sat down and followed the founding father's line of logic and tried to understand ,what they understood. 

I hear you quote, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry even Jesus Christ, but they acted, and those who heard these inspiring words acted, they brought their words to life in the way they lived and the way they affected the world. Why? Because they believed the things they said, they understood the line of logic they espoused, the ideal of individual sovereignty. They knew how it applied to God, to their neighbor, and most important, to themselves.

Their fortunes were not the most important objective, for King George II was not asking for that much money (something like two or three cents). To them, the objective was self determination; sovereignty. ‘The right for a man to live for his own sake.’ (Ayn Rand) For only under these conditions can a man give his life to God, or not. Only under these conditions can a man reach his full potential, or not. Only under these conditions can a man choose a woman and build a family, a dynasty, a legacy, a tradition, or not. This is what made America great, this is the great tradition of who we are, not the wealth, the wealth I promise is incidental, or as my father use to say ‘ just reward for doing what is right.’ 

If you claim to be Christian, as I do. If you claim the ‘Prince of Peace,’ to be your God, remember Christ said, ‘Do not be mistaken, I have not come to sow peace, instead I have come to sow division, to set father against son, mother against daughter, nation against nation.’ Also recall that he picked up a stick and cleared the temple, I repeat, he cleared the temple. Not because he was angry, not because he was mean, but because it needed to be done. You can't have peace, if you don't have war. 

Again, this is a clarion call, stand up and do, what needs to be done. ©

George Henry Nichols

What is Liberty?

Liberty? Someone tweeted what is liberty? If you read my blog, than you know I’ve said, girls = liberty. And that’s true. 

Liberty. What is liberty? Have we forgotten what liberty is? 

God is liberty. That simple. 

Don’t let anyone tell you this is not a Christian Nation, the philosophy of the Christian Tradition, which is rooted in the Jewish tradition, leads to liberty. Why? Because the truth works. 

There are three basic motivating factors, food, sleep and sex. Keep that in mind, very important. Now, consider all the wild animal shows you watch on big brother, and how vicious the wild world is. It’s tough to make a living, it just is. It’s kill or be killed. It run for you life, till you can’t run no more, then somebody eats you. That’s the way it is. The laws of evolution (?), it’s the way it works. Those animals are at liberty. Get it. 

Now, man is by nature a social creature, so he is going to be drawn together in groups. Groups, or on his own, has to provide for food sleep and sex. This isn’t easy in a wild world, with all the fussing and fighting and regardless, the stronger would prevail. That’s the laws of evolution (?), that’s the way they work. That’s liberty. 

Now God set us on a path contrary to the law of evolution and gave us a set of rules, which if obeyed, provides for food, sleep and sex. In other words, a man is at liberty to do as he chooses, because he will choose goodness, over himself. Not always an easy thing to do, but when practiced, leads to liberty and prosperity. Quite a different picture from the liberty of the wild kingdom. Either way you’re free, what’s it going to be? Consider these rules…..     

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me. 

By revealing himself to us as the one true God, we are by default empowered, which in turn brings peace of mind. Empowered because we understand that we answer to no one except God; therefore you cannot enslave me because I belong to the one true God, and I cannot serve his greater Glory if I am enslaved. Nor shall I be molested or led astray because God has shone me the way, and no other, regardless of rank can change that which God has put in place, thus God gives me rank over the wicked. If I can adhere to this teaching, I am granted purpose and meaning in my life, to seek and serve him who has created me and has revealed himself to me. And with these things in place, I can’t help but have peace of mind, for what else can matter? I am given authority to be alive, to protect myself and be my own person.   

You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth: you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation, but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments. 

This one is tuff, and can be confusing if not approached properly. First of all it has nothing to do with figurines, statues, stain class windows or any of these things, and if you follow me, I’ll show you why. First let us take at look at these things, statues, figurines, paintings, stain glass. The ability to create such things is a great talent, with a compulsive desire to create. We can only assume this talent is a gift from God. So the question arises, why would God give to man a compulsive desire to create such things? Well, one reason the Church offers up is: this ability is a form of language, to communicate things that otherwise would not be communicated. Art is a language, no different than music, math and linguistics. While linguistics tends to be confined to a particular culture or peoples, art and music tend to be universal. Artwork was used extensively by the early Church to communicate the life of Christ to people whose language was different from those teaching. It was also used to tell the gospels stories among people who couldn’t read. This commandment played a big part in forming the way the Hebrews looked at and responded to the world around them. God didn’t say you couldn’t have a figurine, he said you (sin is personal) could not make it an idol, which is an abstract idea, thus introducing the Jews to the abstract, the beginning of creative and critical thinking. But in a larger sense, when the world became an overwhelming experience, because of rising water in a flood, a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, a tornado, a large meteor from the sky, what ever was to come along, the Jews could be sure it wasn’t God, it was part of God’s creation, but God was bigger and beyond whatever it was. (Geneses 1.1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth). With this idea in place, it can be concluded that all things belong to God, and therefore unfold according to God’s plan, a single plan, one God. Without the fear of false gods or idols to hinder you, or limit your thinking: this plan could be understood with a study of the truth, thus the birth of the modern idea of science. Plainly said, it simply forces us to think big! 

You shall not take the name of your Lord thy God in vain.

Just what does this mean, vain: 1. without real significance, value or importance. In other words, without knowing you said it, where there is no thought of God. When I was seven, my father bought me a BB gun and gave it to me with a few rules. One of these rules were “you can’t shoot song birds, if I catch you shooting song birds, it’s your ass.” Well I learned one bird from another because when my Dad said it’s your ass, I knew what he meant, and I knew he meant it! At the time I thought Dad liked songbirds, but I’m a grown man now and my Dad is dead. He didn’t give a damn about a song bird, I know that now, he wanted to make sure that I always knew what was in my sights before I pulled the trigger. In the same way God, by denying us the use of his name without cause, which he finds offensive, has demanded we be present to who we are, what we say and what we do. That we be actors in this life and not spectators. That we be true to thy own self.   

Now lets develop this Idea a little, this means you are created in such a way, as to be present, anytime you’re conscience, if you choose to be. This is a very important concept here, because it brings into play the idea of the will.  What is the will? The will is the conscience’s power over the body. The conscience is confirmed because it can choose contrary to the way it feels. Thus the will exists because the conscience exists.  Now consider this for a moment, look at the world of mammals, or animals, no were among them do you fine one that can choose contrary to the way it feels. It’s how they work, it is what makes them work and respond to the world around it. They are hard wired. If you want to change an animal’s behavior, you change the way he feels. Yet, among human beings alone is behavior observed contrary to the way the creature feels, and indeed, encourages their young to act contrary to the way they feel. Thus, this is the witness to the will, which in turn is wittiness to the conscience. Now this is very basic, and very simple, you have to consider it for yourself.  Now you might say, well?  All the commandments, cause you to know what you are doing, to be present, yes I agree, but!  The second commandment addresses this idea at the very level of the being, the place in the mind were who and what you are manifest itself into language, where it can be spoken, are not. This is where the human being exists, where the gray mass comes forth into language in such away it can be understood by the conscience, and the conscience of others, if spoken. This is the very core of your being, and the second commandment demands you be present, at the guard at all times.  Liberty  

 Remember to keep holy the Sabbath. 

God wants a relationship, with you. Once a week you’re invited into his house. Not you neighbor, not the holy people in the front row, you. These laws are personal, like your relationship with God, personal. Ya have a whole day, once a week to think about God. How do you think about God? Well you can go to Church, and I recommend it. But consider during the day, if God created everything as we see, hear, smell, taste and touch it. Then you have to admit, God’s quite an artist. And how do you know an artist, you study his work, look at it with awe and marvel, and be grateful you got to see such a thing as this, and spend the day with him. The amount of time this created to contemplate larger things, leads to larger things. Growth in oneself. Liberty  

Honor Thy father and thy mother, that your days maybe long upon the earth.

(If you notice, the gift is attached, “that your days maybe long upon the earth.”)  I also look at this and see the foundations of the Patriarch and the Matriarch, thus creating rank and structure in the family, which spills over into the community, and into the nation. Empowering parents to educate their children, thus creating the idea and practice of collective knowledge.        

Think about that. This is the foundation of all education. And you might think it’s aimed at the youth, but indeed both, because the default is, parent’s be worthy. And we all know, understanding leads to liberty.   

You shall not kill.

This is the foundation of the sanctity of life. You can’t kill me because God says you can’t, this makes me special to God. Thus I am sacred. Now just when was it I became sacred, and when exactly do I stop being sacred? The original Hebrew word refers to murder: You can not kill out of conveyances. But if ones lives by the sword, than one dies by the sword. That is to say, you have the right to defend your life and what’s yours. Liberty.   

You shall not commit adultery.

By default, if you keep this commandment, you have the foundation of the family; you have the foundation of trust, because if you can’t trust the one you’re sharing a bed with, children with, then who can you trust? With whom can you do business? Form alliances? Trust begins in marriage and indeed is the cornerstone of marriage. Fidelity helps keep the family free of disease, and this extends into the community. Fidelity goes along way to keeping peace within a community. The family is the foundation of many communities, companies, and nations. Without the family you have tyranny. Marriage defines who’s having sex with whom, and whose kids are whose. . It establishes a branch, with a history and tradition of collective knowledge and wisdom which can be passed on and added to. Sex, being a primary motivator, and if women are recognized as the gift they are, leads to liberty.   

Thou shall not steal. 

This is the foundation of free enterprise. Simply by denying us the right to steal, by default, you have the right to possess. To trade, if you can trade, you can build wealth and trade it for wealth others have built, and thus you can grow as a community, as a nation. Jesus said ‘give to the poor,’ you cannot give what you do not possess. Everything we possess comes from obedience to this commandment. And you have the right to defend what is yours because if you are not willing to defend it, is it really yours? Liberty and prosperity.    

Thou shall not bear false witness. 

This is the foundation of law, of justice. You cannot have justice without truth, if you are not willing to witness to the truth, then how can you have justice, and of what use is law. One is depended upon the other. Liberty   

Thou shall not covet thy neighbor goods, harvest, ass, house, nor his wife.

This is the very bedrock of happiness, if you can keep this commandment, it means you have come to terms with who and what you are, and you are satisfied and pleased with what God has done and is doing for you in your life). Liberty.   

Now do you want to spend your time consumed with envy, worrying about what your neighbors have and you do not, what you could be and what you are not. Do you want to spend your time looking over your shoulder because you are a liar, a cheat, a thief, a killer, and the people you offended are hunting you down like a dawg, with a price on your head, with no regard for your life. Do you want to spend your time worrying about the man who’s wife you abused or running from women who blame their children on you, or spend your time dripping with disease. Do you want to spend your time learning everything you need to know from scratch, with no thought of teaching you, or helping you, to spend your time without the love and admiration of one’s parents; of ones’ children? Do you want to spend your time working at your task, with no break, with no time for family, community, or rest? Do you want to spend your time looking for and trying to satisfy all the gods the world has put up for you to admire and pay tribute. Do you want to spend your time in fear of displeasing these strange gods and having their wrath rain down upon you, because you don’t know who they are, or what to do to please them, to spend your time in hopelessness, because these gods offer you nothing beyond your grave?   Yes, I do believe these Ten Commandments were indeed gifts. If you walk thru a cemetery and look at the tombstones, what do you find? The day a person was born, and the day they died, that’s what you find. A person’s life is made of time, that’s all you have. If you consider the time, that simple obedience to these commandments free up, your God has truly given you the path to liberty.   ©

As a note; I do not believe in evolution, I believe "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 

George Henry Nichols 

A Fool's Prayer

The royal feast was done; the King

Sought some new sport to banish care,

And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,

Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,

And stood the mocking court before;

They could not see the bitter smile

Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee

Upon the monarch's silken stool;

His pleading voice arose: "0 Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart

From red with wrong to white as wool;

The rod must heal the sin: but, Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!

" 'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep

Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;

'Tis by our follies that so long

We hold the earth from heaven away,

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,

Go crushing blossoms without end;

These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust

Among the heart-strings of a friend,

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept-

Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?

The word we had not sense to say-

Who knows how grandly it had rung?

"Our faults no tenderness should ask,

The chastening stripes must cleanse them all:

But for our blunders-oh, in shame

Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

“Earth bears no balsam for mistakes:

Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool

That did his will; but Thou, 0 Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed; in silence rose

The King, and sought his gardens cool.

And walked apart, and murmured low,

"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

Edward R Sill

1841-1887

An Interesting Conversation

This was taken from the novel

The Life, Times & Adventures of

Sir George Henry Nichols

or

The Legend of Captain Outrageous

Just prior to this conversation, there had been a dispute over a young girl and whether or not she was to be raped. In the struggle, one man was wounded and the rapist killed, the girl remained untouched.

After the episode with Donald, I began to think just what my life was really worth, and it didn't add up to a lot. The man shot me, outright, no ifs, no ands, no buts, he shot me, and only by the grace of God, am I not the same as he. I caught that ball, I saw it coming, and I caught it. Then Steve shot him dead, just that quick, and I some how wonder, does that make my life worth his, cause that's what he paid with, and was he some how cheated, because I be alive, with him having paid.

I never new what became of the girl, after I turned her over to Morgan, I never saw her again; I suppose he put her on a messenger to Jamaica. I often wondered if it was really about her, it started out that way, I thought, but in an instance, a man was dead, and could have been two. How can this be over a little girl? A little girl I'd never seen in my whole life, and shall never see again. How can this be? I have had men die all about me, and so I can look the other way, for is that not the way of life? For what is one without the other? I was truly upset over Baltimore, but only because of Vicky, if the truth were known. Why is it we value them so much, whether good intentions, or evil? Then I thought, tis the law I upheld, after all, I'm a knight, a Welshmen, a nobleman, but no, somehow, I truly felt it was about the girl.

This so haunted me that I posed the question to Harry in the cool of one evening while sitting about the deck, having a punch, I remember he looked at me real hard, and sitting on a barrel of tallow, leaned back against the mizzen, "Interesting question. Why do we cherish our women so?"

"I can tell 'im a thing or two eh admiral!" came a sharp reply from Crab, a real grubby fellow leaning there against the helm.

"Shu'd up Crab! That's not what he wants to know!" then Harry looked at me and said, "because of their position in life. If you have a good woman, you have everything, a family, someplace to go. Someplace you belong. You have a reason for the things you do." Then rubbing his chin, he went on, "If you have a good woman, you have farms, cities, you have trading, you have a reason to fight, because you have a reason for peace. And a reason to live, because you have a reason to die. She gives you immortality."

I looked at him like he was off his jump, I was sitting on a pile of rope there next to the cabin, "How can you say that, most of the men here don't have women, if fact the little girl I got shot over was the only thing close to a women any of us have seen since we left Port Royal! So what's our motivation?"

"The dream of a good woman," He said rather flatly.

Then Crab said, " 'ow come I got no women?"

"Cause you’re a crab, Crab! You're only as good as your women, and they, only as good as you. That's why there are stations in life, because the likes of you make it so." Then Harry turned to me and said, "If you want a good life, then you need a good woman, and if you want a good woman, then you have to be good. But more important then that, you have to be willing to die for her, whether you know who she is or not! Because if your not willing to die for her, then what good is she, and who wants her," he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger a moment, and then continued, "so you see, Donald wasn't so wrong, his dream just a little out of hand, but he was willing to die for her," then putting his hand up said, "but you were right to enforce the Articles, by doing so, you too proved you were willing to die for her. So you see without her, you had nothing."

"But perhaps it was the law for which I stood." Thinking myself somehow noble, and to hear his reply.

"It was still about her, you chose the law, which protected her. Donald simply chose her, and because you chose the law, which means that you indeed hold the law above yourself, places you above Donald." Then shaking his finger at me, said, "But it was still about the girl."

"On what do you base this?" I asked.

"'ea!! "ow ya know?" Crab echoed.

"Cause you were willing to die." Harry said.

"One dies for one's country!" I said, hearing my father telling me I was a 'Welshmen, for a Welshmen is a noble breed,' and I knew Henry was a Welshmen.

"One's country is one's women." he maintained.

"What of the children, the sons."

"'ea! What of the bloomin' children." I could tell Crab was enjoying the conversation.

"One's children is one's woman, you just haven’t thought about it." Henry was steady on his point, though I wasn't sure I bought it, although I reflected on something my father said years ago on my first trip to the well, 'Be gone with him to the spring, better for us to make another, least we have a spare.'

"Then if what you say is true, the reason the Spanish is a parcel of cowards...? Is because... They aren't willing to die for their women?" I thought I had him here, I thought for sure.

"Exactly" Henry said in total agreement.

"W'at that you say?" Crab bellowed just as I said.

"Exactly! What do you mean, exactly?"

"The Spanish didn't bring their women. Why? Because their intent is to plunder and take the booty back to Spain, and then return themselves. But unable to resist temptation, they took up with the local women, whom they considered no better than whores or animals, and so littered the countryside with bastards, neither of which is worth fighting for, and certainly not worth dying for." Henry was telling it well. "I promise you, if they would have brought their own women, we would not be here." Then raising his hand, "that's why we're so willing to fight, and indeed go look for the fight, least they bring it home to our women!" I could tell he was pleased with himself, for having thought of it so well.

"But the little Spanish girl wasn't one of my women, she was one of theirs." I offered.

"But you still have the dream, you still dream of a good woman. Therefore, woman is like a treasure in your eyes, regardless of who she is. They don't, to them, women, pesos, women,“ he said holding his hands out like a scale, “they're a gluttony, like the gold, you're only as good as your women, and they as good as you." Then he stood up and walked to the cabin door, opened it, then turned around and added, "And God will abandon the country, who fails it's women, because let us not forget, God's mother, was a woman! And if you remember correctly, man played no part in that scheme."

When he had gone on into the cabin, Crab said, "ya know 'e says it real fancy like and all, but what 'e says is true, a man won't kill ya ov'r alot, but 'e'll damn well kill ya ov'r a touch of tail, and don't ever think 'e won't!" And with that, Crab went off.

I sat there awhile alone, thinking about it all, and wondered if this was true, was this why Vicky haunted me so, unto this day, and with this thought, tears came into my eyes, for she was truly gone.