Connect The Dots !

Maternal Grandmother, Mary 'Mammy' Bennett was a Central City, Kentuckian transplanted in the 1920's  East St. Louis, Illinois. Her husband, E.V. Bennett left the Kentucky coal mines to pursue a carpenter's life 'up North.' Of course, the crash of '29 devastated the hopes of E.V. and certainly made him a somewhat bitter man towards government. E.V. did hold on to a few houses and his grocery store where Mammy managed and worked. Mammy Bennett was a God-fearing woman who preached and personally witnessed the gospel of Jesus Christ. As they say, she' talked the talk and walked the walk.'


I was one of many frequent targets of Mammy's sermons; I hung out at my grandparents home often and loved them dearly. Mammy's actions were as powerful as her words. I watched her carefully as she interacted with family, friends, neighbors and grocery store customers. Back in the 1940's, the area had frequent transient workers some noted as ''train-jumpin' Hobos.' Mammy would often befriend these vagabond beggars. She would find them some leftover vittles and perhaps an old shirt of E.V.'s to replace a tattered one. I suppose Mammy was hung-up on that scripture about 'share what you have for such is pleasing to the Lord.' Maybe it is the scripture suggesting: 'Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord.'
 Mammy, on several occasions knowing that a family was going through tough-times would enter a penciled number into a store customer's account booklet and tell them, "When you get back on your feet a bit you can catch-up with your payment." Overtime that customer would find times better and begin; making-good on the account. Mammy would often accept the monthly paybacks to a point and then tear up the bill. I guess Mammy was living-out the scripture about 'doing for the least of HIS people.'
Come to think of it, my Mammy's thinking and behavior was a forerunner to today's government 'link-card' and welfare assistance...why Mammy followed the teachings of her Lord...you connect the dots !


'After the game...both the King and pawn go into same box.'  Old Italian Proverb