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"The first charity school
to be built in the world was Bottetourt, in Gloucester, Virginia.
It was built on part of a royal grant to John Robins, which was
sold to Augustine Warner, who left it to found a charity school."
After this, Mommy thanked Captain Deal and said it was a great
pleasure to meet him. He said, "It's quite mutual," and,
just before Mommy left with her oysters and shrimp, he said, "I
have spent time visiting most maritime countries on earth. I see
how they live, what they have. Knowing what we have here, I know
we've the finest country on earth for everybody. Everybody, that
is, who wishes to take advantage of their opportunities.
We give more of our divine gifts to all, therefore we receive more.
We are all able to be divinely led. There are more ways to follow
freely God's own pattern for our lives here in this great
land of ours. I would fight for that right to the death!"
I remember now how, when we went to Washington to go
sight-seeing, I drew George Washington's name the way he wrote it.
I wish I could have known him. He was a great man. He was the father
of our country. I liked to study all about the presidents but mostly
George Washington. In Washington, I read how President George Washington
laid the cornerstone for the National Capitol on September 18, 1793.
We went to Washington to visit too. My Mommy's sister, Aunt
Dorothy, had two daughters, Barbara Sue and Joann. We were each
two years apart, and I was the youngest. All their clothes came
to me. I had lots and lots of clothes. Sometimes I had too many
clothes. I couldn't decide which to wear.
Aunt Dorothy gave me very pretty dolls too. She always bought
good things, and she shopped very carefully. She gave me a tiny
little doll with long wavy hair. I named her Collyflower, after
the vegetable we eat. It's a pretty name. It has music in it. Barbara
said, "Linda certainly is one for names!"
I never knew about Easter until I visited my cousins when I was
five years old. Then we filled an Easter
basket for each one of us. All the school children in
Washington, DC, did this. It was the Easter of 1947, the Easter
of the year Granddaddy got hurt. I was staying at his home with
Mommy to help take care of him.
My cousins and I talked about Easter eggs and rolling them
on the White House lawn in Washington. We learned how, in Dutch
Colonial days, there was the custom of "cracking eggs"
in New Amsterdam on Easter Monday. One person held a hard-boiled
egg in his hand, while another one tried to break it. The winner
got the broken egg as a prize. Before Easter came, the shops in
the colony were sure to place eggs in their windows. These were
tied with red or blue ribbons. Some were colored. On Easter Monday,
many people ate nothing but eggs.
I always had Halloween parties, and I had a little Christmas
tree every Christmas. It was my little baby tree, and it wasn't
real, like the one I had when I had my tonsils taken out. But I
never had an Easter party. I knew Halloween was for fun. I knew
Christmas was for Santa Claus to bring presents. I didn't know all
about Easter then and what it means, like I do now. I didn't know
Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas who loved children. I didn't know
lots of other things then.
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