ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
November 2, 2015
This is a letter to our friends –
This and that
Any alum of the online course, “Principles of American Government” (PAG) is welcome to attend the monthly post-graduate classes (no charge). You need only tell me to add you to the call list. The next class is scheduled 1330 H, Sunday, November 22nd.
The next online PAG course is scheduled to begin Wednesday, Jan 6th. Please contact me to enroll.
Thanksgiving family dinner – Fran likes to place a seashell with 5 grains of corn at each place to represent the Pilgrims’ daily ration during that bleak 2nd winter. Have someone read aloud the following poem. (Copy and paste it) – –
Pilgrim Fathers
By Larry Wagner November 1984
The second harvest gathered since they crossed Atlantic waters,
A feast of thankfulness was set by grateful Pilgrim Fathers:
So great the providence of God, so blest with fruit their labors,
So sweet the bond among their band, such peace with Indian neighbors.
But most among the feasting crowd could count harsh years of toil.
Of wand’ring for their faith in God, of want on alien soil,
Of flagging hopes and faith, bad health, of chills that hell could send.
Of half their number that had died before first winter’s end.
Of hunger pangs that second year in their New Plymouth home,
Of weeks when all they ate a day was five small grains of corn.
A few remembered treasures lost, titles cast aside,
But all could measure conscience cost in tears and trampled pride.
Oh, at this feast could they foresee their blessed future years?
That nevermore would they now want, nor run from any fears!
Then after prayers of gratitude, before the feast was set,
Each plate was served five grains of corn, lest anyone forget!
A noble band in hardship born, rejected by their own,
A rock flung o’re the ocean, they were laid a corner stone.
By them God stamped His pattern for a nation on the land,
And seeds for freedom under God were planted by their hand.
Oh, pray their heirs would ever know how dear was freedom’s cost,
And know to hold their faith and freedom dear, or see them lost,
And praise the Providence that brought those Pilgrims to this shore,
And eat the grains of memory, or pay the price once more.
For many generations now, Americans have been slowly separated from their heritage. At the same time American history has been revised and rewritten to distort the truth that we might believe lies. I plan to write a column about that soon.
In the mean time – Why not block out time for you and your family to attend the online course, “Principles of American Government” (PAG) that next begins January 6th.
