AS I think about it, inviting passing strangers to eat may not have been a totally altruistic action. Let's see - no telephone - no CNN - the battery radio didn't work half the time . . . . . . you know that stranger may have been the 'six o'clock news' for what was going on up and down the road. Fair trade - gossip (news) from a new face and voice at the table in return for food and maybe a place in the barn to spend the night. In a message dated 12/18/2006 8:16:13 P.M. Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes: My Mom used to tell stories of the "strangers" who walked by their home in Greenwood Springs and how frequently one of those strangers would be invited to stay for dinner (supper as it was then called). If needed, the stranger would spend the night and move along the road in the morning. The family sat on the front porch to watch the sunset, so it was likely that any "hungry" person would "happen by" at that time, knowing he would be fed. Ann Gordon =========================== "Very hardy, rough and tumble, and resourceful" defined survival at that time. There were zero Federal or State safety net programs. Neighbor helped neighbor. No whining - just git it done! Tough at times but those determined ancestors of ours built a Nation. Wayne E. Easter Researching Easter, Gordon, Ballard, and Related Families Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message