Author! Author!

I liked school and adjusted easily.  It was a no-nonsense “Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic” curriculum.   Reading came easy to me and writing was no particular problem. I don’t remember my first attempts at arithmetic but it was probably a miserable experience.  Dealing with numbers was my Waterloo from First Grade all the way through my days in Graduate School. But after that first day, I never again dreaded going to school.

My teacher began each school day with us standing alongside our seats facing the flag that hung above the blackboard and saying “The Pledge of Allegiance.”  Then, before sitting down we sang “America,” (Otherwise known as "My Country T'is of Thee) a patriotic song that is all but unknown today: In the second verse of “America,” the words “author of liberty” are sung.  The words are meant to imply that our country is the creator of liberty.

The teacher may have explained “liberty” to us, although I doubt it, but there was never any mention of what the word “author” meant.  Words interested me from the beginning of my school years and as we sang that strange word “author,” I became deeply puzzled.   No one had ever used that word in my presence and I wasn’t sure I was hearing it right.  I knew enough about sentence construction to know that whatever “author” was, it had created “liberty”.  But who or what it was remained a mystery.   No one else in class seemed bothered by that strange word and I was not about to show my ignorance by asking the teacher for an explanation.   I continued to sing it every day and as I sang I speculated.  One of my classmates was named “Arthur.”   I didn’t know anything about him.  I spent many days singing that song while shooting sidelong glances at Arthur, wondering if he might have something to do with “liberty.”  He didn’t look proud or guilty or anything when we sang those words so after a while I concluded he had nothing to do with it.   I don’t remember when I learned the meaning of author.

Chapter 1 - The Miracle at Birth
What Kind of Milk Will You Have?
 

Comments 4

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Tom Cormier (website) on Sunday, 17 July 2011 23:14

You are too much Don!! How could you even remember such detail? I've got to try allowing myself to think that clearly. I'm thinking I really remember my stories. But you are ridiculous!

You are too much Don!! How could you even remember such detail? I've got to try allowing myself to think that clearly. I'm thinking I really remember my stories. But you are ridiculous!
Golden V. Adams Jr. (website) on Monday, 18 July 2011 01:44

Don, it sounds like you and I are somewhat in the same generation. In those days, the pledge of allegiance did not contain the words "under God" which were later added. However, "My country 'Tis of Thee" or "America" were penned by Samuel F. Smith (1808-1895). In the verse you referred to in Author! Author! they go like this: "Our fathers' God, to thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light. Protect us by they might, Great God, our King." The author of liberty, then, is not America--God is the author of liberty to whom we need to look as a nation in order for our freedom to be preserved. You are so right in that it seems like both the song and the concept are being forgotten. Thank you for the reminder, and the insight of a first grader in learning vocabulary. I love your story and I love your writing.

Don, it sounds like you and I are somewhat in the same generation. In those days, the pledge of allegiance did not contain the words "under God" which were later added. However, "My country 'Tis of Thee" or "America" were penned by Samuel F. Smith (1808-1895). In the verse you referred to in Author! Author! they go like this: "Our fathers' God, to thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light. Protect us by they might, Great God, our King." The author of liberty, then, is not America--God is the author of liberty to whom we need to look as a nation in order for our freedom to be preserved. You are so right in that it seems like both the song and the concept are being forgotten. Thank you for the reminder, and the insight of a first grader in learning vocabulary. I love your story and I love your writing.
Millard Don Carriker (website) on Monday, 18 July 2011 01:48

We lived in a different world. . . . One reason I became involved in "Legacy Stories" is in the hopes that some small knowledge of the world in which we lived is kept alive. Lord knows schools quit teaching it many years ago. And thanks for enjoying my writing.

We lived in a different world. . . . One reason I became involved in "Legacy Stories" is in the hopes that some small knowledge of the world in which we lived is kept alive. Lord knows schools quit teaching it many years ago. And thanks for enjoying my writing.
Diane J. Adams (website) on Monday, 18 July 2011 13:16

America has a destiny that very few people understand. Liberty must be preserved for the benefit of all mankind throughout the world. Thanks for bringing that patriotic feeling back.

America has a destiny that very few people understand. Liberty must be preserved for the benefit of all mankind throughout the world. Thanks for bringing that patriotic feeling back.