A TV!

I lived in Minnesota as a child. You know the place. It is where the mosquito is the state bird. Oh, and the "ten-thousand lakes" place.
I liked it there. I could go hiking anywhere I wanted. For instance Grandpa and Grandma Hess lived about a mile northwest of our home and Grandpa and Grandma Kraft lived about a mile through the woods to the north. Often I would call the cockerspaniel dog, grab a twenty-two rifle and head out for the day. Other times I would climb onto Champ, my quarterhorse thorobred mix horse. If someone needed to know where I was, they could just ring the party line phone and someone would have seen me and tell my mom. It is not that parents did not care, It was that the community was this great big family. Everyone looked out for one another. If someone today paid attention to others like we did then, they would be labeled busy body or nosey.
On sunday, we would all go to church. The church had been built by a bunch of the pioneers and named Hope Chapel. In the winter someone would go there a little early and build a fire in the floor furnace. We heard many a good sermon there at Hope Chapel.
I still have not figured out this one serman though. You see, the preacher was goin' on and on about how horrible tvs were. Why, they were surely going to completely polute everything moral in life. I can't recite all that he said, but I think "goin to Hell" was said somewhere in that sermon. Goin' to Hell was said in a lot of them, so it could be that I am mixed up about that. I am not mixed up that it was bad to watch tv.
We did not have a tv, so I was safe. As I said, I had plenty to do without a tv. Then one day all the men were a talkin about the fact that the very preacher that preached the sin of tv had bought one himself. Now, I wonder what that means. I suppose it could be that tv programs improved enough to make it safe. I doubt it. I may be confused forever.
Then one day, normal as can be, I walked into the house after school and wow, a tv! I can still see those couples in my mind today. They were dancin to music on American Bandstand. Sinful!

KB