|
|
||
|
|
Story Time (Indiana)
THE GIRL WITH THE COLD HAIR enters with a storybook. She is dressed like a broken doll. Her face has a painted smile. THE GIRL WITH THE COLD HAIR Good morning, boys and girls. Good morning, my little Hoosiers. Welcome to story time at Howard’s Books, all of you are remarkably delicious today. Now, does everyone know where their ears are? Point at your ears if you know where your ears are. Ears are used for listening, aren’t they? Now, who knows where their eyes are? Point at your eyes if you know where they are, little Hoosiers. We use our little eyes to see, don’t we? Today for story time we’re going to be using our ears and eyes and nothing else, because today for story time we are going to have a special treat about a special man, one of the most important Hoosiers ever. His name was Ed Jackson. A long-long time ago, there was a boy named Edward L. Jackson. He was born to the son of a mill worker in Howard County. Edward grew strong and tall and mighty because he drank milk from Hoosier cows and went to church every Sunday. Edward—or as his friend D.C. Stephenson called him "Ed"—became a lawyer when he grew up and opened his very own law practice. In 1898, he entered something called "politics" in New Castle, Indiana and became a "prosecuting attorney." Does every one know what that is? It’s a very hard job, which only the most righteous man can be. Ed was a good prosecutor and in the year 1902, he was appointed a circuit court judge. That is a big deal, boys and girls. But then war came. The Germans invaded the French, and Ed enlisted in the army, to help the fight in World War I, the way God wanted. We all must fight our wars, don’t we children? When the war was over, God wanted Ed to return home, to return to Indiana, and fight a new kind of war. You see boys and girls Ed joined a special club. We call this club a "Klan." Now, hardworking Scottish bankers founded this special club in Tennessee, years before Ed was born, to fight for the rights of God’s America and it almost disappeared. But thanks to the work of good men like Ed and his pal D.C. Stephenson, the Klan came back anew in our very state of Indiana to protect God’s country. Ed fought a new war, to keep blacks, and Jews, and Catholics in their place by burning the Lord’s cross when it was needed. And God knew Ed was right, and God made Ed the governor of our Indiana in 1924. With Ed as governor, Hoosiers flourished. There were apples for every girl and boy. But Ed’s influence doesn’t stop there. No, sir. Ed’s influence can be felt today in New York City at the Empire State Building. Because the Empire State building is made from good ol’ Indiana limestone, and that is Ed’s doing, he was governor when New York bought our limestone. When our own Arlington Elementary School visits New York every year on it’s annual Big Apple field trip, and the boys and girls go to the top of the Empire State Building to eat their sandwiches and, praise God, we can all feel safe knowing that the Ku Klux Klan helped construct the tallest building in all of New York City. I’m proud to be a Hoosier because of good men, like Ed Jackson: Hoosier, Governor, Klansman, one of the most important Hoosiers ever. Golly, I just shit my pants. Now, for arts and crafts today, we are going to play dress up in honor of Ed. I brought white fabric and matches. And if you work hard and drink your milk, and go to church, you, too, can become the governor of Indiana. God bless you, boys and girls. God bless us all. Thank-you for using your little eyes and your little ears. You’re delicious. (She closes the storybook.) END
|
|