It had special meaning to Rose as soon as she read it, and I
too find it uncannily coincidental to my life's experiences
and realities. By sharing it here with all of you, it is hoped
that you too can sense and share in the emotions Ms. Dodds
Smith projects in her letter, perhaps even visualizing yourself
in the time and moment of which she writes. 

I can only wonder after reading this, and knowing my own
feelings, just how many other kinfolk retracing their roots
out from the hollows of Magoffin County and the hills
surrounding Prestonsburg and the rest of Floyd County,
Kentucky, must feel.

How must have our ancestors really felt whenever one of
their own headed north to Ohio, or Indiana, or out west to
Oklahoma, or Texas, or even back to Virginia, and the
Carolinas from whence they first came? 

It must have been an empty feeling, the aloneness our author
writes about, but yet she tells of it being also a journey of
hope for a new beginning, where fears were traded for new
promises and contentment, and where family was never
forgotten, but embraced, and honored, and remembered,
and shared! 

And she finishes her letter to her forefathers by saying she
wants the world to know about them and the loved ones
she left in a place called Kentucky, "Home, Sweet Home!" 

So, I find it perfectly fitting to feature Ms. Smith's letter here
on ShepherdWeb where I too "want the world to know about
you - do they care? I do - for I am all of you!"
 

Danny K. Shepherd
~*~
*

Written by

Virginia Dodds Smith

But, really, I am not leaving you.
I am taking all of you with me.
In myself I carry a part of all of you, my ancestors,
with me where ever I go.

In my own personality, I have many traits which I have also
come across in my learning of you.
Sometimes these characteristics conflict.
From one of you I get pride and just a bit of "don't touch me".
From another comes a gentle kindness.
I want to draw all within my embrace -- 
Especially those who look hurt or sad.

Who gave me this longing for privacy and aloneness which con-
tends with
My need to be with and among other people?

Then, I have a great desire to keep everything in perfect
order -- from my house to my finances --
And these records of you -- my ancestors.
But a laziness that abides in me lets things get thrown around
and sometimes lost.

I learn so much from just listening, but I'd rather argue the
point if I don't agree. (That sounds like some of you)
I have some pretty definite ideas on some things,
but I reserve the right to change my mind. (Isn't that you, too?)

I love the wooded hills, with their little creeks rippling
over the rocks, in the country that you helped to settle
when our nation was young.
But God has placed me in an urban area in a prairie state,
and there I am content.

Thank you for the gifts you've given me.
You had your smiles, your fears, your disappointments, your 
mountaintop experiences.
You've given me the strenght to see through my smiles,
my fears, my disappointments, my mountaintop experiences.

So now, I want the world to know about you -- do they care?
I do -- for I am all of you!

~*~
*

The state flower is the goldenrod, a symbol of
perserverance. It does not grow as does the beautiful
rose that is so loved by all.  No one gave the goldenrod
fertile soil and daily watering to help it to grow. It
grew like a weed in some neglected spot and it's
watering came as rain. If there was no rain, it
survived, anyway. Then, after the heat of summer, it
showed that it was hardy by blooming out in golden
plumes. It is suggestive of the stick-to-it-tiveness that
the best Kentuckians have. Kentucky's state song is

"My Old Kentucky Home. "

It was written by Stephen Collins Foster. He was 
not a Kentuckian, but was visiting in Kentucky.
Seeing the Negroes at their work and play, he was inspired to write the song. It is dear to the hearts of Kentuckians.

~*~
 

"MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME"
  (State Song)
 

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
'Tis summer, the darkies are gay;
The corn-top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
while the birds make music all the day.
`
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy and bright;
By'n by hard times comes a'knocking at the door,
 Then my old Kentucky home, good night!
`
Chorus
`
Weep no more, my lady,
 oh weep no more today;
We will sing one song
For the old Kentucky home,
 For the old Kentucky home, far away.
`
~*~

ShepherdWeb.Net` © `

Copyright 2001 

kf

***