Risc! Heroic Heroes

Being the seventh child of parents who were in the printing business, my life was formed in four stages at a very early age. My father who was in the printing business died when I was about a year and a half old. Leaving my sainted mother with seven children to raise. The oldest, being less than fourteen. Naturally in order to feed her family, she had to run the business, which meant housekeepers. At 4 years old, I was playing down at Allens woods where they had been logging. The ground was covered with sawdust, which felt good to my bare feet. All of a sudden, the ground gave way and my foot plunged into a red-hot underground fire. I screamed at the top of my lungs. And continued to scream all the way up the hill and into my house, where I raced for the bathroom, turned on the water in the tub, and plunged my foot into the cold water, still screaming. I heard our housekeeper screaming at the top of her lungs. Drown him! Drown him! Drown him! At 5 years old, another housekeeper had to take me to her home, and take care of me until my mother could pick me up. She lived on a houseboat. She and her husband, who filed saws for a living, were keeping me entertained. All of a sudden a man carrying a bottle of moonshine, entered the house. When they explained to him about me, he suggested they send me out to swim. They then informed him that I couldnt swim. The Man then suggest that the best way a child could learn to swim was to throw him in. As you can imagine, the alarms went off in my head. I made a beeline for the bathroom, locked the door, and told them that I would not come out until the moon-shiner had left. At six years old, I was put in a play at school. I dont remember the name of the play, but my part was to dance the two-step with a girl while singing Ill take you home again Cathleen. My mother and my sister dressed me in a costume that consisted of black paten leather buckle shoes, knee high white stockings, black velvet short pants, a long sleeved, heavily laced white shirt. While all this was going My mother and my sister dressed me in a costume that consisted of black paten leather buckle shoes, knee high white stockings, black velvet short pants, a long sleeved, heavily laced white shirt. on, my brothers teased and teased, with sissy, sissy, sissy, or Little Lord Fauntleroy, never letting up. You can imagine how I felt while walking to the church auditorium room where the play was to take place. As I reached for the door to enter, In my mind, I could still hear my brothers hollering, sissy, sissy, Little Lord Fauntleroy. I just could not bring myself to open that Door! I turned and went back home. To me, this was the cruelest thing I had ever done to anyone in my life Let alone a little girl who missed the play because of me. I have never forgotten it, and I never will. These stories have had a lasting effect about people including myself. Probably one reason why Im self- educated along with being extremely independent. David Usher Emerson