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By Linda H. Barnette

My favorite movie of all time is “Gone with the Wind,” not because of any approval of the plantation system of the Old South, but because it is a great story with remarkable actors, and it does portray a dynamic era in our history.

When it opens, Scarlett O’Hara, who lives on her family plantation, Tara, enjoys nothing more than parties, dressing up in pretty clothes, and trying to outwit her servant, Mammy. All she thinks about is having a good time and pursuing Ashley Wilkes, who does not love her but loves Melanie, his cousin.

Scarlett breaks the rules of polite society. She marries someone she does not love, and after he is killed in battle, she and Melanie go to Atlanta as nurses for the wounded troops. As Atlanta eventually burns, she is able to convince Rhett Butler, whom she met briefly early in the movie, to find a carriage and take her and Melanie back to Tara. He does get the carriage and takes them halfway home but does not go the whole distance because he said he was going to enlist in the army.

When they arrive at Tara, it is still standing, but the landscape is ruined, the crops are all gone, and Scarlett finds that her mother has died and her father is demented. She realizes that they are in a terrible situation with nothing to eat, no horse, and no money. Everything is lost. As the intermission approaches, Scarlett wanders out into a field to clear her head, pulling a dried up carrot out of the ground, taking a bite, and getting sick. As the scene ends, she stands defiantly, and with her fist in the air, she utters these famous words: “As God is my witness, they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this, and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again.”

That scene and those words are etched into my memory and are as clear now as they were when I was a young teenager and first saw that movie in Salisbury.

Early Settlers and Iron

By David R. Moore

When they had a supply of iron, country blacksmiths forged all sorts of tools and implements required by early settlers, such as hatchets, axes, hoes, shovels, chisels, augurs, nails, bolts, hinges, nuts, saw blades, horse shoes, plough shares, wagon tires, etc. However, there was a constant iron shortage, and iron shipped in from overseas was expensive. To help remedy the iron shortage, in 1788 the North Carolina legislature created Forge Bounty Land Grants. The act allowed a bounty of 3,000 acres of vacant land to those persons who set up iron works and produced 5,000 weight of iron.

The land grant incentive helped in the building of a number of forges in the western region of North Carolina. Some of the earliest forges were built aside Hominy Creek and Reems Creek in Buncombe County. Later, other forges were built aside rivers such as the Cranberry, Toe, and New. Many forges were short lived because they were often destroyed by flood or ice freshet. Some examples: Harbard’s Bloomery Forge on Helton creek, built 1807 and washed away 1817; Ballou’s Bloomery Forge at Falls of North Fork of New River, built 1817 and washed away 1832; Lovingood Bloomery Forge on Hanging Dog, Cherokee County, built 1845 and destroyed 1853.

Water power was needed to crush the crude ore that was mixed with rock and dirt using “stompers” which consisted of hardwood beams which were lowered and raised by a cogged horizontal shaft. When the ore was fine enough, it was washed in troughs to separate it from foreign matter. It was ready for the furnace, which consisted of a rock base 6X6 feet with 3-foot high walls. These crude furnaces had 3 sides, one left open and a nest dug in the middle of the base or hearth. Through a wall and projecting above the nest, ran 2-inch blast pipes to supply air. A small fire of chips was started in the nest and over this was laid 3 or 4 bushels of coal. Using water-powered bellows, air was blown through the blast pipes to burn the coal into a white heat. Upon the hot coals was laid a layer of ore and then covered with another layer of charcoal and still another layer of ore. The ore gradually melted and settled to the bottom of the nest with silica and other impurities remaining on top.

Into the mass of melted ore, an iron bar would be thrust. The molted ore adhering to the bar was called a ‘loop” since the thick, molted ore was turned onto the bar. The ‘loop’ was withdrawn and placed on a large anvil to be hammered. Water power was used in operating of the drop hammer. Some anvils and hammers weighed as much as 750 pounds. Hammering the hot iron forces out impurities and re-aligns the crystals of iron which produces a denser and harder metal. After the foreign matter was hammered out, the iron was divided into short bars of 25 to 30 pounds each. These bars were then taken to markets using wagons. For markets remote from wagon roads, the ends of the iron bars were bent like runners of a sled and bound together by iron bands. These then could be dragged over rough trails by ox or mule.

Personality of the Holy Spirit

By Stephanie Williams Dean

We must know the Holy Spirit before we can understand the Spirit’s work within us. No study of the work of the Holy Spirit can be made without first understanding Him as a person. The Spirit’s not simply a power, illumination, or influence coming from God. The Spirit is as real a person as Jesus Christ. The Spirit is every bit as present, majestic, and omnipotent – always dwelling in us and continually by our side.

Before we can understand the personality of the Spirit, we must first let go of any idea that a “person” means having physical human characteristics. Instead, both Old and New Testaments show us that characteristics of personality are ascribed to the Spirit. For one, the Spirit is not an influence opening our mind to the truth but is a being who knows the truth.

Having a will is another characteristic of Holy Spirit. We are not to take hold of the Spirit and use for our willful gain, but instead, the Holy Spirit is a sovereign person who uses us according to His own perfect will. Imagine that a divine, perfect person has possession of you – and imparts to you such personal gifts – and uses you according to His wisdom.

While Christians often refer to the love of God and salvation through Christ, we seldom consider the love of the Holy Spirit. But it is the love of the Spirit who leads us to realize our need for a Savior. If not for the love of the Spirit, none of us would ever see the glory of the heaven.

The Spirit’s personality traits, goodness and intelligence, are revealed in this Old Testament passage, “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.” Nehemiah 9:20.

The Holy Spirit dwells in us every moment and knows every unkind word from our mouths, impure thought in our heads, and sinful deed we perform. Scripture reveals grief as being ascribed to the Spirit – and He is grieved by our sinful actions. What better reason is there for making our best effort to avoid sin.

Sometimes a Christian’s view of being filled with Spirit can cause us to be prideful and arrogant and have an attitude of superiority. Instead, it should be truly humbling when we consider the fact a Holy Spirit resides within us – a Spirit who commands and directs our lives.

We rob the Holy Spirit of faith, love, and surrender if we do not see Him as a divine person. Rather than thinking how can we get more of the Holy Spirit, our thoughts need to be how can the Spirit get more of me?

Osprey

By N. R. Tucker

Toward the end of March, I noticed a large bird hanging out in the same branch of the same tree where a Bald Eagle perched a few weeks earlier. I couldn’t get a clear sighting to identify the type of bird, and I assumed it was an eagle or hawk of some sort. I am by no means an expert when it comes to bird identification, but I enjoy watching them. After a few days, when I realized the bird wasn’t just passing through, I took my telephoto and snapped a few pictures. In retrospect, I picked the wrong day. It was pouring rain, and the pictures didn’t turn out well. Even so, I posted one on Facebook and asked a friend, who is an avid birder, if he could identify it. He (and others) said osprey. My initial response was it couldn’t be. They’re only on rivers near the ocean, right?

Now I had to research. I discovered ospreys are large hawks, and while they are common at the beach, they are also common along waterways and breed in our area. They are comfortable around humans, and now that I know to look, I have seen more. I have been amazed at the things I have learned now that I pay attention to the birds flying overhead and resting in the trees.

RWG Literary Corner

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