Page 21 - Mississippi 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 3

ran mlo both of my regular readers mosl about llns greal slory-leller. He ume and as lhey rlrerl the remalmng
on a srrle slreel m Baton Rouge nol only had ume Io lrslen lo where you lnhe members hurled Lhsm (Inns in Lhl:
a eouple of weeks ago and was wamerl to go, bul he had «he ablllty to losl eemelery and put that pile of roeks
asked about my old fnund and help you gel Lhcre. l Ihmk we'd be a al lhe head of lhe grave so lhal some
everyday hero Dlllard. They sard, lot furtlmr m our damage preuenuon day a seounng parry lrke us eould find
"Tell us anolher slory r1buulDlllard.” nflorts lorlay ll we had more people lhem and lell lhe world about lhe losl
It has always been easy to tell slones wnh surh ablllty. lnhe of Eglzlh. l askerl hlm who buncd
about my frlcnd, partly heeause he Th fl _ d H (1 (112 lasl one when he dred and who pul
was a legendary ~tury-tnllcr. l was fmf““p::c“}?°"‘,"1’:‘l;“ :Tl“‘c‘“M3’n‘:‘“EO:§qm lhe rocks at Ihl: head of lus grave’ He
rmmedlalely remrnrled of days long ‘ \ figured it musl have been a hanrl of
past ..back a. me nme. down a long 3fjf;;l;;f§§nlf;Ef ‘*§;‘*j‘{,;';§“?‘;;*fft roregners [mm elm had traveled
single lane din road in soulhwesl 1‘! M _ B *1 I b h K_ ,, lhrough lhe eounlry durmg Lhe summer
Arkansas Lhal dearl-ended atDlllr1xd's "3 '” ““ “ ‘ “ °‘“‘ “ C" “l , of '23.
This hot summer day round me snung ‘ Y . I _h k E m Beulah hollenng my name lhrough the
on his from porch leaning agnns. one 3“ smgfi °"_“(;“,,“;f;‘ an fh id woods ”Rah-loci!” rang on. me seeond
of Lhc eerlar oreh eolumns l waned “ ‘“‘“$ ““ ‘° ”“‘ I " “P” ‘ 3“ ume anrl l knew lhal the seoulm an r
P walk on home n ls emn dark l 5 P 3
patlenlliy (cg Dllladzd to ‘pour }l}l‘m~'alf dmug’1'“ um Wu‘; H Wit ‘dc’: Pm‘ We was einlung (0:11 cad [llgave Dlllazd
acupo cu eean sell elmo ls _' ’ zlqulc ugan sol ~'Lvyou
old roekmg eharr on Ihl: front porch. 3"5l’;‘ ‘“‘;:}’°“ “ °"“°’:’ ”f";f“j'"g tnmurmw, ok?” and ran lhrough lhe
Finally he walked out of (112 house wllh 1;‘;m‘l‘}"‘:" u:1:"‘:£‘C‘:":: d“‘J:‘;m woods to reassure my Aunlu: that no
hrs coffnc, He slrelrhed real blg as he ‘ _ _ ' ' hon or uger had ealen me alrye. l eould
slepperl on lhe porch He had the look 3‘“l‘,“_"“;'“l‘l§‘"“ 1:’: °1‘;"““"f1’“’ E)’ hardly wall to cell her ahoul lhe Eglals.
of a kmg about to be roronaled He 1b;u“l“EV‘:ml"‘fl;: ;°f"md“ l frmhfully told her the lragrr slory of
paused and slam: al lhe mcklng ehau :1“ I [wk d‘ 0 d d to me [HEM |*n um * lhe losl lnbe and lhe meamng of Lhc 5
He moved n slrg lly and slowly sat ‘ _ y _ _ saered prles of rorks
down. He allowed a was lmponanl for “1°°<‘;J W *f°'*;;“;'*d;~ ;"§f‘*“; ‘°' “C d . h 11 . d
a man of [m bmdmg and mm ‘D Mk he ln e, so (ml un re s o years aler H oo graelous cum), s e sar .
_ _ people would remember lhem. Your unele Alva hauled lhose roeks
wnh lhe grmn so as no: work lumsel: Io
dealh roekmg uplull Apparently the enure populanon was """}‘1°‘" W: fi’1‘fi“ ‘l":1“’}j”“ "“"“:‘“g
> ‘ _ Lhcbnzmd of our omean e aue I em ml at
l dldn’l nghlly know how old he was, ,""‘°“ ‘”‘*’““‘ °“‘ “Y olrl wagon that sus behind lhe barn
l would have guessed somelhmg |n "9 ““d °“'> 5 ‘““"b°” °f ”‘° mb“ There ls nolhing saered ahoul chose
\ _ . , eseaped wnh lherr lryes How lhey .,, ,, .,,, .
lhe range of Melhuselah, hul ll dldn l f d I V V H‘ b V d_ olrl roek p|l£~ yes, lhere ls. says I,
really maller. All 1 really knew from b°‘t“{ “ET!” “3l,‘°h ‘ ‘$1“°° ‘d V proleellng lhe legacy of the Eglafs
my 5-year-old orphan knd perspeeuue ° "‘°““ ‘ “’ °, °‘“ P “E "“ ‘"3 ,
_ _ unele and Aunne s wlll hkely remam And that s when l learnerl that some
was that he had a hearl full of sense and ,
a myslery ul the Lord remrns In Lhe urunlormed grownups wlll ram on
somehow round Lhe nme lo teach me 1 d d
lhe important lhlngs cf late that grarle “ °“ " V‘’“’ P“ ‘
srhool lual wasn't cqulppcd In handle. Drllarrl told me as we lookerl at «he lsesrrles, only Lhc roeks knew for sure...
‘gum (hm Pm of WW I mmcmbm markers Lhal tlmy had dlerl one at a and lwas gorng to heheue Drllard
laerause he had lhe best sloryl .
2015 lssoea MMSVSSIDDI an . 19