Turkey Relives Biblical Story

HELLO FOLKS! — It is tourist time again and our affluent American society will be contributing to other nations of the world, some of our wealth in the form of American dollars.

Turkey is one nation making a big play for these dollars. At first thought it might seem that Turkey has very little to offer the average tourist. However, I ran across an interesting article, about one site that offers much of interest.

Near the city of Izmer lies the ruined and ancient city of Ephesus. This city at one time was a great center of civilization and culture. Today it lies in ruins. Inhabited only by a few hawkers eager to make a few dollars from the few tourists who travel to this spot.

One of the suburbs of Ephesus which lies high on a hill near what once was the city, is a shrine maintained by the Roman Catholic Church.

According to the information given about this shrine it was the final home of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Tradition has it that when the Christians left Jerusalem John the disciple took Mary, and made a home for her at Ephesus. After her death the Christians maintained the place.

In the city of Ephesus lies ruins of two churches named after Mary and John. The oldest church is the church of Mary. It was built the year 351. Later about 400, to accommodate the growth of the Christian community, the church of John was built on the end of the older church. They were sometimes called the "double church".

They were destroyed about 500 AD by invaders. About 600 AD the church of John was rebuilt.

It is obvious from the pictures that these churches and especially the church of John were extremely well built. Some of the walls, floors and pillars still remain. Imbedded in the floors of the baptismal rooms are the fonts with steps leading down to them.

...a whisper of its past glory.

Tradition has it that, except for the time he was banished to the isle of Patmos, John lived here and directed the affairs of the Church after the death of Peter. He lived to a tremendous age, that was the marvel of all who knew him. It is believed that he lived there until 105 AD.

An interesting sidelight to all this is: Why did Jesus have John take Mary? We know from scripture (Matt. 13:55) that Mary had four other sons and at least two daughters. Did they not accept the divinity of Christ? Or were they not considered by Jesus to be worthy enough to care for his mother?

At any rate it seems that while Jerusalem is the birth place of Christianity; Epheus probably could be called its first permanent home.

Do You Know Interest Pay?

Hello Folks — Usually when a man gets too big for his britches his hat won't fit either.

--

As of today Freeborn can be called the county of 10,000 lakes. My, what a lot of water, I have seen more, I think it was in 1953 we had more during the summer than we have now. This kind of weather does things the politicians could never do — take care of the surplus corn. I don't think there will be much of a surplus next year.

--

How much interest do you pay out in a year? I believe that few of us know, and if we get it figured out we pay a lot more than we realize.

Credit is a wonderful thing when it is used right, but abused it can be. a mill stone and keeps many a man from getting ahead.

There are many ways of figuring interest and some of them are deceiving. One per cent per month sounds pretty reasonable but when it adds up to 12 per cent it gets mighty big. There are a good many people paying much more than that. Most of the time pay plans run around 16 per cent.

...tion it in the contract, It really makes a 'whollaper' of a lot if one gets 'bit' by such a deal.

The best thing is to stay out of debt for anything but a home or business. Then we learn to be thrifty and we are more apt to watch the purchases and see to that they are bought right.

I think it is very important to teach our children thrift and how to buy wisely. They have to learn sometime and it should help by giving them an allowance when they are too young to earn it themselves and see to it that they learn to know that before there can be a penny spent there first has to be one earned. We are all creatures of habit and by teaching the youth the value of a dollar the nation grows stronger and more financially secure.

The credit and finance system is what has aided us in getting the great standard of living that we have but the abuse of it can also be our downfall. Borrowing when money is easy to get and then having to pay it back when the dollar is scarse is a situation that none of us would envy. Let's watch it. Huh.

One day a salesman stopped in and wanted to sell his wares. Had a good product but he didn't want cash. It had to be time payments spread over two years. I insisted on figuring up what the interest rates were and they added up to a mighty 24 per cent per year. No wonder he didn't want to sell for cash. He probably could get his financing for around 6 or 7 per cent, then turn around and get about. four times that for the same money. That is what I call a raw deal. We had better all look out for our own financing lest we get taken into such a deal.

A feed salesman drove in the yard and insisted on selling some feed. He had a grand plan for the farmer, Pay when the hogs are sold.

I asked him what the interest figured out to. His answer was," Oh, just about the same as the bank charges. I took a pencil and figured it out, It came to 11 per cent. The catch was it was on about a 6 months term, The interest didn't sound like much but it counts up when you really go to adding.

Then there is the service charge. I have been told that a lending institution can add a service charge and they don't have to men...

Mama, Please Read A Book

HELLO FOLKS! — Giving children the privilege of telling parents what they can do is placing an awful burden of responsibility where it does not belong and cannot be directed.

--o--

MY SISTER Erna has four handsome sons. One day I heard her say something that impressed me deeply. I asked her to put it in writing which she rather reluctantly agreed to do. Erna's husband Bob teaches in the Albert Lea Schools. Here is what she wrote.

MAMA, PLEASE READ ME A BOOK?
By ERNA BERTHELSEN
"Mama, please read me a book? This is the question often asked by my three-year-old son when I am busy with some household chore. Only a mother can know the joy of seeing a little boy's big blue questioning eyes turn to happiness when the answer is, "Yes, I will."

This little boy knows which day his older brother will bring home a library book just for him. Even our one-year old boy knows the joy of story time as we sit in the big rocker to share this favorite book together. I have learned that in no other age can I make them so happy with so little. So that household chore has been delayed; but two little boys have received the loving attention they needed and Mother has rested.

Five or ten years from now, no one will know that the refrigerator wasn't cleaned, the dishes weren't dried, or the floor wasn't swept, but my boys will know that I took time to read to them."

P. S. — I believe that if every mother everywhere would take a few minutes a day to do the above described duty, wars would soon end, crime would cease and man would soon be at peace with his fellow men.

--o--

I totaled up the rainfall for the month of May. It reads as follows. Three and seven-tenths inches, with almost half of it falling on the 25th and 26th of the month. The only other large amount was on the 5th with 0.7 that day. The month of April gave us 3 inches.

I am aware that this figure is tremendously different than what was received in many other parts of the county and elsewhere. We had only one storm which slowed up field