KIDDIE KORNER

A preacher was riding to one of the churches on his circuit when darkness fell.
It was about to storm, and the only house nearby was an old mansion which was reputed to be haunted.
The preacher clutched his Bible and said: "The Lawd will take care o' me".
He went into the mansion just as the storm broke.
He put his horse into the barn and made his way into the house.
The door was unlocked. He went into a large room which contained a fireplace that filled one wall.
There was wood laid for a fire. He laid a match to it.
Then the preacher sat down to read his Bible.
Gradually, the fire burnt down to a heap of coals as the storm howled around the mansion.
The preacher was roused from his reading by a sound.
He looked up from his Bible. A very large, black cat was stretching itself.
Then it walked to the fire and sat down among the red hot coals.
It picked a coal up in its paw and licked it slowly.
The cat got up, shook of the ashes, and walked to the foot of the preacher's chair.
It fixed blazing yellow eyes upon him, black tail lashing and said quietly:
"Wait until Emmet comes".
The preacher jumped from Genesis to Matthew in shock.
He had never heard of a cat talking before.
Nervously he kept reading his Bible, muttering to himself,
"The Lawd will take care o' me."
Two minutes later, another cat came into the room.
It was black as midnight, and as large as the biggest dog.
It lay down among the red-hot coals, lazily batting them with enormous paws.
Then it walked over to the other cat and said:
"What shall we do with him?"
The first cat replied: "We should not do anything until Emmet comes".
The two cats, black as midnight, sat watching the preacher,
who read through the Gospels at top speed,
aware of blazing yellow eyes watching him.
A third cat, big as a tiger, entered the room.
It went to the fire full of red-hot coals and rolled among them,
chewing them and spitting them out.
Then it came to the other two cats facing the preacher in the chair.
"What shall we do with him?" it growled to the others.
"We should not do anything until Emmet comes," the other cats replied together.
The preacher flipped to Revelation, looking furtively around the room. He closed the Bible and stood up.
"Goo'night cats. I is glad of yo' company,
but when Emmet comes, you done tell him I been heah and went."

Well now, old Sam Gibb, he didn't believe in ghosts.
Not one bit. Everyone in town knew the old log cabin back in the woods was haunted,
but Sam Gibb just laughed whenever folks talked about it.
Finally, the blacksmith dared Sam Gibb to spend the night in the haunted log cabin.
If he stayed there until dawn, the blacksmith would buy him a whole
cartload of watermelons. Sam was delighted.
Watermelon was Sam's absolute favorite fruit.
He accepted the dare at once, packed some matches and his pipe,
and went right over to the log cabin to spend the night.

Sam went into the old log cabin, started a fire, lit his pipe,
and settled into a rickety old chair with yesterday's newspaper.
As he was reading, he heard a creaking sound. Looking up, he saw
that a gnarled little creature with glowing red eyes
had taken the seat beside him. It had a long, forked tail,
two horns on its head, claws at the ends of its hands,
and sharp teeth that poked right through its large lips.

"There ain't nobody here tonight except you and me,"
the creature said to old Sam Gibb. It had a voice like the hiss of flames.
Sam's heart nearly stopped with fright. He leapt to his feet.

"There ain't going to be nobody here but you in a minute,"
Sam Gibb told the gnarled creature. He leapt straight for the
nearest exit - which happened to be the window - and hi-tailed it down
the lane lickety-split. He ran so fast he overtook two rabbits
being chased by a coyote. But it wasn't long before he heard
the pounding of little hooves, and the gnarled creature
with the red eyes caught up with him.

"You're making pretty good speed for an old man,"
said the creature to old Sam Gibb.

"Oh, I can run much faster than this,"
Sam Gibb told it. He took off like a bolt of lightning,
leaving the gnarled creature in the dust. As he ran past the smithy,
the blacksmith came flying out of the forge to see what was wrong.

"Never mind about them watermelons,"
Sam Gibb shouted to the blacksmith without breaking his stride.

Old Sam Gibb ran all the way home and hid under his bed
for the rest of the night. After that, he was a firm believer
in ghosts and spooks, and he refused to go
anywhere near the old cabin in the woods.

If you travel to Bear Lake in Utah on a quiet day, you just might catch a glimpse
of the Bear Lake Monster. The monster looks like a huge brown snake
and is nearly 90 feet long. It has ears that stick out from the side
of its skinny head and a mouth big enough to eat a man.
According to some, it has small legs and it kind of scurries when
it ventures out on land. But in the water - watch out!
It can swim faster than a horse can gallop - makes a mile a minute
on a good day. Sometimes the monster likes to sneak up on unwary
swimmers and blow water at them. The ones it doesn't carry off to eat, that is.
A feller I heard about spotted the monster early one evening
as he was walking along the lake. He tried to shoot it with his rifle.
The man was a crack shot, but not one of his bullets touched that monster.
It scared the heck out of him and he high tailed it home faster
than you can say Jack Robinson. Left his rifle behind
him and claimed the monster ate it.

Sometimes, when the monster has been quiet for a while,
people start saying it is gone for good. Some folks even dredge
up that old tale that says how Pecos Bill heard about the Bear Lake monster
and bet some cowpokes that he could wrestle that monster until it said uncle.
According to them folks, the fight lasted for days and created
a hurricane around Bear Lake. Finally, Bill flung that there monster
over his shoulder and it flew so far it went plumb around
the world and landed in Loch Ness, where it lives to this day.

Course, we know better than that.
The Bear Lake Monster is just hibernating-like.
Keep your eyes open at dusk and maybe you'll see it come
out to feed. Just be careful swimming in the lake,
or you might be its next meal!