The amusing story is told, that after President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted Daylight Savings Time, a dear little lady wrote to a Washington newspaper expressing her thanks and comprehension of the president's action:

"Sir, I am in favor of Daylight Savings Time. I have planted Victory-Gardens and vegetable gardens for many years and I am happy to inform you that they do much better with that extra hour of sunlight every day that you have given to us! Thank you, Mr. President, for your help in this time of war."

Well, whether all citizens of the United States spent their time gardening in that extra hour of sunlight is not known, but some folks found that after dark escapades had something to say for smartness:

During World War II, German U Boats were known to ply the Eastern Coast of North America. In light of this, soldiers routinely patrolled the beaches of South Carolina, as they did all along the Eastern Seaboard.

One rainy night, on Edisto Beach, when the full moon lay hidden behind a dark cloud, a series of rifle shots were carried on the wind to a couple who occupied a cottage close to the shoreline. Although their windows were covered by thick black-out curtains, they turned off all of the light, thinking Germans had come ashore.

As they huddled in a corner, a knock sounded at the door. They remained silent until they heard their names called, at which time they opened the door to two young American soldiers whom they knew. They offered them hot coffee and stoked the fire for drying warmth. The husband asked if they had heard the shooting. Each looked very embarassed. Then they burst out laughing, as one of the young men reportedly said:

"We were patrolling when we saw what appeared to be a man crawling along the beach. We called out for him to halt, but our warning fell on deaf ears. He kept going. Thinking him to be a lone German, or one among many, we fired at him. He stopped. We approached carefully, somewhat fearful for our safety and the civilians who live here. When we reached the object, we discovered we had killed a large sea turtle!"

Red-faced, but happy, the two soon returned to their patrolling duties, and the couple who had huddled in the corner in fear had a good laugh, and a good night's sleep.

Living in the Bible Belt in the forties was serious stuff, regardless of which translation of the Bible one read. The story is told of three ministers who were discussing the virtues of one translation over the other.

The first, a Southern Baptist, was adamant that the King James Version was superior in style and teaching. A bit of banter back and forth among the three was ineffective in proving the point of the Baptist.

The Episcopalian minister was just as adroit in espousing a little known version of the Scriptures as his capped head bobbed without aplomb. Turning to the Methodist he asked, "Well, what say you, sir?"

Now, the Methodist, being an apologist, crossed his arms in front of him in a stance of defiance and replied, "I like my mother's translation!"

Well, the forties seem a life-time removed as we approach the year 2000. I was eight years old when 1940 began. Only eight years earlier, a Butterfinger candy bar cost a nickle. In Rome, Marconi successfully tested the first short-wave radio, and Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President by a landslide defeating President Herbert Hoover. Elizabeth Taylor was born, and Shirley Temple became the curly-head darling of the silver screen. The first Tarzan movie starring Johnny Weissmuller opened admitting children under nine years of age for nine cents, and Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The thirties had eased into the forties without a blink, and the ensuing war years changed us as a people, forever...

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