Privilege and Duty
by John Slotemaker
When our creator long ago
Came from heaven here below
He made this earth a place to dwell
And made it perfect, made it well.
He also made a human soul
With body, healthy, strong and whole
And from a rib – a second life,
Then God pronounced them man and wife.
Their home was comfortable and nice
So that they called it Paradise
The best of fruits they had to eat,
It was their bread, it was their meat.
Without sorrow, without grieve
So lived Adam, so lived Eve
And what I also want to say
God was with them every day.
He spoke to them and said: see here,
You are my creatures pure and clear;
And I have only this to say
My command you must obey.
But on a bright and sunny day
A stranger came, and said to Eve
Excuse me please, I’m here: but not to stay
I only ask you to believe
Now listen close to my advise,
It makes you great, it makes you wise
Your privilege will be to know
Good and evil, here below.
Thus disobedience stepped in
And our first parents fell in sin
Then their hearts were filled with fear
They hid in shame when God came near
And after that all peace was gone
And good and evil struggled on
Listen: their first son, a gift from God
Killed his brother with a rod.
Put through Gods love and common grace
The blessed and multiplied the race
But sin grew strong and gained in power
So that they planned to build a tower
The agreed to build it to the sky
More than a thousand stories high
They did not like to spread apart
But stayed together – thus they start
But Jehovah’s wise and holy plan
Was against the will of man.
The people worked, They were not lazy
But all at once it seemed they all went crazy
What the fore man did command
No one could understand
For hard bricks, they brought soft clay
And all the Dutch said: nix verstay.
And after that it all went wrong
Each sang his own peculiar song
They lived in dark instead of light
And at last they start to fight.
They went to north, they went to south
And had to work to fill their mouth
They went to east, they went to west
And settled down and did their best.
But God in His unshaken grace
Did not forget the human race
In Edens garden Adam fell
Christ came down to concuer hell
And what a privilege it was
To save man kind; regain the loss
But what a duty; great and high
To suffer deep, and then to die.
And now; we knew our duties very will
We know our privilege is great
And Jesus has just this to tell,
Come unto me; ere it will be to late.
The Wedding of Henry and Fannie
by John Slotemaker
Friday Oct. 2, 1930
We feel happy and delighted
Because on this Second October day
Our Son Henry and Fannie V.d.May
Were Solomly united
United to be in future life
To live in harmony and love
That precious gift from God above
A gift which brings real happiness
And fills the heart with joyfulness
The bride was born in Michigan
And the bridegroom now her man
If I am not mistaken, but right
Is by berth a Lyndenite
Now it happened on some day
That the familie V.d.May
In Mich no longer wished to stay
So they board a train and sped away
The whole familie, eight in all
To the City of St. Paul.
And their stood the flyer ready bound
For the famous Puget Sound
But at that time they had no thought or notion
To make a trip to the Pacific Coast and Ocean
Manhatten, Montana was the choice of destination
The great state of dry farming and irrigation
But what they did not like you know
Were the under zeros and the snow.
So they decided to be best
To go still farther west
And thus they arrived at Lynden
Welcomed by relatives and frinden
By the help of a friend and neighbor
They start to work and labor
The children went to school for education
To become good citizens of the nation
And now there is something I almost forgot
Came the arrival of no. 7 a little tot
That baby is their Washington boy
And did filled their hearts with joy
And that boy my friends I do not lie
Now is able to jump extra ordinary high
To the girls Fannie and Minnie
Both have one sister her name is Winnie
But on a Sunday evening a fellow came
And later on Winnie lost her maiden name
But it can not be called a pity
That both live north of Lynden City
Minnie, Fannie both found jobs in Bellingham
Fannie worked 15 years for a lady and gentleman
Who for a long time manager was and still is
Of the Puget Sound Fisheries
In other words the busseniss of that man
Is to put dead salmons in a can
I mention only a few things of the V.d.May familie
But my friends we all have a history
And human life often is like a mystery
We were born, we live, we die
These are facts no one will ever deny
Through the fall of Adam and Eve in Paradise
Our human nature became corrupt and un wise
Then the struggle began of wrong and right
A mighty conflict between dark and light
Creation and all mankind is under the rod
But in Christ Jezus we have a merciful God
Yes the whole world was lost in the darkness and sin
But the light of the world is Jezus
Only that light can put heaven in the soul
And than heaven will be our home and place
Then we are prepared and ready
To meet our Savior face to face.
