GAIL BORDEN
Across
the Fence
By
Arvord Abernethy
Early
1980's
I was
saying something about
Borden
County
and its county seat, Gail. If you remember your Texas History you may
remember of hearing of Gail Borden. He came to
Texas
in the 1820’s and soon afterwards surveyed off the city of
Houston
. He also established the first newspaper in
Houston
and it became the official voice of the
Republic
of
Texas
. He had to move his newspaper once to keep it from falling into the
hands of Santana.
His name
may sound more familiar in another line. He had noticed how the pioneers
were having trouble preserving food, so he began to work on that. As he
came back from
England
on a sailing vessel, he noticed how the children were needing milk. When
he got home, he began to work on ways to evaporate some of the water out
of milk and then preserve it. He perfected a way about 1853, and canned
milk has been a household word since then. He started a milk company
soon after that that we know as the Borden Milk Company, and it did a
big business during the Civil War supplying milk for the Union soldiers.
Borden
County
is hardly as well known as its namesake. It is a ranching country with
less than a thousand people living in it. Gail is the only town in the
county and it has about 150 people living in it; hardly as well known as
Borden’s Elsie the Cow.
We often
think of Thanksgiving as being uniquely American as baseball, hot dogs,
apple pie and Chevrolet, and in some ways that is true. An American
colony was the home of the first Thanksgiving as we have known it since
the Pilgrims met that December day in 1621 to express to God their deep
feelings of gratitude. Our good neighbors to the north, Canadians, also
have a day of thanksgiving.
There
has been some form of service for giving thanks down through the ages,
especially after Moses asked the children of
Israel
to set aside a day each year as a memorial of God’s deliverance of
them from bondage.
As we
approach this Thanksgiving season, we are prone to look back over the
past year to see what the days have brought us… Some of us will find
days of sorrow as a loved one or friend was taken from us. If the
Pilgrims who had suffered the loss of nearly half of their colony the
first year, a time when they had to secretly bury their dead at night
for fear that some of the unfriendly Indians would know how weak they
were getting and attack, --if the Pilgrims could find something to be
thankful for, surely we can too.
We have
just gone through the hottest summer on record and are in a drought; but
if the Pilgrims who had to ration their food even after a bountiful
harvest could find something to be thankful for, surely we here in
America who find our granaries well stocked should find something to be
thankful for.
If the
Pilgrims who had gone nearly a year without new supplies or word from
loved ones in
England
could find something to be thankful for, surely we who have a handy
store on the corner and friends everywhere can find much to be thankful
for. Maybe we can count some new friends we have made as the Pilgrims
did among the Indians.
Take
some time this Thanksgiving season to count just one blessing that you
have received, then add it to another, and then another, and it will
surprise you what the Lord has done.
HAPPY
THANKSGIVING
