There was a pastor who spent his Sunday mornings during the summer months filling in for other pastors when they went on vacation and his young son always accompanied him. He was conducting the service one Sunday and when the offering plate was passed he put in a fifty cent piece. At the conclusion of the service after all the parishioners had departed a deacon approached the pastor and said, "Sir, it is a tradition in our church that when we have a visiting minister during the vacation season we present him with the morning offering in appreciation of his services, and here it is." The deacon then handed him the morning offering which amounted to fifty cents. The pastors little son was observing all this and promptly said, "Daddy, if you had put more in, you would have gotten more out!"

This principle is true for every activity in which we engage, To get something out of an activity, one must first put something into it!

There are two ways to sing barbershop music. We can woodshed the song or we can sing an arrangement. The first method is not intended for the ears of audiences; it is intended for the pleasure of the participants and although there are no wrong notes, experimenting may reveal that some notes ring better than others.

Today's quartets and choruses sing from specific arrangements. This method presents a pleasing sound to an audience provided certain fundamentals take place. Each singer in the unit must sing the right words, the right notes, and must sing uniform vowel sounds in order to enhance the unit sound.

I urge our chorus Leads to review the music on some of our songs for which we are not attaining a unified sound. Specifically, in the Armed Forces Medley we are singing wrong notes in the Marine Hymn, and in the beginning measures of Anchors Aweigh. Review the music also for the Star Spangled Banner and the New Ashmolean Marching Band.

With a little concentrated effort on the part of each of us individually we can improve the sound of our chorus exponentially. Remember, the more we put in, the more we get out. Happy singing!

The Story of Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed spent 49 years of his life in the American wilderness planting apple seeds. Born John Chapman, Sept 26, 1774 in Mass., he planted apple trees in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania & Ohio. After 200 years, some of these trees still bear apples. Johnny Appleseed's dream was a land where blossoming apple trees were everywhere and no one was hungry. A gentle and kind man, he slept outdoors and walked barefoot around the country planting apple seeds everywhere he went. Johnny was a friend to everyone he met, Indians and settlers even the animals - liked Johnny Appleseed. His clothes were made from sacks and his hat was a tin pot which he used for cooking. His favorite book was the Bible. There are many tales about Johnny Appleseed. It is said that once Johnny fell asleep and a rattle snake tried to bite him, but the fangs would not go into his foot because his skin was as tough as elephant hide. Another tale describes him playing with a bear family. Johnny Appleseed died in 1845. It was the only time he had been sick - in over 70 years!!

You know what they say about an apple a day!