"Fair Blows the Wind"

I love Louis L'Amour books.

I am not a fan of western novels.

I love old westerns on TV.
When I was a kid my Grama and I
would watch westerns together.
It's one of those sweet memories I have of her.
The other would be watching bullfights from Mexico.
But I don't want PETA knocking down my door tomorrow morning...
So we won't discuss that one!

And I love reading...always have.
Emily Dickinson wrote:

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away.
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

The thought of sitting with a good book
is absolute bliss to me.

But not westerns.
Who wants to read about a bunch of guys
Not taking showers, not brushing their teeth,
Spittin' (you gotta say it like that in a western),
and killing people!
(Other than the killing people, it sounds like my house)

When my Pastor years ago told me that every boy
should read Louis L'Amour...I was shocked.
So I determined to read some of them
to make sure they were OK for the boys to read.
(Not that I didn't believe my Pastor...but...well...I didn't believe my Pastor)

The first one I read was 'Fair Blows the Wind' and I was hooked.
I couldn't read them fast enough.

I've learned many truths from them:
You never skyline yourself when running from an enemy.
Take off your cowboy boots and put on your moccasins when sneakin' around.
Coffee is only worth drinkin if it's blacker than the sins of the devil himself.

And there are such great lines in his books:
"Have faith in God, but keep your powder dry."
"When you go to a country, you must learn how to say two things:
  how to ask for food, and how to tell a woman you love her. Of these
  the second is most important, for if you tell a woman you love her,
  she will certainly feed you."
"The water does not flow, until the faucet is turned on."
"Victory is won, not in miles, but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground,
  and later, win a little more."
"The way I see it, every time a man gets up in the morning he starts his life over.
  Sure the bills are there to pay, and the job is there to do, but you don't have to
  stay in a pattern. You can always start over, saddle a fresh horse and take
  another trail."

I could go on and on.
Such great one liners.
All my guys love reading them.
We share quotes from them.

Mark Twain said:
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage
  over the man who can't read them."

I have acquired an entire collection of Louis L'Amour books.
And I'm absolutely thrilled!
I feel like I've been given a vast fortune!

Anything that can take me far away...
from the stresses of life,
and set me upon a horse
in the middle of a canyon,
where I can feel the wind in my hair,
and smell the smoke from a far off campfire...
IS a vast fortune...
...in my book...