I was most fascinated by books about Native...
I was most fascinated by books about Native Americans and read childrens biographies of Geronimo, the great Apache; Crazy Horse, the Lakota Sioux who killed Custer and routed his troops at Little Bighorn; Chief Joseph of the Nez Perc, who made peace with his powerful statement, From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever; and the great Seminole chief Osceola, who developed a written alphabet for his peopleI never lost my interest in Native Americans or my feeling that they had been terribly mistreated

My last stop on Park Avenue was my first real church, Park Place Baptist ChurchThough Mother and Daddy didnt go except on Easter and sometimes at Christmas, Mother encouraged me to go, and I did, just about every SundayI loved getting dressed up and walking down thereFrom the time I was about eleven until I graduated from high school, my teacher was AHis son Bert was in my class and we became close friendsEvery Sunday for years, we went to Sunday school and church tiffany & co. heart necklace together, always sitting in the back, often in our own worldIn 1955, I had absorbed enough of my churchs teachings to know that I was a sinner and to want Jesus to save meSo I came down the aisle at the end of Sunday service, professed my faith in Christ, and asked to be baptizedThe Reverend Fitzgerald came to the house to talk to Mother and meBaptists require an informed profession of faith for baptism; they want people to know what they are doing, as opposed to the Methodists infant-sprinkling ritual that took Hillary and her brothers out of hells way

Bert Jeffries and I were baptized together, along with several other people on a Sunday nightThe baptismal pool was just above the choir loftWhen the curtains were opened, the congregation could see the pastor standing in a white robe, dunking the savedJust ahead of Bert and me in the line was a woman who was visibly afraid of the waterShe trembled down the steps into the poolWhen the preacher held her nose and dunked her, she chanel handbag knockoffs went completely rigidHer right leg jerked straight up in the air and came to rest on the narrow strip of glass that protected the choir loft from splashesShe couldnt get it off, so when the preacher tried to lift her up, he couldnt budge herSince he was looking at her submerged head, he didnt see what had happened, so he just kept jerking on herFinally he looked around, figured it out, and took the poor womans leg down before she drownedBert and I were in stitchesI couldnt help thinking that if Jesus had this much of a sense of humor, being a Christian wasnt going to be so tough

Besides my new friends, neighborhood, school, and church, Hot Springs brought me a new extended family in the ClintonsMy step-grandparents were Al and Eula Mae Cornwell ClintonPoppy Al, as we all called him, came from Dardanelle, in Yell County, a beautiful wooded place seventy miles west of Little Rock up the Arkansas RiverHe met and married his wife there after her family migrated from Mississippi in the louis vuitton replica handbags 1890sWe called my new grandmother Mama ClintonShe was one of a huge Cornwell family that spread out all over ArkansasTogether with the Clintons and my mothers relatives, they gave me kinfolk in fifteen of Arkansas seventy-five counties, an enormous asset when I started my political career in a time when personal contacts counted more than credentials or positions on the issues

Poppy Al was a small man, shorter and slighter than Papaw, with a kind, sweet spiritThe first time I met him we were still living in Hope and he dropped by our house to see his son and his new familyAt the time, he was still working as a parole officer for the state and he was taking one of the prisoners, who must have been out on furlough, back to the penitentiaryWhen he got out of the car to visit, the man was handcuffed to himIt was a hilarious sight, because the inmate was huge; he must have been twice Poppy Als sizeBut Poppy Al spoke to him gently and respectfully and the man seemed to respond in rolex watches for ladies kindAll I know is that Poppy Al got his man safely back on time

Poppy Al and Mama Clinton lived in a small old house up on top of a hillHe kept a garden out back, of which he was very proudHe lived to be eighty-four, and when he was over eighty, that garden produced a tomato that weighed two and a half poundsI had to use both hands to hold it

Mama Clinton ruled the houseShe was good to me, but she knew how to manipulate the men in her lifeShe always treated Daddy like the baby of the family who could do no wrong, which is probably one reason he never grew upShe liked Mother, who was better than most of the other family members at listening to her hypochondriacal tales of woe and at giving sensible, sympathetic adviceShe lived to be ninety-three

Poppy Al and Mama Clinton produced five children, one girl and four boysThe girl, Aunt Ilaree, was the second-oldest childHer daughter Virginia, whose nickname was Sister, was then married to Gabe Crawford and was a good friend of chanel j10 watch knockoff Mothers