I was born in the summer of 1700. As a young yew sapling, I enjoyed the cool damp nights and warm summer days of England. As I grew, I learned of my ancestral history. I heard the stories of the swashbuckling lads of Sherwood. The merry chase they gave the Sheriff of Nottingham and the award winning archery tournaments. Robin Hood and the tales of his exploits run deep in my family.
My roots grew deep in the rich limestone soil of Staffordshire and nourished my spindly limbs till they too became strong. During this time I heard of the brave men at the Battle of Agincourt as they defeated the French army and brought glory to my homeland of England. Is it to this, why I’m here I wondered? But such was not to be.
I heard of a distant land full of great possibilities called “The Colonies” and their potential to bring riches and additional glory to England. However, there was restlessness across the Atlantic Ocean in this new land. They didn’t like being a colony and were making noises of a revolution to bring about a separation from my England. I didn’t understand. Then I learned about a certain document called “The Declaration of Independence”. Why would they want to be independent? I heard of a man named George Washington and how he led the Colonies in war against us. I didn’t like the Colonies for this. There was another war called the War of 1812. In January of 1815, I heard of another man named Andrew Jackson that defeated our British Army in some distant place called New Orleans. I disliked the Americans even more.
I laughed in 1836 when I was told that a brash young Congressman named Davy Crockett in this new city called Washington D.C. was told to either “Go to hell or go to Texas”. Not wanting to be called a coward, he chose to go to Texas. He was later killed at some place called The Alamo. I always wondered about this place called Texas.
I have lived through many wars and was never directly effected, but I wept when I heard that over 300,000 British soldiers were trapped at a place in France called Dunkirk. I was glad when they finally were able to evacuate back to England. I’ve heard German bombers fly over on their way to drop their bombs on London, then rejoiced when I heard those “Americans” were finally coming to help. I learned they are not so bad after all.
For over 300 years I grew and became stronger. My girth was nearly 15 feet in circumference. My middle became hollow but my outside growth rings were tight and strong. But I was not stronger than Nature. I watched as the dark storm clouds grew over the horizon. I’d seen thousands of storms before, but none like this. As the rain fell and soaked the soil around my roots, the wind blew harder and lightening danced around me. Harder and harder the wind blew. My limbs swayed to and fro and twisted in the swirling gale. The rain soaked soil began to pull away from my roots. I couldn’t hold any longer and came crashing to the ground. Limbs broken and with exposed roots I could only lay there. Was this how it would end? Was I to lay here and decay?
Weeks and months passed before men arrived with their saws. I was cut up and removed to a mill. There I was cut into 2" X 10" X 8' boards and stacked on a pallet. I waited and waited and waited. Last May a man named Jim Belcher chose my best boards. He said he was taking me to the “states” to become a longbow. A longbow, that had been my family’s history. I too, would at last be able to walk in their steps and take my place in the yew tree family history.
We arrived in the Colonies at a place called Brighton, Michigan. Never heard of this place before now. Several months passed as I lay on a rack watching many longbows being made by Jim. Then a couple of weeks ago it was my turn. I was cut, ground, sanded and glued up with another piece of wood. I learned it was Macassar Ebony. More sanding and then several coats of something were sprayed all over me. That was yesterday. This morning I overheard Jim say that Tuesday I would be going to TEXAS! After wondering about that place for 174 years, I am finally going to TEXAS!!!!
Topic: 300 year old Union Jack now arrived in Texas - pics added (Read 531 times)
