QUEEN OF EXTRANEOUS INFORMTION

QUEEN OF EXTRANEOUS INFORMTION
Ann in KISMET, Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre, 1982

Thursday, March 7, 2013

KNOW YOU'RE RIGHT AND GO AHEAD!

I initially wrote this post on May 13, 2011.  I'm not sure if I published it or not at that time, but it deserves to be read, and all of the information is the same.  Anyhow, Hollywood does remakes of movies all of the time.  Why can't I do it as well? So, whether you have read this before, experienced the Bryant Trait exhibited by one of the characters mentioned,  or you have serendipitously clicked on this site, I welcome you.  Enjoy.

 Allen Benjamin Bryant was born in South Carolina in 1817, and was the son of John Lewis Bryant and Cynthia Peacock Bryant (later Phillips) who were both featured in an earlier post. Allen made the journey from South Carolina to Mississippi with his parents and eventually settled in Covington County (north of Hattiesburg), Mississippi. When the War Between the States broke out, Allen joined Quinn's Mississippi State Troops Infantry, Company D as a private. Company D was made up, mostly, of men from the Covington County area. There was some fighting at the beginning of his service, but nothing like what he and the other men would experience at the Siege of Vicksburg!
 
In 1863, General U.S. Grant's objective was to seize control of the Mississippi River, north of New Orleans. Vicksburg, MS, because of its placement on the River, was being called "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy," and Grant set about to capture the city. The seige began on May 18, 1863. I won’t go into detail about the siege, but it lasted for six weeks with the Confederate soldiers and the residents of Vicksburg being starved by the Union Army, and this was in addition to the maladies of scurvy, malaria, dysentery, and diarrhea. In my Mississippi History classes, we learned that the Rebel Soldiers and residents ate anything they could get their hands on, including rats and leather shoe soles. When Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, Private Allen Benjamin Bryant, C.S.A. became a prisoner of the Union Forces and was sent to a "Yankee Prison."

I have not yet learned which prison Allen was sent to, nor do I know how long he was a prisoner. But, according to my Great Aunt Florence Bryant Rouse and my Uncle Vann Bryant, he made the most of his time there. He was given a Bible. During his time in prison, Great, Great Grandfather Bryant read the Bible so much that he ended up memorizing the entire book, chapter and verse!

At the end of the war, Allen went back to Covington County, Mississippi. Aunt Florence said that before he left to join the Confederate Forces, he had buried most of his money. (I've heard this buried and/or hidden money story in tales from almost every branch of my family.) When he got back home, he dug it up. It was there! He used it to buy more land in his community of Lux, Mississippi. He and his family lived fairly well and were respected in the community. Allen died in 1906 at the age of 89.

Aunt Florence told of a very interesting and probably very “telling” incident in the life of Allen Benjamin Bryant. It seems that after he got back to Mississippi and life took on some semblance of normalcy, he and his family attended church services at the local Baptist Church one beautiful Lord's Day. The congregation was excited about the presence of a new pastor that Sunday, and everyone waited to hear his first sermon, including Allen. Perhaps it was nervousness, a mistake, or he just didn't know, but the young minister misquoted the Bible in his sermon. Alas, Allen Bryant stood up right then and there and corrected the preacher and then sat down. Remember, he was supposed to know the Bible by heart after memorizing it in prison, according to Aunt Florence. Anyway, after church, someone asked him why he didn't wait and talk to the preacher in private about the scripture mistake. According to Aunt Florence, Allen Bryant explained himself with confidence. There are too many people in the church who can't read the Bible for themselves. They need their preacher to tell them the scriptures and to tell them right. I had to set the preacher straight!

When I heard of this Bryant Incident, I knew immediately how much like my Great, Great Grandfather Allen Bryant my Grandfather Bryant was. E. Wheeler Bryant, the grandson of Allen, might not have stood up in the middle of the sermon and corrected the preacher, but he would have corrected him right after church! As Granddaddy himself said about himself, "I'll tell you how to hold your mouth when you stir the oatmeal!" And he did. Then, I thought about his youngest son, my Uncle Vann. Now Vann would probably do just what Allen did. . .correct the preacher then and there!

My father, the oldest son, would not have corrected the preacher in mid-sermon, I think, but he was as determined and self-confident as his father and brother. There is a story told of my father about when he was a kid he was called to the front of the room or church sanctuary to give a poem or quote a scripture. Anyhow, he was running down the aisle to “perform” when he tripped and fell on his face. Family lore tells us that he picked himself up and continued running to his destination, saying “I’m gonna say it anyway; I’m gonna say it anyway!”

My brother Giles and my nephew, Giles III, would probably not have corrected the preacher in mid-sermon, but eventually they would have let it be known that they were aware of the error. And then there is my youngest brother, Tommy. A younger version of Tommy would have corrected the preacher in the middle of the sermon. To support this  contention, there’s a family incident, involving Tommy at a Vacation Bible School Graduation and the singing of “Deep and Wide” with the motions. Let’s cut to the chase and just say that Tommy took it upon himself to correct his fellow performers as to which way was deep and which way was wide! As he has gotten older, however, Tommy or Tom would show much more finesse and wait or, even better, he would make sure it was a real error and not just nervousness or a bad mistake. After all, he is a lawyer and he must see or hear the evidence!

Every one of these men whom I have known and loved could be described as being self-confident and tenacious when it came to correcting errors in life. It must be a Bryant trait. At some point, they all seem to have subscribed to the Davy Crockett motto: Know you're right and go ahead! While they might not all tell you how to hold your mouth while you stir the oatmeal, they have not been reticent in letting others know what they think is right or correct.

And the Bryant women are not exceptions. E. Wheeler's sister, Aunt Pearl Bryant McKinnon, was as strong as her brother and didn’t hesitate to tell it like it was! Tom Bryant's daughters also have the Bryant traits, with his youngest, Anna-Kathryn, being more subtle and his oldest, Rebecca, being in control with a great sense of setting the record straight and playing by the rules. My other niece, Christina, is so very sweet, but she has a fire in her when needed, which is typical Bryant!
 
I understand all of these Bryants as I am of their mettle and therefore just like them (and some are like me)! Yet, it is, somewhat, comforting to know that I was born a confident, know-it-all, control-freak and didn’t just morph into what I am. While I probably wouldn’t correct someone in mid-sermon or speech, I am the worst kind of know-it-all. Unfortunately, I was given license to correct as an English and Speech Teacher, as well as a theatre director. I might not tell you how to hold your mouth while you stir the oatmeal, but I will and have told people how to hold the spoon! And, in my life, I might have fallen on my face from time to time, but, characteristically, I have gotten up and continued on my journey, yelling, I’m gonna say it anyway; I’m gonna say it anyway!

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