True Grit

by Charles Portis

PEOPLE DO not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.

April 30, 2020 mjp

“The wicked flee when none pursueth.”

My answer is this: Preacher, go to your Bible and read Luke 8: 26-33.

Luke 8:26-33New International Version (NIV)Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed ManA)" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25272A" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;">B)" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25272B" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;"> 26They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,a]" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;">[a]which is across the lake from Galilee.27When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.28When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me,C)" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25274C" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;">Jesus, Son of the Most High God?D)" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25274D" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;">I beg you, don’t torture me!”29For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. 30Jesus asked him,“What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.31And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.E)" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25277E" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;"> 32A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.33When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lakeF)" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25279F" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;">and was drowned.

You know what they say, “Enough is as good as a feast.”

On his deathbed he asked for a priest and became a Catholic. That was his wife’s religion. It was his own business and none of mine. If you had sentenced one hundred and sixty men to death and seen around eighty of them swing, then maybe at the last minute you would feel the need of some stronger medicine than the Methodists could make. It is something to think about.

I always go backwards when I am backing up.

“I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.”

Mr. Hardy was pressed into service to preach Frank’s funeral, taking his text from the 16th chapter of John, “I have overcome the world.”

“When I have bought and paid for something I will have my way. Why do you think I am paying you if not to have my way?”

That is all right but they are not sound on Election. They do not fully accept it. I confess it is a hard doctrine, running contrary to our earthly ideas of fair play, but I can see no way around it. Read I Corinthians 6: 13 and II Timothy 1: 9, 10. Also I Peter 1: 2, 19, 20 and Romans 11: 7. There you have it. It was good for Paul and Silas and it is good enough for me. It is good enough for you too.

“Quincy was always square with me,” said Moon. “He never played me false until he killed me.

Well, sir, the big shaggies is about all gone. It is a damned shame. I would give three dollars right now for a pickled buffalo tongue.”

The scrap did not last as long as it has taken me to describe it.

“You do not think much of me, do you, Cogburn?” “I don’t think about you at all when your mouth is closed.”

Rooster said, “That Mexican was Greaser Bob.” “Is that the young one?” “No, it’s the old one, the Original Bob from Fort Worth.” “I heard he was badly shot in Denison and had given up his reckless ways.” “Bob is hard to kill. He won’t stay shot.

I think Smallwood was a gentleman but gentlemen are only human and their memories can sometimes fail them. Business is business.

But I had not the strength nor the inclination to bandy words with a drunkard. What have you done when you have bested a fool?