Page 20 - From the Outhouse 4 -21

F R O M T H E O U T H O U S E T O T H E L I T T L E R E D S C H O O L H O U S E : | 20

PREFACE

T
he Negro Speaks of Rivers, a poem written by Langston

Hughes, mentions the mighty Nile River, but these moving

verses always reminded me of the St. Johns River, located in
my hometown of Sanford, Florida. My fascination with these rivers

began in my high school history class, where I learned that both the
Nile River and the St. Johns River flowed the same way — upward.

They are the only rivers known to man that flow upstream from south

to north.

As I reflect on my life, it certainly has had an upward movement for my
77 years in spite of some downward drifts. My birthplace was about

five blocks from the St. Johns River in a mansion-style hospital,
located at 500 Oak Avenue. That building later became a Patricia Rae Merritt Whatley Posing at the St. Johns River

rooming house. My childhood was spent a few blocks away in

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will erform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 (KJV)