She walked several kilometers bare-footed through dangerous
mountain terrain in cold winter to buy a Bible. But it was sold
out before she got to her destination. What happened? Find out.

There are dreams and there are dreams. And there are dreamers
and there are dreamers too. Some of these dreamers realize their
dreams, while others have had their names writ in water. In
some, theirs may be an ambition to rule empires, while for other
young men, the mere accomplishment of marrying a fair lady and
living happily with her ever after in a hanging garden beside a
blue sea, is a big dream.

Now consider one of these dreamers who dreamt of owning a Bible.
But the family being very poor could barely provide food for the
members, not to talk of buying a Bible. Now this dreamer is not
the Biblical Joseph, the dreamer. But her name is Mary Jones, a
sixteen - year old girl born 1784 in a village in Wales that
goes by the curious name of Llanfihangel.

There is nothing wrong to dream of owning a Bible though. But
the odds against her were many. Because the girl lived in the
wrong century and dreamed in the wrong times. In those days, to
own a Bible was to die. Like William Tyndale. Like Jan Hus. Like
so many others.

But big dreamers are die-hards. And Mary was one of them. So
this daughter of poor weavers started saving whatever money that
she got in order to buy a Bible. It was Mary’s parents that
aroused her interest in the Bible. They told her Bible stories
and instilled the fear of God in her heart. Since the family
never had a Bible, Mary often read a neighbor’s Welsh Bible.

Then when she is sixteen years old in the year 1800, news came
that a few Welsh Bibles were available for sale at the local
church at Bala. She checks her box of coins. It is full. She
tells her parents that her dream is coming true. For she is
going to Bala to buy her own copy of the Bible.

The journey to Bala itself was not an easy one. From Llanfiangel
in the Atlantic coastline up to Bala in the hinterland is over
40 kilometers. Again, she was to walk barefooted in the middle
of winter and without a winter coat or boot to get there.
Furthermore, it was a steep mountainous terrain, often rising,
falling, and meandering here and there. And worse, it was a
highway for robbers.

Few parents would allow a sixteen-year old daughter to take the
risk. But few families have sixteen year olds who have a love
for the Bible. So on the day of Mary’s departure, Mr. and Mrs.
Jones buys bread and dried meat that would last her journey,
ties them up in a large white handkerchief and puts it in a
basket.

Mary ties her coins in a neck handkerchief, keeps it in the
pocket of her long dress, adorns a hat and carries her basket of
provisions. And with a hug, a kiss and a goodbye from her
parents, she starts the long, uncertain journey to Bala.

She had thought of making the journey in three days. She walked
18 kilometers the first day. It was very cold and she shook all
along the journey. She only stopped to eat and rest under a
tree. She was almost dropping dead when she sights a watchman
warming himself beside a fire in a village gate house. Not
wanting to spend the money by lodging in an inn, she begs the
watchman that he allows her to pass the night in the gate house.

“No problem” says the old man spreading his palms by the fire.
“But who ye and where art thou goest this winter cold?” he asks.

“I am Mary. Going to Bala.”

“That’s 22 kilometers away, and no winter boots and coat,” says
the old man absent mindedly. “Here’s some hot soup. It’ll do ye
some good.”

With that, he pours the hot soup in two bowls. And they drink
and talk of the weather. Before long, the old watchman falls
asleep followed by the tired Mary.

In the morning, she thanks the old man, washes her face and
continues her journey. Today, she walks 15 kilometers, stopping
twice to rest and eat. What makes the journey hard is that she
would have to climb and descend mountains. Her legs swoll and
ached. And at night, she meets a group of weavers who were
working through the night by a fireside. She indicates her
willingness to help in the loom for an opportunity to stay the
night.

The curious weavers receive her after hearing her story. She
works for a while and is allowed to even sleep in the early
morning hours. They even give her a coin before she leaves in
the morning. When she was exhausted in the evening, she drags
herself into an unlit gate house at the outskirt of a village.
The watchman was not there. Perhaps, he will be coming later,
she thought. And she lay on a mat and sleeps away.

It is 2 am. Two thieves, Red Devil and Black Night are looking
for someone to rob. The road is empty. It is plain that they
would have to go hungry and empty handed. And the night is cold.
They look into the dark gate house. The night watchman didn’t
come. So they decide to go in and rest for a while before the
break of dawn. But to their surprise they find a girl fast
asleep there. Red Devil holds her throat, while Black Night
searches and takes her money. After that, they take her
remaining bread and meat, leaving the cloth and the basket; and
run away.

………………………………………………………………………………

The local apothecary generally called Dr. Hades finds it unusual
to be woken by this barefooted girl with a basket this early
morning. After listening to her, he asks:

“Do you know them that stole your money?”

“No,” was Mary’s answer.

“And is that why you want to drink arsenic to kill yourself?”

“Yes,” she replies.

“But where did you get the coin you want to use to pay for the
poison?”

She explains that it is a gift from some weavers whom she had
helped to weave the night before. But Dr. Hades is not satisfied
with her answer. Perhaps, the girl is a run-awayone of these
bad girls in the neighborhood. Perhaps, she needs food and a
good sleep. He goes to an inner room, returns with a mixture
which he gives to her, and asks her to use the coin to buy some
food.

Mary thanks him and walks to the gatehouse. She spreads the
white handkerchief on the ground, finds a piece of rock, and
starts to write a suicide note on it, the bottle of arsenic by
her side. But halfway, she falls asleep.

……………………………………………………………………………

Lord Godsend, a generous rich man, happens to be passing through
that road at that time. He is driven in his horse- drawn chariot
by Johnny, who is in the habit of swearing by the minute.

“By Jove, the girl is dead,” he says to Lord Godsend, pointing
to the sleeping Mary as they ride pass.

“How do you know, Johnny?” asks the rich man.

“Upon mi life, killed by robbers, mi Lord.” So they argue back
and forth. But after they have gone a good distance, Lord
Godsend asks to be driven back to confirm who is right. But
Johnny didn’t want to hear and prompts the horse to ride on. “By
heavens she must be smelling mi Lord.”

Mary had woken up now. She finishes her writing, reads it and
signs her name. She quickly eats her last food, drinks the
mixture, and lies down waiting to die.

………………………………………………………………………………..

“Exactly what I said, mi Lord,” said Johnny showing Lord Godsend
the empty bottle of arsenic when they finally get there.
“Poisoned herself to death. By my horse shoe, a bad girl.”

Lord Godsend picks the suicide note and reads: “I drank poison
and died. Because thieves stole the money that I wanted to use
to buy a Bible. Weep not for me, dear mom and dad. We will meet
againMary Jones.”

Lord Godsend is angry. Who must have sold the poison that killed
this girl? He looks at the poison bottle and reads the address
label: ARSENIC. DR. HADES. 13 BALA ROAD, UPTOWN. He gets into
the carriage at once and rides away to get the cops to arrest
Dr. Hades. When they get there, however, the apothecary begin to
swear and say that he never sold her arsenic but a sleeping
mixture, which he put in an arsenic container and even gave her
back the money to buy food since he thought that she needed food
and a good sleep.

But the cops and all the country folks who gather there that
morning will not believe Dr. Hades.

“Do you think Johnny that the girl is sleeping or dead?” asks
Lord Godsend.

“Upon the wheels of this carriage, she is as dead as a rock. If
otherwise, I will drink arsenic and join my ancestors,” he
replies. And to prove the point the police decide to first visit
the scene, before taking the apothecary to jail.

………………………………………………………………………………..

Mary wakes up. What is this? she asks. Had she not taken poison
to die? She looks around but she could find neither the arsenic
bottle, nor the suicide note. Only her empty basket. This must
be a bad dream she thinks. She now gets up and is confronted by
a crowd led by the police and a rich man in a horse-drawn
carriage. She thinks of running. But where can a girl who is
weak, hungry and cold run to? The people also stand momentarily;
thinking that it is an apparition.

But it is Dr. Hades that seizes the initiative and exclaims:
“See! She was only sleeping, not dead.” Then things are
explained. Lord Godsend takes her to an inn where he gives her
food to eat and fills her basket with provisions. He also gives
her some money to buy the Bible. Mary, full of thanks to the
kind man, continues to walk the remaining 7 kilometers to Bala.
And the people wonder at the courage of this little girl who is
walking 40 kilometers to buy a Bible.

After that, they joke whether Johnny would take arsenic and die
as he swore, for that is what honorable men do. But Johnny is
not a man of honor. “In the name of all the saints,” he swears
again, “I knew not when I said so.” And they just laugh and call
him Johnny the joker.

………………………………………………………………………………..

It was Sunday noon when Mary entered the church premises. The
church service had just ended and the worshipers were stepping
out of the church. Then she asks the first people that she meets
where the Bible copies were sold. One calls the other and soon
everyone gather and look at her as if she was a space alien.

It was not that she was bare footed and poorly dressed. The fact
was that all the Bibles had sold out yesterday. And the money
that she was having could not even buy one, even if it was
available. Double trouble for Mary!

Because of the chaos that Saturday, the Reverend Father himself
sold the Bibles. He first took his special personal copy that
was sent to him by the pope. That copy was printed in different
colors in both Welsh and English. It also has cross references
and a Bible index. The title cover itself was printed in letters
of gold and the whole Bible was zipped in a golden case. It was
such a beautiful Bible that people were busy looking at it when
the common Bibles sold out.

Those who did not get copies of the Bible were manysome
families joined to buy one. In fact, two churchmen fought over
ownership of the last copy, tearing it into two parts. In the
end, both shared the cost and by a toss of the coin, one took
the Old Testament while the other had the New Testament. That
was why they looked at Mary in wonderment, and when they
explained to her, she collapsed and wept.

Now, Rev. Goodman looks through the church window and wonders
what is amiss. So he takes his winter coat and walks out, his
golden Bible in hand. After listening to Mary’s story, the
Reverend first dries her tears and kisses her. Then he slips his
sandals under her feet, takes off his winter coat and puts it on
Mary. Third he gives her his golden Bible in Welsh and English
and which was printed in many colors with these words: “Read it
carefully, study it diligently, treasure up the sacred words in
your memory, and act up to its teaching.” And he finally blesses
her and tells her to use the money which Lord Godsend gave her
to pay for a ride home. Mary’s eyes shine, the church people are
speechless.

……………………………………………………………………………..

It was big news when Mary reached Llanfiangel on a horse-drawn
carriage wearing a winter coat, a pair of sandals, and, wait a
momenta golden Bible! Everyone flocks to see the Bible and her
poor parents are overjoyed.

Years later, this story was told at the Committee of the
Religious Tract Society of London. The result was that a
decision was made to supply Bible translations to the people of
Wales and the whole world. So if you own a Bible today, remember
the sacrifice of a sixteen-year old girl from a remote village
in Wales whose dream came true.

May your dream come true!

(EXCERPTED FROM THE BOOK, “MARY’S DREAM,” TO BE PUBLISHED SOON.
IF YOU ENJOYED READING THE STORY AND WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION TOWARD ITS PUBLICATION, PLEASE CONTACT
THE AUTHOR.)

ARTHUR ZULU is an editor, book reviewer, and author of Chasing
Shadows! and How to Write a Best-seller. For his works and free
helps for writers, goto: http://controversialwriter.tripod.com
mailto: controversialwriter@yahoo.com Web search: Arthur Zulu

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So many days roll by without a thought to the daily life of our mother. How is her day going? Is everything going well? Does she need to relax? And so on. We are so wrapped up in our own lives that we forget that mom’s have tough days too, even after we are all grown up. And husbands forget that wives, the mothers of their children, do get forgotten in the daily hubbub of life.

So this year, do something that is absolutely and completely all for her. First, make arrangements for a full day at the spa. The works. It is relatively inexpensive and will bring the glow back into mom. While she is at the spa, clean the house, or hire someone to come do it for you. Order out for the best restaurant to deliver a full course meal and set it up for you so that when mom comes home, there is no cooking to be done. Make arrangements to have it cleaned up also. Make sure all her dry cleaning is taken to the shop, the dog is bathed and groomed. The sheets on the bed are fresh and clean.

This may not sound original to some, but for moms, it is the most personal thing you could do for her. Make it so mom does not have to lift a finger for anything.

Another idea, if you want to spend the money and do the footwork, is have a family quilt made for her. There are dozens of ways to do it. You can even have old family pictures incorporated into the quilt. Have the names of her family added to the quilt, this will turn into a “Memory Quilt”, something she gaze upon year after year and in a sense be surrounded by her family each night.

Depending on what “personal” means to your mom or wife, can decide how you want to personalize her Mother’s Day gift. There is engraving, embroidery, painting, and sculpting, or you can do something that mom has wanted done for a very long time and make that personal. Taking a cruise or short trip to a place that she has wanted to go.

To this mom, all things are personal, especially when it comes to her family.

Nicola Kennedy has enjoyed some great Mother’s Days, both as a grateful mom and a loving daughter. She can help you find great personalized Mother’s Day gifts with tips and news, information and views at http://www.I-Love-My-Mom.com

This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright http://www.I-Love-My-Mom.com

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Sometimes a defendant in a court case cannot raise enough money to cover the entire bail amount. In such instances, the defendant, a relative, or a close family friend can approach a bail bond agent as a co-signer to post the bail. In this case the defendant needs to pay about 10% of the bail amount and provide a collateral to the bail agent for the rest of the amount. The bail agent provides an avenue for the defendant to be out of custody until the day of the trail in court, thus allowing the defendant to continue day-to-day life until the criminal matter is resolved. The bail agent will provide for the many of the defendant’s needs to ensure that the defendant appears before the court as and when summoned. They should always be sure of the defendant’s whereabouts and should be able to locate the defendant in case of forfeit.
Bond agents provide the co-signer or the defendant with the receipts and copies of all signed documents and the information regarding the status of the bond and changes, if any, in assigned court dates. They should provide clear documentation regarding the status of any costs due, which were imposed by the court. The bail agent must be able to provide the timely return of collateral upon exoneration of the bond.
Bail agents charge about 10% of the total amount of the bond, plus the actual, necessary and reasonable expenses incurred in connection to the transaction. The amount of the bail bond has to be determined by the court. The co-signer is responsible in the case of an absconding defendant. In such cases, the bail agent will charge for all the expenses incurred while searching for the defendant from the co-signer. The co-signer must be employed and must be living in the same area for some time, in the event a collateral is not provided.
To become a bail bond agent, the applicant must be 18 years of age and either a citizen of the United States or resident alien. The applicant must have no criminal record in any jurisdiction for the past ten years. An application must come only through a licensed bail bond agency where the applicant is employed, or be licensed as a bail bond agency. The applicant must be able to bear the requisite fee.

Bail Bond Agents provides detailed information on Bail Bond Agents, Bail Bond Companies , Bail Bond License, Bail Bond Schools and more. Bail Bond Agents is affiliated with Law Enforcement Training.

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This article is for you if you’re a behind-the-scenes kind of person - the admin assistant who gets the presentation ready for the guys in marketing but doesn’t get to go to the meeting; the PR pro who writes all their speeches and answers all the complaint letters for the president or CEO; the at-home mother who makes sure the concert pianist practices; the deputy chief whose job description is doing all the things the chief doesn’t like to do or can’t do; or the paralegal who prepares all the pleadings, knows all the codes, and does all the licking and stamping.

Temistocle Solear, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Henri Meilhac, Jules Barbier, Michael Carre, Guiseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica, Renato Semoni, and Nicola Haym all know what this is like.

Who on earth are these people??

Well even if you’re not an opera fan, I bet you’ve heard of the composers Verdi, Bizet, Mozart, Strauss, Gounod, Handel, Donizetti and Puccini. And I’m sure you’ve heard of some of their operas - Aida, Carmen, Cosi fan Tutte, Madame Butterfly, Faust, and Don Giovanni, for instance.

Did you know that these composers wrote the music for their operas but not the lyrics? Solear, Ghislanzoni and the other individuals in the list are what’s called “librettists.” It is they who wrote the words to the music that tell the story, without which you would be listening to a symphony, not an opera. And we never hear their names!

They’re called “librettists” because the words to the songs, which basically comprise the script of the opera, is called a “libretto.” It’s Italian for little book.

Like Gilbert and Sullivan, the pairs worked together. The inimitable Richard Wagner was the only one to compose all his operas entirely by himself, creating both music and lyrics, which may account for why they are so powerful, so “Wagnerian.”

This is quite a feat because composing music and writing words require different parts of the brain.

Sometimes the composer and librettist met in person, while other times the work was done by correspondence. Strauss worked exclusively with one librettist, after writing his own lyrics for his first opera and finding out he wasn’t good at it, but most other composers switched around, finding the right librettist for the job, or one who was available. It’s not unlike the way a lot of us work these days - long distance and by contract.

Again, grasp the significance of the work these unsung heroes did. The words are so integral to the opera they are never translated. Subtitles run across the big screen on stage, or the little screen on the chair in front of yours at the opera. We read them in our native tongue while they are sung on stage in the original German, Italian, or French. (For aficionados, anyway. Beginners may enjoy translations, such as The Chandos Opera In English series, which translates the lyrics into English.)

What an incredible collaboration an opera is. It takes costume designers as well, because an opera is as much visual as it is auditory. The Grand Opera is known for its elaborate sets and costumes. In “Turandot,” when the mob turns surly and the moon appears, she is personified and costumed in a magnificence dominated the stage for what seems like half an hour, that will keep you transfigured.

One opera I hope to see one day is Verdi’s “Aida,” excuse me, Verdi and Ghislanzoni’s “Aida” at the Bath of Caracalla in Rome, where the Triumphal March of Rhadames features live elephants and horses on stage. Now that’s entertainment!

What we don’t see at an opera is the orchestra, perhaps the most important element of all. They’re listed in the program, of course, and given their bows at the curtain calls, but we only hear them, seated down below in the orchestra pit as they are.

Many elements go together to produce the opera we see that bears the name of one man only. Take “Turandot” for instance. It was librettist Semoni who gave Puccini the suggestion for the opera in the first place, telling about “Turandotte,” a play written by Gozzi, based on a fable from the Arabian Nights.

Puccini had been searching for two years for a suitable plot for an opera, and at the age of 61 began “Turandot,” instructing his librettists, Adami and Semoni to “pour great pathos into the drama.” Puccini was known, incidentally for being extremely demanding, requiring endless rewrites from his librettists.

From his point of view however, the librettists were difficult. We can read his letters begging them to do their work. He wrote frantically to Simoni, in charge of Act III, “The third! The third! The third!”

At one point, he confessed to a friend “Music disgusts me…”, as he evidently had periods of self-doubt and composer’s block. Toscanini paid him a visit and gave him the encouragement to keep going. Every team has their Toscanini; or needs one.

Puccini was justified in urging completion of the opera as he died before the team had completed the third act. The collaboration continued on, as Toscanini found a composer named Franco Alfano, whose name is rarely mentioned, to complete it. The world premier took place on April 25th, 1926, the work of one guiding genius and many hands, hearts and minds.

It isn’t that teamwork and collaboration is new, it’s that it’s newly being recognized. Most of us realize we couldn’t accomplish anything alone, while those behind the scenes who work long and willing hours, long for some recognition. Appreciation, after all, is what tops the surveys when employees talk about what they want at their job, and it’s so consistently there, it’s a wonder it isn’t heeded more.

Richard Montuori, town manager of Bellica, Massachusetts, knows and appreciates his team. “I love [my] job,” he said a newspaper interview. “Every day is different and presents new challenges. Finances are a daily and yearly challenge, but no one person ever accomplishes anything alone. We have excellent department heads and town boards that help keep the town moving in the right direction.”

Isn’t it nice to hear someone publicly acclaim the team that makes him shine? I hope your boss or manager does this for you, and that if you’re the boss or manager, you appreciate and acknowledge - and sing - the unsung heroes in your midst.

But how do you praise everyone? There are always so many.

Here’s a leadership trick I learned from a pro. At the culmination of an anniversary banquet, engineered by many, and funded by many more, the director of the benefited-agency rose and thanked “everyone who helped make it possible to raise the $50,000.” Then he added, looking around the room, “And I’d especially like to thank someone whose name I won’t mention, but they will know who I mean.”

I thought it was me! So did a dozen other people, I’m sure, and that was what the director had in mind, he told me later when I asked him whom he had in mind, because his glance around the room was professionally ambivalent.

It works, and it’s always, always true.

©Susan Dunn, MA, THE EQ COACH. Offering coaching, Internet courses, and ebooks around emotional intelligence for your personal and professional success. EQ Alive! training and certifying EQ coaches. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for information about this fast, affordable, comprehensive, no-residency program. Email for free ezine.

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There are many factors that affect your car insurance premium. Each is a statistically based risk for a specific population. The higher the risk associated with a person, the more he or she is likely to pay for coverage. We have elaborated on some of the risk factors below, but there are numerous others, including driver’s gender, miles driven per year, purpose for using the vehicle (commuting to work, using for work, leisure only), etc.

Factors you cannot easily change that affect your car insurance rates:

* Your Age

Statistically, drivers under the age of 25 are at greater risk of being in an accident than those over age 25. Drivers between the ages of 50 and 65 generally have the safest records.

* Your Gender

Women are statistically safer drivers (sorry guys).

* Your Marital Status

A married person will pay less than a single person with an identical driving record.

Factors you CAN change that affect your car insurance rates

* Your Location

Where you live and work makes a difference. Folks living in certain areas with little or no traffic are likely to spend less on insurance than those living in congested cities or suburbs because areas with a lot of traffic tend to see more accidents. Some neighborhoods also have a higher rate of vehicle thefts, which can result in a higher premium.

* Your Driving Violations

Having an accident or moving violations on your record (speeding tickets, DWI, reckless driving, etc.) put you at a higher risk for accidents and will likely mean a higher premium. Some insurance companies will penalize you for your record for as many as five years from when the incident occurred. However, keep in mind, as your record improves, your premium will get lower.

* Your Vehicle Type

A cheap car will cost less to insure than that status symbol SUV sitting on 24″ rims.

* Your Accident Claims

A driving record that is clean and free of accidents will hold fare better for you than lots of tickets and/or accidents.

* Your Credit History

Many insurance companies view having a poor, or even no credit history as suggestive of higher risk and thus, charge you a higher premium.

* Your Occupation

Insurers have statistically found a correlation between your occupation and risk of filing claims. For instance, a newspaper delivery person is most likely a higher risk than the personal banker sitting at their desk all day.

Other factors that help determine car insurance premiums:

* Driving distance to work

* Miles driven annually

* Years of driving experience

* Rather or not you have taken safe driving courses

* Business use of the vehicle

* Whether or not you currently have car insurance

* Theft protection devices (often results in discounts)

* Multiple cars and drivers (another opportunity for discounts)

What can I do right now to make sure I have the car insurance lowest premium?

Shop around and compare car insurance quotes from different insurers. They base their premiums on their claims experiences, which naturally differ. One company may see your area as a higher risk than others may. Another may charge more because of your occupation. Shopping online makes it easier because you can quickly see multiple companies and their rates for your particular situation.

Matt McWilliams is one of the co-founders of HometownQuotes.Com, an online insurance quotes web site. He is originally from Pinebluff, NC and attended Middle Tennessee State University. He is considered an expert in the field of online insurance shopping and finding new ways to help consumers save money on their insurance. For more information visit http://www.hometownquotes.com

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