A TRUE STORY of Edgar Bock
Once upon a time, many years ago, Edgar Bock was a boy (on N. Fountain Street in Cape Girardeau). In the Bock home Sunday morning was the time for weekly devotions. After the family was seated around the breakfast table the father would begin and go on and on forever, or so it seemed to the hungry children.
First came the regular grace -- saying, then some Scripture reading, then the lesson from a devotional book, finally ending with a rather lengthy prayer. All this was in German. However, had the words been understandable those little boys' stomachs would still have been growling for nourishment.
"No eating until I say, 'Amen', " was the father's rule. To enforce it he kept a little switch across his lap. Whenever he saw a small hand sliding across the tablecloth toward the coffeecake, he did not hesitate to give that hand a sharp tap. Sometimes a hand received a tap for only looking like it was about to reach!