Your Story Hour

Guest (Male): Hey, sis! Dad, Mom, come on! Your Story Hour's on!

Guest (Male): Presented by Your Story Hour: Building for a better tomorrow.

Aunt Carole: Hello, everyone. This is Aunt Carole.

Uncle Dan: And I'm Uncle Dan. We're so glad that you've joined us today for another of our exciting stories. And I'm guessing that you have one all planned for us, right, Aunt Carole?

Aunt Carole: Well, yes, Uncle Dan, I do, now that you mention it.

Uncle Dan: I thought so. Now, let me see. What could your story be about today?

Aunt Carole: Oh, so you're going to try and guess?

Uncle Dan: Sure, why not? I know you like all kinds of stories, so this is probably going to be tough.

Aunt Carole: Shall I give you a hint?

Uncle Dan: Well, just a little hint might help.

Aunt Carole: And once I give you this hint, you'll hop right onto it, I'm sure.

Uncle Dan: I hope so. What's your hint?

Aunt Carole: I just gave it to you.

Uncle Dan: You did? I didn't hear a hint.

Aunt Carole: Oh, but I did. And I'm sure there are some boys and girls listening in that caught it, too.

Uncle Dan: Well, let's see. You said you'd give me a hint.

Aunt Carole: Right.

Uncle Dan: And then you said, what was it, that I'd hop right onto it or something like that?

Aunt Carole: Right again.

Uncle Dan: And then you said you'd given me the hint. You're getting warmer, Uncle Dan. Hop onto it. That must be the hint. Hop onto it. What hops? Oh, I have it. This is a story about a kangaroo.

Aunt Carole: Oh, no.

Uncle Dan: A rabbit?

Aunt Carole: Wrong again.

Uncle Dan: Hop. What else hops?

Aunt Carole: And it can also fly.

Uncle Dan: It hops and flies? Well, then there's only one thing I can think of, a grasshopper.

Aunt Carole: You know something, Uncle Dan? You are just too smart.

Uncle Dan: Really? So your story's about grasshoppers?

Aunt Carole: Yes, it is. In fact, I call it Grasshopper Stew.

Our story today is a tribute to the many thousands of pioneers who forged their way across the vast territories of America and survived in the face of numerous perils and dangers. Even those who followed the first wave of settlers struggled through hardships almost unimagined today.

As our story begins, we join the Calkins family: Mama, Papa, ten-year-old Lois, and little brothers Joshua and Tom. The place: the southwestern corner of Minnesota. The time: August of 1874.

John Calkins: I have brought you some water, Lois. I know hoeing is a hard job.

Lois Calkins: Thank you, Papa. I'm pretty worn out already and it's still morning.

John Calkins: Good thing your mama and me can count on you, Peanut. I mean it. Sometimes I don't know what possessed an old man like me to think that I could keep on farming forever. Good thing your mama is younger, but she's busy with the boys and they're too young to do much of anything except mess up the house.

Lois Calkins: I know, Papa. Don't worry. I know we're depending on our garden for food this winter and I'll do my best.

John Calkins: Looks like these potatoes will be ready before long. But we do need rain real bad. Been a hot, dry summer, Peanut, so we're lucky to have as good a garden as we do.

Lois Calkins: We'll have a full root cellar again, won't we, Papa?

John Calkins: You betcha. God willing, that we will. Well, I'm going back up to the barn and hitch Bessie up to the wagon. I've got to go into town for supplies, so you come on up to the house at noon to eat. I should be back by then.

Lois Calkins: Okay, Papa.

Clara Calkins: There you are, Lois. Warm bread right from the oven.

Lois Calkins: Yum, my favorite. Where's Papa? Hasn't he come home yet?

Clara Calkins: No, but I expect him any minute.

Joshua Calkins: I see Papa through the window! He's coming!

Clara Calkins: Well, Joshua, I guess you're right at that. He's coming lickety-split too. I wonder if something is wrong.

John Calkins: Whoa, whoa, Bessie!

Clara Calkins: What is it, John? You look so...

John Calkins: Trouble. That I am, Clara. The talk is all over town. Riders from the west have brought news of a plague.

Clara Calkins: Oh, John, what is it? Cholera, diphtheria?

John Calkins: Grasshoppers.

Clara Calkins: What? Grasshoppers?

John Calkins: Yep, huge clouds of them, millions and millions of them. They're eating everything in sight right to the grass. There's not a blade of grass left. Their gardens are gone, their fields are destroyed.

Lois Calkins: What will they do, Papa?

John Calkins: There's nothing they can do. But that's not the worst of it, I'm afraid. The hoppers are headed east.

Lois Calkins: They're coming here?

John Calkins: Maybe. It's hard to tell what will happen when they swarm again, just where they'll fly to.

Clara Calkins: But they might come here, right?

John Calkins: Yes, they might.

Joshua Calkins: Will they eat our garden up, Papa?

John Calkins: I hope not.

Lois Calkins: Is there anything we can do?

John Calkins: Well, we can try to get some of our things to the root cellar.

Clara Calkins: But almost nothing is ripe yet.

John Calkins: I know. We'll just have to do the best we can. Beyond that, all we can do is pray.

John Calkins: And so, dear Father, we ask you to protect our farm. We haven't been Christians very long, but we believe that you love us and will protect us. Please keep the grasshoppers away, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

John Calkins: Well, Peanut, we picked and stored everything we can.

Lois Calkins: And at least we've already eaten some food from the garden, some tomatoes and beans.

John Calkins: Yes, plus we have a little money saved up.

Lois Calkins: Papa, what's that?

John Calkins: What?

Lois Calkins: Look up at the sky. It looks like snow. It's snowing.

John Calkins: What in the world?

Lois Calkins: Look, it is snow. In August. Great big snowflakes in the air.

John Calkins: Oh, no, Peanut. It's not snow. It's the grasshoppers. They're here.

Lois Calkins: Oh, no. Look, Papa, that big cloud. It goes as far as I can see in both directions. Oh, look, one just landed on me!

John Calkins: Listen to them hum. What a racket. Quick, let's get to the house!

Clara Calkins: Look at them, John. They're covering everything: the trees, fences, the barn, the ground. They're even in the house.

Joshua Calkins: Yeah, in my bed.

Lois Calkins: I know. I had to shake them out of my covers twice last night.

John Calkins: There's no way to stop them.

Lois Calkins: How come Jesus didn't answer our prayers, Papa?

John Calkins: I don't know, but I do know that he cares about us and somehow he'll take care of us.

Clara Calkins: We'll just have to have faith.

Andrew: So, John, what's it like at your place? Same thing?

John Calkins: Yeah, two or three inches thick in some places. They're everywhere.

Andrew: I lost sixty acres of wheat in less than an hour. I couldn't believe it.

Clyde: I hear you, Andrew. They even ate through the flour sacks I put on top of my garden to protect it. Can you believe that? They just ate the sacks.

Kyle: That's bad, Clyde, but if you think that's bad, just wait until next spring.

Clyde: What do you mean, Kyle?

Kyle: Haven't you seen them, the holes in the ground?

Clyde: I've seen them. Looks like somebody took a nail and just poked holes in the ground all over the place.

Kyle: Yep, those holes are where the hoppers lay their eggs.

John Calkins: Well, I've seen them too. Hundreds of holes.

Andrew: Thousands of holes.

Kyle: Millions of holes, more like. The hoppers lay their eggs and seal the holes with some kind of sticky stuff that hardens up, makes like a little roof over the eggs.

Andrew: So you're thinking about spring when the eggs hatch?

Kyle: You bet I am. When they all hatch out, what do you think they will be eating?

Clyde: Our garden, our crops.

Kyle: That's right. I don't see any hope for next year. No hope at all.

Andrew: Well, we might as well save our energy and money and not plant anything then.

Clyde: Well, this does it for me. I was just about ruined before, what with the dry summer we've had. I think we'll just have to pack up and go back to Ohio. I hate to give up, but I'm out of money and options.

Kyle: Yeah, I might just have to do that myself. Guess I'll wait and see what spring brings, but it can't be good. What about you, John?

John Calkins: Well, I don't know. We've prayed for God to protect our land. If I quit now and not even give him a chance to prove what he can do for me...

Andrew: Get real, John. The grasshoppers are here. They've laid their eggs. Now, that's reality. Nothing you or God, for that matter, can do about it.

Kyle: Yep, sad but true all right. I expect the boss hopper to show up anytime now and demand that I give him a spade to dig up my potatoes so that he and his friends can eat those too before they go.

Andrew: And are you going to give it to him, Kyle? The spade, I mean.

Kyle: No siree, not on your life. Don't think he'll be getting that shovel from me.

Aunt Carole: Finally, after cutting a path of total destruction, the grasshoppers took flight and swarmed farther eastward. All that winter, however, whenever neighbor met neighbor, grasshoppers were the topic of discussion.

Clara Calkins: Now, I'll take three yards of that calico, Mr. Larson. No, the one on the left there. That one.

Mr. Larson: Yes, well all right, Mrs. Calkins, coming right up. You sure you want this one with all the green leaves and flowers on it?

Clara Calkins: Well, yes. Is there something wrong with that material?

Mr. Larson: No, I guess not. It's just that my cousin wrote to me, got the letter a couple days ago. Her little girl was out in the yard when the grasshoppers hit them out in Kansas. Before you could say jackrabbit, those hoppers landed right on little Mary's dress and ate the green stripes right out of her dress. Yep, left the white stripes and ate the green ones.

Clara Calkins: No.

Mr. Larson: Yep. The dress was in shreds before they could get it off the child.

Clara Calkins: Well, in that case, give me three yards of that bolt there, the pink and white one. Might as well not tempt those critters with our crops and our clothes.

Mr. Larson: All right.

John Calkins: Hey, Carl.

Carl: Hey, John. I haven't seen you since Christmas. What about this weather? Supposed to be ten below tonight.

John Calkins: Pretty chilly all right. But anything that keeps those hoppers napping is fine with me.

Carl: Yeah, they don't much like the snow. It's going to be bad in the spring.

John Calkins: You're sticking around then?

Carl: Guess so. Might as well see what happens. I've caught a few odd jobs this winter, so we've been able to buy what we need. About you?

John Calkins: Well, so far so good. I am wondering, could I hire you to come plow my garden come warm weather? I'm just not able to do it myself anymore, so I'd appreciate your help.

Carl: Are you crazy? You're putting in a garden?

John Calkins: Plan on it.

Carl: Well, sure, I guess, but when all those hoppers hatch, they'll eat it as fast as it grows. You know that they don't have wings at first.

John Calkins: I know. They call them nymphs.

Carl: Right. So they can't even fly away to somewhere else until they grow those wings. They're hungry little beasts, too. What we saw last summer wasn't the worst.

John Calkins: I know. It's just, well, we've been studying our Bible, praying a lot too, and we've asked God to see us through this and to protect our garden. We've got to have that or we'll starve.

Carl: Yeah, some folks are already starving. Folks out east have been collecting money for food and seed to send out here for us in the spring.

John Calkins: Good thing. And God bless them.

Carl: I heard that a whole family—mother, father, and four kids—all died within a week of each other. Starved to death. And if I don't miss my guess, there'll be lots of tombstones with "starved to death" carved on the crosses.

John Calkins: Let's hope it doesn't come to that, Carl. Let's hope and pray.

John Calkins: Clara, my dear, you are amazing. You always do make something wonderful even when our supplies are short.

Clara Calkins: I just hope that we have enough flour and cornmeal to see us through until spring.

Lois Calkins: I hope our garden grows really fast and the hoppers don't eat it all up.

John Calkins: Speaking of which, I found out today in town that these aren't really grasshoppers.

Clara Calkins: Of course they are. Everybody knows that.

John Calkins: No, they're locusts. Now, grasshoppers can fly, but they don't swarm together and fly off in a cloud like these did. Otherwise, they're pretty much the same critter.

Lois Calkins: Papa, didn't you read in the Bible that John the Baptist ate locusts?

John Calkins: That I did, Peanut. Of course, there are locust trees too that have bean pods on them, so I don't know whether he ate those beans or if he ate critters like these.

Lois Calkins: I hope it was beans and not bugs.

John Calkins: Well, guess what? Turns out that the Indians ate these bugs, as you call them. They toasted them over a fire and ate them.

Lois Calkins: Ew, yuck!

John Calkins: And they ground them up and put them in stew.

Clara Calkins: Oh, John, really?

John Calkins: Really. They're supposed to actually be good for you. Except for the legs and wings, which I'm told don't digest very well.

Clara Calkins: I can imagine.

Lois Calkins: I hope we don't have to eat grasshopper stew.

Clara Calkins: Let's pray again. Let's ask God to protect our garden.

Lois Calkins: Yeah, let's.

John Calkins: All right. Dear Jesus, we pray that when spring comes, you'll watch over our garden and protect it from being destroyed. You know I'm old and I can't work a farm anymore. You know we depend on our garden for food and what income we get from selling our vegetables. So we ask you to put your hand over the ground that we plow and the seeds we plant.

Uncle Dan: So what happens, Aunt Carole? Does God honor Papa's prayer?

Aunt Carole: Oh, you'll just have to wait a minute to find out, Uncle Dan. You see, I thought our listeners would like to hear about our Adventures in the Holy Bible Club.

Uncle Dan: That's a good idea, Aunt Carole. You see, kids, the adventures are so much fun that we know you'll enjoy joining the thousands of others who are already signed up for these free Bible stories.

Aunt Carole: Oh, and the puzzles and the fun-to-do quizzes.

Uncle Dan: And that's not even the best part. As you progress through the series, you'll also be collecting free audio stories on the life of Jesus.

Aunt Carole: Yes, and it's all free and it's all fun.

Uncle Dan: So if you're at least nine years old and you'd like to join the Adventures Club, just go to our website at yourstoryhour.org, click on Adventures, and get started.

Aunt Carole: Or write us at Box 8, Niles, Michigan, 49120.

Uncle Dan: We'll give our contact information again at the end of the program. But now, Aunt Carole, it's time to finish your story called Grasshopper Stew.

Aunt Carole: All winter long, the Calkins family studied their Bible and prayed that God would spare their garden. Even though they were relatively new Christians, they took courage in the stories recorded in scripture.

Lois Calkins: Wow, so God saved Daniel from the hungry lions?

John Calkins: That's right, my girl.

Joshua Calkins: Will God save us, too, Papa?

John Calkins: I don't see why not, Joshua. We just have to have faith.

Lois Calkins: God saved Joseph's family from starvation, didn't he?

John Calkins: Yes, Peanut, he did. And not only Joseph, God saved all of Egypt, too.

Joshua Calkins: Then he can do it for us. I just know he can.

Aunt Carole: Then when spring arrived, Papa arranged for his friend Carl to come and plow their garden plot.

Carl: I tell you what, John. I'll do it for you, but you're just throwing your money away. You're the only one I know that's even bothered. Everybody knows what's going to happen when the hoppers hatch.

John Calkins: And I reckon they're going to hatch all right. I'm just trusting God to step in and overrule their destruction.

Carl: Most foolish thing I've ever heard of. But you're paying me and I could use the money, so I best get at it.

Clara Calkins: John, look outside.

John Calkins: I know. It's happening. The hoppers are hatching.

Clara Calkins: They're already stripping the trees. Soon there won't be a leaf in sight.

Lois Calkins: It looks almost like wintertime.

John Calkins: That it does, Lois, my girl. We knew it would be bad, and it's even worse than I thought. But I bought the seeds just the same: beets, squash, corn, tomatoes, everything we need for a perfect garden.

Clara Calkins: So do you really think...

John Calkins: Clara, my dear, we're planting this garden and then it's up to God.

John Calkins: All right now, Lois. I'm depending on you and Joshua to plant the garden. I just can't get down and do it with these old bones of mine.

Lois Calkins: Don't worry, Papa.

Joshua Calkins: Yeah, we can do it.

John Calkins: I'll sit right here on this stool at the end of the rows. I'll get the seeds ready for you.

Lois Calkins: Papa?

John Calkins: What is it, Peanut?

Lois Calkins: The hoppers are all over the ground. How are we going to plant those seeds?

John Calkins: You just take your hand and scrape the grasshoppers aside. Plant the seeds, pat the dirt over them, and go on to the next hill.

John Calkins: Good job, children. I'm so proud of you.

Lois Calkins: Every time I planted seeds, Papa, I said a prayer.

Joshua Calkins: Me too.

John Calkins: Well then, you did it just right.

Lois Calkins: Will God make our garden grow?

Joshua Calkins: And keep the hoppers out?

Lois Calkins: So we don't have to eat grasshopper stew?

John Calkins: Let's just see what God will do for us. Don't you be worrying about that stew just yet.

Carl: Well, John, it's mighty nice of you to grow fresh garden salad for the hoppers to eat. Say, what's that I see there? The first sprouts?

John Calkins: I don't know. Where?

Carl: Right there, that row. What's that, anyway?

John Calkins: Let me see. Lettuce. It's the lettuce row.

Carl: They're going to eat that up pretty quick.

John Calkins: Don't be too sure, Carl.

Carl: Oh, they'll eat it all right. Lettuce, whee! Just the thing they ordered for breakfast, I'm sure.

Aunt Carole: Strangely enough, however, the Calkins' lettuce, their peas, corn, beets, squash, and everything else they planted was not eaten by the grasshoppers. The green sprouts pushed their way through the earth, and the plague of insects, which was often several inches thick in the fields, did not touch the tender garden plants. Soon neighbors far and near began to come and see this phenomenon for themselves.

Dennis: Look at that, Elizabeth. Can you believe it?

Elizabeth: It's spooky, that's what it is, Dennis. The hoppers have eaten everything, even the paint off our house. And here's this garden, green and beautiful. Something weird is going on, for sure.

Carl: Well, John, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. When I plowed this up for you, I thought you were the craziest man on the planet to waste your money. But now, just look at it. It's the best garden I ever saw.

Nelly Peterson: You know what I think, Clara? That something wonderful is happening right here in our own garden.

Clara Calkins: There's not a green blade of grass within hundreds of miles, but your squash plants—just look at them, they're huge. And your corn, it's amazing. God has blessed your garden.

Aunt Carole: All that summer, the grasshoppers continued to munch their way through everything that was even remotely edible. Everything, that is, except what grew in the Calkins' garden. They harvested fifty bushels of beets from a very small patch. There were eighty-three enormous squashes from just three plants. Everything they planted produced abnormally large quantities that were of the highest quality.

John Calkins: Well, Peanut, it's time to take our supply of vegetables to the cellar and store them for the winter.

Lois Calkins: Okay, Papa. Are we going to sell the rest like always?

John Calkins: Yep. I'll hitch up Bessie and pull the stand out to the road. Just think, we have plenty to eat and plenty to sell. It's a miracle, no doubt about it.

Carl: Well, John, it looks like all the money you paid me to plow up your garden plot is going right back into your pocket. You're the only one with vegetables to sell for miles around. And look at them, too. I don't believe I've ever seen pumpkins and carrots or anything that looks as good as these.

John Calkins: God did all this, Carl. You know it had to be him.

Carl: Yep, had to be. Say, the Petersons, they're—well, let's put it this way, I saw Nelly in town yesterday and she was real thin. If I don't miss my guess, they're all but starving to death. I know for a fact that they're going to lose their farm. They're completely broke. I don't suppose you...

John Calkins: Say no more, Carl. You stop by their place on your way home and send them over here. I don't mind taking money from folks who have some to pay for our produce because we're going to need the money, but I'll give to folks that can't pay. That's only right considering what God has done for us.

Carl: I thought you'd say that. You're a good man. I'll send them right over.

John Calkins: Now you two just look things over and decide what you'll be needing. None of our friends will starve while we have food aplenty.

Clara Calkins: That's right. We're so happy to be able to share God's blessings.

Nelly Peterson: Bless you, Clara. You too, John.

Henry Peterson: That goes double for me. Now, John, this is just like in Bible times. God kept his promise to you.

John Calkins: Well, we've done a good deal of Bible reading and praying this summer, but a promise about a garden? I don't remember anything...

Henry Peterson: Yep, it's there. God rebuked the devourer just like he said he would. I think maybe it's in Malachi.

John Calkins: Really? Well, I guess we'll have to look that up.

Clara Calkins: We'll look for it tonight when we have family worship. And now, Nelly, let me grab this bushel basket and you can start picking out what you folks need.

John Calkins: Malachi. That's what they said, wasn't it?

Clara Calkins: I think so.

Joshua Calkins: Who said what?

Clara Calkins: Henry Peterson when they were here today. He said there was a promise in Malachi that would explain our garden.

John Calkins: Really? Let's see here. Well, what do you know? Here it is!

Clara Calkins: Read it to us, John.

John Calkins: Malachi 3. Says here to give God our tithe.

Lois Calkins: We do that! We pay our tithe, don't we, Papa?

John Calkins: Yes, Peanut. As hard as times have been, we've been faithful with God's tithe. And then it says, "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground."

Lois Calkins: Wow.

Clara Calkins: And to think God made that promise and kept it even before we knew about it.

John Calkins: God rebuked the devourer all right. Our garden is proof of that.

Lois Calkins: And God answered my prayer too.

John Calkins: Oh? Did you pray some kind of special prayer?

Lois Calkins: I sure did.

John Calkins: What was it, Peanut?

Lois Calkins: That I wouldn't have to eat grasshopper stew. Yuck!

John Calkins: No grasshopper stew for this family. Only the wonderful food that God protected from the grasshopper plague. Praise his wonderful name.

Uncle Dan: Well, Aunt Carole, I must say I'm glad I've never had to eat grasshopper stew or go hungry.

Aunt Carole: Me too, Uncle Dan. And I'm sure our listeners feel the same way.

Uncle Dan: I think you're right. Even if pizza isn't on the menu and Mom insists that you eat your veggies, I'm sure you'll be glad you aren't having grasshopper stew for supper.

Aunt Carole: Or breakfast.

Uncle Dan: Or lunch. Before we forget, we promised to give you our web and mailing addresses again.

Aunt Carole: That's right. Our website is at yourstoryhour.org.

Uncle Dan: Or write us at Box 8, Niles, Michigan, 49120. And now we have to close for today, but be sure to tune in next time, won't you?

Aunt Carole: We'll be looking for you.

Uncle Dan: Goodbye, everyone.

Aunt Carole: See you again next time.