Download Stories

Work until the Job is Done
By Eleanor Jensen
Working on the farms was different in the 1940’s than it is now. Today there
are tractors with air conditioning, radios, lights, windows, and you can sit in a nice
cab and not even get very dirty. This is a true story about two
brothers who had a job to do, but things weren’t working out
very well.
Joseph Ray Capener and his brother, Leland, were
partners in farming. There are many jobs that need to be
completed on a farm, and there are many different things that
can happen that can mess up well-made plans.
Ray and Lee had to finish the fall plowing before the
ground froze. It was already November and time was running
out. Soon, the ground would be too hard, and the plowing
would not get done till next spring.
JosephRayCapener
The brothers decided other work would have to be
laid aside and they committed to finish the plowing of the
field. They worked hard, but the day was soon ending and
they just were not done. They needed more time.
Would they have to abandon their goal? It was
impossible to finish before nightfall. They would not quit!
Using great tenacity, they came up with a new plan. Using
the battery from their car, they figured out a way to hook up a
light on the tractor. They could now see in the dark.
LelandS.Capener
Working together, one would plow for several hours
while the other brother would sleep. They took turns all night
and into the next day. They worked until the job was done. They
would not settle for an unplowed field.
Discussion Questions
1. There were a lot of reasons that Ray and Lee could just make
up excuses of why they couldn’t finish the job. What time
management tools helped them complete their goal?
2. When things we have to do get hard, what can we do to help us finish?
The Anaconda Plan
by Ellen Taylor
General Winfield Scott had a plan.
The start of the United States Civil War happened when the Confederate
army the bombed of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and now everyone faced the
fact that the South wanted nothing to do with the United States. This brought much
heartache to the Northern states. No one wanted to go to war with other members of
the country, but now it seemed like fighting each other was certain. Union general,
Winfield Scott, got to work devising and presenting a plan that he believed would
shorten the war and stop unnecessary deaths.
What was it? The Anaconda Plan. An Anaconda is a large snake. To capture
and contain its prey, it slowly wraps its body around its victim, constricting it until it
surrenders. General Scott’s strategy recommended that Union troops surround the
Southern states, cutting off all supplies, and forcing them to surrender. Why did they
need it? This would help the North, because the South would be weak from lack of
food and medicine that was usually brought to them through trade. Traveling up the
Mississippi river to cut the South in half would weaken them even further.
When did it need to happen? As soon as possible. For General Scott’s plan
to work, it needed to happen at the first sign of war so the South could feel the
effects of the plan.
How would this need to happen? General Scott would need everyone’s help
in order to put this into action.
It might have worked, but no one supported him. He had the plan, he had the
what, the why, and the when, but when he tried to delegate to the others how to get it
working, they did not want to follow it. The other Union generals wanted the Civil
War to finish quickly and be done with it. Their plan was to build a strong army and
attack the Confederate’s fast and shock them into surrendering. They felt General
Scott’s plan would take too long.
We shall never know what would have happened if General Scott had the
support he needed at the beginning of the war. However, it is interesting to see what
happened when the war, that many hoped would last a few months, became longer
than anyone wanted or anticipated.
The Union army’s original plan of battling and forcing the Confederates to
surrender did not seem to work. They were not strong enough. So what happened?
One of the Union generals battled hard and captured the city of Vicksburg,
Mississippi. This gave the North control of the Mississippi river and cut the South in
half. Then another general rallied his troops and went through the South destroying
everything he could on the way to the sea. It was brutal, but in his rampage they
destroyed railroads that were important at that time for trade. It scattered the
Confederate troops. After a couple more major battles, the South soon surrendered.
In those last remaining years, many saw the basic core of the Anaconda Plan come
about.
Discussion Questions
1. Why is it important to have all the elements of time management for it to
work properly?
2. How do you think General Scott felt about the rejection of his plan? What is
a strategy you can use when your good ideas are rejected?