Ain’t nothing worse to a mama than losing her baby—

No child should ever be too sad to play.

Samuel finally understood the sound of the wind after all these years: The winds were a chorus of the prairie’s ever-present heartaches.

Do whatever you must do to protect your children and wife.

They cried. Yes, yes, they cried. Cried more tears than the Mississippi could hold, but those tears never washed away their faith…

He says that we must protect our families no matter what. No matter what we got to do to protect them.

We gonna be a family again in Heaven. It takes some strong patience, but the Lord will come through. And as long as we here, we can get on living by never forgetting. Never forgetting...

Papas should be loving their children so much that they cry when they gone. That’s what papas is supposed to do.

Mamas are always crying about how one day they see you as a baby, and the next morning, they see you growed up.

…when you lonely is the best time to pray, to speak to the Lord, and most important, to listen to the Lord…

Be careful how close you get to someone… It just ends up hurting more than not having no one to love to begin with.

Do good and be a good person because that’s just what the Lord expects. There just ain’t nothing special about being and doing good. It’s what the Lord expects…

As the Mississippi snaked and their old home slipped further away, perhaps Samuel had finally left the curse behind.