Adventures on the big river

By Brenda Brown
Posted 1/23/20

The Marshall County Memorial Library was the site of the January meeting of the Lewisburg Study Club. Upon arrival, members were greeted with the music of “Moon River” playing in the background, emphasizing the theme of the morning, “My Huckleberry Friend.”...

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Adventures on the big river

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The Marshall County Memorial Library was the site of the January meeting of the Lewisburg Study Club.

Upon arrival, members were greeted with the music of “Moon River” playing in the background, emphasizing the theme of the morning, “My Huckleberry Friend.”

Hostesses Brenda Brown, LuAnne Crocker, Elaine Davidson, and Debra McManus had decorated the meeting tables with various copies of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and printed caricatures of the novel’s characters from an early edition of the novel. Carly Crocker’s beautifully sketched map provided a visual of Huck’s journey down the Mississippi River.

Before the program, everyone enjoyed refreshments from the buffet where a “river” wound its path through treats named for characters from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Mrs. Hotchkiss’s muffins, Aunt Sally’s pumpkin bread, and Miss Watson’s ginger snap cookies, just to name a few choices.

Elaine Davidson introduced the program by sharing information about the timeless standard “Moon River,” the theme song for the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Henry Mancini asked Johnny Mercer to write the lyrics. Although they discussed what the lyrics had to say, Mancini and Mercer never sat down together to collaborate. “Moon River” won the Oscar in 1961 for best original song and currently ranks fourth in the American Film Institute’s list of top film songs.

The reference to “my Huckleberry friend” in the song served as the inspiration for the second part of the program. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” continues to be on banned book lists because of its frequent use of the “N” word; however, Mark Twain’s message in the novel is a message of hope for the eradication of racism and hate based on racial and cultural differences. Brenda Brown also shared a brief biography of Mark Twain who began life as Samuel Langhorn Clemens. Repeated disappointments and dashed dreams littered the path that eventually led Clemens to become “Mark Twain”, the pen name he adopted from a river term meaning “twelve feet deep.”

To close the meeting, the group joined together to sing “Moon River.” The next Lewisburg Study Club meeting is February 8 in the United Methodist Church Parlor. The program is entitled “Water is Not Just Water.”

Photo submitted

January Study Club hostesses, from left: Elaine Davidson, LuAnne Crocker, Brenda Brown, and Debra McManus