I’ve been working on my clean-ups and throw-aways. It was with reluctance that I was about to toss my “Johnny Fry – First Rider of the Pony Express” material. For one thing it was the last speech I presented to Toastmaster’s in November, 2018. Another chapter of my life being laid aside.

Then I saw that Linda G. Hill suggested “yes” used in any form as a prompt for today’s SOCS. Yes, my solution! Use “yesteryear” as a prompt. So I present excerpts from my yesteryear’s speech.

Johnny Fry quickly gained a reputation for never failing to deliver the mail, regardless of weather or danger, and as a fast rider averaging a speed of 12.5 miles an hour including all tops. Local lore says that the donut was invented as a cake for Fry to eat while speeding by young girl’s homes near Troy, Kansas.

Pony Express ended in 1861. Fry then worked with the Union Army as a messenger and scout. In October , 1863, he was ttacked and killed by Confederate guerrillas in a hand-to-hand fight, during which he killed five of his assailants. He is buried in Baxter Springs, Kansas.

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At this point my “consciousness” is leading me to the unofficial creed of today’s mail carrier: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”