A Soldier’s Almanac

Here’s a beautiful recitative by country musician T. Texas Tyler that was a hit somewhere during the late ’40s. A story about a young soldier and his “almanac and bible.”  Read on.

During the North African campaign, a bunch of soldier boys had been
on a long hike and they arrived in a little town called Cascina. The next
morning being Sunday, several of the boys went to Church. A sergeant commanded
the boys in Church and after the Chaplain had read the prayer, the text was
taken up next.

Those of the boys who had a prayer book took them out, but this
one boy had only a deck of cards, and so he spread them out. The Sergeant
saw the cards and said, “Soldier put away those cards.” After the service
was over, the soldier was taken prisoner and brought before the Provost
Marshall.

The Marshall said, “Sergeant, why have you brought the man
here?” “For playing cards in church, Sir.” “And what have you got to
say for yourself, son?” “Much, Sir.” Replied the soldier. The Marshall
said, “I hope so, for if not I shall punish you more than any man was
ever punished.”

The soldier said, “Sir, I’ve been on the march for about six
days, I had neither Bible nor prayer book, but I hope to satisfy you,
Sir, with the purity of my intentions.” With that, the boy started
his story:

…You see Sir, when I look at the “ACE”, it reminds me that there is
but one God;

…And the “DEUCE” reminds me that the Bible is divided into two parts;
The Old and the New Testaments;

…And when I see the “TREY”, I think of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost;

…And when I see the “FOUR”, I think of the four Evangelists
who preached the Gospel. There was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John;

…And when I see the “FIVE”, it reminds me of the five wise virgins
who trimmed their lamps. There were ten of them, five were wise and
were saved. Five were foolish and were shut out;

…And when I see the “SIX”, it reminds me that in six days, God made
this great heaven and earth;

…When I see the “SEVEN”, it reminds me that on the seventh day, God
rested from His great work;

…And when I see the “EIGHT”, I think of the eight righteous persons
God saved when He destroyed this earth. There was Noah, his wife,
their three sons and their wives;

…And when I see the “NINE”, I think of the lepers our Saviour cleansed.
And nine out of the ten didn’t even thank Him.

…When I see the “TEN”, I think of the Ten Commandments God handed
down to Moses on a tablet of stone;

…When I see the “KING”, it reminds me that there is but one King of
Heaven, God Almighty;

…And when I see the “QUEEN”, I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who
is Queen of Heaven;

…And the “JACK” or “KNAVE” is the Devil;

…When I count the number of spots on a deck of cards, I find 365,
the number of days in a year;

…There’s 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year;

…There’s 4 suits, the number of weeks in a month;

…There’s 12 picture cards, the number of months in a year;

…There’s 13 tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter;

…So you see, Sir, my pack of cards serves me as a Bible, Almanac and
Prayer Book.

“And friends, this is a true story, because I was that soldier.”