Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

Long before the written word men told stories. Stories about home and family, stories that taught life lessons, stories that revealed the values and principles that were important in life. Stories that have secrets, mysterious secrets, secrets that are only passed down from generation to generation when the time is right, stories that change lives, this was to be Grandpa Martin's legacy to me. Grandpa's Porch Swing Stories is a collection of storyteller; Dennis “Dink” Martin's most requested tall tales. The Story Man has combined his Grandpa Martin's stories along with true life experiences of growing up in the country to weave together an adventure of folklore, history, and humor. Martin's stories and adoptions have their setting in Blount County, Alabama. Some, like Grandpa's stories, have a lesson to be learned. The Story Man carries you back in time, back to the days of his youth, back to the days of listening to Grandpa's stories, and back to the days of going to his Grandma Massey's house for Sunday dinner. His unique style carries you back to a time that no longer exists, to a time when family values and principles were taught by example, back to a time you wish your grandchildren could experience. These stories will warm your heart and bring a smile to your face as author Dennis “Dink” Martin takes everyday events and turns them into stories which provoke tears, chills, and shudders – enjoy the adventure!

For a young boy, moving from the city to the farm was a huge transition made ever so more difficult when his Grandpa refused to allow the television to be brought into the house. His favorite past time was taken from him; what was he going to do? Die of boredom? Ah... a strange noise from the front porch answered his question and invited him on a journey. Would he accept? And, where would this journey take him? Only a ride on Grandpa's Swing can answer that question.

After over 25 years of working with people, and attempting to help them, as a psychotherapist, trainer, and teacher, I have not only walked through the joys and struggles of my own life experiences, and those of family and friends, but I have had the benefits and privilege of learning and living vicariously, while listening to untold hours with literally thousands of clients during their own struggling and searching. I have been encouraged by and privileged to watch the healing, growth, and transcendence from life's struggles of thousands of people, and I have felt pain and sadness in witnessing the deterioration, resistance and self-destruction of countless others. I have come to believe that the primary determining factor of whether one experiences transcendence or deterioration is a determined willingness to go through the struggles, and to develop an attitude: "...that looks courageously into the eye of the storm, and says assuredly: 'You will not break me...'" These poems are captured moments of my own experiences, and reflections on the journeys of others, as we have separately and together enjoyed the sunrises and sunsets, while sometimes weathering the storms in between. May these poems help you better understand yourself and your fellow travelers, and no matter how difficult or deep your own abyss of darkness, may you always find Hope! THE RHYTHM OF LIFE Today could not have been Without yesterday's haunting wind, Blowing by and changing my life, Stirring up realities and other sundry strife. The happenings of this hour Would rightfully have no power, Without the joys and pains of past, Shaping and creating me at last. Had even one conversation been altered, Or one person or event faltered, This moment in which I now breathe Would not now be, as is, conceived. There is a Great Choreographer, somewhere, someplace, Who orchestrates my moves and your every pace, Matching our steps in infinite, perfect time; Then, this dance, once confusing starts to rhyme...

Volume I contains fifty-four stories. Volume II, which is a continuation of Volume I, has forty-two stories. The stories are stand-alone stories; that is, they are independent from each other so that these books can be read in any sequence the reader chooses. There is no particular reason why they should be read in the way the author sequenced them. The reader can select stories based on the time there is to read one or more stories. The books are designed for busy people who need to escape from the problems of work, family, or self-imposed rituals for governing activities of the day. Please read these stories to explore and enhance that which is not yet part of your day or evening accomplishments.