Forest of the Plains

So, I got this torture device, a tongue screw, for Mother’s Day. It was from my mother. She described it as “the perfect gift for your first Mother’s Day and no one else will even think of giving it to you”. Indeed, no one else gave me a tongue screw!

I tried to find a picture online. Though there is much discussion of Maeyken Wens’ tongue screw experience (and a commentary on her letters here), no one seems to have a picture. So, here is a picture of mine:


***
A little background:
When I was in college I did a speech on Anabaptism, and included Maeyken’s story.

Funny facts:
Replica tongue screws were commissioned by the Mennonite Board of Missions, which no longer exists and was absorbed into the Mennonite Mission Network. The idea was to use the tongue screws as OUTREACH! I can just hear it, “Come join the Mennonites. We have tongue screws!” “Oh wow, a tongue screw. Now I know this is the church for me!”

Also, if you google “tongue screw” you get tons of hits about Maeyken, followed by links for wood floors.
***

So, Mom works for the Mission Network and so that’s how she knew about the tongue screws. There’s even a whole pamphlet printed up about them.

If you read all of the Maeyken story, you’ll learn that her son dug her tongue screw out of her ashes and carried it with him. So, the relavance to Mother’s Day? Here’s what I got: If you set a good example then your children will respect you for it and carry your example with them for the rest of their days.