Whistling at Snakes

It is next to impossible not to pick up and thumb through a book with the title of "Whistling At Snakes," and difficult to put it down after sampling the wit and wisdom of The Baptist Courier's late columnist, Horace Sims. The Courier published the first batch of his short essays, "Horace Sims At Large," in 1997, followed by a second compilation of his columns, "Horace Sims Still At Large," in 1998. These books, like his "At Large" pieces, achieved immediate and lasting popularity with the Courier's readers. Sims always managed to take life seriously while looking at it lightly. He could always find at least a little -- and often a lot -- that was funny. And this was so whether the egg was all over his or somebody else's face. He had no peers as a teller of sidesplitting tales. Some were even true. Asked about that, he explained, "All the stories I've written are based on real events. They tell true happenings." Then, breaking into a smile, he added, "Some of them may have been embellished for the enjoyment of the reader."