Hollow Mack 2015

A Special Honor
Like never before, I can see and understand the fact that—
for many of them—not being able to live out their dreams
wasn’t about them not trying, but rather about
how they were not given a fair chance to try.
a chance to make my dreams and the dreams of others come true.
It is my hope that with Hollow Mack, we can all learn ways to give each
other a fair chance to make dreams come true all over the world!
PEACE...
Hollow Mack

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The Beginning
One chilly Christmas morning on the Carter Plantation, a young black slave named
Mack Brown left out their slave cabin carrying a slop bucket.
and his parents warm throughout the night.
As he made his way, he suddenly heard the slave masters son, James
Carter, Jr.’s voice coming from just beyond the bushes a short distance away.
Being very curious, Mack crept closer and stood quietly behind
His eyes lit up as he saw James playing with toys. Mack gazed on as if he
had never seen toys before.
His curiosity brought him out into the open.
However, he remained quiet and stood there just staring at the white boy, who’s
father owned him and all the slaves on the plantation.

James picked up his sack and emptied it, pouring out more toys onto
the ground.
He dove into the heap, taking his pick. As he did, he noticed Mack
standing there staring at him. He said, “What are you looking at, boy?”
Mack didn’t move. His eyes were glued on the toys.
Finally, he said, “Where’d you git all them things, massa?”
James raised his eyebrows at Mack, as he stood holding a soldier in
one hand and a toy horse in the other.
He answered, “Don’t you know it’s Christmas morning, dummy? Santa
Clause gave me these.”
Mack replied, “Santee Clause? Who’s he?”
James started to laugh at Mack. Mack didn’t understand what was so funny.
James then asked Mack, “You don’t know who Santa Clause is?”
Mack answered, “No, suh.”
James then explained to Mack who Santa was, saying, “Santa Clause
brings you gifts on Christmas morning, if you were good all year long.
He gives you coal if you were bad.”
Mack said, “He does?”

James answered, “Of-course he does! Don’t you know nothing? He
down the chimney and puts lots of presents under your Christmas tree.”
Mack said, “But…”
and said, “But what, boy?”
He ain’t gave me no toys.”
James replied, “Well, I guess Santa don’t give toys to slaves then. Yeah,
must be that he only makes toys and gives them to us white folks.”
Mack said, “But why? I’s be good all the time.” James stared at Mack
and answered, “I don’t know, fool!”
Just then, James Carter’s mother, Susan walks out onto their back
porch and tells James to gather his toys and come into the house. She
also tells Mack to leave and go back to their cabin.
Mack scooted away. However, he couldn’t keep his mind away from
thinking about Santa.
Arriving back at their cabin, Mack told his parents all about what he had
learned about Santa Clause and Christmas from James Carter Jr.
From that day on, all Mack could think about was toys!

Then, one burning hot day in July, ten-year-old Mack Brown was pick- ing cotton
a couple of rows over from his father.
He yelled over to him, “Daddy, one day I’s gonna be just like that
man the white folks call Santa.
“I’s gonna make toys for all the boys and girls in the whole wide world.
Not only did Mack’s father hear him, but so did just about every
Wow, did they ever start to laugh. They told Mack’s father that Mack
must be crazy.
“Don’t that fool boy know them white folks ain’t gonna lets no slave
make toys for white kids?” said one. Then they laughed harder and louder!
The slave master overheard all the laughter. Holding his whip, he rushed
busy having fun, then no work was
slave master asked the slaves,
“What was all the laughing about?”
Not a single slave would open
their mouth. They were afraid.

Then, when no one would tell, the slave master told the slaves that he
was going to start whipping backs until someone told.
Not wanting to see everyone take a whipping, Mack’s father stepped up,
“Mas-sa, they’s be laughing at som’em my boy said.”
The slave master ordered Mack to tell him what he had said that had his
workers laughing so hard. Mack stood proud and told the slave master
great toy maker.
The slave master laughed for a minute, then told Mack, “Yeah, that’s
funny alright.” Then he asked, “So, boy, you’re going to make toys, huh?”
Mack answered, “Yes, suh.”
Then, before Mack could say another word, he was thrown to the
again across his back with the slave master’s whip.
The slave master then told the other slaves to let Mack’s
whipping be a good lesson to all of them—that they
were born to be slaves, not toy makers.
Then he ordered them to get back to work!

Later that night in the slave quarters, Mack laid in bed with his mother
rubbing cream on his sore back.
His dad pulled up a chair next to them and told Mack that he was sorry
such a bad whipping.
He then warned Mack to be careful of what he said around white folks,
but to keep right on dreaming, because one day slavery was going to
end, and then he could become anything he wished to be.
Mack’s mother also shared a very important lesson with him that he
would never forget.
She told Mack that her grandfather once said, “Take aways the white
man’s skin color and they’s look just like us black folk underneath.
“And the same thang goes for we black folk, too.” He also said, “We’s
all the same color inside. Just some white folk ain’t ready to see’s that yet.
As Mack’s mother kept gently rubbing his back, he started to fall asleep
and as he did, he whispered softly, “Momma, I’s gonna be a great toy
maker one day. Just wait and see’s…I’s gonna show ’em.”

The next day, Mack’s father surprised him with a special gift. He gave
He told Mack that if he was going to be a great toy maker, then he had
From that day on, Mack and his knife was never far apart. Whenever
Mack was alone, he would practice making toys.
§
Lo and behold, Mack’s father was right! Years later, slavery was abolished.
Mack’s family and other slaves across the whole country were set free!
Mack and his parents joined the celebration.
plantation forever, headed for the big city.
However, by now, Mack had become a man and his parents had become
much older. Life in the big city was not great and times were tough
for most black people. Mack and his parents lived in a old raggedy house.
Mack was a good son and he worked very hard and took care of his
parents. He had a job and had also become very, very good at
making toys.
Mack sold most of the toys he made and gave some away
to families who didn’t have money to pay for them.
He also had something most black folks didn’t
have: a nice savings!

After working hard for a few more years, Mack was surprised by his
boss who told him that he was selling his great-grandfather’s tree farm.
Mack’s boss became excited when Mack told him how much money he
had stashed away.
It wasn’t long before Mack’s boss had invited himself over to Mack’s home to
try to sell Mack his great-grandparents’ tree farm.
He brought along a slick–talking salesman to do his dirty work.
It only took the salesman a few minutes to get Mack to daydream and see
very own toy shop.
To make Mack really want to buy the tree farm, the salesman took out
pictures of a large farm house surrounded by thousands and thousands
of huge trees. Mack’s eye’s grew larger than spotlights when he saw the
pictures.
Then within minutes, Mack’s boss and the
slick–talking salesman walked out of Mack’s
home with about every penny Mack had
saved over many years.
However, Mack was now the proud owner
of a huge tree farm. It seemed as if all his
come true!
Days later, Mack and his parents packed
and headed for their new home near a
place called the Tetersburg Forest.

the town of Tetersburg.
looked to be well over eighty years old. Wick, who was the store owner, kindly
greeted the Browns.
Upon going inside and picking up a few groceries the Brown’s met Wick
Jr.—Old Man Wick’s son—who was working behind the counter.
Wick Jr. told the Brown’s that people around the countryside thought for sure
it would have been another hundred years before someone got suckered into
buying that old deadwood tree farm.
The Browns were shocked to hear this news. Mack took out pictures of their
tree farm and showed them to Wick Jr.
He talked about how big the trees were and how he was going to sell lumber
from some of the trees and make toys to sell from the others.
Wick Jr. said, “Yeah, them trees are big alright, but everybody in our neck of the
woods know that them there trees are as hollow as a coconut on the inside.
Folks round here also know that old farm is haunted.
There are evil sprits roaming all over that land.
Not a lumberyard in these parts gonna ever buy
wood coming from that there farm.”
Mack and his parents couldn’t believe what they heard.
They had a strange feeling they had been tricked by the
slick–talking salesman!

Upon arriving at the farm, Mack and his parents could hardly believe their
eyes. The farm looked even more beautiful than it did in the pictures.
More exciting to them, was the sight of the thousands upon thousands of
trees. There seemed to be huge trees as far as the eye could see.
As bad as the Browns felt about being told they had been suckered into buying
a worthless and huanted tree farm, the beauty of the trees gave them a small
glimmer of hope.

That glimmer of hope soon faded away when Mack
ran over to one of the trees and banged on it with
a hammer.
The tree rang out like a wooden tube. Mack couldn’t
believe his ears.
He went around banging on hundreds and hundreds of trees; they all rang out
with the same hollow sound.
Finally, he gave up and returned to the old farm house and gave his parents
the bad news. They were very sad and for many years the Browns remained
that way.
After all, Mack had been suckered into spending just about all their life savings
on buying what seemed to be a farm loaded with worthless, hollow trees.
With no lumberyard in the countryside willing to buy wood from Mack’s farm,
he ended up taking a job at the local sawmill, where he worked most days not
talking to a single person.
He was so quiet that the other workers started calling him by a nickname.
They called him Hollow Mack!
They said that after being suckered into buying the worthless tree farm,
Mack’s heart had become as hollow as his trees.

Many years later, both of Mack’s parents died. Mack continued to work
at the sawmill, and did so everyday with a broken heart.
Things got even worse when one day another worker walked over to
Mack and handed him a note that read, “Hollow Mack, you got two
days to burn down those evil trees of yours or we gonna come over
and do it for you.”
Someone had started a nasty rumor that Mack’s trees were carrying a
deadly disease.
Most of the tree farmers from around the Tetersburg Forest became
very worried that Mack’s trees would spread disease to their trees, so
they wanted Mack to burn down his trees!
Mack walked over to the man who handed him the note and said, “There’s
no way I’s gonna burn down my trees.”
Mack said that his trees were the only thing his family had ever owned
and if they wanted to burn them, then they might as well do it. And burn
him with them. Then he hurried home.

It was just before daybreak the next day. Hollow Mack sat on his back
porch asleep in one rocking chair, with his feet sprawled across another.
He had slept there that whole night.
Suddenly, he was awakened by a voice he knew very well. It was Old Man Wick.
Old Man Wick asked Mack to move his feet out of one of the chairs and
let him set his old tired bones down. He had something to show him.
Then he took out a map that looked to be well over one hundred years old.
He told Mack that he had broken his cane and the map fell out of it.
He said that he had a feeling the map would lead them to the secret behind
the trees being hollow.
Hollow Mack ran and got a shovel. Then, he and Old Man Wick headed for
the trees.

Old Man Wick told Mack to hand him every thirteenth
shovel of dirt. Mack dug and dug and dug.
Doing as he was told, Mack handed Old Man Wick every thriteenth
shovel of dirt and Old Man Wick would take a hand full and give it a big lick!
All of a sudden, Old Man Wick yelled out, “Ya-hoo!” He asked Mack to
climb out of the hole; he had something special to show him.
After climbing out of the hole, Old Man Wick showed Mack a huge surprise.
It was gold!
Mack could hardly believe his eyes. Then Mack and Old Man Wick kept
following the map and it led them to another tree.

Following the map’s directions, Mack took the spade of his shovel and
pushed it between a small crack in the tree’s trunk.
Mack bent down on his knees and looked in. There he saw lots and lots of
by former slaves.
go next to hide, and how to get there, while others told them not to give
up and to keep running for their freedom!

Old Man Wick told Mack that he believed that the map
had led them to what he called “The Trees of Life.”
slave owner and was used as a place to sell and trade slaves.
had discovered that the trees were hollow on the inside,
and big enough to use as a good hiding place.
was called the “Underground Railroad”—places for
runaway slaves to hide as they made their great escape
from slavery, heading north to safety.
Mack guessed that the slaves must have also used the trees
treasures with them to help with their new start and left some
behind for others.
He believed that runaway slaves had taken some of the

Hollow Mack became a very rich man from selling the gold under his land.
Then he did the one thing he had always wished for, he built himself
a huge toy shop! There, he made hundreds and hundreds of wooden toys.
However, the toys that made Hollow Mack famous was some he made for boys
and girls all over the world. He called them U Kontainers.
Hollow Mack‘s U Kontainers were very simple and plain, person-shaped wooden
containers. They were hollow on the inside just like his trees. What made them
so special was what they held within their hollow frame.
Hollow Mack said the U Kontainers stood for freedom...freedom for ALL people
to dream and believe they could do and become anything they wished to.
He put notes inside of them like those he and Old Man Wick discovered in his
hollow trees. However, the notes Hollow Mack put in his U Kontainers were
notes of hope, love and peace to all people...

Hollow Mack
An original story by Kirk D. Harrington
Thank You
To my family for their unending support.
Also, to a few very special friends whereby without their faith, guidance, and
other resources...well, who knows.
These friends know who they are, because they remain a very important part
of my life today.
§
Illustrations by Delayne Hostetler and MarTii Gudim
Edited by Donna Mears

GRACE
Grace transforms our human nature.
Grace leads us in the good we can bring into the world
despite our human limitations and frailties.
It is grace that helps ordinary people
like you and me do extraordinary things!
• Deacon Tim Helmeke •
Please give grace a try!
PEACE
Hollow Mack

Hollow Mack Chat
“If I can’t share my happy times and sad times with you,
then how can I expect you to share yours with me ?”
Facts About Hollow Mack As A Kid
• Hollow Mack doesn’t have any baby pictures.
• Knew he wanted to be a toy maker from age 8.
• Had friends who laughed at his ideas.
• Had to wait over 40 years before seeing his
childhood dream come true.
• Wet the bed up until age 10 or 12.
• By the age of 9, had discovered how easy it was to
get older people to tell him their deepest secrets.
• Never had his real dad at home.
• His best game to play was “make believe”.
• Discovered that his best hiding place was
“inside” of and up high on the limbs of trees.
Read new stories and Chat with Hollow Mack at
www.ukontainers.com