I have enjoyed several servings of 15-bean soup recently, thanks to Mom. That soup, along with stew, makes a very good meal on a cold or cool day. Crumpling a couple of pieces of cornbread into a bowl of soup or stew is delicious!

My daughter has also shared with me some tortellini soup. I do believe it is definitely my favorite!

As I was eating a bowl of the beans the other day, I remembered the little phrase "spill the beans." There was another little phrase I remembered too. You remember? "Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you -- well, you know the rest.

I have found that the precise origin of the phrase "spill the beans" is uncertain. Some say the phrase is "American," and did not appear until the early 1900s. I am not sure that is right, however. Nevertheless, it has become a common phrase to refer to the revelation of a secret.

Others say the phrase stems from ancient Greece. The story has it that, when a Greek citizen voted his vote was cast by placing a bean in the helmet of the candidate of his choice.

Obviously, the candidate who had the greatest number of beans in it won. After the count was done, the winner was announced. The winner, as the story goes, put his helmet on his head so everyone could see that he had won. When he did, the beans spilled out and, thus, the "secret" was revealed.

We all know those who are so ready to spill the beans, don't we?

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.