Henderson daily dispatch., 1942-06-08

Bill Rhodes Weaver, well known fca-
ture writer.
& .r III '-n' il had he n IN
contention that could write a better
column if the present indicative we're
r"' U."d. hut | was told to let jour
naiistic inhibitions fly to the forty
winds and shoot the works, so here
gCss,)
'~'' ""- No' a01 tircsHmn. and
| was not disposed toward physical
or mental cXcrticn. but hod 20 %
to the job. A friend, interested in
'- '.'f D"""usC h'S >W0ll son Wa~
a hospital case and had been for
several months, took me to Durham
and put me out at the tobacco COM
Dany offices.
SorHwhat pr~coccupied with the
thoughts of a childhood of trips to
doctors offices, l went unconscious
~ along. interrupted only a handcar
gang Singing Il collective oath at me
for failing to listen to the warning
bell as | crossed the several railroad
tracks.
Up the street | went. For the first
time since tWenty-one years ago. a
sudden thought struck me and brought
back the memory on a diScouraging
moment, had come to the grillWOrk
in the sidewalk beside the bank
building. TWenty-one years ago,
when ] saw six. | had been given d
dime TO buy orange slice candy
That was an unusual parental grant.
n [ was very happy. ! had skipped
up the street. swinging my arms.
and the dime had looscned from my
grip and fallen through the very grill.
remembered how acute was my
loss. No candy. No dime. | called back
70 the car. and sister brought the
buggy whip that was in the back
seat, where Dad ha6 put it when he
came IN from the farm. | stuck some
chewing gum on the seventeen whip
and angled back and forth. but Onty
tlshed up bright things that turned
out to be tinfoil or plug tobacco tags.
! never got pack the dime. and |
wondered what the janitor would do
with it when he came across it when
he cleaned out the grill. The loss Of
that dime was a big cloud on a blue
skied childhood.
Somehow the recollection brought
another into an odd Vividness. How
disappointed | was that mother
wouldn't let me dress my colored
mammy's boy in some Of my best
clothes to 60 to Sunday school with
me. Mother was shocked when [
brought "Fansteel.' black but shin
ing, downstairs in my other Sunday
suit Of velvet plants and coat, frilled
pongee shirt with ruffled collar and
cuffs and flowing black tie. | was
sure she would be pleased, though I
was afraid Fansteel would not be
perfectly dressed because | was
wearing my only white Panama hat
with ribbon steamers, and | didn't
have n to complete his outfit.
How and why such memories hap
pen to pop out Of nowhere is beyond
my explanation. In the middle Of a
serious problem or at a time of deep
concentration, >the most unrelated
matters project themselves, like
thinking "Wonder if the post office
folk would mind if I used my draw
er to keep vegetables in " while
Presbyterian preacher is talk about
Paul. Oh well, why worry, "hit don t
make no neVermind."
Words and Catch-As-Catch-Can:
Why should | say the correct *
ema,'. instead Of using the common
ly pronounced "X-zeema'? Why
don't folks use "snuck" and fetch"
more? The word 'fetch' is probably
one Of the most economical words
in the language. 1t mean go after
it, get it, and bring it back And
why and why do they insist on
using "Won't' for were not? =.
Names Of bootleg whisky are inter-
eSting. I've heard it called "squinch,"
"stumphole," "%rotgut," moosemilk.'
and "White light'nin" and why do
churches have steeples and what do
they mean? They look like a
waste of material, serve no useful
purpose. And getting back to
words, why do folks frown on "rah-
ther' when they think nothing Of
calling a parent "fahther"?