The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-11-20
LOSING OLD FRIENDS
A HEARTBREAK OF
GROWING OLD
By CARLTON MORRIS
(In Gates County Index)

! growing old is the many friends
that fall by the wayside one by
one. Like flowers in the spring,
they come forth full of life and
beauty, and l take them into my
heart, and one day they have to
depart for another land. Always
they take part of me with them.
Always before me is the know
ledge that man is here for only
a short season and soon he can
not call this his home any more.
Many people will read the fore
going paragraph { hope) and
will say that Morris must have
lost a dear friend recently" Such
is not the case, but sitting here
alone / began to wonder where
all the friends of my youth could
be, since not one of them lives
near me.
Naturally, l thought of my
school days and the many friends
with whom I played and fought,
in those years of fondest memory.
l remembered them all, even to
the lad who would steal his dads
gun shells and sell them to me at
half price. l didn't have money
to pay for more than that Check
ing with my memory, I find that
he is a state highway foreman
and has a big family of his own
and some boys that he would skin
alive if they stole from him.
I remember the Tunt of our
class, and how the rest of us
would impose on him because of
his size. He is a travelling sales
man for a large company in an
other town. And best of all I re-
member the best and dearest
friend l had in the class and ] re-
call the time we ran a race be-
cause we were young and full of
the joy of living. We ran and ran
until the cold air burned our
lungs and because his legs were
longer than mine, he won the
race. AS he lay painting on the
good earth, with never care in
the world, he began to brag about
winning our race.
81" he said, lam running SON.
of-a-b..."
81 don't know about the rum
ming part" 1 told him, "but you
are son-of-a-b..."
By the surge of color in his
face, l knew he was mad with
me for that remark so I jumped
up and lit out running. He chased
me until he was exhausted, but
I outran him, a feat I was never
able to accomplish again. Before
the use of wonder drugs, he was
taken by pneumonia.
Then there were two neighbor-
ing boys, brothers whom
thought of as my own brothers,
for we lived together from earli-
est childhood. Raised in the
coastland, they both had a ten
dency to follow the sea, and they
learned boating from all angles
from their father who was a sea
captain in the days of sail. We
grew to manhood together, and
the older brother was married
and had two children of his own.
He had just landed what he
thought would be a job that
would last him the rest of his
life, and he decided to 60 with
his brother on just one more
boating trip of one weeks dura-
ton before he was called to his
new job.
They dredged oysters with
their sail boat for a while, it was
later established, but no one has
ever learned what really happen
ed, for their single master was
found with only the prov pro-
jecting from the water. Their
bodies were recovered by the
Coast Guard near their little
craft. didn't go to their funerals
because ! couldn't bear to see the
raw grief on the faces of their
aged parents. And, too, l felt a
little guilty for grieving so much
when they had lost both their
sons while I had only lost two
dear friends.
If life would only stand still,
then we could always have the
same friends around us. We could
always find time to 60 fishing,
and just think what else could
happen if we could remain young.
Why l could always be counting
a different girl every day. But
then that is another trouble about
growing old. We are troubled
about what used to be.