The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-12-17
THE HIGHER
THE FEWER
There's Always Plenty of Room
At The Top
By
NANCY ]. MIDGETT

copy paper from my office drawer
and found they were all neatly
headed and ready to receive nv
outpourings for my last weeks
column. Alas and alackl that was
as far as my good intentions went
in the matter, and what may have
been in my mind then is as water
under the bridge. Maybe it wasn't
very important.
Plans and good intentions so
often end up that way, for try as
we will to keep up with time, it
simply runs away from us or so l
feel, especially as 1 grow older. ]
find it hard lesson to learn just
what things have to be left so
that the important things get
done but there again there is
snag, for what seems important
today, when looked back on from
a future date, may seem quite I'M
important. In my youth, like most
folk / expect, used to have ter
rifle urges to go out and buy
something, an article of clothing,
a gadget or something that was
the latest craze perhaps, anyway
something l was quite sure was
absolutely necessary to me. Money
being scarce at the time, my
mother used to say, wait week
or so and if you still feel you
want it, get it,. It's amazing how
many times by the end of just
week l found l no longer wanted
whatever it was 1 had set my mind
on getting.
One of the things that have al
ways stuck by me and that re-
greet not having made the effort
to do was to learn to ride. In the
suburban areas of cities at home,
one does not usually own a horse
or even know a friend who does
but there are of course the riding
stables on the outskirts of the
towns or in the "green belts"
round the towns where you may
get both tuition and the horse for
hire. All this costs, plus the ex-
pense of riding clothes which the
average city or near city folk don't
ordinarily possess unless they do
ride, therefore it was one Of the
less important things ruled cut of
my budget. Now, with my ad-
vanced years and lack of previous
practice, l don't think my liver
and lights, to say nothing Of any
other oddments in my interior,
would stand the strain of nice
gallop across the countryside
which to my mind is the only place
worth riding horseback III. To
trot around town or through a
city park is about as colorless by
contrast as swimming in a pool
compared with swimming in the
ocean. My niece did learn to ride
and spent quite bit of money and
time enjoying the fresh air and
! crisp days in Hertfordshire, for
swimming was her great summer
pastime and she was a very good
high diver. Now she finds her
days filled to flowing over with
the care of a husband, three small
children, her home and garden,
Ginny the Boxer pup, Primrose
the cat, and a few chickens, to
say nothing of the visitors that al
ways enjoy the company of the
Stalker family. At last writing she
informed me that they had all had
colds and flu, the hens were doing
nothing special except eating,
Ginny the pup was getting big as
a house and eating like a horse,
and the cat called 'Plimlose" by
Susan, the baby girl, was they
feared. now "Plegnant Plimlose",
apart from that they were all well.
The secret seems to be to fill
the days with the right things and
the other blessings will follow by
natural effect. Of course, niece
Betty, or Betty Boo as we have
always called her, feels tired, i'll
and hisheartened like the rest of
us but she has the ingredients all
round her for making a full and
interesting life and she makes her
days pay. Her younger sister,
about to be married in January,
wrote to me that she hoped she
could keep as cheerful and always
think things worth while as did
her sister,-I'm sure she will, for
she has given her life since she
left school at sixteen to nursing
and that is another service that
requires staying power. For N.Y.
self, I don't think l could stand
up to nursing, my stomach and my
temper at times would be of no
help to an ailing person and Pm