The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-02-26
GLIM p ES
T HI E P A S T
By CAROLYN LLOYD

Imagine, if you can, line of
hot dogs stretching from the Bel
haven Community Building to
the John A. Wilkinson High
School, a distance of approx
mately one mile. According to
the calculations made by some
of my students at my request
good training in arithmetic, too),
the number of weiners in rolls
eaten by the student body in the
lunchroom this year would, if
laid end to end, just about cover
that distance Forty pounds of
welners, according to Mrs. War
rem, the lunchroom manager, are
used for one lunch period; there
are approximately twenty-three
weiners to the pound; they have
been served on the average of
once week for the past twenty
three weeks. In our calculations
we estimated the length of each
weiner as from four to five in
ches. Take it from there, if you
like. -
This is not in the nature of a
complaint. The hot dog lunch is
the favorite of the school chill
dren land the garbage cans see
little service when it is served.
Though the lowly hot dog had its
origin in Frankfurt, Germany,
it has long been a favorite with
Americans, young and old The
original name, 'frankfurter, is
seldom used, and the modern
version is probably far cry from
the highly seasoned sausage in
sheep castings so favored by the
Germans. Why the name. 'hot
dog? No one seems to know
The adjective is easily explained,
but the "dog''-well, they do
bear a slight resemblance to the
daehshund.
And what got me off on the
subject of hot dogs? Cleve Wood
ward told me that eighteen Sea
Scouts and few adult guests
consumed 1872 of the things at
weiner roast in his back yard on
Tuesday night. Allowing two
apiece for ten adults, that would
be an average of six and frac-,
ton hot dogs per Sea Scout, plus
from one to three bottled drinks.
One of my Sea Scout pupils was
absent the next day Che claimed
he had a cold, and my curiosity
became aroused as to just how
many hot dogs some of the val
liant young trenchermen could
put away. The answers received
gave me indigestion. One boy
lays claim to nine, and / later
heard of an Individual who had
consumed twelve, plus six bottles
of pepsi-cola, in an evening. All,
youth.
I, too, was a hot dog addict in
my youth, but two was ever my
limit. At the age of fifteen, or
Whereabouts, my idea of big
evening was to go with my
crowd to a movie in a neighbor-
ing town; then to a little stand
where very superior hot dogs,
filled with chile sauce, were
served for five cents. On one
such evening my mother insisted
that we take along my twelve
year old sister. Now any fifteen
year-old knows that the surest
way to ruin an evening is to take
a younger sister along; however,
since my only other choice was
to stay home muself, my friends
consented. Il wasn't the only one
who had a little sister,. I don't
remember whether we deliber-
ately set out to make that child
sick or not, but we did pool our
resources and let her eat as many
hot dogs as she could hold, and
she cooperated beautifully. Much
later that night there was con-
siderable disturbance at our
house. When mother asked VAL
erie what she had eaten, the re-
ply was, "Hot Puppies. That did
it! not only had / allowed her to
make herself sick, but i had
taught her to call them by a vul-
gar name. The logic of that es-
capped me then, as it does now
NHot dogs or "hot puppies"-a
rose by any other name would
smell as sweet. Perhaps I'm get
ting my punishment now. One
hot dog calls for a package of
Turns. Let's see, if there are
twenty-three hot dogs in pound
and ten Turns to roll, that
L. ~ that's ann1I0b