The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-07-22
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bu VICTOR MEEklNS
MEDICAL SERVICE A
CENTURY AGO
:, BIZ VICTOR MEeklNS

house where l live, and owned
numerous slaves. 1t is tradition
that she was very good to them
and allowed them to become too
lazy to cut sufficient firewood to
keep them warm, and it is said they
didn't grow enough to eat on her
farm. But those were the days of
hmitless fish and game.
John Marchant Meekins, famed !
bachelor of Roanoke Island tells a
story which his parents handed
down to him about medical service
at the Esther Meekins home. Once
a negro boy on the place was taken
i'll with fever. The story is more
interesting whez. Marchant tells it.
But anyway the mistress was |
greatly disturbed and sent off two |
of her men slaves in a sailing
canoe to fetch the doctor from |
Currituck Courthouse. Roanoke Is
land was then a part of Currituck |
County. The negroes sailed and |
rowed their slow log canoe to Halls
Harbor, and went by vehicle of |
some sort to get the doctor. By go
ing day and night they got the doc
tor back to the Meekins plantation |
in two days.
The diagnosis was measles. 1t
was September. The doctor said:
ego out there in your sheep pasture
and gather up some sheep drop
pings. Make strong tea and let
the patient drink copiously." The
negro boy is reported to have got
ten well. Nanny tea is traditional
remedy in America. Perhaps it
does have medicinal value.
The doctors fee was SIS gold
piece. He was called into dinner,
and found an abundance of hogs
liver and boiled salt bluefish.
Madam" he said, "of hogs liver
have never had enough, and blue
fish is fit for the Gods"
John Marchant lives alone in
his big old house, surrounded by
old things. Many visitors poster
him for his old silver and his old
china, and the beautiful antique
furniture he owns. Now approach
ing four-score, he is man who en-
joys the friendship of all. But he
is tired of all his familiar surround
ings and the nice things in his
house so that he wishes to build
a new home.
Carson w. Davis, owner of Man.
teo's oldest business was looking
unusually well Monday morning.
Maybe the reason: he got letter
from an old customer of many
years ago, whose account of SIS
had long been written off the books
some IL years ago. The man said,
/ think l owe you SIS; please let
me know if this isn't right. Mr..
Davis didn't mention the mans
name, but said "better than getting
the money, it makes me feel good
to know the man now has the good
fortune to feel able to pay the bill"
Did you ever feel for the other fell
low like that? Looks like a nice
way to look at it.
Something else makes the head
of business feel good. Mrs. Helen
d. Ward runs a restaurant at
Manns Harbor. Early this season
car drove up with a Wyoming Ii
cense, maybe it was Montana, but
one or the other. A couple came in
and ordered a shrimp dinner.
"This is part of our reason for
coming back to North Carolina this
summer" they told her. Eve never
forgot how good the shrimp was
you served US last year."
That's quite a nice compliment
for a restaurant, when its cooking
calls people three fourths of the
way across the continent.
One of the most ridiculous
things / ever read was where the
Norfolk school authorities are in a
dilemma because the teachers in
the schools were raising cain be-
cause they had no place to smoke.
Can you imagine anything more
stupid. Why is it so important for
anybody to have to smoke on the
job? Seems that a person compe-
tent to teach the younger genera
ton ought to be competent to do
without smoking for a six hour
period each day. We hear plenty
each year about extra pay for
teachers, but very little about in
creased efficiency for teachers.
Now there is one thing teachers
don't get a square deal about. A
great percentage of people have
stopped attempting to rear their
children, and wait until their chill
dren are six years old, and turn
them over to the teacher, who they
expect should bring them up. It's
too late to begin learning anything
after six. A child must be taught u
the habits that lead to industry,
before he is six. We can't say work,
for it is against the law for a child
to work, and very little work is
g.. r...oxxr., ,,x1 III