The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-03-25
@ L | M P S E S
OF
TIL E P A S T
By CAROLYN Lloyd

The state of ones mind, ones
health, and ones age are all re-
Elections in ones reaction to
weather. That thought came to
me last Saturday, a cold, rainy
day that brought complaints from
every adult l met. Rainy weather,
it seems, means many things to
many people. To mothers of small
children, it is a time of coping
with muddy floors and the nerve
wracking repetition of, Mother,
what can l do now" To r1er-
chants, it means poor business; to
the farmer, it means property or
ruin, according to the need of the
earth for moisture; to the doctor,
it may we'll mean a rash of night
calls to croupy children. But to
the youth with leisure a long,
rainy day can be a day of wonder
full opportunity.
On that particular Saturday l
thought nostalgically of the long
rainy-day hours that / once spent
with good book and a plate of
fudge. Then there were no bad eff
fects from either the reading or
the fudge, Though the effects of
the latter could probably be seem.
Today the result would be head
ache and an upset stomach and
the nagging consciousness of work
neglected. When even younger,
spent-as who didn't-hours play
ing house under an overturned
rocking chair covered with blan-
ket. A child's imagination could
convert that space into a castle,
a cave, or many other fascinating
places and the rainy hours passed
like magic. Another favorite
rainy-day pastime was playing
paper dolls under the dining room
table. Our paper dolls didn't come
in boxes with many changes of
costume; ours were cut from pa
pers and magazines, given names,
and endowed with the qualities of
living creatures. These paper peo-
pie were kept in a thick maya
zine, in which certain pages were
set aside for each member of
family and his wardrobe. The pa
per ladies were favorites, and
they had sections set aside for
morning clothes, afternoon dress
es, and evening gowns. No real
debutante ever attended more So
cial affairs or changed costume
more often than did our paper
ladies on a rally day. We kept
these collections and added to
them through the years, discard
ing paper friend only when he
was too limp to go on. A really
good rainy day could mean even
more exciting fun, for there were
two large drainage bitches run
ming parallel to the highway in
front OF cur house, and a real
rain filled them to the bin. AS
soon as the rain stopped, all the
children in the neighborhood APP
peared with tin washtubs, found
big sticks for paddles, and the
fleet was launched In later years,
i rainy weather was the ideal time
to get the crowd together for
candy-making, dancing, and may
be little romancing.
Years pass, and the young still
engage in those, or similar activi-
ties but we adults must be about
the business of being grown. We
don protective covering and go to
work, annoyed by the twinge of
rheumatism or the catch in the
back that damp weather brings.
Or we bemoan the fact that the
laundry can't be hung out to dry
or that the floor is tracked with
mud or that the roof leaks. Per-
haps it would be good for the soul
to forget it all someday and go
back to our youthful pursuits.
Not paper dolls, of course, for
that might CONCEAL the suspicious
of those who may think we aren't
quite bright, anyhow. But that
book and a plate of fudge might
be Just the thing. Wonder when
Joe Overman is going to predict