The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-05-30
@ LIN P S E S
TIL { P A ST
BY CAROLYN LLOYD


1t may not be so wonderful to
be rich after all. What person
of wealth and leisure could posi-
bly, appreciate to the fullest the
joy of waking gradually, without
being Jared by the sound of an
alarm clock, on rainy Monday
morning. Slowly comes the realiza-
ton that there is no need to jump
frantically out of bed, rush down.
stairs to put on the coffee; then
rush back to try to find appropriate
clothing for the day. There is
homework to be done, of course,
and many other things that de-
mand attention; but they need not
be done strictly by the clock. There
is time for second, leisurely cup
of coffee and a glance at the
paper.
Mothers who find themselves
with several restless children on
their hands this first no-school
rainy Monday may not appreciate
my point of view, but perhaps they
are enjoying the respite from the
rush to get everybody off. The end
of school requires adjustment on
the part of everyone concerned.
Someone always remarks, L guess
you just don't know what to do
with Yourself" Well, friends, let
me answer once and for an, ooh,
yes. | do, too" There is a house
neglected all winter, clothes to
wash and iron, meals to cook and
dishes to wash; and in case they
give out, someone is always think
ing up things for me to do. Just
don't worry about my getting bor-
ed from having nothing to do, for
1 never expect to reach that stage
unless l happen to get marooned
on a desert island.
The final program of the school
year in Belhaven was quite an
occasion. 1t might not have been
an unprecedented event, but it GER
tainly was unusual for the COM
mencement speaker and the princi-
pal of the school to be natives of
the town, graduates of the school,
and cousins at that. Sitting in the
audience were the parents of both
men, and they had reason to be
proud of their sons. Perhaps the
parents of the y0lng graduates
that night wondered if some day
their sons and daughters might
take their places on that same
stage. Certainly the Bullocks, as
they watched their son receive his
diploma in 1920, could not foresee
that he would be the commence
ment speaker in 1868. 1t is equally
certain that in 1915, as the Pur-
vises watched son Gene march up
to get his diploma, they failed to
visualize him as principal of the
same school. 1t is pretty hard to
cast a seventeen-year-old boy in
any such role, whatever hopes a
fond parent might have for him.
Once this year l heard small
boy, on his way to the office to ac-
count for some hayward behavior,
refer to the principal as "old man
Purvis." He didn't know that l
heard him, and l was glad, for l
was too overcome with laughter to
reprimand him. 1t just seemed so
utterly ridiculous to hear so
young a MAINLAND one of my ex-
pupils at that-referred to as cold
man" that 1 couldn't be properly
indignant over the impudence of
the thing.
1t really doesn't seem likely that
thirteen years hence one of the
boys who received his diploma on
Friday night will be sitting on the
stage as speaker or principal, but
it wouldn't be safe to say that it
won't happen. The idea probably
would have seemed just as far
fetched to Bill Bullock in 1920 or
Gene Purvis in 1945 as it would
to the graduates of 1868.