The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter., 1962-02-02
Fridays
Child
By LAWRENCE MADDRY

said it, the feeling is just there
whenever / enter a store or pass
folks ON the street. People are
polite, couldn't be nicer, but make
no mistake about it; they know!
Next to prison, i suppose there
is no worse confinement than the
mental isolation of the outsider.
The feeling ofgnots belonging Gov
ers your skin like a heavy oil. You
begin to feel as you did years ago
when your mother scolded you for
tracking mud into the house. Only
now, there is no mud, but sensation
is the same.
Well, it's my own fault. I'm from
inland and might as well 'fess up;
l wouldn't know a blue fish if it
bit me on the street. Tide tables
look like Japanese dictionaries to
me and I'm completely awed, and
struck dumb by the ocean. Still,
a man has to live with his handi-
caps and until / can speak with
authority on show the crabs are
biting" or whatever it is to you
say suppose I'll just remain in the
same class with ALI Landon Re-
publicans and jews harp players.
They never We're in demand, and
what little attention they did get
zR
To tell the truth, a man could
fill several libraries with what /
don't know about fish. That kind
of ignorance isn't cultivated over
night either; it takes years of con-
centrated effort to avoid learning
what I have about anything that
lives more than six inches under
water. For years / was convinced
that a channel bass was some kind
of groovey opera singer.
1 suppose it all started when l
first visited the ocean as a child. /
remember asking my folks about
the ocean and what caused the
tides to change. The best answer
they could come up with was the
fact that the moon did it all. I've
had no more faith in the water
or my parents since that date.
/ was equally prepared, and still
am, to believe that turnips are re-
sponsible. figured at the time that
if the moon really did control tides,
then the whole business was in the
same category as vedoo, black
magic and wart conjuring and far
too advanced for my tender years.
Since then, have spent as much
time fishing as the average man
does learning to speak Swahili. ]
am probably the only person east
of the Mississippi who could be
marooned on an island with all the
fishing equipment in Dare County
and starve to death. It isn't so much
that / don't like the ocean or to fish
/ just don't know how. l guess
it's like learning to dance or 70
swim or something; you just have
to get in there and try it, conse-
ouences be hanged! 1t isn't as easy
as / had thought. I took a stab at it
this weekend. At least I got around
to asking local angler what ne
thought was the best bait for surf
casting. The fellow looked me
straight in the eye with as serious
an expression as you please and
said "spoons." I'll tell you the
truth, that's no way to talk TO a
man even if he is stranger. I'd as
soon be. slapped in the face as be
made fun of. / reckon he'd have
suggested forks for cloudy days
if I'd been fool enough to have
believed that. From now on / guess
ri lust watch what the other folks
are doing and decide for myself
which is the best method.
Those of you who use the
"Times" for wrapping your fish
will want to start on this page
about where you are now reading,
for best results. The column is call
ed Fridays Child" because it will
appear here every Friday. The
quote is from an anonymous ditty:
MONDAYS child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full OF woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child has to work for its
living,
But a child that's born on the Sab
bath day
Is fair and wise and good and gay
Although never much of a lover
+ I've always liked the quote and
have stuck with it in the hope that
something might develop to make
II appropriate. As for the giving
there viii appear here such chafi
as can ordinarily be found in the
corners of tormented mind, 1lsn-
ing instructions excluded!