PERSPECTIVE
' 'The Paper Nest '
C^yrlfkt,
Pr u(jr r??ive I
April MM
Today, as I prepared my rou
tine morning wash, I tackled the
uninspiring chore of cleaning out
my husbands' s pockets, as usual,
VERY carefully. Only God and I
know what wealth of information
may lie hidden away somewhere
in there.
r EASTERN ^
i cms
91 GAIL RO&RSON I
After dumping my hands re
peatedly into pocket after
pocket, I grimaced at the layers
of dirt and grit that were by now
wedged as tightly under each fin
gernail as a cat's paw in a mole
hole. Eventually, I surfaced with
several bits and pieces of paper
on which all kinds of scribbling
had been hurriedly jotted down
by my determined farmer hus
band with a chewed-off pencil
point. But, no matter how
jumbled the figures or letters
might look to me, I would never,
I say NEVER, disgard them car
lessly I learned THAT most
valuable lesson many years ago
as fresh, young farm wife just
starting out, and Lord knows, I
learned it well enough the hard
way the first time around.
I remember us well back
then.. .me, all thin and willowy,
fresh as a daisy each morning
and doing somersaults at noon if
that's what it took to please my
new husband. And him... also
slim and trim, narrow-faced and
cleanshaven, swelled with {Hide
in the fact that he now had his
own place, his own woman and
most importantly, his own shiny
new red Massey Ferguson trac
tor.
Well, we're both a little
jumper now due to years of 9:00
suppers and his old mama conve
niently tucked just down the road
a ways. He now sports a gener
ous moustache on his top lip, a
little salt and pepper look in his
hair, and tells his daddy what
they're gonna do the next day in
the field. As for me.. .well, I don't
jump ao high on command any
more and I even selfishly Insist
on s little time for myself occa
sionally. Funny, isn't it, bow the
years have a way of m?Mng us
farm wives s little wiser for the
wear.
Yes, it's true that I've grown s
bit smarter as the yeras have
passed along out here by the
bean rows, and one of the best
lessons I ever had in smarts
came to me the hard way.
Lord, forgive me for what I'm
about to admit out loud for all the
world to see... but I KNO
WINGLY did. We'd only been
married for a few weeks, and
fanning had Just gotten in the
full swing of things. I didn't
know, HONESTLY. I was just too
young to realize, and besides, I
was still in a bridal daze.
He came in much earlier than
usual for lunch that day, all
sweaty and handsome. But his
eyebrows were knitted closely to
gether in a tight frown as he
stomped right past my waiting,
outstretched arms and straight
into another room to where the
clothes basket sat.
"Where in the devil IS that
thing?" I heard him wailing from
the direction of the utility room.
"I've just GOT to have it here
somewhere!" Well, I guess you
know the rest. For a while there I
suspected my adoring, new farm
husband of bailing with a leaky
bucket. To mend things a little, I
did like any good wife would... I
started cooking all his favorite
foods until both of us had agreed
that we each had a downright de
cent case of good old indigestion.
Since that fateful morning so
long ago, this farm wife has
learned how to deal with a lot of
things connected with farming,
but best of all to deal most ex
pertly with everyone of those
dungy, half-ripped apart scraps
of paper I've come into contact
with, including the one in his
sock.
For starters, I found a pretty
little basket with a lid attached
that looks quite well on the coun
ter in the utility room. As a mat
ter of fact, it sort of does some
thing for the decor. We call it his
"paper ant." Nov, no matter
WHAT I find in his clothe* before
wash time, even rusty nails and
Dramamine tablets (be gets a
litle dizzy now planting corn), ev
erything goes into that bas
ket... EVERYTHING.
He even becomes a little cu
rious himself from time to time
and checks it out just for the fun
of it. But, sometimes it's dead se
rious business, for there's still
days when he comes roaring into
the house at all odd hours and
heads straight for his little neat.
Now, don't get the idea that we
don't keep good farm records be
cause we have quite a detailed
system. Uncle Sam see to that.
But no amount of planning could
ever account for all those little
scraps and bits of paper. They
simply fall into a special cat
egory all to themselves.
And so, you can bet your new
plow points and spray tips on one
thing.. .as sure as corn tassels in
July make me sneeze, if I don't
have it, and be can't find it in his
pick-up truck, it's somewhere in
that little paper next almost ev
ery time.
Food For Thought . . .
In her lifetime the average woman consumes 367 l/i tubes of lipstick
Surviving in style at the " Central Hilton
Waiting and preparing for the
arrival of "Gloria" was last
week's biggest pass-time. Thank
fully, we were over-prepared for
the most part.
Everybody has different ways
of dealing with possible impend
ing disaster, and coping isn't al
ways easy when you're hoping
for the best and expecting the
worst.
As we sat around our den last
Thursday night, listening to the
weather reports and the wind
outside, a fear of the elements
began to creep up. We weren't
very concerned about the house,
knowing that it was solid; but the
pecan trees and oak trees that
were swaying in the yard and
leaning towards the house pre
sented a growing concern. Nei
ther Terry nor I remembered a
hurricane coming through this
area, so we didn't quite know
what to expect.
We knew that the schools were
opened to shelter residents from
the storm, but we didn't want to
give up the fort and run at the
first sign of trouble. Deep down
inside we knew pride was keep
ing us in a house that presented a
potential threat to our safety.
By 11:00 p.m. one of the larger
pecan trees had already lost two
limbs, and the storm was still
several hours away. That did it.
We packed up the kids, some
food, sleeping bags, blankets and
pillows and rode down to the
"Central Hilton" where we
checked in for the night.
Upon our arrival we registered
with the desk clerks, Brenda
Newbern and Gail Lay den; and
then we were escorted by Bel
lman Morris Kornegay to our
suite on the stage of the facility's
library.
All things considered, our
room was relatively comfort
able. The "hotel's" other guest
were walking around in the halls
visiting, or sitting in the library
watching television. We got the
kids settled down, and then went
out to join the others in the li
brary.
We watched the "Tonight
Show" and chatted with the rest
of the viewers, while keeping a
watchful eye on the progress of
the storm.
The amazing thing was that af
ter we arrived at the school a
sense of calm came over us. Hie
fear of the unknown didn't seem
as great when you were in a
crowd.
After a while the lack of sleep
started to get to us, so we headed
up to the stage to join the chil
dren in trying to get some sleep.
A few hours later I awoke to
total darkness in a strange place
and the sound of the wind bowl
ing. Gloria had come.
The sound of wind and rain,
along with the lowering tempera
ture was more than enough to
keep me awake. I covered up the
children and stumbled through
the darkness into the library
where a group had gathered to
hold vigil through the storm.
We talked and walked and
looked out into the darkness as
Gloria thrashed through the
area. It seemed like an eternity
as the wind gusted around the
building and rain poured down
upon it.
By daybreak the storm had
ceased and, thanks to Head Chef
Doris Chappell, we all sat down
together in the school cafeteria to
a Cheerio's breakfast by candle
light.
After breakfast it was check
out time. We loaded up our be
longings and headed back home, ,
What a mess. The house was fine, '
but the yard looked like a disas
ter area with leaves and limbs
everywhere. Unfortunately there
wasn't time to do anything about
it. I washed my face and changed
clothes, and then headed out with
the camera to survey Gloria's
impact on the rest of the county.
Luckily, Gloria contained most
of her damage to light lines and
telephone lines. The local phone *
company and electric companies
are to be commended for the out
standing jobs that they did in re
storing service to their custom
ers. They wore out working at the
crack of dawn and worked well
into die week-end to get things
back in order.
Another crew that did a fantas- ?
tic job was the county's Depart- *
ment of Social Services. They
manned the shelters that were
open and kept things running
smoothly.
The Emergency Management
Team, law enforcement agencies
and other emergency service
agencies are also to be com
mended for their help in getting
us through the storm. Their com
bined teamwork helped to keep 4
us all calm and safe throughout
the ordeal.
Highway Patrol faces difficulty
-- ? ? M. XI A. i!_I
When tragedy strikes the ranks
of the State Highway Patrol, as it
did recently on a mountain road,
cries go out for help. The various
news medias renew the argue
ments for mpre troopers, poli
ticians make promises, and for a
few days, the dangers of being a
trooper fill the headlines.
The death of Trooper Robert
Coggins was the third murder of
a state trooper this year. Unless
something more than talk is
done, he probably won't be the
last.
In the last 10 years, the number
of vehicles in the state has in
creased by nearly a third, the
number of accidents requiring
investigation by 10 percent, and
the number of miles driven has
increased by nearly 20 percent.
With these traffic patterns,
troopers are spending less time
on the road than they did 10 years
ago. They are spending more
time in court and at desks filling
out reports while government
regulations restrict them work
ing overtime.
These statistics only tell a por
tion of the difficulties facing the
Highway Patrol. The toll in hu
man life should be the real con
Chesson recognized
2* Years Ago
PARKER CHESSON GETS
RECOGNITION: Parker Ches
son teacher at the College of The
Albemarle in Elizabeth City, re
ceived recognition in September
November issue of The Open
Door, a quarterly Journal of the
North Carolina Department of
Community Colleges. Cbesson,
LCCNNC
BACK
ey
VtKjtNIA WHITE
TVNSE/HJ
1 lit
mc
H7C
24 year old biology teacher at the
Collage o I The Albemarle, la a
graduate of Perquimans County
High School and is the son of Mr.
and Mrs Jake Cbesson of
abeth City school was its size. He
prefers a small school where the
faculty and students "are close"
to a large school where students
often become just ? number.
Last year, in addition to biology,
be taught a class in geography at
the Elizabeth City school. Mr.
Chesson received both his bache
lor's and master's degrees at
East Carolina College. In addi
tion to this work anticipating tea
ching at the College of The Albe
marle, he atttended classes at
the Duke University Marine Lab
oratory at Beaufort He already
is thinking about further educa
tion, if all goes well be would like
to begin working toward a doc
torate, he would like to begin
working toward this goal next
WAYNE STALLING8 AT N.C.
STATE: Charles Wayne fal
lings, son of Mr and Mrs. Wil
li*? StaBings of Route 1,
ford, a June. IMS, graduate of
?M I
cern. negaraiess 01 uie poienuai
dangers, a trooper is expected to
carry out his duties. Not many
people would want to face a car
loaded with drunks on an isolated
stretch of road at 3 in the morn
ing, especially knowing help
might be 30 minutes or more
away.
A bill tha* would have in
creased the number of troopers
by 100 over the next two years
was tabled in this year's legis
lative session. As usual, the prob
lems facing the patrol have been
put aside by politicians eager to
provide funding to projects more
apt to receive the attention of
voters. Hie same legislature that
labeled $11 million for pork bar
rell spending could not find $5
million to add an additional 100
troopers.
Naturally, it would be great to
have enough manpower to assign
two troopers to each cruiser dur
ing night patrols. Few states are
prepared to budget for this ex
pense. The legislature should at
least provide enough funding to
assure enough troopers are on
patrol to provide immediate
help.
North Carolina's patrol has
long been recognized nationally
as one of the best Faced with
long hours and pay that fails to
equal the responsibility of the
Job, our troopers have served
with pride and dedication.
They've done their Job. It's time
for us to do ours.
It is too lfte to help Trooper
Coggins. It isn't too late to com
mit the resources needed to at
tempt to avoid more deaths.
If North Carolina is to <
A symbol of puritanical rigidity
The Protestant Reformation
brought forth a number of in
fluential theologians and orga
nizers. One of the most signifi
cant leaders was John Calvin,
who has come to be for many a
symbol of puritanical rigidity.
Calvin can be said, however, to
be part of the history of Perqui
mans County.
Calvin was born in Picardy in
northern Prance in 1500. He stu
deied theology in Paris and in
tended to make the church his ca
iftAjUk IT'- )?!? i all rh n jUjI
reer. his studies, However, aia
not satisfy him; they raised ques
tions for which no answers were
given by his teachers to his satis
faction.
He changed his mind about be
coming a priest and switched to
the study at law, whu& more
suited his mental framework. In
him many followers.
After two years Calvin was ex
pelled from Geneva in a dispute
over ecclesiatical and civil disci
pline. He then taught, wrote, con
ferred with other reformers, and
defended the principles of Prot
estantism at numerous confer
ences.
With increased influence Cal
vin returned to Geneva in 1541.
He attempted to change the city
into a model theocracy. From
then until his death in ISM he
brought every aspect of life un
der church control and enforced
morality rigidly with the civil
power. Opposition to his views
was not tolerated.
Persecuted Protestants from
all over Europe sought refuge in
Geneva, where many imbibed
Calvin's thoughts and later car
ried them back to their own coun- f
tries. Holland and parts of Ger
many came pronouncedly under
Calvinist influence, which was
not without some acceptance in
the Church of England.
The rightness or wrongness of
Calvin's doctrine is a subject for
theologians, not historians. His
tory cannot ignore John Calvin's
accomplishments . In particular, j
his influence upon his own native
land of France figures in the
background of Perquimans
County history.
(Part 2 next week.)
Raymond A. Wlnalow, Jr.
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