The Lucknow Sentinel, 1963-07-24, Page 6•
maw By Bill • Smiley
Going back. to. the old .borne
town or. the old home farm -for
visit is • a favorite' summer
pastime in,. ' this country. Each.
year, after :a ' fantastic, nostalgic
build-up thousands of families
she dragged ' .many long, hot
miles -to see 'the ' place where
Mid grew .'up..
It is usually, fir Dad, ,apoig-
nant mixture of bitter disap
poantuaent and an unmistakable
awareness that . he is growing,
.o/d. For Mom, it is 'a great big
pain in the arm. For the kids'
it is an exercise , an sheer. bore -
dem, and a realization ; that, the
old man had been kidding rhim-
1f, .; and, •them, or years. •
You look up boys' ' you went
to • school' with, had wild ' adven-
•
mares . with, stole apples with,
dated girls'. with. You find: 'them
•
: TAB' .LUCKNow SENTI1044,. LUCKNO,W, ONTARIO
fat, fortyish and full, 'of ,futility,
much like the fellows ` you; • curl
and. play ' golf with where• you
lite now.. :
'You•
' look up girls, you were
once feverishly in. .love with,
girls• you :kissed in the park af-
ter ,the band concert,.,)girls who
once gave you infinite, heartache
and ineffable •joy.:
Sylph like creatures they • were,
sl'rri as . goddesses, smooth: as.
butter. They have four. kids,
falseteeth, .and a nasty habit of
telling you that you're getting
pretty
•pretty thin 'on •atop.. Or expressing
ahncked diabehef' that you are
actually'' the lean, flat -stomached,
thick -chaired slice of, youth who:
took ,them th their first dance:
You revisit the- old swimming
hole ,with your '' ,kids ;'• and . 'find
that the ween ' .and geld oasis of
clear,. cool awater you've 'so often
mentioned is a dirty little mud
hole JO of green slime and.
saucy, small ,boys. •
You take your youngsters.
down .to •' the ,bridge, to show
them .where • •you used to make
those 3040ot dives. They'Ve
eitherlowered' the• dang hfidge
or raised the, water' something'
fierce, because it's ,only a three-
foot dive now. •
• You„./take' your children •around
to see the - old family home.. You
look for the huge brick .mansion.
•'with the, vast porch and the big;
white, ,picket : fence You ,finally
find it. Your ikids °•take a long
look at the dingy little house
with the .sagging verandah and
the • 'ragged, unpainted .fence, &
then take a along :l•ook at you.
•
And so It goes. It . •can be ,a
soul. destroying ordeal; one .you
won't want to repeat tfor about
99 years. But. this only happens
When you've been away • ; a long.
time,;: and .have lost all sense • of
proportion about theold home
town,:'- which, • if 'the truth were
told,,was 'a .dump aw•henY ou ' lived
there, and still is. '•
My family's lucky. This does-
n't happen to 'them. In the first,
place, the old home town is their,
Mom's, • not' , their : Dad's, and
Mom's • are notoriously- less- sen=
titmental ..about/ this sort of thing.
Women' have a built-in sense of
reality. They can fool; themselves.
silly , about abstract things like
love - and.. ,honor, but they '"have
no illusions about concrete things
like old: houses and• old swim-
ming holes.
In . the second place, we all
lived there • until three years' ago.
We . havenaway '] been . long.
enough oto get' thisty=eyed . about
it. The old', house looks • exactly.
es it olid, The. old trout streams
Still ,have trout .ina them:The Th'e old
golf course still baffles me
• As a ,result, our•..annual sum-.
mer' .visit to•the old home 'town
is, not an 'ordeal but 4 .delight.
It's a.. leisurely Progress down
main street, shaking hands, ask-
ing -after each other's children;.
being ,Urged to drop in alt the.
house: or the cottage. •
It's • popping into the Pu*r,.., form
one cold one and having, a dozen.
citizens :offering ; to. buy. It's.
chatting, about . town ;politics, as
a'bsorbing and zany as they ever.
were. 'It's catching- u'p oni 'whose
wife .has ,run off and, whose hus
band is running around • with
what • lady.
Our, kids love . the visits to. the
town where they .spent their
childhood years, and "know every
dangerous. ' ditch and perilous
p�recspice.. They. meet theyoung•-
sters they .went. to school with,,
•
WEDNESDAY, ' JULY 244 '1963'
size each other up like friendly
dogs and happily start cornpar.
ing notes, • '
No, they're never:disappoint-
ed when we -visit the ,old home
town. But they're going • to eget.
a great shock one of these days
when their father drags. them
back to his old home town and
they discover• what a big, fat'
liar'' he.' is' .,about his old girl..
•frrenads ,and ,his old feats: of Oar-
ing, and ;his old family mansion..
NEWS BRIEFS
FROM NEARBY
Durham, Council has isco h
tinned fire . protection service to
Norrnanby. ,Township, because of
the Township's failure to agree
to 'pay a 'standbyfee of $300
and: $60;00 an .,hours for fire
,lighting,
•
•: • '*
Parking rneters . ' in Hanover
'will, . gross . +between. $8 O0 and
$9000 .during the year, half of
•which : ,goes to . the ' town treas-
ury, the other half ,tti pay for
the meters which will be paid '
for in ' three years.: ' The town's.
share Of taxes from beer sales •
at five, outlets. in -• Hanover
amounted:; -to $1,498.89` during the
fiscal .
•
ear c..4144-
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