A Tribute to Excellence...

George Bernard Shaw in Pygmalion said "Hurricanes hardly ever happen in Hampshire." If Mr. Shaw were still living and had been in Orleans the past two weeks he might well have revised his line to read "Hurricanes continually, constantly and consistently converge and concentrate upon Cape Cod.

At least that is the feeling that many of us have after the events of the last two weeks. Two hurricanes in twelve days after an immunity of almost ten years is a bit too much. Some folks even detect the beginning of a trend in these recent ocurrences. However, let them be reassured by the words of the meteorologist in charge of the New York office of the Weather Bureau who declares that it is just one of those concidences in nature that no one can explain.

Further comfort can be found in these words of the New York Times: "For the Atlantic coastline the first half of September is the peak of the annual hurricane season. On an average seven tropical cyclones build up in the equatorial doldrums each year and three or four reach full hurricane force. Only a few threaten this area. Edna is the fifth this year ---five hurricanes is a little more than the average each year over the past seventy years. We have now hit par for the course. Let's hope the record will stand at this point." To which we add a fervent "Amen".

Among the oddities of the storm was the sight of the piping plover in our back yard at the height of the gale. Although he was continually pushed this way and that by the gusts of wind he went about his feeding on some bread crusts we had thrown on the grass as though nothing out of the ordinary were occurring. I wonder if he had ever tasted bread before. Certainly I have never seen this species of bird in a yard before, although it may not be an uncommon occurrence.

If my memory is correct, and it is not by any means infallible, neither hurricane Carol nor Edna was as terrifying or destructive in our locality as the hurricane of September 14, ten years ago. We were living in Eastham at the time and I have often recalled that night. For a long time the wind blew with a high-pitched whine, a sound which was lacking in both recent storms.

At other times there was the sound as of a long freight train crossing a high bridge, a sort of a roaring or rumbling roar. I do recall distinctly that it was a very terrifying sound, one which I shall be happy never to hear again. Also in '44 the damage to trees seemed greater. I know it was several days before electric power was fully restored to Orleans and Eastham.

However, any way you look at it three hurricanes in less than ten years and two in less than two weeks is a bit too much. But what can we do about it? Well, why not write your Congressman. They might pass a law against hurricanes. There is a good deal of nonsense to be found in the statute books. Did you know that there is a law in the state of Kansas which declares that when two railroad trains come to an intersection both trains shall stop and neither shall start up again until the other has started? Figure that one out. Then write your Congressman.

A week ago today Dave Edwards very kindly drove our daughter and me to Durham, New Hampshire. There Jean spent the night with one of her Northfield classmates and the next morning the two of them left for the University of New Hampshire Freshman Camp near Gilmanton. On Monday they returned to Durham for a week of Orientation preparatory to their beginning their college days next Monday. It was a really quick trip, for we left here at three in the afternoon and were back by midnight, having covered about three hundred and forty miles. Were it not for the amazing new network of highways and toll roads we could not have done it in so short a time. Those new roads are really wonderful.

School got under way last week smoothly and efficiently, although bulging a bit at the seams. With two hundred and seventy seven pupils enrolled it takes a lot of figuring to find room for all the classes at the proper times.

In fact things are so crowed that it is now necessary to use the Cafeteria for Study Hall during four periods of the day. When the High School was built in 1939 it was designed to have two rooms each for the Commercial and Home Economics departments and a separate room for the Art courses. The Commercial and Home Economics courses are now confind to one room each and the art courses no longer have their own room but are held in different class rooms. Even the Library is now used as a classroom during part of the day. Next year there will be even more pupils and the year after more still. Yet there are still people who say the building is large enough.

If the time comes, and well it may, when it is necessay to hold classes in the corridors, perhaps they will then admit that an addition to the High School is needed.