A Tribute to Excellence...

In the final paragraph of last week's column I mentioned the fact that I had been privileged to view one of the loveliest of local gardens, that of Otto Nickerson. No words of mine can convey the beauty of the thousands of blooms of many varieties and countless shades of color grace Otto’s garden sloping down toward the shore of the Town Cove. Not only are there many kinds and colors there to which only a color photograph could do justice in portraying but all these plants are vigorous, flourishing and of unusual size.

As we walked along Otto pointed out to me certain flowers with a justifiable pride in his voice. Perhaps the blooms of which he was proudest, and with excellent reason, were his lupins. I have never seen anywhere such examples of this flower. And the varying shades and hues were something that have to be seen rather than described verbally. I shall not even attempt to do so, much as I would like to be able to give you a picture of this floral beauty-spot.

Not only does Otto grow marvelous flowers but he is equally successful with vegetables and strawberries. The latter were just in their prime as I discovered when he picked some for me to taste. Great, dark-red berries, sun-ripened and sun-warmed as I ate them. I recalled Mark Twain's comment on this luscious and, to me, most delicious of all fruits, "Doubtless God could have made a more delicious fruit than the strawberry, but doubtless God didn't.”

The pea pods were swelling fast when I saw them and Otto told me the other day that they had picked and eaten the first mess for dinner last Sunday, thus antedating the usual Fourth of July date for picking peas on the Cape by almost three weeks. The same day they also ate beets from the garden.

Otto’s bucolic interests do not stop with the growing of superior flowers, berries and vegetables, for he has also a goodly number of chickens, bantams and pigeons. The latter were especially interesting to me, for while pigeons in cities have become something of a nuisance, they are more naturally associated with rural life and somehow seem to symbolize the peace of country living.

For more years than he can remember Otto has raised pigeons in the loft of his barn. When he took me up there it seemed as though there were pigeons everywhere. He said he has about forty pairs. There were also innumerable newly-hatched birds as well as many soon-to-be-hatched eggs.

Unlike many species of birds the male pigeon takes his turn in keeping the eggs warm. I have forgotten the hours per day that the male sits on the nest but he does a fair share in helping to hatch the young birds. Quite by accident Otto has developed a breed of pigeons which under their feathers have no down, a freak of nature which makes it easier to dress the birds when they are squabbs ready for the oven. A further proof, I suppose, of Darwin’s theory which he described and substantiated in great detail in his famous "Origin of Species”. How Otto finds time to take care of all this rustic production line I do not know but he is justifiably proud of the results.

Tonight Orleans High School will have its final graduation exercises. Tomorrow closes its doors forever as O.H.S. But when the first classes meet next September the school will be bigger and, am sure, better than ever when it opens as Nauset Regional High School. So ends my thirty second year as a teacher. Just for fun the other day I sat down and figured out how many different class periods I have taught during those years.

It came out to approximately 26,500. Hard to believe. Guess the Old Professor is getting on toward middle age.