A Walk into School Days

The annual January thaw was rampaging last Saturday when the wife and I and our lumbering boxer decided the day was divine for a stroll. With the insurance leash in our overcoat pocket, we set out from our School Street domicile in Rockport to pause for a minute at the home of a neighbor, Emery Drolet, to ask him about his new lobster-party boat.

He told us he would christen her Ryda using the last two letters of his first name, and the last two of his wife's first name, Hulda. He hopes to launch the 38-footer this Spring and at the same time, sell his 38-foot party and fishing boat, Walrus. He recalled the story of a Rockport selectman who was hit by a double-runner sled, and claimed his posterior was paining. False teeth in his back pocket had "bit" him.

Back strolling, we were fascinated with the array of house blinds, grays, greens, blacks and blues, a street of blinds, this School Street, unusual even in a New England town nowadays. All homes once boasted blinds to exclude the burning summer sun. It was reassuring for us to see that town officials had posted a sign at the head of School Street advising "Danger. Children Coasting" despite the fact that the street was bare of snow except for a stingy fringe on either side.

As we preambulated up Pleasant Street and by the Cox home we heard inside the brittle woof-woof of a dog challenging Molly. She paid no attention as she greeted a shepherd dog. Up Summer Street, our four-foot push-pawed the gate to view the classical sculpture of nymphs and fawns by sculptor Dick Recchia.

Along the way were two youngsters in profound study of the gnarled rings of old trees, trying to determine the age. It was good to see youth concerned with the greatness of time.

We were struck with the addition of new houses in the area of the four year old Community School. As one of the prime movers on this school the housing development that followed gives us pleasure. First the new roads, Summer Street Extension, then Jerdens Lane rebuilt. A new area built up. Martha's Lane, Seagull Avenue, have resulted.

Such changes on this 21.46 acre site where once Orren Poole had his farm and prolific apple orchard. Inside the glassed portals we heard kids shouting basketball calls. And to the leeward we saw a barren area that needed attention for skating. It was a cozy mid-winter amble just long enough for comfort.
J.P.C., Jr.