| The following column appeared in The River Reporter on January 14, 1999. |
By Bert S. Feldman
The Recusant Reporter
Reprinted Thursday, January 14, 1999
There has been quite a brouhaha going on along the river about the merits, or rather lack of merits, of the National Park Service and its plans for the Upper Delaware. Now we do not intend to go into the details of what has been discussed; this newspaper has done that job admirably. What we would like to put in our two cents about is something which no one seems to have mentioned as yet. Ever since the NPS came into our area we have been having a taste of prosperity. A few new stores have opened and there is loose change jingling in many a pocket that was empty before. The crowds of summer visitors, attracted by the work that the NPS has advanced, have been buying gasoline and sandwiches, renting canoes and motel rooms, putting down money for cigarettes, tee shirts, sporting goods, film, sunburn cream, magazines, cold-cuts and beer. If you want to return to the "good old days" when you could shoot a cannon down Narrowsburg’s Main Street on any day in July and not hit a soul, then keep it up and drive the NPS out of town. If you like the first sniff of the sweet smell of success, then try to work out an amicable solution. From the constitution onwards the history of this country has been one of compromise. Let’s find ways to work together instead of thinking up new ways to divide.
Regarding the previous paragraph, we have come across a snip of verse in a children’s book of poetry that reflects what we just wrote, and likewise reflects the piles of white stuff along our roadside: (It’s by that great American poet Anon.)
"Help one another," the snowflakes said,
As they nestled down in their fleecy bed;
"One of us here would not be felt,
One of us here would quickly melt;
Bu I’ll help you, and you help me
And then a big white drift we’ll be!"
From the Old Philosopher’s notebook: Winter is that time of year when we try to keep the house as hot as it was during the summer, when we complained about how hot it was.
Have you ever taken a really good look at snow? It’s really an amazing substance. Hated by highway maintenance crews (except on payday) and by older people who are not too steady on their feet; it is the delight of small kids and winter resort operators. It protects the farmer’s fields and delights the artist’s eye. It fills the reservoirs come spring and affords shelter to many animals. An eccentric Vermonter, W. "Snowflake" Bentley (1881-1935) spent his whole life taking pictures of snowflakes against a black background, and said that no two snowflakes are ever exactly alike, a statement which has never been disproved. A cubic foot of snow, one-foot by one foot by one foot, contains about ten million snowflakes. Of all the land area of our planet Earth, one-fifth of the surface is snow-covered all year long. It is made up of pretty small stuff: it takes about one million ice crystals to form a single snowflake. All snowflakes are six-sided crystals in an infinite variety of patterns. The types of snow are many; it is claimed that Eskimos use approximately ninety different words to describe the different kinds of snow — an important difference to them, sometimes a matter of life or death. Only the kids seem to get the message inherent in snow; rest, relax, take it easy during the snowy months as does the land itself. Animals such as the deer limit their activities to the minimum need to survive; woodchucks go to sleep for the entire winter, while bears partly hibernate. Going to a southern clime only throws the natural rhythms out of kilter. Enjoy the winter here, alongside the Delaware, sweeping snow-fed to fill the seas.
