Look Back: Saying adieu
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In the 1980s, when Dave Owen was editor of the Parkersburg Sentinel I approached him with the idea of reprinting items from early newspapers. He liked the idea and titled the column "Attic Clippings." Perhaps some readers will recall the column. It appeared in the Sentinel for three or four years.
It was twelve years ago in April of this year that the first "Look Back" item appeared in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. Just a month or so before, Christina Myer had come to Parkersburg as executive editor of The News. I thought that a new editor might be receptive to reviving the idea of newspaper reprints. She liked the idea, giving me space for 500 words if a photo was used; perhaps 600 words if there was no photo. She titled the new column "Look Back."
I've now decided it is time to close the "Look Back" window. Before doing so I must share appreciation for the Genealogy Room at the Parkersburg/Wood County Public Library. Over many years I've copied thousands of pages of early microfilmed news items, using them for Look Back material. If you've enjoyed the Look Back items, you can go there, sit in a comfortable chair, and return as far back as the 1840s, enjoying the news and life of those times. And certainly, appreciation is due Ms. Myer and staff of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel not only for giving Look Back a try, but also for creating catchy titles for often varied articles.
Little of what has been shared has been my own work. Over the years I've strayed from just newspaper reprints to sharing the works of local historians, written items that are special to me, and in some cases, just beautifully written prose. I'd like to close Look Back by sharing part of a work that though heavy in the news today, has been near and dear to me for many years, the closing lines of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey:
"...Come my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."