Peeping through my Venetian blind, I noticed the sun’s going down and remembered that I had better set my clocks ahead an hour tonight before going to sleep. I welcome the long days of sunlight, don’t you, gentle reader?

As I watched the sun set, a poem came to mind, one that I often recite at set of sun – “At Day’s last, lovely smile of light / I put my duties by/ And turn to watch in silent awe/ The glories of the sky./ Oh, do not think me idle.. Restrain your chast’ning rod/ For I have for my company/ None other guest than God.”

Enjoying the crab cakes at Simone’s Thursday night were Jerry and Linda Andrews.

Seen at David’s Wednesday night were Jerry and Linda Andrews, Wayne and Lenora Johnson, their son, Ken Johnson, and his son, Campbell.

David’s Restaurant is trying call pods to make customer service more efficient. A “pod” is placed on each table. When a customer needs a waitress, the customer mashes a button on the little pod. This notifies that table’s waitress to “come a-running.” The Barlow boys, who grew up in Andalusia, are behind the use of this new technology.

Seen at Larry’s for supper were Russ Jarvis and his wife.

Seen at Tabby D’s for the Friday-night buffet were Benny and Betty Gay and their daughter, Kendall Williford from Florala, Mr. and Mrs. Tim King, Damon and Dorothy Morgan, Kenny and Gwen Lee, Tim Nall and Tammy Holley, Johnny and Joann Hollinghead from Opp, Brian and Mollie Riley, their daughter, Carrie Cottle, and Cindy Hobbie.

Andalusia earned its nickname as “the Singing City of the South” once again with four successful presentations of the Broadway musical, The Music Man, by the Andalusia High School Choral Department March l – 3 in the high-school auditorium.

Congratulations to all involved, especially to Paula Sue Duebelt and her assistant directors, Angie (Baker) Sasser and Sue (Bass) Wilson.

The lion’s share of the credit must be given to Mrs. Duebelt, for years a local champion of music in church, in local programs, and in school. In fact, she came out of retirement in order to save the high-school music program. Just as dedicated is her good friend, Mrs. Wilson, both in the AHS Class of 1965.

To crown their dedication, in the last act of the show both ladies made cameo appearances as old women.

The highlight of the show was the music, of course.

The star was a junior by the name of Hampton Glenn, eldest son of Shannon and Wynne Glenn.

Hampton gave Robert Preston, who played the lead, Professor Harold Hill, in the movie version, a “run for his money.” As if made for the part, Hampton sparkled with talent in dialogue, gestures, dancing, and vocals, doing all with ease and exhibiting a fine voice and range.

He was ably paired with Kat Dean, who sang powerfully as the librarian, Marian Paroo.

Hampton’s granddad, Jimmy Wilson, sang in the show’s quartet; and Hampton’s brother Steadman joined the extras on stage. Hampton’s grandmother, Sue Wilson, has been mentioned above.

Jeremy Boyd as Mayor Shinn and Caymond Hodge as his wife, Eulalie, delivered some good laughs. Jeremy’s character was especially well defined.

Ethan Shellhouse did a mature job as Winthrop Paroo, especially for his young age. Ethan’s dad, Bennie Shellhouse, was in the quartet, and is band director of AHS and assistant principal.

Several families contributed more than one member to the cast and crew, which made the show “a family affair” in more than one way.

It was good to see Jerry Wishum at the lighting board. He’s a local legend in technology; and his son Mason is away at Auburn, honing his technological skills, to match his dad ( Jerry, AHS Class of 1971).

Mention must be made of Olivia Lane Wise, who played Amaryllis, a piano student. She was good beyond her years.

The rest of the quartet were Perry Dillard, who teaches at AHS and works with the youth in the Methodist church, and Frank Shaffer, whose parts ran through the musical.

One of the sponsors of the production was Wells Fargo, who must have been happy that one of the songs sung was the “Wells Fargo Wagon.”

The cast, costumes, scenery, musicians, and crew did excellent jobs. The whole musical was something of which to be proud.

Congratulations!

The Murals Committee met February 27 in City Hall (the old Andalusia Schools building) for an update.

Pat Palmore, chairwoman, opened the meeting with prayer.

A report was made on the parade mural.

A poem about our murals, written by Johnny Cobb, a pharmacist in Mobile, who had seen our murals on a trip to this area, was distributed. He is a first cousin to Joe Wingard.

Wes Hardin, the muralist from Dothan, who has painted all of our murals thus far, presented a sketch of the proposed Piney Woods Cattle mural, a brainchild of “Chuck” Simon, our county extension agent.

Simon, who often shares his ability as piper of bagpipes in this area, was present to answer questions about the mural. He wants to emphasize the importance of our virgin pines and the cattle that grazed among them.

The domino mural was the third discussed.

Barbara Tyler, who works for the city, gave a financial report.

Committee members present were Pat Palmore, Nancy Robbins, Sara Catherine Patrick, Robert Anderson, Willie Thomas, Hazel Griffin, and Joe Wingard.

The Covington Historical Society assembled for their first meeting of the new year February 27 at Springdale, the estate of the late John G. Scherf, now property of the town of Andalusia.

Scherf’s great-grandson, John G. Scherf IV, president of the Society for his second time, called the 392nd meeting of the CHS to order, using the gavel passed on from president to president.

It must have stirred an unusual mixture of feelings for the current Scherf to be presiding in his ancestor’s house, no longer in the family, and to be giving a program on his ancestor and the home in which the younger Scherf once lived as a boy.

Tables, covered with white cloths and centered with saucer magnolias, invited members and guests to make themselves comfortable.

Scherf introduced guests and led the pledge.

An invocation followed, given by Chaplain Bill Law, who prayed, “Our future is in the past.”

Nancy Robbins shared the minutes.

Harmon Proctor delivered a financial report, reporting generous donations to the museum by the city, by Livingfield More, and by Dot (Stokes) Gullberg.

Scherf thanked Sue (Bass) Wilson for the CHS newsletter she published.

Darwin Pippin reported on museum attendance.

Scherf then gave a brief history of his ancestor, using slides. He followed with silent home movies of the Scherf family (found in an attic), many showing Springdale, children at Easter, old Mr. Scherf himself, a seaside home, a trip to Germany (from which Scherf emigrated), and various family members back in the 1940s.

The curator of the estate, Jared Boutwell, then followed with a talk on the Spanish-Colonial, 1935 Springdale, emphasizing the preservation efforts of Dr. Charles Tomberlin, who bought the estate after the family gave it up.

The city is fortunate to have in its employ young Boutwell, whose enthusiastic care of the estate is inspiring and exciting.

The celebration of the War of 1812 (1812 – 1815) continues.

Again, I ask the citizens of Andalusia to join the Covington Historical Society and pay its annual dues of $25 to help preserve the history of our county, whether you attend meetings or not. Mail to CHS, P.O. Box 1582, Andalusia, Alabama 36420. Include your e-mail address if you wish to be reminded of upcoming meetings.

To commemorate the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, let us return to this week 150 years ago.

Federal General U.S. Grant became general in chief of the U.S. Army.

Troops of the Federals, Kilpatrick and Dahlgren, retreated after their failed raid on Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. The Confederates harassed the retreating troops, killing Dahlgren. On his body orders were found to destroy and burn Richmond and kill Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet.

Andrew Johnson, who would follow Lincoln as U.S. president, became the Federal military governor of Tennessee.

Lincoln and Grant met for the first time.

Lincoln advised Grant about what to say in his acceptance speech as the new general in chief.

For those who collect stamps, consider those associated with the War of 1812 and the Sesquicentennial of “the War.”

The mysterian is a bald-headed man who was struck over the head with a walking stick (his own, I think) in our public square by a man who was angry at the victim. The wound became infected, and the man died. Who was he?

Birthdays the last two weeks were those of George Frederick Handel, German/British composer; Samuel Pepys (peeps), English diarist; Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor/singer of opera (thought by some to be the best ever); Victor Hugo, French novelist (his Les Miserables has become a record-breaking musical of our times); Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet; John Tenniel, English artist, best known for his pen-and-ink drawings that illustrated Lewis Carroll’s two books about Alice in Wonderland; G. A. Rossini, an Italian composer, best known for his “Overture” to the opera William Tell; William Dean Howells, American novelist and editor; and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet and wife of Robert Browning, another English poet. Elizabeth wrote perhaps the best-known love poem in our language, “How Do I Love Thee.”

Handel is the composer of the popular Messiah. “The Hallelujah Chorus” from that piece is tremendously popular. It is traditional to stand when that chorus is sung because the king of England did so when he heard it sung.

Longfellow is the ideal poet and the centerpiece of American literature. He is the first and most important poet that youth should study. They should know his life and works and should memorize lines from his poetry. A lack of knowledge and appreciation of Longfellow’s life and work has contributed to the current low standards in poetry, education, and American morals.

Now, gentle reader, allow me to join Buffalo Bob Smith in encouraging each of us to be in his place of worship this weekend, Lord willing.

Fare thee well.