A glance at the calendar tells me tomorrow is the official day when it is spring. It’s a bit difficult to have much faith that the long-awaited end of winter will actually arrive, when the weatherman reported this morning that “a period of rain and snow will arrive later this week for three days.” The only comfort in such a forecast is that the sun is now melting the old, dirty snow left along roadsides and yards.

The cleaning out of files has continued for a couple hours a day. I am much encouraged and think I’ll end up with a neat, labeled row of folders when its done; meantime, the discovery of long-forgotten notes, clippings, carbon copies of news items, and scraps of unnecessary “stuff” has been interesting to find. One such treasure has surfaced that is labeled “Information Folder.” At the time it was compiled, daughter Laurie and I were operating the news bureau for the big daily newspaper where we worked.

The “information” within the fat cardboard folder started out to be pages of lists which identified the meaning of the numerous initials which had become popular to use in place of the full name of many groups.

There were things like SELF – a title III Grant – and CARE and STEP, all helping two reporters deal with the fad of using letters to designate various programs.

They included Self Education Purposes, etc.

Associations became familiar when they were used often enough to be well known. It was when we first began to use DOT for Department of Transportation; today we can easily recognize the group. We found ourselves using FISH, CCM (Connecticut Conference on Municipalities), and EDA instead of Economic Development Commission. Northeast Utilities was soon known as CL&P and NU, and ATOMIC was a mathematics organization of state teachers.

It wasn’t only abbreviations we needed to remember; facts helped journalistic endeavors in times of need: things like the names of town auditors used initials, and Masuk high school’s new gym seated 1,800 people and the Masuk pool bleachers would seat 400 spectators. We noted that the town directory was first printed in 1950 and the Historical Society flea market was first an annual event in 1963. By simple math we could say each year it was the 12th or 20th or whatever; such shortcuts are helpful when you are writing on deadline.

I have old postcards with the simple address “Stepney, Conn.” Today we are in need of streets, house numbers, and lengthy zip codes. We must provide a code to telephone numbers which places the area, before we punch in the actual number. We have Social Security numbers to identify us and your bank knows you by a number that can include several figures. Most important numbers are your birth date, passport; and even your dog has a “tag” number

I dislike numbers – it’s always a small miracle when the checkbook balances, and it took me about 70 years to learn my social security number. I have no clue as to my driver’s license number, or the number of the car’s registration plate. I respect and admire people who are adept and clever with numbers. I love letters and words and am very comfortable with them, and will stick to them rather than struggle with figures. I write all numbers I need to contend with on scraps of paper – and if someone is around to check the figures, I feel better. Anyone for a game of “Scrabble?”

The lines at the end of last week’s column were written by Willa Cather.

What literary character is described this way in a favorite poem?

“His hair is crisp, and black, and long,

His face is like the tan;

His brow is wet with honest sweat,

He earns what’er he can.”