When we pass the campus of Cottey College on Austin Street, we admire the beautiful campus as we drive the three or four blocks, where we can view the red brick buildings on either side of the street. Even though the campus ends on West Austin, the connections to the college never end. I experienced this last week with contacts both from the state of Washington and Washington, D.C.

At the Elderhostel near Potosi where I was teaching, I gave my address during the introductions. Two women came to me saying that they had spent the weekend in Nevada. They brought the granddaughter of one of them to enroll in Cottey. We talked at length about the picnic at Marmaduke Park, which impressed them greatly. They had also toured B.I.L. Hill, the Square, and enjoyed refreshments at the president's house. They felt that the president' s greetings were very important to them. We each felt we had met close friends because of the coincidence of my being their leader and their loved one studying in my home town.

It was a very good Elderhostel and only the hosts were also from Missouri.

The rest represented Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida, California, Arizona and these two from Washington State. Everyone there heard about Cottey.

When I returned home I received a letter in the mail from the editor of my highs chool alumni newsletter.

Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., has had several former students become published.

The editor is reading the books of each of us. She was particularly interested in my books because her mother's grandmother was Mary Jane Cottey Huff, a cousin of Mary Virginia Cottey who founded the college. She wanted to hear more about the school and said she felt close to me (even though our years at Wilson were over a decade apart) because of the tie.

I had another experience this week that might not have made me a good representative of our town.

As I was packing to leave, I realized I had used up all the little freebie bottles of shampoo that I usually carry in my toilet bag, so I rushed into Woods to get the smallest bottle of shampoo that they had to take with me.

My second night at the Elderhostel I left the group early to wash my hair and let it dry some before bedtime. I took my new purchase into the shower tub and proceeded to lather up my wet hair. It did not lather at all. In fact it made my hair feel like rough pile upholstery.

I tried putting more on and the effect magnified the rough feel of my hair. I do not wear my glasses to take a shower, so I couldn't read the directions on the bottle, so I tried rinsing out the product. That didn't work either.

Thankfully, I spied a hotel-type bottle of shampoo on the tub that my sister had left the night before so I squeezed some of it onto my hair and was able to get a little lather.

After I rinsed that out and got dressed I combed my hair. It stuck straight out on all sides, as stiff as fine wire. I used the old method of bending over the sink to apply the remaining shampoo and finally got the stuff out.

When I put on my glasses and read the label I saw that underneath the trade name and the words, "Smooth and Soft" there were the words, "Anti-frizz cream!" Further reading revealed that it was intended to straighten hair. It did.

Now I will read all labels more closely and try to be a good representative of our town and its college while having ordinary looking hair.