Dianne Proffitt., Age 12, Of Bruinsville. N. C. , for her question:
What is a milestone?
Graduation day or a birthday may be called a milestone in your life. At this point, part of your living is behind you and a new period lies ahead. This is a poetic notion, but it is borrdwed from a time when a milestone was a solid marker on a journey.
In the past, travel was slower and journeys took longer. Those who walked and those who rode horseback had time to notice and check off the passing miles. The roads, say, to London town had milestones along the way. After each mile there was a stone engraved with the number of miles still to be traveled. Many of these old milestones still. Exist, perhaps half hidden in grassy waysides of the modern highways which now replace many of the old time roads.