Those who could leave their work yesterday morning long enough to enjoy the beauties of nature found the world a veritable fairyland. The trees and bushes were laden with the soft snow, which was not shaken off to any great extent before noon. Seldom is a day of this sort to be found in the spring, and during the early morning many parties on showshoes were out, making the most of what was presumably the last opportunity for the sport this season.

50 years ago, 1957

WASHINGTON – Adult drivers were told today they should quit fretting about teenagers’ automobile habits and begin worrying about the real villains: Adult drivers. Furthermore, drivers were informed, it’s time each of them took a refresher course on the fine arts of good driving.

• It happened again last night. No less than 79 Lewiston shoppers forgot to “feed” the parking meters between 6 and 9 o’clock and returned to their automobiles to find parking tickets attached to the windshield wipers. Many shoppers stopped at police headquarters on their way home last night to pay the 50-cent fines.

25 years ago, 1982

Here are the week’s 10 highest-rated shows:

“Dallas,” with a rating of 26.9 representing 22 million homes, and “60 Minutes,” 26.2 or 21.5 million, both CBS; “Three’s Company,” 25.6 or 21 million, ABC; “Alice,” 25 or 20.5 million, and “M-A-S-H,” 24.6 or 20.2 million, both CBS; “Too Close for Comfort,” 24.5 or 20.1 million, ABC; “The Jeffersons,” 24.4 or 20 million, and “Eunice,” 24.3 or 19.9 million, both CBS, and Movie- “The Enforcer,” 23.8 or 19.5 million, and “Hart to Hart,” 23.2 or 19 million, both ABC.

RUMFORD – When it opened in 1964, the bright and spacious Rumford Center elementary school was the pride of this papermaking town’s educational system: Today is stands empty, a monument to declining enrollment.