One of my younger grandsons would like to learn to whistle. So far the noise he makes sounds more like air escaping from an inner tube, but one has to start somewhere.
You can’t become a proper farm boy without knowing how to whistle. When you’re alone and lonely, you whistle. When you want the dog to come home, you whistle.When you’re scared and need to pluck up your nerve, you whistle. When you see something amazing, you whistle. When you see someone gorgeous, you whistle.
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A whistle is an important part of the farm vocabulary.
I had a brother who whistled a lot. We always knew where he was and that he was usefully occupied. If he was up to mischief, silence was the tipoff.
My father had two whistle signals.The first involved putting two fingers in his mouth and emitting a sound that could be heard for half a mile.
That meant it was time for the Dryden boys to get the heck out of the swimming hole and home for supper.
The other whistle was a rising note, followed by a bunch of short notes.
The result was prompt: Our horses would jerk up their heads and come at a gallop. The whistle meant oats. The fact that it also meant harness and hard work was incidental.
Some people become so adept at whistling they can imitate birds and even fool a few of them into responding. One whistler even provided the music for dances when an orchestra was unavailable or too costly.
Okay sonny, pucker up, curl your tongue and blow. You need to learn a life skill as important as breathing itself.
