the full moon
literary page
The Christmas Gift
By VIRGINIA STONE
“Loretta,” Mrs. Devante ad
dressed her only daughter, l
have something to tell you.
“You remember Mrs. McDon
ald? She’s a missionary in Ohi-
"^“I think so,” responded Loretta.
“I just received a letter from
her asking me if it were possible
for me to keep a young Chinese
girl during the Christmas hohdays.
The girl’s parents were killed in an
air raid in Woosung. Her parents
were quite wealthy. Mrs. McDon
ald says she is an unusually smart
girl. She’s about your age and
speaks English. If we can keep
her until New Year’s Day, Mrs.
McDonald will have arrived her
self and will take her. How would
you like this?”
“Mama, I was hoping
have one Christmas all vo uiu-
selves. Do we have to take her?’
“I’d like to. Mrs. McDonald
has done so much for me.”
“Oh—all right, but I a
I’m not going to like this £
With that, Loretta left the
shrugging her shoulders.
A few days later they wen
ing at the docks for the Chinese
girl. As the gangplanks were low
ered, Loretta peered through the
crowds for what she thought
would be a dingy, yellow-skinned,
squinty-eyed girl, with black
stringy hair. No figure of this
description did she catch sight of,
however. Finally she noticed a
shy, somewhat frightened young
girl among those coming down the
gangplanks. When she reached
the dock, the girl looked around,
puzzled with all the hustle and
bustle. Then her eyes met Loret
ta’s. Before Loretta realized
what she was doing, she had dart
ed toward the strange girl, who
asked in her foreign accent “Miss
Loretta Devant?”
“Yes.”
“I am Waing Lu Senhua.’
“How do you do?” Loretta said
rather curtly.
“How do you do?” Waing Lu
said carefully.
Mrs. Devante joined them, and
they were soon on their way
the Devante home.
Loretta, who was made jealous
American Cafe
REGULAR DINNER : 50c
Home Cooking ,
A Specialty
easily, began to resent wamg
nrpsence soon after she arrived.
Mrs. Devante thoughtfully helped
Waing Lu with different little
things pertaining to the American
customs, and Waing Lu learned
quickly. Meanwhile Lorettas
temper was rising. She, who had
had all the attention formerly, re
sented not being the center of at
traction.
At dinner Waing Lu eyed the
silverware perplexedly.
“What are those?” she asked.
Loretta laughed. What a dumb
question, she thought to herself.
But Mrs. Devante patiently taught
the girl, who had never eaten with
anything but chop sticks, how
e a knife, fork, and spoon.
For the next few days Loretta
became even more envious of the
girl. All her schoolmates crowded
about to ask questions about Chi-
Waing Lu enjoyed it all i
mensely—until they asked her
about the fighting. Then she
closed her mouth tightly, and a far
away look came into her eyes. She
had lived through days of horror,
probably more than any of the
American girls would ever witness
experience.
In spite of Waing Lu’s efforts
be friendly, Loretta would not
drop her icy manner toward her.
On Christmas Eve they were all
sitting cozily before a log fire.
As Mrs. Devante finished telling
them softly the story of the first
Christmas, Waing Lu said, “I like
that.” Then, after watching the
flame curiously she exclaimed com
ically, “the flames! She jump so
funny!” Loretta smiled and be
gan to think Waing wasn’t so bad
after all.
That night, for the first time,
Loretta wished her goodnight, and
Waing in return smiled gratefully.
The next morning Loretta was
awakened by a light rap on the
“Come in,” she called sleepily.
Waing entered. As she tip-toed to
the bed, she drew a beautifully
carved rosewood box from behind
her.
'This is for Loretta,” she said,
handing her the box.
“It’s a Chinese music box!” Lo
retta exclaimed. Suddenly realiz
ing the value of it, she shook her
head sorrowfully, “Oh, but I could
not take it.”
“Yes, I give to you—^box
Christmas pre-sent. Grandfather
have it. Father have it. I have
it. Now you have it.”
Loretta suddenly decided she
liked Waing Lu. “Say, you’n
all right!”
“Oh! Waing Lu never sick!’
Waing Lu said, not comprehending
the slang expression—or the
change she had brought about
Loretta’s disposition.
with the
Book Reviews
Editor’s note
would say that t^re ?
y,ews—and reviews. This is a re
cent parallel report that we
thought our readers might enjoy.
Who wrote it? That’s for you to
decide. We’ll admit, however,
that it is quite characteristic of
the writer.
"BLACK ARROW”
By Stevenson
wouldn’t recommend this
book to anyone. All the charac-
have at least three names,
main character has five or
The author uses one name
time and another the next 1
and you can’t tell who is who.
This book is about England
when knights were bold and a man
wasn’t a man until he killed all
his enemies and stood wailing for
more. After he did this, his re
ward was some fair damsel that he
had captured during some fight.
She was often married at least
twice before he got her, and then
she had hopes of marrying again.
Sir Richard Jack Matcham Shel
ton (his name at the end of the
book but just plain Richard at ’
first) was a boy who lived
Shore-by-the-Sea. After a-knight
of this town had killed Richard’s
father, the boy ran away and met
another guy that became his
friend. This friend was a sissy.
They lived in the woods and found
the hiding-place of John Amend-
All, the leader of the Black Arrow
gang. All the members of this
gang had been wronged in some
way by the knight of Shoreby.
When they went back to Shoreby,
this sissy disappeared, and later
Richard found out it was a dame
named Joanna, the wife-to-be of
Earl of Rishingham. When he
heard that they had planned to kill
him, Richard ran away and joined
the Black Arrow gang. There he
avenged the death of his father
and married Joanna, whom
dearly loved.”—Calvin Doby.
He flew through the a
greatest of ease,
But the funny part wi
got his trapeze!
DISTINCTIVE GIFTS...
For Men to Select From
Nationally advertised brands of merchandise all men are fa
miliar with Hart Schaffner and Mark and Griffon clothes and
Pajamas, Hickock Belt and
Sh.ss mZ air"
ALLEN CLOTHING STORE
“REMEMBER—You Always Save at BeWs
BELK’S DEPARTMENT STORE
ALBEMARLE, N. C.
Modeling Planes
As a Hobby
By C. B. EFIRD and
BOBBIE AUSTIN
Building and flying model air
planes is becoming recognized
as a sport for old as well as young.
Modeling airplanes affords an op
portunity for young men to show
their accuracy in assembling: me
chanical devices out of small parts.
It affords also a knowledge of
weight and balance. Boys who
have become farther advanced in
model building may also design
their own models.
Great accuracy is essentail to
the fiyability of the model. The
plane is designed so that all parts
are necessary to the balancing of
the machine. Some model-build-
ers “slap” the parts together and
wonder why the plane does not
fly. So it can be readily seen that
accuracy plays a large part
building a model.
It can be seen also that balance
and weight enter into the perform
ance of the finished model. The
longitudinal, horizontal, and later
al balance centers at the wing,
which point is called the center of
gravity. Since there are many
other difficulties which a boy may
run into with different types of
models, it is necessary to know
great deal about balancing.
Designing your own model
is a very difficult task. Besides
knowing all the things mentioned
above, you must have a talent for
draftsmanship. One of the main
things is to know how to propor
tion your model, whether it is to
be for speed or endurance. In
both cases you must work toward
stability and controllability
der to get the model to maneuver
and perform correctly in flight.
Thus you can readily see that it
takes a lot of time, thought, and
knowledge to design, build, and
fly models.
If any boy in high school is
planning to be an engineer, espe
cially an aeronautical engineer, it
would help him a great deal to
build model airplanes.
Christmas Joy
(By Anne Parker)
May Christmas be to
friend, ™
A quiet day of happy trejj
A solemn day of thoughtfi.-
A time of peace and happij
May Christmas be a day jf
A day with thoughts of-
above.
When friends and loved
December, i
be r
> joy and ;
^ joy come ,j.
May Christn
day,
ome poor soul that yo- ^
gay.
To him that hears the
Snow at Twiligh|7
By Loui.e Sh«
Day is done and shadows !>'-
All the trees seem very tii®
Snow is lying on the grons'r
Where in spring the flowt'*
found.
The sun is setting on tlx;*'^
Tiny crystals in a row.
Some like the break of
be.st;
I’ll take the time when : B
Snow at Dusk
(By Sunshine Undemli
'he sun is setting in the ^
The day has almost paasjj
rhe evergreens are l>™Li
While the snow is fallii.?j!
Ood has put the flowers
By Elva S. Smith.
(Reviewed by Virginia Lowder)
Young people who like to read
mystery stories would enjoy read
ing “Mystery Tales for Boys and
Girls.” This book contains twen
ty-six selections divided into mys
tery tales and story poems about
hidden treasures, ghosts, haunted
houses, and strange enchantment.
With trained knowledge and great
care, the author has gathered these
stories and poems into one volume.
They range from “The Gold Rug”
by Edgar Allan Poe, to “Aslauga’s
Knight” by Fouque. This book is
for boys and girls from fourteen
years of age upward.
“KATHY”
By Josephine Daskham Bacon
(Reviewed by Ellen Hearne)
The story of Kathy and her
chums by Josephine Daskham Ba
con tells of the many interesting
adventures girls have while going
through four years at Smith. Much
of the story takes place in the
Catskills in the small village where
Kathy spends her vacations. There,
with her two friends, she opens a
tearoom to earn money for her
educational fund.
Although Kathy knows who her
parents are, she does not know
of her relationship to Barbara un
til she discovers by accident a
worthless looking pin that contains
« family jewel. It is exciting to
just what happens
Barbara and
Unlike so many books, this is a
volume to be read and reread, and
different from books of transient
value in that this is a work of per
manent worth. As one reader ha;;
said, “Unlike treasure that re
quires deep digging and is con
sumed, these nuggets are ever
ready to be seized, to be enjoyed
yet always to remain.”
MEET YOUR FRIENDSw
AT OUR FOUNTAIN ®
PHILLIPS^
Cut-Rate Driii
Store b
follow and s
to Kathy, “Wyo”,
“WILL ROGERS”
By P. J. O’Brien
(Reviewed by Anne Bickett
Parker)
Rogers”, by P. K. U'-
Bnen, should certainly be ranked
among the best of biograph^f It
boys. No boy could hope for a
be ter life than the one lived by
Will Rogers. O’Brien has made a
place for himself as a wri?er bv
fascinating way of
telling his story. You will Inno-h
with him, cry wHh him, Tnd 2ln
you read the part about the fatal
Thursday and Friday
Warner Baxter and Joan Bennet
"VOGUES OF 1938"
In Technicolor
COMING....
“52nd Street”
Rex Beach’s “The Barrier”
“Stage Door'
STANLY theatre
‘Albemarle’s Popular Playhouse”