The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
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VOLUME 15
NEW BERN, N. C. 28560, FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1972
NUMBER 5
Yesterday was when a bottle
warmer was just the thing when
it came to serving Junior his
formula feeding, but it took a
boiling poUticai pot to assure
him of extra special affection.
Tliere’s been no change in the
pattern. Office seekers
currently on the prowl are
unanimously anxious to Mss
any infant in sight, poMng a
greater menace to defensd^
babies thana bad case of diaper
rash.
Good or bad, young or (dd, fat
(x: sMnqy, a pmtician develops
an overwhelming love for
children the moment be throws
his hat in the ring. Nothing shmrt
of chicken pox will make him
keep his distance.
Naturally, any candidate
would rather cuddle a freshly
scrubbed Md who is right out of
the tub, rather than a brat who
has just come up for air out of
an ice cream cone that is
inevitably chocolate.
And of course it is easier to
muster enthusiasm if the child’s
nose isn’t overdue f(xr attention,
or his bottmn wetter than an
ocean iiner at the far end of a
six-day cruise. Such favorable
conditions are rare.
Be that as it may, in New
Bern and every other city, town
and hamiet in America, a lap
youngun would have to look
worse than Frankenstein’s
monster to get the brush off.
That is, if either parent is
around.
A toddler is safest if he is
alone, when the office seeker
spies him. A politician doesn’t
waste much time on a child who
isn’t accompanied by an adult.
The exceptions are recognized
offspring of a known registered
voter.
To criticize New Bern and
Craven County candidates for
indidging in this sort of cam
paigning might be proper, but
hardly realistic. You don’t win
in politics by passing up any
gimmick avaiiabie, in the stress
of battle.
Kissing babies too young to
protest or protect themselves is
just like slipping a quarter to a
panhandling drunk, in the h(^
that he’ll be momentarily sober
on dection day. It’s all part of
the business.
If it disqualified a man for
, George Washington, Abe
Lincoln, and a lot of other guys
of more recent vintage never
would have gotten their pictures
on postage stamps and l^al
cwrency.
Maybe there’s a guardian
angel or a good fairy, up there
in the sky, shielding the young
and innocent. To our
knowledge, no bal^ has every
contracted measles, mumps, or
even the itch firom a cardwing
candidate.
lUs we can apiMreciate. Less
understandable is the kind of
good fairy who bothers to
protect the politicians from
disease in much the same
manner. it be that office
sedcers are blessed with built-in
inununity?
What plagues North
Carolina’s canmdates on the
state level, as May 6 ap
proaches, is the strong evidence
(Continued on page 8)
THE WAY IT WAS—Independence Day conies and
goes now, without so much as a i^ple of ex«
cUement. No parades, no fireworks, no bands, no
racing, and no patriotic speeches to set hearts to
pounding and spines to tingling mi the Glorious
Fourth. Except fnr young folks heading for the
beach, and old folks staying oH crowded highways,
you*d swear it is Just any old day. To give you a
rare glimpse how it used to be, in 1901, we bring
you this picture of pretty New Bern i^ls and
starchily-cessed small boys, perched on a fire
wagon. We feel sure that one of our dear friends,
Mattie Turnbull, now past 90, is included In the
smiling group, and maybe she can identify the
others.—Photo from Albert D. Brooks Collection.