Newspapers / The New Bern Mirror … / June 16, 1972, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The New Bern Mirror (New Bern, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The NEW BERN SitPorLw. •Ji’i '0 NEW BERN, N. C. 28860, FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1972 NUMBER 14 After many years of public speaking, here and out of town, we’re seldom surprised at audience reaction. However, an eighth grade boy at Briarwood, one of New Beni’s private schools, really got to us the other night, following a “cmnmencement address” delivered to his class. He walked up to us and spid, “You made a good talk.” Then he paused and added, “It wasn’t half as bad as I thou^t it would be.” Remembering our own distaste for graduation watory, we understood the message. Any oldster, who is caUed iqwn to speak to the young, faces a challenge. Hie one mistake you can’t afford to make is to underestimate their intelligence. Some of them know almost as much as they think th^ know. In contrast, the warmest and most appreciative reception we’ve ever experienced came from a convention of N»rth Carolina senior citizens. Hiey were obviously on our side from the beginning, God bless them. Not that those delightful youngsters at Briarwood weren’t responsive. As soon as they discovered that they wo^dn’t have to endure a weighty lecture, the rest of the way was easy going. Kids, and ttiQr’ll hate us for calling them that, don’t like to be talked down to. If a speaker is to reach tl^, it has to be done on their level, not his. You have to do it naturally too, pretence won’t accomplish it.' Some of the stuff we dished out to them was pretty far fetched, like telling them that it was our distinction to be the smartest one in the third grade, both years we were in it. And we told how, all the way through sclKxri, this editor was the only member of his class who never got one of his drawings put up on the bladt- board, the windows, or the wall. Wh» it was parents day, the classroom was adorned with crayoned tulips, turictys,* and Pil^ms, and u^t all, but ours never made it. No wmder we sou^t recognition as a writer shortly after learning the alphabet. One morning, in the fifth grade, the teaclier we had at Central School said, “Today, everybody is gdng to draw an orange. Everyboty meant us too, but we knew in advance vdud the residt would be. She took up all the drawings, and graded. When we got ours back, it had a zero marked on it. “I don’t think I deswved a zero,” we told her. “I don’t think so eit^,” she repli^, “but that’s the lowest mark I could give you.” Then, fibbing, we told the Briarwood eighth graders about the time we got caught cheating in the fourth grade. "Teu me how you touM out,” we advised the teadier, “and I’ll tdl you if I was.” Agreeing, the teacher said she notioed that on the test our first five answered were exactly like the very smart little giri who sat in front of us. This aroused her suqiicion, (Continued on page 8) jNipttt Sfnt-(!Iniitytt (Hmmtg ]pnblU UflirHr ONCE UPON A TIBIE—Our thanks to J. Harper Wetherington of Jasper, who has come up with this old photo of four well remembered i^sicians and the staff of trained nurses at St. Luke’s Hospital. To your left are Dr. Raymond Pollock and Dr. Robert D. V. Jones. To your right are Dr. N. M. Gibbs and Dr. Joseph F. Patterson. Sorry, we can’t identify the nurses, but, as it almost always happens, someone among the Mirror’s readers will set us straight. Harper doesn’t know the age of the pic ture, but our guess is it is between SO and 60 years mild. Those white uniforms, attending to the ankles, and those attadied collars worn by Dr. Jones and Dr. Patterson, establish the photograph as a relic of the not too recent past. St. Luke’s, in its day, was regarded as one of tte better hospitals In eastern North Carolina although it lacked many of the facilities now available at institutions throughout the Old North State. As ah NftW Bem- ians know, the building still stands at thb north west comer of Broad and George, and provides much needed space for various Craveh County services.
The New Bern Mirror (New Bern, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 16, 1972, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75