A Joyous Christmas
A calf track In the snow Is transformed
by the magic of Christmas
into the track of a reindeer; a
carelessly handled bell In the night
becomes the tinkle of a slelghbell
to a young child sleeping with his
brothers In an upper room of a far
from pretentious home many long
years ago. This lives In memory
to be frequently recalled as Christmas
after Christmas comes with
seemingly more rapidity and Is
perfectly familiar to many of yesterday's
children.
Faith is a great thing and parr
ticularly the faith,of children which
is expressed not only in the belief
of a Santa Claus who will bring
them gifts, but the faith in his
overriding love for little children.
If there were no Santa Claus
we would have to Invent one, for
in the strains and stresses of this
world there must be a faith and
trust in goodness and a belief in
love furthered by the teaching of a
child at its mother's knee. Fortunately,
we do not have to invent Santa
Claus for he lives today as he lived
yesterday and will live tomorrow and
for as many tomorrows as the faith
of childhood persists and as long as
there is in the adult world a belief
in the healing value of love and
its need to solve the world's problems.
"God's work on this earth must
be performed by man," and the
work of building a cathedral is God's
work no less because he uses his
agents. And Santa Claus is no less
an agency of God In His teaching of
the lesson of love and the necessity
for the faith of a child if we are to
Inherit the Kingdom of*God.
It is with a realization of this
need and this faith that we extend
to all our readers our sincere wishes
for a Happy Christmas.
The Court And Environment
Greensboro Daily News
1" What may eventually become a Hood of
environmental cases has made its first appearances
fat the Supreme Court. That the justices
win be sympathetic to environmentalists
is suggested by s couple of recent actions;
the question is whether there is sufficient law
on which to rule in their favor.
In a decision which gave heart to conservationist
t. everywhere, the court declined
last month to reverse a lower court ban
have encased 10.4 miles of the east bank of
the Hudson in concrete, and would have put
9.5 million cubic yards of land-fill into the
river itself. Conservationists seized on an 1899
law that requires the army corps of engineers
to obtain congressional permission to build
a dike on a navigable river; they argued
that the landfill would constitute a "dike,"
and evidently the Justices were willing to
accept thai definition in the interest of conservation.
Also in November, the court ordered a
stay | of construction of highways in Memphis
and San Antonio that have been routed through
public parks, fi said that no work could be
done until it rules on conservationists' appeals
next year, thus denying the road
builders their favorite technique of ripping up
the land while the courts or the legislatures
try to decide what to do. The legal grounds
of the appeals In these two cases may
prove too narrow for the court to decide In
favor of the conservationists, but at least the
oourt has recognized the notion that construction
must not begin until all legal possibilities
have been exhausted.
What all of these cases suggest is that we
need better and broader law on which to basf,
sumlng and legally perverse way to fight the
despoilers, it may be that what is needed is
a constitutional amendment establishing the
validity of environmental claims and giving
cltiieas the right to exercise those claims.
Several states, such as our Virginia neighbors,
have already passed laws or constituttonal
amendments to that effect, and Senator
Hargrove Bowles is pushing for one in North
Carolina. Bit since pollution and despoliation
are so frequently interstate problems, it seems
likely that sweeping federal law is necessary.
Perhaps some enterprising member at congress
will take on the drafting and lobbying
of an "Environmental Bill of Rights" In
the next session; it would be a good way to
spend the year.
The Air Is Full Of Goodwill
By JULIA CANADA*
to The SatthlMd Herald
Such a wonderful wuoa this la! Thai* la
an infectious gaiety in the air as we walk
along the streets and exchange greetings with
friends. There la an atmosphere of love and
goodwill toward all meet. For the time
being; worries are forgotten and faces an
alight with anticipation and happiness. Who,
but sb old Scrooge could harbor a grudgs
or prejudice rf such a time?
ft may be hard to believe in this age, but
many families still thrill to the charm and
magic of Christmas reading In the home. There
are so msny wonderful Christmas stories.
First of all, of course, la the ageless Christmas
story in the New Testament And many still
read such stories as O'Henry's "Gift of the
Magi," Whlttler's simple bat fascinating
classic "Snowbound," Henry Van Dyke's "The
Other Wise Man," and Dickens' "A Christmas
Carol."
Dickens wrote this Immortal story in 1843
whan be was 31 and the father of six children.
The "Carol" came to him one night
when ha took a walk. A first printing sold
some 150,000 copies. A later edition sold 25,000
copies. Though he had lectured extensively,
"A Christmas Carol" was his first
public reading.
While Dickens was pleased with the response
to the printed story and to his reading
of It, he probably didn't dream that 127
years later many of our finest Yuletide traditions
would come from his story. He could
■ot foresee that Tiny Tim and old K bene tor
Scrooge would be as much alive In 1970 as
the merry folks cm yells "llerry Christmas"
to along the streets.
Brainiest Animal?
Henry Belk in Golds Nem-AifH
What animal has the most asnss? Cm be
trained to respond to commands and directions?
From what "Willie" Wllllm* saya the raccoon
most be added to the list. And I remember
that an orange grower to Florida agreed
with Williams
The ooon, said the orange grower, can W>
through an orange grove which has hundreds
of tress faU of fruit. And the coon can
unerringly select the trans which have the most
sweetness and or fruit Juice And the ooon dons
not have to try and search to find the trans
with the best fruit. He never misses U a selection
and he nevnr has to discard n tree he
has picked as bslng Juiciest wd best flavored.
Williams said that the orange grower mast
know iW bn Is tatktag about.
discard It Bat be can Instinctively select
the largest and sweetest ears.
Quotes
Aft optimist la a man who hurrlea because
ha thinks his trite Is watting tor him.-Lucille
&. Harper.
Dodbt u not nacMsarttjr the mark of a
pesaimist or a cynic. Some at the tappiest
ant gayest men an first class doubters.
They are distinguished because they have the
cow apt to ItCe (acta.—Will lam Feather.
Whatever you are by nature, keep to It;
■•tor desert your own line of talent. Be
what nature Intended yb« tor, and you will
wicceed; be any thing else and you will be
tan thousand times worse than notkii*.
ja satire there are neither re war da aor
Mostly
Personal
By BKJNA1X JONES
For many years, long befor*
paid vacations were an accepted
part of bus lac as practice,
usually with staffs red vacations
weekly newspapers set
a precedent with their weekly
Christmas vacation by skipping
' one paper during the holidays.
Actually, the holiday lasted for
more than a week as the paper
was published early in the week
preceeding the Christmas holiday
and a late start was made
on the small paper following. I
suppose the custom was first
started as a matter of economics
as advertisements during
the Christmas week failed to pay
the cost of printing the papv
aad in later years it was continued
because no other holidays
were given.
Few papers now skip an edition
for Christmas although
several semi-weekly papers In
the state skip one of their painrs
during the week. It has been
years since The Warren Record
has missed an edition, although
employees are given a few days
off af Christmas as well as a
week's paid vacation and several
paid holidays during the
year.
Usually the Christmas edition
Is a larger ecUtion than usual
and it is produced earlier because
of the needs of the advertisers.
It calls for considerable
more work and sometimes
for overtime, but usually
everyone works to get the paper
our as early as possible so they
WU1 U««C IUU1C UIIIC UU lUi
Christmas. The South Hill Enterprise,
which does our press
work, usually comes out on
Wednesday. This year the force
has agreed to work on Saturday
and Sunday in order that the
paper might be printed on Monday
and the employees have the
rest of the week off. They are
a little bit disappointed that
some of the men must come
back Tuesday to print our paper
and we, with sympathetic understanding,
are rushing to get the
paper to South Hill as early as
possible on Tuesday.
In the old days when all type
was set on the Linotype and
all cuts had to be cast and
sawed, we usually started on
our Christmas edition two or
three weeks before Christmas
and * week before the Christ.
19 as edition we had printed about
half the paper in four-page
sections and had tbem handfolded.
With off-set, production
is much faster, particularly in
regard to Christmas greeting
advts. which only have to
be trimmed, waxed and pasted
down, eliminating hours of
melting, casting and sawing.
Where we used to spend a day
or more feeding our two-page
press and hand-folding and
assembling the section, 12
pages of an edition Is now run
and folded in less than 30 minutes.
Stuffing of a larger number
of pages is accomplished in
usually about an hour and a half.
In the twenties all four of
the Jones brothers were at home
working on the Christmas edition,
and all were young and had
their minds on girls, dances,
parties, hunting and other fun,
so we had a real incentive to get
the Christmas edition out early.
One year, I remember, we
worked all night long and finished
up the paper at 10 a. m.
the next day, before going to bed
and after a few hours rest,
and a long week of fun.
Then we worked no women,
except a part-time bookkeeper,
but now more than half of our
force are married women, who
have much to do In preparing
for Christmas and are anxious
to gat out early. So we usually
work for an early edition.
Last year when we had prepared
to get the paper ont on
Monday and agreed to work a
while on Sunday, Grace', my
wife, who helps me make upthe
Letter
To Editor
THANK PEOPLE
To The Editor:
My wife and I would lite, to
have you consider publication
ot the following in your Letters
to the Editor section:
We wish to thank the people
who responded to oar plight in
mid-November when our young
son was trapped in a. well. In
particular those who were so
willing to expose themselves to
danfer received our admiration
no less than the actual rescuer.
Providence provided tor Ids
miraculous escape without injury
but the efforts at all who
responded minimized his and
our anguish In thia most be artread*
ring situation Again, our
most sincere thanks.
L. JULIAN HAYWOOD
SSS1 Lowry »>ad
Los Angsles, Calif. 90017
*
MRS. WAYNE DALTON MARTIN
Miss Bragg Becomes
Bride Of Mr. Martin
Miss Dawn Carol Brags became
the bride of Wayne Dal ton
Martin In a ceremony performed
at eight o'clock on Saturday
night, Dec. 19, at Fairmont
Methodist Church In Richmond,
Va. The Rev. L. Douglas Hill,
Jr., performed the double-ring
ceremony.
The bride is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bragg,
in, of Richmond, Va., and the
bridegroom Is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Willie D. Martin, Jr.,
of Norllna.
The bride was given In marriage
by her father. Miss Joy
Bragg of Richmond, Va., was
maid of honor and Mr. Alan Adcoclc
of Norllna was best man.
paper, decided that we would go
down on Saturday and make up
the paper although we both were
half sick at the time. So we
managed to finish up that afternoon.
A good thing it was, for I
came down on Sunday with 24hour
'flu and couhh hardly lift
my {lead from tM pillow. For
the first and only time In more
than 50 years I missed helping
wrap up the Christmas edition.
After a wedding trip to an unannounced
place, Mi*, and Mrs.
Martin will make their home In i
Richmond, Va.
Among those attending the
wedding from Norllna were Mr.
and Mrs. Willie D, Martin, Jr.,
and daughter, Faye, Mrs W. D.
Martin, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Jake
Norwood, Mr. and Mrs. Alan
Adcock, Mr. Gen. Richardson,
Miss Nancy Mitchell and Mr.
and Mrs. Phillip Parti am.
Extension
Bulletin Board
Tuesday, Dec. 29: The Snow
Hill Home makers Club will
meet at 7:30 p. m. with Mrs.
Samuel P. Alston (or an after
Christmas party.
Wednesday, Dec. 30: The
Olive Grove Homemakers Club
wjll meet Mrs, Gertrude
Carter at 6:00$. m. tor an after
Christmas party.
Say you saw It advertised In
The Warren Record.
<*» Three Million
Vls,t Kerr Reservoir
Tt» yew 1V70 mirks a milestone
in the history of the John
H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir.
This 1* the first year that annual
visitation to this papular
recreation spot, located In
North Carolina and Virginia,
Ho me makers Clab
Holds Christmas Meet
The Thrift Hill Homemakers
dub held its Christmas meeting
at the home of Mrs Rosa
Dunston on Tuesday evening.
The home was beautifully decorated
for the Christmas Season.
Gifts were exchanged from
under the Christmas Tree
among the eight members present.
During the social hour, Mrs.
Dunston invited the guests into
the dining room where ham
rolls, coffee, mints, candy kisses
and fruits were enjoyed by
all.
will exceed three million L. L
Suiphln, Reservoir Manager,
expects Uw three millionth visit ,
to take place during the week
of December 20-tfl.
Colonel Paul S. Oenlaon,
Wilmington District Engineer,
U. 8. Army Corps of Engineers,
States that visitation
records for this project have
been maintained since the prelmpoundment
year of 1931.
Visitation for that year totaled
135,000. Two years later, whan
Impoundment of the reservoir
was completed, the number of
visitors was 1,007,500. Colonel
Dentson in emphasizing the accelerating
rate of visitation noted
that toUi visitation to the
project reached SO million In
1854 and will surpass it million
through this year.
m 1W7 a 10,000-square-mile
Iceberg, eight times as large
In area as Rhoda Island, drifted
past the Falkland Islands off
Argentina.