Page Two
THE PILOT, Southern Pines. North Carolina
Friday, December 22, 1944.
THE PILOT
PUBLISHED EACH FRIDAY BY
THE PILOT, INCORPORATED
SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA
194t
JAMES BOYD
Publisher
1944
MRS. JAMES BOYD .... PUBLISHER
DAN s. RAY ... - General Manager
BESSIE CAMERON SMITH - - - EDITOR
EDITH P. HASSEL - - SOCIETY EDITOR
CHA,RLES MACAULEY - - - CITY EDITOR
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
HELEN K. BUTLER WALLACE IRWIN
♦STAFF SGT. CARL G. THOMPSON, JR.
♦SGT. JAMES E. PATE
♦pvt, DANIEL S. RAY, III
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
ONE YEAR . - - $3.00
SIX MONTHS .... $1.50
THREE MONTHS ... - .75
ENTERED AT THE POSTOFFICE AT SOU
THERN Pines, N. C., as second class
MAIL MATTER.
CHRISTMAS 1943
This is the day the Child was
born,
All free from blame,
Who bore the wound and wore
the thorn
To save the sinful and forlorn
Who speak His name, who speak
His name.
On shepherds a new light shone
down,
That Christmas tide,
New voices sang, above the town,
A song of cheer whose holy
sound
Hath never died, hath never died.
Therefore we sing of Thee today,
Where e’er we are,
All humbly trusting that we may
Be guided by Thee on our way
As by a star, as by a star.
Then may we ponder, one by one.
On every child,
In every land beneath the sun,
Whose life on earth, just now
begun,
Is undefiled, still undefiled.
And thereon take good hope anew
From Thy bright birth.
That those who seek Thy will to
do
May to all men and children, too.
Bring peace on earth, bring peace
on earth.
The above Christmas Carol, by
James Boyd, has been set to music
by Marshall Bartholomew. It will
be sung by the Yale Glee Club at
their Christmas Concert.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
“Christmas is going to be so
hard this year”, the lady said, “I
can’t bear to think of it.”
Her voice was sad and the girl
behind the counter looked at her,
her young face very serious. Wait
ing my turn, I wondered: so many
families broken by the war, so
many gold stars softly gleaming
on the service flags.
“We have always had such a
gay Christmas”, she went on, “all
of us together, fun and parties and
a big turkey dinner. And all the
house decorated. Seems as if I
couldn’t bear even to put up holly
this year.”
“Yes”, said the girl.
“I try not to think about Christ
mas,” the lady went on, “I guess
that’s the best way, don’t you?
Because you get to thinking about
all the other times and the pres
ents and singing and you just
can’t bear it.”
“Yes,” said the girl. “This is a
hard Christmas all right . . . for
lots of folks,” she added.
The lady gave her a quick look
and picked up her package.
“Well”, she said, “thank you
,and . . . . Merry Christmas.”
The girl looked after her with
a queer expression on her face.
Her husband is in a prison
camp; she hasn’t heard from him
since last August.
I moved up. “Hello,” I said,“So,
she’s down here again?”
“Yes,” she said, “She’s been
down a couple of months.”
“She’s not wearing mourning,”
I said. “But people don’t much
any more; it’s a good thing too.”
“Mourning?” she said, “She’s
no call to wear mourning.”
“But her boys,” I said. I thought
from the way she talked that one
of the boys ...”
“They’re all right. And her hus
band too.”
“Oh. Well it’s hard enough, of
course, having them in danger.”
“They aren’t in danger.’’ Her
tone was short. “One’s in Texas
and the other’s at Benning . . .
Public Relations.”
“What!” I said. “You mean they
aren’t even overseas?”
She looked at me and then she
smiled. “I know,” she said, “and
that’s the way I felt. But they’re
good boys. One of them’ll be on
his way ovef pretty soon if he
has anything to say about it. And
the other would be too, but the
medics turned him down. They’re
O. K. They can’t help the way she
is.” She looked away. “It’s a good
thing,” she said, “that there aren’t
many like her, isn’t it? At least,”
she laughed, “good for my tem
per.”
“Good for the country, too,” I
I said. “How’s the nursing going?”
Oh fine,” she said, “I can only
get to go Sundays, but I’ve told
them to call me any night when
there’s an emergency.”
“Have they?”
“Sure. Several times. They’re
so short of nurses now.”
I picked up my package and
finally got it out: “Have you had
a letter yet?”
“Not yet,” she said. Her eyes
lifted. “But I got word he was
moved to a bigger camp and I
think maybe letters will come
through better now.”
And if you got word, I thought,
that means he’s alive. You didn’t
say that, but that is what you
were thinking.
You don’t say that kind of thing
and you smile and work all day
and kid with the other girls. At
night you go home to your sick
mother and get her fixed up and
then you get supper. And after
you’ve washed up you write your
daily letter.
Next morning you go to the
post office on the way to work.
You don’t look in the box. You
mail the letter first and watch it
slip through the slot in the wall.
It slips easily and falls with a
(little thump inside. Then you
look in the box. As you walk back
to work, people say “Good morn
ing.” Now they are saying: “Merry
Christmas.” You answer: “Merry
Christmas”. And by the time
you’ve passed the second cross
street you can say it first: “Merry
Christmas.” And by the time you
reach the A & P you can smile too
when you say it.
“Merry Christmas”;, you ;say
ai^d smile: “Merry Christmas!”
—KLB
The Passing
Years
BY CHARLES MACAULEY
Third Week of December
1943
The Rev. Thompson E. Davis
to be installed as pastor of the
Brownson Memorial Presbyterian
Church on December 26th.
Banks in North Carolina to
have three-day holiday, Decem
ber 25, 26, 27.
Negro USO quarters in West
Southern Pines gutted by fire
Saturday noon.
1939
J. H. Williams, generally known
as “Herbie” has opened a lunch
shop in the new Daniels Build
ing on New Hampshire Avenue.
Friends of W. T. Ives are glad
to see him driving his car again
following a long period of treat
ment at Duke Hospital.
1934
Miss Birdilia Bair has taken an
apartment in the Mudgett Build
ing for the winter.
Mrs. George Buttry was host
ess Monday afternoon to the Sew
ing Club.
Melvin Sanborn dies.
1929
The final top dressing has been
applied to the new Walter Page
Memorial Highway, leading from
Aberdeen to the grave of the late
Ambassador to Great Britian, and
the mile stretch of road is one
of the finest pieces of highway
construction in the State.
A. T. Shumaker dies.
1926
Blaze in “Company House”,
Pehnsylvania Avenue and Ridge
Street, night of the 11th, destroys
roof and causes other damage. ■
Burton E. Hoskins dies.
1920
“Pine Grove House. Under new
management, now open for guests.
Reasonable rates. , Mrs. Essie B.
F'armer, Bennett Street and Indi
ana Avenue.” Adv.
“Watch prices decline in the
Public Market. H. A. Lewis, Pro
prietor.” Adv.
1914
A. E. Wright, familiarly known
as “Old Facts and Figures”, re
ports having played golf 790 days
during the months of January,
February, March and April in the
years 1906 to 1914, missing only
136 days in all this time.
1909
Wednesday Postmaster Leavitt
sent north 17 bulging mail sacks,
11 going on the night trains, and
the incoming mails were not up
until 10;30 P. M. This year’s
Christma^ business is the largest
the Southern Pines postoffice has
ever done/ Postmaster Leavitt and
his willihg assistants have been
prompft/ considerate, careful and
obliging, and the thanks of the
public are due them.
J. H. Ferris, Acting Superinten
dent of the Experimental Farm,
wishes to thank all those who an
swered the call for assistance at
the recent firfe, especially Pine-
hurst and Southern Pines Fire
Departments, also James Schwartz
and Joe Bilyeu.
A. A. Moulton dies.
position, where all can secure the
correct time free of charge.
Notice. Shooting fire-crackers
and fire-works is an inappropriate
way of celebrating Christmas and
a disturber of services in the
churches. *I therefore forbid tne
Durning of fire-works in the cor
porate iiniits except in immediate
vicinity of the gunclub grounds
on N. H. Avenue. R. M. Couch,
Mayor protem.
Sand Box
Being Filled Weekly
BY WALLACE IRWIN
No really good fires have been
reported to me this week, so I’m
out on a limb, wondering what
to write about.
There’s always Science, of
course. But scientists make such
large impersonal statements that
I declare to goodness they’re right
discouraging. The way astrono
mers throw billions around re
minds me of a Senate Finance
Committee telephoning to the
Treasury Department. One as
tronomer has calculated—don’t
ask me how—that the universe is
90,000,000,000 years old. If so, it
seems to me it’s old enough to
have learned a lot of things it
hasn’t.
Dr. Hooton of Harvard, who
specialises on anthropoid apes,
says that wars should be fought
by soldiers who have passed their
sixtieth year and are willing to
die for home and gra.ndfather-
land. Harvard’s ape-expert has
certainly said a mouthful, if we
look at it from the angle of race
preservation. The only fault in his
argument is this: Elderly gentle
men would (rather talk than walk.
Fill the foxholes with military do
tards and the war would degener
ate, into a civic forum, with our
side challenging the enemy to fin
ish it in open debate. Since the
Nazi propagandists are gymnasts
and jugglers, the combat might
end in a negotiated peace. Which
is the thing we don’t want the
most.
The proper time for such a
clash of superior minds would be
a few years before a war gets
started. Or after this war is over
—provided we can gather togeth
er enough mature and sturdy
brains to banish mass killing from
the face of the earth. That ideal,
I think, is what we’re fighting
for-
Mature and sturdy brains seem
to be occupied in correcting what
we’re told is a shortage in war
material. Certainly there is man
power enough, as has been dem
onstrated by our miracles of pro
duction since Pearl Harbor. The
job now seems to be to get the
workers from places where they
don’t belong to places where they
do. Mr. Hearst’s Westbrook Peg-
lar might savagely inform us that
all the trouble comes from labor-
coddling and absenteeism. Half
true, as usual. Brother Peg. And
it is a move in the right direction
for the Government to close
down a few race tracks which
have been diverting mechanics
from turning oUt the shells and
trucks and tires which we so ur
gently need.
Laborers, they say, are drifting
away from war factories in quest
of more permanent jobs. Doing
what, I ask? If the management
of kewpie-doll factories and pic
ture postcard works are offering
better time and better wages to
men and women who were mak
ing trucks and tents and ammu
nition, then the doll-and-card fac
tories should be curtailed or
closed for the duration. For all I
know these particular industries
are already closed or curtailed.
But somebody is certainly do
ing a booming business in the
unneccessary,, or our war workers
wouldn’t be lured away.
It’s Christmas time, and we
shouldn’t be harsh with the gen
erous habit of buying and giving.
The retail trade is having a hard
enough time, anyhow, and it’s
nice to think of the shops doing
a thriving business, selling the
things we need and want. Yes,
and the toys that children need,
because in childhood play is a
positive hunger.
But let’s look at the upper
bracket. A frame of New York
holiday advertising asks us “to
be sure ^to see our new collection
of Christmas-gift mink . . . Un
usual at $3950.” This ad vies with
a more sumptuous one, offering
a variety of Russian sables, a few
of them valued at $65,000. And
jewels, jewels, jewels! Black dia
monds, whatever they are, and
enough sapphires and emeralds
to make the Queen of Sheba click
like a Venetian chandelier . . .
Miami, which is always the goat
when newspaper correspondents
want to kick about vulgar vanity,
is said to bulge with imperial
furs and royal diadems, which
unaccountable visitors buy as
you’d buy beans—provided you
have the ration books with you.
And somebody down there pays
$100 a fifth for imported Scotch.
Are our man power boards go
ing into these luxury shops and
seeing what can be done about
it? Maybe. I hope so. The furs
might be put away in mothproof,
the jewels interned in safe de
posit for the duration and the
vendors transferred to useful
fields. Elderly saldsm.en and sales
ladies who are physically unfit
for the factory labor should not
be made to suffer a hardship,
’.’’hey could serve at more modest
counters where the people buy
the things they really need, or
really can afford. And the uni
dentified customers who bid so
lightly for $65,000 sables, let’s
find out who they are. And where
they got it.
All this sounds pretty sour for
a Christmas message, doesn’t it?
I’m not buying Russian sables or
black diamonds. Honest, I’m not.
If I can’t afford to go into the
market for these things, I can af
ford to criticize.
But I bet my weekly $2.50 that
we could do a lot toward solving
the man power problem if we dis
couraged trade in the ineffectual
things.
I’m willing to give up that
$11,000,000 Half Pint Club build
ing project. Nobody seems to be
doing much about it, anyhow.
U. S. 0.
NOTES
Christmas
Plans for Christmas at the Sou
thern Pines U. S. O. are now com
pleted. The Club jias been beauti
fully decorated by the hostesses
and soldiers.
Those at the Club have been
quite busy buying presents for
soldiers who are unable to come
in and do their own shopping.
Presents for wives, mothers and
sweethearts are attractively wrap
ped and mailed for service men.
After the generous manner in
which residojits of Southern Pines
contributed to making a real
Thanksgiving for servicemen from
Camp Mackall, we would like to
solicit a little Christmas spirit.
Anyone who can invite soldiers
home for Christmas dinner is
asked to call 8932.
Christmas Program
Christmas Dance will be held
Saturday night, December 23, at
at FIRST
SION OF A
Cold Preparations as directed
Telephone
6161
J. N. Powell, Inc.
Funeral Home
24 hour Ambulance Serrlce
H. Stanley Austin
Manager
Southern Pines
8 p. m. All junior hostesses are
urged to attend.
Christmas Eve morning break
fast will be seryed from 9 to 12.
Mrs. Thomas Sutliffe wiU be in
charge, assisted by Grace Hawk
and Camelita Stevenson. Christ
mas Eve supper will be served
from 6 to 7 p. m. Hostesses will
be Mrs. Ernest Poate, Carolyn
Priest, Virginia Ray, Alice Mae
McNeill \and Virginia Hoskins.
Bingo will be played afterwards
from 7 until 9, prizes for all win
ners. Members of the community
are cordially invited to attend the
bingo party.
Christmas morning breakfast
will be served from 9 to 12. Tur
key dinner will be served from
5 to 7. Open house and informal
games all Christmas Day.
Band Concert
U. S. O. is sponsoring a concert
to be given by the 541st Band at
the High School Auditorium Jan
uary 14 for servicemen and mem
bers of the community. The time
will be announced later.
Snack Bar
Our Snack Bar is now open at
all times' serving hot dogs, ham-
lurgers, sandwiches, cake and
coffee. We wish to express our ap
preciation to all who have donat
ed doughnuts, cakes and cookies.
Delicious gifts such as these are
always more than welcome.
EtDciency Advance
Owing to great advances in effl- i
ciency the output of minerals in 1938
was produced by half as many
miners as were required to produce
the same amount in 1914.
itiXixtuitixmiUititt
a
WE WILL PAY
CASH
For Your
USED CARS
H Pinehurst Garage
H
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We know our personal friends, business clients and acquaint
ances will join heartily with us in our Christmas wishes and
thoughts for those in and out of the Uniform of the United States
and Allied Nations—all striving for the same Cause.
We wish them, each and every one, quick success in, their
several tasks and a speedy return to their hearths and homes.
Eugene C. Stevens
Paul Jernigan
Blanche Sherman
Jimmie Hobbs
COTXIE’S
PRESENT S
ELINORE and Her All-Girl Orchestra
LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
NIGHTLY AT 8:00 P.M.
•.i *
One Mile Soutli of Souftierll pines
Phone 6793
in the good old fashioned way. .
from
Mrs. Hayes Shop
Our Christmas Insurance Policy
Insures You To An Unlimited Amount of
CHRISTMAS CHEER
And a Victorious and Prosperous 1945
PAUL T. BARNUM. INC.
JOHN S. RUGGLES GARLAND A. PIERCE
Complete INSURANCE Service
Citizens Bank Bldg. Telephone 5151
Southern Pines, N. C.