THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
Friday, July 4, 1952
THE PILOT
Published Each Friday ^
THE PILOT. INCORPORATED
Stiiuthern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD. Publisher—1344
KATHARINE BOYD Editor
VALERIE NICHOLSON Asst. Editor
DAN S. ray General Manager
C. G. COUNCIL Advertising
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Entered at thh Postoffice at Southern Pines, N. C.,
as second class mail matter
Member National Editorial Association and
N. C. Press Association
‘In taking over The Pilot no changes are con
templated. We will try to keep this a good paper.
We will try to make a little money for all con
cerned. Where there seems to be an occasion to
use our influence for the public good we will try
to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”
—James Boyd, May 23, 1941.
Our New Lake
The opening of Knollwood lake, Southern
Pines’ lovely new swimming- and recreation
spot, Friday at 2 p. m. is an occasion for cheers
and rejoicing. We hope everybody will turn out
for the informal dedication program, appropri
ately equipped for a swim or picnic afterward.
This is one of the nicest things which has hap
pened to our town in years. It has taken consid
erable effort to reach this point and of course
it is just a beginning. Much remains to be done
in the way of additions and improvements, in
which everyone can have a hand, with all reap
ing enjoyment.
The need of such a place has been felt for
years, and Mayor Page and every town commis
sioner can i^estify this has been the one recur
ring question from young and old—“When will
we have our lake?”
We have appreciated the use of Aberdeen
lake, Pinebluff lake and others, but there is
nothing like having our own. Now we have it-^
a lovely one, with clear, fine sparkling water
from springs flowing out of the clean sand; with
woods and a beach, and picnic facilities.
Wje are grateful to E. H. Mills of Pine-
bluff for his gift of the lake and land; to the
town board for the unswerving course they
steered to secure us our heart’s desire; and to
Jerry V. Healy, chairman, and all those who
have helped him on this “Finer Carolina” pro
ject.
It all adds up to a splendid new community
asset, to provide healthful recreation, relaxation
and spori, and to have our fullest appreciation
for generations to come.
A Holiday Dearly Bought
American holidays mark wonderful mile
stones—wonderful in that they mark, in most
cases, historic actions of unprecedented import,
filled with the wonder of the emergence of a
free people and the stating of their position
before all the world.
Our American holidays, today enjoyed as
times of rest, fun and recollection, were dearly
bought, and none more so than the Fourth of
July.
In the midst of the pleasures and festivals
with which we traditionally mark this midsum
mer holiday, it is well to reflect that no other
nation has such a birthday anniversary.
It was a day of terrible birth pangs—the sever
ance of a new nation from its mother nation,
with all the hopes, fears, doubts and question
ings which have always accompanied such natal
events. Many questioned whether or not the in
fant nation could really survive. Many did not
even want it to, and had fought hard to keep
the sepal-ation from occurring. The sponsors and
guardians of the new nation did not at the time
enjoy the confidence of all, and it is only with
the passage of years that their names have be
come imbued, with luster now untarnishable.
Today we cannot imagine ourselves as other
than a free nation, and a great one, a leader in
the world. Yet, as we have consolidated our
gains, established our freedom and thriven on
it, in recent years the shadow of freedom’s loss
has encompassed half the world. Its chill can
reach even to-us, in the midst of our midsum
mer celebrating; and for every thinking person
the patriotic programs and the decorations of
red, white and blue take on new significance in
the light cf potential danger.
Let us qjl then enjoy our holiday, in the tra
ditional ways so peculiarly our own; but also let
us remember what it has cost, not only in 1776
but many times since, what it is costing today
in Korea in terms of blood, suffering and sepa
ration, and what, unless we cherish most dear
ly all tha*^ it stands for, it may yet cost, or else
be lost.
lican help in choosing a Senatorial nominee, nor
did we feel that supporters of any candidate for
nomination should do so. We were Democrats
threshing out our own party problems among
ourselves, .and that is the way it should be.
Democrats who wish to change their stripes,
or Republicans wanting to do the same, can do
so at the appropriate time, during registration
periods ci in casting their ballot where, nomi
nees of both parties are standing for election.
Evidence was published that the Taft faction
also in Texas invited “disgusted and disillusion
ed Democrats” ‘to attend their county and state
conventions to help elect delegates. If this was
so, we think they were wrong and acting con
trary not only to party rules but party interests.
There has been no published evidence that
any Democrats accepted the invitation of the
Taft faction. They flocked over to the meetings
of the Eisenhower group, however, and helped
elect delegates which are now contesting the
seating of the others. .
Let the registered Republicans choose their
own delegates and nominees; let the registered
Democrats do the same; the general election
next November will be the time for “disgusted
and disillusioned” Democrats, or ( Republicans
either, for that matter, to cast their ballot for
whichever candidate they like.
The Pageants Are Starting
“Horn in The West,” the latest pageant-drama
from the pen of Kermit Hunter, opened at
Boone last week.
The news should bring a feeling of pleasure to
many hero who heard Mr. Hunter when he
spoke to the Moore County Historical Associa
tion a year ago. The meeting, held at the then
home of Struthers Burt, was one of the most
interesting ever held by the society.and large
ly because of Mr. Hunter’s inspiring address. He
told about the writing and production of his
first pageant, “Unto These Hills,” the story of
the Cherokee Nation which he had just com
pleted. He was then working on that production
and also turning over in his mind the ideas
which later developed into “Horn in The West.”
It comes as no surprise to all who heard Mr.
Hunter that- night to hear that his last work is
in the same high mood of poetic beauty and hu
man feeling, a stirring presentation of the great
trek through the hills to the promised land, “the
dark and bloody ground,” as it was called,
along the trail blazed by Daniel Boone.
North Carolina, it appears, is a good breed
ing-ground for pageanteers and its history full
cf the m.aterial on which they may draw for
inspiration. But our writers are not confining
themselves to this state. Both Kermit Hunter
and Paul Green have strayed, the latter north to
take up the story of Old Plymouth, and the for
mer, Mr, Hunter, out to Illinois where his drama
of Lincoln’s early days playd to packed houses
all last summer and is fully expected to keep
right on going.
We are indee4 fortunate to have such talent
ihere and, more, to have it concern itself with
our history. We can’t be reminded of it too
often.
No. 11
Do Yoti Know Your Old Southern Pines
The "Texas Steal?"
By the time this is published the Republicans
may have straightened out some of their more
complicated iqternal affairs, such as the dele
gate contests. Certainly we can set ourselves up
as no judge or arbiter of these affairs, at least
until those most concerned get together to seek
a solution, or compromise, of sorts. All may be
smoothed cut in harmonious fashion—we doubt
it, but it may, and. we hope that it will, since
party harmony is the end to be achieved.
Concerning the Texas matter, however, called
the “Texas steal” by the Eisenhower faction, we
cannot help feeling that, for both parties, nom
ination contests are excfusively intra-party af
fairs. It is fine, right and general to invite mem
bers of all or any parties to vote for which
ever candidate they choose in the general elec
tion; but the selection of those candidates should
be accomplished only by the duly registered
and legally affiliated members of the parties
concerned.
We as Democrats were extremely resentful
of the behind-the-scenes meddling by Republi
cans seen in our State primary of May 1950. We
certainly never had any idea of seeking Repub
Cynicism's Little Helper
The House of Representatives has passed an
amendment to the appropriations bill which
would give members of Congress tax exemp
tions not available to other citizens or, in par
ticular, to others on the federal payroll who re
side and work in Washington under essentially
the same conditions as do congressmen.
It did this, according to the chief of this news
paper’s Washington bureau, without referring
the amendment to committee, without holding
hearings, without permitting debate, and with
out a roll-call vote.
In 1946 Congress voted itself a pay increase
of 50 per cent—to a $12,500 annual salary, a
tax-free $2,500 expense fund and 20 cents a mile
for one i-ound trip per session from the home
town to Washington. The increase was long
overdue, and this newspaper supported it
wholeheartedly. A very good case can be made
in 1952 that even this level of compensation is
inadequate, causes hardships in some cases, and
discourages some able men from seeking office.
But special tax exemptions—which would
permit congressmen to claim.all of their living
expenses while in Washington (usually 10
months out of the 12), and all their travel costs
as deductions from taxable income—are no way
to solve the problem. And when such a dubious
solution is “sneaked” into the legislative hop
per the performance is impossible to defend.
Enough corruptible public servants, enough
unscrupulous politicians, enough irresponsible
commentators who cultivate the hate-market,
seem to be doing their best to create a national
attitude of cynicism toward all government.
Does Congress have to join the wrecking crew?
We trust the Senate will see the folly of leger
demain and meet the payissue forthrightly and
in the open.
—CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Says Ike
Inflation, Gen. Eisenhower remarked at his
press conference in Abilene, would cause prices
and everything else to go “skyhootin’ ” cein be
proved to have a Kansas origin. In fact, most
dictionaries of good or bad usage do not even
mention it. and “The American Thesaurus of
Slang” merely lists it with other words under
“to depart hurriedly.”
We do not know where skyhootin’ came from.
Maybe it came from the old West, when Wild
Bill Hickok was the law in Abilene, and the
cowpokes sometimes went skyhootin’ off their
ornery broncs. In any event, it is that kind of
word, and “to depart hurriedly” is a tepid
translation
Skyhootin’ is skedaddling in an upward and
outward direction. It is more explosive than to
up and dust. And speaking of inflation, that’s
exactly what General Eisenhower meant.
—ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH
By CONSTANCE FOSTER
People are talking about. . .
THE WEATHER! Only one
thing good about it so far as I’m
concerned. On a blistering hot day
I can give myself up to an orgy
of reading without having it both
er my conscience. In fact there
isn’t much else , you can do
with any degree of comfort.
Losing yourself in a good book
is the only way I know to forget
that rising red column of mer
cury in the thermometer. Here
are a couple that k^pt my mind
off the heat:
EIDOLON, by J. David Stern,
Julian Messner, Inc., $3.00
Newt w;as a haploid. Don’t'
Here is another inviting Southern Pines home of a haK century
ago. We’d like to have a chance right now to relax on that won
derful tree-shaded porch. Maybe there are people here today who
used to do that very thing, or who can tell us, anyway, whose house
it was, and if it is still standing and where.
It was nice to' go into Jack’s
Grill the other day, sit down at
the table and, even before we
reachd for the menu, have our
friend who was waiting on the
table s.ay: “I know what this cus
tomer wants,” and trot right off to
get it.
That’s the sort of thing that, we
maintain, we should have more
of in America. We stick in that
“in America” because we found
it one cf the fun things of eating
when we were abroad last year.
As contrasted to what has been
our usual experience in most home
restaurants, the business of eating
a meal is taken seriously abroad,
the customer’s tastes are noted,
and catered to assiduously. They
may not always be approved;
fatherless boy as his own son.
It was something of an ordeal,
even for a psychiatrist, to have a
child on his psychoanalytic hands
who read at the age of one year,
and recited the multiplication
tables up to 14 times 14 at a few
weeks short of two. Seems it was
due to an eidetic memory. There
wasn’t anything Newt couldn’t
do except adjust himself happily
to the ordinary mortals around
him. I got a kick out of this book,
but finished it with profound
gratitude that I’m diploid.
I
THE ROAD TO BITHYNIA, by
Frank G. Slaughter, Doubleday &
Company.
Somehow' I missed this book
blame me, the heat, or the type- when it was first published last
a hand signal for turning or
stopping.
- We have our annual message
from P. T. Kelsey, who invariably
picks the hottest time of summer
(in North Carolina) to brag on
how cool it is where HE is . . .
Sometimes it’s San Mateo, Cal.,
sometimes (as now) Holderness,
N. H. ... Wherever he goes, it
is always lovely and cool. . .He
SAYS. '
“Wish we might send you some
of this delightful cool, fresh air.
You have my sincere sympathy
in having to endure the temper
atures as reported. Hope you all
survived it in good shape! Best
regards—PTK.”
Drat the man!
sometimes, for instance, one is
reminded gently that this is just, Bet you dbn t know who was
a little past the best season for mayor of Southern Pines back
eggplant. You did have it last in 1891, or who was p9stmaster(
week, with the cheesy sauce that or town clerk, or on the town
was sc delectable, but now it’s
just a little late: the vegetables
are bigger and older and the
taste is too strong. But barring
such minor cautions individual
tastes are carefully followed.
And so it was at Jack’s last
week. We hadn’t been in there for
goodness knows how long, being
in 'the habit of having a glass of
milk and salad at home, but there
it was: our glass of milk came and
the junior club sandwich we al
ways like. How the girls can re
member, with all the people they a
serve and the different kinds of
food is beyond us. But it certain
ly is nice. Which waitress? Well
■that day it was our neighbor, Vic
toria Fitanides.
An air-conditioned cooling sys
tem has been installed in the
meeting place, of the Fireside
Group of Alcoholics Anonymous
Wonder why the boys didn’t save
a little expense by simple mov
ing their chairs back a bit from
the fire.
Comment from a distinguished
attorney over the announcement,
made at a recent Kiwanis meet
ing, that the members had dona
ted an air-conditioning unit for
the Labor Room of the Moore
County Hospital maternity wing:
“Looks like it was the least they
could do.”
From a Contributor comes an
offering which strikes us as sin
gularly appropriate for a holiday
weekend. . . A time when many
drivers relax normal cautions,
though traffic conditions are at
their most hazardous.
He writes, “I wish* you might
find space to insert this from the
New York Times of Sunday, June
1.
“I agree with the writer, that
many accidents, otherwise avoid
able, occur from one-hand driv
ing. One day while eating a road
side lunch I particularly observed
passing cars, and I believe that
fully three ‘drivers out of four
were driving with one hand, and
most of them with, the left hand
hanging out, or extended upward
grasping the edge of the car top.
I know of five cases of car driv
ers losing their left arms because
they were protruding outside of
the car.”
TWO HANDS
The perils of one-handed
driving are cited by the Key
stone Automobile club, which
warns drivers against cooling
the left hand by dangling it
out the window while guiding
the car with the right hand.
The club points out that the
operator relying on one hand
cannot cope well with emer
gency conditions—^that the
second required to get both
hands into action may mean
the difference between safety
and injury. Hand dangling is
also confusing to other driv
ers, who may think they see
board.
We wouldn’t know either, if
Mrs. Elizabeth K. Campbell had
not brought a yellowed old news
paper to the office the other day.
She had found it among papers
which had belonged to her broth
er, the late Lawrence Shields of
Carthage, and had been packed
away since he attended the . New
England Conservatory of Music in
the 1890s.
Apparently he subscribed to the
Jonesboro Leader, for there was
copy, and under a heading
“Southern Pines” such pertinent
facts were given as post office
hours (open just one hour Sun
day!) and the town officials. W.
R. Raymond was mayor; L. A.
Young town clerk and treasurer;
and commissioners were G. H.
Saddleson, P. Pond, R. M. Couch,
L. A. Young and Thomas E. Wig-
gin. (And they must have been
the ones who gave up all the town
rights in the alleys in 1892, caus
ing unforeseeable trouble and
lawsuits 60 years later.)
A. M. Clarke was postmaster,
and Fred Chatfield was town con
stable.
setter for that sentence. Moreover,
he was produced by parthenogen-
which means that he had a
mother but no father. In short,
this novel is a fantasy but an ex
tremely erudite one, spiked with
much fascinating philosophy
about science and religion. I had
a feeling that the author used his
arresting plot mostly as a peg on
which to hang his own ideas. It
seems to be more Mr. Stern than
21-year-old Newt talking when
this haploid prodigy launches into
one of his learned monologues.
Yet this is a singularly absorbing
story with plenty of suspense and
excitehient.
Reporter Sam Raleigh, gifted
with a nice sense of humor, tells
the yarn. He’s the slave of Ex
press publisher Wade Powers who
is a sort of cross between Kipling’s
Puck o’ Book’s Hill and Lob in
Barrie’s Dear Brutus. Wade push
es men around the way he does
the p’awns on his chess board.
When he discovers the mysterious
ly brilliant Newton Muir, equal
ly proficient at track and chess
or anything else you’d care to
name, nothing will do but he
must acquire him, for his collec
tion. This collection fever compli
cates a lot of other lives, including
Sam’s marriage to Penny. And it
doesn’t help matters when Wade’s
beautiful but amoral mistress,
Maritza, develops a yeyn for the
gorgeous haploid.
Seems a haploid is a creature
with only half the usual number
of chromosoihes, due to having no
paternal contribution. IWTartha
West, Newt’s beautiful young
mother, had really told the truth
and wasn’t fooling about her eso
teric experience in the garret
where she fasted for 15 days and
“willed” her child’s conception.
It made things difficult for the
elderly psychiatrist who had
promised to divorce his wife and
marry her if she succeeded. But
he stuck to his bargain, and after
Martha drowned herself because
matrimony didn’t appeal to her
after miracles. Dr. Muir raised the
Old Picture No. 10
The elderly couple shown
in front of their vine-covered
home in Old Picture No. 10
were the Rev. and Mrs. Em
ery, of Maine, according to
majority opiniop. “I recogniz
ed them at once—they were
old friends,” said Mrs. J. S.
Reynolds. Miss Ethel Jones
also said they were the Em-
erys, who came here to live
following Mr. Emery’s retire
ment from the Baptist min
istry.
Mrs. Reynolds and Miss
Jones, also Ray Trudell, who
said he drove around hunting
for the house and finally
spotted it, agree that the
Emery home is . now that of
the R. W. Tates, on the cor
ner of Connecticut avenue and
Page street. It looks different
now, without all those vines,
and with the fence gone also,
but has actually not been re
modeled to any extent.
Dr. G. G. Herr and Dr. E...
W. Bush, discussing the pic
ture, thought the couple might
be Mr. and M|rs. Robinson,
who owned Piney Woods Inn.
A ^ series of dairy cattle fitting
and Showing demonstrations held
recently in the State attracted an
attendance of about 500 4-H, FFA,
and calf club members, according
to dairy specialists at State Col
lege.
year and hope you won’t. It is the
story of Luke, the beloved physi
cian and apostle. Ordinarily I am
lukewarm (no pun intended!)
about novels based on Biblical
characters, preferring to take my
King James straight and without
benefit of fictional improvisation.
But Frank Slaughter has done a
beautiful job on this one and I
like it better than the Lloyd Doug
las or Sholem Asch attempts at
the same sort of thing.
You really feel as if you were
living back in the time of Acts as
you read these pages, shudder at
the stoning of Stephen, partici
pate in the healings performed
by the Company of the Fish who
were called Christians first in An
tioch, and meet many who had
actually known Jesus.
Luke grows up from a young
boy, interestd in medicine, to a
stalwart, disciplined surgeon who
has been won from his early in
tellectual doubts to a profound
faith in the teachings he first
found written on the scroll, en
trusted to him by the dying Steph
en, and later expanded into his
gospel.
The early story of medicine, as
it was known in those days, par
ticularly intrigued me. Major
operations were performed with
only poppy seed to dull, the sensi
tivities of the victim, and four
strong men to hold him down
when he struggled against the
knife.
Not everyone will agree with
the portrayal of Paul’s character.
He is represented as far from a
saint. But to me there seem plenty
of grounds for supposing that he
must have been pretty inflexible
and autocratic. He was certainly
intolerant of Christians before his
conversion. It is reasonable to pre
sume that he was equally intoler
ant of foibles after his vision on
the Road to Damascus. If you’d
like to take a trip t* the Holy
Land but can’t, read this book in
stead. For a few hours it made me
oblivious to the heat of a Sand
hills Scorcher.
DRIVE CAREFULLY—SAVE A LIFE!
HAVE YOUR CLOTHES CLEANED
—at—
ySLET
D. C. JENSEN
Where Cleaning and Prices Are Better!
The Prudential Insurance Comipan’/
of America
L» T. "Judge" Aver'^, Special Agent
Box 1278 SOUTHERN I^INES .Tel. 2-4353
W. C. Hilderman
REAL ESTATE BROKER
Ph. 2-7264 225 Weymouth Rd.
Southern Pines, N. C.
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—on—
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From 7:30 a. m. till 11:30 p. m.
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