THURSDAY, JULY 19. 1956
THE PILOT—Southern Pines. North Carolina
Summer Reading
(Vardis Fisher, the Idaho
novelist and author of “The
Children of God” and “Pas
sions Spin the Plot.” has writ
ten a new novel entitled
“Pemmican,” which is the
story of the Hudson’s Bay
Company in Canada’s most
turbulent times. The title of
his book derives from “pem-
micein,” the dried buffalo
meat pounded into psiste with
melted fat, which was the
main item in the diet of the
trappers and hunters in the
early days of the American
West. Mr. Fisher wanted
some of his readers to taste
some present-day penunican.
His book was published by
Doubleday on June 21, and
the following article is an ac
count of his search for the
elusive item. —Editor)
The thought of pemmican, the
food, was naturally never very
far from my mind while I was
writing “Pemmican,” the novel.
But I kept down niy appetite for
the food and I kept up my work
on the book. Then, when I was
through with the writing, I deci
ded I had to have another taste
of the famous staple of the
mighty men of the North.
From my typewriter, as the
book took shape, I had looked
north towards Canada, where I
could see the whole area from
Peace River to Thunder Bay
simply bulging with the stuff,
and squaws with their drying-
racks everywhere. I got off an
air mail to the Edmonton Cham
ber of Commerce, asking them to
ship me fifteen pounds along
with the bill. What I got was a
short note which said, “There’s
no pemmican up here.” They
seemed to imply that there might
be tons of it down there, perhaps
at the South Pole.
I then air mailed the chambers
in Calgary, Regina and Winni
peg, and received almost identi
cal notes; “We haven’t a ghost of
an idea where you can find pem
mican. Suggest you write the
Secretary of the Hudson’s Bay
Co.” Still sanguine, still convinc
ed there were mountains of it up
there, I wrote the secretary of ‘ye
olde honourable cie’ and got a
real shock: “We haven’t a ghost
of an idea Where you can find
pemmican. Suggest you write the
Chamber of Commerce in Ed
monton.”
Well, I was right back where I
started from, and a little wiser—
and a lot hungrier. My wife.
Opal, was convinced that Alaska
must be full of it, and since the
had sources there, she got off air
mail letters. I hustled over to my
friend Dr. Edwin S. (‘Robby’)
Robinson, who goes fishing or big
game hunting away up in Head
less Valley or the Valley of the
Thousand Smokes; or on the
Peace, the Smoky, the Liard, the
Nelson or the Mackenzie river. I
had heard him say that he had
brought pemmican home.
^ I stated my problem—that I
wanted my publisher to send kits
to various book reviewers and
dealers, including tubes of such
famous Western scents as sage,
buffalo bush, buckskin, maybe a
little jar of huckleberry and
chokeberry jelly (the finest on
earth); and, of course, a sample of
pemmican. Robby said, “I’ll have
you a hundred pounds within a
week.” I told him I thought a
hundred pounds was more than
all of us could eat, for a little of
it went a long way. He said he
had a chunk in the basement and
we turned the basement upside
down, but all we could find was
tons of various semi-precious
its posts in the area, including the
most distant. No pemmican. A
dozen soldiers at the Army post
at Fairbanks had searched the
country almost to the North Pole.
No pemmican.
Robby by now had become so
sensitive and my hunger so rav
enous that he winced when I
used the word pemmican. He said
he would try* again but his voice
was weak. So in desperation, I
^ot an air mail off to Senator
Henry C. Dworshak, saying,
“Dear Henry, I’m calling a novel
‘Pemmican’ and I’ve simply got
to have some. They took it all to
the South Pole. CJan you get me
a hunk of it?” Tlie Senator re
plied that he would do his
damdest, and for weeks I got re
ports from him. 'The first said,
“We have picked up a lead on the
source.” The source, I supposed,
was Canada. The second said,
“Give us just a little longer, we
lare close enough to smell the
stuff.” The third said, “We almost
have it, how much do you want?”
And then the blow fell. ’The
stuff taken to the South Pole, re
ported in the American press as
pemmican, apparently had not
been pemmican at all. It was caU-
stones and petrified woods. Sine* I ed Trail Ration and was con-
Page THREE
Intonutional Uniform
Sunday School Loeaona
BY DR. KENNETH J. FOREMAN
Baokffrolind Serlptare: Acts 2:44-47:
Hebrews 10:19-25; 11:1—13:8.
Devotienal Reading: Spheslans 4:1-13.
Great Company
Lesson for July 22, 1956
well-aged pemmican resembles
petrified wood, Robby said he
guessed he must have made it up
into necklaces and earrings.
No matter. He had dozens of
friends up North, he would get
wires off at once. A week later I
went over to get the pemmican
and found his face off-color. His
friend, H. Bowtell, at Beaver
Lodge, Alberta, a government tel
egrapher, had sent telegrams all
over the vast country. Stewart
Anderson, trapper, hunter and
guide, at Dawson Creek, and
Jack Andrews, a trapper on the
upper reaches of the Peace, had
almost chased the legs off their
dogs but had found no pemmican.
Robby and I had a lunch of
chipped beef, which he says is
about the same thing; and he
said, “You really Want pemmi
can? Man, you’ll be standing in it
up to your neck.” All he had to
do was get off another bunch of
telegrams.
After two weeks I went over
.and found his face as red as
moose liver. James Watts, ex-
olorer. mapper, geologist, of
Headless Valley in the Northwest
Territories (stories about his hair-
raising adventures once appeared
all over this country), had found
no pemmican. The Hudson’s Bay
Co. at Fort Nelson away up the
Nelson river had sent wires to all
coded by an enterprising gentle
man on the eastern seaboard who,
so far as I know, has never been
west of Charleston, and couldn’t
possibly tell a Holstein from a
moose. I assume that the meat he
uses is plain old beef or Carolina
deer.
Senator Dworshak expressed
his regrets, as well as the hope
that I would, in spite of his fail
ure, vote for him next time. Opal
and I returned to the hopeless
search. I called Doc Robby but
was told that he was not answer
ing the phone. A letter came re
ferring us to a gentleman u,p in
North Dakota. I don’t know what
he makes or what he calls it, but
it certainly isn’t the good old
pemmican of the kind the squaws
made, when they poured melted
hump fat over the pow
dered jerky, and mixed in the
flies and beetles and their own
sweat, and everything else that
got in the way.
The letters are still coming in
One received only yesterday says
‘T suggest that you write the Sec
retary of the Hudson’s Bay Co.
As a matter of fact, I think
will.
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Members New York Stock Exchange
105 East Pennsylvania Avenue
Southern Pines, N. C.
Telephone: Southern Pines 2-3731 and 2-3781
Complete Investment and Brokerage Facilities
Direct Wire to our Main Office in New York
A. E. RHINEHART
Resident Manager
Consultations by appointment on Saturdays
Shop Sprott Bros.
FURNITURE Co.
Sanford. N. C.
For Quality Furniture
and Carpet
• Heritage-Henredon
• Drexel
• Continental
• Mengel
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Bedding
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■\/f AN is not made for loneliness.
He not only feels incomplete
when circumstances force him for
a time to live alone; he is actually
incomplete. It is only through ex
istence with others that we arrive
at our true selves. People who
have never thought this through
know it by a kind
of instinct. That
is why there are
so many organi
zations and socie
ties and fraterni
ties and groups of
innumerable sorts
in the world.
Even when an or
ganization has no
very important Foreman
reason for its existence, its mem
bers just like to get together.
The Great Company
Of all groups of human beings,
the greatest is the “great com
pany” we call the Church. Belong
ing to it is more than joining an
other organization. It is more than
any denomination, more than any
existing list of members, even if
you put all the members of all the
churches into one master-list. The
writer to the Hebrews, thinking of
the heroes of faith, does not think
of them as past-and-gone saints.
They live now; they are the great
“cloud of witnesses”—the cheering
grandstand, we may dare to say
—in whose presence our own race
is being run. They are living mem
bers of the Fraternity of Faith.
All those who have dreamed God’s
dreams after him, all who have
looked beyond their times to the
heavenly city yet to be, all wha
have toiled to make this world a
bit more like the world of God’s
intention, who have by faith seen
what God promised and greeted it
from afar; these make up the com
pany to which every man and
woman is invited; these are the
light-bearers, the builders, to
whose fellowship every Christian
belongs. Men of faith often have
to live lonely lives; they can be
misunderstood, imprisoned, tor
tured and killed; but they take
heart, knowing that they do not
stand alone.
Marching With the Heroes
For some persons, precise accu
racy of belief is what makes a
good Christian. Surely accuracy of
belief is a good thing. To say the
least of it, there is no point in
believing what isn’t so, or not be
lieving what is so. But from the
standpoint of this letter to the He
brews, indeed from the standpoint
of Jesus himself, accuracy of be
lief and completeness of under
standing are not the last word in
what makes a Christian. Faith, in
the way the word meets us in the
famous nth chapter of Hebrews,
is not votjng “aye” to a set of
propositions. Faith is doing some
thing for man and God. It can be
expressed in the slogan, “Expect
great things from God; attempt
great things lor God.” Faith of
this rousing, robust kind is more
than thinking, it is doing. It is
thinking too; faith certainly is no
substitute for thought. Reading the
stories of the men and women the
writer to the Hebrews lists in his
roll-call of faith, one finds them
planning ahead, working, fighting,
never blindly but with the deter
mination that comes from a think
ing faith. Heroes think, plan, be
lieve; but also heroes DO. It is
the doing that makes them heroic.
So the Great Company is a march
ing, fighting company, marching
at God’s orders; fighting God’s
war.
Supermen?
Thinking about such things, and
such men, has put iron into the
blood of many weaker men and
women, struggling through their
own battles on this earth. But it
has a discouraging side, too. These
men—Abraham, Moses, all the
rest, and all the others that Chris
tian history can name—these he
roes of faith were supermen, we
feel. Quite out of our class. In such
a company, many a humble Chris
tian feels like a boy who can’t do
simple arithmetic being elected by
accident to a Mathematical Soci
ety, or a boy twelve years old sud
denly finding himself in the mid
dle of a football game between
Notre Dame and Texas. It’s em
barrassing. But no—that is a mis
take. The men named to that Roll-
Call of Faith were not really
supermen. Indeed some of them
felt so small that they tried to re
sign before God elected them. By
themselves they would have been
no more remarkable than our
selves. For after all, it was not
their faith, or their character, or
their power, that made them; it
was the God in whom they had
that faith, who made them. And
God still makes men! j
(Based on outlines copyrighted' by the
Division of Christian Education, Na
tional Connell of the Churches of Christ
in the U. 8. A. Released by Community
Press Service.)
Bookmobile
Schedule
Tuesday, July 24—Michael’s
Store, 9:15; Mrs. Ben Blue 9:45,
Vebna Prim 10, Mrs. J. Blue
10:30. C. F. Wicker 11, Mrs. H. A.
Blue 11:15, Love’s Store 11:30, E.
B. Cook 12:15, Mrs. Green 12:30,
Mrs. Lewis 12:45.
Thursday, July 26—Inmans
9:45, Highfalls 10, Putnam 11:15,
Glendon 12:30, Miss Alma Ed
wards 1 p. m. Willcox 1:30, Miss
Nicholson 2:15, Carthage 2:45.
Friday, July 27—^Wi. E. Graham
9:45, Jackson Springs 10:15, Carl
Tuckers 11, Philip Boroughs
11:30, Adele McDonald 12,
George Hunt 12:15, Betty Mc
Kenzie 12i30.
In a miove to check the spread
of the Mediterranean fruit fly,
USDA has awarded a contract to
a firm to stray 180,000 acres
along the southeastern coast of
Florida.
PILOT ADVERTISING PAYS
DRIVE CAREFULLY — SAVE A LIFE!
coBnv&Y seossaop
CLOSED JULY 1 TO AUGUST 15
Have your Venter Clothes Cleaned
and Stored for the Summer at
The
Valei
D. C. JENSEN
Where Cleaning and Prices Are Better!
Attend The Church of Your Choice Next Sunday
+^OLD TIG-fiT !
Ever find yourself caught out in the middle
of a storm with your umbrella blowing itself
inside out?
There you are, clinging like mad to that frail
bit of cloth and metal . . . and you realize that
gets one whit stronger your “protec
tion” is going to blow right out of your hands.
Fortunately, it doesn’t hurt to get wet, so
losing your umbrella wouldn’t be much of a
tragedy. But when you’re caught in one of the
other types of storms life deals out ... a storm
that buffets at your inner sense of security . . .
or your idea of right or wrong ... a storm that
tries to undermine your marriage, or your
career ... or a storm of sickness or strife . . .
then it’s a very different matter.
How fortunate that in those more difficult
moments, you don’t have to rely upon some
thing as flimsy as an umbrella. How fortunate
that you can turn to the Church and find in it
solace, protection, courage, and the faith to keep
going. You will find that the Church is a shelter
that will always protect you.
the CmiBCH FOR AU . . .
AU FOB THE CHUHCH
Church
wmm
democracy neither
survive. There arT
reasons vhy evor
attend services re3ufarly°and''°“'‘'
port (he Church. ® The/ “e- IT,'
ch[ldrt s°r"k/“‘;3,
Day
p«ims ^''ToV
■ 1 Samuel
.• ■ ■ Luke
y Romans
JilHr’day.. Matthew
Mark
Saturday... Luke
23-3^
20-2S
22-34
9-21
14-27
30-41
19-25
Copyrisht 19S6. KeUter Adr. Service. Strssbura, Va.^-'
BROWNSON MEMORIAL
CHURCH (Presbyterian)
Cheves K. Ligon. Minister
Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Wor
ship service, 11 a.m. Women of
the Church meeting, 8 p.m. Mon
day following third Sunday.
The Youth Fellowships meet at
7 o’clock each Sunday evening.
Mid-week service, Wednesday,
7:15 p.m.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH
New Hampshire Ave.
Sunday Service, 11 a.m.
Sunday School, 11 a.m.
Wednesday Service, 8 pjn.
Reading Room in Church Build
ing open Wednesday 3-5 pjn.
THE CHURCH OF WIDE
FELLOWSHIP (Congregalional)
Cor. Bennell and New Hampshire
Wofford C. Timmons, Minister
Sunday School, 9:45 ajn.
Worship Sendee, 11 ajn.
Sunday, 6:30 p.m.. Pilgrim Fel
lowship (Young people).
Sunday, 8:00 p.m.. The Forum.
EMMANUEL CHURCH
(Episcoped)
Martin Caldwell, Rector
Holy Communion, 8 a. m. (First
Sundays, 8 a. m. and 10 a. m.)
Sunday School, 9 a. m.
Morning Prayer and Sermon, 10
Holy Communion—each Wed
nesday and Holy Days, 10 a. m.
MANLY PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
Grover C. Currie, Minister
Sunday School 10 a.m.
Worship Service, 2nd and 3rd
Sunday evenings, 7:30. Fourth
Sunday morning, 11 a.m.
Women of the Church meeting.
8 p.m., second Tuesday.
Mid-week service Thursday at
8 p.m.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
New York Ave. at South Ashe
David Hoke Coon, Minister
Bible School, 9:45 a.m. Worship
11 ajn. Training Union, 7 p.m.
Evening Worship, 8 p.m.
Scout Troop 224, Monday, 7:30
p.m.; mid-week worship, Wednes
day 7:30 p.m.; choir practice
Wednesday 8:15 p.m.
Missionary meeting, first and
third Tuesdays, 8 p.m. Church
and family suppers, second Thurs
days, 7 p.m.
ST. ANTOONY'S (CathoUc)
Vermont Ave. at Ashe
Father Peter M. Denges
Sunday masses 8 and 10:30 a.m.;
Holy Day masses 7 and 9 ajm;
weekday mass at 8 a.m. (jonf^
sions heard on Satmday between
5-6 and 7:30-8:30 pjn.
SOUTHERN PINES
METHODIST CHURCH
Robert L. Bame, Minister
(Services held temporarily at
Civic Club, Ashe Street)
Church School, 9:4S a.m.
Worship Service, 11 a. m.;
W. S. C. S. meets each first Tues
day at 8 p. nu
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UNITED TELEPHONE CO.
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