Page TWO
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1956
Southern Pines
Nt)rth Carolina
“In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated. We will try to keep this a good
paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever there seem§ to ^
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.
Parking Meters For Southern Pihes?
As we contemplate the question of parking
meters—a subject about which a study is now
being made at town hall, at the direction of
the council—we long for the talents of a car
toonist.
The picture we see is that of the council,
somewhat ill at ease, grouped around their
table, while peeking up over the end of the
table is a face, a smirking, confident face
drawn in the form of a parking meter—with
a little greedy mouth that can gobble pennies,
nickles and dimes with unsatiated appetite.
From the expressions of the council, it
would be apparent that they do not view their
grinning visitor with unmitigated pleasure.
From the expression of the parking meter and
from a phrase or two that might form the cap
tion of the cartoon, it would be apparent that
the parking meter is smilingly confident of
his eventual acceptance, as if to say; "‘You
may not altogether like me now, but just
wait, you’ll change your mind. I know you
have too many cars on your streets, I know
enforcement of parking time regulations is a
headache for all concerned and I know I can
bring in money, lots of it, if you give me the
chance. You won’t turn me down.”
Well, we will see what the parking study
produces. We do not like to approve or dis
approve such a project without all the facts
on hand. We are told that most towns have
meters and most towns like them, once people
get used to them.
We are told that parking meters will ease
downtown parking troubles, will improve the
morale of the police department and will con
fer various other benefits, direct and indi
rect, on the community.
It would seem that the easy informal down
town life of Southern Pines, with its tradi
tional combination of business and socializ
ing, may be out of harmony with the clicking
of parking meters—^but this is admittedly a
sentimental view and this newspaper has not
been notably sentimental about other changes
in Southern Pines that appear inevitable if
the town is to be operated efficiently and
economically.
We would be pleased to hear the opinions
of readers on the parking meter proposal.
Crisis In School Discipline Problem
The agitation into which the town has been
thrown by the high school situation is strong
testimony of the keen interest that Southern
Pines citizens take in their schools.
It has long been evident that this is a town
which can be outdone by few others in devo
tion to its schools. Anything that affects the
schools affects their earnest supporters, the
people of Southern Pines, who gladly endure
a large special tax supplement to make the
schools here as fine as any of equal size in
the state.
The situation that has the public so worked
up is the result of a parent having had the
high school principal arrested because of
what is alleged to have been a physical as
sault on his son by the principal.
The facts of the matter will be given in
court next week. Now, the facts that seem to
lie behind and around the incident ask for
public consideration. For they concern the
over-all school picture.
Why, for instance, did this parent take such
a drastic step, by-passing the school authori
ties? A part of the answer may be found in
the general tone of the talk heard around ,
town, now and for some time past.
This talk goes along these lines: “There’s
not enough discipline at the school. . . Kids
get away with too much foolishness, or worse
. . . The schedule is too full, especially with
athletics. . . The teachers don’t have time
enough to do their work and handle the dis
ciplinary problems or work with difficult
students. . .” And so on.
The school seems to have suffered for sev
eral years from a certain rowdines Or “gang
spirit”—and whatever penalties have been
applied appear to have been largely inef
fective, although the superintendent says the
discipline problems are fewer this school year
than formerly.
From all reports of the current crisis, the
situation appears to have come about because
of defiance of authority on the part of some
students. To our mind, it is not the fact that
a teacher may have lost his temper and acted
too harshly that is the essence of this crisis.
It is' that boys of the age of those involved
in these scrapes—juniors in high school, some
of them—should be so rebellious and imma-
ture.
But here may be a key as to -vyhy the pa-
rent took the action of going outside the
board feels about the matter or what the
board intends to do about it. This is regret
table.
If there is, as seems clear, a disciplinary
problem at the school, lasting over several
years, it is time that the school board helped
to tackle it and that the public be informed
as to what is being done and why. In the pres
ent case, it would seem that a man who has
been retained by the board for six years in
the honorable and responsible position of high
school principal deserves some public indica
tion that the board does or does not stand be
hind him, whether or not he has acted im
properly as charged. .
The thoughts outlined here are those that
have 'been in many minds during the past
week. The Pilot is not undertaking to pass
judgment or try this case. While many per
sons have expressed regret that the matter
was allowed to reach the court, it may be that
subjecting the case to the consideration of a
court that will call for all the evidence and
render an. objective judgment is the best thing
that could happen, once the crisis had arisen.
What has happened at the school is very
much the public’s business. In its news col
umns ’The Pilot is attempting to present the
facts as fairly and accurately as it can. In
these editorial comments we are attempting
to delve below the surface of the matter to
stimulate public thought, to the end that what
is best for the school and for all its students
may be done.
We do not pretend to offer a solution. But a
solution must be found. The schools can’t do
it all. Parents must play their part. And this
is supremely a time for communication and
sincere, humble cooperation between parents,
school officials, faculty members and all citi
zens v/ho are interested in the schools.
The well-being of the students, the effec
tiveness of the schools must be placed ahead
of all other considerations.
THEY'RE SAYING;
They Do Get Around
‘‘I Sure Hope You Know Where We’re Going”
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N. C. SYMPHONY DIRECTOR SAYS:
The World Needs Good Music
A few mornings ago a Connecticut villager
about halfway between Hartford and Provi
dence found a 900-pound bull moose in his
— . 1J. XI, u„Q garden. What’s more, he did the modern thing
school authorities: he perhaps e ® ® . and photographed it.
tion has gone on too long and needed public at j • x- x>
non rids g ^ doubt he was surprised. (Connecticut s
suburbanite population has long exceeded its
moose. Probably not as surprised, however,
as was the woman living in the heart of St.
Louis’ million and a quarter metropolitan area
who found a red fox peering into the bath
room of her second-floor apartment.
Wild animals do roam, in bunches and sing
airing in order to get it straightened out.
Another comment heard in the general talk
about the school is: too much athletics. . . too
much emphasis on the winning team. . . little
done for the non-athletes (most of the boys
said to have been involved in scrapqs are not
°\ws"question of school athletics is a bik Wild animals do roam, in bunches and sing- ''
subject, calling for much study, but this can ly. Our own John Gould is authority for the
be said' our high school principal is also the tale that Maine’s caribou herds left the state
head coach and a very successful one. Such from one day to the next—just like that. And
double duty is often asked of a teacher, but is the history books back him up, more or less,
it a ood plan? they left all at once we wouldn’t
Can a man carry such a heavy administra- risk public speculation. Forest rangers in New
tive and coaching load and also maintain the Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in
control and objectivity, the calm and judi- Idaho’s Bitter Roots have exchanged notes on
- ■ the same old battle-scarred grizzlies who
make the 900-mile trek up and down the high
ridges. (Grizzlies dont like crowds.)
Anyhow, all of them—moose, fox, caribou,
anl grizzlies—^being Americans, like to get
around, even if they have to do it without
eight cylinders and power steering.
—Christian Science Monitor
cious temperament needed to cope success
fully with disciplinary problems, to study
and understand the personalities and prob
lems of his students, to lead his faculty? It
would seem to be a super-human task in
which at least one of the many jobs involved
would be bound to suffer.
A statement issued early this week by the
school board and appearing in today’s Pilot
indicates that the board is concerned about
the situation at the high school, that it has
been in touch with the main parties in the
controversy and that an attempt was made to
handle the matter at the school level and keep
it out of court. The board’s statement does
not, however, give any indication of how the
PAYING THE PRICE
“For anything worth having, one must pay
the price; and the price is always work, pa
tience, love, self-sacrifice—^no paper currency,
no promises to pay, but the gold of real serv
ice.” —John Burroughs
Dr. Benjamin; Siwalin. di
rector of the North Carolina
Symphony Orchestra, has
presented the argument for
increased public interest in
better music in North Caro
lina.
The North Carolina Sym
phony Orchestra is a joint
venture of the State and the
people of the State. Each
year a subsidy of $20,000 is
paid by the State for mainte
nance of the orchestra. Re
maining funds for its support
come from memiberships in
the N. C. Symphony Society
and from contract concerts
which the symphony pre
sents. Among such concerts
is the one given annually in
Southern Pines under aus
pices of the SandhiUs Musio
Association.
The Pilot is printing Dr.
Swalin's article in two parts,
the first of ■wrhich appears be
low:
During the fourth and fifth
centuries, some of our forefath
ers probably ate human flesh.
They lived in a world of savag
ery, violence, ignorance and su
perstition.
Although civilization has pro
gressed on some fronts, the world
is still chaotic. It is a world rid
den with debt and wracked by
war and destitution. It is a world
in which there is an appalling
increase of thought controls, ra-,
cial conflicts and social dilem-
, mas. Goya, the Spanish painter
of the 19th century, caustically
depicted civilization as one ass
trying to teach another.
Tobacco, peanuts, fish, cot
ton, overalls, towels and ciga--
rettes may be symbols of one
kind of progress in North Caro
lina, but they are not ends in
themselves. Things should never
be ends in themselves. The em
phasis should rather be on what
happens between things; for we
live in an era when explorations
and discoveries change our mate
rial values swiftly and dynamr
ically.
A physicist at the turn of the
century was reputed to have sta
ted that everything that was
worth knowing in the realm of
physics had already been discov
ered. Little did he realize that
during the first half of this cen
tury the lives of people all over
the world would be revolutionized
by momentous discoveries in
physics, chemistry, medicine and
other fields.
Mind's Potential
I am impressed by the fact that
the potentialities of the human
mind seem virtually illimitable.
Mp" flies above the clouds in an
airplane; he goes below the sea
in a submarine; he unfolds the
secrets of atomic energy; and he
is contemplating going to Mars.
Swift, in the 18th century,
said that men are often accused
of not knowing their weakness
es, but comparatively few of
them know their own strengths.
It is in men, as in soils, that there
is often a vein of gold that they
know not of. Fosdick defined
democracy as the conviction that
extraordinary things may come
from ordinary people.
Cultural values are permanent.
A specific example may be ob
served in the case of Spain and
Mexico and South America.
Spain lost its political supremacy
in Mexico in 1821 and it also lost
its South American possessions
during the same century, never
theless the Spanish culture, to
day, through its lanugage, art and
customs, pervades the life of vir
tually every Mexican school child
and of millions of school children
in South America. A similar case
may be observed in the Portu
gese influence in Brazil, the
French-British influence in Can
ada, and, for that matter, the
English influence in the United
States.
Vulgar Muac
Much of the music that we
hear today is vUlgar and banal.
The public is bombarded with
frequent repetitions of this low-
grade music over juke boxes un
til a kind of public indifference
sets in, and it therefore becomes
requisite to strut forth with a
new model. As in the fashion
world, the public is then told
(that it “likes” this stuff and,
what is even more objectionable,
this fusillade of mediocrity
makes its way into foreign lands
as representative of American
culture and taste. I submit that
this is not worthy of America.
I should like to raise the ques
tion as to whether or not our so-
caUed ‘"likes” are always legiti
mate and whether or not they are
so important. The answer is: only
if those “likes” are a result of in
dependent thinking and reflec
tion on the part of the individual.
A child “likes” candy; but is it to
be given candy until it becomes
ill?
Even a well-educated person
may be heard to remark about
the arts, “I don’t know anything
about them; but I know what I
like.” Does he make similar pro
nouncements about law, medi
cine and mathematics? One can
bear with an individual for not
comprehending a masterpiece,
for, after all, probably none of
us can grasp the full meaning;
but one cannot condone an atti
tude that excludes greater in
sight.
PROGRESS ENDS PLEASANT CUSTOM
Curing Leaf By Wood Fire
Once Was Socicf Occasion
Jreople
(E. A. Resch
in The Chatham News)
.pay
I suppose you have to
some penalties for progress,
A feature of the old days when
tobacco was cured with wood
burners instead of oil furnaces
was the “chicken stew” held in
front of the tobacco barn.
Necessity mothered this very
enjoyable social occasion. Be
cause of the danger of fire it was
necessary for dne or more people
to remain at the barn site
throughout the curing process. It
was nothing unusual to see a
couple of iron beds, ready for use,
right outside the barn door.
Watchers of the curing tobacco
didn’t leave for meals. Meals
were brought to them and it
wasn’t long before the “chicken
stew” came into being with
friends and relatives being in
vited. ,
I '
Didn't Leave Barn
In early afternoon the lady of
the house would throw two or
more big, fat hens into the large
pot She’d add seasoning as she
went about other chores. The
main thing was to get the hens
to stewin’.
^ _ would begin to father
about dark. Wood smoke and the
smell of stewin’ chickens was
enough to whet anybody’s appe
tite.
If you cared about looking
into the big, black pot you would
notice that the chicken meat had
cooked off the bone; that rich,
fat broth, to which butter had
been added, was ready for the
final step—adding either dump
lings or plain, store bought loaf
bread.
Kept Going Back
With the fire lighting up the
surroundings, the line would
form and the stew served. Some
times there were other dishes
but usually the stew was it. You
ate and kept going back for
more. Finally, when you were
full to the eye-poppin’ stage, you
would either stretch Out on the
ground or sit down, with a tree
as a prop.
If there were youngsters pres^
ent you would be sure that they
would be, along with their par
ents, the first to leave.
’Those remaining would sit up
with the guardian of the tobacco
bam, swapping yams, engaging
. in small talk.
The Public
Speaking
Regarding Spiritaal Healing
To "The Editor:
An open letter'^ the clergy re- ‘
garding spiritual healing:
Regardless of color, caste or
creed of mankind, let us hope
and pray and determine that, if it
be in our power, we shall succeed
in reaching and touching all of
them, so that they, too, may find .
that assurance which they lack
and be brought to a realization of
those eternal tmths which pro
vide a refuge for all mankind;
that they may be able to be
aware of that power of the spirit,
regenerating in its influence, re
vitalizing in its force, comforting
in its presence, ennobling in its
purpose; so that they, too, in
time, may become its instru
ments and help to spread its light
wider and wider throughout the
world.
It is planned that the “psychic
phenomena of spiritual healing”
and the truths of “psychic phen
omena” in all its phases, shall
spread not through “one type”
instrument, but permeate
through tens of thousands of in
struments all over our world of
matter. You must remember that
so long as the power of the spirit
has been at work, man has been
on the march. He now begins to
claim his heritage, so long de
nied hina—his ‘"spiritual” free
dom. These ideas, these urges,
these impulses are so potent that
they cannot and will not, ever
again, be placed in the hands of
ecclesiastical temperament, be
cause—all over our world these
“renewed” ideas are bestirring
millions who yearn and claim
and demand the liberty of the
spirit, of the mind, and of the,
body.
That is how our New World
will come into fulfilment.
Thrones will topple, rulers wil
fade away, tyrants and dictators
will disappear. Man will gradual
ly come into his o^yn, and his
spirit will shine triumphant in
his life everywhere.
That is what will be achieved
by the surging, rising impulses
of the spirit that are now at work
in their great process of regen
eration. That is why we should
never despair, for we should see
the pnward march of the human
spirit towards the goal of its lib
eration from us, the clergy, who
have held- it in bondage to “The
letter that killeth” for much too
long!
And now let us pause to rem
ember the many, regardless of
creed, who require our “healing
service”; let us remember, re
gardless of creed, the countless
numbers whose hearts are filled
with a leaden sorrow and who
yearn greatly for some “spirit
ual” truth in the hour of their
dismal weariness. Let us strive
to help all those who come with
in the radius of our influence, to
bring them a measure of allevia
tion, to transform their sadness
into hope, to cheer them in their
loneliness, to assure them that
life is not finished, AND NEVER
WILL BE.
Hence, let us gather strength
from that divine reservoir filled
with infinite power.'Let us, seek
to exercise ourselves that we be
come living “healing instru
ments” of that power which cre
ated us, fashioned us in its own
divine image and filled us with
a part of its divinity. And let us
always be conscious that we are
its instruments, and know that
with faithfulness, service and fi
delity to that trust which is laid
upon us, we can go forward fear
ing nothing, knowing that our
difficulties will melt away as
shadows before the glory of the
The P, ILOT
sun.
REV. TOM O’NEIL
Southern Pines
Published Every Thursday by
THE PILOT, Incorporated
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD—1944
Katharine Boyd Editor
C. Benedict Associate Editor
Vance Derby iNews Editor
Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr.
C. G. Council Advertising
Mary Scott Newton Business
Bessie Cameron Smith Society
Composing Room
Lochamy McLean, Dixie B. Ray,
Michael Valen, Japper Swearingen
Thomas Mattocks.
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