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Page EIGHT
STARTED IN VASS
THE PILOT—Southern Pines. North Carolina
A. G. Edwards Ends Railroading
Career After 45 Years’ Service
' ” *T*«i
Allie G. Edwards, local ticket'
agent and telegraph operator of
the Seaboard Airline Railway, has
retired after 45 years of active
service. ' I
The retirement, which came
just as 1956 was ending, brings to
an end a career that has seen
Southern Pines and the rest of the
Sandhills grow from a small stop
ping off place to national promi
nence in the sports and business
world.
Mr. Edwards, a native of Vass,
got his first taste of railroading
back in the summer of 1908 when
he obtained a job as a day laborer
during a vacation period from
*Buies Creek where Campbell Col
lege is located. Again, in the fol
lowing summer, he worked on the
tracks, but switched over that fall
to the bridge construction force.
He decided then and there that he
was in the wonderful world of
railroading for good.
He liked it so well, in fact, that
he requested, and was granted,
permission to study telegraph
procedures without pay, a knowl
edge that has stood him in good
stead for the 45 years he has been
in the service.
Pay? Not much in those days.
He received $41 per month as the
telegraph operator in Vass. And
days weren’t measured in eight
hour shifts, either. But even that
was better than the 75 cents per
day he had received as a member
of the section crew, and the work
was a lot better, particularly in
the cold winters.
It wasn’t until 1925 that Mr. Ed
wards became ticket agent in
Southern Pines. Since then he
has seen many thousands of peo
ple go; he has seen the area boom
and, for some, bust. And he has
seen it change . . . change from a
small town that was open mostly
in the winter season for the vis
itors to a bustling year-round
community.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1957
MR. EDWARDS
It took him 15 years to get his
first vacation. Since then he has
seen some 32 states and classes
traveling — by rail, naturally —
as one of his main interests, ac
companied by his wife, the former
Ruby Bundy of Vass.
His others are woodworking
and maintaining a thriving bee
colony, housed in some 20 hives.
His woodworking hobby hasn’t
been just fooling around with
knick-knacks; he has constructed
beautiful furniture, mostly of ce
dar, and furnished his home in
Vass with it. He has also built
many pieces for his sons.
His sons—one of them was kill
ed in an accident years ago—have
followed in his footsteps as be
lievers in Vass and have done
much to build the community. Mr.
Edwards, a loyal Methodist, is
also a Mason in the Southern
Pines Lodge, and a Shriner. He
has taken much interest in civic
activities both here and in Vass.
One of his sons, A. G. Edwards,
Jr., is presently mayor of Vass.
UTTLE RIVER
(Continued from Page 1)
to go too fast in the change.
I am sure we will give a favor
able report,” Gordon M. Cameron,
chairman, said, “but we must first
have the entire situation reviewed
by our county attorney. This is
far too important not to be done
right."
He said a meeting with M. G.
Boyette, who is the county’s attor
ney, would be arranged soon and
the petitioners notified of the
meeting.
Such matters as delinquent tax
es, date of the starting of collec
tion of taxes by Moore, extension
of law enforcement and social ser
vices to the new area, and the fit
ting of a tenth township into the
county’s political structure must
be studied. But most of the com
missioners, and Blue, foresaw no
insurmountable problems.
The change, if made as antici
pated, would add about 150 people
to the population of Moore Coun
ty. The township is primarily
agricultural and centers around
the Lobelia community, which has
a community house and several
stores. A vast amount of the acre
age in the township is forested
with pine.
Hoke was one of the last coun
ties in the state formed. It and
Avery were formed in 1911 and, as
far as can be determined, the ad
dition of Little River to Moore
County would constitute the first
change to a county boundary line
since that date.
Members of the committee that
presented the petition were John
William Smith, E. Barney Blue
brother of H. Clifton Blue, Charlie
H. Marks, Murdock Cameron and
John Alex Smith.
The petition they presented
read as foUows:
“To the County Commissioners
of Hoke and Moore, Rep. Charles
Hostetler, State Senator J. Benton
Thomas, Rep. H. Clifton Blue and
to Interested Citizens Every
where;
“We the undersigned citizens
and property owners of Little Riv
er Township, Hoke County, do
hereby petition the above named
officials to initiate proper action
and pursue it to the end that said
Little River Township, now a por
tion of Hoke County, be annexed
to Moore County.
“For many years the Fort Bragg
military reservation has separated
Little River from the remainder
of Hoke County and made it nec
essary to travel a great distance
through Moore County -to get to
Raeford, the county seat of Hoke
County. Due to the circumstances
which are familiar to all who are
familiar with Little River Town
ship, the services in said Town
ship have not been what a normal
portion of the county might ex
pect. The citizens of Little River
are schooled in Moore County, the
people are served by a mail route
out of Vass in Moore County, and
the social and economic ties of
Little River Township are’ with
Moore County. For these and oth
er reasons we sincerely petition
the above named officials to take
necessary steps to have Little Riv
er Township annexed to Moore
County during the 1957 session of
the North Carolina General As
sembly.”
Addresses of the 327 persons
signing the petition were all Vass
Rt. 2 and Cameron Rt. 1, with two
given as Lakeview.
Idle
Comments
Geography; There are two
Greeks, less than a half mile
: ipart, in the upper end of the
munty bearing the names “Dry
I -reek” and “Wet Creek.” Any
body know why? |
Spot Coverage; Nelson Hyde,
Pinehurst Outlook editor, was
roused from bed in, the middle
of the night last week by an uni
dentified caller who told him:
“Your building’s bn fire.” Hyde,
pretty drowsy, jumped out of
bed, rushed down to the office.
Turned out there was a fire in
the same building he occupied
but a fire wall in the middle had
saved everything on his end. He
took a few notes, went back
.home and to bed. I
Country Turkey; Here’s a good
way to prepare a turkey, passed
our way by Rudy Womack, own
er-manager of the Carthage Ho
tel. Take a good sized country
ham, skin it (leaving the entire
skin intact), and cover the turkey
with the skin while it’s roasting.
Womack, who serves such
victuals every day, (turkey this
Sunday), says it leaves the bird
nice and moist and gives it a
dee-licious taste.
Mother-In-Law Joke; A ner
vous motorist was driving down
the road, not too peacefully: his
wife and mother-in-law were
in the back seat, telling him how
to drive. Finally getting enough
■of the chatter, he craned his head
back and said: “Say, who’s driv
ing this car—you, or your moth
er?”
m
ei#*****^
11
Character; This David Fan
ning, the fellow who caused all
the trouble at the House in the
Horseshoe back in the 1780’s,
wore a silk hat at all times, ac
cording to a bit of research done
by Professor BlackweU P. Rob-j
j inson, who compiled a history of j
Moore County recently. Fanning,
described by Robinson as a
“lecherous scoundrel,” had been!
scalded as a youth and was not
allowed even to eat at the table
in his own home, his appearance
was so disagreeable.
Christmas Cuds; We’ve run
onto two good ways to dispose of
cards recently and pass them
along. Over in Pinehurst, people
are requested to put them in a
bin provided for the purpose, and
they’re collected and forwarded
on to a hospital for crippled chil- j
dren. Other people,, we’re told,
save them until next year and cut;
out pretty pictures to paste on
Christmas gifts.
Memorial Gifts
Presented To New
Methodist Church
Large crowds attended the of
ficial opening services at the new
Southern Pines ’ Methodist
Church last Sunday. ■
At the service, at which Bishop
W. W. Peele preached, a number
of gifts, some of them memorials,
were presented.
Mrs. A1 Hewlett gave the Paul
Finch Memorial Library, which
is equipped with a large number
of books on religious subjects, in
memory of her son; Dr. Malcolm
Kemp equipped the kitchen in
memory of his father and moth
er, the late Mr. and Mrs. William
James Kemp of Elizabethtown;
Dr. J. S. Hiatt, Jr., gave the
Chancel furniture in honor of
his father and mother, Dr. and
Mrs. J. S. Hiatt, Sr., of Elkin;
the altar cross was given by Mr.
and Mrs. Lloyd Graves; and the
altar candlesticks were given by
the Women’s Society of Christian
Service in honor of a former
member, Mrs. R. S. Flowers.
iiig 1957 to take care of a great
many more people.
“In the meantime, right here
in Moore county we have 32
cases left over from previous
ALICE BENYMON ... “a remarkable talent.”
Young Addor Girl Will Appear On
Nationally Televised Show Sunday
Mrs. Virgil Lee
Died Friday In
Baltimore, Md.
FARM BUILDING
(Continued from page 1)
agricultural building.
A new building would house
the many agricultural agencies
that are now scattered in several
sections of Carthage. It would
also be used for an exhibition hall
and probably contain an auditori
um and other facilities for farm
group meetings.
It would house both farm and
home agents of the North Caro
lina State Extension Service, con
tain a home demonstration kitch
en and other facilities; be head
quarters for the Soil Conservation
Service, the FHA and the PMA,
and have a laboratory for the Ar
tificial Breeding Service.
Word was received here Sun
day that Mrs. Virgil Lee, onetime
resident of Southern Pines, died
Friday in Baltimore. She had
been in declining health some
time.
Mrs. Lee and her late husband
lived on Country Club Road
here until Mr. Lee’s death. Mrs.
Lee moved to Baltimore where
a son and daughter live at that
time.
Funeral services and burial
were held in Fayetteville, her
birthplace.
Mr. and Mrs. Shields Camer
on returned from their Howard
Johnson prize trip to Florida
Wednesday night, too late to be
reached for a full account for
this week’s issue.
“The moment she started to
sing, I felt the hair raising on
the back of my neck.”
That was the description given
by Frederic Ramsey, Jr., noted
jazz historian and collector of
folk music, of the singing of
Alice Benymon, 17-year old Ne-
^ gro girl of Addor, to editors of
the New Yorker magazine in the
current issue.
, '“It’s (astonishing—there are
I girls with beautiful voices sing
ing in churches all over the
South, but something always
happens to them,” he continued.
I “Either they get married or they
I move North. Anyhow, they
' never go on singing.”
But Mr. Ramsey, a learned
I person indeed and probably one
of the most thorough of all col
lectors in this age of prowling
around the back country, might
find himself wrong this time.
' Miss Benymon, who learned
spirituals from her mother, who
in turn had learned them from
her mother, has no intention of
giving up what she has come to
love, either for a husband or a
new life in the North.
“I’d like to go North and study
voice,” she said Monday, “but
I love to sing spirituals, and to
me, they’re something you have
to learn from people who know
them. They aren’t in books.”
The pert little girl, a senior at
Berkley High School, has been
singing for as long as she can
remember. She is in constant de
mand at most of the Negro
churches in the Addor ^rea, and
many others nearby.
“I sing in four or five churches
every month,” she proudly said
at the interview. “We don’t have
services each Sunday in my own
church—Poplar Springs Baptist
—so I go to other churches. Spir
ituals are just something that
you either like or you don’t. I
think there’s no music like them
and I’m proud that there are
other people who like to hear me
sing.”
Ramsev. friend of Mr. and Mrs.
Cadwallader Benedict, visited
here last fall on his way South to
collect more folk music. He was
planning a television show and
stopped here to pay a social call
, and inqquire if there was any
thing nearby that might be good
enough for the show. “It has to
■be honest,” he insisted, “nothing
; jazzy or modern.”
I The Benedicts, living in Pine-
I bluff at the time and on first-
|hand speaking acquaintance with
■ many of the people in Addor,
I suggested Alice. Ramsey visited
[the church where she was sing
ing—the Christian Free Liberty
Church—and shot his film. A
note to the Benedicts later in-
fomied them that the footage
would be shown on a new tele
vision show, “Odyssey,” on the
entire CBS network at 4 p. m.
this coming .Sunday. Alice, he
added, had demonstrated a re
markable talent, well worth
showing.
'The news that Alice would be
seen on television has caused
quite a stir in Addor. There
probably isn’t a person there that
.hasn’t made arrangements to be
I near a television set Sunday.
I H. L. Bryant, her principal in
I school, says she has a truly re
markable talent. “We seem to
be getting awav from the old Ne
gro spirituals,” he said, “and it’s
a shame. Spirituals have meant
mi'(-h to Negro culture and cer
tainly are worth preserving.
Once, several years ago, we had
a teacher who taught spirituals
to the children. There wasn’t a
one that didn’t sing. Today, I’m
afraid, we’rg losing them, except
■ for people like Alice who has
learned the words and feeling at
j horne and sincerely loves to sing
I them.”
j Alice says she knows seven or
I eight. Others in the Addor area
think the figure is much higher.
She also has arranged several of
the better known spirituals in
jher own way, but hastens to add
! that she hasn’t tampered with
I the real meaning in them, nor
I has she destroyed the quality
.that has caused them to be hand
ed down through the centuries.
Usually she sings with her
mother, Mrs. Nettie Benymon,
an accompanist. She is also a
member of the Glee Club at
Berkley and has appeared with
several teen-age groups at num
erous functioins, generally pre-
CHARTER
fCont.muea from Page 11
in the method of selection of the
school board.
Wiliam Thomasson, owner of a
furniture store here, was of the
feeling, he said, that there is con
siderably more interest in schools
in towns where the school boards
are elected.
Directly opposed to this think
ing was the expression by several
people who said that many who
ordinarily would serve on a school
board if appointed would not
serve if they had to stand a public
election.
But Mayor Gilmore said it was
a part of the Democratic process
to subject one’s self to a public
election, and backed his thinking
with the statement that most of
our high public officials are elect
ed, rather than appointed. “If a
person doesn’t want to make a
' public accounting of himself and
his job, there is something wrong
somewhere,” he said.
The charter presentation. Coun
cil felt, was far too important to
make a hasty decision on its adop
tion. A unanimous vote was tak
en to put off any decision pend
ing another public hearing in
February.
NIAGARA OVER TOP
Niagara ■was the first of the
county commuitities to make
its quota in the March of
Dimes, campaign director J.
Frank McCaskill of Pinehurst
has proudly announced.
Mrs. Gurney Bowles, Niag
ara chairman, reported Tues
day that her drive had "pop
ped over the top" ■with $30.
She said she- plans to keep on
v/orking throughout the Jan
uary campaign. Mrs. Lewis
Williford is her assistant
chairman.
Counted as "first" is the
community which meets its
quota through solicitation. Ac
tually, West End, a Communi
ty Chest town, beat all the
others to it as soon as the
campaign opened by paying
in its assigned $300. This came
from cothprehensive funds, to
cover all the year’s cam
paigns, collected in the Com
munity Chest drive last fall,
J. F. Sinclcdr, chairman, said
a number of people customar
ily give some for the March oT
Dimes, and he plans to collect
these amounts and turn them
in later.
POLIO
(Continued from page 1)
tims vaccinated, that in
meantime there will still
polio, also 80,000 crippled victims , ,,
r>f Caskill as follows:
years who wiU be needing aid for
some time,” Butler said. Six of
these were 1956 cases, one or two
of them particularly costly and
severe.
Other chapter officers reelect
ed with Butler were Ralph G.
Steed, Robbins, vice-chairman;
Mrs. Eldon S. Adams, Carthage,
secretary; C. H. Bowman, South
ern Pines, treasurer; Mrs. Valerie
Nicholson, Southern Pines, pub
licity director.
A new officer elected this time
was Mrs. Jack Phillips, Cameron,
women’s division chairman, an
office this chapter has not had
before. The directors felt that to
have such an officer would ex
pand the scope of the campaign
and be of great aid to community
chairmen- in meeting their
quotas. All elections were unani
mous.
Treasurer Bowman in his an
nual report revealed that patient
care cost the chapter $3,007.64 for
new cases, $2,095.20 for old cases,
during 1956. Cash on htind and
unpaid bills nearly balanced each
other, facing the chapter with an
immediate need for cash.
Community chairmen, and
their quotas—the same as in last
jear’s successful campaign—
were announced by Director Mc-
of the past to be aided and re
habilitated.
He said the great task now is
to get everyone vaccinated—a
project which is unaccountably ^^"
lagging in North Carolina.
Though polio incidence had a 45
per cent drop in the nation as a
whole during 1956, as a result of
the vaccinations, in North Caro
lina the drop was only 20 per
Aberdeen, J. Curtis Mclnnis,
$1,000; Cameron, Mrs. Merla R.
Gaines, $200; Carthage, to be ap
pointed, $1,000; Eagle Springs,
Arthur Williams, $100;
Parkwood, Miss Marie Purvis,
I $50; Highfalls, C. Edson Powers,
$200; Jacskon Springs, Mrs. M.
j M. Poole, $100; Lakeview, Mrs.
I Louis Bellet, $50; Niagara, Mrs.
I Gurney Bowles, $30; Pinebluff,
cent. “For some reason, we don’t |
know what, the eligible people
just aren’t coming to take their
shots,” he said. “We have to see'!j’°^°: Robbins, Ralph G Steed,
that they do.” Only persons up toClayton
20 years old, and pregnant |
women, are now eligible for free $1,750, Vass, Monroe
Chappell, $300; West End, J. F.
shots of the vaccine but the pros
pect is this will be extended dur-
senting modern music.
“Sure, I like Elvis Presley,”
she said, “who doesn’t?”
Ramsey, who is presently in
Jamaica getting footage and tape
recordings of the voodoo music,
has written the script for the
show Sunday and entitled it j nx^xx x,xgaxixx.cti.xx,xia cxxxu
“They Took A Blue Note.” The starting out on the drive which
show deals a great deal with mu-! they expect to wind up by Janu-
sic, particularly the original ary 31. Weekly reports are to be
ijazz, that is played in New Or- made to Treasurer Bowman at
leans. , the Citizens Bank and Trust Co.
I But that few minutes that is at Southern Pines, or, if the
j given to Alice’s spirituals? | money cnanot be brought in a
It’s the greatest thing in the that time, to Mrs. Valerie Nichol
Sinclair, $300; Westmoore, J. C.
Phillips, $100; Farm Life, Mrs.
Paul Green, $50.
Mrs. Bowles, Niagara chair
man, announced that Mrs. Lewis
Willford will act as her assistant
in that community, with Mrs.
Jeanette Evans as co-chairman in
charge of the Negro division.
Other chairmen are this week
: setting up their organizations and
at
world for her.
son, publicity director.
GINSBURG’S
BEGINS THURSDAY MORNING, JAN. 10th
Annual January Clearance SALE
MANY ITEMS AT COST AND BELOW COST
Beautiful Assortment of
LADIES' COATS
Regularly $39.95, No'w—
$27.98
Springmade
SHEETS
Type 128, Size 81x99—
$1.94
One Group of
LADIES' SKIRTS
Regularly $8.95, Now—
$5.98
One Lot of
BOYS' SUITS
Values $7.98 to $14.98, Now—
$4.98
One Group of
MEN'S SHOES
Values Up to $10, Now—
$4.98
One Group of
LADIES' SHOES
$3.98 Values, Now—
$1.98
One Group of
LADIES' DRESSES
Regularly $12.95, No'w—
$7.98
One Group of
Children's DRESSES
$5.95 Value, Now—
$3.98
Others $1.98 up
One Group of Men's
SPORT COATS
$25.00 Value, Now—
$16.98
(Broken Sizes)
One Lot of New
SPORT SHIRTS
Regular $5.00 Value, Now—
$2.98
ALL WINTER ITEMS
REDUCED!
SHOP NOW AND SAVE!
WE RESERVE RIGHT
TO LIMIT QUANTI
TIES. All Sales Final
GINSBURG’S DEPARTMENT STORE Carthage, N. C