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:§ ■O) THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1964 THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina Page NINE WALL-TO-WALL CARPET BIGELOW MOHAWK ALEXANDER SMITH QUALITY INSTALLATIONS Select From Over 50 Rolls in Stock 5.000 Sq. Yds. Over 450 Samples To Select From Free Decorator Service Central Carolinas Largest Stock 'Select Your Carpet Today- We Install Tomorrow!" Sanford. Boyd's Influence As Writer, Noted On 20th Anniversary Citizen Widely Of His Death (David Whisnant. who holds B. S. and M. A. degrees, is currently working on a Ph. D. dissertation, a literary biogra phy of James Boyd, at Duke University. Durham. The fol lowing article has appeared recently in several of jthe slate's leading daily news papers—Editor.) By DAVID E. WHISNANT Twenty years ago last week, the beloved North Carolina novelist James Boyd collapsed while at tending a dinner party for Brit ish Army officers at Princeton University. He was to talk to them the next day about the South, as part of an orientation course on American life. Dressed :n his habitual tweed jacket and plaid tie, he was in the midst of one of his famous and witty stories when he suddenly fell for ward onto the floor. Two hours later, shortly after midnight on February 25, James Boyd died, and North Carolina lost not only one of its most bril liant writers but also one of its most energetic citizens. Widely Esteemed Boyd was loved and respected beyond the state’s borders. At his funeral, a wreath of ivy from Princeton’s Nassau Hall was plac ed on his coffin, an honor custom arily reserved for Princeton pres idents and trustees. James Boyd was known to many as the author of novels of America’s past, among them “Drums” (1925), “Marching On” (1927), and “Long Hunt” (1930). Others knew him as the gay and sparkling leader of a fashionable circle of fox-hunting enthusiasts in Southern Pines, where he was founder and Master of the Moore County Hounds. To the townspeo ple of Southern Pines, he was “Jim,” the friendly publisher of the town newspaper. But every one who knew him, knew him as a charming, softly urbane, warm- Easiman Dillon, Union Securities & Co. Membeis New York Stock Exchange MacKenzifc Building 135 W. New Hampshire Ave. Southern Pines, N. C. Telephone: Southern Pines OX 5-7311 Complete Investment and Brokerage Facilities Direct Wire to our Main Office in New York A. E. RHINEHART Resident Manager Consultations by appointment on Saturdays Some Beautiful Reasons To Easter - Shop at Melvin's (x) Shoes styled by Fashion Craft and Miracle - Tread (x) Flatternit and Berkshire Stockings . . . “when you must look your best” (x) Bobbie Brooks Suits and Dresses in Sizes 5 to 15. . . the finest in Junior Wear (x) Dresses in Sizes 10 to 20 by June Fox and J. Harlan Originals .. . “in fashion with the times” (x) Shrovers Half Size Dresses for perfect fit in I4I/2 to 241/2 Come see them all. .. styles to give both your wardrobe and your spirits a beautiful boost! In the Heart of the Sandhills Aber(ieen and Southern Pines JAMES BOYD ly personable, witty human be ing. Deeply Devoted Although it is not true, as is often said, that Jim Boyd’s ances tral “roots” were in North Caro lina, the roots of his heart could not have been more firmly em- planted in the soil of his adopted homeland. He loved North Caro lina from the time of his boyhood visits to his grandfather’s farm here, and to the end of his life he spoke glowingly of the state to anyone who would listen, 'The ec lectic Southern Pines literary circle of the 1930’s came together largely because of his enthusiasm for North Carolina, and some of the writers remained to make the state their permanent home. Born on July 2, 1888, James Boyd was the son of a prominent Harrisburg, Pa., coal dealer. The foundation for his attachment to the Carolina Sandhills region was laid about 1895 when his grand father Boyd, stranded for a few hours by the break-down of a railway engine in Southern Pines, bought a pine-covered hill-top to save it from desecration by woodsmen’s axes. When young Jim came back from World War I, he and his wife Katharine settled on this land. Mrs. Boyd still lives in the charming house they built there, although she recently donated a great part of the original family property to the state of North Carolina for use as a nature pre serve. Early Talent Boyd early displayed consider able talent for writing, and after receiving an award for his writing at the Hill School, he went on to Princeton, where in 1908 Struth- ers Burt found him to be an “es pecially brilliant” student. Burt read the young man’s latest stories and poems, and noted that “the mark of the writer” was upon him. From Princeton he went to Cambridge University, where his wit and charm overcame British reserve and allowed him to be ad mitted to the social and literary circles of the University. He re turned to the United States two years later with profound admira tion for the British people. Following a brief and unsatis fying stint as a teacher and then as a magazine writer, Boyd plung ed into Red Cross war work, hav ing been refused by the A.E.F. be cause of a chronic sinus condition. But his love for his own country and for Great Britain made him determined to fight, and after a corrective sinus operation he was accepted in the Ambulance Serv ice. He served 18 months in the worst of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Ar- gonne offensives before being sent home with an aggravated sinus condition that was to cause constant pain and countless oper ations throughout the rest of his life. Early in 1920, Boyd moved to North Carolina with his wife, en tered spiritedly into the life of the region, and returned to his life-long interest, writing. John Galsworthy saw some of his work, praised it, and encouraged him to continue writing. In September, 1920, his first story was accepted by Scribner’s Magazine. He con tinued to publish short stories while working on his first novel, “Drums,” set in Revolutionary North Carolina. The Human Values But Boyd should not be remem bered simply as a “historical nov elist.” He was interested in his tory not for itself or for romantic exaggeration, but for the sake of people, and for human ideals and values. “Drums” shows the thought ful eighteenth-century North Car olinian’s struggle between com mitment to a democratic ideal and longing for the form and taste of aristocratic tradition. For the next 15 years Jim Boyd entered more and more into the life of his beloved North Carolina. From Southern Pines where he was a leader in local affairs his efforts reached out to the whole state through such activities as his presidency of the North Caro lina Literary and Historical Asso ciation in 1928. The state return ed his love in small measure in 1935 when his “Roll River” was awarded the Mayflower Cup, and in 1938 when the University awarded him an honorary doctor- Held No IRusions Boyd’s interest in the South continued strong, and he loved it, its people, and their history passionately, but without illusion. He once described the Civil War as a struggle between the South, with a “high type of primitive civilization,” and the North, with a “low type of more advanced civilization.” The young writer spent count less days and nights roaming over North Carolina searching for liter ary material, often in the com pany of his closest friend, Paul Green. Green, who remembers Boyd with profound affection, re calls that he never flaunted or displayed his considerable wealth, even in the remotest provincial boroughs of the state. Humble, personable, unceasingly witty, he sought and found entrance into the hearts of people wherever he went. Perhaps they felt instinctively his commitment to the democratic principle “that every man has something sacred about him,” and that “this sacredness is held to be inherent and perpetual; no ruler, no religion, no group of men, no government is justified in viola ting it. It is the first principle of a man’s life and nothing takes pre cedence over it.” Close Companionship Many evenings in Green’s home in Chapel Hill, the two discussed their wanderings and read, in the company of lively friends, each other’s recent writings; Boyd, as was his habit, pacing up and down as he read or talked, his bright, clear eyes flashing with wit and enthusiasm. At other times the two went to square dances with their wives, attended Negro revivals with solemn in terest and talked endlessly to stu dents about the subject they loved most, wrtiing. Boyd’s home in Southern Pines was a frequent stopping place for many other writers such as Sher wood Anderson, Laurence Stall ings, Scott Fitzgerald, and the “hungry Gulliver” Tom Wolfe, who used to come unannounced in the small hours of the morning, and faU asleep on the living room sofa. As the clouds of war gathered in 1940, the novelist’s concern for democracy and its destiny caused him to organize a patriotic group of actors and playwrights who tried in a positive way to counter act Nazi propaganda. “The Free Company,” which included Paul Green, Archibald MacLeish, John Steinbeck and others, presented a very successful series of radio plays in 1941. 'Privale America' Boyd felt that the roots of American nationalism lay in each man’s valuing his “own private America,” as he himself valued North Carolina. In 1941 he bought the nearly- defunct Southern Pines Pilot, built it into a strong weekly newspaper, and used much of its influence on behalf of the WEur effort in the North Carolina Sand hills. Josephus Daniels congratu lated him for having “joined the Tar-Heel aristocracy” by becom ing editor of a “country journal.” The paper has continued to flour ish in the competent hands of Katharine Boyd. The early years of the war, which coincided with the last years of Boyd’s life, bore for him as for most people a constant threat of bewilderment, fear, up heaval, and absence and loss of loved ones. But the effect of these uncertainties upon him was un usual because of his uncommon poetic sensitivity. From this sen sitivity he derived an infectious calmness. He wrote to Paul Green after Pearl Harbor that “Nothing is left, on this earth at least, for us to believe in, except the spirit of those we know and love.” This turning inward to the calm ness and certitude of familiar re lationships and felt truths is the burden of the poetry which form ed the bulk of Jim Boyd’s writing during the final years of his life. Agonized Longing His poetry cries longingly for possession of that rootedness and wholeness which gives meaning to life, for the lasting truths of human experience which afford quietness at the center of turmoil. I do not know the ending to this day Or how much of our hope is lost or won, But trust that at the end I, too, can say To the unborn who follow: Daughter. . . Son The sky and the sea speak loud. But the earth speaks clear. Put an ear to the ground. Listen. You will hear. But though Boyd was torment ed both by physical pain and by the agonies and excesses of war, he never lost his faith in human ity and its potential. In a poem not published until after his death he affirmed: Though there is torment in man’s life To strike me dumb, to strike me dumb. What of this singing in my blood? Whence does it come? Whence come? Jim Boyd heard and felt as fully as anyone ever has “the end less ground-swell of the deep,” and he interpreted it and express ed it by pouring out his life self lessly in the interest of his belov ed North Carolina, his South, his country, and his art which em braced them all. TIME NOW TO HAVE THOSE WINTER CLOTHES CLEANED The Valet MRS. ETHEL KINES Where Cleaning and Prices Are Beiler! KEEP UP WITH LATE VALUES IN PILOT ADS. Our Southern Pines Office has been consolidated with our Charlotte Office, Harold £. Hasseufelt will serve the Southern Pines area from Charlotte. The address is 110 South Try on Street and the telephone number is 333-5492. Mr. Hassenfelt will also be available for consultation in Southern Pines on the weekend. He may be reached at Oxford 2-3261. We invite you to make use of our services. Established 1925 Investment Bankers Members New York Stock Exchange and Other Nathsnal Exchange* 110 South Tryon Street Charlotte, N. C. Tel. 333-5492 SEE I CLEOPATRA NOW PLAYING Carolina Theatre i Fayetteville, n.c. SUNRISE Theatre Ph. 695-3013 Continuous Shows Daily SEE CLEOPATRA NOW PLAYING Carolina Theatre Fayetteville, n.c. THURSDAY & FRIDAY MARCH 5 - 6 ALL NEW THRILLS.. NEVER SEEN! GOU® ftHDTHEblW^ ^COLORM-'-ltCHHlSCOPE the smooEEg ' f'OLORSCOPE Shows— 3:00 - 4:20 - 6:00 - 7:20 - 9:00 SATURDAY. MARCH 7 Double Feature HtrvafdFUm Corporation CA ViHtcAroene HSIZZlfRIMESPIOHAeE!.. BURGU^ Plus James Stewttrt In “TWO RODE TOGETHER” (In Color) Continuous Shows Starting 11:30 — Last Complete Show 8:30 SUN. - MON. - TUBS. - WED. MARCH 8 -11 Sun.— 1:20-3:20-5:15 7:10-9:05 — Wk. Days 3:20-5:15-7:10-9:05 + BUILDING ? + BUYING ? 'LOAUfS. Current Dividend Rale LOW INTEREST — CONVENIENT TERMS NO DISCOUNT FEES Southern Pines Savings & Loan Assn 205 S. 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The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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March 5, 1964, edition 1
11
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