Fantastical Order
Was Source Of Fun
Back In 'Old Days'
D.Q.I.'s" Used Drug Store
As
A
call
had
fire"
Q. r
was
den
Som
lean!
Sain
He
I do
and
port:
wou
flooi
kets,
roan
towr
and
ous,
was
it up
dress
Headquarters to Don
Gala Costumes
?
tew of the older residents re
.he order, but the "D. Q. Ts"
just about been lost to pos
terit r when Mr. Chas. Smallwood
reco: ded the antics of the young
of Williamston nearly sixty
yeari ago in the following story:
Dt ring the days after the "big
on December 8, 1883, in Wil
liamiton, and before Mr. S. R.
Bigg: lost his new "two-story
by a later blaze, there
spreid through the country a fan
tastical order known as the "D.
the chief object *of which
hilarity under cover of hid
identity on Christmas day.
thing similar to the New Or
Mardi Gras preceeding All
s day.
w widespread was the order
not know, but Williamston's
yourg men took to it with a vim,
many were the Ingenuous
ayals of animals, birds, fowls.
mytls, and even ghosts. They
d use the drug store second
midst the coffins and cas
ta don their garbs, then
the streets of the whole
creating what fear or fun
enjoymentj they could.
The custom was quite ingenu
and really edifying, and
worthy of continuance, but
the toys finally grew out of the
habitj. and the colored folks took
for a time, but they did not
mongst the coffins and the
caskets: po sir, on suggestion of
permanent transformation for
them
BIG PUZZLE
The 1942 tobacco marketing
season is offering a big puzzle
for fanners to solve. In past
years there were automobiles
to be bought. Gasoline took
more dollars than many real
ized, and then there were re
frigerators and any number of
other articles needed for the
home and farm. Most of those
items have been removed from
the shopping list. So now far
mers are puzzled as to what to
do with their money.
But the puzzle can be solved.
There are bonds to be bought
for helping win the sear and
padding the little nest for the
post-war shock. Then there are
debts. Most everyone has some
of them on his shoulders, and
now is an opportune time to
wipe 'em out And, too, there are
many thousands of articles, use
ful articles, still on the local
merchants' shelves that can be
bought and at prices little or
no higher than they were last
year.
Peace Disturbers
Forty Years Ago
Forty years ago they carried a
man to court for disturbing the
peace with his singing. The ac
tion prompts the question, "What
would the old-timers do in this
day and age to combat unneces
sary horn tooting?"
The case referred to was men
tioned in an old issue of The En
prise in September, 1902, as fol
lows:
One of the most unique cases
in court teas that of L. C. Robert
son for violation of town ordi
nance against singing on streets.
In the formulation of ordinances
Smallwood Recalls
Old Friendships
of
Remembering the characters
long years ago in Williams! on,
Mr. Chas. Smallwood was Im
pressed by two especially, the fate
Captain W. R. Fowden and
the
late Captain Tom Thompson. *fr.
ol
Smallwood writes now, as
lows:
There was no dearer a resident
of Williamston than was Capfain
W. R. Fowden, an importatior
the time "the railroad came
town." A good-natured, wi
happy Englishman. The "bit
never landed on his head nor
heels, nor lingered at trying
light.
His were the ways we all sho
court. An Irishman could h. ive
learned humor from him. He 1
void of wealth, but happy in
norance of it He numbered
friends by the bounds of his
quaintanceship. He kept busy
making both ends meet, and
meeting Od-out all troubles.
Twould be a funny world, \
we all alike; but to be all alike,
Captain Fowden was the fellow
to follow.
Cursed be the gold that damn
at
to
ty,
his
to
uld
as
ig
his
sc
at
the
re
the commissioners failed to mi ke
proper distinction between m -re
whistling and humming and b< is
terous singing. The ordinance
should have been directed agai ist
the latter. Robertson had appe ti
ed from Mayor's court and Juc ge
Winston ruled "ordinance void "
There should always be an or
dinance against boisterous sir g
mg as our town has been affli rt
ed very much along that line, t ut
I the Commissioners would do w >11
! to employ a lawyer to put ill
laws in a legal form. The pea :e j
and quietness of the town should
be maintained at any cost. I et'
there be no loophole for distur j
crs of the peace to escape.
SMOKER
In addition to shouldering
burdensome responsibilities oc
casioned by war and turmoil
on a world-wide front, Prime
Minister Winston Churchill
finds time to smoke many de
ars.
It is estimated that the man
has smoked ISO,MO clears, bat
he has not been lackine for
smokes. A close friend of the
international fienre says pos
sibly a million of all kinds of
clears have been presented or
offered to him by admirers all
over the world.
To smoke 154,MM clears say
in a period of forty years, Mr.
Churchill would have had to
fire up ten of them every day,
includine Sunday.
my soul,
And makes me hunger the more:
Blessed is he who lives "up a tree"
But can whistle the birds from
the moor.
Another Englishman was Wil
liamston's Captain Tom Thomp
son, who lived in constant expect
ation of receiving a legacy from
his "home country."
How, when, or why, I never
learned; nor did I ever learn that
the rainbow's end had been reach
ed. But so long as hopes remain,
despair cannot enter. So here's
hoping he hoped so long as he
lived ;and dying, knew not his
hopes were nil.
It was he who was ever our gra
cious host, when Dr. Hassell and
I would stop by the County Home
for a meal, when caught in that
vicinity at noon-hour on long bug
gy-drives, visiting the sick.
In a filing catilnet at Marine
Corps Headquarters rests an un
claimed medal of honor awarded
to Pvt. Michael Owens. It was
awarded for heroism at Korea in
1871.
Few Crazy People
In County In 1840
?
A century ago there were only
three crazy persons in all of Mar
tin County. Today, the asylums
for the insane are bulging and
there are long waiting lists. Cer
tainly, this county has not over
run the asylums, but it is an ac
cepted fact that far more people
are crowding the "bug" houses
now than was the case years ago,
population figures considered
People back in 1840 according
to the United States census for
that year had something else to
do besides go crazy. They had
work to do, while today so many
of us are so busy doing nothing
that there is little else left to do
but go crazy.
Thrown into hustle and bustle
of today, no doubt the old-timers
would weaken under the strain
and go mad. It is a fairly well es
tablished belief that thrown back
into the days and times of a cen
tury ago, many of us would go
batty.
Those forbears of a century ago
had their troubles, to be sure, but
the old census figures simply fail
to reveal the trials and tribula
tions plaguing us moderns. There
were five deaf white and one deaf
colored persons in the county in
1840, but as far as the records of
that period show there were few
maimed or crippled. There were
about half a dozen white victims
of blindness, the others knowing
little or nothing about eyeglasses.
Count the pairs of eyeglasses you
meet going down the street to
day. Quite a comparison, isn't it?
Time marches on, leaving the peo
ple behind, apparently.
?'
The job of the Navy PT boats
is defense of convoys and of the
sea coast.
PHONES
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25
Dru^s
26
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