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j "c THE NEWS-RECORD
MADI. M OUNTY RECORD
S' ,
.The paper that tells what the
people in the country as well
as those in town are doing.
EstabLsned June 28, 1901.
FRENCH BROAD NEWS
Established May 16, 1907.
Consolidated Not. 2, 1911
Published TWICE A WEEK Tuesdays and Fridays
THE ESTABLISHED NEWSPAPER OF MADISON COUNTY
yoL. xxix
MARSHALL, N. C, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 193Q
8 Pages This Issue
. t
IS THERE A
SANTA CLAUS?
In 1897 the New York Sun .re
ceived an inquiry from a little girl
regarding the existence of Santa
Claus. Her letter was referred to
Francis P. Church, a member of the
editorial staff of the Sun and the
masterpiece which we are reproduc
ing below was the result. On each
Christmas since it first appeared, it
has found its way back into print.
If you have read it previously, still
another reading will be worth your
while, and if perchance it has escap
ed your notice unt'l now, we com
mend it to you as a gem exemplify
ing the true "spirit of Christmas.''
Here it is:
'"We take pleasure in answering
at once, and thus prominently, the
communication helow, expressing at
the same time our groat gratitude
that its author is nuTiberad smnn?
the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor I am eight years
old; some of my little friends say
there is no Santa Claus. Papa says:
"If you see it in The Sun it's so."
Please tell me the truth, is there a
Santa Claus?
I " VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
f "Virginia, your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected by j
a the skepticism of a skeptical age. j
They do not believe except they see. j
They think that nothing can De
which is not comprehensible by their
little minds. All minds. Virginia, j
' I whether they be men's or children's,
are little. In this great universe of
I ours man is a mere insect, an ant,
I in his intellect, as compared with the
I boundless world about him, as meas-
WrM rbtthe intelligence capable)
'grasping the whole ruth and know
V ledge. '
"Yea. Vireinla. there ?s a hanta
Claus. He exists as certainly as
?love and generosity and devotion ex
iist, and you know that they abound
land give to your life its highest
i beauty - and joy. Alasf how dreary
(would be the world if there were no
f Santa Claus. It would be as drear
as if there were no Virginias. There
would he no childlike faith then, no
f jCoetry, no romance, to make toler-
able this existence. We should have
.'- no enjoyment, except in sense and
' sight. The eternal light with which
childhood fills the world would be
f extinguished.
4 "Not believe in Santa Claus? You
might get your papa to hire men to
i watch in all the chimneys on Christ-
. r w. r-i,.a. ht:
' even if they did not see Santa Clatfs
J coming down, what wouia tnat
I prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus,
but that is no sign that there is no
Santa Claus. The most real things
in the world are those that neither;
children nor men can see. uiu yum
ever see fairies dancing on the
lwn? Of coarse not,' but that's no
nranf that thev are not there. No,
l
body can conceive or imagine all the j
wonders that are unseen and unsee-S-We
10 world. ;
'7 "You may tear asunder the ba-
by'i rattle' and see what makes the
I noise inside, but there is yeil cov -
I ering the unseen world which not'
I the strongest, man nor even tne u- j
nited strength of the strongest men
f that ever lived, eould tear apart.
Only, faith, fancy, poetry, love, ro-
l mance, can push aside., that curtain
I and view and picture the iupernat-
f ural beauty and glory beyond. Is it
all real? Ah, Virgina, in all this
I world there is nothing else real and
afciding.j-:-.:: f jv
f -i '"No SanU Claust Thank God! He
Uvea xorever, n. wiuurmim
now, Virgina, nay ten times ,ten
Mini from now. he will
i mwwwira -
i continue to make glad the heart of
i childhood.' ,;'' f ' i- J'' -!
This exposition testifying to the
I existence of Santa, Claus is well-nigh
, flawless unless youvare a forgotten
child on Chrlatmaa morninr or un
i less you happen to, be incladed a-
mong the unfortunates who are com
f pened ,to spend the "glad season
beWnd' prison bars or locked doors,
i away from the laughter and happy
; shouU of children who were ,not
V passed by. But in either of these
events, you are due forgiveness if
you r""c to inquire,- "la there a
His Hearty Endorsement - v --. Albert r. Rei.1 1
. " i ' i Tm' - ' 1 "" - -
1 ''
y i
"Officer," saioT a 3d0-pound lady,
"could you see me across the street?
"Madam, I could see you three
blocks away." lEix.
CHEER UP!
There ain't no use of feeling
blue or moaning with regret. If
"Hoover times" are sent to you,
why, "Hoover times'" you'll get.
Don't howl that Hoover is to
blame, for that is jint a myth;
times would be rocky just the
same if we'd elected Smith. You
needn't whine and fume and
fuss that you are out of luck,
nor tear around and rave and
cuss and try to pass the buck.
V.. ,A JS 1 1
iUU "I1U mn"y wn W1
what brand of luck yoa
moan, for most of us are well
aware of troubles of our own.
Just tighten up your belt a bit
and work a little more, and
take a shade less time tj sit or
lie abed and snore. Mayhap
the Master of our lot sees fit
for you to stew; and if you like
His ways or not, there's nothing
you can do. It's very likely that
He can see that the times we
serve are still a whole sight; bet-
ter than trie times that we de
. serve. So get down on your
knee8 eacj, day and, kneeling
there rehearse the best of
ffajfcg that you can say that
times aren't any worse
-GUY SWARINGEN.
'
HELLO ACROSS
THE ATLANTIC
You can telephone that "sweetie"
you met in Paris, London, or Berlin
last summer now, but your voice is
carried over the water by radio.
However, it won't be long before
you can actually telephone her by
wire. Plans are rapidly going for
ward for the actual laying cf the
world's first transatlantic telephone
cable. The landward end of the
circuit on this side of the great
pond is now being constructed. Part
of the wire or cable has been placed
from the Maine-New Brunswick bor
der to the jumping off place near
Trinity bay, - Newfoundland. From
there a new cable 1,800 miles long,
which will be laid in 1932, will span
the ocean bottom to Europe, and in
cidentally constitute the longest un
derwater telephone cable in the
world. The reason we haven't had
a telephone line to Europe hereto
fore is because we haven't had a
cable capable of carrying the deli
icate voice impulses jover such a
great distance without loading coils
or repeater at regular intervals to
"step up" the fading currents. The
Bell Laboratories have solved the
problem by developing a new cable
in which premiuvar, a highly effi
cient magnetic alloy of iron, is
wrapped like tape around the single
copper conductor, and acts as a
continuous "loading" agent through
out the length of the circuit.
The Pathfinder.
. Healthiest Boy and Girl
a & - ' fc I
- Marion. E. Snydergaard, 13, ol Grundy County, Iowa, and William
Ross Bodenhamer, 20, of Johnson City, Mo winners of -the 4-H Clubs
nnual priie for -the healthiest farm boy and healthiest farm gh-L,
:y.M?-S3s"IIada busy day, dear
opened two clubs, one memorial hall,
and a new road."
His wife "Well, I hope you are
not too tired pf opening things, be
cause I've got a tin of sardines for
you." Exchange. -
"What was the name of the last
station where we stopped, mother"?
1 don't know. Don t bother me.
I'm reading a story."
"Well, it's too bad you don't know
the name, because little brother got
on there.
CHARLIE SAWYER
HURT
INJURIES NOT SERIOUS, BUT
HAD NARROW ESCAPE
Charlie, the ten-year -old son of
Mr. and Mrs. Claude Sawver. was
struck by a car on the streets of
Marshall Tuesday afternoon, and
auueieu pumiui cuts ana Druises a'
IX I 1 ,
bout the head and forehead. In at
tempting to cross the street, where
two cars were meeting, he was
knocked down. He was treated by
Dr. Roberts. '
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AT
LAUREL BRANCH
The B. Y. P. U. of the Laurel
Branch church will present a Christ
mas program at that church Christ
mas night at 7:30. Quite a nice
entertainment is looked forward to
by the people in that community.
MEADOW FORK MAN SHOT BY
HOT SPRINGS MERCHANT
ONE IN JAIL; OTHER IN
HOSPITAL
W. C. Fowler of Hot Springs was
lodged in the Madison County jail
Monday night charged with the
. shooting of Bruce Holt, of the Mead
ow Pork section. The shooting is
' reported to have occurred at the
'home of a Mr. Russell on Meadow
j Fork, where a party was being held.
, Holt is said to have been shot
' through the stomach or bowels and
I was taken to a hospital in Asheville.
j Fowler, a merchant at Hot Springs,
had some wounds about the head
and is being treated by Dr. Roberts.
ICOMMUNITY
j CHEST LIBERAL
I NEEDY FAMILIES SUPPLIED
I WITH CHRISTMAS CHEER
I The church committees who were
to collect articles for some neody
1 families about Marshall, were quite
'successful. A sufficient quant'ty o
i provisions, cloihino:, toys, f.;- all the
j needy families, gi-wn tho committee,:
the ShcHon-Twjed Company, and
were C;:itriDuteu irom i.ie ouicu 'i
money v,;s g-vvn the commi'iee to
provide wouj and coal.
3 ESCAPED
PRISONERS
r' CAUGHT
Lloyd Cutshall, Tony Claxton, and
Joe Case, three of the six prisoners
who escaped from the Marshall jail
recently ha. been captured and
returned to jail
THANKING
THE JURY
In a recent big murder trial
in Washington the accused
man upon being pronounced
"not guilty" by the jury went
and shook hands with each ju
ror and expressed his thanks
for their verdict. That ap
i pears to be a regular pro-
Cc,Aure, in nnr n0nrt in anv hio-
.
case, whether of murder or
something less serious.
If a jury is to be thanked
for bringing in a verdict of
"not guilty" it naturally fol
lows that it is to bo condemn
ed or criticized for bringing in
a verdict of "guilty."
It is all wrong. The jury
does not serve the accused. It
serves the state. Its business is
to find out the truth, without
consideration of personalities
before or after the verdict.
Presumably if a man is found
"not guilty" he owes that to
the fact that he did not com
mit the 'crime with which he
was charged not to the 12
men who are paid by the state
to sift the evidence. It would
be just as logical to thank the
Weather Bureau far rain, or
a clear day, or to thank the
judges of' a horse race for the
winner. Thanking implies fa
vors; obligations, gratituda,
and it is highly improper for a
liberated man to owe any of
these to a jury. Pathfinder.
THE TERROR
IN THE FOG
No news this year has been
much more horrible than that
from the Meuse valley, where
more than 60 people have died
mysteriously in a deadly
"fog," the victims, apparent
ly, of some sort of pestilence
akin to the dreaded "black
death" of the middle ages.
The stories describing the
case have a gruesome fascina
tion. One walks along the
street and finds heavy, clam
my fog lying in queer, streaky
layers. One gets through it,
returns home, and suddenly
I falls violently ill
Detath, in
f many cases, comes a short
time later. And no one seems
to gay just what is the
; trouble.
Naturally, the trouble was
first blamed on poison gas.
The district where the trag
edies occurred was the scene
of bloody fighting in the
World ' war, a ri d it was
thought that some dump, of
poison gas containers m'ight be
buried nearby, letting i t s
fumes seep to the surface now,
years after the armistice, to
strike down innocent and un
suspecting people in peace
time.
But investigation seems to
have disproved this theory;
and the alternative a strange
pestilence, striking in the fog
and baffling physicians is ev
idently even more terrifying.
The villagers along the 'Meuse
are parfc-stricken, and it is
small wonder. The whole
thing has a sort of other-worM
taint; an atmosphere like that
in some of Arthur Machen's
stories, alarming because of
its mystery.
It is hard to realize that all
of this is happening in the
twentieth century. It all reads
like a page out of some me
dieval manuscript; the deadly
fog, the terror that stalks the
street, the people refusing to
go out of their houses on any
pretext, leaving their domes
tic animals untended and dy
ing in pasture and stablfe
could not that be taken bodily
from some tale of the plague
in the middle ages?
The world, after all, is not
quite such a safe and familiar
place as we usually imagine.
It has terror and mystery In it, v
now as of old ; and now and
then some strange, inexplica
ble phenomenon like this a
rises to strike a chill Into our
hearts and ':- remind us that
there are still things in it that.
, are beyond our understand-vagP::.:r-fr:w-i'
' : 'U ,
: Hendersonville Times-News.