75th Anniversary brings back a simpler time
By Josephine Hall
Raeford Chapter No. 1279 of
the United Daughters of the Con
federacy was organized in 1910.
This month the members are
celebrating the organization's 75th
birthday.
Let's take a look backward and
see what was happening in 1910.
When we talk about things in the
past, history runs all through it
and it becomes part of our
heritage.
William Howard Taft was serv
ing as the 26th President of the
United States, and W.W. Kitchin
was Governor of North Carolina.
Hoke County had not yet been
formed, although the Honorable
J.W. McLauchlin, a Senator from
Cumberland County, had in
troduced a bill in the 1907 and
1909 sessions of the Legislature for
the formation of Hoke County.
Finally, in 1911, under
McLauchlin's leadership, a bill
was enacted into law on Feb. 17 to
be effective Apr. 3, 191 1.
Raeford, which became the
county seat, had been started in
1898.
J.W. Johnson was Mayor of
Raeford in 1910.
The area which is now Hoke
County had a population of about
10,000.
Raeford Institute, the nucleus
around which Raeford was built,
had an enrollment of 325 students,
drawn from 12 counties and three
states.
The 1910 catalog reports there
were nine buildings on the campus
and there were eight cottages sur
rounding the campus. A two-story
dormitory consisting of 10 rooms
had been built for women. Board
in this dormitory, including room,
food and wood was furnished for
$10 per month.
The catalog stated that the
school was in a Scotch and Scotch
Irish settlement and the people
were noted for their thrift, integri
ty, intelligence and high-toned
christian character.
If we went into the rural area
around Raeford in 1910, we would
find around a dozen little one
room schools. One teacher taught
seven or eight grades.
A pot-bellied stove had to be
tended and a water bucket had to
be filled. A dipper usually hung
from a string or rested in the
bucket and everybody drank from
the dipper. (They hadn't heard
about the germ theory back then.)
Each school in the county had a
four-month term.
As 1910 approached, news
papers began to inform their
readers that after 75 years Haley's
Comet was due to appear again.
Much concern was felt because
astronomers announced that the
earth would pass through the tail
44 As 19/0 approached ,
newspapers began to in
form their readers that
after 75 years Haley's
Comet was due to ap
pear again. Much con
cern was felt because
astronomers announced
that the earth would pass
through the tail of the
comet. ? Some thought
the tail might be poison
t f
gas.
of the comet. Some thought the
tail might be poison gas.
The time of passing through the
tail was predicted for May 25,
1910. Many people remained at
home that day, expecting the world
to come to an end. Around the ap
pointed time the sky became hazy
and bolts of thunder were heard in
somfe places. But by mid-afternoon
blue skies returned and no one had
been asphyxiated.
The year 1910 was during the
transition period between horse
and buggy days and the auto
mobile.
By 1903 Detroit had become the
automobile center of the country
and Henry Ford was becoming rhe
world's largest automobile pro
ducer. Early cars were the coffee
grinder type.
The crank, which was kept in
side the car was inserted into the
front of the car and turned to the
right until the motor started.
There was no door on the
driver's side of the touring model.
The horn was a rubber ball with a
squawker contraption attached.
When it was heard most people
were glad to get out of the way of
those new-fangled contrivances.
Travelers in buggies, surreys and
wagons got out and "held their
horses" when they met or were
overtaken by a car.
Car seat cushions were not
bolted down and could be taken
out and used for a seat at a picnic
or ball game.
Tools, batteries, car curtains etc.
were stored under the seats.
The "curtains," which were
made of isin-glass, had to be snap
ped on when it looked like rain was
coming. Only the well-to-do could
afford cars and fancy buggies.
Many a man who bought a car
back then was looked on as a
millionaire.
Lots of people wanted to ride in
the miraculous invention but were
too scared to get into one.
Since the cars at that time were
"open" the prevailing style was to
wear a linen or cotton "duster" to
save your good clothes when
traveling.
The person doing the driving
usually appeared with the prover
bial goggles.
In 1910 Carry Nation was lectur
ing on the evils of strong drink and
breaking liquor bottles in saloons.
Her followers wore hatchet pins,
the symbol of her destruction.
Telephones were in use at the
time and party lines were a big part
of the system.
The friendly "Hello girl" mann
ed the switchboard. Each neighbor
had his own private ring but the
line was not always so private.
Sometimes when an emergency
arose a person would turn the
crank and turn and turn until he
got some attention and could tell
his problem.
Since most of the neighbors were
"In 1910 Carry Na
tion was lecturing on the
evils of strong drink and
breaking liquor bottles
in saloons . Her
followers wore hatchet
pins, the symbol of her
destruction. "
listening anyway the community
would go into action to help out.
The old party line was an aggra
vation some times bui as one per
son said it sometimes made you
feel like one big family when you
needed help.
In 1910, doctors made house
calls, usually traveling in a buggy
and they treated everything in the
book.
Hog-killing day was an annual
event in the cold of winter and
trips to the neighbors bearing
packages of sausage, backbones,
ribs and liver are well remembered.
Soap-making was popular at
home. One aid to cleaning was a
mixture of home-made soap and
sand which was used to clean pots
and pans and wooden floors. Com
shuck mops or brooms were often
used.
A well or pitcher pump furnish
ed water for most homes. A real
convenience was having the pump
in the kitchen.
At meals flies were shooed away
with a slender limb full of leaves
which someone waved slowly to
and fro over the table as a sort of
fan.
Screens were beginning to come
into use and mosquito netting was
a cheap substitute.
A path behind the big house led
to the usual small building of the
era.
A stock company advertised
Peruna as a sure cure for
everything.
Every farmer and some town
folk kept a cow and nearly all of
them had chickens.
The farmer's wife usually
looked after the poultry operation,
especially the "settin" hens.
There were few ice boxes,
especially out in the country and
many families had "spring
houses" where they kept milk, but
ter and eggs.
The kids got most of their after
school snacks out of the pie safe.
Food was cooked on or in a
"wood stove", actually an iron
range. Some of these had a reser
voir attached at the side. It held
and heated an extra supply of
water.
There were no paved roads in
Hoke County in 1910. Roads were
ruts with lots of sand and dust in
the dry seasons and mud hub deep
when it rained.
One of the main things "Hoke
to be people" complained about
before the county was formed was
the almost impassable roads to the
county seats, Fayetteville and
Lumberton.
Up until 1910, illumination was
with kerosene lamps or gas. But
electric lights, with power coming
from Lake View, N.C., were
turned on in Raeford on January
26, 1910.
Silk was the elegant fabric of the
day as seen by newspaper ads.
The porch was a favorite spot,
especially for entertaining evening
visitors.
The hammock and swing were
very popular porch Fixtures.
Sounds of the whipporwill and
the Katy-dids broke the silence of
many a summer night on the
porch.
Feather beds were a status sym
bol. They also kept many people
warm on a cold night in an un
heated bedroom. The feathers used
for stufFing the bed had been
plucked from geese. Feather beds
were turned on Friday and were
aired in the summer.
In 1910 people did not wrap
Christmas gifts. There was no
pretty colored wrapping paper.
Mail order catalogs supplied
many items.
Quilting bees, butchering bees,
thrushing bees, barn raising bees
and corn shuckings, which were
participated in by neighbors,
helped when work needed to be
done.
Traveling salesmen in 1910 were
called "Drummers."
The blacksmith shop and the
livery stable were popular places of
business.
Log Cabin syrup came in a tin
log cabin and poured from the
chimney.
Sorghum, cider and grist mills
were operated in most com
munities.
"Zn 1910 if a person
came to Raeford to visit
or on business he usually
traveled by train .
Raeford *s first train
came through in 1897 . "
Discarded medicine bottles were
returned to the druggist. They were
cleaned and re-used to dispense
drugs. Kids picked up a few pen
nies by collecting and returning the
bottles.
In 1910 if a person came to
Raeford to visit or on business he
usually traveled by train.
Raeford's first train came through
in 1897.
Homestead land was still being
given free to settlers in some
western areas which had not
become states. New Mexico and
Arizona became states in 1912.
A lot of changes have taken
place sincc great grandma's day -
jet planes, radio and television,
trips to the moon, microwaves,
computers, video lasers, wonder
drugs, transplants, implants and
robots to name a few.
I for one, consider it a great
privilege to have lived to see the
great progress that has taken place
since 1910.