Newspapers / The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, … / April 27, 1939, edition 1 / Page 10
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Da&Ca/utegi^^ Author of '*How to Win Friends and Influence PeoplepMfs' 5-Minute Biographies JOHN GOTTLIEB WENDEL ' New York's Queerest Rich Family The most talked-of house In New York used to stand at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 39th Street. For twenty years it was called "The House of Mystery." Detective stories, newspaper arti cles, plays, and even motion pic tures were woven around its grim brick walls. Fifty thousand peo ple passed its nailed-up front door every day for years; yet rarely did anyone ever see a sign of life behind its shuttered win dows. If you rode up Fifth Avenue on a sight-seeing bus, possibly the Wendel house was pointed out to you as the only home in the world where a yard worth a mil-* lion dollars was maintained so that the poodle dog would have a place to play in. The Wendels were one of New York's richest families. Their Protect Your VALUABLES From THEFT, FIRE OR ACCIDENTAL LOSS! Rent A Low Cost SAFETY DEPOSIT Box In Our Vault THE BANK OF F.LKIN S. C- LeweHyn, Pres. Garland Johnson, Vice-Pres. Franklin Folger, Cashier Don't Miss These BIG VALUES AT BELK-DOUGHTON CO. REDUCED! Oiw table linen and crepe blouses, some slightly soiled— % PRICE , Indies' Slips Clearance? We've just received a few Pinal clearance on early more dozen special slips to spring dresses and coats to go for tills low price— make room for summer mer chandise. It will pay you to fan see these outstanding bar vv gains. IN OUR BARGAIN BASEMENT Enameled dish pans, /LC each £d%J Men's plow shoes, extra One table of sheeting, special special— while quantity lasts, 25 yards ML— " SI.OO Boys' covert shorts, blue, grey and tan. Elastic band. Slightly irregular silk hose Pair— just arrived to sell at this Off* low price, pair— -25 39* One table of ladies' panties, special— ' New patterns in table oil cloth, yard only— -25 19 c One rack ladies' spring (op pers in pastel shades. Ex- One table fast colors summer traordinary value— sheers, yarrj— sl.39 iit Belk-Doughton Co. Elkin, N. C. real estate holdings were once I valued at a hundred million dol-| lars. Yet they loved to cling to j the past. A bachelor brother and his spinster sisters iived in a house that had been built when Abraliam Lincoln was still an mi known prairie lawyer out in Illi nois. I walked past that house when it was being razed, and saw workmen carrying out zinc, bathtubs and marble wash-stands that had been in use ever since I the days of slavery. The Wendels used gas for lighting because they believed it was easier on the eyes than elec tricity. They had no use for radios, for dumb waiters, for ele vators, or automobiles. The only modern improvement in the house was a telephone; and that was installed only two days be fore the death of the last of the Wendels, so that the nurse could call a doctor. The Wendel House was assess ed at only six thousand dollars; yet the lawyer often pointed out to the family that it was costing them a thousand dollars a day to live in a six-thousand-dollar house. That wa3 true because the land on which it stood was worth almost four million dollars, and the interest on that amount plus the assessments and taxes amounted to about a thousand dollars a day. But in spite of all this wealth, the Wendel family lived in the past. John Gottlieb Wendel died in 1914, up to the time of his death, he had all his suits of clothes copied exactly from a suit he had purchased at the end of the Civil War. The suit was kept in the same box in which it had been delivered forty years earlier, and he had eighteen copies of it made at one time. He wouldn't wear any fabric that had been dyed; so when he wanted a Mack suit, he got the wool from a firm in Scotland which supplied him with wool shorn especially from black sheep. He carried art umbrella, rain or shine, winter and summer. He had one straw hat which he wore year after year until it lit erally fell apart, but at the be ginning of each season, he had it varnished a bright, new, shiny black. He believed that all manner of mysterious diseases were con tracted through the feet so he had the soles of his shoes made THE ELKIN TRIBUNE, EI,KIN, NORTH CAROLINA of gutta percha an inch thick to insulate him against the germs in the ground. In his day, John Gottlieb Wen del was New York's biggest one man landlord. He grew rich simply by sitting tight and let ting the city grow up around him. The Wendel sisters were vio lently opposed to drink; they once refused to sign a million dollar lease until they were prom ised that the first-aid kit and the medicine cabinet to be used in the building wouldn't contain more than a pint of alcohol. In spite of that, after their death, ten thousand dollars' worth of rare wines, whiskies and cham pagnes were found in their cel lar. It had lain untouched so long that hundreds of bottles had turned to vinegar. John Gottlieb Wendel had sev en sisters. artß he did all in his power to keep them from marry ing. He feared that if they mar ried and had children, the estate would be broken up. So he warned them that all men were after their money, and when suit ors came to call on them, he frankly told them not to call again. Only one of the sisters. Miss Rebecca, married; and she didn't marry until she was sixty years old. The others faded into a desolate old age and died without companions. The story of their wasted lives is a pitiful illustra tion of how little money, in it self, can mean. | Georgianna, the most spirited of the sisters, fought against her family restrictions until she de veloped a persecution mania and had to be sent away. For twenty years, she was confined to an in stitution for the mentally ill, and, when she died, in 1930, most of her friends thought she had been dead for years. She was worth five million dollars, but it didn't bring her five cents' worth of happiness. Another sister, Josephine, lived alone in one of the Wendel country houses surrounded by no one but servants. The pitiful part of it is that she dreamed that the house was filled with noisy, happy children, and used to talk and play with them. She imagined that people came to see her, and she used to have her servants set six places at the dinner table. As each course was served, she would change places, pretending that she was all of the guests in turn. One by one, as the sisters died, the rooms they had occupied were locked and the shutters closed; until finally Miss Ella left open only her bedroom, her din ing room downstairs, and the large bare room upstairs where she and her sisters had passed their lonely school days. For years, she lived alone in that spooky, forty-room house with a few faithful old servants and her French poodle dog, Tobey. Tobey slept in Ella's room in a Jittle four-poster bed exactly like his mistress'. And Tobey ate his dog biscuits and pork chops in the dining-room at a special brass table spread with a velvet cloth. When Ella Wendel died, she left millions of dollars to the Methodist church for missionary work; yet she herself had seldom gone to church. She died believing she hadn't a living relative in the world; but within a year, presto, two thou sand three hundred alleged rel atives sprang up like mushrooms all over the earth. John Gottlieb Wendel never made a will. He said he "didn't want any lawyer making money out of his property." Well, the Joke was on him, for before the estate was settled, not only one lawyer, but two hundred and fifty lawyers, had collected fees out of the gold-rush for the Wendel millions. DOBSON SCHOOL PROGRAM GIVEN (Continued from page one) Dobson and Pilot Mountain. A three-act farce comedy will be presented Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock by members of the sen ior class of the school. The play presents a variety of action and promises an evening of entertain ment. The final program will be the graduating exercises on Wednes day evening, May 3, with Dr. Prank P. Oraham, president of the University of North Carolina, delivering the address to the graduates. A cordial invitation is extend ed the public to attend. Correct —— "So you go to school, do you, Bobby?" asked the clergyman of the nine-year old hopeful of the Briggly household. "Yes, sir," answered Bobby. "Let me hear you spell 'bread'." "B-r-e-d." "The dictonary spells it with an 'a', Bobby." "Yes, sir, but you didn't ask me how the dictionary spells It. You asked me how I spell it." KUDZU VERY HARDY PLANT However, First Growing Sea son Is Critical Period for New Seedlings ROOTS ARE DIFFERENT 1 Because kudzu is such a hardy plant, farmers are likely to over look the fact that the first grow ing season is a critical period for newly planted kudzu crowns or seedlings, according to J. E. Trev athan, assistant agronomist of the Soil Conservation Service, in the CCC Camp area, near Dob son. The root system of a kudzu plant is drastically reduced when the plant is dug and competition for moisture by other tvpes of vegetation seriously retards the growth of kudzu during the first spring and summer, Mr. Treva than pointed out. Clean cultiva tion along the rows is therefore extremely important throughout t.he entire first growing season. Approximately 200 acres of kudzu plantings for erosion con trol have been made by farmers in this section during recent mcnths and proper cultivation will promote rapid growth, Mr. Trevathan said. If necessary, weeds and grass should be hoed out of rows and sufficient plow ing should be done along the rows to control other vegetation, to keep the soil well broken, and to keep the vines dragged back to a relatively narrow strip along each row. Such a system of cultivation prevents competion by weeds and grass and also results in the de velopment of a thick stand of plants along the rows. Cultiva tion keeps the surface of the soil in good condition for vines to take root at the nodes, or joints, and develop new crowns. Soil thrown on runners" by the plow also induces root growth. Where some crops such as corn has been planted in the middles between the rows of kudzu. cul tivation for the row crops will control weeds and keep the soil in good condition for the estab lishment of kudzu plants. Work Buys Most In Democracies In lands where people are per mitted the greatest amount of personal and economic freedom, they have more of the good things of life than their neigh bors in dictator lands. Survey alter survey has shown this so convincingly as to leave no room for the belief that the connection between democracy and a high standard of living is accidental. A survey recently completed makes this point even more clear than before. Taking a number of the products most commonly used by people in all countries, it shows that the average factory employee's work buys more here than anywhere else in the world. While Americans lead in buying power, workers in other demo cracies as a rule followed imme diately behind. The average factory worker in the United States buys 7.5 pounds of bread with an hour's work, it was disclosed. Figures for other countries Great Britain, 5.2 pounds; Prance, 5.0; Belgium, 4.9; Italy. 2.8; Germany, 2.5; and Russia. I9. In the case of a work shirt, it took one hour and 28 minutes to buy one here. In Sweden, it took three hours and 36 minutes; in Great Britain, four hours and 3 minutes; Belgium, five and 49; France, five and 53; Germany, nine and 50; and Italy, 17 hours and 5 minutes. The American workman earns 2.1 pounds of beef in an hour, and is followed by the British workman with 1.4 pounds. Low est on the list are the Italian and Russian, with 0.5 and 0.3 respec tively. All the tests made followed this same general pattern. All show ed that in lands where men are free to use their own initiative, to build for themselves, to work for themselves, and to profit fairly from that work, the highest liv ing standards prevail. Heart Attack Fatal To Mr. Baity Isaac San ford Baity, 79, died suddenly at his home three miles north of Yadkinvllle Sunday af ternoon about 2:30 o'clock. Mr. Baity had eaten a hearty dinner and was working around his feed barn when he was apparently stricken with a heart attack. He died almost immediately. Mr. Baity had spent his entire life in Yadkin county and he and his wife, Mrs. Mollie Trivette Baity, would have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in June. Surviving Mr. Baity besides his wife are six children, Mrs. liexie Williams and Mrs. Sarah Woot en, of Yadkinville, Route 1, Mri. Thelma Brown, Raymond and Shobart Baity, of Boon ville, and Cebon Baity, of the home; 28 grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. The funeral services were held at Deep Creek Baptist church Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. Got Right' Answer Recently a would-be chicken fancier had some difficulty with jlier flock and wrote the follow ing letter" to the Department of Agriculture: "Something is wrong with my chickens. Every morning when I come out I find two or three ly ing on the ground cold and stiff with their feet in the ah. Can you tell what is the matter?" After a while she received the following letter from the Depart ment: "Dear Madam: "Your chickens are /lead." CANCER - IS - CURABLE For Further Information Consult With Dr. J. 0. Crutchfield Chiropractic Health Offices Office Hours Daily: 10-12 A.M.—2-4 P.M.—7-8 P.M. Jonesville, North Carolina FOR LARGER YIELDS - GOOD QUALITY You Need the Right Fertilizer-And Enough of It FARMERS WHO USE— 'Tfyyster FIELD TESTED FERTILIZERS demand it year after year. They find ROYS TER'S gives them the utmost in CROP IN CREASE and QUALITY. And remember, this year SIX PLANT FOODS are GUARANTEED in ROYSTER'S— Nitrogen Available Phosphoric Acid Potash Calcium Sulphur t Magnesium Don't take chances—be sure you get ROYSTER'S! Come In and Place Your Order Now With F. A. BRENDLE & SON ELKIN, N. C. i ' -Ja. frail. • • ■' ' Commencement at Mountain Park to Begin With Play (Continued from page one) Imo Jean WeJborn, Thelma Irene Swift, Mary Ruth Thompson, Al ma Lee Woodle, Ethel Mae Say lor, Jack Praser Robinson, An drew Snow, Grace Eloise Defi baugh, Mabel Wilma Eldridge, Robert Garvey Sprinkle, Harold Ray Lewis, Minnie Lou Bowers, Mary Hazel Mounce, Nancy Jane Calloway, Thomas Daniel Lewis, Judy Dare Ellis, Versie Marie Collins, Robey Nixon. Mack B. Parks, Walter Morrison Snow. Una Mae Norman, Sylvia Vir ginia Norman, Gracie Lillian Sidden, Mary Elizabeth Hamby. Thursday, April 27, 1939 Dr. Chas. W. Moseley, Stomach Specialist of Greens boro, N. C. will be at Dr. E. M. Hutcbena' office, North Wtlkes boro, N. C., on Mondays only be ginning Monday, May Ist, 1939, and on each Monday thereafter until further notice. 8-3 c EVERYTHING In Seeds and Fer tilizer for the Lawn and Garden F.A.Brendle & Son Elkin, N. C.
The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, N.C.)
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April 27, 1939, edition 1
10
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