Newspapers / The Duplin Times (Warsaw, … / Aug. 29, 1968, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of The Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Ruth Faison Shaw, Teacher & Fingerpainter, Native Of Duplin By: Claude H. Moor* Ruth Frisco Shoe, teacher aod originator ri finger priOttag. now of the faculty of the Uni versity of North Carolina, ?peaks of KenoisvQle. Dup lin aid Sampson Counties as home. She was not only oorn In Kenans rill e while her father was pastor of Grove Presby terloi Church, but her Faison forefrihers, James and Henry Faison were colonial settlers In Duplin oid Sampson Counties (ITO). ~~ Miss Shaw was born In Ken ans rllle in an old home near the fork of the Wilmington oid Warsaw roads, which was built In 1861 fay Louis Froelich, the builder and owner of the CConr federoe Arms Factory (burned in July, 1863. by the Yankees) She was the daughter of the REv. Miss Shaw as a young teacher. William Shaw and Alberta Fai son Shaw. The Rev. Mr. Shaw, a graduate of Davidson and the Presbyterian Seminary in Rich mond taught school in Wallace and Magnolia before he became a Minister. His father, the Rev. Colin Shaw, was a pioneer Presbyterian Minister (and Confederate Chaplain) in Samp son, Duplin and Bladen. Miss Shaw's mother. Alberta F aison Shaw, was a teacher and a talented musician, having gra duated from the Clint on Fein ale Institute. She wa?- a daughter of the Hon. Thomas Ivuy Fai son of "Summer Hill" Planta tion near Turkey. Mr. F aison was Clerk of the Superior Court of Sampson County for 20 years, a leading mason, and member of the N. C. Constitional Con vention. 1835 and 1865. Miss Shaw relates tha her real education began at home. When she was quite young her family moved to Cabarrus Co unty. where her father becams pastor of Bethphage Presbyter ian Church. It was there that she attended her first organized school which was operated Join tly by the church and the com munity, and was taught byaMr. Daly rumple a graduate erf Dav idson. She recalls that the school was small and much Indi vidual attention was given to students, with emphasis on tho roughness, initiative, and self discipline. many years Librtri?ofGoMa boro. Miss Shaw weU renwn bers the hanging l?m>? ?d the wood burning Sw?r. MU? Shew believes that it wis Miss DeVne'S excellent command of the English language and her knowledge and love of litera ture that developed in her stu dents ? Interest In reading and literature. Miss Shaw relates that Presbyterians were few in Southport. ?id she especially remembers the friendliness of the Episcopalians. Steamboats at th* time plied die Cape Fear River from Wilmington to Southport, the later of which was a shipping port for N aval stores. As a chUd. she visited histor ic Orton Plantation, the ruins of Brunswick Town and St. Phil lips Church and Fort Caswell. Miss Kate Stewart at that time ran a hotel which was somewhat of a retreat for summer va cationers from Wilmington. Miss Shaw remembers visits from an old family friend, Mr. Cameron Certain while they li ved there. Mr. Certain, a na tive of England, became agreat friend of trie Faisons during the War Between the States, and after the War. being a talented musician, he taught music in Faison and Turkey until his death in 1901. In 1899 The Rev. William Shaw accepted the prlnclpalshlp of James Sprunt INstltute and the pastorship of Grove Presby terian Church. James Sprunt Institute was operated by the Wilmington Presbytery and was named for the Rev. James Sp runt, D. D. a native of Perth shire, Scotland, who had mar ried Miss Eleanor Hall (a des cendant of Owen Kenan of the Revolution) md was pastor for many years of Grove, Union and Faison Presbyterian Chur ches. The Shaws lived in the historic old Pearsall house (still standing) which was used as the President's house. The Institute was reorganized in 1896 and was considered a suc cessor of Grove Academy built in 1785 in Kenansvtlle. Miss Shaw enrolled at J ames Sprunt where she graduated in 1906 in a class of seven, two others, Mrs. W. B. Murphy (Mary Colvin) and Miss Edna Robinson of Ivanhoe, are still living. At that time, the lady principal was Miss Daisy Mar able (a daughter of the Rev. B.F. mar able, D.C. and Oc tavia Faison Mar able. Miss Mar able later married a Mr. South all and ha* a son, me Rev. Thompson South all, Pres byterian Minister of Staunton, Va., The music teachers were Miss Bessie Cowan (Mrs. Ro bert Grady), Miss Fannie Gray Farrior (Mrs. Charles Hussey), Miss Kate Brown taught Latin and French, Miss Marv Devane and MissElizabeth Hicks taught English and History md Miss Maria Loftin taught mathemal es. Besides these subjects. Rh etoric, Botany, Georgaphy. Ph ysiology and Hygiene were tau ght. Mr. Shaw taught advan ced Bible and Miss Annie Ross Williams taught art. Enrollment was aroond 90. The catalogue of 1906 describing the town of Kenansvtlle says. "The moral influences of the community are unsurpassed and vice and temp tations almost unknown. It is an ideal spot fo r study, and for the attainment of those gr ere were SO pupils enrolled. Miss Shaw relates that It was there that the got her first glimpae Into the unexplored de pths of the child's mind, ft was here that she concluded that children had many latent talents which had to be stimu lated and developed by the tea cher. After a term at Mont Vale. Miss Shaw felt the need for more advanced schooling and she en rolled at Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore. Her mo ther, being a musician, was an xious for her to pursue music. At that time. Miss May Far rior and Miss Callle Newton of H alls rill e were attending Peabody. Mrs. Shaw returned to Ken ans ville after her graduation and teight piano. Her family soon moved back to Southport. where her father did mission work for the Presbytery. Miss Shaw then taught at a school near Rochester, N.Y., She la ter taught at Rosendale in Bl aden Co., N.C. During World War 1, Miss Shaw volunteered for Y.M.C.A. work for 2 1/2 years In Fr ance. While there, she got to see much of the country to visit many of the museums and art galleries. After she returned from France, her father died and she and her mother moved to Wilmington. While there, she taught music for a year in So uthport and commuted to Wil mington by steamboat. Miss Shaw had a great desire to go abroad and through a fri end in the diplomatic service, she was invited to go to Rome, Italy and establish an English m One of Miss Shaw's finger painting scenes /iter about five years, the Shaws moved to Southpon. where her father built the first Presbyterian Church there, and also opened a private school aces and accomplishments which count in producing refi nement and character." After Mias Shaw's graduation at James Sprunt, she taught in a one teacher school at Mom Vale, Transylvania Co.. N.C. This was (n the middle of the Yrr'r-Hw Mountains. Th j. ? ' : - . ? .A?. .; m Aj&st xKy /S/cociSisn^ Miss Shaw giving finger painting lessons to the Rocquettes at Radio City. N.Y. speaking school for young hoys and girls. Miss Shaw sailed for Rome In 1922 and set up her school on Via Vittovl Ven eto. At that time, the teaching methods of Or. Maris Montes sori were being popularized In Western Europe. Miss Shaw was able to inject much of her own philosphy of education In her school which came to be known as the Shaw School. Some of the students were children of English speaking families and others were Italian child ren of the Roman aristocracy who could speak English. Be sides the three "R's" Miss Shaw's school offered science, and art. Much was learned by visits to the Roman ruins of earlier civilizations, to the Botanical and Zoological Gar dens, to the Museums, Art Gal leries and to the ancient ch urches. She also taught story telling and creative writing and through the latter, she was able to learn much about her stu dents. Out of her belief that children need opportunities for self expressions. Miss Shawde veloped the art of flngerpaint ing and at the same time she devised a formula for making fingerpaints. All of her stu dents painted, but Miss Shaw says that even though some finger paintings are not beauti ful they may offer a clue to some deep seated obsession. She believes that children as well as adults often present a record of their emotional con dition at the time they are pa lming. some from the present and some from the past. In her own words, she says "Im pressions of the past come out In fingerpalnting." Miss Shaw was soon recog nized as a pioneer In prog ressive education and her sch ool in Rome was visited by many of the leading philosoph ers, palmers and educators. While in Rome, Miss Shaw lived In at old Roman villa, and had beautiful flower gar dens. Many of her friends and relatives ^frora North Ca historic cities including Venice, Milan, Florence andNaples.but she was called on to lecture in many parts of the country. In 1932 after ten years in Rome Miss Shaw went to the Sorbonne in Paris where she lectured for a time and then she returned to the United St ates. She set up her studio on 42nd St., in N.Y., where she was employed by Blnney and Smith, manufacturers of art materials. She lectured and gave finserp aiming demonstra tions all over the U.S. Miss Shaw wrote many articles for magazines and newspapers. She also gave many flngerp aiming demonstrations for service men at U.S.O. Centers for World War I I. In 1934 she was in vited to lecture in England by aneducatorfromCambrldge. While there, she appeared on radio programs and also met H.G. Wells and Bert rand Rus sell. Miss Shaw gave de monstrations for the movie st ' mi ars in Hollywood, some ot whom i took up fineerpalnting as a ho- 1 bby. She became a real fri- | end of Walt Disney, and prl- , zes highly a set of the orlgl- j nals of ' Snow White and me j Seven Dwarfs" presented to her , by him. During World War II, Miss , Shaw worked with psychiatric , patients at the famous Menni- ' ger Clinic at Topeka, Kansas, where she remained for two years. She was a consultant to the psychiatrists there; and she kept detailed histories of the patients with whom she worked. She began to use fin gerpainting as a therapeutic technique. After this wonderful ex perience in Topeka. Miss Shaw returned to New York, where iHe restored an old abandoned edlenialehouse at Yfest 46th Street. Her studio was located ift her house. She held classes in fingerpainting and lectured < to teachers at Colleges and i Universities. She also restored i a 1730 house at Dennis on Cape i Cod. She held summer classes ! there. The writer had the pi- 1 e asure of assisting her with 1 her art school one summer, i Miss Shaw has always been i surrounded by the most int- ? eresting people-durlng that summer, her friend. Helen Hayes arid daughter, Mary and son Jimmy (now actor in Hol lywood) spent two weeks with her. Other visitors were: Dr. : Karl Menninger of Topeka, Sir Cedric Hard wick, the Countess Tolstoy, the actress Gwyn An derson and Gertrude Lawrence, and innumerable psychiatrist, psychologists, teachers and ar tists. During the years. Miss Shaw was always able to find time to come backtoNorthCarolina,to visit her F aison, Shaw and Moore relatives. Her brother, William was for many years Postmaster of Fayetteville, N.C. and her brother, Hem an, was a professor of History at the Hsverford School, Harve rford, Pennsylvania. In November 1959 Miss Shaw came to the University at Ch apel H1U, where she has been a consultant in the Department of Psychiatry and has worked with patients at the N.C. Me morial Hospital. For a time she had a fascinating program on the WUNC-TV. in which she told stories tor children and illustrated them with fitter laintings as she talked. She has lad numerous exhibitions of pa intings of her own as well as her students. Her interest-, Ing house is usually Included in the spring tours of Inter esting homes in Chapel Hill. Miss Shaw is still active in many ways. She recently vi sited James Sprunt Institute, where a collection of her par intings are now on exhibit. She was also a guest of the Kenan Family at the Kenan Dinner given on the occasion of the dedication of Liberty Hall. Well! Well'. Wells"! By: Ruth'-Wells . Doesn't this weather fee! go ad? U never ceases to amaze me that the weather man over the news media said for ten straight days "No relief is in light?' They had not read die Progressive Farmer. Those fo lks must compile their infor mation some two or three mo nths in advance but they knew when it would change, and the very day it would change The School bells rang out yesterday and brought an end to summer vacations for ano ther nine months. The class room will be greeted with mi xed emotions, as some enjoy the house of learning. Witn others, the beach and swim ming pool are still utmost in their thoughts. Farmers were generally pl eased with opening sales of to bacco on the Eastern Belt. But did you ever stop to think that tobacco would be selling for 16.00 per pound had the price of tobacco gone up pro portionally with steel? It is something to think about. It is getting to be the time of the year to gather pumpkins and Indian corn for fall arran gements. Many people are gathering their colorful har vest and preparing for what I am sure will be lovely ar rangements. Have a safe Labor Day! ***??*?* Duplin Times Progress Sentinel Published Weekly by Progress Sentinel, Inc. Kenaosville, N. C. 28349 Second Class Postage Paid at Kenansvllle, N. C. SUBSCRIPTION PRICKS stagfe Cepy < " Ma la P?it an* Alj I I t ? Maa. ? tl U I Yr. - ?M1 Outside Of DupUn and ? Maa. - IMS 1 Tr. - RM ttocl. N. C. Sales Tax) . 1 W*r* "Il" ?J? f Uncle Pete From f i Chiltlin Switch ?$*' I f I DEAR MISTER EDITOR: It's like they wy. I reckon great minds run on the same track. Ed Doolittle come up with a problem at the country store Saturday night, and Zeke Grubb come up with the answer. Ed reported to the fellers he had been doing some reading on this rural-urban life and he was J of the opinion folks has got to choose between living and mak ing a living. We've Just run out of room where we need it, allow ed Ed, and they ain't no way to do both. Fer instant, said Ed, we got cities with more cars than park ing places, more sick people than hospital beds, more folks at conventions than hotel rooms, more mouths to feed than food and more crooks than cops. We run out of sideways space a long time ago and now we was running out of straight up room. Trouble is, Ed allowed, we got millions of acres with nothing on 'em, then we got millions of people on a few acres. Then Zeke broke in to My he had done some study on this problem and he had come up with the Zeke Grubb Group Plan. All it is. Mid Zeke. was what them science fellers calls "mass movement." What had got him on this plan, reported Zeke, was where he had saw that by 1985 we will have a average work week of 22 hours and workers will be retiring at 38 year old. We got to copy the ants, Zeke explained. Keep the worker* in the ant hill cities and git the dead wood out on land that atnt 1 h'blfc b^teglJ^^nilMli^ pat it out on the deserts and mountains and on all that land in the soU bank. We would have *1 people's pastures for all the worn out folks over 38, was Zeke's words. Take all retired folks out of the cities end we'd have room for them under 18 that has to work. And the Zeke Grubb Plan, he said, would take care of that problem we got now when re tired folks was living so long. Them that had retirement in come could take cart of the farms and ranches and not starve to death while they was doing it. Ed butted in to say he spe cial liked the Zeke Grubb Plan on account of the retired folks would have plenty of parking space and more'n 10 foot for burial space. All the fellers, Mister Editor, took to the Zeke Grubb Plan. Even Ed said it might work if the Guvernment didn't git aholt of it. I figger the feUers at the country store went along With Zeke on.account of we're alrea dy out in the people's pasture and the only move we got to make under the plan is to the cematery. Yowrt truly. Uncle Dan r The Minister s Desk Prayer changes things! Hare you ever heard this statement? It Is true. The important thing is not that you agree'with this statement but that you believe it enough to commit your life to God in prayer. The trouble with most of us who do pray is that we have made it phony.- We have made prayer phony by not really meaning what we have said In the form o f prayer, so that it has become a cultural cliche. An elegant woman at a cocktail party losses a friend and purrs, "God- bless,"?which realty - means ??good-bye." Then there is the cliche mat occurs when somebody sneezes. Even in a tavern or hamburger haven, a voice may ring out: "God bless you," which means God knows-what, maybe "get your handkerchief out" or at best '?I'm sorry you sneezed." We make our prayers phony by praying as though God were some private possession or mi racle worker. We pray sel fish prayers like the one of the young lady who was twenty nine years cud, for the second year in a row, "Lord, I'm not asking for much for myself, but please send my mother a son-in-law." Our prayers are also often like the prayer of a certain little bov who decided that he wnnttd $100 and decided to pray for it. Unsuccessful Itwhis prayer, he wrote to GodV The post office, not knowing what else to do, forwarde<Uhe letter to the White House and the Pre sident ordered that IS be sent to the boy. Delighted that his prayers had been at least par tially answered, the lad wrote a thank-you note to God, adding, "I notice you routed my letter through Washington and as usual they deducted 95"V The Pre sident didn't have to send IS. But he did I God knows our needs. He also knows that we often ask for more than we need. He sends us what we need, not what we selfishly ask Him for. Sin- y cere prayer, not selfish or phony prayer, is the need of every human heart. He who starts the day out on his knees will be more than likely to stay on his toes all day. The greatest tragedy of our lives, however, is not that we pray selfishly but that we do not pray at all. Imagine a per son with a head the size of a washtub and a body the size of a boxcar, but with a soul the size of a navy bean. When you have done this you have gotten a fairly good picture of tne man who stresses physical health and mental health, but who leaves out entirely spiri tual health. t ^ Our nation needs a strong faith in these perilous times. A sign found recently on a school bulletin board expresses it well: "In the event of atomic attack, the federal ruling against prayer in this school is tem porarily suspended." rw 8AY YOU SAW IT IN THE TIMES - SENTINEL ? 1 YEAR AGO Popular druggist BernardCl eveland (BUlfSieffield. 50 of Warsaw dies suddenly of heart attack. Lt. Gov. Bob Scott speaks to graduates at J.S.I. N.C. Art Museum in Raleigh proclaims Duplin Day. Mable Anne Straughan is wed to David Franklin Parker. 5 YEARS AGO Mr. and Mrs. James Miles and Mr. and Mrs. Lynwood Timer represent Jones Chev rolet at Convention in Detroit. Miss Katie Sue Grady is named home service ree presentative for C.P.L, Miss Addle Sue Horne,bride elet^^teilwUleJs honored 10 YEARS AGO Glenn S. Rasmus sen assumes duties as surgeon of Duplin General Hospital. Strad T. Snlvely resigns pa storate at Hallsville and Grove to accept call at Mt. Gllead Church. Thomas Henry Brown 18 of Chlnouapln is held In hit-and run death of Cleveland Wesley Riggs. David Lane , Rt. 2, Mt Olive, Is nanted to FHA Committee. 20 YEARS AGO , , Mr. and Mrs. John O Barnes are victims of an auto wreck In Mottle, Ala.' Mrs. Barnes was the former Estelle Shaffer of Kenmsvllle aid a sister of .?.?? crrfMe^he^RUe^ Gasden, also
The Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 29, 1968, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75