CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES
Cartarat County'i Nawspapar
EDITORIALS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1958
Its Catching
Jill i I'm not going to send any
Christmas cards this year. It's silly to
send cards to people you see every day,
and once you start sending cards, you
just don't know where to stop.
Martha: That's exactly the way I
feel about it. But George says we have
to send Christmas cards, so I'm doing it.
But I'll tell you one thing. No tree this
year at our house. With the children
grown and gone, it's ridiculous to get
a tree, drag out all that stuff to trim
it, and then the worst part is taking it
down again.
Betty: Well, I just can't get enthused
, about Christmas any more. I've already
bought the few gifts I'm going to give.
I used to wrap all my Christmas gifts,
but now I just let them wrap them at
the store.
Susan: I always used to knock my
self out over the Christmas pageant at
Sunday School. Bill would get so dis
gusted with me. I was a nervous wreck
until that pageant was over and it al
ways took me until after Christmas to
recuperate . . .
4 (The foregoing conversation took
place over coffee in Jill's kitchen sev
eral days before Christmas. Two days
later, the same women happened to
meet downtown).
Jill (absorbed in choosing Christmas
cards at a store counter) : Let's see, I
guess I'll need at least 10 more . . .
Martha: Why hello, Jill. You run
out of Christmas cards too? Oh, I for
got, you're not sending . . . why you
must be!
Jill (smiling) : I'm just an old softy.
The cards certainly are pretty this
year. Where are you headed?
Martha: Why . . . ah, I saw the pret
tiest little tree in the window and I
thought that it would look nice in our
living room. The house looks so empty
without a tree at Christmas time.
Jill (laughing) : And you were the
one who wasn't going to be bothered
with a tree I And, do you know what?
I saw Betty just u few minutes ago at
the Christmas wrapping counter. She
was bent under a burden of wrapping
paper and ribbon. She was the one
who wasn't going to give many pres
ents ? and the store wrapped them
all!
Su?an (rushing up) : What are you
two doing, just standing chatting? I've
got so much to do I can't stop a minute.
Do you know anybody who has a dark
colored bathrobe for a boy about 14?
We need one for one of the wise men
in the Sunday School pageant!
Martha: Well, my hearing must be
going bad. I thought you weren't go
ing to have a thing to do with that
pageant this year !
Su*an: Oh well, you know how it is.
See you later, girls, I've got to track
down a bathrobe ... I mean, a wise
man's robe!
What is this magic called Christmas?
Labor Rides Hiqh
Sen. B. Everett Jordan, in a news re
, lease recently, set forth matters on
which he thinks the coming; Congress
' will take action.
On labor reform, Senator Jordan
commented, "A great deal of time was
ipent in the last Congress on the seri
ous problem of crime and racketeering
In some labor unions. There is a criti
cal need for effective labor reform
( legislation, and I am confident that th?
new Congress will enact a constructive
law that will include provisions dealing
with secondary boycotts, organiza
tional picketing and other unfair prac
tices."
The senator is more confident than
we.
How can labor legislation ? with
teeth ? be passed when more than
half the Congressmen elected in No
vember arc recipients of campaign
funds from union treasuries and were
backed by union members?
This poses quite a puzzle for demo
' cratic, free enterprise America. It looks
\)?s though the laboring class will rule,
not in the way that Marx predicted but
in a way that will be just as real.
The magazine, United States News
and World Report states that 17 million
workers are in organized unions. Al
most three times that number ? 48
million other workers ? are NOT or
ganized. Yet, union-backed politicians
* usually win. How come? Couldn't non
organized workers out-vote them?
Yes, but the crux of the matter lies
in "organization". A few people work
ing and voting together can prevail
over a mass of unorganized humanity
The Committee on Political Education,
organized in 1955 by the AFL-CIO, is
the political war horse of organized
tjabor.
Although many union members do
not vote, this committee works hard to
show the people how their pro-labor
candidates have at heart the welfare
of ALL workers. The committee has
met with notable success.
The Committee on Political Educa
' tion claims now 56 friends in the US
Senate (there are 96 senators), 221
r
friends of labor in the house (436 Con
gressmen) and of 24 governors elected
last November, it is reported that 18
had support of the Committee on Po
litical Education.
The South should watch closely la
bor developments on a national scale.
The South is looking for industry. And
where industry goes, there go labor
unions. The South can gain much from
experiences other sections of the coun
ter have had with organized labor.
Some experiences are good, others bad.
We doubt that a Congress and Sen
ate controlled by one faction is good.
As Postmaster Gen. Arthur E. Summer
field told industrialists recently, busi
nessmen who do not take an active part
in politics are only contributing to the
destruction of the way of life in which
they believe.
First Card-Sender
Henry Cole, an Englishman, was the
originator of the idea of sending greet
ing cards at Christmas time. He took
an artist's drawing, hand-painted it,
and sent it as a greeting to a friend at
Christmas time, 1846.
The English royalty took up the idea
as a most gracious way to extend greet
ings to their intimate friends at the
Christmas season.
Year after year, the Christmas card,
the messenger of joyful remembrance,
has grown in popularity, until today it
is an integral part of the celebration
of the Season.
? Sunshine Magazine
General David Sarnoff, chairman Ra
dio Corporation of America, New York
City : "If we are to become the masters
of science, riot its slaves, we must learn
to use its immense powers to good pur
pose. The machine itself has neither
mind nor soul nor moral sense. Only
man has been endowed with these god
like attributes. Every age has its des
tined duty ? ours is to nurture an
awareness of those divine attributes
and a sense of responsibility in giving
them expression."
Carteret County News-Times
WINNER Of NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION AND NORTH CAROLINA
PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
A Merger at The Beaufort Newt (Bit Mil) and The Twin City Tlmei (Kit IBM)
Published Tuesday! and Fridays by the Carteret Publishing Company, lac.
?04 Arendell at. Morahead City, N. C.
LOCKWOOD PHILLIPS - PUBLISHER
ELEANORS DEAR PHILLIPS - ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
RUTH L. PEELING - EDITOR
11.11 hate.: In CarWet&?ssfrt?d sdjofa^ counties. **s?s year. tfjo si.
tUf one Booth; alas whets tr.B0 ana year, MOO six
Press ? N. C. Prsss Associate
Audit Bonn o t<
N?
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10 East 40tb Street, New York IS, N. T.
ANOTHER LITTLE TWIST!
Americans Have Done
A Lot tor Saint Nick!
It's little wonder that Saint Nick
is especially generous to the Amer
ican people. History proves that
the Americans have done a lot for
Saint Nick!
According to Donald Ludgin, edi
tor of the holiday articles in Woftd
Book Encyclopedia, the Americans
have given Saint Nick a new name,
a new face and figure, and a new
means of transportation.
The original European version
of Saint Nick was a tall, angular
man who rode on a bony, gray
mare. Both the horse and Saint
Nick looked as if they hadn't had
a good meal in some time. The
Saint had deep sunken eyes, and
wore a flowing, threadbare cloak
and a black skullcap.
The early English settlers in this
country started giving Saint Nich
olas his "New Look." The English
children adopted the legendary
Christmas figure from the Dutch,
but tbey had trouble pronouncing
"Saint Nickolous." Somehow the
name changed to "Santa Kalouf,"
and finally it was corrupted to
"Santa Claus."
However, this was only the be
ginning. In 1809 Washington Irving,
in his "Knickerbocker's History of
New York," wrote of the Saint as
the guardian of New York City.
Irving described Saint Nick as a
jolly fellow with a broad-brimmed
hat and huge breeches. He taught
Saint Nick to smoke a long pipe,
and, in the story, replaced his
shuffling hay-burner with a trim
wagon that floated over New York
house-tops.
A short time later, Saint Nicho
las' transformation was aided by
Clement Moore in his famous
poem, "The Visit from Saint Nicho
las," written in 1822. Moore, a pro
fessor of Divinity in a New York
Theological Seminary, gave Saint
Nick a sleigh, twinkling eyes,
cheeks like roses, nose like a cher
ry, and a round little belly.
Today's Santa Claus is by no
means streamlined, but he is a far
cry from the lean, acetic, som
berly dressed fellow who, for cen
turies, on Christmas Eve, guided
his mare through the streets of
Europe.
Security for You...
By RAY IIENRY
In September? for the first time
?100,000 aged parents drew Social
Security. Many more will become
eligible.
Congress changed the law to
make this possible.
The changes are in the require
ments a parent must meet to get
payments based on the Social Se
curity record of a deceased son
or daughter.
Starting last September, a fa
ther 65 or over or a mother 62 or
over can collect Social Security:
? If a deceased son or daugh
ter?before death? was providing
at least half the parent's support
and had worked in a job covered
by Social Security between 18 and
45 months, the exact amount of
time depending on when the son
or daughter died (eventually, this
work time will have to be at least
10 years) and
? The parent isn't otherwise
eligible for Social Security pay
ments at least equal to what he
could get from his son's or daugh
ter's Social Security record.
Before the change, a parent
couldn't collect payments based
on a son's or daughter's Social Se
curity record if a widow or a de
pendent child of the deceased was
getting? or ever could get? Social
Security based on the same record.
For a parent to be eligible, the
son or daughter could have died
anytime since Jan. 1, 1*40? the
date the Social Security Survivors
Benefit Program became effec
tive.
For example: Suppose you're 71
and your son was supporting you
on April 10, 1947 when he was
killed in an auto accident. You can
now get Social Security payments
if he had worked at least 18 months
under Social Security before he
died and you're not otherwise eli
gible to Social Security payments
as high as you can get from his
record.
The size of the piymnti a par
ent can collect depends on (A)
how many other survivors? that is,
a widow and children of the son
or daughter? are eligible to Social
Security based on the same rec
ord, and (B) the average monthly
earnings on which the son or
daughter paid Social Security tax
before he died.
These general statements can
be made about the size of pay
ments:
The higher the average monthly
earnings of the son or daughter
the higher the parent's payments.
TIm more survivors for
payments the smaller the pay
ments to a parent.
If no widow or child is or ever
will be eligible to payments based
on a deceased son's or daughter's
Social Security record, a parent's
payments now can range between
$30 and $81.40 a month. On Jan. 1,
the range will be $33 to $95.30 a
month. If a widow and a parent
arc both eligible, the payments
will be within the same range for
the parent.
But, if a widow, one or more
child and a parent are eligible,
the range in payments will prob
ably be affected. Chances are the
parent's paymeht will be smaller
because so many survivors are
drawing them.
In any case, the exact size of
your payments will be figured by
your Social Security office when
you go in and apply for them as
an eligible parent. You do have
to apply. The Social Security peo
ple have no other way of knowing
you're eligible.
When you apply, you should take
along some proof that your son or
daughter provided at least half
your support. This would be bills,
bank statements, cancelled checks
or any other type of documents.
You should also take along some
thing to prove your age and a copy
of the death certificate of your
son and daughter.
(Editor's Note: Yoa nay con
tact the Metal aecarity repre
sentative at the courthouse an
nex, Beaufort, from 1:30 a.m. to
mob Tuesdays. He will help yoa
with your own particular prob
lem).
Sm!l? a While
The accident insurance sales
man, in his door-to-door canvass
of a New England town, had come
up against an unusually dour and
uncommunicative prospect. The
high pressure sales talk finally
elicited a laconic reply:
"Got an accident policy."
"That's fine," enthused the sales
man, grateful for even a negative
opening. "la it with our company?"
"Nope."
And that single syllable of denial
greeted the name of every com
pany as the insurance man ex
hausted the entire list of his known
comMtitara.
"Well, then," he blurted, "it
can't be a very good policy."
"Beit in the world," the New
Englander proclaimed in a spurt
of veritable loquacity. "My acci
dent policy is not to have 'a*."
Comment ? ? ? J. Kellum
America: Materialist or Idealist
In a volume entitled "Character
and Opinion in the United States"
printed in 1920 by Scribner's, the
eminent philosopher George San
tayana remarked:
"The American has never yet
had to face the trials of Job. Great
crises, like the Civil. War, he has
known how to surmount victorious
ly; and now that he has surmount
ed a second great crisis victorious
ly, it is possible that he may re
lapse, as he did in the other case,
into an apparently complete ab
sorption in material enterprise and
prosperity. But if serious and ir
remediable tribulation ever over
took him, what would his attitude
be? It is then that we should be
able to discover whether material
ism or idealism lies at the base of
his character."
It cannot be merely our anxiety
for praise which leads our atten
tion to the many instances of in
dividual heroism, during our na
tional crises especially, in which
the individual's idealism triumphs
over his natural desires for self
protection and comfort.
True, there is always that per
centage of the population which
is out to gain for itself regardless
of the ideals thereby trampled.
But even that group gives way
here and there as its individuals
sometimes evidence the same wil
lingness to suffer for a good rea
son, such as the welfare of other
men.
The nation's "great trials are
only the great trials of many indi
viduals, coincidental as to time,
place and circumstance, more or
less. If our individual citizens, in
their personal great trials have
often shown a preference for good
over comfort or importance, then
Santayana is not entirely right,
for we have already shown ideal
ism in sharp contrast to the ma
terialism he accurately states is
apparent.
Perhaps we cannot escape from
the fact that, when we have no
trials to take our energies, we oc
cupy ourselves with trivialities,
comfort, foods we don't need, lux
uries and the emptiness of proving
how much we've got. It is possible,
and indeed probable, that any
other people provided with the op
portunities would do the same
thing.
It is true that we have, as a
nation, done much to abuse Christ
mas. For example, St. Nicholas
was actually a Bishop of Myra in
Asia Minor and he died in 342 A.D.
He did start it all, doing a great
deal for the "temporal needs of
his flock" as well as for their
spiritual needs. But he would prob
ably be badly embarrassed at the
giving of gifts in his name, in
stead of in God's name. As for
the "jolly, old elf" description, it's
fun, but is it right? We'd feel
pretty silly hamming up our he
roes like that; imagine our doing
that to Clara Barton or George
Washington.
And all this anticipation the
children work up for presents, is
it really a reflection *f that ancient
world's anxiety for Christ, or our
own hope of His second coming?
Still, for all the gimmes and the
getters, the churches are full at
Christmas. Like the acts of hero
ism, it is a good sign.
Just in Passing . . .
A sure sign of old age if when
you feel your corns more thin
your oats.
Advice to the thin: "Don't eat
fait." Advice to the fat: "Don't
eat; fait."
Happy la the man who can enjoy
the scenery when he has to take a
detour.
Some folks think that traveling
around in the best circles makes
Ibem Ug wheels.
Lout? Sytvy
Words of Inspiration
FIKEAKM SAFETY
The shooting season ha* begun. Unfortunately with it comet an in.
crease of firearm accidents. In 1997, fifty-eight North Carolinians lost
their lives in firearm accidents. Forty-seven of the fatal accidents oc
curred in the home and eleven on the farm.
The hunting season does Mt have to be dangerous. Guns are danger
ous; but so are automobiles, sharp tools, or even baseball bats in the
wrong hands. The answer to the problem is training ... not prohibition.
The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute has de
veloped the following "Ten Commandments of Firearm Safety."
1. Treat every gun with the respect due a loaded gun.
2. Guns carried into camp or home must always be unloaded.
3. Always be sure that the barrel and action are clear of obstruction.
4. Always carry your gun so that you can control the direction of the
muzzle.
5. Be sure of your target before you pull the trigger.
6. Never point a gun at anything you do not want to shoot.
7. Unattended guns should be unloaded and stored safely.
t. Never climb a tree or fence with a loaded gun.
9. Never shoot at a flat, hard surtace or the surfacc of water.
10. Do not mix gunpowder and alcohol.
MY FRAYER
Lord, thou knowest how I live,
All I've done amiss, forgive;
All of the good I've tried to do
Strengthen, bless and carry through;
All I love, in safety keep,
While in Thee I fall asleep.
? Henry Van Dyke
SOLITUDE
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
It has troubles enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh! it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound.
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasures,
But they do not want your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all ?
There are none to decline your nectared wine.
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live.
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train;
But one by one we must file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
? Ella Wheeler Wilcox
F. C. Soli?bury
Here and There
The following Information is
taken from the filet of the More
head City Coaster:
Note: From the papers of the
late Mrs. Mary Royal, her son Dr.
B. F. Royal gave us the issue of
the Coaster from which the fol
lowing items were taken.
THE COASTER
Morehead City. N. C.
Vol. 2 May 14, 1*03 No. 39
LOCAL
Prof. C. R. Ross left Tuesday
for a vacation. He will take a spe
cial course at the university sum
mer school.
Hugging & Moore, paper hangers
from Kinston, arc decorating the
interior of A. H. Webb Jr.'s resi
dence.
The Misses Louise Norcum and
Sudic Dixon of Beaufort, spent
Sunday night here, the guests of
Miss Amie Klein.
Capt. Duffy Wade, with the Co
lumbia, took a party of 32 young
people to Harlowe school com
mencement Tuesday night.
J. B. Davit left Tuesday for
Wilmington to attend the Grand
Lodge of Odd Fellows.
Ballance, Dill & Co., have just
put in a beautiful $600 fountain.
It Is of Mexican onyx, with mir
rors on each side and surmounted
with another.
While a party of ladies and gen
tlemen were on T. D. Webb's dock
getting ready to embark on boata
(or a aail, a portion of tho dock
gave away precipitating Mays
Swindell and Leslie Moore. Dave
Wade Jr., and Derwood Willis into
the water. It only caused much
merriment for all.
For the past week the devoted
family of Joe Lane Willis have
been wrestling with the death an
gel that has been hovering over
him. His disease defies the skill
of physicians.
James M. Arthur has purchased
the fish business of Tom Daniela
in this city and we wish him suc
cess. He has had over 20 years
of experience in handling ocean
products.
Rumor Says
That the finest looking man and
best catch in town is a skittish
Buck.
That Randolph must get lots of
mail from the time he spends at
the postoffice.
That the man who knows how
to twirl a cane ia stuck on music.
That Bug's new house will cagc
a beautiful bird.
That it ia not love-sickness af
flicting our druggest, but bis liver.
That an old maid is on O. G.'a
track, and he will have to drown
himself or leave town.
That Stacey thinks only a man
capable of dealing with love af
faira.
That Duffy's saad-hill property
does not attract the fair sex.
From the Bookshelf
NlkL By Tibor Dcry. English ver
sion by Edward llyams. Double
day. $2.95.
Janos Ancsa, distinguished en
gineer, early Communist, and
civic-minded worker in Hungary,
according to this short novel, has
a job In Budapest but for lack of
room must live in a distant suburb.
There a small female dog, most
ly terrior, likes the smell of him,
the sound of his voice, the way he
lives, and adopts him.
Of course the Ancsas think they
adopt her. But recognizing the fe
male wiles of Niki as being funda
mentally common to females of
all species, Mrs. Ancsa knows
Niki is flattering them and acting
coy out of innate wisdom, and
realizes it is not they who decide
to admit the dog, but the dog her
self that decides to move in.
Ancsa, in his SOs, is an uncom
promiaingly honest individual who
has not the tact to cover up for
a party official who cheats. This
gets him into trouble.
He and his wife settle in a small
city apartment, he is sent to Jobs
less and less Important and far
ther and farther away, and one
day he does not return.
He has been arrested? Dery him
self is now in prison for his role
in the Hungarian revolution, and
his story about a prisoner's return
home, published in this country ?
law months tgo, was an unhear
ibly beautiful expression of this
tragic experience.
But along with Ancsa and hU
wife, Niki suffers. She has been
free. The Ancsas believe she has
as much right to Independence as
man. There is a magnificent con
demnation of tyranny:
"The abuse of power, baleful
vice at kings, leaders, dictators,
directors, heads of departments,
aecretaries, shepherds, cowherds
and swineherds, heads of families,
pedagogues, elder brothers, of old
and young in whatever, this stench,
this slckncss, this source of infec
tion, peculiar to man and unknown
in any other carnivore, even the
bloodiest, this curse and blas
phemy, this war and cholera, was
a thing unknown in the Ancsas'
house."
We see little Niki's happiness,
we see her pine away. "It's the
want of liberty that's killing ber,"
Mr*. Ancsa believe* The dog that
leaped so frenitedly, loved her
maater and mistreas beyond all
reason, chased the ban and played
with the ball, at last must wait too
long at the door for the familiar
sli p she will never hear again.
Dery la so wonderfully unsenti
mental, and to deeply moving.
This little masterpiece as a dog
story, and ? little masterpiece a*
a legend of the liberty cherished
by all living things.
i