Page Eight
Poets Corner
Hail And Farewell
(By Joseph Auslander in Saturday
Evening Post.)
What are the ghosts of the Old
Year sayirfg
What do they whisper from ear
to ear?
The drunken dancers are reeling
ar d swaying
In a swirl of confetti, but far from
their playing
A few are kneeling and weeping
and fraying,
And maybe >wy hear—maybe
they hear: ' -
qfigv . •" I
Do .you re iSir -r the lad who
Bleep*
x l).' restless coral, for
ket;f
In the blood and rubble of all
the earth?
(He loved warm lips and music
and mirth)
In the muck and welter and
blinding flame?
And what was his name? What
was his name
!
What say the ghosts of the year
that is flying
This night to the year that is
being born
Can you hear it above the din and
and the crying
"Now in the night when a world is
dying.
Now in the night when a world
is trying
To rise, with terror an 1 travail
tom ?
Have you forgotten so soon, so
soon,
Hiroshima smashed by a falling
moon ?
The boys who fought, the hoys
who fell
Along the way from here to
hell,
Dead oh their feet, unmedaled,
still
Sticking it out, storming the
hill?
So an era dies while the bells
are ringing,
And the new age stands in a
narrow space;
And far from the crowd’s con-
I MURDER! MURDER! I
I IT’S MURDER TO THROW YOUR MONEY AWAY, AND I
f PAY EXHORRENT PRICES FOR INFERIOR GOODS WHEN
YOU CAN GET THE BEST STANDARD BRANDS AT THE
I RIGHT PRICE. I
FOR INSTANCE
FIRST GRADE SHUCKS j
u PRACTICALLY NO COBS—BS TO 100 LB. BALES I
I $30.00 Per TON I
I THINK:THIS ONE OVER |
1 AUNT I
I 2 LB. CAN BUSHES BEST PORK & BEANS 14 I
I IRISH POTATOES 3c Per Lb. The Famous I
■ MILLS RIVER GREEN BEANS Reg. Value 17c, Now 14c I
I ALSO THINK THIS OVER I
I FREE DELIVERY I
g CHARGE ACCOUNTS * ’• t 8
1 Our Market Has Plenty of Grade A Meat 8
I FAT BACKS—AND QUITE A LOT OF BREAKFAST BACON I
I and hams I
I ALLRED MERCANTILE COMPANY - I
fetti-flinging,
Far from the shouting and whist
ling and singing
Lies the lad who tore from your
mouth’s wild dinging
Wide-eyed, with the stars in his
face.
We will long remember; we will
not forget.
When spring sets in and the
streets are wet;
No matter how long we will.
still remember.
In the keen blue twilights of
September,
In the honeyed summer, ir
winter’s frost
We will think of them; we wii
count the cost
o
When You Smile At Me
(I Hope It Means, I Love You)
Christine, when you smile at me
My heart always skips a beat,
My mind goes into a whirl.
Darling, when you smile at me
Dreams of Others fade away,
Something deep within me breaks
into,
And I hope you mean, I love you
When you smile at me, it acts like
remote control,
It makes me do your slightest
wish.
And although I know it always
Gets me into a jam, keep smiling
Angel, and I’ll hope it means, I
love you-
At times I think you smile, just
to try to be mean,
As far as being cute, you’re cute
without the smile.
But although I know it always
gets me into a jam,
Keep smiling, Christine, and
I’ll keep hoping it means I love
you.
—Larry M. Nelson.
o
I Last night as I sat by the fireside
With the radio turned down low,
My thoughts were forever stray
ing,
To the sweetest girl I 'know.
Her laughing voice was in the
music,
Blonde hair shone in the firelight
Those blue eyes were twinkling
stars,
Twinkling so soft and bright.
Her reckless smile kept haunting
me,
Tempting me to hold her tight.
Several times I reached out for
her,
As I sat there alone last night.
Yes, I was lonesome for that
darling,
My heart so sad and blue.
I never thought I’d miss her so,
With her tender love so true.
I sat there till the fire burned low,
Thru the window the moon shone
bright.
I wondered then, Christine, darl
ing,
If you were lonely, too, tonight
—Larry M. Nelson.
Shameful Carnival
o
(Editorial from The Charlotte
Observer)
It costs more now to make a
hog of oneself. The New Year
ceelbration was an example. Li
quor was higher than ever but the
people welcoming 1946 in rowdy
riotousness had the money for it
New York set the pace as usual
—all the night spots crowded all
night despite increased prices,
more champagne and everything
to satisfy animal instinct; more
than that, for the animals have
more sense than to harm them
selves. They stop at a certain
point.
Down through the cities and
into homes throughout the coun
try, the celebration set a new
high in satiation of gross appe
tites, exaltation of the carnal, un
chaining of the baser desires of
men and women.
Hurrah for the New Year! Let’s
raise hell! They raised it, wallow
ed in it. absorbed it, loosed the
decent bonds of convention and
good sense and made much of
America a madhouse, a shameful
carnival of indecency and evil.
It is well that we have compar
atively few holidays • they are
becoming hellidays.
If you have a cold ask for our
No. 9749 Special Cold Capsules.
BLACK MTN. DRUG
COMPANY
The REXALL Store
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN NEWS
OUR
CLASSIFIED AD
DEPARTMENT
TEN CENTS A LINE FOR FIRST
INSERTION
EIGHT CENTS A LINE EACH i
SUBSEQUENT INSERTION
NO AD ACCEPTED FOR LESS
THAN 50 CENTS
“RAISE IN PAY”
TO WAGE EARNERS
o
The New Tax Cuts Are Now
Effective; Many To Get
Relief By New Law
o
Wage earners got a “pay,
raise” and big business a wind- 1
fall January 1 when new tax cuts
became effective.
Under the $5,900,000,000 tax re- j
duction bill passed in November, |
both big and little taxpayers ben- j
efit and about 12,000,000 people
with very low incomes stop paying
any taxes.
The tax collector will claim aj
smaller chunk of the incomes of
the 35,000,000 to 38,000,000 indi- j
viduals left on the tax rolls. So
extra dollars will start appearing
in pay-checks received on or after
New Year’s day—even thought
the pay is for time worked in 1945.
For ekample, under the reduced
tax rates, a man with no de- j
pendents who makes SSO a week j
has had $8.20 withheld for taxes, j
This wekely deduction will drop
so $6.80.
Persons in higher wage brackets i
and those not subject to withhold- ,
ing will feel the difference when
they file estimates of their 1946 j
taxes and make their first quart
erly payments which are due
March 15.
The new law, first genera! tax
cutting measure passed by con
gress in 16 years, is designed to
reduce taxes of the automobile
and boat use taxes in June will
add another $140,000,000 of relief.
At the same time, lower corp
oration tax rates and repeal of
the excess profits tax are expect
ed to reduce business taxes by
$3,136,000,000.
The excess profits tax, which
expired at midnight December 31,
was imposed before Pearl Harbor i
and by 1943 had risen to a flat j
rate of 95 per cent. More than
$28,000,000,000 has been collected
through it.
It was imposed to prevent busi
ness from getting rich out of the
war and applied only to corpora-;
tion earnings above “normal” as
computed on a 1936-39 average.
The corporations January 1 re-j
verted to paying only the regular
corporation tax of 38 per cent.
B. C.—A. D.
BY REQUEST
By MRS. THOS. S. SHARP
“Ring Out the Old,
Ring In the New.”
When did the Old Years “Ring
Out ” The old methods of com
j puting the years Why B. C. and
|A. D.? When? Christ was born
i four years “Before Christ,” or, as
| we say, “B. C”!
The Romans reckoned time from
the founding of the City of Rome
| —“A. U. C.” There was no B. C.:
i
! on the calendars until the Em- j
peror, Justinian requested a
monk, Dionysius Exigreus (Exi
-1 grius. “the Short”) to make a
calendar reckoning time from the
birth of Christ. This was in 753
A. U. C. Christianity was then
the world religion—that of the
i Roman Empire. Dionpsius made
: a mistake of four or five years
! in co-ordinating the date with the
I
| Roman calendar which the new
! calendar replaced. It should have
been 749 A. U. C., or a year
! two earlier. That is why we of- j
ten hear or read that Christ’s
birth should be placed from four
|to six years earlier. This cal
! eijdar was made in 526 A. D. as we
v;ould say now, using “B. C.”
j and “A. D.”
The fifteenth year of Siberues'
Caesar was in the last half of A.
D. 28 and the first year of A. D.
29.
John the Baptist began preach
ing at 30 years of age, in the 15th
year of Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius
began to reign alone, 765. (He
had reigned with Augustus Caesar
for two years, Augustus died,
Aug. 29, 767, A. U. C.) Add thir
teen to 765 and we have 778 for
the beginning of John’s preaching
and 748 for John’s birth. John
was six months older than Jesus, •
so we have 749 A. U. C. as the
date of Christ’s birth'
The census of Cyrenius was j
mentioned in the “Origin of
Christmas celebration.” Jesus
was born during the “first cen-j
sus,” the one taken for Augustus-
The disturbance among the Jews
that called Cyrenius out to quell
it, delayed the enrollment some-!
what, it was competed 750 A. U.
C. or B. C. 4-5, giving us 749 as'
the birth date of Christ.
. On March 12, 750 A. U. C. the
astronimical calendars tell us that’
there was an eclipse of the moon 1
visible in Palestine. Jsophus'
states that there was an eclipse
of the moon visible in Palestine
not long before the death of
Herod.
The census by Quirinius was A.
D. 6. Herod died 750.
January Ist has not always 1
been regarded as New Year’s Day.
At various times Christmas,
March 25,Easter, March Ist and
other dates have been designated
as the beginning of the new year.
January first was not accepted in
most countries until Jgter in the
16th century. The new year may
begin at any time during the so
lar year in Mohammedan coun
tries,for their calendar is based
on the moon. The Jgwish New
Year corresponds to seedtime in
Palestine, between September sth
and October sth.
In India today there are four
teen different calendars in use,
in addition to the Jewish, Maham
medan and Gregorian. In 1930,
the Chinese adopted the Gregorian
calendar. Until then, there was the
most long-lived in the world— 4,-
300 years!
The Mayan civilization had a
calendar very much like ours.
Their immense Calendar Stone
(circular) is in the Museum of
Arts, New York City.
Men had first begun to make
a calendar count on the lunar
basis length of the lunar month,
approximately 29 (4 days.
The Egyptians, probably in
4241 B. C., discarded this meas
urement, and adopted a 12 month
calendra, based on the solar year,
measuring it from Sirius, the Dog
Star, so brilliant in the southeast
and south during these winter
months.-
The Egyptian priests had a I
Thus, industry can keep a much
bigger slice of its profits.
The treasury January 1 also
started paying out $1,112,000,000
in excess profits refunds by re
deeming non-interest, non-nego
tiable bonds. This represents on
a part of the total to be refunded.
Hope has been expressed that
another $5,000,000,000 may be
lopped off individual taxes next
year, although ' wars generally
have left taxpayers saddled with
permanently increased costs of
government.
i calendar in each week in the year,
i These were kept on cards—s 2 in
j all, for 364 days. The old 365th
day had a separate card. These
I cards were zealously guarded.
. The priests who kept these were
. called the “keepers of the days.”
These .priests kept the records of
! the periodic rise of the Nile riv
er. As you know, the Nile flood
!ed the surrounding lowlands,
leaving a rich sediment as well
! as providing the water both of
which made the country so pro
ductive.
’ The fellaheen (Egyptian
, peasants or serp) who lived on
this part of the land, had to be
warnde in time to be able to flee
to the hills for safety. They
thought that these priests hadj
I !
! supernatural powers. It is cer-j
tain that nothing was ever said j
jto enlighten the ignorant ones.)
. After many centuries these j
j “packs of cards” did become the I
, 1 possession of unscrupulous, or, j
shall we say, of more unscrupul- 1
ous men. That is however wej
have the word “gypsies,” we are
, told—corrupted from ‘Egyptians.’;
I These Charlatans wandered
! through the then known world
“telling fortunes” with these
cards.” God warns us in Deut.
18: 7-14, and elsewhere, about
such methdos of searching into
the future. “Seek ye me and ye
shall live.” (Amos 6:4.)
The Jewish calendar still con
sists of twelve lunar months, as
in the early periods of their his
tory. They insert a thirteenth
month from time to time to “make
all come out right,” as we would
• say, with the sun and the season,
j Many other ancient peoples did
j likewise.
| The early Greeks used the reali
: lunar months, twelve in the year,
to recokon their time. Later So
! lon, one of the wisest and most
! widely known Greeks, in 594 B.
j C-, introduced the method of al
-1 ternating thirty and twenty-nine
days to the month, making a civil
J year of 354 days. Occasionally an
J intercalary month was inserted
to accommodate the civil year to
j the solar year.
Originally, the Romans had a
! year of ten months. Later, they
divided the year into twelve
1 months,—the lunar year of 365
days—and as did the Greeks, had
an occasional “intercalary month.
The Roman calendar which we
have known best is the “Julian.”
To avoid all the confusion result
ing from these other modes of
1 reckoning, Julius Caesar, in 46
B. C. (as we now say), regulated
the calendar so as to have 369
days in the ordinary ear, and an
extra day (4x14 days) every
fourth year or “leap year.” The
belief was that the length of the
year was exactly 36514 days. A
mistake of eleven minutes and
fourteen seconds was made.
The month of July is named for
Julius Caesar and August for
Augustus Caesar who made some
adjustments in the calendar 39
years later.
By 1582 those extra 11 min
utes and 14 seconds had amounted
to ten whole days forcing the
spring equinox to fall on March
11th instead of on March 21st!
More confusion resulted. Some
• thing had to be done for it affect
ed Easter and other movable
fe,ast days.
Our own calendar came down
to us from the Egyptians through
the Ronians to Pope Gregory XIII
in 1582. It differs only a little
from Julius Caesars.
ou hear of the Julian calendar
and of the Gregorian calendar.
Pope Gregory 1111 called in the
astronomer, Clavius, to aid him in
regulating the calendar.
Ten days were deducted from
1582. October sth was called Oc
tober 15th. Then, to avoid this
again, every hundredth year
(1700, 1800, 1900, etc.) was not to
be a leap year—only the even
fourth hundredth, beginning with
1600. The difference between
Thursday, January 3,
the civil and the natural year »jfl
not amount to a whole day
period as long as 3,000 year*. A
this method. :i
Calendars , seem so simp J
don’t they? We take them as k fl
matter of course” as we do
many of our other blessirnafl
Doubtless, we do not, think of tfl
many difficulties and complif.H
tions that the human race has ejl
perienced in evolving, through thfl
long centuries, a method B
which our calendars will measuifl
accurately, our year. Even at thfl
time, many countries were slofl
in making a change. Francfl
Spain, Portugal, parts of Itafl
and parts of the Low Countrieß
did adopt the new calendar prac ß
ideally at once. 9
In 1700, Switzerland and paql
of Germany accepted it. In 175 M
Parliament in England passed ; ; B
act adjusting the calendars o ffl
England and Ireland to the Greß
gorian one. You have read thaß
according to the calendars (; W B
Washington had two brithdaysß
He was bom, according to the old!
MRS. SHARP’S ART /I
Julian calendar, on February
1732. This became February 22,1
1732, because the difference byl
1751 being eleven days, it wasl
enacted that the day after Sep-I
tember 2, 1752 should be Septem-|
ber 14th. We Americans camel
under this adjustmnet as we were
English Subjects then. Sweden
also adopted this new calendar
reform at about the same time.
Russia and Greece do not use the
Gregorian calendar.
The French Republi: changed
its calendar for awhile—year 1
beginning with the autumn equi
nox, Sept. 22, the date of the be
ginning of the Republic. Napoleon
restored the Gregorian system in
January, 1806.
There has been much discus
siop in recent years in regard to
changing the calendar again, hav
ing thirteen months of twenty
eight days each—364 days- At
the end of the year that extra
day would be made a holiday.
Leap year would retain its added
day. There are many argument*
for and against this “reform.”
Any day if any month would fall
on the same day of the week as
the corresponding day in every
month of any given year.
However the calendar may be
changed, we’ll always have or.r
New Year.
“I said to a man
Who stood at the gate—
The gate of the coming year:
‘Give me a light
That I safely tread
Into the dark
And unknown land;
Give me a light to banish fear,
Take from my heart
This haunting dread.’
He said to me,
This man that stood
At the gate of the coming year:
‘Go into the dark
And unknown land
And place in God’s
Your trembling hand;
For better than the light of day
Far safer chan any man-kno’vn
way.’
Said the man that stood
At the open gate—
The gate of the coming year.”
—Anonymous.
(Copyrighted)
Upper Broad River
o
Mrs. Rebecca Garrison is very
ill at her home. *
Mrs. Sarah White has improved
some since having been very ill
with the flu. These two ladies are
the oldest residents of Broad Riv
er. Mrs. White being 93 and Mrs
Garrison 86.
Miss Bernice ivirstein has been
spending the Christmas
with her parents, Mr. and Mrs
E. M. Kirstein.
Mrs- Ellen Garrison is very ill
with the flu at her home.
Mr. Neal Whitaker is now in
a veterans hospital in Mounts
Home, Tenn. He served with t’
army for one year lut now ha 1
been out with a medical discharri
for some time.
The Big Horn spring, in central
Wyoming, is the largest spring in
the world. It has a greater flo*
than all other similar springs i*
the nation combined.
In the United States privatelf
operated motor trucks represent
87 per cent of all trucks in use.
Heads of colleges and universe
ties in America are known n*
presidents, rectors, chancellor 9,
provosts and principals-