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We kept after Grover Rollins of
Raleigh, formerly of Lavjndale, until
he sent us the following article for
pabl5.cation in the Hoover Rail, We
feel sure all you boys are going to
enjoy it as much as we did. Thanks
a lot, Grover - write u? again soon*
Dear Hoover Rail Staff;
I promised several members of the staff some
time ago to write an article for publication in
rour splendid magazine, I have’ been receiving your
magazine for quite sometime and thoroughly enjoy
each issue. _ ^
I decided that this article should consist
mainly of my boyhood reminiscenses in Lawndale,
with a few sidelights on some of the original
characters who lived there,but have since passed
on to their reward*
One grand old man who stands out vividly in my mind is the late Major H.F.
Schenck, who af times exhibited a somewhat gruff exterior, but beneath this seem
ing griiffness, he had a heart of pure gold, ^
I remember an incident that happened in Lawndale a long time ago. One day the
mill was closed down because of high water. Someone noticed that the water under the
old covered; bridge had a skim of oil on top of it. This news quickly spread and in
a short time the village turned out en masse to see this, to them, strange phenom
enon, /Uiiong the onlookers v;as the Major, who was more interested and excited than
any of the others. All the spectators were discussing the probable cause of this
oil on the water, and I remember the Major exclaiming excitedly to several men who
were using grappling hooks, ”B|y doggies, boys, we may have struck oil," This **By
doggies,** was one of his pet expressions. You can imagine his chagrin when, a few
moments later, one of the men fished out a roll of old leather belting, which had
been used in the itlill and disc?.rded. This old belting had become iinprognated with
oil which explained the mystery. Thus the Major’s oil v^ell turned out to be a
’’duster or, perhaps I should say, a "vvater haul," It developed later that I,S,
(Ike) Pearson and S^ (Sock) Blackburn, tvjo of the villages’s mischievous boys,
had thrown the belting into the river. As I recall they were among the onlookers
and no doubt got a great kick out of all the excitement their prank had caused.
But I shouldn’t have wanted to be in their’Shoes when the Major learned they were
the perpetrators of the hoax.
Perhaps the most original character who ever lived in Lawndale, was the late
J,L, Lattimore, or, as most people called hjjn, "Uncle Johnnie.” He was conductor
on the narrow gauge railroad that runs from Lawndale to Shelby. This railroad did
a thriving business, carrying passengers some twenty-five to forty years ago, when
Piedmont High School was a private boarding school and drew students from all over
North Carolina and some,from other states as well,
/ The late R,Z, (Zollie). Riviere was the engineer on the railroad at the time
the incident I am about to relate happened,.and the late B.B, (Baren) Wilson was
the fireman. One day just before the train pulled out from Lawndale for Shelby
“Uncle Johnnie" noticed a woman passenger viho exhibited unmistakeable signs that
she was about to be visited by the stork. This naturally excited "Uncle Johnnie"
who realized that the coach would not be a very desirable delivery room. Hastily
looking up the fireman, he explained the circumstances to him and said, "Buren, ■
you tell Zollie I said. By G , to run like hellJ As I recalj, the train beat the
stork to Shelby hy a nose, '
"Uncle Joimnie!’ was a great $tiOry-teller, and if he chanced to tell you a joke
that "hit you home", he would repeat it, at least once, and sometimes twice, I recall
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