PAGE TWO
THE BLACKBIRD, BOCKT MOUNT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1957
Christmas Seals Against TB
I am a little T. B. germ that flies around the air.
My real name is Tuberculosis. Wow, what a thing to
bear!
Really no one loves me; I feel so all alone.
But I love everybody, those without and those with a
home.
I love the little people and the very old ones too.
Not forgetting the rich and poor; it doesn’t matter who.
100,000 new cases every year. Can one of them be you?
“Oh, no, not me!” was said by all, but is this really true?
I make you feel awfully bad; you cough, you’re tired
and Lhin.
I smiled when you laughed at the T. B. mobile, saying,
“It’s for other men.”
I fixed you, ha! ha! Remember your late cousin John?
When he coughed, I came in and w'as in there all alone.
You wish you had that extra sleep now just to fight me
off;
But you just told your mother, “I’m not all that soft.”
Oh, for those balanced meals and milk that were turned
away.
Instead of all that junk and stuff just to get to play!
To the sanitorium we shall go and that’s the end of me;
But if it weren’t for those Christmas seals, I would still
be free.
Am I inherited? No, but, yes, I can be caught.
Unless it is by Christmas seals and drugs that I am
fou’ght.
I hate good care and exercise, sleep and all that stuff!
It makes my little job awfully, awfully tough!
That research and x-ray machine makes me rather blue.
Oh, gone from me’s the hope for life; was that caused by
you?
To Decorate Later
Brings Excitement
On The Big Day
The family is just sitting down
for a turkey dinner with all the
trimmings when here comes not
a Pilgrim Father, but ole’ St.
Nick — in the newspapers, on the
radio, and in store windows.
Yes, it’s true. By the time
Christmas arrives, the public is
“sick and tired” of the canes and
Santas on the lamp posts. The de
corations, which are really very
pretty when first put up, remain
until it is time tc ring out the old
and ring in the new year — Then
they are dusty and sad looking
after such long display.
There is a certain exuberance
trom that last minute rush to buy
gifts; and if only the festive “dres
sings” were put up nearer “the
big day”, the jojpus excitement in
the air iwould be so much more
exhilarating!
Deflated Ego? Try School Spirit
Santa? He’s Here All Year!
Rocky Mount Senior High has a Santa Claus all of its
own; but instead of giving toys, he gives gum, lumps of
sugar, and best wishes in the form of school spirit.
Here is a generous, lovable man, who has adopted the
team and school. He has a kind word, a smile, and a stick
of gum for most students he sees.
This is a description of Spero Kounoukls, local restaur
ant owner and the best representative of school spirit any
school could ever have. He is better known as just
“Spero.”
If you want to see whether Spero has arrived at the
game yet, just look in the bleachers and if a sea of smack
ing mouths and students nibbling sugar meets your eye,
you know Senior High’s Santa has arrived. He reports
early to the stadium with the front seat of his truck load
ed with oranges, candy, and gum for the team as well as
for those in the bleachers.
Every Friday afternoon before all home games, you’ll
see a line of football boys filing into Spero’s restaurant.
He sees that “his boys” have the best food out of town as
well as at home.
This Santa Claus carries a very special present—-an
example of loyalty to an ideal, and school spirit of a high
degree to his “adopted school.”
Guilty OR Not? What’s the Vertlict?
Do you patronize Jiour school
store? Some do, some don’t. Too
many don’t!!
This .store is here for your bene
fit. The proceeds from this store
go to your student organization,
and these funds are used for your
welfare.
The store sells notebooks paper,
graph paper, shorthand pads,
pencils, red pencils, ink, composi
tion books, loose-leaf covers, note
books, note cards, rulers, typing
erasers, and compasses. Other ar
ticles are cellophane tape, Ideenex,
and even athletic socks in sizes for
both b'Ojs and girls. Decals and
pennants are sold also, with our
high-school emblem on them.
These supplies are sold for ex
actly the same prices you will find
at the stores downtown. Why not
buy them right here in the build
ing, and help our school at the
same time?
For quite some time, students
have requested that we sell decals
so as to decorate their car win-
dowis. Well, now they are here, so
let’s buy them!!
Many! of you don’t realize that
the Student Store has this much
material on hand. All of these ar
ticles are available dui’ing the
hours the store is open.
The Student Store is open for
lifteen minutes before school, dur
ing the first lunch period, and fif
teen minutes after school.
Editor Explains
Ed. Note: Each year in No
vember members of the joura-
alism class write articles for a
tfontest sponsored by the Na
tional Tuberculosis Association
and the Columbia Scholastic
Press Association.
Entries are judged by Mrs.
Dorothy Hinson, executive sec
retary of Rocky Mount Tuber
culosis Association, and. her
committee and this year the
(first place winner was Pat Bell,
senior, and second place winner
was Janet Bulluck, junior.
The above article is the se
cond place 'Winner. The first
iplace selection will appear in
the December issue of THE
BLACKBIRD.
Help Fight TB
17EE-TIN
Buy Christmas Seals
Ben Blackbird Sez
“Seven days of school would
make one weak.”
THE BLACKBIRD
Rocky Mount Senior High School
EDITOR .... CAROL THREATT
BUSINESS MANAGER
PAT BELL
ADVISER . . MRS. T. D. YOUNG
r
m
Special Weeks Have Value
In this country of abundance, there exists also an
abundance of special weeks with nearly everything hav
ing a special week, from dumb animals, which want peo
ple to be kind to them, to the United Nations.
The principal purpose of these special weeks is to
place emphasis on the subject for which the week is
special. This is accomplished by posters, speeches, panel
discussions and the like. If the campaign is correctly car
ried out, the public becomes conscious of the subject.
A good example is the “Youth Appreciation Week”
just recently witnessed. Sponsored by the Optimist Club
International, this week was set aside to place before
the public the kind of young people who are seldom
heard about but who compose the vast majority of youth
population—the good, wholesome teenagers who are not
“juvenile delinquents.” The eyes of a good many peo
ple are opened to the fact that not all the youth of today
are bad.
Another example is the “Character Emphasis Week.”
Sponsored by the service Club, this week may be closely
akin to the “Youth Appreciation Week” in that it is
designed to make students become conscious of their
character and the importance it will play in their lives.
Its purpose is to help build the character of those who
persist in violating duty or law and to strengthen the
character of those who are about to give up.
If one will examine these special weeks closely one
will find they are designed to improve a situation, whe
ther to urge better fire prevention or better character.
Prayer For A Special Day
For the time spent in happy companionship with my
friends at our favorite place, for the use of the car (when
I get it), for the phone (when I’m. allowed to use it), for
love (even if “?” doesn’t love me), for my dates, for the
chance to help make decisions in my family (now that
they think I have become of age)
For the music (on wax that I enjoy so much), for free
dom of speech (which my folks seem to think I use too
often), for my clothes (of which I never seem to think I
have enough of, so Mom says) . . .
For this free land into which I was born and for those
who fought to make it free, for our great heritage (may
it ever stand!), for churches and freedom of religion and
for all other rights granted to us ... .
For Mom and Dad and the rest of the family—for
their love for me and mine for them—, for my good home
which my folks have worked so hard to ,make, mostly
though for Thee and Thy Son and this day on which to
say “Thank You, for all Thy many blessings,”