(Pat Guffey, who before writing
for the View had worked 12 years 30’s and 40’s have kept their loyal-
for the ASCS, grew up with the ty to King Cotton: they owe it the
story, “When Cotton Was King. ” soil under their feet. During times
Her father, Mr. Bill Philbeck, is a of high prices, my father says,
retired Cleveland County cotton “cotton bought and paid for more
farmer. Conversations with her land in Cleveland County than any
father were the genesis of this other commodity.”
story, which tells the rise of King Prices weren’t high when Bill
Cotton in the 30’s and 40k to the Philbeck began to farm cotton
fall by the boll weevil in 1949.)
BY PAT GUFFEY
VIEW STAFF
during the Depression. He recalls
how he and his father-in-law, the
late L. E. Hamrick, hired a black
man who had walked five miles
from Shelby to the Hamrick farm
to pick cotton at $1.00 per 300 hun
dred pounds.
The hired man called to his
children who had been waiting in
Springs the bushes by the side of the road,
acres of Hamrick paid them $4.00 that day.
Stinging worms, pack saddles,
biting mother spiders — and clear
blue autumn days when Bill
Philbeck of Poplar
overlooked acres and
“white gold.”
“White gold” — full white balls The second day the family
of cotton waiting to be picked — is brought food with them to the
my father’s term for the crop that fields, bought with the previous
was king here in the 1930’s and day’s earnings
40’s. The third day they came to work
Today the king is off the throne, in a car, having earned enough to
In 1981 3,700 acres of cotton were buy gas. works the old way - with mule and patience - last summer on a cotton field owned by
non ! “o Cleveland County farmer Eddie Harrill. Harrill says he didn’t make money on his cotton.
pared to 35,000 acres of soybeans, ^ „ . Cotton prices began to rise when ment payment of $20 per acre iaip3n’s
according to Frank Spencer, coun- The fourth day Hamrick paid 1933 brought Franklin Roosevelt to Cotton a]1ofmpni= ^ ff ^
ty agricultural agent. Spencer the family $4 and asked them not the White House and the “New established iniQ-id were Cotton farmers were making
contrasts that year to 1949, when to come back the following day. At Deal” to farming. In the fall of Prices imnrevoH n ff ^o^^y again. The early 40’s saw
80,200 acres of cotton and 86 acres S4 he explained, he couldn’t af 1933 farmers could plow up cotton brought 14 cenfs *
of soybeans were planted. ford to have any more picked, acerage and qualify for a govern- went as high as 20 cents duringtoe
^ Please turn to King Cotton, pg. 6
The Foothills View
(3
We See It Your Way
))
THURS. MAY^,1982
BOILING SPRINGS, NC
$7.00 Per Year Single Copy 15 Cents
H *
Davis And Beam
At The
Cross
Roads
“When living on the cor
ner of South Main and
Quinn Circle I once grew a
lovely rose by the botanical
name, ‘The Doctor.’
Despite its name, it has
long since died and is only a
memory, but it is the in
spiration for this.”
So wrote Mrs. Lula H.
Hamrick in introducing her
poem, “A Rose In My
Garden.” We’re pleased to
have Mrs. Hamrick’s art
on page three of this week’s
View.
and in a special drawing
following the bike-a-thon a
basketball. Prizes were
donated by area mer
chants.
Funerals Held
Graduation at Gardner-
Webb begins with an alum
ni breakfast for all can
didates, 7 a.m. Saturday,
May 15. Commencement is
at 10:00 a.m. at the Inner
Court; the rain alternate
site is the Lutz-Yelton Con
vocation Center.
We’re pleased also to an
nounce the winner of the
May 8 bike-a-thon for St.
Jude’s Hospital. Stuart
Blackburn, son of Gil and
Martha Blackburn of Boil
ing Springs, collected $77
for St. Jude’s by riding 50
miles. For his pedalwork,
Stuart also won a back
pack and a tennis racket.
Cows gazed at a hot air
balloon late Monday after
noon as it floated over the
pastures behind the Earl
Owensby studios. Against a
Cleveland County sky and
landscape the balloon was
colorful, improbable, but
undeniably successful —
much like Owensby
himself.
Phillips Village Okayed;
New Well Needs Survey
Councilman John
Washburn will obtain final
approval in Raleigh of
sewer hook-ups for the pro
posed Phillips Village
apartment complex after
council met with represen
tatives of the Division of
Environmental Manage
ment this Monday in a call
ed meeting.
Council voted to send
Washburn to the state
capital May 13 to obtain
written approval from the
Division.
Council also voted at the
Monday night meeting to
take informal bids for pav
ing the access road to the
newly constructed Artex
plant off Highway 150.
Council will hold another
called meeting May 25 at
7:30 p.m. to discuss propos
ed uses of general revenue
sharing funds during fiscal
1982-83. The town will
receive approximately
$23,089.
Council took no action on
the proposed land purchase
for the new town well off
DeHart Avenue, awaiting a
survey by the land’s owner
Gardner-Webb College.
In other town news. Boil
ing Springs police and fire
department reported a
quiet week with no calls.
In 1912, Mrs. Addie Davis, then a young
woman of 22, met a little boy named Willie
Lee Blanton. Last Monday afternoon,
Blanton, now 83 and a respected deacon at
Green Bethel Baptist Church, spoke to
church members at Mrs. Davis’ funeral.
She was 92.
Her funeral was followed Tuesday by
services for another Boiling Springs resi
dent, Mrs. Ernestine Beam. Mrs. Beam,
56, died Sunday at Cleveland Memorial
Hospital after a long illness.
Tuesday Blanton recalled Mrs. Davis:
“I met her 70 years ago. She was faithful,
always at church and choir rehersal.”
The deacon gave what he thought was
the reason for Mrs. Davis’ long life: “She
contributed to helping herself and to serv
ing the Lord.”
Mrs. Davis was a member of the Mis
sionary Circle and the choir at Green
Bethel. She is survived by two daughters,
Mrs. Delia Corry and Eloise Ingram, both
of Boiling Springs; nine grandchildren; 20
great-grandchildren; and 21 great-great
grandchildren.
Burial was at Green Bethel cemetery.
Services were conducted by the Rev. R. B.
Blanton, and remarks were given by Blan
ton and the Rev. S.A. Rayford.
Mrs. Beam was a native of Rutherford
County and the daughter of the late Lee
and Belle Putnam. She was an elementary
school teacher and a member of Boiling
Springs Baptist Church.
Survivors include: her husband, Robert
L. Beam; a daughter, Mrs. Jimmy Mathis
of Boiling Springs; two sisters, Mrs. Beth
Greene of Boiling Springs and Mrs. Jack
Gardner of Shelby; and two grand
children.
Graveside services and burial were at
Holly Springs Baptist Church cemetery in
Rutherford County. The Rev. Max Linnens
and the Rev. Francis Dobbins officiated.
Following are excerpts from Rev. Lin
nens’remarks:
“Ernestine was well acquainted with
pain. Her pain was a constant companion
through the last 25 years. Her pain was a
prelude to peace over and again along her
unbelievable pilgrimage. From the pit of
pain she clawed her way up and out more
times than I can remember.”
“Her suffering resolved to joy. I don’t
mean just the final victory when she pass
ed over into a higher life, able now to
straighten that twisted body upright and
walk without pain, tasting wholeness,
soundness, and peace that is beyond our
imagination. Paul says that ‘eye has not
seen, ear has not heard, neither has it
entered into the heart of man the things
that God has prepared for those who love
him.’
“Her suffering resolved to joy during
her struggles here. I mean that I saw and
felt her joy in this life. I heard the
tenderness in her voice and saw the care
she had for others. I saw the glow of love
on her face as she ministered to her family
from her bed. I shall always remember the
pictures of her on her bed with her grand
children. . .feeding them, holding them,
playing with them, and loving them. They
gave her a new lease on life. And I’m sure
that the security they felt through her love
and continuing presence was woven into
the very fiber of their tissues.
“But now her suffering has resolved into
the greatest joy in her fairer home. ’’
Youth Choir Presents
Music Drama “Acts”
The college youth choir of Boiling Spr
ings Baptist Church will present the
musical drama “Acts” Sunday, May 16, at
7:30p.m.
Keith Dixon, minister of education, will
portray the apostle Luke, and Chris
Winans, summer children and youth
worker, will play the roll of Peter. Others
actors and soloists include:
Robert Lamb, Steve Hamrick, Sandy
Hastings, Kenny Harris, Esther Perrin,
Dean White, Susanne Sanford, Lisa Pier-
cy, Lori McEntire, and Kelly Taylor.
(T K,