The NCW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
5^ Per Copy
VOLUME
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1958
NUMBER 20
When visitors stroll through the
State Museum in Raleigh, they al
ways pause to smile at a horseless
carriage, complete with a wax dum
my dressed in an old-time white
duster.
It’s funny to them, but New
Bern’s Gilbert S. Waters was dead
ly serious about the contraption
when he built it years ago. He was
still deadly serious about it, right
up to the day of his passing.
Like many another inventor. Wa
ters was ahead'of his time—at least
as far as New Bern was concern
ed. Rightly or wrongly, he felt in
his heart that the town might have
been another Detroit if his inven
tion had been enthusiastically ac
cepted here.
Skeptics derided him at the very
outset, when he took to local
streets with his pipneer auto. They
allowed as how he ought to stick
to buggies, since there were an
awful lot of horses around, and no
jackasses crazy enough to buy a
sputtering machine like this.
Seeing the handwriting on the
wall. Waters stuck to His buggies,
and became a forlorn and frustrat
ed figure in his dusty, cobwebbed
shop on upper Broad street. The
world passed him by, and ironical
ly it passed in automobiles.
In due time a measure of fame
came to his door. He was invited
to New York City for a coast-to-
coast i;adio broadcast. They asked
him to bring his horseless carriage,
and he drove Phil Baker, the co
median, along Fifth Avenue in
grand style.
Riding friends in the" CleVdrlj'
contrived two-seater was always a
pleasure to the New Bern inventor.
Children in particular got a great
thrill out of such an experience.
We can see him now, beaming
proudly, with a wide-eyed moppet
seated beside him. This wa% his
belated hour of triumph, such as
it was. His vindication, bestowed
upon him by a new generation that
admired his ingenuity.
Had his own generation support
ed him, instead of scoffing and call
ing him nuts. Waters still might
not have been another Henry Ford.
It always seemed to us that he lack
ed Ford’s progressive spark, despite
the fact that his pioneering in the
field of motor vehicles was progres
siveness itself.
Even with local acceptance. Wa
ters in large measure would have
been governed by the industrial
possibilities of New Bern and its
immediate area. What those possi
bilities were, compared With De
troit’s resources when Ford started
out, is a subject that could be argu
ed at great length.
Actually, Ford and Waters too
were following in the footsteps of
others when they designed their
horseless carriages. Nicholas Joseph
Cugnot, a French army engineer,
built a three-wheeled steam tractor
in 1769, while Oliver Evans patent
ed a steam carriage in Maryland
way back in 1787.
Siegfried Marcus, an Austrian, is
credited with creating the first
gasoline-driven vehicle in 1875.
America’s first gasoline car was
built in Springfield, Mass., by two
brothers, Charles and Franklin
Duryea, in 1892.
Waters wasn’t by himself in be
ing derided by friends and neigh
bors. The same treatment was ac
corded other automobile inventors
elsewhere in the land. Ford, the
exception, talked a group of friends
into investing $28,000 in his origin
al tin lizzie. Thus a vast industrial
empire was built.
Could Gilbert Waters have de
veloped such an empire? Probably
not, but the world will never know
for sure. Disillusioned, he went
to his grave. Left for those, who
ponder such things is his horseless
carriage, to be snickered at, as of
old. in a corner of the State Mu
seum.
’AUGUST Airr---^lV4Ti'#«rW-of paaca-on tho grltidiha
days. Shadows and sunshine^ and trOas festooned with Spanish moss,
enhance the tranquility of a scene far removed from strife and
hatred and woe. Mortals rush like mad, but not the Trent. With slow
serenity and disdain for hustle and bustle, it journeys gently to a
recqUeiyous oMiew Barn With tho {fqpsa. Thera, joined ,aa one, thev
contipua to the s^a. Stephen Postpr had his Swanee, Hoosiars have
their Wabash, and staid LondOnors their Thames. But no river quite
corhpares with the Trent, at the fag end of a sultry summer day.
—Photo by John R. Baxter, Jr.
Christian Crusade Tomorrow
Never before, in New Bern’s long
and eventful history, has the town
seen a series of religious seiwices
scheduled like the Christian Busi
ness Men’s Crusade, opening 7:30
Saturday night in the New Bern
High school- auditorium.
Sponsored by the Christian Busi
ness Men’s Committee in coopera
tion with the New Bern Ministerial
association, it is unique in that lay
speakers will bring the messages.
Nationally-known business lead
ers who have dedicated their lives
to serving Christ, are collectively
travelling thousand^ of miles in
order to participate In the Cru
sade here.
F^-om August 16 to August 24,
this first State capital will be the
center of attention for religious
groups throughout the United
States. If the Crusade in New Bern
is a success, there will be other
similar Crusades from coast to
coast. If it fails, the failure will be
regarded as a major spiritual set
back.
In 'short, New Bern in this in
stance is a proving ground for the
nation. Careful planning, whole
hearted cooperation, boundless en
thusiasm and sincere prayers have
gone into this great non-denomina-
tional effort.
However, in the final analysis,
the Crusade can rise to the heights
Welfare Workshop
Plans have been completed for
the workshop to be held next Wed
nesday for welfare clerical work
ers of Craven and 10 surrounding
counties.
Scheduled for the De Graffen-
reid room of the Hotel Governor
Tryon, it will be conducted by Mrs.
Edithe Brannock of the State Board
of Public Welfare’s research and
statistics division.
only through the support of every
Christian in New Bern and the sur
rounding area. If those Who profess
a faith in Christ don’t attend in
record-breaking numbers, there’ll
be little incentive for the non
church member to attend and take
inventory of his spiritual status.
Revivals and evangelistic serv
ices aren’t new in New Bern, or
the surrounding coast country. But
now, for the first time, top ranking
business executives are deserting
their offices in distant cities to
come here and tell out of their
own experience what Christ means
to them, and what He can mean
to others.
Aside from the strictly spiritual
asjects of the Crusade, it is a rare
opportunity for New ^rnians and
visitors alike to hear speakers who
are so much in demand that they
arer forced to decline a majority of
the requests that come to them for
personal appearances in larger ci
ties of the country.
Emphasizing the importance plac
ed on the Cimsade by the nation’s
religious leaders is the fact that
the Rev. Grady Wilson, associate
evangelist with Billy Graham, will
be in attendance.
Included among the speakers who
will honor New Bern by their
Moose Make Plans
Thrills and maybe spills will be
the order of the day Sunday after
noon, when New Bern’s Loyal Ord
er of Moose stages an exciting pro
gram of stock and outboard racing
on a 'Trent river course at the
Williams farm.
Sanctioned by the American
Power Boat Association, and fea
turing name drivers, the event gets
underway at noon. Visiting racers
have always voiced a liking for
the Trent’s placid waters, and fast
times will be in prospect for the
hotly contested runs.
presence is R. G. Le Tourneau,
world famous manufacturer, of
Longview, Texas. A multi-million
aire, he formed the Le Tourneau
Foundation in 1935.
It is the twelfth largest trust in
the United States, and in 1947 was
valued at seven million dollars. As
signing 98 percent of his wealth
to the foundation, Le Tourneau
said it was to be used only for the
“Cause of Christ.’’
Since it was formed, over two-
and-a-half million dollars have been
contributed to other organizations
engaged in Gospel work.
Sharing the rostrum with Le
Tourneau during the Crusade here
will be such distinguished lay
speakers as Nate Scharff of Dayton,
Ohio; G. Tom Willey of Baltimore,
Md.; Charles Jones of Harrisburg,
Pa.; Col. John M. Fain of Atlanta,
Ga.; Louis Christiansen and Walter
Meloon of Orlando, Fla.; Arthur
Demoss of Albany, N. Y., and oth
ers equally outstanding.
Don't Blame Lamb for Sheepish Look!
When next you see a feUow New
Bernian looking sheepish, don’t
jump to conclusions and assume
that he is a glutton for mutton.
He may be taking it on the
lamb, as some of the boys in the
back room describe a walk-out
powder, but the chances are over
whelming that in no other way
will he ever get close to a lamb.
Most especially he won’t get
close to a Iamb chop, a leg of lamb,
shoulder of lamb or lamb stew.
Never, so'long as he is able to pick
stuff for his table, will be wish
for such a dish.
Elsewhere in the Land of the
Free, they call it a delicacy. But
in New Bern and the sunny south
in general you would have trouble
giving it away.
A survey conducted by 'The Mir
ror bears this out. Consider these
statistics. For each pound of mut
ton sold over New Bern meat coun
ters, there are 50 pounds of beef,
25 pounds of pork and 100 pounds
of chicken purchased.
Despite Dixie’s long standing tra
dition favoring Southern fried
chicken, its current popularity is
financial rather than gastronomical
in nature. Many a rebel gnaws on a
drumstick hereabouts while dream
ing of a slab of ham and a dish of
frog-eye gravy to go with his grits
or rice.
He is a hog when it comes to
pork, but the price gets him down.
So, fowled up for fair, he picks out
a picked hen at the market and
totes it home to grace the skillet
as best it can.
Speaking of pork, few New Bem-
ians know a bargain when they
see one. For example, they’ll pay
67 cents a pound or thereabouts
for spareribs. Ask a butcher, and
he’ll tell you that 45 percent of
what you bought can’t be eaten.
On the other hand, if you buy
backbone from the rib end of the
pork loin, it’s much less expensive,
can be cooked the same way, and
has only 10 percent waste. Best
buy in beef, he’ll tell you, is a
chuck roast.
But lamb nobody wants, at least
not here.