Newspapers / The New Bern Mirror … / Feb. 20, 1959, edition 1 / Page 1
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J IB irPiifiliil T/ie WfW BERH «EKLY ^iti '*?. a» Volume i NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1959 NUMBER 47 Because we’re one of the New Bern males past 40 who had boy hood visions of making a million dollars out of raising rabbits, the recent success of this industry in Harnett county intrigues us. Over that way, around Lillington, they’re producing and selling 800 of the domestic bunnies a week. Not only that, but they’ve got a waiting market for 4,000 a week. Rabbits were quite the thing, when we came along, and some of the youngsters here did well with their Belgian hares, Flemish giants and other varieties. John Faulkner, who lived at the corner of Pollock and Hancock, was something of an expert. His rabbits were most co operative. John made the majority of his sales to other kids who were duly impressed with the prolific tend encies of his rabbits. These lads visualized a yard full of the things too, but it didn’t work out that way. We recall, with regret that ling ers to this day, how we pampered two remarkably healthy bunnies for more than a year, only to dis cover belatedly that we were' furn ishing bed and board for two old maids. Having learned a bitter lesson, we made a fresh start, but it did n’t do any good. Much as we hate to admit it, in all of our attempted rabbit raising we didn’t produce the first rahbit. Exasperation gave up the bright idea of ordering a rabbit book from the government in Washington. It ’had a lot of bi^ wojrdg, jtP the rabbits couldn’t read it. Meanwhile, John Faulkner’s lit ters became more plentiful. Since both of us lived on Pollock street, and fed our rabbits the same food, this was hard for a boy to under stand. To add insult to injury, John did equally well with pigeons. His nests were always full of eggs, or full of squabs that were newly hatched. It couldn’t have been the location, because he later moved to Raleigh and kept right on raising more and more pigeons. After failure in the rabbit busi ness and the pigeon business, we ventured into the realm of guinea pigs and white mice. The results, or lack of results, proved to be the same. Only once did we have fleeting success in reaping a reward from the animal kingdom. An owl light ed on our woodshed early one morning, and made the mistake of taking a nap. Before he knew what was hap pening, we toppled him from hi^ perch with a clothes-line pole, anf put him in a cage. Then, spreading the news among all the other kids in town, we charged admission to see the critter. Back in those days you could buy two pieces of chocolate candy for a penny, so we charged two pieces of chocolate candy for a look at the owl. Since we weren’t at all sure what owls ate, and wanted to be completely fair about if, each boy or girl was instructed to feed the owl one piece, and we ate the other piece. The owl seemed to like his diet, but business was booming and he must have gotten too much of a good thing. At any rate, on the third day he looked sad all of a sudden when a piece of candy was poked at him. Owls are supposed to hoot, but this one just sighed softiy and died then and there. For weeks we hopped out of bed- every morning, hoping to find an other owl that would put us back in show business. The curtain had gone down for keeps, however, and after that we had to rake yards, cut wood and mow lawns to get a supply of candy for our own urgent needs. (Continued on back page) TRYON’S LIBRARY—VisitOM who stream into Tryon Pal ace when it opens officially fti April will be emphatically impressed with this view of the Governor’s library. Like other rooms in the State’s first capitol, this one has beauti ful drapes, and all of the other furnishings are priceless antiques. Note the chess board, and a globe that is complete^ ly out of date in a world that has seen countless geogra phical changes since Tryon’s day.—Photo by Louis H. Frohman. Scraping Is Still Preferred by Average New Bern Shaver Ridding yourself of chin alfalfa with an electric razor has its ap peal, but a sample survey of New Bern males indicates that the great majority still prefer ’scrap ing as their Pa and Grandpa did before them. A goodly number of the gents hereabouts have purchased the electrical gadgets only to abandon them. Thousands haven’t even tried them, while a pleased minority use them daily. Those with fuzz lean more heavi ly toward electric razors than does the bristle brigrade. Incidentally, the old-time razor like the ones stil in use at your favorite barber shop is virtually extinct in private homes. This, if nothing else, is a fortu nate thing for small boys who can’t resist the urge to give their faces a premature going over. A safety razor is dangerous enough, but those long-bladed contraptions (■' old were a wicked implement for unskilled kids to handle. Some of the town’s outstanding male citizens almost eliminated themselves in boyhood by sneaking these folding razors out of a bu- rerau drawer and experimenting disastrously in the seclusion of the family’s bathroom. So far as our research was able to determine, none of the lads of old were actually decapitated, but plenty of them ended up rather sliced of countenance. Today’s ju veniles, thanks to the prevalence of safety razors, escape.^with nicks rather than lacerations. It should surprise no one to learn that very few New Bern men sltave twice daily—5 o’clock shad ow notwithstanding. What’s more, it is not at all uncommon to find a local male who gets by with shaving every other day. You need not be told, of course, that moustaches are almost non existent here. One of the changes on the local scene during the past generation is the steady decline of INSTALLED — West New Bern Presbyterian church is quite pleased with its new pastor, the Rev. Scott M. Poole. Seen here, bottom row, left to right, are Tom Davis of Greenville, executive secretary of the Albemarle Presby tery; Poole; and the Rev. Denver S. Blevins, pastor of Neuse Forest Presbyterian church. On the back row, left to right, are the Rev. J. Murphy Smith, pastor of First Presbyterian church; Dan Cratch of Washington, and Charles S. Hollister of New Bern.—Photo by Wooten Moul in Studios. m elderly gentleqien with a mous tache, a beard, or both. Today’s elderly gentleman is clean shaven, and he resents being called elderly. Something else that our survey revealed is the fact that New Bern men follow no set pattern in their shaving habits. The majority of them shave in the morning, but almost as many shave at night be fore going out for a meeting or social function. As might well be imagined, the single male is more apt to shave at night—if he shaves daily—since courting with a growth of whiskers is hardly the best way to woo a maid. With New Bern’s 250th anniver sary just around the corner, some body is apt fo come up with the now well-worn idea of having the town’s masculine population grow beards. This is a fearful thing to con template, since most men here are lacking whatever it takes to pro duce a crop of whiskei’s both pro lific and attractive. In full bloom they’ll frighten local small fry out of their wits, and send squirrels and birds scurrying to the woods. Of one thing there can be no doubt. Whether you use an el^tric razor or a safety razor, keeping your face unadorned with chin al falfa is just about the smartest endeavor you’ll ever lend a hand to. No one is this day and time can sport a beard and still stay popular with other mortals. No one, that is, except Santa Claus.
The New Bern Mirror (New Bern, N.C.)
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Feb. 20, 1959, edition 1
1
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