The NEW BERN
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VOLUME 2
NEW BERN, N. C, FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 1960
NUMBER 40
Constructive criticism, someone
has said, is the kind we dish out
to others, while destructive criti
cism is the kind that is dished out
to us. ^
It’s true that most mortals, in
eluding the editor of The Mirror,
react rather poorly when a fault
finding finger is pointed in their
direction. Hence, if some of our
friends resent today’s Looking
Glass—with or without good rea
son—we won’t be overly surprised
Since this is no ordinary New
Year’s Day as far as New Bern is
concerned, but rather the first day
of our 250th anniversary year, we
are, disturbed over the fact that it
is passing into history virtually un
noticed.
It worries us to think that count
less tourists are motoring through
our town on this first day of Jan
uary without the remotest idea that
New Bern is now at a noteworthy
milestone in its long existence.
Many of these tourists will never
pass this way again, and it goes
without saying that they won’t be
around six months from now when
we stage an indoor pageant at the
New Bern High school auditorium.
Let’s admit in all fairness that
a lot of these tourists from New
England, New York, Pennsylvania
and way points wouldn’t stop here
anyhow. The fact remains that
some of them would, if signs had
been erected at entrances to our
town proclaiming our 250th anni
versary year.
Aside frorji the jMwsiblity of bill
boards, which might have been re
garded as too expensive, it would^
n’t have required much of a finan
cial outlay to see to it that every
restaurant menu here had attached
to it a card or label indicating that
New Bern, as of this year, is 250
years old. Similar information
should be displayed in hotel rooms
and at motels in the area.
In fact, visible at every service
station should be the announce
ment that this is our 250th year.
It might not persuade more than
a minority of tourists to stop and
visit for a spell, but we can hardly
afford to give even one tourist the
brush off.
For those who did see fit to stop,
there is plenty to see without wait
ing for June to roll around. Tryon
Palace is undeniably impressive as
a tourist attraction, and such his
toric landmarks as Christ Church,
the First Presbyterian Church,, the
Masonic theater and the unique ap
peal of the Fireman’s Museum are
available to the visitor jwithout
further effort on our part.
It . was a pity that New Bern did
n’t make long range plans for our
250th anniversary. And by long
range, we mean plans that could
have originated at least' five years
ago. With all due respects, it is
lamentably apparent that too little
is being done too late.
We can’t help but regret the de
cision made by those in charge to
hold the anniversary pageant in
doors. It has been said that an out
door pageant would have been too
expensive, but our last historical
pageant was held out-of-doors and
properly so.
Those who contend that an open-
air pageant must necessarily be ul
tra-expensive seem to have forgot
ten the delightful Wizard of Oz
production presented by students
of New Bern High school several
years ago in Kafer park. It didn’t
cost a great deal, but it was tre
mendously effective.
Can’t you visualize the impres
siveness that a pageant staged in
the New Bern High school audi
torium would have had? Some will
say that there’s always the danger
of bad weather. This we can’t deny.
However, the possibility of bad
weather hasn’t prevented the pres
entation of other outdoor pageants
(Continued on baok page)
ITS DAYS ARE NUMBERED—^Approved plans for a bridge
across Neuse river at this point sounded the death knell for
Streets ferry. Progress and convenience will be served by
a span linking the Vanceboro and Jasper areas, but it her
alds the passing of a unique and picturesque sight.—Photo
by Billy Benners.
We Are All Doing It Today-
Cramming Black-Eyed Peas
Not everyone in New Bern had
turkey on the table for Thanksgiv
ing and Christmas, but there’ll be
few if any citizens who won’t par-’
fake of black-eyed peas with hog
meat of one aort or another on this
New Year’s Day.
Rich folks and poor folks alike
just wouldn’t feel right if they fail
ed to yield to one of our traditional
superstitions. Besides black-eyed
peas make a mighty nice serving of
vittles, even if you don’t subscribe
to the ancient adSge that it’s, bad
luck not to eat a bate of the things
on the first day of the year.
Admittedly, there’s nothing very
glamorous about a black-eyed pea.
You can’t dress it up fancy, like
most other vegetables. In fact, you
can’t even disguise it, unless dous
ing it with ketchup ds some of us
do, can be called a camouflage.
But, if you ask us, it deseiwes
the distinction accorded it on New
Year’s Day. Maybe we would have
a better country, or at least less
ulcers if we ate more black-eyed
peas during the rest pf the year,
and steered dear of items that are
more exotic but less digestible.
Here in New Bern and through
out the rest of America, we asso
ciate New Year’s not only with
black-eyed peas but with gay par
ties that come to a noisy climax at
the stroke of midnight. Some of us
forego this sort of thing to attend
church services.
All of us, whether we write them
down in black and white or only
record them mentally, make the
usual New Year’s resolutions. In
so doing, we act in good faith but
rather suspect that they will be
broken before many days have pass
ed.
Supporting this dim view of our
capacity for correcting our failings
is our knowledge of what has hap
pened in the past. We recall, with
a twinge of conscience, that in all
the previous years since outgrow
ing childhood we have made simi
lar if not completely identical reso
lutions, but to no avail.
Gifts are exchanged on New
Year’s Day in many European
countries. It’s easy to understand
why the idea never has caught on
here. Most New Bemians are still
suffering from the financial shock
of gift-giving at Christmas, and
would hate to dig down for more
presents, even if they weren’t flat
broke.
Augustus Caesar is credited with
starting the idea of New Year gifts
way back in 47 BC. He is said to
have told the Romans that he
dreamedione night of seeing him
self receiving gifts from the Sen
ate and the peopie on January 1.
Everybody went ail out in an ef
fort to buy the most iavish gift
possibie, hoping to thereby get
some speciai favor from the em
peror. It was the same sort of in
to him,
bread and milk
are a feast
it takes so little to bring
joy to the hungry in other
lands. Each $1 sends a
^ big CARE package of milk
'powder, flour, other sta-
‘ pies ... a personal gift
of friendship, delivered in
your name. Mail your dol
lars today.
please care ... hunger hurtsi
CABR Food Crusade
^ New York 16, New York
or your local office
i
y
fluence peddling known today in
political circles. That rather crafty
gentleman, Claudius, managed to
curb the practice eventually by
limiting the cost of presents.
Much later along in the pages
of history, Henry III brought the
custom into vogue in England.
Elizabeth I outdid Henry when it
came to collecting swag, and is said
to have coaxed enough gifts from
Englanders to replenish her ward
robe for a full year.
In China it’s considered bad luck
to be wearing old shoes when one
steps down upon the ground on
New Year’s Day. As a result, even
the poorest CMnaman sees to it
that he gets a new pair of shoes,
even if it means going hungry.
In Portuagal, no citizen would
think of paying a bill on New
Year’s Day. To do so, he feels,
means that he will be paying out
money for the rest of the year.
Here in America we can’t visualize
a situation where we won’t be
ing out money, but it is doubtful
that we get around to settling many
debts on New Year’s Day either.
In Scotland, they have a super
stition all their own. The Scots
are firmly convinced that a family
will have a year of bad luck, if
the first person to set foot in the
house on New Year’s Day Is a wom
an, a gravedigger, a person who
walks with his toes turned in, or
a man with red or blonde hair.
To guard against such a thing
happening, they appoint a tall dark
man as the “first-footer.” On New
Year’s Day he enters each home in
silence, places a bundle of fagots
on the fire, then wishes the family
(Continued on Back Pago)