On our desk, from a reader of The
Mirror, is a copy of the remarks
made by Robert Ingersoll, when on
one occasion he was asked to ex
press words of comfort at the
graveside of a' child.
Ingersoll, as many of you know,
was an agnostic and as such be
came world famous. The lines he
spoke, at the request of the child’s
father, are all the more remark
able because he said them without
preparation.
Here is the impromptu message
he brought on a cold gray day in
January, as rain drizzled down
from the heavens:
“My friends, I know how vain
it is to gild a grief with words,
and yet I wish to take from every
grave its fear. Here in this world,
where life and death are equal
kings, all should be brave enough
to meet what all the dead have
met. The future has been filled
with fear, stained and polluted by
the heartless past. From the won
drous tree of life, the buds and
blossoms fall with ripened fruit,
and in the common bed of earth,
patriarchs and babes sleep side by
side.
“Why should we fear that which
will come to all that is? W’e can
not tell, we do not know, which is
the greater blessing—life or death.
We cannot say that death is not a
good. We do not know whether the
grave is the end of this life, or the
door of another, or whether the
night here is not somewhere else
a dawn. , ^
“Every cradle asks us ‘Whence?’
and every coffin ‘Whither?’ The
poor barbarian, weeping above his
dead, can answer these questions
just as well as the robed priest of
the most authentic creed. The
tearful ignorance of the one is as
consoling as the learned and un
meaning words of the other. No
. man, standing where the horizon of
a life has touched a grave, has any
right to prophesy a future filled
with pain and tears.
“It may be that death gives all
there is of worth to life. If those
we press and strain within our
arms could never die, perhaps that
love would wither from the earth.
Maybe this common fate treads
from out the paths between our
hearts the weeds of selfishness and
hate. And I had rather live and
love where death is king, than
have eternal life where love is not.
Another life is naught, unless we
know and, love again the ones who
love us here.
“They who stand with breaking
hearts around this little grave
need have no fear. The larger and
the nobler faith in all that is, and
is to be, tells us that death, even
at its worst, is only perfect rest.
We know that through the com
mon wants of life—the needs and
duties of each hour—their grief
will lessen day by day. Until at
last the grave will be' to them a
place of rest and peace—almost of
joy.
“There is for them this consola
tion. The dead do not suffer. If
they live again, their lives will
surely be as good as ours. We have
no fear. We are all children of
the same mother, and the same
fate awai);s us all. We too have our
religion, and it is this: Help for
the living—hope for the dead.’’
Robert Ingersoll often spoke
with eloquence, but few of his ora
tions held the terrific appeal that
this unprepared talk had. A bril
liant writer and lecturer, he was
known throughout America. Be
cause of his views on religion, he
was known disdainfully as the
Great Agnostic.
The parents of the child whose
funeral he was attending were
humble people of limited means.
Ingersoll moved in different cir
cles, was on a much higher social
level. However, they were friends
(Continued on Pas* 4)
The NEW BERN
5i Per Copy
VOLUMNE 3
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1960
NUMPER 11
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'/
IN TUNE WITH THE TIMES—Things have changed, and
for the better, at New Bern High School during the last
three decades. Music, for instance, has made great strides
with fine choral work and Junior and Senior bands bright
ening the scene. In addition, there’s a modern dance band,
shown here in a salute to the Class of 1930 that The Mirror
spotlights this week. Photo by Billy Benners.
Graduates of 30 Years Ago
Faced Greatest Depression
Thirty eventful years have come
and gone since New Bern High
school class of 1930 graduated into
the greatest and most prolonged
of 'American depressions.
It didn’t take pretense to make
these seniors solemn. 'Their final
school year started just as the Wall
Street crash came. Like everyone
else, in town, and around the
world, they were gripped by the
gravity of a financial crisis that
swooped down without warning.
Despite widespread unemploy
ment and dire straits in mhny
homes, they kept their minds on
books sulficiently to get their di
plomas. Sobered beyond their
youth, they hoped for much as
youngsters always will, but were
realistic enough to expect little
of the material things in the fore
seeable future.
Added to what they learned in
the classroom was the lesson of
doing without. Through sheer nec
essity, they were wise and they
were spunky. And, in the years
that followed, they weathered the
storm to do as well as any class
that graduated locally under far
more favorable circumstances.
Nat Dixon was the class presi
dent. Elected with him were Eura
Gaskins as vice-president, Helen
George as treasurer,'^nd Clara Fos-
cue as secretary. Collectively, they
steered the class through a well-
rounded program of normal activi
ties, and displayed outstanding
leadership.
Classmates picked Elinor Nelson
and Nat Dixon as most depend
able; Sallie McClees and Charles
McDaniel as most talented; Billy
Ferebee as most athletic; Irma, as most popular; Helen George and t son as best all around; Eula Stew-
Williams and Eura Gaskins as most Charles Styron as neatest; Dolly and Charles McDaniel as wittL
attractive; Evelyn Pittman and Foote and Dwight Norstran as laz- Eifie Rhodes and EMward
Hugh Watson (now man and wife)l iest; Dolly Foote and Hugh Wat-1 grouchiest; Elinor Nel
son and Warren Tyndall as most
courteous; Clara Foscue and Nat
Dixon as best students; and Jack
Barber as best debater.
Selling advertising for an annual
was out of the question, with New
Bern merchants singing the blues
and dolefully eyeing empty cash
registers. But an abbreviated an
nual was published nonetheless,
minus ads, which was a remark
able feat to say the least.
in its last will and testament,
Braxton George left some of his
extra avoirdupois to Mark Dunn,
and Hugh Watson bequeathed his
“general uselessness’’ to Jimmy
Hodges. As for “Dopey” Lawrence,
he willed his ability to make wise
cracks to Meyer Ibhn.
Pcnnie Glover, Isabel King and
Irma Williams left their endless
flow of talk to Georgia Brewer,
Grace Smith, Mary Lansche and
Mary Brewer, whie Sophie Benton
and Jessie Mann willed their suc
cess in the State contest as speed
demons of the typewriting world
to Maxine Dowdy, Hazel Brewer,
Maria Brinson and Edith Weeks.
Robert Davis, Eura Gaskins and
Marriner Hardison left their deep
knowledge and understanding of
historical subjects to Mark Dunn,
Donoh Hanks, Cliftoh Daugherty,
Euclid Armstrong and William
Beard.
In the annual, Clara Foscue was
described as “a rare girl, noble
and true, one that finishes what
(Continued on back page)
ALWAYS A BIG MOMENT
Junior-Senior, 1960