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Have you ever wondered, as we
have, why the kids of today don’t
like licorice candy? When Mom
and Dad were growing up, and
their parents and grandparents be
fore them, such stuff was a juve
nile delicacy that had few equals.
Heaven only knows how many
thousand pound of licorice sticks
were handed over the counter to.
grimy little fingers right here in
New Bern. If you possessed and
were willing to part with a whole
nickel, you received them in a pa
per sack. If, as was usually the
case, it was a penny transaction,
the sticky and decidedly chewy
confection was poked at you un
sacked.
-- This presented no problem. One
of the nice things about licorice
sticks was the fact that they didn’t
show dirt. No matter how black
your hands were, and how much of
the blackness rubbed off on your
purchase, the licorice—even before
tois turn of events—just couldn’t
look any darker.
Aside from the pleasure of eat
ing it, there was the added exub
erance of pretending that you were
chewing tobacco. New Bern’s lead
ing male adults had impressed the
small boys here with their cuds',
and the accuracy of their cuspidor
target practice. Thanks to licorice,
the village small fry could emulate
their elders without actually be
coming involved with the dreadful
_ complication of that first real
'chaw. ^
Though we didn’t know it at the
time, the chewing tobacco that in
trigued us so from afar was liber
ally soaked with licorice, so to that
extent our imitation of various
masculine heroes was authentic.
Someday, we promised ourselves,
we too would tote a plug of Ap
ple, Brown Mule or a brand equal
ly glorious, and be an important
figure in the community.
Licorice is a native of Southern
Europe and parts of Asia. Very li£-
tle of it is grown in the United
States, but believe it or not, more
than 40 million pounds of dried
licorice root are imported into
this country , each year. A hardy
perennial erf the pulse family, the
herb provides a valuable flavoring
material, not only for tobaccos, ci
gars and cigarettes, along with
candy, but for soft drinks and
chewing gum.
It is often used in medicine, to
disguise the flavor of disagreeable
drugs, and is regarded as a reme
dy for bronchial troubles. Com
mercial licorice is yellow (don’t
ask us why it ends up black) and
is made by boiling the roots, and
then evaporating the extract.
When the licorice is extracted,
the fibers of the root remaining
are used in the making of a fire
fighting foam, in boxwood and in
sulation board, and in other prod
ucts. Of course, when we were a
kid we didn’t know these things.
All we knew, and needed to know,
was the quickly learned fact that
a licorice stick had a charm all its
own.
Another gastronomlcal delight in
the old days was the sour pickle
you bought and consumed on the
way to school. You never see it
happen in this more sophisticated
era, perhaps for one thing because
the youngster of todays usually
rides to school instead of walking.
The pickles you could buy for a
nickel were really huge. Even in
those days, you couldn’t satisfy
some juveniles, so a few of them
got the notion of inserting a stick
of peppermint candy into the pic
kle to get contrasting flavors at
one and the same time. For our
part, we didn’t warm up to the idea
at all, and to this day can only
wonder whether we missed a treat.
(Continued on back page)
The NEW BERN
5^ Per Copy
VOLUMNE 3
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1960
NUMBER 13
MIGHTY IMPORTANT FREIGHT — Anyone jumping at'
conclusions would be apt to figure that thd“ two State high
way patrolmen shown here have Seized an unlawful haul
of whiskey. Instead, they’re loading blank ballots to be dis
tributed all over North Carolina for Saturday’s second pri
mary. Owen G. Dunn Company did the printing, and a
veritable army of patrolmen converged on New Bern to
handle' the distribution job.—Photo by Billy Benners.
Chapel Hill,s Favorite Father
Once ResideeJ in New Bern
Just about everybody in New
Bern knew and liked W. N. (Red)
Tyler when he was working for the
Standard Oil Company here a cou
ple of decades agp.
As easy going as a snail with
fallen arches, and as friendly as a
politician on election day, he was
welcome everywhere he went. Red,
had been short changed from birth
when it came to beauty, but with
that impish and disarming smile of
his and a system, full^ pf wisecracks
his local popularity was assured.
He wooed wd won Johnette
Smith, and it’s still the best selling
job he ever did. Then, too soon, he
moved away, the toWn sort of lost
track of him, and gradually be
came accustomed to his absence.
New Bern’s loss- was Chapel
Hill’s gaiq, and last week in that
grand old, Uniyersity city he was,
named Father of the Year by the
Chapel Hill Merchants Association.
Portraits of him were displayed in
store windows, and he was wined
and dined by such groups as the
Rotary club and the Exchange
club,
“I don’t know why they picked
me,” Red insisted when interview
ed by The Mirror. “It came as a
big surprise but a pleasant one.’’
However, those who made the se
lection just did what came natur
ally in view of his great contri
bution to the Boy Scouts of Ameri
ca.
As chairman of the organization
and extension committee, he is a
glutton for work. When he became
a scouter his enthusiasm was such
that he gave up ail other outside
activity, even the golf he used to
enjoy so much.
Despite his long hours as a
Buick salesman for Colonial Mo
tors, the 50-year-old former New
Bernian averages two or three
scout meetings a week. He has de
voted hundreds of hours to the
cause.
Tyler has always taken a keen
interest in his two youngsters—
Cotten, who is 14, and Caroline,
12. So when Cotten became a
scout. Red became a scouter. In
cidentally, Cotten is just one merit
badge away from the coveted rank
W. N. (RED) TYLER
of Eagle scout.
Red’s neighbors in Chapel Hill
admire him for the way he has
strived to beautify the yard of his
home on Milton street. He doesn’t
have a great deal of space, but he
makes excellent use of what he
has. His speciality is the iris, and
he raises some beautiful blooms.
He has accomplished a lot with
shrubl&ery too.
He doesn’t get much time for it,
but he likes to hunt and fish. It
was a big disappointment when ad
verse wind conditions spoiled the
fishing trip to Harkers Island that
the Chapel Hill Merchants Associ
ation had tendered him as Father
of the Year, but he hopes to go
back for another try.
Tyler is pretty steamed us about
his own kids, but he is fond of ev
erybody else’s kids too. He dis
agrees quite vehemently with pes
simists who complain that the
younger generation can’t compare
with juveniles of the past when it
comes to ideals and behavior.
“There’s nothing wrong with the
boy of today,” Red contends. “He
certainly measures up to every de
mand and emergency at scout egm-
porees and elsewhere. More and
more youngsters are attaining the
rank of Eagle scout, despite stiff-
er requirements, and they’re
achieving this distinction at an
earlier age.”
It is Tyler’s hope that both Cot
ten and Caroline will be privileged
to receive a college education.
“Going to college is important,”
says Red, “but I’ve told my boy
that three things should be uppe»
(Cantinued on Back Pago)