The NEW BERN
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VOLUME 3
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1961
NUMBER 40
Father Time usually manages to
make mortals old in due season,
but he has long since given up his
efforts to rob Nina Basnight of her
youth, She was 82 last Thanksgiv
ing, and yet a birthday cake with
more than 16 candles would be out
of place for her.
Like wine of rare vintage, or a
fiddle fashioned by a master
craftsman, this delightful young
lady keeps right on improving with
age. She is one of the reasons why
living in New Bern is a pleasure
not far removed from heaven itself.
For 33 years, from September
1926 until April 1959, she taught
/ music here, and before retirement
V as organist and choir director for
the Broad Street Christian church
completed a fuU half century of
service. Born at Maribel, in Pamli
CO county, she made her bow as a
school teacher in Greene county,
back in 1903.
Later she taught in the grammar
grades here, until her mother pass
ed away. It was her father’s wish
that she discontinue, so she com
piled with, his request. Resides,
music was her great love, and she
eventually studied for tfiree years
in New York before opening Tier
studio here.
She was a graduate of Salem col
lege, and still -vividly remembers
the beauty of the Moravian music
_ she used to hear there. In addition
to studies at Salem and in New
, York, she attended Atlantic (^ris-
tian college.
. “I’ll never forget the summer ,1
spent at Lake Ch^utauqun in ,New
‘^ - York," she told us the other nigjht.
- “The year tvas 1916, aha I spent
seven weeks there. My room mate
„ «was Mary Willis, who used to be
■ \ the organist at the Centenary
Methodist church here.”
Nina has good reason to remem
ber, since the great Victor Herbert
i' was her instructor there for two
thrilling weeks. “We had a choir,”
she says, “and sang oratorios and
cantatas.” In addition to two class
es daily under Herbert’s magic
touch, she was privileged to' hear
him in concert each afternoon dur
ing the two weeks he was there.
“He performed in the amphithe
ater,” Nina recalls. “One day all of
us showed up with small bouquets
that we kept carefully concealed.
Then at a given moment, from our
seats up in the tiers, we all tossed
our bouquets down upon him and
he was literally showered with
flowers.”
Those of us who have been in-
- trigued by Victor Herbert’s oper
ettas—such as “Babes in Toyland”
' and “The Red Mill”—can easily un
derstand why the local woman still
has his portrait on the wall of her
. studio. He was as fascinating as
the compositions he wrote, and
those who knew him personally
were impressed for a lifetime.
Although Nina has a remarkable
^ knack for remembering-dates, the
editor of The Mirror was positive
that she erred when she said Her
bert died in 1924. We were positive
that the year was 1925, and told
her as much. She didn’t argue, but
shortly afterwards our telephone
rang.
“I’Ve looked it up in my book
on the lives of famous composers,”
she informed us gently, “arid I was
n’t wrong after all. He died on
May 26, 1924.” She didn’t gloat
over the fact that we had been
smugly mistaken, so the slip of
memory on our part didn’t embar-
ras us as milch as it could have.
To begin with, this grand lady
would never think of trying to put
a foolish upstart in his place. She
is, and always has been as far back
as we can recall, kindness itself.
Sweetness is a natural trait of hers,
and her thoughtfulness has provid
ed many a happy moment for oth
ers.
She prides herself on being well
Honest injun, and cross your
heart hope to die, are you just as
superstitious as your ancestors
were? Maybe not, but a sample
Mirror surveY'aimed at New Bern-
ians of above average intellect re
veals conclusively that pet appre
hensions aren’t restricted to the
dumb and the ignorant.
There’s no need to remind you
that this is Friday the 13th. You
probably thought about it when
you barged out of bed, and grilled
your way to the kitchen for that
first cup, of coffee. And throughout
the day you’ll keep on remember
ing it.
Chances are you won’t be an
xious to take a trip, or enter into
any important contracts. And—:
knock on wood—if something bad
happens to you before the day is
over, you’ll tell yourself that the
Friday the 13th hex had some
thing to do with it.
Just why 13 is considered an un
lucky number you can’t rightly
say, nor can anyone else. All sorts
of reasons have brien suggested,
but the real reason is veiled in
the unrevealing folklore of the
past. Your guess is as good as any-
groomed, when she saunters down
the street to dine out at her fav
orite restaurant. “Miss Nipa’s ward
robe isn’t as extensive as you
might imagine,” another vi^an
who admires her greatly sayS. “It’s
just that she buys nice things, and
then takes good care of them. And
she changes hats and dresses by
adding a little something.”
One thing about her needs no
changing—her wonderful and en
during youth. ''
one else’s. At least no one can re
fute it. ^
Have you ever slept on the 13th
floor of a hotel? Possibly, but you
didn’t know it, Smart hotel owners
don’t list that floor, so the dream
less slumber you thought you were
getting on the 12th floor or the
14th floor might have been where
you thought it wasn’t.
When was the last time you
walked under a ladder, if there was
THE GOBLIN WILL GET YOU
any way to avoid it without looking
downright silly? And how inany
times during the course of a year
do you take heed of the notion
that lighting-three cigarettes on a
match is an invitation to disaster?
Remember how, when you were
a kid, you would always say,
“Bread and butter” if you went in
one direction around a tree or a
pole and a friend you were with
went the other way? Perhaps you
don’t say it out loud any more,
but you think it, don’t you?
And what about black cats that
cross your path? How in the World
can an ebony- colored feline, mind
ing his own business, get you into a
peck of trouble? Even so, we en
countered intelligent local citizens
repeatedly during our survey who
admitted in confidence that black
cats never cease to worry them.
Literally thousands of Npw Bem-
ians believe implicity that certdn
people have the power to wish
away warts. Their faith is founded
on personal experience, or on the
statements of others who swear
that they got rid of waits in fltis
miraculous manner.
Of course, you don’t believe that
breaking a mirror brings seven
years of bad luck—not really—but
you wouldn’t dare break one if
you could help it, just in case it’s
so. '
That rabbit’s foot you carry may
bring you good luck, but you’ve
got to admit it didn’t bring much
luck to the rabbit that owned it
originally. Perhaps you don’t tote a
rabbit’s. Instead you’ve got a lucky
penny, or some other dharm that
reassures you as you sense the
(CotiHnued on Pago 8)