Bern ■-
The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
B Public Library
407 Hqv^ St.
L
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VOLUME 6
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1963
NUMBER 8
Writers hate to clean out their
bulging tiles—fearful that
they’ll throw away something
they can make use of later.
This Item, written for the
radio program we were doing
during the Second World War,
Is no longer timely, but we’d
like to share It with you before
tossing It Into the trash basket.
“Lite brings us all our share
of smiles, and mixes In some
changes. It runs true through
the years....I wonder what the
history books, a hundred years
from now, will say about this
war and me and you If we
were there to read the lines,
how many folks could bow, or
would we blush for work we
didn’t do.
“Will High school young
sters, someday hence, be proud
and bless our name, and talk
about our home-front
sacrifice?....Or will they scorn
our squabbles, and shower us
with blame, and call us words
that aren’t so very nice?
“We won’t be around to hear
them, but our ears will pro
bably burn—that Is, If angles
still retain their ears....Along
the mortal path we walked,
they’ll roast us to a turn, or
maybe some of us will earn
their cheers.
“Here along the home front,
we’re running short on meat,
and though well fed, we squawk
about our lot We want
another coupon too, for shoes
to grace our feet, with whiskey
scarce we yearn to be a sot.
“We had our share of
blessings In the days that are
no more And even In these
wartime years, good fortune
finds our door We can't ex
pect just sunshine, there’ll be
storm clouds—there’ll be
rain With gold stars placed
In windows, there Is sorrow-
tears and pain.
“So face each day with cour
age, God never made a night....
That lingered with Its dark
ness, when dark broke, brave
and bright.’’
Authored minutes before go
ing on the air, during the most
disheartening days of the
war, these lines probably souhd
pretty corny to a new generation
that can’t possibly picture what,
life was like then. Whatever
the hastily phrased words lack
In quality, they struck a re
sponsive chord at the time.
Most New Bernlans took the
war In stride, and figured they
could do without If their neigh
bors were In the same boat.
A few revealed their true char
acter by grabbing and hoarding,
and paying steep prices for meat
on the black market.
Soft drinks and cigarettes
were scarce, as oldsters will
recall. As a result, some folks
who didn’t customarily imbibe
pop to any great extent made
the rounds, buying up all the
drinks they could lay hands
on.
It was the same way with
cigarettes. Many of the women
who loaded their pocketbooks
with any and all brands were
non-smokers. If they were get
ting the cigarettes for their
husbands, some of New Bern’s
males must have had the tobacco
habit to an astounding degree.
Human nature, we dis
covered, doesn’t change when
a nation Is at war. Some people
are happiest—orsotheythlnk--
when they can gloat over pos
session of something that the
other fellow doesn’t have. With
(Continued on page 8)
AMONG THE DONORS—Celia Howard-Webb, an Eng
lish exchange student who graduates from New Bern
High school Wednesday, smiles in the best British
manner as she donates a pint of blood to someone she’ll
never know. The scene is Sudan Shrine Temple, where
the Bloodmobile was at work. Celia has been residing
with Dr. and Mrs. Dale T. Millns during her Senior
year, and has many friends in this city.
AS BIRDS SEE IT—If you were flying low over New
Bern’s mother city — Berne, Switzerland — this is
how it would look to you. In old Berne, the grandiose
and the picturesque manage to blend, and charw the
visitors who swarm there. Although this is an aerial
photo, keen eyes will detect two pedestrians at the
.street corner near right center.