W«W B«m Public
The NEW BERN
^ weekly
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VOLUME 7
NEW BERN, N. C., FRtDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1965
NUMBER 45
It’s time to stop counting
birthdays, if you can remember
when Captain Bill Davis was at
the helm of one of New Bern’s
bouncing street cars, a huge
slice of cafe pie was only a
dime, and what is nowtheTryon
Theatre wasn’t theShowShopor
the Kehoe but the Athens.
You’re likewise an antique
if you recall “Big” Hill sunning
' in front of his establishment on
South Front, church groups ped*
dling big hominy door to door,
and Sunday afternoon loafers
gathering on the stone ledge
around Basnight’s Hardware at
the spot where McLellan’s now
stands.
Don’t admit being an oldster,
however, if you never faced the
problem as a barefoot boy of
crossing a street newly sur
faced with oyster shells. Count
yourself young too, and doubly
blessed, if you escaped the
childhood experience (anutter
ly impossible task) of trying to
make the legs of your long-
handle drawers look less than
lumpy in a pair of black cotton
stockings.
There were a lot of things not
so good about the good old days,
but folks who met you walking
two abreast always stepped
aside in single file and gave you
your just share of the pavement.
They f yen smiled whqn they did
it.
- “Has" Ro]^, whose daylmig
gait would have left the best
trotter breathless, sold two
cones of homemade ice cream
for a nickel at his fruit stand
on Broad street. And Sadie
Kafer (bless her wonderful
heart) made you feel like the
most important customer in the
world, when you bought a sack of
wine candy or rock candy at the
bakery.
An oldster is a fellow who
remembers when riding
“around the belt’’ at 20 miles
an hour in one of the town’s
few autos was considered an
outing, and the man didn’t live
who could tote $3.00 worth of
groceries all the way home.
Yesterday was when every
pantry shelf had a supply of
Octagon soap. Bon Ami and Old
Dutch cleanser, and the mir
acle drugs in the medicine cab
inet were castor oil, calomel,
Savodine, Vick’s Vaporub and
Carter’s liver pills. Lydia E.
Pinkhams and Black Draught
were present too.
Having to eat light bread in
stead of hot biscuits three times
a day was sufficient to get any
husband a divorce, andnowom-
am in the neighborhood would
blame him for doing so.
Yesterday was also that per
iod of human existence when
parents went to Sunday school
with their kids Instead of dump
ing them at the church door and
picking them up an hour later.
This despite the fact most fath
ers and some mothers had to
work late on Saturday night.
No one can question your cre
dentials as an oldster, if you
used to balk at paying five dol
lars for a pair of dress shoes,
and felt solendldly attired in a
two-pants outfit with vest in
clude that sold for $15 or less.
Those were the days when the
standard price for the birthday
present you took to a kid party
was ten cents. Now a child feels
disgraced to show up with a
gift that costs less than ten
times that amount.
Speaking of the small fry,
nobody whined about not having
(Continued from page 6)
STATE CHAMPS—^Toni Becton, 11, (born in New
Bern) is compliment^ at party in her honor after
she and partner, Rose Marie
JersOT’s Dowli ^ 11 1. _
daughter of and Sl^ey
Junmer, 10, won New
»wli^ title in ^Is’ _prep division. Toni,
icker Benton (both
New Bemians) Uves at Willin^ro, N. J. Her proud
grandmothers here are Alma Thicker and Sadie Ben
ton. Amazingly, Toni has been bowling only since
October.—^Photo by Burlington County
WHERE IT COMES FROM—^When our coastal region
is proclaimed the Land of Enchanting Waters, the
reference isn’t to the potent liquid com that is manu
factured in steam stills like this one captured by ABC
officers at Harlowe. We’re not pushing temperance
propaganda, but the filthy set up seen here may make
you think twice before you take your next swig of
white lightning. Never inspect a stiU if you’ve got a
squeamish stomach.