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The NEW BERN
VOLUME 9
NEW BERN, N. C„ FRIDAY. OCTOBER 7. 19M
PUBLI9HIO WIIKLY
IN TNI HIAItT OF
/> '«11RN NORTH
Jir '•
1 4^
NTTMRIlSh.
Everybody le a soft touch
for something and our stron
gest weakness lu^ipens to be any
kid who Is out trying to sell
the Grit.
Invariably, when he ap
proaches us, we see In him &e
little boy we used to be. And,
to this very day It Is painful
to remember the disdainful
looks and curt refusals you
had to endure before someone
came along who was willing to
part with a nickel.
Fifty years ago or there
abouts the well-known
Wllllamqport, Pa., weekly was
much bulkier than the edition
that now sells for three times
that much. There were sev
eral sections, and as an added
Inducement you got a colored
portrait of a President or some-
^y else quite Important that
was suitable for framing.
Here was a newspaper Qiat
bad everything. Covered rather
promptly with words and photo
graphs were all die current
events of national scope, and
tossed In for good measure
were pictures of two-headed
cows, cats mothering a lit
ter of orphaned puppies, and
sundry other freakish Qdngs In
the realm of nature.
There was a special section
devoted U> fiction, and a full
pQamfe,nM-iahd ■
audv‘'tfa'e'c^lc 3Mpt^'
were slahted fo' ^peal to'
children from eight to eighty.
A nickel In diose days look
ed as big as a county biscuit
to die emp^-pocket lads we
grew up with, and was as hard
to come by as a four-leaf clo
ver in the middle of Neuse riv
er.
Looking back, nickels must
have been pretty precious to
grown folks, too. This or else
Just about everybody we tried
to sell a Grit to was dfditer
than a girdle two sizes too
small at the conclusion of
a dinner of stewed chicken and
dumplings.
Peddling Cloverlne salve or
flower seeds to the nel^bors
was a picnic compared with dis
posing of a dozen copies or two
of die Grit. Before you got rid
of the last threadbare copy,
you were certain to trudge
all over town.
Included on the beat we stak
ed out was die Union StaUon at
the corner of Queen and Han
cock streets. Counttng the cur
ious loafers who congregated
there to see who was coming
to town on a train and who was
leaving, you could figure on
solicl£ig a lot of folks there.
Unfortunately, train pass
engers didn’t exhibit die light
est Interest In reading. As
for the village loiterers on
hand, they were there to see
the sights. Including the trim
feminine ankles displayed. No
newcpaper, most especially the
Grit, could compete with the
face and figure of a pretty
grll who had just come to town.
Later, with our typical lack
of Juvenile shrewdness, we be
came a salesman for the Liter
ary Digest. This pubUcadon
was even harder to sell than the
Grit. For one dilng, it cost a
whole dime and Its appeal was
aimed at IntSliectuals. There
weren’t many Int^ectuals In
New Bern, we discovered, and
besides the cltleens who quali
fied were dime squeezers wldi
(Condnued on Page 8)
THIS IS IT—Donnie Wilkins, son of Sgt. and Mrs.
Don Wilkins of 2104 Griffin Avenue, is proud of his
Air Force father and points to the spot on the globe
where Viet Nam is located. His sister, Donna, knows
little about geography and less about the war being
waged thousands of miles away, but she does know
that it isn't much fun not to have your Daddy around.
As the poet has said, "They also serve who stand and
wait beside a cottage door,” and the sadness in
Donna's eyes is part of the tragedy confronting our
nation as it wrestles with the Viet Nam problem.
Everyone has emphatic feelings about the matter, but
finding somebody with the right answer is something
else. Meanwhile, what is happening in a distant land
will deeply concern Donnie and Donna, here in New
Bern.—^Photo by Eunice Wray.