The average New Bern hus
band, helping his better half
In the family’s flower garden,
has trouble identifying weeds.
Woe be to the hapless male who
pulls up die wr(mg thing, as we
have done repeatedly.
What constitutes a weed
anyhow, since some weeds
have flowers on them and seem
to be Justifying their existence?
Compared with things that
aren’t weeds but never
bloom,these deserve abetter
break.
Webster’s seventh New Col
legiate Dictionary (ain’t this
guy Webster dead yet?) de
scribes a weed as a plant of
no value and usually of rank
growth; one diat tends to over
grow or choke out more desir
able plants; an obnoxious
growth, thing or person; an ani
mal unfit to breed from.
It, as Webster indicates, a
weed is a plant of no value, it
is hardly accurate to call to
bacco the “^Iden weed.” Here
in Craven County it has been
worth millions of dollars an
nually to the economy for years
and years.
The cancer scare notwith
standing, die demand for ci
garettes, cigars, pipe tobac
co, chewing tobacco and snuff
continues unabated. The folr
sex accounts for a huge chunk
of the sales, chiefly in the
field of cigarettes.
Making cigarette smoking
by women an acceptable thing
socially was one of die shrew
dest merchandising promotions
. of all time. In only one bracket
has the promotion failed, and
that is the all but futile effort
to persuade females that puff
ing a cigarette while walking
along the street is quite prop
er.
Whether or not you smoke,
or approve of smoking by oth
ers, you’ll agree diat some of
the most attractive commer
cials on television are the cig
arette ads. The photogrsqihy is
often beautiful. You can say
the same for many commercials
advertising other products too.
In fact, TV for the most part
has reached the point where the
ads are more appealing than the
stuff sandwiched between the
commercials. Certainly a lot of
the ads that use diildrenforthe
sales pitch are quite original.
Dullest commercials, and the
least convincing, are the ones
that make extravagant claims
for this or that headache rem
edy.
The gents on New York’s
Madison Avenue who cook up
these medicine-show pitches
haven’t produced anything real
ly clever since the "Please,
mother, I’d rather do it my
self” routine that blossomed
several years ago, and be
came a national quip.
Whenever we hear a tele
vision announcer parrot the
monotonous words that this or
that headache pill isn’t "habit
forming” we &ink of a local
woman, whose name we won’t
dare mention. "I know head
ache powders aren’thabitform-
ing,” she has been known to
Insist, "I’ve been taking four
or five a day for years, and
them.”
Ridiculous and distasteful as
they are, the performances
by some of the actresses who
portray head pains, stomach
distress, and congested nasal
(Continued on page 3)
NEW BERNCRAVEN COUNTY
public library
Tht NEW BERN
I FUBLISHID WIIKLV
•N THI mART OP
"'WN NORTH
I
VOLUME 10
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1967
NUMBER 16
SUDDEN SMACK—^Mark Smith, infant son of Mr.
and Mrs. David Smith of 918 Simmons Street, appears
to be more startled than pleased when his older
brother, David, Jr., plants an unexpected kiss on his
forehead. In many families, jealousy is aroused when
a new baby arrives, but little David doesn’t suffer
from the malady. Of course, things may be different
when Mark is old enough to meddle with his older
belongings, or insists on tagging along when
nsiders him '
brother’s
David considers him too young to join "him in some
of his adventures. However, David*^ present bound
less affection would seem to indicate that a day will
never come when there won’t be room in his schedule
for the little fellow who means so much to him now.
Incidentally, even if we didn’t tell you, you would
know that Eunice Wray snapped this Mirror portrait.