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The NEW BERN
PUBLISHID WBIKLY
IN THI mART OP
^,-revi j Sfg Per Copy
VOLUME 13
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 13. 1970
NUMBER 35
One of our Mirror
subscribers, whose name we
dare not mention, told us this
story on his wife. If you’re
familiar with that grand old
institution, the family reunion,
you won’t doubt its authenticity.
Year after year, displaying
the shrewdness that females
are known for, she would cook a
big ham, and carry it whole to
her clan’s gathering. On each
occasion she placed it on the
table, without a carving knife.
Folks eyed the ham, and
drooled, but no one wanted to be
so forward as to round up a
knife, and cut the first slice. For
one thing, there was plenty of
everything else spread out, and
the ham really wasn’t ne^ed.
Always it was the same, and
when the reunion came to an
end, the meal part of it that is,
the ham bringer wrapped up
her choice delicacy, still
untouched, to fetch it back
home for her immediate
family’s enjoyment.
She might be doing it right on,
but for a slip of the tongue. In an
unguarded moment, she
mentioned the strategy to one of
her sisters. If we remember
rightly, she has six or seven of
them.
The enlightened sister had
little to say about Ole matCet at
the time. She saved her
wordage for the other sisters,
and rest assured she told them
plenty. The next reunion, held in
Lenoir County, was a day of
reckoning.
Once again, when the
conniving ham cooker, who
happens to live in New Bern,
arrived, she was toting you
know what. But this time, the
assembled sisters quickly
pounced on her offering.
In fact, one of the sisters even
todc the bone home with her. It
happened like that the next
reunion too, and the next. After
that, there were no more hams
spread out. That’s what can,
and did happen at a family
reunion.
++++++
New Bern’s parents and first
grade teachers can appreciate
this incident. When at»ed what
she did at her first day of school,
a little girl told her dad, "I did
what all the other children did.”
“That’s nice,” the father
beamed proudly, “and what
was It that you all did.” Her
answer was, “We cried.”
Maybe there aren’t as many
moppets weeping these
days, thanks to kindergartens,
but agony still crops up.
We live in a world where
speed appears to be our prime
objective. In such an
environment, those who learn to
be fast readers are supposed to
have a decided edge over those
who peruse words at a more
leisurely pace.
To the student cramming for
exams, or the businessman
thumbing through incoming
letters, rapid reading, if done
accurately, does nave Its
advantages. If vou’re reading
for pleasure, however, why
engage In a rat race?
Rushing through a good book,
fiction or non-fiction, is as
senseless as cramming a well
prepared meal in a few frantic
GLOOM CHASER- _
Whose father, Mitchell
-Happiness is Kathryn Lynn Wall,
Wail, serves with the Strategic
Air Command in Germany. She was born there nine
months ago, but now lives In Virginia. Her mother la
Jo Lynn Wall, her grandmother, Georgia Lynn Sledge.
and her great-grandmother, Iva Lynn Rawls down'at
the Craven County Courthouse. The youngster has
been visiting in New Bern this week, and to our way
of thinking it would be nice if she decided to stay
here for keeps.