Page Eight
The North Carolina Mason
Getting Acquainted
AT OXFORD
AT GREENSBORO
What Masonry Means To
Joseph Fort Newton
Freemasonry appeals to me, first by its fel
lowship; and next to the home and the House
of God, it is the most blessed influence in my
life. Its simple and profound faith, its wise and
practical philosophy—uniting the wisom of love
with the love of wisdom—illumine my mind,
as its genius of fraternity warms my heart.
But still more. Masonry appeals to me as an
agency for the organization of moral faith,
practical brotherhood, and social idealism, the
worth and power of which we have not yet rea
lized. . . In a day when the brotherhood of the
world is broken our ancient and noble Craft
has an opportunity, the like of which it has
never known before, to use its influence and
power to spread its precepts throughout the
world.
TOMMY RAPER
If you need some church bulletins printed, or
maybe some advertising material, or letter
heads, envelopes, football programs, or some
letters duplicated—if you have any printing
needs at all you can check with Tommy Raper,
age 17, a high school senior at Oxford Orphan
age. Tommy operates the MGD Duplicator Off
set Press in the Orphanage printing depart
ment and prints some of all of it. When we
talked to him he was running church bulletins.
A short time earlier he had run material adver
tising TV antennas.
Tommy has worked in the printing depart
ment during all his five years at Oxford, likes
printing and plans to work at it in the Raleigh
area following graduation. He is proficient on
all of the machines in the print shop except the
linotype.
•y
He likes swimming and enjoys tinkering with
cars. He also likes girls and his girl friend of
the past six months lives in Raleigh. (Maybe
he has a good reason for wanting to work in
the capital city.) ;
Tommy was on the Oxford Orphanage foot
ball team for three years, his most recent posi
tion being at center. He's played baseball, JV
basketball, and has participated in track.,
A class officer during his freshman, sopo-
more and junior years. Tommy’s favorite sub
jects are U. S. History and Science.
Evidence of Tommy’s popularity around the
print shop is the amount of kidding around
directed at him. It was a hard job getting his
picture because of the gibes and smirks that
constantly distracted him from his efforts to
compose his features. Part of this ribbing
comes about because of his nickname, a nick
name derived from his hair styling. We prom
ised Tommy we wouldn’t print the nickname.
A young man who is going to be a capable
and likeable employee for some Raleigh j^^in-
ting firm, we introduce from Oxford this
month Mr. Tommy Raper.
MRS. LESSIE SWANN
When you enter Mrs. Lessie Swann’s room at
the Masonic & Eastern Star Home you do not
notice any cooking aromas until you’ve talked
to her a while, then it almost seems you catch
whiffs of ham in the griddle, turnips in the pot,
sweet potatoes in the oven. These were just a
few of the items on the menus when Mrs.
Swann was operating her boarding house in
Old Fort.
Born at Glen Alpine in Burke County, Mrs.
Swann moved to Old Fort in 1921 and operated
the boarding house until she came to the home.
The builders of the old highway over Black
Mountain into Asheville ate at her table. So did
trainmen and officials of the Southern Rail
way. Officials involved in building the finish
ing plant at Old Fort also sampled her fare, as
did many others. Mrs. Swann said she cooked
everything for her boarders, everything she ■
could get her hands on.
She raised her own vegetables and kept her
own cow, and she said those railroad men
drank her buttermilk by the gallons. Her cook
ing was done on an oil stove made in Knoxville
and her boarders came in shifts—at 11 A. M.
and at noon. Talking to her you can almost see
the hungry men settling down around her table
—almost hear the shuffling of the chairs.
One boarder, Tom Carter, was manager of a
finishing plant and Mrs. Swann said that man
was the eatingest fellow she ever saw. When
she cooked turnip greens he would down bowl
after bowl of the pot liquor, along with mighty
chunks of cornbread. Mrs. Swann still hears
from Tom Carter, he is responsible for some
pretty dresses hanging in her closet today.
She says they have good cooks at the Home,
but if it wasn’t for a bad leg she’d go down in
the kitchen and show ‘em something about
cooking. She says she could outcook ‘em.
Visiting her daughter in Old Fort several
weeks ago, Mrs. Swann was guest of honor at
a party staged by some forty of her old friends
and neighbors.
She watches television much of the time and
reads everything she can get her hands on.
About the Home—she says you just can’t beat
it, anywhere!
We introduce from Greensboro this month
Mrs. Lessie Swann.
NOTICE!
constantly receiving notices from the Post Office concerning second
dehverable, due to incorrect or insufficient address. Since
each of these notices costs The North Carolina Mason 10 cents, within a short time
It amounts to a needless expenditure of a considerable sum of money.
£®^®sting that you notify us at once when making a change
fodge^^^^^’ givmg both the old and new address, together with the name of your
OLD ADDRESS
NEW ADDRESS
Zip.
Zip.
Name of Lodge.
’k OUT cooperation in this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Mail all address changes to THE NORTH CAROLINA MASON, Oxford
Orphanage Printing Department, Oxford, North Carolina 27565.