TAUGA DEMOCRAT
i? ?l tba people, the very tint objective ihould be
life whether we ihould hew a government without
I *ou)d not M<t?? ? meaent to ebooee tbo utter.
BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1968
Good Improvement
The Boone community cemetery, hedged
in for years by hemlocks and, pines, choke
cherries and the like, is now enclosed by a
new woven-metal fence, its posts set deep
in concrete, and designed to last for gen
erations.
This improvement is dot to the adjon
of the town council in making available
the cash for this worthy civic project. The
city fathers are due the thanks of the
people of the town, particularly of those
who havo a personal Interest in the ceme
tery for their generosity in tfil# regard.
Russell D. Hodges, chairman of the
cemetery committee, is also due thanks
for his help in getting the fence erected.
Originally set aside by the Coundll fam
ily for the use of all the people of the eom
munity, the Boone cemetery has been op
erated all through the years without the
sale of plots in its crowded borders. Up
keep had been by public subscription until
late years when the city took over the
job of mowing the grass. When Mount
lawn Memorial Park was opened and lots
made available, the Boon* cemetery was
closed to any otw families. With the new
fapce and all, the plot is now in the best
shape it has been in years. Some grave
stones need resetting and the place will
be in first class condition,
Boone cemetery contains the remains of
the founders of the community, and of
many others who came along to contribute
their share to its development. Its value
as an historical spot is becoming greater
year after year. That th$ premises are to
be secure in the future, and that the grass*
if to be kept cut at city expense, is a
source of pride to those interested in the
plot.
Homecoming
Homecoming festivities which take place
at Appalachian State Teachers College,
have come to be one of the high spots of
the autumn season for the alumni of the
institution and for the county and towns
people in general.
We look forward to the gay parade, with
a half dozen bands, the colorful floats and
the fellowship with the throngs along the
curbs as the gay marchers proceed along
the street. Then there's the kick of the
football, the cheers of the stands, and
half-time ceremonies which mean so much
to those who've cone back to thelr^AUaa
Mater, and to other*, who've rteVer" attend
ed classes here, but who lov? uie insti
tution for all it has accomplished.
The class meetings, the gatherings of the
old-timers, the reminiscing and the fellow
shipping are all enjoyable parts of the
homecoming day program which reaches
its climax with the gay dance Saturday
evening.
Homecoming crowds are growing larger
and larger as the years go by. Prosperous
conditions, and fast travel enable former
ctudent* to go great distances for the week
end, and still get back home in time for
some resting on Sunday afternoon before
the start of another week's work.
Folks along the street ways look forward
to the gaiety of homecoming, to the meet
ing of old friends who studied here in
the days gone by, to seeing members of
faculties of other days and enjoying the
_mwiy festivities.
The town welcomes the homecoming vis
itors, and is glad that when they converge
on the campus they will find the college
growing, with the prospect that within a
deepde the student population will have
been doubled. The Alumni will find satis
faction in this.
End Of Rail Travel
In ? dozen years railroads of the United
State* arc apt to stop running all passenger
trains, except those used by commuters
in the vicinity of the great centers of
population.
Long-journey travelers are expected to
go by airplane, some by bus and some by
private automobile, while the railroads
carry only mail and freight.
Anyway, these are the conclusions of
an official government study of railroad
ing, made public by the Interstate Com
merce Commission and reported in Grit
Railroad men have told us, however,
that it's not so much the bus and the air
planes as the private automobiles which
have sounded the death knell for the choo
choos. Rail travel has been on the declino
for over ten years and inter-city passenger
trains just can't last.
This is sad news for railroad devotees,
for those who've done a lot of grinding over
the country on smoky, cinder-strewn
coaches and in the green dim environs of
the Pullman sleeping car..
There'* a fascination about railroading
? about going to sleep in Salisbury and
waking up in Washington, or dozing at
Harriman and greeting morning at Cin
cinnati; of breakfasting in a spotless diner,
or sipping cool drinks in a club car with
good company while the wheels click mer
rilly over the rail joints.
But, the same thing that took the local
trains out of business is red-penciling the
schedules of the cross-country lines, name
ly lack of speed. Railroads have consist
ently adhered to forty mile schedules in
an airplane age. We've always leaned to
the notion that a return to mass transpor
tion of individuals would solve parking
problems in many centers of population.
Small light trains and fast schedules could
make it impractical for many folks to take
the car to town. We don't know. But pretty
soon, it seems, if you want to course down
a polished rail, you're gonna have to rely
solely on Tweet si e.
, Quiz Programs
? (Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle)
It looks as though the epoch of the quiz
programs with their unusual contestants
*nd fabulous rewards, which have provid
ed a steady fare of TV entertainment for
leveral years, is coming to an end.
First there was the back-Rage hassle over
| game known as "Dotto," as a reault of
Which the program had aii extremely short
life. Then similar arguments caused "The
f 64, 000 Challenge" to lose its sponsor.
Much of this came about because of dis
gruntled contestants. But it confirmed
What thousands of people had long sus
fected ? that many of these programs are
somewhat doctored in the interests of mai
itnum drama and entertainment.
There always was some leeway, it seems,
tp get rid of a contestant who might turn
out to be unwanted, or to help along the
success of one whose popular appeal was
in the ascendancy.
Thus it was something like a present
day TV wrestling match, on a higher level
and with cash awards of dazxling size.
These in themselves were enough to keep
an audience coming back to se6 who'd get
rich in this Land of Easy Street that the
quiz programs had created.
And many of these same thousands had
a feeling all along that it was more than a
little ridiculous to be passing out huge
sums in this way.
Anyway, those who had hoped to be
come rich and famous b$ memorizing base
ball record books, or by a similar process
in eon* other category, may have to rec
oncile themselves to the old-fashioned pre
TV-quiz notion of working for a living.
y
Fall Planting
Stretch's Sketches
By " STRETCH " ROLLINS
Thut Old Feeling On Neu> Cart
SHOWROOMS OF AUTO dealera have taken
on a new elegance with the advent of the 1990
models, and dealer* aeem to
radiate a special pride in
displaying them.
First showing of new cars
has always been a high spot
for me, even when, as is usu
ally the case, I am not able to
be In the market for one of
them. It is comparable to
the first game of the football
season and the first day of
spring.
A ptyehiatrist would no doubt diagnose the
cue u wishful thinking, bora of a frustration
complex which had its inception in early child
hood when I had my little heart set- on dazzling
all the kids in the block with the latest thing
in kiddie cars, but being the youngest in a family
of fourteen was so far' down the list that by
the time my father got to my name I was in
high school and never got over it.
Our hypothetical bead shrinker, of course,
wouldn't bother to flutter up his scientific intel
lect with any minor details, such as finding out
if I was an only child, had kiddie cars to burn,
and got so sick of using the silly little things as
a means of locomotion that I Jolly well did shove
one into the fire now and then.
ANT) WHEN I (EE a jalopy of ancient vintage
wheezing by on Its way to the nearest car clinic,
or standing in delapldated dignity in some junk
yard, I can't help thinking of the forgotten glory
that was hers when she first hit the showroom.
Boy, she was something, then! ? every whit as
new and smart as the 1999 job you looked at
today.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I sometimes look at
a streamlined, souped-up, futuristic shiner that
just rolled off the assembly line and envision
how forlorn and outdated it will be a few years
hence, replaced by an even faster, slicker, more
beautiful child of some designer's brain.
Ah, well ? time, as someone has so aptly stated,
marches on.
AUTOMOTIVE ADAM AND EVE?? In the
year 1886, it it said there were only two auto
mobiles in Kansas City ? but one day they man
aged to have a head-on collision!
WORLD SERIES POST MORTEMS ? Words
they had to eat: Leo Durocher, former Dodger
and Giant manager: "Milwaukee ' will take this
one in four straight." Lew Burdette, Braves
pitcher who MM' the Yankees three times In last
year's Series r'T wish we had those Yankees in
our league." Fred Haney, Braves manager: "Lew
can do it again."
Best quips ? Same Lew Burdette, when asked
what be hit for his home run in the second game:
"A long ball." Gil McDougald, Yank second base
man, oo the do-or-dje sUth game: "I was as
nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of
rocking chairs!"
From Early Democrat Files
Sixty Years Ago
October 20, 1898 .
Mrs. Sarah Crowder has been right ill for sev
eral days and remains not much improved.
Assistant District Attorney Spencer Blackburn
will speak at Shulls Mills next Monday and at
other points in the county later on.
Last Monday at Banner Elk marked the open
ing of the county canvass in Watauga. The
candidates, or most of them, both political parties,
were on hand, and the best of feelings seemed
to prevail. ?
Reports say that the campaign between Spain
hour and Harshaw for Solicitor 'is funny and
spicy and causes a lot of merriment.
The Indian uprising in Minnesota is about
quelled and peace is made again. Uncle Sam
will now furnish bacon and 'bread to hte Indians
as usual until they want to kill a few more white
people. \
General Fitzhugh Lee will be the first to land
on western Cuba at Havana by November 1.
Special dispatches from Jackson, Miss., say that
yellow fever is gaining headway in that State
and Louisiana, and that Governor MacLaurin
and State officials have deserted the capital.
Instructions have been cent to the United
States Military Commission in Cuba, fixing De
cember 1 as the data when Spanish control over
the islands must cease. The commissioners have
notified the Spaniards that all ports and customs
receipts, and the management of municipal af
fair* will pass into the hands of the American
military commander on the island.
There is much sympathy expressed for Mrs.
McKinley, who left Washington for Canton, Ohio,
Saturday night to attend the funeral of her
brother who was killed, supposedly by a jealous
womanO Friday evening.
Thirty-lS ine Yeart Ago
October 16, l?lfr 0
Mr. Joseph Dougherty, well known In Watauga,
died at his home in Knoxville, Tenn., last Thurs
day of blood poison.
Bingham Brothers bare moved their mer
cantile business from Adams to Vila*, and are
now located in the building owned by Mr. Jack
Smith. . O
Capt. Allison is here, superintending the con
struction of ? siding leading from the lumber
yards of the Carolina Hardwood Co., via the
wholesale grocery to depot street.
There Is no road in the county that need*
improvement worse than the one leading from
Vilas to Valle Crucis, and it U hoped that the
good roads commission will tee its way dear to
do something about it befpre work is suspended.
Mr. J. C. Mast of Sugar Grovt was in town
Tuesday. He intend* to move to hit Maryland
farm by the first of the year, but thinks of
making a business trip there, with a number
of others, who will look over the farm market
in that fertile region. (
Dr. Dula of Lenoir was in town Monday and
told the Democrat that all fratauga lacked of
having a visit from an airplane was a suitable
place to land this side of the ridge. Ha had
contracted with the aviator to make the flight,
and the two ascended to an altitude of 2,000
feet out from Lenoir, and Mr. Aviator decided
after a look of this section through his glasses,
that he would not take the risk, and returned
to Lenoir, where he had been making flight* for
the Caldwell County Fair.
Mr. John W. Hodges has purchased a let near
the depot from Mr. W. L. Bryan, and will erect
a large building thereon to accommodate his
increasing wholesale feed and grain business.
Mr. John W. Greene of Valle Crucif has moved
into the Mrs. Lizzie McGhee old home, recently
purchased. ?
Fifteen Yearn Ago
October 21, 1943
Mr. and Mr*. Robert E. Agle of Kingaport,
Tenn., announce the birth of a son. James Heath,
on Wednesday, October IS, at City Hospital,
Gastonia.
Mrs. Joseph Conderman, a summer resident
of Boone, left Friday for her home in Miami, '
Fla. Mrs. Conderman remarked that each fall,
the day after she closed her home here and
left for sunnier climes, it snowed ? and true to i
tradition, Saturday brought quite a trace of snow
to the mountains.
The new library at the high school U now
being used by the students and faculty. It has
been made part of the study hall and class room
A work room and a conference room adjoin the
main reading room. The rooms are equipped
with light adjustable shelves. The walls are a
soft green. A new librarian's desk has just
arrived and a card catalog ha* been ordered.
By furnishing black walnut logs that can be
made into gunstock* to carry the fight to Hitler
and Hirohito, Western North Carolina farmer*
have found a new way to contribute to the war
effort.
Considerable work has already beer done in
the Criteher building near the Democrat office,
looking to the installation of a hosiery plant for
the Baker-Comma ek Co., of Burlington, which win'
serve to train workers till the big new building
can be completed.
KING STREET m
By ROB RIVERS
?
Friendliness . . Comments By Visitors
Boone if rapidly becoming known as the friendly town. It
hasn't always been so, and the files of the Democrat and the
speeches of the civic leaders have been filled with entreaties to
the folks to show a little more concern for the stranger within
the gate ? for his happiness and for his appraisal of this beautiful
vaulted region. . . We are happy that there is the cherry smile,
the cordial greeting and the pleasant word on every hand when
our visitors come to the hills. . . . And they're taking note of
the friendliness and the courtesies and the kindness of Boone
people. ; , . We often get letters commenting on this civic
quality, the last coming from Mount Airy. . . Although writtei
in the first person, the letter is signed by Cleo, Pam and Pat
Taylor. . . . We're glad they like our town and we like the
letter they sent to us addressed "Dear People of Boone," which
follows: #
"Over the past week I was a visitor in your city. Being away
from home and not knowing too many people, caused me t#
notice your citizens more. ... I came up with Miss Jean Cook
for the NCEA meeting. While she was at the meeting I spent
the day up town. ... My first stop was at a Gulf Station. The
friendliness they showed us made us feel good. My next stop
was to park on your Main Street, and I couldn't get the meter te
work. While I was wondering what to do a policeman came up
and fixed the meter and gave us two hours free time. ... As I
started to leave, a man in a truck was courteous enough to wait
and let me back out. -. . Maybe these are small deeds and
wouldn't have been noticed by lots of people, but to me, a
visitor, they meant a lot, and made me hope that someday I
may have the privilege of coming back again."
We hope so too and appreciate your kind words.
And since we've generally become known as the friendliest
town, we hope that before many more years we'll also be known
as the cleanest community in the State. . . . Cleanliness and
courtesy are twin civic attractions, or virtues.
? ? ? ?
The Fall Colon . . And Some Thingt We Hear
Cool nights and continued dry weather perhaps hastened the
ooloring of the leaves and the bright displays of hedgerow and
forest were gorgeous during the week end. . . . The colors
should get better during the current week as the autumn hues
approach their peak. . . . The people, generally, especially those
who operate tourist facilities, are hoping for at least two more
good week ends of fall travel.
We've seen a lot of people during the last few days who're
having a lot of fun on the highway overlooks, and on the sylvan
paths, npw covered lightly with gold and crimson, fit for the
feet of the Queen. We've been interested in some of the com
ments we've heard as we've helped gaze from high points into
the oceans of hills, wrapped in crazy quilts of fantastic gaiety:
"Are the leaves always this color?" asked the fellow who was
backdropped by all the shades of the spectrum.
"Does the wind blow every day like this?" queried the fellow
with the thin breezed-out locks.
"Where's the Colorama I've been reading about in the papers
from the hills?" asked studious looking fellow, who was
practically swamped in the brillance of the leaves, who added,
"I don't see so much in it, but the kids wanted to come, and I
drug along."
Another fellow allowed as how "With all the reds aqd the
russets I'm seeing down in that valley, the oaks are needing
cutting. A lot of money could be made right there."
But most of the folks are awed with the majesty of the hills
in the fall, and the grandeur of the views 'from the promentories, v
and the peaks, down the winding creek bottoms and across the '
crag-rimmed draws, and wi$h they might gaze forever on the
beauties of the flaming fronds.
There was an old man who stood on the Parkway overlook i
near Blowing Rock and gazed long over the bright hills, lined up
row on row, till they were lost in the distance. ... He drank in
the beauty of each painted leaf, of each wispy cloud which fin
gered a summit, and of each gray cliff which stuck through the
panorama of brightness and of beauty. . He propped himself
against an auto and looked again, as a mariner might con the sea
for sails, and spoke, not to the bystander, but to the great vault
of the universe: " Such couldn't come 'cept from the boundless
love and the power and the canvas and the paint pots of our
blessed Lord."
(Jncle PmfcrlC^H,s
P/(MvtwN'^
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
I Me by the papers where Con
gressman Carroll Kearns of Penn
sylvania has introduced a bill to
put the Star Spangled Banner in
the key of A flat so folks won't
stumble over them high notes near ?
the end.
I'm in favor of anything that'll
help the Star Spangled Banner git
back in good standing in this
country. We got kids in school
today that can sing all five verses
of Elyis Preesley's "Hound Dog"
that aiat never heard of the Star
Spangled Banner.
As usual, they referred the
, Kearns bill to a congressional com
mittee. That means it'll cost the
taxpayers about $10,000, whether
wfefit it settled in A flat or F
snlrp. The committee will ask a
handful of guvernmeat clerks to
make a report on the matter. The
report will naa to about 300 page*
and coat about $10,000, ^rhich is
?bout par fer the congressional re
port course.
Abe Lincoln asked his secretary
onct to find oat something about a
saddle horae advertised fer sale
in the paper*. Six weds later he
got a 180-page report on the horae.
After reading the first two para
graphs. Abe tbrpwed the report in
the waste bajfc at and called fer his
secretary. Re told him that fer
all he knowed, the horae could be
dead by now, and furthermore he
just wanted to know the good and '
bad point* about the horse, not a |
report ?n bow many bain in the |
horse's tail.
And I see where they're still agi
tating that business about higher
pay fer teachers. I consider my- |
self a living example of the pro
*duct of low paid teachers. I'm in
favor of raising a teacher's pay
high enough that they won't be no
more ignorant folks like me in
the next generation.
But I think it's about time them
politicians git back on the farmer
platform again. When I was a
young mnn no candidate could git I
in office unless he run on a plat- i
form of relief fer the farmer.
At never helped 'the farmer none,
but it made him feel important.
I been feeling mighty neglected
here ef late since the politicians
is all running after the school vote.
The next rardidaU* ' that git* my
vote ha* got to have a plank in i
hi* platforoQcalling fer bigger and
better relief fer the fanner.
One otheOitem in the papers
-caught my fancy thi* week. Some
automobile manufacturer from De
troit aay* the automobile hat been
a "great moral force" in thi* coun
try. I cant figger that one oat.
Maybe it stopped horse stealing,
but aside from that I cant see'
nothing its done fer morals.
Youra truly,
UNCLE PIKNEY
I I