Mi ■ o-v -'--n THE jmmSFAL^PATRlOr. 10, N. c:^: ' i [lit" INDBPBNDBNT IN POLmCS P«Uhh«d Hifrii 1^1 NoifirTOtslKCo, N. C. riL f CABTKlaod JUUUS C. HUBBARIK - '■• .,.- PatHiikm SUBSCRIPTION RATK: V^i>r - ..V; $1,60 Months .75 'Months .60 it of the State $2.00 per Year Entered at tbe post office at North Wilkea- boro, N. C.> aa second class matter under Act of March 4, 1879. MONDAY, OC7TOBER 21, 1935 The 74th confess has adjourned. What ever happens to you from now on is just your own fault In some places tobacco dust is used to kill the bugs on plants and in other parts of the country it is used by humans as snuff. One of the greatest assets a man can possess is the spirit of open mindedness. A closed mind is an effective bar to prog ress. The fellow who brags that once he has made up his mind nothing can change it is deceiving himself. He merely lacks the energy necessary to change his mind. 'W wonder how those who represented that Germany and France could not by any means possibly pay the war debt due this country explain the extensive mili tary program into which these two na tions have entered since the war, all of which has been financed without loans from other nations. It appears that the United States merely was the victim of another fast one engineered by foreign diplomats. Public Libraries Congratulations to Morganton on the occasion of the opening of its new public library. And while congratulations are in order to the neighbor town, let us ponder for a moment the need for a public library here. North Wilkesboro is one of the few towns of its size which does not have a public library and this should be an early objective. However, it is a fact that most cities which have large public libraries are the benefactors of philanthropists, but it is not impossible to create one within our selves. "Pidioti 1# Initiative And Thought Upton G. Wilson, Madison county man, was permanently disabled 23 years ago when he was shot through both lungs and his spine. Notwithstanding this physical impairment, he is a widely known writer in North Carolina. He lies on his bed and does his typing. This goes to show the power of perse- verence, deteiTnination and thinking for one’s self. And his leads us to the thought he expressed in a recent article in the “Carolina Cooperator.” Mr. Wilson invariably writes about rural people because it is there that he says the dominant power of the nation lies in that t’ne people on the farm must do their own thinking and planning. He says: Millions labor for corporations but only a few think for them, most of those employed beinf? more automatons. Mechanized industry asks little more of its help than nimbleness of limb and quickness of eye—the ability, that is, to wait on machines without becoming entangled in wheels, cogs, and belts.^ Which is a valid reason why farm boys and girls now on the farm should remain there, where individual thought and initiative are still permissible. They may help to shape the na tion’s implements of commerce and trade by becoming industrial automatons or they may help to shape the nation’s thought and policies by continuing to till the soil. He goes on to say that “the power to make the farm more attractive is in the hands of farm boys and girls of today,” and he predicts that they will. The farm is no longer the backwoods place with no amusements. No farm to day dn this part of the country is so far away from a town that one cannot visit town at night, go to the theatre or other of recreation, and return in time for rest and woric the next day. Rural electrification has placed modem convepi- ehces in the h«ne. All indications point .to a {rfeasant life on the farm and better eoold be aaid ^for any 1^ you read the atory of the, ^.who^killed himadf rather ^ pet Mbbit? If you hawi't, it is the foftt 6f an editorial in the^^na^- ^Salon Journal: i Too poignantly to be expressed adequately In prosaic words is ..the,day's moat Aragio true story of the little boy who hanged himself be;- cause his hungry family was forced to use his pet rabbit to provide the evening mei^”, Our playwrights who' invoke the nwse of tragedy build to their climax on adult emotionst presumably assuming that only tha griefs of' age are worthy of dramatization. But here is a drama taken from life in which .the central figure of tragedy is an 11-year-old boy. The play is in three acts. In the first act, the intensity of the depression in a general way is developed. In the second the result is ex emplified in one Ohio family. There is the long struggle against almost overwhelming odds, giving the element of conflict necessary for good drama. In this scene, Eugene comes on the stage. He is the average American boy, play ing baseball probably and taking care of his pet, a rabbit. The possession of a pet lends dignity to a child. He may not always take the best care of his dog, or pigeon, or rabbit, but just the mere thought that he is, in a way, responsible for the life of a living thing is enough to make him proud. Like a mother about her baby, he can see virtues in that pet that no one else can see—the cunning way that a rabbit’s pink nose works, the softness of his little furry body as it cuddles in your arms, the dainty way that he nibbles a carrot, and, above all, the way that little animal makes a god of you. You are not just a child, whom older people treat with litt’e deference. You are the person responsible for that rabbit’s wel fare. It is not only your pet and playmate. It is your property. Act three; The family is desperate. There Is no breakfast and no lunch for the five chil dren of the unemployed mother and father. After every other means of feeding the hungry children is exhausted, someone thinks of EMgene’s rabbit. They recoil at first at the- thought of killing that gentle little creature, the pride of a boy’s heart. But, after all, it is just a pet rabbit. They will not let Eugene know about it until after .supper. He might not be able to eat it, if he knows it is his little pet. But the boy learns that a rabbit is in the pot. He goes fearfully to the little pen. He opens the gate. There is the stillness of death upon that pen, an awful stillness. Horror descends upon him. His little brother’s babblings had been true. He wifi be forced to sit at the table and see his family devour his rabbit—now a leg, now a thigh, until the last atom of what had been a moving, breathing mass of fluffy lovableness is devoured. It would be a cannibal’s feast to Eugene. Something that could not be endured. There was one way to avoid the unendurable. He took that way, and as the curtain falls upon a modem social tragedy, the parents find the boy’s lifeless body hanging from a rafter. .There is a drama of real life more weird, more emotional, more interesting than the strangest creation of fiction. Setting: A Record While news of murders, suicides and other tragedies have been going out of Wilkes county, a story comes in from Raleigh telling of how Wilkes farmers and orchardists produced products that won sweepstakes in competition with' specimens of four major crops from all parts of the state. Perhaps Wilkes county set a record at the state fair last week when it won the major premiums on apples, com, chickens and wheat. Knowing how well our peo ple produce these crops, we were still a bit dazed to think that they were able to exhibit better of all these than any others in the entire commonwealth. The state fair proved to be a real insti tution this year and if reports from State College are correct the exhibits far ex celled anything that had been offered in competition during recent years. These farmers and orchardists who are holding up Wilkes on the good side of the balance sheet are to be congratulated upon such an achievement. It shows that they not only know how to produce the best, but that they are able to select and dis play the best from what they have. It represents ability to grow the best and know what are the best. TODMAND jTHEOLDM Of 4lL tut. to folk who wfco 'Hfor to d».'som«tSdiig tot^lnstA' fk^.,:’'nvli(£ani are naually motf^Interestoib-:^ those **0 live a^iotgjrajuMfe-^--' the dovni4fOdaen~^iqefi£nir,iJk*' tamlneHrttfiA4bthe pleegue-riddien,^ ,ChlAq«e,.f more often than they are moved help those who live In the saMh town. » - ‘ One'reason Is that those far-' away folk can’t slam the door in. their faces, while their ^ ael|^ hors don’t like to he patronized,- Most folk resent having semer body else decide what is best for them, while most tiplifters get their chief enjoyment out of or dering other people’s lives. • • * STANDARDS vary I am just as much interested in elevating everybody’s stand ards of living as anyone else can be, but I have no desire to impose standards of any kind upon any body who doesn’t want to be in terfered with. There seems to be a general assumption that anybody who hasn’t one or two bathrooms and an electric refrigerator, a car or two, a radio and an oil-burning central heating system is down trodden, or at least underprivileg ed. It never occurs to most up- lifters that perhaps some of the folks who haven’t got those things don’t want them. I am all for the stimulation of human wants, by advertising and every other means. I think It would be fine it everybody want ed all the modern improvements and doo-dads badly enough to get out and hustle for them. But I can’t see the point of riiaking a fuss over the ones who don’t care whether they have them or not. * • • COXTEXTMKNT . . . J . witliln Within two or three miles of my farm I could show you a dozen or more homes of highly- regarded, self-respecting families who have no bathtubs, no run ning Water in the house, no elec tric lights—no "modern improve ments’’ of any kind. A few have radios—battery sets—and some have “one-pipe’’ wood-burning furnaces, though most depend on stoves, chiefly the kitchen range. Many of these old houses have never even been painted, but out of them have come generations of good citizens and good neigh bors, many of them university graduates. These folks would be indignant if anyone told them they were either down-trodden or underprivileged. They know bet ter. They know that happiness does not depend upon material possessions and that content ment comes from within, not from without. • • « .AMBITION second son Not every boy, even in this modern age. looks for an easy job with short hours and long vacations. I met Sam Baldasarri on our village street yesterday and he told me about his second son. John, his oldest boy, wants to go to college and become a law yer, and with aid of a bit of luck, slightly stimulated, he’s got pff to a good start in New York. But his brother Francis has only one ambition. He wants to be a farmer, rising at dawn to milk six cows, and doing all the rest of the hard work that a farm boy has to do from sun-up to sunset and after, "Frankie wants to quit high school and stay on the farm,” his father told me. "I don’t mind his being a farmer, but I think he ought to finish school. He's too young to understand the value of education.” "Had you thought of taking him over to the State Agricultur al College and getting some of the teachers there to talk to him?” I suggested.. *7 J. 'V “That’s u good idea,’’ said Sam. Til do that.” YOCTH changes world As I grow older, I get more and more satisfaction out of watching the young folks grow up. By and large, city and coun try, they are so much like my self and my youthful friends, at their age. Youth has always been impa tient, reckless, sure that it knows more than its elders, bent on having Its own way. Youth al ways will be like that. I can’t join in the outcry that the young folks of today are worse than we were; neither do I think they average up urinch better. 1 do agree, though, that youth is changing the world. That, also, is what youth has always done. We did it ourselves. “The only service the young can render to tbe old is to shock them and bring them up to date,” wrote Bernard Shaw. If we of advancing years refuse to be brought up to date it is just'too bad. The procession of up-and- coming youth will pass on and leave us behind. GETS LIFE SENTENCE, PRISONER KILLS SELF Osceola, Ark., Oct. 17.—Hen ry Todd, 65, ended bis life in a cell at the county Jail hens late today less than an hour after he had been sentenced to life im prisonment for the murder of his SOD. Sheriff Clarence H. Wilson said Todd, who had been held in jail several months in connection with the slaying, apparently swallowed a small vial of poison. He was dead before medical aid could be summoned. Watauga farmers have shipped 875 lambs cooperatively during the past summer netting $4,969>- 16 for the 83 men contributing animals to the pools. A Three Days’ Cough Is Your Danger Sigi^ No matCer bow manj^ mwtidiw you have tried for your cough, chest, cold or bronchial Irritation, you can. get relief now with Oreomulaion. Serious trouble may be brewiiw and you cannot afford to take a chance with anything less than Creomul- don, whl(^ goes right to the Beat of the trouble to aid nature to soothe and heal the Inflamed mem- branes as the germ-laden phlegm is loosened and expelled. Even if other remedies have fail^, don’t be discouraged, your druggist is authorized to guarantee Creomulsion and to refund your money if you are not satisfied with results from tbe voy first boW& Get Creomulsion right now. (Advj SATUBDAY, NOV. 2 4 NEW CHEVROLET Borrowed Comment INADEiQUAI^ (News and Observer- Judge R. Hunt Parker is everlastingly right in his statement that the law which puts a limit of a 90-day sentence on persons convicted of reckless driving is inadequate in the state which kills more people per gallon of gasoline con sumed than any other in the nation. Inadequate as the law is, however, too few judges are willing to give even that limit as Judge Parker did to any of those criminals who every day jeopar dize life and property by their reckless driving. Punishment equal to the crime is essential under the law, but until the majority of judges cease turning highway crimnals loose with fines and begin onlering such punishment as is possible under the law, there will be no need for amend ment of the statutes. Mr. Roosevelt’s absolutely non-political trip to tbe Pacific coast is on account of seeding ailtoir-^' ^ or something, probaUyv—^Daltaa M6«|^

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