Newspapers / The State’s Voice (Dunn, … / June 1, 1935, edition 1 / Page 8
Part of The State’s Voice (Dunn, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
A REMARKABLE SURVIVAL Of PIONEB! DAYS George Beasley, Jr., in Monroe Journal. Distance is a disturbing factor in the stir of life. When you are iu a hurry there are far too many hours and too long miles, and when you have leisure and would spend it sparingly, as a child budgets his all day sucker—look awhile and lick awhile, the miles and hours pass on winged wheels and -you are any where and back too soon. Time and miles, however, were m an unusually bright and agreeable mood Sunday afternoon. How else could I have travelled a short 25 miles and parked in 1776? A few miles across the line in Ca barrus county and to the left of Highway 151, a county road goes blind at the back door of the Me Curdy twins, W ill and W^alt, and their sister, Miss Hattie, on the left, and on the right the cabin built by their Revolutionary grandfather, Capt. Archibald McCurdy. The old homestead of this remarkable fam ily is the most ancient house yet standing in this section of the State. Forgotten Hardships Inside and out the two-room cabin the hardihood of pioneers and the gallantry of patriots are boldly engraved. Here was an album of history the like of which I had never seen before: a crude panorama of the ancestral attack badly armed but bravely and successfully exe cuted, upon the hard, ripe wilder ness which our forefathers called home; memoirs of great difficulties borne with courage, of iron-blooded children opening their eyes in the bleak loft upstairs, brushing the snow from their quilts and scamp ering down in the biting early cold of a winter morning to fan the coals in the large fireplace and warm themselves; here was preserved in graphic items the painful ha dships which America bore in he youth but minimized when she wa ' >tor ized, bobbed her hair, acquir ! van ity and a figure, and came i ■ > her legacy of mature anxieties, in A the least of which was the choice of her face and costume at debutante balls in world courts. Homemade Home The Revolutionary homestead of the McCurdy’s is a well-known land mark in Cabarrus, just as the fam ily is known as a pioneer influence on the history of that county, as well as Mecklenburg. Therefore, I devoted my visit to an attempt at recapturing in whatever slight meas ure the spell of man fighting the elements with only his hands and his strong, determined will to sur vive and contrasting it with our up hill struggle today tor luxuries in next year’s model, our restless search for rest which so hopelessly separates us from peace. Nails and hinges and locks on the McCurdy cabin were made in a blacksmith shop, hewn rafters were fitted and fastened together with woden pegs, and the stairway lead ing to the loft thus fashioned, had just begun to live, a monument to resourcefulness which died a ma chine death. The great pots and pans for cook ing were on the fireplace, as were the giant bread tray and sifter. My mouth began to water for a Revo lutionary dinner of corn pone, boiled chicken and potatoes. But I knew my saladized appetite couldn’t do full justice to the robust oppor tunity. Pioneer Household On the walls and about on the floor were curiosities that had to be explained to me. A baby shoe of hard, unyielding leather, fastened with pegs and brandishing an omi nous brass tap at the toe, was not a toy or a model, but was actually made for the untried foot of a child after it had learned to walk, me weather corn on my left toe bulged perceptibly at the idea. Spinning wheels and flax combs were in one corner, probably the same instru ments with which the lovely bed spreads in the other house were woven. A peculiar iron hook with place for a handle wasn’t really an instrument for plucking a luscious apple from across a neighbors* fence, as I thought, but a wild pig catcher. When the vicious animal was cornered, the hook took custody of its hind leg and the rest was sim ple. There were Revolutionary bay<r nets, uniforms, high hats of the per riod, homemade beds and Bluf .Backs of the days when spelling was a popular art and not a seveij handicap, and many other unmo<f ern conveniences made by hahd. Frame-ups Suspended frorii the ceiling in th, center of -the room were two larg? bird cages, only they weren’t birfc cages but the frames of miladv'1 hoop skirts. I had seen pictures ft women dressed in this fashion of long ago, but never before had J come in contact with the nake^ wire. Fashion also had its pio neers. When our women-folk ol long ago got tired of cooking ovei the open fire or working at th* tedious spinning wheel, or tending the crops and chickens and cowl and chidren, they probably Mould change burdens for a spell and dres^ up. I don’t know that form-fitting was the rage then but if it was the ladies had to grow like inverted tops, only more so. A party dress must have meant a real investment in those days. On the eve of a party then the question surely must have been, not “what shall I wear tonight ?” but ‘can I get in it ?•” In the other house there were, hats of that period. Our great grand mothers’ burdens were diversified, to say the least. _ ... Open Air Bakery Under the shade of an oak, “somewhere between 500 and 1000 years old,” was a heap of crumbled brick. Qne of the boys reconstruct ed in my mind the history of those ‘bricks. Here was Grandmother McCurdy’s bakery. A brick oven in which a big fire was kept until, baking time. Then pastries of all kinds were baked. On big days in Concord, Grandma would bake whole wagon loads^pf delicacies and find a ready market for them nj town. Did you ever hear of an ap petizing memory before? Such revealing g^mpses of in fant America are pitifully rare, and soon will be confined to occasional museums. Slaves to fashion and modern conveniences, we have al lowed a noble birthright to go back to dirt. We have destroyed inspir ing records in the pursuit of imag inary comfort and fleet-footed style. I think I will at least save my watch, the one with a second hand, to remind future generations of the quiet old today, when seconds are not too slow to be worth the record ing. Secretary of Commerce Roper, speaking over in California, states that lie sees an end of the depres sion at hand and the beginning of a period of prosperity. The slaugh ter of the “blue eagle” seems not to have depressed Mr. Roper. That very NRA decision may, at this stage, serve to hasten a return to the kind of prosperity that used to prevail, but it was a mighty poor kind, looked at from the average' man’s view-point. Discovering 'Interesting Relationships. One is often surprised at rela tionships that are revealed. Some weeks ago, we discovered that Mrs. J. C. Jones of Dunn is a descendant of the brother of Nathaniel Macon. And now we note that Ambassador Josephus Daniels, in his address at Wake Forest based upon Macon s political philosophy, reveals the fact that President Kitchin has a strain of Macon blood. We are publish ing an article in The State’s Voice that shows that the junior senator from Louisiana is a descendant of a sister of Governor Gabriel Holmes of Clinton and has oodles of kin in this section bearing Holmes and Moore strains. Senator Overton’s given name is John, Holmes. One of the sisters of the Senator’s Over ton ancestor was the mother of Governor Moore of Louisiana dur ing the war between the states, and lived near the Newton Grove—Clin ton highway. Thomas Overton came from Virginia and settled in Moore county. His second wife was" the sister of Governor Holmes, and his daughter by his Virginia wife the mother of Governor Moore. IlF*1 D ENTA Li DIVI SION WORTH CAROLINA* STATE! ^^-1boardqfhealth|^52— Our Present Mouth Health Program In North Carolina By PAUL JONES, D.D.S. Chairman, Executive Committee, N. C. Dental Society T T is most gratifying to know that North Carolina is great ly interested and awake to the necessity of a mouth health pro gram, especially among the chil dren of our State. A few years back only the most alarming evi dence of disease invasion was ever called to the attention of our government. In fact, those in authority were more attentive to the problems of agriculture such as hog cholera, cattle tubercu losis, and tick fever. Even now our farmers are ordered to de stroy the fartowed hogs and turn under "crops, showing the <chang ing' viewpoints under different stresses. But miracles never cease, and. the dawning of a new thought takes hold; today the health-of the human animal is predomi nant. His bodily predisposition to disease and deterioration is of so much concern to our State government that today North Carolina has on the statute books laws insuring the rehabilitation of diseased bodies and the proper observance of hygiene, and our commonwealth is recognized as a , i 1 * _ j ? _ _X * must flliu ttSICtSLIU health for its citizens. The indifference to oral health is still more noticeable than its observance or correction. Teeth, in the days past, were considered a gift from the Creator, like the fingers and toes, and like these should give no more trouble. In fact the digital organs were more fortunate and, consequently, healthier because of being seen. (Pride is a driving monster.) Sometimes the fingers and toes came into contact with soap and water; not so the teeth. Hidden from public display, they chopped and "ground the material to sus tain the body. With their duty done, the cleaning of the teeth was deferred to that more con venient time which never ap pears, and the’ mouth’s arch en emy, fermentation, commenced its destructive work. This, basically, with the at tending evidences, was the' cause of the beginning of mouth hy giene and health as we know it today. Persistently and effec tually the sponsors of this health movement have labored for recog nition. Our statesmen had to be educated in the belief that child hood was the beginning of man hood and womanhood, and that their health had to be considered before that of cattle, swine, and horgea. Cooperation with the .ones seeking a mouth health pro for our children was a de- J mand not to be denied—a utili tarian as well as an altruistic DR. PAUL JONES service. We are grr-ntly indi’t.-d to those in our medical somr-t;; and otir dental society for t».>« vision that seized and he’.’ *'■> "r during the formative per:'-’ 01 this movement which is r-nv well grounded and erm. m'"ed through our-government. Cfun I have woude-ed if '-ur inr1 i gent citizens, as well as ~jr Sir.te government, fully realize the d*u>t owing the two professions of medicine and dentistry in thcr sustained efforts through all these years to make our people health conscious as well as healthy. It is with much pride that I mention the present fulfillment of these aspirations in the owra tion of our mouth health rv.o grara. Through the Dental Divi sion of the State Board of Health Dr. Branch and his staff cf den tists have done a noble and glori ous piece of work solely in the interest of the health of oi.r people. They have emphasized the need of mouth care among our school children, and they have carried the story of healthy teeth in healthy mouths in a tell ing and most effective Wf\V> s0 much so that we in private pr»' tice can note tlie.improvement :n the mouths of our young school boy and girl patients. I am heartily in accord wtin the dentistry program as dirc'-ic< by Dr. Branch for North Cer t* lina, and should like to see ‘-tie activities of this department en larged rather .than any part ci thern delegated to inexperience' local units. I would like to see North Carolina the healthier state in the Union and its peop e possess. the best-treated teeth ‘n the world.
The State’s Voice (Dunn, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 1, 1935, edition 1
8
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75