CORN CRACKER RECALLS
OLD-TIME YULETIDE
Shelby, R-5, Dec. 17.—At each re
curring Christmas, I have a period of
retrospection. The Yuletide season is
a joyous festival of youth; and when
I assure your readers that 71 years
and six months have elapsed since
my advent into Kentucky society, it
can be realized that I have a distant
but fairly distinct memory of slavery
and its institutions and customs. I
was always accustomed in childhood
to association with these affectionate
and emotional beings. They expected
Christmas week as a holiday; and this
was given to feasting and dancing. A
"backlog" had to be prepared to
last until New Year; and a large
black gum was selected. If the weath
er were mild it would last that long,
but a spell of icy rigor let it burn
about two nights. But the kind-heart-'
ed master generally gave them the
entire week.
On Christmas morning, every slave
tried to steal a march on "Ole Massa"
and "Ole Missus" and challenged
them with the challenge, "Christmas
Gift." The master pretended he was
not expecting them; in fact, had for
gotten that it was Christmas time,
anyway. If there was anything a
negro enjoyed better than a goblet
of eggnog for this festal morning, it
was more eggnog. My father, while ,
not a drinking man, was an expert j
tapster, and an adept in compound-:
ing this celebrated drink. As he was i
a fine fruit raiser, he always put up
three barrels of cider for Winter; .
and about Christmas this decoction j
was invested with a very athletic j
kick. As an old English custom, the '
fiddlers and other merry makers vis- '
ited the homes on Christmas eve j
night, especially where cider was I
served as a refreshment and the "ser- j
enaders" came with their minstrelsy, j
They had fiddles, fifes, snare drums j
and ti'iangles, and rendered "A**kan- J
saw Traveler," "Natchez Under the j
Hill" and "Turkey in the Straw,"
with the spirit and the understand
ing. My father was a fine fiddler,
always welcomed the wandering min
strels, and feasted them on cakes and
cider until they were exhilarated but;
not inebriated. Next morning for vis- j
itors and slaves, he prepared a bowl j
of eggnog. Of course I reverently j
believed in Santa Claus, B the Fatron j
Saint of joyous childhood —Sirv' j
cherish the sweet confiding fa:lh.
Never shatter a favorite dream of
trusting childhood. The negroes be- j
lieved'in getting religion, falling from |
grace, ( and practiced what they j
:
♦ "^imh lffWsffWirSsE ®«|i
I"
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♦
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♦
♦ Perhaps you are a specialist, yourself. You at least
X find it necessary to consult other specialists your
T banker, broker, lawyer, or doctor on many occas-
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X and to accept his advice regarding the kinds and
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H 1 SECURITY
Insurance & Realty Co.
G. B. HARRILL, Sec'y.-Treas.
| —i PHONE 64
| Forest City, - - . N. C.
Flying Reaches 2 Stb Birthday vn December 17 th
Orville Wright was the first of all men to soar into the air, 25 years ago. With the late Wilbur
his brother, he invented the airplane. This picture shows Orville and Wilbur Wnght, and the p e
first flew. Contrast this Wright plane with the modern Fokker passenger plane, shown below it,. tne ire
mendous progress of aviation in 25 years can be seen at a glance. The original airplane of the: Wrig
—whicli is really only a motored glider— is on exhibition at South Kensington, London, ihe nrs g
Orville Wright took place at Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, N. C., on Dec. 17, 1903, when he flew 120
seconds.
preached.) "Aunt Phillis," a family
servant, was priestess in the kitchen,
a past mistress in fortune-telling;
knew all ancient and modern lore per
taining to witchcraft. She was also
conversant with the occult lore that
could offset the machinations of
witches and "conjurers." She had a
repository of witch stories as to how
some old woman would turn to a
black cat or an old-field rabbit, cause
chickens to die, cows to give bloody
milk, and the only redress was to
shoot the rabbit or the black cat with
a silver bullet. Another pestilent and
mysterious enemy, was the "jack-o
my-lantern." This occult sprite would
catch unwary negroes, ride them all
over woods- and sw r amps, and make
witch stirrups in the manes of hors
es. The way to outdo the jack-o-my
lantern, was to turn every pocket in
your clothes wrong side out, and the
way to thwart the malevolent spells
of witchcraft was to wear brass rings
and tie limbs of hickory sprouts in
knots. Aunt Phillis would be happily
converted, and then suffer relapse.
She claimed it required four nights'to
be properly converted. Compared
with her triumphant conversion and
her conflicts with the emissaries of
darkness the warfare of Christian
and Apolyon in Pilgrim's Progress
were tame experiences. Satan would
assume the shape of a mule, a big
monkey, a dragon, and a bird as
large as those in adventures of Sin
bad, the Sailor. But when she again
was a being who had passed from na-
THE FOREST CITY COURIER, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1928
ture to grace—the change was
thorough; and she was a monument
of heartfelt religion. She regarded
the Disciples, or Campellites, as she
called them—with holy and withering
j scorn. They had no "mourner's
j bench," and she said, no religion.
By every joyous consideration,
don't try to shatter the abiding faith
jof the prattling youth and maiden
iin their benign Patron Saints Santa
i Claus. Even if a full-blown fiction,
I the faith in, its veracity does not
| teach an immoral nor misleading les
ison. The teachers of all ages have
j used fables, metaphor, hyperbold, and
' the Divine Carpenter taught the un
i tutored multitude in pai'ables.
When this festive season draws
! nigh, when Shakespeare believed the
! graves gave up their sheeted * dead,
j let the true spirit of fatherhood of
> God and the brotherhood of man be
exemplified. Read the account of the
birth of Christ as recorded by Luke
l and Christmas Carols by Dickens.
J The regeneration of Scrooge when he
| communes with Marley's ghost and
j the pious invocation of Tiny Tim,
"may God bless us, every one," will
act as a benediction.
CORN CRACKER.
*
Sore Throat
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Don't suffer from the pain and
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Thoxine has a double action—re
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£ 1
[ DIZZY
r Lost Appetite |
I" Mr. M. F. Fink, of Harrisburg, 4 |
rN. C., says: "It must have been
fully twenty-five years ago that 1,
I began taking Black-Draught
f regularly.
j "I was in town one day, and T
r while talking to a friend I "y
stooped over to pick up some- -1
(thing. When I straightened up, ~
I felt dizzy. I spoke to him about
{ this and how I had not felt like
j" eating. ' " 1
I * "My friend told me to take " 1
► some Black-Draught. I knew my « i
„ mother had used it, and so I ~
j ( bought a package. When I got
home, I took a good, big dose,
and the next night, another. In " 1
j * a few days I felt much better. " 1
I» "A good many times I have «i
! „ had this dizziness and a bad taste J,
in my mouth, or headaches, and
then I take Black-Draught and
I' get better. Ido not have to take i
j * it very often. We buy from five y
j ► to seven packages a year." Try it! «
L E-13T
■lndigestion, Biliousness^
CLEVELAND COUNTY
LEADS IN COTTON
The Observer has been keeping j
track of the rise of Cleveland, a j
foot-of-the-mountains county, as a j
producer of the agricultural king. It:
has now come to pass that Cleveland j
*
has out-stripped the original cotton- j
growing sections down east and j
stands cock of the walk as a cotton [
producer. It has ginned this season i
as many as 45,343 bales, which is!
far and away in the lead of its clos
est competitor, Johnston, with 37,-
641. It also leaves Robeson, the third
largest producer with 36,945 bales,
in the background. It is not acreage
so much as intensive cultivation that*
has developed this high-up county in
to a leader in cotton production, for j
Max Gardner and the farm agents j
have established Cleveland on a sound ]
basis in scientific farming. The j
Cleveland crop this season is a gain |
of 775 bales over last year.
Cotton production seems to in- j
crease the closer we get to the moun-'
tains, for there is Rutherford, fenced j
in by peaks and ranges, producing ?
this year 13,936 bales, a gain of!
2,398 bales over last season, while j
Polk, where the cotton patches run
'~ ~ ' •
For health and happiness,
—for sheer delight on
Christmas day and a thou
sand days to com e—choose
a new Buick with Master
y
r piece Bodies
Silver Anniversary
BuicK
With Masterpiece Bodies by Fisher
iFOREST CITY MO TOR COMPANY
V* * %
WHEN BETTER AUTOMOBILES ARE BUILT . . . BUICK WILL BUILD THEM
up the sides of the mountains and
on top, raised 2,909 bales, or 469 ;
more bales than last year. The best |
Mecklenburg can do this season is 1
17,548 bales, while the neighbor!
county of Union has ginned 28,347. (
Cabarrus has dropped from 11,214 to;
9,883 bales. Gaston, center of more j
mills than any other county in the (
belt, stands steadily at a production ;
around 10,000, losing 431 bales this i
season. Rowan ginned 11,078 bales, j
against 9,715 for Stanly.
The decrease in production in the j
piedmont counties is largely explain- (
ed because of development of more |
dairy barns than cotton gins. While
Cleveland goes in for dairying—it is
the county of the original creamery
enterprise—that county is keeping
apace in the dairying industry, a fact
which gies .a better look to its big
production of cotton. It is on top as
a cotton producer to stay.—Charlotte
Observer.
TRAIN SCHEDULES
Seaboard
No. 109, South. Arr. 10:30 a. m.
No. 21, South Arr. 12:18 p. m.
N6. 22, North Arr. 4:81 p. rn. j
I m j
Southern
No. 113, South, Arr. 6:20 a. m.
No. 36, North, Arr. 10:09 a.m.
No. 35, South, Arr. 5:35 p, m.
No. 114, North, Arr. 8:56 p. m.
Clinchtield '
No. 37, North, Arr. 10:45 a. m. j
i No. 38, South, Arr. 4:48 p. m.
j No. 110, North, Arr, l!:-20r. m I
i* . r-it.lll Iv. ! I ' W -a'* '?
ATTENTION :
TELEPHONE S
ff
> 1
The date of rendering your
telephone bill will be changed
this month. * •
* "i
r* " t
Please read the important
notice enclosed with your tele- j £
phone bill t:
| i
SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CO. 1 1
 liu:oruarnt.nl > IS
V/mJvJte
Pillows too
r become soiled!
YOU change your pillow- J
* slips regularly but
how about the pillows?
Prespiration soaked and
soiled from the natural
oils of the hair, flattened
too, from long continuous
use, the pillows themselves
should be laundered reg
ularly. Particularly should
they be thoroughly cleans
ed after a slight illness.
Rutherford Co. Laundry
Phone No. 158 j