0
llunn^
Papist
Bi
UBRARY OF OAVIOSON COUEGE
BEASLEY’S
FARM
and
HOIVIE
WEEKLY
'Volume 11.
Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, August 14,1941.
Number 33.
STOCKING FACTORYl
TURNS TO making'
GOVT PARACHUTES
In Indiana Plant Girls Sew Silk
Strands on Which the Safety
of Flying Men Depends
irS CAREFUL BUSINESS
This is the ’story of how the gos
samer from a caterpillar is made to
float booted men to safety as they
dangle in azure skies, writes Richard
L. Strout in the Christian Science
Monitor.
It is the story of how beady-eyed
grasshoppers in America hayfields
have a baneful effect upon the handi
work of the self-same caterpillar, who
meditatively munches his mulberry
leaf in far-off Nippon.
It tells, too, why American house
wives can’t get cheap “help” in the
defense crisis.
And finally, it is the story of how
thrice! (four-score Indiana misses, in
summer dresses or slacks, use their
shears and sewing machines to help
s^ave the lives of eager young men
who leap out of flying machines. . .
Yes—you’ve guessed it, of course,
it’s the story of a parachute factory.
You are standing in the airy, well-
lighted capacious upper story of the
Reliance Manufacturing Company,
makers of women’s dresses and gar
ments, in Washington, Indiana. As
a sideline to women’s wear the com
pany has added a million-dollar
parachut^V contract from the United
State? Government, which is located
in this plant.
There is something a good deal
like wearing apparel in a parachute,
and then again, there is a lot that is
unlike. It has to be cut out after
specified patterns. It has to be sewn.
But on the other hand, take the mat
ter of size.
Checked and Rechecked
There are about 65 yards of silk
in a parachute. In a man’s shirt there
are two yards. That’s one difference.
Another difference is that few gar
ments have ever been made with
quite such meticulous checking and
cross-checkinp. o-xamination and re
examination, as these silk gossamers
that float through the skies with the
greatest of ease, dangling men below.
As you watch the busy loft, filled
with girls sewing pure white pieces
of finest quality silk together at
electric sewing machines some of
which drive four needles at a tinle,
you notice how many other girls and
men are scrupulously examining their
handiwork. Time after time the
threads and stitches are checked. No
wonder: a mortal’s life hangs on
these stitches, a life hangs on these
infinitely fine filament spun' by the
Japanese silk-worm. “A man’s life
hangs by a thread.”
This is, in some ways, the strang
est of "all forms which modern war
fare has taken. I have seen in the
big aviation schools which I have
visited the young soldiers boling
out of their planes. They drop like a
plummet a second or two and then
suddenly, the parachute opens out
like a blossom and they descend slow
ly through the sky, wafted down like
an ant swinging to a blown dandelion
puff. Where do these parachutes come
from; who makes them? Well here
they are being made right before
your very eyes, by this prosiac and
very workmanlike small-town factory
which yet, somehow, has about it
some of the same element of fantasy
and romance that I found in a roar
ing airplane-motor factory. It is a
combination of clothing loft and Walt
Disney. i
^ . Parachutes Preferred
The million-dollar Government con
tract is real enough. The Reliance
Company is real enough, too. It em
ploys about '300 men and women al
together, at nresent, working two
shifts, and its pay roll is very much
appreciated addition to the pay roll
of Washington, Indiana, a community
of about 10,000 where you can hear
a rooster crowing not far from Main
Street. The average of wages is well
above the 35-cents-an-hour minimum
prescribed by law, it is said, and
there is a 40-hour week, with time
and a half for overtime. The girls
are young. I asked one of them if
she would rather sew parachutes than
turn the hem of her younger sister’s
dresses and she replied, “You betcha.
Mister!” She preferred Parachutes.
So I knew why my friend in Chi
cago was having such a difficult time
getting her housekeeping done in the
defense emergency. Parachutes have
an eight-hour day. Parachutes (and
defertse jobs) have a fixed income at
the end of the week' that' you can
count on. Parachutes are a good deal
better than going out to wash dishes,
or mixing sodas behind a fountain,
or depending on problematical tips
from waiting on table. Yes sirree, for
the girls the defense emergency, and
the web spun by a Japanese silk worm
have put a sound economic platform
under their sandalled feet.
A parachute and its harness weigh
only 22 pounds. The ’chute is made
up of 24 panels’ which are shaped
something after the fashion of the
pieces of clotb between the ribs of
an umbrella. Each panel, in turn, is
composed of four smaller sections.
That makes 96, all told. The big job,
accordingly, is cutting out the pieces
and sewing them up. When the four
littlei pieces are sewn a machine is
used with two needles that leaves a
double row of stitching. When the 24
composite panels are stitched a four
needle machine is used that' simul
taneously sends four rows whirring
down the seam. When the big canopy
is partlv finished the “lines” are in-
MORE ON PAGE TWO
NO THIEF E’ER FELT THE HALTER DRAW
WITH GOOD OPINION OF THE LAW
Labor Leaders Are Not Alone
In Complaint Against Press
(AN EDITORIAL)
Human Interest
The labor leaders who com
plained of the treatment of
their organization by the press
at the “Labor Institute” in Char
lotte Saturday and Sunday are in
no way unique in their belief that
the press, usually the daily news
papers, is not fair to them. Ev
erybody has that complaint. It
is like the old saw that “No thief
e’er felt the halter draw with
good opinion of the law.” This
is not to say that labor leaders
and others who express com
plaint against the press are
thieves or in any way unworthy.
It is to say only that we are all
so wrapped up in our own causes
and purposes that we are our
selves unfair judges. No socie
ty dame ever felt that her occa
sion was properly written up.
No politician ever felt that he
was adequately reported by the
press. Some religious leaders
complain that the press is gross
ly unfair to them and unduly in
terested in other denominational
branclies. No prohibitionist ever
feJt that a press that did not
repeat his argument by rote on
every occasion and suppress the
anti’s remarks, was not wring
ing wet.
The daily press is a huge and
complex thing, but it lives by
printing every scrap of news tjiat
it can find or imagine, and not by
advocating a cause or making an
argument. When a prohibition
ist or a wet complains at the
press it is. not because whatever
news therie was h,ad not been
printed, nc^t because the paper
did not adopt the complainer’s
argument, hook, line and sinker.
When labor leaders complain at
the press it is for the same rea
son. Of course the press is not
infallible. It must judge news
in many ways, especially in
timeliness. A church meeting
today or a labor meeting might
have seven to 10 columns where
as tomorrow it could have only
one. But complainers usually
want the first page at all times,
regardless.
Another thing that complain
ers overlook is that a paper may
treat them “fair” six days in the
week and be accounted an enemy
for lack of appreciation on the
seventh day. And “unfairness”
generally consists in giving the
othei" side. Monday morning the
Charlotte Ol^server had an en-j
lightened and broadgauged edi-^
torial in appreciation of thei
meeting here of the American
Federation. But on the same
page the cartoon, which was not
prepared in the Observer office,
depicted strikers as termites bor
ing holes in the national defense
program. That point of view
expressed the- idea of millions of
Americans, just as the editorial,
in no way in conflict, expressed
the views of millions of others.
What would be the feeling of the
average labor leader in looking
at that page? Nine times out of
ten he would overlook the favor
able editorial and get mad at the
cartoon.
That’s why the press never
pleases anybody. Most of us
want a “favorable” press and
and can’t always get it. That is
the safety of the press. It is
what no longer exists in dictator
countries and it is what some
people in this country would abol
ish, Theoretically everybody fa
vors the liberty of the press,
practically, there are a plenty
who would abolish it. Complaint
was made in the Labor Institute
here Sunday about the right of
newspapers to turn down the
prepared handouts of the labor
press agents, and somebody had
to defend the “blue pencil” right
of newspapers, that is, their
right to judge what sews should
be printed. And it is notewor
thy that the right of newspapers
to print according to their judg
ment and not that of the press
agent, as well as the right of the
MORE ON PAGE TWO
NEW CITY MANAG’ER
The city council on W'ednesday ap
pointed L. L. Ledbetter city manager
in addition to his present duties as
treasurer, to succeed J. W. Arm
strong at once. Harry M. Joyner was
reappointed chief of police, W. H.
Palmer, fire chief, and Mrs; Alice Mc
Connell, city clerk.
The matter of a city manager has
been in the air for some time, and the
council divided six to four in the ac
tion taken Wednesday. It is reported
that it is the intention of the board
to use Mr. Ledbetter as city man
ager only for a time, and then to
appoint someone else. The pressing
idea seemed to be to terminate the
service of City Manager Armstrong.
Councilmen Baker, Beasley, Paint
er, Price, Daughtry and Ross voted
for the resolution dismissing Arm
strong and appointing Ledbetter, and
Councilmen Ward, Hovis, Little and
Albea voted against it.
Councilmen Ward, Hovis, Little and
Albea voted against it.
In the controversy Councilman
Ward said that if ever the city of
Charlotte has had an invisible gov
ernment run by a political ring, it
is now.
The great enthusiasm of the ladies
and others who in the last campaign
expressed the high ideals of patriot
ism in local government, in which the
public welfare should be the first,
final and only consideration, begins to
dissolve into the usual rivalry of
groups and factions. No eleven coun
cilmen ever agreed on what the pub
lic welfare is and never will. You
can’t pick eleven that will so agree,
no matter how honorable and honest
they are as individuals and as pri
vate citizens.
be involved. The labor leaders pro
pose to prevent any contractor having
a job unless he employs the closed
shop. This is one of the processes by
which men are forced to join up
whether they want to or not. Men
who live on farms and run in for a
few weeks of work on government
projects will no longer be able to get
employment unless they join a union.
DROWNED IN CATAWBA
Nick Sloan, 17-year-old Charlotte
boy, was drowned in the Catawba
river near the Buster Boyd bridge
late Friday afternoon, while swim
ming with some companions. The body
was recovered some hours later.
Saturday afternoon in the same lo
cality, Stewart M. Kiser, a labor or
ganizer living in Washington City,
was drowned. Mr. Kiser, in a sport
ing mood, rocked the boat, and paid
for it with his life. A boat, belonging
to W. W. Miller of Charlotte, and op
erated by him, was giving a ride to
Mr. Kizer, Charles W. Hallenback,
and a Mr. Smith. Kiser, as a joke,
grabbed the tiller and turned it and
at the same time pressed the accelera
tor. This caused the boat to jump
and swerve. All were thrown out and
the boat went loose. Miller aided Hal
lenback to swim out. Smith was picked
up by another boat, and Kiser was
drowned. His body was found on the
river bottom about noon Sunday.
AIN’T SCIENCE WONDERFUL?
There isn’t much that surgeons
can’t do.nowadays, and from Daytona
Beach, Flo/ida, comes the news that
surgeons .j'eported the rare operation
of taking what appeared to be two
vermiform appeadjw^s from a patient.
The operatioJi""was performed Wed
nesday by Dr. Joseph H. Rutter at
Halifax hospital. The patient was
Oliver T. Ray of Atlanta, former
Georgia census director. Dr. Rutter
said that he and other doctors felt
almost certain the tv/o-finger like pro
tuberances were appendices. They
have been sent to Tulane university
in New Orleans for examination by
Dr. W. H. Harris, professor x)f path
ology. Dr. Rutter said that occasion
ally a growth called a diverticulum
often found on the small intestine
appears near the ve'rniform appendix
and sometimes looks like another ap
pendix. But in this case, Dr. Rutter
said all the doctors who saw the ob
jects agreed they apparently were
real appendices. The patient is get
ting along all right.
MAYBE THEY’RE SWELLING
Soldiers’ feet are larger than
government buyers estimated at
the start of the defense program,
and as a result the average cost
of each pair of shoes has increas
ed 2 cents. Defense purchase of
ficials said that the demand for
larger shoe sizes in the army
had been heavier than expected
and, accordingly, the latest ac
quisition’ of 1,000,008 pairs of •
shoes averaged a full size larger
than previous purchases. The me
dian size was 10,’.compared with
the previous median of size 9.
The officials saicf^that 75 per
'cent of the purchase was
composed of shoes with composi
tion soles and 25 per cent of shoes
with leather soles. The price was
about $3.40 a pair, compared with
$3.38 on the last previous pur
chase.
Somewhere on Broad Waters ! CAPTAIN ARDREY
Two Gallant Sailors Meet
SL’EEP IS PRETTY VALUABLE
Loss of sleep is worth about $2 a
night for a wife and $1.17 for a hus
band, according to a Superior Court
auditor’s report on file at Rockpoi't,
Mass. Lawrence A. Beverly,
tihe auditor,, awardedyMr. and Mrs.
Charles N. Nelson Pigeon Cove
$542.20 compensation ,in their bill in
equity against the Cape Ann Tool
company. The plaintiffs contended
their slumber was disturbed during a
five-month period by noises incident
to night-shift operations at the com
pany’s plant, which has national de
fense orders. To Mrs. Nelson was
awarded $300 and to her husband
$175, while $67.20 additional was al
lowed to cover depreciation of rental
value of their home because of noises
from the near-by factory. Lawyers
for the Nelsons s^id that if the aud
itor’s report were CQnfirmed^ by the
court, they would seek to have the
company continue payment of dam
ages at the established rate as long
as the factory operated at night.
LIQUID AIR DANGEROUS
A terrific explosion of a truck
loaded with liquid air killed one
man and damaged two farm
homes within a third of a mile
radius of the blast near Cadiz,
Ohio. The driver, Bernard D.
Smith, and the truck were blown
to bits, the patrol said. The blast
tore a hole five feet deep into the
ground, as Smith turned into a
lane leading to a farm house to
pick up a fellow employe, William
Nelson. Patrolmen said the ex
plosion shajttered windows in the
farm house and a part, of the
truck landed on the roof of an
other house a third of a mile
away. Leaves were blown off
nearby trees, and the blast was
heard in Steubenville, 20 miles
away, patrolmen said.
BUILD HOMES FOR AIRPORT
Fourteen acres of land near the
Charlotte air base has been acquired
by the government on which homes
for noncommissioned officers at the
air base will be erected. The tract of
fourteen acres cost the government
$5,608 and was acquired from Mrs
Louise Dunavant and R. S. Bigham.
The property is located at the inter
section of the new Dixie road and
the belt road. Eighty-six houses for
homes with a recreation center will be
constructed.
LABOR CONVENTION
As a result of the North Carolina
convention of the American Federa
tion of Labor held here this week, it
was announced that all men employed
‘ in government projects in North Car
olina hereafter will have to be mem
bers of the Federation. It was stated
that thirty to forty thousand men will
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
At their meeting Monday the coun
ty commissioners arranged for Com
missioners A. D. Cashion and J. Cald
well McDonald to investigate the Mul-
tilith printing device with the view
of deciding whether it might be used
by the county government in printing
various types of forms used by the
local government activities.
The board also received the month
ly report from the county welfare
department as presented by Nrs.
Louise 0. Neikirk. The report showed
that general relief costs in the county
were less by $181.20 in July than they
Were in June.
The general relief is that type
which is financed by Mecklenburg
county alone without any help from
the State and Federal governments.
The total for the month was $3,770.23.
The whole relief load, with Federal
and State governments participating
in the payments, was $33,325.16 for
2,281 cases. This was slightly less
than the load in June.
The report showed that 29 persons
were referred to WPA, 775 already
are working for WPA, 187 are await
ing placement on WPA. The welfare
department certified 2,811 cases as
— MORE ON PAGE FOUR
AIDING IN DEFENSE
Mrs. William Bacon of Dallas,
chairman of the state industrial com
mittee of the Federated Women’s
clubs, is planning a State-wide col
lection of old stockings to be turned
over to the government. Such hosiery,
she said, silk processors had assured
her, could be used to make gunpow
der bags. If enough stockings are
gathered, she believes, the govern
ment might release part of silk im
ports to hosiery weavers. “Of course,
I think it’s silly,” she said. “I think
gathering old aluminum teapots and
things is silly. But, then, I think war
is silly, too, so I’m going to start the
campaign.”
COFFIN AUCTIONEERS
Parties wishing to prepare for
the hereafter may, possibly, be
able to obtain some supplies by
attending an auction sale sche
duled to be held at the courthouse
at Southport at noon on August
28th. At that hour Attorney S.
B. Frink, acting for parties who
held a chattel mortgage, will sell
five adult size coffins, and five
child size coffins to the highest
bidder. There are various acces
sories to match, including every
thing from cooling tables to
grave digging implements and a
hearse for the last ride.
From the White House Thurs
day morning came the news that
the President of the United
States and the Prime Minister
of England had inet and counsled
together for two days. Long ago
the minds of Franklin D.' Roose
velt and Winston Churchill had
met and understood each other.
Being sailors both, tTiey know
that tlie destiny of the world, now
in the balance, is to be determin
ed by the combined power of the,
English-speaking nations upon
the seas. Both know full well that
this war is unfinished business.
As First Lord of the Admirality
and as Assistant Secretary of
the Navy in the other war, they
live to see themselves as the two
most important men on earth in
the struggle to sa^e the world
from a new deluge of savagery.
They plan accordingly and their
planning will not only bring them
and their two nations closer to
gether, but will be a beacon of
hope to all the world which looks
to them and their countries for
rescue and salvation. They made
the following agreement which is
to be the fire by night and the
pillow of cloud by day which
must lead the world out of bond
age:
• “First, their countries seek no
aggrandizement, territorial or
otherwise;
“Second, they desire to see no
territorial changes that do not
accord with the freely expressed
wishes of the peoples concerned;
“Third, they respect the right
of all peoples to choose the form
of government under which they
will live; and they wish to see
sovereign rights and self govern
ment restored to, those who have
been forcibly deprived of them;
“Fourth, they will endeavor,
with due respect for their existing
obligations, to further the en
joyment by all states, great or
small, victor or vanquished, of ac
cess, on equal terms, to the trade
and to the raw materials of the
world which are needed for their
economic prosperity;
'“Fifth, they desire to bring the
fullest collaboration between all
nations in the economic field with
the object of securing for all im
proved labor standards, economic
advancement and social security;
“Sixth, after the final destruc
tion of the Nazi tyranny, they
hope to see establsihed a peace
which will afford to all nations
the means of dwelling in safety
within their own boundaries, and
which will afford assurance that
ail the men in the lands may live
out their lives in freedom from
fear and want;
“Seventh, such a peace should
enable all men to traverse the
high seas and oceans without
hindrance;
“Eighth, they believe that all
of the nations of the world, for
realistic as well as spiritual rea
sons must come to the abandon
ment of the use of force. Since no
future peace can be maintained if
land, sea or air armaments con
tinue to be employed by nations
which threaten, or may threaten,
aggression outside of their fron
tiers, they believe, pending the
establishment of a wider and per
manent system of general secur
ity, that the disarmament of such
nations, is essential. They will
likewise aid and encourage all
other practicable measures which
will lighteij for peace-loving peo
ples the crushing burden of arm
aments.”
SENATOR BAILEY
SIZES TfflNGS UP
So Far There Is No Inflation
Bui Prices Will Rise Through
So Much Spending
Senator Bailey in The S'tate
I. There is much talk of price in
flation. What are the facts?
Fact No. 1 is that the purchasing
power of your dollar is still 20' per
cent above that of the Coolidge Era.
So there is as yet no currency infla
tion. In 1926 it required $1.23 to buy
what $1.03 now buys.
Fact No. 2 is that the prices are not
high. Let us take some examples, as
follows:
I. COTTON
1913
1920 1926
1941
12.50
41.50 12.16
16.00
II. WHEAT
.89
2.75 1.47
1.54
III. CORN
.50
1.49 .80
.73
IV. HOGS
7.40
14.70 11.53
11.00
V. ALUMINUM
^In 1917
it sold for 38
cents per
DEATH OF CATES
RECALLS A STORV
He Employed Red Buck To
Investigate the Iniquitit^s
of 5Wicked New York ^
THE BOSWELL OF
THE COMMUNITY
Diary Tells cf the Neighbors,
Preachers, Sermons, Deaths,
Births and Marriages
OLD BECK A RARE MULE
A hardware merchant of Maxton in
vented this valve, which kept a pump
primed. Then he invented the seive
poin,t to keep back mud, so the two
things, which he had patented, which
he had a big pump manufacturing
company make and sell, paying him
a royalty on each pump, so he soon
accumulated wealth—about $5,000
from that a ymr.
The United States has approximate
ly 21,000 pi’inting and publishing es
tablishments.
You see for yourself how little farm
prices have risen. And see what has
happened to aluminum.
Nothwithstanding all you hear, i
aluminum is selling at the lowest
price in its history. It sold at first
for $535.00 per pound. Now it sells
for 17 cents per pound. The Aluninum
Company of America has made it
abundant and reduced its price. There
is no shortage of aluminum for de
fense—the shortage ii with respect to
civil uses.
Look over these prices. Wages are
at the highest levels in history. But
prices have not reached an alarming
point. It is the steady rise that is giv
ing concern. But not until the farm
ers have caught up with the wage-
earners can a government that de
mands “parity” interfere with farm
prices. We ought to be glad that
prices to the faraaer are rising.
There is so far no inflation.
Dangerous inflation does not derive
from supply and demand, but from
irredeemable paper money and deficit
financing. And there is where the
remedy is.
Defense Industries
II. You. hear much about bottle
necks. But the I’eport of the National
Association of Manufacturers shows
that defense industries as a whole are
on schedule or ahead of schedule.
Eighty-one per cent of industries ex
pect to deliver in time — the others
not far behind.
It took time ot get the 47 billion
dollar program going. But it is going.
We spent only $1,889,000,000 last year.
This year we are spending $17,000,-
000,000. Next year we will spend
$23,000,000,000. Pretty fast! Figure
how long it will take to pay it back!
Figure how long it would take to
throw it away, throwing 100 dollars
per minute. Figure how long it would
take you to earn it—earning $100,-
000.00 a ye^r net.
Of course prices will rise after such
extraordinary spending of irredeem
able paper money. The question is what
will money be worth unless it is made
worth something.
Airplane Industry
III. You-, hear a good deal about
aii'plane accidents. .What are the
f&cts ?
1940: Miles flown 108,800,436. pas
sengers carried 2,959,408; total pas
senger accidents 3; unmber of pas-
— MORE ON PAGE TWO
By H. E. C. (RED BUCK) BRYANT
The death of Banks Cates in Char
lotte, at the age of 58, makes me sad.
He was a fine fellow, and he worked
up from the bottom, a good citizen,
and a helpful one. I had an experi-/
ence with him that I think I should
write about.
Twenty odd years ago the old New i
York World gave me th^ strangest j
assignment I ever had. I was asked
to go to New York City, as a business
man from the South, and go through
some gambling dens for a series of
stories to show that such outfits were
flourishing there. City authorities had
denied the existence of big-shot gam
blers, and gambling houses. I was to
devote a month to the enterprise, and
spend all the money necessary to ach
ieve desired results. Two assistants
were to be provided, one of whom was
to see that I got. in places suspected
of being betting establishments, and
the other was to stick by me. In ad
dition I had to get some one in North
Carolina to employ me. Banks Cates
cooperated with me, and did it beauti
fully. He was a friend in need.
In the Dens of Iniquity
What liappened is another story, and
some day I may tell it, but the time is
not ripe. I stoped at the old Knicker
bocker hotel and worked out from
there.
Another man who helped me on that
job was the late Eli B. Springs, one
time mayor of Charlotte. He vouched
for me, and Banks Cates sent wires in
structing me to see this and that per
son. I literally lost money in one of
the “gilded dens of iniquity.”
- The turning of a roulette wheel had
never interested me, and I soon found
that I was not born or bred to make
nioney by means of it or like para
phernalia.
Banks Cates never came to New
York while I was there but he printed
and sent to me calling cards, and
wrote letters and sent telegrams tell
ing me that my orders were just what
he Wanted.
Got Enough of New York
That month was as much of New
York life as I needed to keep me. away
from the big city the rest of my days.
In asking me to take the task my
boss, a real friend of mine for many
years, wrote me: “I warn you in ad
vance that this is going to be a funny
letter, but it is really a very import
ant one.
“Several big gambling houses are
running in New York City. Now I
am very anxious to show up these fel
lows. I am working with a man who
is confident that he can get a man in
several of these places but he lays
great stress on the fact that the man
for whom he can secure entrance must
not be a r{ian who is known in the city.
He says it must be a stranger from
outside. Now, you have occured to
me as being about the ideal candidate,
but let me say at the beginning that it
will not affect your standing with the
paper or with me at all if you do not
wish to undertake the assignment. I
believe thoroughly you will be success
ful, and if successful, I am sure the
paper will show appreciation."
Learned About Roulette
“What I want is four or five articles
pointing out the fact that the World!
(By H. E. C. (RED BUCK) BRYANT
Horse swapping was a favorite pas
time or business of Providence town
ship farmers sixty odd years ago.
Captain Ardrey frequently referred
to trades. I was interested in a note
that said “Sold Beck mule to Mr. Bry
ant (my father) for $100.”
Now if that was the Beck I knew slie
had aged a good bit before I had any
thing to do with her. The purchase
was made in July, 1872, and I was not
born until January 3 of the following
year. A Beck taught me to plow, and
and 1 really suspect it was the one that
came from the Ardrey place. At the
tender age of ten I was given a mule
and a plow, and told to break some
land in the orchard field. Father sat
on the front porch and watched me as
long as he could stand it, and then he
came out to tell me that Beck knew
more about plowing than I did. I told
him she wanted to go on the wrong side
of every tree or stump, and he retorted
that she was right and I was wrong,
and added that he would be satisfied if
I would just follow her about the trees,
and from that time on I did.
The Beck I have in mind was blind
in one eye, had queer notions about
her ears, but could pull a two-horse
plow hour after hour, and was mighty
at the wheel of a wagon. Father had a
bridle made to order for her, and she
wore it day and night, month after
month, minus the bits. She did not
allow anyone to touch her ears. Once
when my brother Victor was har
vesting wheat for Mr. J. P. Doster,
he forgot to tell Will Ross, the Negro
who gave Beck her lunch, that he
should leave her headstall on. Will
stripped it off, and complained that
she was right foolish about her head.
The last time she had been bridled it
required the services of five men for
the job.
“You will have to catch her,” Victor
told Will, a powerful fellow.
Prof. Shropshire on Hand
W^'ill entered the stall, and shut the
door behind him. Soon a noise like
thunder came through the cracks.
Soon Will led Beck out, properly bri
dled,. and no questions were asked but
his knuckles were sore for days.
March 1873, no day given. Captain
Ardrey said:. “Very cold. Teaching
school. Great excitement over Prof.
Shropshire’s writing ahd arithmetic
school; short system of arithmetic
and thorough penmanship in ten days.
He taught a school at Providence, an
other at Harrison’s and one at Parks’
School House.”
I have tried to get information
about a school house site, just north
of our old home place, owned for
years by my mother’s father, Moses
Allen Parks, but no one now living
seems able to throw light on it. I
think Captain Ardrey’s reference to
Parks’ School House is to the phe at
that place.
My mother told me that the ances
tors of the Kuykendalls of Providence
came there as teachers. My recollec
tion is that the grandfather of Mr.
Banks Kuykendall taught the school
I refer to.
Providence township, now almost
Unanimously Democratic, went Radi
cal by five votes in 1872.
Was Not Hide-Bound
In writing his daily items Captain
Ardrey neglected no one, and nothing
of interest, and he had much comp
any. His opportunities for gathering
news were excellent.
May 8, 1873, he said: “Mr. Tommie
Ross very sick with fever,” and May
30, “Aunt Jane Houston with us.”
June 12: “Crops very grassy; impos
sible to hire hands.” “Some crops run
off with grass.” “Harvesting my
wheat, not good; running three
cradles, George, Lee and Horace.”
August 1st; “Rev. J. P. Simpson
and myself went down to the district
conference at Monroe, and by the
request of the family, I was assigned
j to Cousin Hugh Houston’s; my new
[ relations very kind. ' .
“Rev. W. S. Black, presiding elder,
presided over the conference, the de
liberations very instructive and inter
esting, and characterized by Chris
tian harmony. I met many old friends
and formed many new and pleasant
friendships. '
“Preaching Wednesday night, open
ing sermon by Rev. J. S. Nelson, from
Mount Pleasant church, subject from
Matthew 20th chapter and 6th verse,
‘Why Stand Ye Here Idle All the
Day?’
“Thursday, 11 a. m., sermon by
Rev. J. P. Simpson, of the Pineville
circuit, subject from the 51st Psalm.
That night, Rev. W. V. Sherrill,
Wadesboro, John 6th chapter and 12th
verse, ‘I Would See Jesus’; Friday,
Rev. Mr. Sanford, Romans 8th chap
ter and 28th verse, ‘To Them Who
Are Called According to His Pur
pose,’ that night, Rev. L. S. Burhead,
Charlotte, ‘Temperance’; Saturday,
addresses by the Revs. B. B. Cul-
breth, agent for Trinity College; Rev.
Mr. Davenport, a deep 'thinker and
ab^e speaker, Rev, J. B. Babbitt, edi
tor of the C^hristian Advocate, Rev.
Mr. Robey, presiding.
“Sunday morning. Rev. B. B. Cul-
breth, and Sunday night. Rev. Mr.
Robey.”
Captain Ardrey seldom missed a
man has gone into these places, and! conference or other important church
MORE ON rOGE THREE J MORE ON PAGE FOUR