Page Two
Down with Br'er Rabbit!
We had occasion during the Christmas holidays to
read a few comic books to our children, they having re
ceived several as gifts and we having more time on our
hands than usual. Generally we can plead pressing busi
ness at the print shop when time to read the comic sheets,
and the job falls on the lady of the house; but we just
couldn’t get out of it this time.
Not being the type to muff a chance to kill two birds
with one stone, we did a little research on the side as
to whether these comic books constitute the menace to the
welfare of our youth that many of our twentieth century
Jeremiahs declare them to be.
We read a Gene Autry comic book; there was noth
ing there calculated to lower morality among seven-year
olds. We read a Roy Rogers book; that was pure as the
virgin snow. We read a Donald Duck funnybook about a
run-in with a witch who wanted to deprive the world of
Christmas trees the witch met humiliating defeat.
Then we started in on Bat Man and Superman. We fail
ed to find therein evidence of either immorality or amoral
ity right always triumphed, the villain always lost. The
only disturbing factor was the inefficiency with which some
of agencies for good operated, and that is too true to
life not to be disturbing.
Finally we found a definitely wicked character. He
plotted to steal, and he never got caught. He played all
sorts of pranks on his neighbors, and always got the best
end of the bargain. This terrible creature is Br’er Rabbit.
Some would-be uplifter is missing a good bet by not lam
basting the publisher of the comic books based on the Joel
Chandler Harris stores.
At least such an anti-Br’er Rabbit campaign would
get publicity for the reformer and therein lies a major
reason for such grave and sudden concern for the morals
of our grammar school boys and girls.
t
The Scouting Spirit
Picture, if you will, a group of healthy, strong
lunged Scouts getting up and walking out on a close and
yet undecided football game.
It happened.
It was near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the
midst of the Carolina-Texas game. When the public ad
dress system paged their Scout leader, the twenty-seven
Scouts in the stadium cocked one ear, but kept both eyes
on the game. A few minutes later, when one Scout ran
down each side of the playing field, signaling assembly,
twenty-seven khaki uniforms poured out of the stands.
A few hundred yards from the stadium a fierce for
est fire was raging, fanned by a brisk October wind.
Back in Chapel Hill, firemen fumed in frustration; a
town ordinance forbade them taking fire-fighting appara
tus beyond town limits. The Scouts rushed to the scene,
and in one long blistering hour of feverish work, brought
the fire under control. When the county fire warden ar
rived with two crewmen and handpumps, they made short
work of snuffing out the blaze. Three Scouts remained to
patrol the area for three hours to guard against the fire
re-kindling.
—Scouting Magazine
Publicity for Town Affairs
The town level of government is the seat of democracy.
Your representative in Washington is not held to account
like your representative here. If something goes wrong
in Washington, it’s “in spite of all the fine work by our
sterling representative.” If something goes wrong in the
home town, the citizen knows and sees the councilman,
and declares it’s “because of the stupidity of our council
man.”
An unenlightened public is an antagonistic public.
Citizens are ready to fight until they learn the full facts.
Then, the same pent up energy is ready to co-operate to the
fullest.
To give the public the facts, ALL the facts —on time
and while the facts are in the making instead of after the
deal is closed that is the job of town officials and the
press. That is the town-press-citizen relation.
The city officials’ job is to keep discussion in the
open it's the citizen’s discussion, his money, and his
city. It is the job of the reporter to break up secret meet
ings if the vicious habit is allowed to begin. He can do
this by brazenly going into a meeting and being ordered out
reporting the whole procedure, or he can note in story
each closed meeting held. After a while the wear and tear
is enough to force open meetings.
—Marvin Sykes
The Zebulon Record
Bli: 'as. CONSTINtt*
Sunday School Lesson
During the next six months we
shall study the life of Christ. The
first quarter of 1948 brings us the
early life of the Savior, and the
second quarter’s lessons include
primarily the ministry of Jesus.
Next Sunday we study selections
of scripture from Galatians, Luke,
and Matthew, these selections be
ing made with intention of pre
senting to us a picture of the world
Jesus lived in.
Paul, in his letter to the Gala
tians, tells us that the time was
ripe for the coming of the Son of
Man: “But when the fullness of
time was come, God sent forth
his Son.”
Apparently the time was differ
ent from other periods spiritually
only; the tax situation certainly
was no different. Luke tells us
of the decree of Caesar requiring
each citizen of Palestine to go
to his native city for registration.
Joseph and Mary went up from
Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Je
sus was born.
Their housing problems were
similar to ours. Because there was
no room in the inn (perhaps Jo
seph, being poor, had no influence
in obtaining housing another
circumstance similar to our time),
the child was born in the manger.
Luke then tells us of the rulers
of the Holy Land; there was
Pontius Pilate, the Roman govern
or, apparently an efficient official,
but inclined to try to maintain ap
pearance and prevent domestic
discord. Herod was the corrupt
tetrarch of Galilee.
Seen and Heard
Vance Brown says that doing
business without advertising is like
winking at a pretty girl in the
dark. You know what you’re do
ing, but nobody else does.
Checking through some old Rec
ord files, we found the follow
ing from Rev. J. W. Bradley, pas
tor of the local Methodist Church,
written ten years ago:
“Be sure to come to church Sun
day. We want 175 for Sunday
School, and then we want them
to stay for church. Don’t drive
40 miles away to see a third cous
in who is threatened with a bad
cold, and then say you were vis
iting the sick. I shall try to tell
you how to make a good invest
ment.”
Matthew tells us in the portion
of the scripture taken from the
gospel bearing his name of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, the
two principal sects which domi
nated Jewish religious action and
thought.
Against the secular forces of
laissez-faire and maintenance of
“business as usual” and against
the pseudo-religious forces of hy
pocrisy and prudery, Jesus Christ
fought His magnificent battle. He
confounded His critics but He
forgave His enemies. He tri
umphed over every known physi
cal factor including pain and
death, but in His victory He show
ed mercy.
We are inclined to think heroism
is reserved for heroic times
but the longer we live, the more
heroism we find in every-day life,
the less on the battlefield.
Jesus of Nazareth lived in an
era scarcely more unsettled or less
peaceful than our own. Indeed
the Savior lived in an era often
described as “golden” by compe
tent historians. In prosperous
times such as His, it was hard l
indeed to speak out against cor
ruption and immorality.
So we find our life today. Pros
perity has deafened our ears to
the prophets of the Lord, whether
they be ministers or politicians.
Let us pray for the every-day
courage necessary for the salva
tion of our world, even as Christ
prayed for the strength to ignite
the fire of love in Jew and Gen
tile in His ministry.
The same issue of the Record
duly chronicles the birth of twin
bears at Avon Privette’s filling
station.
Since we began to take what
might be regarded as more than
average interest in politics, we
have been recipients of a great
deal of advice —a lot of it good
advice from older and abler pol
iticians. One of them was discuss
ing a third party with us the other
day.
“He used to be mighty energet
ic,” our friend declared. “For
years he chased around like mad
trying to get a political job.”
“What does he do now?” we
asked.
“Nothing. He got the job.”
Friday, December 31, 1948
Farm Home Hints
(Editor’s Note: This week’s
column, offering hints on frozen
foods, was prepared by Miss Nita
Orr, State College Extension
economist in food conservation
and marketing.)
Boiled custard and cocoanut
cake, fruit cake, plum pudding,
and mince meat pie are moving
over and making room for fresh
fruit desserts on American tables
for holiday seasons. This change
in pattern is due to the widespread
use of frozen fruits. The ease of
preparation, the convenience of
use along with good color and
fresh flavor makes these desserts
favorites. Unheard of in grand
mother’s day as a winter dessert,
strawberry shortcake has made a
place for itself from one fresh
season to the next. Clean, capped,
sliced, sweetened and ready to use,
the red strawberry is a welcome
sight to the hungry family. Other
fruits that make good shortcakes
are peaches, blackberries, and
rhubarb. Though seldom used,
mixed fruits make good short
cakes, too. Frozen soybean top
ping is giving cream some compe
tition to be used on shortcake. It
keeps well. It can be stored in
the refrigerator, if some is left
over, and rewhipped for use an
other time. Home economists
whisper to each other, “If I didn’t
know the difference I could not
tell it isn’t cream.’’
The persimmon is coming into
the year-round eating picture.
The small, native persimmon and
the large, cultivated one both
freeze well and can be used many
ways. Varieties that are not
stringy should be selected for
freezing. They are usually froz
en in the form of puree with one
part of sugar added to five parts
of puree. The frozen puree may
be used all during the year as a
flavor base for ice cream or sher
bet, as a frozen dessert, as top
ping for various desserts, or to
use in persimmon pudding. The
gay color and rare flavor of the
persimmon make it a popular des
sert.
The use of these fresh, color
ful, tasty frozen fruits is becom
ing widespread in North Caroli
na. Many a farmer sits down on
a cold winter day with his feet
under a table that is loaded with
home-grown spring and summer
foods.
' Farm Facts
A campaign has been started by
seven agricultural agencies to get
450,000 tree seedlings planted in
Union County during the 1948-49
planting season.
Negro farmers of the Sunburry
community, Gates County, have
bought and raised more than 2,000
chickens during the year.
The National Dairy Council will
hold its 34th annual meeting in
Winston-Salem next month. About
600 dairy industry executives from
coast to coast are expected to at
tend.
The net income of North Caro
lina farmers is expected to show
a decline in 1948 as compared with
1947. The decline is due mainly to
greatly increased production costs.
Farm f : re losses throughout the
nation will run as high as $300,000
per day during the Christmas holi
day season unless steps are taken
to reduce the fire threat, says the
Fire Protection Institute.
The Zebulon Record
Ferd Davis Editor
Barrie Davis Publisher
Subscription rate: $1.50 a year.
Advertising rates on request. En
tered as second class matter June
26, 1925, at the post office at Zeb
ulon, North Carolina, under the
act of March 3, 1879.