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Entered at Post Office. Franklin, N. C., as second class matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Press
Franklin, N. C. Telephone 24
WEIMAR JONES Editor
BOB S. SLOAN Business Manager
J. P. BRADY News Editor
MRS. ALLEN SILER Society Editor and Office Manager
MRS. MARION BRYSON Proof reader
CARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent
FRANK A. STARRETTE Shop Superintendent
DAVID H. SUTTON Commercial Printer
Q. E. CRAWFORD Stereotyper
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SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Outside Macon Countt Inside Macon County
One Year $3.00 One Year $2.50
Six Months 1.79 Six Months 1.79
Three Months 1.00 Three Months ..... 1.00
OCTOBER 20, 1955
Everybody, Together
To say that Saturday night's "Harvest Sale" at
the Franklin School was a success is something of
an under-statement, because "success" usually is
thought of as something that can be measured ?
such as amount of money raised.
The sale was a money-raising event, it is true ;
but that was perhaps its least important phase.
Much more significant were the fact that so many
people donated articles to be auctioned, and the
way people from many sections gfot together for an
evening of fun.
As B. L. McGlamery, president of the sponsoring
Franklin P. T. A., pointed out: This was everybody
working together, through their P. T. A., for their
school. It should be added that it would be hard to
give too much credit to Mrs.. Frank M. Killian and
her committee members.
Dear Teacher
(The nation-wide discussion, just at this time, of the
problems of present-day education, and of what we
should expect from our schools, seems to make this piece
even more timely now than when it first appeared ? in
The Press of October I, 195S. ? The Editor.)
Dear Teacher:
The other day our six-year old Billy trotted off
to school.
His mother and I watched until he was out of
sight. We had thought he would turn and wave, at
the corner, and give us that quick, easy smile of his.
But he was too intent, too eager for this new expe
rience; he rounded the corner without even hesi
tating . . .
For his mother, that was a bit too much. She had
known all the time, of course, that this would end
his babyhood. But she wasn't prepared for the
break to come so abruptly, and with such finality ?
least of all, for him to be the one to make it.
There was pain for me, too ? but for a different
reason. Mine was caused by a heart fairly bursting
with pride. To me, this marked the beginning of the
growth of a man ; and the fact the boy didn't think
to stop and bid us that final goodbye was evidence
he'd be a man who could and would stand alone.
But though our reactions were so different, his
mother and I are in complete agreement about
what we hope he will learn. We do not expect you
to perform miracles. We realize that, at most, you
can develop the material that comes to you ; that
what you are able to do will depend upon what we
already have done ? or failed to do.
We know, too, that our responsibilities are not
over ? far from it ! But we believe we, and you,
should face the facts: from here on out, our in
fluence on him will become less and less strong,
while yours will grow greater and greater.
And so, as you begin to take over, it seems an
appropriate time to tell you what we should like to
have him taught. .
* jk *
We hope you can teach him to read.
"That is easy", some persons might say. You
know better; you realize, as perhaps no one else
does, how many boys and girls are graduated from
high school without ever having learned to read, in
the full sense of that word.
First of all, of course, we want him to learn to
read accurately; to see and to take note of the
"nots" and the "buts" and the "ifs" that make all
the difference in the meaning of what is on the
printed page. We hope, too, that he can learn to
read aloud, with ease and grace.
Rut reading, it seems to us, is more than just
seeing all the words, and being able to pronounce
them. The good reader reads with his mind, the
eyes serving simply as a tool; the words on the
printed page come alive as they send ideas to his
brain. And the really good reader screens those
ideas; examines them^tests them, and accepts some
as true, rejects others as false, and puts still others
in the doubtful category. In short, when he reads,
he thinks.
Words can convey pictures, too; pictures far
more vivid than any photograph or drawing, be
cause they are mental images, pictures painted on
his mind by his own experiences. As Billy learns
really to read, not simply parrot words, such simple
words as "moonlight" and "water" and "wind" will
bring back to him a night of inexpressible beauty,
the lulling sound of a stream rushing over rocks,
the sense of safety and comfort he has felt as he
slipped off to sleep in his warm bed, while the
winter wind howled outside.
From these simple emotions, he can go on, as he
learns to read even better, to laughter and tears,
love and hate, admiration and contempt, sympathy
and courage ? and the awakening of aspiration.
And so reading can become not only a source of
comfort in time of loneliness ? it can feed mind and
heart and character; it is a way to acquire those
inner resources and strength that are the only real
armor against life's buffetings.
T T T
We hope you can teach him to write.
We hope, of course, he will learn to write more
legibly than most of us of an older generation ; but
writing, it seems to us, is more than just putting on
paper alphabetical symbols that are recognizable.
Its purpose is to express ideas and emotions ; and
it is useless unless they are so expressed that what
is written will mean something to others. And so
we hope Billy will learn not merely to write legibly
and grammatically, but learn to have something to
say, and to know how to use words to say it.
If reading has stirred his mind and his imagina
tion and his feelings, he will have something he
wants to say, but he can say it only as he learns
about words ? that they have exact meanings, each
a little different from all the others; and that, in
addition, words have backgrounds and personalities
and atmosphere like places and people.
So, if he is to write, he must learn the habit of
studying words, his tool for saying what he has to
say. He must learn, too, that all good writing is
clear and simple, like all good people.
Finally, if he is to write so that what he writes
will be accepted and welcomed by others, he must
learn to say it with the warmth of human sympathy
and with the tolerance that comes from a recogni
tion that his experiences and those of the one he is
writing to have been different.
? * ?
Last, but far from least, we hope you can teach
him to figure.
He needs to learn to add and subtract and multi
ply, of course ; and to do those things accurately.
But figuring, it seems to us, is more than just addi
tion and subtraction and multiplication.
Life is hard, at best ; it will be very hard for the
youngsters who are growing up in today's confused
and confusing world. And they can take the beat
ings it will give them ? and the-even-harder-to-take
ease and good fortune ? with an unbroken spirit
only if they have learned this hard but simple les
son:
Two and two make four.
They never make three or five, but always four.
In short, figuring can make him wise enough to
know that .some things cannot be changed, and hon
est enough with himself to see things as they are,
not as he might wish them to be.
If you can teach him these three ? what it really
means to read and to write and to figure ? we think
he will be educated; because if he learns how really
to do these things, he will be a man.
Respectfully,
Billy's Dad.
Others' Opinions
G. G. Page
(Sylva Herald)
In the sudden passing of George G. Page, division engineer
for the 14th Highway Division, his home, his community and
his state have suffered a deep loss. As a loving husband and
father, a loyal citizen and an outstanding engineer and high
way builder, George G. Page will be greatly missed.
Since coming to Sylva just a few years ago he made a host
of friends and entered Into the activities of the community,
There's been a lot said and written about "The General", the star locomotive of Disney's
movie, but there's another worthy of just as much attention. It's a puffer that plays not one, but
two roles in the train chase. When it's going forward it's the "W.m. R. Smith" and in reverse
"The Texas", the two engines used by the Confederates to chade "The General".
together with Mrs. Page and their daughter, Mary, contribut
ing much to the social, religious and civic welfare of the area.
Mr. Page was highly regarded by the heads of the North
Carolina Highway Commission as an outstanding and loyal
engineer and employee. A. H. Graham, state highway com
missioner, characterized Mr. Page "as one of the commission's
finest division engineers. Loss of his services will be deeply felt
by all who knew and worked with him."
Mr. Page was deeply interested in the highway program of
his 14th Division, and was sincerely striving to build as many
miles of good roads as money available would permit. He did
not believe in scattering* the state's road money on a hit or
miss plan, but rattier advocate^ the building of better roads
on a long range, forward-looking plan. The 14th Division has
lost a good road builder and the community a good citizen.
? Letters
'Confirms High Opinion'
Editor, The Press:
Inclosed find check for $3, for which please renew our sub
scription.
We would like also at this time to praise the intelligence
and lack of prejudice shown both in your own editorials and
in those you have chosen to reprint from other papers.
It confirms our high opinion of Franklin, and confirms us,
too, in our wish to some day become citizens of Franklin ? not
by birth but by choice.
ISABEL and CLIFF SWETT.
Algonquin, IU.
Mr. Deane Elaborates
Editor, The Press:
Here is an elaboration on my first letter concerning segre
gation:
As members of the white race the American male is a fail
ure. He does nothing to protect the lntegrety of his race. He
even lets down all the bars by laws and church decree. Ap
parently he cares nothing about the future in vital matters
profoundly affecting his descendants. In such matters he can
be blind as the mole and stupid as the ancient and now ex
tinct dodo bird.
In Just a few more generations the white race in these
U. S. will be just as extinct as this bird. There will be few if
(See Back Page, 1st Section)
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONES
In from the farms they no
longer can tend, down from
the creeks, they came . . the
halt, the lame, and the blind ?
yes, and of course the deaf; as
well as those who still can
boast faculties and limbs little
impaired. Came to Franklin for
their annual "Fellowship Hour",
these men and women burden
ed with years, but still young
in heart.
And Sunday afternoon the
youthful heart was in the as
cendant; forgotten were the
years and the infirmities. For
them it was a gay, a long-look
ed-forward-to time. An after
noon of pleasant competitions
and little jokes, of renewing
acquaintance with those who
had been childhood playmates
or even sweethearts . . . back
so long a time ago; and most
of all, a time of singing to
gether.
How it must have taken thejn
back, singing those old hymns:
a few of them can remember
the grim days at the end of
the Civil War, and many the
seventies, that period of bitter
poverty, when, here in the
mountains, even the tiniest bit
of string must be saved against
the inevitable rainy day.
Back, too, the simple pleas
ures of an era that, In terms
of change, seems centuries
away. To the reverberating har
mony of congregational sing
ing at the not-so-regular church
services, and to Sunday after
noons gathered around the pi
ano ... a pleasure interrupted
all too soon by the necessity of
doing farm chores "before
night".
. * ? ?
The day brought its disap
pointments, of course.
It must have been a disap
pointment to her, as it was to
her white and colored friends,
that "Aunt Nan" Ray, 94, could
not be present. Missed, too, vas
Mrs. Mary Lyle Waldroop, who
had been counted on to com
pete in the piano solo com
petition. Only Mrs. Lee Craw
ford, 91, tripping down the aisle
to play "Sweet Bye and Bye",
with variations, played. How
they applauded! . . . cheered
the youth of her nimble fingers
quite as much as the loved old
hymn.
And surely there were disap
pointments in the competitions
for the largest number of de
scendants. To the elderly, that's
a matter of great pride; it is
his great contribution to the
stream of civilization and of
life.
Proudly Mr. Vance DeHart
announced, his more than 20
grandchildren and great-grand
children. But Mr. George Par
rish had him beaten by three or
four. Since the prize for the
oldest man present went to Mr.
Parrish, though, the descen
dants' prize was awarded to the
runner-up.
Somehow, though, the men
seemed to be pikers, compared
to the women, when it came to
descendants! Mrs. J. S. Sloan
listed 53 . . . surely that must
be a record. But no! Mrs. C. L.
Garner, though only 81, had
69!
* ? *
How they sang! And some
how, as the room was filled
with the melody of the old
hymns, the younger persons
present, there to "help", found
they could not sing. The print
ed words on the page strangely
blurred, and the throat con
tracted.
That "lump in the throat" ?
why was It so like the one that
comes, unbidden, sometimes as
adults watch the stumbling ef
forts of youth?
It must be the courage . . .
the daring of the human spirit.
The bravery of ignorance. In
youth; and the courage that is
still unbroken, after all the buf
fetings of life ? and who isn't
buffeted by life In 70 or 80 or
90 years! Knocked flat by life,
time after time, they always
have risen and moved on again.
And yet, with their days num
bered, they still blithely look
ahead.
It Is that looking forward,
surely, that has kept them
"young In heart". And it Is
that youthfulness despite the
years that stirs those who are
younger . . . and puts their own
courage to shame.
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward throafh
the files of The Press)
50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Last week's cold snap brought
out from hiding places many '
old stoves and some new ones,
and created a lively demand for
stove wood.
The first frost made Its ap
pearance Friday morning and
there was no uncertainty about
it, for It was thick and plenty.
The thermometer was down to
freezing (32 deg.) at sunrise.
?Mr. Ous Leach, of Toxaway,
spent last week with relatives
here.
* 25 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Frank Siler, of Lake
Junaluska, has been spending
several days here with relatives.
Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Fouts at
tended the Tenth District Med
ical meeting in Murphy last
Wednesday.
Mr. R. R. Weaver and family,
of Parsonburg, Md., have been
visiting relatives and friends
here for several days.
10 YEARS AGO
Mrs. George B. Patton, of
Raleigh, formerly of Franklin,
has been appointed to serve! on
the state-wide reception oom
mittee for the get-together
meeting of the State Senate in
Statesville on November 1 and
2, at which time President Har
ry S. Trum&n, Secretary of the
Treasury Fred M. Vinson, and
Secretary of War Robert B.
Patterson, will address the
members of the N. C. State
Senate and general public.
Miss Thelma Howell and Miss
Alice Bickwell, of the botany
department at Wesleyan Col
lege, Macon, Ga., were week
end guests of Mrs. Clark Howell
at "The Chalet", her summer
home at the country club. ?
Highlands item.