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Swallowing Poison?
Nine thousand scientists from many nations have
presented a petition to the United Nations, urging
East and West to discontinue nuclear bomb tests,
as endangering the life and health not only of the
world's population today, but of generations yet
unborn.
They doubt it is possible to create a "clean"
bomb ? that is, one without danger from radioac
tivity.
While soine eminent scientists disagree with that
view, in general the official U. S. attitude seems
to be a defeatist one ? whatever the danger from
the bomb tests, we cannot afford to stop them.
That is a little like a man taking a dose of poison
because someone, pointing a gun at him, orders him
to commit suicide.
Mirrors Our Growth
How Macon County is growing! Drive along
any highway or county ,road, and you see neat,
modern homes around every turn.
And last week that visual evidence of the growth
and development of this county was confirmed by
some dollars-and-cents figures that came from the
Macon County Building and Loan Association.
At the end of 1956, that organization's assets
were just over the million dollar mark. Last year
saw them increase by more than a quarter of a mil
lion dollars ? an increase of a fourth in 12 months.
During 1957, the number of stockholders grew
from 703 to 805.
And 182 loans, totaling close to half a million
dollars, were made during the year.
Those figures are significant to the entire Ma
con County community. Because the assets of the
Building and Loan represent the savings of people
here; and the money is loaned on Macon County
property ? chiefly homes.
No organization, perhaps, is more "part and
parcel" of Macon County, and so its growth mir
rorii the^ growth and development of this county.
Cheese And Music
Most tastes are cultivated. If we aren't accus
tomed to a thing, the chances are we won't like it,
right at first. But if we keep trying it, we soon
find it's good.
The perfect example is cheese. Almost anybody,
the first time he takes a bite of the "high-powered"
cheese, is likely to make a face ; the stuff, he'll tell
you, almost takes your breath away. But if he
keeps nibbling on these strong cheeses, he soon
finds he likes them. He finds, too, that the milder
kinds he's been eating seem insipid by compari
son.
Much the same thing is true of good music. Good
music, incidentally, is not necessarily either heavy
or dull ; it may be light and tuneful. For good music
is simply the music that lasts? music that contin
ues, over the years, to bring pleasure to the hearer ;
as contrasted with the tune that is here today, for
gotten tomorrow.
Most of the people who say they don't like good
music really don't know. They are like the fellow .
who held his nose the first time he tasted a strong
cheese ? and never would try it again. It's all a
question of what we are accustomed to.
The Franklin Music Study Club and Station
WFSC, therefore, are doing a public service by
presenting an hour of good music each Sunday
evening from 9 to 10. They are giving the public
an opportunity to learn something they probably
will like immensely, once they get used to it.
Unlike the mild cheese, popular music will con
tinue popular ? heaven forbid that it should be
lost ! But when people learn to enjoy two kinds of
music, instead of just one, they have thereby added
to their capacity for enjoyment.
J
Our Best Bow
Quiet, demure, lady-like.
That was what the girl of yesterday tried to be.
Both that period and the old-fashioned girl it
produced are gone. If you doubt it, just have a look
at today's girl on a basketball court. Just have a
look, in particular, at Franklin High School's cham
pion girls' squad.
And so what? Should we bewail the passing of
the virtues of another age? We don't think so. For,
while we think today's girl might learn some worth
while things from her grandmother, we'd be the
last to go back to the "good old days" for, in our
opinion, today's girl is miles ahead of her grand
mother at the same age. She's intelligent, she's
poised, and she's able to take care of herself in a
tough world.
And so, whatever her faults ? and she has them ?
we take our hat off to the modern girl ? and to
Franklin'* basketball winners in particular.
"I'll String Along With You"
Strictly Personal < rtEIMAR jones
At last Thursday night's Rotary
Club ladies' night program, Frank
lin Rotarians and their Rotary
Anns had the pleasure of seeing
the Smoky Mountain Cloggers,
Macon County's prize square
dance team, in action.
After watching them, it was
easy to understand why the group
has been selected to appear on
the Ed Sullivan television pro
gram March 2.
The reason is revealed even
more by their faces than by their
feet. For these youngsters not only
can square dance; they show that
they dance for the love of it.
There is a remarkable absence
of professionalism, no straining
effort at effect. While they no
doubt were pleased by the big
hand they got from their Rotary
audience, it was obvious that.
'FEW WORDS
A Thought
for
Today
(From yesterday'* talk by the
editor on The Press' weekly
12:25 p.m. Wednesday program,
"A Thought for Today", over
Station WFSC).
Josh Billings said It:
'I don't care how much a man
talks, it he only says it in a few
words."
Beneath its chuckle, that re
mark, like all genuine humor,
contains a lot of good sense. And,
also like all genuine humor, it
deals with a common experience.
For all of us feel "hat way ?
we don't care how much a man
talks, If he only says It in a few
words.
The trouble Is, most of us are
Inclined to use many words . . .
to say little or nothing. You know
people like that. They wander on
and on; their tongues are never
Idle. Either they go all around
a subject without ever getting
down to the heart of the matter,
or they leap from topic to topic
so fast they leave us dizzy.
Anybody can do that. But to
say something, and say it In a
ftw words, takes thought. Wood
row Wilson once illustrated that
He said he could deliver an hour's
speech, Impromptu; to make a
30-mlnute speech, he'd have to
have a little notice; but If he were
to talk only IS minutes, he'd
need a month to prepare it.
You're already thinking to your
self: If a man has nothing to
say, he'd do well to keep his
mouth shut. That's right, of
course. But doesn't all this suggest
something positive, too? For If
we are to be good company, we
should have something to say,
and be able to say It In a few
words ? that is, say it well. To
do that, we need to keep our
minds open and active; to think
things through, so we can say
what we have to say In a few
words.
?
For others feel toward you and
me Just as we do toward them:
They don't care how much we
talk, If we only say It In a few
words.
primarily, they were dancing for
fun.
That, undoubtedly, is what ap
pealed to thff talent scouts, and
it will be that that will strike
the TV audience as something re
freshingly different.
? ? ?
We here in Macon County don't
know how fortunate we are.
We are fortunate in many ways,
even our weather.
Because while this week we have
shivered in the cold and been
inconvenienced by snow and icy
highways, there has been little
real hardship. Compare that with
conditions elsewhere, notably Flor
ida.
The situation there is described
by J. Landon Hickson, .of Home
stead, who spends his summers at
his home oh Lakey Creek Road,
just off the Bryson City highway.
In a letter, dated February 10,
to Ted Reber, he writes:
"No doubt, you nave heard of
the freeze we had here last week.
It surely Is discouraging to see
the crops end trees that are uin
ed. A lot of the groves and trees
will take at least five years to get
back where they were.
"I suppose the freeze here hurt
us as much as the one upstate In
December. Bread lines in Home
stead and other farming towns
around "the Lake", jobs hard to
find.
"They expect 250,000 head of
cattle to die of starvation upstate
because all the grass was killed,
and no hay. Tourist season less
than half of normal."
Billy Arthur's piece on this page
about the vanishing spittoon re
calls one of the many stories
about Walt Scruggs.
In his day, Walt probably was
the most widely quoted Negro
Macon ever produced ? possibly
the most widely quoted Maconian
of any race. For he had his own
inimitable way of expressing him
self, and no matter how unusual
his expression, or how badly he
misused a word, nobody ever had
any doubt about exactly what ha
meant.
He gardened for many Franklin
families, and each family had its
own pet Walt Scruggs, quotation.
This one was told by the late Mrs.
Alice Robinson, who lived in
"Dixie Hall," the big Main Street
home just west of the courthouse.
Walt took care of Mrs. Robin
son's flowers, and one day he
knocked at the back door to in
quire: ?
"While I'm here, Miss Alice, did
you want me to hoe out them spit
toonias?"
? * *
In a restaurant here the other
day, several men were joshing,
over their coffee, about good and
bad family providers. Each claim
ed to be a first-rate provider, but
expressed doubt about the others
in the group.
And, characteristic of such fun
poking sessions in the mountains
there was never a trace of a smile.
To one man's boast about how
good he was to his family, some
one retorted:
"Aw. I bet your wife don't even
have firewood for the kitchen
stove."
"Well, you're wrong. It's right
there In the Jrard." Then, with the
merest hint of a twinkle In hlf
eye: "All she has to do is chop II
up and carry it in."
Letters
De-emphasize Athletics
Editor, The Press:
The Better School* Oommiitee sound* good. At the risk of
precipitating a family row, I wish to say I hope tke tunctlHt
of the athletic representative will be to de-emphaalse athleties.
(Nothing personal, Bob I*)
Any high school that builds a modern gymnasium before
first fully equipping a physics lab, a chemical lab, and hiring
good, qualified teachers of the academic courses, la putting
the cart before the hone.
As a college teacher, I cannot help but Judge a high schoal
poor if Its graduate* "flunk out" as college freshmen. It lata
been my unpleasant duty to be a participant in that sort mt
thing. I have noticed some high schools whose basketball rec
ords were very poor, never have graduates who "flunk out."
We must blow off the "foam and bubbles", quit underestimat
ing our students, and give them the rigorous foundation they
deserve.
JACK CARPENTER.
Dahlonega, Oa.
S
?The author of this lettsr, who is head of the mathematics
department at North Georgia College, Dahlonega, Is a brother
of Robert C. (Bob) Carpenter; and the latter is chairman af
the committee on athletics of the recently formed MadBn
County Citizens Committee for Better Schools. ? Editor.
Others' Opinions
' (Opinion* wn? rt n> uua ap?M tn Ml ?i Iiioftty thaw
_ of Th? Ptm?. Kdltoruk Mlecttd for npm&at'bw*, to Int. _
mn fhoan with a *t*w te prnaentloc ft TftrUtV o I vlewpolnte.
Tturj an, Ibtl U. )?M (M Um caption an-OTlBW
Oplnlonj.)
So Often Disguised
(Grand Rapids Press)
Opportunities might be more easily recogniaed if they didta't
so often come disguised as Imrd work.
Full Moon And Drunks
(Southern Pines Pilot)
The Rockingham Poet-Dispatch, which last Friday celebrated
Its 40th anniversary under the editorship of Ike London, re
mains In a class by itself, one of the liveliest weekly papers
we've ever seen ? packed with docens of big and little news
Items, along with comments and jokes originating from er
appealing to its Inimitable editor who was 72 years old this
week.
We note that in connection with the full uooa last week
end, Mr. London again pointed out that there would probably
be more drunks and law-violators In Jail over the week erMl
than usual. "It seems", he wrote succinctly, "the full moon
affects the inclination to get drunk."
A typical London headline (front page) Is over this story:
"Will There Be More Drunks This Week?" We'll bet that very
few persons who picked ?P the paper failed to read that story.
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Looking Backward Through the Files of The Prese
65 TEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(ISM)
The roads are in a terrible condition on account ef mud.
Mr. and Mrs. K. Ellas entertained a select party of Frank
lin's elite at their residence last evening.
Dr. A. C. Brabson, of Smith's Bridge, was In town Monday
cracking Jokes with his friends.
at TEARS AGO
(1933)
A formal petition for abandonment of the Tallalah Falls
Railway, operating between Franklin and Cornelia, Ga., was
filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission In Washing
ton February 15.
John E. Rickman, postmaster, who has been in Hot Springs,
Ark., for the past week taking treatment, returned to his home
here last Saturday.
Misses Myrtle Wyatt, Bdwlna Dairy mple, and BMe Adder
and Richard Slagle attended the Fritz Kreisler concert la
Asheville Monday night.
1* TEARS AGO
Several Franklin taxi drivers have offered their services
in transporting persons living in Franklin and close vicinity,
who lack transportation, to and from Franklin churches om
I Sunday mornings, free of charge.
The N. C. Little Symphony orchestra will appear In concert
, In Franklin March 15.
i "Your people here seem to possess the characteristic of 'live
i and let live' more than any place I know", Dr. Jay B. Mae
! Gregor, dean of Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, who is
here for a short time, said of this county.
THE CHANGING SCENE
Vanishing Spittoon Now Barred From Post Office Lobbies
Billy Arthur in Elkin Tribune
What's come over the Post Of
fice Department in the last
decade?
First, it did away with the pen
ny postal, so that it now costs two
cents to write 'having fine time;
wish you were here."
Then, it threw out the scratchy
steel pens and dry ink wells and
subsituted therefor ball pointers,
so that Jokesters now have to look
to the State Department for their
gags.
Next, it said that any patron
with a glowering dog would get no
home delivered mall, so that pet
fanciers now have to go to the
post office for their month-end
bills.
And finally, It has turned a
gainst tobacco chewers. The poet
office ? an institution which has
always taken tobacco chewers into
consideration when furnishing Its
buildings ? now has directed that
use of cuspidors be discontinued.
So, the last stronghold of the
tobacco chewer Is going by the
wayside. It's sad. ?
When paved streets and side
walks came along, one couldn't
scratch a line in the dirt with the
toe of his shoes, then back up and
square off with the rest of the fel
lows and see who could spit closest
to the line.
Then central heating plants
took the pot bellied stove from
the middle of the general store
and no longer could the fellow:
sit back and hold contests on whc
could hit the open door bull's eye
the most times.
The post office lobbies were
about the last refuge of the Jaw
chawers. However, Instead of put
ting up signs asking people to hit
the cuspidors, please, the Post Of
flee Department has said throw
them away. ? 1
Elders of Front Street Method
1st Church In Wilmington were
not that harsh In 1860. They mere
ly posted signs on the back of the
pews requesting the men not U
chew tobacco In church.
Bishop Thomas C. Darst of th<
Diocese of Kast Carolina used to
enjoy telling of a parishioner whc
Invariably had his "chaw" durlni
services.
"Doesn't It make you sick to
hold the tobacco In your moutl
during service?" he was asked.
"No. bishop," the man replied
"I'm accustomed to It, been listen
lng to you preach for two yean
now."
Sheriff R. B. Lane, of Craver
County, said he once noticed a to
bacco chewer Ignoring the court
room cuspidor. When a deputj
would discreetly move It cIom to
i him, the man would push It away
, with his foot and continue his
i barrage on the floor. Finally, the
> sheriff himself put the cuspidor
> close to him. The man looked at
It, then at the sheriff, and (aid,
, "If you keep moving that pretty
, shiny thing right under my feet,
j I'm going to spit right on It."
; There's something about phew
- ing tobacco that many people ean'i
' understand. One old-time Tar Heel
editor write:
"A boy can sit on a six taeh
! square place on a drawn wagon
? for an hour but couldn't lit still
) on a sofa five minutes for a dollar.
' "A man will sit on aa Inch
board and talk politics for three
i hours; put him in a chureh pew
> for 40 minutes and he gets ner
> vous, twists, turns and toe* to
t sleep.
"A man will drop a pleee of
> .meat on his wife's clean floor and
i will pick it up and lay It aside.
But let him drop a plug of tobacco
. on the sidewalk, hell pick It up,
? give It a careless brush on his
t sleeve or the side of his pants and
then take a big chew of it with
i keener relish than ever."
In 1884 Oeneral Thomas L.
? Cllngman, of Buncombe County,
r announced he had made a dls
> covery that chewing tobaeoo was
a "specific in healing nearly all
the ills that flesh is heir to," and
published quite a number of in
stances well authenticated.
The Reidsville Times offered to
"subjoin a few cases: A man
whose eye had been injured by a
splinter and became so that he
could not see through it, had to
bacco applied for a single day,
and the next day the eye was well.
Another case is given where sore
eyes were cured by two applica
tions. Many Instances are mention
ed of prompt relief by application
to sprains, bruises, swollen parts,
Inflamed portions of the body,
and even bunions, felons and corns
are removed by one trial. It is
also strongly recommended for all
species of sore throat, diphtheria,
and similar diseases. Dropsy and
hemorrhoids, too, and even hag
cholera are said to yield to it.
Give it a trial."
But where, we ask, today, are
you going to get rid of It?
Housewives have ruled out cig
ars, because the smoke was too
heavy, and cigarettes became pop
ular. Then cancer scares caused
lots of people to give them up and
turn to chewing. Now cuspidors
are being done away with.
Wonder where I put my corn cob
pipe?