June 19, 1925
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T HE
NUMBER
31
Is a Paper Devoted to the Upbuilding of the SandhiU Territory of North Carolina
Address all communications to
the pilot printing company. VASS, N. C.
DEFENSE DAY
ATLAKEVIEW
Big Celebration on July 4th
Everybody Should
Attend
■ A
(D. D. S. C.)
In accordance with the proclamation
of President Coolidge and of Gover
nor McLean, July Fourth of this year
has been declared National Defense
Test Day, and it is altogether fitting
that it should be thus designated.
No day in the annals of this Republic
has seen a greater patrioric offering
on the altar of liberty than that 4th
of July in the year 1776 in which the
representatives of the Thirteen
Colonies boldly affixed their signatures
to the Declaration which declared
them free forever from the bonds of
unjust rule. By so doing these men
and the people whom they represented
risked the penalty for treason, which
is death, if they failed in their endea
vor. But they faltered not.
We are a peace loving nation seek
ing to win no place in the sun by
military aggression, but it behooves
us even as a nation of commerce
rather than war to at least use ordi
nary business precautions to prevent
surprise and chagrin in case of an
emergency. No well ordered house
of business lets a year go by without
pausing some time in the period to
check over the stock on the shelves
and counter and ascertain in what
lines it is low. This taking stock is
never done either in the busy times
when it seems the whole world is
grabbing for goods, but in the slack
times when there is leisure for plann
ing and stocking up judiciously. We
as a business nation should easily
therefore see the logic of this one day
in the year for taking stock of those
who are willing to put themselves to
the test in the defense of their country
in case of need.
This is no Jingoism. There is no
war, or shadow of war menacing this
great country of ours today, but what
the future has in store for us no man
can say. On July 4th, 1914 a man
would have been called a fool who
predicted that three years later an
Army of American Soldiers would be
standing at attention befor^ the grave
of LaFayette in Paris pledging them
selves to pay the debt their native
land owed him for helping give it
freedom, by defending his sunny
native land from the hand of the
enemy. But yet it was so. And
millions suffered, thousands bled and
many died before the mighty aggres
sor with his skilled war machine was
stopped and peace came.
We did our part and to us has been
given the credit of over balancing the
Kaiser’s Machine, but how mach
easier and efficiently could we have
done it if we had made even the ghost
of preparation before April 1917.
» T
There are at present approximately
five million men in this couftti^
trained in the art of war. Three times
that many more are perhaps of the
age and qualified to do service for
their country in case of need. But in
the event of a hurry call to arms what
would or could they do? Under the
old regime probably fifty per cent of
the ex-service men would join their
old regiments if they could find them.
The balance would wait until the
emergency grew more pressing or
they were ordered to go. Under the
plan of the National Defense Test
Act though, to bring the matter home
to Moore County, Carthage is desig
nated as headquarters for a battery
of heavy field artillery with a reserve
officer and staff to command the same
already appointed. All men in that
section or in the county trained for
that particular branch of the service
or desiring to enter that branch would
accordingly report to Carthage and be
assigned to duty. Equipment would
be issued them and they would train
there until assembly in divisions. At
Southern Pines officers and equipment
for a Signal Corps Company has been
designated and the same method of
assembly followed. Pinehurst has
een designated as headquarters for
a light field artillery battery and
Aberdeen for a company of Engineers
and Infantry. Designation of officers
and men at these last named places
to be as at the first.
Theoretically Defense Test Day is
to work out as above. In reality, the
program of economy now on in our
government permits only the barest
outline of the above. The skeleton
regiments and their officers have been
designated, but the carrying out of
the Defense Test Day plan must de
pend upon the initiative and energy of
local people.
For Moore County it is manifestly
impossible for each town to carry out
the program so that a certral place
for the assembly of all must be desig
nated. Last year Southern Pines was
the designated assembly point for the
county and with the assistance of The
Fort Bragg Battery of Artillery an
enthusiastic assembly was held.
This year the American Legion and
other organizations have designated
Lakeview as the Aassembly place.
The Assembly Parade and speeches
will be held in the morning. The
county should turn out. en masse to
show its spirit in this matter.
CARD OF THANKS
We wish to thank our many friends
and kind neighbors for their kindness
and service showed us during the long
sickness and death of our dear sister
and aunt, Mrs. Julia Swaringen.
M. P. Russell and family.
SOME MIGHTY SPUDS
Little River Store had on sale the
first of the week some of the finest
potatoes ever grown in this county.
They came from A. A. McCaskill, over
in the Eureka country, where they are
making a lot of stuff of every sort
that is worth while. They were about
the best exhibit of potatoes that has
come into the county from any where
this spring, and they tell that it is
not necessary for Moore county to go
away from home to find early potatoes
for household needs.
COLLEEN NOORE IS
MARTYR TO CONEDY
Star’s Shower Bath in “Desert
Flower” May Seem
Funny, But—
FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1925
THE TOWN OF VASS
AND ITSJONNDNITY
A Story of Its Early Life and
Development — Yesterday
and Today
(Bessie Smith)
PART III.
In 1892 the name of the village was
again changed; this time to the name
which it will in all likelihood carry
the remainder of its days—Vass, in
honor of Major William Worrell Vass,
who was at that time paymaster for
the Seaboard Air Line Railway
Company, and fame through here once
each month to pay the employees.
Perhaps a brief sketch of this great
man’s life would be of interest to the
younger people who love their home
town, but did not live early enough to
know the man for whom it was
named.
William Worrell Vass was born
Comedy martyrdom—
What is it, and why?
It is the art of suffering and seem
ing to enjoy it.
And the object of it all, of course,
is to make the world laugh.
Two examples that graphically
illustrate the meaning of the phrase
came to notice during the filming of
“The Desert Flower,” Colleen Moore’s
new First National picture, now
showing at the Carolina theatres,
Friday and Saturday.
Jose, soulful-eyed Mexican, inter
preted by Gene Corrado, whose affec
tion for little Maggie Fortune, played
by Miss Moore, is dog-like and undy
ing, strums his guitar under the
heroine’s window. Maggie, hearing
the serenade, opens the window and
tosses the vocalist an onion as a token
of her complete disapproval.
Accepting the vegetable with as
much delight as if it were an Ameri
can Beauty rose, Jose gazes with
ecstatic joy at the girl and proceeds to
eat the onion as if it were a sweet,
juicy apple. And all the while he
eats he smiles and smiles.
That smile was nothing but sheer
acting. One vegetable that Corrado
detests and which invariably fills him
with nausea is the onion.
Colleen herself, experienced this
form of martyrdom when she appeared
in a comedy scene depicting her tak
ing an improvised shower bath in her
boxcar home. In place of the tarpau
lin, a rough burlap cloth sheathes her,
exposing only shoulders and head.
Just as the cameras began to grind,
one of those icy Winter winds of the
desert, where the scene was taken,
sprang up. Shiveringly, Miss Moore
suffered until the scene was completed.
And that’s comedy “martyrdom.”
The late Major W. W. Vass, who
the town of Vass was
named for
February 19, 1821, the youngest of
the six children of Thomas Vass, a
planter of Granville county, and Lucy
Hester, his wife. Young Vass re
ceived a good education in the common
schools, and while yet in his teens,
■accepted a clerkship in a mercantile
I establishment at Henderson. His in
dustry, ability, and application to
business met with recognition, and he
was rapidly promoted. At 22, he was
admitted to the firm as a partner, and
would have become the head of the
business soon, had he not turned aside
to a more important field.
The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad
Company tendered the office of
treasurer to Major Vass, arid on
January 1, 1845, he accepted, and
moving his residence to Raleigh, he
entered upon his life work. From
that time until his death he was con
nected with the management of this
railroad and the great system of
which it was the beginning. For
forty-eight years he was its treasurer,
with . the exception of three years
when the road, for the lack of
sufficient patronage to maintain its
operators, passed into the hands of
the State and was managed by a
board of commissioners, during which
time he served as its president. It
was during this tiriie when the bank
rupt condition of the road was almost
hopeless that the remarkable execu
tive ability of Major Vass was most
strikingly displayed. A report of a
meeting of the commissioners reads:
“Repeated compliments were paid
to the energetic and indefatigable
president, Major W. W. Vass, in being
able to keep the road in operation at
all; for, to use the language of the
venerable chairman, Honorable Dun
can Cameron, the idea of a railroad
without wood or iron making $70,000
a year is certainly one of the miracles
of the age.”
In 1851 the State disposed of its
interests in the road and Major Vass
was re-elected treasurer. Later, he
was elected treasurer of the Augusta
Air Line Railroad Company, and held
the two offices until the consolidation
in 1893 of these roads and their con
nections into the Seaboard Air Line
system. At this time the offices were
moved from Raleigh to Norfolk, and
on accoxmt of failing health, advanc
ing years, and an indisposition to
change his residence, Major Vass
tendered his resignation as treasurer
and accepted the honorary offiice of
secretary of the system, which po
sition he held until his death. At the
time of his retirement it was said
editorially in the News and Observer;
“His record is indeed an enviable
one—Among our citizens no one
stands higher for excellence of
character, or for kindness of dispo
sition, or for personal integrity and
worth than this veteran railroad
officer.”
Major Vass occupied many positions
of trust and responsibility outside of
his railroad connection, and in busi
ness affairs, he was noted for his pru
dence and sound judgment. For half
a century he was a devoted member
of the Baptist church.
Major Vass was twice married. His
first wife was Amanda Freeman, of
Granville county. In 1866 he was
married to Miss Lillias Margaret Mc
Daniel, of Fayetteville, one of the
most charming and accomplished
women of the State. To them were
bom three children, William Worrell,
Jr., Eleanor Margaret, and Lilia May,
the last named of whom was married
in 1900 to S. Brown Shepherd, of
Raleigh.
Major Vass died in Raleigh on
December 6, 1896, in his seventy-
sixth year. He was a prominent
figure in the industrial development
of North Carolina,' one whose name
was a synonym for integrity and fair
dealing.
Surely, it is with a feeling of pride
that we tell that our town was named
for such a man.
(To be continued)
FIRST COTTON BLOOM
The Pilot is in receipt of a cotton
bloom from Adolphus Henderson,
colored farmer on Route 1, wich we
believe is the first one of the season
in this section. At least it is the first
one we have seen this year.
NEW SCHOOL HOUSE
ABOUT COMPLETED
Handsome Buillding Ready for
Opening Fall
Session
SUBSCRIPTION $2.00
NISS EffORT TALKS
OF WELFARE WORK
More Money Needed, But She
Is Getting Results
As It Is
The new school house for the con
solidated district of the Vass and
Lakeview neighborhood is about com
pleted, and will be ready to turn over
to the board when the fall term of
school is due. Some of the interior
work is yet to take care of, like
plumbing and final touches, but in the
main the big job is done. It is a fine
(Continued on page 8)
At the meeting of the Kiwanis club
at Aberdeen Wednesday, Miss Lucille
Eifort, the welfare worker of the
county told something about the work
she is doing. Her main trouble is a
shortage of funds as compared with
what is to be done, but she is making
the most of the money in hcnd, and
she left no doubt as to the need of a
bigger fund. She said the Kiwanis
club had been responsible for the work
the welfare department is able to do«
and that did not hurt the feelings of
those present, and they were glad to
know that the money given last
Christmas to help the needy was put
to good use.
She told the peach men that they
could employ children under certain
age limits but that a certificate of
permit is necessary in conmiercial or
chards and that she would be glad to
see some of the young folks have
work in the orchards under proper
conditions. In private orchards the
family is privileged to work under
the age limit. The child labor laws
are thus in force in the county, and
should be observed. Miss Eifort told
of the work with orphans, blind
children, feeble minded, and such, and
she has more than she can care for of
such in the county. This makes for
her a grave problem, as she finds
needy children of these types, and no
way to provide for all of them. The
state institutions are filled, and places
in private homes can be found for
some of the orphans but not for the
mentally defective or for the
physically affected. She told of the
difficulties illustrated in the case of
a negro boy who had been sent to the
reform school, escaped, returned, and
escaped again, and who was the negro
that got 55 years not long ago because
of his crime at Carthage. If he could
have been held in the school he would
not be a 55-year charge on the state.
Miss Eifort told of widows with
small children who get small relief
from state and county jointly, but so
small that the children have little
chance of becoming intelligent and
helpful citizens, such as the state
wants and as the child should be. A
further problem is to get children in
school who are persistent in dodging
the truant laws, and here she has her
hands full in many cases. Too many
children are out, but many excuses are
offered, and behind the excuses many
get away with the truancy. She told
of sickness that she is powerless to
relieve, such as chronic tuberculosis,
(Continued on page 8)
Home-Coming
At Bethesda
The third of the annual Home Coming
Services at Bethesda Church (Aberdeen)
will be held the first Sunday in July at 11:15
A. M. The preaching- services will be con
ducted by R. L. McLeod, Jr., of Maxton, N.
C. Mr. McLeod’s ancestors for generations
have been members of Bethesda Church.
At the conclusion of this service dinner will
be served to all on the church gfrounds.
(Don’t forget your basket). At 3 o’clock in
the afternoon Mr. McLeod will lecture on
his recent trip to the Holy Land.
If you or your parents were members of
this church, may we not look for you to be
present that the sons and daughters of old
Bethesda may again meet together and
revive the many happy friendships of the
past.
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