BSPAV. SEPTEMBER 9, 1943 (One Day Nearer Victory)
THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER
Page IS
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Private Hargrove!
oy nurxuu nargrove
CHAI
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a.
oPSIS
; Edward Thomas
' ' v Hargrove, feature
Charlotte (N. C.)
., ,v, ... : it ice from his draft
. , :o be inducted into
r fore he begins an
,', : - actual experiences
,1 l p he issues his quota
I'd vice io prospective in
f i i his induction Har-in-:
new buddies, leaves
, where he is to re-
Wm u.
IUViCI
get
Tnc
out to me as I
lour, and I slunk in
k, r,,r. brag,.
-lip
(opTEK 11 rnvace nargrove
4 of the physical exam, me nrsi
. j? Vi-viif Via xtra a nut.
it days hi aim.,
l-tiul'h Vi i s uniform, and how on
1 sixth day he received his first
tpdatv. Hc'is classified as a semi-
IjJleJ cook.
( II UTER III
ip:,H( into the squadroom so
Vt... sergeant wouldn't notice
j,; I was wearing fatigue clothes
t voice ran
use J his
Mty.
The sergeant's lace snowea mat
It was hurt. iuu were on a.r
Ipin today, weren't you, Har-
lP"r . J ..J...
lowered my eyes hiiu acuueu my
,against the floor. "Yes, sir."
Oh, I Ret so discouraged some-
,'. ., i. :j ut i.
JUS, me sergeant omu. i ny
hard to make something of you
ml what pood does it do? Every
aelgo through the kitchen I see
m in there scrubbing the sink!
iot many tinns have you been on
IP this week?"
Only three times, sir," I said
biding his eyes.
"It was all the corporal s fault,
Su," I said, looking around to make
an that the corporal wasn't there
hi defend himself. "Just because I
alt-faced a few times when I was
jjfpostd to left-face, and I zigged
jitai I should have zagged, and be
m 1 forgot and smoked in ranks
-ind a few other things like that."
"And," said the sergeant shaking
head sadly, "you just turned
iwnd casually every time he or
jmd 'about-face.' And you kept
pitching your feet all through drill,
lid you stayed out "of step all
Mming and you took those plow-
tod strides of yours and walked all
man in front of you. And
pi sassed the drillmaster three
s. And you generally spoiled
W whole morning's drill. Why
you he a good bov and learn
It drills?"
1 don't mean to be bad, sir," I
i,
"And that's another thing," the
tpant moaned. "Why must you
aF 'sir' to the noncommissioned
iter- and fore-et tn anlnfa. f-Vio
T.;-i .ne, ..nes?" He manned
f reh, ad wearily. "Do you know
s: :he t..p sergeant told me to-
worst physical condition I've ever
been in! I ought to be busted for
tne way I ve allowed myself to
fat and flabby! I'm ashamed'''
You look at the exercie sergeant
V. .1 1 1 , . . . . 1.1 .
auu woiiuer wnat ne s leading up ! -"rough our paces
u. 10 you tie looks like the "after I "Hargruv
' . Pn 01 a mailed yeast ad- sweetness, "where is the balance
vertisement. He could probably lick 'of vour rill,?"
his weight in police dogs. " j ..'Tw ;. n ,1 ,
,,. 'n i- is all the supply sergeant
His next star ment explains ev- gave me, sir," I said. "I thought
erytning. "Now I'm going to show 1 it was all here "
State Wood Pulp
Becomes "Armor"
For Deadly 105's
Wood pulp from North Carolina
is playing a vital role in supplying
, the raw material for essential war
items.
As an instance of what North
Carolina wood pulp can contribute
to national armament, 73 million of
the paper "suits of armor'' encas
ing tile 105 mm. shells used with
such deadly effect against the
enemv in Africa could be obtained
School Attendance
you an exercise that s so simple
it's almost ridiculous. Even I can
do it. Now, I don't want to hear
anybody down there admitting he's
in worse shape than I am. If I
can do it, you can do it or else!"
He outlines the exercise and you
oegin wondering how a contortion
ist happened to wind up at Fort
Bragg. This self-styled "fat and
flabby" calisthenics master doesn't
have any knees or elbows. You
stand there waiting to hear his
spine fall apart under the strain,
but he conies up all in one piece.
"That's the way I want you boys
to do it," he says, beaming cheer
fully. You begin to feel your face
getting gray and you wonder why
a bolt of lightning doesn't come to
deliver you from the prospective
torture.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five
Six. Seven. Eight. One. Two"
The first three or four times are
the hardest. After that, vou iret
the swing of it. It's really tame
stuff, you decide.
"The next exercise," says the ser
geant, "is what we call the quar
ter, halt and full knee bend. It
goes like this." He shows you.
When you see it, the corners of
your mouth go up in a sneer of
derision (unless the corporal is
looking). Ho Hum, you say to your
self. Why do they take up time
with this play?
"Exercise one, two, three,
four" Quarter, half, full recover.
Your knees get That Tired Feeling
after the third time. After the
sixth time, you feel your eyes get
ting glassy. After the ninth, you're
floating in space. By the time the
exercise is over, nothing matters
any more.
-A messenger from the battery or.
derly room mounts the platform and
talks for a while to the exercise
sergeant. The sergeant's face falls.
He turns to the ranks with disap
pointment written all over his face
lan anyone tNe. Private tutoring,
always tell the boys.
We were at work the other raorn-lfrm'tl,., i?u th, ,.,. I ..., ,.f .v..,
ig learning how to handle a rifle, ni-.terinl nmdneed ,inninilK'
i " J "v
sergeant was putting us, cording to estimates ammived bv
the Aniiiican Paper and Pulp As
he said with infinite I Sociation.
The slim-w aisted 105 mm. shells
were used to reduce enemy emplace
ments in Tunisia to rubble, stop
infantry attacks and knock out the
Panzer MVI tanks, regarded by
the' Nazis as one of the most in
vincible weapons, dispatches from
the front stated.
The technique of devi loping mass
production of the paper containers
which guard the 105's until they go
into action from the mouths of
long-nosed howitzers originated in
peacetime food packages, such as
cartons commonly used for cocoa,
salt and other products.
The sergeant slapped his fore
head and mumbledsomething fur
iously und r his breath. "Wonder
child." he said, "this (pointing) is
the balance of your rifle. I can't
imagine why they call it that, un
less it's because when you hold the
rifle there with one hand, it's bal
anced.' He then went on for a few
minutes, explaining a few of the
things I had still failed to master.
"Now do you understand it?" he
asked, beaming at me with a look
made of all sweet accord.
"No, sir," I said.
The sergeant sighed wearily.
"Private Hargrove," he said, "right
down by the next barracks there's
a group of young people who are
practicing with rifles for the first
time. They haven't had theirs for
three days like you have. Run
along down there and see if you
can keep up with them."
I tried. There was some confu
sion about the orders, however. At
the end of a movement where I
wound up with my rifle on my left
shoulder, the rest of the detail had
theirs on the right. I noticed also
that I usually finished a command
long before the others.
The sergeant in charare of the
detail commenced on this. "You
know, Shorty," he said, "vou have
all of these routines worked out
much better than the War Depart
ment was able to do them. Where
it took them sixteen counts to com
plete the sixteen-count manual, you
always manage somehow to com
plete it in twelve.''
I was still blushing modestly
when he called the corporal over.
He said something to the corporal,
who took me bv the elbow and
guided me gently around the build
ing at a spot where, he said. thP
battery officers wouldn't see me
drilling and thereby be discouraged.
"This," he said, pronouncing each
syllable slowly and distinctly, "is
what we have come to call a rifle,
Fines Creek News
By MRS. D. N. RATH BONE
Carl Story and his Rambling
Mountaineers made their appear
ance at the Fines Croik school last
Wednesday night. The event was
sponsored by the P. T. A. The
benefits received will go toward
financing the lunch room.
Esco Justice, of Severville, Tenn.,
is visiting with his aunt, Mr. and
Mrs. Wiley Caldwell at their home
here.
"Sorry to tell you this, boys," he j1 "'"f"1"e 11 is used for the purpose
I said, twisting my
a aiimg the worst.
;i ami don't 'sir' me
' battery commander
' the carpet yesterday
' a leaning on the table.
-'..ft i-d your feet eight with every
: "i saluted four times IKroup
said, "but we'll have to stop here.
No more exercise this morning. All
play and no work you know what
that means. You have to take vour
typhoid shots now."
Before you have marched off the
drill field you notice that you still
haven't collapsed. In fact, you find
to your disappointment that you're
beginning to feel good. All lim
bered up.
Quarantine has been lifted for us
of the July 17 contingency. If the
sergeant wasn't looking over my
shoulder, I'd say it's about time.
Before our release from isolation.
Army style, I was able to get
around and swap lies and gripes
one of the bovs in our
k to :
"i Voir
'Ho;v
tekf-d .j
-and when you sa-j A little under 100 per cent of
a European heel-1 'hem came up w ith the same ae-;
'I. And when theicount which reads as follows: "Ouri
d you, you told him, j battery has the worst food in the
rgeant' and forgot i Army. W e've got !he worst er- '
you left." geant in the battery. N',. ki !d,ng.
d it on the wav though, our platoon makes all : o
i racks, sir," I ex- "'hers look crummy. Here two
I went all the way weeks air ady and I haven't pulled:
h'rly room and sa- KB or 'iai1 tm' sergeant jump me a:
ily." time yet. Don't tell a soul, but I
ng Jehoshanhat.".(h-nk they're going to make me a
r,U f
CI Or.
rer..v.
"re i. .
''tnni;..
'is;
tg-ant. , corpora
'" anything else, sir?"not a,r
aisper.
Hargrove," he said,
drops of perspiration
"' head.
'" sir," I said. I sa
' - 'iiy heels, and turn-
All of which is a lot of
'Ha
Actuallv. they re fighting to get
into the mess hall first at every
meal. They're gaining weight and
tanning where they used to blister.1
They're snssing their sergeants,!
i-V,r Jiml oen tVier,-, nc tVin enrrieef !.'tl'
bunch of rookies they ever sweated
he tired voice said. over. Every one of them has b en
I ,m K P .it prist once As tor hpinf
of shooting. Primitive man, we are
told, did not have a rifle. Primitive
man was forced to bring down his
supper with a knife, a spear, a
stone, a bow and arrows or his own
little primitive hands."
I nodded automatically and paid
scant attention to all this. I al
ready knew it.
"Today," he continued, "civiliza
tion has been improved upon to the
extent that" and he went on and
on. After that we began at the be
ginning of the manual of arms and
took each command slowly. The
corporal sweated for forty-five min
utes. "Are there any questions now,
Private Hargrove?"
I thought for a while. "Yes, sir,"
1 said. "That is, 'yes, corporal.'
What um' will I have for a rifle?
I'm going to be a cook."
The corporal mopped his brow.
"Well. Private Hargrove," he said.
!'.'i"ing nie lovingly on I he shoul
der, "you'll find use for it. Ha! ha!
In the firt place, you can pool po
witoes u i:h a bayonet. And in the
second place if you're as good a
eook as you are a soldier you'll
' ' ft I it eel y day. A iter break
'o '. lunch, and supper you'll
! ol )' o prote, t yourself from
at the hands of your eoni
n arms."
Miss Lorena McCrary, who holds
a position in Dayton, Ohio, has re
turned to her work after spending
a weeks vacation with her parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Chas. B. McCrary.
"Uncle" Jimmy Led ford, one of
upper Fines Creek's oldest citizens,
passed away at the age of 86 at
the home of his son, Cordell Led
ford, last Tuesday, after a long
illness. Funeral services were held
at the Pine Grove Methodist church
cemetery.
He is survived by four sons, Cor
dell, Wiley, Newton and Tommie
Ledford and one daughter, Mrs. T.
C. Ledford and several grandchil
dren all of Fines Creek.
Mrs. Frank Rathbone of New
port News, is visiting her husband's
parents, Mr. and Mrs. II . L. Rath
bone and Mr. and Mrs. Charlie
Rathbone.
By M. H. Bowles
District Superintendent
The lil-13-44 school term opened
Monday. August 30th. In spite of
the difficulties of operation impos
ed by present world conditions we
hope to have, and can have with
the cooperation and interest of
school patrons, a successful school
year.
i R gular attendance is the key
to the success of the individual
pupil and the school as a whole.
Pupils who are irregular in at
tendance soon lose interest in their
school work; it is impossible for
t "a in to "keep up" with the class
as a whole and they soon develop
a feeling of inferiority -a feeling
that they can't accomplish as much
as the other members of the class.
Every child wants to feel that he
is identified with others of his age
and size; one big "gang" so to
speak. If for any reason he feels
that he is an outsider his first re
action, in the case of school, is to
quit.
School promotion and attendance
are closely associated. It is the
policy to this school district to pro
mote a child if there is any hope
that he is qualified to do the work
of the next higher grade. How
ever, if a child has not been in
school it is impossible for him to
have mastered the basic skills so
that continued progress may be
realized in the next higher grade.
The school has only two choices:
either retain the child in the lower
grade or lower the standard of
work of the majority of his class
in the next higher grade that he
may be able to do the work assign
ed. School organization and atten
dance are also closely related. The
State School Commission allots
teachers to the school district on
the basis of average daily atten
dance, using the following formula;
six teachers for the first one hun
dred eight in average daily atten
dance, and one teacher for each
thirty-six in average daily atten
dance thereafter. To illustrate:
A classroom assigned 40 pupils
must maintain an average of at
least !)0 percent to meet this orga
nization requirement. If the ave
rage daily attendance is less than
90 per cent then more than 40
pupils have to be assigned to the
classroom as the number of teach
ers allotted by the State is reduced.
The result is over crowded condi
tions in many classrooms for the
first half of the school year. The
majority of pupils are again hamp
ered in their progress by those who
fail to attend school regularly. The
State alloted this district 4 less
teachers this year than we had last
year. Unless school enrollment is
'down considerably, over crowded
classrooms are necessarilv the re-
suit.
j We hae set our attendance goal
f or the coming year at .)5 per cent.
This means that a pupil cannot be
', absent more than one day each
school month in order to meet this
standard. Please k ep in mind too
that if a child enters school and
then drops out after attending a
few months, the effect is the same
as non-attendance. Tiacher allot
ment is based on average daily at
tendance of pupils in membership,
not enrollment.
Lake Logan News
Corporal Horace Singleton, son
I of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Singleton, of
East Fork townshp, is spending a
i.i -tlay iuriougn with his parents.
Mi. and Mrs. Singleton have four
sons in the armed forces.
Mrs. Jas. A. Gwyn
Wins Golf
Championship
Mrs. James A. Gwyn, the for
mer Mrs. Bess Lee Page, of Way
nesville, who is residing in Wil
mington, Del., recently won the
championship flight in the final play
of the Championship WTeek tour
nament held by the associate wo
men golfers of the Dupont Country
Club of Wilmington.
The playoff was followed by a
luncheon at the club house during
which time prizes were presented
the winners.
Mrs. Gwyn, who is a well known
golfer, was in competition with
some of the best women golfers in
the state of Deleware. The Wil
mington Morning News carried, a
lengthy story of the contests at
the Dupont Count cy Club.
Mrs. Gwyn, daughter of the late
Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Lee, is the
wife i)f James A. Gwyn, who had
retired from DuPont Companies,
and had resided here for a short
time after, until he was recalled
by the company for the duration.
Mis. liige Wild and daughter,
Mrs. Mill Tucker, and baby, Billy,
of Newport News, Tenn., spent the
past week at Lake Logan with
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Miller-
Mrs. Tester Lovelace, of New
port News, Va., visited her mother
at Lake Logan recently.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Green, of
Waynesville, route 2, had as their
guests Sunday Mrs. Jim Miller,
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pace, Mrs.
Bige Wild and Mrs. Mill Tucker,
of Lake Logan.
Silage Furnishes
Economical Feed
Silage furnishes one of the best
and most economical home-grown
roughages for cattle and takes the
place of green grass during the
critical winter feeding period, says
John A. An y, Extension dairyman
at N. C. State College.
Silage is economical because a
large guantity of the feed can be
grown on a limited acreage with a
comparatively small amount of
labor and because only small loss
is sustained during the harvesting
and feeding operations.
If all of the silage is not fed
during the winter months, it can
jbc used during the dry periods in
summer as a valuable supplement
to grazing. Arey says that silage
is a very necessary feed for dairy
cows since it is a succulent and
palatable feed, and it also finds a
place, in the feeding program of
Lived Modestly,
But Had $400,000
TOPEKA, Kan. Fletcher Hay
ward, retired photographer, lived
in a modest frame house and shop
ped carefully. He sometimes point
ed out to neighbors the savings a
cautious shopper might make.
An appraisal of his estate has
disclosed he had more than $400,
000, most in gilt-edged securities.
The Doctor's five-year-old girl
answered the doorbell:
Caller Where is your daddy?
Little Girl Oh, Daddy is out on
nn O. B. case.
Caller What's an O. B. case?
Little Girl Oh, that's where
Daddy goes out and stays all
night.
producers of beef cattle.
The proper time to cut corn or
soghrum for silage, according to the
specialist, is when it contains the
maximum amount of feed nutrients
and at the same time enough mois
ture to make it pack well in the
silo. Under the exceptionally dry
conditions prevailing this summer,
growers have been forced to add
water in putting in their silage.
With corn, the grain should be
denting and the shuck slightly yel
low, when the crop is ready fo: the
silo, Arey advises. This stage of
maturity is reached about a week
to ten days before the corn is ready
to cut and shock. Soghrum should
not be cut until the seed in the head
are firm.
Elmer Green was recently given
an honorable discharge from the
Army. He was at Camp Hood,
Texas. He left Friday, accompan
ied by his wife, for Newport News
where he will be employed.
Mallie Woody, who holds a po
sition in Wilmington, was called
home last week on account, of the
serious illness of his small son.
Charles, who is a patimt. in the
Haywood County Hospital.
Wayne Ferguson, who holds a
position in Newport News, spent
last week visiting his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Hugh Ferguson, at their
home in the Turkey Crc k section
of Fines Creek.
begun bis rounds,
f or ns 1 1 eel off
II v demons! i at ,
I e was waif ing
air guard. The
its impatience
. I ami .
Si
apposed to salute a
r.ed Never mind,
''I' go to bed."
jmade corporals
davs ho hum.
-'-ant r
"h at me,' 'the exercise
a 's in a voice that would
1 n.s against the wind.
'uok: t wpfo-i, ., i j j
Jfp-unds and I'm in the
in the next few
here. Private Hargrove."
the sergeant sighed. "Can't you try
once to do something right?
Don't you want to be a credit to
the platoon? You don't want us to
be the worst bunch in the battery
after we've been the best for so
long, do vou
PeDSl-CnIa Pfimninv I nn Itlanri Citv. N. Y.
epsi-Cola Bottling Company of Asheville
"Please, sergeant," I begged him,
By the time Congress says I may i"uldn t I just stay inside for this
go home and be a mere civilian Thev d never miss me at
again, I suppose I'll be the best sol- !"fle inspection. I d be very quiet
dier at Fort Bragg. At least I seem !a"d ""body would ever know."
to get more individual attention . He ignored the request. "Try hard
, to remember, private, these few
simple things. When the officer
j reaches the man next to you, open
! the rifle. When he grabs your gun,
don't hang onto it or youll have a
bellyache for two weeks. When he
throws it back to you, don't catch
it with your chin. And when you
get it back, snap the trigger. And
heaven help you if you ball this
thing up!"
The forces of Destiny placed rne
second in the front rank at inspec
tion. We stood at attention for
three minutes before the inspecting
officer approached. For seconds
after we brought our riflles up for
inspection, a fly which seemed to
be a little larger than a June bug
landed on my forehead. The ser
geant shot a warning glance across
my bow and I decided to humor the
fly. It would go away soon, I told
myself, although I knew it wouldn't.
The inspecting officer still had not
by stepping up to double-ipiiek jn
its pacing. "()h, if I only had you
alone;" I 1 hough:. The itching nos,,
lieeame more insistent. A gnat made
a three-point landing on it and be
gat playire ah-nt the l,.f no.! , j),
I gav the sergeant a glance
which said distinctly, "Tils can't
go on much longer. Some-hing's
going to pop;'- His return glance
saiil, in italicized words, "Mat just
one eyelash and I'll break your
neck:"
Suddenly the inspecting ofTie-r
grabbed the rifle from the hand of
Grafenstein, who stood beside me.
His lightning woop on the gun,
coupled with the speed with which
Grafenstein relinquished it, com
pletely paralyzed me. And almost
inaudible groan made me look at
the sergeant. He was making fur
ious grimaces at me and his face
looked as if he was going to burst
a blood vessel. He kept wagging
his eyes down, to the bolt of my
rifle. A split second before the
officer reached me, I managed to
pull the bolt-
I could see the sergeant unload
ing freight carloads of potatoes for
me to peel. I could see the next 1
week-end, with me restricted to I
quarters while the rest of the plat- j
oon enjoyed themselves in town.
The officer reached me several
lifetimes later. He looked at my
face and sighed wearily. Then, with
infinite tenderness, he gently lift
ed the rifle from my grasp. He
inspected it and handed it back to
me as though he was laying a brick
on an orchid or giving a hundred
pound weight to his aged grand
mother. He sighed again and pass
ed on to the next man, whose rifle
he grabbed with the confidence that
the man wouldn't fall apart when
he snatched it.
(To be continued)
MEN
1345
ESSENTIAL WAR
WORK
Learn Welding or Shipfitting. Good Pay While
Learning.
Employer's representative will interview inter
ested applicants on September 13 and 14 from
8:30 a. m. to 4:30 p. m.
-APPLY TO-
U. S. EMPLOYMENT
SERVICE
114 N. Main Street
Waynesville, N. C.
Workers now employed full time on War Work at their highest level of
skill will not be considered.