North Carolina Newspapers

EDITORIAL & FEATURE PAGE But Didn't We Appoint A Commissiort Chapel Hill News Leader Loading With The News in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Qlen Lennox and Surrounding Areas VOL. II, NO. 91 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1955 Is UNC to Become a Political Football? ‘ I low can deconsolidation result from non consolidation?” d'liis saying, whicli has been rife about the campus and town ever since the executive conuniftee of the UNC trustees met Tuesday, may not he very rcspectfid, but it unques tionably mirrors a viewpoint which has been prevn'lent in Slat' educational circles for some time. It stems from a beiief that the cohsollda- tion lias been held together by wares, as it were, the spirit has often been weak if not im willing. And this, we take it, accounts for the pub- beat ion over the weekend in leading daily papers of circumstantial stories to the effect that a movement was on foot to “deconsoli date” the (Greater University and separate its parts into the original units; and that the State board of F.ducation would move in to take control, possibly installing its chairman as the chief executive over all three institu tions. These movements, if they seriously exist outside of a few interested parties, are rather headlong. They have failed to take into ac- count tw'o important factors: First, the trustees are not empowered to take such action. They could only make rec ommendations to the Cieneral Assembly, and by so doing rvoidd move to abolish them selves. Second, the General Assembly obviously would not consent to tear the Greater Uni versity apart without prolonged debate and perhaps bitter fighting. All onlookers should keep their seats. The University is not to be thrown to the wolves, even though it be mauled by politicians and “interests”. The State of North Carolina, by nature and tradition, moves slowly. But tvhen it does move, it ought to take the'University out of politics. The Universi ty is too important to North Carolina to be made a political foot-ball. If at this stage the University is made the target of political interests, and economic in terests as well, its progress could be set back tw-enty years. 'Fhe choice of a new president for the Greater University is the task immediately ahead. It should not be confused with other and distracting issues. York Gazette And Daily Poet Cummings on the Hi Are Diefators Is the principle of democracy and its close associate, majority rule, good in other than political cases? Wdiat is called the Rocky Mount Baptist Church case is bringing this question to the fore in an aettte form. Baptist churches are each autonomous and independent. Their affairs are handled on a dt tnocratic basis. In North Carolina the Bap tists supported Thomas Jefferson as presi dent ot fhe United States and sent him mess ages of approval when other denominations either looked at him askance or openly op posed his precepts. In all ages democratic procedure has rested on a majority vote. Wdiat other principle, ex cept minority rul/e, is there to abide by? But in the Rocky Mount case the North Carolina Stipreme Court decided in favor of a minority element. It ruled this was the “true” congregation and gave to it the church property valuetl at .15250,000. The majority has remained dis.satisfied with this decision. And well it might. There is nothing sacred about a majority. History shores that majorities have often been wrong. But the record of minorities, partic ularly small and tight ones, have been even rvorse. The majority principle is simply a ride de signed to get action and avoid stalemates. It is a human device and not a divine one. Nevertheless, it enables the democratic idea to be preserved and carried out in indi vidual ca'ses, however imperfectly. In recent times majority rule and demo cratic procedures have been scorned and con demned as silly and unworkable. The alterna tive is dictators. A good, strong, kind, and ever-wi,se dicta tor, never making a mistake and never think ing of himself, might be a solution in many cases. But is there any such person? By ROY C. MOOSE The visit to Chapel Hill last week of poet e. e. cummings and his wife, sponsored jointly by the English Club and Graham Me morial, was an astounding suc cess that few who heard Mr. Cummings will ever forget. For during his two-day visit, the re- renowned poet was full of pleas ant surprises. It was with uneasy trepidations that Dr. Lyman Cotten and I greeted Mr. and Mrs. cummings at the airport, for I had previous ly r^eived from his agent a list of taboos that made the poet seem to be a recluse. However, much to our relief, Dr. Cotten and I met a gentle, warm-hearted poet and a charming, sophisticat ed wife, both of whom were ea ger to discover the “spell” of Cha pel Hill, since so many of ,his friends had spoken about it so often. The only taboo that Mr. cum mings insisted upon was that he not be photographed. He and Mrs. cummings just do not like photographers, although Mrs. cummings is a famous photogra pher in her own right. The Stevenson Hat Simubnucnusly with the annoimcement that Adlai Stevenson hats thrown his hat into the ring as a presidential aspirant come the comment bv a political leader that Mr. Stev enson is no longer the threat he once seemed to be but is ;i “moderate”. \Vc hope the comment is untrue. .Mr. Fisenhoiver has completely filled the role of moderate in the W'hite House, and there ought to be cause for Mr. Stevenson to be something else. It is no time to be moderate when the threat of a third world war is constantly rising, when the agricultural portion of the country’s pop ulation has lost a big share of the nation’s in come and must lower its standard of living, and when the nation’s schools are overcrowd ed in outmoded buildings. \Vc would expect to see Adlai speak out about these things, and not moderately. When Aunt Dilsey Lived On Strowd Hill By LUCY PHILLIPS RUSSELL Aunt Dilsey and Uncle Ben Craig had been servants in the family of Dr. James Phillips for forty years. Now they were free and lived in a two-room cabin at the foot of Strowd’s Hill on the left side as one drove to the primitive village of Durham, twe lve miles away. An adopted son, John Caldwell, lived with them. An afternoon in August, 1869, was boiling hot but there was a bright fire in the fireplace and a bed of coals was racked out on the hearth under an iron oven, mounted on three legs and cov ered with a close-fitting lid which was also covered with coals and had to be lifted with a special long -handled tool. Ano ther more shallow vessel, also covered with living coals was on the hearth and Aunt Dilsey tended both with assiduous care, moving the coals here and there as she deemed best for the con tents. She was expecting company for supper and was baking risen cornbread and broiling a chicken Risen cornbread was an ancestor of modern spoon broad with this difference, neither eggs nor bak- ing-nowder were used in its com position—home made veasl alone g.nve tho proper stimulus, butter milk. with a pinch of soda furn ished moisture. The batter was “sot” early in the morning if one wanted risen cornbread for supper. The home-grown corn had been ground that day at Mallett’s Mill which stood at the foot of Windv Hill on the old, rockv road to Hillsboro and used Bolin’s Creek for power. Footsteps clattered down the hill and y\unt Dilsev wined her steaming face and hands on a clean towml just in time to greet her guests, Mrs. Cornelia Spen cer, her daughter .Tune, and her three nieces, Nora, Lizzie and Lucy Phillips. Each little girl had a small roll of white clothing under her arm. Mrs. Spencer carried a basket. In it were a bowl of tea cakes, a pound of freshly-ground coffee smelling like “Araby the blest,” a paper bag of tea, some sugar, a bottle of molasses, a small loaf of home made bread, and hiding modestly behind all the rest, was another small bottle which Mrs. Spencer slipped into Aunt Dilsey’s pocket and they winked at each other. Of course, June Spencer and Lucy Phillips had been visitors in Aunt Dilsey’s brick house in their grandfather’s back yard ev er since they could walk. But these cousins from Raleigh—Nora and Lizzie Phillips—^were en chanted with the objects in this new home. The corner cupbo.ard that Uncle Ben had made, full of quaint dishes and candle sticks, the big spinning wheel, the cards that made the fluffy rolls of cotton ready for spinning into thread, the churn with its dasher and the butter moulds out in the sun, all was witch-craft to the two little girls from Ra leigh, so many miles away— counting by the time it took to get there. At last they went dash ing down the rough farm tract to Bolin’s Creek to go in wading. They quickly slipped out of their dresses and shoes and long white stockings, leaving on their un derwear as a tribute to modesty. The wmter was clear and cool coming out of the dense shade along the hanks, nowhere deep er than to their waists. Mrs. Spencer seated herself on a fallen log to watch the party- while John Caldwell hovered in the background in case of an ac cident. Tadpoles, minnows and leeches were plentiful and so were slippery rocks. The chil dren were sorry when Aunt Dil sey's voice frorn the top of the hill called them to supper. They carried to Mrs. Spencer a bou quet from the banks of the little creek — purple Monk’s -Hood, crimson Cardinal flower, white Turtle-Head, and Gold-thread. The supper table was set out- of-doors under a spreading oak. A white cloth covered it, the blue willow patterned plates shone in the late sunlight and so did the steel knives and forks and the glasses. The risen cornbread, as brown as a nut, stood at one end, balanced by a platter of broiled chicken framed in hard- boiled eggs. A plate of beaten biscuit was provided (John Cald well had beaten the dough on a hickory block with a clean axe- head.) There was golden butter and blackberry jam, goiblets of milk—^whole milk full of cream, and the coffee pot sat on the warm hearth breathing perfume onto the heavy aiT-—for Mrs. Spencer and Aunt Dilsey. John took his place behind Mrs. Spencer, waving a long peach switch to keep off the innumera ble flies. She bent her head to ask God’s blessing on the deli cate food and “These good friends and all under their roof this evening.” Aunt Dilsey was an attentive waitress pausing now and then to whisper to a guest “Tek yo’ elbows off de table.” Only the deepening twilight drove the satiated guests home ward. The children gave Aunt Dilsey an affectionate hug and words of thanks which she ack nowledged with a loving little spank. Mrs. Spenccer shook hands Mrs. cummings expressed a great interest in old wooden houses, and in the afternoon Dr. Cotten took her on a tour of the fine e.xamples of old houses on Franklin street. She was en thused over the Chancellor’s house that dates back to Revolu tionary War days. The first thing thht impressed Mr. cummings was the informali ty of the village and the Univer sity. He remarked on the pleas ant change from the stiff for mality that he met at Queen’s College where he previously spoke to 400 “Presbyterian girls.” He was especially pleased that his sponsors here had not planned anything formal for him except for the reading on Wednesday night. Despite the agent’s letter, Mr. and Mrs. cummings willingly ac cepted an invitation to a small cocktail party given by Dr. Cot- ten, a party consisting of Dr. Cotten and his mother, Mr. and Mrs. James Wallace, and this re porter. Afterwards the group ' dined at the Ranch House where Mr. and Mrs. cummings were amazed at the size of the steaks served. During this five-hour “soi ree” the Cummingses werfe talk ing almost incessantly. They were especially captivated by the charm of Dr. Cotten’s mother, and the following'day they sent her a dozen long stemmed roses as a token of their esteem. The follovzing day Dr. Cotten eopducted Mr. cummings on a “Cook’s tour” of the campus, af ter which Mr. cummings remark ed that the University has “(he most attractive campus I have vis ited, including Harvard, my al ma mater.” He was also impres sed bv the library, commenting that “it is a splendid collection, w^ell chosen.” He was also shown a collection of rare limited edi tions of his own works which the library had just received an.d which were on display in the lob by. Moreover, during his tour Mr. cum.ming.s dropped into Dr. Cot- ten’s modern poetry cla.ss and read one of his own poems to the class. After Mr. cummings’ mike test in the afternoon, he and his wife requested that I take them, to the home of Mr. Louis Graves on Battle Lane. When he saw Mr. Graves’ house, which was sur rounded by trees and bushes, Mr. cummings remarked that he “felt as if I were in a wilderness sur rounded by Indians and afraid to light a camp fire.” The artist in Mr. cummings showed when he observed that Mr. Graves’ house looked like an enormous face with the windows forming the eyes, nose and mouth. But the biggest surprises were reserved for his reading in Hill Hall. Despite the many other meetings on the campus that night. Hill Hall was overflowing with an enthusiastic audience. People were on the platform stage, in the aisles, and in the lobby. Mr. cummings later re marked that it was one of the warmest audiences he had ever faced. “From the beginning I could tell that they were sympathetic,” he said. well as his educational back ground. The audience was parti cularly pleased at the epigrams which concluded this ‘ nonlec ture.” The second part of the pro gram consisted of a reading of a group of poems which he had re corded for the National Associa tion of Educational Broadcasters under the title of “Poems of Freedom.” He termed them “un- broadcastable poems” since the NAEB refused to broadcast them because it thought that some of the poems might be objection able. However, WUNC did broad cast the entirety of, Mr. cum mings’ reading in Hill Hall. Chancellor R. B. House made what he called a “non-introduc tion,” after which Mr. cummings was given a thundering ovation by fee immense audience. The poet divided his reading into two parts. The first part consisted of a reading of a non-lecture from his “i. Six Nonlectures,” entitled “i & you & is.” This was an auto biographical piece which set forth his ideas and accomplishments as Mr. cummings read his poems in a flexible well-modulated voice. In “Memorabilia” which is a poem about American tourists in Venice, he delighted the au dience with a tour de force of voice imitation. Other poems that brought big responses from the audience were “kumrads die be- anti-marxist poem, and “i sing of Olaf glad and big,” which is one of his more scatological poems. But the poem that made the deep est impression on the audience W’as the lyrical, “my father mov ed through dooms of love,” dur ing which the huge audience was almost breathless. •A resounding applause from the audience brought Mr. cum- minffs back for an encore in which he read his favorite love poem, “Under Der Linden” by the early German poet, Walter von der Vogelweide. A Visit To Zebul on By YVES LAULAN warmly with her hostess, and then the guests, with an empty basket, took the long hill home. There were no houses along the way until they reached Couch- town on the left and the Horace Williams place on the right, oc cupied by the family of “Shoe- mkker Davis. There were no lights anywhere until we reached our home (now the Presbyterian Manse) where a dim candle spoke of a waiting maid. There was no sound except the low moo of the black cow Impatient to be milked an down in Battle woods a whip-poor-will sang his even ing hymn to the crescent moon. Zebulon has become for a week end an international town, and I am thoroughly convinced that, out of those two days of life in common between a little Ameri can town, “the biggest of the little towns,” and 34. foreign stu dents from the University of North Carolina, coming from 16 different countries, something ex ceedingly worthy has sprung; a sound knowledge of what we really are. From the very beginning w'e realized that we were eagerly expected, and that these people waiting for the cars from Chapel Hill were already our friends; and that it was that friendliness which the little band, shivering gallantly in the evening air, want ed to express. And later on, all over our stay in Zebulon. we made, little by little, the discov ery of that wonderful thing we had so far ignored—a little frien dly American town. We saw the town in its com- munitv life wh»>n we were at the Lions and Rotary Clubs. A stout, loud-voiced, warm-hearted figure of one nresident embodied for us the tvpe of peonle who were our hosts and who were hone.stlv hoping our welcome and their efforts would be warm and full and happy. We soon found Two Good By DON C. BARRIE Eveninqs in the T costumes as eal C!l The Ballet Espanol A student best expres ( d the general audience reaction to Te resa and Luisillo’s Spanish Bal let as we left Graham Memorial Hall the night of Nov. 10th by saying, “I’m goin’ to Spain!” We all felt exactly the same way after Teresa made her ap pearance. I heard one man say, “There is a woman!’’ And she is. She dances with a perfection and audience satisfaction that has rarely been equaled. Her part ner Luisillo and the rest of the troupe were satisfying too, but when she came onto the stage there W'as an electrifying dif ference. Maria Vivo was hospitalized wdth an abcessed tooth, so could not appear to sing her “Polo” number. The audience gave the Ballet Esnanol an ovation which they well deserved. It was the most brilliant company seen here in many seasons. The Playmakers. The most important thing in acting that is often neglected by amateur actors is “thinking through” their roles. This is ex emplified in ‘The Rainmaker’, the piece selected bv the Playmakers for their fiftieth tour which is now in progress. The best performance in this serio-comic play was given by Louise Fletcher who, curiously, as long as she was the plain spinster and had to think, she was excellent, but as soon as she put on rouge and lipstick and became “herself” she drop ped command of the part com pletely, James Sechrest was excellent ly cast. He didn’t have to think in character, he was “Jim Cur ry.” Sheer ebullience carried his role, making his part the most outstanding of the male actors. Quite talented, having done the this There; but ,alas 7. in being '“fter the long pza thO' fy second to the very lagt endeared himt ,1^' audience. “'‘'S' ^dliam Casste, a creditabii with one brief m the end when he of professional^.! "lust . learn, if m his chosen ptoJ maTih ’"""'S SfS f paint «n tint. After the reading, Mr. and Mrs. cummings were entertained at a cocktail party given by Mr. and Mrs. James Wallace during which a group of admiring students as sured Mr. cummings that he had made a unique and amazing suc cess at Carolina. NOTE: Yves Laulan is a graduate student from Bordeaux, France, spending the academic year, 1955-1956, at Carolina, with a special interest in Political Science, Both of his parents are on the faculty at the University of Bordeaux. One of five children, Yves has traveled and studied in England and Sweden, with the usual visits throughout Europe. He edited his school papers and is particularly interested in photography. Yves' special Gallic flair for music is found in his ever present ‘ classical” guitar on which he strums charming French airs and sings equally as charming French songs, old and new. sounded like an most of the time. James Heldman,, is beginnw,, mafic part, but n' hasn’t quite 'Dallas the rest,,' did reasonably well, B sector had toned jt,- M. Barrett’s nafiralhi part of “Noah,” the n not have been so pathetic but wrQj understandable, Tke'siln fully designed. The actors were i hy an unbelievable a lot of entertaining!,, but is based on a f ' phy with the clicliei the marines (thera)i vious climax. No ir “thinking through" tti! it believable. There 18! in consequence, wh ficult to decide whehl was fighting the atln actors the play. We must rememh, that this is a tei and the young artists 1: it on its feet are 1 threshold of their cana Letters To The To The Editor: ALIEN ANIMAL Since this is a town in which so much sentiment is expressed about squirrels, your readers may be interested in this extract from “Nature Notes” written in an -English provincial weekly. The Burton Observer—Incientally, my home town paper. The headline is, A Confiding but Destructive Alien. “At this time of year there is always the chance that the country ram bler will come across a grey squirrel in some unexpected place. Originally introduced from America into various private and public parks, the grey squirrel has steadily extended its range and is now regarded as a major pest by the Ministry of Agricul ture and Forestry. Distinguished from our native red squirrel by its larger size, grev colour and hairless ears it has a more confiding habit and is not infrequently seen in suburban gardens. A Sealpeliffe Road resident tells me that one morning last week he saw what he thought wm.s a rat at his back door. A close look showed that the intruder was a grey squirrel which evinced littl at his presence.” My friend, Miss an Anglophile, majli encouraged by the lie Englishman also has it distinguishing betweei a grey squirrel. William Johnsltiji f, I ,Ki K dh isen he I w Chapel Hill Niwjl every the myth of America which says all men are concerned with mak ing money and having his. com forts was just that—a myth. Here we saw people we liked who were friendly and good— the men and women who live on all the streets of all the little towns of America. We saw the town at work in the cotton factory, the tobacco markets, a model farm. We saw the relentless effort to improve production and quality and means to help man’s pain and better his welfare. In the rambling machines, the long fields, the buildings, we saw that man’s spirit was always there and this was good in an age when man holds within his hands the power to crush himself into a nothingness or raise himself to immortality. No such change of horror can come to Zebulon fc)r everywhere we saw a grin- ning, friendly face peering over and around a‘nd about the mac hines and in the fields. We saw the town relaxing at the snuare dance we attended. And the boogie-woorie afid jitter- hues are merely folk dances 'of this land as ours represent our* land. And are akin, strangely, to the “bourie d’Auvergne” or a gieue in Scotland. We showed them our dances' and sang our songs, and although the kind people of Zebulon were not too clear as to exact words we used or the background of our dances, they joined us in a common bond of knowing these were expres sions of the people before us and from our hearts. We saw the town in its entire ty when we visited in the homes o.f the people and saw them where the me.sks of convention and social obligations were re moved and they became themsel ves. We had known of America’s fine cars, central heating, modern kitchens, boasted over the earth by its proud - citizens, but here we saw the heart of America and found it was good. Kindly. We have been to Zebulon. We hope to return—we thirty-five students from far-away lands— France,: England, Norway, Swed- enen, India, Pakistan. . .We can say no more but that our visit will bring -.them to us as they have so kindly brought us stran gers to them. I the Published . Thursday by Company, Inc. Mailing Box Chapel H: Street Address- Carrboro Telephone: ! IW Now K? U iS ii;: Phillips Eassell. Roland Giduz. M. Pollander _ I E. J. Hamlin Ro'oert Minteer - SUBSCEIPTIOH, (Payable la A** Five Cents Pat'-' by carrier months; by MAIL: $2.50 for six for three Entered as sc.-- at the postolfice^ ', N. C., utidtr thtiiK rt, V’s _ HOME OF CHOICE CHARCOAL STEAKS—FLAMING SHISKEBAB-B