PERSON COUNTY TIMES
North Carolina
XWSS A^lATlriPj}
A PAPER FOR ALL THE PEOPLE
C. S. MERRITT, EDITOR M. C. CLAYTON, Manager
THOMAS J. SHAW, JR., City Editor
Published Every Thursday and Sunday. Entered As Second
Oass Matter At The Postoffice At Roxboro, N. C., Under
Ike Act Os March 3rd., 1879.
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SUNDAY, MAY 12. 1940
Written In Disorder
As almost all Roxboro now knows, we moved last
week, and despite the kind assistance of friends who
would help to make the change from Guilford to Person
an easy one as far as transference of personal property
is concerned, our house is still in that wild state of dis
order which can only be induced by moving day, or an
earthquake. In comparison, the eternal hurly-burly of
a newspaper office seems like one of “Father Divine’s
“Heavens”.
Books are all over the floor, the kitchen sink is pil
ed full of pictures and the furniture is in nightmareish
positions. Pervading the whole is the smell of new paint,
delightful to sniff for a few moments, but sickening to
live with, when windows stick and won’t come up to
let in the cool fresh air.
It occurs to us, however, that this local and purely
personal confusion is in a manner symbolical of what
Americans who have survived the past fifteen years
have been going through. All of us have in that time
been faced with physical or mental “moving days” and
most of us, especially in the South, where we are sup
posed to be addicted to creature comforts and to a plac
idity often times characterized as laziness, have resent
ed the necessity of re-focusing our points of view or
of making changes in established habits of living.
For many, the first shakedown was financial, a ca
tastrophe from which some few have not yet recovered
and, perhaps, never will. Others who are more inured
to personal difficulties have in recent years spent their
energies worrying over the fate of America in a world
dominated by dictators, agitators and merchants of
“isms”, an attitude which recent events in Europe have
not dissipated. Within the past few weeks a large pro
portion of the population has been turning its mind to
problems of the electorate: who is to be president, gov
ernor, congressman, legislator or sheriff during the
coming four years.
But, going back to the story of moving day, it ap
pears to us that periods of unsettlement are good for
people. Given as a flat statement this platitude sounds
dangerously like those other platitudes quoted by the
would-be-goods who view each calamity, whether it be
sickness, or pain or death as a blessing in disguise and
calculated to improve the soul. We cannot go all the
way with such Spartan philosophers as these, but we
can say that we are glad to be living in a dynamic age
When moving days must come and when events in Nor
way, in India, in the Balkans or in Holland can change
the ruts of living in so distant a town as Roxboro.
It matters not that we as Americans have been ex
ceedingly uncomfortable during the past decade and a
half. It*does matter as to how we react to the disturb
ances of living and as to how long it will take us to put
our individual and collective houses in order- If the
pioneer spirit exhibited in Raymond Massey’s interpre
tation of Robert E. Sherwood’s, "Abe Lincoln in Illin
ois” seems by contrast to be as fantastic and as unreal
as the cinema version of life at Scarlett’s “Tara”, it
only shows us that we have entered into a new age in
which neither the poor nor the rich pattern will ex
actly fit. . ..
Bringing this idea down to the practicalities of the
moment, it will be possible for American voters this
year to elect to office those citizens who show some de
gree of adaptability to changing conditions. We may
say that nothing we can do will stop Hitler’s carnage
in Europe: we forget that even before an election year
is out our leaders in high places may be forced to make
decision for us. If they are not forced, others who fol
low after, may most certainly come to a “moving day”
anl the least we can do is to elect those officials who
will most nearly represent our own attitudes toward
Steps which will inevitably be taken regardless of whe
ther the outcome be peace or war. This is no time for
complacency.
O—O—o—o
Color In Roxboro
For some days it has been on our mind to publicly
commend City Manager Bloxam and members of the
fire department for renovations now in progress in the
City Hall and Fire station. The internal improvements
in the city office and in the station, embracing as they
do the provision of more adequate sanitary facilities,
are most satisfactory and should improve appearances
pnH add much to municipal comfort- We will go the
Whole way and say that the notion of having flaming
rod doors at the fire station is splendid, if somewhat
traditional, because it will cause some citizens to real
ize for, the first time, that Roxboro does have
and will have a yet more efficient fire department.
So much to the good. But the other morning when
we to the heart of the city and discovered that
parking zones and restricted areas and intersections
bad had their pure white lines painted over with a
sickly, muddy looking yellow, our pride in the city's
bold employment of color began to decline.
. We know not whose decision among city officials,
“mlW 1 and Mrriiid the mint. We only know
PERSON COUNTY TIMES ROXBORO, N. C.
that the color is downright ugly, albeit it does attract
attention. It does not require the services of an “exter
ior decorator” to let it be known that the streets of Rox
boro are far too narrow and unimpressive to have to
put up with the added burden of disfiguration with
yellow paint- It is no concern of ours that paint of this
color has been used to mark the streets of other cities
such as Richmond, Va., or Winston-Salem, in this state.
Besides, we have a sneaking notion that paint of this
color will not wear nearly so well as plain and old relia
ble white, and for once we are delighted that chemistry
joins our fight against yellow.
_o—o-0
Pride In Numbers
Roxboro, according to an announcement made
Thursday by James Carver, local representative of the
United States Census bureau, now has a population of
4,599, while figures for the previous decade reached ap
proximately 3,600. Tabulations thus show an increase of
around 1,000-
Mr. Carver has said that figures are complete, un
less citizens who may have been missed in the enumer
ation come forward and add their names to the city’s
rolls. It will be a disappointment to some that Roxboro’s
population could not officially reach at least 5,000. Ac
tually, counting Ca-Vel and Longhurst, there are more
thon 5,000 persons resident in the Roxboro area.
All over the country cities and towns will be read
ing the news of their growing pains with pleasure or
disgust, according to their tabulations. The race for
numbers seems slightly silly, a place can be just as good
to live in whether it has 4,599 souls, or 5,000, but that’s
the way we are. The numbers god, in more ways than
one, has been supreme in America for lo these many
years.
Curiosity and Candor
The News And Observer
“Although the United States Army and Navy are
in their healthiest condition in history,” says Maj.
Thornton Chase, professor of military science and tact
ics at State College, “the country is still not yet ade
quately prepared.”
Prepared for what?
The people of the United States are, in a troubled
world, in a mood to give the Army and Navy adequate
support. There is no inclination to stint on American
forces of defense. Preparations, however, and the re
quests for big appropriations for preparations seems to
be going forward in a combination of fright and vague
ness. Some Army officers have talked ominously of in
vasion ; one admiral not only warned of war with Japan,
but so acted in incitement on the witness stand that his
superiors had to rebuke him.
Major Chase is a good deal more definite than many
other Army speakers, and wiser. He regards it as a
healthy sign that today “our people are showing a cu
rosity in national affairs and in our defense.” He him
self is a very much more‘'moderate in his statement of
our military needs than some of the generals- Few
Americans are today so opposed to arms in a world us
ing arms that they would wish to deny to the Army “a
well-trained necleus and field army,” though many
might question the suggestion of such actual military
invasion of this country as he expressed in the purpose
of that army to “hold off potential enemies while we are
mobilizing.” England’s difficulty, despite all its sea
power, in landing troops in nearby Norway, is the latest
evidence that such “holding off” in the United States is
scarcely in the realm of possibility.
Today most Americans want adequate defense but
they are developing a curosity about it and they would
be happier while they pay their greater taxes for a
greater Army and Navy if the generals and the admirals
and the majors also would talk to them in candor about
this prepardness and less in fantasy about the monu
mental improbability of a foreign military and naval
invasion of the United States.
The Atlantic ocean is still there and it is still wider
than the North Sea.
O O —O O
Muddling Through
Greensboro Daily News
The rockfish festival which, the news columns in
form us, is to be made an annual affair down at Wel
don, appeals to our sense of gastronomic fitness; but we
have been wondering why it was decided to follow the
model of other festivals and crown a king and queen.
For though the rockfish muddle—and we reckon
that is to be festival’s piece de resistance— is a dish
fit for kings, we do not ever recall a queen who should
be asked to take it.
Too, the warming-up exercises for a muddle are not
such as could be termed equable to a fayre ladye. No
dilly-dallying with a lightweight cocktail or two ever
sufficed to prepare one for the assimilation of a proper
ly cooked and served muddle. Nor does a good muddle
chef trim his dishes with parsley or other such do-dads.
A couple of fist-size sliced unenervated onions to the
quart of muddle is about right, and the diner who
doesn’t do at least a couple of quarts hasn’t set about
meeting the requirements of a real Roanoke river
trencherman.
And there are the poker and craps with a bit more
of wassail to wet the muddle down with—to rivet its
savor for a period of some seven suns, and enhancing
an aroma which resembles nothing els so much as the
breath of a seasoned scion of western Carolina’s old
ramp-eating aristocracy.
To be sure Weldon can have a king and queen for
its rockfish festival and a whole cowpenful of court at
tendants if it so desires; but it should either suggest
that its fairer crowned heads stick to baked rockfish,
or provide each and every one of them with a brand
new; hotwater bottle and pound of bicarbonate of soda.
SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
From
The Adult Student
Faith and Light
Habakkuk was a prophet sore,
ly puzzled by a question which
still disturbs most people. He
found it hard to understand how
an all-powerful Jehovah could
allow so much evil to continue
among his people. Looking at the
Jewish ralce around him and at
cither nations nearby, he was
amazed that such dishonest, cov
etousness, debauchery, killing,
killing, and idolatry were not
wiped out by one grand exhibi
tion of divine wrath. The first
part of the prophet’s message
has almost a reproving tone as
he asks the Lord why he doesn’t
do something about conditions.
A Complete Answer
In the middle part of his proph
ecy, Habakkuk tells how Jehovah
made answer to his complaining
and to his questioning. The an
swer that satisfied Habakkuk is
one that men and women still
need to ponder with care. Trans
lating the ancient figures into
modern form, God told the pro
phet something like the follow
ing:
Here is the answer Habakkuk
Write it down so plainly that the
simplest mind can understand, so
that it will not require careful
research, so that he who is rnu
ning can read it as he passes.
An understanding of the full
scheme of things, a grasp of all
the world meanings, waits for an
appointed time in the future, a
a time when men will have train
ed themselves to the point of
readiness.
A soul which is too lifted up
which demands too much under
standing all at one time, which
questions tloo confidently the way
things are moving, is not thoro-j
ughly an upright soul. This is a
conlceited soul.
The just man lives by his faith.
He has learned enough to realize!
that few things are thoroughly!
understandable, He knows that
the scientists are never able toj
follow through to exact know
ledge of any of the projects which
they study. They learn certain
useful facts, build up a theory,
and then stop on the fringes of
mystery. The just man feels that,
behind the strange happenings
and elements of this mysterious
universe, a mind and a plan are
in operation. He knows that faith
must bridge many chasms creat
ed by human ignorance.
Don’t worry too much, Habak
kuk, because the Lord does not
wipe out the sinners. You are
right in thinking that it is a crime
when a man “giveth his neighbors
drink.” The wars of conquest that
go on are also a hideous sin. It
is foolish beyond thinking that
men shlould! create idols of wood
and stone and 1 metal and try to
worship these empty images in
which “there is no breath at all.”
All these sins, Habakkuk. are
foolish and terrible, it is true; but
they are man’s sins created by
him. The Maker gave man a di
vine power which will not be in
terrupted. Man can create sin or
good on earth. These sins, more
over, will bring their own punish
ment. Men will learn. For inst
ance, the Chaldeans will soon
teach Israel the outcomes of their
blioody wars of conquest.
Don’t be impatient, Habakkuk.
Live, like a just man, by your
faith. “The Lord is in his holy
temple.” Keep silence.
.... Why, O Lord, O Lord! ... .
Thoughtful people in all gene
rations have been puzzled when
they attempt to make sense out
of all the happenings around
them. Why would a merciful
God allow a little child to be
stricken toy infantile paralysis
and to die or to go through life
crippled, through no fault of its
own, Why allow the slaughter of
the innocents to continue on
highways as speeding autos
crash? Why let strong nations in
vade the weak and ravage the
property of helpless noncombat
ants? Why allow flood, fire,
earthquake, ‘tornado, or epidemic
to sweep thousands of persons
out of life? Why are the wicked
permitted to prosper? Why do
good people not control affairs
at all times?
Only the foolhardy will give
direct answers to these questions.
The correct reply is what God
said to Habakkuk, which was in
substance: “Be patient, little man.
If you will think, you can see a
part of the truth. In due time,
tlie whole plan will be clear. In
the meantime, faith is the key
note for you.
What part lof the truth can we
see in our own day? It appears
to the writer that we can agree
on certain fundamentals as we
look at the mystery of human
society. If we can so agree, it
will help us to justify and streng
then our faith.
CATTLE
Production of cattle in Califor
nia declined about 3 per cent in
1939 because of poor range and
feed conditions, says the U. S.
Department of Agriculture.
o
CROTALARIA
W. R. Nowell of Wendell is
planting 100 pounds of crotalaria
to smother out Bermuda grass,
says J. C. Keith, assistant Wake
couny farm agent.
MORE DURING DAY
More accidents occur on the
highways in daytime than at
night, but more fatalities occur
at night.
dSkS-
Burning grass
is dangerous/
THOMPSON
INSURANCE AGENCY
Roxboro, N. C.
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