Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / Dec. 4, 1980, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
weekly Perspective WLooking back by VIRGINIA WHITE TRANSEAU December 1M2 MERCHANTS TO MEET MONDAY TO DECIDE HOU1S AND HOLIDAYS: The merchants of Hertford will hold a meeting at Simon's Store next Monday night, Dec. 7, for the purpose of deciding store hours and holidays to be observed during the coming season, L.C. Winslow, chairman of the Merchants Committee, said today. The merchants will discuss and decide the date of opening stores for night shopping during Christmas. There has been some discussion regarding the stores remaining open a night during the week to accomadate defense workers seeking to buy merchandise, and this question will also, probably, be decided at the Monday night meeting. All mer chants of Hertford are especially urged to attend. REGISTRATION FOR TEEN-AGED YOUTHS BEGINS NEXT WEEK: Teen aged Perquimans County youths, who reached their 18th birthday during last July and August will register for Selective Service at the local Draft Board offices during the week of Dec. 11 to IT. Mrs. Rath Sumner, Clerk of the local board, announced this week. Youths who were eighleoa hi Sep tember and October will register a week later and those reaching II from November until Dec. 31, will register during the last week of the month. HOME OF JOHN LANE DESTROYED BY FIRE: A fire of undetermined origin completely destroyed the home and household furnishings of John Lane, of Hertford, Route 2, late Saturday night. The fire was discovered sometime between 10 and 11 o'clock, but had gained such headway it was impossible for the family to save any of their personal ef fects. ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Anderson White an nounce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter, Geneva, to Cadet Alfred S. Kenton, United States Army, son of Mr. and Mrs. S.S. Kenton, of New York. The wedding will take place Saturday afternoon, Dec. S, 1942 at 4:30 o'clock in the chapel at Camp Lee, Virginia. v J County has seen some unusual wedding ceremonies One of the most interesting weddings held in Perquimans was the Pritlowe triple wedding on Aug. 16, 1716. In his home near the present site of Don Juan Manufacturing Company, John Pritlowe married off three of his daughters at once: Leah to Joseph Smith, Judah to Abraham Sanders, and Elizabeth to William Elliott. As the Pritlowes were Quakers, the marriages were solemnized according to Friends' custom. A couple stood before the assembled guests. The man took the woman's hand, declared that he took her for his wife, and promised to be a faithful and loving husband until parted by death. The woman then did likewise. After their mutual promises were spoken, the new groom and bride signed a marriage certificate, to which many of the witnesses present added their own names. It was also the custom of Friends to insure weddings were conducted in good order. In the case of the Pritlowe wed ding, Friends appointed Timothy Cleare and Samuel Nicholson to stay at John Pritlowe's the night after the wedding to see there be no disorders. Friends' concern over disorders at marriage feasts was necessary at a time when most weddings were held in private homes and hard-working people prized I it 1 / II Is 1 such social gatherings. High spirits tended to overflow, especially when bottled spirits were added, and celebration was often overdone. Festivities often included dancing, although many churches frowned on it. Strict churches prohibited dancing altogether, while moderate ones sometimes allowed square dancing. Round dancing, particularly waltzing, was considered scandalous in some periods. There were few ministers in the county before 1850, so most marriages were solemnized by justices of the peace. In the twentieth century many non residents have married in Perquimans, taking advantage of North Carolina's easier marriage laws. Until the automobile and the paved road increased travel possibilities, most people married within their own neigh borhood even if that meant marrying a relative. It was not uncommon for a boy to marry a girl from the next farm. People were not deprived of outside contacts, however. Courts, militia musters, and church meetings often provided matchmaking opportunities, while business and pleasure trips brought people together from great distances. In some periods parents played the leading role in finding spouses for their children. Some unusual weddings have been held in Perquimans County, strictly for en tertainment. The "Tom Thumb" wed ding featured children enacting a marriage ceremony, while the "womanless" wedding treated the public to the sight of their male friends and neighbors gussied up as "brides" and "bridesmaids." V \ 11 I "HOW ' D THAT NEW INSECTICIDE WORK, OUT?" Too small to argue with a car A true cat lover can never go too long without some feline company, so when a girl I know in Elizabeth City confronted me with a tiny ball of purring fuzz, I gave in, and a cat came to live with us on Grubb Street. Visions of the old Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young tune entered my head ? our house would indeed be very very very fine with a cat in the yard. But visions have a way of giving way to reality. Curtis, our newest family member, would prove to be much more than just a tiny ball of purring fuzz. He would prove to be a monster. Aside from climbing our sheer drapes and sharpening his claws on our velvet couch, he managed to kill the few house plants that had managed to survive my black thumb; he thought that dirt meant "dig" ? and you know what cats do after they dig. But as time went on and Curtis gradually learned to comply with house rules, a lovely thing happened. We all began to love each other. I remember coming home one af ternoon from work to find Curits and Bear, our dog, curled up in a ball, asleep on the porch. I remember working out in the yard, and Curtis following me around like , a puppy. I remember my husband, Mike, who is usually aloof to pets, down on the floor playing hide and seek with the cat. I remember waking up one cold morning with a puff of warm cat snoozing on my pillow, and then greeting me, as if to say good morning, with one tiny meow. Shortly after our neighbor's call, I stood in the doorway and watched Mike slowly cross the street, heading home with the kitten gently held against his stomach. I went outside and we walked silently through the yard and began to make a grave. The cat had been about 12 weeks old when it was struck by a car. When the tears stopped, I realized I had wept not only for Curtis, but for all the animals I bad ever known and lost. Not only for the soft motor purr we had come to care for, but for all the purrs and barks I had known that were now silent. _ o A common theory holds that one of the traits that separates humans from other animals is the ability to love. I have never agreed with that theory, for any animal I have ever loved has had the heart to give me some of my love back. o Curtis stayed just long enough to tear up the curtains and to give us some love. I swore I'd never have another eat, but now we have a new kitten, named Otis, who has yet to learn house rules... Pacing South a syndicated column: voices of tradition in a changing region PILOT MOUNTAIN, N.C. - Recently I went back to Pilot Mountain, under whose east shadow, during the first two decades of this century, I spent a casual and seemingly aimless boyhood. I went back with a couple at hiking minded fellows, to walk the new trail that the North Carolina Department of Parks has laid out across the mountain's south shoulder and on the the Yadkin River five miles farther west I enjoyed the gray-granite out cropping! that marked the ancient roads ? dark now under the second growth trees and leading invitingly into mysterious coves and up to timbered ridges ? roads that some forgotten fanner had driven his wheel-chicking wagon over long ago, bat abandoned in favor of more level fields or whistle tooting factories. the edges of precipies but never falling. The cold, sweet water from the Pinnacle Spring. But memory held most vividly the fires ? fires started by vandals at the crest that made the mountain a smoking mound by day and a presented a crkling, rigxagging chain of flickering flames by night. People from miles around gathered on hilltops to visit one another and watch the burning spectacle as it moved slowly downward. Lovers stopped their buggies or T-Models at vantage points to look and "pitch a little woo." As long as the fires remained on the steep upper slopes, they did only minor damage. The timber there was scrubby. ??wi the squirrels, rabbits, and opposums i^M escape ahead of the slow-moving flame*. (The wild turkeys, bears, and deer had long before been MBed off). Rattlesnakes evidently fwirf nifty in deep crevices of the rocks. Positively, the wild huckleberries flourished after the bora-overs. communities organized themselves into loosely knit firefighting units. Then each unit, like the builders of Jerusalem's wall under Nehemiah, moved up through the flatwoods to rake a "fire lane" to "backfire" against the downward creeping flames. This lane they patrolled day and night to guard against falling trees and rolling logs that might cross it and spread the flre below. After the lane ? circling the mountain and covering a distance of six or seven miles ? was established, the men set up stations and built up big campfires, where they kept pots of coffee steaming. With food brought from the cupboards at home, and with a Jug of apple brandy to whet their appetites, they swapped newt of families and crops, told wBd tales of wine and women and tragedy, and lifted their voices in stentorian yells to let their fellow firefighters know they were still there. And they listened in tarn to the calls from others. "That's Tom Caller over on the Pin r"'."?r " 1 MM M FACING SOUTH welcomes re?den)Q comments and writers' contrttwtkms. Write P. 0. Box 230. Chapel EDO, N.C. mu. THE PERQUIMANS WEEK Mik* McLaughlin No?l Todd-McL* . in Co-Editors Pat Monsf i?ld Circulation Manager NEWS AND ADVERTISING DEADLINE 5 P.M. MONDAY I I QNE YEAR 7.50 ? PA !? 277 Npifw^ NX. 27M4
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 4, 1980, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75