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/ ^ Poge Ten THE.CLINTON CHRONICLE, CLINTON, S. C. Thursdoy, Dectmbff 26, 1940 F— II hi.‘ NOBODY'S BUSINESS By GEE McGEE The NUht Before Christmas At the Joneses It was the night before Christmas, and I am going to tell the ^truth about it. Sister Sue had already opened up her present. It was a shawl from Aunt Emma. Now Aunt Emma surely knew that Sue already has a nice shawl: why didn't she give something else. Sister Sue says folks ought to be mort' careful about what they pick out. (Sister Sue is Mrs. Jones’ sisier). ! around the house. The Joneses make it a rule to have on hand some or anges and candy and stuff (mostly ^tuff) for Santa ^o keep in practice with. But all of the outside gifts were old items the next morning. Nope, ' Christmas time is losing its attrac tions too, like everything else. Mod ern times is the bunk—on Christmas WHOLESALE TRADE IN STATE LAST YEAR WAS $297,211,000 , eve. Ot-'y'l NA/t mOhj Mrs. Jones, the Head of the house- hat yop suggested that yo(i all quit opening up your packages: wait till tomorrow morning. Christmas ain’t here yet, don’t you know. But Billie and Jen nie kept on unwrapping. None of them found anything they expected. Nothing but little trinkets that they didn’t need and couldn’t u.se. In fact, they got virtually item for item last Christmas. They thought it was time for kinlolk.s and friends to take more intere.st in Yule gifts. Those Good Old Days I had many chores to perform while rambling along through the i teen-age down on the farm. We didn’t call them “chores” then: they were known as jobs or things to do. We never got up in the mornings 1 before around 4 o’clock except dur- i ing the ginning and saw-milling sea sons: we always owned gins and saw mills and cane mills and threshers and anything else that would work you to death for nothing. We got up about 3 a. m. during the “machin- . ery” periods of the year. The old man (meaning Mr. Jones), didn't pay much attention to what was going on in the hou.se. He knew he wasiVt going tt» get anything. And he knew why; if was becau.se he quit giving Christmas presents’ several .vears ago. and that natUE'ally put him out of the running. So he just sat there and read and ate candy and nuts that somebody had .sent to the kids. He u.sed to have a friend, ’way ofT, that sent hini a necktie just as regularly as the years rolled around. He’s stopped that nou. He got mar- iied. All I had to do when I got out of bed . . . (and, by the way, I was al- ' ready dressed when I arose: I slept ■ in what I wore, which wasn’t much at that . . . was make a fire in pa’s bed-room, and make one in the 'kitchen stove also, and then I shuck ed a yoke of oxen . . . (meaning that I shucked the shiK'ks ofl of about 3 bushels of corn), fed 4 mules, and I , helped to milk 4 or 5 cows that were \ ery Jiberal with their _sto<:k of lac teal fluid, pennitting us to take not 1 less than 2 quarts from each animal. I That and cornbread were our two staffs of life. B ill YARDLEY poked a ^ tentative eye outside his iblanket. It was ydaylight, at jlast. Across the"^ tiny cabin .Jim was snoozing quietly, his imeasured breatii almost drowned by the roaring wind jOutside. Bill’s eyes surveyed the cabin with its old stove and •rickety furniture. Cozy enough, perhaps, but this was no way to spend an entirb winter, even for the sake of geo graphical accuracy. Several hun dred miles to the south, in Winnipeg, the government office was waiting for early spring when Bill and Jim could finish their surveying assign ment and bring back a report. After all of the pre.sents had been aside. As ha.s been the custom at the Jonese.s for year.s. the younguns hung up a few stockings and .sock.s just be fore the bed time call came. The cook had one of her big stockings handy for old Santa Claus to use, and so did the boy that loafs and works (?) We ate breakfast by lamplight. Ij never will forget that old lamp. It I earned a wavery flame and smoked, a great deal. We had a chimney for! this lamp when we first bought it,, but somebody broke it, so we justj turned the burner flap back, and i used it just so. Lots of times wej would ha\ e wheat hoecoke bread and rai.sed gravy for breakfast, but wej Wholesale trade in South Carolina in 1939 amounted to $297,211,000, which was 11.3 per cent higher than in 1935, the figure for that year be ing $269,122,000, the census bureau, department of commerce, reported today. In 1929, wholesale trade to taled $333,528,000, The average number of employees in whole establishments in South Carolina increased from 6,128 in 1935 to 8,241 in 1939, a gain of 34J$ per cent. (Personnel of 190 commission bulk station is excluded from the 1935 figure). In 1929, there were 6,113 employees. In addition to the 8,241 employees reported for 1939, there were 1,102 proprietors and firm members of unincorporated busi nesses. Payroll of wholesale establishments in ^uth Carolina in 1939 totaled $9,994,000 compared with $7,630,000 in 1935, showing an increase of 31 per cent. (Payroll of 190 commission bulk stations is excluded from the 1935 figure). Wholesale payroll in 1929 amounted to $10,535,000. In 1939, South Carolina’s wholesale | establishments numbered 1,450, com-j pared with 1,422 in 1935 and 1,539 in ^ 1929. . .. I didn’t have such good eatings as them very often. We were on our way to the fields or gin-house or saw-mill by dawn, and we frequent- j ly had to wait on old man dawn af-| ter we got where we wCre going. The pttoC damped overboard a luifa bondle. Gray Funeral Home Clinton. S. C. FUNERAL DIRECTORS ...ond •». EMBALM ERS ~ .Ambjilance Service Phones 41 and 399-J L. RUSSELL CRAY and PARKS ADAIR. Gen. .Mgrs. We took an hour off for dinner and ^player marbles for recreation after ! we had et. Dusk had no trouble find ing us at work. We made enough stuff to live on, but we had got used *to not wanting anything unless we I already had it. After getting back to the house, I cut and toted in wood, picked up chips to start fires with,! ; and after sitting around the fire-| place in winter and on the front pi azza in summer till about 8 p.m., we all went to bed, and slept. We had 'no worries, no indigestion, no pillow’s, no mattresses, no screens and no I nothing much, but that (later on) proved good for us. HOLIDAY GREETING Jb OtUL ant OIL . . . from every member of this orjEtatiizatioff. We are pleased' if we have been of service to you in the past and we assure you that we will strive to render efficient . service throughout 1941. POSTAL EMPLOYEES R. L. PLAXICO, Postmaster Ahead, meanwhile, were two montha of this maddening anowbound al ienee. Bill’s glance drifted to the coleiH dar. Suddenly he caught his breath— ‘’Jim!" he shrieked. "Wake upt Wake up! Do you know what day this is?" Jim groaned, stirred a bit, and answered sleepily. ‘‘Tuesday, ain’t it? And so what?** ‘‘Jim! It’s Christmas Eve!" A few minutes later they found themselves staring blankly out the window, almost wishing they’d nev er discovered it was Christmas. It was kind of childish to let on that you cared, Bill thought. So he put on his parka and headed for the door. ‘‘Let’s forget it, Jim," he advised. ‘‘I’m going to look at our traps and get some fresh air. Be back soon!** It was no picnic, trudging through knee-deep drifts for two hours. To make it worse, the traps were all ALLGOM To Oir Fritndt of tliii gbrtout Cliri$tmo$tidt ond o HAPPY NEW YEAR JAMES W. CALDWELL CLINTON. S. C. jempty. Even the animals were stay- iJ If ft wfffi frut apprtclafion of fht ffnt ptfronogo fhif ^ou hovt ‘tiftndocl 11$ fn fht po$f ytar ^f wo pouio of fhft gUd ffmo of fht yoor ft txprott our tinoor# good withot for 0 mosf onjoyobit Chrlifmot §nd o sue- costfui Now Yoor. EASTSIDE GREENHOUSE Mrs. Brunson Asbill — Phone 2195 DON’T FORGET FLOWERS FOR CHRISTMAS ' ng IJou d Happu i Holkle^ To oMh of yoo oMf liMg oiolfjMid oiir foMT m4 lljm of you who Kavo givoo m your Rot fifood* Aip wo oHoimI • hoorty ondl gtwuho niem] Chri^as, May Pooca, Happinoss and Froopar- ity bo yours for many, many yaarf. 4 CLINTON CAFE ‘‘A Good Place To Eat’* GEORGE P. MTTCHEIX, Prop. BE TO ANSWER whoi^ your tolophono rinfs. If you delay, tho Conor may thlidc you*io out and hang upi And It might ho an Impor tant call you’m miiood. BE Slow’ TO HANG UP Whan making a call. Your party may not ha aUa to antwar at anca. wM aflon savo yau tlia mg inside in this weather. ‘‘Wonder if they’ll miss Christmas, too?" he mused as he neared the cabin. Suddenly he heard a faint burn in the sky. It grew nearer. Unmis takably a motor—an airplane! Bill raced for the cabin door. ‘‘A plane, Jim!" he cried. ‘‘Get tome black smoke going up the chimney h’*~ Then he -raced-out - to the clearing. The pilot saw him gesticulating wildly, or else he saw the fresh black smoke over the cabin. *1716 big ship circled, flew off to the north, turned and came back, flying low. Over the clearing it almost stalled as, the pilot dumped werboard a huge bundle that plumiheted hito the snow almost at Bill’s feet. Then he waved and sped away. They got it inside, somehow, thougn they wanted to open the bun dle right where it landed. Once the rope was torn loose an oilskin pouch flew oiit. A note was inside. From the boss: ‘‘In case yoU boy^ have forgot ten,” it read, ‘‘tomorrow’s Christ mas. Herewith the makings, includ ing some presents your families asked us to send along.*' Bill and Jim looked at each oth er, then they cheered. ‘‘Merry Christmas?’* asked Bill. ‘‘Why, it^s^e best ever! Wait’U you tasW’^is turkey II** (Released by Western Newspaper Unbm.) WE DO ALL KINDS OF PRINTING i —EXCEPT BAD CHRONICUipPUBLISHING CO. Subsaribe to The Chronicle — S1.50 a Year 53 Sundays in Tesr According to the Gregorian cal endar, every year has 53 days of the one it begins on. Generally speak ing,, the year con^ins 53 Sundays every flve or six'years. This oc curred in 1928, 1933, 1939, and again in 1944, 1950, 1956, 1961, 1967, etc. The United States naval ob servatory points out that in any con tinuous series of 28 years, five have 53 Sundays, unless the series in cludes a year whose number ends in two ciphers without its being a leap year, as in 1700, 1800, 1900. When leap yea’r begins on Saturday, two of the six-year periods fall con secutively^—Philadelphia Inquirer. Old-Time New Tear Serious Oldtime New England was serious on New Year’s, as witness the titki of a book published, there in the year of 1702 by one Richard Standfast: ‘‘A New Year’s Gift for ^'minting Souls, or, u little hatxiful of cordial coihforts scattered through several answers to 16 questions snd objec tions: As also doubting Chnstiani invited to Christ.** ' Cblusss NSW Yew's Arsstteg The Chinefs Ncir Year’s gjrsetx, U, **8iii4d.** «r jsf bs /t; I Vi MSI A'/n/ h' // » , />, /, /, t GILES GO, tw. I