Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1uw " Club Women Get Royal Receptions Hergen. Norway, June 30, 1039 IH?r Club Women: If your oars l,ave burned ?ach time I've thought 0l you. you have been constantly rerolulled of me. I shall try briefly to tell you of the splendid meeting of the Country Women of the World, which I attended In lxmdon as one uf the official delegates from America. The American delegation came over oti the Queen Mary, 247 strong. About thirty six of the forty-eight states were represented and about eighty w?.re voting delegates. South Carolina had her full quota of five. The ocean voyage was delightful. Wo hold meetings twice dally and often at these meetings Important persons on board would visit us. Amoug those who came was Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Wo landed May 29. May 30, Is American Decoration Day, so we were invited early In the morning to take part in a Memorial Day service with the other Americans in lxuidon. Wo followed Ambassador Kennedy as he placed wreaths in various places and attended a service In Westminister Abby after which we decorated the grave of England's unknown soldier. Fifty-seven countries were represented and many of them wore their national costumes. There were some eight hundred delegates, so the assembly had a rather festive tJ look. Most of the addresses were given In English and then Interpreted in both German and French. England proved a most gracious hostess and I have never seen any thing like the hospitality extended. Places never opened to visitors before received us, and we were entertained royally where English people are not admitted. His Majesty's government held a big reception at Lancaster House and we were each Introduced by name and then advised to meet the Minister of Agriculture. I've never seen a more spectacular sight even In the movies. The Lord Mayor of London gave us a big reception and received us in his wig and red robes. It was impossible to attend half of the Invitations, so I took my choice among the ones issued from the Countesses. Duchesses and Foreign Legations. Lady Astor's garden party was beautiful and although she has lived In England thirty-seven years she is every inch an American. Her husband sits in the House of Lords, because of his title, but she is a member of Parliament by popular vote and the country side adores her. 1 was invited to spend the week end in the country as the guest of Lady Delia Peel. She was a charming hostess and that week end goes down as a red-letter one. but I must tell you of that when I see you. I found rural England more lovely than I had remembered it twelve years ago for spring had Just come. There Is a subtle charm that binds us to England and the country side looked as though It had been freshly scrubbed for our coming. I visited the Shakespearian country and Oxford. Also Warwich and Windsor Castle. I had lunch as the guest of the club In Windsor Great Park and visited the private home of the King. The King and Queen were in Ajnerica as you remember but the little princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret came out and waved at us. I've used most of my space and haven't told you about any country hut England and have only hit that in high spots. We next visited Denmark. There 1 saw the most Intensive and beautiful farming I ever saw. The whole country Is as lovely as a picture, homes painted, no weeds and yet three acres Is a large farm. Copenhagen w.- found to be quite a modern city with beautiful parks, lovely buildings, fountains, churches and the like. Sweden was our next country. Here we found all farm houses and buildings painted red. They use a by-product of iron for this and for three dollars can get enough to do the entire farm. We passed through quaint towns where friendly folk live unhurried lives. Stockholm, the capitol was most interesting. In these northern countries at this season early and late are words which are meaningless. It Is hard to tell when yesterday ended and today began. The sun sets about ten o'clock and rises at 2:30 and one can read without light all night long. Finland was too varied to become monotonous and too beautiful to lose Us charm. Helslngsfor, the capitol has on quite a building program. The 1940 Olympic games will be there, having recently been transferred from Japan. I am finding Norway delightful for the spacious and beautiful solitudes of unspoiled nature hold a special appeal and I daily view scenic pleasures that were old when the world was young. Oslo, the capitol hacked by rlne ?lad hills, as well as being the seat of government Is also the cultur al center. From Oslo we came part way by train. We climbed higher and higher until around ua was snow. Foi miles we went through wooden tun ne]g built to keep the snow off the / - . ... trackB even In summer. I rode down a canyon in a little two wheel cart and the road became so steep I had to walk for two miles. For three days we rode on fjords which are arms of the sea. Midsummer night is observed in these countries. Families pack lunches and take blankets and go up on the slllside Here they build bonfires and dance all night. The country folk who live in the valleys have a summer pasture high on the hillside where they go foi three -months in the summer. Where ever a blade of grass will grow, is s house. Their homes are reached b3 giddy paths cut In the cliff's face and at the bottom a row boat to take then: to civilization. I hear they stake ou 1 their children so they won't fall over Bergen is picturesque, colorful ant i quaint and has many links with Me ? 'dleval times. Tomorrow I go to tin ' North Oape to see the Midnight Sun ? This In brief, is some of the inter - esting things I'm seeing and doing, t bought a National Costume in Piniam I so I will put on a regular ahow at th< next club meeting. 1CAROARET B MDWBL.U > County Home Demonstration Ageni McGILL dies in electric chair for slaying Columbia, July 28?Otis McGIU, 35year-old Grceuvlll* county mountain ocr, dlud In tho electric chair early today for tho murder of A. P. Southerlin, who was beaten to death In upl>er Greenville county in February, 1938. McOill. a talrl. slender man, walked! nonchalantly Into the death chamber smoking a cigarette and chewing gum. j "Good morning, good morning, how's everybody?" he said as he waved cheerily to tho 25 or 30 witnesses crowded Into the small room. Ho calmly took his place in the chair and displayed a cool interest as ho was I strapped in by guards. | Asked If he had any oral statement to make, he said "no,", but the Rev. S. K. Phillips, prlsou chaplain, stopped forward and read a written statement by McGlll iu which the latter said he had "killed two men x x x in self defense." McGlll, who never went past the tlrst grade in school, said in his statement, that "I have been a mean man not as bad as people say." He acknowledged Jesus Christ as his Savior and asked that his "testimoney" be "put on the air so all loot sinners can hear it." During the reading of the statement, McGlll kept his eyes glued on PhilI lips. He once or twice displayed a I dry grin. I When the statement was finished, the death mask was put over MoGill's face and head and Captain J. G. San' ders, new prison guard commander, j waved his hand to state electrician Sam Cannon. The switch was thrown and 2,500 volts coursed through McGill's body. McGlll was pronounced dead four minutes, sixteen seconds later. Tho electrocution followod Governor Maybank's refusal yesterday to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. The governor granted McGlll a two-week reprieve from July 14 in order to hear the man's courtappointed attorneys plead for clemency on the ground that the chief state witness, In an affidavit, changed the story of the killing as told at the tidal and because they said Southerlin's death "grew out of a spontaneous difficulty." McGill was nearly saved for a time, however, by a technicality when it was discovered yesterday that J. S. Wilson, prison superintendent for the last several years, had ceased legally to hold office upon the appointment of newly-created state penal -board. The law requires thq superintendent to order an electrocution, but the board, which happened to be meeting with the governor, ex-officlo chairman, replaced Wilson with John M. Glenn, former manager of the state prison farm at Boykln, and the unusual situation was rectified. Glenn took over his new duties last night and was present for the execution. The Rev. C. H. McAlhaney, evangelical minister who was a friend of McGill said the Greenville man sang hymns with him and with Phillips shortly before the execution. He said McGill ?lept soundly during the nig t and that while he and Phillips were in the cell McGill told them to "sing while I wash my feet. I don't want to go in there with dirty feet." McAlhaney said McGill requested that his written statement be used as the subject of a sermon. Among those witnessing the execution were four Greenville county ministers, the Rev. Francis Whltmire, thb Rev C. B. Rogers, the Rev. Homer Couch and tho Rev. Joe Wallace Henson, who said McGill asked that they attend. McGill's body was taken to Greenville county for a private funeral at 3 p. m. In Perth, Australia, above the town clock Is a huge figure of St. George, which cuts off a dragon's head each time It strikes the hoqr. T IT! 1 . , T ^ ^ ^ Cruising . s Around 'i with ' i The Skipper j ! East. west, home's best. ? ? ? How true, how true. While you folks down here have i been sweltering under the biasing rays , of Old Sol, up In Wisconsin, It was down as low as 52 night Hftor night ' and believe you me, I was paddling around In my bare tootsies looking for 1 spare blankets. ? Speaking us a converted Johnny Keb. 1 can say that we Southerners feel the cold very easily. How true. Touring these days is just one detour after the other. Coming south wo rolled Exactly 1,000 miles In two days. The distance without detours would be about 923 miles. r Not mentioning any automobiles by name. We'd Just like to whisper that we averaged twenty-one miles to a gallon over 4,000 miles and part of the driving was In the congested areas of Milwaukee and Chicago. Saw Randy Scott with exquisite Eleanor Thompson, daughter of the wealthy Thompson of rostaurant fame In a box at the Arlington race track. Saw the Yanks and the Sox scrap In a number of games and a week ago Sunday there were 55,000 fans In Comlskoy park for a double bill. Tako It from me, those Yanks are greatly over-rated If their wares are of the type dished up In the Chicago series. Jimmy Dyke's discards had It over them like a tent. The hotel gang up at Wythevllle, which Is on U. S. 21 have darn little to toot their horn about. Of all the noisy whistle stop places I ever stopped over at, Wythevllle takes first rank. All night long the trucks and buses go by with horns open and shaking old mother earth until the guests In the hotelB are sea sick from the shivering and shaking of the beds. I've had steaks and steaks but up in a little Italian honky tonk on Di, versey boulevard In Chicago I had a i steak dinner a week ago that was ; tops. Italian wine as an appetizer, a piping hot steak broiled over charcoal, a dish of chicken rolled In dough and smothered In an Italian gravy, wow, what a feast. Well, friends and fellow townspeople, it was not in the cards to win that Junior Legion title this year but Just wait until 1940. Its a cinch. If we had any gold cups to pass out in the Palmetto league we would see that Kershaw received one. That gang is sure enough plucky to continue along in the face of so many defeats. Old Jup Pluv seems to be the winner of baseball events around here from.all I hear. Well, folks, this week's cruising stuff is Jotted down on the spur of the moment. Next week we hope to get organized and back into top speed again. So long. Polio Epedemic Greatly Subsiding Columbia, July 31.?There were only twenty-one active cases of infantile paralysis In South Carolina today and the State Health department reported that this was the smallest total since the disease spread from Charleston Into other counties last spring. No new cases were reported as two counties. Laurens and Greenwood, [ were cleared of active cases (those reported In the last fourteen days). Dr. James A. Hayne, state health ' officer, said Saturday that the epidemic was "definitely subsiding" and "is leaving the state." He announced that 1 "as we see It now," bans in effect in ' some communities "may safely be lift1 ed by August 15." i ) Several weeks ago there appeared In the dally press the report of a case of polio In Kershaw county. The susi pect from the DeKalb community, It ' Is said, was carried to a Columbia hos1 pital for examination, and It is said i the child's symptoms were that of lnt fantile paralysis, but the diagnosis . disclosed that the affliction was from 1 other causes. s In an effort to bring about such ex pert training on a larger scale, Mr. Baker will conduct a two-weeks couse. I August 14-26, In "Administration of 3 Drivers' License Evamlnatlons and a the training of Examiners," as a part of the National Institute for Traffic Safety Training at the University ol L Michigan in Ann Arbor. You Wouldn't Be A Ham Driver? Are you a ham driver? You probably are. If you are the average man or woman behind th ? wheel. For moat of ua behave more or loss like hams when it comes to driving an automobile safely The authority for that charge U J Slannard Maker. truflic safety consultant for the National Safety Couucll. ami he has plenty of evidence to back It up. "The majority of us drivers," he said. "Just pick up our driving habits as we go along, following the practices of other drivers we observe. This kind of training la a haphazard i kind thut rarely produces anything1 but a ham driver. He simply employs J the most convenient practices and' makes no effort to master the nico-t ties of driving which would be his best safeguards." I And Just what Is a ham driver? Well, Mr. Maker describes him as fol-1 lows: He can't make up his mjnd as toj what he wants to do soon enough, and depends upon his ability to do It only > when he has to. He waits too long to get Into the proper lane for turning. He's even likely to do his slowing down after ( ho gets into the Intersection or on the turn, rather than before. He is oblivious to other traffic. He] straddles lane lines as though he were [ the only driver on the road. In ex-' trente cases he can be found complete-' ly over on the left side of the highway. He Is not Intentionally being a' road hog. He simply drifts over unconsciously. j He zooms out of a parking position at the curb with no regard for traffic that may be coming from behind. Again, he is Just thoughtless, rather than vicious. I He makes a "good enough" turn signal. He lets his hand dangle or flutter aimlessly from the window and following traffic doesn't know whether he's signaling a turn, flicking ashes from a cigarette or waving at someone on the sidewalk. He turns around and talks to others In the car as he drives, Instead of keeping his eyes on the road. He is guilty of bad posture. He slouches behind the wheel, sticks his | left elbow out the window. He is a one-hand wheeler. This Is different from one-armed driving in which a girl usually occupies the other arm. In one-hand wheeling the driver keeps only one hand on the wheel, the other rests in his lap. hangs out the window or holds a cigar, pipe or cigarette. He has nowhere near the control or leverage he needs In an emergency. Is the situation hopeless? Mr. Baker believes it is not. All the foregoing faUlts can be corrected, he said, If they are detected soon enough by trained examiners of drivers' license applicants. Mr. Baker, who has conducted schools for driver-training examiners in eleven states where about 1,000,000 of the nation's drivers live and operate their motor vehicles, says the Ann Arbor school will be the first for chief examiners, one from a stale. Under a drivers' license law administration the chief examiner supervises the woi^k of all examiners who test applicants for licenses In that stale. I "Too many states." said Mr. Raker, I "think drivers' license examinations should be given only to applicants with physical or mental handicaps or deficiencies. "There Isn't the slightest doubt that these handicapped persons should undergo very strict and thorough examination before they are licensed to take an automobile onto the streets and high way 8. "There Is evidence in accident records, however, that many persons i with physical defects compare favorably with the able-bodied driver when It conies to safe driving. In contrast to the haphazard, ham habits of the able-bodied driver, the partially crippled driver, realizing his hundicap. often makes a tueutal blue print of his route and allows an ample margin of safety for every turn and stop ho has to make. "At Ann At bor we will attempt to set up driver examinations and methods of examining that will encourage the average driver to undertake complete mastery of the motor car and follow the example of the conscientious crippled driver." All "Brother*" ' Bedford, Ind.?Among the prisoners In the Lawrence county Jail recently there were five pairs of brothers, Including a set of 21-year-old twins. HIGH CEILING8 MAY NOT MAKE ROOMS ANY COOLER Contrary to common opinion, engineering tests do not show that rooms with high ceilings uie materially cooler In hot weather, and high-celling rooiua cost more and are harder to heat in winter. This conclusion Is one of the results of a study of farm home construction In which the United States Department of Agriculture j and the University of Georgia have been cooperating. The experiments Included a pair of test houses In which the walls wore of Interchangeable panels, making It 'easy to alter the location and numbor I of doors a?d windows and the height of ceilings, as well as the materials ' and conductivity of the walls. J Thermometers on the walls and at various heights in the room did not show significant differences In favor of 10-foot ceilings as compared with 8-foot ceilings, when the same number and kind of windows were used In each test. A deslrublo arrangement of windows and doors to provide cross ventilation and to tuko advantage of | the prevailing breezes did more to make the rooms more comfortable. I . __________________ O. Bernard Shaw spent his 83rd birthday in London Wednesday, "like any other Wednesday," his secretary said, "except that he Is being pestered to death." Like any other Wednesday the Irish playwright and wit returned about noon from a long week end at bis country retreat at Ayot Saint Lawrence to his fourth floor flat In Whitehall court, In the center of London. There was np celebration of the birthday and few visitors., Remember I <#> D You always save at Barringer's I BUY NOW AND ENJOY TREMENDOUS SAVINGS ELECTRIC FANS ICE CREAM FREEZERS THERMOS JUGS GARDEN HOSE CAMP STOOLS HOZE NOZZLES DECK CHAIRS RAIN KING SPRAYERS SUN HATS TENNIS RACKETS FISHING TACKLES TENNIS BALLS SOFTBALL and BASEBALL EQUIPMENT MAKE OUR STORE YOUR HEADQUARTERS TOR VALUES BARRINGER HARDWARE CO. Phone 21 I Royal Crown I , m Wins co^a te^t? I gl Tasters say, I | "We like it be&"F "IT'S TOPS IN TASTE" _ that's what they say about... ROYAL CROWN! fT*S A SMASH NTT ? in scores of taste tests ? blind, impartial Certified Tests of leading cola drinks. In town after town there's a landslide ote for Royal Crown. 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