Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THURSDAY, NOV. 18, 1954 SHOEMENDER'S SECRET By Garry Montgomery T SAID to my friend, Paul Del- mont: “You have a very pret ty wife.” He smiled. “Ever hear how I came to get her?” When I shook a negative head that brought forth Us story. I’ll let him talk it. On* cold late winter afternoon I walked into a basement shoemen- der’s store on Main Street, he said. An elderly and somewhat stooped repairman was working over a shoe on an iron “foot.” "It’s so beastly cold outside— mind If I wait in here a few mo ments?” The man nodded. I walked to the front window <my friend told me), and looked cut and up. Through this window ene had to look up, and one could see the bottom extremity of legs of men and women going by. I stood there for some. minutes and suddenly found the old, stooped shoeman joining me. “Looking for someone?” he asked. I nodded. “You walk a lot,” he said. “And you use a pencil a great deal” 1 turned, surprised. “Why, yes,” Z admitted, eyeing him. *Td say you were a salesman, enly that your hands are not that eg a salesman,” the old shoemen- der said. “The middle finger of your light hand has a callous. Offhand, I’d like to guess that you are a newspaperman—using a pencil all day long.” The shoemender startled me with accurate descriptions. He talked again: “You see, one in my pro fession learns to observe, especial ly about shoes.” “Speaking of watching,” I told him, “I have been watching for someone—a slim, wonderful young woman who may be down on her luck, and said to live in this neigh borhood. “Your intentions?” asked the mender, suspiciously. I made no hesitation in replying, "Marriage!” I’ve fallen in love With her.” ▲ heavy-set fellow went by, with brawny leg muscles. “He’s a wres tler,” the shoemender said. In the next few minutes he guessed the occupation of the man and wom en who tapped heels by his base ment shop. How long we stood there, I don’t exactly recall But suddenly the old man said: “Up there, I sus pect, is your girl-friend.” I looked, saw two trim ankles, and bounded from the shop. When I returned to the basement shop, the girl was with me, my arm linked into hers. She was the sweetest thing; black hair, sparkling dark eyes, petite; I’d met her a couple of times, watched her when she had jobs dancing. Had been properly in troduced once. Now her eyes shone. And I guess mine were on fire too. We walked in and the old shoe mender looked up. “We. came back,” I said, “be cause you were' kind enough to let me wait here a little while. I want to introduce you to Rose, who will be my future wife.” The mender left his machine and came forward and even his old eyes sparkled. He seemed happy because we were. “But,” I asked him, “how did you know that this was the girl I was searching for?” The old man grinned openly. “You must notice things more minutely, my boy, if you are a newspaperman. Notice her feet— her shoes. They are unusually small shoes, aren’t they? Notice too, the metatarsal bones—just above the toes. They’re broken. Sign of the true toe dancer!” “The old guy was clever. I won dered what I could do to thank him, for my shoes v/ere not in need of repair, or even of a shine. “You’ve been wonderful to me,” I said, lamely. Then Rose spoke. “Besides, my dear,” she said softly, now squeez ing my hand, “this old shoeman is —my father!” Is your community next? Look what forest fires do EACH YEAR—year in and year out! v... iV ;iT; S'.'#* 5 igl Escb year thev blacken 30 mil lion acres of land—an area the •be of the State of New York! > /■ They destroy enough trees of saw-timber size to build 86,000 five-room homes! They bum enough pulp-size They destroy watershed cover, fseea to make 3 million tons of causing soil erosion and loss or newsprint! valuable water! Forest fires bring destruction, shortages and higher prices that no one can escape! And it is a fact that 9 out of 10 of them are man-caused! WKSJ FmS CAM 0F PtMCSMTCD If YOU WILL FOUOW-FAITHFULLY- WlSf FOUR SIMPLE PULES 1. Maid your notch ’til Ifg cold S. Drown yowr campfire, then ifir —thon pinch It Jo make twro. and drown again. S. Crash oot yoor cioarottw 4. JUh ebaot th# low baforo burning Uso an ash tray! grass, brash, ftnea raws, or trash. A EaMIc Service Proisct a* Iho Aduortblap Coandt K i nietttetrcS&i- Only you can PREVENT FOREST FIRES! Jr -1 Hi aTap# - Champion Paper & Fibre Company SociarSecurity (By Miss Martha Pressly) The new social security law has a special provision for the surviv ors of the deceased workers who were not eligible to collect bene fit before because the worker wasn’t considered insured under the old law. If this was the case of the deceased breadwinner in your family, you will be interested in the story of the young widow I am going to tell today. She lost her husband before September 1960. And because she came to her social security office, she will re ceive the benefits to which she is entitled. You’ll want to take defi nite action to get the survivors benefits to which you may be en titled under the new law. For a woman not yet thirty, life had dealt some serious blows to this young widow. One rainy night in 1948, her husband was on the way to the hospital where the young woman had just given birth to twins. His car skidded on the slippery street, and he died several hours later in the hospital where his wife was awaiting his ar rival. A few months after the tragedy, the young widow paid her first visit to the social security office. She held her husband’s social se curity card in her hand while she was telling me her story. She wasn’t sure how long he had work ed in a job under social security or if he would be Insured. In a few days I had had his record check ed in our Baltimore office. I think one of the most difficult things I hav f e ever done was tell the young woman that because her husband hadn’t worked in his job under social security long enough, neither she nor her children were entitled to benefit checks. Not long ago whemshe came In to my office, she was surprised that I remembered her and the twins, who were by this, time in their first year of school. I had often wondered how the little fam ily who couldn’t get social secur ity benefits was managing. I soon learned that they had gotten along on some savings plus con tributions from the mother’s par ents. Now the savings had been de pleted and the money from the widow r ’s parents had stopped be cause of the illness of her father. The widow and her children had come once more to ask about social security benefits on her husband’s record. Without the social, security survivors check, the family would have to be brok en up .. . the mother would have to work full-time and the children would have to be placed in foster homes. I was happy to tell her that this would not happen now. For this young widow and for thousands like her who lost their loved ones before September 1950, the 1954 amendments will make a big difference. Her husband is considered fully insured under the new law because he had a year and a half of work under social secur ity. She has applied for survivors benefits for herself and the chil dren. And she will be getting them "I REMEMBER"! BY THE OLD TIMERS From Mrs. Edward Koch, Ft. Recovery, Ohio: I remember when I was small the only way a girl had to make money was “work ing out” and that was generally where someone was sick, or had a new baby. She had to do the laundry; and that meant to carry in the water from the cistern, if they had (me, or “break” the water with iye, from the well By the time the clothes were clean — after being rubbed on the washboard—knuckles were raw and bleeding. The ironing had to be done with an old flat iron, heated on top of the kitchen stove. She had to bake five or six loaves of bread twice a week, milk the cow, or cows, and take care of the milk, chum the batter, cook the meals, wash the dishes, and in summertime stand by the table with a fly brush of some kind to chase the flies while the family ate. As there was no sanitation and no screens on windows and doors, flies were so thick it was impos sible to eat without a “fly chaser.” All these tasks, and many others —for the stun of 50 cents a week. • • • From Paul Morgan, Los Angeles, California: I remember when this Old Timer was a ding dong good horse trader in Laurel, Delaware. Thought there were just as many reckless drivers in the horse and buggy days, but then the horse had some sense. (Sentl eontrlbattoos to this eotamn to The Old Timer, Cemmenity Press j SerTlee, Frankfort, Kentssky.) froih September of 1954 until her twins are 18 unless she marries again., Under the provision, the eligible survivor of a person who died before September 1, 1950, and who is now considered fully in sured by the law may not collect benefits for the months before September 1954. And no lump sum death payments may be collected by these survivors. The new law applies only to those survivors of workers who died after 1939 and before Septem ber 1, 1950. Dependent widowers and divorced wives who are car ing for the deceased wage-earners’ children may not collect survivors benefits under this provision. If you aye the survivor of a worker who died after 1939 and before September 1, 1960, and if you weren't eligible for social se curity benefits before, you may be now. Maybe you didn’t apply before or waited too long to apply for the benefits to which you were entitled. Under the new law you may apply for your survivors benefits until September 1056. I urge you to apply for the bene fits now if you think ypu are eligible. And you are if you are the surviving widow, age 65 or over, widowed mother and child, or dependent parent of any work er who died after December 31, 1939, and before September 1, 1950, and had at least a year and a half of work under social se curity. THAT WAY By J. M. ELEAZER The gentle patter, of rain on the roof in the fall had its meanings too, just as those of summer did. We talked of those last week here. To us kids it meant the cotton would be too wet to pick next day. And that was just fine. And the hay would be too wet to haul too, and the corn to break. So the pat ter of rain on the roof was just to our liking then. School hadn’t opened yet. So the shower was all that stood between us and work, 4 thing we hated. Talking about work, I wonder if all kids were as lazy as I was? I’d think it was the chills and fever (malaria) we always had that caused it but for one fact. When It. came to building a \lam down on the creek, chopping a large free to get a Tfttle ’possum, building our railroad and trestle with old slabs from a sawmill, and so on, I never got tired. So I must have just been allergic to work that was not of my choosing. For I hated it in the field. The shower made the leaves of autumn heavy, and they fell fast to the^ ground. Soon limbs were bare. We could see the walnuts, scalybarks, and hickory nuts, and the remaining black, sweet, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Davis of New York spent several days last week here with Mr. Davis’s broth er and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Davis on Caldwell street, en- route to a vacation in Florida. shriveled muscadines stood out on the vines. The black haws too were just right then, and the sandberries sparkled temptingly from the bared branches. As with the summer patter of rain on the roof, the fall showers had a different meaning to our parents too. They meant the grain could be sown with assurance It would come up. And they meant the fall garden of collardg, turnips, and greens would grow fast, lush, and tender. They meant soil mois ture and ground water, depleted by summer’s droughts, would be re stored. And they meant the air was cleansed of dust or pollen that brought hay-fever to s6me. The fall showers* meant damp ness on the roof and woodland too. And that was security against fires. And the first one gave us a chance to burn out the chimneys so the dry soot from the winter before might not catch at some unsuspecting moment and set the. roof on fire. Showers, showers! They meant a lot to us in the Stone Hills at all seasons. Lots of people, particularly wo men, ao not like iheat from any of the deer tribe. They complain that its gamey taste is too strong and they try to make it more edible by horribly overcooking it. When people react this way tb venison, you can bet the apimal was not butchered properly at the right time or the meat was not cared for in the right way after ward. v Sometimes a buck or bull shot at the height of the rutting season is not % fit to eat.* Also a gut-shot animal that has run a long dis tance before falling will not make good venison; But otherwise, given proper and timely butchering and care, all venison should taste good to even the most critical. Usually venison does not taste like our domestic meats. Moose meat may taste a little like beef. Mountain sheep* always tastes somewhat like lazpb, and mountain goat like mutton. But deer and caribou have a delicious taste of their own; there is nothing strong or gamey about it. » When you shoot a large animal, it is useless to rush ip and “cut its throat” or stick it in the. chest to “bleed” it. Col. Townsend Whelen explains that a modern bullet so disrupts the chest or abdominal cavities that they fill with blood almost immediately, and little or none of this blood will come out if the throat is cut. However, the blood should be drained ont as scon‘as possible^ If the animal has been gut-shot, it is important to remove all trace of Intestinal juices. Thes best meat is always from an animal that has been killed by a chest shot, and if yon want the best vSnison, practice marksman ship. Putting your' bullet well into the chest cavity is po more diffi cult than hitting a bucket, and with modern high-velocity expand ing bullets, it always means a quick kill with the animal drop ping within 160 yards. For venison as venison should be, tell your chef to cook it just as he or she would domestic meat, but preferably on the rare side. The tougher portions, neck, and lower hams, can' be used for* stews. The ribs are best broiled very quickly .over charcoal or a wood fire so yon almost burn the outside, but leave the inside al most raw. Do not dse salt until the very end. % ' A INTO Never so new as now ... never so far aheadl ' t It’s*the dazzling, aU-around-new Super ”88’* Oldsmobile! Inspired new styling everywhere! New power with the mighty new ’’Rocket 202! New color ... dramatic ’’flying color” patterns! In fact, all the newest new ideas on wheels! See us and see Oldsmobile for ’55! OW ON DISPLAY WITH THAT Too can’t miss the newness! It’s everytohere firms road to roof! Note the crisp, low-level fines . . • the dramatic new color toning that sings of action ... flashing ”Rocket”202 action! See ns and see all the brand-new 1955 Oldsmobiles—Ninety-Eights, Super ”88s”,”88s”! Come in tomorrow at the latest! LOOK I VISIT YOUR NEAREST OLDSMOBILE DEALER W. H. DAVIS & SON, Inc. 153Z MAIN STREET PHONE 75 DON’T MISS OLDSMOBILE’S "NOVEMBER SPECTACULAR" IN COLOR AND BLACK AND WHITI • NBC-TV e SAT., NOV. 20 i ■ ' vtfi ■. tit