The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, April 26, 1956, Image 3
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1956
THE NEWBERRY SUN
MATTIE BUILDS A HOUSE
By Madge Olinger Adams
A T first everybody gasped when
they heard the news that Mat-
tie McClannahan was building a
house on the lot she had inher
ited from her father almost twen
ty years ago. It was right next to
the school house and the kids
used it for a baseball diamond
and almost everybody had forgot
ten that she owned it until the day
they found her pouring cement for
the foundation.
Some of the men who had boys
on the baseball team were pretty
mad about her using the baseball
diamond to build on. They planned
to make a stink about it. But they
found out she had offered the
land to the school board for just
enough to buy a smaller lot in an
other part of town and had been
refused. Then someone thought
maybe a petition could be gotten
up and have it torn down because
ft would be an eye sore, especially
after it was rumored that she had
run out of money before she got
to the roof. Everybody agreed—
something should be done!
**I think it’s a sin, a woman
doing a man’s work!” the drug
gists wife stated at bridge club.
•There should be a law!” the
doctor’s wife waved her soft fat
hand about and complained. “She
always spades up the back comer
of the yard for us every year.
Doctor never has time, you know.
But this year she came one day
and said since she was building
a house she wouldn’t be able to
help us until fail. And frankly,
I don’t see how she has enough
to eat! She isn’t working for any
body, except old Grandma Mar
tins, since Grandma fell and broke
her hip. And they say Grandma
Martins hasn’t any money to pay
her with.”
“You just can’t tell about people
can you?” The storekeepers wife
pouted.
“You’d think she’d be content
to keep on living at the board
ing house, where she wouldn’t
have to bother about things,”
someone reflected.
“She won’t have much more
space, anyway. Three rooms and a
bath!”
By the time the rafters were up
everybody had had his say. Not
to Mattie of course, but she
couldn’t help overhearing some of
it. But she went hbout her build
ing, a nail apron tied over her
dark cotton dress, sober and silent
as ever. You’d never have known
to look at her that she knew half
the town was scheming against
her.
Then one day a city reporter
and a photographer appeared in
town. They didn’t want to take
a picture of the new school build
ing, or the new church or the
banker’s new $50,000 home. They
wanted to take a picture of Mat
tie's house.
When the story and picture
came out on the first page of the
Sunday Supplement some famous
architect was quoted as saying it
had pleasing proportions, was
interestingly compact and an in
spiration to those who wanted to
build a little house.
But the article dealt mostly with
the staunch noble spirit of Mattie
The fine stoic American quality
of doing for one’s self. It was b
heart warming article that sug
gested the nobility of the town,
and perhaps the whole region.
In church that morning the
banker sat behind Mattie and won
dered how he was going to tell
her he’d changed his mind about
loaning her money for the roof.
It wouldn’t do the bank any good
for the world to know he’d refused
Mattie such a small request.
And on the way out the pudgy
wife of the store keeper squeezed
Mattie’s hand and whispered a
little too loudly, “Mattie, I have
some nice dresses I’ve been saving
for you. I don’t get to see you
much since you’ve been building
your new house.” »
A ghost of a noble stoic smile
played for a moment on Mattie’s
lips as she replied, “Thank you,
mam. I’ll be past to get them as
soon as I get the roof on my
house.”
E, P. C:\TERFUL
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By FRANKLIN J. MEINE
Editor, American Peoples
Encyclopedia
S UCCESSFUL campers have little
right to consider themselves
outdoor pioneers. Ingenious manu
facturers have in recent years pro
vided such things as complete camp
cooking utensils, all nesting into one
another and carried in a canvas
bag; patent collapsible table-and-
seat combinations; grids, broiling
devices, patent camp stoves; pic
nic baskets with ice compartments;
two-gallon size vacuum jars; port
able electric compartment cookers;
special tents for automobiles; fuel
tablets to insure quick fires on damp
days; portable small Dutch ovens
in which to bake, or folding ovens.
Shades of the Conestoga wagon pio
neers!
# • »
Today’s playgrounds for the small
fry, complete with such entertain
ing devices as carousels and swings,
hark back to a sandpile is the yard
of a Boston chapel in 1885. It was
the first supervised playground in
the United States. From that year
until 1808, when the Playground
Association of America was found
ed, not more than 10 cities in this
country are known to have estab
lished playgrounds. In 1898 the Chi
cago City Council appropriated the
sum of $1,000 for “temporary small
parks.” Hus was one of the earliest
examples of what has become an
accepted responsibility of govern
ment—the establishment, mainte
nance and operation of play
grounds.
WORLD’S BEAUTY . . . Swe
den’s Hillevi Rombin, who bears
the title “Miss Universe,” ex
hibits her pulchritude at Miami
Beach. Florida. /
SEEKS PEACE ... UN Secre
tary General Dag Hammarsk-
jold visits < troubled Middle East,
with main focus on friction be
tween Arabs and Israelis.
*• r ienun ...oops, heavily armed, land in Algiers a& part of 100,000 soldiers
„uied to arrive to quell rebellion of colonials.
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Get rules & entry blanks at these stores:
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For Better Listening’ For Better Buying, tune to
W K D K
CAMERA GIRL . . . Joni Ross,
21, of Chicago, was named Miss
National Press Photographer of
1956 from 25 candidates at con
vention in Chandler, Ariz.
REV. ROBERT H. HARPEP
TAe Church Reaches Out.
Lesson for April 29: Acts 8: 4-8,
14-17. 26-28, 14-35.
Golden Text: John 13: 35.
After the disciples received the
power of the Holy Ghost at Pente
cost, they began to go out to dif
ferent parts to spread the gospel.
The lesson gives several incidents
in the early ministry of the Chris
tians. The persecution of Chris
tians, following the martyrdom of
Stephen, instead of stamping out
Christianity only served to scatter
the disciples abroad and to spread
the gospel farther
A feature in the work of evan
gelism at that time was the serv
ice of laymen and the service of
those fine men should be an in-
stfuctive example to consecrated
laymen who can be well employed
in winning men to Christ. The re
port of the gracious work in
Samaria led Peter and John to
visit the city. Great good was
done and it appears that on their
return to Jerusalem they preached
in several Samaritan villages along
the way.
Philip was next led to convert
an African, a eunuch who was a
high officer of the court of Can
dace, queen of Ethiopia. He was
evidently not a pagan, for he had
been to Jerusalem, and was sit
ting in his chariot reading from
the book Isaiah. Invited into the
chariot, Philip won the eunuch
to Christ. These are a few ex
amples of ancient evangelism, and
they should inspire us to redouble
our efforts to win men.
“BOY OF THE YEAR” . . .
Boy’s Clubs of America selected
Frank Boyce, 13, of Elisabeth
City, N. C., for outstanding serv
ice to home, church and r
m unity.
ri REMEMBER
BY IKS OLD TIMERS
From H. T. Day, Big Fork,
Kentucky: I remember when, ex
cept for the cooks in the kitchen,
all the family and boarders went
to the branch morning, noon and
night to wash their hands and faces
in preparation for the meal; un
less of course^ it was during the
season of the year when snow
was on the ground. Then it was
permissable to wash in the snow.
Just a matter of choice for the
ones who washed. Through the
kindness of husbands, arrange
ments were devised for the accom
modation of the cook to wash in
the kitchen.
The only “brought-on” soap at
that time was a kind they called
“Toilet Soap”, and it was kept
under lock and key six days of
the week; but on Sunday mornings,
it was displayed where everyone
could have free access to it; then
faces would light up and smile,
as the lather disguised them. Yes,
there was- week-day soap, made
by mothers in the home, by recipes
of their own. There was a notice
able difference of quality of the
soap in different homes, as each
probably had its own recipe; or
more probably, the difference
might have been due to the posi
tion of the moon, and its influence
on soap making at the time, rath
er than to a faulty recipe.
Just in case a soap shortage
flared up, in supplies of the “home
made” product, as could at any
time be determined by taking an
inventory of the “soap gourds”
and their contents; then those who
washed in the branch or the snow
would have to use sand, which
though a little bit rough, would
give a very neat shine. ,
WHITAKER
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ON
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Newberry Steam Laundry and
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If So ! Give Us
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PHONE NO. I Newberry, S. C.
FOR SALE!!
1956 New Pick-up 1-2 ton.
Will give good trade.
Hayes Motor Co.
Newberry, S. C.
1504 Coates St. Phone 372
AUTO
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HOME
OFFICE
Windows — Mirrors — Table and Desk Tops
Curved or Flat Windshield Installation
\ See BOLL for ALL your GLASS needs
and MECHANICAL WORK
Bill’s Glass Shop
1311 Caldwell St.
Phone 266
You Can Place
Your Confidence
—In your INSURED Savings and Loan Association.
When you buy things for yourself, you buy at a place
where you have confidence.
WHEN YOU SAVE your hard-earned money, you
want to save it at a place where you can have confi
dence in the fact that your Savings are secure .. .when
you know your money will be safe, even in times o:
economic stress.
You can place your confidence in your INSURED.
SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION.
Open a Savings ccount Today.
Newberry Federal _
Savings & Loan Ass’n.
“An Institution Devoted to Thrift and Home Ownership’’
ASSETS OYER $8,000,000
John F. Clarkson, Pres. J. K. Willingham, Sec.
NEWBERRY, S. C.
DIRECTORS
John F. Clarkson
M. 0. Summer
J. K. Willingham
E. B. Purcell
G. K. Dominick
Waldo C. Huffman