Newspaper Page Text
3ar kztm Trcgress-^rgus
J. D. Jones Publisher
(1908-1955
Dayle Jones Jr. Editor and Publisher
(1955-1975)
MRS. MARTHA G. JONES PUBLISHER
VINCENT JONES EDITOR
Published every Thursday at 129 South Mulberry Street, Jackson,
Georgia 30233 by The Progress-Argus Printing Cos., Inc. Second Class
Postage paid at Jackson, Georgia 30233.
Address notice of undeliverable copies and other correspondence
to The Jackson Progress-Argus, P.O. Box 249, Jackson, Georgia 30233.
SU. NEWSPAPER
NNA SUSTAINING
MEMBER—I97S
One Year $6.24
School Year $5.20
Editorials
Have Yourself a Very Merry
Christmas Time
As the song goes, it has been
said so many times in so many
different ways, but just the simple
Merry Christmas seems to say it as
well, or better, than any other
greeting we can give others at this
special time of the year.
But how did they say it in the
old days? The Middle Georgia
Argus, published at Jackson and
edited by W. F. Smith and F. J.
Thaxton, had this Christmas
greeting in its December 21, 1882
issue, when the country was only
about one-half as old as it is today:
“How short the time! One year
has passed since our last
Christmas greeting. We can
remember when it seemed almost
an age from one Christmas to
another. Then the days appeared
as weeks and weeks as months
while we, in our childhood
simplicity, longed for the merry
time to roll around; everybody
seemed ready for the merry
making. But what a change a few
years of sunshine, a few years of
war and desolation, a few years of
poverty, and a few years of anxiety
have wrought.
Now we speak of Christmas,
and our friends, with a care worn
sigh, remark: “I am not ready for
Christmas, I cannot meet my
obligations, I cannot do all I have
laid off to do.”
Why is this restless, grasping
mania among us? It is because we
take upon ourselves too many
obligations. We desire to crowd too
much in too short a space of time.
We are too slow to realize the fact
that we have no control of the
revolving wheels of time. When
ever we hear the remark, “I cannot
prepare for Christmas - the time is
too short,” we involuntarily
exclaim, will you have time to get
ready for death?
If we cannot check the flight of
time until we can prepare for the
responsibilities of the end of a year,
how is it possible for us to find time
to prepare for the final end? We
allude to these things because we
feel that we alone are responsible
for a great deal of our anxieties and
cares. If we would study to
contribute to the happiness of
others, and learn to get more
happiness out of our surroundings,
we would be better prepared for
enjoyment. It is the little things in
this life that make up our misery or
happiness.
It is easier to kill a lion than to
catch a fox. It is easier to build a
wagon than to make a watch. Great
is the man that is slow to anger,
Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included:
TELEPHONE 775-3107
OFFICIAL ORGAN
BUTTS COUNTY AND
CIT v OF JACKSON
six Months $3.91
Single Copy 15c
and he that ruleth his spirit is
mightier than he that taketh a city.
Why see, how much human
misery is based upon the merest
trifles. The man who makes
himself supremely wretched be
cause he wants something he
hasn’t got, and can’t get; the man
who is unhappy because his boots
are tight; the young man, or old
man either, who tries to make a
forty-dollar salary support a
fifty-dollar coat, and is miserable
because there is a misfit
somewhere; the man who is cross
and savage all through life; the
man who is always sick and
miserable after the picnic; the man
who is cross because it is hot, and
gruff because it is cold, and
irritable because it is wet-what are
these men but the tormented
victims of their own folly? They are
miserable because they make
themselves so.
If we strike out the little petty
annoyances, we would see how
little we have to make life unhappy.
If we allowed the great wrongs of
life to move us as do the little petty
annoyances; if we endured our
light afflictions more patiently, and
more valiantly combatted the
great evils, how soon we would
reform the world.
The man who can ignore the
petty vexations and save all his
strength of mind and body for the
great things, is the man to lead us
all. Then let us lay aside our cares
and have a merry greeting.
Remember that if we do not have
the time to finish the work set apart
for 1882, that we are hopeful of
seeing the broad open new year
with its spring time and summer in
which to finish our task. Then, with
the desire that we may have a few
days of pleasant hand shaking and
innocent amusement, each one
trying to contribute to the
merriment of the children and no
one spending the precious time in
profanity or dissipation, we make
this our hearty Christmas greeting.
To each and every one of our
readers we wish a Merry Christ
mas, hoping that the new year will
dawn upon us with our energy
renewed and with a stronger
determination to be good, honest,
Christian men and women.
Again, we say Merry Christ
mas to all.”
To which we add, have yourself
a very, very merry Christmas and
may the Yuletide star reflect in
your eyes the love of Him whose
love lights the world, not only at
Christmas, but everyday we let
Him become the ruler of our
hearts.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
The Last
Straw
BY
VINCENT JONES
What do I want for
Christmas?
I'd like to be four again,
snuggled in granny’s lap in
her comfortable rocker as
the gaseous coal fire spit and
sputtered, adding to the
enchantment of the stories
she told of the 1860’s when
war laid waste her beloved
land.
I'd like to be five again,
and watch dad’s huge,
calloused hands place the
peeled orange sections in my
own and hear the hiss of the
warming fire as it devoured
the peelings.
I’d like to be six again,
thrilled with Christmas Eve
again, and place the fruit
cake and milk on the hearth
again, and know once more
the wonder of its being gone
on arising.
I’d like to be seven again,
and help mother with the
fruit cakes and Christmas
cookies again, and see once
more the smile on her face
when Santa brought her
some unexpected gift.
I’d like to be eight again,
and get that first freight
again, and wind it ’til the
spring could stand no more
and spend the Christmas
holidays with it on the floor.
I’d like to be nine again,
and take to the woods again
in mid-December with Doyle
and Woody in search of the
perfect cedar, through
Moore’s pasture, on out to
Newton’s pasture as far as
the poor farm and on into
infinity until a tree was found
that would suit us, fit the
room and be approved of
mother.
I’d like to be ten again and
watch my first green Lionel
train whiz around those
electric tracks in its endless
procession of joy.
I’d like to be eleven again,
just a wide-eyed lover of joy
again, and make the mad
dash to the Franklins on
Christmas morning to see if
Santa had been as good to
Hiram and Robert as he had
to us.
I’d like to be twelve again,
and see that brand-new red
bike under the tree and
wonder how Santa could be
so secretive about such
things when all the usual
hiding places had been
thoroughly searched.
I’d like to be thirteen
again, and ride Mike’s train
again, ’til suns wane again,
and swing at Fimp’s wild
curves once more, listen to
Mush’s tales galore, and see
Wash knock in again the
tying score.
I'd like to be fourteen and
swing again, a vagabond
king again, and sign the
cards at Kitty’s proms once
more; to hear the trumpet
blow again, the piano glow
again, and watch the rug
rolling back from the floor.
I’d like to be fifteen again,
and feel life keen again, and
fly those kites once more, to
heights on into the never
more.
I’d like to be sixteen again,
and fight for Jackson High
again, on the track and on the
floor, to dribble that ball
again and sink the winning
score.
I’d like to be seventeen
again, a lone seeker of truth
again and be glad again as a
lad again for the pangs of
home that come to those who
roam.
I’d like to be eighteen
again, half-man, half-boy
again, and know the ties that
bind those half-lost to each
other in fraternal love.
I’d like to be nineteen
again, and enter Woodruff
Hall again to hear Tommy
Dorsey’s trombone moan,
and watch Frank Sinatra
groan, as the whirling balls
mirrowed the dancers below.
I'd like to be twenty again,
to court once more my
college sweetheart of yore
and hear her seal my lucky
fate with the troth to be my
mate.
Oh, how I’d like to run
the races again, visit the
same places again and see all
the old, familiar faces again.
And that is what I want for
Christmas.
| A Stroll Down
Memory Lane |
DOWN MEMORY LANE
News of 10 Years Ago
Miss Linda Young, daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Young of Jenkinsburg, has
been named the 1966 winner
of the DAR Good Citizenship
Award.
The body of Mrs. Jeanelle
Stewart Perry, a Negro
woman in her early twenties,
was found savagely beaten
and stabbed in her Benton
Street home.
Clyde Herbert, president of
the Butts County Athletic
Club, announced that the t
Club members had voted to
donate SBOO to the Jackson
High School Athletic Depart
ment for much needed
equipment.
The marriage of Mrs.
Mabel Whatley of Atlanta to
James E. Cornell, Jr., of
Indian Springs, was an event
of last Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Robert
son, of Polk Tire Company,
will leave in early January
for an all expense paid
Caribbean cruise, courtesy of
the General Electric Com
pany in recognition of Jim’s
outstanding sales record.
Mrs. Ben Haisten, chair
man, reports that the
Christmas Seal campaign
has brought in $633.25 to date.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. Ethel Talley Mosteller,
65, Mrs. Robert Ocie
Stodghill, 84; Burner Trellis
Knowles, 73; Thomas Lee
James, 39.
News of 20 Years Ago
Ted Evans was elected
Worshipful Master of St.
John’s Lodge No. 45, F.&
A.M., on Monday evening.
As the Christmas season
neared, robbers were active
locally, taking two Venetian'
blinds and a rug from the
County Line Baptist Church
this week. Earlier, burglars
had struck at two grocery
stores and a private resi
dence in the County.
Butts County’s $93,500
National Guard Armory was
formally dedicated Wednes
day, with Congressman John
J. Flynt, Jr. delivering the
dedicatory address.
Ralph Cook, of Jackson,
has earned the coveted
Sustained Performance
award at Atlanta General
Depot and a S2OO check for
his superior work as a cost
accounting clerk.
Algie R. Maddox, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis M.
Maddox, is serving as
personnelman second class,
USN, at the Naval Air
Facility, McMurdo Sound,
Antarctica.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. Annie E. Letson, 91;
Leroy Clifton Martin, 77;
Mrs. T. J. (Laura) Giles, 94;
Charlie (Bub) Carter, 43.
News of 30 Years Ago
R. F. Armstrong, project
manager of the Central
Georgia Electric Member
ship Corporation, was elect
ed as worshipful master of
St. John’s Lodge No. 45
F.&A.M. on Monday night.
Mrs. N. A. Powell and Miss
Ruth Phinazee explained the
public assistance programs
to members of the Jackson
Kiwanis Club on Tuesday
night.
The Jackson Methodists
will have a Christmas candle
lighting service at the church
on Sunday evening, Decem
ber 22nd.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Carmi
chael will observe their
golden wedding anniversary
on Sunday. Mr. and Mrs.
Carmichael have seven
children and ten grandchild-
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 197
ren, most of whom will be
present for the occasion.
Mrs. T. E. Robison
entertained members of the
Jackson Garden Club at a
lovely dinner party at her
home on Thursday evening.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. J. O. Preston, 68; Bryan
Rivers, 4.
News of 40 Years Ago
J. O. Minter has been
elected president of the
Farmers Bank of Locust
Grove at a recent stock
holder’s meeting.
N. A. Powell was elected
worshipful master of St.
John’s Lodge, F.&A.M., on
Monday night.
The Butts County teachers,
including both city and
county systems, have been
paid in full for the fall
months.
A total of 187 checks have
been paid to date to Butts
County farmers participat
ing in the 1936 soil programs,
with payments amounting to
$8,306.35.
The Southern Railway was
advertising an inauguaration
special to Washington for
President Franklin D. Roose
velt’s inauguration at $32.75
round trip for one person in
upper berth.
The Dixie Theatre was
showing Will Rogers and
Janet Gaynor in “State
Fair.”
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. W. W. Wilson, 59
News of 50 Years Ago
Anew trial has been
granted Tom King, Butts
County Negro, convicted and
sentenced to die by a
February jury for the
murder Nov. 28, 1925 of
County Policeman J. E.
McNair.
Vol. l, No. 1 of “The
Broadcaster”, new Jackson
High School newspaper, is off
the press. Jane Etheridge is
editor-in-chief with Louise
Woodward, associate editor;
Susannah Foster, Elizabeth
Merritt and Threatt Moore,
business manager, and Du
vall Patrick, circulation
manager.
H. M. Moore was elected
worshipful master of St.
John’s Lodge No. 45, F&A.M.
at the Monday night meeting.
J. T. McMichael was
named Commander of Jack
son Lodge No. 131, Knights of
Pythias, with W. H. Maddox,
Jr., as vice commander.
Among the Jackson teach
ers going to their homes for
the Christmas holidays are
Miss Janie Hardy, Molena;
Miss Sue Cowan, Conyers;
Miss Benji Harris, Madison;
Miss Rubye Jones, Valdosta.
Deaths during the week: T.
R. Nutt, 76.
Iffjjp BICENTEN NIAL J
WL BYPATHS
'a OUlt COUNIBY ?00 Y f AB S AGO
An account of Christmas
at Salem, N.C., December
24,1776, reports that Christ
mas service began at five
o'clock Christmas Eve for
the children, with written
Christmas verses and
lighted candles. After that, a
service for older Brethren
'and Sisters, including the
people who were spending
the night in the local tavern.
/Bwp, a N ', I t \
I a ik nin j
HyIHQURRI
By Mrs. Cindy Brown
This night before Christmas
is vastly different from that
one in Bethlehem --
Tis Seventy-Six in an updated
age -and that is where we
shall begin.
We have no donkeys to feed
and to ride, but rather
mechanical shiny machines.
We still have our quarrels
with our taxes though, as in
that age of Him, King of
Kings.
We flitter here and flutter
there (not us on a donkey to
slowly meander)
We are not as truthful as
those folks then; we lack
their talent for candor.
To them a Holy Season was
just that, yea Holy, and they
honored their beliefs far and
wide.
DEAR SANTA ijMfc
IpiJiivV TANARUS: ’i £
Some Folks Have a
Year-Round Christmas
There are five towns or villages in the United States
that are named “Christmas.” They are in Arizona,
Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.
There is a Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean,
south of Java, attached to the Singapore settlement,
under Australian administration, and the British
have two Christmas Islands: one of the Line Islands
in the center of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and
another in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic Ocean.
★ ★★★★★★
U.S. “ CHRISTMAS ” TOW IS S
SWAMPED WITH CHRISTMAS MAIL
Because many people want a Christmas postmark
on their cards, letters and packages, each year mil
lions of pieces of mail are sent to post offices in those
places named “Christmas.”
Christmas, Florida, population about 300, handles
an average half-million pieces of mail during the
Christmas season. Located near Orlando, it began as
a fort that was completed on Christmas 1835.
Fun for everyone ...
Solve a Christmas
Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1 Mr. Claus is a very
man.
2 “ the season to be
(If 1 across).”
4 Christmastime.
6 “It is more blessed
give . . .’’
8 “ —little town of Beth
lehem . . .”
9 Another synonym for
#4 across.
12 Santa does not need one to
get into your home.
14 Dancer, Prancer, Vixen,
etc.
17 Santa rides in it.
DOWN
I The lirst part of a Christ-
Answer in column at left
For us tis a season to
purchase and party and on
this gift or that to decide.
We have no bright star to
guide us to Christ, we seldom
even look to the sky
In appreciation of life’s little
gifts that we have. We’ll
learn perhaps, by and by.
America is a land of
self-made men -- it’s up to
you and me: our own hands
to lend
In change and in challenge
for our leader and strength;
let us not from this Holy duty
shrink.
Let us have a prayerful
Christmas, obeying our deep
seated urge to follow the One
who began it for us in true joy
towards the year we surge.
mas carol title.
2 You find presents under it.
3 It is hung over the fire
place.
5 What you do during a
Christmas feast.
7 “ what fun it is to
ride . .
9 Happy New !
10 A bird that symbolizes
peace.
11 “ true love gave to
.
me . . .
13 “Bells——bobtails
ring . .
15 #2 Across is a poetic con
traction for “it ”
16 The night before Christ
mas.