pontine to combat the soreness and
bandaged it with a clean cloth.
Wonderful Day
We were switched for this escapade,
but the punishment did not stop our
adventuring. One day in early fall
when we were on our way home from
the store, we saw a giant balloon in
the sky right over our heads. We knew
what it was although we had never
seen one before. It had been pictured
on the big poster advertisement of the
carnival's arrival. The fairground
where the show was located was just
across the ridge from Shingle Cove.
We watched breathlessly as one part
of the great ball collapsed and the
other part drifted directly into our
path.
Out of the parachute basket stepped
a pretty woman. She waved her hand
to us and called for us to come and
help her gather up the ropes. She
spoke with a strange accent, but we
understood what she said. By the time
we had the ropes in order, men from
the carnival came with conveyance to
take the balloonist and her parachute
back to the fairground. She thanked
us. gave us free tickets, and told us to
be sure to come to the big show.
We ran every step of the way home
to tell Granny the big news. Wc had
to go to the carnival, we told her.
the tickets just could not be wasted.
Ciranny said they would be wasted un¬
less some adult went along with us.
There were no grown-ups around ex¬
cept two old maids who lived down
the cove a little way. They did not like
us. They told us so one day when wc
threw stones at birds near their house.
Wc could think of no one else except
Granny. When we asked her about it.
she wanted to know how wc expected
her. Marietta and Raymond to get in
the carnival without tickets. France
and I tried to figure some way, but
wc ended up in despondent tears.
After Papa and Uncle John came
home they together had enough money
to buy the tickets, and one bag of
peanuts for us to enjoy together.
Granny agreed to go with us.
Never in our lives had there been
such a wonderful day. Wc saw all
the free exhibits, the snake charmer,
the bearded lady. Punch and Judy and
the fire-eater. Wc tried to be especially
good and not to aggravate Granny.
Perhaps she did not think it so bad
that she had to scold me for standing
with a crowd of men watching the
12
All Aboul
Will Rogers said all he knew was
just what he read in the papers. One
of the main things that the newspapers
don't know much about is Carthage.
N. C. For the size of the population
Carthage is one of the most cosmo¬
politan cross-roads in the world. It was
first known as Cross Hill and then
Fagcnsvillc, and when George Wash¬
ington told his first Cousin Dr. Glass¬
cock who lived at Cross Hill that
he had as hard time finding it as Han¬
nibal had getting to Carthage, this his¬
torical lie got in circulation and
Carthage. North Carolina was born.
In 1912 Carthage had a population
of around 1.235, in 1960 it was about
1.1 86. and now claims about 1.300
by loose calculations. Carthage is the
county seat of Moore County and is
located at the mouth of the Sandhills
section of North Carolina which is the
highest elevation of pure sand land
in the world.
A first cousin of George Washing¬
ton, Dr. George Glasscock, lived at
Carthage. A former president of the
United States lived and worked at
Carthage. Carthage is one of the few
towns in the country, or perhaps the
only one, that has a monument given
by the Republic of France to a former
citizen of Carthage, which monument
is now located in front of the City
Hall. The City Hall was erected by the
Democrats out of flint rock, and every
last one of the said white flint rocks
came off the land of a Republican.
We have had this kind of two-party
hootchie-kootchic girls; or to slap Ray¬
mond for saying the gorilla looked like
Cousin Carrie's husband or to threaten
France for mocking the hawkers.
We begged Granny to let us join
the show. We would become acrobats,
or parachutists, or clowns. We would
do anything to stay there in that
wonder-world. But Granny fussed at
us for talking so foolishly; then she
pushed us bodily out into our poor
world again.
We trudged back to our little three-
room house with the lean-to in Shingle
Cove, but childhood had found a
spark of brightness. — Selena W.
Sanders, Roanoke Rapids, N. C.
Carthage
system here in Carthage for many
years.
The wife of the president of the
United States came to Carthage as a
special favor to a citizen of Carthage
and poured the balm of Gilead on the
said hall and blessed it in a special way.
A president of a railroad lived in
Carthage for many years. The closest
track to Carthage now. is ten miles
away. Unless the wind is right you
can't hear a train blow in Carthage.
Except for ordinary dog barking and
routine shooting and killings you can
really catch up on your sleeping at
Carthage.
Carthage has been the home of two
Superior Court Judges and one Su¬
preme Court Justice. It has had two
candidates for Governor on the Re¬
publican ticket, and when you run for
Governor of North Carolina under the
Republican banner you come under
that old Persian Proverb which says,
"blessed is he that expected» nothing
for he shall not be disappointed."
Two women of Carthage wrote two
books of poems but nobody bothers to
read poems by somebody still living.
Most lawyers agree that the best trial
Judge of Superior Court North Caro¬
lina ever produced came from Car¬
thage. A member of the Lafayette
Escadrillc who wrote a book entitled
Flying for France lived in Carthage. A
Doctor of Forestry came forth out of
the woods of Carthage and for many
years was a resident of the town. One
of the first doctors in the State of North
Carolina to operate for appendicitis
lived many years in Carthage.
Carthage has produced some high
class teachers and several have taught
in universities and colleges in many
different parts of the United States. A
famous movie actress once lived in
Carthage. This cosmopolitan place is
about two miles long and a half a
mile wide, and when you get to the
courthouse you are standing right in
the middle of Broadway and 42nd
Street.
In olden days Carthage used to pick
cotton in the summer and pick Yan¬
kees in the winter. Wc have sort of
quit the cotton but we are still work¬
ing on the Yankees. Call your next
case. — Chub Seawell, Carthage.
THE STATE. DECEMBER IS. 1966
