refined processes of exploitation and
rendering can make the mines an asset,
even now.
Sickness and accidents were a fre¬
quent subject of correspondence.
Henderson Scott himself suffered very
serious bums to the hands in attempt¬
ing to extinguish a fire that was de¬
stroying his store building. His burns
were so serious that he had to be fed by
others. On another occasion, he was
thrown by a mule, and was so seriously
wounded by a broken leg that he had to
be taken to his home in a wheelbarrow.
Worse, the surgical aid available was
so badly bungled that he never fully
recovered.
Fatal Diseases
To the general community, how¬
ever. the sicknesses that have in later
years been almost eliminated were still
a terrible scourge. Many small children
died of croup, the respiratory difficulty
that often grew out of colds, in many
adults developing into pneumonia, al¬
most always fatal. Typhoid fever and
smallpox were frequently mentioned
as causes of death. They were espe¬
cially bad among the blacks. Tuber¬
culosis. or consumption, as it was
called, was among the most serious of
the illnesses of the time. Scrofula was
among the minor irritants.
Correspondence indicated a rather
high degree of education, especially
among the writers. But these indi¬
cators must be taken with some under¬
standing. The letters have many refer¬
ences to private schools, some of them
linked to churches or to ministers; but
little, if any. reference to the public
school system already in operation.
Actually, therefore, the well-to-do of
the population, supplied with means to
attend private academies and later to
enter college, received superior educa¬
tion. while those of less means were
limited to the short-term public
schools, or no school at all. Compul¬
sory attendance was still a long way in
the future.
Governor’s Father
Religious life centered about the
Hawficlds Presbyterian Church, as it
does today. In the middle of the dec¬
ade. the new building was constructed
at a cost of $500. Various references to
revivals and other activities are in the
letters. The minister was among those
who held a private school as a part of
their contribution to the Community.
Toward the end of the decade, the
real excitement was the approach of
the railroad, as it inched westward
from Raleigh toward Charlotte. As in
the era of the copper mines, its ap¬
proach disturbed the economic bal¬
ance of the community, made labor dif¬
ficult to obtain, and then priced out of
competition. Another dimension of the
railroad presence was that of politics.
A large proportion of the population
favored some type of subsidy from the
State. The wealthy of the community
were especially open to criticism on
this, as they were thought to be evad¬
ing personal investment in favor of
public support, as a means of protec¬
tion against possible bankruptcy.
Rise of the cotton milling industry
and the beginnings of the tobacco in¬
dustry were also in this period, the let¬
ters openly predicting the coming of
these as major industries.
As the decade ended, no notice was
made in the correspondence about the
approach of war. though severe con¬
demnation was given a new type of
politician, calling themselves Demo¬
crats.
Little reference was made to the
several deaths in the family of Hender¬
son Scott, and none at all to the birth of
a son who should come to be father to a
governor, a grandfather to another,
father to senators, both State and Na¬
tional. and active supporter of a State
Agricultural college.
He named the baby Robert Walter
Scott.
A Betsy Ross For
The Boating Set
l’ou. loo. can have your ow n personal
flag — designed to suit your distinct
nautical Ntylc — by Mona.
By PHIL BOWIE
Ten years ago. as a hobby. Nona
Lockhart was stitching monograms on
T-shirts for friends in the Morehead
City area. An owner of a large yacht
was impressed with her work, so he
asked her to make up a custom yacht
pennant for him. After she had studied
the complex etiquette of boating bunt¬
ing. she set to work.
"I fussed and cussed over that thing
for three days." she said. First, she
tried iron-on cutouts, but they
wouldn't adhere well enough in a
whipping breeze. She then tried cut¬
ting the design out of cloth and stitch¬
ing it to the flag, which proved to be
impossible to do neatly.
"I kept thinking about it." she said,
"and then 1 woke up at 3 a.m. one
morning and I'd figured out just how to
do it. I went straight to my sewing
room and I had that flag finished within
Nono (leh) o«d her utter-in. low. Lei, mode thn lorge 1 1 09 for the onnuol Moceheod City B19
воск
Blue
Merlin Tog moment
IB
THE STATE. October 1976
