pressions of a Yankee
Mr. Carver is in I lie armed service, uiider-
•;ом1*д
lr;iinin” at Fort llrag'g. We believe
you will find liis observations about people
and conditions most interesting.
your maga- By ROBERT R. CARVER
Fort Bragg
and have
I HAVE been reading
zino since coming to
several months ago
learned much about North Carolina
from it.
My home is in Minnesota and this
is the first time I have beeu south. 1
thought you might be interested in
knowing some of the impressions that
we Northerners have formed about
this section of the country.
Naturally, the first thing that im¬
presses us is the climate. I came down
here in February, and when I left
Minnesota there was three feet of
snow on the ground in my home town.
It was rather startling to see the
change in climate down here. Your
summers are supposed to be hotter
than ours, and 1 imagine they are;
but to tell the truth, I can’t say that
I feel the heat any more down here
than I did in Minnesota.
The second thing that impresses us
is the people. 1 have heard of “South¬
ern hospitality’’ all my life, but I
will admit that I thought it was
merely an overworked expression. I
have found out that such is not the
case.
Unfailing Courtesy
My week-end leaves have been spent
in Durham, Raleigh. Goldsboro, Dunn
and other towns. I have been invited
into several homes and have found Un¬
people unfailingly courteous and
agreeable. I can sec that it is their
natural attitude, and not something
put on to impress visitors.
This also applies to the people
whom I have met in stores. They seem
to be genuinely interested in the sol¬
diers and it is seldom that they are too
busy to chat for a while. When you
ask them questions about how to get
to some (dace in town, you always
get a courteous answer.
1 have also had the pleasure of hav¬
ing several dates with the girls in
some of the towns that I have visited.
Southern girls are certainly different
from Northern girls. The girls down
here can make you feel that you’re
the greatest guy in the world. They
“string you along’’ until you get
the idea that they will never be happy
again unless they arc in your com¬
pany.
It took me some time to learn that
this is just another form of “Southern
hospitality."
I have seen a lot of farming land
and farm buildings since I have been
at Fort Bragg. So far as the farms arc
concerned, however, I must stand up
for my home state. We certainly have
you beat there.
In traveling through Minnesota
you see very few shacks or cabins of
the type that I have seen so fre¬
quently while on the bus or catching
a ride. Our farms are much better
kept up than are the farms down
here. Most of the farms up there
have fine fences, silos and good cows.
It is very seldom that I sec a silo
down here. And the fences are mostly
of a make-shift nature. It also is rath¬
er strange to see farm machinery out
in the open in all kinds of weather.
We cannot afford to do that up North.
Observations of Negroes
The Negroes also have interested
me. We have comparatively few col¬
ored people in Minnesota. In some of
the towns I have visited in North
Carolina it has seemed ns though al¬
most half the population were col¬
ored.
1 can see that most of the Negroes
live in rather modest homes, but 1
have been down South long enough
to observe that they get as much hap¬
piness — if not more — out of life as
do the white |»eople. They always ap-
pear to be in a good humor. The only
fault I find with them is that I can’t
understand half what they say.
The Southern food is line. I must
admit that we have nothing in Minne¬
sota that can compare with your fried
chicken and country ham. We cure
our own hams up there, too, but
there is a distinctly different flavor to
the hams which 1 have eaten here.
We never eat any rice up North,
except in a rice pudding for dessert.
As a vegetable, however, with plenty
of gravy, it is a very fine dish indeed.
and I have grown to like it very
much.
There is one thing, though, that I
am never going to eat again as long
as 1 live. In Durham I went with
some people to a cabin out in the
country. They served what they called
chitterlings. I had never heard of
chitterlings before, nor had I ever
smelled them. I hope I'll never hear
of them or smell them again. They
are one thing that I can very well
afford to live without.
Here arc some other things that
strike me as being rather interesting:
Very few farm-houses have cellars.
I wonder why this is, because a nice
cool cellar is a fine place for storing
vegetables, meats and other things.
Men in elevators in business build¬
ings take off their hats when a woman
enters the elevator.
К
very body drinks Coca-Cola, Pep-
si-Cola or other drinks of that na¬
ture. One day not long ago, I was at
a soda fountain and watched people
giving their orders. During a period
of fifteen minutes not a single person
ordered an ice-cream soda.
Strangers speak to you on the
streets. This, I have observed, is not
only done to soldiers but is also the
ease with civilians.
“Howdy” and “I Reckon”
It still amuses me to hear some¬
body say “Howdy!” as a greeting.
I do not believe I ever heard that
word in Minnesota. There are many
other words in use in North Caro¬
lina that are new to me. However, I
have learned to say both "Howdy”
and “I reckon.”
And I believe that you people down
here know one another better than
wc do up North. You not only are
acquainted with the folks in your own
town, but you seem to know people
in every other town. Evidently, be¬
fore gas rationing, you-all ( How's
that?) did a lot of traveling over the
state.
I like North Carolina thoroughly,
and 1 would like very much to live
here after the war is over.
9
